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• Lincoln costs rise

• Contractor works to bring problem property on Railroad Avenue up to code

• Two Galt council members endorse Del Webb community

• Feral felines flourishing

• County to pay $200,000 to settle pair of lawsuits

• Regional Roundup

• Species Act co-author searches for Republican to topple Pombo

• Building Industry Association of Delta hosts dinner for policymakers

• Logbook

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

November 4th, 2009

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

November 3rd, 2009

• Clarification

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

November 2nd, 2009

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

October 31st, 2009

• Izzy Laviola and Seth Siddle-Mitchell crowned Tokay homecoming queen and king

• Tokay High evacuation

• Finishing touches on Hill House replica

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi-area Halloween events

• Lodi a reflection of Halloween's retail emergence

• Area schools have no plans of closing due to H1N1 virus

• In remembrance of Kyle Coumas

• Gated communities in Lodi

• City of Lodi settles case of mistaken identity

October 30th, 2009

• Officials hope new Highway 12 stoplight will make road safer

• Red Ribbon Week

• Logbook

• Roundup of Lodi-area Halloween events

• Lockeford soldier Kyle Coumas' funeral set for Monday

• Lodi sales tax revenue less than expected

• Regional Roundup

• Local reaction to economic growth

• Get an early start trick-or-treating in Downtown Lodi

• When there's something strange ...

• Stockton breaks ground on Delta Water Supply Project

• Possible extention of first-time homebuyer tax credit?

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• Gated communities in Lodi (112)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (99)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (76)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (58)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (55)
• Universal health care solves big problems (33)
• Words from our forefathers (26)
• With resolve and imagination, Downtown Lodi can surge once again (24)
• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home (18)

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Species Act co-author searches for Republican to topple Pombo

Richard Pombo may have a sooner-than-expected fight to keep his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, as a former congressman announced his intention Monday to find a primary challenger for the Tracy Republican in next year's election.

"The Republican values that I grew up with, Pombo is not espousing," said Pete McCloskey, who represented the San Francisco Peninsula in the House from 1967 to 1983.

The former Congressman said he's been working for three months to find a primary challenger. If one doesn't emerge, the 77-year-old Republican said he may move to the district to challenge Pombo himself.

McCloskey, a co-author of the 1973 Endangered Species Act, was among a panel of farmers, fishermen and environmentalists at a press conference who criticized Pombo's proposed overhaul of the landmark environmental legislation.

Pombo has lost touch with his Republican roots, McCloskey charged, and is now more concerned with supporting his campaign contributors than his constituents in California's 11th Congressional District.

A Pombo consultant chuckled when told of McCloskey's potential candidacy, saying he follows his own agenda in advocating niche liberal causes and only seldom is on the same page as most Republicans.

"It's not correct to say that he represents moderate Republicans because he doesn't," said Wayne Johnson, Pombo's campaign consultant.

McCloskey has a long history of breaking with the Republican Party, beginning with his challenge to former President Nixon in the 1972 New Hampshire primary through his support of John Kerry's presidential campaign last year.

At Monday's press conference, McCloskey said Pombo's bill undercuts and reverses the most important facets of the legislation he helped write 32 years ago. One change could remove the government's ability to designate "critical habitat" so species that are declining in number can recover.

Another suggested change to the law would give the Interior Secretary authority to decide on what is the "best available science" when it makes a decision that involves an endangered species.

McCloskey complained that could lead to politics muddying scientific data.

"This is an administration which has repeatedly derogated or suppressed scientific opinion which opposed the agenda of the politicians," McCloskey said.

McCloskey also criticized an idea floated by Pombo last week to sell off national parks, slap advertisements on the sides of parks service vehicles and drill for oil off the California coast.

Pombo aides said the ideas - included in a laundry list of possibilities sent to the Congressional Budget Office - were not to be taken seriously. Their intent was to drum up support for drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Reserve as a more palatable means to raise the $2.4 billion Pombo's committee needed for budget reconciliation.

The choice does not have to be so stark - either privatize some parks or drill in Alaska - McCloskey said, suggesting the government try to save money by cutting fuel costs and employing more renewable energy sources.

"It's so transparent ... these guys are selling the store," McCloskey said.