Regional Roundup

Sandhill Crane Festival starts today

The ninth annual Sandhill Crane Festival kicks off today and runs through Sunday.

The program will include bird watching, tours, guest speakers, family friendly activities and more at Hutchins Street Square, 125 S. Hutchins St.

The festival runs from 6-9 p.m. today, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 for youth 13-18. Children 12 and under are free.

For more information, call 367-7840 ext. 100 or visit http://www.lodichamber.com.

Traffic stopped for drug investigation

Westbound traffic on Highway 12 was temporarily stopped just before Interstate 5 on Thursday morning while San Joaquin County Sheriff's deputies helped Oakland police officers with a drug investigation.

Shortly before 10:30 a.m., deputies asked the California Highway Patrol to stop traffic while they conducted a felony vehicle stop — meaning that they detained the vehicle's occupants at gunpoint.

Before long, traffic was reopened. The incident was part of an ongoing investigation, said the Oakland Police Department, which declined to comment further.

Reward offered on missing teen

The Galt Area Crimestoppers has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of Aaron Brooks, a 15-year-old Galt High freshman who was reported missing Oct. 27.

The reward was also offered to a male who was with Brooks on Oct. 26 at Galt Community Park, Galt police said.

Family members and friends have been searching for Brooks since he was last seen on Oct. 26. Police report that he was seen the following day in the east parking lot of Galt Supermarket, 814 A St.

Anyone with information may call 888-393-8477 (TIPS).

Body found in Thornton still not identified

A stabbing victim's body that was found Wednesday in Thornton had still not been identified a day later.

Investigators believe the woman was killed in the city of Stockton, then dumped in a field off Blossom Road near Thornton Road. A worker found the body Wednesday a little after 10 a.m.

An autopsy was conducted Thursday and the victim's fingerprints were sent to a lab to be compared to databases, Stockton police spokesman Pete Smith said.

The actual scene of the stabbing also remains under investigating, though investigators had gotten tips Tuesday about a homicide in Stockton, Smith said.

Investigators who had spent all of Wednesday working on the case were then called around 1 a.m. Thursday to another homicide on Havencrest Circle in Stockton.

In that case, witnesses had reported a verbal argument followed by a traffic accident, and officers found a woman shot in a van. The woman's husband was subsequently arrested.

Detectives working on both homicides went home to get some sleep later Thursday, but the investigations continue, Smith said.