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• George Bradley to retire after 16 years of maintaining Lodi's streets

• Freeway chase ends with fatal shooting of suspect

• Seven water district hopefuls state their case to the board

• Jose Hernandez's family disappointed about delays, but glad for safety measures

• SAT results: More students setting sights on college

• Regional Roundup

• Tomato corruption suspect pleads guilty

• Good Samaritan ends up victim of hit and run on Highway 12

February 8th, 2010

• Public Meetings

• Locals pick best, most memorable Super Bowl commercials

• Regional Roundup

February 6th, 2010

• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch

• Meet Larry, Curly and Moe

• Baboon business

• Regional Roundup

• Several Lodi venues let you watch the Super Bowl in style

• Lodi Library celebrates 100 years of serving the community

• Culinary craft

February 5th, 2010

• Kids, teachers help Haiti by collecting pennies for Learning Link

• Lodi, Galt students reach out to help Haiti earthquake survivors

• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam

• Hours of sweat and work go into putting on crab feeds

• Things looking up for state's real estate

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Stray bullet strikes Lodi home; police suspect gang activity may be factor

February 4th, 2010

• Managers at Geweke Toyota answer questions about recall

• Lodi City Council votes to replace play structure at Century Park

• Lodi extends ban on pot shops for another year

• Mokelumne River triathlon set for June

• Family, friends to run half-marathon in memory of Galt family

February 3rd, 2010

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• Delta College trustees again collide over stipend committee

• Lodi-area senators Dave Cox, Lois Wolk admit to gifts; Tom Berryhill case pending

• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts

• Galt City Council avoids budget cuts — for now

• New Lodi Memorial Hospital emergency room opens to the public without a hitch

• Bad bugs, weeds are hot topics at Grape Day

February 2nd, 2010

• Big rig plows 7 cars

• Local business leaders say tourism, Costco, Home Depot may play roles in city's future

• Former Lodian Erica Davis is first paraplegic woman to summit Kilimanjaro

• Jumpers across California

• Correction

• Regional Roundup

• No snow leopards, otters for Micke Grove

• McNerney leads in campaign cash

• Police: Train victim was a Lodi teen

February 1st, 2010

• Find cuddly alpacas not too far from Lodi

• Public Meetings

• Patients can expect faster, better service when Lodi Memorial Hospital's new emergency room opens

• Man killed by Amtrak train in Lodi

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

• Will terrorists be given Miranda warnings? (75)
• Lodi Unified School District president issues warning to speakers over cuts (64)
• President Obama's first year (45)
• Many reject the politics of 'no' (45)
• Islamic symbol in mosaic — what is all the fuss? (44)
• Writer comments on Neely column (42)
• The Home Depot hopes to join Costco at Reynolds Ranch (41)
• Time to shed the convenient sham of 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy (34)
• We need to conduct respectful conversations (30)
• Tasered suspect claims he is Yosemite Sam (25)

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Diaz speaks out

Local fighter defends decision to miss bout

Nick Diaz wants to tell his side of the story. He says he didn't dodge a drug test. He wanted to be the headliner and he wanted to fight Joe Riggs.

Diaz, a Stockton MMA fighter who grew up in Lodi, recently dropped out of his Aug. 15 Strikeforce bout against Jay Hieron. Diaz said he didn't scratch the fight solely because he didn't want to take a drug test, like reports from the California State Athletic Commission and from the Web site of Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu organization, whom Diaz fights for, stated.

A few days before the scheduled fight, Diaz failed to show up for a drug test in Los Angeles. Diaz's license to fight in California had expired and Diaz had to pass a drug test to get it renewed.

Diaz, who has a medical prescription to take marijuana for his Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), would have been banned from fighting in California for a year if he would have failed the test.

Speaking out for the first time since dropping the fight, Diaz said that he didn't want to be secondary bout on the San Jose Strikeforce showdown that listed Gina Carano vs. Cris "Cyborg" Santos — a female MMA bout — as the featured fight.

"I pulled out of this fight on account of them not putting me as the main event because I have beat two of the top-ranked fighters and then you have Gina Carano and Cyborg take the main event over me and Joe Riggs," Diaz said during a training session at Cesar Gracie Academy of Lodi on Monday night. "I thought that was probably going to be a lot better than that girl fight — in my opinion."

Diaz said he was also frustrated that his originally scheduled opponent for the fight, Joe Riggs, dropped out, leaving fight promoters scrambling to find a replacement.

Riggs, who defeated Diaz in a controversial 2006 UFC match that continued when both tangled at the hospital after the fight, pulled out of the Strikeforce fight in late July after suffering a bad reaction to an undisclosed drug. Then there were rumors Diaz would face Phil Baroni or Takanor Gomi, but neither deal panned out. Strikeforce then paired Diaz with Hieron three weeks before the fight was scheduled in San Jose.

"When (Riggs) pulled out of the fight, I didn't want any part of it and then it took them a long time to find me a replacement," Diaz said. "It was discouraging to have fighters back out, then have them bringing in new people and not telling me for sure who I am fighting."

Diaz was also displeased with how the CSAC wanted him to travel to L.A. during his final training preparations.

"Two weeks before the fight or something they start poking at me telling me I need to show up in L.A. and I wouldn't do that regardless before a fight," said Diaz, who explained that he was trying to make weight (170) for the championship fight.

"My opponent backed out on me and now you guys (the CSAC) are messing with me and I didn't want to do it."

Diaz said he is not worried about passing a future drug test, renewing his license or scheduling another fight in California.

Instead, Diaz says he is headed to Japan to fight for DREAM in October. Diaz's opponent hasn't been announced.

Diaz is undergoing serious training to prepare for the fight. Diaz competes in triathlons to help him prepare for fights. This weekend, Diaz will be running, biking and swimming in the Xterra Lake Tahoe Off-Road Triathlon, which includes two 750-meter laps in Lake Tahoe with a 50-meter beach run, a 22-mile bike ride an a 6-mile trail run.

Contact reporter Joelle Milholm at joellem@lodinews.com.