Here are the top graduating students for 2012 from Lodi High School:

Here are the top graduating students for 2012 from Tokay High School:

Two Lodi High School graduates were among the top four in the nation for projects recognized recently at the National FFA Convention held in Indiana.

Here are the top graduating students for 2013 from Tokay High School:

As reflected by recently released test scores, Lodi Unified School District has some success stories, including Lodi High and Morada Middle School — but also several campuses that are lagging, including George Washington Elementary and Millswood Middle schools.

Galt Joint Union High School District students and their famlies should not expect to see any change in their transportation services for the remainder of the school year.

Local school districts' futures hang in the balance during the November election. Voters will have the opportunity to choose higher taxes or nearly $12 million in education cuts statewide when voting on the California Sales and Income Tax Initiative.

The Lodi Unified School District and the Galt Joint Union Elementary and High School districts could face shortened school years, increased class sizes and cuts to busing.

If the November tax initiative is passed, the state budget and education funding will remain as is. If the initiative fails, up to $460 per student per year will be withheld from Lodi Unified, or about $12.3 million.

While Lodi residents won't have a say on Lodi Unified's $114 million bond measure on the November ballot, they could still feel the effects if it fails.

Here are the top 10 local sports stories as chosen by News-Sentinel sports staff:

Flame fever has taken hold at Lodi High and all around town. Riding the wave of momentum of two big playoff wins, including a 48-16 blowout over McNair last week in Lodi's only game at the Grape Bowl this season, the Flames are having fun on the field and getting better in each game.

All eight part-time hourly Galt Adult School teachers will be laid off at the end of the school year, as the Galt Joint Union High School District responds to the governor's proposal to shift adult education to the community college system.

A Galt elementary trustee has resigned and the district is planning to seat a provisional appointee next month.

Four runners will be representing the Lodi area on Monday in the 115th Annual Boston Marathon. Two, Joe Barber and Janine Jacinto, are veterans to the famous race. Two, Sally Majidian and Sarah Takahashi, are first-timers.

All four are cherishing the opportunity to run the 26.2 miles in one of the country's biggest and most popular races because they know it could be their last chance to do it. Due to changes in the registration process starting with the 2012 race, runners will have to have faster qualifying times to be eligible for the race.

Ricky Gill: Youth didn't block Lodi man's bid for Congress

At the ripe old age of 25, Ricky Gill raised some eyebrows in 2012 by not only running for Congress, but giving three-term incumbent Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, all he could handle in his bid for re-election.

Jeff Merrill likens a mile to two worlds colliding: The strategy and aerobic endurance of distance running, combined with the explosiveness of sprinting.

Some parents and high school graduates are questioning the value of a college education these days, and for good reason.

It was in a chair in front of a movie screen that Sophoan Sorn began traveling the world. He was 5. And in that movie house in a refugee camp in Thailand, where he was born, a young Sorn fell in love with movies: The excitement, the emotions evoked, the places they revealed.

With state funding cuts and per-unit fees doubling over the last 15 years, is junior college less the bargain it once was?