POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Merced County officials warn voters of possible unofficial ballot drop boxes abc30 The Merced County Elections Office warned voters of groups promoting unofficial, illegal ballot drop boxes on Thursday morning. Stanislaus County elections office issues alert about unofficial ballot drop boxes Modesto Bee Stanislaus County election officials are alerting […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Coronavirus update: Stanislaus rules finally ease; 11 new cases, 1 death Modesto Bee Stanislaus County got some welcome news from the state Tuesday: Its positive test rate has improved enough to relax rules on business and other activities. See also: ·       Stanislaus County moves into Red […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Coronavirus Infection rate inches up as county awaits tier designation Modesto Bee Stanislaus County announced its 386th death and 38 new cases on Monday, the eve of a possible easing of state rules on business and other activities. The one death makes for 28 straight days with at least […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Merced candidate says registrar flubbed his statement and needs to do more to fix it Fresno Bee The Merced County Registrar of Voters Office left out a candidate’s statement from the guide supplied to voters, which the candidate says leaves him at a disadvantage. Voter guides for the Nov. […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Modesto voters get seven choices for next mayor to lead city in tough times Modesto Bee Modesto voters will pick among seven mayoral candidates in the Nov. 3 election, the largest number of office-seekers in at least four decades. And they range in experience from a church pastor to […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Why did Merced County move to red tier sooner than expected? New ‘equity metric’ helped Merced Sun-Star Merced County’s increased reopening took place one week earlier than initially projected by county officials due to a recently implemented equity metric that is taken into account by the state, County Public […]

POLICY & POLITICS Robert Costa (PBS Wash Week) Returns to Discuss 2020 Election in Virtual President’s Lecture Series (Free) Fresno State Costa will be the featured speaker for a first-ever virtual version of the President’s Lecture Series at Fresno State, less than a month before the 2020 presidential election.  The President’s Lecture with Costa is […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: After racist social media posts, Calif Democrats thought this race was locked up. Is it? Fresno Bee Democratic Rep. Josh Harder didn’t make the list of the GOP’s top targets for 2020. The freshman Calif congressman looked practically safe in a purple district just two years after unseating four-term […]

POLICY & POLITICS It’s in the mail: Calif sending ballots to all voters Fresno Bee The Nov. 3 election will test Califns’ commitment to voting by mail as the nation’s most populous state offers far fewer in-person polling places, hoping that during a pandemic voters will choose to cast ballots from the safety of their […]

POLICY & POLITICS North SJ Valley: Merced County total COVID-19 cases pass 9K. Outlook for reopening economy still improving Merced Sun-Star The total number of Merced County residents who have contracted the novel coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic surpassed 9,000 on Thursday.  An additional 26 laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported Thursday by […]