A 2020 Orestimba High graduate was killed in a weekend traffic accident in Turlock.

GUSTINE - Students returned to Gustine Unified School District classrooms Monday morning to resume in-person instruction, following a hiatus from the traditional classroom dating back to mid-December.

NEWMAN - The city’s vision for a multi-faceted community conservation area moved a step closer to fruition recently when Newman was awarded a $6.4 million grant to build one component of the project.

GUSTINE - City officials are fielding complaints from residents about brown water flowing from household taps in various neighborhoods, but as of late last week could only venture theories as to the cause.

NEWMAN - A proposed convenience store, fueling station and car wash got the green light last week from the Newman Planning Commission.

NEWMAN - The city is updating its vision for the Highway 33 corridor running through Newman, with guidance from community members.

NEWMAN - The city will host two virtual workshops this month to receive community input on a new, nature-based park proposed for development on a 78-acre parcel southeast of Newman.

GUSTINE - Zachery Ramos, President/Founder of the Gustine Traveling Library, is one of 30 literacy leaders named to the International Literacy Association’s (ILA) 2021 30 Under 30 list. The global list celebrates rising innovators, disruptors and visionaries in the literacy field.

GUSTINE - City Council members have expressed an interest in extending assistance to Gustine businesses hit hard by the pandemic.

NEWMAN - The Newman City Council is back at full strength.

A strong winter storm soaked the West Side last week, drenching the area with rainfall which reportedly approached five inches from Tuesday night through Friday morning.

A new restaurant serving up homestyle fare recently opened its doors for business in Gustine.

NEWMAN – The city will bring in a consulting firm to conduct a public outreach campaign allowing residents to prioritize park projects and improvements.

GUSTINE - A Gustine resident has incorporated his military and emergency medical training and experience into a business offering courses on firearm safety and use, personal protection and CPR/first aid.

NEWMAN - The Labrador constantly at the side of 11-year-old Kiley Stevens may, literally, prove to be a life-saver.

GUSTINE - The City Council last week signed off on a conceptual design for a proposed full-scale renovation of the aging municipal pool, including replacement of the existing pool building.

NEWMAN - Sergeant Chad Earle, whose law enforcement career spanned nearly 18 years with the Newman Police Department, has retired to pursue business interests.

NEWMAN – As a police Explorer in Modesto nearly a decade ago, Marcus Freeman gravitated toward the department’s K-9 units.

The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine is the top priority for Stanislaus County’s new District 5 supervisor.

GUSTINE – As local public schools have reverted solely to distance learning in the face of the surging COVID-19 pandemic, classroom instruction has continued on schedule at Our Lady of Miracles Catholic School.

NEWMAN – The city has further scaled back its revised Phase I annexation application for the Northwest Newman project.

Pharmacies in Newman and Gustine are planning to participate in the COVID-19 vaccine program but as of earlier were still awaiting the arrival of doses.

NEWMAN - One of Newman’s longest-tenured firefighters has retired from the local volunteer department.

GUSTINE - Local police officers have a new tool at their disposal to enforce speed laws.

GUSTINE - A local school board member and two friends are planning to develop a downtown youth center in Gustine.

GUSTINE - A cannabis micro-business is expected to open its doors in Gustine in February, the owner told Mattos Newspapers recently.

NEWMAN - The city’s efforts to bring normalcy as best possible in the face of an ongoing pandemic will continue in 2021, and even with the COVID-related challenges officials plan to complete a number of improvement projects in the year ahead.

NEWMAN - West Side Community Ambulance ushered in the New Year by putting two new ambulances into service Thursday afternoon.

NEWMAN - The Newman-Crows Landing Unified School District ushered in 2020 with every expectation of a typical second semester all that it entailed in bringing another year to a close.

The deepening pandemic has clouded the prospects for high school athletics resuming this school year.

GUSTINE - An ongoing California Fish & Wildlife campaign to eradicate nutria, an invasive, semi-aquatic rodent which can wreak havoc with levees and destroy wildlife habitat, has removed dozens of the animals from Gustine wastewater treatment plant property in recent weeks.