Free Republic

Wednesday Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) opened a hearing to examine the emerging threat to the military from homegrown terrorists within the U.S. and named the armed services as the "most sought-after" target for radical Islamist extremist groups. Rep. Dan Lungren (R.-Calif.) asked Paul Stockton, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, whether "we are at war with violent Islamist extremism."

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – Drivers in Stockton have been dealing with an unusual road hazard for days — a dog that has been dodging traffic and sitting on the side of a Stockton bridge since last Friday. Lisa Dubois has been a dog trainer for 22 years. She believes the dog was abandoned on the bridge and is waiting for its owner to return. She and several other people have tried to save the dog but the scared pooch won’t let anyone get near it.

A California man who initially claimed to a local television station that he was roughed up by "SWAT team" members who allegedly battered down his front door to execute a search warrant related to his estranged wife's unpaid student loans was targeted due to an ongoing probe into alleged financial aid fraud. Local law enforcement officials have thus far not commented on the Stockton man's claim to ABC News 10/KXTV that he was grabbed by the neck and placed in handcuffs in back of a patrol car for six hours as his three children looked on during execution of the...

STOCKTON - A retired truck driver and Vietnam War veteran said Monday that he is forming an armed militia - mostly men with rifles and armbands, four to a car - to patrol Stockton this summer, when at least 43 police officers are to be laid off. Alan Pettet, 66, said he has recruited 18 men, most of whom are ex-military. He said the militia will train at a firing range and "activate" if the city lays off any officer, as it intends by July 1. The likelihood of an armed militia materializing is uncertain - there are legal concerns,...

STOCKTON - A retired truck driver and Vietnam War veteran said Monday that he is forming an armed militia - mostly men with rifles and armbands, four to a car - to patrol Stockton this summer, when at least 43 police officers are to be laid off.

<p>Imagine living in a city with the country's highest rate for violent crime and the second-highest unemployment rate. As an added kicker you need more Superfund dollars allocated to your city to clean up contaminated toxic waste sites than just about any other metro.</p>

Stockton, Calif. (AP) -- The city council voted to ask the California Supreme Court to rehear a case in which the court ruled Stockton could no longer sell vehicles seized from drug dealers and solicitors of prostitutes. City officials said Tuesday the court's 4-3 ruling last week deprived the city of an effective crime-fighting tool. The ruling overturned the laws of more than two dozen cities from Oakland to Los Angeles, and established that only state law can determine punishment drug and prostitution offenses. A Stockton ordinance allows police to seize and sell the cars of people caught selling drugs...

Stockton, Calif. (AP) -- The state's Supreme Court heard arguments this week challenging a Stockton ordinance that allows police to seize and sell the cars of people caught selling drugs or soliciting prostitutes while behind the wheel. More than two dozen California communities have similar ordinances, but Stockton resident Kendra O'Connell has filed a lawsuit that could block the practice. O'Connell never had her car seized but filed the suit as a concerned citizen who objected to Stockton's seizure law, said her lawyer, Mark Clausen. The city should not have the right to take away somebody's car for these relatively...

President Bush traveled to California today to speak at fundraisers for Congressmen Richard Pombo and John Doolittle. Later, the president visited with the students and faculty at the nearby George W. Bush Elementary School, named in his honor. Click here for the complete transcript at the Pombo fundraiser. And click here for the president’s remarks during the school visit. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos and Latin American defense ministers in Managua, Nicaragua. Enjoy your Tuesday visit to Sanity Island

Diana Sue Sylvester had been living in San Francisco only six months when she was raped and killed in the Sunset District after walking home from work at UCSF, three days before Christmas in 1972. On Friday, San Francisco police said DNA evidence and a computer search of sex offender records finally had led them to a suspect. John Puckett, 72, a retired carpet installer living in Stockton, was arrested at a trailer he shared with his wife, Marlene, and is expected to be arraigned next week on murder charges in the slaying of the 25-year-old nurse. "Even though he's...

Stockton, CA: Former US congressman Pete McCloskey, who is again a candidate in the US Congressional Dist 11, April 7 reached out to hundreds of Muslim voters in Stockton with the primary purpose to register unregistered Muslim voters. He was speaking at a meeting organized by Mr. K. Saif at AMA’s behest. Others, including Maad Abu-Ghazalah, a two-time former candidate for US Congress, and local activist K. Saif, were also there to urge the Muslim community to register to vote, and exercise the power of their vote for those candidates who support civil liberty and human rights for everyone. Mr....

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Sat Aug 20,12:24 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO - The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one of the nation's most deadly military accidents. Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific. Instead, it appears that the retired battleship is...

Eight workers at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility have been medically cleared after tests showed they were not exposed to chemical agents. (Nov 12, 2004) -- STOCKTON, Utah (AP) -- A scare for eight workers at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Stockton. Tests show the workers were not exposed to chemical agents. That word today from officials at the Deseret Chemical Depot. The workers were given medical evaluations for possible exposure to VX nerve agent. Those were conducted after entries into the toxic area were suspended last Tuesday with the discovery of a contaminated breathing air supply...

Our sons multiple stabbing is not attempted murder in California

September 24, 2004 Filmmaker’s anti-Bush crusade comes to Stockton By SCOTT CRONICK For The Press, (609) 272-7017 GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Whether you love him or hate him, Michael Moore sure draws a crowd. The 4,000 students, faculty members and general public, plus the 50-plus protesters outside The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Sports Center, where the "Fahrenheit 9-11" creator spoke Thursday night, all had one thing in common: Moore's politics. The most popular President Bush basher in the country made a tour stop at Stockton to spread his liberal doctrine and try to influence people to vote for Democratic...

Lisa and Albert Darmousseh of Turlock may have a little piece of Mars in their backyard. At least they hope so. Lisa Darmousseh was watching the Olympics Monday just before midnight when she heard a thud in her backyard. She went out to investigate but didn't see anything. The next afternoon, she noticed divots in the backyard and what looked like several mushrooms or dog droppings. Her husband tried to pick one up with a paper towel and said it still felt hot. "When we saw it at 5:30 or so, the smoke was still coming out of this one,"...

A levee has broken near Stockton, sparcely populated but people are being evacuated

Suspect arrested in I-580 shootings By Lisa Fernandez Mercury News The California Highway Patrol arrested a 27-year-old Stockton man today and charged him with eight counts of attempted murder in one-day spate of shootings at cars traveling along Interstate 580 last month. Christopher Charles Gafford was arrested at 6:30 a.m. at his home in Stockton. A black truck matching a description given by witnesses to the shootings was found at his home. Investigators will not say if any weapon was recovered, but that added they are still seeking other possible suspects or accomplices. Little is known about a motive for...

Well, it's Black History Month, and I'll bet you haven't heard one thing about George S. Schuyler (1895-1977). George S. Schuyler was, simply, the greatest black journalist this country has ever produced. (Normally, I eschew qualifiers like "greatest black," as opposed to "greatest," period, but this is journalism we're talking about. I will never, in five lifetimes of sitting in newspaper morgues, looking at microfilms of ancient newsprint, be able to read enough to determine who America's greatest journalist was.) From 1924-1966, he bestrode the black press like a colossus. Working for Robert Lee Vann's (1879-1940) Pittsburgh Courier weekly newspaper,...

SACRAMENTO -- Those who like politics will love 2004. Those who don't, won't -- especially in and around Stockton, where some of the state's toughest political battles will be fought. President Bush is set to shatter spending records in his bid for a second term, and Republicans promise to spend buckets of cash trying to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer. That alone should be enough to inundate Californians with political advertising. But people in the San Joaquin County area will get a further dose, since they'll be host to California's fiercest state Senate campaign and a pair of multimillion-dollar...