The Modesto Focus

Reading Time: 3 minutes Editor’s Note: Politics Focus is a weekly opinion column written by Garth Stapley, Modesto Focus accountability reporter. To have it delivered directly to your inbox, subscribe to our newsletter. Hey Focus fans. Sorry, no happy exclamation point this time with the above greeting. I’m in a bad mood. As hard as this is to believe or accept, a total of 5,150 ballots cast by Stanislaus voters in the past two elections – November 2025 and June 2026 – were not counted.

Overview: An ag-tech nonprofit is launching a supercomputer at Fresno State – the first-of-its-kind in the region – to help farmers use AI to solve daily problems, and bring resources and technological support to Valley researchers and students. Reading Time: 3 minutes On a bright sunny day in the Central Valley city of Selma, farmer Drew Ketelson was out with his crews harvesting nectarines.

Reading Time: 5 minutes A new 911 Nurse Navigation program launched in June by American Medical Response and Stanislaus County aims to reduce the number of non-emergency ambulance runs to hospital emergency rooms by referring those patients to other forms of medical care. Two neighboring counties are also expected to have Nurse Navigation in place in the coming months, perhaps by the end of 2026.

Reading Time: 2 minutes Hundreds of thousands of children and recent college graduates in Stanislaus County have money waiting to be claimed through the CalKIDS program. The California Kids Investment and Development Savings Program (CalKIDS), established as part of the 2019-2020 state budget, invests money into education savings accounts for eligible children. More than $38 million dollars are still waiting to be claimed by families across the county.

Reading Time: 10 minutes Modestans can expect loud celebrations and quiet community gatherings as we reach the halfway point in the summer in July. Many travelers will make their way through Modesto this month for a mix of free and ticketed events. The Stanislaus County Fair returns to bring 10 days of fun, food and ag-related festivities to the Valley. The State will host a famous TikTok-er, and motorists from across the country will complete an impressive trek at the Graffiti USA Museum.

Overview: The new state budget that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed includes $55 million for the DMV to build a data-sharing system, a program meant to bring the state in compliance with the federal REAL ID law. Reading Time: 3 minutes The Department of Motor Vehicles is on track to share driver’s license and identification data with an outside network despite concerns from immigrant advocates that the information could expose people to deportation.

Reading Time: 4 minutes Oakdale will host its first Pride Month event on Sunday, but not without some controversy that ultimately galvanized considerable community support. Last week, a call went out to supporters of CalPride Stanislaus, a nonprofit that supports the LGBTQ+ community in the Valley, to show up at the Oakdale City Council meeting. A local church planned to protest the group’s permit for Oakdale Pride, which was originally slated for June 28 at Dorada Park.

Reading Time: 5 minutes When Nadie Gonzalez arrived from Mexico to south Modesto, she knew no one outside of her family and didn’t speak the language. She was afraid, dealing with mental health problems, and didn’t know how to navigate local resources. But then she learned about a RAIZ Promotora group and met a group of women who looked and  spoke like her, plus also understood her experience as an immigrant.

Reading Time: 8 minutes The number of senior citizens who live alone in the San Joaquin Valley has grown by more than 30% since 2012, adding to a population at increased risk to both physical and mental health. That amounts to almost one out of four Valley residents over the age of 65 living with no spouse, family or significant other.

Reading Time: 3 minutes At Modesto Junior College, engineering students don’t fear AI – instead, they are taught that, without their human creativity, it’s not a very powerful tool. Paloma Ramirez, a second year mechanical engineering student and member of MJC’s Math Engineering and Science Achievement (MESA) program, plans to see just how far her creativity can take her.