News

There's not a school in the Stanislaus District capable of challenging Central Catholic High when it comes to tradition, or its 15 Sac-Joaquin Section football championships.

TURLOCK -- Football success at Pitman High starts with the weights.

Modesto High's football program is rich in tradition, much of the glory is deep in the past. Coach Rod Long was tasked with rekindling that success when he took over in 2001. After going 4-26 his first three years, Modesto is 32-27 with three Modesto Metro Conference titles in six years. The Panthers are aiming for No. 4 this season as The Bee tees up a week of high school football previews.

Sales of new homes unexpectedly sank 12.4 percent in July to the lowest point since the government began keeping records in 1963. It underscored continued weakness in the housing market, which tanked after the expiration this spring of a tax break for home buyers who were already facing a stagnant job market.

Sales of new homes unexpectedly sank 12.4 percent in July from the prior month, underscoring continued weakness in the housing market absent government stimulus.

SALIDA -- The family atmosphere that encompasses all sports at Modesto Christian was something Bruce Pielstick had seen and heard about since arriving on campus April 12, but it didn't sink in until this summer.

The Southern League has a few new faces this fall, as Gustine and Ripon Christian join with hopes that the new environment will be beneficial.

HILMAR -- When the Hilmar High Yellowjackets trot onto the field on Friday nights, they are flanked by local fire engines with lights spinning. The public-address system blares "My Town," Montgomery Gentry's 2002 ode to down-home values.

A cluster of just-released housing statistics all point the same depressing direction: down. Whether it's home sales, housing construction or resale prices, none of the news is good for the Northern San Joaquin Valley or the nation as a whole.
(BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com) Meliton Hernandez, 48, of Winters, shovels dirt at a Village I subdivision in Modesto. Construction workers with G&G Construction Company out of Atwater were busy working on subdivision for track homes in the Village I area on Sharon Ave. and Fine Ave. near Freedom Elementary School in east Modesto on Tuesday. The subdivision, Graham Estates, will have over 30 homes. A completion date was not immediately available. VCI Construction planned to build 24 homes in Graham Estates in 2008 but the work was never completed. The Bee recently reported that Village I homeowners may have been wrongly charged millions of dollars in extra property taxes. August 17, 2010. - Modesto Bee - Brian Ramsay
(BRIAN RAMSAY/bramsay@modbee.com) Construction workers with G&G Construction Company out of Atwater were busy working on subdivision for track homes in the Village I area on Sharon Ave. and Fine Ave. near Freedom Elementary School in east Modesto on Tuesday. The subdivision, Graham Estates, will have over 30 homes. A completion date was not immediately available. VCI Construction planned to build 24 homes in Graham Estates in 2008 but the work was never completed. The Bee recently reported that Village I homeowners may have been wrongly charged millions of dollars in extra property taxes. August 17, 2010. - Modesto Bee - Brian Ramsay

The Inspector who noticed A Crack and Found Structural Problems
lonad News
The home inspector who notices and reports on these types of structural problems can save home owners and buyer's money in the long run by recommending a ...

The end of a popular government stimulus program drove home sales in July to their lowest levels in more than a decade, fueling fresh concerns about the economic recovery.

5 ways to save money when buying a house
Myjoyonline.com
Even though the bank brings in an appraiser, you should hire your own home inspector with experience, preferably an engineer who does home surveys, ...

Everywhere you look, July was rotten for real estate - that's one thing on which the economists and the statistics agree.

Nine Things I Learned From Buying My First House
Patch
are all very technical and a good home inspector is as much a teacher as he is there to find any major problems. In hindsight, I wished we had done more ...

MERCED -- It's a two-school town where neither has a stadium to claim all its own.

SONORA -- The plant is called Mountain Misery, native to the western slopes of the Sierra, and it oozes a pungent sap that sticks to clothes and skin.

TURLOCK -- Turlock Christian still wishes for a football field of its own. More important, it yearns for its own campus.

The Bee kicks off its 2010 high school football previews today, and our Sports section features the Modesto Metro Conference. Here on modbee.com, we've prepared a special interactive presentation of the records of Stanislaus District teams over the past 10 years. Click the headline to see how your school ranks.

San Joaquin Valley lawmakers and homeowners still feel left out of the Obama administration's billion-dollar bids to ease the nation's foreclosure crisis.
DEBBIE NODA/dnoda@modbee.com Renee Jones has an upside down mortgage on her Atwater home, August 17, 2010. Her 3 bedroom 2 bath home is about 1,100 square feet was built in the 1950's and present market value $70,000 but her mortgage is $227,000. - Modesto Bee - Debbie Noda
DEBBIE NODA/dnoda@modbee.com Renee Jones has an upside down mortgage on her Atwater home, August 17, 2010 has made some needed improvements to her kitchen. - Modesto Bee - Debbie Noda