The city has had a moratorium in effect against the sale of pot in the city limits, and now wants to make the prohibition permanent.

The band, which performs Wednesday night at the Gallo Center for the Arts, is releasing a new album — its first in 10 years — at the end of September. "World Gone Crazy" features the already-released single "Nobody."

As one Obama administration official told the Los Angeles Times in March:

"If you are operating a medical marijuana clinic that is actually a front, we'll come after you. But if you are operating within the law, we are not going to prioritize our resources to go after them."

During a court appearance in Modesto Friday, Jesse James White was ordered to return Aug. 30 to set a trial date.

The 21-year-old White is facing one count of felony possession of cocaine and two counts of misdemeanor possession of marijuana after authorities say they found marijuana and cocaine in his home during a search in May.

The move comes 8½ months after police discovered a $1 million marijuana growing operation in a home owned by the city at Dry Creek Park.

The Stanislaus County district attorney's office filed the charges Wednesday, nearly a month after White was arrested during a probation search. Sheriff's deputies said they found small amounts of the drugs during the search.

"They're a fraud; they're a sham," said Stanislaus County Deputy District Attorney Shawn Barlow, who prosecutes major narcotics cases. "It's just people growing marijuana, putting it in their car and delivering it to people."

Firefighters were dispatched to the home at 345 Semple Street — a few blocks southeast of McHenry and East Morris avenues — on a report of a potential structure fire, according to Battalion Chief Hugo Patino of the Modesto Fire Department. Firefighters extinguished a small fire in the room of the empty house that contained the pot grow, Patino said. They called police.

Hold a public hearing on the issuance of California Municipal Finance Authority bonds for a solar energy system at Foster Farms Dairy. The city would have no financial liability if the bonds are approved.

He's asking for money in a mailer in which he says he's running for state office to promote "personal responsibility."

Kristy Tribuzio, 36, and Brian Robinson, 38, face up to a year in jail after undercover officers said they caught the two operating an unauthorized needle exchange in a south Modesto park in April 2009.

Robert Jacob has invited local law enforcement and representatives in the county to create a public forum where a model for best practices can be discussed and formed for dispensing medical cannabis in the county.

That is, until Modesto realized Boski's license was for a medical marijuana delivery service.

A city staff report prepared for the council explains that someone recently asked about the process needed to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Livingston. City Manager Richard Warne didn't know who that person was or whether he or she owns established dispensaries in California.

Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2010/01/04/994151/getting-back-in-the-swing.html#ixzz0trvgPsKD

The public had a chance to weigh in on a possible moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries Thursday night as the Yreka City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting with two related ordinances up for discussion.
The first commenter from the public told the council that she had tried various prescriptions for health problems and problems with sleep. She stated that while on certain medications she had been at risk for bodily harm, in one instance driving in her sleep and crashing her car.

Now, more than two years after his arrest, the case against DeMoura, 35, and the Oakdale Natural Choice Collective has come up empty.

Fire crews were called to the house at Scenic Road and El Vista Avenue at 9 p.m. after residents reported seeing the fire.

Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2009/11/03/918470/fire-destroys-modesto-house-that.html#ixzz0qBqUADo5

The city leases the house to a man through Wolverine Property Management, which has overseen five homes located within city parks since 2005.

Weedmaps is a founder of The Dispensary Defense Group, headed by Richard Cowan, former Director of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Oh, spare us. Please.

Spare us the posturing, the preening, the "Reefer Madness" rhetoric. We understand that these things are required of both elected and appointed officials in Stanislaus County, but that doesn't mean we have to like hearing or seeing it.

Stanislaus is one of just 12 of the state's 58 counties that does not already have an identification card program, which is required by state law. The programs issue identification cards to medical marijuana users who ask for them. The cards can then be shown to law enforcement officers when patients are stopped and questioned about possession of the drug.

Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, both 28, were convicted in May of manufacturing marijuana and distributing the drug, as well as operating a continuing criminal enterprise.

A federal judge in Fresno on Friday sentenced 28-year-old Luke Scarmazzo to nearly 22 years and 28-year-old Ricardo Montes to 20 years for manufacturing marijuana and possessing it with intent to distribute.

Jurors Craig Will of Twain Hart and Larry Silva of Tollhouse say they wouldn't have found the men guilty had they known the penalty was 20 years to life in prison.

Police Chief Marty West said Oakdale joins Modesto, Riverbank, Ceres and Turlock in banning dispensaries.

The city hasn't received a request to open a dispensary, West noted. It would only be a matter of time before a request arrived, he said, because of the bans in neighboring cities.

Authorities on Thursday seized 73 marijuana plants and about 8 pounds of harvested pot, according to Sgt. Craig Gundlach of the Modesto Police Department.

He praised a jury in Fresno, Calif., for convicting Ricardo Montes and Luke Scarmazzo on Thursday on federal drug trafficking charges, one of which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years.

A Fresno, Calif., federal jury found Modesto residents Luke Anthony Scarmazzo, 28, and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, 28, guilty of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, growing marijuana and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday.

Luke Anthony Scarmazzo, 28, and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, 28, were convicted by a federal jury Fresno on Thursday of conducting a continuing criminal enterprise, growing marijuana and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute.

Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, both 27, were found guilty by a federal jury in Fresno on all charges except for a conspiracy charge, on which the jurors deadlocked.

Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, both 27, immediately were taken into custody.

But the defendant was prepared to detail the key events of that short lifetime, moving quickly through his childhood in Modesto and into his success at high school athletics. Stellar performance on the football team helped his prospects for higher education, and in 1999, he enrolled at Mesa College in San Diego.

He was vindicated Monday and awarded $800.

Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Ruiz Montes, both 27, face the possibility of life in prison after federal authorities in September 2006 raided a medical marijuana dispensary they operated in Modesto.

Ricardo Ruiz Montes and Luke Scarmazzo, both 27, were arrested with seven others in September 2006 after a 15-month investigation by the Modesto police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

In the federal government's view, the case against the Modesto, Calif., resident and co-defendant Ricardo Ruiz Montes is fairly simple: they broke the law by selling marijuana through their business, California Healthcare Collective.

That call has rung out more often than usual in Modesto City Hall since September 2006, when the City Council adopted an ordinance clarifying its ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Since then, the council approved seven other municipal laws. A few more are on the way.

Some of the ordinances targeted unexpected trends, such as a rise in metal theft.

Michael O'Leary stands outside the Stanislaus County CourthouseThe two brothers have been prosecuted in Stanislaus County Superior Court ever since the June 2006 raid of their medical marijuana dispensary, The Healthy Choice. Nevertheless, both O’Learys will be walking away from the case with no jail time.

Addison DeMoura, who owns Oakdale Natural Choice Collective Inc., was arrested after county drug enforcement agents and the Oakdale Police Department raided the dispensary and his home on July 31. He has not been charged.

Janice Keating and Will O'Bryant took issue with PowerPoint slides officers gave the council Jan. 8 describing reasons to pass separate measures banning Dumpster diving and increasing penalties for possessing alcohol in city parks.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to support the ordinance, which mirrors ordinances adopted by the cities of Modesto, Ceres, Merced, Patterson, Atwater and Los Banos. Many other cities have moratoriums on dispensaries.

The growers valued the loss at $12,000 to $16,000. They had tended the buds from seeds for nine months in a greenhouse full of bell peppers, tomatoes, corn and sunflowers.

No one has been arrested.

The four men each had medical clearance to use marijuana, which allowed them to grow cannabis for personal use, the Modesto police reported.