A former Lodi City Council member who narrowly won election in 2020 by allegedly orchestrating a voter fraud scheme that involved registering dozens of fake voters and stashing completed mail-in ballots at his home was sentenced this month to three years in county jail.

The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group is being redeployed from other operations to the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln to bolster presence amid escalating pressure on Iran over its nuclear program. This extension could set deployment records and signals stronger U.S. military posture in the region. The move comes as the Trump administration seeks to curb Iranian ambitions.