The Davis Enterprise Sunday, November 27, 2022

‘Ignite Our Moment’

Organizers reveal theme for Picnic Day 2023

By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer

The 12-student Picnic Day Board of Directors announced the theme of UC Davis’ 2023 Picnic Day: “Ignite Our Moment”.

“This year’s theme exemplifies

Davis and what we stand for,” said Jesse Goodman, chair of this year’s Picnic Day. “Our theme honors the past, chal lenging times while capturing the opportunity to seize change in our university, community and country.”

The board selected the theme to showcase the bright passion the students have for UC Davis and the community. “This theme is meant to bring us together and celebrate our unique passions that we have as

students of UC Davis,” Good man said.

To be held on Saturday, April 15, one of the largest studentrun events in the nation, Picnic Day celebrates the richness of campus life; highlights the diverse achievements of UC Davis students, alumni, staff and faculty; and provides a day of education, information and entertainment. The day’s events include fun for the whole family with a children’s fair, musical and dance performances.

“Ignite Our Moment” repre sents who we are as a commu nity and the atmosphere on campus this year, Goodman said. “UC Davis is back to the bustling campus we know and love — one with continuous learning, groundbreaking research and studies, and enduring memories and rela tionships.”

Interested students in joining the Picnic Day Board, are asked

Respiratory viruses increasing in Davis

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Yolo County — and the city of Davis — continue to see an increase in COVID-19 transmission, the county’s health officer reported last week.

“Since early November, Yolo’s COVID-19 case rate has increased 72 percent from 4.7 cases per 100,000 people per day to 8.1,” Dr. Aimee Sis son told Yolo County supervisors on Tuesday. “While these levels are nowhere near the record high of 254 in January of 2022, they represent a significant increase in transmission.”

The increased case rate is consis tent with the increases in wastewater levels of the virus that causes COVID-19, Sisson said.

Those wastewater levels “are higher now than they were at the beginning of November in every monitoring location in Yolo County except for Woodland.”

And wastewater levels reported in Davis on Tuesday, she said, were the highest seen since July.

Due to the increased case rate, Yolo County moved from the moderate community transmission level to the

DiNunzio readies for second term

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

After serving one term on the school board, Joe DiNunzio is ready for his second after winning the election for Area 3 Trustee on the school board. Daunting as it is to serve on the school board, DiNunzio is ready to carry over his experience from his first term to better serve the school district in his sec ond.

Hailing from just outside of Boston, DiNunzio moved out west to attend graduate school at Stan ford. He met his wife in San Francisco and they moved to Davis in 2002 when she opted for a career change into the veterinary field.

Although they thought it was only a temporary stay in northern California, the couple fell in love with

California revises its greenhouse-gas strategy

By Nadia Lopez Special to The Enterprise

The California Air Resources Board today unveiled a new version of its highly-anticipated strategy for battling cli mate change, setting more ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gases and scaling up con troversial projects that capture carbon.

If adopted by the air board at its Dec. 15 meet ing, the plan would radi cally reshape California’s economy, alter how Cali fornians’ vehicles, build ings and appliances are powered, and ultimately serve as a blueprint for

other states and countries to follow.

“Failure is not an option,” said air board Chair Liane Randolph. “There is too much at stake and we need to move as fast and as far as we can to lessen the worst impacts of climate change and leave future genera tions a livable and healthy California.”

The five-year climate change strategy, called a scoping plan, outlines in its 297 pages how Califor nia could end its reliance on oil and also clean up the nation’s worst air pollution.

The UC Davis marching band performs at 2019’s Picnic Day Parade in downtown Davis.

Owen Yancher/ enterprise file phOtO

Davis, had twins shortly thereafter DiNunizo’s wife’s

See DiNUNZIO, Page A6

cOurtesY phOtO

In first stint as a school board trustee, Juoe DiNunzio served as board president during a pandemic. He begins a new term as conditions return to something more normal.

Briefly Fire damages Davis residence

Davis and UC Davis

Fire Department crews responded to a blaze that damaged a down town-area residence Thursday evening.

Battalion Chief Mike Porter said a resident of the home in the 600 block of D Street emerged from the bath room to find the livingroom area on fire. That person escaped safely, and crews arrived on scene shortly after 6 p.m.

“They were able to bring the fire under control with those units,” Porter said. No injuries were reported, “but there was pretty significant smoke dam age throughout the res idence.”

The cause of the fire remains under investi gation.

Choral group presents concert

Voices of California, a barber shop chorus, will present its “Happy Har mony for the Holidays” concert in Davis on Dec. 10 from 2 to 4 p.m.

The concert willbe at Davis High School’s Brunelle Performance Hall, 315 W. 14th St.

Guest performers include Three of a Kind, the Woodland Chamber Singers and Artistic License.

Buy tickets at www. voicesofcalifornia.org.

Premium tickets go for $30, general for $20, and students for $12.

We could all use a boundary coach

“How to answer those dreaded personal questions at holiday gatherings,” said the hopeful head line over a CNN story penned by Madeline Holcombe.

With Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror, but December loaded with all sorts of “holiday gather ing” possibilities, I suppose this is a worthy topic for discussion, even if I’ve never actually experienced dreaded personal questions at hol iday gatherings. Or elsewhere.

I mean, why would you invite someone to your party who is likely to ask such questions and why would you attend someone else’s party where this was likely to happen.

The typical story is that these things generally happen at family gatherings, where everyone in the family gets an invitation, whether or not they voted for Donald Trump.

In other words, these encoun ters are unavoidable, since most family members will feel duty bound to attend, even at the risk that Uncle Fred from Fargo will show up and ask you what you’re

doing with your life now that you’ve flunked out of college and lost your job at the five and dime.

“The table is set, friends and family draw near, and you already know what comments or ques tions are going to come your way,” the story begins.

“Maybe the remarks are about food, your weight, money, rela tionships, career or kids.”

Seriously?

I’ve never had anyone other than a doctor ask me directly about my weight, though I wouldn’t be surprised when our guests are safely in their car to return home, they look at each other, raise a concerned eyebrow and say “Looks like our friend Bob has put on a few pounds. If I were

Planning commissioners to consider Downtown Plan

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

The long awaited Down town Davis Specific Plan will go before the city’s planning commission on Tuesday.

Five years in the making, the plan, if ultimately approved by the City Coun cil, will guide the longterm development of downtown Davis, establishing a vision for downtown and imple menting a form-based code for the area.

That code will replace existing zoning for proper ties downtown, making development more predict able by focusing on physi cal form, rather than uses, for buildings.

“A goal of the Downtown Plan is to improve opportu nities for reinvestment and development for a mix of uses in a way that is more predictable and feasible,” the staff report prepared for Tuesday’s meeting notes.

“The Downtown Plan envisions up to 1,000 new residential units and up to 600,000 square feet of new commercial space for buildout under the plan. It establishes a hierarchy of built form implemented through the form based code with more intense development focused in the core area and on the major commercial streets.”

The plan coming before planning commissioners

on Tuesday has been in the works since 2017. The city’s consultant team, Opticos Design, Inc., worked with city staff and the Down town Plan Advisory Com mittee and included community outreach in the development of a draft plan and form based code com pleted in 2019.

Completion of an envi ronmental impact report followed.

On Tuesday, planning commissioners will hold a public hearing and decide whether to recommend City Council members approve the plan.

That meeting will be held remotely beginning at 6 p.m.

Members of the public can view and participate the following ways:

n Via City of Davis Gov ernment Channel 16 (avail able to those who subscribe to cable television)

n Livestreamed online at https://cityofdavis.org/ city-hall/city-council/citycouncil-meetings/meetingvideos

n Via Zoom at https:// us06web.zoom.us/j/ 83050188618

The City Council is expected to consider the plan Dec. 13.

— Reach Anne TernusBellamy at aternus@ davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ ATernusBellamy.

him, I’d wear my T-shirt out rather than tucking it in.”

I do know that if the first thing a friend or neighbor says if they haven’t seen you for a while is “You’re looking good,” you’re not.

Nobody tells our teenage son “You’re looking good.”

If they toss in a “so,” as in “You’re looking so good,” it’s prob ably time to head for the emer gency room.

Then again, maybe they’re just fishing for a compliment.

“You’re looking so good, Bob.”

“No, you’re the one who’s look ing so good.”

This is the reason that at high school reunions of more than 25 years they require everyone to wear a name tag, just so you know who it is you’re lying to about their good looks.

When someone says something inappropri ate or uncomfortable, the article suggests that instead of seething or lashing out, we set some boundaries.

“Setting boundaries might seem like the start of a fight, but it’s just a way to communicate what your

needs are and what you are OK with,” according to a “boundary coach” in Utah.

They have boundary coaches in Utah? Isn’t that the person who stands on the sidelines in a foot ball game and signals when you’re out of bounds?

Do people actually call their boundary coach on the night before Christmas because they know Aunt Freida from Fresno is showing up Christmas morning and is likely to tell them there’s mildew in their shower?

Is there some sort of doctorate associated with becoming a boundary coach or can you just hang up a shingle and start charg ing folks $300 an hour to give someone the courage to tell Fred and Frieda to go back to Fargo and Fresno and don’t ever come back?

I’m beginning to think it may be time to switch professions and move to Utah.

And fearlessly attend every holi day gathering I’m invited to.

— Reach Bob Dunning at bdunning@davisenterprise.net.

Two dead, one injured in I-80 crash

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

Two people died and a third suffered major injuries in an early Thanksgiving Day collision in Davis, the California Highway Patrol reported.

Yolo County coroner's officials Friday identified one of the victims as Lyubov Vorona, who turned 27 earlier this month. Her city of residence was not immediately known.

The name of the male driver had not been released as of late Friday morning pending notification of his next of kin, Chief Deputy Coroner Gina Moya said. The CHP did not release the name of the injured passenger.

Officers responded shortly after 2:30 a.m. Thursday to the crash scene on County Road 32A between Mace Boulevard

and County Road 105, determining the Ford had been traveling westbound on Interstate 80 "at a high rate of speed," according to a CHP news release.

"For unknown reasons, the vehicle was driven from the roadway, traveling in a northwesterly direction, coming to rest on County Road 32A," the news release said. "As a result of this collision, the driver and front passenger succumbed to the injuries they sustained in the colli sion. A third passenger sustained major injuries."

The collision remains under investiga tion, and it's unknown whether alcohol or drugs played a role in the crash, CHP officials said. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the CHP's Woodland0-area office at 530662-4685.

Cal Poly under fire for offering position after harassment scandal

By Oden Taylor CalMatters

Backlash is growing to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s granting of a teaching position to former Cal State chancellor Joseph Castro, who resigned in the wake of alle gations he mishandled sexual harassment complaints against another administrator.

The controversy over the appointment of Castro as a pro fessor of leadership and public policy in the university’s Orfalea College of Business revolves around a provision in some Cal State executives’ contracts that allows them to ‘retreat’ into the faculty once they leave their roles. Those ‘retreat rights’ have come under increased scrutiny since figuring in a February USA Today investigation that documented the sexual harassment allegations against former Fresno State administrator Frank Lamas and Castro’s response. The university’s board of trustees last week passed the second of two measures restricting their use.

Castro plans to start work at Cal Poly in the spring of 2023.

On Nov. 8, the university’s Aca demic Senate, which represents its faculty, published a resolution calling on Castro to turn down his appointment as professor, argu ing that his presence at Cal Poly “will generate a chilling effect on our campus and classroom cli mate.”

“It makes people very nervous about having someone who has a potential history of not managing Title IX issues very well now put into the classroom as a mandated reporter,” said Academic Senate chair Thomas Gutierrez, refer ring to the federal law governing campuses’ handling of sexual harassment claims.

According to the USA Today investigation, while acting as the campus president of Fresno State University, Castro was aware of at least seven complaints of sexual harassment against Frank Lamas, then-head of campus student

affairs — including that he “stared at women’s breasts, touched women inappropriately, made sexist remarks, and berated, belittled, and retaliated against employees.”

Yet he reached a settlement with Lamas allowing him to leave the university with $260,000 and a letter of recommendation, later telling USA Today he was afraid Lamas would exercise the retreat rights provision in his contract if he did not do so. In choosing to teach at Cal Poly SLO, Castro is now using that same benefit.

A CSU-commissioned review of the Fresno State case by attor ney Mary Lee Wegner concluded in September that Castro had allowed Lamas’ misconduct to continue by not taking more aggressive and consistent action. The university’s systemwide fac ulty union cited the report in a Nov. 14 statement questioning Castro’s fitness to teach leader ship and public policy.

“Castro is poaching a position he does not have a terminal degree in…possibly displacing existing teachers with proven instructional records,” the

California Faculty Association statement added.

In a written response, Castro said that he agreed that Cal State’s Title IX policies needed systemic reform, but that the attorney’s review and media reports about the Fresno State case had unfairly emphasized his role.

“I provided Ms. Wegner with significant documentation that I followed CSU policies and prac tices and the advice of legal and Title IX policy experts in han dling the Lamas matter,” Castro wrote.

He added that it’s common for scholars with doctoral degrees in different disciplines to teach in business schools. (Castro holds a Ph.D. in higher education policy and leadership from Stanford University, according to his biog raphy.)

On Wednesday, the Cal State board of trustees amended its retreat rights policy, giving the university’s leadership discretion over whether to delay a decision on a former administrator’s retreat rights while there is a pending investigation that could result in a finding against them.

Trustees originally passed the policy in July, making adminis trators who had been fired from their jobs or left under the terms of a settlement ineligible for retreat rights. The policy also allows Cal State to investigate and take action against a former administrator accused of miscon duct, even if that person has already exercised retreat rights.

The new policy “is meant to be forward-looking and would not impact Dr. Castro’s opportunity to exercise his retreat rights,” said Cal State spokesperson Mike Uhlenkamp.

That’s not enough for Grace Schweitzer, a third-year psychol ogy student at Cal Poly.

She said she’s concerned that Castro has a “history of ignoring sexual assault and sexual miscon duct allegations against other faculty members.”

“With everything happening in our country, we want our voices to be heard,” Schweitzer said. “We want to feel protected. We want to know that the faculty and administration at Cal Poly are going to hear us and not let our voices be hidden when something occurs.”

The California Faculty Associa

be abolished

executives who don’t have prior teaching experience in the department, calling them “golden parachutes.”

“Retreat rights are really sup posed to be for a faculty member at an institution who moves into administration, but who has been through the process of retention, tenure and promotion in a department that they have already been teaching in,” said California Faculty Association secretary Diane Blair.

“For an executive who doesn’t have any history in that depart ment, who’s never gone through the tenure track process, to be able to just become a tenured full professor in the department — that seems unfair to me.”

— Taylor is a fellow with the CalMatters College Journalism Network, a collaboration between CalMatters and student journal ists from across California. Net work editor Felicia Mello contributed reporting. This story and other higher education cov erage are supported by the Col lege Futures Foundation.

tion is pushing for retreat rights to

for

California State University Chancellor Joseph I. Castro resigned in February after being accused of mishandling sexual harassment allegations while serving as president of Fresno State University.

Cary Edmondson/ FrE sno statE UnivErsity via CalmattErs

Expert urges doctors to consider fungal source for lung infections

Climate change widens spread beyond tropical hot spots

Special to The Enterprise

SACRAMENTO — Infectious-dis eases expert George Thompson has been studying and treating fungal diseases for over two decades. He monitors their spread, symptoms and relative risks. Lately, he has been more concerned about a rising threat: the spread of disease-causing fungi outside of their traditional hot spots.

In a commentary published in Annals of Internal Medicine, Thompson and his co-author from the Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Pre vention Tom Chiller raised the alarm. They noted the expanding presence and emerging risks from three endemic fungal diseases: histoplas mosis, blastomycosis and coccidioi domycosis (Valley fever).

“These three fungal diseases usu ally inhabit specific U.S. regions con ducive to their survival,” said Thompson. He is a professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and the Department of Medical Microbi ology and Immunology. “Recently, we are finding more cases of these dis eases outside their known areas, tak ing clinicians and patients by surprise.”

Emerging global threat

Fungi are microorganisms found abundantly in nature. They include yeasts, molds, mushrooms and more. While most fungi are harmless to humans, some can cause diseases (known as mycoses) that could wreak havoc on patients and the health sys tem.

Recently, the World Health Orga nization released its fungal priority pathogens list, identifying the most concerning fungi that can cause

infections for which drug resistance or other treatment challenges exist. These pathogens are projected to lead to even more problems over the next decade.

Climate change increasing spread

Endemic fungi have traditionally had distinct geographic distributions. Climate changes in temperature and rain are affecting where these fungi thrive.

The authors noted the expanding regions hosting the endemic fungi. Valley fever, for example, was found in Nebraska, way east of its tradi tional hot spots in California and Arizona.

“The organisms are probably much more widespread than we originally thought. There is an increasing likeli hood that clinicians who are not familiar with these organisms will encounter them during their daily practice,” Thompson said.

Missed diagnosis

The three endemic mycoses have many symptoms, including fever, chills, cough, night sweats and fatigue. They may also cause lung infections that mimic pneumonia. As such, they can easily be mistaken for more common viral and bacterial lung infections.

Current guidelines on pneumonia from the American Thoracic Soci ety and the Infectious Diseases Soci ety of America do not offer specific testing or treatment recommenda tions for endemic mycosis. Most prac titioners may have little experience in the recognition and treatment of these fungal lung infections.

About 20% of pneumonia cases in some parts of California and Arizona are caused by Valley fever. Yet, it usu ally takes more than three weeks after symptoms start to get the right diag nosis. It might take even longer to diagnose histoplasmosis and blasto mycosis.

Fungal infections are also

commonly misdiagnosed as bacterial. When this misdiagnosis happens, the patient is prescribed antibiotics that are ineffective for fungal diseases. This also exposes them to unneeded medications and contributes to the rise of antimicrobial resistance in the community. The authors urged physi cians to take a thorough travel history and run more testing to rule out fun gal infection before giving patients a second round of antibiotics.

“In regions where these fungal dis eases flourish, doctors need to con sider the diagnosis and testing for mycoses in all patients with sugges tive illness,” Thompson recom mended.

The authors identified several fac tors that might contribute to these diagnostic and treatment delays. One is the variation in clinicians’ knowl edge of disease diagnosis and man agement. Another is the lack of point-of-care diagnostics. Panels typically used for the diagnosis of respiratory infections do not include the endemic mycoses. Serum anti body and urinary antigen tests for the endemic mycoses are typically avail able only from certain laboratories.

Plan of action

The authors see an opportunity to improve fungal diagnostic and treat ment practices through better surveil lance and continuing medical education on these regional infec tions. They suggested a multifaceted approach to help with the preventive efforts and the timely recognition and treatment of these diseases. They called for:

n national surveillance and disease reporting of endemic mycoses in both humans and animals n educational efforts for patients and providers n inclusion of endemic mycoses in future pneumonia guidelines n development of point-of-care diagnostic tools n exploration of a pan-endemic mycoses vaccine to prevent infection. —

UC Davis Health News

Virtual toy drive supports hospitalized children

Special to The Enterprise

SACRAMENTO —

Being hospitalized is no fun — especially during the holidays. But you can help make the season more fes tive for pediatric patients and families by supporting the UC Davis Children’s Hospital’s 2022 virtual holiday toy drive, which launches today.

The Virtual Holiday Toy Drive, now in its fourth year, is a fundraising event in lieu of the hospital’s tra ditional gift drive through and drop off.

Obituary

“Donors can help kids from the comfort of home by either shopping for a specific item on our wish list or contributing toward gift purchases,” said Diana Sundberg, manager of the UC Davis child life and creative arts therapy

Jan. 4, 1983 — July 3, 2021

Sarah Pollock was born in East Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 4, 1983, and passed away in Bend, Ore., on July 3, 2021, of gastric cancer.

Sarah leaves a precious daughter, Brighton, of Sac ramento. She leaves her parents, Gerald Pollock and Rebecca Parker; grandmother Annette Parker; and siblings Rachel Pollock and Nathan Pol lock, his wife, Elizabeth Strayer Pollock, and their children, Laila, Samantha and Trevor.

Sarah graduated from

The Enterprise pub lishes brief death notices free of charge.

These include name, age, city of residence, occupation, date of death and funeral/ memorial information. Paid-for obituaries allow for controlled content with the option for photos.

Obituaries will be edited for style and grammar. Submissions may be made via www. davisenterprise.com/ obit-form/.

Davis High School in 2001. Passionate about working with young children, she completed associate’s degrees in ECE and prenursing at American River College. For several years she taught preschool in Sacramento. She graduated from CSUS in Communica tion Sciences and Disorders and accepted a job with Jefferson County Educa tion District in Madras, Ore., where she completed her certificate as a speech and language pathology assistant. When diagnosed,

department.

Funds raised will provide gifts for pediatric patients at UC Davis Children’s Hospital, UC Davis Com prehensive Cancer Cen ter and the UC Davis MIND Institute this holi day season. Additional funds generated will enable the Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department to have toys and games on hand throughout the year to stock hospital play rooms, and for patients’ birthdays and other cele brations and milestones.

“With generous donations

from the community, we have been able to bring the magic of the holidays into the hospital and support families through a stressful time,” Sundberg said. “Being able to provide these gifts is a testament to our community and we could not be more grateful. We invite everyone to join us in making the holidays brighter for our patients and families.”

The Virtual Holiday Toy Drive runs through Dec. 24. To donate, visit https:// crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/ project/34144.

Odd Fellows’ Thursday Live! series celebrates its 100th performance

Special to The Enterprise

The Davis Odd Fellows’ Thursday Live! concert series celebrates the holi day season and its 100th show on Thursday, Dec. 1.

Thursday’s show fea tures a “Spirit of the Sea son” theme, with performances from five musical groups — According to Bazooka, Biscuits & Honey, Me & Him, the Muddy Waders and Keith Adolfo Campos — each playing several winter- or holiday-related songs.

The Davis Odd Fellows Hall is located at 415 Sec ond St. in downtown Davis. The show is dona tion only, with all contri butions benefitting the many programs the Odd Fellows contribute to throughout the year. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the music begins at 7:30 p.m.

The first Thursday Live! show commenced in November 2009 and, until the pandemic shut most events down in April 2020, the Odd Fel lows presented music the first Thursdays of most months.

The lodge hall had just been renovated the Odd Fellows were looking for

ways to show it off.

Kurt Roggli, an Odd Fellows member and local musician, proposed the idea of a monthly, dona tion-only, concert series with all donations going to the musicians. The aim was to have the shows be affordable enough for everyone in the commu nity to hear music in a beautiful space, showcase all of the area’s wonderful musicians, see old friends and make new ones and find out about the great work Odd Fellows does.

“Thirteen years and a pandemic later, we’re back and still going strong and hope to con tinue for at least another 100 shows,” Thursday Live! emcee Juelie Roggli said. “It’s the Davis com munity who come out every month and donate so generously that has kept us going and the musicians wanting to come play at the hall again.”

Thursday Live! is spon sored by the Davis Odd Fellows Music and Con cert Committee with the support of KDRT radio and Jim Buchanan. To sign up for the email list, contact Juelie Roggli at juelrog@gmail.com.

she was working as an instruc tional assistant at Metolius Elemen tary School in Meto lius, Ore., with children with special needs.

Raising Brighton was the focus of Sarah’s life. While doing that, she drew on the rich knowledge she’d gained as a nanny and edu cator.

Sarah leaves a legacy of twins she nannied and their parents who consid ered her family, lifelong

friends with whom she maintained strong and supportive ties, recent friends she made through work or as a young mother, and Oregon friends who loved her intelligence and sarcastic one-liners.

Most importantly, Sarah leaves a wonderful daughter who inherited her intelligence, gentleness, strength, grace, and infec tious laugh. We deeply miss her.

Sarah Pollock

POLLOCK

Juelie rOggli/COurtesy phOtO

Biscuits & Honey members include (L-R): Kurt Roggli, Dianna Craig and Martin Lewis.

“Help kids from the comfort of home.”

Diana Sundberg UC Davis

More boba, anyone? Yes please ...

How many boba tea shops can Davis have? Appar ently, there’s room for more.

Bober is a new teahouse com ing to Davis Commons, at 500 First St., Suite 5. It will fill a space recently vacated by Veri zon

The franchised chain makes brews from loose-leaf tea, and Matcha from Japan. Some stores partner with Mochi Dough to sell mochi doughnuts. It’s not clear if those will be included in Davis.

The store has a few boxes inside but it doesn’t look like improvements have begun. My guess is it will be at least a cou ple of months before it opens.

It’s nice to see Davis Com mons thriving again, after so many big closures before and during the pandemic. Still, it’d be even better to fill the former Borders/Whole Foods anchor spot.

By my count, there are more

than a dozen tapioca tea shops in Davis, with all but four of them downtown. There are also lots of other eateries and coffee houses in town that serve the specialty drinks.

Yolo County planners gave me an update on the status of Yolo Beer Ranch, which is coming to the former Satiety Winery tast ing room at 40101 County Road 25A, Woodland.

The taproom will serve locally brewed beers and non-alcoholic beverages, with a Yolo store-type concept that would sell Yolo County produce and other agri

UCD Health teams with General Catalyst on digital medicine

Special to The Enterprise

SACRAMENTO — UC

Davis Health and General Catalyst have announced a new collaboration to develop a digital transfor mation strategy, bolstering the prominent academic medical center’s status as one of America’s leaders in digital medicine.

As part of this partner ship, UC Davis Health will utilize the General Catalyst ecosystem of companies to drive artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health innovations in several areas. These will include health care delivery, research, education, and public service, as well as the medical center’s ongoing transformational efforts in operations, care and out comes.

“Digital innovations in medicine have the potential to not only improve patient outcomes but be a gamechanger for the entire health care sector,” said Ashish Atreja, chief infor mation officer and chief digital officer at UC Davis Health. “This collaboration will create an environment that fosters open innovation in digital health, which we hope will lead to new solu tions to improve the lives of our patients, increase the efficiency of health care sys tems and have a positive impact on the health of our communities.”

Sharing data

Central to this collabora tion is a mutual commit ment to knowledge-sharing among UC Davis Health and General Catalyst. They will form a collaboration committee to ensure strate gic alignment, mutual accountability and opera tional connectivity. The group will explore collabo ration opportunities, codevelopment of new businesses and co-develop ment of products, services, and technologies by lever aging UC Davis Health as an innovation center.

“In order to accelerate health care transformation, General Catalyst believes that partnering with lead ing-edge systems like UC Davis Health is instrumen tal. As an academic medical center with an established innovation arm, Digital CoLab, UC Davis Health has spearheaded transfor mation efforts within the broader UC system to aim to deliver improved health outcomes,” said Daryl Tol, head of health assurance ecosystem at General Cata lyst.

To showcase emerging digital transformation trends, General Catalyst will also host UC Davis Health for sessions to share strategy around advances

at the intersection of healthcare and technology. These will help UC Davis Health incorporate approaches and solutions around health equity, digi tal literacy, and data inclu sivity objectives.

“UC Davis Health’s col laborative culture and demonstrated commitment to health equity makes General Catalyst proud to welcome them into our Health Assurance partner ships,” Tol said. We are excited to initiate this jour ney together, engage our health industry experience, and facilitate cross-pollina tion across our ecosystem partners to help drive UC Davis Health’s sustainable health care transforma tion.”

Innovation culture

This partnership is the latest initiative from UC Davis Health to advance digital medicine through its Digital CoLab, led by Keisuke Nakagawa, direc tor of innovation for the Digital CoLab and execu tive director of the Cloud Innovation Center. The program is the AI and digi tal health innovation hub for UC Davis Health and is focused on accelerating digital health technologies to make healthcare more accessible, equitable, and inclusive.

“This unique collabora tion will create an environ ment of shared learning to maximize the value for the funders and streamline the innovation efforts at UC Davis Health and across the UC system,” said Yauheni Solad, chief medi cal information officer for digital health and vice president of innovation at UC Davis Health.

— UC Davis Health News

culture products.

Basically, it’s still in the per mit stage. The first application, to demolish an old stairway, catwalk and balcony, was given an inspector’s approval to pro ceed. A county building official said work is in progress but the permit has not been finalized.

The owners submitted build ing permit applications in May and June to increase the occu pancy of the structure and add an accessible restroom. The major improvements are pend ing review and in the hands of the applicants. The bathroom application has not been com pleted.

University of Beer got some good press from the Sacramento Business Journal on Nov. 23. The company, which started in Davis in 2012, will add a new location in East Sacramento in early 2023, filling the Track 7 Brewing site that will close early next month.

The chain also includes tap rooms and restaurants in Sacra mento, Vacaville, Rocklin, Roseville and Folsom. The new location, at 5090 Folsom Blvd., is 3,600 square feet. Track 7 still retains its locations in Curtis Park and Natomas.

The Business Journal said that when University of Beer opened its Vacaville site in 2017, it started benefit packages for employees, and has added addi tional perks as it adds new loca tions. These include 401(k)s; 70% employer-paid health, den tal and vision benefits; and a brewery trip for top performers every quarter. When East Sacra mento opens, it’s adding a $30,000 bonus for managers and longtime employees, which may be used toward buying a home.

Rumor is that a Mexican food restaurant may fill the former Elephant Shack at 39492 Ken tucky Ave. in Woodland. The

restaurant and deli closed ear lier this fall. I will have more details when they become avail able.

There’s a chance I won’t have a column next week. I’m giving myself an earlier deadline because I will be out of town the second part of the week.

Missed a column? Wondering when a new Davis business is opening? Check my paywall-free Google spreadsheet, which includes more than 325 Davis businesses coming or going. It’s at https://bit.ly/Davis Businesses.

— Wendy Weitzel is a Davis writer and editor. Her column runs on Sundays. Check for fre quent updates on her Comings & Goings Facebook and Insta gram pages. If you know of a business coming or going in the area, email her at wendyedit@ gmail.com

Worker centers help fight wage theft

By Alejandro Lazo and Jeanne Kuang CalMatters

Annelisa Luong met with Bay Area employees of Kome Japanese Seafood & Buffet in secret to talk about their sub-minimum wages and lack of overtime pay.

She convened clandes tinely with cooks and dish washers. Sometimes they met at a McDonald’s, other times at a transit stop and other times in workers’ homes.

“Here is an opportunity,” she recalled saying. “The state is investigating. You actually have the opportu nity to speak up.”

Her efforts worked. Workers cooperated with the state’s investigation of Kome, a popular San Fran cisco Bay Area restaurant, and in 2018 the labor com missioner issued $5.16 mil lion in citations alleging wage theft by the employer. The restaurant ultimately closed, but its owners set tled without admitting fault in August 2020, even tually paying $2.6 million to 133 workers.

The probe was the out come of the state’s partner ship with the Chinese Progressive Association, a San Francisco nonprofit that employs Luong and has organized workingclass immigrant Chinese families for 50 years.

The investigation also is part of a broad strategy the state launched six years ago to work alongside 17

Enforce ment Partnership.

Labor experts say the partnership is one of the state’s most proactive responses to wage theft. By convincing groups of workers to testify in an investigation, the partner groups help the state tar get prominent employers and seek large repayments for workers, despite legal fights that are long and drawn out, state officials said.

“We’re going after bigger companies, and we have multiple defendants,” Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower said in an interview. “They have a

Connection

Wage theft — the failure of bosses to pay workers what they are owed — fre quently occurs in lowwage industries. The state partners with worker groups that operate in such industries as restau rants, janitorial services, construction and residen tial care.

These labor groups have referred investigations resulting in citations against 50 businesses, a state spokesperson said.

Among the major wage theft cases involving these

partnerships was an $11.9 million labor commis sioner citation against RDV Construction in Los Angeles, $8.5 million in citations against elder care facility Adat Shalom Board & Care, also in Los Angeles, and more than $4 million in citations against two janitorial companies employed in California by the Cheesecake Factory, as well as the chain itself. On Friday, a labor commis sioner spokesperson said the agency had reached a tentative settlement in the Cheesecake Factory case, but did not immediately provide details.

Business groups are divided about the strategy. The California Chamber of Commerce said it allows the Labor Commissioner’s office to target bad actors.

Another group, the Cali fornia Business and Indus trial Alliance, said the partnership strategy blurs the line between regulator and state.

Before Gov. Gavin New som appointed her labor commissioner in 2019, García-Brower was execu tive director of one of these labor organizations, Los Angeles-based Mainte nance Cooperation Trust Fund, a nonprofit that advocates for janitorial workers. It is funded through union contracts and is assisting workers in the Cheesecake Factory case.

labor-friendly organiza tions, most of them worker centers — nonprofit com munity hubs that advocate for low-wage workers. The state calls its collaboration with the groups the Cali fornia Strategic

lot to protect, right? And so they’re coming in with their A-game to defend themselves against these multimillion-dollar cita tions.”

Mark Leong/CaLMatters photo

Annelisa Luong, a program manager at the Chinese Progres sive Association, walks through San Francisco on Nov. 2.

THEME: Parade marshal to be picked

From Page A1

to visit the following document for a list of each team’s responsibilities: https://tinyurl.com/PicnicDayAssis tantDirectorInfo.

Applications are reviewed on a roll ing basis and all positions are open until filled.

Later, the Picnic Day board will announce a parade marshal who exemplifies this theme with their work and contributions to the Davis community.

Four students shared their reasons for choosing the 2023 theme and how it relates to their passions and areas of study.

n Ava Schulze Animal Events Director

“Ignite Our Moment” to me signi fies that for the past few years we have been living in an uncertain future; Now, we as a student body are moving to live in the present. Being able to live in the present means to me that we chase after every opportunity that comes our way, not fearing what could happen in the future. ‘Ignite Our Moment’ moves from our past themes about seeking the future to a more present theme that pursues everything that our University has to offer. We have end less opportunities, so we wanted our theme to be something related to fol lowing these moments and taking advantage of all the University has to offer.

As a UC Davis student my pas sions are related to animal welfare, and with UC Davis having an amaz ing Animal Science program, I am

able to chase my passions. By being the Animal Events Director, I am given the opportunity to interact with community organizations and make intimate connections with ani mal events. There are also so many clubs and activities on campus related to chasing after our passions. So much so, that each student has the opportunity to pursue their aspira tions. Being able to be involved in so many different activities on campus is something that we as students are so grateful for. Creating a better future is what many students strive for and it is through our passions that we are able to do so.

n Jillian Munyon Entertainment Director

Our theme “Ignite Our Moment” is about seeing the potential within the present and using the spark of our own creative passions to really make the most of these opportunities.

I am really passionate about the arts on campus at UC Davis, which is why I applied to be the entertain ment director here at Picnic Day! I am an active participant in studentrun theater on campus through the club Studio 301. I have worked as a director, stage manager, and actor for the club, and I love being able to experience all perspectives of how theater runs. Additionally, I am a Cinema & Digital Media major so I love to help out behind the scenes on film projects and festivals around campus.

n Oshiogwe Nash-Haruna Children’s Fair Director

When I think of “Ignite Our Moment,” the first thing I think of is the abundance of opportunity. I

believe taking the first step to try something new or just going for it is similar to a spark. When you take that first step in an opportunity you’re starting a spark in your life that leads to an abundance of resources around you. The theme “Ignite Our Moment” symbolizes the spark we all have to take the chance and lead on something we have a passion for. I also believe it’s living in the moment and seeing each day as an opportunity to do what you’re passionate for.

n Lindsey Marshall Publicity director

The 109 theme “ Ignite our Moment” is really meant to show off our community and the passion that surrounds our school. I hope that through the theme and Picnic Day 109 people can see the amazing pas sion that students and faculty have for all of the UC Davis community. As a community we can find the things that light our passions up and create a space for everyone to co-exist together.

As a sustainable agriculture and food systems major, my passion lies with the agricultural community within Davis and how we can improve our practices for a better future. Through our creative passion we can solve major issues surround ing sustainability which is what I want to do in the future. I also have a passion for horseback riding and through the Western Equestrian Team at UC Davis, I am able to explore that and find a community of friends with similar connections.

— Contact Monica Stark at monica@davisenterprise.net.

DiNUNZIO: Trustee sees lots of work to do

From Page A1

graduation and then sim ply decided to stay.

“When we first moved up here, I had the oppor tunity to teach at the graduate school of man agement at UCD. Once we decided to stay, I started teaching at the business school and at the same time our kids attended DPNS. There, I was able to be with my little boy and girl, and when they transferred to Willett, I joined the PTA,” DiNunzio broke down his DJUSD resume. “It was a very ‘classic Davis’ thing where I started as a class room rep, then became fundraising chair, became PTA president and then eventually became site council president at Wil lett.”

As DiNunzio’s children have grown up and gone through the Davis school system, he’s come to love its continuity. From the friendships that are forged K-12 to the close ness and familiarity with numerous families in the community, it’s all part of the reason DiNunzio opted to join the school board in 2018.

“Four years ago, there was a path for me to serve as trustee. I felt that there was an opportunity to provide guidance and direction and leverage the wonderful experiences my children had in the school district. This also comes in recognition that, while this is a strong school dis trict, we can always get better and apply the growth mindset. There’s always a more effective way to serve our students and community,” DiNun zio explained his inspira tion to become a trustee four years ago. “Over these last four years, I’ve had the privilege to learn more about the school district, our teachers and staff, our administrators and families. So, I think I’m really well-positioned in my second term to con tinue to have a positive impact.”

In his tenure as a

trustee, DiNunzio served as school board president for 18 months — which happened to be through a pandemic. While address ing issues in the past, and giving forethought to those of the future, DiNunzio maintains he and the board’s aspira tions reside in cultivating the district’s students’ love of learning.

“Over the last four years, we had success in a number of ways that make me feel grateful for the administration and colleagues on the board. We provided a new set of learning opportunities for students like our revised CTE program. We were able to move to universal access to Chromebooks as well as learning software to help support teachers.

I’m also proud of the fact we have a very experi enced and thoughtful Superintendent in Matt Best,” said DiNunzio.

“We’ve made progress on addressing compensation challenges for our educa tors and staff. Measure G was a good move in that direction, but obviously, there’s still work to be done.”

While challenges con tinue to present them selves, DiNunzio feels privileged to have had many education, work and teaching opportuni ties to learn from. To him, being on the board is yet another opportunity to utilize his experience to address the needs of the district’s students and families.

From crafting a stead fast strategic plan for the district, to improving the special education pro gram, to successfully implementing the Ethnic Studies program and beyond, DiNunzio’s to-do list is lengthy indeed.

However, with four more years ahead of him, DiNunzio will seek to check the boxes on the aforementioned to-do list of aspirations for the dis trict.

— Reach Aaron Geerts at aaron.geerts@ mcnaughton.media.

Ben Ransom, couRtesy photo/enteRpRise file

A canine catches a Frisbee during the Disc Dogs of the Golden Gate Halftime Show at Picnic Day in 2018.

substantial community transmission level during the month of November, Sisson said.

Driving the increase: a more infectious variant.

“The previously domi nant BA.5 Omicron variant has been losing ground to two closely related descen dants of BA.5 known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1,” Sisson said. “The BQ variants now combine to account for over half of new COVID cases in California. The good news is that the biva lent booster remains effec tive against BQ sub variants.”

Those bivalent boosters are recommended for everybody ages 5 years and up, but “bivalent boosters are especially important for older adults whose immu nity wanes more quickly than younger persons,” Sis son said.

However, bivalent booster uptake has been low. In Yolo County, as of Oct. 20, just 11.1 percent of county residents ages 5 and up have received the biva lent booster and just 30 percent of those over 65.

“The county public health team is working with partners to emphasize the importance of boosters, especially among older adults,” Sisson told county supervisors

While COVID-19 cases are increasing, the virus is actually causing less dis ease right now than respi ratory syncytial virus (RSV) and influenza, Sisson said.

“RSV is common and typically causes mild, coldlike illness in most people,” she said. “However, young children and older adults can get severely ill with RSV infection. In fact, we’re currently seeing hos pital beds for children full across the state due to large numbers of young kids with severe RSV disease.”

Unfortunately, Sisson

Tracking wastewater

said, there is no vaccine to prevent RSV infection, though there is a monoclo nal antibody that can be given to high-risk infants to prevent severe disease before exposure.

Wastewater in the city of Davis is being monitored for RSV and levels here “have been at their cur rently high level for most of November,” Sisson said. “It’s unusual to see RSV activity this high, this early in the season.”

She added that, “the California Department of Public Health and Yolo County public health have been in regular communi cation with hospitals and healthcare providers about the RSV surge and have encouraged them to enhance their capacity to care for children locally because regional transfers may not be available.”

As for influenza, “North ern California, including Yolo County, moved from low flu activity into moder ate flu activity this week,” Sisson said.

“Flu virus levels in Davis wastewater increased sig nificantly at the beginning of November,” she added.

“To protect against severe disease with influ enza, everyone six months and older should get a flu shot annually. It’s not too late to get a flu shot this year,” she said.

Other keys to staying healthy: “Get vaccinated and boosted against both flu and COVID-19, wear a mask indoors, wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use hand sani tizer, and stay home when you’re sick.”

Beginning Tuesday, free COVID-19 testing and testto-treat services will be available at several loca tions throughout Yolo County, thanks to a new OptumServe mobile testing and treatment bus that will serve Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento.

This will replace Optum Serve’s COVID testing and test-to-treat services at 2780 E. Gibson Road in Woodland, which will end on Nov. 28.

In addition to rapid anti gen testing, the mobile test ing and treatment bus will offer free COVID-19 tele health consultations and medication for people who test positive and have symptoms.

The OptumServe bus will be available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the fol lowing days and at the fol lowing locations:

n Sunday: Arroyo Park parking lot, 2000 Shasta Dr., in Davis

n Monday: HHSA Gon zalez Building parking lot, 25 N. Cottonwood St., in Woodland

n Tuesday: HHSA West Sacramento building park ing lot, 500 Jefferson Blvd., in West Sacramento

n Wednesday: Playfields Park parking lot, 2500 Research Park Dr, in Davis

n Thursday: HHSA Gonzalez Building parking lot, 25 N Cottonwood St., in Woodland

n Friday: HHSA West Sacramento building park ing lot, 500 Jefferson Blvd., in West Sacramento

n Saturday: Yolo County HHSA Davis Building parking lot, 600 A St., in Davis

Yolo County residents can also access free virtual COVID-19 telehealth ser vices from Sesame Care online at https://sesame care.com/covid?sortBy= price or by calling 833686-5051.

COVID-19 medications (Paxlovid or molnupiravir) are free and can either be mailed or picked up at a pharmacy.

— Reach Anne TernusBellamy at aternus@ davisenterprise.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy.

STRATEGY: Bolder commitments

he said. “It's really frustrating because there's so much work to be done.”

The staff’s final draft plan adds bolder commitments, reducing oil use by 94% from 2022 levels by 2045 — up from a goal of 91% in the September version of the plan.

The plan also sets a more aggressive goal of cutting carbon emissions 48% below 1990 levels by 2030 — up from the 40% by 2030 required under state law. Net-zero emissions would be achieved in 2045. (Net-zero or carbon neutrality means striking a balance between the carbon dioxide added to the air and the carbon that’s removed.)

California has a long way to go to meet the new 48% goal in just eight years. By 2020 it had cut emissions only about 14% below 1990 levels, according to air board officials.

Danny Cullenward, a climate econo mist who serves on a committee advising the state about its system for trading greenhouse gas credits, said California isn’t on track to meet its existing 2030 reduction target, much less the new, more stringent goal.

“I don’t want to say California isn’t doing anything on climate. We’ve done a lot of things,” said Cullenward, who serves on the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. “But this is such a superficial exercise and it’s filled with so many faults and errors.”

Air board officials, however, said they are confident that the state can achieve the new target, largely with mandates and policies enacted this year. State offi cials phased out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035, set a more stringent lowcarbon fuel standard and streamlined siting and permitting of renewable energy projects.

“This plan is a comprehensive road map to achieve a pollution-free future,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said today in a state ment. “It’s the most ambitious set of cli mate goals of any jurisdiction in the world, and, if adopted, it'll spur an eco nomic transformation akin to the indus trial revolution.”

But Cullenward criticized the staff’s modeling, which is used to predict how each sector of the economy will reduce emissions. He said the plan lacks a thor ough analysis of the feasibility of its pro jections and makes major assumptions.

One example, he said, is that the plan relies on other agencies, such as the Cali fornia Energy Commission, setting new policies, but it doesn’t address the timing and roadblocks they may face or other details.

“It’s a pretty aspirational document but it's filled with bureaucratic doublespeak,”

Some policy experts say setting ambi tious goals is a crucial step toward clean ing up air pollution and combating climate change.

“The scoping plan can at least help us direct our attention even if it doesn’t give us as much detail as we want,” said Dave Weiskopf, senior policy advisor with NextGen Policy, a progressive advocacy group. “On the one hand that is really frustrating. On the other hand, it tells us that if we put in the effort to say what we think a good plan should look like, we at least have a shot of getting the state to take meaningful action.”

The new plan relies more than the original versions on two controver sial, advanced technologies for eliminat ing planet-warming carbon dioxide. Combined, 15% — increased from 5% — of all of the state's targeted greenhouse gas cuts will come from carbon removal and carbon capture and storage.

One strategy removes carbon from the atmosphere, such as replanting trees or storing it in soils. Another, called carbon capture and storage, collects carbon spewed from industry smokestacks and injects it into the ground.

California currently has no carbon removal or capture and storage projects, and air board officials say they wouldn’t be deployed until 2028. The state's sce nario predicts that carbon-capture tech nology will be installed on most of California's 17 oil refineries by 2030 and on all cement, clay, glass and stone facili ties by 2045.

Environmental groups oppose both technologies, saying they extend the lives of fossil fuels, while oil companies say they are necessary to achieve the state’s long-term climate goals. The debate pits those who want to mandate an end to fossil fuels against those who want an approach that relies somewhat on tech nology to clean up carbon.

Globally 27 carbon capture and storage projects are operating so far.

Oil industry officials declined to com ment on the plan today.

Achieving the plan's targets would cost $18 billion in 2035 and $27 billion in 2045, according to air board estimates. The move to decarbonize and transition away from fossil fuels will also drastically increase electricity use, which is expected to soar by as much as 68% in 2045.

At Newsom’s direction, the air board in September already strengthened its draft plan, originally released last May, to include new goals for offshore wind, cleaner aviation fuels and reducing vehi cle miles traveled.

Feeding the community

Calendar

Thursday

n The Davis Odd Fel lows' Thursday Live! con cert series celebrates the holiday season and its 100th show at the Odd Fellows Hall in downtown Davis, 415 Second St. This show features a "Spirit of the Season" theme, with performances from five musical groups each play ing several winter- or holi day-related songs. The show is donation only, with all contributions ben efitting the many pro grams the Odd Fellows contribute to throughout the year. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the music begins at 7:30 p.m.

n Yolo Basin Founda tion’s Flyway Nights speaker series highlights graduate-student fellow ship recipients. The

program will be a Zoom presentation sharing the studies of various species in the Yolo Bypass. The Yolo Basin Foundation Graduate Student Fellow ship Fund provides sup port for students in environmental education, public use, environmental sciences, or environmen tal/conservation policy. A $10 donation to support the foundation’s wetland education programs is suggested. To register, visit www.yolobasin.org/fly waynights or call Yolo Basin Foundation at 530757-3780.

n The city of Davis will kick off the holiday season with the 41st annual can dlelight parade and holi day tree lighting downtown. Festivities begin at 6 p.m. when the candlelight parade departs from the

Davis Food Co-op parking lot at 620 G St. Walkers, strollers, wagons and dec orated bicycles are all wel come to join the parade to the E Street Plaza. Park in the free parking structure behind the Signature Sta dium 5 Theaters at Fourth and G streets.

Friday

n The UC Davis Arbore tum hosts a Folk Music Jam Session from noon to 1 p.m. Folk musicians are once again invited to bring their acoustic instruments and play together infor mally during this jam ses sion at Wyatt Deck (next to the redwood grove).All skill levels welcome. Shortterm parking is available in Visitor Lot 5 on Old Davis Road at Arboretum Drive.

Logos hosts art by Rita Glazar Bunch

Special to The Enterprise

Logos Books will host fluid acrylicpour paintings by Rita Glazer Bunch from Dec. 3 to Jan. 6 at the bookstore, 513 Second St. in downtown Davis.

Bunch is a burgeoning artist based in Davis. Between raising her family and a demanding career in business, including nearly 25 years with UC Davis, she found little time for hobbies. While preparing for retirement she felt a need to find a creative outlet. She engaged with various classes and activities but found no passion.

This is Bunch’s first opportunity to exhibit her work. The show’s theme,

“Dawning Art”, reflects upon an exciting new stage in her life and her artistic jour ney.

Meet Bunch at her 2nd Friday Art About reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9. Paintings, coaster sets and trivets will be available for purchase. Light refreshments will be available.

Public receptions for local artists will also be held at various venues on that same evening in conjunction with the Davis Downtown 2nd Friday ArtAbout.

You can see more details and a map of venues at facebook.com/davisartabout or https://theartery.net/2nd-friday-art about.

Courtesy photo

“In Flux 4” by Rita Glazar Bunch.

Courtesy photo

Davis firefighters prepare to hand out some of the 525 turkeys and grocery-store gift cards distributed Wednesday for Davis Firefighters Local 3494’s 36th annual Thanksgiving food basket program. “Without the generous donations made by everyone in our community, we would not be able to give back in such a wonderful way,” said Luis Parrilla, the program’s coordinator. From left are Firefighters Roland Pussich Jr. and Josh Reese, and Dan De Lashmutt, husband of Firefighter Mellisa De Lashmutt, seated.

sports

DHS girls return leadership, experience to the pitch

By Rebecca Wasik Enterprise staff writer

As the Davis High girls soccer team's first game of the season rapidly approaches, leadership and experience stand out early as perks to head coach Sara Stone.

Out of the 20 players on this year’s roster, 14 are returning while six are newcomers.

“We have a lot of leaders,” Stone said. “There is a lot of natural leadership as well as young players who are thriving to step in and help with this role."

Stone points out that seniors in midfielder Una Keller, defenders Mia Wil liams and Reese Quick and striker Lindsay Fitzpatrick "all shown leadership roles over the years."

"I will have a better idea on who will be stepping into that role after more training and games are under our belt," Stone said. "Players can lead in various ways off and on the field. I am confident with this team and their ability to lead.”

Other Blue Devil

returning players include senior defender Charlotte Lee-Smith, junior forwards Tory Agnew and Sabrina Hazel, junior goalie Sky Avalos, senior midfielder Lauren Lemmo, senior for wards Olivia Johnson, Bella Artofer and junior Grace Fabionar, sopho more midfielders Miya Alamares and Mia Sim mons.

New players on this year’s team include Maddie Lujan, Aubrey McLin, Audrey Aguirre, Kai Comp ton, Isabella Hazel and Izzy Churchward.

Davis finished with a 5-2-5 record for a secondplace finish in the Delta League during the 2021-22 season, 7-3-5 overall. The Blue Devils reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Divi sion I playoffs, beating River City in the first round before losing to eventual section champion Oak Ridge in the quarterfinals.

Delta League teams that Stone and her players see as the ones to beat are St. Francis and Franklin.

“St. Francis and Franklin have always been fun and challenging games to play,”

said Stone.

The Blue Devils have the benefit of many players on the roster, and Stone says they will use to their advan tage against these solid squads.

“This season we have depth, familiarity with one another from previous years or playing club soccer together, great energy, will ingness to work hard indi vidually and as a team,” said Stone. “We have a lot of defenders returning who understand the expecta tions of the club and tradi tion of the program. Our individual defense will give us good opportunities to attack.”

One thing Stone always includes in her ideals for her players each season is to make every game count.

“Our goal is to come out on top of the league and secure a good playoff seed ing,” said Stone. “We always want to make a name for ourselves with our individ ual style of play and team style of play. It will be a team that wants to com pete, be competitive in every game and have suc cess with the postseason.”

Davis was going to play Vanden on Monday, but that game has been can celled.

Now DHS will play its first game of the season at Del Oro of Loomis on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

“While it would have been good to have one game under our belt, we

will be ready to go for our first game in December against Del Oro, a good team,” said Stone.

Stone has faith that this year’s team has the strengths needed to go fur ther in the playoffs than last year.

“I’m excited for the year and the players I get to

coach and be around who are great student-athletes,” said Stone. “After tryouts, I felt confident in the energy and ability of the team. Now it’s up to them to pre pare, continue to get fit, and play as a team.”

— Follow Rebecca Wasik on Twitter at @BeccaFromTheBay.

Aggies place 15 in Big Sky football honors list

Enterprise staff

FARMINGTON, Utah — The UC Davis football team earned 15 all-conference honors, the Big Sky announced Wednesday.

The Aggies boasted six firstteamers, four second-team and third-team honors and one hon orable mention selection.

Leading the way on the first team for UCD was record-break ing running back Ulonzo Gilliam, Jr., quarterback Miles Hastings, offensive tackle Nick Amoah, defensive end Zach Kennedy, defensive back Rex Connors and special teamer Lan Larison.

Gilliam, Jr. capped off his final season in an Aggie uniform as the most prolific rusher in program history. The senior ran for 1,180 yards and 13 touchdowns to rank second in the league in yards and third in touchdowns on the ground. The Merced native also hauled in a team-best 50 passes for 366 yards. His 1,554 all-pur pose yards ranked second in the Big Sky.

Hastings had a breakthrough season and annihilated Big Sky competition, leading the confer ence in nearly every passing cat egory. The sophomore quarterback paced the league in passing yards with 3,048, which was 277.1 per game and a 69.8 completion percentage. Hastings only threw six interceptions to pair with 20 touchdowns, which ranked second in the Big Sky.

Amoah earns first-team honors for the second time in his career as he provided the time at Hast ings blindside to help the Aggies boast the top passing numbers in

the league. That helped UCD being ranked second in the Big Sky in sacks allowed as the offen sive line opened the holes to sport the third-ranked rushing offense in the conference.

Kennedy turned into a menace along the defensive line in his sophomore campaign, leading the Aggies with four sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss. Kennedy posted a career-best two sacks in the win on the road at No. 15 Idaho. The Washington native tallied 29 tackles and forced a fumble. The Aggies were third in scoring defense and second in the league in the red zone.

Connors proved to be not only one of the top freshmen in the conference but in the entire coun try as he led the league and was sixth in the country with 0.50 interceptions per game, swiping five passes on the season. The Jerry Rice Award finalist led the team with 92 tackles, 56 solo stops and added four tackles for loss. His 9.2 tackles per contest ranked third in the Big Sky, while his 5.7 solo tackles per game paced the league.

Larison, who earned first-team honors on special teams also nabbed honorable mention acco lades as a kick returner. The Idaho native ranked third in the conference with 438 kickoff return yards and was fourth in the Big Sky with 1,258 allpurpose yards. Larison rushed for 486 yards with four touch downs on the ground and caught 25 passes for 335 yards with a score.

Tahoe native caught 30 passes for 347 yards with two touchdowns. Castles was a force blocking, helping the Aggies rank ninth in the country in passing offense and third in the conference in rushing offense.

Pettek and Ford were main stays on the offensive line as the duo nabbed conference honors for the third straight season. The disciplined line was instrumental in helping Hastings lead the league in passing and rank ninth in the country overall. The pair opened holes in the middle of the line for Gilliam, Jr. to break 1,000 yards and set nearly every rushing record in school history.

King finished his Aggie career in impressive fashion, breaking the program’s solo tackle record. The defensive back was second on the team with 57 total tackles which 42 were unassisted. King paced the team with six pass breakups and tallied five tackles for loss. He recorded 10 tackles twice this season, first against USD and again on the road in the win at No. 15 Idaho.

Four more UCD players were recognized on the third team as Chubba Maae, Teddye Buchanan, Jehiel Budgett and Isaiah Gomez earned the honors.

Maae was a force in the middle for the Ags this season, being instrumental in UCD boasting the third-ranked scoring defense in the conference. The nose tackle helped the Aggies buckle down in the red zone as the Ags ranked second in the Big Sky defensively inside the 20. Maae tallied 12

Chicken chow mein and laser beams ...

One thing current and for mer media members, be it online/print, radio and TV, learn entering this career is there will be times you're going to have work when you're sick.

This year's Causeway Classic between the UC Davis and Sac ramento State football teams at Hornet Stadium on Nov. 19 led to me sucking down Mucinex and Halls Cough and Throat Relief most of last week to knock out a head/chest cold.

I also lost 6 pounds. Wednes day was the day I ate more than one meal the last three days.

Enterprise editor Sebastian Oñate can attest that I ate about half of a hearty-filled chicken chow mein plate and washed it down with a can of Coke while designing the Sports pages for Friday's edition on Wednesday.

The Enterprise built Friday's edition one day earlier because of Thanksgiving Day.

In case you're wondering what I did with the rest of the chicken chow mein, I took it home and ate it while watching reruns of "Two and a Half Men" and a very popular 1970s TV show "Emer gency!" The latter program, which is about the lives of two Los Angeles County paramedics and their fellow firefighters at

Station 51, aired on NBC from 1972 to 1977, plus six, two-hour movies from 1977-1979. The show is on the FETV Network. How did I get the head/chest cold at the Causeway Classic? By not bringing a jacket, despite the fact that it was sunny, and temperatures were in the mid-upper 50s.

But the temperature, to me, felt like it was in the low-mid 60s as I jumped into my vehicle to make the drive to Hornet Sta dium.

Am I seeking sympathy? No way.

But, lesson learned. This coming from a guy who owns about a dozen jackets and more than a half-dozen pairs of shorts for the spring, summer and fall months.

One thing I have done the last

11 years, going back to when I was a staff writer at the Moun tain Democrat in Placerville, is keeping gloves in my vehicle during the fall and winter months.

n The San Francisco 49ers have three consecutive home games at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara.

That first one is today, when the 49ers host the New Orleans Saints.

Then San Francisco will wel come the Miami Dolphins and, you guessed, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For Davis-area residents who are Niner fans, if you're looking for something to do on Christ mas Eve day, they are hosting the Washington Commanders.

n If you're a Sacramento Kings fan, let me ask you a

rhetorical question.

Did you think that they would have a winning record toward the end of the Thanksgiving weekend?

I continued to have high opti mism despite the fact that the Kings started the season with an 0-4 record.

Now they are 10-7 and No. 5 in the Western Conference.

After they played at the Bos ton Celtics on Friday, the Kings play three of their next four games inside the Golden 1 Cen ter.

Let's see if the Kings can con tinue to light the beam from the arena after each win, home or away.

— Contact Mike Bush at mike@davisenterprise.net. Follow on Twitter: @MBDavis Sports.

Mike Bush/enterprise file photo

Davis midfielder Una Keller (13) takes the lead on the ball in a league game at Ron and Mary Brown Stadium on Jan. 4. Keller is one of many returning players to the 2022-23 Blue Devil team.

McCallan Castles, Connor Pettek, Jordan Ford and Devon

King were named to the second team.

For Castles, it marks his second

straight season earning secondteam honors and third conference accolade overall. The South Lake

Mike Bush/enterprise file photo

Ulonzo Gilliam eyes room to run in the Aggies Big Sky Conference game against Weber State at UC Davis Health Stadium on Sept. 24.

Always proud to call Joe Starkey a friend

Some holiday leftovers from Thanksgiving.

A perfect day for food and football.

n Sorry, but the OTTOTW likes tradition, and tradition dic tates that the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys host the daytime Thanksgiving Day games. It is so firmly established that it ought to be written into the NFL’s constitution and by-laws.

We hold these truths to be self-evident. Besides, people liv ing in Detroit and Dallas wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. NFL games have been played in Detroit since 1934 on Thanksgiving and in Dallas since 1966.

A third game, played at night, was added in more recent times and all teams are considered. Only one has never played on Thanksgiving.

That team is the Jacksonville Jaguars. It will be interesting to

see what happens first, the Jag uars playing on Turkey Day or the entire franchise packing up and moving to London.

Final add, Thanksgiving teams ... it’s been 47 seasons since the Los Angeles-St. Louis-Los Ange les Rams played on the holiday, back in 1975.

n Robert Clary, 96, died on Nov. 16. Clary had been the last surviving member of the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes.”

Clary played Louis LeBeau on the show, which is still available today via syndication on the

AGGIES: High honors

From Page B1

tackles, two for loss and one sack.

Buchanan, a team captain as a sophomore, changed the landscape of the Aggie defense when he was on the field. An injury derailed nearly half his season, but despite the lost time, Buchanan ranked fourth on the team with 43 total tackles and was tied for third with 28 solo stops. The South San Francisco native picked up three passes, registered three tackles for loss and forced and recovered a fumble. At No. 2 South Dakota State, the linebacker tallied 10 tackles, with eight solo stops and forced a fumble.

Budgett played in nine games and totaled 23 tackles with 17 solo stops and an interception. He ranked

second on the team with five pass breakups and registered four tackles for loss. The defensive back posted his best game of the season sta tistically on the road at No. 15 Idaho when he tallied eight total tackles, including one for a loss.

Gomez finished his Aggie career on fire, proving to be one of the most reliable kick ers in the country as he con nected on his final 15 field goal attempts. The senior was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals in four different con tests as his 1.64 field goals per game led the Big Sky and ranked second in the nation.

He finished 18-for-24 with a long of 46 yards. His 19 field goals in 2021 and now his 18 this season are the top two single season marks in school history.

MeTV Network.

In real life, Clary survived a stint in a German POW camp.

n It will be a surprise if the FCS Championship Game isn’t between South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

Though Montana State would give either Dakota side a run for its money.

The FCS tournament began Saturday, with the first eight seeds getting byes into the sec ond round. That group includes the aforementioned schools, along with Sacramento State.

n When Jeff Saturday took over the Indianapolis Colts head coaching reins, it brought to mind the last person to do so with no prior college or pro coaching experience: Norm Van Brocklin led the Philadelphia Eagles to the 1960 NFL champi onship.

Van Brocklin had been led to believe he would become the

Eagles head coach in ’61.

Instead, he was passed over in favor of the forgettable Joe Kuharich. Van Brocklin bolted for Minneapolis, where he took over the expansion Minnesota Vikings.

n The late Len Dawson was the best quarterback to ever lead the Kansas City Chiefs.

Barring injury, he may be sur passed by Patrick Mahomes, who right now can do things no other NFL QB is capable of.

n We turn our attention now to a gentleman who has spent the past 48 seasons as the playby-play voice of the California Golden Bears.

Joe Starkey called his last Bears game on Friday. He is the epitome of class and style in a career that has also seen him describe San Francisco 49ers games as well as California Golden Seals hockey games. Among others.

Starkey is best known for his last-play call of the Bears’ 1982 “The Game” win over Stanford that to this day is the most famous call in college football history.

Check out ESPN’s E-60 for a one-hour documentary.

Yet Joe was so much more than that. Your correspondent hired him to call Sacramento Surge games in 1991-92 and Starkey described the games as he might have called a Super Bowl broadcast.

I am honored and proud to call him my friend.

The longtime radio and tele vision color man on UC Davis football broadcasts, Doug Kelly is director of communications for Battlefields2Ballfields and man aging general partner of Kelly & Associates. Contact him at DKelly1416@aol.com.

Mike Bush/enterprise file photo

UC Davis’ Jayce Smalley (19) gets a block from teammate in offensive tackle Nick Amoah (73), who is a 2017 Davis High graduate, in Saturday’s home game against San Diego.

Living

Held over from the ’70s and worth it

Every now and then some thing pops out of my mouth that I have no intention to say. Usually, it's something I mean to keep pri vate, but my subconscious appears not to agree.

In a recent example, someone commented to me that I seem younger than my age, and I responded as I usually do by say ing that I’ve been lucky.

“But that’s not the main thing,” I added, as my brain offered up the unexpected. “I think the real reason is my wom en’s group.”

A women’s group makes me healthy? How?

My answer has to do with lon gevity, but for younger readers this is something you could try, now.

My group began 45 years ago, during the ’70s wave of femi nism. I wasn’t a founding mem ber and, in fact, only one of our current members was there at the beginning. But I’ve been a member for 43 years.

A first promise we made to each other was to keep our shar ing confidential, so despite the major role my group plays in my life, I’ve written little about it. Perhaps I’ve been too strict with myself: I should be able to both write and preserve confidential ity.

Here’s what I want to say: I’m in good shape now because for 43 years I have met with seven women for 2 hours every week.

Every week is a big commit ment.

Our meetings offer mental rather than physical health, but one leads to the other, which is why I credit the women’s group with keeping me healthy.

When we began, we were part of what was called the “women’s consciousness-raising move ment.” The Women’s Center at UC Davis created undergraduate groups but ours was directed towards postgraduate women, led by two counselors. After the 10-week program ended, mem bers were eager to continue, so they invited the facilitators to become regular members and moved off campus.

In the early years some mem bers moved away and new ones joined, but our numbers have been stable for a long time. Our current “newbies” have been

with us 30 years.

As you can imagine, the seven members have seen each other through many changes. Babies have been born during our time together, and we parented with lots of advice from each other. Some women moved from one home to another. Husbands were acquired and lost. More than half of us are grandparents now. Only one of us has a living parent.

Part of our success, I think, comes from having a structure for our meetings. Until COVID, we rotated houses with the leader being the person whose house we were at. The leader begins by inviting us to “check in,” which means to report briefly on our previous week’s activities.

The most intimate part of our meetings occurs when someone “takes time” to discuss more lengthy or troubling matters.

In the beginning we ate des sert together and drank “red bubbly,” a nonalcoholic sparkling drink. At some point we dropped dessert (calories) and switched from red bubbly to white bubbly (calories).

During COVID our weekly meetings switched to Zoom and we’ve remained there for a vari ety of personal reasons.

I’m as tired of Zoom as the

next person, but not when it’s my women’s group. We’ve known each other so long that we don’t become weird because we’re on a computer monitor. We’re the same.

I miss the white bubbly.

Even telling you these details, I’m failing to bring you to our core. It’s difficult to explain, but over the years we have provided for each other the opportunity to speak through hard times, such as when children rebel, when jobs disappoint, or when deaths occur.

The partners and children in our lives view the women’s group as something as regular as din ner. Every Tuesday night, we’re “in group.” My children know that they were partly raised by these women. My husband knows that he has been dis cussed, but he kindly and conve niently forgets.

Because I’ve been able to talk about my problems all these years, I never need to stew. If I can hold out until Tuesday, someone will listen. Advice will be gently provided. Everyone is rooting for me.

We have shared joyous moments (we served as six bridesmaids at the marriage of one of our members) and there have been times when we grew shaky. I even talked about

quitting once, a move I regret because I hurt people’s feelings. Fortunately, my mistake is now long past.

Some years ago, I became annoyed when everyone seemed to be talking about their illnesses and our meetings became an “organ recital.” Today I under stand and accept. We’re getting older and we’re scared. Our old est member is 95. Two members are in their 80s. Of course, we talk about symptoms. Talking helps.

My women’s group knows my weaknesses, my fears and my heart. I don’t think we’ve ever used the word “love” when talk ing about our relationship to each other and yet I don’t hesi tate to write it here. We love each other.

We keep each other healthy and strong.

I don’t have a clear recom mendation for others who might want to start a group except to say “do it.” You don’t have to be a book group, a counseling group or an exercise group. You can just be present to listen to each other.

That is enough. That is every thing.

— Marion Franck has lived in Davis for more than 40 years. Reach her at marionf2@gmail. com.

Future subscriber

Enterprise staff

Faith Marie Jara entered the world at 4:20 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, at Sutter Davis Hospital. She weighed 7 pounds, 5.5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long.

The proud parents are Sylvia A. Jara and Jose A. Jara, longtime Winters residents who have lived in town their whole lives. Dad Jose is also known in Winters as the Cross Man.

Faith was welcomed

home by big brothers Isa iah Macias (22) and Joseph Jara (9), and big sister Sophia Jara, 11. Maternal grandparents are Steve and Kimberly Hicks of Winters, and Aysha Bicakci of Chico. The paternal grand mother is Ramona Jara of Winters.

Aunts and uncles are James and Beth Hicks of Napa, Le Ann and Adam Wren of Corning; along with cousin Bella Macias of Winters.

Double your donation to support families

By Jeremy Higgins Special to The Enterprise

Yolo Crisis Nurs

The

ery is here for fami lies when they are without a support system and need assistance. Day in and day out, our staff and client families are addressing unimaginable challenges. Marianna, a mother of three children — 14 years old, 2 years old and 4 months 0ld — came to the nursery because of a family health crisis.

Marianna had always been blessed with good health. At four months pregnant with her third child, she and her husband learned their baby had heart complications and only one kidney. This news was emotionally compli cated and difficult to pro cess. Adding to the family’s stress and confusion, Mar ianna and her husband speak Spanish and are only able to communicate with their doctors via a transla tor.

A month after her baby, Mateo, was born, he needed heart surgery. The surgery resulted in compli cations and Mateo was placed on a ventilator and feeding tube. Mateo’s prognosis is hopeful, but it could take up to three

years for him to learn to eat and breathe indepen dently.

With two older children at home, Marianna was relying heavily on her mother to care for her 2-year-old daughter, Mia, and her 14-year-old son, Santiago, while Marianna was with Mateo at the hos pital and her husband worked. This family’s sup port system began to crumble when Marianna’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. The surgery and chemotherapy left Marianna’s mom unable to care for Mia.

Thankfully, a nurse at the hospital, identified the family’s childcare chal lenges and referred Mari anna to the Yolo Crisis Nursery.

Our Spanish-speaking staff welcomed Marianna and Mia at the nursery. The nursery provided care packages for the family and cared for Mia during the day, while Marianna took care of her mother and attended classes to learn how to properly care for Mateo at home while her husband worked. Mia struggled to be apart from her mother and grand mother. The nursery staff helped Mia feel welcome and she quickly came to love her time at the

nursery. Over several weeks, our bilingual coun selors worked with Mari anna. Together they worked to secure childcare assistance for the family and found permanent day care for Mia closer to the family’s home.

Marianna is very grate ful for all the help her fam ily received at the Yolo Crisis Nursery. After sev eral long months apart, Marianna is so excited to soon bring Mateo home for the first time to live with his family and be with his big brother and sister every day.

On Tuesday, Nov. 29, people from around the world will come together to thank, help, give, show kindness and share what they have with those in need for Giving Tuesday. This year at the Yolo Crisis Nursery, we are focused on Giving & Gratitude. All Giving Tuesday donations will help to keep our doors open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to offer lifealtering services to chil dren whose families are in crisis this holiday season.

From now through Giv ing Tuesday, we are raising $100,000 to help children in Yolo County find a brighter future. These funds will provide:

■ 250 safe stays for

children in need of a safe place and nurturing care; ■ 4,000 warm and nutri tious meals; ■ 500 care packages of essentials like clothing, food, diapers, formula, shoes and blankets.

Every child has the right to grow up in a safe, stable and loving home. Families with young children are continually challenged to adequately provide the necessities like food, cloth ing and shelter. They need your help.

We are beyond grateful to have four donors com ing together to offer a dol lar-for-dollar matching gift up to $30,000 for all Giving Tuesday gifts received before 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 29. This match will double your donation’s impact and will fund the life-altering, life-saving services currently offered by the Yolo Crisis Nursery.

Thank you to our gener ous donors the Brattesani Family Charitable Fund, Andrew and Thea Minsk, and two families who would like to remain anonymous for joining forces to offer a $30,000 dollar-for-dollar matching gift! Please donate today: www.yolocrisisnursery.org.

— Jeremy Higgins is the vice president of Yolo Crisis Nursery.

By Andy Jones Special to The Enterprise

1. Books and Authors.

The Brooklyn Public Library has 163 copies of the Caldecott Medalwinning book of 1963. Starting with the letter W, what is the title of the most checked-out book in the history of the BPL?

2. Old Cities. The old est city in the United States was named after St. Augustine. Name the state.

3. Pop Culture: Televi sion. What American actor, comedian, televi sion producer, southern gospel singer and writer whose career spanned seven decades in music and television lived from 1926-2012?

3. Gemstones. The

name of what precious gemstone is derived from a Latin word and a Greek word that both mean “blue”?

4. UC Davis. In what decade did the University Farm in Davis become the University of Califor nia, Davis?

Answers: “Where the Wild Things Are”; Flor ida; Andy Griffith; sap phire; 1959 (so the 1950s).

— Dr. Andy Jones is the former quizmaster at de Vere’s Irish Pub and author of the book “Pub Quizzes: Trivia for Smart People.” His pub quiz is now seeking a new home. Meanwhile, Dr. Andy is also sharing his pub quizzes via Patreon. Find out more at www. yourquizmaster.com.

Courtesy photo

Faith Marie Jara

State must end the use of herbicide

By Jonathan Evans and J.W. Glass Special to CalMatters

No poison better exemplifies the chemi cal industry’s ironclad control over U.S. oversight of pesticides than the ongo ing use of paraquat.

The toxic herbicide has been banned in 58 countries due to its well-documented links to Parkinson’s disease, cancer and reproductive health. Yet in the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency last year reapproved paraquat for another 15 years, sanctioning the annual use of more than 10 million pounds on crops like citrus, almonds, artichokes, garlic, pears, straw berries and grapes.

Nowhere are paraquat’s harms more con cerning than in California where farmers used more than 1.3 million pounds of the pesticide in 2018, with over three-quarters used in eight San Joaquin Valley counties alone.

Agricultural communities are at greater risk of inhaling paraquat because the herbi cide can volatilize or spread on airborne dust. California researchers have known for years that paraquat use in the state’s agri cultural areas, especially in Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties, leads to increased risks of Parkinson’s disease. In July, a research team at UCLA found increased risks of thyroid cancer associated with paraquat in those same counties.

Earlier this month, a coalition including conservation and public health groups, Par kinson’s researchers and clinicians, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation called on the California Department of Pesticide Regula tion to reevaluate the state’s approval of paraquat and ban its use statewide.

To understand why paraquat’s use is still allowed in the U.S., one must understand how the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, codified the pesticide industry’s control over its own regulation. Lawmakers failed to define what kinds of harmful effects were consid ered “unreasonable,” and enabled a feeble approval system that relies on potentially biased confidential research conducted by pesticide companies – research that can’t be independently vetted.

Thanks largely to the pesticide industry’s stranglehold on the EPA’s pesticide assess ment process, nearly a third of the more than 1 billion pounds of pesticides used annually in the U.S. include 85 pesticides banned or being phased out in the Euro pean Union, China or Brazil, a 2019 study found.

Along with paraquat, that list of pesti cides includes the cancer-linked, endo crine-disrupting herbicide called atrazine, which is banned in 44 countries but remains the second most popular pesticide in the U.S.

Unsurprisingly, a disproportionate amount of harm from FIFRA’s rubber stamps is shouldered by people of color. More than 20,000 U.S. farmworkers — most of them Latino — are poisoned by pesticides each year.

And the harm doesn’t stop in the fields. A recent analysis of Centers for Disease Con trol and Prevention data found that 12 out of 14 biomarkers for harmful pesticide exposure were found in the blood and urine of Black or Latino residents at average rates five times higher than white residents.

To close the most troublesome FIFRA loopholes, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker proposed updates to the law to ban the worst pesticides, including para quat, and to better protect frontline and farmworker communities by upgrading reporting and enforcement of harmful pes ticide exposures.

But California has no reason to wait on potential changes to pesticide regulations at the federal level. State regulators should act immediately to ban paraquat and end the unacceptable health risks we know it poses to California’s agricultural heartland and our frontline communities.

— Jonathan Evans is the environmental health legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity. J.W. Glass is the EPA policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Yin and yang of state’s job picture

When Califor nia’s monthly report on employ ment was issued last week — telling us what the situation was in October — Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly issued a cel ebratory statement.

“California has now fully recovered all jobs that were lost to the pandemic-induced recession, but we know this isn’t the finish line,” Newsom said, making a plug for his economic programs to coun ter rising consumer costs and “to help create thousands of jobs and opportunities for Californians throughout the state.”

Newsom claimed that “California has recovered 101.1% of the 2,758,900 jobs lost during the recession — the state is now 30,800 jobs above the pre-pandemic level total of February 2020.”

Data from the state Employment Development Department (EDD) tell a slightly different story.

In February 2020, according to EDD’s bulletin for that month, 18,756,900 Califor nians were employed. The bulletin for October 2022 pegged employment at 18,502,900, or 254,000 fewer.

Numbers aside, Califor nia’s employment picture has definitely improved from

Letters

Humbug to human

what it was two-plus years ago, when the state’s jobless rate had soared from less that 4% of the labor force to more than 16%. Newsom had ordered widespread shut downs of business to counter the spread of COVID-19, throwing nearly 3 million Californians out of work.

The financial pain to mil lions of California families was made immeasurably worse when EDD experi enced a bureaucratic melt down that prevented many jobless workers from collect ing unemployment insurance payments, sometimes for months. Moreover, under pressure to clear the backlog, EDD workers then swung too far the other way, autho rizing tens of billions of dol lars in payments to fraudulent applicants.

Although the October report tells us that almost as many Californians were employed as prior to the COVID-19 recession, the

Thanks to Davis Music Theater Com pany for their presentation of “A Christ mas Carol.” In the spirit of Bob Dunning (the spirit of Davis Past), I would like to give some backstory.

For just as the word “Rosebud” unlocks the yearn for love of title charac ter in the movie Citizen Kane, the word “Humbug” is the key to understanding Scrooge.

As most people know. the plot tells the story of the Hum-anizing of Scrooge.

But how many people have noted it takes place in foggy London, a place of high hum-idity?

Or that Scrooge’s curmudgeonly behavior is in fact his acting out his hum sickness that began when he lost his home when his Dad was put in debtor prison due to lack of money. This bug in Scrooges early hum life is reflected in his excuse he gave when asked to give money to charity: His response: “Hum bug.”

This same theme also lurks in his backstory, growing up in poverty:

enterprise

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Foy S. McNaughton President and CEO R. Burt McNaughton Publisher

Official legal newspaper of general circulation for the city of Davis and county of Yolo. Published in The Davis Enterprise building, 325 G St., Davis, CA. Mailing address: P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617. Phone: 530-756-0800. An award-winning newspaper of the California Newspaper Publishers Association.

Speak out President

state’s overall job picture is more complex than those simple numbers.

For one thing, the reports for February 2020 and October 2022 reveal that the state’s labor force — the total of Californians either employed or looking for work — has shrunk by nearly a quarter-million per sons. The numbers continue a long-term decline in what’s called “labor force participa tion” — the percentage of working-age adults who have jobs or want to work. They also imply that as the state’s overall population ages, the pool of potential workers is also shrinking.

Whatever the under lying causes, the labor force decline is one reason why California’s employers are having such great difficulty finding enough workers and why they are raising wages — to as much as $18 an hour for fast food workers, for exam ple — to attract more appli cants.

“For the past full year and for first time in decades, Cali fornia has more job openings than job seekers,” a new report from the Public Policy Institute of California notes. “While this is good news for

■ Young Ebenezer Scrooge slept in a hummock.

■ He was a forced vegetarian growing up even though he craved meat: a hum burger or even a hum sandwich, he was forced to subsist on a diet of hummus.

■ He had to go to work at a young age so was hum schooled.

■ And he only wore Hum-me-down clothing.

Growing up in poverty this way was humiliating.

Dickens only seems to leave out the fact young Scrooge had a pet humster.

And Scrooge’s redemptive behavior at the end was a sort of hum coming to the family he lost as a child.

I like that the story name evoke a song, (a “carol”) but it might actually have been more clear if the role of the ghosts, Christmas past, present and future introduced by spirit of his deceased partner Jacob Marley: Marley and the Wailers.

But a better alternative title would be a minor shift in the type of music: from “A Christmas Carol” to “A Christmas Hum.”

Just don’t miss the DMTC produc tion: it ends Dec. 4. Ticket or leave it.

Alan Hirsch Davis

The Hon. Joe Biden, The White House, Washington, D.C., 20500; 202-456-1111 (comments), 202-456-1414 (switchboard); email: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact U.S. Senate

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 331 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510; 202-224-3841; email: http://feinstein. senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me Sen. Alex Padilla, B03 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20510;

202-224-3553; email: padilla.senate. gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me

House of Representatives

Rep. John Garamendi (3rd District), 2368 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C., 20515; 202-225-1880.

District office: 412 G St., Davis, CA 95616; 530-753-5301; email: visit https://garamendi.house.gov/contact/ email

Governor

Gov. Gavin Newsom, State Capitol, Suite 1173, Sacramento, CA 95814; 916-4452841; email: visit https://govapps.gov. ca.gov/gov40mail/

people looking for work, it also limits businesses’ work force plans and growth — and wage increases have put upward pressure on prices.”

In response, the PPIC report says, some employers are implementing more labor-saving technology, such as ordering kiosks in fast food outlets and GPS-guided machinery in agriculture.

The labor shortage may be having other impacts. The sharp drop in community collage enrollment could, for instance, reflect would-be students’ opting for higher wages in service industries over education.

We may look back on October 2020 as a high point for employment in California because, economists tell us, a recession may be on the hori zon. Some employers, espe cially those in the high-tech industry, are already laying off thousands of workers in anticipation of a downturn.

California has a history of experiencing a recession of some kind about once a decade and we may be due for another.

— CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Wal ters, go to Commentary.

Look out for recalled toys

Safety standards for toys are under standably high. But that doesn’t help when dangerous recalled toys can still be easily purchased online.

An investigation by CALPIRG Educa tion Fund found that, of 16 toys recalled this year that we tried to buy in October, we were able to purchase half of them, sometimes in multiples. Overall, we bought and received 11 different types of recalled toys, totaling more than 30 toys, from U.S.-based online sellers including Facebook Marketplace and eBay, as well as several online toy shops.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, parents need to be vigilant when shopping online. Toy-givers should:

■ Check saferproducts.gov periodically to make sure your child’s toy has not been recalled.

■ Be aware of choking hazards, espe cially for young kids. If a toy can fit through a toilet paper roll, it’s small enough to choke on.

■ Look for labeling on toys that says it’s nontoxic.

Sander Kushen Sacramento

We welcome your letters

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Limit letters to 350 words. Anonymous letters will not be accepted. We reserve the right to edit all letters for brevity or clarity.

Mail letters to The Davis Enterprise, P.O. Box 1470, Davis, CA 95617; bring them to 315 G St.; fax them to 530-756-1668; or email them to newsroom@davis enterprise.net.

Sebastian Oñate Editor

County carbon-negative by 2030

By Scott Steward Special to The Enterprise

On Oct. 25, the Yolo

County Climate Action Commis sion (Commission), the working body charged with guiding the develop ment and implementation of the County’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP), made its first progress report to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.

The commission’s chair, N.J. Mvondo, provided the Board and the public with an update on early climate actions and steps being taken to achieve the Coun ty’s goal of a carbon nega tive (climate positive) footprint by 2030.

The most recent mea sure for Yolo (unincorpo rated areas) greenhouse gas emissions was 1,082,801 metric tons of CO2 equivalents (Yolo GHG Inventory Update, 2018.) Davis, by contrast had 567,000 metric tons of emissions (2019.) Yolo is ahead of most counties in both policy and sub stance when it comes to climate action, with water and farmland conservation and county solar electricity generation. The Climate Action Commission is a new and more robust effort to address climate change, at the County, and we can thank our youth leaders in Yolo County and around the world for its existence.

In 2019, the local Global Youth Climate Strike inspired the Yolo Climate Emergency Coalition grass roots organization to con front the County with what was then and now, the arrival of climate change crises. And crises it was as 2020 turned out to be a terrible year of fires and COVID onset. Despite the difficulties and because of the imperative these conditions presented, the climate volunteers and the County conducted a year long process to see through the adoption of the County’s Climate Emergency Declaration (Resolution 20-114, Octo ber 13, 2020). One of this Declaration’s material out comes was the formation of the Yolo County Climate Action Commission, now staffed and ready for more action and more commu nity input.

A key provision of Dec laration 20-114 is to center County climate action pol icy and implementation on vulnerable, marginalized, and historically under served communities. To this end the Commission approved the creation of one of two CAAP Working Groups: Equity and Engagement (Natural and Working Lands being the second group) and has rec ommended compensation policies for community

members who may not otherwise be able to pre pare and attend the multi ple monthly meetings anticipated by the County Climate Action Commis sion including: Working Group and Commission meetings, intercounty meetings between depart ments, meetings with the Cities of Yolo and annual meetings with state-wide organizations to learn and share best practices.

“Community engage ment is key to a successful Just Transition — to suc cessfully mitigate the dam ages and further risks caused by climate change,” Mvondo said. “I hope that, as much as possible, our County’s Climate Action Commission thrives as a synergy between commu nity-based organizations, elected officials and family farms’ interests in being an integral part of this pro cess.”

The 11 volunteer member Climate Action Commission consists of one volunteer from each of the five county supervisor districts, two volunteers chosen by the appointed Commis sion members and two subject matter experts appointed by the Board of Supervisors with staff rec ommendation. The com mission also has two ex-officio members, Sarah Morgan, natural resource manager for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, and Camille Kirk, UC Davis campus planning and environmental steward ship.

Commissioners include Suzanne Reed, District 1; Robin Datel, District 2; Mark Aulman, District 3; Andrew Truman Kim, Dis trict 4 (vice-chair); Adelita Serena, District 5, Chris White, technical lead; Ber nadette Austin, climate scientist and subject-

matter expert; Pelayo Alvarez, climate scientist and subject matter expert; Mica Bennett, at large; Ken Britten, at large; and Mvondo as environmental justice lead (Chair).

You may know one or more these citizen volun teers. Let them know you appreciate their efforts.

The commission has approved six climate early action projects and contin ues to guide the process to hire a Climate Action and Adaptation Planning team, a process now in its final month. The six early actions underway are: 1) Carbon Farming Partner ship; 2) Electrification Retrofit Rebate Outreach Program; 3) 100% Renewable Electricity Accounts; 4) Home Energy Labeling; 5) Inventory and Feasibility Study to Remove Fossil Fuels from Yolo County Operations; and 6) Zero Emission Vehicle Master Plan. Exciting? Not Excit ing enough? Let the com mission know on or before their fourth Monday of the month meetings.

Yolo County’s sustain ability manger, Kristen Wraithwall, serves as the staff liaison for the com mission and was hired by the county in March 2022 to lead climate action and sustainability efforts. County supervisors have also approved a sustain ability analyst position to help handle the grant application and adminis tration load that has exploded as public sector climate action is now on everyone’s mind.

Taro Echiburu, the county’s director of com munity services, and a 10-year county veteran formed the sustainability program. He will be retir ing from his position at the end of 2022. Echibu ru’s stalwart work at equity, communication

and program development will be very much missed at the county.

The county hopes to launch its upcoming Cli mate Action and Adapta tion Plan update in December. Just recently, the county conditionally awarded the highly antici pated Climate Action and Adaptation Plan work to Dudek, an environmental engineering firm with offices across the U.S. The county is steps ahead in developing that plan hav ing a dedicated commis sion to put its shoulder to the task and meet the goal of net-negative carbon by 2030.

For those unfamiliar with what it means to reach a carbonnegative goal, it does not mean entirely eliminating oil and gas use — it means that the sum of all carbon emissions is less than the sum of carbon sequestered into soil by microbes, plants and other carbon absorbing processes. Yolo is an agricultural county and through carbon farm ing, the use of solar, wind, electrical infrastructure, food localization and emerging technologies, the county is well positioned to convert water pumping, transportation and food processing applications to clean power.

Yolo Climate Action Commission meetings are held via Zoom on the 4th Monday of the month from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Meet ings and sustainabilityprogram activities and events can be found at the county’s sustainability website, as well as on Face book and Instagram. The meeting are recorded. Recordings, agendas and meeting materials can be found on the yolocounty. org/sustainability website.

— Scott Steward is a Davis resident.

City’s climate plan puts cart before the horse

By Nick Marin Special to The Enterprise

Almost to a person, the residents of the city of Davis agree that climate change is a problem and without some action will get worse. Where some differ is exactly how to establish and implement that action.

Take electrification, for example. Currently, the Davis Climate Action & Adaptation Plan focuses far too much on mandatory measures without any real acknowledgement or understanding of cost. While mandatory point of sale measures requiring gas appli ances to be retrofitted with electric appliances has reportedly been removed from consideration other mandatory measures still play a prominent role in the important proposal. It clearly places the cart before the horse.

The CAAP relies heavily on what has come to be known as “end of useful life” which would require, at some level, residents replacing broken or worn out gas appliances with electric models. In theory it makes some sense especially when we understand that the sale of certain gas appliances may be banned by the state or other jurisdictions. However, the mandatory nature of the measure will doom it to fail.

It’s no simple, or cheap, feat to change out gas appli ances for electric options. During the limited outreach done by city staff it was presented as though it was just common sense. If you have to replace an appliance, when you apply for a permit to do so, you’ll be prohib ited from replacing it with a gas version. Simple as that. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.

When a gas range has reached its end of useful life replacing a range from gas to electric may also require you to upgrade your electrical panel to include one or more additional 240v circuits. And, one costly aspect residents may not have on the forefront of their minds is the possibility of needing to modify or redo existing countertops or cabinetry to fit the new electric appli ance. These appliances are not “plug and play.”

Our experience tells us that this simple retrofit from a gas to electric range could cost as much as $15,000 or more. Conservative cost analyses of current market costs for appliances and the availability of service pro viders (i.e. plumbers, contractors, electricians, etc.) put the total cost of all residential electric retrofits at around $30,000-$80,000. Water heaters, furnaces, clothes dryers, outdoor barbecues and firepits are among those which might apply.

Again, we aren’t denying climate change nor are we suggesting that a climate action plan isn’t imperative. We merely want to change the focus. City staff has been adamant in their commitment to obtain grants, credits and rebates to defray some of the costs of retro fitting a home but establishing these mandatory mea sures without first developing these cost defraying programs dooms the end of useful life policy to fail. The city must first firmly establish a cost mitigation program. Grants, credits and direct rebates must be “shovel ready.” The city should even consider waiving fees for electrification.

When a resident applies for a permit to replace a worn out gas appliance, if the city were to pro vide them with an established incentive pro gram with some level of assurance, they would very likely take advantage of the opportunity to electrify and combat climate change. And instead of relying on the already overburdened permitting process as its implementation point, the city should be much more comprehensive.

We’d like the City Council to direct staff to design and develop a program in which City vetted contrac tors would be given a package of incentives to offer homeowners swapping out gas appliances for electric equipment voluntarily. Identifying and incentivizing reputable contractors and providing them with the education and resources to sell property owners on electrification will give the City the most realistic chance at making an impact on reducing the 7% of greenhouse gas emissions blamed on residential prop erties. The recent success of the solar program in Davis is proof that voluntary programs that make sense and are marketed aggressively can be signifi cantly impactful.

The Yolo County Association of Realtors, which rep resents the interests of homeowners and their private property rights, urges city staff and the City Council to change the focus of the CAAP from mandatory to col laborative. If the last few years have taught us any thing here in Davis, it is that we do much better as a community when we work together rather than telling each other what to do.

— Nick Marin is the Executive Director of the Yolo County Association of Realtors, a nonprofit founded in 1922 serving to support its members in their ability to practice their profession ethically and effectively, and protecting private property rights.

icymi: our Top 5 sTories of The week Editors’ choice for web comment of the week

n Two dead, one injured in Davis-area crash: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4fcT

n Musical protests and teacher unrest at school board meeting: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4f2g

n UC grad student strike goes into second week: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4f4J

n Football: Aggies fall in classic Causeway battle: http://wp.me/p3aczg-4f4N

n Tales from the Turkey Trot: http://wp.me/ p3aczg-4f3S

From Scott Schiller

In response to “Letter:

“He’s simply addressing ... the city’s conclusion that seniors in Davis are opting to stay in their homes, which contributes to a general lack of affordable housing.”

Housing is not a joke”

courTesy phoTo

From left, N.J. Mvondo (commission chair), Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, commissioner Adelita Serena and Yolo sustainability manager Kristin Wraithwall attend the 13th annual California Climate & Energy Collaborative Forum in San Diego in September.

Pearls Before Swine

By Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

By Scott Adams

By Stephan Pastis

Classic Peanuts

By Charles M. Schulz

oys for Tots began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles, collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children.

The idea came from Bill’s wife, Diane. That fall, Diane handcrafted a Raggedy Ann doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization which would give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no such agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one.

e did. Toys for Tots was so successful that the U.S. Marine Corps adopted it in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign. That year, Marine Corps Reserve units across the nation conducted Toys for Tots campaigns in every community in which a Marine Reserve Center was located. The Marines have conducted toy drives each year since then.

A holiday article or photo that is NOT about Christmas

A place you’d like to visit during your vacation

A gift you’d like to receive A word or phrase that you think best exemplifies this season

A classified advertisement for something holiday-related A photo that reminds you of winter A food you’d like to eat during the holidays

A sporting event that will occur during your winter vacation