Neville joins race for City Council

By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

Donna Neville has officially announced her candidacy for the District 3 Davis City Council seat.

She joins Francesca Wright as the two candidates thus far hoping to succeed Lucas Frerichs, who represented the district for two years prior to his election to the Yolo County Board of Supervisors. The filing deadline is Friday.

In her announcement Monday, Neville said, “I love this community, which has given so much to me and my family, and I want to give back.

“My years of professional experience working to make state and local government programs more accountable and more effective, combined with my community volunteer experience, have given me the skills and perspective needed to address the

See NEVILLE, Page A3

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

Climate change is a frightening and — as some consider — hopeless reality that all humans who consider Earth their home face. That’s why the poet laureate of Davis, Julia Levine, set out to instill hope in the youngsters of Da Vinci Junior High with a project she calls Hope River.

Before she was appointed poet laureate of Davis in 2021, Levine spent 35 years as a clinical psychologist in Yolo County, working with children and their families. With her final year as a psychologist occurring during the pandemic, she was dismayed at the increase in teenagers’ depression and suicidality. They conveyed the sense of a hopeless future, and rather than remain idly sad, Levine came up with an idea to counteract this sense of hopelessness which was derived from her career experience and her platform as a poet laureate — climate change. To activate her idea, she applied for and got a fellowship grant from the American Academy of Poetry and the Carnegie Ballad Foundation.

“I came up with this idea of how I can get kids who I know are overwhelmed by negative media about climate change, which as an adult makes me very anxious. I can’t imagine what it feels like for a young teen. So, I thought, ‘what can I do to

Defendant sentenced in UC Davis rape

By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer

The sentencing hearing in a UC Davis rape case sent a San Pablo resident to state prison for a threeyear term.

A Yolo County jury convicted 23-year-old David Alexander Padilla-Chicas in December of forcible rape, also acquitting him of three other counts in connection with the April 2019 incident. Padilla-Chicas’ attorney, meanwhile, called the case “complicated,” saying UCD police waited months before contacting witnesses to what his client believed was a