Film looks at Cohen through the lens of his best-known song A9
Could Sac State or UC Davis jump conferences? B1
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DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.
Solano eclipses 100,000 Covid cases Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Several cities passed pandemic case milestones over the past week as Solano County exceeded 100,000 official coronavirus cases. The Public Health Division reported 1,363 more cases since its last update on June 30, an average of nearly 195 cases per day over that period, taking the pandemic total to 100,006. “I think it has been well above that for some time,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said in a phone interview on Thursday. He said with home testing and those who are symptomatic but not testing, certainly the number of cases would be higher. He said the reported number also includes individuals who have tested positive more than once. He estimates between 80,000 to 85,000 individuals have had the virus, or about 20% of the population. The actual number of cases for the seven-day period was 1,275 for a dally average of 182.1, Matyas reported. The 10-day daily average was down, 190.4 compared to 223.6 on June 30, the county reported. Matyas said he believes the numbers do reflect some of the Fourth of July activity, but See Cases, Page A10
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic
A fence is partially charred along Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville, Wednesday.
GRAND JURY:
LNU fire showed serious lack of
COUNTYWIDE COMMUNICATION Matt Miller
MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic
Merchants wearing face masks sell produce at the Fairfield Farmers’ Market, Thursday.
British PM Johnson quits after months of scandals Tribune Content Agency LONDON — Boris Johnson announced his intention to resign as prime minister of the United Kingdom, bringing the curtain down on a tempestuous three years in office marred by a succession of scandals that culminated in the rebellion of his own Cabinet and parliamentary group. Johnson, 58, bowed to the inevitable after the mass resignation of members of his government, including Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, as a mounting number of Conservative MPs launched excoriating public attacks on his judgment, leadership and Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty allegiance to the truth. Images/TNS “It is clearly now the B r i t a i n ’ s Prime will of the parliamentary Conservative Party Minister Boris Johnson that there should be a makes a statement in new leader of that party front of 10 Downing Street in central See British, Page A10 London, Thursday. SUNDAY
Parade coming this weekend. Look for the insert in the DR.
FAIRFIELD — The Solano County Civil Grand Jury released a report this month on the response in the first hours of the LNU Lighting Complex Fire in August 2020. Firefighters they interviewed called it “chaos.” The grand jury found myriad problems, from the difficulty in communicating between the multiple firefighters trying to answer the call to some firefighters turning off their radios. First responders did not know with whom to communicate, according to the report, did not have leadership directions and did not have crucial communication technology. The failings caused critical agencies to be caught off guard in the county. Responders were vulnerable and almost entirely
INSIDE •Less than 30% of LNU firedamaged homes looking to rebuild at this time. Page A3. •Grand jury finds delays costly in relocation plans of Vallejo Police Department. Page A3.
on their own. In June, the grand jury also released a report that the county is not prepared for future emergencies. The failure to set up an incident command post “exacerbated” communication failures. Firefighters said that without a clear leader they lost two hours of valuable time. The grand jury also found that the debrief and after-action reports were sorely lacking. “Almost every firefighter who spoke to the Civil Grand Jury expressed that there tend to be fief-
doms among the fire districts in Solano County, so when trying to respond to fire incidents, everyone has to tread lightly to avoid offending anyone,” the report reads. “The price of such caution is the safety of the community.” The grand jury learned that at 10:30 p.m. the Fairfield Fire Department personnel received a warning from the Benicia Fire Department personnel that the fire was coming. Between 3 and 4 a.m. the next morning, CalFire arrived and the Incident Command Post was finally established. The use of multiple types of radio communications also meant that responders could not communicate with each other. Many firefighters said they would benefit from multi-band handsets. They also felt a countywide system needs See Grand, Page A10
Fairfield council approves 3 employee contracts – 2 in Fire Department Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — The City Council this week unanimously approved three employee contracts – two of which were with Fire Department associations – for a total cost to the city of nearly $4.1 million over three years. The council on Tuesday approved a three-year deal with the Fairfield Fire Managers’ Association that runs from July 1 through June 30, 2025. The pact includes a 4% pay raise starting this month, with a 3% hike in July 2023 and a 6.5% increase in July 2024. The total cost of the contract to the city is
$609,781 and is “mainly paid from the General Fund,” the city staff report states. A three-year agreement ending June 30, 2025, with the Fairfield Professional Firefighters’ Association also was reached. It has an overall cost to the city of $3.3 million, “mainly paid from the General Fund,” the city staff report states. The contract includes a 3.75% pay increase starting in July, with a 3.75% bump in July 2023 and a 6% increase in July 2024. The other contract is with the Fairfield Part-Time Employees’ Association. The contract runs from July 1 through June 30, 2025. It includes
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a 6% pay hike starting in July; a 2.5% increase in July 2023 and a 5% hike in July 2024. The total cost over the three years is $155,562, of which $117,460 comes out of the General Fund and $38,102 is paid out of the Enterprise and Internal Service funds. All the employee associations involved agreed
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to postpone negotiations in the summer of 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Negotiations resumed in September. “The parties agreed to extend the expiration date of the (contracts) from June 30, 2021, to June 30, 2022,” the city staff report states.
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