Daily Republic, Monday, Aug. 1, 2022

Page 1

10 cheap beers you might actually enjoy drinking B2

NBA legend and Celtics great Bill Russell dies B1

MONDAY | August 1, 2022 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

GOP being challenged to get Vets bill passed Bloomberg News WASHINGTON — U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough expressed confidence the Senate has enough votes to pass a bill to provide health care and benefits to 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, even after Republicans stalled the legislation. Forty-one Republican senators switched tactics and moved to force a debate on amendments that would reduce future mandatory spending in the bill. The majority of those lawmakers had supported an essentially identical version of the bill last month. “There’s been one change since then” on “something completely unrelated to this issue,” McDonough said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “So if everybody does what they did before, this has 84 votes, so I think they should just get on with it. Have the vote.” The bill has drawn support from comedian Jon Stewart and President Joe Biden, who told veterans protesting for expanded benefits outside the U.S. Capitol that he’ll invite them to the White House once his Covid-19 infection clears. Some veterans exposed to burn pits, used to burn trash at military sites, have reported illnesses ranging from respiratory difficulties to cancer. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he will bring the legislation back to the floor this week, and that he’ll allow Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey to bring an amendment addressing his party’s concerns for debate. Toomey, who has consistently voted against the bill, says it creates an additional $400 billion in discretionary spending unrelated to veterans, allowing Congress to hide a spending binge. Toomey said Sunday he’s sticking to his demand for a fix. “We could bang that out tomorrow night, literally,” he said on CNN. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said Toomey’s budget concerns will be addressed. “Pat’s going to get his amendment and then we will see where it goes,” he said on CBS’ “Face See Bill, Page A8

Ken James, California Department of Water Resources file (2019).

An aerial view of the Middle River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

State report: Salmon at risk from huge Delta water project Rachel Becker CALMATTERS

California’s water agency last week released a long-awaited environmental report outlining the details and impacts of a controversial proposal to replumb the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and pump more water south. In the report, state officials said the tunnel project could harm endangered and threatened species, including the Delta smelt, winterrun chinook salmon and steelhead trout. To offset the “potentially significant impacts” on the rare fish, the Department of Water Resources says thousands of acres of other wetlands would have to be restored – which critics say is a slow and inefficient way to provide new habitat. The draft environmental impact report is a major step in planning a tunnel that would fundamentally

reshape California’s massive water management system. The report outlines the proposed path of a 45-mile tunnel that would pipe water from the Sacramento River, bypassing the Delta, and funnel it into Bethany Reservoir, the “first stop” on a state aqueduct that funnels water south. The goal of the project, which has been planned in various forms since the 1960s, is to shore up water supplies against environmental catastrophes such as earthquakes and the weather whiplash and sea level rise of climate change, according to California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot. Water agencies that can eventually sign on to receive the tunnel project’s water stretch from the Bay Area and Central Coast to the Central Valley and Southern California. “It is a conundrum to be able to manage the Delta in a way that pro-

tects the environment, respects the communities that live there, and provides for the water supplies of a large portion of the state,” Crowfoot said. The state’s companion explainer for the report, also released last week, says changes in flow at and downstream of the tunnel’s intakes “have the potential to decrease migration rates, alter migration routing, reduce availability of rearing habitat, and increase exposure to predation for winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley spring-run Chinook salmon, and Central Valley steelhead.” Carrie Buckman, environmental program manager for the state’s Delta Conveyance Office, said the department’s analysis found that 4% fewer juvenile winter-run chinook would survive during their peak times in the Delta in below-normal See Delta, Page A8

Contraptor’s Rally at Mare Island a hit Susan Hiland

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic

Owner of Legendary Letters, Stacy Rose, holds the Sorting Hat over Reya Markin for the inaugural Wizarding Celebration, Sunday.

Fans in Fairfield just wild about Harry’s birthday Susan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Sarah Krasner started reading the Harry Potter books when she was in first grade. Her mother read them to her before she even started kindergarten, so the 22-year-old was very excited to come to the first Wizarding Celebration of Harry Potter in Fairfield on Sunday. “This was my childhood,” she said. She and friend, Reya Markin, are both huge fans of “The Boy Who Lived,” and couldn’t wait to be chosen by the Sorting Hat for which house they were in. Krasner got Slytherin. “That is totally appropriate for me,” she said. Legendary Letters hosted this inaugural event in downtown Fairfield. See Harry, Page A8 INDEX Arts B4 | Classifieds B6 | Comics A5, B5 Crossword A4, B4 | Columns A4 Opinion A6 | Sports B1 | TV Daily A5, B5 WEATHER 88 | 63 Clouds. Five-day forecast on B10.

VALLEJO — It was a weekend of whimsy with a tiny bicycle that wouldn't go straight for money or fame, and a set of eclectic robots going round and round, and rolling couches that seat two on a wheels. Sunday’s Obtainium Cup Contraptor’s Rally on Mare Island brought out artists, and visitors both new and old for a race around the track, where riders encountered zombies, flying monkeys (stuffed animals) and a Mad Hatter tea party along the route. The co-founder, Shannon O'Hare, doesn't

look much changed from pre-Covid days with his rolling coach, and steampunk attire. The last time the race was held was further down the road and on the greens, but things changed with the pandemic. "Things are changing by the minute," O'Hare said. The man behind Obtainium Works, and his wife, Kathy O'Hare, put hours into getting the race together. This year they ran into a few snags with the insurance companies. "I have been a bit unease because we can't get the insurance companies to cover this kind of thing anymore," he

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said. "They don't want to touch it." So they had the race at the Obtainium Works Car Studio parking lot. Obtainium Works is the home base of the Hibernian Academy of UnNatural Sciences in Vallejo. It is a group of tinkerers, gearheads, and steam bohemians who fabricate art out of repurposed industrial detritus. The idea is loosely based on the works of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other Victorian-era writers who created an imaginary world where steam technology was considered cutting edge and brave explorers could be

propelled by gun powder to the moon. For the 10th anniversary of the event, they made due with what they had. They also shared the day with the Mare Island Art Studio which threw a huge sale on almost all the items. They are part of the Wet Mile. Every Sunday artisan breweries, craftsmen, distilleries, artists, wineries and museums in the Mare Island all open our doors collaboratively from noon-4 p.m. for visitors to wander the Wet Mile along the riverfront. It is a way to get a taste of 142 years of Naval See Rally, Page A8

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