Daily Republic: Friday, January 20, 2023

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Kaiser Permanente, part of the state influenza surveillance program, on Thursday reported no new hospital admissions since the last update Jan. 12.

Additionally, the daily average for coronavirus cases dropped from 56 to 27.43 in that same seven-day window, the Solano County Public Health Division reported. The 10-day daily average dropped from 58.7 Jan. 12 to 37.5.

There have been 441 Covid-related deaths

during the pandemic, and three flu-related deaths since the surveillance program began.

Additionally, there were 20 Solano County residents in area hospitals Thursday with positive coronavirus tests, down from 39 a week earlier, with three patients in intensive care units with the disease compared to five on Jan. 12, the county reported.

The total number of Covid-19 cases for the pandemic was up 204 to 117,081, with 192 of those new cases actually occurring in the

and most especially, the need to work toward the “zero tolerance” policy with regard to homelessness.

“We will be listening to residents’ concerns; we will be talking about some plans we have for the city moving forward,” Bertani said

Tuesday’s council gathering.

“It’s a real opportunity for the public to address us in a venue where we are not limited by time; where you don’t have three minutes to make your point and then you

are out of time,” she said. “We will be listening and we will be sharing some action plans we have for each of the districts as well.”

Bertani, in a phone interview Thursday, noted the need for a beautification campaign, the need to boost Heart of Fairfield efforts

She said Fairfield needs to look clean and tidy to make other goals possible; the old Bank of America building at Texas and Great Jones streets will be used as a centerpiece to push the Heart of Fairfield vision forward; and there needs to be collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office and other resources to get people off the streets, voluntarily or otherwise.

She called homelessness an issue of “public safety and human dignity.”

Glen Faison GFAISON@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — Police are investigating a pair of homicides that occurred within hours of one another this week in the city.

A shooting Tuesday night left one man dead. Less than 30 hours later, a woman was found dead in a marshy area of the city.

The killings represent the first and second reported homicides of the year in Vallejo.

City police responded shortly before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a person shot on the 100 block of Richardson Drive. Officers who arrived there found a man suffering from at least

one gunshot wound. The man was transported to a nearby hospital, where police report he died as a result of his injuries.

The man’s identity was withheld pending family notification by the Solano County Coroner’s Office, police report. His age and city of residence were also withheld.

Police are also investigating the death of a woman found dead late Wednesday in a marshy area of the city as a suspected homicide.

Officers responding to a report shortly before 11:45 p.m. of a person in a marsh area near the 200 block of Wilson Avenue found the woman

toDD R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Solano County remains in a “moderate drought,” but that is an improvement over just a few months ago.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday, Solano and the other eight Bay Area counties, as well as all or parts of 45 counties, are listed as being in a moderate drought.

Del Norte County, located at the northwest corner of the state, was listed as being out of the drought entirely.

ture in the atmosphere that transport water vapor from the tropics –

the drought intensity over the past few weeks,” the U.S.

West.

“In California . . . improvements were made along the Northern Coast, around the Delta and along the South Coast region. While precipitation over much of the state was over 300% of normal over the previous two weeks (2 to 12.5 inches, depending on location),

“The long-term drought continues across California, the Great Basin and parts of

the Pacific Northwest. However, a barrage of atmospheric river events – streams of mois-

has reduced

Drought Monitor states in a summary for the

toDD R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Vice Mayor Pam Bertani announced at the City Council meeting this week that she and Mayor Catherine Moy will be conducting a “listening tour” through the six districts of the city.

at

A worker SOLANO Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic A student wears a face mask at Solano College in Fairfield, Thursday.

renovation

Downtown Fairfield, Thursday. Vice Mayor Pam Bertani announced

I received an autographed copy in 2013 of the book “The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections from the Black Lagoon” by actress Julie Adams.

She is best known for starring in the classic 1954 monster movie “Creature from the Black Lagoon,” which, after reading the book recently, is actually a disservice because she had an incredible career that spanned dozens of movies, television and theater projects.

Adams sent me the book after I contacted her on Facebook for a quote for a column because back then I had a local screening of the 1975 film “The McCullochs” that she was in that had been partially filmed here. I was grateful to receive the book, but I actually never read it until recently when I rediscovered it while doing a house decluttering.

Among the many projects she was a part of, one of them struck a chord with me, “Go Ask Alice.” It was a 1973 made-for-television movie that premiered almost exactly 50 years ago – on Jan. 24, 1973, as an ABC Movie of the Week.

A quick search on Google revealed that the entire film was available on YouTube https://bit.ly/GoAskAliceMovie. The story is basically about a young girl in the early 1970s who is bedeviled by the same things that bedevil many young girls – body image, boys, school, parents and peer pressure. She starts keeping a diary to record her thoughts and to help with her loneliness. At a party, she is given LSD without her knowledge and soon afterward she experiments with other drugs. It eventually leads to her running away, becoming hooked on dope, becoming a prostitute and other horrors.

Then newcomer actress Jamie Smith-Jackson had

the title role and Julie Adams played her mom. Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, played Alice’s father. Some of the other cast members included Robert Carradine (“Revenge of the Nerds”), Mackenzie Phillips (“One Day at a Time”) and Charles Martin Smith (“American Graffiti”). Special guest star Andy Griffith had a powerful part as a priest who tries to help strung-out teens.

I had never seen the movie before and while dated in many respects, some of the themes and plotlines continue to resonate today with opioids wreaking havoc in the lives of so many people.

Stylistically, one thing that worked very well was having popular period music help set the stage. The songs used included “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane (whose lyrics has the show’s title in it), “Dear Mr. Fantasy” by Traffic, “An Old Fashioned Love Song” by Three Dog Night, “Do You Know What I Mean” by Lee Michaels and “Outa-Space” by Billy Preston.

As I said, I had never seen the TV movie, but I was familiar with the book. In biology class in ninth grade at Armijo High in 1979, I had a young, kinda mousy teacher named Ms. Young who had the unenviable task of teaching us sex education with me sitting in the back of the class and Bebang Kratzer sitting in the front. Me and Bebang had an unofficial contest to see which one of us could make her answer the most embarrassing questions and turn the deepest shade of red.

Anyway, Ms. Young started reading “Go Ask Alice” to us at the end of each class and said she would keep reading portions of it if a certain percentage of us passed a quiz or

something. We kept our end of the bargain and delighted in making her read the cuss words and other R-rated material in the book aloud.

I was intrigued with revisiting the book and the Solano County Library obliged me. Despite the adolescent fun we had with it in high school, there’s nothing funny about it. Now when it first came out in 1971, “Go Ask Alice” purported to be the actual diary of a 15-year-old drug user and the author was listed as Anonymous. But it has since been revealed that the actual author was a woman named Beatrice Sparks who at first tried to say it was based on the diary of a young girl she had counseled, but is generally now understood to be a work of fiction.

There’s evidently a lot more to the story and I will soon get a book from the library published last year called “Unmask Alice:

LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries” by Rick Emerson, where he calls Sparks a “ruthless charlatan.”

Still, fictional or real, there’s no denying the impact the book and film had. ABC made screening copies available to schools, churches and civic groups upon request. Julie Adams summed it up nicely in her book.

“Despite its fictional origins, ‘Go Ask Alice’ is a gritty story about the dangers of teenage drug use. The success of our Movie of the Week gave rise to many other television projects with hard-hitting, youth-oriented subject matter. In the years that followed, ABC Afterschool Specials carried the torch, often dealing with the subject matter of teenagers and the difficulties of growing up. Many were social dramas like our movie and offered life

lessons for impressionable young minds to ponder.

“For me, who has done a great many movies and television shows that were meant as escapist entertainment, it was rewarding to be involved with something that attempted to make a difference. Even though the story turned out to be a writer’s creation, it rang true for many people who read the book or saw the movie and shed light on a subject that television rarely dealt with back then.”

Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California” and “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California.”

Tony Wade Back in the day

Pixabay/Courtesy photo

An image of “Alice in Wonderland.”

In brief

Black History Month event set Feb. 4

SUISUN CITY —

The Marina Lounge in Suisun City will host a Black History Month celebration Feb. 4.

“The purpose of the event is to never forget your roots, never forget where you came from, and to never forget the shoes of those who walked ahead of us. We should always have a vision of where we want to go as a people and where we need to go,” Bonita Knuckles, event chairwoman, said in a statement.

The event is scheduled for 1 to 5 p.m. The lounge is located at 700 Main St., Suite 106.

The celebration is free to the public. Register at marinaloungesuisun.com.

For more information, contact Knuckles at 707-971-5024 or bonita. knuckles@yahoo.com.

Schools prep to open registration

FAIRFIELD —

Registration for the 2023-24 Fairfield-Suisun School District for school year opens Monday.

Children who turn 5, with birth dates from Sept. 2, 2017, to Sept. 1, 2018, can register for kindergarten classes. Transitional kindergarten classes are available for children who turn 5 after the kindergarten cut-off date.

To register, visit fsusd.org/register.

Early transitional kindergarten placement for younger children who turn 5 within the school year is available as space allows, and will only be granted after all of the official state “qualified” transitional kindergarten children within the district have been placed. Early eligibility placement requires children to have birth dates between April 3, 2019, and June 7, 2019.

For more information, call 707-399-5000.

9th Annual Tea to benefit local group

FAIRFIELD —

Helping Children Around the World will host its 9th Annual Tea online again this year.

The event will take place at noon Feb. 11 on the Zoom teleconference platform.

The organization’s mission is to provide clean water, food, an education through scholarships and tutoring programs, and individual solar lights to underprivileged children around the world.

RSVP to Artra Green, CEO/founder, by Feb. 8 at 707399-9550 or artra@ helpingchildrenworld.org.

For more information, go to helpingchildren world.org.

City looks to redevelop empty storefronts at Beck, West Texas

straight residential and (other options).”

FAIRFIELD — The City Council on Tuesday approved zoning and land-use changes for the properties at West Texas Street and Beck Avenue, as well as in the downtown area.

The council, on a 7-0 vote, approved a specific plan amendment to the Heart of Fairfield Plan to redesignate 601 Beck Ave., 649 Beck Ave. and 699 Beck Ave. from Community Commercial zoning to Mixed-Use West Texas zoning.

The council followed by introducing an ordinance that amends the Zoning Ordinance “to adjust land-use regulations and development standards”

for those properties “in alignment with the goals and objectives of the Heart of Fairfield Plan.”

Councilman Scott Tonnesen said in a Wednesday

afternoon interview. “I think it will allow businesses on the bottom and residences above, or

The changes create definitions for Amenity Zone, Activity Zone and Transparency; and rezone the Beck Avenue parcels to the new zoning, and also a parcel at 1100 Texas St. from Public Facilities District-Downtown Area Parking Overlay District to Downtown DistrictDowntown Area Parking Overlay District.

Another ordinance was introduced to “correct typographical errors, make minor organizational revisions, clarify language, (to) bring the Zoning Ordinance into closer alignment with General Plan goals, objectives and policies; and bring the Zoning Ordinance into full compliance with state law.”

Suisun council pares down candidates list to 6

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The City Council on Tuesday whittled a list of 11 applicants down to six for a vacant seat on the dais.

There were actually 12 applicants who filed, but Tara Beasley-Stansberry, who ran for the Vallejo City Council in November before moving to Suisun City, withdrew.

The vacancy was created when Alma Hernandez was elected mayor.

Those moving on to the second round of interviews includes a former councilman, a former Fair-

field-Suisun School District trustee and two members of the city’s Public Safety and Emergency Management Committee, one of whom, Steven Olry, also serves on the Environment and Climate Committee.

Katrina Garcia, a member of the Public Safety committee and a homeschool consultant and coordinator, got an automatic spot in the final six because she ran for council in November. Anthony Adams was appointed to the council in 2019 to fill the seat of thenMayor Lori Wilson, but lost an election bid for his own term a year later. He is a

City to establish 2nd facilities district within One Lake project

R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The City Council this week adopted a resolution stating its intent to form a new community facilities district, and an improvement area within the district, for Planning Area 5 of the One Lake project.

It would be the second facility district in the development.

An annual special tax will be established for

development in that area to pay for municipal costs such as police, fire and other services including parks and open space, roads storm and flood protection and lighting and landscaping maintenance.

“The principal amount of any bonded indebtedness for (the improvement area within the district) may not exceed $90 million,” according to the staff report presented to the council Tuesday. “The principal amount of any

bonded indebtedness issued for that portion of (the facility district) that is not included in (the improvement area) may not exceed $15 million. No city funds can be used to pay for those bond debts.”

One Lake is 358.5-acre master planned residential community with 2,226 single-family and multifamily homes and 70,000 square feet of commercial development.

member of the Planning Commission and works for the Sacramento Regional Transit District.

Amit Pal, a former planning commissioner, put on the strongest campaign for selection with 26 online letters and 155 letters submitted in support as well as a number of people who spoke in his favor Tuesday, the city reported. It was not known if any of the speakers also had submitted letters for Pal, who listed himself as a businessman on his application.

Also moving on to the second round are Jonathan Richardson, a former Fairfield-Suisun School

District trustee, state peace officer and businessman, and Herbert Dardon, who works in telecommunications for Verizon Wireless.

Garcia received a number of endorsements from the public, and one person spoke up for November mayoral candidate James Berg, who did not make the second round.

Others who did not make the second-round interview list were Lilia Dardon, George Guynn Jr., Laura Cole-Rowe and Thomas Alder.

Kristy George called on the council to hold a special election to fill the vacant seat. The first opportu-

nity to hold that election, which has an estimated cost of $165,000, would be in November. The council has until Feb. 3 to make an appointment or a special election would have to be called.

One member of the public also endorsed Charles Lee, who finished a close third for two seats on the council in November. He did not apply for appointment.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic photos

A building that used to be a 99 Cents Only Stores is boarded up on Beck Avenue in Fairfield, Wednesday.

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

“We are allowing for future development,”

A person lays on the sidewalk in front of a boarded up building that used to be a 99 Cents Only Stores along Beck Avenue in Fairfield, Wednesday. The Fairfield City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday to approve a specific plan amendment to the Heart of Fairfield Plan to redesignate 601 Beck Ave., 649 Beck Ave. and 699 Beck Ave. from Community Commercial zoning to Mixed-Use West Texas zoning.

Todd R. H ansen

Todd

Council denies appeal of revoked business license

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The City Council on Tuesday denied the appeal by a local businessman who had his license revoked for what the city contends was a violation of state labor laws and other violations that date back years.

The city claims that Ahmed Saeed, owner

of Smoke Shop N More LLC, 1306 W. Texas St., was paying a “known homeless man” with food to clean the parking lot, a labor law violation.

It was one of 10 cited causes for why the city revoked the business license, which includes, the city documents states, the illegal sale of marijuana products.

The city also cites infor-

mation related to more than 170 crimes at the site, including theft, drug sales, domestic violence, prostitution and a homicide, and cited incidents of illegally selling tobacco and vaping products to teens, the staff report states.

The shop, according to the city document, was also caught in an underage sting selling the tobacco products.

“Since this incident, Mr. Saeed has gone above and beyond responsible efforts, requiring identification with every sale of tobacco products . . . Since this incident, Mr. Saeed has required his current staff to complete advanced training to better equip them to properly identify tobacco customers,” Saeed’s attorney’s response, included in the

city documents, states. Saeed states he has spent thousands on private security to protect his shop, has never been convicted of any of the 170plus crimes and charges that he and his shop are unfairly targeted by the Fairfield police, who he further asserts plays loose and easy with what information they want to include in their reports.

“None of the 170 incidents noted in your letter and/or supported by the Fairfield Police Department documents included with your letter have resulted in any conviction of any kind against Mr. Saeed for any crime whatsoever,” the shop’s response states.

DA’s Office identifies Suisun shooting victim

daily Republic sTaff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The man fatally shot Dec. 15 in Suisun City has been identified as Matthew Muller of Suisun City, the Solano County District Attorney’s Office reported.

Richard R. Klein, 51, of Martinez, has been charged with murder in connection with the shooting, which took place about 9:50 p.m. on the 1200 block of Potrero Circle.

Animal Care seeks public’s help as shelter hits capacity

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The county shelter is at maximum capacity and workers are faced with numerous housing challenges, Solano County Animal Care reports in a press release.

They hope for foster volunteers to take on some of the animals.

So many Solano County residents are looking to surrender their pets and the schedule is booked out for months, the shelter reports. Dogs are arriving on the doorstep faster than they are leaving the facility and saving animals’ lives is

getting harder and harder every day, the shelter reports. Overpopulation causes disease, illnesses and diminished mental capacity in the animals, the shelter reports.

Officials are asking pet owners to utilize what’s described in the release as “the extensive resource packet” the shelter can provide to them, to try to rehome on their own and to use the shelter as their last option.

Pet owners know their pet better than anyone and going from a home-tohome situation is always the best thing they can do to ensure the pet’s safety and well-being, the

shelter reports.

Ask family members, friends and colleagues if they would be able to take the pet before resorting to bringing them to the shelter. Owners can also network within the community with guidance and support from the shelter.

The shelter “is a scary place for nervous dogs” and although shelter staff do their best to get animals out of there alive, they do euthanize for aggressive behavior, the shelter reports. These are challenging times for everyone and financial hardship plays a huge factor in surrendering.

The shelter has pro-

grams that can help keep pets and people together.

For anyone looking for a new furry companion, the shelter is offering free adoptions through the month of January.

The shelter encourages people who find stray dogs to go around the neighborhood to find the owner. Post flyers, post on social media sites and speak with neighbors. Most pets do not go far from home, the shelter reports.

For more information on ways to keep your animal for if you wish to adopt an animal, call 707-784-1356.

Suisun City Council OKs radios for Fire Department’s wildland truck

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The Fire Department will be getting new mobile and portable radios for its wildland engine.

The City Council on Tuesday agreed to pay $43,000 for the Mortorla radios, action taken as part of the council’s consent agenda.

“The purchase and installation of these radios will ensure continuity of communications

between the crews and allow the unit to be placed into service immediately after arrival,” the staff report states.

Motorola is a pre-authorized provider listed on the Houston-Galveston Area Council Cooperative Purchasing Program, of which Suisun City is a member for cost savings.

The funds are part of a previously approved package that included the new wildland truck at a price of $356,308, with $120,000 approved for

additional equipment.

In other action, the council:

n Approved Mayor Alma Hernandez’s appoint of Vice Mayor Princess Washington to serve as the city’s alternate representative on the of Solano Transportation Authority board, the Solano County Water Agency board and the Suisun Solano Water Authority Executive Committee. Hernandez serves as the primary representative on those boards.

n Approved the $2.5 million application for a specified grant from the state Budget Act of 2022 for the Prosperity Garden Park and Montebello Vista Park improvements.

n In separate actions, approved the levying of the special taxes to fund municipal services within Community Facilities District No. 2 for the annexations of the Caterpillar Clubhouse and the Zip Thru Car Wash projects.

Leon Lakin

Leon K. Lakin, 57 of Fairfield passed away at home on Thursday, December 22, 2022.

Leon was born on Monday, April 19,1965 in Fairfield, CA. He attended Anna Kyle, Sullivan and Armijo schools. He lived his entire life in Fairfield.

In March 1984 Leon started working in a metal shop in Vallejo, CA and retired in October 2020 after 36 years. He was just starting to enjoy his retirement years.

Leon was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Charles and Evelyn Lakin of Illinois, maternal grandparents Jessie and Virginia Swearengin of Fairfield. Father, Harry L. Lakin of Illinois.

He also lost his beloved pets Ice and Reno.

He is survived by his mother, Janice Lakin of Vacaville, brother Dion Lakin (Lisa) of Vacaville, sister Cheryl Soucie (Tim) of Vacaville, nieces Jessie Lakin and Jennifer Lakin of Dixon, nephews, Derek Soucie (Chrissy) of Dixon, Jared Soucie of Vacaville. Great-niece Maci Soucie of Dixon, maternal aunt Glenda Vollet of Fairfield along with numerous cousins.

Services were held on Thursday, January 12, 2023 at Fairfield Funeral Home. Leon was buried at the Suisun Fairfield Cemetery

Muller was 34. Klein faces additional charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, an enhancement of discharging a firearm during the commission of a murder and

Project

From Page A3

“The developer estimates that the development of One Lake will require more than $219.4 million of offsite and onsite infrastructure improvements (not including the cost of the fire station), and that approximately $97.4 million of those improvements are eligible for financing under the Mello-Roos Act,” the staff report to the council stated.

A public hearing will be scheduled to discuss the district.

In other action, the council:

n Declared January as “Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month.”

n Approved a proclamation declaring “Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” which was Monday.

City Poet Laureate Suzanne Bruce also recited a poem titled “Beyond the Dream.” It can be viewed on her city webpage.

n Introduced an ordinance that establishes guidelines and development regulations for housing projects and subdivisions that qualify under the California Home Act, sometimes

an enhancement for committing murder while being out of custody on another criminal case, the District Attorney’s Office reported.

He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 30 in Vallejo for further arraignment.

Klein, arrested by U.S. marshals in Mexico, was out on bail after having been arrested in connection to an April 21 homicide in Fairfield.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder and related charges linked to the Fairfield case and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 30 in Vallejo for a readiness conference and to set dates for a jury trial in that case.

called the “duplex bill,” and allows homeowners to build additional residential units on their property.

n Approved a $912,691 contract with Dirt & Aggregate Interchange Inc. of Fairview, Oregon, for the Fairfield Highway Safety Improvement Program, which is a project to modify or replace guardrails in 22 locations in the city. The funding comes from the Capital Streets Fund.

n Approved the 2021-22 annual Comprehensive Financial Report and the drafts schedule of expenditures for the Federal Awards Report. The Comprehensive Financial Report is a report on the city’s financial condition as of June 30, 2022, and the awards report shows the city has been in compliance with federal regulations on major federal programs, and will be audited in February.

n Amended the city Municipal Code to reflect the seven-member council, and to bring into compliance with state law that requires the city manager’s term be a fixed number of years. It also changes the language to reflect gender neutral language rather than male pronouns.

Linda Miller

Linda Grace Miller, age 60, was born in Oakland, CA to Frank and Doris Har vey. She grew up in Fairfield, CA, later moved to Maui, then to the Oregon Coast and now calls home Star, ID. She passed away after a brief battle with cancer surrounded by family in her home on January 10th, 2023.

She is survived by her mother and sister; two sons Brandon; his wife Svetlana, and Michael; and two grandchildren Jaxson and Jasmine.

Growing up she enjoyed camping and spending summers at the family cabin, going to concerts with friends, and fishing trips. She received an AA in Business Administration. Linda worked as an office manager for the family business. She spent many summers working at different golf courses over the years in the pro shop and as an event coordinator. She enjoyed volunteering as a Marshall for the PGA tour

Linda loved the beach, collecting shells and driftwood, rock hounding for agates. She made beautiful artwork from anything that washed up on the beach. She loved animals especially turtles, fish, surfing puppies and crabs — octopus was one of her favorite. She enjoyed sewing quilts, working in the yard, landscaping with flowers, shells and rocks. She made pinecone wreaths for Christmas and holidays that she donated to Veterans. While in Hawaii, she learned to surf and snorkeling at Honolua Bay was one of her favorite places.

No service will be held, if you want to honor her send donations to a local animal shelter or marine conser vation institute.

susan Hiland

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2021)

Beth Bokum, an Animal Officer for Solano County, feeds Striker, a German shepherd, in Fairfield, Oct. 6, 2021.

Travis board backs changes to graduation requirements

SuSan HilanD SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Travis School District trustees on Tuesday approved a change in the graduation requirements starting with the Class of 2024.

Specifically, the governing board removed the health course graduation requirement.

The reason the district was considering this change is because many students and families have stated the students wanted to take additional electives courses but the schedule didn’t allow for it, according to a staff report.

Tiffany Benson the director of Curriculum and Instruction, gave part of the presentation.

“We heard directly from the students on this subject,” she said. “This was one of those moments when we really heard feedback from the students.”

Removing the requirement will offer an opportunity for 11th grade students to take an additional class, including advanced studies and courses for remediation. It will also help students transferring in from other school districts, particularly military-connected families. Many California

Removing the health course graduation requirement will offer an opportunity for 11th grade students to take an additional class, including advanced studies and courses for remediation.

and U.S. schools are making this change, according to the staff report.

“We are seeing more and more that younger students are in need of the information from these health classes,” Benson said.

The contents of the health course are required by the California Healthy Youth Act, so the district will place the coursework in the Physical Education class. This class is required for all ninth grade students, so this will meet all state curricular requirements outlined in California Education Code Sections 51930–51939.

“We are looking into exactly how that will be covered in P.E. classes,” Benson said.

The change will affect students starting July 1, 2023.

SolTrans receives $2 million in federal funding

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — Solano County Transit this week received $2 million in federal funding to help in the purchase of four buses for its 100% Battery Electric Commuter Coaches project.

SolTrans will combine the funds with $2 million it already has for the full purchase.

Reps. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Creek, and Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, presented the check Tuesday to SolTrans officials.

“Climate change is an ever-pressing issue that demands our immediate attention, and any step we can take to reduce emissions is a good one,” Thompson said in a statement. “The electrification of public transit is a big step in the right direction that will help SolTrans reduce pollution and

provide a cleaner transportation option for the people of Solano County who rely on public transit.”

SolTrans is transitioning its existing fleet of diesel, hybrid diesel and compressed-gas buses to an all-electric fleet, becoming one of the first transit operators to bring battery electric commuter buses to the region.

SolTrans provides local and express bus service to the Solano County cities of Vallejo, Benicia and Fairfield, with express bus service connecting to the Contra Costa County communities of El Cerrito and Walnut Creek, which serve as regional connections to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. SolTrans also provides direct service to San Francisco.

The check presentation was one of four the congressmen made in Solano County, during which more than $8 million was distributed.

Red Cross needs volunteers to help with flood relief

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The American Red Cross is looking for volunteers to help with flood relief efforts.

Volunteers are needed “to help with response and recovery activities, including feeding, supply distribution, clean-up kit building and more,” the Red Cross said in a statement.

“We are always looking for new people who are interested in supporting their communities in times of disaster and beyond,” Hanna Malak, chief executive officer for the Northern California Coastal Region of the Red Cross, said in the statement.

“The Red Cross continues to work around the clock to provide shelter, food, comfort and other emergency support to

victims of these disasters. This vital work is made possible by people like you who contribute their time and compassion,” she said.

More than 630 trained Red Cross disaster workers have been working since New Year’s Eve, and combined with the organization’s partners, have provided more than 8,000 shelter stays in 80 shelters, more than 41,600 meals and snacks

and distributed more than 9,700 relief items such as comfort kits and other relief supplies.

Volunteers may apply at tinyurl.com/ARC2023 FloodsApplication. No prior experience is required. Training will be provided.

For more information, go to redcross.org, call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

Police: Man dies after crash in Vallejo

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — A single-vehicle crash over the weekend claimed the life of a Vallejo man, police announced Thursday.

The Vallejo Police Department received a call about the shortly before 7:04 a.m. Saturday on the 300 block

of Swan Way. Officers who arrived there found that a 2002 Toyota Corolla had left the roadway and struck the curb, some bushes and a chain link fence, police report.

The initial investigation revealed the Toyota, driven by a 36-year-old Vallejo man, was traveling northbound on Swan Way

when it left the roadway and collided with the various objects.

The driver of the Toyota was transported to a local hospital, where he died. When he died was not released.

The man’s name is being withheld pending notification of family members, police report.

The collision remains

under investigation. Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Cpl. Lenard Alamon of the Vallejo Police Department Traffic Division at 707-648-4329. Refer to case number 23-565.

This is the first death involving a motor vehicle this year in Vallejo.

Supreme Court: It can’t determine who leaked draft abortion opinion last year

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WASHINGTON —

The Supreme Court said Thursday it has failed to solve the mystery of who leaked its draft opinion last May in the pending abortion case that resulted in overturning Roe vs. Wade.

The leak of the highprofile decision marked one of the biggest breaches in court history.

In a statement, the court said Gail Curley, its marshal, interviewed 97 people who worked at the court and had access to draft opinions, and then

reinterviewed several of them. But she could not determine who copied the draft opinion and gave it to Politico.

“The Marshal’s team performed additional forensic analysis and conducted multiple follow-up interviews of certain employees. But the team has to date been unable to identify a person responsible by a preponderance of the evidence,” the court said.

The leaked draft confirmed what many had already suspected at the time. Five conservatives

led by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. had agreed to overturn the right to abortion established in 1973 and allow states to prohibit some or all such procedures.

The day after the unprecedented leak, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. confirmed the draft opinion was authentic, and he said the breach would not affect the handling of the decision.

In late June, the court issued the 5-4 decision in the Mississippi abortion case, and its opinion closely matched the draft.

The justices said they were shocked and surprised by the leak, and they remain angry over what they described in Thursday’s statement as “an extraordinary betrayal of trust” and a “grave assault on the judicial process.”

Although the justices often argue back and forth when cases are heard in the court, they insist on strict confidentiality when they are writing and revising opinions.

Law clerks are hired for

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group file

Red Cross volunteer Sharon Roth, center, tries to help an unhoused woman get connected to social services at the Red Cross emergency shelter at Seven Trees Community Center in San Jose, Jan. 12.

Biden arrives in California, surveys storm damage

SAN JOSE — President Joe Biden flew to the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday to visit the wreckage from recent winter storms in Capitola Village and at Seacliff State Beach in Santa Cruz County.

Air Force One touched down at Moffett Field in Mountain View at 11:41 a.m. After walking down the steps, wearing his signature aviator sunglasses, Biden was greeted by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Sen. Alex Padilla and U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. He left on Marine One helicopter a few minutes later for Watsonville airport.

“When you see something, your understanding of it is complete,” said Eshoo afterward, who added that she asked Biden to expand the federal major disaster declaration to Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to help with recovery costs. “It’s heavy and costly damage.”

Late Wednesday, Biden signed an order expanding federal aid to the six counties that he issued major disaster declarations for earlier this week: Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Sacramento, Merced and San Luis Obispo. Under the order, the federal

government will provide up to 100% of the costs to public agencies for debris removal and other measures, instead of the traditional 75%.

Thursday’s visit – the first to Santa Cruz County by a sitting president since George Bush Sr. visited downtown Santa Cruz in 1989 three days after the Loma Prieta earthquake – generated excitement and interest among local residents.

“It’s transition toward hope,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend, whose district includes Capitola and Seacliff. “We have been living through such a challenging time. The president’s visit really signifies the beginning of the rebuilding process and that the federal government is going to be backing us for the long haul.”

So far the public damage from the storm in Santa Cruz County is at least $55 million, Friend said. That does not include damage to private property or to Seacliff State Park, where a historic wooden pier and 60 campsites were destroyed after waves breached a sea wall.

“I expect it will go over $100 million,” he said.

In Capitola, a picturesque seaside village with a population of 10,000 people, huge waves from atmospheric

river storms tore a 40-foot hole in the Capitola Wharf earlier this month and smashed waterfront restaurants and other businesses.

Biden’s motorcade arrived in Capitola at 1:36 p.m. to cheers from dozens of onlookers. A guitarist with “Funky Fathers” written in rainbow colors in the lid of his instrument case belted out songs. Surfers rode small waves off the beach nearby, strewn with massive logs, and dog owners walked their pets in the bright sun.

“It’s such a historic event to have a president visit a small town like this,” said Michael Lavigne, a downtown Capitola real estate broker. “I think it’s fantastic.”

Minna and Jeff Lantis, owners of the heavily damaged establishment The Sand Bar on the Capitola waterfront, were there for the event. They expressed frustration at the slow process of reopening, saying they haven’t been able to start tearing out ruined flooring or addressing damage to walls and other infrastructure.

“We’ve had to sit around and wait for the insurance people to do their walkthroughs, to take pictures of everything the way it is,” Jeff Lantis said. “The insur-

ance is fighting to not give us anything.”

Whether their landlord’s insurance will cover any of their repairs and losses remains to be seen, he said. The couple, like other business owners in the village who rented their buildings, did not have flood insurance because it was so expensive, Jeff Lantis said.

“It’s looking very challenging indeed,” Jeff Lantis said. The couple have no idea how much it will cost them to get their establishment shipshape again, or when they’ll be able to reopen, they said. They’ve launched a GoFundMe campaign, Save The Sand Bar Capitola, and have so far raised $16,500 toward rebuilding.

They said they want Capitola city officials to use federal disaster funds to protect the village’s beachfront restaurants.

“I don’t know if they have to fight the Coastal Commission, but they could build up rocks along the front of the buildings that got hit,” Jeff Lantis said.

The last time a head of state touched down at Moffett Field was President Donald Trump in September 2019, to attend a fundraising event a tech mogul’s Portola Valley home.

Treasury taps retirement funds to avoid breaching US debt limit

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

The Treasury Department is beginning the use of special measures to avoid a US payments default, after the federal debt limit was reached Thursday.

The department is altering investments in two government-run funds for retirees, in a move that will give the Treasury scope to keep making federal payments while it’s unable to boost the overall level of debt.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen informed congressional leaders of both parties of the step in a letter on Thursday. She had already notified them of the plan last week, when she flagged that the debt limit would be hit Jan. 19.

Yellen reiterated that the period of time that the extraordinary measures will avoid the government running out of cash is “subject to considerable uncertainty,” and urged Congress to act promptly to boost the debt limit. Last week she said the steps wouldn’t likely be exhausted before early June.

The specific funds affected by the Treasury’s move are: n Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, or CSRDF, which provides defined benefits to retired and disabled federal employees

n Postal Service Retiree Health Benefits Fund, or PSRHBF, which provides postal-service retiree health-benefit-premium payments. The fund is also invested in specialissue Treasuries

The two funds invest in special-issue Treasury securities that count under the debt limit. After the debt limit is increased, the three will be “made whole,” with participants unaffected.

It’s far from the first time the Treasury has resorted to these moves: Since 1985, the agency has used such measures more than a dozen times.

For the CSRDF, Yellen said that the Treasury is entering a “debt-issuance suspension period” start-

ing Thursday and lasting through June 5. The Treasury will suspend additional investments credited to the fund and redeem a portion of the investments held by it, she said.

As for the PSRHBF, the Treasury will suspend additional investments of amounts credited to that fund, Yellen said.

Last week, Yellen had advised that the Treasury also anticipated tapping – this month – the resources of a third fund, the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan, which is a defined-contribution retirement fund for federal employees.

The so-called G Fund is a defined-contribution retirement fund for federal employees, and also invests in special-issue Treasury securities that count under the debt limit. Yellen’s letter on Thursday made no mention of the G Fund.

Yellen’s letter didn’t specify the amount of headroom under the debt ceiling that would be created by the extraordinary measures she listed.

The Treasury probably now has $350 billion to $400 billion of headroom available in all, said Gennadiy Goldberg, a senior US rates strategist at TD Securities. That, along with the influx of revenue that will come from individual income taxes due in April, should let the Treasury go until sometime in the July to August window without running out of cash, he said.

Other measures the Treasury has taken in the past to conserve headroom under the debt limit include suspending the daily reinvestment of securities held by the Exchange Stabilization Fund. That’s a special vehicle that dates back to the 1930s, over which the Treasury secretary has wide discretion.

The Treasury previously has also suspended issuance of state and local government series Treasuries.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — The 9 mm handgun a 6-year-old student used to shoot a teacher at Richneck Elementary School was secured with a trigger lock and kept out of the boy’s reach at the family’s Newport News home, according to an attorney representing the child’s mother.

On Thursday, the boy’s family issued its first public comments since the Jan. 6 shooting, expressing sympathy for 25-year-old teacher who was wounded and disclosing that the boy suffers from “an acute disability” and was under a specialized care plan at school.

The family’s statement said the gun was secured.

“Our family has always been committed to responsible gun ownership and keeping firearms out of the reach of children,” the statement said.

The mother’s attorney, James Ellenson, elaborated in an interview Thursday that the mother had a safety lock on the firearm.

“It was out of reach of the child,” he said. “It was on the top shelf of a closet.”

A trigger lock is a mechanism that fits over a gun’s trigger and prevents the weapon from being fired unless it’s removed by a key or combination. Ellenson declined to speculate on how the boy overcame that precaution.

“I don’t think any of us know,” he said. “We don’t know . . . She has no idea how the child got the gun.”

The family’s statement also disclosed the boy was under a care plan in which his parents attended school with him.

But on Jan. 6 – the day the boy suddenly shot his teacher in the middle of class – the parents were not at the school.

“The week of the shooting was the first week when we were not in class with him,” the family’s statement said. “We will regret our absence on this day for the rest of our lives.”

The shooting has garnered national attention given the boy’s age, and fueled outrage among teachers, parents and students who say the Newport News school administration has downplayed and failed to

address ongoing student behavior problems.

No charges have been filed against either the first grader – and are highly unlikely because of his age – or his parents. Police say the boy’s mother purchased the gun legally. The case is still under investigation – with detectives continuing to review records and interview witnesses – and will be sent to Newport News prosecutors to decide on charges.

Ellenson released the family’s statement the day after a Daily Press and Virginian-Pilot reporter left a note at the apartment of the boy’s grandmother in Newport News. She said she would turn over the note and an interview request to the family’s attorney.

The statement does not identify the boy or the family, and the newspapers are not naming the boy’s parents, given that no charges have been filed.

Newport News Police Chief Steve Drew said the boy gained access to his mother’s gun at home, put

one year and are required to promise they will maintain the confidentiality of these internal debates.

The marshal’s report hinted that she may suspect one or more persons were involved in the leak, but lacked evidence to prove that. She also said the pandemic may have played a role because employees were working from home.

“If a court employee disclosed the draft opinion, that person brazenly violated a system that was built fundamentally on trust with limited safeguards to regulate and constrain access to very sensitive information,” she wrote.

“The pandemic and resulting expansion of the ability to work from home,

as well as gaps in the court’s security policies, created an environment where it was too easy to remove sensitive information from the building and the court’s IT networks, increasing the risk of both deliberate and accidental disclosures of court sensitive information.”

Michael Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary, said he had been asked to independently evaluate the court’s internal probe, and he pronounced it a “thorough investigation.”

The court said it has not closed the investigation.

“The Marshal reports that ‘(i)nvestigators continue to review and process some electronic data that has been collected and a few other inquiries remain pending. To the extent that additional investigation yields new evidence or leads, the investigators will pursue them.”

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/TNS

A statue of Alexander Hamilton stands in front of the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C, Wednesday.

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

President Joe Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, tour small businesses damaged from recent storms at Capitola Pier, Capitola, Thursday. Biden also visited Seacliff Beach in Santa Cruz County.

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Jay Paul/Getty Images/TNS file

A school sign wishing students a “Happy New Year” is seen outside Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, Jan. 7.

(707) 427-1386

Dogg, Estefan to be inducted into Songwriters Hall of Fame

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NEW YORK — Hip-hop mogul Snoop Dogg and groundbreaking Latin music superstar Gloria Estefan highlight a diverse list of new inductees to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

They’re part of a seven-member 2023 class that also includes Harlem-born R&B producer Teddy Riley, Electric Light Orchestra co-founder Jeff Lynne and Nigerian-born British singer-songwriter Sade, organizers announced Wednesday.

Liz Rose, who frequently collaborates with

Taylor Swift, and Glen Ballard, who contributed to popular Michael Jackson and Alanis Morissette songs, round out the class, which will be inducted during a June 15 ceremony at New York City’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

“The 2023 slate represents not just iconic songs but also diversity and unity across genres, ethnicity and gender, songwriters who have enriched our lives and, in their time, literally transformed music and the lives of billions of listeners all over the world,” said the hall’s president, Nile Rodgers.

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú

Crime logs

FairField

TUESDAY, JAN. 17

7:38 a.m. — Vandalism, 4300 block of REDWOOD MEADOWS

LANE 7:44 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, CAMBRIDGE DRIVE 7:51 a.m. — Battery, 100 block of ZAFRA DRIVE 11:58 a.m. — Battery, 600 block of BECK AVENUE 1:48 p.m. — Vandalism, 3000 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 3 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 2200 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 4:03 p.m. — Drunken driver, 1700 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

4:58 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 1600 block of GATEWAY BOULEVARD 5:05 p.m. — Drunken driver, EASTBOUND HIGHWAY 12 8:28 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 2200 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 9:41 p.m. — Fight with a weapon, 4300 block of CENTRAL PLACE

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18

8:22 a.m. — Grand theft, 3700 block of LYON ROAD 9:24 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 3700 block of LYON ROAD 9:56 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 3700 block of LYON ROAD 11:03 a.m. — Vandalism, 2000 block of CADENASSO DRIVE 11:33 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 1400 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 1 p.m. — Reckless driver, SUNSET AVENUE 1:02 p.m. — Trespassing, 1400 block of HOLIDAY LANE 1:55 p.m. — Trespassing, 1400 block of STARR COURT 2:42 p.m. — Trespassing, 1900 block of MOOSUP COURT 4:11 p.m. — Reckless driver, BECK AVENUE 5:36 p.m. — Trespassing, 2000 block of CADENASSO DRIVE 6:43 p.m. — Trespassing, 1400

block of HOLIDAY LANE 7 p.m. — Residential burglary, 2400 block of BEAUFORT DRIVE 7:35 p.m. — Trespassing, 900 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 8 p.m. — Reckless driver, 5100 block of BUSINESS CENTER DRIVE

8:12 p.m. — Grand theft, 5100 block of BUSINESS CENTER DRIVE 8:27 p.m. — Robbery, 1500 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 9:44 p.m. — Sexual assault, 1000 block of WEBSTER STREET 9:56 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 2300 block of DAWN WAY 10:45 p.m. — Sexual assault, 1600 block of KIDDER AVENUE 10:45 p.m. — Sexual assault, 600 block of EAST TRAVIS BOULEVARD

SuiSun City

TUESDAY, JAN. 17 4:40 p.m. — Grand theft, 300 block of WALTERS ROAD WEDNESDAY, JAN. 18 9:35 a.m. — Grand theft, 300 block of SANDY LANE 11:24 a.m. — Grand theft, 500 block of EL MAR COURT 1:16 p.m. — Fraud, 600 block of CHARLES WAY 2:33 p.m. — Vandalism, 900 block of EDGEWOOD CIRCLE

Water Agency monitoring gauges showed.

Crosby, who embodied the Woodstock generation, dies

Behind the group’s delicate musical harmonies, they often had fierce internal disputes. Crosby’s worsening drug problems made him increasingly volatile and unreliable.

Stills once poured a bucket of water over his head after a lackluster performance, and ultimately the other members of the group refused to go onstage with him.

“They believed in me, and I let them down,” Crosby told the Toronto Star in 1989. “I became a junkie sleazebag, a criminal, paranoid fool. I didn’t take care of anything – not my friends, not my music, not myself.”

As a member of the Byrds – a group once regarded as the mid-’60s American counterpart to the Beatles – and later with Stephen Stills and Graham Nash (sometimes augmented by Neil Young), Crosby sold millions of albums and performed songs that symbolized the era of peace, love and political engagement: “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Turn! Turn! Turn!” and “Eight Miles High” with the Byrds; and, with Stills, Nash and Young, “Carry On,” “Marrakesh Express,” “Teach Your Children” and “Our House.”

gentler sound inspired by folk music, with acoustic guitars and intricate vocal harmonies. Every word could be clearly understood.

Few groups were as well suited to their time as CSNY, embodying both the laid-back dreaminess and the pent-up social anger of the period.

Once worth millions, Crosby sold his guitars and memorabilia to buy drugs. He was freebasing cocaine and injecting heroin and often kept a handgun at his side. He was arrested several times and went to drug treatment facilities, only to walk out or relapse.

deficits have been years in the making. While this last round of rain has helped return smaller reservoirs to the historical averages, many of the larger reservoirs still remain below the historical average for this time of year.

“Historically, long-term drought is interrupted by a period of abnormally wet weather. However, it’s too early to tell if the wet weather is enough to end the drought.”

The categories range from no drought to exceptional drought. There are still areas of “severe drought,” but no areas in California are considered to be in “extreme” or “exceptional” drought.

Of particular concern is that while smaller storage reservoirs are filling up, larger lakes remain relatively low.

Lake Berryessa, under the blue skies of Thursday afternoon, was at 410.93 feet and close to capacity, the Solano County

The levels at Lake Curry, which caused an evacuation warning for residents within a quarter-mile of Suisun Creek, remained slightly over the 377-foot flood stage at 378.2 feet, but the warning has been lifted.

The National Weather Service in Sacramento reported there will be no rain through at least next Friday, with some wind and fog on days when the wind is down.

Since the start of the rainfall season Oct. 1, Solano County has received about 20.05 inches, as marked at the Nut Tree Airport, the Weather Service reported. That is 8.07 inches above normal.

Temperatures will drop to 35 degrees in Fairfield overnight into Friday, dropping to 32 Saturday and 34 Sunday. It will begin to warm up starting next week, the Weather Service reported.

The highs for that stretch will be 56 degrees Friday, 53 and cloudy Saturday, and 59 degrees Sunday and Monday.

From

in the water, police report. The woman has not been identified, police report. No description of the woman, to include her race and approximate age, was given. No preliminary cause of death was released. The approximate amount of time she was in the water was also not released to indicate when she may have died.

Detectives responded to both scenes to take over the

investigations. The motive and circumstances related to the shooting and to the woman’s death remain under investigation.

Anyone with information about the shooting Tuesday night is asked to call Detective Brian Murphy at 707-648-5430 or Detective Jordon Patzer at 707-648-4278. Anyone with information about the death of the woman found Wednesday night is asked to call Detective Stephanie McDonough at 707-648-5425 or Detective Cpl. Ken Jackson at 707-648-4280.

Crosby was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two times, as a member of each group, was at the heart of the Laurel Canyon music scene in Los Angeles and was considered one of the founders of folk rock.

He gained immense acclaim when he appeared with Stills, Nash and Young at the Woodstock festival in August 1969 and, four months later, at its dark-side-ofthe-dream counterpart, the Altamont festival in California, where an audience member was killed by a member of the Hells Angels “security” team.

At a time when Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Doors and the Rolling Stones were taking rock in an amplified, acid-washed direction, Crosby and his bandmates turned to a

Crosby, Stills & Nash “captured the spirit of the last high moment of the American ‘60s,” music journalist Paul Evans wrote in “The Rolling Stone Album Guide.” “The CSN generation found in the band both spokesmen and representatives: The singers’ slightly weary Utopianism, their bucolic fantasies and their songs about love and losses, reflected the inward turning of an aging youth culture.”

For a few years, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young were genuine superstars. The group’s 1969 debut album, “Crosby, Stills & Nash,” was hailed as a near-masterpiece, and the band won a Grammy Award as best new artist.

The group’s next three albums, “Déjà Vu,” “4 Way Street” and “CSN,” all reached either No. 1 or No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart and sold in the millions. Crosby wrote several well-known songs for CSNY, including “Guinnevere” and the Vietnam-era anthem “Almost Cut My Hair.”

One of the band’s biggest hits, “Woodstock,” was by his protegee, Joni Mitchell.

town hall in my (district), maybe you can let me know.”

“Here’s the thing –we’re descended, singersongwriters, from troubadours in the Middle Ages,” Crosby told the San Luis Obispo Tribune in 2017. “Part of the job should just be to boogie, make you want to dance. Part of the job should be to take you on little emotional voyages that make you feel stuff. And part of the job should be for us to be the town criers.”

Each member recorded separately but, with the possible exception of Young, none could match the work they did together. In many ways, Crosby was CSNY’s spiritual nucleus. His name always came first, and he seemed to personify the wistful California optimism of the hippie era.

His song “Wooden Ships” (written with Stills and Paul Kantner of the Jefferson Airplane) from CSN’s debut album in 1969 reflected the spirit of the time: Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy Easy, you know the way it’s supposed to be Silver people on the shoreline, let us be Talkin’ ‘bout very free and easy

a general town hall is necessarily the best approach.

In 1982, he was arrested at a Dallas nightclub for illegal possession of cocaine and a .45 caliber pistol. While appealing his five-year sentence, he gave serious consideration to sailing away and leading the life of a fugitive.

Instead, he walked barefoot into an FBI office in West Palm Beach, Fla., in 1985 and turned himself in. He went back behind bars, including five months in a Texas state prison, before he was released in 1986.

“I was kicking coke and heroin under the worst possible circumstances,” he told People magazine in 1987. “They wouldn’t give me an aspirin. I did it as cold turkey as you can do it, and it was hell.”

For 15 years, he didn’t have so much as a beer. He later began to smoke marijuana again, angering some sobriety advocates.

“Most people who go as far as I did with drugs are dead,” Crosby told People. “Fool with them and you’ll get strung out. Then there are about four ways it can go: You can go crazy; you can go to prison; you can die; or you can kick. That’s it. Anything else anybody says is bull.”

From Page One

“Who really wants to live on the side of the freeway?” Bertani said.

The vice mayor also pointed to reinvigorating the mall.

“We have to fix it. We have to make sure these kinds of properties are being used for the best and highest purpose,” Bertani said.

She said those concepts and, hopefully more specifics, will develop into action plans, or what she referred to as her “points of light.”

The tour announcement seemed to surprise the other council members, with Councilman Scott Tonnesen saying: “Mayor, vice mayor, maybe when there’s going to be a

Moy said that was the plan and that she and Bertani want the council member representing the district where the meeting is to be held to participate.

But that was not the case with the scheduling of the first town hall Feb. 11 at Bethel Community Church of Fairfield on East Tabor Avenue, which is located in District 5.

Councilwoman Doriss Panduro, who was not notified about the town hall until right before the council meeting, said she will not even be in town that day. The town hall has since been moved to Feb. 25. The time is 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“It is great we are doing this, but we have to be mindful of the community we are reaching out to,” Panduro said Thursday. She is not convinced

Panduro said her district has at least a half-dozen “communities” –areas divided by language, age, a business quarter and other elements, and that each looks at government in a different way and responds to government differently.

She would have hoped that her input would have been part of the planning for the town hall.

“I appreciate the gusto we are starting off the new year with,” Panduro said, “but I think gusto with partnership with everyone else is a stronger front.”

Bertani said she and Moy first discussed the possibility of the listening tour in early December, and admits communication with the other council members should have

been better, but a lot of that was disrupted with the unexpected death of then-Mayor Harry Price on Dec. 16.

She said there is still time leading up to all the town halls, and the other council members will be part of putting those together.

Bertani also announced at the meeting that the council’s annual retreat will be held Feb. 3-4, and provides another opportunity for the public to help “cast the vision and the priorities for the city for the next year.”

The opening day of the retreat, a Friday, will be from 5 to 8 p.m. The second day is from 9 a.m. to noon. It will be held at the Police Training Facility, 1717 Rex Clift Lane.

From Page One

seven-day period dating back to Jan. 12, the county reported.

Vallejo had the most new cases with 70, taking its total to 35,653. Fairfield added 47 cases for a count of 31,595. Vacaville was at 28,440 after 55 case additions, the county reported.

Suisun City (8,141) and Benicia (4,853) each added 11 cases; Dixon (5,502) added seven; Rio Vista (1,666) added three; and there were no new cases in the unincorporated area, which has a pandemic total of 232, the county reported.

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county health officer, has previously indicated Covid-19 case counts are likely much higher with the use of in-home testing,

results of which are not generally reported to government agencies and in many cases are not shared with medical providers if medical treatment is not needed. He has also said the availability of vaccines and changes to personal behavior have slowed the disease throughout the Bay Area.

Flu cases requiring hospitalizations held at 103, and the monkeypox count stayed at 44, the

county reported.

Covid vaccination data showed 15,309 children 5 to 11 have received shots (41.2%) and 2,692 children 6 months to 4 years old have been inoculated (11.9%), the county reported.

An additional 101 booster shots were administered to take that total to 184,367, the county reported.

PANDURO

Matt McClain/The Washington Post file (2019) David Crosby in 2019.

it in a book bag and carried it to school that morning. Before the shooting, police said, a school employee was notified the boy potentially had brought a weapon to school.

The student’s bag was searched by a school official, but no gun was found. At some point, Drew said, the boy had removed the gun from his backpack “and had it on his person.”

Just before 2 p.m., in the middle of class, the boy pointed the gun at his teacher, 25-year-old Abigail Zwerner, and fired a single round that struck the teacher in her hand, then the chest. No motive has been provided.

Police spokesperson Kelly King said police weren’t told before the shooting about the report of a gun at the school.

“I would rather have the information right away,” Drew said during an online community Facebook discussion this week.

Zwerner was released from Riverside Regional Medical Center this week and “continues her recovery as an outpatient with the support of family, friends, and health professionals,” a hospital spokesperson said.

Since the shooting, the 6-year-old “has been under hospital care and receiving the treatment he needs,” the family’s statement said. The boy is undergoing treatment at a medical facility, which a family member said is the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk.

The statement from the boy’s family said the family was praying for Zwerner, and that she “selflessly served our son and the children in the school.”

“She has worked diligently and compassionately to support our family as we sought the best education and learning environment for our son,” the statement said. “We thank her for her courage, grace and sacrifice.”

“We continue to pray for his teacher’s full recovery, and for her loved ones who are undoubtedly upset and concerned. At the same time, we love our son and are asking that you please include him and our family in your prayers.”

Baldwin, weapons handler to be charged in ‘Rust’ shooting

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

New Mexico prosecutors said they are filing felony criminal charges against actor Alec Baldwin and the armorer of the low-budget western “Rust,” following the fatal shooting of the film’s cinematographer.

The charges represent a dramatic culmination of more than a year of speculation over who would be held accountable for the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, a rising star in the film industry. Hutchins was shot in the chest Oct. 21, 2021, as she rehearsed a scene with Baldwin and the film’s director, Joel Souza, who was wounded.

Baldwin is expected to be charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Prosecutors also plan to bring involuntary manslaughter charges against weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez Reed, who loaded the gun.

The district attorney said she plans to give the juries two options for the charges. If convicted under the lesser charge, Baldwin or Gutierrez would face up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine. The DA also will ask the juries to consider a harsher penalty, which carries a mandatory five years in prison, because the alleged crime involved the use of a firearm.

The film’s assistant director, David Halls, who investigators said gave the loaded revolver to Baldwin just before a rehearsal in an old wooden church at Bonanza Creek Ranch near Santa Fe, reached a plea deal to accept a misdemeanor charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

New Mexico’s First Judicial D.A. Mary Carmack-Altwies announced the charges Thursday, nearly 15 months after Baldwin is alleged to have fired the live round from his prop gun, unaware that the Colt .45 revolver contained live ammuni-

tion. Actual bullets are forbidden from film sets; however, investigators later found several other lead bullets mingled with inert dummy rounds.

“After a thorough review of the evidence and the laws of the state of New Mexico, I have determined that there is sufficient evidence to file criminal charges against Alec Baldwin and other members of the ‘Rust’ film crew,” CarmackAltwies said. “On my watch, no one is above the law, and everyone deserves justice.”

“We support the charges, will fully cooperate with this prosecution, and fervently hope the justice system works to protect the public and hold accountable those who break the law,” said attorney Brian J. Panish, who represents the Hutchins family.

Gutierrez Reed’s attorneys, Jason Bowles and Todd J. Bullion, called the investigation “flawed” and said they “intend to bring the full truth to light and believe Hannah will be exonerated of wrongdoing by a jury.”

A series of lapses on the low-budget production led to the shooting, which ignited calls in Hollywood for producers to improve safety conditions on sets. Baldwin was one of the producers of “Rust.”

The 64-year-old Hollywood star – who achieved acclaim for performances on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and “30 Rock,” as well as such movies as “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “The Hunt for Red October” – could now face a criminal trial or accept a plea bargain.

“This decision distorts Halyna Hutchins’ tragic death and represents a terrible miscarriage of justice,” said Baldwin’s attorney, Luke Nikas of Quinn Emanuel, adding that his client “relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win.”

The decision comes three months after Baldwin and the film’s other producers struck a proposed settlement agreement with Hutchins’ family to end the wrongful-death civil lawsuit the family filed early last year. The cinematographer’s widower, Matthew Hutchins, called his spouse’s death “a terrible accident.”

Under the proposed deal, the movie’s production could resume this year.

Baldwin has long maintained his innocence, saying in televised interviews that gun safety wasn’t his respon-

sibility and that he did not pull the trigger.

Reports prepared by FBI analysts in Virginia, however, cast doubt on that claim, saying a reproduction of a vintage Colt .45 “functioned normally when tested in the laboratory.”

The FBI report also noted that, in order for the revolver to fire, the trigger would have been pulled.

“This is problematic for Baldwin because he has insisted that he did not pull the trigger,” said Beverly Hills entertainment attorney Mitra Ahouraian.

Baldwin has placed blame on Gutierrez Reed and Halls, saying they didn’t do their jobs. The armorer, property master and assistant director are typically responsible for gun safety.

“All my career, without incident, I’ve relied on the safety experts (on set) to declare the gun safe and never had a problem,” Baldwin said in 2022 at the Boulder International Film Festival. “And (then,) this happened.”

That defense might fall short, experts said.

“Regardless of what the practice may be in

the entertainment industry, and regardless of what the protocols are on Hollywood sets, that’s not the law,” Ahouraian said. “The gun was in his hands. And if there’s any possibility that you are handling something that could harm someone, then you have an obligation to handle it safely.”

“Everyone in that chain of custody had some responsibility,” said Joshua Kastenberg, a law professor at the University of New Mexico. “The ‘it’s not my job’ defense just doesn’t fly.”

Filming of “Rust,” which had a $7 million production budget, was supposed to span 21 days – an ambitious timeline for a period piece, film experts have said.

Baldwin was playing a grizzled outlaw, Harland Rust, who was on the run with his grandson, who accidentally shot a rancher dead in 1880s Kansas.

After lunch on that fateful day, Souza and Hutchins were lining up camera angles as Baldwin practiced a cross-draw maneuver inside the old wooden church at the Bonanza Creek Ranch, a popular location for movie productions.

Sitting in a makeshift pew about four feet from Hutchins and Souza, Baldwin allegedly pulled the Pietta Colt .45 pistol from his holster and pointed it in the direction of the camera. The gun went off. Hutchins was standing next to the camera and Souza was behind her.

Halls – who was the “Rust” safety officer on set – had told Baldwin the gun was “cold,” meaning that it did not contain live ammunition, according to sheriff’s records.

The gun contained at least one live bullet and dummy rounds, which contained no gunpowder.

Mike Coppola/Getty Images for 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala/TNS file (2022) Alec Baldwin speaks onstage at the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala at New York Hilton in New York City, Dec. 6, 2022.

Warriors lose an OT thriller to Celtics

M ADeline K enney BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

BOSTON — The Warriors haven’t figured it out yet.

They showed what they can do on both ends of the floor Thursday night but ultimately couldn’t get the job done on the road, falling 121-118 in overtime to the Celtics.

Golden State led the entire second half until Jaylen Brown hit a 3 with 18 seconds left that ultimately forced overtime.

“We looked like what we are, which is a championship team. But we didn’t close the game. Better now than in the playoffs,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.

But even as the Celtics pulled ahead by six points in overtime, Golden State wouldn’t go down without a fight.

The Warriors made it interesting down the stretch. Donte DiVincenzo hit a corner 3 to pull them within three points with about 30 seconds

left. But Jordan Poole’s shot at the buzzer went off the backboard and the Celtics earned their eighth straight win.

The Warriors have been frustratingly average this season, hovering around .500 for most of the season.

Draymond Green recently said the team lacked a sense of urgency, and Klay Thompson admitted there’s been a lack of focus.

But Kerr thought there’d be “no shortage of motivation” heading into the NBA Finals rematch.

“For a team like ours that has been at it for a long time, there are going to be games that stand out during the 82,” Kerr said pregame, “and then there’s others, there’s a lot of other games where you’re just trying to – I don’t want to say get through them but you’re trying to build momentum within them, and build good habits and find something to hang your hat on as a team and we’ve just had stops and start along the way.”

Kerr opted to go small,

starting Poole in place of Kevon Looney as a way to spread the floor. Poole got going early, scoring nine points in the first quarter. He also looked strong defensively – as did the rest of the team. Golden State disrupted Boston passing lanes and had 10 steals and seven blocked shots.

Stephen Curry, who had a team-high 29 points, stunned the Boston crowd at the end of the half following a wild scramble in the final seconds. With Boston up by two points,

Marcus Smart stole the ball after Curry turned it over with 3.4 seconds left only to see Curry to steal it back two seconds later and fire up a 46-foot prayer at the buzzer.

Swish.

The basket, his fifth career make from 45-foot or farther, put the Warriors up 55-54 at the half. Golden State maintained the lead the entire second half until Brown’s late 3-pointer forced overtime.

Preliminary realignment has Fairfield out of MEL

M ATT Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD —

Fairfield High School athletics could be on the move from the Monticello Empire League, according to the first realignment proposal issued by the Sac-Joaquin Section for the years 2024 to 2028.

49ers’ Hufanga strives to repeat early season wave of playmaking

by Jerry MCDonAlD BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SANTA CLARA — Dre Greenlaw understands being self-critical is a big part of what has helped Talanoa Hufanga ascend to the top of his profession in just his second season.

Yet there are times when Greenlaw, whose locker is next to Hufanga’s, does his best to lighten the mood with the 49ers’ strong safety when he’s beating himself up over a missed opportunity.

“After every game, he’s worried about whether he’s going to get cut or not,” Greenlaw said Wednesday. “I’m like, ‘Bro, you just balled out. Relax.’ ”

Hufanga isn’t going to be cut any time soon. He was elected to the Pro Bowl and was a first-team AP All-Pro selection. Along with free safety Tashaun Gipson, he will rep-

resent the 49ers’ last line of defense Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi’s Stadium.

For all the accolades, Hufanga burst out of the gate with some highlight-reel performances and has been less effective over the second half of the season, although coach Kyle Shanahan isn’t complaining.

“I think he’s had a hell of a year and that’s why he’s gotten everything he deserves,” Shanahan said. “We’re challenging him to get better at things, and all those guys go up and down through stuff. I thought he had a good game last week but I still want to see his best football.”

Of primary importance against Dallas will be defending Dalton Schultz, a Stanford product who in a 31-14 win over Tampa Bay became the first tight end in franchise history to catch two touchdown passes in a postseason game.

Schultz caught seven passes for 95 yards, the latest sure-handed Dallas tight end in the tradition of Jay Novacek, Doug Cosbie and Jason Witten. He had 57 receptions for 577 yards and five touchdowns in the regular season.

The responsibility of covering Schultz will fall with not only Hufanga, but Gipson as well as Greenlaw and middle linebacker Fred Warner.

“I think people are sleeping on him and that’s what allows him to be in position to make more plays and be open,” Warner said of Schultz.

“He’s kind of sneaky-fast, slippery, able to play the ball in the air. He’s a bigger body, able to box guys out. He’s kind of a tweener between a tight end and a receiver because of the way they use him.”

Hufanga, whose mentor is Troy

Andy Murray wants to end brutal all-night matches after epic victory

Andy Murray called for tennis to end the “farce” of all-night matches after battling past 4 a.m. at the Australian Open to defeat Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in one of the most extraordinary performances of his career.

Kokkinakis served for victory at 5-3 in the third set of their second-round match on a rowdy, partisan Margaret Court Arena only for Murray to show once again that his greatest asset is a stubborn refusal to lose.

The 35-year-old, who had battled for nearly five hours to upset Matteo Berrettini on Tuesday

in his best result since 2017, forced a deciding set and finally prevailed 4-6, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3, 7-5 at 4:05 a.m.

At five hours and 45 minutes, it was the longest match of Murray’s career, the second longest in the tourna-

ment’s history and the third-latest finish to a tennis match ever.

The US Open saw its latest finish last year at 2:50 a.m., and this was the 32nd match to extend beyond 2 a.m.

“I don’t know who it’s beneficial for,” Murray said as he sat in a corridor in the bowels of Melbourne Park.

“We come here after the match and that’s what the discussion is, rather than it being like, ‘epic Murray-Kokkinakis match.’ It ends in a bit of a farce.

“Amazingly people stayed until the end, and I really appreciate people

The preliminary report has Pioneer of Woodland joining the current other five members of the MEL –Vanden, Vacaville, Will C. Wood, Armijo and Rodriguez. Fairfield would become a member of a new Division IV Golden Empire League that would include Capital Christian (in another league for basketball), Case Roble, Dixon, Woodland and new members El Camino, Sutter and Twelve Bridges.

Vacaville Christian and Rio Vista would remain in the Division VI Sierra Delta League.

Section assistant commissioner Will DeBoard said in a text message

that the decision to move Fairfield was made because, “We felt we were going to try and get them some relief. The reason Fairfield has remained in the MEL has been geographical.”

DeBoard cites Fairfield’s struggles since joining the MEL. In the six-year realignment cycle, the Falcons haven’t made the playoffs in any team sport. Fairfield teams have routinely finished fifth or sixth in every sport, he said.

Fairfield athletic director Eddie Wilson doesn’t disagree with the decision. But there would be obstacles like travel costs and a fall in gate income.

Travel would be hard, Wilson said, because baseball players would have to go to Sutter in Yuba City for a 4 p.m. game and that would be asking the students to miss all of school after lunch. And the gate would take a hit as well, because students from Twelve Bridges High

Rodriguez girls basketball team defeats Fairfield

DAily r epubliC STAff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Mia Marquez scored 18 points and Samantha Morris had 16 as the Rodriguez High School girls basketball team won 52-40 Wednesday night at Fairfield.

Roniya Vaughn added nine points as the Lady Mustangs improved to 2-1 in Monticello Empire League games and 6-14 overall. Rodriguez used its scoring strength in the second and third quarters to a 26-19 advantage to pull away for the win.

Amani Boxdell led Fairfield with a gamehigh 22 points. Mariah Giron added nine points. The Falcons fell to 0-3 in MEL games and 5-13 overall.

Rodriguez will play Friday at Vanden and Fairfield will be home to

face Armijo.

Vanden girls roll over Vacaville

FAIRFIELD — Vanden High School’s girls basketball team rolled to an easy 84-26 win Wednesday night over Vacaville.

Jaylen Kuehnel led the Vikings with 16 point. Alyssa Jackson and Calonni Holloway had 13 points apiece. Maalia Cherry scored 10 and Kalyn Harris had nine.

Vanden improved to to 14-7 overall and 3-0 in the Monticello Empire League.

Vacaville fell to 10-6 overall and 2-1 in MEL.

Vanden hosts Rodriguez on Friday and Vacaville is at Will C. Wood in rivalry matchups.

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/TNS file (2022)

The San Francisco 49ers’ Talanoa Hufanga (29) catches a fumble against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first

quarter of their NFL game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Oct. 23, 2022.

William West/AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Britain’s Andy Murray reacts during his men’s singles match against Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis that took five hours and 45 minutes and ended at 4:05 a.m.

CALENDAR

Friday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

•Virginia Commonwealth vs. Richmond, ESPN2, 4 p.m.

NBA

•Miami at Dallas, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

•Golden State at Cleveland, NBCSBA (Fairfield and Suisun City, 4:30 p.m.

•Memphis at L.A. Lakers, ESPN, 7 p.m.

•Oklahoma City at Sacramento, NBCSCA (Vacaville and Rio Vista),7 p.m.

Golf PGA

•The American Express Championship, GOLF, Noon.

Champions

•Mitsubishi Electric Championship, GOLF, 4 p.m.

Soccer

German Bundesliga

•RB Leipzig vs. Bayern Munich, ESPN2, 11:30 a.m.

Saturday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

•Miami at Duke, ESPN, 9 a.m.

•Ole Miss at Arkansas, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

•TCU at Kansas, 5, 13, 10 a.m.

•UCLA at Arizona, 7, 10, 11 a.m.

•Texas Tech at Kansas State, ESPN2, 11 a.m.

•Tennessee at LSU, ESPN, 1 p.m.

•Baylor at Oklahoma, ESPN2, 1 p.m.

•Texas at West Virginia, ESPN, 3 p.m.

•Virginia Tech at Clemson, ESPN2, 3 p.m.

NBA

•Philadelphia at Sacramento, NBCSCA (Vacaville and Rio Vista), 7 p.m.

Football

NFL Playoffs

•Jacksonville at Kansas City, 3, 1:30 p.m.

• N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 2, 40, 5:15 p.m.

Golf PGA

•The American Express Championship, GOLF, Noon.

Champions

•Mitsubishi Electric Championship, GOLF, 4 p.m.

Soccer

EPL

•Leicester City at Brighton, USA, 7 a.m.

Sharks defenseman says he’s ready to go after battling injuries

cuRtiS paShelka BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SAN JOSE — Defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov, out for the last 20 months with a litany of injuries, said he’s ready to play games again, and he might get that opportunity sometime in the next week or so with the Sharks’ top minor league affiliate.

Knyzhov practiced again with the Sharks on Thursday, a day before the team left for a fivegame road trip that starts Saturday in Columbus. Knyzhov, though, will remain in San Jose and begin to skate with the Barracuda.

It was unclear as of Thursday if or when Knyzhov would play an AHL game, which would be his first at any level since May 2021. The Barracuda host the San Diego Gulls on Friday, then start a three-game road trip next week, playing in Henderson on Jan. 25 and 27, and Bakersfield on Jan. 28.

Still, Knyzhov has not had any setbacks since he’s been able to take contact in practices on Jan. 9, and he’s continued to ramp up his conditioning in the meantime.

“I’m ready,” Knyzhov said Thursday. “I don’t know about (Friday’s) game if I’m playing or not. I could be in the

lineup (next week). We’ll just see. I’m just taking it day by day.”

Knyzhov had surgery in early August to repair a torn right Achilles tendon, an injury that typically takes about six months to fully heal. He skated for the first time in early November and has made steady progress over the last two months.

“It just feels like everything’s coming back,” Knyzhov said. “Being around the guys being in-season, it doesn’t feel like summer training. It feels like the games are already going, so you’re trying to get into the lineup as fast as you can.

“I feel like we’ve done a lot in the last few weeks.”

In his one full NHL year in 2020-2021, Knyzhov, a left shot, played in all 56 games and averaged close to 17 minutes of ice time per night for the Sharks as he finished the season as Erik Karlsson’s defense partner. A fluid and effortless skater, Knyzhov turned into one of the few Sharks’ bright spots during a challenging 21-28-7 season.

Since then, Knyzhov, 24, has needed multiple surgeries, including sports hernia surgery and others involving his adductor muscles. He also had to fight off a bone infection during that time.

Grange’s boys basketball defeats Green Valley

Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD —

The Grange Middle School boys basketball team earned a 30-18 win Wednesday over Green Valley.

Jayden Gordon had 14 points and five

rebounds for Grange. Malachi Wroten added five points and eight rebounds. Individual statistics will not made available for Green Valley.

Grange, now 2-0, will be home Wednesday to face Crystal.

Scoreboard

BASKETBALL

NBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pct GB Boston 34 12 739 Philadelphia 28 16 636 5 Brooklyn 27 16 628 5½ New York 25 21 543 9 Toronto 20 26 435 14

Central Division W L Pct GB Milwaukee 29 16 644 Cleveland 28 18 609 1½ Indiana 23 23 500 6½ Chicago 21 24 467 8 Detroit 12 36 250 18½ Southeast Division W L Pct GB Miami 25 21 543 Atlanta 23 22 511 1½ Washington 19 26 422 5½ Orlando 16 28 364 8 Charlotte 12 34 261 13

WESTERN CONFERENCE Northwest Division W L Pct GB Denver 32 13 711 Utah 24 24 500 9½ Minnesota 23 24 489 10 Oklahoma City 22 23 489 10 Portland 21 23 477 10½ Pacific Division W L Pct GB SACRAMENTO 25 18 581 L.A. CLippers 23 24 489 4 GOLDEN STATE 22 23 489 4 Phoenix 21 24 467 5 L.A. Lakers 20 25 444 6 Southwest Division W L Pct GB Memphis 31 13 705 New Orleans 26 19 578 5½

Local

From Page B1

Will C. Wood girls overpower Armijo

FAIRFIELD — Will C. Wood High School’s girls basketball team rolled to a 65-21 win Wednesday over host Armijo and was led by three scorers who finished in double figures.

Natalie Sanchez and Athena Brombacher each had 15 points for the Lady Wildcats. Sa’nyah Stewart had 13 points and eight steals. Wood improved to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Monticello Empire League.

Armijo fell to 1-15 overall and 0-3 in the MEL. Individual statistics for the Royals were not made available.

Wood will play Friday at Vacaville and Armijo will play at Fairfield.

Girls basketball Rodriguez girls net win over Will C. Wood

FAIRFIELD — Ella Bellandres, Sophia Ammons and Lauren Snyder all scored goals as the Rodriguez High School girls soccer team earned a 3-1 win Wednesday night over Will C. Wood.

The score was tied 1-1 at the half before the Lady Mustangs scored two more times after the break.

“We dominated the entire second half,” Rodriguez head coach Jeffrey Herman said in an email. “We had more possessions and shots on goal.”

The Lady Mustangs improved to 3-1-1 overall and 3-0 in the Monticello Empire League. Rodriguez will be home Friday to take on Vacaville.

Wood fell to 1-8-1 overall and 1-2 in MEL matches. Individual statistics for Will C. Wood were not made available. The Wildcats will host Fairfield on Friday night.

Rodriguez won the junior varsity match 5-0 over Wood.

Boys Basketball Schnell powers Vacaville boys

VACAVILLE — Nathan Schnell had a game-high 26 points and Gavin Hamill scored 13 as the Vacaville High School boys basketball team edged out Vanden 60-59 on Tuesday night at a raucous Harold Youngblood Gymnasium.

Vacaville improved to 15-5 overall and 3-0 in the Monticello Empire League.

Tyler Thompson led Vanden with 17 points and Sterling McClanahan added 12. Vanden fell to 12-8 overall and 2-1 in the MEL.

It was a tight game throughout and both teams had opportunities in the end to score.

Vacaville was scheduled Thursday night to play at Wood in a rivalry clash, while Vanden was scheduled to play at Rodriguez.

Rodriguez boys hold off Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — Balanced scoring and a quick start helped the Rodriguez High School boys basketball team secure a 65-56 win Tuesday night over Fairfield.

The Mustangs grabbed a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. But the Falcons never went away and even closed it to a fivepoint game late. Rodriguez had another run at the end that included a pair of 3-pointers.

Gianni Miles led the Mustangs with 21 points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Jerel Victory had 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Joe Gould contributed 11 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Ian Gutierrez added 11 points, one steal and one assist.

Johnnie Jones led Fairfield with 15 points.

Rodriguez improved to 11-9 overall and stayed unbeaten in the Monticello Empire League at 3-0. The Mustangs were scheduled to host Vanden on Thursday night.

Fairfield fell to 3-17 overall and 0-3 in the MEL. The Falcons were scheduled Thursday night to play at Armijo.

Will C. Wood High’s boys top Armijo

VACAVILLE — Will C. Wood High School’s boys basketball team made some key free throws down the stretch Tuesday night and held off visiting Armijo 52-49.

Julian Martinez led the Wildcats with 12 points, including four three throws in the last minute to seal the victory. Isiah Dixon added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Nigel Rogers also contributed eight points and nine rebounds.

Trevor Morris led Armijo with 19 points and nine rebounds.

Wood improved to 11-9 overall and 1-2 in the Monticello Empire League. The Wildcats were scheduled Thursday night to host Vacaville.

Armijo is now 2-12 overall and 0-3 in the MEL. The Royals were scheduled Thursday night to host Fairfield.

Kuch lifts Vacaville Christian boys to win

VACAVILLE — Garrett Kuch had 14 points, eight rebounds, 10 assists and four steals as the Vacaville Christian High School boys basketball team rolled to a 69-47 win Tuesday night over visiting Esparto.

Tanner Tripp was the top scorer for the Falcons

Philadelphia

Boston

36 5 4 76

Toronto 46 28 11 7 63 156

Tampa Bay 43 29 13 1 59 157 124 Florida 47 22 20 5 49 158 160 Buffalo 44 22 19 3 47 166 152 Detroit 43 18 17 8 44 134 149 Ottawa 44 20 21 3 43 131 143 Montreal 46 19 24 3 41 122 169 Western Conference Central Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Dallas 46 26 13 7 59 159 124 Winnipeg 46 29 16 1 59 149 122 Minnesota 44 25 15 4 54 140 125 Colorado 43 23 17 3 49 135 122 St. Louis 46 23 20 3 49 146 162 Nashville 45 21 18 6 48 24 133 Arizona 44 14 25 5 33 119 161 Chicago 43 13 26 4 30 102 158 Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Vegas 45 28 15 2 58 147 130 Seattle 44 26 14 4 56 161 139 Los Angeles 46 25 15 6 56 154 157 Edmonton 46 25 18 3 53 169 151 Calgary 46 21 16 9 51 141 139 Vancouver 44 18 23 3 39 151 175 SAN JOSE 46 14 23 9 37 142 175 Anaheim 46 13 28 5 31 110 193 NOTE:

conference

to playoffs. Wednesday’s Games SAN JOSE 5, Dallas 3 Ottawa 5, Pittsburgh 4, OT Boston 4, N.Y. Islanders 1 Colorado 4, Calgary 1 Tampa Bay 5, Vancouver 2 Thursday’s Games Anaheim 5, Columbus 3 Boston 3, N.Y. Rangers 1 Chicago 4, Philadelphia 1 Florida 6, Montreal 2 Carolina 5, Minnesota 2 Toronto 4, Winnipeg 1 N.Y. Islanders at Buffalo, 4:30 p.m. St. Louis 5, Nashville 2, OT Tampa Bay at Edmonton, (N) Washington at Arizona, (N) Detroit at Vegas, (N) New Jersey at Seattle, (N) Dallas at L.A. Kings, (N)

with 18 points. Thomas Lane and Brian Laxamana had 11 points apiece. An 18-6 edge in the first quarter for Vacaville Christian set the tone for the rest of the game.

Vacaville Christian is 14-3 overall and improved to 4-0 in the Sierra Delta League. The Falcons are scheduled to play Friday at Highlands.

Vanden’s JV boys edge out Vacaville

VACAVILLE — Logan Bailey had a game-high 33 points Tuesday night as the Vanden junior varsity boys basketball team beat host Vacaville 47-43.

Vanden improved to 2-0 in the Monticello Empire League and 10-6 overall.

The Vikings were scheduled to play Thursday night at Rodriguez.

Boys Soccer Fairfield High’s boys defeat Vanden

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield High School boys soccer team secured a 3-1 win Tuesday night at Vanden.

Javi Jimenez scored 20 minutes into the match off an assist from Gedeon Ilunga. Daniel Zavala scored with 30 minutes left in the match by volleying a shot off a corner kick by Caleb Aguilar. Ilunga tallied the final goal with 10 minutes to play off an assist from Ryan Patterson.

Vanden scored four minutes into the second half off a counter attack. Individual statistics for the Vikings were not made available.

Fairfield improved to 4-5-4 overall and 1-1-1 in Monticello Empire League matches. The Falcons were scheduled Thursday night to host Will C. Wood.

Vanden is now 0-8-1 overall and 0-3 in MEL matches. The Vikings were scheduled Thursday night to play at Armijo.

Vacaville High’s boys hold off Armijo

VACAVILLE — Vacaville High School’s boys soccer team edged out Armijo at home Tuesday night in a match where a red card was dealt to each team, leaving a 10-on-10 game by the end.

Senior Misael Cisneros Gomez scored the Royals’ lone goal off a free kick in the second half that went straight to the far upper right corner of the net.

Vacaville led 2-0 at halftime and made the lead stand up for the win. Elias Ordonez and Alex Verdugo scored for the Bulldogs. Verdugo assisted on the goal by Ordonez.

Armijo fell to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in MEL matches. The Royals were scheduled to be home

Friday’s Games SAN JOSE at Columbus, 4 p.m. Ottawa at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Colorado at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Saturday’s Games Anaheim at Buffalo, 9:30 a.m. Tampa Bay at Calgary, Noon. Minnesota at Florida, 3 p.m. Philadelphia at Detroit, 4 p.m. Toronto at Montreal, 4 p.m. Winnipeg at Ottawa, 4 p.m. Carolina at N.Y. Islanders, 4:30 p.m. Arizona at Dallas, 5 p.m. Chicago at St. Louis, 5 p.m. L.A. Kings at Nashville, 5 p.m. Colorado at Seattle, 7 p.m. Edmonton at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Washington at Vegas, 7 p.m.

FOOTBALL

NFL

Wild-Card Playoffs Saturday’s Games

SAN FRANCISCO 41, Seattle 23 Jacksonville 31, L.A. Chargers 30 Sunday’s Games Buffalo 34, Miami 31 N.Y. Giants 31, Minnesota 24 Cincinnati 24, Baltimore 17 Monday’s Game Dallas 31, Tampa Bay 14

Division Playoffs Saturday’s Games Jacksonville at Kansas City, 1:30 p.m. N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 5:15 p.m. Sunday’s Games Dallas at SAN FRANCISCO, 3:30 p.m. Cincinnati at Buffalo, Noon.

Thursday night for a match against Vanden.

Vacaville is now 8-2 overall and 3-0 in the MEL. The Bulldogs were scheduled to be home Thursday for Rodriguez.

Armijo’s junior varsity team lost to Vacaville 2-1. Isaac Aguirre took a long shot from 25 yards out in the second half to score.

Will C. Wood boys shut out Rodriguez

VACAVILLE — Will C. Wood High School’s boys soccer team earned a 2-0 win Tuesday over visiting Rodriguez.

Heath Bradford and Carson Sacca had goals for the Wildcats. Angel Vasquez and Franco Mendoza had assists. Wood improved to 5-3-2 overall and 2-1 in the MEL.

Rodriguez was held scoreless but had outstanding defense from Evan Wadsworth and Hayden Taylor, according to head coach Cameron Blythe. The Mustangs fell to 2-5-1 overall and 0-2-1 in MEL matches.

Wood was scheduled to play Thursday night at Fairfield. Rodriguez was scheduled to play Thursday night at Vacaville.

Wood won the junior varsity match 1-1. Aaron Coria scored in the 80th minute for Rodriguez off an assist from Criston Ammons.

College Solano women rout Los Medanos

ROCKVILLE — The strength of the Solano Community College women’s basketball team showed through in the second half Wednesday night as the Falcons rolled to an 81-43 victory. Solano outscored Los Medanos 25-6 in the third quarter and 17-9 in the fourth. It had been 39-28 at halftime.

Melody Rafan led the Falcons with 12 points. Domonique Eaglin had 11 and Julia Wright scored nine.

Solano improved to 11-8 overall and 6-1 in the Bay Valley Conference. The Falcons host Napa Valley at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Solano men can’t slow Los Medanos

ROCKVILLE —

The Solano Community College men’s basketball team couldn’t slow visiting Los Medanos on Wednesday night as the Falcons fell 92-66.

Jacob Ebert led Solano with 17 points. Dwayne Crosse had 10 points and seven rebounds. Ajani Monroe added 14 points and six rebounds.

Solano fell to 3-15 overall and 1-6 in the Bay Valley Conference. The Falcons host Napa Valley at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Unemployment insurance in crisis, needs a fix

California’s recent political history is studded with episodes of shortsighted, irresponsible governance.

We’re experiencing one example now – a decades-long neglect of the state’s water infrastructure that leaves us illprepared to deal with both drought and periodic deluges.

Among the many other examples, albeit less spectacular, has been a chronic crisis in unemployment insurance, the program that’s supposed to cushion the devastating effects on workers who lose their jobs and their families during the state’s periodic recessions.

It’s a two-headed crisis. Not only is the program itself under financed, unable to meet the demand for benefits during even a mild economic downturn, but the Employment Development Department that disburses those benefits has proven to be incompetent.

Unemployment insurance and EDD worked fairly well until politicians tinkered with the system a couple of decades ago. The Legislature and then-Gov. Gray Davis, bowing to pressure from unions, sharply increased benefits but failed to increase payroll taxes on employers to pay for them, fearing a backlash from business groups.

That left the state Unemployment Insurance Fund incapable of dealing with the Great Recession that struck the state later in the decade. The relatively puny unemployment fund was quickly depleted and the state borrowed about $10 billion from the federal government to cover the deficit.

To repay the debt, federal officials hiked payroll taxes on employers for the next decade. However, California politicians did nothing to shore up the fund and when more than 2 million workers lost their jobs in 2020, due to business shutdowns as the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the unemployment fund quickly ran out of money.

Once again, too, the state borrowed from the federal government, this time twice as much, nearly $20 billion.

Not only was the state once again deeply in debt to Uncle Sam, but EDD’s management of benefits, both those from the state program and later a separate set of benefits from the federal government, became a managerial nightmare.

Qualified applicants were left waiting for benefits, often for months, and given the runaround by EDD case workers, while the agency paid out as much as $30 billion in the extended federal benefits to fraudulent applicants, some of them behind bars in state prisons – a debacle that’s never been fully explained.

It also left California with a whopping debt, currently about $18 billion, and with a depleted Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Last year, with the state apparently enjoying a nearly $100 billion budget surplus, Newsom and legislators appropriated $750 million to trim the debt and another $500 million to offset the federal tax bite on employers to repay the debt.

Never mind.

The big surplus has now morphed into a multibillion-dollar deficit and the 2023-24 budget that Newsom proposed last month eliminates both payments. Meanwhile, the unemployment fund is barely able to make routine benefit payments even without recession.

Payroll taxes generate about $6 billion a year in revenue for the fund while nonrecession benefits run about $5 billion, according to the most recent EDD report. Therefore, it cannot build up the reserves necessary to offset even a mild recession –such as the one many economists believe is likely due to the Federal Reserve System’s increases in interest rates to battle inflation.

This is a serious issue, one that not only involves immense amounts of money but affects the lives of employers, especially small businesses, and workers who are laid off, such as the thousands of Silicon Valley employees now losing their jobs.

We’ve had stark evidence in the past two decades that the system isn’t working as it should. It falls on Newsom and the Legislature to fix it.

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 Walters, go to Commentary.

Why recount Measure S ballots?

Recall, Measure S was a bond placed on the Nov. 8 ballot by the Fairfield-Suisun School District. Initial results showed that it did not get the 55% vote required to pass a school bond.

However, the Solano County Registrar of Voters final report (Nov. 30) showed 19,554 Yes votes and 15,995 No votes. The margin was 55.01%. Measure S passed by two votes.

We looked deeper into the numbers and found that the provisional ballots – those cast at the polls on Election Day – showed 235 Yes and 123 No votes, a huge percentage reversal from the earlier numbers. Provisionals provided the tiny margin for Measure S.

Because provisionals are last-minute actions, sometimes questionable, we decided to ask for a recount of just those ballots.

On the morning of Dec. 14, at the Registrar of Voters Office, our members Colleen Britton and Mike Ceremello observed the manual recount of nearly 300 of the 358 provisional ballots. In the afternoon, members Gary Eckman and myself observed a recount of the remaining ballots. The manual recount total was the same as the machine count. Digging any further would involve legal action, with no assurance of a

THE TAX WATCHERS COMMENTARY

different result. Cost for the recount was $1,776. A GoFundMe campaign paid for a good part of that cost. We sincerely thank those who contributed.

Our Taxpayer Group learned a lot about the process, particularly how the Registrar of Voters handles and counts ballots. We thank Assistant Registrar John Gardner and his team for their professional job in the recount.

Statewide, this election demonstrated again how the system has become susceptible to manipulation.

Worst of all, mailing ballots to all registered voters opens the door to cheating. Voter rolls are notoriously incorrect – people who’ve moved or died, non-citizens who got driver’s licenses under Motor-Voter and whose names were transferred to voter rolls, people registered at more than one address, and so on. Such ballots are the material for “ballot harvesting” and other illegal actions. Only the state – the Legislature, attorney general, and secretary of state – can fix those flaws. Will they?

The public should learn a few things, too. Because of the tiny margin – two votes – it’s abundantly clear that every vote counts. County code should require that any measure or office decided by fewer than

perhaps 1% is recounted manually. The other lesson will come with the next property tax statement. We’ll be paying off Measure S bonds – in addition to those for Measures C and J – for the next 40 years.

All of this begs the question: If Measure S had lost by two votes, would the school district or its political action committee have asked for a recount?

So, why did we fight Measure S? Because it was faulty: the text doesn’t contain a list of projects – required by Article 13A of the California Constitution – so voters can see exactly what the proceeds are intended to pay for. Many of the items on the “wish list” are repairs that should be part of the district’s annual maintenance budget. Most of the “technological” things –computers and such – will be trash long before the bonds are paid off.

Our Taxpayer Group doesn’t just watch government – we work to keep it honest.

We’re always looking for a few good men and women who believe in government by the people. If that’s you, come to our monthly general meeting and see what we do. The schedule is posted on our dedicated phone line, 707-771-5481.

John Takeuchi is a member of the Central Solano Citizen Taxpayer Group.

OK, GOP: What’s the ‘ask’ on the debt showdown?

A“debt limit crisis” is most definitely not a “crisis” in the sense of a sudden set of extraordinary and dangerous circumstances. It is, rather, a regularly recurring moment of American political Kabuki when Congress and the president must agree to raise the nation’s borrowing limit. The national credit card is maxed out, and a new spending limit must be obtained.

When power to raise the debt limit is divided between Democrats and Republicans, getting to an agreement can be tedious. But the arc of the story in recent years has followed a predictable script.

The Congressional Research Service has put together a complete review of debt limit “crises,” beginning with the one in 2011, which did much to divide our politics. As with the current situation, a Democratic president in 2011 faced a newly elected House of Representatives under Republican control while the Senate was run by the Democrats. The result was that, after much posturing and long negotiation, on Aug. 2, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the Budget Control Act. The BCA set caps on discretionary spending and threatened politically painful “sequestration” of federal funds if deficit-reduction targets were not met.

A half-dozen other such “crises” have occurred since. Raising the debt limit is never really in question, but the party holding the White House begins negotiations in a vulnerable position. Markets often get jittery during these showdowns, and presidential approval ratings suffer.

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen tried to get in front of this problem by expressing her worries about the debt limit last week – a sort of appeal to the legacy media to protect the administration from blame.

Congressional Republicans will triumph if they can agree on a few reasonable demands; make those demands specific, understandable and public; then repeat the demands again and again on every television set and over every radio show and podcast. This is about messaging. Any set of compelling and well-articulated demands from the GOP will create pressure on the administration to fold.

These showdowns come down to a contest of credibility. Voters punish the party that seems to be playing games, risking America’s credit and the markets that rely on it. With a tiny majority in the House and a minority in the Senate, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have their hands full finding unanimity around a small list of popular demands.

But without a shared set of reasonable demands, Republicans will appear confused and divided, and after weeks of massive media pummeling, the GOP will likely give in. “What’s the ask?” is the key question for Republicans right now.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) argues that the debt-ceiling legislation traditionally includes measures to control spending. The “sequestration” of the 2011 BCA is widely regarded as having been a disaster for Pentagon preparedness and national security, so a replay of that is off the table. But a rollback of nondefense discretionary spending to pre-pandemic levels? That makes sense.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.), a leading debt hawk, would go further and give the Pentagon a budget haircut as well, rolling defense spending back to 2019 levels. GOP defense hawks will not agree. They think it is 1938 again, with mortal threats rising in Europe and Asia. They won’t budge.

So what can the GOP ask for, if not a new sequestration? Along with Cotton’s proposal, the party can insist on undoing the authorization and first appropriation for about 87,000 new IRS staff over the next decade. The idea that the economy will grow through better, faster, bigger tax collections is absurd. The GOP could also argue that the debt limit will continue to rise until the flood of migrants into the country ebbs, pointing to the quite obvious costs of uncontrolled migration. Saying that the debt limit won’t go up until the border wall goes up is concise, catchy and compelling, and would focus the country on the border crisis. (A genuine “crisis.”) Defunding NPR and PBS would excite the base – the first cut should be the least necessary thing the federal government pays for. In this age of a thousand media outlets, no one needs a government subsidy.

For the sake of clarity, Republican priorities should be limited to a list of three items or fewer. Lay them on the table for the public to see. Hammer them relentlessly, until every swing voter can recite the list by heart. If that moment comes, all the pressure to make a deal will shift to Biden and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). Will they risk the full faith and credit of the United States because they want a bigger IRS and a porous southern border?

The specifics matter less than the timing for Republicans. The party’s difficulty in choosing a speaker of the House has seeded questions about GOP efficiency in the public mind. Moving quickly to formulate a unified plan for the debt showdown will do much to put those doubts to rest.

Hugh Hewitt is a nationally syndicated radio host on the Salem Radio Network and a professor at Chapman University School of Law, where he has taught constitutional law since 1996.

Dan Walters

John Takeuchi

Hugh Hewitt

Columns&Games

Should I keep encouraging my parents to get a divorce?

Dear Annie: I have never been ignorant to the fact that, in my opinion, my parents’ marriage sucks. My dad is and has always been controlling and domineering. And my mom just exists and really believes it is her job to just be submissive. (These are people married since the 1950s.)

But the last couple of years, particularly 2020-present, my dad has really sucked. I’m not sure if he’s going through a midlife crisis or if he is just the worst man ever. He leaves all day and does as he wills. He has come home with new cars (yes, more than one), and she had no say. I’ve seen her call, and he doesn’t answer his phone. My mom claims he hides money and spoon-feeds her finances like she’s a kid. (This is nothing new, but it has gotten worse.) It’s been “secret but not-so-secret” talk around the family of him supposedly cheating recently. And even more damaging, he just seems like he doesn’t care for her.

I see it in his demeanor and behavior. He is cold, and it’s sad to see my dad be that way. I don’t live with them, and I try to stay in my own lane. But when I do visit and I am around

them, it’s a disconnect that’s horrible. It’s so uncomfortable, and it makes me not want to visit or be around them.

I have informed my mom it’s OK to divorce. And it’s not OK to allow anyone to treat you like you’re nothing; she doesn’t deserve it. I (and others in the family) am more than willing to help her leave and divorce my dad. But he’s all she knows; she lives and breathes him, and she has given up on life. It’s just sad that after 50 years, he is doing this.

But I have my own life, and I cannot carry people who refuse to acknowledge dysfunction. Lately, I have decided to no longer engage or be involved. I don’t converse with my dad often, and I haven’t confronted him because I’m concerned he’ll take it out on my mom, and my mom has burned me (we don’t have a great relationship) in the past and has told me to stay out of how they choose to live. But yet she continues to run to me and others complaining.

I have informed her that when she’s ready to divorce, I’m willing to help. But I have my own life I have to live. Am I wrong to move forward, build

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21-April 19). People remember who you are because you make an impression. Interacting with you is a little different from what people would normally get and because of this, they feel something. Emotional response is what creates memories.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). It is good to yearn sometimes because it tells you that what you want is deeply important to you and worth putting some effort into. Once you understand this, get into action. Yearning is better as a fuel than a personality trait.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21).

You’ll be surrounded by dynamic people. Avoid comparison. Let success stories inspire instead of intimidate you. What matters most now is consistent action toward your aim.

CANCER (June 22-July 22).

You’ve sparked someone’s interest and will have the opportunity to make a further impression, a pitch, or both at a face-to-face meeting. This will go well because you’ll show up early and come prepared.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). There’s so much you could say, do and bring to the table but you’ll be wise to focus on what fits the situation. This takes discernment and maturity. They’ll know you by your effective, efficient contribution.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

by Holiday Mathis

Today’s birthday

Your cosmic birthday gift is cash in the card! This year you’ll grow in skill, social reach and power. You’ll gain resources and mentors to show you how to use them. More highlights: earning a certificate, exciting events with a cherished loved one, and a reverse-Russiandoll series of ever-bigger treats. Sagittarius and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 5, 30, 21, 14 and 6.

Scientists have proven that storytelling activates more of the brain than other information delivery systems. You’ll tell stories to connect with someone or make a point. The story will change as you shape it for maximum impact.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Even though social conditioning is in and of itself a mask, there are moments you feel safe enough to take it off. You are both vulnerable and powerful in those moments when your private and public selves merge.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Often, we become so familiar with our own struggles that we don’t know what we’re doing wrong, nor can we see a clear

boundaries and not engage anymore? — Concerned Dear Concerned: This must be very hard to witness as a son. Unfortunately, one of the most difficult truths when it comes to dealing with friends and family is that we cannot help those who do not want to help themselves. I commend you for being proactive and communicative with your mother, but if she does not want a divorce – which is an enormous and frightening step to take – then you cannot force it on her. Forcing yourself to suffer by getting further involved in your parents’ affairs will not do anyone any good.

As for your father, it is interesting that this hurtful behavior began in 2020 – a time of great difficulty for many of us. It’s quite possible that he is struggling himself and taking it out on your mother. I would pull him aside and explain how hurtful his behavior is toward you and your mother, and ask if there is anything going on in his life that is causing such a change. Getting both of your parents into therapy is a worthwhile first step.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

way out of the trap. An astute outside observer will be an enormous help today.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). Is it a hobby or an obsession? A loved one may want you to dial it back, assuming you’ll have more attention to pour their way. But you’re more inclined to finish what you started. Your passions feed your soul.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). You may end up at the same destination as everyone else, but your way of getting there will be different. No need to keep checking where everyone is. Stick to your own route and focus on enjoying the scenery where you are.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). People around you will be inclined to show you how much they like you. Accept the attention. Rejecting praise is like turning down cake: it might offend the baker. You don’t have to eat it all up, but at least take a bite.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You may have the sensation that you are steering the action like a child turning the little steering wheel at the front of the grocery cart. You go right, left, full circle – but the cart always goes where your mom wants it to.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Word Sleuth

NO JOKE – A REAL COMEDY OF ERRORS

Every now and then, you watch a deal played by experts, and you cannot believe what is happening. Today’s occurred during a Bridge Federation of Asia and Middle East Championships. I will allow the performers to retain anonymity, but there are several instructive points in the deal.

Almost everyone would overcall one spade with that South

hand. Why didn’t North make a takeout double on the first round? Also, when North overcalled two clubs vulnerable opposite a passed partner, as South I would have been thinking about three no-trump. Finally, I’m not sure I would have passed three no-trump as North. Partner is expecting a better hand for two bids like that. However, the play’s the thing. West led the diamond three: 10, ace, two. The commentators were confidently predicting down three when East cashed the spade ace! After West discouraged, East switched back to the diamond four: queen, king. Down three after all! There are two key points. Would East win trick one with the diamond ace if holding the ace and king? Possible, but unlikely, and if he had done so, he would have returned a low diamond at trick two. When instead the spade ace was cashed, it was clear East was trying to run one suit or the other. This is not a logical defense when holding the diamond ace and king. So it is correct to play low on the diamond return at trick three. Then the contract makes. Whichever major declarer tries for the ninth trick, it works.

What a comedy of errors – was Shakespeare a bridge player?

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Bridge Sudoku

by Phillip Alder

by Wayne Gould

Annie Lane

Dear Annie

534

Shawn Miller/Dollywood Company file (2018)

It’s hard to believe, especially if you saw Parton rocking it out with her goddaughter, Miley Cyrus, at her televised New Year’s Eve party. Though Parton has been a performer for more than 60 years, she’s still as popular as ever.

How does Parton continue to wow fans year after year?

“Dolly is so popular today because she has become more than a singer/songwriter,” says Ted Miller, vice chair of the Dollywood Foundation. “While she has earned a place in history for being multitalented, she is truly loved for her kind and true heart.”

But her kind heart is just one of her endearing qualities. In honor of her 77th birthday, here are seven reasons people adore Parton:

1. She’s a talented singer . Ten-year-old Parton battled stage fright, but that didn’t stop her from singing her heart out on her first radio show. Since then, she’s performed around the world and recorded hundreds of songs, dozens of them award winners.

Millions of people enjoy listening to her voice on the radio and streaming devices.

2. She’s a gifted songwriter. Parton has written Grammy-winning hits such as “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” “9 to 5” and more. In all, she’s composed about 3,000 songs! How is that possible? “Dolly has new song ideas all the time, like when she’s cooking, or traveling in her bus, and even in the bathtub,” says Lydia Hamessley, music professor at Hamilton College in New York and author of “Unlikely Angel: The Songs of Dolly Parton.” “She keeps paper and a pen in every room to jot down new

lyrics, and she sings her melodies into a cassette tape recorder.”

3. She’s a hard worker A bundle of endless energy, Parton rises at 3 each morning and works long days. She gives her best to every performance and project, which has led to great relationships and much success.

4. She’s generous In honor of her father, who could not read or write, Parton founded her Imagination Library, which has gifted more than 197 million books to children. She donated $1 million to fund research for a coronavirus vaccine. She also cares for the poverty-stricken area in Tennessee where she grew up by providing scholarships, education programs and money for families in need.

5. She’s a successful business executive In addition to being an owner of the Dollywood amusement park, which opened in 1986, Parton has struck business deals with Netflix, kitchen supplies store Williams-Sonoma (for guitar-shaped cookie cutters), baking brand Duncan Hines (Southern banana cake) and other companies.

6. She’s an authentic individual. Parton is comfortable with herself. She’s not afraid to tell it like it is or wear what she likes: sparkly clothes and sky-high heels. Her fans adore her honesty and genuine kindness.

7. She’s an inspiring role model. Growing up, her family was poor. Parton dreamed of being a singing star but could not afford voice lessons or even a guitar. So she made her own guitar from an old mandolin and rusty piano strings, and performed on the porch for her siblings (and a few pigs). Hopefully her persistence inspires you to pursue your dreams!

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Baby

Kirkman and

SATURDAY AT 9:36 P.M. ON CHANNEL

Dolly Parton reads to children at the Library of Congress in 2018.

1968 set the stage for today’s endless negative campaign ads

The WashingTon PosT

The 2022 midterm elections brought the usual deluge of negative media spots. Indeed, each national election seems to bring ads that hit harder below the belt. Particularly notable in November were virulently antiimmigrant ads created by the dark money group “Citizens for Sanity.” These commercials and the resurgent use of crime in campaign ads, along with the fiercely contested issue of abortion rights dominating campaigns, could have made it seem like attack ads had achieved an all-time low in 2022. But did they?

Yes and no. Certainly, political discourse – and old-fashioned notions of rectitude – have shifted over the past half-century. Indeed, when the Nixon White House tapes were released, listeners were shocked not just by the Watergate revelations but also by the president’s use of filthy language. That sort of cursing still had the power to shock 50 years ago but would barely raise an eyebrow at a Donald Trump campaign rally today.

The tolerance for profanity in political discourse may have shifted over time, but campaign ads have always been a dirty business, with messages vacillating between uplifting and nasty. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s infamous “Daisy” ad implied that a vote for Barry Goldwater was a vote for nuclear annihilation. Another Johnson ad showed Alabama Klansmen rallying around a burning cross, as a voice-over quoted a Grand Dragon expressing support for Goldwater.

Richard M. Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign TV ads were even more ferocious. The candidate had rebranded himself as the “New Nixon,” with a fresh personality. Nixon’s ads were relentlessly stimulating and relatively disengaged from facts and figures, proving definitively that a presidential candidate could succeed on TV by showing viewers not what to think but how to feel. That approach had been sporadic in earlier presidential campaigns, but it would become the new normal in the years to come.

Nixon’s spots were created by Gene Jones, who had previously directed a tough Vietnam documentary that the New York Times described as “a sermon on human waste that draws the viewer into a void as objectively as any war movie ever made.”

Jones was not an advertising man with experience in conventional persuasive media, but his work stoked emotions, which was what Nixon was going for.

Jones made his ads in the photomontage style, using Nixon as a low-key voice-over.

Excerpts from Marshall McLuhan’s “Understanding Media” had been distributed to campaign staff as the team worked to tap into the emotional power of gripping, dramatic and often sensationalist images.

A few upbeat spots showcased smiling children and happy workers in feel-good montages of freckled kids in baseball caps that would not have seemed out of place in Coca-Cola ads. More

often, though, Nixon’s media team dug its claws into Democratic challenger Vice President Hubert Humphrey by revisiting and amplifying the chaos of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where police had beaten protesters in the streets, as their victims chanted “The whole world is watching!”

A hit job entitled “Convention” showed Humphrey on the dais in Chicago. Still shots of his face menacingly shaking left and right were immediately followed by similarly unnerving shots of troops in Vietnam, crouching behind sandbags or lying on stretchers. The ad thereby brutally linked Humphrey to the men’s suffering in one deft aesthetic move. Photos of the convention hall alternated with images of violence and despair –rural people stricken by poverty, buildings ablaze from a riot, bleeding antiwar demonstrators.

The music seesawed between celebratory, brass band, oompah-pah music typical of a convention and electronically distorted music that would not have been out of place in a horror film. This little advertising spot recapped the worst moments from Chicago and was skillfully edited to lay street protest, arson, Vietnam and poverty at the feet of the Democratic Party, the convention and Humphrey himself.

The Democratic National Committee was furious and sent protest telegrams to NBC. Nixon campaign manager John Mitchell indignantly defended the ad in public. Twenty years later, Nixon’s creative director of advertising Len Garment said, “It was skillfully done but in terrible taste, particularly the scene showing Humphrey smiling after a scene of Vietnam carnage . . . We yanked the ad and never put it on again.”

Even NBC was concerned about the ad. Before airing it, they asked Nixon’s admen to “review it,” stopping short of turning down the spot, which would have violated both FCC policy and their own professional norms of fairness and neutrality. But the network knew from experience what viewers were likely to object to as being in “poor taste.” Sure enough, the NBC switchboards were so jammed with protest calls after the single airing of the attack ad that callers who couldn’t get through gave up and instead phoned newspapers to complain.

Nixon’s media team backed down on “Convention,” and yet, the withdrawal of that one spot in no way tempered the salt that Nixon’s campaign continued to pour in Humphrey’s wounds.

Another ad, “The First Civil Right,” similarly focused on images of bloodied protesters, police, burning buildings and

rubble in the street. The spot even recycled shots of Chicago from “Convention.” “The First Civil Right” is often cited today as Nixon’s most devious campaign ad, as it clearly points to his intention to suppress the antiwar, youth and Civil Rights and Black Power movements, all in the name of his trademark “law and order.”

Stuffy ads for the old Nixon of 1960 had shown him perched on the edge of a desk answering questions about taxes and communism. The “New Nixon,” by contrast, proved that it was better to go for the guts. This approach would take root and expand in American campaigns over the years, to such an extent that it now seems almost quaint to recall that people once thought that “Convention” had gone too far.

The lesson was clear: negative ads centered on emotional impact would be the way forward. Ronald Reagan’s success with his optimistic “morning again in America” refrain was the exception that proved the rule. His successor George H.W. Bush brought the level of discourse right back down again with the racist Willie Horton ad. Nixon may have resigned in disgrace, but his success with negative campaign ads provided a road map for future presidential nominees. He hadn’t modeled how to be a good president, but he had modeled how to weaponize attack ads. Trump’s 2020 ads imposing Joe Biden’s face over protesters and burning street fronts were a page straight out of the “First Civil Right” playbook. But there is a major difference between the candidate-TV relationship in 1968 and today. In the network era, TV news was aggressively neutral, notwithstanding Nixon’s accusations of “liberal bias.” Today, Trump and his supporters in the Republican Party have Fox News commentators on their side. One 2020 ad even included audio of Fox News’s Sean Hannity contending that Biden supported defunding the police, over visuals of an elderly woman unable to contact a 911 dispatcher as a man broke into her house with a crowbar.

It’s hard to imagine a broadcaster of the Nixon era denouncing a presidential candidate on the air, much less that denunciation being reiterated in an attack ad. While negative campaign ads are not a new phenomenon, a media ecology in which a substantial amount of TV news centers on opinion and vilification is. That means that, on cable news at least, political ads don’t feel much different from the shows they interrupt. It’s all one giant attack ad.

Bridge

by Phillip Alder

West, Ashraf Sadek from Egypt, made the natural but unfortunate lead of a low spade. After winning with dummy’s jack, declarer played a club to his ace and cashed the spade ace-king, discarding dummy’s low diamonds.

After much thought, South continued with the heart queen, hoping that West didn’t have a singleton king. West covered with the king, dummy won with the ace and East – Tarek Sadek (no relation) –dropped the eight. Next came the heart jack, Tarek playing the nine.

South started laughing, saying how lucky he was that the eight and nine of hearts had dropped doubleton. South played a heart to his seven. Then he finessed dummy’s club jack, losing to the unguarded queen.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE CARDS

In a pair event, every trick counts. Today’s deal comes from a tournament played in London. It was the final board at one table and found North-South in a relaxed, jovial mood.

South opened with a weak notrump, showing 12-14 points. North used a transfer bid and then showed his second suit. A moment later, South was in six hearts.

Sudoku

As you can see, if Tarek doesn’t unblock in hearts, declarer is locked in the dummy and has no option but to cash the club king, dropping the queen. Conceding the overtrick would have cost East-West a lot of matchpoints. Obviously, though, when East followed to the third round of hearts, South should have worked it out. However, he didn’t notice that East had the last trump; his concentration had lapsed.

That’s a good moral for us all.

FEATURE SYNDICATE

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED

by Wayne Gould

Word Sleuth

Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post At a GOP primary victory party for Marjorie Taylor Greene in Rome, Ga., in May a big-screen TV shows her campaign ads that often featured Greene with a high-powered weapon.

Holmes overcomes hardships to lift Kings in win over Lakers

Jason a nderson THE SACRAMENTO BEE

Richaun Holmes has experienced tough times on and off the court while dealing with personal and professional hardships over the past couple of years. On Wednesday night in Los Angeles, Holmes got to remember what it’s like to experience a moment of triumph.

Holmes temporarily lost his son during an ugly and bitter custody battle with his ex-wife and then lost his starting job when the Kings made a blockbuster trade to acquire Domantas Sabonis from the Indiana Pacers. After starting 136 games over two-plus seasons in Sacramento, Holmes was relegated to a backup role and eventually fell out of the rotation.

The Kings called on Holmes again Wednesday when Sabonis was ruled out due to illness.

The 29-year-old center came up big, producing

a double-double in a dramatic 116-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.

Holmes finished with season highs of 16 points and 11 rebounds while going 7 of 7 from the field to help the Kings win their fifth game in a row to move into a tie for third place in the Western Conference.

“It’s just a great opportunity to still call myself a professional basketball player,” Holmes

said while sporting the team’s defensive player of the game chain. “Still get an opportunity, go in the gym, work out every day, continue to try to get better, even when things aren’t going as good as I want them to. You still have an opportunity, and I just wanted to continue to work, continue to the put the effort and energy behind it, and the rest will take care of itself. I was happy I was able to con-

tribute tonight, happy we were able to get a win as a team, and it’s a very, very good win tonight.”

De’Aaron Fox scored 31 points for the Kings (25-18), who moved seven games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2004-05 season. Harrison Barnes had 20 points and six rebounds. Kevin Huerteradded 18 points and eight assists while Keegan Murray, who has been challenged to become a better rebounder, finished with 10 points and a careerhigh-tying 10 rebounds.

LeBron James had 32 points, eight rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers (20-25). Russell Westbrook came off the bench to post 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

The Kings beat the Lakers for the third time this season to finish 3-1 in the season series with Los Angeles.

“Everybody’s hyped,” Holmes said.

49ers

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Polamalu, a first-ballot Hall of Famer with Pittsburgh, is soft-spoken, spiritual and humble. It’s not unusual for him to stay in off-limits areas during media availability, and that was true even when he was making eye-opening plays on a near-weekly basis early on.

His four interceptions trail Gipson’s five. Hufanga hasn’t had an interception in the last nine games but has forced a pair of fumbles. The pairing with Gipson clicked immediately and worked so well Jimmie Ward was moved to nickel corner rather than break it up.

“He’s such a welcoming guy and his energy is infectious,” Gipson said. “Over time we went from a working relationship to a brotherhood and right now we’re firing. He knows what I’m doing and how I’m going to play, I know what he’s doing and how he’s going to play.”

A fifth-round pick out of USC a year ago, teammates noticed Hufanga had a knack for anticipating plays even though he played sparingly behind starter Jaquiski Tartt.

second year he was going to be first-team All-Pro, and be a Pro Bowl safety, he has way surpassed everybody’s expectations.”

Edge rusher Nick Bosa, like Warner, liked what he saw from Hufanga as a rookie but never anticipated the early-season surge that included a 52-yard interception return against Matt Stafford to put away a 24-9 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

“I think whenever you come on that hot it’s a bit of a surprise from a first-year starter,” Bosa said. “But you could see it the previous year. It was just about getting more reps and cleaning up his eyes a little bit. But I always knew he had that big play ability.”

Still only 22, Hufanga is not a classic thumper at 6-foot, 200 pounds but through a combination of preparation and instinct, can work near the line of scrimmage almost as an extra linebacker. His 95 tackles trail only Warner (130) and Greenlaw (127).

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MurrayThis was a contest that had everything, not least the quality of the rallies, which somehow did not diminish as the clock ticked on.

from two sets up on Tuesday, this was the 11th time Murray has fought back from two sets down to win, an openera record.

sion, boasting wins over Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“But if my child was a ball kid for a tournament and they’re coming home at five in the morning, as a parent, I’m snapping at that. It’s not beneficial for them. It’s not beneficial for the umpires, the officials. I don’t think it’s amazing for the fans. It’s not good for the players.

“We talk about it all the time, and it’s been spoken about for years. But when you start the night matches late and have conditions like that, these things are going to happen.”

The last comment referred to the balls being used for the tournament this year, which have drawn numerous complaints from the players for being too slow, while Murray was also unhappy at not being allowed an additional toilet break.

Both men were unhappy to be given time violations by umpire Eva Asderaki-Moore, while Kokkinakis, who racked up 102 winners, also received a warning for smashing his racket after a ridiculous point in the third set where Murray retrieved three smashes.

Having spent more than 10 hours on court in two matches, Murray must now somehow try to recover for a third-round clash with Roberto Bautista Agut, the player he lost to in 2019 when it appeared his career was over.

“The match was obviously very up and down,” he said. “There was frustration and there was tension, there was excitement and all of that stuff. It’s obviously amazing to win the match but I also want to go to bed now. I’m like, ‘It’s great, but I want to sleep.’ ”

Having almost lost

“I have done it before, I have experience of it, and I just rely on that experience and that drive and that fight, and my love of the game and competing and my respect for this event and the competition,” said the former world No. 1. “That’s why I kept going.”

World No. 159 Kokkinakis, who won the Australian Open doubles title last year with his great friend Nick Kyrgios, was bidding to become the lowestranked player ever to beat Murray at a Grand Slam, although the level he played at here was far superior to that number.

The match did not begin until after 10 p.m., and the atmosphere was tasty from the start.

The 26-year-old, like his opponent, has dealt with more than his fair share of injury troubles but has shown before he can rise to a big occa-

Kokkinakis made a nervous start but Murray was unable to take any of three break points in the second game and from there the Australian began to dictate with his big serve and forehand. Murray gave himself a lifeline by saving three set points when Kokkinakis served for the second at 5-4 but he lost it anyway on a tie-break.

“I don’t know if anybody could have predicted the year he was going to have,” linebacker Fred Warner said. “You saw flashes in the moments he was out there. But to say in his

Defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was critical of not only Hufanga, but other defenders as well for their “eye discipline” in a 37-34 overtime win over the Raiders in Week 17. Hufanga also went through a few games where he wasn’t the sure tackler he was when the season began.

And Hufanga takes missed tackles or any other mistakes personally. doing that and creating an atmosphere for us. Some people obviously need to work the following day and everything.

Fairfield

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School in Lincoln wouldn’t likely make the trip to Fairfield for a league game on a Friday night.

When Kokkinakis moved 5-2 ahead in the third, the match looked all but over, but Murray refused to give in, breaking back when the Australian served for it and then clinching the tie-break thanks to a horrible missed smash from his opponent.

From then on Murray was the better player from the baseline but Kokkinakis showed huge powers of resilience himself to stay in the contest until Murray finally made the breakthrough in the 11th game of the decider.

And anyone who travels on Interstate 80 is well aware of the congestion between Fairfield and Vacaville, and Davis and Sacramento. Extra time will have to be set aside to make sure teams make it by game time in Sacramento and the foothills.

“We were like an NCAA team on the bubble waiting for our name to be unveiled,” Wilson said. “I’m still trying to digest what happened. The truth is we haven’t been competitive in the MEL. When we originally joined, we didn’t think we were ready for

it. But many schools have concerns and criticisms and there may be many changes before the final realignment is released in a couple of months.”

Wilson likes the idea of the GEL but was surprised the new additions of far away schools like Sutter and Twelve Bridges. But he also knows it is the realignment committee’s first attempt.

The Sac-Joaquin Section held its first meeting of the realignment cycle Tuesday, discussing possible changes that would start the 2024-25 school year. The section will host meetings Feb. 7, Feb. 28, March 7 and March 21 to give teams and leagues time to counter-propose, argue and compromise.

A final decision is expected in April.

Hector Amezcua/Sacramento Bee/TNS/file (2021)

sacramento Kings center richaun Holmes gave the team solid minutes Wednesday night with the absence of Domantas sabonis from the lineup.