Daily Republic: Monday, June 12, 2023

Indictment highlights perils of being Trump lawyer

BloomBerg News

WASHINGTON —

Donald Trump’s attorneys play a startling role in the federal criminal indictment against him, described not only as unwitting participants in crimes he’s charged with, but also as key potential witnesses in the government’s case.

The prosecution brought by Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office offers the latest example of risks lawyers face taking on Trump as a client.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime personal counsel-turnedfoe, went to prison after pleading guilty to conduct that included work he performed on Trump’s behalf. Multiple lawyers, including former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, are facing challenges to their law licenses for aiding Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump is charged with unlawfully holding on to sensitive national security information after he left the White House

in January 2021 and of obstructing the government’s efforts to identify and retrieve the records.

Three lawyers described in the indictment narrative aren’t charged with crimes and legal experts say it’s unlikely they’d face ethics investigations based on the facts laid out by prosecutors.

But no attorney wants to be in a situation where their work is being scrutinized in a criminal investigation, the experts said.

“It’s frankly imprudent and extremely risky for anyone to represent Trump in anything other than” a trial setting, said Kathleen Clark, a legal ethics expert and professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “Anytime you’re dealing with Trump in a transaction or as a go-between with the government or anybody, that’s very risky because he has such a clear track record.”

Prosecutors have accused Trump of using his lawyers as part of the obstruction scheme. The indictment, which

See Trump, Page A7

Groundbreaking for Pacific Flyway

‘Walk in Marsh’ will be Saturday

Daily r ePuBlic staff

FAIRFIELD — The $75 million ecological and educational Pacific Flyway Center project has been described as a “a gift for future generations.”

Seven years after being introduced to the public, a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Saturday for the first phase of the project, the 24-acre “Walk in the Marsh.” The event will be held at 10 a.m. at Gold Hill and Ramsey roads in Fairfield.

The “Walk in the Marsh” is a network of looping trails, paths and boardwalks.

“Visitors will be able to walk . . . into the wetlands on paths on which there are plans to develop interpretive displays and ‘viewing hides,’ ” the

Researchers use drones to study shark encounters

lucy PetersoN

THE SACRAMENTO BEE

How common are encounters between sharks and humans off California’s coast?

According to new research conducted by California State University, Long Beach’s Shark Lab, there’s a surprisingly high amount of overlap between the places people and sharks hang out.

The research team – led by Chris Lowe, professor of marine biology at CSU Long Beach – used drones to document human water activity and shark distribution.

Researchers conducted more than 1,500 drone surveys from 2019 to 2021 across 26 different southern California beaches – going as far north as Santa Barbara and as far south as San Diego.

Water users came into contact with sharks in aggregation sites on 97% of the days surveyed, according to the study, the first of its kind.

The study was published in the Public Library of Science in June of 2023.

“I think people will

See Sharks, Page A7

project website states.

“A kayak launch area will offer opportunities for visitors who want to experience nature from the water.”

The 28,000-squarefoot education center that was initially part of that first phase, will be constructed later.

The first part of the initial phase is the grading and other groundwork on the wetland areas and development site,

permits for which have been issued, and the second part is the actual construction of more than 2 miles of boardwalk and trails, interactive signage, benches, shade areas and the parking lot.

The center is the vision of the late Ken Hofmann, former owner of the Oakland A’s, who had land interests in the marsh. He died in April 2018. Fairfield, in March 2019, annexed

273 of the 560 acres identified as part of the project area. The Hofmann family has put about $2 million of its own money into the project and pledged another $2 million as a match to future funding, whether grants or donations.

Area officials believe it will become a major tourism destination, located within about an hour of where more than 10 million people live, and centrally located in the Pacific Flyway, which runs 10,000 nautical miles from the Arctic to Patagonia. It is the migration route for billions of birds, including an estimated 6 million waterfowl in California.

The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife reports there are more than 50 million birdwatchers in the nation.

New study could help determine if BART policing is racially motivated

elissa mioleNe

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

A new study will analyze how the BART police force responds to incidents of fare evasion –and whether race plays a role in the transit authority’s law enforcement.

Past research shows Black BART riders were stopped by the subway’s police eight times more often than their White counterparts from 2012 to 2017, while also being 15 times more likely to experience a use

of force from the BART Police Department.

This study, which will be conducted by the Center for Policing Equity and BART’s Office of the Independent Police Auditor for 18 months, will build on that research, and ultimately provide the transit authority with recommendations to improve its practices.

“All transit riders deserve to feel a sense of belonging, freedom, and safety when traveling on

public transportation,” said Hans Menos, Vice President of the Triage Response Team at the Center for Policing Equity, in a press release. “That sense of security should include protection from racial bias, and freedom from harassment at the hands of law enforcement.”

The transit agency’s police authority is the first of its kind in the country to undergo reviews from agencies like the Center for Polic-

ing Equity. After the first set of research came out, the BART Police Department adopted all six recommendations made by the entity, including enhancing supervisor review of stop records, and updating data collection for stops, searches and uses of force across the agency.

Even so, fare evasion is a huge issue for the transit system: Before the pandemic, BART officials estimated that fare

See BART, Page A7

and Chicken Soup can be tasty in the summer B2

Martin Truex Jr. wins his 4th road race at Sonoma B1

Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file

The site of the future Pacific Flyway Center in the Suisun Marsh. Courtesy photo

The artist’s rendering shows the main entrance to the Pacific Flyway Center.

Hayne Palmour IV/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS file (2019)

A sign warning beachgoers about shark activity is posted at the top of the trail leading down to Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas.

2023’s Fairfield Fist Bump Awards, aka ‘The Bumpies

Cue the 20th Century Fox fanfare followed by the majestic theme from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and set off a senses-shattering explosion of colorful fireworks. Well, this is Fairfield so ex-nay on the fireworks.

Why all the fuss?

It’s time to honor the worthy recipients of the 11th annual Fairfield Fist Bump Awards, aka the Bumpies. They are a tip of the hat or, more accurately, a gentle but deliberate meeting of the knuckles that celebrate certain segments of the Solano County Seat.

Vince and Linda Guisande

Vince Guisande started his company, Suisun City’s Tri-City Glass and Mirror, with a pickup truck and $600. A 2018 Daily Republic article said that the main ingredient for the recipe of their success has been providing customers only quality products and prompt professional service at a fair and competitive price with dependable consistency.

Now that may sound like the kind of thing that all companies want to say publicly or have on their websites, but if you don’t back it up in what you actually do, there’s no way you stay in business for 40 years as they have.

In addition to generations of loyal customers, the Guisandes have a passion for the community and have lent their talents to the Matt Garcia Foundation, Bobby Sox and Babe Ruth Little League teams and The Salvation Army Kroc Center among other worthwhile organizations.

Plus, they wrote the book on how to have fun and if there is a local event like the Fairfield Summer Music Series, you can rest assured they will be out there on the dance floor.

CORRECTION POLICY

Good Samaritans

The Bible parable of the Good Samaritan in a 2023 context would be like if Steph Curry got jumped and beaten down by some criminals and left on the side of the road. Then Klay Thomp son walks by and waves but doesn’t help him and then Warriors coach Steve Kerr does the same thing.

Then LeBron James walks past, sees Steph, helps him up and takes him to the hospital.

Of course, in this analogy, after LeBron made sure Curry was OK he would then flop on the floor and yell that Draymond Green flagrantly fouled him, but that is irrelevant to the main point.

I love what I saw the other day. Two young African Ameri can men were pushing their car out of an intersection because it would not start. A middle-aged white dude pulled over, turned the blinkers on his vehicle and got out and helped them push. Now, I don’t judge books by their covers but the young men wore their pants in a way that I never would do because I like to keep the color of my underwear a mystery to other people and the guy who stopped to help looked like he just came back from a Vince Gill concert. But none of that mattered.

Erin Hannigan

I saw where District 1 Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan is retiring at the end of her term next year. She served on the Vallejo City Council from December 2007 to December 2012 and started her first four-year term as as the District 1 supervisor in January 2013. It probably did not hurt her political career that her father, the late Assemblyman Thomas Hannigan, had served for years in Sacramento and before that been a Fairfield city councilmember, mayor and also was a Solano County supervisor himself.

It is the Daily Republic’s policy to correct errors in reporting. If you notice an error, please call the Daily Republic at 425-4646 during business hours weekdays and ask to speak to the editor in charge of the section where the error occurred. Corrections will be printed here.

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Fellow Accidental Historians

I love when people give me vintage pictures of Fairfield. Recently Linda Beshears gifted me several postcards that belonged to her late mother that date back to the early 20th century and feature shots of Armijo High, the old courthouse, the Waving Chief Solano Statue and more. Then Linda Ueki Absher was visiting relatives here, Raymond DeBaets and Sally DeBaets Moon, and passed on a shot of when they were at the grand opening of the Kentucky Fried Chicken on North Texas Street in 1968 when Colonel Harland Sanders visited.

Extra fist bumps to the other Accidental Historians who will read this and send me more.

Differences Not the End-All, Be-All

We all have differences, political and otherwise. This Bumpie is for those locals who can have those difference and not have to call people names, belittle them, or think their side is always right and the other is always wrong.

But that name recognition also comes with considerable pressure and Erin met that with action in the community. One of the things she is most proud of is the Vallejo First 5 Center which is an innovative hub created to engage families and allow children ages 0-5 to play, learn and grow. Thank you for your service, Erin.

Fairfield wildlife

I just love animals and during my morning walks over the years I have seen, among other things, a fox, an owl, raccoons, skunks, opossum and others. There is a busy squirrel that lives in my neighborhood whom I nicknamed Squeaky. He scampers around fences, trees and on the roofs of houses and I often see him grubbing on peanuts.

A couple of weeks ago I was walking Chunky Tiberius Wade and I guess Squeaky was really into whatever he was eating because we got within ten feet of him which usually doesn’t happen. He ran to a neighbor’s yard and they have like a little ledge with figurines of Chihuahuas on them – one holding a lantern and such. Well, I guess Squeaky thought I was some kind of moron because instead of just high-tailing it out of there he climbed on the ledge between two of the figurines and stood completely still as I walked by. I almost choked I laughed so hard and just wish I had taken a picture as evidently he thought he could fool me. By the way, wildlife is wild. Do not attempt to actually give any animal a fist bump because you may get a fist bite instead.

Hmmm, I think this may be the first time I need to give myself a Bumpie. That’s because I didn’t bring up the fact that Vince Guisande is a (gasp!) 49ers fan and Erin Hannigan went to (gasp! gasp!) Fairfield High School. Oh, wait...

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,” “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California,” the upcoming book “Armijo High School: Fairfield, California” and hosts the Channel 26 government access TV show “Local Legends.”

Disney’s most exclusive tour: 12 parks and a private jet for $115,000

The WashingTon PosT

Disney raised eyebrows when it debuted an interactive Star Wars-themed hotel that would cost upward of $5,000 per couple for a twonight stay.

Now, the entertainment giant is about to start selling spots for a private jet experience that costs nearly 50 times as much. Adventures by Disney, which provides fans with guided trips around the world, is bringing back its “Disney Parks Around The World” trip, starting at nearly $115,000 a person.

The 24-day, six-country, 12-park private jet experience stops at the company’s properties in California, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Paris and Florida as well as some non-Disney landmarks including the Taj Mahal and Great Pyramid of Giza. The company promises “access to extraordinary opportunities not available to the public.”

And if the tour is anything like the nearly identical (but slightly cheaper) version that the company offered last year, it will sell out quickly. That trip is scheduled for July 9 through Aug. 1 of this year.

The company has scheduled two of the journeys for 2024, one leaving June 16 and the other departing July 28. Each can accommodate 75 people on a “VIP-configured” Boeing 757 that comes with an inflight chef. A physician will accompany the group for the entire trip.

“Disney fans love exclusive things . . . they like to have a Disney résumé,” said Sue Pisaturo, owner of the Disney travel planning company Small World Vacations. “This would be the height of a Disney résumé.”

She compared the segment of superfans to those who buy fine watches, designer sneakers or Birkin bags.

“Disney has that same level of experience collection,” Pisaturo said. She

added: “This is mind-blowing for a certain demographic that wants it and can afford it.”

Representatives for Disney did not respond to questions about the tour.

A detailed itinerary promises VIP tours and expedited access to rides at many of the parks, and reserved seating for fireworks shows.

In some cases, tour participants will enter before official opening times and get behind-the-scenes looks at the monorail transportation system in Florida and Disney’s test kitchen. Tours of Walt Disney Studios and the Lucasfilm campus are also included.

Despite the length of the trip, the pace does not sound leisurely. On day 15, travelers have access to a sunrise photo opportunity at the Taj Mahal. They fly to Cairo the next day, then Paris the day after that. The tour starts in Southern California and ends in Central Florida.

There are some additional costs and fine print to consider: Transportation to California and from Florida is not included, and the prices

only applies if two people are traveling together. Going solo? Tack on an extra $11,495. Young kids are not allowed; the minimum age is 12. If all of that sounds fine, congratulations. But you still might not be able to go.

Bookings open June 12 for Adventures by Disney customers who have taken three or more trips; two days later, all past tour company guests can book. Then members of Golden Oak - a luxury community at Walt Disney World - have an opportunity. And then, on June 19, anyone with the money can snag a reservation if spots remain.

Bookings for the costly trip are opening up not long after the company announced it was pulling the plug this fall on Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, the hotel and roleplaying experience. Disney has been eliminating thousands of jobs to cut billions in costs. And the announcement about the tour comes as fans continue to complain that they feel priced out by high costs and fees for things like lineskipping privileges. Tom

Bricker,

founder of

Disney Tourist Blog, said in an email that the company has a long history of catering to the super wealthy with products and experiences that are out of reach for even the uppermiddle class.

“The difference now is that there’s much more visibility into these expensive and niche offerings, and they end up further validating fan complaints about price increases and other grievances as a result,” he said. “There seems to be a heightened sense of scrutiny around everything Disney does.”

Still, Pisaturo said one of her travel agents who sells a lot of Adventures by Disney has some interested clients waiting for the booking dates to open. Based on her experience as a Disney travel agent for decades, she said there are lots of affluent fans who could afford the trip.

“If you add it up, I’m not going to say it’s a bargain,” she said. “But if you add it up, what you’re getting, it’s not that outrageous.”

Tony Wade The last laugh

Courtesy photo

Sally DeBaets Moon and Raymond DeBaets earned a Fairfield Fist Bump award for sending Tony Wade this photo with Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Harlan Sanders at the grand opening of the franchise’s restaurant on North Texas Street.

Walt Disney World Resort courtesy photo

The nighttime show “Happily Ever After” lights up the sky over Cinderella Castle at Disney World.

Rodriguez High graduate serving on destroyer USS Ralph Johnson

FAIRfiELD — A former Fairfield resident and 2020 Rodriguez High graduate is serving as a fire controlman aboard the USS Ralph Johnson in Japan.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Christian Cruz joined the Navy after graduation.

“I joined the Navy to develop technical skills that I can use in the civilian world,” Cruz said in an article released by the Navy Office of Community Outreach.

“I learned how to have thick skin in Fairfield,” said Cruz. “I also learned how to get things down on your own.”

U.S. Navy surface ships provide a wide range of warfighting capabilities in multi-threat air, surface and subsurface environments.

The USS Ralph Johnson is 64th ship commissioned as an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. It was commissioned on March 24, 2018. It is named in honor of Marine Ralph H. Johnson, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for shielding two fellow Marines from a grenade in March 1968 during the Vietnam War.

The ship is capable of operating independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups

or expeditionary strike groups. It’s roles include anti-aircraft, anti-submarine and anti-surface war operations, as well as strike operations.

Cruz serves in Japan as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces. These forces operate with allies to keep open and safeguard the Indo-Pacific region as part of

Saudi Arabia’s golf deal puts Biden, PGA in awkward spot

blooMbeRg NeWS

WASHINGTON — The PGA Tour and President Joe Biden have learned the same hard lesson in recent months: Saudi Arabia is too rich and consequential to shun.

As a candidate for president, Biden promised Saudi Arabia would “pay the price” for its poor human rights record, just as PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan had called the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league a blatant attempt to sportswash the kingdom’s past sins. In the end, both were forced to eat their words.

The surprise announcement last week that the PGA and LIV would set aside their dispute and merge showed that Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had gained the upper hand yet again in the push-and-pull between a global superpower and an oil-rich nation that was long seen as the junior partner.

Asked to discuss the deal, the White House declined to comment on a private merger, though it’s one that will have to undergo antitrust scrutiny.

In reality, it’s much more than another deal. It symbolizes how Biden has had to give up on a pledge to make Saudi Arabia face consequences for its rights abuses, most vividly symbolized by the murder of dissident columnist Jamal Khashoggi. It demonstrated again how foreign powers – think China, with

its TikTok video-shar ing app – are exerting soft power on the US, rather than the reverse.

And it seemed to put to rest the question of whether the US can pursue a human-rights-first policy with the rest of the world if the companies on the front lines of that US softpower influence – its sports leagues and entertainment industry – don’t have any interest in playing along.

“It does demonstrate two important phenomena – the tension between high-profile US brands’ business decisions and government policy, especially important with respect to China, and the quenchless desire of this Saudi government to discredit the US,” said Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, who previously worked in the State Department and Pentagon.

“Saudi’s leader is reveling in humiliating the Biden administration,” she said.

Details of the agreement are thin, only that it will be a “new, collectively owned for-profit entity,” according to a statement. But it was a dramatic reversal for the PGA and Monahan, who had previously criticized LIV for paying multimillion-dollar sums for PGA players to leave the tour.

When asked about the deal at a press conference on Tuesday, Biden dodged with a joke –making a putting motion and saying he was going

the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which has the largest area of responsibility in the world.“As the largest force in our nation’s front line against revisionist actors, U.S. Pacific Fleet meets this great responsibility with strength, resolve and confidence,” Adm. Samuel Paparo, U.S. Pacific Fleet commander, was quoted as saying in the article. “Together with our joint and combined partner operations, we are positioned to defend - across all domains - any attempts to threaten our nation, our allies and partner’s security, freedom and well-being.”

As Cruz and other sailors continue to train and perform missions, they take pride in serving their country in the United States Navy.

“I am proud of being where I’m at right now. I have two years of schooling and I’m happy to be where I’m at on the ship so far,” Cruz said.

“Serving in the Navy means taking pride in the country that I live in and protecting those who can’t defend themselves.”

Cruz’s grandfather also served in the U.S. Navy.

“I always talked to him about it. He was always very supportive,” Cruz added.

Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jerry Jimenez wrote the original article.

Juneteenth events set for Saturday throughout county

VALLEJO — The

33rd annual Vallejo Juneteenth Festival and Parade will be at the Martin Luther King Jr. Park, behind the JFK Library, and at a popular open space across the street.

The Juneteenth celebration will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. It is organized by the African American Family Reunion Committee.

A variety of exhibitors and merchants, activities for children, and a wide selection of food prepared by local vendors, the celebration includes an entertainment lineup featuring a range of music styles, including funk, R&B, gospel, Latin rock, jazz and salsa.

Suisun City ready for Juneteenth

to join the PGA. It underscored the tricky balance that the president, a sometimes-weekend golfer, must maintain between not wanting to upset the Saudis and not wanting to offend a political constituency at home – the families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks and advocates, including on Capitol Hill, for Khashoggi and his widow.

The group 9/11 Families United accused the PGA and Monahan of “taking billions of dollars to cleanse the Saudi reputation so that Americans and the world will forget how the Kingdom spent their billions of dollars before 9/11 to fund terrorism, spread their vitriolic hatred of Americans, and finance al Qaeda and the murder of our loved ones.”

“Make no mistake –we will never forget,” the group said. Saudi Arabia has long denied any responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 15 of 19 hijackers were Saudis.

The discomfort over the deal was plain to see on Capitol Hill, where Democrats’ position in recent years has been to advocate Biden’s argument of Saudi Arabia as a pariah and seek to impose limits

on US weapons sales to the country.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut called the PGA-LIV deal “absolutely abhorrent.”

The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, on Wednesday recalled Saudi officials’ refusal to comply with investigations in the wake of Sept. 11.

“I have this arms-length attitude toward Saudi Arabia,” he told reporters.

Trump’s Greens

The PGA-LIV deal was a symbolic as well as a literal victory for former President Donald Trump’s approach to Saudi Arabia, which focused on keeping the kingdom close through repeated arms sales and business dealings. Trump, an avid golfer who owns courses that have benefited by hosting LIV tournaments, praised the merger as “a big, beautiful, and glamorous deal.”

The timing of the announcement was also hard to ignore: It came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Saudi Arabia for a meeting of countries that are part of a coalition fighting Islamic State terrorists. A crucial subtext of that visit was the concern about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.

Stanford professor accused of domestic abuse found while on backpacking trip

Will MccaRthy BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Hunter Fraser, a Stanford biology professor accused of brutally beating his then-girlfriend, was found in Olympic National ParkSunday after “selfrescuing,” according to the National Park Service.

Fraser reportedly exited the park via the Dosewallips River trail on the east side of the

park with assistance from other hikers. He was then driven to Quilcene, Washington, where he was met by medical personnel and his family. It’s unclear whether he was injured.

Searchers began looking for Fraser on June 8 after he was reported missing by a family member. The professor had planned a 40-mile backpacking trip through the national park

and had been expected to make his return to Seattle on June 7.

The Clallam County Sheriff’s office described Fraser as an “extremely experienced solo hiker,” and “well-equipped.”

The multi-day search covered over 70 miles of trails and included air support, dog teams, and a variety of search and rescue agencies.

He had been set to appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court for a preliminary hearing Friday but missed it. He has been charged with inflicting corporal injury. The next hearing is scheduled for June 28.

Fraser, a biology professor and medical researcher, has run the Fraser Laboratory at Stanford.

SUISUN CITY — The second annual Juneteenth Celebration at the Suisun City Waterfront will include lots of fun activities for the whole family.

The event will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the waterfront.

This event will feature a range of exciting activities, including live music, food vendors, local artisans, shopping and other family-friendly activities.

Fairfield holding 2nd annual festivities

FAIRFIELD — Fairfield will host its second annual Juneteenth event on Saturday.

The event will be from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 601 Texas St., in Fairfield. They will have live music, games for the kids and speakers.

For more information call 707-673-2148.

Jelly Belly sets inaugural Beananza this weekend

FAIRFIELD — Jelly Belly will host its inaugural Beananza, a three-day celebration of fun and family. Browse quality art and craft vendors, savor

treats from food booths, and enjoy carnival rides for children and teens. Other activities include pony rides, a car show, Tesla test driving, an extended bean art gallery, a Chocolate and Wine Experience, beer and more.

The free event will take place from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Jelly Belly Visitor Center, 1 Jelly Belly Lane, in Fairfield.

For more information, visit jellybelly.com.

Government meetings

FAIRFIELD —

n Solano County Board of Supervisors, 9 a.m. Tuesday, County Government Center, 675 Texas St. Info: www.solanocounty.com/depts/bos/ meetings/videos.asp.

Travis Unified School District Governing Board, 5 p.m. Tuesday for closed session and 5:30 p.m. for open session, Travis Education Center, 2775 De Ronde Drive, Fairfield. Info: https://simbli.eboarcom/SB_Meetings/ SB_MeetingListing. aspx?S=36030187

n Vacaville City Council, 6 p.m. Tuesday, council chamber, 650 Merchant St. Info: ci. vacaville.ca.us

n Rio Vista Planning Commission, 6 p.m. Wednesday, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www. riovistacity.com/citycouncil/page/meetingagenda-attachmentsminutes-video

n Solano County Board of Education, 6 p.m. Wednesday, Solano County Office of Education, 5100 Business Center Drive, Fairfield, California. Info: www. solanocoe.net.

n Solano Transportation Authority Board, 6 p.m., Wednesday, STA Board Room Chambers, 423 Main Street, Suisun City. Info: www.sta.ca. gov.

John Albert Gr ay John passed away on May 8, 2023 after a brief illness. Born in Rockford, IL to John and Lillian Gray he is sur vived by wife of 62 years Meg; children Heather, John, Michael and Kristen; grandchildren Emily Holly Hannah, John, Corie, Cierra, JonCarlos, Vincent, and Angelina; and great-grandchildren Mabel, Henr y, Amelia and Michael.

ARMY VETERAN

As valedictorian of Kirkland High School in 1955, and graduate of University of Illinois Urbana with a BS in Civil Engineering, and an MPA from Golden Gate University John ser ved in the US Army then met and married Meg in 1961.

John ser ved as Public Works Director and later Transportation Director of Solano County John and Meg retired to Camino in 2001 as active members of Federated Church in Placer ville where John held numerous leadership roles. John’s life will be celebrated on June 24 at 11:00 a.m at Federated Church 1031 Thompson Way, Placer ville, CA 95667.

to follow. Memorial gifts may be sent to the church in his honor

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2022) Members of Project 4 — Motown entertain the crowd during a Juneteenth celebration in Downtown Fairfield, June 18, 2022.

Courtesy photo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Christian Cruz, a native of Fairfield, serves in Japan aboard a forward-deployed U.S. Navy warship.

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS

U.S. President Joe Biden walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. upon his return from Colorado, Thursday.

Columns&Games

Hoarding ruined my marriage

Dear Annie: Eight years ago, it felt like I had a mental breakdown trying to deal with all the clutter coming in our house. I told this to my wife, but her reply was to justify why she needed everything.

Meanwhile, my frustration turned from anger to rage, and I started throwing things and shouting at her and not understanding how attached she was to her stuff. I threw boxes and boxes into the trash. Fast forward eight years to the present, and the situation hasn’t gotten any better. Her relationship with me has been put in a box and stored somewhere in the garage. These last eight years, I’ve been trying to cater to her and make her feel happy again. Me throwing her stuff away was like I was killing the kids or something.

I was wondering if it’s possible for me to file a lawsuit against her. I feel like I’ve been living in a prison for the last 25 years. It has pushed me to a point where I feel like

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

Even though you’re part of a group, feel free to express yourself and act independently. When you satisfy your curiosity and try and understand things better, it helps everyone. Your clarity will bring clarity to the others.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20).

It really doesn’t matter who gives and who receives because as a giver you always feel lifted, and as a receiver you feel supported. The only thing not to be is someone who stands by.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Frustration is a teacher. If you ignore the lesson and get a bad grade, you’ll have to retake the class. Instead, let frustration show precisely what’s not working. Likely, it has to do with an expectation that is clashing with the reality of the situation.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). Success doesn’t automatically lead to happiness, and happiness doesn’t necessarily bring success. It will be lucky to focus on something else entirely, like doing what you’re interested in long enough to learn a deeper level of it.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). To place limits and boundaries in certain areas will allow you to make progress in other areas. Recognize which tasks cause you to live in a reactive state, like checking your email or being readily available to those who need you very much.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

You have perspectives on problems that vex others. Your offerings make sense, or at

I am losing control of myself. I am suicidal and depressed. I totally realize my actions were uncalled for. But it just felt like I was backed into a corner, and I kept getting prodded and poked and finally I unloaded.

This was totally out of character for me, but when you ask your wife, day after day, to please pick up her paperwork from the dining room table and nothing happens except more piles of paperwork start accumulating –it’s too much.

Anyway, I was just wondering if there’s some way we could get the justice system involved to get her help. I’m just so frustrated that I put 25 years of my life into this woman and she just took advantage of everything I have done for her.

So now she’s put a restraining order on me. It was delivered to me as I was checking out of the Veterans Affairs mental hospital.

On the day I arrived for the

Today’s birthday

Your style will vary brilliantly. Whether you work from rational thought and compassionate feeling, or from passion and intuition, you are destined for greatness. More highlights: Mentors and supporters who keep you on track, a debt paid or conflict resolved, and work that brings you friendship, love, joy and laughter. Libra and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 1, 14, 36, 12 and 7.

least make people think. You have unexpected ways of looking at information, and the conversation gets interesting because of what you add.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). People float subtle messages your way. They may think you’re not receiving them, but you’re ahead of the game, choosing to ignore anything that doesn’t contribute to what you want to accomplish with your day.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).

The responsibilities of ownership are something you take seriously, which is why you’ll be entrusted with more. Take your time to think over a deal and reckon with what you could potentially be encumbered by.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). When you accidentally let things get hectic, it could be a sign. Is there something you’re avoiding? It’s probably nothing big, just

restraining order court date, she served me with divorce papers. And then, true to her hoarding nature, she is attempting to cut me out of everything and keep it all for herself. I feel so helpless. I’m not seeking revenge or trying to make her life difficult. But I would love to see her get some help. – Left Out Dear Left Out: At this point, the best “revenge” for all the turmoil and depression that you say she imposed on you, through her cluttering and giving up on the marriage, would be to live well. The best way to live well is to focus on what you can control. You can’t control her actions, but you can seek help for anger management, depression and grief counseling for the marriage that did not work. The best lawyer to get would be a divorce lawyer. And keep seeking help from the VA mental hospital. Good luck to you.

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

something you don’t want to do. Life improves once this is handled.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). You’ll collect data, determined to learn from every experience, noting what worked to get a desired result and what didn’t. Because you’re a keen and openminded observer, you’ll be delighted by unintended results today as well.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). One of the hardest kinds of learning there is: learning to unlearn. Amazingly, you’ll do this wherever necessary now. You’ll see the sticking point and you’ll chip away at it until it’s no longer hanging up your progress.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). There are instances in life where you need permission to go forward, and many more cases in which asking would be a hindrance for all. You have pure intentions. Make your bold move.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: This Gemini teen couldn’t know that the diary of her secret world would touch, educate and inspire millions. Because of her courage and hope in the face of unfathomable evil, Anne Frank’s legacy continues to burn bright. The sun, Mercury and Jupiter were all in brilliant Gemini at the time of her birth. “How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” – Anne Frank

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Bridge

Crossword by Phillip Alder

What did she do in five diamonds after West led the spade queen?

It is slightly surprising that West did not compete with five hearts despite North’s one-no-trump overcall. How do five hearts and five spades fare?

YOU MUST KEEP HIM OFF THE LEAD

Coaching is not about what’s wrong; it is about what’s next.

Steve Conrad of Manhasset, Long Island, teaches bridge classes both on ships and online. He has a good eye for an instructive deal. This one was declared by one of his students, Pat McDermott of Richmond, Virginia.

In five diamonds, McDermott saw 10 top tricks: two spades, seven diamonds and one club. Playing East for the heart ace seemed wrong. Instead, declarer hoped to establish a second club winner. However, she had to do that without letting East get on lead to push a heart through her king. South let West win the first trick. She took the second spade and discarded a club from her hand. She pitched another club on dummy’s other high spade, cashed the club ace, ruffed a club high, played a trump to dummy’s eight, ruffed another club, returned to dummy with a trump and ruffed a third club. Finally, a diamond to the king permitted declarer to pitch her heart five on the club jack. Nicely done and plus 600.

Five heart and five spades can be taken down two by keeping West from getting into his dummy. North-South cash their three black-suit winners and then play a diamond. South will collect his heart king in a moment. However, that is only 500 for North-South.

COPYRIGHT: 2022, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

© 2023 Janric Enterprises Dist. by creators.com

6/12/23

Fill

1 through 9, with no repeats.

means that no number

repeated in any row, column or box. Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com

Difficulty level: BRONZE

Solution for 6/3/23:

Horoscopes by Holiday Mathis

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427-1386

Neil Young announces West Coast solo tour

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

SAN DIEGO — Neil Young is set to kick off his first tour in four years, a July solo outing on the West Coast that appears likely to be a prelude to a more extensive national concert trek. The twotime Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee plans to largely showcase songs he he has never performed before, along with some of his classics.

The tour will run from July 1 to July 23. The specifics of Young’s West Coast concert trek were announced Friday morning by Live Nation, the tour’s promoter. He disclosed the tour – but not the cities or dates –Wednesday via a private Zoom session with paid Patron subscribers to his Neil Young Archives.

The storied singersongwriter told the

subscribers he has prepared about 15 songs for the tour. About 80% of them are songs Young will be performing on stage for the first time, including “Prime of Life” from his 1994 album, “Sleeps With Angels,” and “If You Got Love,” an outtake from his 1982 album, “Trans.” Young indicated the tour will kick off with a four- or five-night residency at a “tiny, little unknown theater that’s close to one of the most well-known theaters in the world.” The venue in question is the John Anson Ford Theater in Los Angeles.

Chris Pierce will be the opening acts for all dates on the tour.

Young will also perform in Napa on Sunday, July 23, at the Oxbow RiverStage

Crane

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Candorville Darrin Bell

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú

New crypto banking system arises under the shadow of a regulatory crackdown

Yueqi Yang, SuvaShree ghoSh, emilY nicolle BLOOMBERG

Two months after the collapse of Silvergate Capital and Signature Bank, a new banking landscape for crypto companies is taking shape amid an expanding crackdown on the industry in the U.S.

In the U.S., crypto firms are turning to a handful of smaller regional lenders to open bank accounts. Customers Bancorp, a Pennsylvania lender, has become a popular destination. Swiss and Asian banks are also playing a bigger role, though they still remain selective about their crypto clients. In the U.K., where access to banking has also worsened, companies are instead turning to payment-service providers to bridge the gap.

As a result, crypto’s new banking system is more fragmented, less U.S.-centric and, at times, less advertised. Bloomberg News spoke to more than a dozen of industry participants, including banks, digital-asset exchanges, trading firms, start-ups and consultants to compile a list of banks globally that are receptive to clients in the sector.

The changes come as mainstream U.S. banks became warier of processing wire transfers and holding deposits for the crypto industry, following last year’s turmoil and amid growing regulatory scrutiny. La Jolla, Calif.-based Silvergate and New York-based Signature, two banks that supported the bulk of the industry’s money transactions, closed in March, setting off a scramble among crypto firms to find alternatives.

“Now it’s more of a handful of names, where you have to go and do your own due diligence because they are not as wellknown, at least for the crypto community,” said Rich Rosenblum, president and co-founder of crypto trading firm GSR.

This week, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase Global for breaking its rules, delivering a one-two punch against the biggest players in the industry. Both firms denied the allegations and vowed to defend themselves in the court. Binance.US, which Binance claims is run as a separate entity, is set to lose its banking access later this month after the trading platform was cut off by its U.S. payment and banking partners.

“These high-profile lawsuits call attention to different issues that have been widely discussed and acknowledged among industry participants,” such as the legal status of certain tokens, said John Popeo, partner at Gallatin Group, which advises banks and other firms on regulatory issues. “It could create additional challenges for firms to find banking partners, as these partners will engage in due diligence and look at the additional issues related to the firms.”

Crypto exchanges have historically had difficulties finding banking partners to store deposits and facilitate money transfers for the buying and selling of digital assets. Losing banking access means crypto would be further isolated from the traditional finance industry.

Banking access for crypto firms in the U.S. has become worse than in the pre-2018 era, when

A cheat sheet to AI buzzwords and their meanings

in a statement.

n ZA Bank ZA Bank, Hong Kong’s biggest virtual bank, plans to offer token-tofiat currency conversions over licensed exchanges. It also plans to provide account services to the digital sector.

BloomBerg

digital assets was still a nascent industry, said J. Austin Campbell, adjunct professor of Columbia Business School, who runs an independent consulting business for crypto firms. Banks want to open operational accounts for corporate use without touching users’ money, “but that’s not enough to run the business,” he said.

Still, the rebuilding and stitching together of a crypto-banking system is slowly happening. One upside is that the diversification of banking-service providers means the new system could be more resilient. While banking isn’t as seamless as it was a year ago, should one of the today’s banks stop supporting crypto, “you wouldn’t have this rejiggering of the system,” Rosenblum said.

Here are some of the banks crypto firms are turning to, broken down by region:

The U.S.

n Customers Bancorp

Some of the biggest crypto firms have leaned on Customers Bancorp, a West Reading, Pa.-based lender led by founder and Chief Executive Officer Jay Sidhu.

The bank pushed into serving crypto clients in late 2021, launching a real-time payments platform, similar to Signature’s Signet, that caters to trading firms, exchanges and institutional investors, allowing them to settle U.S. dollar transfers underlying crypto transactions seven days a week.

Circle internet Financial, the issuer of the USD Coin stablecoin, now uses Customers’ CBIT payments network for real-time settlement of dollars. Crypto exchanges Coinbase and Bitstamp USA, as well as trading firm GSR, have been Customers clients.

A Customers spokesperson declined to comment.

n Cross River Cross River Bank, a Fort Lee, N.J.-based firm known for its ties to financial-technology firms, has provided banking services to some crypto firms, such as Coinbase and Circle. It also offers real-time money movement, with a limit of $1 million per transaction.

While Cross River has seen an increase in requests for partnerships and businesses looking for a bank to place their deposits, the firm is considering only companies with existing relationships and “blue-chip customers who are integral to the fintech ecosystem,” Josh Vlasto, a spokesperson for Cross River, said in an email.

n Western Alliance Western Alliance Bancorp, based in Phoenix, has a blockchain and digital-assets team that serves clients in the sector. It also offers realtime payments capability, powered by Tassat.

The bank takes a “very deliberate and measured approach to who we bank through the network,” a

Western Alliance representative said in an email.

n Axos Financial Axos Financial, based in Las Vegas, opens bank accounts for some crypto firms. It’s listed as one of the banks used by Binance.US, according to the SEC’s lawsuit against the exchange. The bank earlier had broader ambitions of pushing further into crypto, including supporting retail crypto trading and launching a stablecoin - plans now on hold.

“Given the changes in the market that have occurred over the last year, Axos has no current plans to support retail crypto trading, provide clearing and transaction services, or launch a stablecoin,” Johnny Lai, senior vice president of corporate development and investor relations at Axos, said in an email. “We do not expect those plans to change in the immediate future.”

n FV Bank

FV Bank International, registered in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, was the first bank of the commonwealth to roll out a digital-asset custody service. It allows clients to hold their Bitcoin and U.S. dollars within the same bank account. It is launching the settlement of certain crypto tokens to U.S. dollars, using thirdparty prime brokers for the exchange.

Asia

n Standard Chartered Standard Chartered has made a major push into some emerging markets. It holds majority stakes in two U.K. subsidiaries, crypto-trading platform Zodia Markets and custodial unit Zodia Custody, the latter of which closed a $36 million funding round led by Japan’s SBI in April. London-based Standard Chartered offers banking services to a “very select” group of digital-asset service providers and supports them in offering on- and offramping to users of their platforms, said Rene Michau, global head of digital assets.

“We see digital assets as an important part of the future of financial services,” Michau said in an emailed statement. The bank’s services to digital-assets firms include corporate accounts, client-money accounts and foreign exchange, predominantly located in Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates.

n DBS

DBS is Singapore’s biggest bank and the largest listed company in the city-state. It was founded in 1968, three years after Singapore was separated from Malaysia and became an independent country.

The bank offers deposit accounts to regulated digital-asset and blockchain firms. It also provides onand off-ramping to the bank’s corporate, institutional and accredited clients through its own digital platform, DBS Digital Exchange, it said

Founded by Chinese billionaire Ou Yaping and others, ZA Bank will act as a settlement bank for clients to allow withdrawals in Hong Kong, China and U.S. currencies after they deposit crypto tokens with exchanges. Currently it offers on- and off-ramping to the two licensed exchanges in Hong Kong, OSL and HashKey.

Europe, the U.K.

n BCB Group

London-based BCB Group offers customers access to its payment network for digitalasset outfits. Known as Blinc, the network operates like Silvergate’s now-defunct SEN for the European region, allowing members to pay each other instantly across multiple currencies. The payment-services provider offers business accounts, over-the-counter crypto and currency trading, digital-asset custody and treasury services for clients including exchanges, market makers, lenders, funds, brokers and traders.

n Bank Frick Bank Frick, based in Liechtenstein, offers banking services such as business accounts for both established firms and start-ups in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sectors. It also offers trading and custody of select tokens, including Bitcoin and Ether.

Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange, has been discussing a proposal to let some of its institutional clients keep their trading collateral at a bank, with Bank Frick mentioned as a potential intermediary for the service, Bloomberg News reported late last month. Bank Frick declined to comment.

n SEBA Bank

Swiss firm SEBA Bank offers individuals, companies and institutional clients access to trading, investment in structured products, custody and borrowing for digital and traditional assets.

Like a traditional bank, SEBA has fixed-term deposit accounts and payments services, but it also offers crypto-investment trackers and a credit card for spending crypto.

The Zug-based bank saw increased website traffic globally, but more so in the U.S., after the collapse of Signature and Silvergate, the company said in March, adding that crypto firms were applying for its accounts.

“We have experienced an uptake in inflows as a direct result of the current market landscape because we recognize that clients’ digital wealth should be managed in the same way as their traditional finances,” said Yves Longchamp, managing director at SEBA Bank.

n Sygnum Bank Spread across Switzerland and Singapore, Sygnum Bank specializes in digital assets for institutional and private qualified investors, corporate clients and financial institutions. It offers custody, brokerage, tokenization, asset-management, lending and business-banking services, facilitating deposits in Swiss francs, euros, Singaporean dollars and U.S. dollars to buy, trade and hold cryptocurrencies.

The arrival in late 2022 of the ChatGPT chatbot represented a milestone in artificial intelligence that took decades to reach. Scientists were experimenting with “computer vision” and giving machines the ability to “read” as far back as the 1960s. Today it’s possible to imagine a computer performing many human tasks better than people can. Whether you’re worried about being replaced by a robot, or just intrigued by the possibilities, here are some frequently used AI buzzwords and what they mean.

Machine Learning

ML is the process of gradually improving algorithms - sets of instructions to achieve a specific outcomeby exposing them to large amounts of data. By reviewing lots of “inputs” and “outputs,” a computer can “learn” without necessarily having to be trained on the specifics of the job at hand. Take the iPhone photo app. Initially, it doesn’t know what you look like. But once you start tagging yourself as the face in photos taken over many years and in a variety of environments, the machine acquires the ability to recognize it.

Chatbots

These products can hold conversations with people on topics ranging from historical trivia to new food recipes. Early examples are the tools that service providers use on their “Contact Us” pages as a first resource for customers needing help. It’s expected that chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard will improve rapidly as a result of recent advances in AI and transform how we search the internet.

Generative AI

This refers to the production of works - pictures, essays, poetry, sea shanties - from simple questions or commands. It encompasses the likes of OpenAI’s DALL-E, which can create elaborate and detailed imagery in seconds, and Google’s MusicLM, which generates music from text descriptions. Generative AI creates a new work after being trained on vast quantities of preexisting material. It’s led to some lawsuits from copyright holders who complain that their own work has been ripped off.

Neural Networks

This is a type of AI in which a computer is programmed to learn in very roughly the same way a human brain does: through trial and error. Success or failure influences future attempts and adaptations, just as a young brain learns to map neural pathways based on what the child’s been taught. The process can involve millions of attempts to achieve proficiency.

Large Language Models

These are very large neural networks that are trained using massive amounts of text and data, including e-books, news articles and Wikipedia pages. With billions of parameters to learn from, LLMs are the

backbone of natural language processing that can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and generate text.

GPT

A generative pretrained transformer is a type of LLM. “Transformer” refers to a system that can take strings of inputs and process them all together rather than in isolation, so that context and word order can be captured. This is important in language translation. For instance: “Her dog, Poppy, ate in the kitchen” could be translated into the French equivalent of “Poppy ate her dog in the kitchen” without appropriate attention being paid to order, syntax and meaning.

Hallucination

When an AI like ChatGPT makes something up that sounds convincing but is entirely fabricated, it’s called a hallucination. It’s the result of a system not having the correct answer to a question but nonetheless still knowing what a good answer would sound like and presenting it as fact. There’s concern that AI’s inability to say “I don’t know” when asked something will lead to costly mistakes, dangerous misunderstandings and a proliferation of misinformation.

Sentient AI

Most researchers agree that a sentient, conscious AI, one that’s able to perceive and reflect on the world around it, is years from becoming reality. While AI displays humanlike abilities, the machines don’t yet “understand” what they’re doing or saying. They are just finding patterns in the vast amounts of information generated by human beings and generating mathematical formulas that dictate how they respond to prompts. And it may be hard to know when sentience has arrived, as there’s still no broad agreement on what consciousness is.

Emergent Behaviors

As large language models reached a certain scale, they began to display abilities that appear to have emerged from nowhere, in the sense that they were neither intended nor expected by their trainers. Some examples include generating executable computer code, telling strange stories and identifying movies from a string of emoji as clues.

Prompt Engineering

The accuracy and usefulness of a large language model’s responses depends to a large extent on the quality of the commands it is given. Prompt engineers can finetune natural-language instructions to produce consistent, high-quality outputs using minimum computer power. These skills are in big demand.

Ariana Drehsler/Bloomberg

The Silvergate headquarters in La Jolla, March 9.

Crime logs

FairField THURSDAY, JUNE 8

3:24 a.m. — Battery, 2500 block of SUNRISE DRIVE

4:32 a.m. — Trespassing, 1900 block of WEST TEXAS STREET

8:44 a.m. — Vandalism, 300 block of TABOR AVENUE

9:28 a.m. — Vandalism, 2200 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

9:53 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 1200 block of OLIVER ROAD

11:23 a.m. — Reckless driver, SUNSET AVENUE

11:54 a.m. — Battery, 100 block of GROBRIC COURT

12:12 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 2300 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

12:19 p.m. — Vehicle burglary, 400 block of TABOR AVENUE

12:24 p.m. — Trespassing, 2100 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

12:42 p.m. — Shots fired, HAMILTON DRIVE

1:12 p.m. — Trespassing, 800 block of SECOND STREET

2:13 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, EAST TRAVIS BOULEVARD

2:44 p.m. — Forgery, 1700 block of HIGHLAND CIRCLE

3:36 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD

4:37 p.m. — Battery, 2500 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

4:45 p.m. — Trespassing, 1300 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD

4:51 p.m. — Battery, 700 block of TEXAS STREET

5:28 p.m. — Battery, 1600 block of PARK LANE

5:56 p.m. — Reckless driver,

Sharks

From Page One

be shocked by these findings,” Lowe said.

Where were sharks spotted off California coast?

Researchers found that juvenile white sharks spend more than 50% of their time within 110 yards of the wave break. Some were observed as close as two yards from the wave break.

Overlap between sharks and humans was most frequent at beaches in Carpinteria in Santa Barbara County and Del Mar in San Diego County.

“What’s really special about Southern California in particular is that it contains a lot of nursery areas for the juvenile white sharks,” said Emily Spurgeon, research technician.

According to Spurgeon, overlap between sharks and humans has been historically high in areas near the shore that provide protection, food and ideal thermal conditions — especially for juvenile white sharks, which are more thermally sensitive than adult sharks.

Rising water temperatures are increasing the number of sites with perfect conditions for juvenile white shark nursery sites, Spurgeon said.

“We’re now seeing aggregations and nursery sites in Monterey and possibly the Central Coast,” Spurgeon said.

While humans and sharks had the most encounters during the summer on calm, sunny days, such interactions occur all year long, according to the study.

Stand-up paddleboarders had the most encounters with sharks, the study found.

However, because surfers are more common across the coastline, they are the most likely

Canada’s wildfires have exposed climate change ‘spiral of silence’

BloomBerg News

1600 block of MINNESOTA STREET

6:08

What should you do when the air outside contains dangerous levels of pollution? Stay indoors if you can. Buy an air purifier. Wear a mask to travel. It’s a list of precautions familiar to people in cities like Delhi, Beijing and San Francisco, where air pollution or seasonal wildfire smoke are the norm.

SuiSun City

to have encounters, researchers said. Do frequent shark encounters mean more attacks?

Despite the frequency of human-shark encounters, the shark bite rate has not gone up, according to the research.

Over the entire twoyear surveillance period, there were no confirmed shark bites on people in Southern California, the study found.

“We never expected to see so many encounters every day with no incidents,” Lowe said.

Evidence of a growing white shark population and rising public use of beaches for recreation have led to increased concerns about safety.

In 2021, a man died in a fatal shark attack while bodyboarding in Morro Bay on Christmas Eve.

Another man was left with severe injuries after a separate shark attack at Lovers Point Beach in June 2022.

However the Shark Lab’s new research suggests that shark attacks are very rare given the frequency of shark and human encounters.

Spurgeon hopes that the Shark Lab study will provide beachgoers with more context and education on sharks.

“People don’t need to worry,” Spurgeon said.

The state of California’s shark beach safety program also operates out of the Shark Lab and is dedicated to researching sharks and educating the public on how to safely enjoy the beach.

“It’s not just about sharks. It’s about people,” Lowe said. “This study may change people’s perception of the risks sharks pose to people that share the ocean with them.”

For more information go to csulb.edu/shark-lab.

It’s a list newly familiar to millions more people across North America, whose skies filled with dangerous smoke drifting from fires in Canada. It’s a list that will become more familiar every year, as climate change drives up wildfire frequency and intensity. But how should you feel when the air outside contains dangerous levels of pollution? Or your community is flooding? Or drought is ravaging crops? There’s a list for that, too.

Grief. Terror. Rage. Guilt. Shame. Helplessness. Any and all of those reactions are understandable and worth sitting in, says Margaret Klein Salamon, a clinical psychologist by training and executive director of the Climate Emergency Fund, which funds disruptive climate activism. Salamon, author of “Facing the Climate Emergency,” is based in Brooklyn; she spoke to Bloomberg Green on Friday, as the skies over New York City started to clear.

Question: What sort of reactions were you seeing from people as they experienced the sky turn orange and the bad air?

Answer: I think, like in most climate disasters, they stayed pretty focused on what was immediately unfolding. As far as I’ve seen, though it’s not a huge sample size, they have not yet started to think: What about the next one? What’s coming down the pike?

Q: What do you think it takes to get people to the point where they are actually anxious, scared or just feeling more?

A: I mean, that is cer-

Trump

From Page One

was unsealed Friday, describes how one lawyer “memorialized” conversations where Trump appeared to be considering options to defy a May 2022 grand jury subpoena seeking the return of classified material; the lawyer is identified as “Attorney 1” but the events match descriptions of Trump attorney Evan Corcoran in other publicly available court documents.

Trump’s comments at the time, as quoted by prosecutors, included, “What happens if we just don’t respond at all or don’t play ball with them,” and “Wouldn’t it be better if we just told them we don’t have anything here?”

The indictment alleges that Trump directed his personal aide – and nowcodefendant – Waltine “Walt” Nauta to move boxes so that “Attorney 1” wouldn’t find documents that might be responsive to the grandjury subpoena. The government also said that “Attorney 3” – identified by multiple media outlets as Christina Bobb – was asked to sign a certification to the gov-

BART

From Page One

evaders cost the transit agency $25 million a year in lost revenue. In 2018, BART beefed

tainly the million-dollar question. Because this kind of event should, by all rights, trigger a kind of Pearl Harbor-type response. The country was bitterly divided over going to war, with the most popular view being isolationist. After that attack, it became abundantly clear that it wasn’t a choice – of course, they don’t want to go to war but we had to. This is the kind of reaction we need politically.

Q: What are the sorts of things people can and are feeling about climate change, and how can they start to process that?

A: The first thing is to recognize that what you’re feeling is healthy, and that feeling takes courage, and that as you go on this process, it’s critical to treat yourself with selfcompassion. The situation is so extreme that the feelings will also be extreme.

The second thing: It’s really critical not to be alone with your climate anxiety, terror, grief. The No. 1 feeling that people report to me when I ask, ‘How do you feel about the climate emergency?’… They say, ‘I feel so alone, no one understands how bad it is. My friends don’t understand. My family doesn’t understand.’ They

feel alienated and separate from other people because of this knowledge and emotional experience that they have.

What’s so ironic about that is that we all share the same atmosphere — this is happening to all of us. So, by all rights, it should be an experience that fosters emotional connection rather than separation and it can, if you talk to people about your feelings.

Q: Why do you think it is so hard to just start talking about these feelings and the crisis in general?

A: It’s emotionally overwhelming and it’s difficult socially. When I talk to people about the scale of the climate emergency and what’s at stake — that crops are failing and states are going to fail and civilizations are going to fail — I always feel guilty, among other feelings, because it’s like being the bearer of such horrible news.

The Yale Program on Climate Communications talks about the spiral of silence, meaning people don’t talk about climate because people don’t talk about climate. The fact that people aren’t talking about it makes it seem like they’re not worried about it. Well, they’re

acting normal, so it must be fine. The implication is: Just by leading your normal life, you are actually contributing to mass climate denial because people are looking at you and seeing that you think things are normal.

The climate activists are a critical part of how to reverse this spiral of silence and make it into people yelling about climate change from the rooftops all the time. The activists are not acting normal. They’re getting arrested 10 times and throwing soup on paintings and the extremity of their actions is also a demonstration of the depth of their feeling and fear, so it’s enacting.

Q: I want to talk about grief, climate grief. Can you define what that is? What are different stages of climate grief and why it’s important to go through the grieving process.

A: Grieving is how we acknowledge and mourn our losses and adapt to new realities. If we don’t grieve, we don’t get to that stage. Grief is central as a key part of the human condition and it’s a very important process to go through. With climate grief, there’s so many losses.

you?’ You told me you robbed a bank yesterday, that’s protected. You tell me you want to use me to launder your bank robbery proceeds, that’s not going to work,” she said.

ernment that a “diligent search” was done of boxes moved from the White House to Florida, even though she hadn’t been part of that effort. That certification did include hedging language that it was based on information “provided to” her.

Bobb and Corcoran declined to comment. A Trump spokesperson didn’t return a request for comment.

Corcoran testified at least twice before a grand jury in the documents probe. The second appearance came after he and Trump lost court challenges to the special counsel’s demand for his testimony as well as his work product. Prosecutors successfully argued for the “crime-fraud exception” to attorneyclient privilege, which

up their response to fare evasion, requiring riders to provide proof of payment inside fare gates and onboard trains. If caught without proof of payment, adults are charged $75, and minors are charged $55.

applies if the government has evidence a client may have used their lawyer to commit an ongoing or future crime.

The exception “is not lightly invoked by the Justice Department and neither is it lightly granted by courts because of course clients – even clients who have done dastardly deeds or who have been accused of doing dastardly deeds – absolutely have a right to consult their lawyer,” Clark said. “What they don’t have is a right to use their lawyers in continuing fraud.”

Sarah Krissoff, a white collar defense lawyer in New York and former federal prosecutor, said it’s incumbent on lawyers to make the line clear.

“I have clients ask me all the time, ‘What’s protected about what I tell

“It is important to constantly evaluate the policies and practices of BPD to ensure that our reform efforts are effective and sustainable,” said Russell Bloom, Independent Police Auditor, in a press release.

Clark said that although it’s possible Corcoran and Bobb could face challenges in the future securing clients given the notoriety of their roles in the documents case, she didn’t see conduct in the indictment that would trigger an investigation by state bar authorities into whether they violated any attorney ethics rules.

Bobb also testified before the grand jury, but there’s no public indication that she or Trump opposed the government’s request to question her.

Trump last week announced that two lawyers who had been representing him in the special counsel investigations – Smith is also overseeing a probe into the 2020 election – James Trusty and John Rowley, would no longer be involved.

Corcoran had recused from the documents matter but has continued to represent Trump, including in the election probe. Trump hasn’t given any indication that Corcoran is no longer part of his legal team.

“Using data to examine the root causes of disparate outcomes is a critically important way to understand which reforms are working and where we may need to refocus our attention and resources.”

Seth Wenig/Pool/Getty Images/TNS file

Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears in a Manhattan court during his arraignment, in New York City, April 4.

Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Hazy skies provided the backdrop as smoke from wildfires in Canada affected Northeastern skies while the Philadelphia Phillies and Detroit Tigers play during the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Tuesday.

Madera County hurt by loss of its only hospital

Melissa GoMez and H annaH Fry

LOS ANGELES TIMES

MADERA — It was dinnertime when Sabrina Baker, a mother of six, felt the familiar twinge of contractions.

At first, she brushed it off as Braxton Hicks, false labor pains not uncommon in the late stages of pregnancy. But after dinner that night in early January, the pain sharpened and radiated to her back. The contractions intensified, and Baker knew this baby girl was coming fast. She had a decision to make –and the options weren’t good.

Two days earlier, Madera County’s only general hospital had shut its doors. The abrupt closure of Madera Community Hospital and its affiliated medical clinics capped years of financial turmoil. Still, most residents in this rural county in California’s geographic center were caught off guard, unaware of just how much was at stake until their hospital was gone. Baker knew she couldn’t make it to the next closest hospital, in Fresno, a roughly 45-minute drive.

Twenty-five minutes after the first contraction and two pushes later, she delivered her daughter, alone, on her tan love seat. The baby was breech, which upped the anguish and the risk during delivery. When it was over, Baker tied the umbilical cord with new shoelaces and wrapped Onax in a San Francisco 49ers blanket. An ambulance rolled up 20 minutes later to take mom and baby to the hospital.

“I mean, I’m lucky,” Baker said, standing outside her home in a swath of Madera County surrounded by cropland and almond groves. “We could have died.”

During its half-century run, Madera Community Hospital provided a crucial link to health care for the 160,000 people who call Madera County home. Spanning from the heavily farmed floor of the eastern San Joaquin Valley to the forested central Sierra, Madera is majority Latino, and 20% of the population live in poverty.

For most residents, the hos-

pital was more than a place to go when disaster struck. Madera Community helped them sign up for Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid insurance for lowincome adults and children. It was readily accessible by bus, and it coordinated services with community clinics where residents could receive routine care and prescriptions. Sometimes the hospital was the only place people saw a doctor. Unlike the many private providers that exclude certain types of health insurance – including Medi-Cal, with its notoriously low reimbursement rates – Madera Community served everyone.

“It’s the worst thing that could have happened to us,” Tony Camarena said of the closure. Camarena runs a business that enables sending money abroad, and many of his customers made use of the hospital’s services, he said.

Health care experts say Madera’s closure – and the untenable financial realities that brought on the collapse – offer a case study on the challenges facing rural hospitals across the country. Nearly 30% of all rural hospitals in the U.S. –more than 600 of them – are at risk of closing, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform.

In California, nine rural hospitals have been shuttered since 2005, and 17 are at risk of closing.

Kaweah Health Medical Center in Visalia, about an hour’s drive from Madera and the largest hospital in rural Tulare County, is among those bowing under serious financial problems.

Experts in health care economics say rural counties generally have fewer patients than suburban and urban communities – and a high share of those patients are low-income and enrolled in Medi-Cal. That means there are fewer patients with private insurance whose payments can offset MediCal’s low reimbursement rates. Small hospitals also have less muscle than bigger ones to negotiate rates from private insurance companies.

Covid-19, which pummeled the San Joaquin Valley, exacerbated the financial decline. Farmworkers whose jobs were deemed essential worked at great risk of exposure. Hospitals across the valley were overwhelmed with surge after surge, and farming counties like Fresno and Madera saw some of the state’s highest infection and death rates.

“Fifty-two percent of California’s hospitals are operating in the red – they are losing money every day. That is unprecedented,” said Carmela Coyle, president and chief executive officer of the California Hospital Association. “And while there were hospitals losing money

before the pandemic, the pandemic just sucked so many more hospitals into that financial hole that we are really now looking at crisis circumstances in many parts of the state.”

For Madera Community Hospital, already operating on thin margins, rising costs for medical equipment and the spike in salaries for traveling nurses who were in high demand during the pandemic proved too much to absorb.

Hospital leaders tried to broker a deal with Trinity Health, a nonprofit Catholic health care system that owns Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno. Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta conditionally approved the sale of the hospital but placed terms on the deal that would have required Trinity to set price caps on certain services, maintain charity care programs and commit to providing emergency care and clinic services for five years. Trinity Health pulled out of the deal in December. Madera Community Hospital shut its doors and by March had filed for bankruptcy.

Residents were anxious. Many don’t have cars and worried about how they would get to hospitals in other counties. Longer wait times at those remote emergency departments meant they would miss the work and pay they need to survive.

Time hasn’t healed those concerns. It has created new ones.

“It really put a community against the wall,” said Linette Lomeli, executive director of the Madera Coalition for Community Justice, a grassroots organization that helps residents access food, housing, employment and, now, medical care.

Along Highway 99, Madera Community Hospital stands frozen in time. Three blue tarps hang over the entrance to what was once the emergency department. The grass outside is ankle high, and leaves are piled against the curb.

Inside, a haunting silence hung in the darkened hallways as hospital CEO Karen Paolinelli surveyed the place where she

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started her career four decades ago. She sighed as she pointed out the CT scanner the hospital had just purchased to replace a 15-year-old machine that was always breaking. The new one wasn’t even plugged in when the hospital closed.

Paolinelli walked past rows of empty beds in the intensive care unit, a place that was packed with patients during the pandemic, and thought about the doctors and nurses who stepped up during the terrifying heights. The hospital and its clinics were a lifeline for the community, she said.

In the weeks leading up to the closure, it was as if opportunities to save the hospital kept slipping from her grasp, she said. But she holds out hope that a potential partner might see value in helping Madera Community reopen.

“If we don’t do it quickly, it may never open again,” she said.

The fallout from the closure resonates beyond Madera County. On a recent weekday evening, the emergency department at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, 35 miles south, overflowed with patients. A security guard told those arriving they’d have to wait outside. There was simply no room.

The ER also spilled over at Fresno’s Saint Agnes Medical Center, and rows of people sat outside under a white tent, hoping to be called.

“It’s always been busy, but it’s just snowballed,” said Xiomara Russell, a licensed vocational nurse at Community Regional Medical Center who formerly worked at Madera Community. “We have ambulance waits and a full lobby all the time.”

Russell said access to medical care was tenuous in Madera, and people used the emergency room as a way to get basic medical needs met. She worries people will delay getting care until their conditions are harder to treat. Like Paolinelli, she wants to see Madera Community reopen. “It has to,” she said. “There’s so many people who need it.”

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Tarp hangs over remnants of the Madera Community Hospital sign in Madera.

Monday, June

Frustrated A’s fans ready to ‘reverse boycott’

Shayna Rubin BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Stu Clary couldn’t take it anymore. And he wasn’t alone.

Clary’s social media newsfeeds were filled with fellow A’s fans also furious they were being blamed for the slow death of baseball in Oakland. He saw MLB commissioner Rob Manfred point to sparse crowds at the Coliseum as a key reason the team needs to abandon its home of 55 years and start over

in the Las Vegas desert.

Enough was enough.

“I get why people aren’t going to games, but it feeds a false narrative,” Clary said. “I thought, doing the opposite, showing up, will set the record straight.”

So Clary, the head varsity baseball coach at Vacaville High School, came up with an idea: A “reverse boycott.”

The hope is to turn Tuesday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays into a loud, unified statement that A’s, namely

owner John Fisher, are the ones who abandoned the fans. The fan base has endured years of seeing star players traded to slash payroll, which is now the lowest in baseball. Not coincidentally they are the worst team in baseball, by far, on pace to having the worst record since 1899.

Ironically, the team is currently on a five-game winning streak after sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers. The A’s won Sunday’s series finale 8-6 before openingback

at home Monday night against the Rays. The A’s are averaging 8,675 fans per home game, dead last among the 30 teams. One A’s fan tweeted Friday that they had determined 14,700 tickets had been sold for Tuesday’s game. Will that be enough to show the world that the baseball spirit didn’t die of natural causes in Oakland, but that owner John Fisher killed it?

“The idea is to pack the (ballpark) on a random

weeknight, showing MLB and the country that us fans are not the problem,” Clary tweeted on April 13, days before the team announced its first binding agreement for potential ballpark land in Las Vegas. “Hope to see you there.”

Clary’s tweet took off and, soon enough, the project gained steam online.

Longtime fan Bryan Johansen is replacing his player banners that for years have draped the outfield facades with brand

new ones urging Fisher to sell the team. Another longtime fan, Anson Casanares, decided the boycott event needed unifying threads.

Casanares, a member of the Oakland 68s — the group whose drum-playing has given a heartbeat to the skeletal Coliseum crowds – teamed up with local clothing brand Oaklandish to produce thousands of green shirts with the message “SELL” printed in white across the chest and give them out to

Martin Truex, Jr., burns his tire in celebration at the start/finish line after winning the Toyota/Save Mart 350

Truex Jr. picks up 4th victory at Sonoma in dominating fashion

naSca R WiRE SERvicES

SONOMA — What a difference a year makes.

After struggling mightily last year at Sonoma Raceway in the debut season for NASCAR’s Next Gen car, Martin Truex Jr. pulled off a dominating 180-degree turnaround in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Overcoming an inopportune caution and leading a race-high 51 of 110 laps, Truex scored his second victory of the season and his fourth at the 1.99-mile road course, most among active drivers and second only to Jeff Gordon’s five in track history.

Truex’s 33rd career victory, by a 2.979-second margin over runner-up Kyle Busch, was a far cry from last season’s lackluster performance, when Truex started 28th and

finished 26th.

“Hats off to my team,” said Truex, who was winless in the 2022 campaign. “To be so bad here last year and to come back and do that with the same car basically, it’s really unbelievable. Just proud of them. We’re having a great year. I feel really good about our team…

“Man, it just feels incredible to have a day like that and a run like that and a team like I have. They’re doing everything right, and it’s a lot of fun to drive these cars… This is why you go through years like we had last year. You just keep fighting. You never give up on it. You always believe in each other.

“We haven’t changed anything on our team other than parts and pieces. It’s just through a

See Sonoma, Page B8

Nuggets treating Game 5 like close out game

Mik E SingER

THE DENVER POST

DENVER — If coaching doesn’t work out — and there’s little evidence to suggest it won’t — perhaps Nuggets coach Michael Malone can take up a career in psychology.

Before the Nuggets took part in shooting contests and basic drills as part of their practice

On TV

Heat vs. Nuggets 5:30 p.m. Monday ABC – Channel

Sunday, Malone relayed a message as they’ll vie for their first-ever NBA championship on Monday night at Ball Arena.

“My biggest concern

going into any close-out game is human nature and fighting against that,” he said. “You’re up 3-1. Most teams, when you’re up 3-1, they come up for air. They relax and they just kind of take it for granted that, oh, we’re going to win this.”

The Nuggets don’t have to look very far for recent examples of teams blowing commanding

leads in the postseason. They stormed back, twice, in the Orlando bubble in 2020, against the Jazz and the Clippers, who each owned 3-1 leads against Denver. But the Nuggets wound up on the right side of history that year and forged their way to the conference finals.

“That’s why my

Crawford gets dream chance on mound in Giants’ rout

Evan WEbEck THE MERCURY NEWS

SAN FRANCISCO —

The Giants’ bullpen game Sunday went so well it ended with a position player on the mound. And not just anyone: Brandon Crawford, who fulfilled a career-long dream while finishing off a 13-3 rout of the Cubs in the finale of their threegame series.

Crawford was allowed to pitch the final inning, after the Giants’ rebounded from Saturday’s one-hit shutout by exploding for 13 runs on 15 hits, including two home runs each from Joc Pederson and Thairo Estrada. While issuing a four-pitch walk to the first batter, Crawford eventually recorded the final three outs, topping out at 88 mph.

Pederson homered twice and reached base three more times, accounting for five of the Giants’ runs as they avoided a sweep in the three-game series and kept their record (33-32) above water. In the three-game

series against his former club, Pederson went 8-for-11 with five RBIs, four runs scored and two home runs. While his four-hit performance in Friday night’s series opener wasn’t enough, his two homers Sunday ensured the Giants could salvage one of the three games.

Without LaMonte Wade Jr. setting the table – a rare day off for the on-base machine who typically occupies the leadoff spot – the top two hitters in the Giants lineup combined to go 6-for-8 with four home runs, eight RBIs and seven runs scored. In addition to Pederson’s big day out of the two hole, Estrada, the leadoff man, also homered twice, giving the club two players with multihomer games for the first time since Aug. 16, 2019 (Mike Yastrzemski, Kevin Pillar).

For the second straight day, the Giants didn’t use a traditional starter. John Brebbia opened Saturday’s game

See Giants, Page B8

Djokovic wins French Open for record 23rd slam

TRibunE conTEnT agEncy

PARIS — Novak

Djokovic won 12 of the last 13 points as he overpowered Casper Ruud 7-6 (7-1), 6-3, 7-5 in the French Open final to claim a men’s record 23rd grand slam title on Sunday.

Third seed Djokovic rallied from 4-1 down in the first set and was in command once he clinched the opener against fourth seed Ruud.

Ruud put up a fight but did not manage a break point in the remaining sets as Djokovic roared from 5-4 down in the third to victory with the help of 52 winners, to Ruud’s 31. He won 11 points in a row and then wrapped up matters on second match point with a crosscourt backhand winner after 3 hours 13 minutes.

Djokovic, 36, moved one grand slam title ahead of Rafael Nadal,

the record 14-time Roland Garros champion who was missing this time around for injury reasons and congratulated Djokovic instantly on Twitter for “an amazing achievement.”

Only Margaret Court has more grand slam titles with 24 on the women’s side.

“I am delighted to share this important moment of my career with you. It is no coincidence that I got the 23rd title here. This was always the most difficult tournament for me,” Djokovic said in French to a crowd including former NFL great Tom Brady as well as football stars Kylian Mbappe, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud.

Sporting a jacket with the number 23 on it, Djokovic received the Coupe des Mousquetaires from former French

See French, Page B8

See Boycott, Page B8 See NBA, Page B8

Pat Brandon/Special to the Daily Republic

Sunday afternoon at Sonoma Raceway. It was Truex’s fourth victory on the Northern California road course.

Pat Brandon/Special to the Daily Republic Martin Truex, Jr., hoists the Toyota/Save Mart 350 trophy.

Corn, chicken and ribbons of egg make this summer soup shine

G. Daniela Galarza THE WASHINGTON POST

In 2016, after connecting over their deep affection for Taiwanese food, friends Josh Ku and Trigg Brown opened Win Son, a casual restaurant in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It wasn’t long before people started forming lines out the door to taste the pair’s Taiwanese American menu. Dishes such as lu rou fan (braised pork over rice), fly’s head (stir-fried garlic chives and pork or tofu) and pea shoots with yun hai bean paste quickly became bestsellers.

This year, Ku and Brown published “Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook,” written with Cathy Erway. It’s a marvelous dive into Taiwanese American cuisine, and full of recipes served at the restaurant. But the dish that stood out to me, the one I couldn’t wait to make? It’s called Auntie Leah’s Corn Soup.

“Leah is Josh’s mom, but she’s known to much of her extended family, including the Win Son family, as auntie Leah,” the headnote explains. “She would often make a large pot of this soup to carry Josh and his sister through a few days’ worth of quick meals and snacks. Light yet filling, kidtested, mom-approved.”

“As far back as I can remember, from when I was very little, my mom made big pots of this soup,” Ku says. It starts with thin strips of chicken - though you can also make it vegetarian - that are gently marinated in a rice wine, cornstarch and salt mixture. While those flavors mingle, you start on a simple corn base with chicken broth, freshly shucked corn and a can of creamed corn. When that reaches a lively simmer, drop the pieces of chicken in, one by one, stirring as you add them so that they don’t stick to one another. Once they’re in, whisk a couple of eggs until

they’re smooth. Stir the broth in one direction, creating a small whirlpool, as you drizzle in the eggs. This will create long, thin strands of cooked egg, noodlelike and silky. Finally, taste the soup and season it with salt and pepper, to your liking.

When he was a kid, Ku would add lots of scallions and black pepper to each bowl. “It’s good hot, warm or even cold,” he says. If it sounds like a mash-up between corn chowder, chicken soup and egg drop soup, that’s because it sort of is.

In “A Culinary History of Taipei,” Katy Hui-wen Hung and Steven Crook explain that Green Giant began a massive marketing campaign in Taiwan in the 1990s. Among other things, the brand slapped soup recipes like this one on cans of corn. “It was created in Taiwan to be American-fashioned, using these new U.S. imports that were being marketed to moms,” says Erway. “It was novel back in the early ‘90s, but it stuck.”

That’s how Ku’s grandmother was introduced to American-style corn soup in Taiwan. Years later, when Ku’s mother started making it for her kids in Queens, she adapted it to her own tastes. Then, a couple of decades after that, while Ku was in college and feeling a little homesick, he called his mom to ask her for the recipe.

“I was 20 or 21, living in Harlem with a roommate, and sometimes we cooked together. When I asked my mom for the recipe, she gave me some rough instructions - she hadn’t made it much since her kids had left the nest,” Ku says. “My roommate loved it, I loved it. After that, I started making it every time I moved into a new apartment.”

When Ku, Brown and Erway started working on the book, Ku happened to mention the soup offhandedly, thinking it wouldn’t be interesting enough for a cookbook. But Brown and Erway immediately agreed that it needed to be in there.

“It’s part of Taiwanese culi-

nary history,” Erway says. “I think Taiwanese food, Taiwanese American food is always evolving, here and on the other side of the world. It’s exciting to see personal takes on it, loving takes on it. This mom-style soup might not be glamorous, but it’s entirely delicious.”

TAIWANESE-STYLE CORN AND CHICKEN SOUP

4 to 6 servings

Total time: 35 mins

Similar to a chicken and corn chowder, this fast and fresh soup is adapted from “Win Son Presents: A Taiwanese-American Cookbook” by Josh Ku and Trigg Brown with Cathy Erway. Fresh corn and canned creamed corn are combined in a broth enriched with velvety chicken. Eggs, stirred in at the end, turn into silky strands. Use fresh summer corn for especially flavorful results, or substitute frozen corn kernels.

Substitutions and additions: To make this vegetarian, use vegetable broth and skip the chicken. I haven’t tested this, but slippery bits of silken tofu, stirred in at the end, might be nice here.

I like this as written, but you could always add vegetables to it, such as diced onion, carrots or peas.

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 4 days.

8 ounces boneless, skinless chicken tenders or breast, cut against the grain into thin slivers 1 to 2 inches long

1 teaspoon rice wine, preferably Taiwanese (may also use Shaoxing rice wine)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon fine salt, plus more as needed

4 cups chicken broth, preferably low-sodium

2 cups (10 ounces) freshly shucked corn kernels (from 2 ears)

1 (14 ¾-ounce) can creamed corn

2 large eggs, whisked well

Ground white or cracked black pepper

4 scallions, sliced, for garnish (optional)

In a small bowl, combine the chicken, rice wine, cornstarch and salt and mix gently by hand to ensure all of the chicken is coated. Set aside for 20 minutes, or cover and refrigerate up to overnight.

In a large pot over high heat, combine the chicken broth with shucked and creamed corn. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat so the liquid is at a gentle simmer.

Drop the chicken pieces in, one at a time, stirring after each to ensure the pieces don’t stick together in the soup. Continue stirring in a circular motion as you slowly pour in the eggs.

Taste the soup, and season with salt and pepper as desired. Ladle into bowls and garnish with the sliced scallions, if using, before serving.

Nutrition per serving (1 ½ cups): 179 Calories, 24g Carbohydrates, 84mg Cholesterol, 4g Fat, 2g Fiber, 15g Protein, 1g Saturated Fat, 606mg Sodium, 5g Sugar

This analysis is an estimate based on available ingredients and this preparation. It should not substitute for a dietitian’s or nutritionist’s advice.

Adapted from “Win Son Presents a Taiwanese American Cookbook” by Josh Ku and Trigg Brown with Cathy Erway (Abrams, 2023).

How a digital thermometer will improve your baking

Becky k rystal

THE WASHINGTON POST

Of all the kitchen equipment that punches above its weight, the instant-read thermometer is among the best in class. Unlike a lot of other tools, it takes up very little space and will quickly justify the cost, even if you splurge for a high-end model.

But if you’re only pulling your thermometer out for meat, you’re not employing its full potential. This kitchen staple is just the thing to help you be a better baker, whether you’re interested in bread, caramel, ice cream or any number of treats. (As to specific models, I’ve had a Thermapen for years now and previously relied on a less expensive CDN model.)

Still, keep in mind that temperature is just one cue among many that you can use to judge when your food is done. While temperature is a precise measurement, some thermometers may be a few degrees off, and you may get varied readings depending on where you insert the probe. So just as you shouldn’t only rely on a recipe’s suggested cook time, be sure to engage your other senses, using your eyes, nose and even ears (remember the “Great British Baking Show” contestant who listened to his bakes?) to make the ultimate determination. Of course, any good recipe will provide you with these cues, too.

Now let’s take a look at how to put your thermometer to work.

Butter Yes, you read that right.

Especially if you are baking in a particularly hot or cold envi-

ronment, or have struggled to cream butter and sugar in the past, I want you to take the tem perature of that stick. Butter that is too cold or too warm won’t properly hold onto air bubbles incorporated during beating, and when you don’t have that aeration, you won’t have well-risen, tender results. Even a matter of a few degrees can have an impact on the con sistency of butter and how well you bake with it.

In “On Food and Cooking,”

Harold McGee says a “rela tively cool” 65 degrees is the best temperature for aerat ing butter. Cookbook author Stella Parks on Serious Eats makes a compelling case for aiming on the low side, at 60 degrees, because room-tem perature sugar and the friction created by electric mixers can immediately start to warm the butter. She says that at around 68 degrees, butter’s “ability to stretch and expand during the creaming process tops out,” and anything higher risks disaster.

Bread

Cutting open a quick bread or yeasted loaf and finding a raw, gummy center is not fun.

King Arthur Baking has a nice primer on knowing when your banana bread is done, in which

PJ Hamel recommends getting your quick bread to 200 to 205 degrees, as measured in the center. Hamel says that overall, 190 degrees is a good benchmark for most yeasted loaves and rolls, with enriched options particularly well-suited to the lower end of the spectrum while leaner, more rustic options can be pushed toward 210 degrees depending on the recipe and your personal preferences. It’s crucial to not only rely

on the internal temperature, though. In his bread-centric Wordloaf newsletter, Andrew Janjigian explains that the interior of a bread will not only not exceed 210 degrees, but will also hang out there for an extended period of time, including before (and after) the exterior of the bread has properly browned. So by all means use the internal temperature as one data point, as long as you pay attention to the color of the crust, as well.

Temperature is important long before you pull bread out of the oven. According to King Arthur, yeast is happiest at temperatures between 70 and 100 degrees. In the summer, I go for the lower end of the range and the winter higher, to give the dough its best chance at rising well. Over time I’ve developed a pretty good feel for water temperature by sticking

my finger under the tap, but I started by cross-checking with a thermometer until I could trust my intuition. Doughs typically thrive in the upper 70s, and if you struggle to get them to rise, it’s worth checking the temp - yes, you can stick the thermometer right into the dough - to see where it is and adjust accordingly, either by using a different temperature water to start or moving the dough to a warmer or cooler spot. (If you want the real nittygritty, read up more on desired dough temperature.)

Custards and creams Eggs are particularly sensitive to high temperatures and can easily turn dry and rubbery when overcooked. So desserts that lean heavily on them also require some precision. For crème anglaise, a stirred

custard with flavored milk and/or cream, eggs and sugar, Shirley Corriher in “BakeWise” recommends keeping the temperature under 180 degrees. The custard thickens at around 160 degrees and can start to curdle at 180 degrees. For ice cream bases, which are essentially a crème anglaise, Cook’s Illustrated pushes the temperature to 180 to 185 degrees to achieve maximum thickness, as the higher concentration of sugar provides a bit more of a buffer against curdling. Similarly, starches (flour, cornstarch, arrowroot, etc.) can prevent curdling. Custards made with them can and should be cooked until they thicken and even approach boiling, or For baked custards, including flan and crème brûlée, pull them out when they reach 170 to 175 degrees and jiggle when they are gently shaken, Cook’s Illustrated advises.

Caramel and candy

The chemistry of cooking sugar relies on certain things happening at certain temperatures. Want a perfectly amber caramel sauce? Use a thermometer, in addition to your eyes and nose, of course. The sweet spot for caramel is around 350 degrees, though there is some wiggle room depending on how dark you want it. It also helps to pay attention to temperature when making marshmallows and fudge, tempering (or faux-tempering) chocolate and more. If your probe is long enough to reach into the pot and liquid, for a few bucks you can buy a simple metal pot clip rather than getting a separate candy thermometer.

Rey Lopez/The Washington Post

Taiwanese-Style Corn and Chicken Soup.

Scott Suchman/The Washington Post 190 degrees is a good benchmark for most yeasted loaves and rolls.

California Senate takes rare stand against misuse of budget ‘trailer bills’

Few people inside or outside the Capitol were paying much attention last year when Assembly Bill 205 popped up on the California Senate floor on June 29.

The measure had been sitting in the Senate for more than four months, one of many socalled “trailer bills” legally connected to the state budget but having little, if any, policy connection to the budget.

Over the previous decade, after voters –perhaps unwittingly – reduced the legislative vote requirement for budgets from two-thirds to a simple majority, it had become common practice for governors and legislative leaders to put sweeping policy changes into trailer bills to make their passage easier.

Trailer bills need just simple majority votes, take effect immediately on being signed by the governor, and are typically taken up in rapid fire order with little or no serious discussion.

Typically, AB 205 was, in fact, a major revision of how regulated utilities, such as PG&E and Southern California Edison, acquire, distribute and price electric power.

One of its many provisions, under the title of “miscellaneous,” declared it would “authorize the Public Utilities Commission to establish reasonable fixed charges on default residential customer rates to help stabilize rates and equitably allocate and recover costs among residential customers in each electrical corporation’s service territory.

“If the Public Utilities Commission establishes fixed charges on default residential customer rates, ensure that the fixed charges are established to more fairly distribute the burden of supporting the electric system and achieving California’s climate change goals through the fixed charge.”

A Senate staff analysis of the measure was a little more specific. It said that the $10 per month “fixed charge” that utilities charge customers for maintaining their basic systems was repealed. The new fixed charges would be “on an income-graduated basis with no fewer than three income thresholds, such that a lowincome ratepayer would realize lower average monthly bill without making any chances in usage, as specified.”

In a few hours, AB 205 whipped through both legislative houses and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it into law a day later.

Two months ago, Californians finally learned what it meant. The state’s utilities had filed plans to replace the $10 fixed charge with variable fees tied to customers’ incomes, ranging from as low as $15 for households with the lowest incomes to as much as $128 for those in upper-income brackets.

The utilities said the new fixed costs would be offset by lower prices for power consumption for low- and moderate-income households.

The revelation garnered national publicity and touched off debate over what was clearly an effort to have higher-income consumers underwrite the utility bills of those with lower incomes.

GOP state senators issued a letter saying, “the tactic of implementing a structured fixedcharge system that diminishes individual responsibility and usage in favor of an ‘identity’ subsidization is not, in our opinion, an answer. More fees are not a solution to already ridiculously high utility bills.”

Setting aside the merits, or lack thereof, of income-based utility pricing, AB 205 is another example of how trailer bills are misused, and while it’s just wrong even more abusive trailer bills have been proposed.

When Newsom unveiled a plan recently to make wide-ranging changes to the California Environmental Quality Act, he wanted it to be a package of trailer bills. The plan drew heat from environmental groups and when it received an initial airing in a Senate budget committee, members balked at giving it the fast-track treatment afforded to trailer bills, saying it needed greater scrutiny.

That was a procedural step in the right direction. AB 205 should have had the same scrutiny. 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.

THE RIGHT STUFF

What might Jefferson say today?

America, do you not remember the ideals and principles that inspired the first American patriots?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. – That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,”

Let those principles continue to be your guide.

In only 236 years since our Constitution was written, you have allowed tyrants to again govern you. Many of the grievances listed in the 1776 Declaration of Independence (below) reflect the same abuses and government overreach you are now experiencing at the hands of your government. Take heed.

They have refused to sign and enforce laws necessary for the public good.

They have utterly neglected to enforce existing laws designed to protect the sovereignty of our country.

They have used intimidation and accommodations to persuade legislators to bend to their will.

The undue burdens of bureaucratic regulations are imposed on citizens at every level for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their will.

They have ignored the voices of citizens, and with firmness they continue to trample the rights of the people.

Their policies and nonenforcement of existing laws expose our country to the dangers of invasion from beyond our borders. The government continues to acquire more and more land for its exclusive use and restrict and or eliminate private citizens from utilizing the land for productive purposes.

They have obstructed the administration of Justice, by selectively refusing to investigate and prosecute cases based solely on their will, and not on the merits of the case or the law as written.

They have made Judges dependent upon their political will for their tenure in office and salaries.

They have established a multitude of New Offices, and sent swarms of officers to harass our people and take their earnings from them.

They have colluded with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to us, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their Assent to Acts of pretended Legislation.

They have failed to promptly pursue and prosecute known persons who have committed atrocities against the United States and her citizens.

They have secretly entered into trade agreements with foreign counties.

They have imposed Taxes on us without our Consent.

They have deprived us in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury.

They have governed by intimidation and corruption.

They have bypassed the legislature and declared themselves

invested with power to legislate.

They have declared citizens “the enemy” and have waged war against us.

They have plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, and destroyed the livelihood of our people.

They have allowed large armies of foreign mercenaries and criminals to complete the works of death, and tyranny scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages and totally unworthy of a civilized nation.

They have resorted to blackmail, intimidation, to control citizens.

They have fermented class and racial tensions among our citizens, and through their policies they have allowed the release of criminals into our communities.

Take a few moments before this Fourth of July to carefully re-read the entire Declaration of Independence. It speaks profoundly to America today, continuing, “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the people to ...”

It is past time that citizens recognize the peril we face by continuing to submit to tyranny and government overreach which, if allowed to continue, can only end in the demise of our Republic. Citizens, come together, unite under the banner of “Liberty and Justice for all,” and reclaim your God-given unalienable Rights.

Let freedom ring again in America.

Colleen Britton is Chair of Constitution Literacy Advocates, sponsors of the 12th annual Solano County Constitution Essay Contest. She can be reached at vacatpp@gmail.com

Backing Taiwan, come what may

The China-Taiwan problem might have more importance for our future than even the Ukraine war. Why?

Because President Biden has declared that we will help defend Taiwan in the case of a Chinese invasion. This has changed the entire situation and puts us in immediate danger.

If China decides that they can no longer wait for unification and decide to attack Taiwan militarily, then they can only guarantee victory by striking our bases is Okinawa and Guam, and the sooner the better. The situation closely resembles the situation in 1941.

We need a bit of history.

After the 20-year Chinese Civil War between the Nationalists and the Communists in 1949, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan. Someday, the Nationalists declared, they would invade the mainland and retake the country. That didn’t happen and the world was left with two Chinas, each declaring that there was only one China and they were it!

President Jimmy Carter made a deal in 1979 that recognized the situation – Communist China under Mao Zedong was the real China, but we could still sell defensive weapons to Taiwan while the two of them worked out the One China solution peacefully.

When Chairman Mao died in 1976, the mainland broke free from its revolutionary craziness and allowed private enterprise under the new Chairman, Deng Xiaoping.

Deng’s slogan was, “Hide your strength; bide your time.” At the time, it was taken as a statement of modesty based on ancient texts. But one wonders today if he meant, “Bide your time until we’re able to take back Taiwan.”

Fast forward to today. China has perfected powerful “area denial” weapons to keep our aircraft carriers so far away from the mainland as to be ineffective. Chairman Xi has stated that he wants the return of Taiwan within his term in office. He clearly wants to be The Great Unifier.

Our stance on the China-Taiwan impasse has been “strategic ambiguity,” meaning we might or might not take Taiwan’s side in a future conflict. But as China has turned up the heat on Taiwan, President Biden has finally ended the ambiguity and declared that we would support Taiwan.

I have problems with this.

First, what would we have said in 1860 if Great Britain would have supported the South in our impending Civil War? “Stay out of our business!” that’s what. After the war began the South ordered state-of-theart blockade runners from Britain. Our ambassador said to the prime minister, “I need not remind Your Excellency that this means war.” The order was cancelled. We wouldn’t tolerate foreign interference and China won’t either, as the Chinese repeatedly warn us.

Second, computerized war games consistently predict that we would

lose this war.

But after watching the debt ceiling maneuver that Biden just negotiated, I’m fairly confident that the president’s shocking declaration is simply building a strong bargaining position. What might that position look like?

A diplomatic compromise would direct Taiwan to formally join the mainland in 20 years. Also, it must issue mainland passports, fly the mainland flag, and use mainland postage stamps. While the mainland can have a few representatives in Taiwan’s legislature, they can’t have any in the executive or judicial branches, nor the military, nor internal police (FBI) for 20 years.

This should satisfy State Chairman Xi. Taiwan would immediately look like China. And it actually would be in 20 years. He’d be credited as the Great Unifier of all Chinese, and without a costly war.

In turn, Taiwan gets 20 years for the Taiwanese to decide if they want to live under Communist Chinese control. If they don’t they can leave (hopefully like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. that makes most of our chips). Taiwan can keep its armed forces, too. This, and 100 miles of ocean, prevent the mainland from doing what it did to Hong Kong; just ignore a treaty and walk in.

This kind of deal would solve the problem. Of course, Taiwan would cease to exist as an independent nation but both Chinas now insist that there’s only one China.

Jack Batson is a former member of the Fairfield City Council. Reach him by email at jsbatson@prodigy.net.

Dan Walters

Colleen Britton

Jack Batson

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’: Better without Michael Bay

Michael

THE WASHINGTON POST

O’Sullivan

The question is not whether the new Transformers movie is good or bad, but whether it is really a Transformers movie. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is and isn’t a Transformers movie.

Yes, the word “Transformers” is in the title, and it does center on giant talking alien robots hiding out on Earth by masquerading as vehicles: a semi truck, a yellow Camaro, a motorcycle and, as the film gets underway, a wisecracking silver Porsche voiced by Pete Davidson. His character, Mirage – a funny, likable goofball who can create multiple hologram-like illusions of itself – is a new one, sort of, to the film franchise, having appeared only once before, in director Michael Bay’s 2011 “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” where he was called Dino and voiced by someone else.

Speaking of Bay, the creator of the now-seven-film Transformers series, known for his loud, bloated action epics, receded into a producer role after the fifth film, handing over the reins for 2018’s “Bumblebee” prequel to Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings”) and for this one to Steven Caple Jr. (“Creed II”). Both “Bumblebee” and “Beasts” are not just under two hours long - a shocking development for a series that was edging toward three hours with 2014’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction” - but also prioritize character and story.

Kinda.

Set in 1994, and a direct sequel to “Bumblebee,” “Beasts” is certainly more violent and chaotic than that 1987-set story, a reboot of sorts after the series jettisoned stars Shia LaBeouf and Mark Wahlberg. But “Beasts” does focus on the relationship between Noah (Anthony Ramos), one

Daily Cryptoquotes

Here’s how to work it:

Review

‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ Rated PG-13 117 minutes HH (OUT OF FOUR)

of its human heroes, and his sickly little brother Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez). At the start of the film, Kris is seen wearing a Power Rangers T-shirt – like Transformers, another property of the Hasbro toy company, whose name is the first thing you see when the movie starts. (Note: “Beasts” also closes with a teaser hinting at a crossover film with a third well-known Hasbro toy line/ movie franchise so exciting to fans at a recent screening that a collective gasp could be heard. So yes, this new movie is one long commercial, making it, at least in that sense, a bona fide Transformers movie.)

But it also features Kris saying “bros before hos.” Sure, it’s a laugh line, but one that flew over the heads of some kids at a recent screening, one of whom could be heard to loudly ask his adult guardian, “What did he say?” after everyone else over 10 laughed. Members of the target demographic for a Transformers movie are, generally speaking, small enough to fold their entire little bodies onto the seat cushion of a modern movie theater recliner - and I can guarantee you they aren’t reading this review.

But for anyone who is, a quick synopsis: While Noah is out stealing a car to raise money for his brother’s medical treatment, he encounters Mirage, who leads him to the rest of the Autobots, as these mechanized heroes are known. It appears that something called a transwarp key – or at least part of one –

has been located: an ancient power object that can either (a) help the good bots get back to their home planet of Cybertron or (b) assist some other evil bots, called Terrorcons, in thrall to a “vile god” named Unicron, to open up wormholes to other planets, like Earth, that they can lay waste to. I never felt more stupid than typing that last sentence. But let the fun begin!

Noah teams up with a budding archaeologist (Dominique Fishback) and his new friends, and they’re off to Peru to find the lost piece of the transwarp key and save the world, with a Terrorcon named Scourge (voice of Peter Dinklage) in hot pursuit. (As Noah jokes, this is some serious Indiana Jones stuff here.) It’s in the jungles of South America that they meet the Maximals: a menagerie of animal robots voiced by Michelle Yeoh (in the form of a falcon), Ron Perlman (gorilla) and others, who will assist them in their battle. The Maximals don’t exactly transform in the same way that the Autobots do, but they do, er, maximize, in the parlance of the film, into more battleready forms.

It’s cool, I guess.

Look: This film, like the others, will surely find its audience. And that audience ain’t me. If your reading skills are strong enough that you’ve made it this far, it probably ain’t you either.

On the one hand, “Beasts” is a refreshing departure from the Michael Bay era: a sometimes funny, sometimes touching, sometimes incoherent CGI fight fest structured around a story of family, found and otherwise, and starring a diverse cast. But it’s still, despite a few mildly grown-up jokes, a quintessential Transformers film in one inescapable way. It should come with a different sort of content advisory: No one over 21 admitted without their inner child.

Word Sleuth

Crossword by Phillip Alder

Bridge

ing plays by declarers and defenders. The secret on every deal is recognizing the correct reference.

Here, how should South play in four spades after West leads the club queen?

North’s rebid showed 18 or 19 or a poor 20 points (if there is such an animal!) and is in theory game-forcing. South’s three diamonds was New Minor Forcing. Then, when North admitted to having three-card spade support, South went for that game in preference to three no-trump. In theory, that was not best because there were nine top tricks (five spades, one heart, one diamond and two clubs) in no-trump. However, this deal arose in a pair event, when making 420 instead of 400 would be worth a lot of matchpoints.

TWO TEXTBOOKS, WHICH TO READ?

John Hope Franklin wrote “From Slavery to Freedom,” the seminal work on African American history. He claimed, “We must get beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths ... and tell the world the glories of our journey.” Bridge is full of textbooks highlight-

In four spades, to establish the 10th trick, there are two possibilities: Set up a long club (which might even generate two extra tricks if the suit breaks 3-3) or ruff declarer’s fourth diamond on the board -- a ruff in the shorter trump hand produces an extra trump trick and eliminates a loser.

Double dummy, there are different ways to get home. However, let’s adopt this approach: club king, diamond ace, diamond, heart ace, diamond and, in a moment, ruff a diamond in the dummy.

COPYRIGHT: 2022, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Bridge

6/13/23 TWO TEXTBOOKS, WHICH TO READ?

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9, with no repeats. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box. Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com

John Hope Franklin wrote “From Slavery to Freedom,” the seminal work on African American history. He claimed, “We must get beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths ...

© 2023 Janric Enterprises Dist. by creators.com

Difficulty level: SILVER

Yesterday’s solution:

MOVIE

Paramount Pictures/Skydance

Mirage, voiced of Pete Davidson, in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

FAIRFIELD — The Flash races to the big screen with daring time travel back to the past, which leads to a change in the Flash’s future.

Also in theaters is a animation film giving voice and feeling to the elements with a splashy look at friendships in an all ages film.

And finally in theaters local is a film which looks at the horror movie genre through a different lens.

Opening nationwide are:

“The Flash,” in this film, Barry uses his superpowers to travel back in time in order to change the events of the past. But when his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned, threatening annihilation, and there are no superheroes, but he might be able to find allies to help put things right. This film is rated PG-13.

“Elemental,” this animation film set in Element City, where fire, water, land and air living entities residing in the same house. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-theflow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in. This film is rated PG.

“The Blackening,” in this film, a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. The film pokes at the horror genre which is notorious for having the Black actors die first. The Blackening

skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first? This film is rated R.

Opening in limited release are:

“Maggie Moore(s),” in this film, two women with the same name are murdered days apart, small-town police chief Jordan Sanders finds himself wading through an unlikely collection of cheating husbands, lonely hearts, nosy neighbors and contract killers in an effort to put the pieces of the case, and his life, together. This film is rated R.

“Pretty Red Dress,” in this movie, Travis (Natey Jones) has just been released from prison and it quickly becomes apparent that everything has changed while he’s been gone. His girlfriend Candice is auditioning to star in a musical, his teenage daughter Kenisha is struggling in school and her relationship with her mother is tense. When Travis buys Candice her dream dress for an audition, rather than smoothing over the family’s problems, it ends up creating even more trouble. This film is not rated.

For information on Edwards Cinemas in Fairfield, visit www. regmovies.com/ theatres/regal-edwardsfairfield-imax. For Vacaville showtimes, visit www.brendentheatres.com. For Vallejo showtimes, check www. cinemark.com/theatres/ ca-vallejo. More information about upcoming films is available at www. movieinsider.com.

Pickles Brian Crane

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Candorville Darrin Bell

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

t e r t

r t m e n t o f F a i r E m p l o y m e n t a n d H o u s i n g i s t o p r ot e c t t h e p e o p l e o f C a l i f o r n i a f r o m u nl a w f u l d i s c r i m i n ation in employment h o u s i n g a n d p u b l i c a c c o m m o d a t i o n s T h e D a i l y R e p u b l i c w i l l n o t k n o w i n g l y accept any ad which is in violation of the F e d e r a l F a i r H o u sing Act and the Calif o r n i a F a i r E m p l o ym e n t a n d H o u s i n g A c t w h i c h b a n d i sc r i m i n a t i o n b a s e d o n r a c e c o l o r n at i o n a l o r i g i n , s e x , r e l i g i o n s e x u a l o r ientation age disabi l i t y f a m i l i a l s t a t u s a n d m a r i t a l s t a t u s D e s c r i b e t h e P r o pe r t y N o t t h e T e n a n t

CALENDAR

Monday’s TV sports

Baseball College

• NCAA Super Regionals, Teams TBA, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

• NCAA Super Regionals, Teams TBA, ESPN2, Noon.

• NCAA Super Regionals, Teams TBA, ESPN2, 3 p.m.

• NCAA Super Regionals, Teams TBA, ESPN2, 6 p.m.

MLB

• San Francisco vs. St. Louis, NBCSBA, 4:45 p.m.

• Tampa Bay vs. Oakland, NBCSCA, 6:40 p.m.

Basketball NBA Finals

• Denver vs. Miami, 7, 10, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s TV sports

Baseball

MLB • N.Y. Yankees vs. N.Y. Mets, TBS, 4:10 p.m.

• San Francisco vs. St. Louis, NBCSBA, 4:45 p.m.

• Tampa Bay vs. Oakland, NBCSCA, 6:40 p.m.

Hockey Stanley Cup Finals

• Vegas vs. Florida, TNT, 5 p.m.

Softball

• Athletics Unlimited, Teams TBA, ESPN2, 6 p.m.

Sonoma

From Page B1

lot of hard work of a lot of people.”

On Lap 33, Truex passed Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and pole winner Denny Hamlin for the top spot, after Hamlin led the first 32 laps and won the race’s first stage. For the next 18 laps, it appeared that Truex and Hamlin would deliver a 1-2 punch to the rest of the field.

That was before a tire from Zane Smith’s Ford bounced off the inside pit wall into the middle of pit road on Lap 50. The resulting caution turned the race upside down and handed the lead to Busch, who had pitted seven laps before the yellow.

Busch won the second stage – his second stage victory of the season –but Truex caught the No. 8 Chevrolet on Lap 69, outbraking Busch into Turn 7 and regaining the lead. Truex pitted on Lap 75 but reclaimed the top spot five laps later and held it until Hamlin hit the wall in Turn 12 on Lap 92, ping-ponged between the two frontstretch barriers and broke the right rear toe link on his Toyota.

Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney stayed out on older tires during the ensuing caution, but Truex made short work of those drivers, retaking the lead off Turn 4 on Lap 97, with Busch following him into the second spot.

NBA

From Page B1

message to our team before we came down to the media and open practice was our approach has to be we are down 3-1,” Malone said. “They are desperate; we have to be more desperate. They are hungry; we have to be hungrier. … The closeout game is always the hardest game ever. So I’m looking forward to seeing our approach. We had it in Game 6 against Phoenix and Game 5 against Minnesota and Game 4 against the Lakers.”

The Nuggets actively didn’t celebrate after they left South Beach with two decisive road wins and a commanding 3-1 series lead, but they’re 9-1 in their last 10 games. Momentum and home-court advantage are all in their favor.

Not that Nikola Jokic cares, or is even aware of their hot streak.

“We are going to approach it as a must-win game,” said Jokic. “I know it’s a big opportunity, and I think everybody knows. By reflection of the practice today, how everybody was locked in, I think we are going to be ready

French

From Page B1

great and 1983 winner Yannick Noah, plus a small trophy with all his 23 titles engraved. He added in the direction of Ruud: “You are one of the best persons on the tour. Sorry for the result today, you have been one of the most consistent players in the world. I wish you really all the best.”

The Serb is the first player to win every major at least three times, now boasting 10 Australian Opens, seven Wimbledons and three US and French Opens each. His first title came at the 2008 Australian Open.

Djokovic replaced Nadal as the oldest champion at Roland Garros and also returns to the top of the world rankings, dethroning Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz who he beat in the semifinals on Friday.

“It’s been a long way to come back into a French Open final. We will continue to work and try to come back to the final of Roland Garros once more.”

Julian

and tying it up at 4-4 with a forehand winner after saving break point.

Busch chased Truex over the final 14 laps –to no avail.

“I wish we had a little bit more,” said Busch, who won last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway. “I tried really hard at the end to at least try to keep Martin honest. Felt like I could beat him a little bit on a lap, then I would mess up. He would beat me by a little bit more on the next lap. We were just kind of trading a little bit there. He was able to pull away there late…

“We gave it everything that we had. We made a lot of changes. We got a lucky break there with a yellow with only three laps on tires, so we were able to kind of cycle to the front. Once we got up there, we could maintain pace with some of the good cars and have a good top-three speed race car. Just kind of flip-flopped the race a little bit.

“Good fortunes for us. Nice to come out here with a P2 after a win last week.”

Joey Logano finished third, followed by Chris Buescher and Elliott. AJ Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell and Ross Chastain completed the top 10.

Truex leads the series standings by 13 points over William Byron, who finished 14th. Grant Enfinger came home 26th in relief of Noah Gragson, who missed the race because of concussion symptoms deriving from a hard wreck last Sunday at WWT Raceway.

for tomorrow.”

Jokic cited the job of their veterans – DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green and Ish Smith – for keeping the team engaged and focused. As of Sunday afternoon, nothing had been won yet.

And rather than consider the implications of a win and what the franchise’s first-ever title would mean, Malone has implored his team to stay in the moment.

“’Hey, let’s just win the first quarter tomorrow night,’ he said. “Take it in small bites. And if you do that possession by possession, quarter by quarter, hopefully when 48 minutes are over, you’ve done what you needed to do.”

It’s the same approach Malone took when the Nuggets swept the Lakers in the conference finals. Once Game 4 was over, Malone had to ask himself if they’d really punched their first ticket to the Finals.

“Yeah, I think one thing that I really respect about Coach Malone is just that he’s consistent in how he is,” Michael Porter Jr. said. “Like he hasn’t coached us any different, tried to motivate us any different than he has all season. Coach Malone is very competitive.”

Norway’s Ruud failed again in his third grand slam final to lift a trophy, having also been beaten by Nadal last year in Paris and by Alcaraz a few months later in New York.

He is now 0-5 against Djokovic and is yet to win a set against him.

“Another day, another record for you. Another day you rewrite tennis history,” Ruud told Djokovic at the trophy presentation. “It is tough to say how good you are. Congrats to you and your team.”

Boycott

From Page B1

fans attending Tuesday’s game. The shirts cost $5 to make and the duo hoped to raise $25,000 to cover costs. They collected more than $27,000 in donations.

Fans like Casaners and Clary say this reverse boycott isn’t just a statement: This is personal. It’s one last stand against an owner they feel has dragged A’s fans through the mud while destroying the team they care about so passionately.

“If you’re an A’s fan, it’s like being at war,” said Casanares, an Oakland resident. “When you go to games, it’s not about what’s happening on the field. It’s about figuring out how to wake people up to talk about what’s going on.”

Casanares has been going to A’s games reg-

Giants

From Page B1

and teamed up with two bulk relievers to allow four runs over the nine innings; Brebbia opened again Sunday, followed by four relievers and … Crawford … who teamed up to allow three runs.

The difference was the offensive output.

The Giants mounted scoring rallies in six of the eight innings they

Djokovic had shown nerves two years ago with history beckoning when he failed to clinch a rare calendar year grand slam by losing the US Open final against Daniil Medvedev.

He had a slow start on a humid Sunday in Paris as Ruud held serve at love in the opening game and then broke in a long second game as a slightly nervous Djokovic had several unforced errors.

Ruud moved on to 3-0 and 4-1 but Djokovic then clawed his way back into the match, breaking back in the seventh game on his first chance when Ruud netted an overhead,

ularly since 2006, a year after Fisher joined the ownership group.

The A’s were just a few years removed from the best of their Moneyball era, when fans had reason to show. From 2001-04, the A’s drew an average of 2.18 million fans per season, middle of the pack in MLB, and reached the playoffs three times. From 1988-92, under the ownership of Walter Haas, the A’s ranked in the top five in attendance and also had among the league’s most expensive payrolls.

Going back to the days of Charlie Finley, A’s owners have largely followed a pattern of culling the stars they grew and placating fans with a promise that the cycle would one day end.

Fans say Fisher has taken the pattern to new extremes. Given his position as the third-richest owner in baseball, his parents founded The Gap

came to bat, with Michael Conforto, Blake Sabol and Wilmer Flores also delivering RBI knocks.

After being held hitless into the eighth inning Saturday, Pederson made sure that wouldn’t be the case Sunday. Estrada was hit by a pitch to begin the bottom of the first, and Pederson sent the first strike he saw from Chicago starter Hayden Wesneski just beyond the left-field wall and into the first row of bleachers. The 383-foot shot was

Djokovic wasted a break point as Ruud stopped his comeback by holding for 5-4, but Djokovic then raced through the tiebreak to go one set up with a fericious forehand winner - making it 6 out of 6 tiebreaks at this Roland Garros without a single unforced error.

That set the tone for the remainder of the contest.

Djokovic raced off to 3-0 and served out the second set at love in the ninth game, after wasting two set points in the previous game while Ruud only got a brief sniff at a comeback 30-15 up in the seventh game on Djokovic’s serve. Ruud saved another break point early in the third as he hung in there

clothing store, there was hope he’d invest to keep homegrown star players around and add others to bring a World Series to Oakland for the first time since 1989. There was hope his family’s deep Bay Area ties would make the new stadium process a little smoother. One point everyone agrees on is that the Coliseum, built in 1966, needs to be replaced. Instead, Fisher sped up the roster churn and slashed the baseball budget to unworkable lows and, since taking full ownership in 2016, has failed to build in the Bay Area.

That’s when fans say Fisher and Co. started using the fans as an excuse and a potential exit strategy.

“I think they started to view their fans as another one of their enemies,” A’s fan Hal Gordon, also known as Hal the Hot Dog Guy, said. “There’s an implicit bargain that

Pederson’s first homer since May 12, his last game before a three-week stint on the injured list with a bruised hand. His next one was a nodoubter, traveling 405 feet into McCovey Cove.

Pederson stood and admired the belt-high fastball he belted for the 101st splash hit by a Giants player and the sixth of Pederson’s career, then celebrated some more as he rounded first base. The party, however, was only getting started.

while like in the second not managing a break point himself despite fighting bravely.

He put Djokovic under pressure by making him serve to stay in the set in the 10th, only for the Serb to respond like a champion. Djokovic won the next 11 points for triple match point, missed the first but sunk to the ground in relief and joy after being successful on his second chance.

Earlier, Hsieh Su Wei of Taiwan and Wang Xinyu of China rallied to win the women’s doubles title, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 against Canada’sLeylah Fernandez and American Taylor Townsend. The winners played together for only the second time,

fans are going to show up when your team is terrible. Not everybody, but fans will. And they’ll have fun. Because that’s their team.”

A’s executives say they tried; the A’s Access program started in the late 2010s was a fan-favorite cost-effective season ticket program full of discounts and bargains. But the A’s shut it down after the pandemic because it was losing money. Then came increases in season ticket prices, parking and concessions, all while the team’s stars and even former manager Bob Melvin left with little or nothing coming in return.

If the A’s leave Oakland, longtime supporters like Clary, Casaneras and Gordon say the fan base should be remembered as one that put more sweat and tears into keeping the team’s culture alive than their owner ever did.

The Giants’ 13 runs were their fourth-most in a game this season, coming a day after they were held to their fewest hits since a shutout loss in 2019.

The offensive explosion helped the Giants overcome a sloppy defensive game, charged with four errors, including two to rookie shortstop Casey Schmitt on one play. Mitch Haniger also dropped a can of corn in left field, and Walker was unable to corral a toss from Flores while covering first base.

Finney/Getty Images/TNS

Novak Djokovic of Serbia in action against Casper Ruud of Norway in the Men’s Singles

Final match on Day 15 of the 2023 French Open at Roland Garros, Sunday.