Daily Republic: Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

A comprehensive, statewide study on homelessness released Tuesday by the University of California, San Francisco, on Tuesday found that nearly half of homeless Californians are age 50 or older, that Black and Native American populations are overrepresented and that many experience physical violence, sexual violence or other trauma.

UCSF said the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness is the largest comprehensive homelessness study conducted since the 1990s. The study included roughly 3,200 survey responses and 365 in-depth interviews to determine that Californians experience homelessness chiefly because they cannot afford housing, according to Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, which led the study.

The study found that more than 171,000 people experience homelessness daily in California. The state is home to 30% of the nation’s homeless population and half of the nation’s unsheltered population despite only making up roughly 12% of the U.S. population.

The university team collected data between October 2021 and November 2022.

Sexual violence was common; roughly 24% of participants reported that they experienced

it, with higher concentrations among c isgender women (43%) and transgender or nonbinary individuals (74%).

“As we drive toward addressing the health and housing needs of Californians experiencing homelessness, this study reinforces the importance of comprehensive and integrated supports,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, in a prepared statement accompanying the study. California is taking bold steps to address unmet needs for physical and behavioral health services, to create a range of housing options that are safe and stable and to meet people where they are at.”

What the study found

Approximately 47% of homeless Californians are adults age 50 or older, reflecting an aging homeless population in the state, according to the study. Black and Native American members are dramatically overrepresented, the study found.

Contrary to popular homeless migration myths, Kushel said, most study participants were from California with 90% of participants losing housing in the state and 75% living in the same county in which they were

last housed.

The median length of homelessness was 22 months.

Almost half of participants were looking for work, the study found.

Barriers faced by California’s unhoused

The study said that participants often experienced multiple forms of life trauma and that this contributed to an increase in vulnerability to homelessness, mental health struggles and substance use challenges.

Roughly 65% of participants reported having had a period in their life in which they regularly used illegal drugs. One in five

Solano alumni initiated into Phi Kappa Phi

DAily r epubliC STAff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

RIO VISTA — Anna Berger, of Suisun City, Nhat-Minh Le, of Rio Vista, Emma Caico, of Dixon, and Veronica Enrique, of Vallejo, were recently initiated into the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Berger and Le are students at California State University, San Jose.

Caico attends the University of California, Davis and Enrique attends the University of Southern California.

They are among about 25,000 students, faculty, professional staff and alumni to be initiated into Phi Kappa Phi each year. Membership is by invitation only and requires

nomination and approval by a chapter. Only the top 10% of seniors and 7.5 % of juniors are eligible for membership. Graduate students in the top 10% of candidates for graduate degrees may also qualify, as do faculty, professional staff and alumni who have achieved scholarly distinction.

Solano alumni graduate from Stanislaus State

FAIRFIELD —

Four Solano County alumni graduated in May 25-26 commencement ceremonies at California State University, Stanislaus. The local graduates included Erin O’Bra of Fairfield, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology;

Jonathan Rantisi of Fairfield, with a bachelor’s in business administration.; Kristen Kaye Garcia of Vacaville, with a bachelor’s in nursing; and Shaylee Shanklin-Gomez of Vacaville, with a bachelor’s in psychology. The celebrations were held in the University Amphitheater in Turlock. Do you have some good news to share? Send it to Susan Hiland at shiland@ dailyrepublic.net. Be sure to include Good News in the subject line.

participants who reported using substances said they sought treatment but could not get it, the study said.

Two-thirds of participants reported current mental health symptoms, according to the study.

Participants reported poor health, many health challenges and poor access to healthcare. Pregnancy was common among unhoused women of reproductive age, with about 26% reporting pregnancies at some point during their episode of homelessness and 8% reporting current pregnancies at the time of survey response. Nearly one-third of participants reported a jail stay during their homelessness stint, the study found.

Nearly all participants expressed interests in obtaining housing but mentioned barriers, including housing costs, lack of necessary documentation, discrimination, prior evictions, poor credit history, challenges associated with physical or behavioral health conditions, and family considerations, such as whether or not a place had sufficient space for children.

Participants exiting housing to homelessness reported having minimal notice, findings said. Leaseholders reported a median of 10 days notice that they were going to lose their housing, and non-leaseholders reported a median of one day. Leaseholders

reported higher incomes than non-leaseholders, but they also possessed higher housing costs.

The study found that the most common reason for leaving their last housing for leaseholders was economic and for non-leaseholders was social. Leaseholders said social and health crises also factored into their economic considerations. Social factors cited by non-leaseholders included conflicts in the household or not wanting to impose on others.

What solutions does the study recommend?

The policy’s six key police recommendations include increasing access to affordable housing, expanding targeted homelessness prevention and matching the behavioral health needs of the population.

They also include increasing household incomes, increasing outreach and service delivery and embedding a racial equity approach in all aspects of homeless system service delivery.

“Having experienced homelessness firsthand, I vividly recall the relentless fight for survival, the pervasive shame that haunted me and my unsuccessful endeavors to overcome homelessness on my own,” said Claudine Sipili, a member of the study’s lived expertise board.

Hector Amezcua/The Sacremento Bee file (2022)

A sign that reads “curbside urban oasis” welcomes people walking on Alhambra Boulevard under the Highway 99 underpass as a Sacramento Community Response team talked with homeless people who live along the sidewalks in Sacramento, Oct. 5, 2022.

Traumatic brain injury research may lead to therapeutic treatment

K athy K eatley GaRvey SPECIALTO THE DAILY REPUBLIC

DAVIS — Most studies of traumatic brain injuries focus on the pathology of the injured brain, but newly published research indicates that the liver plays an important role in TBI, and a soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) inhibitor discovered by UC Davis professor Bruce Hammock could lead to therapeutic treatment.

The research, led by Professor Xinhong Zhu of the School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, and tested in the Zhu lab, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Using animal models, we found that the liver has a neuroprotective effect in the pathophysiology of TBI, although its role was very weak,” Zhu said. “Our data suggest that enhancement of this neuroprotective role of the liver could provide novel strategies for developing treatment of TBI.” Plans call for “moving toward a clinical study to detect whether hepatic sEH manipulation benefits patients with TBI.”

Their results highlight the neuroprotective role of the liver in TBI and suggest that targeting this neuroprotective role may represent a promising therapeutic strategy for TBI. Earlier clinical studies report that the overall mortality in patients with TBI and cirrhosis is nearly twice that in patients without cirrhosis.

In the paper, “Enhancement of the Liver’s Neuroprotective Role Ameliorates Traumatic Brain Injury Pathology,” the authors describe TBI as a “pervasive problem worldwide, for which no effective treatment is currently available,” and “as a devastating injury that often results in long-term neurological deficits, including locomotor function and memory impairments.”

“Blood–brain barrier (BBB) disruption is a hallmark feature of TBI and is associated with brain edema and neuronal death,” the authors wrote.

“Studies have shown that

sEH inhibitors protect the BBB from brain injury. Therefore, we investigated whether deletion of hepatic Ephx2 protected the BBB following controlled cortical injury (CCI).”

In the United States alone, annual statistics show that 1.5 million people a year are diagnosed with TBI; 230,000 are hospitalized; and 52,000 die. Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali estimated that he received 290,000 blows to the head during his 21-year professional boxing career. But more commonly, TBI results from falls, statistics show. The National Institutes of Health defines TBI as being “caused by forceful bump, blow or jolt to the head or body, or from an object that pieces the skull and enters the brain.”

“TBI leads to a breakdown of the blood brain barrier,” said co-author Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors and whose pioneering work on sEH inhibitors spans 50 years. “We see from cases like Muhammad Ali that repeated TBI can lead to chronic central nervous system injury, dementia and other issues.”

“In the study from the Zhu laboratory, one of the exciting basic discoveries is that mammals have a natural mechanism to partially address traumatic brain injury,” said

Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. “By a mechanism under investigation, the injured brain communicates to the liver to down-regulate the production of an enzyme called the soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) that degrades natural inflammation resolving mediators. Thus, the concentration of these injury-resolving mediators also produced in the liver go up reducing deleterious inflammation throughout the injured animal. This soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitor used as a tool in these studies is building on this natural mechanism to minimize the harmful effects of TBI.”

“Importantly, the soluble epoxide hydrolase inhibitor that the authors used here is also currently in human clinical safety trials for treating pain and inflammation,” said psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Pieper, the Rebecca A. Barchas Professor in Translational Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland. “The results shown here indicate that this agent, or related materials altering this same pathway, might mitigate the acute and long-term complications of TBI, or of neuroinflammatory conditions of the brain in general. Pieper, who holds both a

Osprey Days start Friday at Vallejo’s Mare Island preserve

Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — The 11th annual San Francisco Osprey Days will go from Friday through Sunday at the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve and other Mare Island locations.

“Mare Island is the San Francisco Bay’s epicenter of osprey nesting. By late June, it will be teaming with recently fledged young osprey in the sky and perched on high spots in the vicinity of their nest sites,” Myrna Hayes, co-founder and former volunteer Mare Island Preserve manager, said in an email.

Fairfield resident, Bill George, a former Mare Island Shipyard worker and avid “unofficial” photographer of the Mare Island Preserve, will guide a free walk in the preserve “on the lookout for osprey and other wildlife to photograph.” The 90-minute tour begins at 8 a.m. Anyone interested should meet in the parking lot at 167 O’Hara Court. Friday,

June 23, 10am-11:30am,

Vallejo resident Michelle Eliker, a birding expert, will guide an osprey viewing walk in the preserve starting at 10 a.m. Again, the parking lot is the starting point. Hayes will then host boat trips and a Saturday evening gathering with short walks to view an active osprey nest. On Sunday, Robin Leong, a Napa-Solano Audubon Society field guide, will lead a car caravan, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The

Ph.D. and a M.D.. is the Morley-Mather Chair in Neuropsychiatry, University Hospitals of Cleveland Medical Center; director of the Brain Health Medicines Center, Harrington Discovery Institute; and psychiatrist at Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland.

Neuroscience researcher Daniela Kaufer, associate dean of biological sciences at UC Berkeley and a professor with the Department of Integrative Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, praised the research possibilities. “The brain has a barrier which helps protect it from harmful materials in the blood,” said Kaufer, who was not involved in the research. “TBI reduces this barrier and its reduction is associated with aging. Possibly the pathway described in this PNAS paper could be manipulated to protect the blood brain barrier and reduce the apparent aging of the brain caused by repeated TBI.”

“The reality is that we know moderate and severe TBI leads to significant disability in a high percentage of patients,” said neuroscience researcher Gene Gurkoff, an associate professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery, UC Davis Health, who specializes in traumatic brain injury and epilepsy.

“My understanding of how we classify milds at UC Davis right now is that these are patients that

Daily

FAIRFIELD — Jayden

Hailes-Clay could very well have been the last person to learn he had been missing after returning home Tuesday.

The 14-year-old Fairfield teen had spent Monday night at a friend’s house, and came home safely about noon the next day, the Fairfield police reported.

But apparently his parents were unaware of his overnight plans and reported the boy missing.

They told the Fairfield police he had last been

seen about 3 p.m. The police put out an alert shortly after 2:30 a.m. Tuesday asking for the public’s help in locating Hailes-Clay.

District 3 listening tour slated Sunday

VACAVILLE — City Councilman Mike Silva, who represents District 3, will host a listening session, 5:30 to 7 p.m Sunday at the neighborhood park on Woodstock Circle south of Arcadia Drive.

Attendees are encouraged to bring a lawn chair. Potluck dishes are also welcome.

Topics may include challenges with homelessness, public safety, population growth, and the local economy. RSVP to cityofvacaville.gov/district3.

Kounalakis to join virtual town hall

FAIRFIELD — Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis will speak on higher education as part of a virtual town hall meeting with state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa. University of California President Michael Drake and Larry Galizio, president and chief executive officer of Community College League of California, also will be part of the June 28 event.

The 6 p.m. town hall will be streamed live over multiple channels and broadcast on KSVY Sonoma.

There will be an audio stream at KSVY.org, and video streaming at https://sd03.senate.ca.gov, www. facebook.com/SenBillDodd, www.youtube.com/user/ SonomaTV/ and SonomaTV.org. The event also will be broadcast n KSVY 91.3 FM. Email questions to townhall@ksvy.org, or call in questions to 707-933-9133.

gathering point is the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve entrance, Correa Court at Azuar Drive, at the south end of Mare Island.

There is no cost or pre-registration required to attend the in-person field trips. Details can be found at Mareislandpreserve.com.

There are four boat trips planned. The cost is $45 and registration is required. To make reservations, call 510527-9622 or 800-472-9942 or visit dolphincharters.com.

Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Teen ‘missing’ for 21 hours had been at friend’s house

Courtesy photo Jayden Hailes-Clay

Courtesy photo

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Bruce Hammock.

Courtesy photo

The 11th annual San Francisco Osprey Days will be held Friday through Sunday at the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve and other Mare Island locations.

See Brain, Page A5

Public ‘fire insurance’ program meant to encourage private insurers

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The state on Monday intro duced a $20 million, five-year pilot program with multiple goals – the first being to reimburse residents or businesses in the event that a pre scribed or cultural burn escapes control.

Backers of the firstof-its-kind project, called the “Prescribed Fire Lia bility Claims Fund Pilot,” also said the program is designed to show the effectiveness of using con trolled fires to prevent bigger wildfires, and to convince private insur ance companies to once again support agencies and tribes that use the preven tion strategy.

Christine McMorrow, information officer for Cal Fire, said in a phone interview that the expectation of the program is to show that the program really isn’t needed, and that it is a low risk for private insurers.

At the same time, it creates a reimbursement safety net.

“Prescribed fire is a cost-effective way to minimize the scope and severity of wildfires,” state Sen Bill Dodd, D-Napa, said in a joint statement released in conjunction with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Nature Conservancy and the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Dodd authored the 2022 legislation that created the fund.

“It’s a tool that has been used for millennia by Native American tribes and one that will continue to play a big role in wildfire prevention. The rollout of this fund is a big step toward keeping California communities safe,” Dodd added.

Cal Fire Director Joe Tyler said the pilot project “removes a significant barrier to obtaining insurance for potential damages from a prescribed fire or cultural burn conducted by a certified prescribed fire burn boss or a cultural fire practitioner. As we continue to focus on increasing the resiliency of the state’s forests, creating a pathway for private burn bosses to have the significant protection this claims fund provides is a critical step toward reaching the goals of the governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.”

Prescribed fires are viewed by many in the fire industry as beneficial because they reduce hazardous fuels. Other

Solano Walk to End Alzheimer’s Kick-off Party coming June 27

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The 2023 Walk to End Alzheimer’s Kick-off Party is set for June 27.

The event will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Paradise Valley Estates, 2600 Estates Drive, in Fairfield. Refreshments will be served.

“Come for food, wine, information about the walk, and the chance to meet Walk Planning Committee members and Alzheimer’s Association staff,” organizers said in

a statement.

Reservations are required. Go to http:// tinyurl.com/SolanoWalkKickoff by June 21st or mail your response to solanowalk@alz.org.

There are 80 participants and 41 teams who have signed up for the Oct. 21 event, with $34,872 raised. That is 17% of the fundraiser goal of $210,000.

For more information, to donate and/or to participate in the walk, go to https://tinyurl.

proponents argue they also restore “ecological and cultural values.”

Liability insurance, however, has become more and more difficult to get, and therefore using controlled burns to improve fire protection has been reduced.

The fund will provide up to $2 million in coverage for prescribed fire projects led by a qualified burn boss or cultural practitioner.

“The fund is meant to demonstrate that prescribed fire, when carefully planned, resourced and implemented, is a low-risk land management tool that mitigates the larger, more damaging risks of high-severity wildfires,” the statement said.

It marks the culmination of several years of collaboration with groups such as The Nature Con-

servancy, Cal Fire, the University of California Cooperative Extension, the California Department of Insurance, tribal representatives, and many others.

“Launching this program is a key step in scaling ecologically based forest management to reduce the risk of megafires,” said Dan Porter, The Nature Conservancy’s Forest Program director.

Don Hankins, professor of Geography and Planning at Chico State University and co-founder of the Indigenous Stew-

ardship Network, added, “Cultural burning is an essential practice to meet diverse objectives, including biodiversity stewardship, ecological health, and community safety. The availability of this pilot fund provides cultural fire practitioners a safeguard against financial risk in the unlikely event of an escaped burn. This is a significant incentive to support revitalization of burning traditions following the legacy of policies banning such practices.”

Virginia Crowell

Virginia Marie (Messer) Crowell passed away April 15, 2023 in Fairfield after a battle with heart disease. Virginia (Ginny), born in Fairfield in 1948, was a 1966 graduate of Armijo High School. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Chuck, three children, Karen, Jennifer and Chad (Heidi Sordelli Crowell), seven grandchildren and one great grandchild. Her mother, Yolanda Messer, currently resides in Fairfield and she was predeceased by her father, Earl Messer in 1981.

After marrying Chuck in 1968, Ginny left Fairfield to follow her husband and support his 30 year career in the US Navy. She and her family resided in numerous areas around the country during their marriage, settling in Vacaville in 1995.

Ginny enjoyed preparing income taxes for H & R Block around the country for thirty years, but loved being a mother and grandmother most of all. She will be sorely missed by her sur viving family

Marian Martin

Marian Martin mom, aunt, grandma, and friend to so many — died on March 17, 2023, at the age of 91. Marian gave her all is everything she did. She was a faithful, loving, and dedicated wife and mother; an indispensable worker; and a fierce and loyal friend.

Marian attended UC Berkeley and was a member of Mensa. She was American Business Women’s A ssociation 1968 Woman of the Year, and longtime member of Fairfield Women in Action.

Marian loved the Arts and was a season ticket holder of Sacramento Music Circus for many years. She loved the holidays and decorating was her passion. Christmas was her favorite and she relished celebrating with family and friends. Marian threw the best parties. She was “The Hostess with the Mostest”.

Marian is survived by her children Loren (Sandy) Rhodes, David Rhodes, Kimberly Roy; grandchildren Jeff Wood, Michael (Gabi) Wood, Zandria (Sara) Roy-Combs; great-grandchildren

James Bouligny and Jezzica Bouligny; nephew Kevin (Laura) Elvrum and family; nieces Linda (Rich) Elvrum, Linda Vest Tracy

Ve st ; b rother Dale (Caroline) Elvrum; sist er Marlee (Dean) Flem ing; and loving friend Mary Ellen Stiert

Marian was predeceased by husband Elmer (Bud) Cary and son Dennis Wood.

Celebration of life to be held Sunday, June 25, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. at 1019 Suffolk Way in Fairfield (home of Tracy Vest).

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Marian’s name to: Broadway Sacramento, 1510 J St Ste 200, Sacramento, CA. 95814.

Courtesy photo Neighbors Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2020)

A firefighter hoses down a burning house from the Lightning Complex Fire along Pleasants Valley Road in Vacaville, Aug. 19, 2020.

Vacaville school district looking to fill Area 6 vacancy on board

SuSan HilanD

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The Vacaville Unified School District invites residents of Trustee Area 6 to apply for the vacancy on the board.

The vacancy was created with the resignation of Kelly Welsh, who has moved out of the district. The term is good through December 2024.

Application packets are available online at www. vacavilleusd.org, or in the superintendent’s office, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, at the Educational Services Center, 401 Nut Tree Road. The deadline is 5 p.m. on July 13.

To confirm residence within Trustee Area 6, see the “School Boundary Locator” on the district’s

website or call the superintendent’s office at 707-453-6101.

A parents group has indicated it is prepared to challenge the appointment just as it had for Trustee Area 4, leading to a Sept. 12 special election involving candidates Lindsay Kelly, and insurance claims adjuster, Michael W. Martin, a real estate broker, and former

CAP Solano board considers budget on Thursday

Trustee Dave McCallum, a broadcaster. McCallum had been appointed to the post prior to the protest petition being filed with the Solano County Office of Education. The county Registrar of Voters will conduct the special election, which will cost the school district an estimated $113,000.

MCE up for discussion at Suisun council meeting

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — Two weeks after the Vacaville City Council said no to Marin Clean Energy, Suisun City residents will have their say on joining or not joining. Fairfield is part of MCE,

Marin, Napa and Solano counties. Vallejo and Benicia are also members.

MCE purchases energy from clean, renewable sources such as solar, wind, biogas, geothermal, and small hydroelectric.

If a city council approves joining MCE,

program and must file an individual opt out.

Customers who opt-out after receiving MCE service for more than 60 days are subject to payment of a one-time $5 (residential customers) or $25 (commercial customers) termination fee.

The public hearing is during the 6:30 p.m.

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The CAP Solano directors on Thursday will consider approval of a $2.67 million budget.

Courtesy photo

Professor Xinhong Zhu of South China University of Technology and first author Yongfeng Dai.

June 27 council meeting at 701 Civic Center Blvd.

Those with questions or comments regarding this matter or wish to review the full text of the proposed ordinance, should contact city clerk Anita Skinner at (707) 421-7300 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday or email clerk@suisun.com.

Brain

From Page A3

behaviorally are mild injuries, but that they have something on a CT or MRI scan that indicates that the injury is more than a concussion, said Gurkoff, who was not involved in the research. “These patients are more likely to have long-term effects than concussion alone, but a lot less likely than moderate-severe. They also don’t usually end up in the ICU. Then there are the concussions. Head injuries but no evidence of a radiological finding.”

“Add on top of that, repeat mild or repeat concussion,” Gurkoff said. “While some investigators will suggest that we have a good handle on repeat

Caminar will get $551,070 for running the coordinated entry program and other resource connections, while Homebase gets $257,143 and Shelter Inc. is set to receive $210,000. Fairfield will be paid $131,736 for staffing the agency, while Vacaville gets $30,000 as the fiscal agent.

The Solano County Family Justice Center is budgeted for $84,718, and $17,600 is set aside for the board member stipends for attending meetings. Another $68,725 is budgeted for a point-in-time homeless count.

A quarterly budget

TBI — I still think it is the Wild West. It is clear that in a subset of humans, repeat TBI, even concussive, is catastrophic. Others seem to be fine. We also haven’t dissected whether repeat TBI on its own is causal — or because many of the patients are in high risk/ high stress situations — and it is the combination of TBI/repeat TBI with something else.”

“What gets me excited about certain compounds — Bruce’s would be an example — is that if you have a low-risk compound, is it feasible that you give it to patients who might not develop long-term consequences?” Gurkoff asked.

“For example, let’s say a patient comes in and based on his injury and history, we might estimate there is a 10 percent chance he has a problem. You aren’t

update on CAP Solano grants is also on the board agenda, as well as consideration of a five-year, $599,700 contract with Bitfocus for a Homeless Management Information System, and $15,000 to Pathways MISI for project management to assist in the HMIS transition.

Other items include approval of the 2024-25 Community Services Block Grant Community Action Plan, and discussion on the Strategic Planning Summary and next steps to be taken; a presentation on JPA staffing models and funding; and a discussion on a regional approach to cooling centers.

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. in Conference Room A of the county Events Center, 601 Texas St., in Fairfield.

going to schedule these patients for surgery — on the extreme — because the risk is too high given they most likely will recover. Having a low-risk compound that can be given to soldiers, athletes, etc, with mild or repeat mild — or concussion/repeat concussion — would be fantastic!”

The research drew financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Scientific and Technological Innovation, and partial support from Hammock’s grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ RIVER Award (Revolutionizing Innovative, Visionary Environmental Health Research) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Solano County’s Largest Full Service Truck Shop

We service all makes and models of RV motorhome, 5th Wheel and Trailer Chassis, brakes, lights, engine, HVAC, transmission, steering, axles, bearings, suspension, tires etc. We also repair and service all trucks from a pick up truck to a Class 8 Big Rig. Our team of Technician’s have over 150 years combined repair and diagnostic experience. We treat your vehicle like it is ours. There is no job too big or small, we invite them all.

Give us a call to schedule an appointment or just stop by we always have coffee brewed and popcorn popped. We look forward to meeting you and providing you with excellent customer service.

(707) 427-1386

Bebe Rexha says she’s ‘good’ after being struck by cellphone

The WashingTon PosT

Bebe Rexha said she is feeling “good” after being struck in the face by a cellphone during her New York City concert on Sunday night.

While performing at the Rooftop at Pier 17, Rexha was hit in the face by a cellphone thrown at her from the crowd. Video from the performance shows Rexha fall to her knees before she was rushed offstage.

The 33-year-old singer was brought to a nearby hospital in stable condition, according to the New York Police Department. TMZ reported that Rexha needed three stitches from the attack.

Nicolas Malvagna, of Manalapan, N.J., was arrested at the concert and charged with

assault, per the NYPD. The 27-year-old man “intentionally threw a cellphone” at the singer, police said in a statement.

On Monday, Rexha shared a photo of herself on Instagram, with a bruised left eye and a bandage above her left eyebrow. The caption read, “Im good.”

Rexha, 33, had been performing as a part of her ongoing “Best F’n Night of My Life” tour. She has future stops planned in cities such as Washington, Atlanta, Orlando and Philadelphia.

The singer-songwriter has been nominated for three Grammys, including best new artist at the 2019 Grammy Awards. She released her latest album “Bebe” earlier this year.

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

Student sues California university, county health officials over Covid restrictions

Tribune ConTenT AgenC

A Cal Poly student who was barred from attend ing class in person after refusing to comply with Covid-19 regulations is suing the university and local health authorities.

Elijah Beh ringer claimed the university and San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department cials violated his federal and state rights “under sham application of state law and authority,” according to a lawsuit filed May 23.

In his lawsuit, Behringer questioned the legitimacy of the Covid-19 pandemic and the right of organizations such as the World Health Organization to dictate state and federal health regulations. It also claimed Cal Poly failed to get informed consent from Behringer and others for the use of masks, vaccines and testing.

The lawsuit identifies the defendants as Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Health a nd

Well-being Tina HadawayMellis; Covid-19 Lead Coordinator Valla Hardy, Disability Resource Center Assistant Director Amy Gode, the municipal government of San Luis Obispo County and County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein.

Behringer, who was studying electrical engineering, started attending Cal Poly in 2019.

He skipped his enrollment in September 2021 – partially due to the Covid-19 regulations – with a plan to return in January 2022, he said.

But after the university did not grant his requests for exemptions to the vaccination, testing

and mask-wearing regulations, Behringer claimed in his lawsuit he was effectively “suspended” from campus, preventing him from returning to classes.

When he returned the first day of winter quarter, he found out he wasn’t allowed to go to class, he said.

Since then, Behringer has been on an indefinite leave of absence.

Instead of learning about engineering, he has spent the past year learning about the law, he told The Tribune in an interview Wednesday.

Behringer said he could return to Cal Poly in the fall, with junior standing, but decided it was better at this time to file a lawsuit “to deter these kinds of civil rights misconduct.”

Student claims Cal Poly Covid rules violated rights

According to the 54-page civil complaint, Behringer was not vaccinated against Covid-19, did not wear a face mask on campus and refused to complete screening for potential coronavirus

symptoms – all measures required of students, faculty members and staff seeking to access campus during the pandemic.

In July 2021, former CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro implemented a vaccine requirement across the university system, including Cal Poly. Booster shots were additionally required for people to be considered fully vaccinated in December.

In a community-wide email Dec. 1, 2021, Armstrong said online classes would not be offered for winter quarter in light of the university’s new testing and vaccination requirements.

“Our on- and offcampus experts were unanimous in their view that moving away from in-person classes and activities will only serve to delay implementation of our enhanced mitigation strategy that includes 100% testing for returning students and booster clinics,” Armstrong wrote in the email.

That month, Behringer was added to the university’s testing and

compliance program – a program designed for students and faculty who had not submitted proof of vaccination. The university required those students and faculty members to test for Covid-19 every three days in the on-campus saliva lab.

Behringer refused to comply and requested an exemption to allow him to go to class starting in winter quarter, the Nearly 600 people requested an exemption from Covid-19 vaccinations for fall quarter 2021, The Tribune previously reported. According to court documents, Gode, the assistant director of Cal Poly’s Disability Resource Center, denied his exemption request in early January 2022.

On Jan. 3, 2022, Gode emailed Behringer, denying his request to not wear a mask on campus, the lawsuit said. She explained that his application and documentation provided “doesn’t rise to the level of being reasonable under disability law.”

That meant Behringer could not access on-campus classes and facilities if he would not comply with the regulations, the lawsuit claimed.

In his lawsuit, Behringer claimed Cal Poly administration and county health officials “teamed up to terrorize and coerce an entire civilian population” into wearing masks and following recommended Covid safety guidelines.

“They worked to browbeat people into sacrificing their inherent sovereignty at the altar of medicalthemed neuroticism,” the lawsuit continued.

The university removed its mask mandate and the symptom screen-

ing requirements in the summer of 2022.

Cal Poly student wants jury trial, tuition fees paid Behringer is representing himself in the lawsuit, namely because he does not have the money for an attorney, he told The Tribune.

“In spirit with the Cal Poly slogan ‘Learn by Doing,’ I figured if I was going to sue somebody, I should learn to do it myself,” Behringer said.

He is seeking a jury trial in addition to reimbursement for tuition and legal fees. According to the lawsuit, Behringer paid a

total of $41,433 in tuition at Cal Poly before he was barred from attending class in person.

As of June 2023, Behringer still remains unvaccinated.

The San Luis Obispo County Health Department is seeking outside counsel for the lawsuit.

“Based upon counsel’s initial review of the complaint, the county intends to challenge the federal lawsuit’s filing,” Borenstein wrote in an email to The Tribune.

Cal Poly has also received the complaint, according to university spokesperson Matt Lazier. It is in the process of responding to Behringer.

Laura Dickinson/Tribune Content Agency file Cal Poly students wait in a long line for Covid-19 tests on Jan. 4, 2022. Students were required to get tested during the first week of the winter quarter.

Mental

From Page A6

Legislature in 2011 also used nearly $900 million in Proposition 63 money to cover mental health care costs the state usually covered with money from the general fund.

State officials have also claimed local agencies hold onto Mental Health Services funds. The state auditor in 2018 said the California Department of Health Care Services did not provide enough oversight of the dollars, allowing counties to “amass hundreds of millions in unspent MHSA funds.”

Local behavioral health care providers in March expressed concerns about diverting $1 billion for housing, saying it would

affect existing services.

But Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who wrote the Mental Health Services Act as an assemblyman, was skeptical of these concerns. He said helping homeless residents with severe mental illnesses was part of the law’s original intent.

Steinberg also brought up the No Place Like Home Act, a 2016 law that allocated up to $2 billion in bond funding to build permanent supportive housing for homeless residents experiencing severe mental illnesses.

The law used a portion of Mental Health Services funding to repay the bond money.

“Housing and homelessness is the societal crisis of our time,” Steinberg said.

Welcome to Alejandro’s Taqueria!

Located in Downtown Fairfield, Alejandro’s Taqueria offers a large variety of authentic Mexican dishes. Breakfast includes: Huevos Rancheros, Huevos con Chorizo ahd Huevos con Jamon. Their daily lunch special includes a choice of one of the following: Taco, Tostada, Chile Relleno, Enchilada or Tamale with rice and beans. Dinner Plates include traditional dishes such as: Carne Asada, Chile Verde, Pastor or Carnitas. Also available is Mariscos/ Seafood ranging from Fajitas de Camaron, Coctel de Camaron, Caldo de Camaron and Mojarra and much much more!

In addition Burritos, Tostadas, Super Nachos, Chimichanga, Tortas, Quesadilas and Flautas are also included in their menu. Saturday and Sundays; Birria (BBQ Goat) and Menudo is served.

Guardians rally for win in 10th inning against A’s B2

Scholtens back on White Sox pitching staff

m Att miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD —

Rodriguez High School

graduate Jesse Scholtens has returned to the major leagues and has already made three appearances over an extended weekend on the mound in short relief for the Chicago White Sox.

The right-hand pitcher saw action Friday, Saturday and Monday for a total of 2 2/3 innings, allowing

no hits, no earned runs, no walks and recording one strikeout. On Saturday, Scholtens worked the 11th inning for a save in a 4-3 win over Seattle.

The 29-year-old was recalled Friday from Triple-A Charlotte and immediately went to work. He was recalled the first time this season on May 22 and worked in the

White Sox bullpen until June 1 when he was optioned back to the minors. This time around, he has been used in shorter stints.

His previous three major league appearances during his first tour, covered a total of 13 2/3 innings.

n n n

Tony Gonsolin (Vacav-

ille) had a great outing against the White Sox Tuesday, June 13, before being roughed up by the San Francisco Giants this past Sunday.

Gonsolin pitched six innings of two-hit baseball with no earned runs, two walks and six strikeouts to pick up his fourth win as his Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 5-1 win.

The 29-year-old righthander went up against the Giants and ace Logan

MLS players, coaches agree: Too much soccer this summer

Apparently it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Because with the conclusion of the CONCACAF Nations League on Sunday in Las Vegas and the kickoff of the Gold Cup coming up Saturday in Chicago, we’re entering a summer of soccer in the U.S. that is far too crowded.

The three-week-long Gold Cup will feature 16 countries playing 31 games in 15 venues. That will end the same week the Leagues Cup, a month-long, 77-match tournament involving the 47 MLS and Liga MX teams, begins. In addition, two dozen European and South American teams will play a series of 34 friendlies across the U.S. in July and early August while in Austra-

lia and New Zealand, the Women’s World Cup – with 32 teams and 64 games, the largest ever – will be held. The U.S. is the two-time defending champion.

And that schedule doesn’t include the more than 200 NWSL and MLS regular-season matches that will be played between Saturday and the end of September.

Former U.S. international star Clint Dempsey said he believes less can mean more when it comes to the schedule.

“I would rather see quality over quantity,” said Dempsey, a studio analyst with CBS Sports. “Especially being in the U.S. with the travel schedule, the distance that we have to cover, the time changes

and the things you have to deal with. Then you add in all these other competitions, playing on turf and playing in the heat of summer. It’s a lot to ask of players.

“At some point enough is enough.”

Consider the plight of LAFC. With the addition of the Leagues Cup, the 34-game regular-season schedule, the longest playoff tournament in league history, eight CONCACAF Champions League matches, the U.S. Open and Campeones cups, LAFC could play 56 times in less than 32 weeks, more games than any MLS team has played in one season.

Steve Cherundolo, the team’s coach, said if MLS wants to keep adding games it will have to rethink its roster rules, which

Giants to play at Willie Mays’ former Negro Leagues home in June of 2024

A

lex Simon

AREA NEWS GROUP

BAY

It’s been 75 years since Willie Mays first played at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues.

Now, in one year, Mays’ big league team will take that same field for a game.

Major League Baseball announced on Tuesday that the Giants will take on the St. Louis Cardinals in a game at Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the country, on Thursday, June 20, 2024, in game specifically set up as a tribute to “the Negro Leagues and its greatest living player” in Mays.

Mays, 92, played with the Black Barons starting in 1948, when he was just 16 years old, and quickly became a star in the Negro Leagues.

According to the Society

for American Baseball Research, several MLB teams tried to sign Mays, including the Boston Braves, Chicago White Sox, the then-Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red

Webb Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. A great start quickly went array as he worked 5 2/3 innings, allowing six hits, seven earned runs and three walks, to go with seven strikeouts.

Gonsolin is now 4-2 in 52.1 innings pitched with a 2.92 ERA and 43 strikeouts.

n n n

Deveraux Harrison (Vacaville) continues to excel for the Vancouver Canadians,

the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The 22-year-old righthander pitched six innings Saturday in a 2-0 win over the Hillsboro Hops. Harrison allowed just four hits, no earned runs, two walks and struck out four.

The Canadians won the first half title over the weekend in the Northwest League. Harrison has won all

Can Kings find hidden gem at No.

24 in NBA Draft?

ChriS Biderm Ann THE SACRAMENTO BEE

For every Anfernee Simons there’s a Damion James. Just like there’s a Brian Cook for every Kyle Lowry.

Which is another way of saying teams using the No. 24 pick in the NBA draft get a mixed bag of late first-round steals or players that don’t last long as pros. And that’s the predicament the Kings face ahead of Thursday’s NBA draft.

The Kings, of course, had a historic season that was capped with a first-round playoff appearance, ending the longest postseason drought in NBA history. Sacramento will be picking the in 20s for the first time since taking Francisco Garciain 2005.

So what does history say about pick No. 24?

There are definitely some gems out there, but there are also plenty of duds.

The hits at No. 24

The Portland Trailblazers drafted Simons at No. 24 in 2018. He was a scoring guard who

decided to skip college and instead spent an extra season playing at IMG Academy in Florida, so it was unclear if he was ready for NBA competition.

But Simons ended up becoming a coup late in Round 1 and a success story for Portland. He is considered a building block and one of the best young shooters in the NBA. He saw his scoring jump from 3.8 points per game his rookie year to 17.3 and 21.1 the last two seasons, respectively, while hitting a very respectable 38.7% of his 3s over his five seasons. Portland rewarded Simons with a four-year, $100 million contract last June, cementing his status as a core player going forward. He’s the type of find at that point in the draft that general managers dream about.

n Reggie Jackson went 24th to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011 and carved out a respectable NBA career, earning $144 million over 15 seasons with four teams, including

Fairfield Expos win 20-5 over Klamath Falls

dAily r epuBliC StAff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

had two hits and pushed across three runs.

Sox and the then-New York Giants.

But Mays didn’t sign right away, hitting .311 in 75 games in 1949 before starting the 1950 season by hitting .330 with a .547 slugging percentage.

The Giants’ pursuit of Mays continued, and a telegram sent June 21, 1950 from Giants owner Horace Stoneham to Black Barons owner Tom Hayes shows the Giants officially offered to buy Mays’ contract for $10,000. That made Mays a member of the Giants – and changed baseball history forever.

Next year, the Giants will get a chance to honor

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Expos displayed their hitting prowess Monday night with 13 hits and 20 runs in a 20-5 win over Klamath Falls, Oregon.

The American Legion summer baseball team needed only five innings to earn the win, improving to 26-9 this season.

Fairfield scored four runs in the first inning, six in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and three more in the fifth.

Blake Bozzini was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs for the Expos. Connor Broschard had three hits, including a double, and drove in four runs.

Jace Parkinson singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Calvin Johnson also

Noah Rodda and Aaron Strong added a double and an RBI each. Carter Preston also had a hit and drove in two runs.

DJ Andersen, Matty Hague and Landon Dodge all saw action on the mound.

The Expos lost to the Falcons 5-4 Saturday. Fairfield rallied for two runs in the fifth inning to tie the game 4-4 after five innings but gave up the go-ahead in the top of the sixth.

Rodda had a single, double and an RBI. Jace Parkinson delivered two hits. Blake Bozzini had a triple and drove in a run. Aaron Strong had a hit and an RBI. Cy Dempsay also had a hit.

Teagan Gonzalez pitched four innings and Broschard worked the

Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/TNS file (2018) Willie Mays attends his godson’s Barry Bonds uniform number retirement ceremony in San Francisco in 2018.

Chitose Suzuki/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

USA’s Christian Pulisic scores a goal against Mexico goalie Guillermo Ochoa and defender Jorge Sanchez during the first half of a CONCACAF Nations League semifinal at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Thursday.

CALENDAR

Wednesday’s TV sports

Baseball College World Series

• Teams TBA, ESPN, 11 a.m.

• Teams TBA, ESPN, 4 p.m.

MLB

• Oakland vs. Cleveland, NBCSCA, 4:10 p.m.

• San Diego vs.

Thursday’s TV sports

What happened to LA’s pitching? Inside team’s historic struggles

Jack H arris LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — In their 66 years of playing baseball in Los Angeles, the Dodgers have never fielded a pitching staff with numbers this bad.

Not in their early Southern California years, when their makeshift home at the Coliseum measured just 250 feet to straightaway left.

Not in the doldrums of the 1990s and early 2000s, when the team failed to win a playoff game over a 15-year stretch.

Even Frank McCourt’s cashstrapped squads were able to maintain the franchise’s long-established legacy of pitching excellence, always remaining at least competitive on the mound.

This season, however, the club has found itself in uncharted territory. After leading the majors in earned-run average each of the last four seasons, they’re stunningly 25th out of 30 teams in MLB this season, owning a 4.66 mark that would be the highest in franchise history since 1944.

As a result, the Dodgers are struggling in ways they rarely have during the Guggenheim BaseballAndrew Friedman-Dave Roberts era. They’ve lost 18 of their last 30 games. They are in third place in the NL West after being swept by the San Francisco Giants this weekend.

“In a lot of ways, we have built a lot of our successful teams on elite pitching,” said Friedman, the Dodgers president of baseball operations. “And we’ve fallen short of that to this point.”

So far, their search for answers has met nothing but dead ends, the club spinning its wheels with a shorthanded rotation, an overmatched bullpen and a revolving door of young pitchers struggling to fill the gaps.

Guardians rally for walk-off win in 10 innings over A’s

Paul Hoynes CLEVELAND.COM

CLEVELAND, Ohio —

As manager Terry Francona is fond of saying, baseball is a “fluid thing.”

It’s rarely the same from one day to the next.

In the span of three days, the Guardians went from pounding one of the best teams in baseball to flirting with defeat against the worst. It’s quite a ride from the penthouse to the basement, but the Guards almost made it happen.

Aaron Civale pitched well enough to win, but when he left in the seventh inning, the Guardians trailed, 2-0. The Guardians, however, did all their scoring late to beat Oakland, 3-2, in 10 innings.

Andres Gimenez won it with a single to score Jose Ramirez, the automatic runner, from third base. Tyler Freeman advanced Ramirez and Josh Naylor with a sacrifice bunt after Trevor May intentionally walked Naylor to start the 10th.

The Guardians are 3-1 against Oakland this year with all three of the wins coming in extra innings. They are 6-4 in extra innings. It was their fourth walk-off win and 10th win in their final at-bat.

The A’s entered the game at 19-55, the worst record in the big leagues since 2003. It’s the worst record by an A’s team since 1920.

Myles Straw started the game-tying rally in the seventh with a leadoff double against hardthrowing Luis Medina.

Sam Moll relieved, but Amed Rosario bounced a two-out single to left to score Straw and cut Oakland’s lead to 2-1.

Jose Ramirez lined a double to left field to bring home Rosario with the tying run.

Seth Brown tried to make a diving catch against Ramirez, but the

ball skipped past him. For Rosario it was his third hit of the night and his ninth in the last three games.

Tony Kemp played a role in the A’s first run and he was solely responsible for the second.

Kemp, with one out in the seventh, homered into the right field seats against Civale for a 2-0 lead.

It was Kemp’s second hit of the night. In his career, he’s 3 for 5 against Civale.

The A’s took a 1-0 lead in the third on Ryan Noda’s high chopper to first. Kemp started the inning with a single and went to third on Esteury Ruiz’s run-and-hit single to right with one out.

Josh Naylor had to lead to catch Noda’s chopper and had no other play but to take the out at first.

Civale struck out Brent Rooker to end the inning.

The Guardians, coming off a 12-3 win over Arizona on Sunday, were held in check in the early innings by lefty Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina. Waldichuk was the opener and held the Guardians scoreless over the first 1 2/3 inning. Medina relieved following a Will Brennan’s two-out double in the second and retired Straw.

Rosario and Ramirez hit consecutive singles with two out in the tird, but nothing came of it.

Oakland threatened to stretch its lead in the fifth when it loaded the bases with one out.

Ramon Laureano walked to start the inning, Shea Langeliers singled with one out and Ruiz reached on catcher’s interference against Bo Naylor. Noda followed with a liner to first that Josh Naylor caught and stepped on first for the inning-ending double play.

Medina, touching 100 mph, dominated Cleveland’s hitters after entering the game in the second. Lefty Ken Waldichuk was the A’s opener.

“There’s a lot of different layers to why, collectively, we haven’t performed,” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “Some of that is certain individuals’ ability to execute pitches at different times has not been great. Some of it has been the lack of depth from our starting rotation, as far as getting deeper into games.”

The one thing everyone can agree on: “We have not pitched well,” Prior said. “There’s really no sugarcoating it.”

And until it turns, the Dodgers’ ability to be a true contender, and make a legitimate push for a World Series, will remain in question.

Here are four observations on what has gone wrong, and how the Dodgers are trying to fix it.

The bullpen isn’t executing

Any way you slice it, the Dodgers bullpen numbers have been ugly this season.

Their 5.04 ERA ranks 29th in the majors. Their 1.38 walks and hits per inning and .260 opponent batting average are both bottom six. They’ve blown only eight save opportunities, but have still combined for 14 losses, tied for ninth most in MLB.

And the underlying metrics haven’t been much better — with the team regressing from last season in strikeout rate, walk rate, home run rate and hard hit percentage.

Even with many of the same pieces as last year’s relief corps (which led the National League in bullpen ERA), the club’s bullpen is getting hammered in ways the franchise has rarely recently seen.

“It’s pretty clear the whole group is pretty frustrated with the results we’ve been getting,” right-hander Evan Phillips said. “But better now than later in the year. I think it’s good for us to struggle and learn from these things right now, and hopefully correct it quickly.”

Phillips has been the most consistent member of the unit, posting a 2.28 ERA and seven saves in his parttime closer, part-time fireman role.

Beyond him, however, almost every other reliever has struggled for various reasons.

Brusdar Graterol is hardly inducing any swings and misses, entering Sunday ranked 366th out of 383 qualified pitchers with a 16.5% whiff percentage.

While he has still managed a 2.40 ERA, his inability to limit contact has put pressure on the defense and led to several costly unearned runs, a couple of which resulted from errors he committed himself.

Yency Almonte (6.30 ERA) and Alex Vesia (8.00 ERA) have both backslid after ascending into key roles last year, with inconsistencies in their execution of breaking pitches allowing opponents to sit on their heaters.

Caleb Ferguson (3.46 ERA) and Victor González (3.66 ERA) have offered more consistent production

from the left side. But they’ve both faltered in several late-game, highpressure situations.

And other than Shelby Miller (2.40 ERA), the team hasn’t found any other uncovered gems, unsuccessfully cycling through a cast of unproductive arms like Phil Bickford, Justin Bruihl, Wander Suero and more.

“Our guys are, for the most part, the same, with really good stuff in place,” Friedman said. “So we’ve just got to figure out with each guy, how to organize it better from pitch selection to execution.”

A banged-up rotation is providing little cover

In past years, the Dodgers’ starting rotation might have been able to cover for some of their bullpen deficiencies.

This season, that group has been struggling to stay afloat itself, ranking 16th with a 4.38 ERA and averaging barely five innings per start (20th in the majors).

In what has become a common theme for the club in recent years, injuries have taken a toll.

Tony Gonsolin (4-2, 2.92 ERA) missed the opening month with an ankle sprain and hasn’t been in top form since, giving up a career-high seven runs Sunday.

Julio Urías (5-4, 4.39 ERA) has missed the last month with a hamstring strain, following an upand-down start to his campaign.

Dustin May, meanwhile, is on the 60-day injured list with a forearm strain, leaving the oft-injured Clayton Kershaw (8-4, 2.95 ERA) as the only starter yet to miss time this year.

An equally consequential problem, though, has been the Dodgers’ lack of depth behind them.

Last season, Tyler Anderson and Andrew Heaney gave the team a crucial veteran presence when Walker Buehler went down. Mitch White ate important innings in a swingman role as well.

This season, the club’s rotation options have already worn thin.

Their lone offseason addition, Noah Syndergaard, flamed out in disastrous fashion, a $13-million mistake whose future is unclear (technically, Syndergaard has been sidelined in recent weeks by a blister, but his 7.16 ERA was the much bigger issue).

Beyond him, the team has relied upon a young collection of starters who have largely been hurt, inconsistent or seemingly in over their heads.

Ryan Pepiot was supposed to open the season in the rotation, but sustained an oblique strain that continues to plague him three months later.

Gavin Stone was hyped up internally as perhaps the Dodgers’ most MLB-ready prospect, only to get knocked around in three big league starts and sent back to triple A for a reset.

Michael Grove was supposed to be this year’s version of White — a solid but unspectacular prospect capable of the occasional spot starts or bulk innings out of the bullpen. But even with improved velocity, he has struggled to perform, posting an 8.10 ERA in 30 innings.

Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan have been the lone exceptions, flashing potential in their debut MLB stints. A group of other highly touted prospects still beckon behind them in the farm system.

Still, none of those young arms have yet to fully establish themselves at the big league level.

And while Prior acknowledged it all has “put added pressure” on the team’s scuffling bullpen, Roberts has begun to highlight another detrimental side effect. “It’s been hard, obviously, to build any kind of momentum,” the

manager said, his team having failed to win consecutive games in June. “Things are going to happen, as far as health. That’s part of it. But there’s things that we have to do better when things aren’t going well.”

Two-strike woes and road struggles

Of the many statistical splits that have underlined the Dodgers’ pitching struggles, two stand out more than most.

The first is the difference between the team’s ERA at home (3.70, 10th best in the majors) and the road ERA (a woeful 5.70, ahead of only the tanking Oakland Athletics). It’s an eye-catching difference, but one the team has written off as an anomaly.

Prior noted those numbers have been skewed by the fact most of the team’s worst pitching performances (Saturday’s 15-0 loss at home to the Giants, aside) have been on their travels.

Phillips called the splits a “coincidence,” deadpanning that “we don’t go on the road and talk about, ‘Oh geez, I guess we’re not gonna do good.’ “

The other outlier stat is much more telling: In two-strike counts, the Dodgers haven’t been nearly as good at putting batters away.

Last season, opponents hit just .140 against the Dodgers once they got to two strikes, an MLB-low. They struck out more than 45% of the time, the fourth-highest rate in the majors.

This year, the staff hasn’t been nearly as clinical.

Opponents are batting .175 in such situations and striking out only 42% of the time – both below-league-average rates that have led to extended innings and soul-crushing rallies.

“We just gotta get better,” Prior said. “We gotta be smarter with how we’re using our pitches, and being able to, when we get to two strikes, put these guys away.”

So what’s the fix?

In the short-term, the Dodgers are banking on an internal turnaround.

There are some indications they’ve been the victim of bad luck.

For example, their 4.34 mark in “fielding independent pitching” (an advanced analytic similar to ERA that tries to isolate pitching performance from variables such as defense) is lower than their actual earned-run average, something that has rarely been the case in recent seasons.

Their defense, a trademark strength for the club prior to MLB’s elimination of the infield shift this season, has also faltered. According to Sports Info Solutions, the team is a minus-five in defensive runs saved, ranking 19th in the majors (granted, poor fundamentals from the pitchers themselves has been a leading factor).

Better health will help, too, especially with Urías and veteran reliever Daniel Hudson expected back by the start of July.

And there’s always the trade deadline, where top starters like Marcus Stroman of the Chicago Cubs or Lucas Giolito of the Chicago White Sox could be available, as well as a likely wide selection of relief pitchers.

But in a market that will be full of buyers, and potentially short on all-out sellers, completing a total pitching staff makeover could be hard to complete.

That’s why, for now, the Dodgers’ biggest hope is that some of their struggling arms can make quick strides; for many of their own pitchers – from a crop of inconsistent relievers to their underwhelming veteran starters to the barrage of prospects getting their first MLB opportunities – to simply pitch better.

Harry How/Getty Images/TNS

Alex Vesia (51) of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts as he walks back to the dugout at the end of the inning against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, May 31.

Joshua Gunter/cleveland.com/TNS

A’s starting pitcher Ken Waldichuk throws against the Cleveland Guardians in the first inning, Tuesday.

Columns&Games

Dog-walking etiquette

Dear Annie: I live in a nice neighborhood in a modest-sized city. This is a dog-rich environment, with most of my neighbors owning and frequently walking their dogs. I have two, which flourish in my yard, and we rarely walk.

My problem is one neighbor who loiters with her dog at the spot where the alley that runs past my house meets the street. I have watched her wait there for five or 10 minutes until her dog does its business. Now, here’s the kicker; she never picks up the waste. Once the dog is finished, she leads it back homeward.

Annie, that is a heavy-traffic area, and the sidewalk crosses the alley at this point. She will sometimes walk her dogs right into the middle of the street. Once I was out working in my yard and asked, in the nicest way I could, why she did this. She said it was so that her dogs would not be exposed to lawn

chemicals. I guess she prefers the chance they get run down to the possibility of chemical harm. Is there some appropriate and kind way to suggest she pick up the dog waste – as all other dog walkers do? While I find this common nuisance disgusting and anti-social, I don’t want to make a police report since that seems like overkill. – Grossed Out

Dear Grossed: I’m not sure what state you are in, but in many states there are Pooper Scooper laws, which state that all pet owners must remove and clean up all fecal matter left by their dog on public and private property. So you are within your rights to let a local police officer know. As far as not wanting to walk on lawns, I am sympathetic to the argument that some lawns have pesticides that are harmful not only to pets but to humans as well. Walking in the middle of the street is clearly dan-

Horoscopes by Holiday Mathis

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

You may not feel motivated to conform to an expectation, but it doesn’t mean you lack motivation in general. Your own projects are taking priority, and that’s how it should be right now. It only feels strange because it’s new.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20).

Like a kid in a candy shop, you’ll be riveted by life’s enticements and overwhelmed by the sweet excitement.

Like an adult in a candy shop, you’ve a full awareness that none of this is going to actually feed you.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21).

Gossip will make you uncomfortable. You’ve no desire to bond over a shared frustration and judgment of another person. You are loyal and will speak of those not present the same way you would if they were in the room. Make a mild excuse and leave.

CANCER (June 22-July 22).

The reason you’re mastering a skill so quickly is because you are genuinely interested in it. It’s more than a task; it’s a mission. People pay tuitions to learn this. You’re self-educated and you picked the right school.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22).

Chitchat can make people feel comfortable, or have the opposite effect. It can signal confidence or insecurity. If you’re not sure how much to say, today it will be better to err on the side of mystery.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

You know you’re loved, not just because of the hard evidence of people showing up for you,

Daily

Here’s how to work it: WORD SLEUTH ANSWER

gerous. Getting run down by a car is certainly more dangerous than lawn chemicals. Ideally, she could find a park or a hiking trail to take her fourlegged friends.

Dear Annie: This is regarding “Frustrated Papa,” who wrote about his daughter who had two children with “Marcus.” I was surprised that, given his track record (Marcus had cheated WITH his daughter, which resulted in their first child, and now Marcus has cheated on her at least a dozen times in the past three years), that you didn’t suggest that “Frustrated Papa’s” daughter should get tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases.

It should be fairly obvious that Marcus doesn’t seem to care about protection, and “Papa” should be concerned about his daughter’s health. – Get Tested

Dear Get Tested: That is a great point, and it should have been as obvious to me as it was to you. Thank you for writing in.

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

It’s a year of developing your own philosophy. New endeavors, moods and relationships are in store, which all seem geared to help you become more yourself than you’ve ever been. More highlights: lucrative investments, lifestyle upgrades, perks that come with being someone’s favorite person, and an impressive certificate. Taurus and Capricorn adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 5, 9, 31, 14 and 17.

listening to you or celebrating you. You know from the feeling. You will succeed in giving this sense of security and belonging to others.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).

Some say taboos about moneytalk are perpetuated by the wealthy who don’t want to share their secrets. Luckily, today you’ll find plenty of resources for open communication and getting your financial needs and questions addressed.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).

You don’t know how you’ll make it happen, but you won’t rest until you’ve tackled your to-do list. It’s all about the order. Whether building an empire or grocery shopping, the research and planning phase sets the stage for success.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-

Dec. 21). You treat others well and are the kind of person they can rely on. You leave them looking forward to the next time your paths cross. For this reason, when your name comes up, the glowing reviews kick off.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). Doing it yourself saves you money, gives you knowledge and puts you in a position of self-reliance. Your self-confidence runs true and deep because it’s not based on an outside rating but on what you can do and have done.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Even as you strive to improve, your best connections are the ones who celebrate you as you are. You’re more than your accomplishments and the mark you make on the world. You’re the artist, not the painting.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20).

It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book: You smile when you’re not happy and happiness starts to happen. This is because a smile is a signal, not just for the rest of the world but for the wearer.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Prince William takes the public fascination with the minutiae of his royal life with Catherine, Princess of Wales in stride, though the Cancer prince may be secretly grateful when the focus diverts elsewhere. Prince William was born when the moon was in Cancer and Jupiter in Scorpio, lending an instinct for protection.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Bridge

Crossword by Phillip Alder

However, if you can visualize the distribution required for success, you can bring off any of the coups described in the literature.

In today’s deal, South’s four-spade contract looks impossible. Surely he will lose one spade, one diamond and two clubs, but look closer! West starts with three rounds of clubs. Declarer ruffs and takes two successful spade finesses, but East’s discard on the second is a setback. However, South cashes his red-suit winners.

Everyone is down to three cards. Dummy has the spade ace, a diamond and a club. East retains only red cards. South has two trumps and a diamond. West holds two trumps and a club. South has two ways home. The prosaic is to ruff dummy’s remaining club. The visualizer exits with his last diamond. East must lead a red card, which South ruffs. What does West do?

CAN YOU VISUALIZE OR SEE THE PLAY?

Robert L. Schwartz, a lawyer and author, wrote, “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer. He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it, he sees exactly how to make it happen.” There are a few bridge-play techniques that club players think are solely the domain of the expert.

If he overruffs, so does the dummy, and declarer takes the last trick with his trump. If instead West underruffs, dummy discards its club. Either way, declarer wins the last two tricks and makes his contract. This is called a Smother Play.

Give yourself 11 out of 10 if you saw that West would have defeated the contract by leading a diamond. How could he have possibly missed that?!

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

by

Difficulty level: GOLD

CAN YOU VISUALIZE OR SEE THE PLAY?

Robert L. Schwartz, a lawyer and author, wrote, “The entrepreneur is essentially a visualizer and an actualizer. He can visualize something, and when he visualizes it, he sees exactly how to make it happen.”

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

There are a few bridge-play techniques that club players think are solely the domain of the expert.

©

Today’s birthday

Cryptoquotes

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Love, loss, storytelling and aliens collide in Wes Anderson’s 1955 desert dreamland

Michael PhilliPs CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Wes Anderson’s latest mirage, “Asteroid City,” carries a lighter and literally sunnier spirit than usual for this filmmaker, whose sense of whimsy can sometimes curdle into, well, a bit of a load. Shooting in Spain, creating a drolly imagined Eisenhowerera desert town out of both practical and digital design elements, the big-sky, open-air setting of “Asteroid City” does something to Anderson’s fiercely hermetic and controlled aesthetic. Coming off the suffocating elaborations of his previous picture, “The French Dispatch,” this movie amounts to a similar risk with greater rewards.

Director Anderson and his frequent co-writer Roman Coppola set their tale(s) in 1955. In black-and-white, and a boxy aspect ratio, we’re presented first with a “Playhouse 90″-type TV program, hosted by Bryan Cranston in Rod Serlingesque tones. Tonight’s play, he tells us, is “Asteroid City,” in his words “an imaginary drama created expressly for this broadcast. The characters are fictional, the text hypothetical, the events an apocryphal fabrication – but together they present an authentic account of the inner workings of a modern theatrical production.”

So: It’s a play, written by a Wyoming-bred variation on Tennessee Williams or William Inge, played by Edward Norton. It’s also the story of the people staging this televised world premiere, under the creative sway of Actors Studiostyle methods of psychological exploration and performance techniques. Adrien Brody plays the director. Jason Schwartzman plays the leading actor, insecure about his progress in the role; Scarlett Johansson plays the nominal female lead. (Anderson movies never quite do well enough by the women on-screen.)

The scenes from “Asteroid City,” the play, unfold as a big, bright movie in widescreen color. (The cinematographer of “Asteroid City” is Robert D. Yeoman; the splendid production design came from Adam Stockhausen, who won an Oscar for Anderson’s “The

Daily Cryptoquotes

‘Asteroid

Grand Budapest Hotel.”)

The town of Asteroid City, somewhere in the American Southwest, hits the screen like a study in Formica, pastels, motor courts and atomic bombs going off in the distance.

Each year brings the Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention, where children compete for the best new inventions of the jetpack or functional ray gun variety. One of this year’s winning inventors, Woodrow (Jake Ryan), has three sisters (Ella, Gracie and Willan Faris) and one remote father, a war photographer (Schwartzman) whose wife died three weeks ago. He has not told his children the news because, as he eventually, reluctantly admits: “The time was never right.”

The convention gathers both townspeople (Steve Carell plays the friendly motel manager, owner of a martini-dispensing vending machine) and visitors alike. The most conspicuously glamorous guest is the Kim Novak-ian/Marilyn Monroevian movie star portrayed by Johansson. In the black-andwhite theater sequences, the same actors play the actors behind the roles. Much more goes on, chiefly an alien visitation that leads to a military and government lockdown. Tom Hanks plays the gruff father-in-law of the Schwartzman character; Tilda Swinton handles the role of an astronomer who says, in a cleverly dodgy line: “I never had children. Sometimes I wonder if I wish I should have.”

The narrative may defy easy recaps, but it’s easier to swing with it in the watching. On first viewing, a central limitation relates to Schwartzman, for whom the leading role was conceived and written. He does not easily suggest James Dean-brand brooding charisma. Nor, in this all-star ensemble of deadpan ringers, can he easily capture glimmers of interior feeling behind

the orderly Anderson facade of the characters. Johansson can do it; Jeffrey Wright can do it (he plays a buttoned-down general); new to this director, Hanks can do it. But it is not easy, and without those glimmers, there’s just not enough.

Anderson has acknowledged that he and co-writer Coppola thought a lot about early Sam Shepard when they began writing “Asteroid City.” This was after they got hemmed in by their original idea of making a movie about a play set in an automat. Does the Asteroid City/Manhattan contrast, the story’s central tension between cinematic and theatrical mythmaking, rhyme in interesting ways? Yes. Sometimes. Other times, it’s more a case of two ideas separated by two, maybe three time zones, conversing somewhat awkwardly.

What I like about “Asteroid City” is its sheer visual beauty, spiced with sweetness, and occasional dashes of real feeling. The quicktime banter keeps the movie moving, especially when delivered by superbly equipped actors such as Johansson and Hope Davis, who share a tasty overlapping exchange outside a communal shower. This too feels different for Anderson: He’s discovering the value of the rhythmic change-up, and he’s trying some new things here, establishing a compositional pattern and then playing with it, to keep us amused and slightly off-guard.

There are moments in “Asteroid City” when the playwithin-a-play-within-a-movie strategy recalls a line spoken by Matt Dillon’s town mechanic character: “Everything’s connected but nothing’s working.” Then, voila: an unaccountably funny highway shootout comes and goes, in a flash. Or else it’s a glancing moment of connection between two characters at odds, or at a remove. For all the acknowledged reference points at work here, from Billy Wilder’s “Ace in the Hole” to Wim Wenders’ “Paris, Texas,” Anderson keeps inventing and detailing new unrealities to explore. They don’t all satisfy, certainly not the same way, but they’re his, and nobody else’s. And this is his best movie since “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”

Word Sleuth

Crossword by Phillip Alder

Bridge

should South plan the play in four spades? West cashes two top clubs and exits with his diamond. How should declarer continue?

The auction was predictable, which is unusual these days. North jumped on round two to show more than a minimum. South preferred to try for the 10-trick game. Notice that five diamonds goes down two.

The impulsive declarer wins with the diamond ace and plays out three rounds of spades. Most of the time, that would work, but not here. West wins the third spade and exits with a heart, marooning declarer in the dummy. He tries to get back to hand by ruffing a diamond, but West overruffs to defeat the contract.

Alan Hale Jr., the skipper, spent some time trying to avoid being marooned on Gilligan’s Island. It was surely easier than trying to dress Ginger every day.

DO NOT BE MAROONED IN THE WRONG HAND

Let’s start with a little Irish humor: “There were two ships. One was painted red; one was painted blue. They collided. All the survivors were marooned.”

A bridge player may be marooned if he cannot safely get out of the hand where he finds himself.

In today’s deal, for example, how

After poring over the cards, he spotted the answer. At trick four, he cashed the heart ace. Then he played three rounds of spades, discarding the heart king and heart queen from the dummy. West took the fifth trick with his spade queen, but whatever he led now, declarer could win in his hand and remove West’s final spade. It was a variation of the Dentist’s Coup.

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

6/22/23

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

Let’s start with a little Irish humor: “There were two ships. One was painted red; one was painted blue. They collided. All the survivors were marooned.”

Difficulty level: BRONZE

Yesterday’s solution:

From left, Jake Ryan, Jason Schwartzman and Tom Hanks in “Asteroid City.”

CALMATTERS COMMENTARY

Taxpayers finance political stunts by California, Florida and Texas governors

The cross-country game of oneupmanship between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Republican governors of Florida and Texas is becoming more intense with every passing week. The latest move from Florida’s Ron DeSantis and Texas’ Greg Abbott is to send planes and buses full of Latin American migrants to California cities.

Newsom – backed by Attorney General Rob Bonta – has threatened legal or even criminal action for what they described as virtual kidnappings.

“I know one was on the basis of all the interviews and all the facts that are now in evidence,” Newsom said on NBC’s “Today” show after a plane brought immigrants to Sacramento. “Now we have to prove it.

“They’re human beings used as pawns for a guy’s political advancement. That’s pretty sad and pathetic,” Newsom continued. “This is California – fourth- or fifth-largest economy on planet Earth. We mean business. And so Ron DeSantis should know that.”

Bonta has fired off demands to Florida for details about the decision to send the migrants to California, and tweeted, “Statesanctioned kidnapping is immoral.”

DeSantis and Abbott contend that those sent to California agreed to being transported and their actions illustrate the Biden administration’s lack of action on border security.

“Texas border towns are overwhelmed & overrun because of Biden’s open border policies,” Abbott tweeted. “Texas buses migrants to self-declared sanctuary cities like LA to provide relief to our border communities. We will continue this effort until Biden secures the border.”

Predictably, the episode triggered another round of vitriol.

After Newsom denounced DeSantis, a presidential hopeful, again during a Fox News interview last week, DeSantis unloaded on Newsom during a bill-signing ceremony last week saying he “has a real serious fixation on the state of Florida. I think it’s just bizarre that he does that. What I would tell him is – you know what, stop pussyfooting around. Are you going to throw your hat into the ring and challenge Joe (Biden)?”

“Are you going to get in and do it, or are you going to sit on the sidelines and chirp?” DeSantis continued. “So why don’t you throw your hat into the ring, and then we’ll go ahead and talk about what’s happening.”

Florida and Texas taxpayers are financing the planes and buses that ferry migrants to California, and a little-noticed order by a federal judge revealed that one Newsom gesture is costing Californians more than a half-million dollars.

After Texas enacted a law to authorize private lawsuits against anyone who aborted a fetus with a detectable heartbeat, and made it virtually impossible to defend such a suit, Newsom persuaded the California Legislature to pass a copycat measure affecting manufacturers of banned firearms.

At the time, Newsom acknowledged that it was a stunt designed to highlight the absurdity of the Texas law rather than a serious expression of policy.

The Texas law has survived legal challenges so far, but the California law was quickly voided by federal Judge Roger Benitez as unconstitutional because it would have required defendants to pay the costs of litigation even if they won.

Newsom, who had been sharply critical of Benitez for previous gun rights decisions, praised the judge’s rejection of the law he had championed, saying, “I want to thank Judge Benitez. We have been saying all along that Texas’ anti-abortion law is outrageous. Judge Benitez just confirmed it is also unconstitutional.”

Later, Benitez awarded the gun rights groups which had challenged the California law almost $557,000 in attorney fees – money they can use to pursue many other challenges to California gun controls.

Taxpayers, not Newsom, are paying the price for his stunt.

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.

Juneteenth is for all and it’s personal

On June 19, 1865, in Galveston, Texas, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued an order that all slaves were free because of the Emancipation Proclamation. Now, President Abraham Lincoln signed that proclamation on January 1, 1863 but it took more than two years for Union troops to reach Texas and enforce the order. Slaves rejoiced and since then, Blacks have celebrated “Juneteenth.”

America’s “newest” holiday, Juneteenth, resonates with me not only because I’m Black but my enslaved ancestors in and around San Augustine, Texas, must’ve participated in that jubilation. While slavery wasn’t as central to the economy in Texas as it was in the rest of the south, it flourished in East Texas. And San Augustine (where both of my parents were born) was the third largest slaveholding area in the state.

As I’ve written before in columns and blogs, my research uncovered that my ancestor Ned Wade was purchased by Alexander Horton, a man of some renown in Texas history. He was aide de camp to Gen. Sam Houston and fought alongside Jim Bowie (yes, of the knife fame) at the Battle of San Jacinto.

THE OTHER SIDE COMMENTARY

Ned and his wife Anarchy had six children, all born into slavery. It’s fascinating that Ned and Anarchy were able to keep their family together. I’d love to know more about Ned and Anarchy Wade but as one former slave said in the Texas slave narratives, “All a slave have to go by am what de white folks tells him ‘bout his kinfolks.”

There are records of sales, auctions, estate sales and census records. But detailed personal information about Black slaves is hard to come by when they were seen as little more than farm equipment.

Juneteenth helps mark the end of chattel slavery in the United States. I specify chattel slavery because the 13th Amendment which was ratified on December 6, 1865, and is seen as the official end of slavery, actually still allows for slavery in the United States to this day. But that’s another column.

Juneteenth is an American holiday, not a Black holiday. Freedom and liberty for one group of Americans bolsters freedom for all Americans. These days we hear people talk about “freedom” and it’s often a dubious freedom. The freedom to not wear a mask, for instance. But Juneteenth is about actual freedom. The freedom to

be a free human being and not another’s property.

It’s our collective history, that shouldn’t be hidden away because some are offended or made uncomfortable by it. Up until a few years ago, many Americans had never heard of Juneteenth. Too many politicians these days would like to keep it that way. They want to whitewash history, as if blinding Americans to America’s sins absolves us. It doesn’t. Juneteenth is about triumph and jubilation and it should be something all Americans embrace.

I’ve no doubt that as the years pass, the significance of the holiday will wane as most do. Let’s be honest. We all love three-day weekends, no matter what the reason.

But for me, this past Monday, I thought about Ned and Anarchy and their six kids finally being told they were free, that they were no longer someone’s property. They didn’t have to worry about their family being scattered and sold off. And because of their perseverance, you’re reading this today. Peace.

Kelvin Wade, a writer and former Fairfield resident, lives in Sacramento. Reach him at Kelvinjwade@ outlook.com.

can fix its highways much faster, if it wants

M atthew Yglesias BLOOMBERG OPINION

The collapse of a section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, smack dab in the middle of the densest region of the U.S., is an obvious disaster for the nation’s transportation network. But the demolition work, which began within hours, is already ahead of schedule, the repair work will be expedited, and a temporary roadway will get cars moving before the repair is fully complete. And all of it is being live-streamed, for anyone who wants to keep an eye on things.

Given the generally glacial pace of infrastructure projects in America, it’s hard not to be impressed by the overall speed of this process. It naturally raises the question: Why can’t America do this for everything?

The answer, unfortunately, is that delay is a policy choice – one governments at various levels have opted for over the past half century, regularly prioritizing community input and litigation avoidance over the goal of getting something done quickly.

Contrast the I-95 bridge-rebuilding with another idea for moving cars more quickly through a Northeastern megalopolis: congestion pricing for New York City. This was championed by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2007-2008 and had the support of U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.* It died due to opposition from suburban representatives in the New York State legislature, who vetoed a neighboring jurisdiction’s ideas about how to manage its own roads.

Now the politics have changed and the city has a go-ahead for the program. But that came only after a multiyear environmental review to ascertain whether fewer traffic jams and more people riding mass transit was good or bad for the environment.

With the I-95 reconstruction in Philadelphia, there will be no such review – in part because rebuilding a highway is obviously bad for the environment. No study is required. But as it turns out, people like having functional highways even more than they care about air quality, so everyone is

comfortable brushing off the review.

Most environmental objections to congestion pricing – or to bike lanes in California – are in bad faith, which makes them harder to overcome. (It’s not as if there are legitimate environmental concerns that can be addressed.) But even for relatively uncontroversial highway programs, an emphasis on speed has been the exception rather than the rule.

As Zachary Liscow and Leah Brooks have shown, per-mile highway construction costs tripled between the 1960s and 1980s, with no increase in construction workers’ wages. What went wrong? They finger two culprits.

One is that the level of “citizen voice” in the process increased dramatically – wider ranges of stakeholders were given more opportunities to raise objections, making it harder for planners to insist on the most cost-effective routes and timetables. The other is that Americans got richer and bought more cars, so demand for highways remained strong no matter the cost. The interaction of these two factors led to a cost explosion.

It’s tempting to say that the high priority placed on the I-95 project by Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and other relevant officials accounts for the speedy process. But often the investment of political capital has the opposite impact. When a governor or mayor or senator lets it be known that a big project is a signature initiative, others see it as an opportunity. So they demand that the project come with some upgrades to nearby parks, or more noise-reduction barriers, or that the route be changed. The point is that once a project becomes a must-do, it gets an endless list of nice-to-have side benefits no matter what the impact on cost or timeline.

A classic example comes from the project to extend one line of the MBTA, greater Boston’s mass-transit system. As originally conceived, it was a pretty simple extension of an existing light-rail line into an existing railroad trench that needed to be widened, accompanied by some

brand-new stations. But over the course of the planning process, the project kept expanding. Besides widening the trench and adding new tracks, there was the matter of continuing bike/pedestrian path parallel to the trench. And it wasn’t enough for the new stations to be similar to the existing stations; they had to be signature architectural works with custom landscaping.

Eventually a new governor came in, said it was too much money, and told them to rework the project to be cheaper. Lo and behold, they did – returning to something like the simpler early vision. So while the new line doesn’t have as many community benefits, the community does have a new mass-transit line. If the governor had been more committed to the project, the community might have called his bluff and refused to settle for less.

On one level, this MBTA story, the I-95 rebuild and initiatives such as Operation Warp Speed or the speedy delivery of military hardware to Ukraine paint an optimistic picture of state capacity. There are clearly people in government who know how to get things done. On another level, that very fact is a reminder that there is no quick fix for the problems of cost bloat and delay.

To put it bluntly: Bringing in a new guy – whether it’s an “art of the deal” president or a U.S. transportation secretary from McKinsey – won’t necessarily speed things up. Because the delay comes not from government incompetence but from the great mass of citizens who demand more voice, more procedure, more consultation and more review.

Of course, it’s possible to do things more quickly. All it would require is copying the process – or, rather, lack of process – unfolding in Philadelphia.

Matthew Yglesias is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A co-founder of and former columnist for Vox, he writes the Slow Boring blog and newsletter. He is author, most recently, of “One Billion Americans.” (1) Bloomberg is the founder and owner of Bloomberg LP.

Dan Walters

Kelvin Wade

Spotify plans new premium tier, expected to include HiFi audio

BloomBerg

Spotify Technology SA is planning a more expensive subscription option that’s expected to include high-fidelity audio in an effort to drive more revenue and placate investors who’ve been saying the company should raise its prices.

Dubbed “Supremium” internally, according to people familiar with the strategy, the new tier will be Spotify’s most expensive plan and likely offer a HiFi feature the company first announced it was working on in 2021. Spotify delayed that product’s rollout after two of its competitors, Apple Music and Amazon Music, began offering the feature for free as part of their standard plans. The new tier will launch this year in non-U.S. markets first.

To augment its current “Premium” tier, Spotify will give subscribers expanded access to audiobooks, either through a specific number of hours free per month or a specific number of titles. There will be an option to purchase more. Currently, the company only sells audiobooks a la carte through its app. Spotify plans to introduce that feature in the U.S. in October, after first launching in markets abroad.

“At Spotify, we are constantly iterating and ideating to improve our product offering and offer value to users,” a company spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement. “But we don’t comment on speculation around possible new features and do not have anything new to share at this time.”

Shares fell 2.7% to $155.73 at 10:44 a.m. in New York. These changes might be enough to drive new revenue and maintain interest in a stock that has doubled so far this year to $159.99 per share. Spotify has been competing fiercely with the rival services from Apple Inc. and Amazon. com Inc., both of which hiked their standard plans’ prices by a dollar in the US to $10.99 per month in the past year.

Spotify’s $9.99 Premium plan, which includes access to podcasts and ad-free music listening, has remained the same in the U.S. since the service launched stateside. The company also offers a free version with commercials.

Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said on an earnings call earlier this year that the company balances pricing changes with the desire to grow subscribers. In 2022, the company increased prices in more than 40 markets.

“It’s definitely something that we’re doing, and we’re looking at it as a balanced portfolio approach, where in some markets we’re selectively increasing prices, because we’re in a more mature place,” he said. “In some markets, we’re mostly focused on growth.”

The company has been reining in costs this year in an effort to achieve profitability. It reduced staff by 6% in January and then cut an additional 2% of employees earlier this month. It also let high-profile podcast deals lapse and is looking to sublease floors in its New York City office.

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ADWOA D. COOPER, ISRAEL J. GRIER CASE NUMBER: CU23-01332

DOING BUSINESS AS AETHYNA HEALTH AND WELLNESS LOCATEDAT820WainwrightStreet, Benicia,CA.94510Solano.Mailingaddress820WainwrightStreet,Benicia,CA. 94510.IS(ARE)HEREBYREGISTERED BYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)Nimat Shakoor-Grantham820WainwrightStreet Benicia,94510.THISBUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessun derthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/NimatShakoor-Grantham INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONMay242028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: MAY252023 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023000872 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00063669 Published:May31June7,14,21,2023 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS DAVIS & ASSOCIATES LOCATEDAT1768TuolumneSt.,Vallejo, CA94589Solano.Mailingaddress1768 TuolumneSt.,Vallejo,CA94589.IS (ARE)HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHE FOLLOWINGOWNER(S)OsbyDavis 2507MarshfieldRd.Vallejo,94591.THIS BUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornames listedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.)

TOALLINTERESTEDPERSONS: Petitioner:AdwoaD.Cooperfiledapetitionwiththiscourtforadecreechanging namesasfollows: PresentName: a. Israel J. Grier ProposedName: a. Israel J. Cooper THECOURTORDERSthatallpersonsinterestedinthismattershallappearbefore thiscourtatthehearingindicatedbelowto showcause,ifany,whythepetitionfor changeofnameshouldnotbegranted. Anypersonobjectingtothename changesdescribedabovemustfileawrittenobjectionthatincludesthereasonsfor theobjectionatleasttwocourtdaysbeforethematterisscheduledtobeheard andmustappearatthehearingtoshow causewhythepetitionshouldnotbegranted.Ifnowrittenobjectionistimelyfiled, thecourtmaygrantthepetitionwithouta hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING

Date: Aug. 25, 2023; Time: 9:00 am; Dept: 4; Rm: 305 The address of the court is: SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF Hall Of Justice 600 Union Ave. Fairfield, CA 94533

AcopyofthisOrdertoShowCausemust bepublishedatleastonceeachweekfor foursuccessiveweeksbeforethedateset forhearingonthepetitioninthefollowing newspaperofgeneralcirculation,printed inthiscounty:FairfieldDailyRepublic PleasefileProofofPublication5businessdaysinadvanceof hearingdate. (newspaperdoesnotfilew/court).

Date:5/31/2023 /s/StephenGizzi JudgeoftheSuperiorCourt FILED:MAY312023 DR#00063854 Published:June7,14,21,28,2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS NORTHCAL LUXURY PAINTING LOCATEDAT2847CandleberryWay, FairfieldCA.Mailingaddress2847 CandleberryWay,Fairfield.IS(ARE) HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)AurelianoOchoa 2847CandleberryWayFairfield,94533 THISBUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/AurelianoOchoa INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONJune012028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: JUN022023 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023000903 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00063856 Published:June7,14,21,28,2023

/s/OsbyDavis INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION

(a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONMay292028. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: MAY302023

NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2023000889 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00063834 Published:June7,14,21,28,2023

Soccer

From Page B1

impose a salary budget of $5.21 million per team. Teams may also sign three designated players, whose salaries count only partially against the cap, and can spend an additional $4.62 million in allocation money, exceptions to the budget caps designed to give teams a mechanism to attract top talent.

Those rules produced top-heavy payrolls that see some players get paid well while others scrape by. LAFC, for example, has six players making more than $1 million while a third of the players on the roster make less than $128,000. With the crowded schedule, there needs to be a mechanism that allows teams to add depth.

“If you want to consistently compete in finals and win these, you’re going to have to rethink your roster rules and regulations,” Cherundolo said after his team was swept by León in the two-leg CONCACAF Champions League final. “Money in this game buys quality players.

“Roster building is about … having deeper rosters and more players.”

That breaking point will come at different times for different teams, but LAFC might have brushed the wall already. Juggling MLS and CONCACAF Champions League games at the same time, the team played five games in two countries in a 15-day period without winning a game, going 407 minutes without scoring a goal.

And LAFC is arguably the deepest team in the league. Imagine what the coming crunch will do to lesser teams.

Even one of the people responsible for overbooking the calendar agrees it’s now too crowded.

“I think there is congestion. I think it’s an issue for soccer or football globally,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber, who nonetheless signed off on the Leagues Cup

Local

From Page B1

final three.

The trip through the Northwest concludes Sunday.

and extended MLS playoff schedule, which could mean as many as nine additional games for some teams. “At some point, too much soccer is going to be too much soccer for fans and for players.”

The scheduling crunch isn’t just an issue in the U.S. It’s also affecting play in Europe. Kevin De Bruyne, who played 57 matches in 10 months for Manchester City and Belgium, was so battered by the end he couldn’t finish his club’s two most important matches, the FA Cup and Champions League finals, getting subbed off both times.

Yet because money, not the players’ health or the quality of play, is driving scheduling decisions, expect to see more, not fewer games added to club and national team calendars. As a result, the games and the tournaments and the hype are nonstop. There’s no chance for anyone – players, fans or coaches – to take a breath, focus and enjoy one event because the next one is about to start.

It’s all become too much. Way too much.

Consider the two CONCACAF tournaments, which are separated by only a week. They are played under different rules and have different qualifying procedures, but both are confederation championships and need to be taken seriously.

Charlie Davies, the former U.S. national team forward turned CBS studio analyst, believes there can be benefits to a crowded schedule. But he’s glad he never had to play one.

“If MLS is trying to compete with some of the top leagues in the world, it means more competitions and it means more games against higher quality opponents,” he said. “So inevitably, that means higher quality games and more of them.

“But I’m not gonna lie. If I’m playing, I’m not trying to play 75 games in a season.”

Tri-Valley defeated American Canyon (John Mendoza Plumbing) in the semifinals Sunday and Sonoma defeated Yountville (Giants).

Inter Miami owner Jorge Mas opens up about his Messi deal

Michelle K aufM an MIAMI HERALD

After going “dark and silent for a significant amount of time”, Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas broke his silence on the impending Lionel Messi deal, its impact on the team and Major League Soccer, and the status of Miami Freedom Park. He confirmed during a wide-ranging conversation with a small group of reporters that Messi and the club have agreed to terms and are finalizing paperwork and visas. The target date for his first game in a Miami uniform is July 21 at DRV PNK Stadium for the Leagues Cup opener against Mexican team Cruz Azul.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations said it is a two-and-a-halfyear deal worth $50 million to $60 million per year with an option for 2026. It will include salary, bonuses and equity in the club upon the end of his playing days. Mas stressed that there is no direct subsidy from the league and “absolutely

Mays

From Page B1

their franchise icon and play on the field where Mays started his career.

no changes in the roster rules. There are no categories or anything that is being changed to incorporate Lionel Messi on to inter Miami’s roster.”

Deals with MLS commercial partners Adidas, Apple, and others are still pending, according to league sources. Mas called Messi’s imminent signing “the one seminal moment” in U.S. soccer history, adding “I think there will always be a before and after Messi when we talk about the sport in the United States. I have a very, very strong held belief that we can create in North America and the United States if not the greatest league, one of the top two leagues in the world. I cannot over emphasize the magnitude of this announcement.

“Having the world’s greatest player here is something that is significant for our league, and for the football ecosystem in the United States… Lionel Messi is coming to this country to win cups

and make a difference. I think it’s incumbent upon myself and my partners in the league, the other owners, to seize the moment.”

Among the topics

Mas addressed…

Increased capacity at DRV PNK Stadium in anticipation of Messi’s arrival: “We have already contracted to fill in the corners of the stadium that should increase capacity by approximately 3,000 to 3,200 seats (New capacity: 22,000 to 22,200). We are gearing up to do that work in the next four weeks. Every game will be sold out. The demand for tickets has been 10 times what we can handle on a season ticket basis.”

Update on Miami Freedom Park construction: “Since we signed a lease in February we applied for permits we anticipate getting the go ahead to start doing all of the remediation, utilities, etc. any day now. That’s imminent. I would anticipate starting hopefully

in the next two weeks. We’re going to be fast tracking everything, targeting having the stadium ready at some point in the summer or early fall of 2025.” He added that the club seats and VIP areas will be enhanced as Messi will be part of the team when they inaugurate the stadium. Additional security measures for Messi: “Security will obviously be enhanced. Players will be bussed in, going through a tunnel. All of those security protocols are already prepared both for here and away. And it’s not only for our games. It’s going to be an everyday occurrence and something we witnessed and I thought handled very well when (Messi) was here with Argentina before the World Cup. As you may recall, Argentina trained in Miami before they flew over to to Doha. Where we had an opportunity to see some of the Messi mania at our doors on an everyday basis during practice. So, we’re very prepared. We’ve been getting ready for this.”

with the city of Birmingham and the Friends of Rickwood organization to help bring the stadium that was built in 1910 up to MLB standards.

District 53

Little League TOC finals

set for Wednesday

FAIRFIELD — District

53 Little League will crown its major and minor league champions Wednesday night as the Tournament of Champions for both levels concludes.

The major division game will feature Sonoma (Bears) against American Canyon (AC Orthodontics). They will square off at 5:30 p.m. at the Fairfield Atlanta Little League diamond.

Sonoma defeated Tri-Valley on Monday and American Canyon defeated Fairfield Atlantic (Diamondbacks) in semifinal games.

The minor division championship pits TriValley against Sonoma (Yankees) at Tri-Valley Little League in Cordelia. First pitch is also 5:30 p.m. for the minors.

Alumni

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three of his starts in June for a 3-0 overall record. He has worked 39.1 innings with 38 strikeouts and also has one save. n n n

Two area catchers have spent recent days on the injured list for their respective minor league teams.

Carter Bins (Rodriguez) has been on the 60-day injured list with the Altoona Curve, the Double-

Rio Vista girls wrestling earns state GPA honor

FAIRFIELD — The California Interscholastic Federation announced 34 State Academic Team Champions for the 2022-23 school year, and one Solano County squad was among them.

The Rio Vista High School girls wrestling team was one of 10 teams in the state to achieve a 4.00 team GPA. Other Sac-Joaquin Section champions with 4.0s were River Valley (Girls Golf) and Stone Ridge Christian (Girls Basketball).

Inderkum (Boys Tennis) notched a 3.96 as the fourth section school honored. CIF Champions will receive a banner to display in their school gymnasiums. CIF Section Academic Team Champions were forwarded to the CIF for the state office’s consideration.

A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bins has had only one plate appearance this season and hasn’t been in a game since May 16.

Troy Claunch (Vacaville) has been on the seven-day disable list and hasn’t played since May 29 for the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, a Single-

A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Claunch has a batting average of .203 with two home runs, 11 RBIs, 11 runs scored and 16 hits in 79 plate appearances this season.

“I can’t believe it. I never thought I’d see in my lifetime a Major League Baseball game being played on the very field where I played baseball as a teenager,” Mays said in a statement released by MLB. “It has been 75 years since I played for the Birmingham Black Barons at Rickwood Field, and to learn that my Giants and the Cardinals will play a game there and honor the legacy of the Negro Leagues and all those who came before them is really emotional for me. We can’t forget what got us here and that was the Negro Leagues for so many of us.” MLB has had multiple one-off games

Kings

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winning a championship last week with the Denver Nuggets. The journeyman scoring guard has averaged 12.8 points per game over his career, peaking at 18.8 with the Detroit Pistons in 2015-16.

Jackson is overall a success story for someone taken at No. 24, but he was never considered a true franchise building block. He can score but provides little else, making him an offensive mercenary late in his career.

n Lowry went 24th overall to the Memphis Grizzlies way back in

Greg Garrison/AL.com/TNS

Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, is the nations oldest baseball stadium.

at different locations in the United States since 2016, when the Marlins and Braves first played a game at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. MLB has held an annual Little League game in Williamsport, Pa., during the Little League World Series since 2017 (excluding 2020), played one game at the home of the College World Series in

2006 and made six consecutive All-Star games from 2015-2020. He won a championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019 as the team’s fourth-leading scorer while hitting a series of clutch shots along the way. He spent the last two seasons with the Miami Heat, seeing his role diminish with Modesto native Gabe Vincent’s rise to prominence.

Surely the Kings would love to draft a multipletime All-Star like Lowry at pick No. 24. Lowry did well for himself financially, earning more than $245 million in salary from NBA teams over his career.

n Arvydas Sabonis is often at Kings games

2019 and has played two Field of Dreams games in Dyersville, Iowa, in 2021 and 2022.

The Field of Dreams game isn’t happening in 2023 and reportedly won’t happen in 2024, either. But instead, MLB will honor the Negro Leagues by bringing the game to the 123-year-old Rickwood Field, with the league announcing they will work

checking in on his son, All-Star center Domantas Sabonis. He wound up getting drafted 24th in 1986, but only after some controversy. He was initially tapped with pick No. 77 by the Atlanta Hawks in 1985, but the selection was later voided because he wasn’t 21 at the time.

Sabonis then suffered a series of injuries, including a serious one to his Achilles, and didn’t begin playing for Portland until 1995 after years playing professionally in Lithuania and Spain. He would become one of the best passing big men in history and one of the notable “what-ifs?” of his generation.

Had Sabonis been

“We are proud to bring Major League Baseball to historic Rickwood Field in 2024, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “This opportunity to pay tribute to the Negro Leagues as the Giants and Cardinals play a regular season game at this iconic location is a great honor. The legacy of the Negro Leagues and its greatest living player, Willie Mays, is one of excellence and perseverance. We look forward to sharing the stories of the Negro Leagues throughout this event next year.” The Giants will be the road team for the game, which will air on Fox and start at 4 p.m. PT. Both the Giants and the Cardinals will wear Negro League uniforms.

healthy and come to the league in his early 20s, he could have been an era-defining player given his passing and overall offensive skill set. And if he were allowed to play for the Hawks after they took him in ’85, he would have joined a team that included Dominique Wilkins and Spud Webb.

n Other notable players to have successful NBA careers picked at No. 24: Tim Hardaway Jr. (2013), Serge Ibaka (2008), Delonte West (2004), Andrei Kirilenko(1999), Derek Fisher (1996), Sam Cassell (1993), Latrell Sprewell (1992) and Brian Shaw (1988).