Daily Republic: Monday, June 26, 2023

US officials: Putin was weakened by brief rebellion

Washington Post

In a rare show of bipartisan agreement, U.S. officials and lawmakers from both parties said Sunday that the brief rebellion against Russia’s defense officials by a Russian mercenary group had weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin – and strengthened the United States’ resolve to continue supporting Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the insurrection over the weekend by mercenary Wagner Group forces – as well as how it was ultimately resolved – showed “cracks in the facade”

of Putin’s authoritarian leadership.

“What we’ve seen is extraordinary,” Blinken said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “Think about it this way:

16 months ago Russian forces were on the doorstep of Kyiv in Ukraine, believing they would take the capital in a matter of days and erase the country from the map as an independent country. Now, what we’ve seen is Russia having to defend Moscow, its capital, against mercenaries of his own making.”

Wagner Group soldiers had marched

See Putin, Page A7

Isom bids farewell during last Fairfield school board meeting

susan hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield Board of Trustees said goodbye to board president David C. Isom, who is soon moving to Missouri.

A longtime member of the community, he served on the board five separate times as president since being first appointed to the Fairfield-Suisun school board in September 2010, and has added additional four-year terms over the years.

Trump cases present legal crisis for nation

K evin RectoR

LOS ANGELES TIMES

When he announced the federal indictment of former President Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith said there is “one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.”

But that isn’t necessarily true.

According to many legal and political scholars and the Justice Department itself, there are different rules for sitting U.S. presidents, including that they cannot be criminally prosecuted while in office.

That rule – which is both long-standing and open to debate – is at the center of a staggering legal crisis looming before the nation as the twiceindicted former president seeks a second term.

Trump’s precarious legal position as a leading presidential contender has put the federal government’s executive and judicial branches on a high-speed collision course, scholars say, and could lead to political and constitutional crises if not averted by voters.

A Trump victory in the November 2024 general election would not be precluded by the pending charges, potential convictions or even Trump’s imprisonment. And it would test the nation’s separation of powers and the presumed privileges of the presidency like never before.

Trump’s reelection could spur court battles over his ability to pardon himself or to direct the Justice Department to dismiss charges against him in any ongoing federal cases, and over his continued vulnerability in ongoing state prosecutions. Those include cases in New York, where he has been indicted, and Georgia, where he is under investigation.

If any of the cases are decided before the election, a Trump victory could spark legal battles over the terms of any convictions and whether he would still be subject to them as president.

The circumstances are so unprecedented, and the law around presidential privileges so unsettled, that it is impossible to know how all of Trump’s legal and political woes

See Trump, Page A7

"It has been an honor to serve this district and serve the community," Isom said. "I appreciate the trust that was bestowed on me by members of this community."

He gave a shout-out to the most important human being in his life, his wife Stephanie.

"I know they will be in great hands because of the incredi-

ble leadership team with Kris Corey, who I have grown to appreciate as a leader and a personal friend," he said.

School Board Trustee Craig Wilson will be taking up the gavel after Isom leaves.

Isom originally came to Fairfield to serve a congregation as pastor for St. Stephen Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in 2007. That gave him a chance to help the community in many different ways.

During the farewell, he took the time to honor Annette Williams ,who is a member of his congregation and also helps out at the school district for the last 40 years of service.

Superintendent Kris Corey presented Isom with a plaque with a golden gavel (not real gold). Isom was on the board that hired her 10 years ago.

"I think if you look at my cell phone, you will see I have called him the most out of anyone I know," Corey said during the meeting. "This is for all your leadership and direction. We really appreciate your support."

Isom’s contributions to the community are many, including SafeQuest Solano naming him as its interim executive director for at least six months back in 2013.

SafeQuest is a nonprofit that helps victims of domestic violence and sexual assaults. The office offers several services, as well as a shelter, and is funded by a combination of county, state and grant funds.

Isom also served on a steering committee of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Domestic Violence in the African

See Isom, Page A7

Can a $20 million liability fund encourage more ‘good fire’ in state?

a lex WigglesWoRth

LOS ANGELES TIMES

As California grapples with increasingly destructive wildfires due in part to climate change, many experts insist that the state must fight fire with fire and expand the use of controlled burns to clear forests of excess fuel and restore ecosystem health.

However, a key barrier to purposely setting fire to forest vegetation has been the inability to obtain insurance coverage for burn operations.

Now, a new state program seeks to solve that problem by establishing a $20-million claims

fund to cover damages should a controlled burn escape.

“We call this good fire, beneficial fire,” said state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, who sponsored legislation creating the fund. “It reduces hazardous fuels, which really create the volatility of these fires, particularly with wind and hot days and low humidities.”

“Good fire” can refer to prescribed burning – the practice of setting land alight under optimal conditions to reduce vegetation that could fuel a catastrophic wild-

fire – or cultural burning – the controlled application of fire to achieve cultural goals or objectives set by Indigenous practitioners.

Cultural burning was practiced in California for millenniums before colonizers forced Native people from their lands and adopted policies to aggressively suppress intentionally and naturally sparked blazes. Forests that had become adapted to fire grew denser, less diverse and more flammable – particularly as climate change

made conditions hotter and drier.

The state is now seeking to restore the historical balance by encouraging more intentionally set fires and has set a goal of 400,000 acres a year by 2025.

“We really need to restore fire as a process on our California landscape,” said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network and a member of the working group that developed the pilot program.

Private liability

See Fire, Page A7

Courtesy Photo

Tilley, Jack Flynn, Craig Wilson, David C. Isom with wife Stephanie, Judi Honeychurch, Bethany Smith, Student Board Member, Lavani Madadi and Ana Petero. Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg

Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State, speaks during a news conference in Beijing, Monday, June 19.

Jasmine rocks her Nana’s vintage Dittos jeans

Note: This is a work of fiction, but I definitely remember Dittos jeans.

There is a saying that the three stages of life are wanting stuff, accumulating stuff and getting rid of stuff. The truth of that adage was brought home to 17-year-old Jasmine Hendrickson when she helped her dad clean out her beloved grandmother’s house.

Desdemona Phillips had been called Dee Dee by most of her friends, but to Jasmine she was just Nana. Dee Dee was young at heart and tragically was only 66 when the Big C brutally and suddenly struck her down. That was in November of 2022 and to help manage her grief, Jasmine busied herself on the weekends by helping her parents clean out Nana’s house to get it ready to sell. Nana wasn’t a hoarder by any stretch, but she did have a boatload of stuff.

After a couple of weeks of postings on Facebook Marketplace and a successful garage sale, they whittled the boatload down to dingy size and donated the rest. Then in February, Jasmine’s dad started to tackle Nana’s storage unit.

He came home one day and deposited a large wooden trunk in Jasmine’s room using a dolly.

“I think my mom would have wanted you to have this,” he said as he handed her the key to the lock on the trunk. Jasmine was intrigued and unlocked the mysterious chest. When she flung it open it released a strong, but not unpleasant, musty odor.

Charlene MacPherson remembers the precise moment she fell in love with the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons.

She was a freshman at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, with only a vague idea of what she wanted to do after college. It was her first time playing. Her friend from the school’s nerd-dominated fencing team was the dungeon master, a role somewhere between a narrator, an omniscient team captain and a god. Someone rolled a 1, traditionally the worst possible score on the game’s iconic 20-sided die, and everyone groaned. But instead of saying the player dropped their sword when they meant to cut a magical tablet in half, the dungeon master said they accidentally stabbed a goblin and would have to spend the entirety of their next turn trying to shake the goblin’s body off their sword.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so funny!’” MacPherson said.

CORRECTION

There were several old copies of the Daily Republic on top and the dates were from the late 1970s. Jasmine hadn’t seen an actual newspaper in years and was amused by how ginormous they were. She held one out with her arms at 45 degree angles and the paper was like a sail on a schooner. She moved all of them to the floor and was taken aback by what was underneath.

Clothes. Vintage clothes. Well, they weren’t vintage when Nana had worn them, but they definitely were now. She pulled out a pair of bright yellow pants and looked at the label.

“Dittos,” she said aloud. Jasmine had never heard of them so she grabbed her phone and after emerging from a brief trip down a Google rabbit hole eight-and-a-half minutes later, she had learned, among other things, the following:

Dittos were one of the first lines of jeans designed for a woman’s figure and were created, perhaps ironically, by two men, Richard Leff and Alan Kane in 1972.

Dittos were known for their flare legs and signature saddleback stitching on the seat that was popular with women who wore them and men who admired the women who wore them.

The brand’s successful and aggressive marketing plan labeled them “the hottest jeans in America” and used the catchphrase “Feel the Fit.”

The iconic jeans were produced in factories in the San Fernando Valley in California

MacPherson’s love of the geeky adventure game has only grown over the years. But now, she appreciates it for more than the goofiness it can inspire. As a licensed clinical social worker, she’s been using the tabletop game since 2019 to provide group and individual therapy to autistic people, as well as people with depression, anxiety and other mental health diagnoses.

Through her work as a certified therapeutic game master based in Linthicum, Maryland, MacPherson has watched her clients learn how to set firm boundaries, make healthy friendships, voice their opinions and celebrate what makes them different – all in an accepting fantasy world where mistakes don’t have scary consequences. A big part of the magic of Dungeons & Dragons, and why it’s so effective as a framework for group therapy, is that it provides a safe space where people can test out social skills and other strategies they learn in individual

and later in Colfax, Louisiana, and at one point had sales of $32 million a year before the company was sold to Jordache.

One other thing Jasmine noted was that Dittos were available in a wide variety of colors. Nana appeared to have, if not all, then most of them. Black, brown, forest green, pink, powder blue, rust, aqua … it was like that song that listed a ton of colors describing the namesake garment in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

Jasmine tried on the brightyellow pair and almost burst into tears when they fit her perfectly. The snug fit was complimentary and unlike any other pants Jasmine owned. Clearly her Nana had loved them too.

As a young woman, Nana had worked at the JCPenney in Fairfield and evidently bought every single color of Dittos they had. She must have had an employee discount because at that time they cost about $20 a pair, which would be $100 in 2023.

Jasmine vowed to wear them the rest of her senior year at Armijo High to honor her

therapy without fear of being judged, mocked or rejected, MacPherson said.

For example, MacPherson said, she may assign the character of a grumpy dwarf to someone who struggles to set healthy boundaries.

“They’re playing this grumpy dwarf who says, ‘No,’ all the time and everybody’s laughing and having a good time,” MacPherson said. “Then, the client gets to see, ‘Oh. When you set boundaries, it’s not dangerous all the time.’”

MacPherson is still only one of a handful of mental health providers around the world who use Dungeons & Dragons – first published in 1974 – to provide therapy, but their numbers are growing. At least two U.S. organizations – Geek Therapeutics and Game to Grow – train therapists how to use D&D and other tabletop games in their practice.

Geek Therapeutics, based in Fort Worth, Texas, has certified more than 400 mental health providers as therapeutic game masters, said

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

grandmother. She was a little concerned that her dad might balk at that, but he was the one who had given her the trunk in the first place. She was certain that she could break through any static he might give her.

She pulled each pair of Dittos out and marveled at how many there were. Underneath the layer of colorful jeans she found pristine vintage t-shirts. They featured 70s pop culture icons such as The Hardy Boys, Leif Garrett, The Commodores, Andy Gibb, Bee Gees, The Jacksons and others.

When she saw several tube tops, Jasmine just left them in the trunk because she knew there was absolutely no way her dad would allow her to wear them. In that case there wouldn’t even be a circuitous route to a yes through the Mom Court of Appeals either.

Platform shoes and puka shell necklaces under the shirts were perfect accessories.

She washed her cache and the following Monday wore pink Dittos with the black Commodores shirt.

It did not go well. In addition to looks, stares and pointing,

Anthony Bean, the company’s founder and a licensed clinical psychologist. Game to Grow also has trained hundreds of therapists – including MacPherson – in its methodology, said Adam Davis, the Seattle-based nonprofit’s co-founder and executive director.

“People have been using stories to connect and grow since we crawled out of the ooze,” Davis said. “The idea of using tabletop role-playing games for insight, growth and change – as new as it is, it’s also very, very old.”

Megan Connell, a licensed clinical psychologist based in North Carolina, recently released a guide for therapists who use Dungeons & Dragons and other roleplaying games as part of their practice. Having clients work on skills in the context of a game where they’re playing a character alleviates some of the awkwardness they may feel acting out scenarios as themselves, Connell said.

“When we’re role-

some of the crueler students just said their snide comments to her face.

“Are you going back to the future?” some jerk yelled at her as she was walking to second period past B wing.

Elizabeth Bancroft, a senior cheerleader, asked her if she had thought it was Spirit Week or something.

Jasmine mostly shrugged off the snarkiness, though a few comments did land. Still, her love for her Nana trumped any of the foolishness she encountered and she stuck to her guns.

Eventually the teasing ceased and Jasmine actually began to see other girls on campus wearing vintage Dittos. Not many, but some.

She felt much better about her decision to honor her Nana.

The icing on the cake was when the yearbooks came out and she was listed in the Senior Superlatives section, next to Chad Barlow who had a penchant for Member’s Only jackets, fedoras and Angels Flight pants, as “Most Retro Cool.” It featured several shots of Jasmine rocking her Nana’s Dittos arranged like a rainbow.

Fairfield freelance humor columnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns – “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California,” “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California,” the upcoming book “Armijo High School: Fairfield, California” and hosts the Channel 26 government access TV show “Local Legends.”

playing a character, we have this freedom to try things,” Connell said. “And if things go badly, well that wasn’t me, that was my character.”

MacPherson started offering Dungeons & Dragons therapy groups in 2019 while she was working at St. John’s College in Annapolis. She later began offering D&D therapy groups through her private practice, and eventually accumulated enough clients to transition to a full-time private therapist. Now, she sees around 27 clients per week in group sessions. Most are older than 30, and are female or nonbinary, she said. About 80% identify as LGBTQ+ and about 20% are people of color.

Many of MacPherson’s neurodiverse clients grew up being shamed for their style of communication and atypical problemsolving skills. Having a fantasy world where creative thinking isn’t just accepted, but encouraged, can help heal old wounds, MacPherson said.

“Like 90% of my job

as a therapist, honestly, is to get people to stop beating themselves up in their heads – the shame, the blame, all of it,” she said. “It makes everything worse.”

MacPherson knows from personal experience how validating it can feel to be appreciated in a game like Dungeons & Dragons. She was recently diagnosed with ADHD and feels insecure about her tendency to talk over people or talk too much when she gets excited. She remembers how good it felt when the character she played in a 2017 online D&D campaign became a favorite of the group’s.

During the campaign, MacPherson’s character and others in the game captured a pirate ship and had to choose a captain. The group immediately chose MacPherson’s character – a frog-like humanoid bard named Brip Von Bripinstien III. The experience made her realize how much her clients would benefit from having similar ones.

A tiny model of the character still sits on her desk.

Tony Wade

The last laugh

Buffalo Soldiers making a visit to Peña Adobe Park Saturday

SuSan HiLand

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — Company G of the 10th Cavalry, better known as the Buffalo Soldiers, will be riding back to Peña Adobe Park for another visit this month.

The event will be on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Peña Adobe Park off Interstate 80, left of the Lagoon Valley Park entrance.

Since 2021, the Buffalo Soldiers have been sharing their rich history with Peña Adobe park visitors

They will be joined by the mounted volunteers of Solano County Sheriff’s Posse and their horses at the Peña Adobe Historical Society’s openhouse event.

The Buffalo Soldiers are a living-history group that was established in the Sacramento area almost 30 years ago. The group recreates the black cavalry units that served in the Old West from 1866 to 1891. Company G’s goal is to tell the story of the Buffalo Soldiers’ history visiting schools, community

organizations, churches and public events. They will have artifacts of the Buffalo Soldiers’ history on display and members, dressed in the uniforms of that time, will be on hand to talk with park visitors.

The Sheriff’s Posse has been part of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office for more than 70 years. Volunteers use their horses and equipment to help the department with search-and-rescue efforts, emergency services and as public ambassadors.

Music will be provided by the Vacaville Jammers. Under the direction of Leslie and Terry Clopper, the Jammers based at the McBride Center in Vacaville, are a group of musicians who sing and play a variety of instruments, including guitar,

banjo, mandolin, fiddle and harmonica.

The Peña Adobe, built by pioneer Juan Felipe Peña in 1842, will be open for tours. The park is also home to the MowersGoheen Museum. Museum displays include items of the area’s early history and will also be open to visitors. Explore the park grounds and visit the Indian Council Grounds, the newly restored Willis Linn Jepson Memorial Garden or join a docentled nature walk.

For more information, call 707 447-0518, or visit www.penaadobe.org. This event is free!

Government meetings

FAIRFIELD — The area government meetings will be held this week. They are open to the public with some being online and in-person and others only in-person, check the websites for more information.

They will include:

n Fairfield Suisun Sewer District Board Meeting, 6 p.m. Monday, 1010 Chadbourne Road,

Executive conference room, Fairfield. Info: fssd. com.

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

n Suisun City Council, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, City Council chamber, 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www.suisun.com/government/city-council

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

n Suisun City Planning Commission Special Meeting, 6 p.m., Thursday 701 Civic Center Blvd. Info: www.suisun.com/ Government/City-Council/Agendas

n Vacaville Unified School District Board of Trustees, 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Boardroom at the Educational Services Center (ESC), 401 Nut Tree Road, Vacaville. Info: https://go.boarddocs.com/ ca/vusdca/Board.nsf/ vpublic?open.

Newsom’s pestering of DeSantis seeps into 2024 presidential race

Taryn Luna

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show, a conduit into the bloodstream of former President Trump’s America, California Gov. Gavin Newsom seemed to delight in trolling Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis.

Newsom said Trump will “clean his clock” in the GOP presidential primary and immediately accepted Hannity’s challenge to debate the conservative Florida governor. DeSantis returned fire three days later, saying Newsom has a “bizarre” fixation on Florida and should “stop pussyfooting around” and run for president. Hours later, the DeSantis campaign started selling T-shirts with that slogan for $34.47.

The problem for DeSantis: Each time he swings back at Newsom, he finds himself in a fight with the wrong guy.

Aides to Newsom and DeSantis agree that there’s no greater political dichotomy at the moment than California and Florida, and their governors. But at least for now, the rivalry benefits one man more than the other.

DeSantis is campaigning for president in 2024, and instead of “punching down” in a fight with a governor, it serves him better to spar with candidates in his path to the White House: Trump and President Biden, according to Nick Iarossi, a Tallahassee lobbyist and informal advisor to DeSantis.

“Newsom has been someone that’s like a gnat or mosquito in your face just trying to annoy you

Billions in new climate funding coming to ballot

PauL rogerS BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Massive forest fires. Deadly floods. Record heat waves. Historic droughts.

Over the past decade, California has repeatedly experienced the destructive impacts of climate change – “weather on steroids” – costing billions of dollars in damage and claiming dozens of lives.

Now, in what may be the largest environmental measure ever placed on a state ballot in California, lawmakers in Sacramento are drafting a $15 billion “climate bond” for next year’s elections to test whether voters are willing to open their wallets to harden the state’s defenses.

There’s no part of the state that is untouched.”

In a PPIC poll last July, 72% of registered voters in California said the impacts of climate change are already underway in the state. That included 81% of Democrats, 73% of independents and 45% of Republicans.

But will voters approve money to reduce the impacts of climate change?

Last November, voters in New York state approved a $4.2 billion climate bond by an overwhelming 67%-33%, giving a road map to California lawmakers writing a West Coast version.

and get attention to distract from what’s really going on in his own state,” Iarossi said.

Newsom’s confidants agree that the Florida governor had been relatively disciplined in not engaging with Newsom and brushing off his comments, in an effort to appear presidential. Yet they celebrate each time DeSantis takes the bait, elevating Newsom’s national profile and giving him an opportunity to fight DeSantis in a way that helps Biden in the presidential race.

“All that does for Newsom is tell him he got under his skin, and Newsom can keep teeing off,” said Jim DeBoo, the California governor’s former chief of staff.

During the Fox News interview this month, Newsom offered a fullthroated defense of Biden’s “bipartisan” record as commander in chief. He slapped down Hannity’s claims that Biden isn’t cognitively competent to run again and praised the president’s work to boost the semiconductor industry, his infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act.

While acknowledging California’s homelessness crisis, Newsom pushed back on the GOP’s constant attacks on him and the state, boasting about its thriving economy and challenging the argument that more Californians are fleeing to Florida than the other way around.

“With all due respect, Florida doesn’t even come close,” Newsom said. “Eat your heart out, Texas. California continues to be the dominant economic engine for the American [people].”

Newsom’s performance earned national praise from Democrats and some Republicans. DeSantis’ decision to respond in kind – and his answer –show that he “isn’t ready for prime time,” DeBoo said. “He answered it the way a sixth grade bully would have answered something, as opposed to a presidential candidate.”

Iarossi contends that DeSantis’ response made sense to try to fire up GOP voters in California on the eve of a fundraising trip to the Golden State.

Iarossi said DeSantis raised more money in California than in any other

state, including Florida, in the 24 hours after his campaign launched.

DeSantis on Monday released a campaign video calling attention to a “great experiment in governing philosophy” between the two states and dragging California’s crime, homelessness crisis and population decline. The next day, he released another video of himself “in the once great city of San Francisco.”

“We came in here, and we saw people defecating on the street,” said DeSantis, on a sidewalk littered with garbage. “We saw people using heroin. We saw people smoking crack cocaine, and you look around, the city is not vibrant anymore. It’s really collapsed because of leftist policies.”

Iarossi said the juxtaposition of California and Florida allows DeSantis, in one example, to show why his conservative governing style works. It’s also a smarter play for DeSantis than the direct back and forth with Newsom.

“I don’t expect there to be any focus whatsoever on Gavin Newsom going forward,” Iarossi said. “There’s not really a reason to get dragged into a fight with a governor from another state when you’re looking to be elected the next president of the United States.”

Democrats nationally view Newsom’s efforts as helping the party and helping Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris win reelection.

“The major problem we had for a long time was that DeSantis had remarkably high name

YouTube star was invited on submersible

going underwater.

Two similar bills are moving forward in the Legislature, with broad support from the Democratic majority and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Both would provide significant new funding to thin forests, boost flood control projects, plant trees to cool cities, expand renewable energy, and take other steps to deal with a climate that scientists say will continue to warm for generations to come.

“This is a first-of-itskind attempt in California to create a statewide response to climate change,” said Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, co-author of one of the bills. “This winter we saw the effects on floods. Highway 84 in my district is still out. We were all affected by wildfires a couple of years ago when we had the orange skies.

The New York measure, endorsed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, will fund a wide variety of projects. Among them: flood control to address rising sea levels in areas like New York City and Long Island Sound; renewable energy; expanded parks, farmland and open space preservation; and other efforts, including purchasing zero-emission school buses and opening urban cooling centers during heat waves.

“That was an encouraging sign,” said Jerry Meral, a former deputy secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency under Gov. Jerry Brown.

Most parks and water bonds in California have passed since 1928, Meral noted, when voters approved a $6 million measure to create the modern state

See Climate, Page A8

Richard Lockwood

Richard Lockwood passed away peacefully on June 2, 2023. Richard was born in Oakland, CA. His family moved to Fairfield in 1939 when he was 6 months old. He attend Armijo High School. After graduation he worked at the original location of JC Penny and was a volunteer firefighter. He met his wife, Karen Lockwood, through a good fellow firefighter. He was eventually hired by the Solano Irrigation District, where he eventually retired. Richard and Karen lived and raised there son, Joe Lockwood, in Fairfield. A few years after the death of Karen he met his future wife Patricia.

He is survived by wife Pat Lockwood, son Joe Lockwood and grandson John Paul Lockwood

The funeral will be held on June 28, 2023 at 1:00 p.m at Holy Spirit Church. Burial will be on June 29, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. at St. Alphonsus Cemetery.

George Lloyd Vaughn Sr.

George Lloyd Vaughn Sr., 86, passed away on Friday June 9, 2023 surrounded by his family in Suisun City, CA.

George was born on September 18, 1936 in Centralia, IL to Mayle and Arline (Humble) Vaughn. He married Shirley Vaughn (Gentr y) on October 5, 1967.

PeTer SbLendorio

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

MrBeast, the most-followed U.S. YouTube star, says he was invited to go on the Titanic submersible that imploded last week.

The online personality, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, on Sunday shared a screenshot of a text message that reads, “I’m going to the Titanic in a submarine late this month. The team would

be stoked to have you along.”

The image does not show who sent the text message. “I was invited earlier this month to ride the titanic submarine,”

MrBeast tweeted Sunday morning. “I said no. Kind of scary that I could have been on it.”

MRBEAST

All five people aboard the OceanGate Expeditions submersible were

presumed dead Thursday after the U.S. Coast Guard said the vessel suffered a “catastrophic implosion” during a trip to view the Titanic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean.

The grim announcement followed a multi-day search for the Titan submersible, which lost contact shortly after

MrBeast, who has 162 million YouTube subscribers, frequently posts videos in which he takes part in stunts or expensive experiences. T-Series, an Indian music and film production company, is the only YouTube account with more subscribers.

The 25-year-old MrBeast did not disclose why he turned down the invitation to go on the submersible.

George ser ved and retired from the US Air Force after 14 years of ser vice and started a new civil ser vice career with Oakland Army Base in Oakland, CA. He enjoyed taking vacations with family, attending and watching the games of his favorite sports teams, the San Francisco 49ers, San Francisco Giants, and Golden State Warriors; sharing his love of militar y airplanes with his granddaughter; and taking trips with his wife to local casinos. It brought him great joy to interact with his grandkids and great-grandchildren. He enjoyed listening to the music of Mar vin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and The Temptations.

He is sur vived by his spouse Shirley Vaughn; son George (Trisha) Vaughn of Fairfield; daughters Connie Nelson of San Leandro and Cher yl (Carlton) Phenix of Suisun City; brother Maylee Vaughn of Houston, TX; grandchildren Joseph Williams, Chelsea Rojas, Alyssa Phenix, Isaiah Benjamin, and Justin Vaughn; great-grandchildren Noah, Nariah, and Niello Benjamin; and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.

He is preceded in death by his parents; three sisters Wanda, Sarah, and Tavey; three brothers Joseph, Julius, and Odie Vaughn; daughter Sherita Howard; and granddaughter Kimberly Williams.

Viewing and words from family and friends will be on Friday June 30, 2023 at 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at Br yan-Braker Funeral Home, 1850 West Texas Street Fairfield, CA. Burial will be at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon, CA.

Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group/TNS California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, talks with President Joe Biden during Biden’s visit to Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto, Monday, June 19.

Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group/TNS file (2020) People walk and ride along the Embarcadero as smoky skies from the northern California wildfires casts an orange and yellow color in San Francisco in 2020.

TikTok ban? Not at Cannes, where advertisers embrace the video app

BloomBerg

TikTok’s political troubles seemed far away in Cannes, where advertising executives swarmed the short video app’s booth at a week-long industry extravaganza in Southern France.

The company opened a pop-up stage at the glitzy Carlton hotel, its largest presence to date at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Under a marquee where visitors listened to a live DJ and sipped rosé, marketers showed little concern over the threat of bans or calls to split TikTok from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. Many said they plan to send more business to the platform.

“We want to be where the eyeballs are,” Dani Benowitz, U.S. president of the ad agency Magna Global, said on Wednesday at TikTok’s stage. Shyam Venugopal, a senior vice president at PepsiCo, described the app as a “marquee partner.”

That’s a marked contrast with the way U.S. officials speak about TikTok’s security risks and powerful algorithms. On Thursday the company announced that its longtime public face, chief operating officer V. Pappas, was stepping down, and it named Disney veteran Zenia Mucha as communications chief.

France is one of several countries this year that banned the app for public employees. Yannick

Bolloré, the chief executive officer for French media giant Havas Group, said his clients were seeing “a lot of traction” on TikTok, dismissing the idea that the app only appealed to teenagers. “It’s perceived as being a platform which is used by kids. But in fact, it’s much more general,” he said in an interview.

Bolloré also works with ByteDance in China, where he said Havas Group is continuing to invest in its operation there. He said this expansion hasn’t faced political problems. “We try not to get engaged into politics,” he added.

TikTok is expected to

Workers are losing power in the job market. That’s good news for the Fed. BloomBerg

The balance of power in the jobs market is slowly tilting back toward employers as companies become choosier with their hires and workers turn more cautious about quitting.

A labor leverage ratio developed by former senior White House economist Aaron Sojourner that compares the level of quits to layoffs has retraced about two-thirds of the rise seen in 2021 and into 2022. The ratio surged when companies ramped up staffing after pandemic-driven lockdowns and workers were enjoying outsize pay offers for their services.

“The playing field is evening out,” said Tom Gimbel, chief executive officer of Chicago-based employment agency LaSalle Network.

The shift in the tug-ofwar in the jobs market is not great news for employees: While wage gains on average have begun to outstrip inflation, workers have still not made up the ground they lost when prices surged coming out of the worst of the pandemic.

central bank left interest rates unchanged for the first time in 11 meetings. “We need to see that continue.” nnn

In testimony to Congress this week, Powell voiced hopes that a drop in job openings and an increase in the supply of workers could help bring the labor market back into better balance, rather than a significant increase in unemployment.

The labor leverage ratio topped out in April 2022, the month after the Fed began raising interest rates to fight inflation after holding them near zero for two years. Sojourner, who’s a senior researcher at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, said the Fed’s action sent a message to businesses that it was intent on slowing the economy through tighter credit - and that they might not need as many workers going forward as they had expected.

generate more revenue from ads in the U.S. this year than rival social media sites Snapchat and Twitter, according to Insider Intelligence. That huge growth comes only a few years after the app began introducing ads. Qustodio, a maker of parental control software, analyzed 400,000 family accounts for TechCrunch and found that American teenagers and kids spent an average of 99 minutes a day on TikTok in 2021, compared with 61 minutes on YouTube.

The platform’s appeal centers on its popularity and stable of young stars.

Neil Waller, co-founder of influencer marketing firm Whalar, said spending on TikTok’s online personalities is starting to catch up to the amount pouring onto larger platforms. Brands that use his service, which works with about 30,000 online creators, now spend about as much for online stars to market

products on TikTok as they do on YouTube and Instagram. “It surprised us, too,” Waller said. In recent years, both Instagram and YouTube have raced to copy TikTok’s short-form video features. In a way, that may have helped marketers stick with TikTok despite the threat of it being cut down by politicians. As the tech platforms become more similar, online creators can easily jump from one to the next. That’s also given marketers more comfort spending

But the tilt is likely to be welcomed by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his central bank colleagues. They’ve openly fretted about what they see as a too-hot jobs market and the implications that carries for labor costs and inflation.

“There has been some loosening in labormarket conditions,” Powell told reporters on June 14 after the

“We have seen a softening in demand,” said Jim McCoy, senior vice president of staffing company ManpowerGroup. “Companies are looking at what’s happening with interest rates, what’s happening to their cost of capital, and factoring that into the way they’re hiring.”

The result: The number of open positions available for job seekers is shrinking, even as the labor supply is growing, with more Americans rejoining the workforce and immigration picking up.

on TikTok, said Waller. If the app disappears, advertisers can easily take the same ad campaigns and strategies elsewhere.

YouTube and TikTok phenom David Dobrik, who has more than 26 million followers on each platform, was hanging out at the Snap cabana.

“They’re not so worried about the switching costs,” said Waller. “’We’ll pick it up and carry on to the next thing.’”

Consumers, not factories, are carrying the global economy

BloomBerg

The world economy shows increasing signs of cruising on one engine, relying on services for momentum as factories from Japan to the U.S. slow production lines and struggle to clinch orders.

Surveys of manufacturing purchasing managers released Friday signaled contraction across major economies, with the U.S. index hitting its low for the year so far. The euroarea equivalent for June slid more than economists anticipated, to the lowest level in more than three years.

With consumers shifting their focus to services, the goods side of the global economy is struggling with excess inventories.

And the most aggressive interest-rate increases in decades by the Federal Reserve and Europe’s central banks have made it much costlier to fund capital spending.

The news sent stocks sliding and government bonds climbing across global markets, after a notable run-up in equities stoked by enthusiasm over the booming AI industry.

With central banks still signaling that they will keep raising rates to quell inflation, short-term yields fell less than longer-term ones – a classic recessionary signal.

Germany’s yield curve has reached its most inverted point since 1992, while U.K. two-year yields exceed 10-year rates by a magnitude unseen since 2000. U.S. two-year yields offered more than a percentage point over 10-year ones as of Friday morning. Meantime, the S&P 500 Index was down 0.7% as of 10:38 a.m. in New York.

The gloom evident in the manufacturing PMIs and many financial assets contrasted with an assessment late Thursday by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that recession risks in the U.S. have declined.

“My odds of it, if anything, have gone down – because look at the resilience of the labor market, and inflation is coming down,” she said in an interview in Paris.

Her judgment dovetails with that of many economists. A Bloomberg survey published Friday showed that the consen-

sus now is that the U.S. will dodge a recession this year – though underlying inflation will be faster than previously thought.

“We still forecast, for the near term, decent growth this year – 2.8% this year globally, 3% next,” Neil Brown, head of equities at GIB Asset Management, told Bloomberg Television. Still, “we see fragile growth. We need to be cautious about the risk of recession.”

The S&P Global U.S. manufacturing PMI dropped to 46.3 in June, well below the 50 mark that signifies the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

“We don’t think this data has immediate implications” for the Fed’s July policy decision, Ian Lyngen, head of U.S. rates strategy at BMO Capital Markets, wrote in a note. For that, he said he’d be looking at the June jobs

and inflation reports.

“Nonetheless, it was a disappointing print.”

China’s manufacturing PMI, due June 29, are also forecast to show a contraction, while Germany’s Ifo index of business sentiment is projected to drop, adding to evidence of a stuttering in global manufacturing.

A synchronized decline in the world factory complex as it enters the second half of the year

would leave advancedeconomy consumers ever more in the driving seat of global growth as they binge on services denied them during years of pandemic.

“An increasingly severe downturn in new orders mean factories are running out of work,” Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a statement.

“The question remains as to how resilient servicesector growth can be in the face of the manufacturing decline and the lagged effect of prior rate hikes.”

For central banks, it complicates the job of deciding how much further to go in raising rates.

“The Fed does want to see the economy slow, because only then can we see a slowdown in the inflation equation, which is really the only component the Fed can control,” Lindsey Piegza, chief economist at Stifel Nicolaus, told Bloomberg Television. “We may not see an extremely deep or prolonged downturn in the U.S., but we do need to see that slowdown.”

Mark Bergen/Bloomberg photos

The TikTok stage at the Carlton hotel during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.

The TikTok stage at the Carlton hotel during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.

The TikTok stage at the Carlton hotel during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.

Milan Jaros/Bloomberg

An engineer works on an engine on the production line at the Skoda Auto AS manufacturing plant in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, Monday, June 19.

Jessica Pons/Bloomberg

The Federal Reserve is fretting about what they see as a too-hot jobs market.

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Clarkson ‘blindsided’ by toxic claims at talk show, will address concerns instead of ‘canceling everyone’

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

NEW YORK —

Although her name is at the top of the call sheet of her hit talk show, Kelly Clarkson had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.

The Grammy and Emmy Award winner recently opened up about the claims of toxicity that plagued her daytime chatfest. In May, nearly a dozen current and former employees spoke on record for a Rolling Stone expose, sharing their experiences of bullying and verbal abuse – not from Clarkson but by the show’s senior and executive producers.

Amid the accusations, Clarkson announced that she would move production from Los Angeles to New York City for the

show’s fifth season.

The “Stronger” singer has since admitted to being “blindsided” by the claims, but plans to learn from it and do better.

“I think we get into this mindset of canceling everything or everyone. ... What you’re saying is every time somebody says something [you disagree with], then it’s just over,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. “[But] that’s not how you work on things. You have to progress. You have to go, ‘Oh man, well maybe we can do better at this. Obviously, we might have missed the mark here, so what can we do better?’”

The 13-time Emmywinning show premiered in 2019 and has since become a ratings draw in national syndication.

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

5 grilling recipes to get you fired up

Nicole Hvidste

STAR TRIBUNE

Grilling can and should be a year-round endeavor. But summer seems to be when we up the ante, becoming self-proclaimed barbecue masters seemingly overnight. We get saucy with new marinades and rubs, boost burgers by experimenting with different meats and accompaniments, and work in our farmers market finds, putting everything from berries and stone fruits to vegetables and cheese over hot coals.

There’s no rule stating that grilling is just for the main meal of the day. Rise and shine with breakfast; grill up a midday salad; slice a loaf of crusty bread, slather with oil and after a few minutes over hot goals, you’ll have the perfect vessel for happy hour bruschetta. Dessert? You could go old school with s’mores, but there’s so much sweet territory to explore that it would be a shame to limit yourself.

This seems like a fine time to don our “Kiss the Cook” apron and try recipes with a little more flair, so we called on expert authors and a local chef to help fuel our ideas. Whether your preferred method is charcoal, gas, fire pit, flat-top or smoker, here are five recipes to get you started on a smoky, delicious summer adventure.

GRILLED FRENCH TOAST

Serves 4.

Breakfast outdoors spells adventure, no matter where you’re cooking and eating it. This hearty French toast (yes, cook it right on the grill!) is a cinch to prepare. Serve with butter, maple syrup and fresh berries and it’s a sure bet that everybody will be talking about breakfast for the rest of the day. From “The Outdoor Cook: How to Cook Anything Outside,” by America’s Test Kitchen (2023, $30). The book is a great resource for beginner outdoor cooks or those who want to learn more about cooking al fresco. It covers gas and charcoal grills, flat-tops, fire pits and more, in the typical no-detail-is-too-small fashion that’s an ATK hallmark.

• 2 large eggs

• 1 1⁄2 c. whole milk

• 5 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

• 1 tsp. almond extract or

2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. table salt

• 8 (3/4-in.-thick) slices challah

• 4 tsp. sugar

Lightly beat eggs in shallow dish. Whisk in milk, melted butter, almond extract, cinnamon, and salt (butter will clump slightly).

For a charcoal grill: Open bottom vent completely. Light large chimney starter half filled with charcoal briquettes (3 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.

For a gas grill: Turn all burners to high; cover; and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Turn all burners to medium.

For a flat-top grill: Turn all burners to medium-high and heat

griddle until hot, about 10 minutes.

Turn all burners to medium.

Open fire: Prepare medium-hot single-level fire in open-fire grill. Set cooking grate at least 6 inches from coals and flames and heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.

Clean and oil cooking grate (or griddle). Place bread on grill and toast until light golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Working with 1 bread slice at a time, soak in egg mixture until saturated but not falling apart, 10 seconds per side. Using firm slotted spatula, pick up bread slice, allowing excess egg mixture to drip off, and transfer to rimmed baking sheet.

Using spatula, transfer soaked bread to grill and cook (covered if using gas) until bread is deep golden brown on first side and releases easily from cooking grate, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle top of each toast with ½ teaspoon sugar, then flip and cook until deep golden brown on second side and sugar begins to caramelize, 1 to 2 minutes.

Serve.

STEAKHOUSE-STYLE

GRILLED DENVER STEAK

Serves 4.

Note: Who better to provide grilling recipes than a steakhouse chef? We consulted with chef Wyatt Evans from P.S. Steak in Minneapolis. His steak of choice for this recipe is a WagyuAngus crossbreed, such as those from Idaho’s Snake River Farm. Denvercut steaks come from the shoulder area, and are known for their tenderness, marbling and rich, beefy flavor.

• 2 tbsp. kosher salt

• 1 tsp. sugar

• 1 tsp. paprika

• 1/4 tsp. ground turmeric

• 1/4 tsp. onion powder

• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

• 2 (10-oz.) Denvercut steaks, at room temperature (see Note)

In a small bowl, whisk together the salt, sugar, paprika, turmeric, onion powder and garlic powder

until incorporated. Season the room-temperature steaks to taste and grill over medium-hot coals, turning occasionally, until the internal temperature registers 80 degrees. Remove steak from the heat to rest for 10 minutes. Return to the grill and cook to your desired temperature. (Rare: 110 degrees, medium-rare: 125 degrees; medium: 135 degrees; medium-well, 155 degrees.)

GRILLED CABBAGE SALAD

Serves 4.

The humble cabbage is having a moment and gets the star treatment in “The BBQ Companion” by Oscar Smith (Smith Street, 2023; $24.95), a handy 50-recipe deck that covers everything from seafoods to sides with vegan options, too. Its portability — a little bigger than a deck of cards — makes it easy to keep in the cabin or camper or to pack up to go wherever the barbecue winds take you.

• 1/4 c. brown sugar

• 1/4 c. lime juice

• 2 tbsp. fish sauce

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed

• 1/2 green cabbage, cut into thin wedges

• 1/4 red cabbage, cut into thin wedges

• 2 tbsp. peanut oil, plus more for greasing grill plate

• 2 red Asian shallots, finely diced

• 1 long red chile, thinly sliced Preheat grill to medium and lightly grease a grill plate with oil. Combine brown sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and garlic in a small saucepan over low heat. Simmer for 3 to 4 minutes, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has reduced by a third. Remove from the heat.

Brush the cabbage wedges with the peanut oil and cook on the grill plate for 6 to 8 minutes on each side, allowing the edges to blacken slightly.

Transfer to a chopping board and remove most of the core from

each wedge, leaving a sliver behind so that the wedges still hold together. Place the cabbage wedges in a serving bowl and pour the dressing over. Garnish with the shallots and chile.

DRY-RUBBED PORK BLADE STEAKS Serves 4.

You’ll need to give the pork steaks at least four hours to marinate, so plan accordingly. Season the meat liberally, and store any leftover dry rub in an airtight container. From chef Wyatt Evans of P.S. Steak in Minneapolis.

• 1/4 c. cumin

• 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed

• 1/2 c. sweet paprika

• 1/4 c. chili powder

• 2 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 1 tsp. ground nutmeg

• 1/4 c. kosher salt

• 2 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper

• 4 pork blade steaks

Prepare the dry rub by whisking together cumin, brown sugar, paprika, chili powder, cayenne, nutmeg, salt and pepper until well incorporated.

Thoroughly rub the pork steaks with the spice mixture, coating well. Place meat in a zip-top plastic bag or a glass bowl with a tightfitting lid. Refrigerate for 4 to 8 hours. Prepare the grill to medium heat and cook pork steaks, turning frequently, until well-grilled on the outside (be careful not to burn the sugar, only char it a bit). Transfer pork steaks to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking; cook until tender when pierced with a skewer or thin-bladed knife.

BARBECUED MEDITERRANEAN PIZZA WITH BASIL OIL AND RICOTTA

Serves 4.

This vegetable-heavy pizza recipe uses a pizza pan on the grill. A

pizza stone also works great, and we’ve also cooked pizzas (with prebaked crusts) right on the grates.

From “The BBQ Companion” by Oscar Smith (Smith Street, 2023; $24.95), a handy 50-recipe deck that covers everything from seafoods to sides with vegan options, too.

For the basil oil:

• 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil

• 1/2 c. basil leaves

• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

For the pizza:

• 2 zucchini, cut diagonally into 1/2-in. slices

• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into strips

• 1 red bell pepper, cut into strips

• 1/2 red onion, sliced into wedges

• 5 mushrooms, sliced

• 7 oz. ricotta cheese

• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

• 2 prepared pizza crusts

Prepare the basil oil: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the basil leaves and garlic and swirl the pan until the leaves are wilted and the oil has become fragrant and turned a rich green color. Set aside.

Preheat grill to high and lightly grease the grates with oil.

Prepare the pizza: Brush the zucchini, peppers, onion and mushrooms with half of the basil oil. Grill, turning occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and have defined grill marks. Set aside.

In a bowl, mash the ricotta and Parmesan together with a fork.

Lightly grease two round pizza trays, and place one crust on each. Divide the remaining basil oil over the two bases and brush on, adding the basil leaves and garlic. Scatter spoonfuls of the cheese over the crusts, and arrange the grilled zucchini, peppers, onion and mushroom over the top.

Place the trays over the grill and close the lid. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Dish up red, white and blue with this savory fruit salad

ellie K rieger SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON POST

If you want to bring some fresh July Fourth spirit to the festivities this weekend without trying too hard, this recipe has you covered. It dishes up bold red, white and blue fanfare with no fuss at all.

A glorious combination of sweet seasonal fruit –diced watermelon and blueberries – it’s made all the more mouthwatering when paired with contrasting cubes of briny feta cheese.

You’ve probably tried watermelon and feta together before - they’ve become a popular pairing thanks to how they counterbalance one another - the salty, creamy feta coaxing even more sweet juiciness from the fruit.

Adding blueberries not only completes the essen-

tial flag color trio, but the berries also add their own unique sweet-tart flavor and bursting texture.

A simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and zest ties all of the ingredients together and nudges the salad further into the savory realm, making it an ideal starter or side dish. And a finishing sprinkle of fresh mint adds a cooling herbal note.

This vibrant salad is a natural at a cookout where it serves as a quenching counterpoint to grilled proteins, burgers and spicy fare. It’s one that feels right all summer long but hits the spot especially well for the holiday weekend.

WATERMELON, BLUEBERRY AND FETA SALAD

Total time: 15 minutes

6 servings

This festive red, white and blue salad of sweet summer fruit, contrasted with salty feta cheese in an olive oil and lemon dressing, is ideal for a cookout where it serves as a quenching counterpoint to grilled proteins and spicy fare. Make ahead: The salad can be assembled in advance up until adding mint, and refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 8 hours.

3 cups (1 pound)

diced watermelon (3/4-inch dice)

1 pint blueberries

2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup (5 ounces) diced feta cheese (1/2-inch dice)

2 tablespoons whole small or chopped large mint leaves

In a large bowl, gently toss together the watermelon, blueberries, oil, lemon zest

and juice to combine. Add the feta and gently toss again to combine. Right before serving, garnish with the mint leaves.

There’s no rule stating that grilling is just for the main meal of the day.

Putin

From Page One

within about 120 miles of Moscow before abruptly turning around as part of a brokered deal. Criminal charges previously started against Wagner’s leader, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, would be dropped, according to a Kremlin spokesperson.

President Biden has not tried to contact Putin since Saturday’s unrest, but he has convened his national security advisers and key allies, Blinken said on ABC’s “This Week.”

The United States will watch internal divisions between Putin and other Russians closely to determine how much control he retains domestically and over the war in Ukraine, Blinken added.

The Biden administration’s reaction to the insurrection has been somewhat measured and low key. The Washington Post has reported that U.S. intelligence had picked up indications that Prigozhin was planning armed action against the Russian defense establishment; a rivalry between the two groups had been simmering for months. But on Sunday, officials focused on supporting Ukraine’s continued efforts to push Russian forces out of its territory.

“Our focus has to be and remains resolutely on Ukraine,” Blinken said. “There is absolute unity, both of purpose and in action, in terms of supporting Ukraine, making sure they have what they need to defend themselves. And that’s where our focus is; that’s where the president’s focus has been.”

Prigozhin is “in many ways a creation of Putin,” Blinken added, saying that Wagner Group forces have been responsible for horrible atrocities against Ukrainian civilians and noting that the mercenary group is in Africa as well.

The Wagner Group chief was also diminished by his about-face on Saturday, retired Gen. David Petraeus, who was also CIA director, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Prigozhin kept his life, but lost his Wagner Group. And he should be very careful around open windows in his new surroundings in Belarus, where he’s going,” Petraeus said, alluding to the tendency for Putin’s critics to die in violent or mysterious ways.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers said the mutiny showed the United States’ strategy in Ukraine – and its continued assistance to the country, which has been

Isom

From Page One

American Community’s African American Domestic Peace Project – Recognizing, Understanding and Addressing Trauma

Among Black Battered Women in 2013.

He also has been recognized by Congress, the state Legislature, Solano County and Fairfield for his work with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. He helped implement the Solano County Family Justice Center, for which he served on the strategic task force and organized the Chaplaincy Program.

In 2019 he ran for the 5th District seat on the

under Russian attack since 2014 - is working.

“Vladimir Putin has bitten off a lot more than he ever thought possible when he marched into Ukraine,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a former Air Force general in Europe and member of the House Armed Services Committee, urged his fellow Republicans to continue providing Ukraine with military hardware.

“I think too many Republicans have tried to stay under the radar on this,” Bacon said on “Meet the Press.”

Bacon called U.S. aid to Ukraine a worthy investment, noting that the United States has diminished Russia’s military by 50 percent by spending the equivalent of 5 percent of the Pentagon budget to help Ukraine.

“What we saw this weekend was how fragile Putin’s leadership is right now, how fragile the Russian military is,” Bacon said. “And why is that? They have lost 200,000 troops in this year and a half. That is almost seven times more than what America lost in 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former Texas congressman Will Hurd, both GOP candidates for the 2024 presidential nomination, pledged continued support for Ukraine – comments that stood in contrast to those expressed by some of their GOP opponents, including former president Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Both Trump and DeSantis, along with a growing faction of Republicans, have criticized U.S. aid to Ukraine.

On ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Christie said an isolationist approach was the wrong stance, describing the war in Ukraine as a proxy war with China, which has neither outright supported nor condemned Russia’s aggression.

“America has never been a great country and the leader of the world by filling in the moat and pulling up the drawbridge,” Christie said. “ . . .

I am absolutely a believer in the fact that America will be bigger, stronger, richer and more influential in the world because we stood by our principles and stood by our friends.”

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Tex., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the coup in Russia, however shortlived, should be giving Chinese President Xi Jinping pause.

Solano County Board of Supervisors.

The Army veteran completed his undergraduate studies using the Veterans’ Educational Assistance Program and received a Bachelor of Science degree in English literature.

He began his pastoral leadership in 1984 at Laymen Chapel Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He then continued his ministry at six other CME churches since, then, taking up residence in Fairfield back in 2007 where he became the senior pastor at St. Stephen CME.

Many board members expressed their thanks and sacrifice and they noted that he will be missed.

Trump

From Page One

will play out, experts say. But it won’t be pretty.

“We’re certainly in completely uncharted waters, even now,” said Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor who now represents high-profile federal defendants.

“The founding fathers never anticipated anything like this,” said Robert Shrum, director of USC’s Center for the Political Future.

The cases

Trump is the first U.S. president to be indicted, and it has happened twice in the last few months.

In April, Manhattan Dist. Atty. Alvin Bragg announced the indictment of Trump in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an alleged scheme to “conceal damaging information and unlawful activity” from voters before and after the 2016 election. The scheme, Bragg said, included the use of hush money by Trump and his team to bury negative stories, such as adult film star Stormy Daniels’ claims of an affair.

To carry out the scheme, Bragg alleged, Trump and others “violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York” and “mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments.”

Trump has pleaded not guilty. A trial has been set for March, but it could be delayed. Trump could face years in prison.

Smith this month announced the federal indictment of Trump on 37 felony charges related to his alleged mishandling of highly sensitive government documents from his time in the White House, including 31 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

The indictment alleges that Trump knew the documents were classified and illegal for him to possess, retained them and showed them to others without proper clearances, left them dangerously exposed in storage at his Mara-Lago club in Florida and actively subverted attempts by the federal government and his own

Fire

From Page One

attorneys to retrieve them.

The indictment alleges that the documents included records detailing U.S. nuclear programs, nuclear capabilities of foreign nations, defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign countries and potential vulnerabilities of the U.S. and its allies to military attack.

The indictment outlined the evidence against Trump in great detail, including a recording in which he allegedly acknowledged that a document he had was never declassified – undermining his own claim that he had every right to retain the records.

Trump has pleaded not guilty. A trial has been set for August, but that is likely to change given the complexity of the case. The government has asked for a delay until December. Trump again faces years in prison if convicted, though his sentence would depend on a variety of factors.

In addition to the indicted cases, Smith is conducting a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, while prosecutors in Fulton County, Ga., are investigating attempts by Trump to overturn the 2020 election there.

Trump has denounced all the investigations as part of a politically motivated “witch hunt.”

In New York, Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, denied direct involvement in any hush money payments, blamed others – including those who implicated him, such as his former attorney Michael Cohen — and ridiculed Bragg’s case as legally dubious.

In the classified documents case, Trump’s defense has varied from claims that he was within

insurance that would cover these burns is prohibitively expensive or unavailable, putting the people overseeing them on the hook for potential damage costs. Although the U.S. Forest Service estimates the rate of escape to be less than 1%, the liability is a deterrent to doing more of the work.

The liability claims fund, which was rolled out recently, provides up to $2 million in coverage for up to 200 projects at a time. In order to qualify, burns must be led by a certified burn boss or a cultural fire practitioner. By Friday afternoon, 20 projects had applied and 17 had been approved.

“For prescribed fire practitioners, it’s a huge deal,” said Len Nielson, the prescribed fire and environmental staff chief at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, who is in charge of greenlighting the applications. “We are doing something brand new in hopes that it ends up with a real positive change for prescribed burning and cultural burning.”

The pilot, set to expire in 2028, will also enable the state to gather information about the rates of escape and damage, as well as the benefits of burns, he said. That may eventually alleviate the need for the program altogether.

“We want to show insurers that it is a low risk type of event when a certified burn boss or cultural burner conducts a prescribed burn or cultural burn,” Nielson said. “And so if we can document that with the data, then we’re hoping that attracts the insurers back to the marketplace in California.”

The working group that devel-

his rights to have the documents to an argument that he was “very busy” when federal authorities initially came asking for the records and was unable to immediately comply.

Legal experts have said the strength of Bragg’s case remains unclear, in part because the New York prosecutor didn’t fully detail in the indictment the evidence he has against Trump. They largely agree on the substantial strength of Smith’s case, noting the striking amount of evidence detailed in that indictment.

In the long run, however, the strength of the cases may matter less than the election.

“Even if he got convicted,” Shrum said, “he could still run for president.”

Presidential privileges

While the Constitution outlines the process by which Congress can impeach a sitting president – Trump was twice impeached by the House but never convicted by the Senate — it is silent on the question of whether a sitting president can be prosecuted through normal judicial channels.

The courts have likewise been quiet on the question, experts said, though the Justice Department has weighed in.

In 1973 and again in 2000, when Presidents Nixon and Clinton were in hot water, Justice Department officials issued opinions concluding that sitting presidents cannot be indicted or prosecuted.

Both opinions hinged on a core principle of American democracy: the separation of powers. They concluded that any judicial interest in charging a sitting president with a crime — and subjecting him or her to the physical and mental demands of a potentially lengthy

oped the program guidelines also included representatives of Indigenous tribes, the state Department of Insurance, the Nature Conservancy and trade associations.

One stumbling block they had to overcome was that the legislation creating the program states that each project chief must submit a burn plan for review and approval by Cal Fire in order to qualify. But cultural practitioners often don’t use burn plans, and requiring them to do so would infringe on tribal sovereignty.

So the group came up with a compromise: cultural practitioners can instead include a description of the burn in their application.

“It’s still not perfect,” said Don Hankins, a professor at California State, Chico and cultural burn practitioner. “What we tried to come up with is some language where people could basically say what the conditions would be like when they’re burning.”

Ron Goode, chairman of the North Fork Mono tribe and a cultural burn boss, was also involved in the talks. He said the compromise is a good start, but more needs to be done to overcome the racist legacy of laws that targeted Indigenous people who use fire.

“Even today, I have elders and tribal people who tell me, I shouldn’t be burning because we’re going to get in trouble with the government simply because they know what happened when their grandparents put fire on the ground,” he said.

“So these kinds of rules and laws that the colonists and settlers put forward when they first got here are still in effect as far as how people feel about it.”

The program builds on the work of several other key pieces of legislation that have put California on a trajectory to become a leader in the use of good fire. A bill passed in

and politically fraught criminal trial — was outweighed by the mandate from voters to perform the onerous executive duties of the presidency.

On balance, department officials reasoned, it would be untenable for any individual prosecutor to have the power to target and temporarily incapacitate through criminal proceedings the head of the executive branch.

In the 2000 opinion, Randolph D. Moss, the assistant attorney general at the time, wrote that indicting or prosecuting a sitting president “would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.”

So sitting presidents — and sitting presidents alone in all of government – are “immune” from such actions.

“Where the President is concerned,” Moss wrote, “only the House of Representatives has the authority to bring charges of criminal misconduct through the constitutionally sanctioned process of impeachment.”

Moss, now a federal judge, did not respond to a request for comment. His opinion was reiterated by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel brought on by the Justice Department in the early years of Trump’s presidency to investigate possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

Mueller and his team of prosecutors indicted or secured guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies during the nearly two-year investigation, including Trump’s campaign manager, former national security advisor and Cohen, the president’s personal attorney. But when it came to Trump and whether he obstructed justice by attempting to thwart the probe, Mueller punted.

Citing the Justice Department’s position that sitting presidents can’t be indicted, Mueller decided it would be unfair to conclude one way or the other whether Trump had committed a crime.

“Accordingly,” Mueller wrote, “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Trump’s critics denounced the double standard.

2018 mandated the development of a state-certified burn boss program.

In 2021, California changed its liability standard so that people overseeing prescribed and cultural burns would in most cases not be billed for fire suppression costs if a burn were to escape control. That legislation also exempted cultural practitioners from needing to have a written prescription, a key element of a burn plan, approved by a certified burn boss in order to meet the liability standard.

Another bill introduced by Dodd would enable the secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency to enter into agreements with federally recognized tribes to exempt them from some state permitting and regulatory requirements related to cultural burning. It would also establish a cultural burn working group.

Dodd, who has sponsored roughly a dozen wildfire resilience bills, said he was spurred to action in 2017, when he was evacuated from his Napa home as the Atlas and Tubbs fires ravaged the county. When the smoke cleared, many of his neighbors had lost their homes, he said.

“It really shifts your view,” he said. “I never expected in my wildest imagination that all things wildfire, Cal Fire, fire suppression, fire prevention, insurance, utility caused fires – all these different things were not even part of my legislative work at all. And then overnight, that all changed.”

There is still more work to be done in order for California to meet its burning goals. Several experts identified the No. 1 remaining hurdle as training and workforce development, including empowering communities, tribes and underrepresented groups to be a part of the work.

Drew Angerer/Getty Images/TNS

Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Faith and Freedom Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton, Saturday.

From Page One

parks system. Those funds purchased old-growth redwoods on the North Coast, parts of Mount Diablo and sandy beaches that today are enjoyed by millions of people.

But there are warning signs also for supporters of putting a climate bond on California’s ballot.

In March 2020, Proposition 13, a bond measure that would have raised $15 billion for preschools, K-12 schools, community colleges and state universities, was rejected by voters, 55-45%.

Some political observers said the failure was because its name – Proposition 13 – caused confusion with the famous 1978 ballot measure of the same name that cut property taxes. But others said that the price tag was just too big.

“I’m still traumatized by that. It scares the hell out of me,” said Meral, who was the chief author of another measure, Proposition 3, an $8.7 billion water bond, that voters narrowly defeated. “That had a strong campaign, and it still failed.”

Generally speaking, most of California’s largest environmental groups are lining up behind the two climate bond bills, SB 867, by Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach, and AB 1567, by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, D-Coachella.

Climatefrom $54 billion last year to $48 billion this year, to help close the state’s budget deficit. They see the bond as a way to make up for those cuts.

California’s state parks are also in need after taking a huge hit during the massive storms this winter. There was at least $210 million in damage to state parks across California. President Joe Biden visited the wreckage of Seacliff State Beach, where the campground and pier were destroyed, and parks in Big Sur whose trails and bridges remain closed.

The state parks system has a $1.2 billion backlog of deferred maintenance, and a climate bond could help reduce that while boosting flood control and reducing fire risk, said Paul Ringold, conservation director of Save the Redwoods League in San Francisco.

“Climate change is not going to be happening after you are dead,” he said. “It is happening right now. We are seeing the impact with record wildfires, and record temperatures. The more we can do right now to address the impacts the better for us now and for future generations.”

to the following businesses for suppor ting literacy in Solano County by being a sponsor in the Daily Republic’s “Newspapers In Education” program. NIE provides sponsored newspapers for teachers in Solano County to use as an educational resource in the classroom.

“There’s a completely separate issue from what the projects are and whether they are needed and how to pay for them,” said Susan Shelley, spokeswoman for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association in Sacramento. “Bonds are the most expensive way to pay for things. It’s double the cost of pay-as-you-go because of the interest. They would be saddling people with debt for 30 years to pay for these programs.”

Newsom and legislative leaders will have to finish the language of the bills, merge them into one package, and decide which ballot – March or November – to place the measure on, by the last day of the legislative session Sep. 14. Other bond measures for housing and homeless issues also are competing for funding and ballot space.

But last month, Newsom said placing a climate bond on the ballot is a priority for him. He said expanding renewable energy and electric cars is helping California lead an industry of the future, and that the state can only expect more natural disasters in the years ahead.

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But critics say the state shouldn’t borrow to fund such programs. Bonds are like loans. Corporations, states, cities, local governments and the federal government issue them to raise money, and investors buy them. The investors are repaid with interest over time, similar to the way that a homebuyer receives a mortgage from the bank and pays it off over many years with interest.

Newsom

From Page One

Green groups were angry that Newsom reduced the size of his fiveyear climate change plan, recognition nationwide, but people knew nothing about him,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist based in D.C. “They had no idea of the policies that DeSantis was passing and the extreme positions he was taking.”

Newsom is drawing that out for voters nationwide, she said.

The California governor has loudly criticized DeSantis for banning instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida schools, legislation critics refer to as “Don’t Say Gay.”

DeSantis went to battle against Disney and took control of government services in the Disney World theme park district after the company publicly opposed the law. Newsom posted a video of himself at Disneyland in Anaheim watching the first-ever LGBTQ+ “Pride Night.”

Newsom called DeSantis “a small, pathetic man” and threatened kidnapping charges after his administration helped transport migrants from Texas to California. In the Fox interview, he questioned what kind of “faith tradition” supports moving people from one state to another and dehumanizing them in an effort to score political points. National Democrats’

fawning over Newsom marks a change from last year, when he ruffled feathers for saying the party was not doing enough to push back on the Republican agenda and stoking national interest in his presidential ambitions.

“I think there were some people that were frustrated, and now I think most people are very happy,” Lake said. “He’s done it in such an appealing and accessible way, and it’s really helped to define DeSantis, which was a major piece of business.”

Newsom has made it his personal mission to draw attention to and combat far-right policies.

The governor drew headlines across the country one year ago when he ran a reelection ad in Florida comparing laws in red states and California on abortion, banned books and other topics. In April, DeSantis signed a bill into law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The California Constitution guarantees the right to have an abortion, and Newsom has beckoned women from other states to come for services that are outlawed elsewhere.

He also needled DeSantis when, through the California Democratic Party, Newsom donated $100,000 to a political action committee supporting Charlie Crist, the Democratic challenger in Florida’s 2022 gubernatorial election.

“What more evidence do we need on climate than what we’ve had to experience with this weather whiplash in the state of California?” he said. “From three years with the driest of dries, to a three-week period with the wettest of wets. Back to back. It’s just extraordinary. You don’t have to believe in science. You can believe in your own lived experience.”

Newsom formalized his fight against the GOP this spring and transferred $10 million of his state campaign funds to a new federal PAC, the Campaign for Democracy, which he said he created to help Democrats in the 2024 election and push back on Republican leaders.

He has also played the role of a Biden surrogate since the president announced his intent to run for reelection. During Biden’s recent trip to California, Newsom said that “no president in modern American history has done more” to address climate change. He co-hosted a fundraiser for the president in Marin County.

Newsom has made a point of denying any interest in the White House even louder than before. In the interview with Hannity, he refused to take the host’s bait and talk about whether he has been implored to run.

Though Newsom isn’t in the 2024 presidential contest, it would be “game on” if he jumps in, Iarossi said.

“You have two governors of two large, powerful states, who have complete opposite political philosophies and leadership styles,” Iarossi said. “It would be a battle about the future of America and which direction we’re going in.”

Don’t rule out that matchup in 2028.

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Gina Ferazzi/Los AngelesTimes/TNS file (2019)

Wildland firefighters put out hot spots inside a tree trunk as the National Park Service does a prescribed burn to get rid of dead non-sequoia trees and fallen brush in the Giant Sequoia Forest, near General Sherman in the Sequoia National Park during 2019.

Giants fall short of sweep against Arizona

Jerry MCDonalD THE MERCURY NEWS

SAN FRANCISCO —

The Giants will have to be content with a good homestand as opposed to a great one.

Ketel Marte hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning and the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a sweep Sunday with a 5-2 win over the Giants before a crowd of 35,766 at Oracle Park.

In finishing a seven-

game homestand against San Diego and Arizona at 5-2, the Giants fell to 44-34 in the N.L. West, 2 1/2 games the Diamondbacks, who improved to 47-32.

Marte’s home run came against reliever Tristan Beck, who took over for Anthony DeSclafani after the Giants starter pitched well for six innings but fell to 4-7. Ryne Nelson (4-4) was the winner for Arizona, giving up just three hits and one run in seven innings.

It was Marte’s 14th home run of the season. It brought home Jake McCarthy, who led off the inning with a walk against reliever Tristan Beck.

The Giants got within 4-2 in the eighth on a two-out RBI single by J.D. Davis against reliever Scott McGough, who had come in for Andrew Chafin to face the right-handed hitter. The Giants got the tying run to the plate in the ninth with Thairo Estrada batting with two on, but McGough got the final

out on a one-hop force out to shortstop.

Blake Sabol followed with a walk to put runners on first and second before Patrick Bailey poked a grounder fair inside the third baseline that Evan Longoria stopped on a dive. However, Sabol got caught between second and third and was tagged out in a rundown by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo for the third out of the inning.

The Giants didn’t score against Nelson until the bottom of the sixth. The

Still ‘in the midst of struggle,’ NAACP honors Carlos, Smith

Chris biDerM an THE SACRAMENTO BEE

SACRAMENTO — John Carlos wore a necklace with a Black fist pendant over his tie and dress shirt Saturday – the same way he wore beads to oppose lynchings during the moment that made him a historic figure in the civil rights movement.

That moment, of course, came in 1968 in Mexico City, where Carlos stood alongside Tommie Smith on the medal stand at the Olympic Games. They wore black gloves and raised their fists during the playing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” symbolizing their stand against racial injustice when tensions were at a boiling point following the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

The California Hawaii NAACP honored Carlos and Smith during

its state conference Saturday at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, inducting them into the organization’s Legacy Hall of Fame. Smith and Carlos were joined by Harry Edwardsand Kenneth Noel in their induction class. Smith was unable to attend the event.

Carlos and Smith are still remembered for their stance against injustice more than 50 years after their demonstration during the Olympic medal ceremony.

“It reached the far end of the earth,” Carlos told The Sacramento Bee. “Individuals were going through the same changes that Blacks in America were going through. We had a blueprint. Other individuals in other parts of the world didn’t have that blueprint. They didn’t have that courage, they didn’t have the audacity to defy their environment. ... And then it

started creating a revolution around the world in terms of people fighting for equality.”

The demonstration from Smith and Carlos came after they won gold and bronze medals in the 200meter dash. That moment became a focal point in a movement as athletes used their platforms to address racial inequalities. It came a year after Muhammad Ali refused to get drafted into the Vietnam War and 21 years after Jackie Robinson became the first Black player in Major League Baseball amid harsh criticism from the public.

The legacy of Carlos and Smith has continued to inspire generations after them, such as Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem to protest police brutality and the Milwaukee Bucks

Sharks’ Erik Karlsson a finalist for Norris Trophy as best defenseman

Curtis Pashelka

BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

This would turn into an unforgettable week for Erik Karlsson if he were to win the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman for the third time in his standout 14-year career.

There’s a chance it could be a lifealtering week for Karlsson, as well.

After a record-breaking 101point season for the San Jose Sharks, Karlsson, 33, is a finalist for both the Norris Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as voted by members of the NHL Players’ Association.

Both trophies will be handed out Monday at the NHL Awards show in Nashville.

While Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers is the overwhelming favorite to capture the

Ted Lindsay Award, named after the Hall of Fame winger who fought for players’ rights, Karlsson is viewed as the likely choice for the Norris. Not only was his point total the highest of his career, but he shattered the Sharks’ previous single-season points record for a

Arizona right-hander hadn’t had a baserunner since Davis had walked with two out in the first until Thairo Estrada swung at a wild pitch for strike three and made it to first base with two out.

Nelson walked Michael Conforto, with Davis grounding a single to left to bring home Estrada.

DeSclafani gave up some loud contact early but departed after six solid innings, giving up two runs. He threw 78 pitches, 50 of which were strikes,

with no walks and three strikeouts.

Arizona scored in the first on an RBI double by Christian Walker, who doubled to deep right center, scoring Marte, whose single to right at 107.2 miles per hour struck the fence with such force he couldn’t get to second.

McCarthy singled in another run in the second, scoring Alek Thomas, who drove double to left center at 110.3 miles per hour.

Will Paul play role coming off the bench for Warriors?

shayna rubin BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Chris Paul has started every single one of his 1,214 regular season games and 149 playoff games in 18 seasons as an NBA player. His best-suited role with the Golden State Warriors, though, will have him coming off the bench.

Strip ego and history away and the logic is simple. The 38-year-old Paul was swapped in for 24-year-old Jordan Poole largely because he can transform the role Poole played over the last two years into something that will make the Warriors more competitive and mistake-free next season.

Poole moved from the starting lineup – a stretch in which the Warriors went 18-2 last season –to the bench after Klay Thompson’s return from his Achilles injury in mid-2022 and largely struggled with the second-unit point guard job. Last season, it became clear Poole didn’t fit the role of a second-unit decision-maker and felt

more comfortable as a microwave scorer. He often turned the ball over and the second unit made plenty of mistakes throughout the season that would bury them.

Paul made his future Hall of Fame career by being a floor general and mistake-free decision-maker at the point guard position. Paul had a league-best 7.43 assistto-turnover ratio last season with the Phoenix Suns, uncanny for a true point guard responsible for feeding the scorers around him. He’s led the league in assists five times in his career, including two years ago with 10.8 assists per game. Adding Paul to the second unit can help the Warriors turn the nonSteph Curry minutes into something productive next season. Last year, the second unit had a 113 offensive rating that ranked in the league’s 35th percentile and turned the ball over in a dismal 16.4% of possessions with Curry off the

Florida crushes

LSU to force a Game 3 in CWS

steve svekis

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

OMAHA, Neb. —

defenseman of 83 – set by Brent Burns in 2018-19 – and ranked 11th in the NHL among all players. He also did it on a Sharks team that finished 22-44-16, as he had points on 43.35 percent of San Jose’s 233 goals, the highest single-season percentage by a defenseman in the NHL’s modern era (since 1943-44). Bobby Orr held the previous mark of 43.32%, set in 1969-70.

“I knew I could give him the puck and something would happen,” Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic said of Karlsson after the season, “and every time he had the puck when you’re on the bench, something happened as well. He’s very creative. He had an outstanding year. Good for him, because he’s got so much talent, and he’s one of the best d-men in the league.”

Florida scored the most runs in College World Series history and came up one short of the record for largest margin of victory in a 24-4 rout of LSU on Sunday that forced a deciding Game 3.

The Gators, who trailed 3-1 in the third inning, hit six home runs on a windy day at Charles Schwab Field and pounded LSU pitching for a CWS record-tying 23 hits a day after Ty Floyd struck out 17 in the Tigers’ 4-3, 11-inning win in Game 1.

The teams play the final game of the College World Series on Monday night, with the winner earning the national championship.

Florida (54-16) came in having been involved in four of the CWS record-tying

eight one-run games. The Gators had totaled 17 runs in four games here before the offense broke loose.

Ty Evans and Jac Caglianone each homered twice, with Evans’ grand slam breaking things open early. Wyatt Langford and BT Riopelle also went deep.

Florida’s 24 runs broke Notre Dame’s CWS record, set in a 23-2 win over Northern Colorado in 1957. The 20-run win over the Tigers (53-17) ranks second to that game for largest margin.

The Gators hadn’t scored so many runs since a 28-5 win over Winthrop on March 3, 2019.

LSU hadn’t given up so many in any of its 245 NCAA Tournament games. The Tigers committed a season-high five errors that led to six unearned runs.

Langford was 5 for

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group TNS file (2022)

Erik Karlsson skates on the ice during warmups before a game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Nov. 3, 2022.

Xavier Mascarenas/Sacramnto Bee/TNS

Olympic bronze medalist Dr. John Carlos, right, comments on a shirt – which bears the iconic image in which Carlos is featured – worn by 1967 Olympic Project for Human

Rights co-organizer Dr. Kenneth Noel before the California Hawaii State Conference NAACP’s annual Legacy Hall of Fame Ceremony, Saturday.

See Giants, Page B8

See Honors, Page B8

Sharks, Page B8

See Paul, Page B8

Columns&Games

Spouse’s social media fame straining marriage

Dear Annie: My spouse has become a viral social media sensation. They have been quite popular, and I recently learned of many “friendships” that have developed with members of the opposite sex. One in particular has become, and I quote, “the best friend I have ever had.”

The last year has been filled with many struggles on my end, and I fell into a very deep depression. My spouse chose to ignore this and reach out to these “friends.” They claim they are all platonic.

We have been trying to work on our marriage, but I am really hurt by this. I love this person with all of my heart and really want to make our marriage work. We have had some amazing heart-to-heart conversations recently, and I think they are starting to understand how badly I am hurting by the way they have behaved.

I just don’t know if I can trust the words they say. My intuition says yes, but my head makes me cautious.

Social media is not positive for our marriage, but they won’t give it up. Please help. I am already so heartbroken. –Lonely and Sad

Dear Lonely and Sad: Social media, or any online connection, doesn’t hold a candle to the real heart-to-heart conver-

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

You’d like to think that your feelings are self-generated and contained within you, but you’re sensitive and connected to the whole, so what the people around you are feeling will affect you. Get to the lighter atmosphere.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Music and math are related, but it’s hard to dance to math. Your stars highlight your ability to intellectualize what’s natural, or go the opposite direction and take concepts into a most practical and applicable realm.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21).

You’ll either do the work with a smile on your face or not do it at all. It can be a challenge to find something to like about a thing that you can’t inherently find anything to like about.

CANCER (June 22-July 22).

You don’t mind problems, as long as they are new problems. The same old problems are a reminder of what you haven’t or can’t solve. Lean into the frustration today because you’re on the brink of a breakthrough.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). It will take training to get where you want to go. You’re ready to put in the hours and you will surely get there, one small hurdle at a time. Make sure you have a good teacher, a place to work and some kind of account-

Daily Cryptoquotes

sation you have had with your spouse. Continue to be open with your feelings and listen to your intuition. If the social media is part of your spouse’s job, then asking them to give that up is not the solution either. The solution is to have personal boundaries on what your partner can and cannot allow on social media.

Talk about what you both feel comfortable with. Healthy communication and trust are great muscles to work in a marriage, and your spouse’s newfound social media fame is certainly giving you the opportunity to do just that. Best of luck to you. In addition, I would encourage you to seek the help of a professional therapist if you are suffering from depression. Try to surround yourself with friends and family when you are feeling down.

Dear Annie: In recent columns, you have addressed the issue of helping a disabled child. I agree that we need to take care of ourselves before we can help others. In my own case, at age 66, I ended up having knee surgery after assisting my physically disabled son during an emergency. Because of that surgery, I am not as much help to my son as I used to be.

Every disabled person’s condition is unique, and some

Today’s birthday

An amazing year for growing your power. You’ll have several wins, and with each one you’ll turn the victory into an opportunity to help and promote others. You stay grounded as your influence reaches the sky. More highlights: an exciting ride to ordinary places, an invitation to an exclusive circle, and whimsical love. Taurus and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 10, 4, 37, 8 and 16.

ability system.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

Put your ideas to the test and, when they work, test them again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Also, since you perform better when you’re comfortable, the right clothing and shoes will make a significant contribution to your success.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your network is something to be proud of. You’ll find it hard to avoid name-dropping, but your instinct to do so isn’t totally off-base. After all, you must first impress people in order to influence them and get them to follow you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).

You can learn through your

disabilities are progressive, so things can get worse over time.

But what a parent does now can provide security for what comes later, especially after the child is an adult and the parent unable to help. One suggestion is to do research to find alternative caregiving sources, such as durable medical equipment (DME), transportation options, proper medical care and a permanent living place.

Do these things while you can afford them rather than waiting until they are absolutely necessary – because the child’s illness has progressed so much. In a recent letter from the 63-year-old mother of a disabled daughter, I would suggest that, if possible, Mom pays off her car loan or home mortgage payment. Remodel her home for upcoming physical changes unique to her disease.

Provide whatever DME she needs. Load up her bank accounts. Look to patient groups for specific disabilities as they have information, as well as medical staff, doctors and social workers.

Another mom, hopefully doing the best for her beautiful disabled son. – Another Mom

Dear Another Mom: Thank you for your very helpful suggestions, and best wishes with your son. He is lucky to have such a wise and caring mother. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

own experience, or you can learn by reading or listening to the experience of others. The first way is comprehensive; the second is efficient. It just depends on what you have time for.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). You assume that people think more or less like you do, but of course every skull is its own kingdom and culture. An interaction will illustrate an interesting difference in thinking styles.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). It will be tempting to believe you are the living, breathing culmination of your own choices. Of course it’s absurd, considering how much of your current circumstance can be attributed to things you have absolutely no control over whatsoever.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Take advantage of this celestial high by focusing on your top priority. Pour all you have into a single purpose and your energy will magnify, multiply and lift all that’s around it.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20).

“No” isn’t always negative, and it can in fact be the very word that keeps you from inconvenience, stress or harm. Whether saying or hearing it, today’s “no” will be an act of cosmic grace.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

Word Sleuth

Crossword by Phillip Alder

Bridge

East-West cards and decide on your line in three no-trump after the lead of the heart two: queen, five (count), eight.

Both declarers saw an easy nine tricks by way of one spade, two hearts and six diamonds. Without pausing for breath, they immediately led the heart king. However, they had overlooked a minor problem: Where was the hand entry to cash the heart jack?

Both pairs of defenders played perfectly at this point. West won with the heart ace and switched to the club five. East took the trick with his king and returned a club. West won with the ace and exited with a diamond, leaving declarer eclipsed in the dummy. South cashed three rounds of diamonds and then led a spade to the queen, but luck was out to lunch. West won with the king and returned a spade. The finesse of dummy’s 10 lost as well, and the contract was down one.

STRIP THEM OF THEIR JEWELS

Anton Chekhov wrote, “We shall find peace. We shall hear angels, we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds.” Today’s deal was played in a team match between experts -- and both declarers went down. If you fancy your chances of outplaying them and echoing Chekhov’s words, cover the

The declarers should have taken a few moments at trick one to consider the possible pitfalls. They must immediately cash three rounds of diamonds, removing that suit from the opponents’ hands. Only then is it safe to advance the heart king.

West would be unable to defeat the contract. South must score an extra trick in spades, hearts or clubs, and dummy still has the spade ace as the entry to the remaining diamond winners.

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

© 2023 Janric Enterprises Dist. by creators.com

6/26/23

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

Difficulty level: BRONZE

Solution for 6/24/23:

Horoscopes by Holiday Mathis

Annie Lane Dear Annie

House censure boosts Adam Schiff’s U.S. Senate campaign

Rep. Adam Schiff should plant a big wet kiss on Kevin McCarthy for giving Schiff’s campaign for the U.S. Senate a big boost.

McCarthy, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, presided last week over a 213-209, partyline vote to censure Schiff for his strenuous efforts to investigate and even impeach former President Donald Trump when Democrats controlled the House.

“Adam Schiff launched an all-out political campaign built on baseless distortions against a sitting U.S. president,” Florida Congresswoman Anna Luna, the sponsor of the censure, declared. She accused him of engaging in “falsehoods, misrepresentations and abuses of sensitive information” as he sought to unearth connections between Trump and Russia.

An earlier version of Luna’s censure resolution would have imposed a multimillion-dollar fine on Schiff, but McCarthy and other leaders balked at that measure, forcing Luna to remove the fine before bringing the measure to the floor.

Schiff responded in kind after the vote.

“To my Republican colleagues who introduced this resolution: I thank you,” Schiff said. “You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood. You, who are the authors of a big lie about the last election, must condemn the truth tellers, and I stand proudly before you.

“Donald Trump is under indictment for actions that jeopardize our national security and McCarthy would spend the nation’s time on petty political payback, thinking he can censure or fine Trump’s opposition into submission,” Schiff added. “But I will not yield. Not one inch.”

Referring to Luna’s earlier version that could have imposed the heavy fine, Schiff quipped that Republicans “might as well make it $160 million. You will never deter me from doing my duty.”

Not only did the censure “honor me with your enmity,” as Schiff crowed, but it gave him a powerful new talking point as he seeks to succeed U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in next year’s election.

Having been such a thorn in Trump’s side that he earned a rare censure vote, Schiff can argue to Democratic voters that he’s exactly the kind of political warrior deeply blue California should have in the Senate.

The censure measure also directs the House ethics committee to investigate Schiff’s conduct as he led investigations of Trump, thus giving him even more opportunities to burnish his status as an anti-Trump stalwart.

Schiff, who represents a Los Angeles County congressional district, will face at least two House colleagues in the duel for the seat Feinstein is giving up after three decades in the Senate, Orange County’s Katie Porter and Barbara Lee of Oakland, and none has established frontrunner status.

Early polling has Schiff and Porter in the teens among potential voters and Lee trailing. Schiff, however, is well ahead of both in fundraising after Porter spent more than $25 million last year to win a very narrow re-election battle.

Although there are few apparent ideological differences among the three, Schiff is seen as more of a centrist than his rivals, notwithstanding his anti-Trump crusading. Porter is a protégé of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s economic populism while long-serving Lee is an icon of the left for her stalwart anti-war positions.

Hanging over the three-way duel is the possibility that Feinstein, who turned 90 this month and has significant physical and mental health issues, will not complete the remaining 18 months of her term.

If there is a vacancy, Gov. Gavin Newsom would name a successor to fill out Feinstein’s term. He has said he would appoint a Black woman to any vacancy and Lee would qualify, but giving her the seat in the midst of a campaign would be politically tricky.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to Commentary.

THE RIGHT STUFF

Juneteenth 1865

We have just celebrated Juneteenth. For those who don’t know why, this might be because many people got a truncated version of history concerning America’s traumatically complex Civil War. Too many people don’t really know the details about the end of the war between the states. Most seem to believe the war ended with Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s surrender of the famed Army of Northern Virginia to Union Lt. General and future President Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on April 9, 1865. This is far from true. Hostilities continued for months afterwards.

There were several Confederate armies numbering in the tens of thousands and Naval raiders still functioning; however, the last major force to surrender was commanded by General Edmund Kirby Smith. General Smith commanded the Trans Mississippi Department (TMD), the Confederacy was broken up into military departments by the Confederate government. The TMD, which was the largest Department geographically comprised Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, western Louisiana, the Arizona Territory, and Indian Territory.

On June 2, 1865 General Smith formally surrendered his Command at Galveston, Texas to Union Major General Gordon Granger. Kirby Smith was the last Confederate General with a major command of army and navy forces to surrender.

In many ways, for the rest of America, the war lingered on through a series of surrenders. With each of these surrenders the reality of ending became clearer to all concerned. Each ending also brought a new beginning reflecting a monumental shift in America, whereby a great moral wrong was seemingly on the verge of being righted.

During the war slaves in the Trans Mississippi Department were kept in ignorance of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freeing them in the states in rebellion against the United States government. However once General Gordon accepted General Smith’s surrender the news spread fast and was officially recognized. Yes, freedom had come at last though local practices ensured continued discrimination and slavery in another form.

Millions of human beings were, by Executive Proclamation (law) freed from bondage but also were, in effect, stateless people not yet recognized as American citizens. This was to come later but quickly with the passage of the 13th ,14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution.

During the war slaves in the Trans Mississippi Department were kept in ignorance of the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in states in rebellion against the United States. However, once General Gordon accepted General Smith’s surrender this was quickly remedied. Yet perhaps rather than a military victory or mere conclusion in

Smith’s case, his surrender at Galveston really was, as Dr. Elizabeth Varon said in her book “Appomattox: Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War,” regarding Lee’s surrender was “more than an ending or a beginning, the surrender at Appomattox should be viewed as an ‘intersection of change’ as most events in human history rarely have neat and tidy beginnings and endings.”

Obviously, the name “Juneteenth” (officially Juneteenth National Independence Day) celebration itself is derived from a contraction of the date of the order, by Major General Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for all enslaved people which was June 19, 1865 (two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.)

Juneteenth was an “intersection of change,” too; a new beginning into uncertain peace and previously unknown social territory commenced. A movement for freedom and equality for millions of previously enslaved human beings towards an uncertain future. Onehundred-fifty-eight years later, I discussed “Juneteenth” with my fellow grandparent, a Black family member from Mississippi, I am close to. I told her goodbye as always, “Love you darlin” and she said, “Love you back” and we have for a very long time. Maybe love is our needed positive change. America and her people are precious remember that in 2024.

Jim McCully is a former chairman of the Solano County Republican Central Committee and former regional vice chairman of the California Republican Party.

Pentagon Papering ourselves into and out of war

M artin SchraM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Pivotal moments in war and peace come when least expected. And that’s just the way things worked out, in 1967 – long after America had cautiously backed itself into the quicksand of Vietnam.

That’s when the architect and public advocate-in-chief of America’s ever-escalating war in Vietnam gave in to his ever-increasing inner doubts – that had suddenly swelled to full-blown private disillusionment. Robert Strange McNamara (yes that really was his middle name) had finally recognized the reality that would be the legacy of what would forever be called his war.

On May 19, 1967, JFK’s and LBJ’s famously confident defense secretary wrote a memo, telling his commander-in-chief what he could finally see clearly after more than two years in which U.S. bombs had been pounding North Vietnam.

“There continues to be no sign that the bombing has reduced Hanoi’s will to resist or her ability to ship the necessary supplies south,” McNamara wrote. “Hanoi shows no signs of ending the large war and advising the VC (Viet Cong) to melt into the jungles. …We should not bomb for punitive reasons if it serves no other purpose – especially if analysis shows that the actions may be counterproductive. It costs American lives; it creates a backfire of revulsion and opposition by killing civilians; it creates serious risks; it may harden the enemy.”

Just four weeks later, McNamara assembled a special group of 36 best and brightest military analysts –including Daniel Ellsberg – to create the famous official history of how the United States got itself into that mess of a war it could not win or even suc-

cessfully end. Yes, it’s the study that came to be called “The Pentagon Papers” – after it was photocopied and leaked to The New York Times and then other newspapers by Ellsberg, who was disillusioned because its crucial conclusions were stamped secret and limited to insider eyes only. Then President Richard Nixon got a court injunction to halt the Times and then The Washington Post from publishing it.

But Ellsberg, who died this month at age 92, was determined to talk truth not just to power – but to the people. So were other journalists, including a young Newsday Washington correspondent (I still shave him daily). I’d heard Ellsberg was the leaker and flew to Boston to tell someone he knows well that Newsday will publish the unseen chapters.

Eight other newspapers ultimately published chapters before the Supreme Court sided with the First Amendment. Newsday got the last of the leaked chapters – that McNamara memo to President Lyndon Johnson.

Today, as a tribute to Daniel Ellsberg’s patriotic crusade, we’re going to recall the clandestine comic ritual of how Newsday got its leak. Then we’ll put into perspective an often overlooked insight of the Pentagon Papers.

Leaking the Leak: On Sunday, my Newsday editor was called by a fellow calling himself Sam Adams. He said I should take a specific flight to Boston. At Logan Airport, my name was paged. At the airline counter a young fellow (my age) approached, gave me an orange paper that described a green shopping bag bearing a store’s name. Go down the escalator, turn left; the bag is on a chair. Inside the green bag was a white bag; inside the white bag were two Pentagon Papers chapters. I took the bag to Newsday’s Long Island headquarters, where my col-

leagues, Myron S. Waldman and Russell Sackett and I read and wrote about McNamara’s pivotal 1967 memo. In 1968, McNamara left the Pentagon. LBJ angered his military chiefs with big bombing reductions – then stunned most politicos by not seeking reelection, after all.

But I have always thought that the most important contribution in the Pentagon Papers came in a very early chapter – about President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s years. It’s the revelation about how America did all it could to prevent an election from being held in Vietnam, as provided by the 1954 Geneva Accords, on whether the people of North and South Vietnam wanted to unify.

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said in a secret cable that it was “undoubtedly true that elections might eventually mean unification Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.” As Ike later wrote in his memoir: “I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indo-China affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80 per cent of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh.”

No wonder The Pentagon Papers’ analysts concluded that America’s policy was “to give no impression of blocking elections while avoiding the possibility of losing them.”

So America deep-sixed its democracy values, slowly backed itself into its unwinnable Vietnam War. And lo, we ended up working and trading rather well with a unified Communist Vietnam.

Martin Schram, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. Readers may send him email at martin.schram@gmail.com.

Dan Walters

Jim McCully

Shaggy steps outside his comfort zone for Sinatra tribute album with Sting

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Sting and Shaggy always looked like unlikely collaborators, but it’s the collaboration that keeps on giving.

“When you’re with Sting, you can’t say never, especially when it’s him, me … and gin,” Shaggy says. “Who knows what we’ll come up with?”

Shaggy, the Jamaican reggae/ dancehall star, and Sting, the British Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, won a Grammy for their 2018 album, “44/876.” They also toured with a show that came to the Pageant that year and performed a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR in 2019.

More recently, they teamed up for “Com Fly Wid Mi” (2022), an album of Frank Sinatra covers performed by Shaggy and produced by Sting.

Shaggy (aka Orville Richard Burrell) calls Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) the brother he never knew he needed.

“It’s just an unlikely situation,” says Shaggy, 54. “You go into it collaborating with someone you see and admire. It’s a great opportunity, and in the interim I found my best friend.”

Most often, he says, “you find yourself surrounded by people who are not really your friends. They work for you – they’re your inner circle. It takes a minute to find someone who doesn’t rely on you for anything, who’s selfreliant, that person who is into you for you and not what you do and who you are.

“I talk to Sting about twice a week no matter that time zone we’re in.”

They met in 1994 when Shaggy jumped onstage while Sting performed “Roxanne.” They shared an artists and repertoire label representative at the

Daily Cryptoquotes

time; they now share a manager. Shaggy says the idea for “Com Fly Wid Mi” came while he and Sting were on a boat in Norway. Sting jumped into the water; Shaggy refused. Instead, while Sting waded, Shaggy put on some Sinatra music and sang. Sting popped his head up and said: ‘Dude, you sound like the dude. Wouldn’t it be cool if we did this as reggae?’”

The concept made sense for Shaggy, who says that, though Jamaica is the home of reggae and calypso, you don’t often hear those sounds on the radio there.

“My house was filled with Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Mahalia Jackson, Patti Page –my grandmother’s music,” he says. “That’s what she loved. I was raised on that type of music.”

He credits Sinatra with penning some of the best-written songs in the world – iconic, unforgettable tunes.

“A lot of those instrumentals were done by Black people,” Shaggy says. Quincy Jones’ work with Sinatra included producing “L.A. Is My Lady” (1984) his final solo album.

Though he was familiar with the music, “Com Fly Wid Mi” was the toughest album Shaggy has recorded. His discography includes “Pure Pleasure” (1993), “Boombastic” (1995), “Hot Shot” (2000), “Intoxication” (2007) and “Summer in Kingston” (2011). Sting recorded Shaggy’s vocals for the Sinatra project and helped him through the process.

“I really studied these songs,” Shaggy says. “After the first week of songs, I got the hang of it.

“I had to train myself to hear them. Sting was very helpful in that. He was very patient. Once

I told him I can’t hear it, he sat with me. He was patient in teaching my ear to hear that. He has the most amazing ears and one of the most amazing voices.”

He says working with a giant like Sting, in producer mode, allowed for creative freedom. Throughout the process, he says Sting was “fascinated in what I do and how I do it. He’s fascinated with how I can freestyle a song.”

Ultimately, Shaggy says, this is the album he’s most proud of.

“I didn’t know I could do it,” he says. “The real success is when you step outside of your comfort zone.”

Sting told him, “‘You can do so much more with your voice than you are letting yourself do.’”

While “Com Fly Wid Mi” has not been a commercial success, Shaggy says it has been good to him.

“You would not believe the offers I’ve gotten since that record,” he says. “I had Broadway offers, but it conflicted with a tour I already had. It was based on them hearing that record.”

His new album, “In the Mood” (2023), also brings him back to more familiar territory.

“It’s a Caribbean project I just did,” he says. “It’s seasonal music, but I enjoy it even when it’s not in season. It’s not just Carnival music. It’s feelgood music.”

Shaggy is currently on tour with TLC, Sean Kingston and En Vogue for “Hot Summer Nights.”

“It’s a fan appreciation tour,” he says. “If you’re a fan and see a lineup like this, why wouldn’t you go to that? All of the hits are lined up together. ‘How am I not going to that?’ It’s a string of hits and just a great summer thing to do.”

Word Sleuth

Crossword by Phillip Alder

Bridge

contract would have gone down if West received a club ruff.

Against three hearts, West led the club queen: three, two, ace. Declarer continued with the heart ace: four, 10, three. Next South led the heart queen: five, spade six, heart jack. Then came the heart nine: king, spade seven, club four.

West switched to a diamond. East won with the ace and gave his partner a club ruff. However, now West had to open up spades, so South scored his king for nine tricks: one spade, five hearts and three clubs. Any thoughts?

KEEP BOTH OF YOUR EYES OPEN

Defensive play is difficult because both partners must work with incomplete information. However, by signaling carefully and counting, it is usually possible to find the right plays to bring down a defeatable contract.

In today’s deal, South should have passed out three diamonds, but that

When partner leads a singleton at trick one and your play in the suit is irrelevant, you should make a suit-preference signal. That’s why East played the club two. His lowest card showed a top diamond. However, West wasn’t confident about the signal. Hence his questionable holdup of the heart king until he could see a discard from his partner. East’s club four was a second suit-preference signal.

East didn’t count the defensive tricks. After the heart king, the diamond ace and a club ruff, two spade tricks were needed. He had to assume West held the spade ace. So, East should have switched to the spade queen before giving the club ruff. That defeats the contract.

COPYRIGHT: 2023, UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Bridge

6/27/23 KEEP BOTH OF YOUR

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits

EYES OPEN

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

Defensive play is difficult because both partners must work with incomplete information. However, by signaling carefully and counting, it is usually possible to find the right plays

© 2023 Janric Enterprises Dist. by creators.com

Difficulty level: SILVER

Yesterday’s solution:

Daniel DeSlover/Zuma Press Wire/TNS file (2022)

Shaggy performs in Las Vegas on Sept. 16, 2022.

Indiana Jones off to a new adventure

SuSan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Indiana Jones returns on another hair-raising adventure. This time he is in search of an artifact that can turn back time.

Also in local theaters is a animated film about a young girl who finds out she is really the decedent of a Kracken queen.

Opening nationwide are:

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” in this film, the legendary hero archaeologist, Indiana Jones, races against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history. Accompanied by his goddaughter, he soon finds himself squaring off against Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi who works for NASA. This film is rated PG-13.

“Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” in this animated film, awkward 16-year-old Ruby Gillman (Lana Condor) is desperate to fit in at Oceanside High, but she mostly just feels invisible. She’s math-tutoring her skaterboy crush (Jaboukie Young-White), who only seems to admire her for her fractals, and she’s prevented from hanging out with the cool kids at the beach because her over-protective supermom (Toni Collette), has forbade Ruby from ever getting in the water. But when she breaks her mom’s #1 rule, Ruby will discover that she is a direct descendant of the warrior Kraken queens and is destined to inherit the throne from her commanding grandmother (Jane Fonda), the Warrior Queen of the Seven Seas. The Kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids who have been battling with the Kraken for eons. This film is rated PG.

Opening in limited release are:

“Every Body,” in this film, it tells the stories of three individuals who have moved from childhoods marked by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries to thriving adulthoods after each decided to set aside medical advice to keep their bodies a secret and

instead came out as their authentic selves. Actor and screenwriter River Gallo (they/them), political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they), and Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) are now leaders in a fast-growing global movement advocating for greater understanding of the intersex community and an end to unnecessary surgeries. Woven into the story is a stranger-thanfiction case of medical abuse, featuring exclusive footage from the NBC News archives, which helps explain the modern-day treatment of intersex people. This film is rated R

“In the Company of Rose,” in this documentary, Tony-winning playwright and director James Lapine befriends Rose Styron, the widow of the great American novelist William Styron (Sophie’s Choice). Rose shares the fascinating story of her complex life as a poet, journalist, human rights activist, life partner to William, and friend of the Kennedys, Phillip Roth, Carly Simon, the Clintons, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Meryl Streep, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and many other luminaries of her time. This film is not rated.

“The Childe,” in this film, an amateur boxer searches for the wealthy estranged father he’s never met to help his mother who is dying. But after a lead takes him from the Philippines to Korea, he is relentlessly pursued by a quirky yet highly dangerous man. As additional entities join in his pursuit and cause chaos, he will be forced to confront a shocking truth that may cost him his life. This film is not rated.

“The Unseen,” in this horror film, a law student (RJ Mitte) finds himself losing his mind in a twisted web of murder and deceit brought on by a dark force from his past – an unstoppable supernatural fury hell-bent on achieving its horrific goal.

film is rated

Brian Crane

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Candorville Darrin Bell

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

t i o n T h e

o r c r e d i t o r a r ef u n d s h o u l d t h e y n o t a p p e a r o n l i n e

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

Informational: A cord o f w o o d s h a l l m e a sure 4x4x8 and be acc o m p a n i e d b y a r ec e i p t P l e a s e r e p o r t any discrepancies to: T h e D e p a r t m e n t o f Agricultural / Weights a n d M e a s u r e s a t ( 7 0 7 ) 7 8 4 - 1 3 1 0

The Classif ieds Work Like

CALENDAR

Monday’s TV sports

Baseball

College World Series

• Final, LSU vs. Florida, Game 3, ESPN, 4 p.m.

Soccer Gold Cup

• El Salvador vs. Martinique, FS1, 3:30 p.m.

• Costa Rica vs. Panama, FS1, 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s TV sports

Baseball

MLB • San Francisco vs. Toronto, NBCSBA, 4:07 p.m.

• Minnesota vs. Atlanta, TBS, 4:20 p.m.

• N.Y. Yankees vs. Oakland, NBCSCA, 6:40 p.m.

Soccer Gold Cup

• Canada vs. Guadeloupe, FS1, 4 p.m.

• Guatemala vs. Cuba, FS1, 5:45 p.m.

Softball

• AUX, Team Gold vs. Team Orange, ESPN2, 4 p.m.

Sharks

From Page B1

Karlsson became the first defenseman in 31 years to eclipse 100 points in a season and his total, with 25 goals and 76 assists, easily ranked first among all defensemen.

Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey and Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes were tied for second with 76 points.

Karlsson would become just the ninth defenseman in NHL history to win the award at least three times. That list is led by Bobby Orr, who won the Norris eight times.

Such statistical dominance could outweigh the defensive shortcomings Karlsson may have, although the 19 empty-net goals the Sharks allowed this season played a role in Karlsson’s plus/minus rating of -26.

Still, back at full health, Karlsson was better on the defensive end this past season than he was at any point since he came to San Jose in 2018.

The other finalists for this year’s Norris Trophy are last season’s winner, Cale Makarof the Colorado Avalanche, and the New York Rangers’ Adam Fox, who won in

Giants

From Page B1

That would be it through the sixth however. It was a step in the right direction for DeSclafani, who in four previous June starts was 0-2 with an earned run average of 7.94 with 23 hits surrendered in 17 innings pitched.

Notable

n Beck departed with one out in the top of the ninth in favor of Ryan Walker with an undisclosed injury, leaving with trainer Dave Groeschner. The Giants placed reliever Luke Jackson on the injured list earlier Sunday with lower back stiffness.

Walker retired the first hitter he faced before giving up a run-scoring single to Perdomo, walked

CWS

From Page B1

5 with six RBIs with two doubles and his homer.

Evans’ shot down the left-field line off Nate Ackenhausen (3-1) tied it 1 in the second. His grand slam off Gavin Guidry in the third was a high fly that looked to be headed foul, but the 20-mph wind blowing left to right pushed it inside the leftfield foul pole.

The Tigers should have been out of the third before Evans came to bat, but shortstop Jordan Thompson’s fielding error cost them a chance at a double play and kept going what

Bradley’s win at The Travelers unfolds in memorable fashion

Dom A more HARTFORD COURANT CROMWELL, Conn. — One never knows, once a smile is put on a kid’s face, what kind of seed might be planted.

Who knew, for instance, when Keegan Bradley came from Massachusetts to the TPC River Highlands to see a PGA event for the first time, and catch whatever glimpses he could of his favorite, David Duval, one of the best in the world in the late 1990s, that the youngster would start to work toward a unique, specific goal – not only to become a pro golfer, but to win this tournament?

said this week.

He’d come close in 2019, finishing in a tie for second, and had six wins, including a major, the 2011 PGA Championship he won as a rookie, but Bradley, 37, with his wife and two young sons following him all the way, had never won a tournament when taking a lead into the final round. And after opening a big lead, he started feeling the pressure here, appearing to lose his grip on a run-away win with three bogeys over the final six holes.

chanting crowd surrounding the green. “I’m so proud to be from this New England area, this seems like a dream.”

Bradley gave those New England kids lessons in mastering a course, and in keeping poised through the intense heat the game can apply when victory gets close enough to sniff, to complete a record-setting tournament with a final round 68 and capture the Travelers and its $3.5 million first-place prize.

Kenny Perry in 2009. Patrick Cantlay and Zac Blair finished 3 strokes back. Bradley grew up as a skier in Vermont before focusing on golf as a teenager; his father was a club pro. Then he moved to New Hampshire and Hopkinton, Mass., and played for St. John’s, always close enough to consider the Travelers, as it became known in 2007, his hometown tournament. By Sunday, it had become his backyard.

2020-2021 under thencoach David Quinn, now entering his second year as the Sharks’ bench boss.

Quinn was predicting another nod for Karlsson as the league’s top defenseman midway through the season.

“This is a legit Norris Trophy winner,” Quinn said in February after Karlsson had three points and played 24:07 in a 4-1 win over Washington. “There’s not a better defenseman in the league right now. I know the points get a lot attention as they should, but (it’s also about) all these other things you need a defenseman to do for the most part he’s done throughout the season.”

The most pertinent question now is whether Karlsson will be back in San Jose in the fall.

Karlsson was rumored to be on the move at various times this year and recently, representatives from his agency met with Sharks managers to get on the same page about being traded to a Stanley Cupcontending team, since San Jose appears to be in a rebuilding state under GM Mike Grier.

Karlsson has a full no-movement clause in his eight-year, $92 million contract,

Marte and then struck out Corbin Carroll looking for the third out.

n Kapler made his 28th challenge of the season in the second inning on a pickoff attempt at first base by DeSclafani. Jake McCarthy, who had singled in a run, was originally ruled safe. The replay showed otherwise, the 18th time a Kapler challenge has resulted in the original call being overturned. A later challenge in the seventh on a play at third was upheld, with Walker safe at third on a throw from Luis Matos.

n The Giants will spend the off day in Toronto, then play three games against the Blue Jays and three against the Mets before returning home July 3 for a threegame series against Seattle.

became a six-run inning.

Langford connected in the fifth, and Caglianone followed with his nation-leading 32nd and 33rd homers.

Florida starter Hurston Waldrep, who had allowed two earned runs in 21 innings in the NCAA Tournament, went just 2 1/3. He walked six, hit two batters and allowed four hits in his shortest appearance of the season, not counting a start against Vanderbilt when he didn’t return after one inning because of a rain delay.

LSU did next to nothing against Florida relievers Blake Purnell (2-0) and Nick Ficarrotta. They combined to pitch 6 1/3 innings of three-hit relief.

“When I got my PGA Tour card in 2010, the first thought in my mind wasn’t to play the majors, whatever, it was ‘I get to come play Hartford,’” Bradley

Paul

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floor, according to Cleaning the Glass.

Draymond Green slotted into the second unit at various points as a point forward to organize the decision-making, resulting in a slightly better 114.4 offensive rating and slightly fewer turnovers.

“That unit should not play as fast as the first unit,” Green said in November about the second unit. “It should be more methodical. It should be more sets. It should be more patterned movements as opposed to random movements and random offense. For me, it’s just trying to slow that unit down

“Number two, make sure that unit is defending. As a second unit, your job isn’t to go out there and build the lead, your job is to maintain the lead.”

Paul is the standard bearer for conducting a slow and methodical offense. And while his play style runs counter to the chaotic, fast-paced offense Curry, Green, and Klay Thompson have domi-

Honors

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boycotting a playoff game in 2020 over the police killing of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

That came during the same summer much of the sports world rallied around the memory of George Floyd, who was killed by Minneapolis police, and major sports leagues adopted policies allowing athletes to address those issues without punishment.

But Carlos and Smith didn’t enjoy the same treatment in 1968. They were suspended by the U.S. Olympic Committee

“This is for all the kids in New England who have to sit through the winter to play golf,” Bradley said, after sinking an 8-foot par putt on the 18th hole to finally the Travelers Championship Sunday, raising his arms to acknowledge the large,

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a week where I’ve put it all together like that,” Bradley said. “That’s the best golf I’ve ever played.”

In an “elevated” field, with 70 of the top 77 golfers in the world, Bradley raised his game above the rest, finishing a tournament record 23 under par, a stroke better than

“My first PGA Tour event I ever went to,” he said. “I came here and watched David Duval play. I remember looking at his tee time and making sure I got here when he warmed up. The range was right over here and it was my first real taste of what the PGA Tour was like.”

head coach Steve Kerr would use Paul in some of the small-ball threeguard lineups he used when Poole was involved. Paul might get a few starts when Kerr and the coaching staff can opt for offense and defer the decision-making to Green.

nated the league with, the Warriors have historically found success using the second unit to change the tempo. Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala, for example, made Golden State’s championshipera bench units a force because they could get players such as Leandro Barbosa, Marreese Speights and Ian Clarkin a scoring rhythm when Curry rests.

Paul’s playmaking can get young players such as Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga into a scoring rhythm off the bench – assuming no one listed here is traded before opening day, which is still a possibility that

following their demonstration and were ordered to vacate the Olympic village.

And while sports have become a more mainstream platform to normalize dialogues on race, systemic issues remain a focal point.

“We have to understand that what happened in 1968 was a continuation of an ongoing struggle,” said Edwards, a renowned sociologist, professor and activist with ties to the San Francisco 49ers. “And it’s not individuals or individual personalities or leaders that generate struggle, it’s conditions. And those conditions, so deeply rooted within the context of the American experience, continue to

includes Paul. Plus, Paul can certainly limit the turnovers as the primary decision-maker.

At 38 with a long injury history, Paul may be best suited to play around 20 minutes per game off the bench to keep control of any wear and tear.

People around the Warriors are not certain Paul will agree to come off the bench since he’s never done it in his career. A future Hall of Famer should have plenty of say in the way he’s being used. Is one of the decade’s best point guard’s OK with conceding to be the No. 2 to his longtime adversary in Curry?

It’s also presumed that

prevail today.

“So generation after generation of activist come to the fore, step up, make a statement, and then subsequently, another generation of activists does the same thing.”

Edwards went on to cite the overturning of Roe v. Wade relating to women’s rights, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 being challenged at the Supreme Court level earlier this month and history books being banned from schools as issues that need attention.

“The reality is that these movements will continue,” Edwards said. “They are just as sure to arise as our conditions continue to be dynamic and changing. And there

There’s something poetic about Paul moving to the bench for a Curryled team. Much of the Warriors dynasty has been colored by Curry’s adversarial relationship with Paul. Curry burst into the league as a disruptor who successfully challenged the way the point guard position should be played – he formed a dynasty as a freakish shooter and scorer within a hurricane offense. Paul was always on the other side, playing a traditional role with the Los Angeles Clippers, Houston Rockets, and Suns, ready to bring Curry back down to earth.

Now Paul is joining the side he could never beat. The jury is still out on whether he’ll accept a bench role behind his longtime foe. If he does, and everyone stays healthy, it could yield another championship run.

are no final victories. So, you ask me where we are today? We are in the midst of a struggle.”

Carlos, who went to San Jose State after transferring from East Texas State University, has been awarded the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage and was recognized by President Barack Obama along with the Olympic and Paralympic teams in 2016. He was asked what being honored in Sacramento meant to him.

“Any time I receive an honor ,I attribute that to my mother and my father, to my kids,” he said. “I didn’t do it in Mexico City for any honors. I did it because I thought it was the right thing to do.”

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/TNS file (2019)

Steph Curry uses Kevon Looney as a screen to elude Chris Paul for a shot at Chase Center in San Francisco.