The Davis Enterprise Friday, December 24, 2021

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enterprise THE DAVIS

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2021

Thanks to everyone who is making less (or zero) smoke from fireplaces, wood stoves, outdoor fires, tobacco, etc. Decades ago, I used my fireplace a lot, until the time I stepped outside and realized I was harming my neighbors. Thanks to all for understanding that residential smoke is household hazardous waste going into people’s lungs, unhealthy for everyone and it makes some people sick right away. Merry Christmas from a huge fan of clean air. Paid for by a Huge Fan of Clean Air for Human Health

jcw@dcn.org

Genome Center finds omicron in Davis Cases linked to workplace party By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer

An elevated view of the Trackside Center’s southeast corner.

“We are pleased with the court’s thorough review and legal validation of the city’s decision to approve our transitoriented, environmentally progressive, infill project in downtown Davis,” Trackside Center managing partners Kemble Pope and Steve Greenfield said in a statement issued Monday.

The first cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in Davis, including some linked to a single holiday workplace party. A total of 42 cases of the variant were confirmed by the UC Davis Genome Center in Davis, El Macero, West Sacramento and Woodland based on positive samples collected during the week of Dec. 12-18. The genome center screens every positive COVID-19 test conducted by Healthy Davis Together for all currently known variants of concern. According to a statement from the county, “several of the Davis cases are associated with a single workplace holiday party. “The party, with approximately 50 attendees, and subsequent workplace spread are associated with an outbreak of at least 16 cases, of which 10 are known so far to be Omicron,” according to the county. “Of the 16 cases, all were fully

See TRACKSIDE, Page A3

See OMICRON, Page A6

Courtesy rendering

Court ruling reinstates Trackside By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer Trackside is back on track. The 27-unit apartment and mixed-use project planned for Third Street just east of the railroad tracks was approved by the City Council in 2017 but has been tied up in litigation ever since. Members of the Old East Davis Neighborhood Association had sued the city over its approval of Trackside Center, contending the project violated

the city’s zoning ordinances, General Plan and neighborhood design guidelines, and two years later, a Yolo County judge agreed. Judge Samuel McAdam ruled in May 2019 that Trackside was not consistent with the city’s planning provisions governing the transition between the core area of downtown and the Old East Davis neighborhood and “the mass and scale of the project is not reasonable.” Simply put, McAdam agreed with opponents of the project

that it is too big for that location. But this week an appellate court disagreed, overturning McAdam’s ruling and paving the way for the project to move forward. The ruling issued Monday by the Third District Court of Appeal found “substantial evidence supports the city’s approval.” The city, the court found, “acted within its discretion and the trial court erred in reversing its approval of Trackside.”

The decision was praised by Trackside developers and the city itself.

Davis startup releases high-protein chickpea By Caleb Hampton Enterprise staff writer NuCicer, a Davis-based plant genetics company, has developed a new chickpea variety that contains 75% more protein content than other chickpeas, the company announced Monday in a press release. “This will slash the cost of chickpea protein nearly in half,” NuCicer CEO and cofounder Kathryn Cook said. The plant genetics startup spun out of research conducted at UC Davis over the past 10 years. “NuCicer’s background chickpea germplasm stems from international research projects spanning the last

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INDEX

decade led by Professor Douglas R. Cook,” the company said in its press release. “International researchers trekked through southeastern Turkey with permission from local authorities to collect thousands of samples of wild crop progenitors.” The ultra-high protein chickpeas were developed naturally using wild genetic diversity. By crossbreeding wild plants with cultivated chickpea varieties, the scientists were able to multiple the available genetic diversity by 40 times, according to NuCicer. This enabled them to develop traits in the chickpeas that

See CHICKPEA, Page A6

WEATHER

Arts ������������������B1 Events �������������� A7 Obituary ���������� A6 Classifieds ������B3 Forum ��������������B4 Pets ������������������ A3 Comics ������������B6 Kid Scoop ��������B2 Sports ��������������B8

By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer

NuCicer, a Davis-based plant genetics company, has developed a new chickpea variety that contains 75% more protein content than other chickpeas.

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Real Estate Broker Associate

See JUNETEENTH, Page A6

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On Dec. 16, the school district board of education approved Juneteenth Independence Day as a local, district holiday. Celebrating this day not only recognizes the integral role African Americans play in US history but reflects the diversity within the school district itself. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1963, many slaves were kept in

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