Daily Republic: Sunday, January 24, 2021

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Wildlife center releases golden eagle after 6-week stay A3

Who is home run king – Bonds or Aaron – still up for debate B2

sunday  |  January 24, 2021  |  $1.50

dailyrepublic.com  |  Well said. Well read.

Green Valley Fire Safety Council could be model for others Todd R. Hansen

thansen@dailyrepublic.net

Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file (2017)

Smoke rises from the Atlas Fire in Wooden Valley, Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017.

Supervisors to get update on LNU recovery, Covid, election matters Todd R. Hansen

thansen@dailyrepublic.net

FAIRFIELD — The Solano County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday is scheduled to receive an update on the LNU Lightning Complex Fire recovery efforts, and an overview from the Registrar of Voters office on a menu of issues including district boundaries. It is also scheduled in an afternoon session to consider sending a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Department of Public Health seeking an end to the regional health order and to allow businesses and activities in Solano

County to start again. The letter appears to fall short of Supervisor Jim Spering’s declaration to have the board consider not supporting and not enforcing the state health order, and instead asks that the county be allowed to operate under the less restrictive Blueprint for a Safer Economy. spering The supervisors meet at 9 a.m. for what will be a teleconference meeting only, citing Covid-19 concerns. An afternoon session, starting at 2 p.m., includes the update on the Covid-19 situation, as well as the annual

update on the Mental Health Services Act. Prior to those two items, the board will conduct a public hearing on a proposal to require a minor use permit for “certain types of commercial land uses, including special event facilities and hosted short-term vacation rentals, for properties served by private roads.” Between the two public sessions, the board is set to meet in closed session during which the supervisors will be updated on labor negotiations.

GREEN VALLEY — Thomas Johnston admits to having been a little embarrassed by the condition of his property. He said the property on Brae Court probably had been neglected for 40 years before he bought it nearly six years ago, but had not improved under his ownership. Johnston, an inspector for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health in San Francisco, said he simply did not have the financial resources to hire a service. Now he describes himself as a “happy owner who took advantage of the (Green Valley Fire Safety Council) chipping program; happy to the extent the program was there.” Johnston said he, his 20-year-old son David and some hired laborers tore through the overgrowth with chainsaws and created 27 piles – each 5 feet-by 5 feet-by 5 feet – to be carried away by the vendor hired by the safety council. “That feeling: ‘Oh, my God, I’m embarrassed by this,’ is gone,” Johnston said. Johnston, his wife, Valerie Connor, and their son – one of three – had been evacuated from their home during the Atlas Fire, which destroyed three homes – two in the Green Valley area – and forced more than 2,500 Solano County residents from their homes in October 2017. But it was the LNU Lightning Complex Fire in August – and his family’s second evacuation – that stirred the need to do something about the property for his neighbors’ sake, if nothing else. “If my property went up, their properties would go up, too,” said Johnston, who worked on wildfire crews for two summers while in college. The LNU blaze destroyed 309 homes, close to 900 other structures and threatened Fairfield and Vacaville. Two men died locally. There were 68 landowners in the Green Valley Highlands and Upper Green Valley areas that took advantage of the chipping program, which included one week in December and two weeks in January. An estimated 168 cubic yards of debris was removed – or about 45.36 tons – and all free to the residents. It was funded by a $15,000 grant from See Model, Page A10

Solano sees days of rainfall in week’s forecast as wildfire recovery continues Glen Faison gfaison@dailyrepublic.net

FAIRFIELD — Much of the San Francisco Bay Area is bracing for rain as a series of storms move across the region, with expected rainfall across much of Solano County starting Sunday. The forecast calls for a 70% chance of showers between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday and a 50% chance of showers

INDEX Business �� A11 Classifieds � B9 Columns ���� B6 Comics ���� B11 Crossword � B8 Diversions �� B1

Living ��������� B8 Military ������� B4 Obituaries �� A4 Opinion ������ A9 Sports �������� B2 TV Daily ������ B5

Sunday night at Travis Air Force Base, and a 60% chance of showers during the middle portion of the day Sunday and a 50% chance of rain Sunday night at the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville. Travis Air Force Base and the surrounding area could see between 0.10 inch and 0.25 inch of rainfall during the day, and less than 0.10 inch of rain Sunday night, the National Weather Service reports. Vacaville could see less than 0.10 inch of rainfall

during the day and a similar amount Sunday night. Rainfall totals similar to those forecast in Fairfield are also forecast in Napa, which along with much of the rest of the Bay Area was subject to a hydrologic outlook notice from the National Weather Service. The notice describes a series of storms that will bring periods of See Rainfall, Page A10

A scorched landscape is seen on the shores of Lake Berryessa during the LNU Lightning Complex Fire, Aug. 21, 2020.

King, TV host for quarter-century, dies at 87 The Washington Post

weather

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Showers likely. Complete five-day forecast on B12.

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Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file (2020)

Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post file (2015)

Larry King, right, is interviewed by Leon Harris at the Newseum in downtown Washington, D.C., for a special event, “A Life in Broadcasting: A Conversation With Larry King,” in March 2015.

Larry King, the suspendered impresario of cable television whose popular CNN interview program – with its guest-friendly questions and conversational banter – was a premier safe haven for the famous and infamous to spill their secrets, hype their projects and soften their image, died Jan. 23 at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 87. Ora Media, the production company he co-founded, announced his death but did not provide a cause, according to the Associated Press. CNN reported earlier this month that King was hospitalized for complications

from Covid-19. The TV host, who was long beset by medical problems, such as diabetes and heart attacks, underwent an operation to remove early-stage lung cancer in 2017 and had a stroke in 2019. In a career that included print and radio, King was best known for sitting behind a bulbous RCA microphone in the anchor chair of his prime-time CNN show “Larry King Live” from 1985 to 2010. He began as a Miami disc jockey in the late 1950s, wrote a USA Today column of streamof-consciousness musings for nearly 20 years, and hosted a late-night Mutual Broadcasting See King, Page A10


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