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Man awaits court date in death of infant son in Rio Vista Daily Republic Staff
drnews@dailyrepublic.net
RIO VISTA — A man arrested Saturday in connection with the death of his infant son remained in jail Sunday and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. Tre Kenneth Clay, 23, of Rio Vista, faces allegations of murder and assault on a young child causing great bodily injury or death. He is being held without bail. It’s the first reported homicide of 2021 in both Rio Vista and Solano County. The case centers on the death of a 2-monthold boy with serious injuries who was taken to Kaiser Permanente’s hospital in Antioch and quickly transferred to the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where authorities report the child later died. Police in Rio Vista were notified Jan. 18 of the infant’s arrival at the hos-
pital in Antioch with what authorities describe as “suspicious injuries” and responded there and then to the hospital in Oakland, where they learned of the child’s death. The police investigation was conducted with help from detectives with the Solano County Sheriff’s Office, who continued their interviews and the collection of evidence at both hospitals. A search warrant was authored and executed Saturday at a home on the 200 block of South Fourth Street in Rio Vista, where authorities suspect the infant boy was injured, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Le’Ron Cummings reports. Sheriff’s detectives and crime scene investigators processed the scene and collected evidence at the home. More interviews were conducted in subsequent days, Cummings reports. Camera footage was reviewed, evidence was
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Plants await planting at the Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center on East Tabor Avenue in Fairfield, Sunday.
School district completes
$5.1M in projects at Mary Bird campus Daily Republic Staff
drnews@dailyrepublic.net
See Court, Page A8
Courtesy photo Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS file (2020)
Pedestrians wear masks as they walk along Haight Street in San Francisco, Aug. 22, 2020.
Census estimates show population decline in 16 states Stateline.org With a perfect storm of aging residents, low birth rates, Covid-19 deaths and immigration cutbacks, 16 states saw population decreases last year as the United States experienced the slowest national population growth since the Great Depression. The nation grew only about 7% between 2010 and 2020, similar to the previous historic low between 1930 and 1940, according to new Census Bureau estimates, which do not reflect the 2020 census counts. The agency will release the final 2020 census tally in March.
California, Massachusetts and Ohio had been growing throughout the past decade until last year, while Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania began slides in 2019. Longer-term losses continued for Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and West Virginia. The latest population drops could lead to economic stagnation for states. The bicoastal tech boom has been fueled by new residents, including foreign-born students and other skilled workers See Census, Page A8
The Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center is shown this year during construction to add three new classrooms and a new office, kitchen and parking at the site on East Tabor Avenue in Fairfield.
FAIRFIELD — More than $5 million in work to upgrade the Fairfield-Suisun School District’s designated preschool center has been completed, the district has announced. Mary Bird Early Childhood Education Center has, since it opened in 2016, served as what district officials describe as a model preschool program to districts across the state and has received recognition and awards for how it serves children ages 3 to 5 years old. Three classrooms were added to the site, in addition to other projects. “Early childhood education is crucial to a child’s success,” Superintendent Kris Corey said in a press release about the project. “Building class-
Daily Republic Staff
drnews@dailyrepublic.net
FAIRFIELD — Officials in Fairfield and Suisun City will soon start an evaluation of each campus in the FairfieldSuisun School District with an eye toward prioritizing future projects. Members of the school district staff will evaluate
how current educational needs and programs are being met by the facilities at every school and will assess the condition of the buildings, infrastructure, and safety and security, the district reports in a press release. The evaluations will start in February. Once every site has been reviewed, staff will
consider priorities across the district and determine the order in which the projects should be completed, the district reports. That list will be reviewed later this year by the Facilities Subcommittee and the governing board. Priorities in this latest update will reflect facilities needs to be addressed
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with future funding. “The district takes advantage of every opportunity to apply for state matching funds in the School Facility Program with the Office of Public School Construction,” the district reports in a press release. “Projects may also be completed See Master, Page A8
Could homegrown coronavirus strain be partly to blame for state’s surge?
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See Projects, Page A8
Next Facilities Master Plan assessment set to begin in Fairfield-Suisun district
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rooms designed to allow our youngest students the ability to interact with one another and grow in their fundamental skills is especially rewarding.” The site now has three new, 1,250-square-foot classrooms, each with a student restroom, three hand-washing sinks, built-in storage and alternative skylights known as solar tubes to allow for more natural daylight. Mary Bird now has 10 classrooms, each designed to meet the needs of a preschool program. Adjacent to the classrooms is a new, 1,953-square-foot main office. The district reports that the previous office was inadequately sized to serve as the main office and enrollment center for all state preschool sites across the district.
Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS file (2020)
Coronavirus patients coming in emergency are housed in a makeshift ER unit established in a tent at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Dec. 23, 2020.
California scientists have discovered a homegrown coronavirus strain that appears to be propagating faster than any other variant on the loose in the Golden State. Two independent research groups said they stumbled upon the new strain while looking for signs that a highly transmissible variant from the United Kingdom had established itself here. Instead, they found a new branch of the virus’ family
tree – one whose sudden rise and distinctive mutations have made it a prime suspect in California’s vicious holiday surge. As they pored over genetic sequencing data in late December and early January, the two teams saw evidence of the new strain’s prolific spread leap off their spreadsheets. Although focused on different regions of the state, they uncovered trends that were both remarkably similar and deeply worrying. See Surge, Page A8