GOP icon Bob Dole reveals lung cancer diagnosis A7
Day, DeSouza receive conference honors B1
Friday | February 19, 2021 | $1.00
dailyrepublic.com | Well said. Well read.
Planning panel Health officials deadlocks on remain cautious vacation home As Sol ano’s numbers rental permit continue to slide covid-19 pandemic
Todd R. Hansen
thansen@dailyrepublic.net
Todd R. Hansen
FAIRFIELD — Tourist homes continue to be one of the most controversial topics that circulate in the halls of Solano County government. The Planning Commission’s 2-2 vote Thursday on whether to approve or deny a use permit for an unhosted short-term vacation rental in the Green Valley highlands is not likely to change that dynamic. In fact, the vote assures that the application by Lee Heyman and Amanda Rothstein at 4367 Edinburg Court will go to the Board of Supervisors for a decision. commission, The which has one vacancy, heard testimony from
thansen@dailyrepublic.net
FAIRFIELD — Solano County Public Health reported Thursday 47 new novel coronavirus cases, down from 63 Wednesday and from the four-day average of 82 cases from Friday through Tuesday. The total number of cases is 29,690. Close to 51,000 individuals have been vaccinated. But Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, remains cautious. He said he wants to see the results from the recent four-day holiday weekend, and he notes that while hospitalizations are down, they are still hovering around 70. The Thursday report put them at 69, three lower than Wednesday, the county reported. There were no new deaths reported, keeping the total at 156, but with 20 reports still under review. The seven-day positivity testing rate climbed from a promising 8.2% Wednesday to 12.4%, and the intensive care unit capacity was at 40%. See Cautious, Page A10
Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic
Vacaville public charter school shows the way during pandemic thansen@dailyrepublic.net
FAIRFIELD — Gov. Gavin Newsom flipped the switch Thursday on a Safe Schools for All website, and backed his initiative with a $90 billion budget proposal. “I am of the firm belief that we can safely get back our children, youngest children, get them back safely into schools in small cohorts,” Newsom said. “We can get this done. We must
get it done,” he said. Jared Austin agrees with the governor, but said he thinks students should have been back in the classrooms months ago. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought schools could have opened in the summer, and there is a fair amount of positive data from other countries that have opened their schools. Now Austin, the co-founder and executive director of Kairos Public Schools in Vacaville, has developed
See Rental, Page A10
Biden’s $1.9T relief plan moves toward vote in House next week
People play a game of socially distanced catch at Laurel Creek Park, Thursday.
Todd R. Hansen
15 speakers who opposed the use permit. The group spoke on a number of issues, but two that were common to virtually everyone were the risk of fire and placing what amounts to be a “hotel business” in a residential area. Several speakers also expressed concerns about the applicants’ past rental history on the property before they even had the required permit. They highlighted noise, traffic, issues of trespassing and other matters. Heyman told the commission that he and his wife have worked diligently with the county planning staff to meet all the requirements, including turning the property
Tribune Content Agency The House is laying the groundwork to pass President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package by the end of next week, as lawmakers race to get the bill out the door before critical pandemic aid provisions run dry in mid-March. The Biden plan – which includes $1,400 stimulus checks for most Americans, beefed-up unemployment benefits and billions of dollars in budgetary relief for state governments,
a model that is being simulated by school districts around the state. Kairos is also the first public school in the state to receive a waiver, which allows the school to do its own novel coronavirus testing using rapid testing. Officials from the FairfieldSuisun, Vacaville, Vallejo, Dixon, Sacramento and Chico school districts have come to the campus, and many more have contacted the See School, Page A10
among other appropriations – will first get a “mark-up” in the House Budget Committee on Monday, aides on the panel announced Thursday. In the mark-up session, committee members stitch together the various pots of cash in Biden’s plan into one comprehensive piece of legislation. Once the bill is finalized and approved by the budget panel, it heads to the full House, which is controlled by Democrats, who are unanimously See Relief, Page A10
NASA’s Perseverance rover makes safe landing on Mars Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — NASA’s newest rover touched down safely on the surface of Mars at 12:55 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, completing a 293-million-mile journey through space and setting the stage for a mission that seeks to find evidence of ancient extraterrestrial life. The six wheels of the 2,260pound Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater, a former lake bed once fed by flowing water that scientists
say would have been a welcoming home for microbes in Mars’ warmer, wetter past. If they’re right, the remains of those longdead microbes should now reside in the sediments there. Joyful team members in mission control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge could not hug or high-five one another, as they normally would in nonpandemic times. But even their doubled-up masks – whose top layer was adorned with a stylized image of the rover – didn’t hide the smiles on their faces
as they clapped and cheered, a few feet apart. Some bumped fists with those around them while others shook them triumphantly in the air. “NASA works,” said Rob Manning, JPL’s chief engineer and a veteran of many Mars missions. “When we put our arms together and our hands together and our brains together, we can succeed. This is what NASA does. This is what we can do as a country on all of the problems we have. We need See Mars, Page A10
Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images/TNS
Members of NASA’s Perseverance rover team react in mission control after receiving confirmation the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, Thursday.
coming this weekend SUNDAY Parade coming this weekend. Look for the insert in the Daily Republic.
SUNDAY BUSINESS
INDEX Business ����������������������������������� B11 Classifieds ��������������������������������� B6 Comics �������������������������������� A9, B4
Crossword ��������������������������� A8, B5 Entertainment ��������������������� B4, B5 Obituaries ����������������������������������� A4
weather
61 43 Don’t give up on remote work.
Slight chance of rain, then partly sunny. Complete five-day forecast on B12.
Opinion ��������������������������������������� A5 Sports ����������������������������������������� B1 TV Daily �������������������������������� A9, B4
how to reach us Breaking news updates at
dailyrepublic.com Want to subscribe? Call 427.6989