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Vacaville vets seek food, cash donations for Christmas dinner Daily Republic Staff
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Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic
From left to right, Rabbi Chaim Zaklos, Joseph Levi and Fairfield Mayor Harry Price dance together after
the lighting of the menorah at the Hanukkah event in downtown Fairfield, Tuesday.
VACAVILLE — The Vacaville Veterans Memorial Building will open starting Monday to receive food and cash donations for the upcoming Christmas dinner. Lynn Jewell, who helps organized the dinner event, said for the first time the group will stop taking orders for meals Dec. 23, largely due to the logistics required for the deliveryonly event. More than 800 holiday meals are expected
Fairfield Hanukkah event lights up The Green First city-sponsored event
Todd R. Hansen thansen@dailyrepublic.net
FAIRFIELD — Hanukkah was born out of the Jewish people’s right to exist – a fight the Jews have had to wage many times over the centuries. Rabbi Chaim Zaklos, from Chabad of Solano County, on Tuesday told stories of his own family’s struggles to maintain their religion and culture, and of course, their very existence in the face of Nazi Germany. One story told of how his great-grandparents had to go into hiding from the reach of their homeland’s government to practice Judaism, which included the celebration of Hanukkah – and now to enjoy the divergence of celebrating the inaugural Fairfield-sponsored Hanukkah. “Seeing so many Jews
to be delivered across Solano County. The Christmas event partners with the toy drive organized by the Vacaville police and fire departments, so donations of new, unwrapped toys to those organizations can also be made. The hours to leave food donations are noon to 6 p.m. weekdays through Dec. 24, and noon to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The hall is located at 549 Merchant St. Donations of turkeys or hams are especially See Dinner, Page A9
Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file (2019)
Volunteers serve food at the Christmas Eve community meal at the Veterans Memorial Hall in Vacaville, Dec. 24, 2019.
and non-Jews alike is beautiful,” Zaklos said of the gathering on The Green in downtown Fairfield. It was the third night of the eight-day holiday that ends Sunday. “This is so American.” “This is totally an auspicious occasion,” Mayor Harry Price said. “Fairfield is one of the most diverse cities in the Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic United States and that A Fairfield Fire engine is parked at the menorah lighting includes religion.” Price assisted Zaklos Hanukkah event in downtown Fairfield, Tuesday. and Joseph Levi in god, ruler of the uni- cleansing of the Second lighting the menorah, verse, who performed Temple, as part of the all standing atop the wondrous deeds for our Maccabees Rebelcity’s hook-and-ladder ancestors in those ancient lion in 164 BC. fire truck, which also days at this season,” folCouncilwoman Cathprovided light over the lowed by, “Praised are erine Moy had reached presentation area. you, our god, ruler of the out to the Jewish comAs one candle is lit universe, who has given munity with the hopes of each night of Hanukkah, us life and sustained us holding the event. right to left, blessings and enabled us to reach Suisun City also is are offered. Three are this season,” Zaklos sang holding its first city-sponrecited the first night, out in Hebrew. sored Hanukkah event and the second and third The holiday is cele- at 5 p.m. Thursday at each night that follows. brated for the retaking City Hall, 701 Civic “Praised are you, our of Jerusalem, and the Center Blvd.
Suisun proclaims Indigenous People’s Day, honors Folsom Amy Maginnis-Honey
amaginnis@dailyrepublic.net
SUISUN CITY — The City Council opted in a 5-0 vote Tuesday on the steps of City Hall to recognize the second Monday of each October as Indigenous People’s Day. One public commenter prior to the vote said he thought it would be better to honor the Native Americans who called the land home, by honoring the land by keeping it clean. He noted the same waterways are now covered in trash and
human waste. The commenter said we need to learn from the past to protect the future. City resident George Guynn Jr. said holidays are a good thing but the city might want to keep a limit on how many they have. Mayor Lori Wilson noted it would not be an additional paid holiday for city staff. The City Council also recognized City Manager Greg Folsom for his achievements as the city’s top administrator. He started April 2, 2019. Folsom is also part of the Choctaw nation.
How bad will omicron be? Scientists won’t really know for months Los Angeles Times In a virus that has already killed 5.2 million people across the globe, 50 or so new mutations sound like a nightmare for humanity. But in the age-old battle between microbes and mankind, that many genetic changes can turn the tide in any direction. The next chapter of the pandemic could feature an omicron variant that spreads more readily than delta, blows past the defenses of a fully vaccinated immune system, and, like its coronavirus cousin that causes Middle East respiratory
INSIDE • This week’s Covid numbers could tell if winter surge is coming to Solano. Page A3 • More Solano residents getting public assistance than at start of pandemic. Page A3
syndrome, kills more than one-third of those who get it. That worst-case scenario would be an unfathomable disaster, said Dr. Bruce Walker, an immunologist and founding director of the Ragon Institute in Cambridge, Mass. At the other end of a wide spectrum of possibilities, humanity could catch a break. Omicron could turn out to be a benign variant that
spreads as fast as delta, is easily tamed by vaccine, and barely sickens its victims while leaving them with some immunity and little risk of developing “long Covid.” In that case, “nature may have created a natural vaccine,” Walker said. But it will take weeks and months – and the work of a legion of scientists across the globe – to begin to know whether the omicron variant will
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change the course of the pandemic, and how. In the waning days of 2021, microbiologists, immunologists and genetic scientists will offer key early insights into the variant’s penchant for spread and its
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ability to thwart treatments and vaccines in the confines of a lab. It will take until early 2022 for contact-tracing teams and epidemiologists to flesh out the emerging picture with real-world data on whom omicron
sickens, and the extent of their illnesses. Then mathematical modelers will plug in what’s known, fill in what’s not, and forecast a range of outcomes. Until those bits and
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