Solano reaches pre-surge Covid-19 levels A3
Day the Big Sky Player of the week for third time B1
FRIDAY | March 11, 2022 | $1.00
DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.
UKRAINE | RUSSIA CRISIS
As talks falter, battles continue in Kyiv suburbs Tribune Content Agency
Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic
American coots make their way through a slough near Grizzly Island Road in Suisun City, Thursday.
Benicia emerges as new player in Pacific Flyway Center project
Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Fairfield and the Pacific Flyway Center LLC are in talks with Benicia about the possibility of supplying backup well water and energy to the proposed $75 million ecological and educational preserve in the Suisun Marsh. “Ultimately, we are going to be tying into a water line for the project site . . . to pull water from Benicia for backfill during dry times,” Bill Way, the communications manager for Fairfield, said in a phone interview Thursday. A power connection with Benicia also is being discussed. “There are a lot of things that
have to cross (Interstate 680), so there is a lot of engineering taking place,” Way said. The state Department of Transportation also is involved, he said. Claude Grillo, the project lead and member of the Pacific Flyway Center board of directors, could not be reached Thursday for comment. Benicia Public Works Director Kyle Ochenduszko said there are not many specifics worked out at this time, but confirmed the city was talking with Fairfield and the Pacific Flyway Center promoters. “The city staff . . . were aware that the Pacific Flyway (group) was looking for some expansion at the site,” Ochenduszko said. The groups were looking for
untreated well water, the Benicia official said. Benicia has a water line that runs basically along Interstate 680, and that is what would be tapped into if an agreement can be reached. As for a power source, Ochenduszko said that has even fewer specifics outlined. “We are not sure of the entirety of what the needs are, so we don’t have specific details on power,” Ochenduszko said. The project site is located east of Interstate 680, south of the Gold Hill Road overcrossing and adjacent to Ramsey Road. The center is the vision of the late Ken Hofmann, former owner See Benicia, Page A8
24-hour drop-off ballot box installed at county center Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Solano County has installed a 24-hour ballot drop-off box for the special 11th Assembly District election scheduled for April 5. The box is located in the main government center, 675 Texas St., in Fairfield. “Approximately 90%
of Solano County’s registered voters choose to vote their ballot by mail,” Tim Flanagan, Solano County registrar of voters, said in a statement. “As we approach WILSON the 2022 election cycle, we continue to look for ways to expand official ballot drop-off locations throughout the
county, and this new, safe and secure 24-hour official ballot drop-box is just the beginning.” Suisun City Mayor Lori Wilson will be the only name on the ballot. However, the write-in filing period is open until March 16. “People have inquired about it, but no one
has submitted anything with us,” Solano County Assistant Registrar of Voters John Gardner said in a phone interview Thursday. Election officials in Sacramento and Contra Costa counties said there had been no write-in filings as of Thursday. The special election will determine who See Ballot, Page A8
Vacaville legislative advocate joins 11th Assembly race in June Matt Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
VACAVILLE — Suisun City Mayor Lori Wilson may not have an opponent for the April special election for the 11th Assembly District, but she has one now for the June primary. Jenny Callison, 37, a Vacaville resident and longtime legislative
advocate, said moved to Vacavshe completed ille. Now she is her paperwork ready to camThursday with paign for an the Solano RegisAssembly post trar of Voters and she feels quite will join the race. qualified for. Callison would “What really have gotten in got me motivated CALLISON sooner but rediswas to see that tricting was the issue. The Winters native was there was no other option outside the new map but Lori Wilson,” Callialignment before she son said. “I’d like to give
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Parade coming this weekend. Look for the insert in the DR.
an alternative.” Callison since 2011 has gone from secretary to consultant with the California State Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. She has seen the inside of Sacramento politics, analyzed legislation, written bills and worked to make legislation happen with
See Kyiv, Page A8
County to send draft General Plan Housing Element to state in May Todd R. Hansen
THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET
FAIRFIELD — Solano County expects to send a draft General Plan Housing Element to the state for the first of two reviews in May and expects to have a draft 2023 Public Health and Safety Element on the same timeline. The driving factor in the Housing Element, a section of the General Plan that must be updated every eight years, is the state’s housing needs assessment goals. The county is expected to “provide incentives and zoning at varying (housing) densities” to help in meeting the 315 units required from 2023 to 2031. A new state law requires the county to include a “fair housing” section in the Housing Element to identify pos-
sible barriers to residents getting housing, and to develop policies to get past those barriers. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday was given an update on the status of the work on the Housing and the Public Health and Safety elements. The completed Housing Element must be submitted to the state Housing and Development Department by Jan. 31, 2023. “The plan is to adopt (both elements) concurrently, but that is not required,” said Cynthia Walsh, a senior associate with Placeworks, which has a contract with the Solano Transportation Authority. The county’s share is about $250,000. Other sections in the Housing Element include an assessment of housing sites, potenSee Element, Page A8
3VJHS .PYS 2UV^Z 9LHS ,Z[H[L Dr. David P. Simon,
MD, FACS. Eye Physician & Surgeon, Col. (Ret.), USAF Services include:
See Race, Page A8
INDEX Arts B3 | Classifieds B5 | Comics A7, B4 | Crossword A6, B3 Obituary A4 | Opinion A5 | Sports B1 | TV Daily A7, B4 WEATHER 70 | 40 Sunny. Five-day forecast on B9.
KYIV, Ukraine — Across Kyiv, there were signs that Ukrainians were trying to mount a robust defense. Major road and bridge junctions were blocked with streetcars, buses and garbage trucks. Near the ring road that surrounds the capital, trucks with rocket launchers parked in fields and released a fusillade toward Russian forces’ position to the northwest. And as Russian troops pressed on outside the city, residents of Kyiv’s suburbs were feeling the strain. “We’ve seen more civilians. Sometimes soldiers too, but much more civilians,” said Vladimir Andriiets, deputy director of the main hospital in Bovary, 15 miles northwest of Kyiv’s center. “Bullet wounds, shrapnel wounds; the ones we’ve seen are very severe,
because many of them we see an appendage amputated.” Andriiets looked weary. Though the area around the hospital seemed quiet, fighting was slowly approaching the suburb – a change reflected in patients admitted in the last three days. While the clashes and efforts to evacuate more people continued, there were no breakthroughs for an end to the hostilities as Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers met Thursday in Antalya, Turkey, for the two countries’ highest-level talks since the war began. After negotiations lasting about an hour and a half, the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers emerged still far apart in their views of a conflict that entered its third week Thursday and that has killed
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