Daily Republic, Friday, October 7, 2022

Solano Covid numbers near pre-surge case baseline

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — There was a daily average of 38.43 cases of posi tive coronavirus tests between Sept. 29 and Thursday, a trend that continues to get closer to the 30 case baseline average just prior to the start of the latest surge at the beginning of April.

The 10-day average is 41, down from the prior update figure of 43.6, Solano County Public Health reported.

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said if more people were getting

rise as top concerns

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The runoff candidates for the 3rd District seat on the Solano County Board of Supervisors each identified public safety and homelessness as issues facing the district, and in broader terms, the county.

Suisun City Councilwoman Wanda Williams was the top vote-getter in the June primary and squares off against Fair field Councilman Chuck Timm for the board office occupied by Supervisor Jim Spering. The general election is Nov. 8.

The candidates were asked by the Daily Republic to “Name two issues critical to District

3, and one for the county, state what you think needs to be done about each, and how you would effect those desired outcomes.

What specific qualifications do you bring to those tasks?”

Timm specifically noted public safety and housing as dis trict issues, and homelessness as the county issue. Williams

also identified public safety, and within her response to home lessness, included housing.

Public safety, as an issue, crossed two primary points: law enforcement and fire protection.

“It is essential for our police and sheriff departments (to engage) in community policing by learning about the commu nity they serve,” said Williams, also noting “training on dealing with individuals experiencing mental health issues in coor dination with Solano County Mental Health Services.” Community policing also was mentioned as well as the

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday pardoned all individuals convicted on federal charges of simple marijuana pos session, a move that the White House estimated would affect more than 6,500 people nationwide.

Biden urged all gov ernors to follow his example and called for a formal review of mar ijuana’s classification in federal law as a Sched ule I drug. Currently, it has the same classifica tion as heroin and LSD, and a higher classification than fentanyl.

A change to the legal

classification of mar ijuana, although not certain, would be a signif icant reform, clearing the way for major changes to the federal government’s approach to the drug.

Reclassifying mari juana would be “a big step in the right direc tion,” said Tianna Mays, a civil rights attorney in

Washington. “It would take this down from being a felony, the same as possessing heroin. So we’re hopeful about the steps the Biden adminis tration is taking.”

Biden’s actions, which many Democratic activ ists have been calling

boosted with the latest strain-specific vaccine, that rate would be going down faster.

The Public Health Division reported there were only 223 booster shots administered during the seven-day reporting period, taking the total to 181,389.

There were 283 new cases reported since the prior week’s update, of which 269 were from that actual seven-day period. It takes the pan demic total to 109,997, the county reported.

One additional death was reported. It was

Vacaville looks to help nonprofits, faith-based groups hurt by pandemic

Republic sTaff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The city on Wednes day launched the Nonprofit Assis tance Grant Program with $1.265 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds allocated to the program.

“The city is pleased to offer financial assistance to our nonprofit and faithbased partner agencies serving our most vulner able populations,” City Manager Aaron Busch said in a statement. “The

City Council recognizes the important work of our partners and enthu siastically offers this grant program utilizing ARPA funding.”

The city is requesting proposals from non profits and faith-based organizations that serve the following low-income populations in Vacaville: people with disabilities, seniors, youth, homeless and veterans.

All nonprofit (and) faith-based organiza tions meeting eligibility

TRibune

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

A student wearing a face mask walks through the Solano College campus in Fairfield, Thursday.

Q&A with Armijo grad Noriyuki ‘Pat’ Morita’s daughter

A rmijo High School

Class of 1949 grad Noriyuki “Pat” Morita achieved fame first as a standup comedian and then as a television and movie actor. On the silver screen he appeared in the movie adaptation of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and on the small screen he had bit roles in hit shows like “M*A*S*H,” “The Odd Couple,” “Columbo,” “Kung Fu,” “Sanford and Son” and others.

Tony Wade Back in the day

The acting role that first gained traction with the viewing public for Morita was as Arnold Takahashi, the namesake drivein restaurant owner with an explosive laugh on “Happy Days.” In 1976, Morita starred in the first U.S. sitcom to feature a predominantly Asian-Amer ican cast, the “Welcome Back, Kotter” spin-off “Mr. T and Tina.” It was short-lived, but he also later starred in a quirky cop drama called “Ohara.”

Morita’s most memora ble role, for which he earned an Academy Award nomina tion, was for compassionate, wise and funny martial arts sensei Mr. Miyagi in 1984’s “The Karate Kid” and its three sequels. Although Morita died in 2005, the legacy of that land mark role lives on in the current popular Netflix sequel series, “Cobra Kai.”

In 2019, one of Morita’s daughters, Aly Morita, a tal ented writer, came across a column I wrote about her father in 2012 and contacted me by email. Plans for us to meet back then fell through and then the pandemic hap pened, but I recently was able to interview her by telephone. Aly gave me some firsthand

Mezcla yearbook.

Q: What were some of the peaks and valleys of your father’s early acting career?

A: I was probably 5 or 6 years old when my father was on “Happy Days.” I have strong memories of that period.

It played a huge role in his career and our lives. That was probably his first taste of fame, so to speak, as people recognized him as Arnold. He left “Happy Days” to do “Mr. T and Tina.” It didn’t succeed for myriad reasons including that the timing wasn’t right as I don’t think mainstream America was ready for a sitcom starring an Asian-American. But that was an exciting and scary time. The “Happy Days” cast and crew were a close-knit group as it was a long-running series and over the years my dad ended up going back to the show.

Q: What was he like as a dad?

A: He was very handson. I had a bookcase that was in my room my entire child hood that he built with his own hands. I remember when I was in first grade he directed this play called “Really Rosie” [a musical with a book and lyrics by “Where the Wild Things Are” author Maurice Sendak and music by singer-songwriter Carole King]. It was a full-on production – singing, dancing, costumes, he even brought in a choreographer – the whole thing. He was very involved with me and my sister’s lives as best as he could working as much as he did. He was a great daddy. My childhood was really sweet. It wasn’t until I was a teenager and “The Karate Kid” happened that I realized I would have to share him with the rest of the world.

the same time.

A: There are a lot of perks that come with celebrity and certainly my dad and my family enjoyed those benefits: flying on the Concorde, getting great concert tickets, staying in fivestar hotels, flying all over the world – that was the glamorous part of it. On the other hand, it was tough for my dad to navi gate. It’s a very damaging world that famous people exist in. It’s a lonely place. I think it took its toll on him after many years.

Q: Back in 2010 when the remake of “The Karate Kid” came out you were against it. Why?

A: Most it stems from the fact that there were so few meaty, three-dimensional, interest ing roles for Asian-Americans. My dad was lucky enough to land one of those roles and he ran with it. He put 150% of himself into that role. It was the one thing that he had done in his career that stood out. It was hard to see billboards going up and the press about the new Karate Kid when it hadn’t been five years since my dad had passed. Basically, Will Smith bought the fran chise and gave it to his kid to start his career. It felt like Will Smith and that whole machine was taking that away from my father. It also angered me that

25 years after the original film came out the only movie Hol lywood could make starring an Asian character was “Karate Kid.” Now, today there are more opportunities for Asians and Asian-Americans in films and TV, but in 2010, I was baffled and angry. I think I have since come to terms with it. I have seen the remake and Jaden Smith gave a great performance so I don’t want to knock him, but thankfully things have changed since then in terms of AsianAmerican representation. But I still hope that more stories will be told.

Q: The hit Netflix series “Cobra Kai” has created a whole new generation of fans of “The Karate Kid” saga; what are your feelings about it?

A: I’ve watched it and I had been in touch with Ralph [Macchio] when it was on YouTube before going to Netflix. I think they’ve done a great job and it helped jumpstart Ralph’s career, which he so deserves, as well as those of Billy Zabda and Martin Kove. I think it’s fantastic for them and they’re having a lot of fun with it. I think my dad would be very happy for them.

They have said they want to do more about the Miyagi story line, but I have yet to hear from them about how they are going

to do it. There were discussions about having a Miyagi prequel even when my dad was involved in the movies, but nothing has been done. It would be nice if Miyagi’s story was incorporated more into the narrative as he was 50% of the movies.

Q: Your dad was pretty artis tic, right? The inside back cover of the 1949 yearbook fea tures a picture of a 49er mining for gold that he drew.

A: He was a fantastic artist. He would always talk about that drawing. He was really proud that he could contribute it to the yearbook. The time that he was there [at Armijo] left an indel ible imprint on him. People remember my dad because he gave of himself. Through out his lifetime he touched many people’s lives and made enduring friendships including people from his high school. I’m very proud that he is a part of Armijo history.

Fairfield freelance humor col umnist and accidental local historian Tony Wade writes two weekly columns: “The Last Laugh” on Mondays and “Back in the Day” on Fridays. Wade is also the author of The History Press books “Growing Up In Fairfield, California” and “Lost Restaurants of Fairfield, California.”

Courtesy photos

Aly Morita, left, dancing with her father, Pat Morita; the back inside cover illustration in the 1949 Armijo yearbook drawn by Pat Morita.

plans Christmas tree dedication at waterfront

SUISUN CITY — The city on Wednesday will dedicate its newly planted 24-foot Blue Aptos as its official Christmas tree.

“The previous com munity Christmas tree succumbed to its limited planting bed and, although staff attempted to prolong its life, their efforts were unsuccess ful,” city officials said in a statement announcing the dedication.

The Blue Aptos, also referred to as an Aptos Blue, is a native coast redwood that can reach 80 feet tall with a spread of 30 feet. It typically has reddish-brown bark and features needles with a deep blue-green color.

“The new tree is in a proper planting bed and is located about 40 yards from the previous tree, adjacent to the waterway in downtown Suisun City. The tree was planted two months ago and thus far is thriving in its new loca tion,” the city stated.

The former tree was removed in September.

“Although we were all saddened by the death of our prior tree, this new tree will be just as spectacular. We will dec orate and use this new tree as our focal point for the 2022 Christmas on the Waterfront event scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3,” Deputy City Manager Kris Lofthus said in the statement.

The dedication cere mony begins at noon.

Suisun City sells properties intended for restaurantapartment projects

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The City Council this week sold three properties to Lionext Inc. with the intention the Santa Fe Springs company will develop three street-level restaurants with living spaces for rent upstairs.

The council, sitting as the Successor Agency board, on Tuesday autho rized City Manager Greg Folsom, acting as execu tive director of the agency, to enter into a devel opment agreement and joint escrow.

Jim Bermudez, the Development Ser vices director, said in a phone interview Wednes day the total price for the three properties is $400,000, matching the appraised values.

Escrow is expected to close by the end of Decem ber, Bermudez said.

The properties are 0.17 acres located at the northeast corner of Main and Solano streets ($130,000); 0.15 acres located on the east side of Kellogg Street ($110,000); and 0.21 acres located on the north side of Line Street in downtown Suisun City ($160,000).

The properties are located in the Waterfront District Specific Plan area and the land use desig nations are Main Street Mixed Use (Main and Solano), Downtown Mixed

Use (Kellogg Street) and Downtown Mixed Use (Line Street).

“Although the prop erties have distinctive land use designations, the character of this district is considered the ‘Shop ping, Entertainment and Culture’ area, comprising the commercial, mixeduse, and civic portions of the Downtown Waterfront District,” the staff report to the council states.

In other action, the council:

n Proclaimed the week of Oct. 9-15 at Fire Pre vention Week in Suisun City.

n Proclaimed Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month in Suisun City.

n Issued the oaths of office to Police Officers Alvin Cangco, Frankie Khantigna and Mark Car dinalli.

n Received a presenta tion on an overview of the Finance Department.

School district closes Armijo High gym for asbestos abatement

daily Republic sTaff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — A contractor began the work Saturday of clear ing away asbestos from the 65-yearold Armijo High School gym.

While the gym will be partially available once the affected area is encased, the full gymnasium is not expected to be open until Oct. 17, a Fairfield-Suisun School District spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The contractor is Cal Inc. of Vacaville. The cost is expected to be nearly $50,000, said Lindsey Michels, the district’s public information officer.

The problems started Sept. 29.

“While conducting maintenance on part of the Armijo High School Gym, (district) staff found part of the wall (surface) was delaminat ing. Through previous training, staff identified possible asbestos. Further testing concluded the presence of asbestos on one wall of the gym,” a statement released Wednesday by the dis trict states.

“To ensure the safety of students and staff, the gym was closed immediately. A remediation con tractor is needed in order to encapsulate the affected area and to reopen any part of the gym. It is the district’s hope that 80% of the gym will be reopened after the affected area has been encapsulated and it is deemed safe to do so. The exact timeline of

the project is unknown,” the statement said.

Asbestos is the name used to group a class of naturally occurring mineral fibers that have been widely used in the industry and is associated with adverse effects on human health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports. Asbes tos fibers have been widely used in indus trial and commercial applications because of its strength, flexibility and electrical and heat resistant properties

When the mineral fibers are handled, they can be released into the air and be inhaled. Their microscopic size and fibrous nature can lead to asbestos accu mulating in the lungs over time and causing respiratory illnesses, the CDC reports. Expo sure to asbestos has been associated with lung cancer, asbesto sis, pleural disease and mesothelioma.

The mining of asbes tos has ended in the U.S.

but asbestos remains present in older homes and buildings – and some products still contain it, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Ser vices reports.

School administrators are working on alterna tives for homecoming and sporting events that had been scheduled for the time period in which the

gym is now not available.

Armijo High traces its roots back to 1891, and from 1915 until the opening at its current location in 1964, it was housed in what is now the old Solano County Courthouse.

The gym, however, was constructed in 1957, said Michels, citing a maintenance supervisor.

MICHELS

Glen Faison/Daily Republic

The main entrance to the E. Gary Vaughn Gymnasium at Armijo High School is shown along Washington Street in Fairfield, Wednesday. The gym is closed to allow for the removal of asbestos.

Aaron Rosenblatt/DR file A worker sets up construction cones around the new 24-foot Christmas tree along the Suisun City waterfront, Aug. 18.

Employee groups meet in ‘strike school’ to discuss now, what’s next

SUISUN CITY — A Solano County Family Health worker said Thurs day night – as members of SEIU 1021 and IFPTE Local 21 gathered for “strike school” – that “it is not a matter of if, it’s when” the employ ees will walk.

The county contracts with the International Federation of Profes sional and Technical Engineers Local 21 and Service Employees Inter national Union Local 1021 expire Oct. 21.

Others are more hopeful the county “will do the right thing.”

The right thing, a chorus rises up to say, is pay a competitive wage that accounts for infla tion, and provides an affordable health insur ance package – key elements, they add, that will go a long way toward attracting new employ ees and retaining existing workers.

There are nearly 500 positions not filled in the county. The vacancy rate in some departments is 30% or higher. The con sensus is that until the county supports fair and competitive contracts, the staffing issue is not going to change, especially with surrounding counties offering so much more.

Even the housing advantage Solano County once had is no longer enough to keep workers here.

Beatrix Kapusinsky, the director of the regional lab in Solano County, said she is more worried about the line employees than she is about herself, but said she has not had a vacation in years, in part because of the extra load on the five-county lab caused by the pandemic, but also due to the staff ing issues.

She said so much time is lost to training new staff, only to see others

depart, and it costs the county, too.

Those costs are only going to go up, others said, as some tasks are not com pleted, the county will find itself in violation of state laws – noting for example the time requirements for processing public assis tance applications.

Worst, yet, the members of the commu nity who need county services are not going to get them in a timely manner, if at all.

In a recent interview, County Administrator Bill Emlen reminded every one the county has

19 groups it is negotiat ing with, and is making an effort to be fair to all of them. However, he said the county also has to be wary of protecting its own financial health in the face of economic uncertainty.

What the workers were expecting to hear at the strike school, which was held at the Joseph A. Nelson Community Center in Suisun City, ranged from simple updates on negotiations to spelling out worker rights in the event of a strike.

Katreena Dotson, who

Travis Credit Union offers college scholarships to high school seniors

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — Col lege-bound high school graduates can apply for the Travis Credit Union 2023 Community Impact Scholarships.

Twenty scholarships totaling $40,000 will be awarded.

“We understand that paying for higher educa tion can be a challenge

for many families. Now more than ever we want to extend a hand to help support our local stu dents and their families,” Travis Credit Union Pres ident and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Miller said in a statement. “We look forward to honor ing and supporting our worthy young members as they pursue their college dreams.”

Scholarships are open to high school seniors who live in Travis Credit Union’s 12-county service area, includ ing Solano County, and must be members of the credit union.

If applicants are not currently members, they can join Travis Credit Union by completing an online application or vis iting any branch. The

completed application can be submitted online at www.traviscu.org/schol arships, dropped off at any Travis Credit Union branch or mailed to Travis Credit Union, Community Relations, P.O. Box 2069, Vacaville, CA 95696-2069.

The deadline is Feb. 20.

For a complete list of eligibility and application requirements, visit www. traviscu.org/scholarships.

Fairfield police snare $185K traffic grant

FAIRFIELD — The Police Department has received a one-year, $185,000 grant it will use to increase patrols and enact other traffic safety programs.

“This grant funding allows us to support our ongoing traffic safety efforts in the commu nity,” Traffic Division Sgt. Robert Piro said in a statement. “Our intent is

to stop the most unlawful and dangerous behaviors that put people at risk and create an environment where everyone feels safe traveling.”

The grant provides additional resources for: n DUI checkpoints and patrols focused on stop ping suspected impaired drivers.

n High visibility dis tracted driving enforce ment operations targeting drivers in violation of Cali fornia’s hands-free cell

phone law.

n Enforcement opera tions focused on the most dangerous driver behav iors that put the safety of people biking or walking at risk.

n Enforcement opera tions focused on top viola tions that cause crashes: speeding, failure to yield, stop sign and/or red-light running, and improper turning or lane changes.

n Community presen tations on traffic safety issues such as distracted

driving, impaired driving, speeding, bicycle and pedestrian safety.

n Officer training and/ or recertification: Stan dard Field Sobriety Test, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement and Drug Recognition Expert.

The grant, awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Admin istration, expires in September 2023.

Saturday Club to host holiday vendor fair

VACAVILLE — The Saturday Club of Vacav ille will host a Holiday Sip and Shop Craft and Gift Fair from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 5 at 125 W. Kendal St.

The fair is the second in the Sip and Shop series and is a fundraiser for the Saturday Club. It will feature 30 local vendors selling handmade and custom items inside and outside the clubhouse.

The first 200 guests who are 21 or older can receive a complimentary cran berry mimosa at the door (must show ID). Addi tional mimosas will be available for purchase.

There will also be an hourly drawing featuring items from the vendors at the event.

The Saturday Club is

a 113-year-old civic club dedicated to fostering cul tural arts in Vacaville. Monthly lunch meetings take place at their Kendal Street clubhouse where the club’s 50-plus members enjoy live per formances from local performing arts ensem bles and guest speakers.

The Saturday Club Foundation awards annual scholarships to high school students who plan to study the arts at the collegiate level.

Admission to the Holiday Sip and Shop is free. Well-behaved dogs on leashes are welcome in the outside portion of the event. Street parking will be available on the blocks surrounding the event. A free public parking lot is located two blocks away on the corner of Main and Cernon streets, in front of

Maximum Fitness.

The club is still accept ing arts and crafts vendors with a preference for handmade items.

For more information about selling at the Sat

Solano agencies earn financial practices honors

FAIRFIELD —

Three public agencies in Solano County – two in Vallejo – have been deemed the best of the best in terms of finan cial reporting.

The Government Finance Officers Asso ciation of the United States and Canada has named Fairfield, Vallejo and the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater Dis trict as 2020 Triple Crown winners.

GFOA’s Triple Crown recognizes governments that have received the association’s Certifi cate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting, the Popular Annual Financial Reporting Award and the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for a fiscal year. The three Solano County agencies are among 36 govern ments in California and 317 governments nationwide to receive the designation for the 2020 fiscal year.

To qualify for the Triple Crown, each entity must meet the standards of all three separate award pro grams, according to an announcement about the recognition. Each award program recognizes gov ernments that produce

reports that commu nicate their financial stories in a transparent manner and meet appli cable standards.

The Bay Area region was well rep resented in the Triple Crown category.

Other Bay Area agencies to earn the designation include the city of Napa, the Napa Sanitation District, the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District in Oakland, the Central Marin Sanitation Agency in San Rafael, the City and County of San Fran cisco Public Utilities Commission, Redwood City, the city of Cotati in Sonoma County, the city of San Mateo, the city of St. Helena, Sonoma County, the San Mateo County Transit District, San Carlos, Monterey One Water in Monterey and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in Los Altos.

Three other agen cies in the region were also recognized: the Cal ifornia State Teachers’ Retirement System in West Sacramento; the city of Elk Grove; and Public Risk Innovation, Solutions and Manage ment in Folsom.

More about the awards programs is available at gfoa. org/awards.

Vacaville Museum Guild begins sales for quilt drawing

VACAVILLE — The Vacaville Museum Guild will award a Christmas quilt in December.

The 66-inch square quilt is on display at the museum. It was pieced together by guild member Candy Kraft and quilted by InStitches of Dixon. A novel, “The Christmas Quilt,” by Jennifer Chiaverini, accompanies the quilt.

$40 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Thursday through Friday each week at Vacaville Museum, 213 Buck Ave. The museum is closed Saturdays in October but should be open Sat urdays in November, when tickets may also be purchased.

The drawing will take place at 3 p.m. Dec. 10 in the museum. Proceeds will benefit programs of the Vacaville Museum, a nonprofit, community benefit institution.

urday Club’s Holiday Sip and Shop, visit www. SaturdayClubVacaville. com, send an email to President@SaturdayClub Vacaville.com or call the club at 707-761-7108.

Tickets for a drawing are now on sale for $10 each or five for

For more informa tion, call the museum at 707-447-4513.

Courtesy photo

The Vacaville Museum Guild presents The Christmas Quilt, top, on display at the Vacaville Museum.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Members of sEIU local 1021 and IFPTE local 21 cheer at the start of “strike school” at the Joseph nelson Community Center in suisun City, Thursday.

2 Fairfield residents killed in crash ID’d

SUISUN VALLEY — The two Fairfield resi dents killed Wednesday night in a crash on Mankas Corner Road have been identified as Fran cisco Rodriguez, 55, and Susanne Johnson, 46.

The California Highway Patrol reported Johnson was driving the car. The incident is under investigation to determine if alcohol was a factor.

The crash occurred about 8:40 p.m. The car was headed south, south of Ledgewood Road, when it left the roadway and hit a power pole. The road was closed about nine hours. It reopened at 5:45 a.m. Thursday after PG&E crews completed repairs on the pole and power lines, the CHP reported.

Anyone with informa tion about the collision is asked to contact the CHP at 1-800-TELL-CHP (1-800-835-5247) or at the CHP Solano Area Office at 707-639-5600. State that you have informa tion for CHP-Solano and Officer James Jacobson.

Vaca communications project gains approval

FAIRFIELD — Solano County Planning Manager Allan Calder, sitting as the zoning administra tor, on Thursday approved the installation of new antennas on an existing ATC lattice tower Gates Canyon Road.

He also approved the construction or placement of an equipment cabinet, ground-mounted equip ment, and a standby diesel generator with fuel tank in a lease area, between Solano and Napa counties.

There was some dis cussion by a neighbor about road maintenance responsibilities.

For the second straight meeting, the application for 82.9-acre subdivision split was postponed, this time by the county due to outstanding fee issues, Calder said.

The project calls for the property to be divided into three 20-acre parcels and one 22.9-acre parcel on the north side of Brehme Lane, 4,000 feet east of Pleasants Valley Road. Joseph Abrew is the applicant.

Faith and Blue event starts Friday night

FAIRFIELD — City police personnel and others will participate in the national Faith and Blue initiative as part of the department’s ongoing efforts to build a community.

A kickoff event will occur from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in front of City Hall, 1000 Webster St.

Sworn and profes sional staff will also attend services Sunday at several churches.

For more information, watch the video at https:// fb.watch/fWWPjfz-Ev.

City seeks volunteers to winterize planters

SUISUN CITY — Anyone who enjoys working with plants has an opportunity to vol unteer with the Adopt a Neighborhood program in Suisun City to winterize the planter boxes along Highway 12.

The event will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday.

Volunteers will meet at Highway 12 and Emperor Drive. Look for the AdoptA-Neighborhood sign.

Bring gardening tools and wear sunscreen and a hat. Water and snacks will be provided.

Toys for Tots coordinator tells school children Santa needs help

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Kin dergartners at Scandia Elementary School on Travis Air Force Base this week were told Santa needs community helpers to deliver all his Christ mas promises.

“I talked to the kids about how Santa can only give out so many pres ents to every child in the world and how it’s up to parents to get presents for their kids as well, to help out Santa. I explained that some families may need a little help getting presents for their kids and that’s where Toys for Tots steps in,” said Staff Sgt. Salvatore Rizzo, the 2022 Solano County Toys for Tots coordinator.

“We collect toy and cash donations, use that money to buy toys for families in need, and dis tribute all of those toys to every family because every child deserves some toys during Christmas,” Rizzo said. “At the end of my speech, I passed out a stuffed animal to every

child and told them that if they see this big Toys for Tots donation box around to ask their parents if they wouldn’t mind dropping a new, unwrapped toy in it.” Rizzo’s talk was part of the class’ Community Helpers theme for the week. His daughter is one

of the students.

Toys for Tots will be at the the second annual Nut Tree World Cham pionship Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off being from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Satur day at the Nut Tree Plaza in Vacaville.

The event will include

a vendor market for the first time, along with a petting zoo, a jump house, balloon twister, obstacle course and pumpkin carvers will be on hand. The No. 5 train and carousel will be operating as well.

A state pumpkin

I-80 lane closures in south Vallejo planned due to bridge construction

daily Republic sTaff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — State road crews will close various lanes as part of their rebuild of the eastern bridge span of the Inter state 80 and Highway 29 Bridge Replacement

Project in south Vallejo.

Alternating lane clo sures for westbound and eastbound I-80, between Magazine Street and the Carquinez Toll Plaza, will begin from 9 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Satur day, the state Department of Transportation

Final Art Walk of season set for Saturday in Benicia

daily Republic sTaff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

BENICIA — The last Art Walk of the season will be packed with the work from one of the largest art communities

in the Bay Area.

“Enjoy live entertain ment and demonstrations at eight galleries in downtown Benicia. Come for lunch and stay for

See Walk, Page A6

announced. Crews will install crash cushions, move concrete barriers and re-stripe the roadway inside the work limits.

The newly constructed portion of the bridge will open to eastbound traffic starting Saturday.

To learn more about

the I-80/Highway-29 Sep aration Bridge Project Vallejo, go to i80sr29 projectvallejo.com.

For 24/7 traffic updates, visit 511.org. For real-time information, visit Caltrans Quick Map at http://quickmap. dot.ca.gov.

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Courtesy photo

Kindergartners at scandia Elementary on Travis air Force Base.

Solano sees 2nd fatal crash in as many days

BENICIA — A motor cyclist died Thursday when he failed to nego tiate a curve in Lake

Herman Road and hit head-on with a west bound Peterbilt big rig, the California Highway Patrol reported.

The name of the victim, a 23-year-old Benicia man,

was withheld pending notification of family.

The CHP reported that the eastbound motorcy clist was traveling at a high rate of speed when he crossed over into the

big rig’s lane and the collision occurred. The incident took place at about 11:15 a.m. It is still under investigation to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor.

Suisun City celebrates start of 180-unit apartment project

SUISUN CITY —

City and project officials gathered Wednesday at Blossom Avenue for a cer emony to break ground and mark the start of construction on a 180unit, gated apartment complex project.

“We appreciate the investment in our com munity by Red Tail Multifamily Land Devel opment LLC with this new market-rate apartment project. This is the third new residential devel opment groundbreaking in Suisun City in the last 13 months with several more expected soon,” City Manager Greg Folsom said in a statement. “These projects, as well

as the commercial proj ects under construction or planned, will be wel comed additions to our community.”

Red Tail Multifamily

Land Development LLC is based in Irvine.

The complex will have a variety of units, up to three bedrooms, with a clubhouse and small park

area for residents and their pets.

The complex is expected to be open by mid-2024.

Biden: Putin threats real, could spark nuclear ‘Armageddon’

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

President Joe Biden said the U.S. is trying to find an “off-ramp” for Russian President Vlad imir Putin and worries his threats to use tacti cal nuclear weapons are real and could lead to “Armageddon.”

“We’re trying to figure out what is Putin’s offramp? Where does he get off? Where does he find a way out?” Biden said Thursday at a fundraiser in New York City. “Where does he find himself in a position that he does not, not only lose face but

lose significant power in Russia?”

“He is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological and chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, signifi cantly underperforming,” Biden added. “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily use tactical nuclear weapons and not end up with Armageddon.”

Putin has renewed his nuclear threats as he announced the annex ation of Ukrainian territory, some of which

Russia doesn’t control, and with the call-up of 300,000 reservists to rein force his flagging invasion.

“When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will cer tainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people,” Putin said in a televised national address. “This is not a bluff.”

Biden’s comments are in contrast to those from National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who said last week that the U.S. sees Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons as the latest in a string of similar

warnings Putin has employed since the inva sion began in February.

“We do not pres ently see indications about the imminent use of nuclear weapons,” Sul livan said. “We are, of course, monitoring that carefully and staying in close consultation with allies and partners.”

Still, Sullivan said, the US has clearly conveyed that there would be severe consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons, and continues to take the threat seriously.

Report: Federal agents mull possible tax charges against Hunter Biden

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

After a multiyear probe, federal agents believe they have assem bled a sufficient case for tax crime charges to be filed against Hunter Biden, the son of Pres ident Joe Biden, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Delaware will make the call on whether to charge the younger Biden with tax crimes and a false statement con nected to a gun purchase,

according to the Post.

The Post, citing anonymous sources, reported that investiga tors in multiple agencies probed whether Biden, 52, had lied on gun purchase paperwork in 2018 and failed to fully report his income.

The U.S. attorney for Delaware is David Weiss, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump but has remained in his post as the probe into Biden churned on. Weiss’ office declined to comment on the report,

as did the FBI. The White House did not immedi ately respond to a request for comment.

A lawyer for Hunter Biden, Chris Clark, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the New York Daily News. But he said in a statement published by the Post that it is a “federal felony for a federal agent to leak infor

mation about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one.”

“Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has commit ted such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors,” added the statement, according to the Post.

A crash Wednesday night on Mankas Corner Road south of Ledgewood Road in Suisun Valley left two Fairfield res idents dead.

Anyone with informa

In brief

tion about the motorcycle crash Thursday is asked to call 1-800-TELL-CHP (1-800-835-5247) or the CHP Solano Area Office at 707-639-5600.

District 1 candidate sets meet-greet events

FAIRFIELD — Nora Dizon, a candidate for the District 1 seat on the Fairfield City Council, has scheduled three meet-and-greet events at the Fair field-Cordelia library.

The events will occur from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13 and Oct. 20.

The library is located at 5050 Business Center Drive.

The other candidates for the District 1 seat are K. Patrice Williams and George Kennedy.

strike

has worked for the county for about a year and is a single mother who is not sure how she will be able to afford her health insurance when it is scheduled to increase, is fully expecting to go on strike.

She said she is hopeful a fair contract can be worked out, but “if needed, I’m willing to strike.”

“I’m hoping to hear a plan about how we can work with other unions to increase staff ing in Solano County,” said Jennifer Engle hardt, a 15-year county employee who works in Child Welfare.

But she said these negotiations feel dif ferent than others in the past.

“It’s not just about staff getting what is theirs, and it is, but it’s about the commu nity getting its services,”

Englehardt said. Others indicated they are frustrated because they have seen so many different negotiators rep resenting the county, making the continuity of talks difficult, and they are uncertain if the Board of Supervi sors is getting a full and real picture of what is happening.

Nathan Hansford, a former Solano County employee who lost his job during the Great Recession, has been a field representative for SEIU 1021 for eight years, the past three in Solano County.

He said the county has had three Human Resources directors in that time.

Perhaps most trou bling in the opinions of many of the employ ees is the feeling the county – meaning the Board of Supervi sors – does not value its employees, that there is a culture that employees are liabilities instead of assets.

Walk

From Page A5

dinner. You’ll find great shopping and dining, live music, amazing his torical sites and our beautiful waterfront, all for a great day by the bay in Benicia,” organizers

said in a statement.

The event runs from 1 to 5 p.m. on First St.

The city-sponsored event started in June and included events in July and September.

For more information, go to www.visitbenicia. org/artwalk2022 or visit the blog at www.visit benicia.org/news.

a tree for your business, school, club, team, or ser vice organization!

is FREE to participate!

a November appointment to set up

tree

Greg Folsom/Courtesy photo

suisun City elected officials and other VIPs break ground on the Blossom avenue apartments in suisun City, Wednesday.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic Elizabeth Harrison, a social worker and older adult disabled services worker for sEIU local 1021, addresses the crowd during “strike school” at the Joseph nelson Community Center in suisun City, Thursday.

Columns&Games

Supposed ‘monster-in-law’ may need medical attention

Dear Annie: With respect to your advice to “Eaten Alive,” whose mother-in-law has started making inap propriate and mean comments toward her, I think you missed several significant “clues” in her descrip tion of their troubled relationship.

First, based on the timeline she describes, it is reasonable to presume that she is in her 50s, making her in-laws, most likely, at least in their 70s. She also mentions that, as a nurse, she’s been assisting with their “medical needs and prescrip tions,” again leading me to believe they’re seniors.

But the most telling “clue” was her comment that her mother-in-law “has started” making strange and hurtful comments to her. This sounds to me like it is new behavior, which, coupled with her age and the medications she takes, leads me to wonder if this is an as-yet undiagnosed age-related medical issue.

Unlike “Eaten Alive,” I’m not a nurse but a senior who’s actively dealing with changes happening to me, my friends and family members as a result of aging. The dramatic change in behavior she has described could very well be symptomatic of age-related mental deteriora tion. The paranoia about trying to get rid of her or take her money, the inappropriate com ments about her appearance, etc. are very common symp toms of age-related mental illness, as well as possibly an

indicator that she needs a review of her current medication interactions.

I understand it’s dif ficult not to initially take such comments personally, but I think she would be welladvised to step back and view the situation as an impartial medical professional and rec ommend her husband advise his mother’s physicians about these behavioral changes. They should request a com plete checkup and review of her medications before jumping to the conclusion that this is just a conflict resulting from a rude and overbearing personality. —

Concerned Senior

Dear Concerned Senior: Thank you for your letter. You were among many who wrote in with concern that this motherin-law’s behavior could be an indicator of dementia, Alzheim er’s, Parkinson’s or another medical, neurological or psy chiatric condition. “Eaten Alive” and her husband should certainly seek medical help on behalf of the mother-in-law to determine if such a condition is at play.

Dear Annie: Over the past decade, I have given up on trying to have a relationship with my five siblings. I used to call every so often to catch up and send birthday cards to all of them and their children. My wife often asked me why none of them ever sent me a birthday card and usually failed to call me back after I left a message. That was when I realized that I was the only one trying and

Horoscopes by Holiday Mathis

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

Your effervescence makes the whole scene sparkle. You have a way of making people think that they’re the reason you’re smiling, and often it’s true. You enjoy people and bring out the lighter, brighter side in all.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). If success were easy, everyone would be reveling in spectacu lar results. Expect it to be hard sometimes and push through. Don’t waste a single moment in doubt. You have what it takes.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). No group is ideal, though you can imagine yours being a little better than it is. Keep in mind that organizational change tends to happen very slowly. Changing yourself can happen fast, and the change in you will affect the group.

CANCER (June 22-July 22).

Rather than pondering what to do, just do it. If you’re in action mode, so much more becomes possible. Fellow water signs (Pisces, Scorpio, Cancer) figure into the action.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Seize the opportunity to hang out with that silly person you know. You two have your own language and an endless stream of inside jokes that the rest of the world will probably never understand.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

As inclined as you may be to stick within comfortable bound aries, your curiosity will get the best of you. Nothing makes you more curious than people. The social aspects of your life will sparkle. You’ll make new friends.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). Your attractions are infor mation to be curious about, not impulses to squash. Just because you don’t know the purpose of wanting to do a thing doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Nothing is a waste.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). What you’re involved with has an interesting history. It wasn’t a competition until someone approached it that way and now it’s “game on.” Is there a way to bring it back to its roots? Could competitive forces unite as one team?

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Shop ping isn’t necessarily buying. You use the same principle in social scenarios. You’ll enjoy getting to know people and you’ll go carefully forward from there, mindful of what’s exchanged and the investment you’re making.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). Anyone can seem huge while sitting on a high horse. There are those who would love

stopped calling or writing. No one called or wrote me a card. Even when I knew they were traveling in my area, none stopped by at my invitation. There was always an excuse of they are tired or ready to get home from the trip, etc.

Our 91-year-old mother, whom I called every day for over 12 years, will pass one day, and I would rather not attend the funeral. I have always felt that funerals were to show support and respect to the sur vivors, and not the departed. I have no desire to be around my siblings. All my mother’s friends have already passed, so I won’t know most of the people there. I would rather celebrate my mother’s life by planting a tree, donating to her favor ite charity and being alone in nature. Should I feel obligated to attend the funeral? — Loner in the South

Dear Loner in the South: I am so sorry that your efforts to bond with your siblings have not been reciprocated. Pro vided there has been no fight or falling out between you and them, I would try to give your brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt. They probably are truly busy, which is not an excuse but simply an attempt to let go of some of the resent ment you feel.

As for your mother’s funeral, I would think about how she would interpret your absence. Even if you believe funerals are for the living, you might regret your decision if you do not truly believe your mother is smiling down on that choice.

Today’s birthday

Every beautiful thing you build for yourself will be beautiful in the lives of others. You’ll venture boldly and be in a position to risk more than you have in the past. Education figures prominently. You’ll streamline your business, possessions and relationships in the name of efficiency. Gemini and Libra adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 9, 3, 33, 38 and 17.

to remain perched, although at some point everyone must come down and do the things humans do on the ground.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Changes must happen. You see the need and take responsibility for it too, but this isn’t all up to you and nor will you have to do it by yourself. You are a part of a natural evolution that is already in motion – a wave involving many.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Do you believe in angels? Either way, you will experience an act of heavenly grace, delivered by an angel of great beauty. In the future you will repay this kindness by intervening to save the day.

TO LOSE EARLY MAY MEAN TO WIN LATE

T.S. Matthews, who was the editor of Time magazine from 1949 to 1953, wrote, “Communication is something so simple and difficult that we can never put it in simple words.” Communication between a partnership’s hands is usually important for one side or the other during the play of a contract. In today’s

by Phillip Alder

deal, for example, what should happen in three no-trump after West leads the heart queen?

It was a simple Stayman auction.

South starts with seven top tricks (immediate winners): one spade, two hearts, two diamonds and two clubs. He might be able to get one more trick from spades if he finds a lucky 3-3 break. However, aiming to get four diamond tricks is more sensible. Declarer could cash his diamond king and follow with a finesse of dummy’s jack. That will work fine if the missing diamonds are 3-2, but if West has four including the queen, this won’t work well. South won’t be able to cash the 13th diamond. Instead, he should take the diamond king and then duck the second round to keep communication with the dummy. Here, West wins the trick and leads another heart, but South takes that, plays a diamond to the jack and claims.

Finally, did you spot West’s best defense? On the second round of diamonds, he should play his queen! This will probably lull declarer into a false sense of security, thinking that West had started with queen-double ton. Seeing an easy overtrick, South will most likely win with dummy’s ace and go down! To make this defense harder to find, South should duck the first round of diamonds.

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Difficulty level: SILVER

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9, with no repeats. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box. Solution, tips

computer

Bridge

Annie Lane Dear Annie

(707) 427-1386

Swank reveals she’s pregnant with twins

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

“Million Dollar Baby” star Hilary Swank is about to have some babies of her own.

The 48-year-old actor revealed Wednes day on “Good Morning America” that she is going to be a mom – “not just of one, but of two.”

“I’m so happy to share it with you and with America right now,” a beaming Swank said. “This is something that I’ve been wanting for a long time. . . . It’s so nice to be able to talk about it and share it.”

The Oscar winner is expecting twins with social venture entrepre neur Philip Schneider, whom she married in 2018 in the redwoods

of Carmel. The preg nancy news came at the end of Swank’s “GMA” appearance promoting her new ABC show, “Alaska Daily.”

Created by Oscarwinning “Spotlight” screenwriter Tom McCarthy, the journal ism drama stars Swank as a seasoned investiga tive reporter who moves her career from New York to Alaska after taking a hit to her profes sional reputation.

According to People magazine, Swank later told Ryan Seacrest and Kelly Ripa of “Live With Kelly and Ryan” that the cast and crew of “Alaska Daily” did not know she was pregnant until her Wednesday announce ment on national TV.

Crime

TUESDAY, OCT. 4

12:23 a.m. — Trespassing, 2500 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET

7:46 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1000 block of BROADWAY STREET

7:49 a.m. — Vandalism, 400 block of TAYLOR STREET

7:58 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1100 block of TEXAS STREET

8:17 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, HOLIDAY LANE

8:28 a.m. — Indecent exposure, 2600 block of ESTATES DRIVE

11:40 a.m. — Grand theft, YARROW DRIVE

2:19 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 1600 block of GATEWAY BOULEVARD

2:58 p.m. — Forgery, 3000 block of MARBURY COURT

2:59 p.m. — Trespassing, 1900 block of WEST TEXAS STREET

3:37 p.m. — Forgery, 1300 block of OLIVER ROAD

3:49 p.m. — Reckless driver, DOVER AVENUE

3:54 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND HIGHWAY 12

5:02 p.m. — Battery, 500 block of JACKSON STREET

8:54 p.m. — Grand theft, 1500 block of MARYLAND STREET

10:22 p.m. — Drunken driver, 1200 block of B. GALE WILSON BOULEVARD

11:38 p.m. — Battery, 1900 block of WEST TEXAS STREET

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5

1:02 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 600 block of LOPES ROAD

7:52 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 1400 block of MATTHEW DRIVE

9:17 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 1100 block of HORIZON DRIVE

10:10 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 1500 block of GULF DRIVE

11:35 a.m. — Grand theft, 1300 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD

1:03 p.m. — Battery, 500 block of JACKSON STREET

1:26 p.m. — Vehicle burglary, 100 block of AMADAS COURT 2:09 p.m. — Forgery, 1400 block of WOOLNER AVENUE

2:25 p.m. — Vandalism, 500 block of JACKSON STREET

2:26 p.m. — Battery, 4300 block of CENTRAL PLACE

2:29 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND AIR BASE PARKWAY

3:04 p.m. — Reckless driver, MANGELS BOULEVARD

3:22 p.m. — Forgery, 1900 block of SAN BENITO STREET

4:31 p.m. — Trespassing, 2200 block of WOOLNER AVENUE

4:37 p.m. — Brandishing a weapon, 1300 block of TRAVIS

BOULEVARD

4:41 p.m. — Sexual assault, 1000 block of WEBSTER STREET

4:44 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, NORTH TEXAS STREET

5:01 p.m. — Reckless driver, WESTBOUND AIR BASE PARKWAY

5:05 p.m. — Battery, 1300 block of GOLD HILL ROAD

5:33 p.m. — Residential burglary, 200 block of DEL LUZ COURT

5:39 p.m. — Vandalism, SUNSET AVENUE

5:44 p.m. — Reckless driver, SOUTHBOUND INTERSTATE 680 5:59 p.m. — Trespassing, 100 block of ALARCON COURT

6:06 p.m. — Forgery, 1400 block of WOOLNER AVENUE 6:12 p.m. — Trespassing, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD 6:19 p.m. — Battery, 1600 block of UNION AVENUE 8:06 p.m. — Shots fired, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD 8:16 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 800 block of OREGON STREET 9:59 p.m. — Trespassing, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD

SuiSun City

TUESDAY, OCT. 4 7:09 a.m. — Fraud, 1400 block of HUMPHREY DRIVE 12:51 p.m. — Fraud, 600 block of SKYLARK DRIVE 4:25 p.m. — Vehicle burglary, LOTZ WAY / CIVIC CENTER BOULEVARD 5:56 p.m. — Fraud, 100 block of SUNSET AVENUE 7:48 p.m. — Vehicle theft, RAILROAD AVENUE 9:09 p.m. — Shots fired, 600 block of VILLAGE DRIVE

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 5 11:23 a.m. — Assault, 300 block of MERGANSER DRIVE 12:46 p.m. — Fraud, 4500 block of OLIVE AVENUE 1:35 p.m. — Fraud, 300 block of SANDY LANE

cases, stayed at 222, the county reported.

Adopt a Neighborhood program she initiated in Suisun City.

Timm stated, “Every person in our county deserves to feel safe in their own neighbor hoods. While I wouldn’t call crime an epidemic, we must be proactive in doing everything we can to protect our friends and neighbors. I know what it takes to earn the public,s trust and protect our communities.”

“During my more than 30 years with the Fair field PD, I led street crimes teams and was the supervisor for the Investigations Division, dealing with sensitive crimes like rape, robbery, homicide and domestic violence,” Timm added.

Neither candidate offered budget or other specifics about how they would accomplish the stated goals, and while the county has some townships such as Elmira and rural Vallejo, and there are resident dep uties assigned to certain areas, the Sheriff’s Office

“If the county needs money for fire services, voters should be asked to pass a special sales tax with a two-thirds majority so that we know exactly what the money will be used for. It would be a shame for voters to approve a general tax that they thought would be for fire safety, only to have a future Board of Supervi sors decide they wanted to spend the money else where,” she wrote to a primary question asked by the Daily Republic.

Timm listed housing as an issue critical to the 3rd District.

“First and foremost, we must manage our growth smartly; we cannot run amok with housing development after housing develop ment, even in the face of state affordable housing mandates. I am an enthu siastic supporter of meeting those mandates, but we must do it in such a way that we protect the unique charm and char acter of our county. That includes ensuring our agricultural land remains a jewel of the county and ensuring the land man agement plan that started years ago is followed,” Timm wrote.

‘Addressing homelessness isn’t about helping only the poor; more housing will let middle-class residents and young families have a shot at purchasing a home and living the American dream while staying in Solano County. . . .’

— Wanda Williams

housing, but in the context of homelessness.

“Addressing home lessness isn’t about helping only the poor; more housing will let middle-class residents and young families have a shot at purchasing a home

lack of mental health pro viders, job insecurity, homelessness prevention and economic stability.”

She is hopeful these goals can be accom plished because of the state and federal dollars that have been promised.

‘Attacking the problem of homelessness requires a sophisticated, nuanced and multifaceted approach that will need the combined and coordinated efforts from Solano County, our cities, and the state and federal governments.’

— Chuck Timm

and living the American dream while staying in Solano County. Putting people first means ensur ing that everyone has a roof over their heads,” Williams stated.

She added she sup ports “more workforce housing developments in locations that will not affect prime agricul tural lands.”

In the larger picture concerning home lessness, she noted a multiple-step approach that includes “mental health, job placement and drug treatment services.”

She also fully endorsed the regional homeless strategy that started with the 2X2 cities program and has evolved into a new CAP Solano gover nance structure.

State and federal resources and partner ships also were noted in Timm’s response to homelessness.

“Attacking the problem of homelessness requires a sophisticated, nuanced and multifac eted approach that will need the combined and coordinated efforts from Solano County, our cities, and the state and federal governments,” Timm wrote.

“To solve the problem, all the cities and the county have formed a partnership (believed to be the first, or one of the first in the state), and it is just coming together. Again, partnerships is the path forward,” he added.

an elderly man, in poor health, who had been living at home and who died in January. He was vaccinated, Matyas said.

His death takes the Solano County total for the pandemic to 440, the county reported.

There were 13 resi dents in area hospitals with positive coronavi rus tests, down from 16 on Sept. 29, with one patient in an intensive care unit with the disease. There had been two in the ICU.

Fairfield added 74 new cases to take its total to 29,873. Vallejo added 85 for a new count of 33,359. Vacaville is at 27,545 cases after 68 new ones, the county reported.

Suisun City (7,707) added 22 cases; Dixon (5,255) added nine; Benicia (4,500) added 21; Rio Vista (1,536) added four; and the unin corporated area of the county, with no new

Matyas has previously indicated Covid-19 case counts are likely much higher with the use of in-home testing, results of which are not generally reported to government agencies and in many cases are not shared with medical providers if medical treatment is not needed.

The county reported that 72% of the popula tion 5 or older, under the new state calculation, has been fully vaccinated and 81% has received at least one shot. The report shows 2,024 children 6 months to 4 years (9%) have received a vaccine shot, while 13,278 children 5 to 11 (35.8%) have been vaccinated.

There have been 39 cases of monkeypox cases in Solano County, a number that has not moved in weeks. Matyas said it is likely due to the number of at-risk individ uals who have received a vaccine shot, and altered lifestyle behaviors.

covers a vast area of the county in which foot patrols are not feasible.

Both candidates support Measure S, the one-eighth cent county wide general sales tax increase to fund fire pro tection and prevention. It would generate about $9 million a year.

Timm has been an all-in proponent from the beginning. And while Williams states she wishes the measure came with guarantees for funding uses, she backed away from her previous statement of supporting a special tax.

He bundled traffic and highway conges tion into the discussion, the need for public transit programs and electric car infrastruc ture, which he added would address climate change issues as well.

“We must continue to address potential traffic choke points such as feeways 80, 12 and 680, provide safe retrofitting of our bridges, keep a close eye on major con nectors like Highway 37, and provide for recon figuring or updating as necessary,” Timm said.

Williams also addressed

“The regional plan I envision will not only include two representa tives from each city and two representatives from the county, but also pol icymakers at the state and federal level, home less advocates, business partners, nonprofit agen cies, housing providers, labor unions, building trades, mental health pro viders, the Solano County Orderly Growth Com mittee, workforce development agencies, education providers, and Solano Health and Social Services,” Wil liams wrote.

“This team will create a workplan to develop our regional approach to address Solano County housing stock shortage, mental health services,

He specifically noted several things that would be “helpful in getting the unhoused community back on their feet.”

“Expand access to mental health care services. Provide trans portation to work and school,” he wrote. “Supply quality day care opportunities for young children. Partner with local nonprofit and reli gious organizations to allow them county resources to expand already existing pro grams. Ensure current county programs are fully funded and receive the clearance they need to work with state and federal agencies.”

The candidates’ full responses will be pub lished on the Daily Republic website.

for, are the most signif icant steps he has taken toward reforming Amer ica’s drug laws. They are also a clear effort to boost turnout in next month’s midterm election, which will decide whether the president’s party can hold on to control of Congress.

Black and Latino groups, whose communities are dis proportionately affected by the enforcement of drug laws, have been especially outspoken in calling for marijuana decriminalization.

Asked about the timing of the announcement, which comes 33 days ahead of the election, an administration official who briefed reporters on the plan said that Biden was looking to fulfill a campaign promise after Congress failed to take any action.

“As I said when I ran for president, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing mar ijuana,” Biden said on Twitter, laying out the plan in a series of tweets.

“It’s legal in many

states, and criminal records for marijuana possession have led to needless barriers to employment, housing and educational opportuni ties,” Biden continued. “And that’s before you address the racial dispar ities around who suffers the consequences. While white and Black and brown people use mar ijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people are arrested, prosecuted and convicted at dispro portionate rates.”

Josh Ulibarri, a Dem ocratic pollster focused on Latinos, had viewed Biden’s inaction on marijuana as a missed opportunity to solidify his standing with Latino voters. “This is another step showing this pres ident not only gets it done but evolves,” he said. “I think it not only delivers justice but will help deliver vulnera ble Democratic seats in November.”

Biden did not announce the mari juana reforms in person. Instead, the White House released the news while Biden was in upstate New York touting IBM’s investment in a plant that will make semiconductors.

of the Covid-19 pandemic and provided services to these “disproportionately impacted communities,” the city said in a statement.

Eric Altieri, the exec utive director of NORML, an organization that backs full marijuana legalization, said in a statement that Biden’s actions were “long overdue” and urged the president to continue working with Congress to further loosen the nation’s cannabis laws.

“Since 1965, nearly 29 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana-related viola tions – for activities that the majority of voters no longer believe ought to be a crime,” Altieri said.

The Democrats who have been the most out spoken about the issue were quick to applaud Biden. Chuck Rocha, a campaign consultant who advises candidates on Latino outreach, said that Biden “has done more in (two) years than I can ever remember the president doing.” Penn sylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate, tweeted a campaign meme: “We did it, Joe.”

The politics of mari juana and criminal justice reform are not clearly divided by party.

Repub lican President Donald Trump enacted the First Step Act to reduce federal

prison sentences, a law supported by most GOP lawmakers. That law rolled back much of the 1994 crime bill – co-spon sored by then-Sen. Joe Biden – that stiffened drug sentences and directed millions in federal dollars to local police depart ments, resulting in a major rise in the nation’s incarceration rate.

In addition to their criminal justice and political impact, Biden’s actions are a “massive signal” to the nation’s marijuana sector, said Irina Dashevsky, co-chair of the cannabis law practice at the firm Greenspoon Marder. As more states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana use and retail sales, the growing industry has con tinued to bump up against federal law that makes it difficult for cannabis businesses to access ser vices such as banking and insurance.

Biden’s decisions suggest that “change is acceptable and likely going to happen soon,” Dashevsky said. “That’s huge. Marijuana is still going to be heavily reg ulated, but we may be moving toward less of a ridiculous situation.”

requirements may apply if their program has been negatively and economi cally affected as a result

The maximum grant award will be $1 million.

The deadline to submit proposals is 10 a.m. Oct. 24. Proposals are to

be submitted by email to vivien.togonon@cityof vacaville.com, with a copy to odessa.lopez@ cityofvacaville.com. It is anticipated that agencies will be notified of funding awards Nov. 16. All funds awarded must be fully spent by Dec. 31, 2024.

A Request for Pro posals document, with eligibility criteria, sub mission requirements and additional informa tion can be found online at cityofcacaville.gov/ nonprofitgrant.

Green’s latest altercation comes in-house

by Shayna RubIn BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SAN FRANCISCO — This isn’t the first time the Warriors have had to deal with a Dray mond Green altercation.

Some happened behind closed doors, others have played out on live television in the heat of competition. Some Green has been suspended and fined for, others not. But all have revealed truths about the state of the Golden State Warriors at various peaks and valleys of this dynastic era.

Green’s fight with Jordan

Poole during the Warriors’ prac tice on Wednesday is, as far as we know, the first altercation to get over-the-line physical. Green put his hands on Poole, general manager Bob Myers confirmed on Thursday, and will likely be fined but isn’t expected to miss any games.

The fight also shines a light on the age gap between the vet erans, like Green, who built this dynasty from scratch and the younger generation, like Poole, infiltrating the roster. Winning the 2022 title was proof that the young and old can coexist and succeed together, but nat

urally the old guard wants to protect their jobs from the upand-comers. For a group of veterans who’ve won four cham pionships together, those jobs come with pride.

Myers asserted that money had nothing to do with the alter cation. Green and Poole are up for extensions. Green said weeks ago he didn’t think an extension would happen before the season starts. Poole is in line to earn a lucrative rookie exten sion with a deadline looming. Money talk might not have started the fight, but the reality of the situation is hard to ignore.

And Green can never ignore the elephant in the room – it’s one of his strengths until it turns into a problem.

“One of his superpowers is being able to bring his fire and competitiveness and his voice,” Steph Curry said of Green. “I don’t want him to ever lose that. Whatever it takes to main tain that presence and trust and rebuild what he needs to, that’s the journey we’re going to be on. The young guys have to believe in who we are and what we built and the culture that we believe can get us through stuff like this. It’s up to me, Klay (Thompson),

Andre (Iguodala) and guys who have been around to embody that on a daily basis.”

Curry spoke with Green after the fight and was “honest with him,” saying he expressed his disappointment in the situation. It’s familiar territory – Curry has had these talks with Green after a few altercations.

In 2019, Green got into it with Kevin Durant after a posses sion gone wrong against the Los Angeles Clippers. With potential to win the game in regulation, Green took the ball up court

Garoppolo says ‘time will come’ for TE Kittle to shine

Cam Inman BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SANTA CLARA —

Once upon a time, George Kittle used to wear T-shirts in playful adoration of Jimmy Garoppolo.

There was the black shirt with Garoppo lo’s “Feels great, baby” moniker, after the 2019 49ers’ clutch win in Seattle. A few weeks later came a white T-shirt with a picture of Garoppolo shirtless and in swim trunks.

Big Vanden-Vacaville matchup Friday on MEL football schedule

m att mIlleR

FAIRFIELD — It’s only Week 2 in the Monticello Empire League, but Friday’s local lineup of high school football games features a marque matchup of Vacaville and Vanden that could decide the championship.

Vacaville (1-0 MEL, 3-3 overall) has won the past five titles and appears poised to be in the running for another after a strong 41-12 win over Rodriguez last week in the MEL opener. Vanden (1-0 MEL, 6-0 overall), meanwhile, has won 12 straight games, including a state championship, since losing to the Bulldogs 35-17 last October.

In other MEL action, Rodri guez will host Fairfield and Armijo

PREP KICKOFF

plays at Will C. Wood. Vacaville Christian heads for the foothills to play Golden Sierra and Rio Vista meets Esparto in local Sierra Delta League games.

Vacaville at Vanden

Vacaville has beaten Vanden five times since 2010 and the past four years years in a row since Vanden and Fairfield joined the MEL. Here area the scores:

n 2021: Vacaville 35, Vanden 17.

n 2020: Vacaville 35, Vanden 13.

n 2019: Vacaville 30, Vanden 14.

n 2018: Vacaville 55, Vanden 35.

n 2012: Vacaville 61, Vanden 0.

Vacaville quarterback Ryan

Vaughn was the great challenge last year for Vanden. Vaughn threw for 207 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 116 yards and a score. Darian Leon-Guerrero had two receptions for 94 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 95 yards and another score.

Last week in the win over Rodriguez, Vacaville’s current quarterback, Alex Barkley, com pleted just three passes as Rodriguez stacked the box to stop the run. But those three throws went for 165 yards and two touch downs. Brady Mott caught both scoring strikes for 133 yards. Cris tian Diosdado rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns.

Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame to honor legends Martin, Hollowell

FAIRFIELD — Two of Fairfield's most storied high school athletes will join the Sac-Joaquin Section Hall of Fame next week as members of the Class of 2020, which was delayed rec ognition because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The section will recognize the 2020 and a 2022 classes at this ceremony, the sixth and seventh since the inaugural group was elected in 2010.

Fairfield High School softball great Alicia Hol loway Dunn and Armijo football standout George

Martin are a part of the two classes. The induction ceremony is scheduled Oct. 16 at the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel in

downtown Sacramento.

Hollowell was the 2002 CalHi Sports State Softball Player of the Year and the Gatorade National Softball Player of the Year, leading the Falcons to Sac-Joaquin Section Division I cham pionships in 2000 and 2001. Fairfield was also section runners-up in 1999 and 2002.

She holds the state records for career strike outs with 2,328, some 693 more than the next pitcher on the list. Hol lowell also has the most consecutive strikeouts (31 over three games) and strikeouts in a game

Don’t forget the “Garoppolo/Kittle ’20” campaign shirt Kittle donned at 2020 camp.

In return, Garoppolo got in the spirit and had his own Kittlethemed shirts.

Where did all that fun-loving ribbing go? If anything, it’s more in the background now.

More important, where did Kittle’s receiving production go?

As Garoppolo knocks rust off from an offsea son rehabilitating his shoulder, rekindling a connection with Kittle is also in order. No one’s

caught more touchdown pass from Garoppolo than Kittle’s 13.

“I didn’t know that. That’s a cool stat,” said Garoppolo, before depicting their rela tionship as: “It’s been awesome.”

Up next is the annual team-bonding exer cise that includes next week’s layover at The Greenbrier in West Vir ginia between games this Sunday at Caro lina and the following Sunday at Atlanta.

“George, you know, is coming back from injury and everything, getting his legs under him,” Garoppolo said of Kittle, who missed the first two games with a groin injury. “He’s looked better and better every day. The time will come.

“Our offense is one of those offenses where not everyone is going to have a good game every week,” Garop polo added. “It’s pick your poison. One week, one guy will have a good game, the next week, the next guy.”

Rodriguez girls golf team wins MEL match against Vanden

DaIly RepublIC Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — Darla DelaTorre led the way for the Rodriguez High School girls golf team with a 9-hole round of 36 in a 210-221 win over Vanden at Cypress Lakes Golf Course.

Nikki Chindavong also shot in the 30s with a 39. DelaTorre and Chindavong were fol lowed by Coco Trotter (40), Jody Castillo (42) and Noelle Con cepcion (53).

The Mustangs are unbeaten in the Mon ticello Empire League heading into the final league tournament of the season Tuesday. It will be a 1 p.m. shotgun start at Cypress Lakes and all contestants play 18 holes. The top fin

ishers will advance to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division Tournament.

Fatum Soumahoro and Kara Chung had rounds of 43 for the Vikings. They were fol lowed by Zoe Zanassi (44), MaggieTay lor (45) and Diana Borchert (46).

“It’s been a long week of matches, but we’re all caught up and ready for the MEL tournament,” Vanden head coach Kevin Ratterman said.

The Vikings played four matches this week. Vanden is now 11-5 in MEL matches.

Rodriguez shot a 202 Wednesday in a match with Armijo. The Royals did not post a team score because they didn’t have a full lineup.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2021) Vanden quarterback Tre Dimes breaks for yardage against Vacaville during their football game at Vacaville High School, Oct. 15, 2021. The Bulldogs beat the Vikings 35-17 that night. The two teams meet again Friday.

Courtesy Photo Alicia Hollowell shined in softball at Fairfield High before starring to Arizona.

Daily Republic file George Martin was a multisport athlete at Armijo before starring with the New York Giants.

CALENDAR

Friday’s TV sports

Baseball

• MLB, AL Wild Card Series, Tampa Bay at Cleveland, Game 1, ESPN, 9 a.m.

• MLB, NL Wild Card Series, Philadelphia at St. Louis, Game 1, 7, 10, 11 a.m.

• MLB, AL Wild Card Series, Seattle at Toronto, Game 1, ESPN, 1 p.m.

• MLB, NL Wild Card Series, San Diego at N.Y. Mets, Game 1, ESPN, 5 p.m.

Football

• College, Houston at Memphis, ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.

Golf

• DP World, Open de Espana, GOLF, 5 a.m.

• PGA Junior League Championship, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

• Champs, Furyk & Friends, GOLF, 11 a.m.

• PGA, Shriners Children’s Open, Round 2, GOLF, 2 p.m.

Hockey

• NHL, San Jose vs. Nashville, NBCSCA, 11 a.m.

Motor Sports

• F1, Japanese Grand Prix, Qualifying, ESPN2, 10:55 p.m.

Soccer

• FIFA Women, U.S. vs. England, Friendly, 2, 40, Noon.

Saturday’s TV sports

Baseball

• MLB, AL Wild Card Series, Tampa Bay at Cleveland, Game 2, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

• MLB, AL Wild Card Series, Seattle at Toronto, Game 2, ESPN, 1 p.m.

• MLB, NL Wild Card Series, San Diego at N.Y. Mets, Game 2, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

• MLB, NL Wild Card Series, Philadelphia at St. Louis, Game 2, ESPN2, 5:30 p.m.

Football

• College, Michigan vs. Indiana, 2, 40, 9 a.m.

• College, Texas vs. Oklahoma, 7, 10, 9 a.m.

• College, Tennessee vs. LSU, ESPN, 9 a.m.

• College, Princeton vs. Lafayette, NBCSBA, 9:30 a.m.

• College, Utah vs. UCLA, 2, 40, 12:30 p.m.

• College, Auburn at Georgia, 5, 13, 12:30 p.m.

• College, Ohio State vs. Michigan State, 7, 10, 1 p.m.

• College, North Carolina vs. Miami, ESPN2, 1 p.m.

• College, Washington State vs. USC, 2, 40, 4:30 p.m.

• College, BYU vs. Notre Dame, 3, 4:30 p.m.

• College, Clemson at Boston College, 7, 10, 4:37 p.m.

• College, Texas A&M vs. Alabama, 5, 13, 5 p.m.

• College, Oregon State vs. Stanford, ESPN, 8 p.m.

Golf

• DP World, Open de Espana, Round 3, GOLF, 4:30 a.m.

• Champs, Furyk & Friends, Round 2, GOLF, 11 a.m.

• PGA, Shriners Children’s Open, GOLF, 2 p.m. Hockey

• NHL, San Jose vs. Nashville, NBCSCA, 11 a.m.

Motor Sports

• NASCAR, Bank of America ROVAL 400, Cup qualify ing, USA, 9:30 a.m.

• F1, Japanese Grand Prix, ESPN2, 9:55 p.m.

. Soccer

• EPL, Brentford vs. Newcastle, USA, 7 a.m.

• EPL, Tottenham vs. Brighton & Albion, 3, 9:30 a.m.

Kings exercise contract option on former Baylor star Mitchell

Jason a nDerson SACRAMENTO BEE

SACRAMENTO — General manager Monte McNair announced Wednesday the Kings have exer cised their third-year team option on guard Davion Mitchell for the 2023-24 season.

The move was just a formality for Mitch ell, who came out of NCAA champion Baylor as the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NBA draft and quickly proved to be one of the most menac ing on-ball defenders in the league.

Mitchell appeared in 75 games as a rookie last season, averaging 11.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 0.7 steals in 27.7 minutes per contest. He shot 41.8% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point range, numbers he hopes to improve upon this season.

Mitchell ranked fifth among rookies in assists and 10th in scoring and minutes. He was selected for the NBA Rising Stars Challenge, although he did not participate due to a hand injury.

Mitchell is entering the second year of his

four-year, $21 million rookie contract. Rookie deals include thirdand fourth-year team options. Mitchell will earn $4.8 million this season, $5.1 million next season and $6.5 million in 2024-25, assuming the Kings pick up the fourthyear option.

The Kings are counting on Mitch ell to provide scoring, playmaking and his trademark tenacious ness on defense as the primary backup to point guard De’Aaron Fox.

Mitchell could become a lethal weapon if his shooting improves like it did at Baylor, where he made 44.7% from 3-point range in 2020-21 after hitting 32.4% the pre vious season.

The Kings are hoping to end an NBA-record 16-year playoff drought.

Mitchell had seven points, three assists and three steals to help Sacramento open pre season play with a 125-95 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. The Kings will play host to the Port land Trail Blazers in their preseason home opener Sunday at Golden 1 Center.

Scoreboard

BASEBALL American League

HOCKEY

FOOTBALL NFL

National League

MLB Playoffs

French teenage basketball star wows NBA scouts in Las Vegas

By Dan Woike LOS ANGELES TIMES

LAS VEGAS — Every thing you needed to know about the 2023 NBA draft could be learned in the parking lot sandwiched between the water slide and nondescript minor league hockey arena.

As NBA executives and scouts piled out of their black SUVs, no one was wiping a late Vegas night out of the corners of their eyes.

"You ready for the show?" one said to another with a huge grin, practi cally rubbing his hands together in excitement.

Victor Wembanyama was about to play in a showcase event and 30 NBA teams were ready to dream.

It's hard to be a lock with the draft more than 250 days away, but talk to any scouts, executives and team owners who filled the stands and lined the sidelines for a pair of exhi bition games in October and it's settled.

Wembanyama, the

Local

Chindavong led the Mustangs with a 36. Chin davong was followed by Castillo (38), DelaTorre (41), Concepcion (41) and Trotter (46) in the top five. Sixth golfer Ellie Steiger shot a 47.

Also Wednesday, Vanden notched a team score of 237 in a win against Will C. Wood. Like the Royals, the Wildcats did not have a team score.

Soumahoro led the Vikings with a 43. She was followed by Chung (46), Borchert (47), Zanassi (50) and Taylor (51).

Volleyball

Vanden girls win big against Will C. Wood

VACAVILLE — The Vanden High School girls volleyball team made quick work Thurs day night at Will C. Wood, earning a 25-10, 25-9, 25-13 win.

Fran King had 18 service points and 24 assists. Jada Cuffie also had 18 service points to go with four kills and 26 assists. Anaya Thrower led the offense with 12 kills, while Alex Belin and Breanna Davis had three apiece.

Sumerlyn Spencer keyed the defense with 11 digs and Makenzie Lovell had nine.

Vanden improved to 9-2 in Monticello Empire League matches and 12-6 overall.

Vanden’s junior varsity

7-foot-4, 18-year-old player from France with the 10-foot reach and the 30-foot shooting range, will be the first player selected with the assur ances of changing a franchise and maybe the game itself.

After the game, when he looked like some mixture of Stephen Curry

team notched a 25-11, 25-12 win to also improve to 9-2 in MEL matches.

Miracle Lebon had four service points and four kills. Alyssa Morse had four service points, three aces, one kill and two assists. Olivia Parks added three kills and Lydia Keele had two.

The JV “B” squad won its match 25-12, 25-22.

Dara Parks scored 11 service points with five aces and three kills. Erin Veatch had six service points, two aces, two blocks and one dig.

Leila Malabuen had four service points, two aces, one kill, two digs and four assists.

Buckingham girls top Faith Christian

VACAVILLE — The Buckingham Charter High School vol leyball team earned a 3-0 win Tuesday over Faith Christian.

The Lady Knights won by scores of 25-11, 25-7, 29-27. Sophomore defen sive specialist Drew Peters had 10 aces and nine digs. Wyievee Binda added eight kills, four blocks, three service aces and two assists.

Kara Gonzalez had five kills and Klau dine Canlobo had three. Brooke Maurice and Kaitlyn Bautista had eight assists each.

In the third set, fresh man Sophia Lozano had three digs and an ace to wrap up the match.

Buckingham lost a match on Sept. 29 to Sac ramento Adventist.

and Kevin Durant with Ralph Sampson's body, Wembanyama posed for a photo with fellow French national star Rudy Gobert and made him look small.

"It looks like me playing basketball with my kids," one NBA source said of watching Wembanyama tower over everyone. If this sounds like

Tennis Vanden girls cruise to win over Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — The Vanden High School girls tennis team lost only six games in nine matches Thursday in a 9-0 win over Fairfield.

Sasha Smith, Delaney Ramsell, Camille Arca, Jeanelle DelaCruz, Hailey Lam and Althea Yabut all won singles matches in straight sets. The doubles teams of Kailey PayneMiley Dial and Yuba Grossen-Paula Nguyen also won in straight sets. The No. 3 doubles match was a forfeit victory for the Vikings.

Vanden improved to 7-2 in Monticello Empire League matches and 8-2 overall. The Vikings will host undefeated Vacaville on Tuesday.

College Solano volleyball takes down Marin

ROCKVILLE — The Solano Commu nity College women’s volleyball team picked up a 25-20, 25-18, 25-13 win Wednesday night over Marin.

The victory moved the Falcons to 3-0 in the Bay Valley Conference and 14-6 overall.

Kelsey Wall led the way on offense with 10 kills, 13 digs and three aces. Hannah Del Rio added nine kills.

Sammy Brown chipped in nine kills, 17 digs and was 21-for-22 serving with six aces.

overhype, it's almost impossible to overstate how excited NBA teams are for this player.

Multiple execu tives, when asked how many future picks they would trade for the No. 1 pick in June, answered exactly the same.

"All of them."

Wembanyama and the consensus No. 2 prospect in 2023, Scoot Henderson of G League Ignite, had an epic duel Wednesday that left people around the NBA buzzing about a race to the bottom this upcom ing season for the best chances of landing one of the two. Though Hender son would be a treasured prospect in any other draft, he's a clear second behind Wembanyama.

"Everybody has been labeling this unicorn thing. Everybody has been a unicorn for the last two years, but he's more like an alien," LeBron James said Wednesday. "I've never seen – no one has ever seen anyone as tall as he is, but as fluid and as graceful.”

Crystal Carroll led the way on defense with 22 digs and was perfect on 13 services with two aces. Dani Rydjord ran the offense with 33 assists and was 13-for-13 serving with three aces. Rachel Lin chipped in four kills with 10 digs.

“We played a bit slow, but pulled it together to get a three-set win,” Solano head coach Darla Williams said in an email. “We need to focus on being solid and consistent from the start.”

Solano will host Napa Valley at 6 p.m. Friday.

Middle School

Grange football earns shuts out

FAIRFIELD — Grange Middle School’s flag football team beat Green Valley 28-0 on Wednesday.

Bubba Hayes threw two touchdowns and King Lynch ran for two touch downs. Malachi Wroten and Eugene Rubin Jr. both caught a touchdown pass.

Angelo Pinada helped key the Grange defense.

Grange is now 2-0.

Tolenas Academy volleyball nets win

FAIRFIELD —

The Tolenas Academy volleyball team earned a 7-25, 25-13, 15-12 victory Wednesday over Sheldon Academy.

The top server for Tolenas was Carlos Ruiz Rodriguez, who had seven successful serves in a row, and Serenity Bjork, who had 12 serves.

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS Metropolitans 92 center Victor Wembanyama keeps the ball from NBA G League Ignite guard Scoot Henderson after a rebound during the second half of their game at Dollar Loan Center on Tuesday, in Henderson, Nevada.

GOP could tilt Assembly speakership rivalry

An ambitious member of the state Assem bly declares he has enough votes to become speaker and demands the incumbent step down. The current speaker refuses and the contenders spend months trying to get enough of their sup porters elected to settle the dispute.

That’s what’s happening now as Dem ocratic Speaker Anthony Rendon spars with Assembly man Robert Rivas, a Democrat from Salinas.

Letters to the editor

Letters must be 325 words or less and are subject to editing for length and clarity. All letters must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Send letters to Letters to the Editor, the Daily Republic, P.O. Box 47, Fairfield, CA 94533, email to gfaison@daily republic.net or drop them off at our office, 1250 Texas St. in Fairfield.

Student debt plan will likely be defeated

Conservatives opposed to President Joe Biden’s student debt relief proposal finally have some good news: It will likely be defeated in court.

Rivas publicly declared in June he had backing from 34 of the Assembly’s 58 Democrats and called on Rendon to relin quish the office. After several days of behind-the-scenes maneuvering, however, the two issued a joint statement declar ing each politician’s respect for the other and postponing the issue until later in the year.

Dan Walters

Since then, Rendon has said he wants to be re-elected speaker when the Legislature recon venes in December, although he will have to relinquish the post sometime because he’ll be serving his last term in the Assembly due to term limits.

Meanwhile, the membership of the Assem bly will undergo a substantial change in November’s elections – as many as 20 new Democratic Party members. The reconstituted body, not the current members, will decide who will occupy the speaker’s office. So the rivalry has boiled down to each side trying to get enough of its supporters elected in Novem ber to decide the speakership election, with campaign contributions the prime tool.

What’s happening now sounds very famil iar to the few Capitol denizens who were around in 1980.

Los Angeles Assemblyman Howard Berman, claiming a majority of the Assembly’s Democrats, demanded Speaker Leo McCarthy step down and McCarthy, a veteran politician from San Francisco, refused. McCarthy clung to the speakership for a year while the two fac tions battled it out in the 1980 elections to a near-stalemate.

The clashes were the stuff of Capitol legend – Assembly members pledging to both sides, divisions along ethnic lines, cloak-anddagger spy missions, feuds between politicians who had been years-long friends, and even death threats in one race.

What happened after that year’s election got even more interesting. Berman claimed a slight majority of the Democrats after the November 1980 election, but the battle had become so highly personal the election did not settle it. Rather, the McCarthyites made a deal with Republicans to elect Willie Brown as speaker because GOP leaders feared what Berman would do to them in redistricting after the 1980 census.

Republicans came to regret their deal to make Brown speaker. Once in office, he quickly consolidated his position among Democrats through committee appointments and the cre ation of congressional and state Senate seats for Berman and his supporters in redistricting.

No longer needing Republican support, Brown became the self-proclaimed “Ayatollah of the Assembly” and relegated GOP members to the powerless back benches. He survived a 1988 coup attempt by the “Gang of 5” dissident Democrats and eventually became the longest serving Assembly speaker.

What happened in 1980 contains a lesson about the biennial election of Assembly speak ers: Republicans get to vote, too, and provided the margin of victory for Brown.

Could the current battle over the speaker ship emulate what happened 42 years ago?

After the election, if neither Rendon nor Rivas can claim 41 supporters, the number required to elect a new speaker, and neither is willing to concede, the two dozen or so Repub licans in the 80-member chamber could tilt the outcome.

One can’t say it’s a likely outcome, but neither is it an impossibility, as the 1980 sce nario demonstrated. It all may depend on how much enmity has been generated and how stubborn the two combatants are once the elec tion results are known.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Califor nia’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more columns by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

The nonprofit Pacific Legal Foundation has filed a lawsuit that has a good chance of winning. That’s because the suit will likely be able to overcome the primary obstacle to challenging Biden’s plan: stand ing. Courts can only hear cases that involve a real dispute between parties who have a real stake in the case’s outcome. The doctrine ensures that purely political matters are decided by the political branches. That is often not a serious barrier to bringing con tentious matters before the courts because a government’s act usually disadvantages at least one person who has motive to sue.

The student debt proposal, however, seemed to be an exception. The normal student loan recipient would be made better off by the pro posal. And courts have long ruled that taxpayers or members of Congress do not have standing to challenge admin istrative actions they do not like if they are asserting merely a general interest in the matter. Resolving such disputes is a matter for poli tics, not law.

The PLF suit, however, features a plaintiff who appears to actually be made worse off by the adminis tration’s scheme: Frank Garrison, a lawyer at PLF, is enrolled in a student loan forgiveness program that will kick in after he works for 10 years at a public interest law firm, which PLF qualifies as. His loans would be can celed anyway if he stays there four more years, which he intends to do.

Indiana, where he lives, would not tax that canceled amount as income, but it will tax the administration’s forthcom ing loan cancellation. Garrison would thus receive no benefit under the program and would lose around $1,000 in extra state taxes if it is allowed to go forward.

A thousand dollars might not seem like a lot of money, but it should be enough to give him stand ing to sue. That means the courts will have to decide the case on its merits, which is not good news for the administration.

The administration says it has legal authority to issue the debt relief because of the 2003 Heroes Act. The law, passed during the Iraq War, del egated power to the president to waive or modify student loan obliga tions when “necessary in connection with a war or other military opera tion or national emergency” and if the person with the loan “resides or is employed” in an area which a branch of government has declared to be a disaster area in connection with a national emergency.

The administration contends the coronavirus pandemic qualifies as such a national emergency, granting it the power to unilaterally cancel hun dreds of billions of dollars in student loans nationwide.

This specious justification flies in the face of the separation of powers. The Constitution grants Congress the power to enact laws and make appro priations. The administration’s action, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost the federal government $400 billion, is clearly not the sort of executive power the Con stitution grants to the president.

Congress can delegate such power to the executive branch only if it exhibits a specific intent to do so.

The Supreme Court held earlier this year that this legal rule, known as the major questions doctrine, applies in “extraordinary cases” that involve an “issue of deep economic or political significance.” The administration’s unprecedented action, which will affect tens of millions of people’s finances and cost the Treasury hun dreds of billions of dollars, clearly fits that description.

No one seriously suggests the Heroes Act specifically authorized the president to engage in such a wide-ranging action during a pan demic (which Biden recently said was “over”).

The Supreme Court applied this doctrine in West Virginia v. EPA, one of the most controversial cases from the last term that resulted in curtail ing the EPA’s authority to regulate power plants. The 6-3 majority in that case is not likely to let the administra tion undermine that holding with its fanciful invocation of authority from a law meant to help soldiers and reserv ists. That means all Garrison needs to do is keep appealing his case until it reaches the Supreme Court.

His matter may very well arrive at the Supreme Court quickly.

Democrats will surely be angry if the conservative court enjoins Biden’s plan, but they could have passed student loan debt relief as part of their omnibus reconciliation bill. They didn’t. As such, they must fight this battle in court, and that’s where con servatives have the clear advantage.

Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.

First Amendment battle could transform Big Tech

For a quarter-century, it appeared the law was settled: Silicon Valley’s internet platforms were private companies, full stop, with absolute control over what content to promote or suppress. As the platforms tightened political control over user speech in recent years, conservatives com plained about “Big Tech Censor ship,” but legal experts scoffed.

Scoffing will no longer suffice.

Supposedly settled law can be altered when its political foundation erodes. Liberals now take a dimmer view of free speech than they did at the dawn of the tech era, while con servatives take a dimmer view of corporate power. That has created an opening for a frontal assault on the rules that govern America’s digital public square. Now the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in.

A bold ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in midSeptember, written by Judge Andrew Oldham, is the latest sign that the con servative campaign to resist Silicon Valley’s political controls might have legal and constitutional legs. His opinion declared that some technol ogy firms fit into the Anglo-American tradition of “common carriers,” like phone companies and the tele graph, whose right to exclude people and ideas may be regulated by the government.

The case was prompted by a 2021 Texas law forbidding compa nies such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from censoring a user based on “the viewpoint represented in the user’s expression,” with limited exceptions. The corporations, through the trade group NetChoice, chal lenged the law by arguing their right to curate content, including block ing political viewpoints, is protected speech under the First Amendment.

That argument had easily pre vailed in the lower courts and in another appellate court review ing a comparable Florida law, but the 5th Circuit panel disagreed by a 2-1 vote. It didn’t say the Texas law

will be constitutional in every application, but it lifted an injunction to allow the law to go into effect.

As the concurrence put it: “Case by case adjudication is a small burden on the Goliaths of internet communications if they contend with Davids who use their platforms.”

David might not always win, in other words, but he should at least be allowed to take a censorious Goliath to court.

Can an organization exclude speak ers it disapproves of? The Supreme Court’s precedents mostly say yes.

Miami Herald v. Tornillo (1974) said Florida couldn’t require newspapers to give politicians space to publish replies to criticism, and Hurley v. GLIB (1995) said Massachusetts couldn’t tell parade organizers which groups to include. Lawyers for the social media firms argued their clients were like newspapers or, failing that, parade organizers whose expression Texas wants to control.

But neither is a particularly good analogy, and some high court prec edents say hosting speech is not the same as speaking. PruneYard Shop ping Center v. Robins (1980) said California could require a privately owned mall to allow access to pam phleteers, and Rumsfeld v. FAIR (2006) said Congress could penalize law schools for refusing to host mili tary recruiters.

The panel zeroed in on those cases, which supported Texas’s position.

But Oldham also reached back further than modern free-speech doc trine to argue certain technologies throughout history – “from ferries and bakeries, to barges and gristmills, to steamboats and stagecoaches, to railroads and grain elevators, to water and gas lines, to telegraph and telephone lines, to social media platforms” – have been so central to public life and commerce that access can’t be arbitrarily denied by private parties.

The decision isn’t the last word on this issue, and it might be brushed back by the Supreme Court. But as

Alan Z. Rozenshtein of the Univer sity of Minnesota’s law school notes, the opinion also “offers a compelling model for what the Supreme Court could decide to do.”

While we wait, expect political alignments to be scrambled. Progres sives since 2010 have been blasting the Supreme Court’s conclusion in Citizens United that corporations have a right to free speech. Now that the issue is not campaign finance but the right of politically aligned social-media companies to censor, progressives may find a new appreci ation for corporate autonomy.

Divisions will similarly be exposed on the right, where populist senti ment might collide with the desire to protect property rights. On that note, Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who as a lower-court judge wrote a dissent skeptical of common-carrier reg ulation, might be more difficult to convince than some of his colleagues.

But the biggest mistake would be for the justices to resolve the issue too quickly and conclusively, closing the door to experimentation. The legaltechnology establishment – including academics, nonprofit groups and the companies themselves – has claimed for years that internet services will immediately become unusable cess pools if their ability to censor is restricted one iota. Meanwhile, the companies’ moderation has become steadily more political and polarizing.

The old speech and technology order is coming apart – but forcing an entire industry into the common-car rier regime in one fell swoop would be a plunge into the economic and legal unknown. By allowing Texas’ legisla tion to be tested, the 5th Circuit wisely left the door open to trial and error. As with abortion, it might not be possible to know what solutions are viable until politicians have had a chance to leg islate – and are held accountable for the results.

Jason Willick writes a regular Wash ington Post column on legal issues, political ideas and foreign affairs. Before coming to The Post in 2022, he wrote for The Wall Street Journal and the American Interest.

Henry Olsen

Jason Willick

Jenifer Lewis isn’t done baring her soul

The WashingTon PosT

Jenifer Lewis sashays into a theater at the AFI in Silver Spring, Md., where fans are waiting to hear her talk about her new book, “Walking In My Joy,” a series of stirring, laughout-loud vignettes about her life. She enters to the sounds of another diva as Aretha Frank lin, singing “A Deeper Love,” blasts on the speakers: “Now I’ve got love in my heart / it gives me the strength / To make it through the day.”

The event is part toast – to Lewis and her fans – and part roast for, well, anyone who should catch Lewis’s playful ire: “Now sit down, you’re getting on my nerves,” she jokes after basking in applause. “I got one nerve left!” For the veteran of TV, film and Broadway, it’s also part cabaret: Within a few minutes of her entrance, Lewis plops down at the piano to sing a signature tune, one that has gone viral several times over: “I don’t want nobody – “ she belts, pausing to ask if she’s allowed to curse (a privilege no one familiar with Lewis’s work would ever deny her).

Given the all-clear, Lewis lets loose: “I don’t want nobody, f---ing with meeeeeeeeeee / In theeeese streets!”

“In These Streets” is the subtitle of Lewis’s book, which features the same kind of soulbaring honesty the actress offered in her 2017 memoir, “The Mother of Black Hol lywood.” In that book, Lewis candidly discussed living with bipolar disorder and a sex addiction that she brings up matter-of-factly to the crowd at AFI. “I didn’t know I was bipolar then. I rather enjoyed that part of it,” she cracks as the audience erupts in laughter.

In “Walking In My Joy,” Lewis recounts reaching out to famous friends including Brandy Norwood and Kathy Griffin during the pandemic and her self-reflection over months in isolation. She recalls the decade DJ Pierce (better known as Shangela of “Drag Race” fame) lived in her base ment while trying to break into the entertainment industry. She tells the harrowing story of the man who conned her out of $50,000, but emerges tri umphant, recalling how her testimony in court led to a prison sentence for the serial fraudster: “Y’all know I per formed . . . ‘the truth the whole truth and nothing but’ with real tears,” Lewis writes.

“When I tell the truth, the electricity goes up my spine,” she tells the AFI crowd. “I am damn near possessed by it.”

“She already has the aura and the confidence and the projection of a star,” the New York Times wrote of Lewis in 1983, just after Bette Midler recruited her as one of her backup singers, the Harlettes. “She is the very essence of show business – a singer with a dazzling voice, a high-kicking dancer, a lusty comedienne, a coiled spring of energy.”

At 65, Lewis remains all of those things; her high kicks are legendary. She did several at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where “Black-ish” was honored earlier this year, a tribute she cites as one of her proud est moments.

Though Lewis, a native of Kinloch, Mo., has been working in Hollywood for decades, it was “Black-ish” that marked her breakout into mainstream fame. Like many veteran Black entertainers, Lewis is enjoying

the sort of career renaissance and appreciation her fans have always wanted for her.

“Jenifer Lewis was one of the first Black women I ever saw on TV that was not ‘Sesame Street,’ ” Hannah Oliver Depp, whose shop Loyalty Bookstore hosted the Lewis event, tells the crowd at AFI.

A perpetual scene-stealer, Lewis is beloved for a range of roles. She’s Will’s Aunt Helen on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” coolly delivering oneliners that make her recurring role on the show (eight epi sodes in all) seem much more expansive. She’s Dean Dorothy Dandridge Davenport, telling Hillman students “You’re on my list!” on “A Different World.” She’s Anna Mae Bull ock’s mother in “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” the cult classic film about Ike and Tina Turner. She’s Jackie Washing ton, an R&B diva primed for a comeback in the cult classic mockumentary film “Jackie’s Back!” She’s Grandma Ruby on “Black-ish,” calling her bira cial daughter-in-law everything but a child of God (“Rae Dawn Chong” was one particularly memorable barb).

In her latest role, on Show time’s “I Love That For You,” she plays Patricia, the icy CEO of a home shopping network called SVN. “It’s my best work,” Lewis said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I walked into it like a fitted glove.”

“My career has excelled to a level that I wanted as a kid. But even ‘I Love That For You,’ they waited until I was 65 to make me a porn star!” she jokes, while genuinely celebrat ing a role that sees her “grind” on handsome young men

MORE ON DISRUPTING COMMUNICATIONS

Brian Tracy, a Canadian-American motivational speaker, said, “Communi cation is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of your life.”

If he were a bridge player, he would have ended: “you can rapidly improve

by Phillip Alder

that part of your game.”

In yesterday’s deal, South needed to keep communication with the dummy so that he could collect four diamond tricks and make his contract. Today’s deal features another aspect of communication. How should South play in three no-trump after West leads the spade nine in answer to his partner’s opening bid?

South would have preferred a better spade holding to overcall one notrump, but making a takeout double with only two hearts was even more dangerous, and he could not bring himself to pass.

Declarer started with six top tricks: one spade (given the lead), four diamonds and one club. With only 15 points missing, surely East had the club king. However, rather than play on that assumption, declarer wondered about his chances if the club finesse was losing. He would still be all right as long as the defenders could not run either major suit.

South started correctly by calling for dummy’s spade king; otherwise, East plays low. East won with his ace and found the best defense of a club shift. Declarer, sticking to his reading of the deal, won with his ace, played a diamond to the board and led a heart. With the heart suit blocked, the defenders couldn’t take more than one spade, two hearts and one club.

Sudoku by Wayne Gould

Bridge

Difficulty level: GOLD

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 grid contains the digits

DISRUPTING COMMUNICATIONS

through 9, with no repeats. That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box. Solution, tips and computer program

Brian Tracy, a Canadian-American motivational speaker, said, “Communi cation is a skill that you can learn. It’s like riding a bicycle or typing. If you’re willing to work at it, you can rapidly improve the quality of every part of

Bridge

Shuran Huang/The Washington Post

Jenifer Lewis, queen of the high kick, says her “career has excelled to a level that I wanted as a kid.”

A single mother (Meagan Tandy) becomes the object of a command center operator’s obsession in “Stalked Within.”

Lewis

Page B4

with no lines.

“And now I’m mobbed on the streets. Even if I lower my . . . head they’re like ‘Jenifer Lewis!’ I’m like ‘Aah!’ “ Not even masks can hide her iden tity: Her Shakespearean diction is instantly rec ognizable no matter how many layers of fabric it’s underneath. “All I have to say is, ‘Baby, let me see that dress.’ ” Inevi tably, she said, someone will say, “Excuse me, Miss Lewis . . . ”

Many celebrities talk about mental health issues but few have taken fans into their treatment and recovery process the way that Lewis has. When Kathy Griffin, struggling in the after math of the controversy around a 2017 tweet that showed her holding a mask made to look like the severed head of Pres ident Donald Trump, took a large quantity of pills, she called Lewis.

“I think I’m in a little trouble. I took some sleeping pills,” Lewis recalls Griffin saying in her book. “I think I took too many. And I don’t want to die.”

“I knew Jenifer wouldn’t be scared by a friend that was suicidal,” Griffin said in a phone interview. “She wouldn’t run in fear and she wouldn’t call me names.”

What Lewis did do was sit with Griffin for hours on end, and was still there when she awoke the next morning.

“I just think she’s so funny and smart and resilient, and I admire her,” Griffin said. “I like her because she doesn’t do small talk. When you talk to Jenifer, it’s like you’re going to really talk

about stuff.”

That’s true even on her book tour. “I didn’t come all the way to Maryland to tiptoe through the tulips and tell you about the chap ters in this book. Read it!” Lewis tells her fans. “I came here to tell you to take care of your self. And vote.”

Activism, Lewis said, is her biggest priority at this stage of her life.

“Show business, it’s like brushing my teeth. All somebody has to say is ‘places’ or ‘action’ and I’m on.” But “America is in a lot of trouble right now, so there’s nothing more important. It should be important to everybody,” she added.

“Women have got to shut this country down,” she said, referring to the Supreme Court’s recent dismantling of Roe vs. Wade. “We’ve got to stand up. We’ve got to take a knee. And we have to also lay down, and I don’t mean on the . . . sofa.”

But Lewis, walking in her joy, still has hope. “These are not dark times. These are awak ening times,” she said in July while accepting her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The actress, who loves to travel, recalled a recent trip to Kath mandu in Nepal, where she got to see Mount Everest, the Himalayan mountain she dreamed of climbing when she was a child.

“I had my phone just smashed against the window, and there was a yoga teacher on that flight and she was just happy to be right next to me looking out,” Lewis said. “She overheard me say, ‘Since I was 13 years old, I wanted to climb to the top.’ She looked at me and said, ‘Look at you –now you’re above it.’ “

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

Shuran Huang/The Washington Post file Jenifer Lewis speaks to the crowd at a book event at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Md., in September.

Giants, A’s drop ball in 2022

John Shea SAN FRANCISCO

OAKLAND — Thirtyfour minutes after Oakland Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp gloved a grounder at the Coliseum and threw to first base, ending the A’s season, the final out for the San Fran cisco Giants came in San Diego when first baseman Wilmer Flores fielded a grounder and stepped on the bag.

The Giants and A’s fin ished their frustrating 2022 seasons on winning notes, and their players raised their heads high and spoke about momen tum for 2023, mostly evading the disappoint ing seasons for baseball on both sides of the bay.

Stepping back from the fact the Giants won 12 of their final 16 and the A’s finished with a four-game win streak, the teams lost a combined 183 games, fifth most in a season in the 55-year history of the two-team market. The A’s were 60-102, the second time in the Oakland era they reached triple digits in losses, and the Giants went 81-81, their first-ever .500 season.

All things considered, it was one of the most mis erable collective seasons in Bay Area history, and a case can be made that it was the worst, consider ing how far the Giants fell in one year alongside the on-field collapse of the A’s organization.

Though the 1979 season involved far more losing, a combined 199 losses between the two teams, 2022 should be known for the biggest one-year fall in a full season, a com bined win differential of minus-52 from 2021. It was a mere minus-33 from 1978 to 1979 for the A’s and Giants.

Before the season, FanGraphs projected the Giants to lose 77 and the A’s 95. Both did worse than that, instead achieving their biggest combined plunge. That can’t be dismissed by their fast finishes.

“I don’t necessarily look at the number of losses. Every team that isn’t in the playoffs hasn’t had a successful season,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay glossed. “If you measure it just by wins and losses, we knew what the season was going to be about once some moves were made that transformed our roster.”

The Giants can’t say that. Fresh off their 107-win joy ride, they had every intention of returning to the playoffs even though they didn’t add a right-handed bat to replace Buster Posey. Problem is, nearly every one on the roster fell short of his 2021 production, and the offense, defense and bullpen – every element save the rotation –took huge steps backward.

Though the Giants weren’t mathemati cally eliminated from the expanded playoff bracket until Saturday, several players on the team expressed the truth in the season’s final weeks: Post season hope was lost.

Outfielder Joc Ped erson, who had been in the playoffs every season until he joined the Giants, offered powerful senti ments when saying it’s “not fun” to play on a non-contender.

“I signed up here after this team won 107 games expecting to compete again,” Pederson said. “Things didn’t go our way. It happens, but I don’t enjoy not playing mean ingful baseball.”

The Giants were eight games below .500 on Sept. 18 and made a mad rush to the finish line to reach .500, a mark that Pederson recently said is “irrelevant. . . .You’re either in the playoffs or you’re not in the playoffs.”

Thirteen months ago, both teams were eyeing the postseason, the Giants fighting the Dodgers for National League West supremacy and the A’s positioned one game out of a playoff spot heading into September. The A’s col

lapsed in the final month.

The Giants won the West but got eliminated in the Division Series by the Dodgers.

“It’s been an up-anddown season for us, marred by inconsis tency, and disappointing,” Giants outfielder Austin Slater said. “I mean, we weren’t technically out of it over the last month. but I think if you look at the percentage chance of actually making it, nine –plus games back, a month to play and two teams in front of you, it’s slim, but it’s great to see us finish strong.”

Aside from the teams’ 199 combined losses in 1979, three seasons of Bay Area baseball produced 185 losses: 1977, 1985 and 2017. Next comes 2022 at 183, and only strong fin ishes by both teams prevented this season from becoming the sec ond-losingest ever.

Through it all, fans complained about their teams’ roster construc tion. That’s especially true with the A’s, who held a massive fire sale by trading Matt Olson, Matt Chapman, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea before the season and Frankie Montas midyear, inten tionally putting an inferior product on the field while ownership played Oakland against Las Vegas games in its neverending stadium pursuit.

The Giants had realis tic playoff expectations, only to become an alsoran through most of the second half, and fans weren’t thrilled that their team ranked 13th in payroll. Perhaps not coincidentally, they also

ranked 13th in attendance, both middle of the road, just like their record.

The A’s were last in both attendance and payroll. They lost more games than every other team but the Nationals, a slap in the face to gener ations of proud A’s fans who supported the team through the decades and pulled back this year after ownership gutted the team, slashed payroll and increased ticket prices.

Make no mistake. There were plenty of satisfying wins and heartwarming celebra tions. Will Clark’s and Dave Stewart’s numbers, 22 and 34, respectively, were retired. Hunter Pence joined the Giants’ Wall of Fame, and the A’s Hall of Fame welcomed six members, including Sal Bando and Joe Rudi.

World Series cham pionship teams were honored with the 50-year anniversary of the 1972 A’s and 10-year anni versary of the 2012 Giants, and the A’s threw a party for their 2002 brethren of 20-game-win-streak fame.

And on the final day of the season and Stephen Vogt’s career, the A’s honored the popular catcher who enjoyed one of the best moments of his life when homering in his final at-bat, Ted Williams-style.

But on the field, when it was time to compete, it was a big letdown for both teams. Both used a franchise-high number of players, the Giants 66, the A’s 64, and treated much of the summer like a tryout camp, which (hope fully) may or may not them in development.

Does Dodgers’ legacy rest on playoff success?

By Jorge CaStillo LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — Clayton Kershaw wasn’t sure how to answer the question.

“Definition of success?” Kershaw repeated. “I mean, do you have to have an answer to that?”

The truth is you don’t. Not everything requires a label. Not everything needs to neatly fit in a box. Not everything is success or failure, good or bad. There’s nuance. There’s context.

But in the world of professional sports, the best teams often don’t receive that benefit of the doubt, especially if those teams have usually come up short of the ultimate objective when it matters most for a decade.

Kershaw has been the centerpiece for the most successful stretch in Dodgers history. They’re about to play in their 10th consecutive post season. They’ve won the National League West nine of the last 10 seasons. No organi zation has won more baseball games over the last 10 years.

And this year’s Dodgers might be the best of the bunch. They finished the regular season with 111 wins, a franchise record and tied for the fourth most in Major League Baseball history. They compiled a plus-334 run differen tial, the best since the 1939 New York Yankees. They’re again the favorites to win the World Series.

It has been, to this point, an unmitigated triumph that drew more fans to home games than any other team for the ninth straight year (not including 2020). But does all that matter if they don’t win the World Series? In other words, what’s the point of all this?

“It’s kind of a trap question to begin with,” Kershaw said. “Well, winning the World Series is the only way it would be a successful season. OK. So, you say that but then does that make everything you’ve ever done a disappointment

in your career? It’s obvi ously our goal to win the World Series and it would be disappointing if we didn’t win, espe cially after our season that we’ve had. But it’s hard to be that black and white.”

What if you zoom out to assess the 10-year run if there’s only one cham pionship to show for the effort?

“Have we had success over the last decade? Absolutely,” Kershaw said. “Would you have traded it like to miss the playoffs a bunch of years but win multiple World Series? Probably. Would you trade just being a really good team over and over again but then not winning [for] being kind of like a roller coaster but having like two or three World Series championships?

The answer is probably yes. But that’s just not the way it works.”

The start of the Dodgers’ postseason streak coincidentally coincided with MLB’s decision to expand the postseason from eight to 10 teams in 2012.

Another team and round were added in each league to the playoff field this season, making it 12 total clubs.

The Dodgers’ title chances before the season barely took a hit once the playoff format was changed, falling from 14.6% to 14.4%, according to FanGraphs.

But more teams means more variables, more randomness, and more chances for a club to ride a hot stretch to a title. Eight franchises have won a World Series since 2012. The team with the best record in the majors has won the World Series in four of the 10 seasons. And once was in 2020 when the Dodgers won it all after a 60-game season. In other words, the 162-game schedule doesn’t usually indicate postseason success.

The Dodgers, as NL West champions, will receive a bye to the divi sion series next week, meaning they don’t need to win more games than previously required.

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Evan Longoria of the Giants drops the ball after trying to field a hit by the Diamondbacks’ Christian Walker (53) in the 10th inning at oracle park in san Francisco, sunday.

himself and missed a con tested layup, ignoring Durant’s pleas for the ball. Durant was angry with Green’s decision.

Green responded by acknowledging a tension that had been building: Rumors were swirling that Durant would be leaving Golden State in free agency.

“We don’t need you,” Green reportedly told Durant on the bench. “We won without you. Leave.”

Durant denied that year he was looking else where, but he left for the Brooklyn Nets after the Warriors’ Finals loss that summer.

Green got into a heated argument – overheard by reporters – during halftime of a February 2016 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The same game Curry famously hit a gamewinning 3-pointer from

49ers

half-court.

But before the win, Green had taken issue with how he was being used on offense.

“I am not a robot! I know I can play! You have me messed up right now!” ESPN reporter Lisa Salters heard Green say from the locker room.

“If you don’t want me to shoot, I won’t shoot the rest of the game!”

In 2020, Green revealed on former NBA players Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s podcast

that he and Kerr nearly came to blows during the argument.

“I was at a point where I’m like, ‘If he says one more thing to me I’m about to f—ing lose it on him,’” Green said on the podcast. “He didn’t say nothing. I was dying for him to say something so I could f—ing go crazy. He wrote me a fourpage letter. To this day, I can’t tell you what the letter says.”

Green has had his on-court issues. He was

touchdown after halftime.

It’s not alarming that the 49ers need Kittle’s blocking prowess to help their offensive line, especially with Trent Williams sidelined by a high-ankle sprain and, as coach Kyle Shanahan noted, to particu larly fend off the Rams’ defensive front. As willing as Kittle is in that role, the 49ers know they need Kit tle’s receiving production to awaken an offense that’s produced one

“We definitely want to get him the ball more, but it’s something we’re not that concerned about,” Shanahan said. “We think it’ll take care of itself as we get going.”

“You just can’t force things because you want to get one guy the ball,” added Garoppolo, who’s thrown touchdowns to 25 differ ent receivers in his career, with Deebo Samuel’s eighth on Monday night putting him next in line between Kittle.

Kittle, who was not available for comment Thursday, almost scored

suspended for Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals for kicking LeBron James after kicking Thunder center Steven Adams in the Western Conference Finals. He was ejected for the rest of Game 1 of the Western Confer ence semi-finals against Memphis in 2022 for a hard foul deemed flagrant on Brandon Clarke.

The Warriors’ ride Green’s fire and competi tiveness to plenty of highs while enduring those momentary lows.

Myers said the “vibes” around Golden State of late have been notice ably good since they won the title. He, Curry and head coach Steve Kerr think this incident between Green and Poole won’t corrode those good vibes too much.

But Green’s outbursts sometimes brandish the uncomfortable truths. Now we’ll see if the War riors, led by Curry, can get through the discomfort like they always have.

in Monday night’s 24-9 win over the Rams, only to have a replay show he stepped on the end line and nixed a potential touchdown catch, on thirdand-1 to open the fourth quarter. Through two games, he’s totaled six catches for 52 yards to carry over a dry spell from last season.

In the past nine games he’s played (including three in the play offs), he’s accrued 27 receptions, 313 yards and one touchdown.

In the two games prior to that, he racked up 22 receptions, 323 yards and three touchdowns, in wins at Seattle and Cincinnati.

Kickoff

Defense was the name of the game for Vanden in a 42-6 win over Armijo. Chris Clark had an interception he turned into a touchdown and Kyren JacksonDavis returned a fumble 48 yards for a score. Quarterback Tre Dimes led the offense with three touchdown passes.

Will the Bulldogs con tinue to reign or will the Vikings finally get over the hump? That’ll be determined at George A. Gammon Field.

Fairfield at Rodriguez

Rodriguez (0-1 MEL, 3-3 overall) will try and rebound in its matchup against Fairfield. Kenen Jones did throw for 160 yards and two touch downs in the loss to Vacaville. Dylan Burke also saw action and threw for 84 yards. Receiver Leroy Butler made his presence felt with nine catches for 156 yards. Malik Dawson and Gabriel Batres tied for the tackle lead by having a hand in eight apiece.

Fairfield (0-1 MEL, 0-6 overall) is looking for some offensive produc tion. The Falcons have managed only six points in their past four games and have been shut out three times in that stretch. Jimmy Green recorded six tackles and Jamal Williams had five in last week’s 42-0 loss to Will C. Wood, accord ing to statistics from the game posted on MaxPreps.com.

Armijo at Will C. Wood

Armijo (0-1 MEL, 3-3 overall) is also looking to put up more points after being held to six by Vanden. Willie Nickson did throw for 95 yards last week against the Vikings and had a rushing touch

section

From Page B1

(61 in a 30-inning, 2001 section champi onship). The Fairfield great also holds the state records for career nohitters (42) and career shutouts (111).

Hollowell went to the University of Arizona where she compiled a 144-23 record over four years with a 0.87 ERA and the 2006 NCAA Championship. She also played at the interna tional level for Team USA and some time professionally.

Martin played four sports at Armijo – foot ball, basketball, tennis and track and field. He was a three-time all-Delta League selec tion in basketball and

down. Jericho Johnson picked up a defensive sack and Jordan Brown had a fumble recovery.

Wood (1-0 MEL, 4-2 overall) displayed strong offensive prowess in the win over Fairfield. Darrius Hickenbot tom opened the game by catching a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mason Sayre. Manny Delatorre also had a 30-yard touch down, Randy Chalmers had a 3-yard score and Zaire Fortune took a punt return to the house for a touchdown.

Golden Sierra at Vacaville Christian

Vacaville Christian (1-0 SDL, 1-5 overall) put its five nonleague losses in the rearview mirror with a solid 42-14 win over San Juan in the Sierra Delta League opener. Kai Nunley delivered with 17 carries for 240 yards and four touchdowns. Wesley Krier added 54 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Fresh man middle linebacker Kobe Powell collected 14 tackles.

Golden Sierra (0-1 SDL, 2-2 overall) had little production in a 61-14 loss to Rio Vista.

Rio Vista at Esparto

Rio Vista (1-0 SDL, 3-3 overall) jumped all over Golden Sierra as Tony Bellante rushed for 65 yards and a touch down and also had eight tackles on defense. Marco Carrillo caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Matthew Bodle. Isaiah Turner picked up seven tackles.

Esparto (1-0, SDL, 3-3 overall) displayed a powerful rushing attack in a 63-21 win over High lands. Nate Arismendez rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns, while Guillermo Avina raced 120 yards and had two scores. Dennis Stenholm collected six tackles.

is the No. 2 career scorer in school history. As a wide receiver and defensive end, he was a two-time all-Delta League selection who set receiving records that still stand at Armijo.

Martin played foot ball and basketball at the University of Oregon and was drafted in the 11th round by the NFL's New York Giants. He played for the Giants for 14 seasons, missing only six games. Martin compiled 96 quarter back sacks, set an NFL record for defensive ends by scoring six touchdowns and had a safety in the Giants' 1986 Super Bowl win over the Denver Broncos. He is a member of the Giants' Ring of Honor. The section over sees athletics at 198 schools.

Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group/TNS file Draymond Green is photographed during media day at the Chase Center in san Francisco, sept. 25.