Daily Republic: Sunday, November 27, 2022

Solano cities set to kick off 2022 holiday season

daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Solano County cities will ring in the 2022 holidays with tree and menorah lightings, home tours and parades. Mark your calendars for:

40th Annual Vacaville Merriment on Main TUESDAY

Vacaville kicks off the holiday season at the annual Merriment on Main celebration from 5:30 to 8 p.m. from West Street to Davis Street in downtown Vacaville. The event features live entertain ment and refreshments. The tree is lit during a ceremony that starts at 6:30 p.m. at the intersection of Davis and Main streets. www. merrimentonmain.org.

Dixon Tree-Lighting Festival THURSDAY

A Tree-Lighting Festival takes place from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Women’s Improvement Park at downtown. The festival includes a photo booth, a petting zoo and pony rides, crafters fair, free chil dren’s crafts, and live music. The tree will be lit at 7 p.m. www. downtowndixon.com.

Fairfield Christmas Celebration

FRIDAY

The annual downtown Fair field Tree Lighting and Holiday Festivities take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Texas Street between Union Avenue and Madison Street.

Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The downtown area was abuzz with shoppers out search ing for good deals on Small Business Saturday.

CeeCee Weaver came with her husband, Ken, and 3-year-old daughter,

Nya, from Benicia to help support local downtowns.

“I love to see what people are creating,” she said. “I came to support the community, buy some gifts for Christmas and myself, and get outside. It is a beautiful day.”

This was the first Boss Con popup vendor event

Jelly Belly ushers in Christmas season with tree lighting

SuSan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — The Christmas season officially kicked off Saturday with the 22nd annual Jelly Belly Tree lighting.

The 32-foot tree was set up a few days ago, the parade route mapped and the candy factory decorated for Christmas. Hundreds came out for what is, for many, a long-standing family tradition.

John Jamison, vice president of retail operations, said this year they had several new activities for visitors including new mascots and a puppet show put on by Puppets of Praise.

The group is part of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Pleasant Hill.

Mark Pitzlin, director of Puppets of Praise, said they missed a few years of being at the Jelly Belly factory because of the pandemic but were thrilled to be back for another year.

“I started doing the Puppets of Praise about 42 years ago,” Pitzlin said.

The show was called “Fairy Tale Madness,” which is a new perfor mance for them.

Also new this year was NorCal Camero’s Car Club, which brought several cars for a humble car show.

“We have a lot of new activities,” Jamison said. “And the season just started.”

The evening also saw Mexican dancers,

for downtown Fairfield on Small Business Saturday.

Small Business Sat urday was created in 2010 to encourage people to do their holiday shop ping at locally owned businesses in conjunction with American Express and local communities.

Boss Con is a family

owned business in Fair field that hosts popup events across the area. The event showcased local small businesses.

Jessica Hall is one of the volunteers who helped with the event Sat urday since the owner,

uSan

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Santa and Mrs. Claus help light the Christmas tree during the Jelly Belly Tree Lighting at the Jelly Belly Visitor’s Center in Fairfield, Saturday.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of maturity (in terms of longev ity, not advanced emotional development) is the apprecia tion of naps.

We need naps during our first years, then we hate them. As teenagers and in our 20s, we take occa sional naps, but rarely seek them and never tell others about how great they are.

Once we hit our 30s and 40s, naps become attractive, but they’re elusive, particularly if there are kids around.

By our 50s, though? There are few things better than a good nap. Naps are important. According to studies, at least one-third of Amer icans don’t get enough sleep. Sometimes it’s our work schedule.

Sometimes it’s kids.

Sometimes it’s a lack of discipline to recog nize we need to go to bed earlier. Other times it’s sleep disorders. Some times it’s laying awake, wondering when the Warriors are going to start playing defense.

So we take naps. One survey shows 80% of us try to close our “sleep gap” with naps. Science has consistently shown naps are good for us.

Naps relieve stress. Naps increase our endur ance. Naps improve our performance after we wake up.

The good news is, naps don’t need to be long, which we already know. Most of us have fallen asleep only to wake up two hours later, groggy for the rest of the day and unable to fall asleep that night. That’s not really a nap, that’s too much sleep.

But naps that are 30 minutes to an hour? In the sweet spot? After noon naps that are early

enough they don’t harm our evening weariness? They’re perfect.

My adoration of naps peaked in the past few years. On week ends when we’re not doing any thing, Mrs. Brad and I will have lunch and then relax. Maybe read for a while. Maybe turn on the TV to something slow-paced (sporting events with teams we don’t really care about are a particular favorite). But as we prepare – and this is crucial – we never acknowledge we’re going to nap. We know we’re going to do it, but don’t say anything.

Because that might jinx it.

Pretty soon, our eyes close and we drift off to blissful rest.

During the pandemic, while working from home, I made a ritual of the brief post-lunch nap. I’d eat, then go to my hammock (during warm days) or the couch (during the winter) and “read.” After about 10 minutes, I’d close the book and drift off for 15 or 20 minutes. It was great, except for the time I woke up in a panic, thinking I had missed a scheduled 1 p.m. phone call. Fortunately, it was only 12:55 p.m.

Now, back in my office, weekday naps are a fond memory as I look forward to weekends.

But as we enter the shortest, coldest days of the year and are often stuck inside, it’s time to realize we have an expanded opportu nity to let our bodies do what they need.

Take naps. Get a 30-minute quick sleep.

Naps are one of life’s simple pleasures.

Reach Brad Stanhope at bradstanhope@ outlook.com.

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like

Predators may have helped turn dinosaur into mummy

The WashingTon PosT

You probably know about Egyptian mummies, but did you know that dinosaurs could become mummies, too? This happens when skin is fos silized along with the bones. Before, scientists thought this could occur only if the dinosaur’s body was buried quickly, since this kept it safe from meat eaters and decomposi tion. Recently, though, a dinosaur mummy known as Dakota chal lenged this idea.

About 67 million years ago, at the end of the Cre taceous period, Dakota died in what we now call North Dakota. An Edmontosaurus, Dakota was a type of hadrosaur (a duck-billed dinosaur), which were common back then. What makes Dakota special, though, is that its fossil included skin and that this skin had bite marks in it.

A relative of today’s crocodile seems to be at least one of the culprits, either killing the dinosaur or having a scavenging snack. But how did Dakota become mummified?

“If you have a meat eater that’s maybe not big enough to eat the whole animal, one of the things they might do is get through the skin and then start eating what’s on the inside,” says Stepha nie Drumheller-Horton, a paleontologist at the Uni versity of Tennessee at Knoxville. In addition to removing the internal organs, this process gives “all of the gunk – all of the gases and liquids and

THREE POSSIBLE DINO OR HUMAN MUMMIFYING

METHOD

Bury it rapidly. This keeps bodies safe from the elements such as weather and wildlife. For example, “Leonardo” is a duck-billed dinosaur mummy that has the contents of its stomach preserved.

•Hollow it out and dry it. Just as Dakota had its internal organs removed, “in Egyptian mummies, that was done intentionally, and the body was treated in a way to help it dry,” Drumheller-Horton says.

•Sink it in a body of water that lacks oxygen deep-down. “Decomposition is going to be slowed,” Drumheller-Horton says, “because those microbes that help the process along need oxygen.” For example, “bog bodies” found in Denmark and Ireland have been preserved for centuries, and an extremely well-preserved nodosaur mummy was found about a decade ago in Canada.

all of that stuff – a way to escape. You’ve basically hollowed-out the remains, and then the skin that’s left behind can dry out much more easily.”

Dakota’s body, with remaining skin, later became buried and even tually fossilized.

Drumheller-Horton credits her team members for this discovery, whose job it is to “prepare” the

fossil – meaning they remove the rock that sur rounds it to reveal the dinosaur beneath. “They were the first ones who found these patterns of damage and brought them to our attention.”

Another pattern they have revealed is that of Dakota’s skin itself. “It’s a very bumpylooking texture,” Drumheller-Horton says,

and includes “fun parts of the body where there are some patterns to the scales.” While its thick ness might have protected the animal from some predators, “it wasn’t going to slow down a T-Rex.”

In addition to learning more about hadrosaurs, scientists now realize that “there are multiple ways to make a mummy.”

Brad Stanhope Like I was sayin’

Illustration by Natee Puttapipat/Photo courtesy of the University of Tennessee

An artist’s drawing of what Edmontosaurus would have looked

when

lived. The box is a photograph of a fossil of the dinosaur’s hand, which includes mummified skin and bite marks.

M att Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Shop pers who strolled the Solano Town Center in Fairfield in search of deals early Black Friday were able to avoid the chaos of the prior-toCovid-19 pandemic years in a peaceful and produc tive surrounding.

Jahir Rivera of Napa started checking off his list at 5 a.m. with an array of boxes that fea tured shoes, electronics,

toys, clothes and, well, more shoes.

“So far it’s been pretty good,” Rivera said. “In past years, you’d have a stampede. I know a lot of people buy online but shopping in person is better for fit, returns and all that stuff.”

An estimated 166.3 million people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, according to the annual survey by the National Retail Feder ation and Prosper Insights

& Analytics. That number is almost 8 million more than last year and is the highest estimate since the National Retail Fed eration began tracking data in 2017.

According to the

survey, more than twothirds (69%) of holiday consumers plan to shop during Thanksgiving weekend. The top reasons consumers plan to shop

Nature walk offers a quiet Black Friday experience

SuSan Hiland SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

ROCKVILLE — The walkers took off into the hills surrounded by trees on a dry walking trail Friday for a peaceful walk to knock off some calories from Thanksgiv ing and take advantage of an alternative to the annual shopping frenzy.

Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park was the quiet alter native to the craziness of Black Friday. The 10th annual Walk Off That Turkey Hike (there were more years but some were rained out and the pandemic canceled a couple of walks), brought out about 24 people who wanted to enjoy the

great outdoors rather than a mall.

Steven Chu, docent for the Solano Land Trust, said the organi zation started the walk as a pushback against Black Friday.

“Not everybody wants to shop on Black Friday,” he said. “This is more of a green way to spend the time – by appreciating the Earth.”

The property at Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park is beautiful, and even though it is winter and dry it still is a welcom ing spot for a quiet tour of the surrounding hills.

Chu noted it is still not yet open to public See Nature, Page A6

Aaron

Customers walk out of Old Navy at the Solano Town Center mall on Black Friday in Fairfield, Friday.

Lola May Simmons was born on May 26, 1934, at the Providence Hospital in Seattle, Washington, and passed away on Nov. 4, 2022. Lola resided in Fairfield, California, since October 1958.

Lola graduated from James A. Garfield High School in June 1952 and then went to work for the school district until 1954.

She married Clarence L. Simmons on Feb. 23, 1954, and they were married for 68 years. As Clarence was in the United States Navy and United States Air Force, she moved with him to several duty stations, the last being Travis Air Force Base.

Lola began a career as a teller with Pacific Telephone on Feb. 19, 1965, at the local Fairfield office and retired after 28 years of service on Nov. 30, 1993.

After retirement, she volunteered at David Grant Medical Center from 1994 to 2004. Lola joined the Women of the Moose Fair field Chapter 1379 on Feb. 5, 1968. She was an active member of the Chapter for over 50 years and held many chairs, including Senior Regent, Junior Regent, Chaplain and Recorder. Lola earned her Friendship, Star Recorder and College of Regents degrees. She was also a member of the Vacav ille Women of the Moose Chapter 1498 since 2016.

Lola was active in Chapter and Lodge activities. She was always first to vol unteer or donate to many charitable activities, includ ing the Annual Holiday Toy Drive and Annual Christ mas Luncheon for seniors in our community and many

other charitable organizations.

Survivors include son, Richard Simmons and daughterin-law Susan; daughters, Carol Afholderbach and Colleen Harless and son-in-law Michael; five grandsons; one grand daughter; eight greatgrandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

She was proceeded in death by her husband, Clar ence L. Simmons; parents, Sundena and Winfield Ross; son-in-law, Mark Afhold erbach; aunts, Nellie Parks and Clara Craig; and uncle, Samuel Genovese.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, 2022, at Bryan-Braker Funeral Home, 1850 W. Texas St., Fairfield. Funeral service will be held from 11:30a.m.to12:30p.m.Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022, also at BryanBraker Funeral Home. Intern ment will follow the funeral service at 1:15 p.m. at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road Dixon, California. After the funeral service, all are welcome to celebrate Lola’s life at the Fairfield Family Moose Center, 623 Taylor St., Fairfield, California.

Thank you for sending the beautiful floral arrange ments. This is a diffi cult time for all of us. Your kind support and beautiful symbols of remembrance are truly appreciated.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Moose Charities, 155 S. Interna tional Drive, Mooseheart, IL 60539.

Arrangements are under the direction of BryanBraker Funeral Home, Fair field, California.

Sept. 3, 1951 — Nov. 15, 2022

Vic passed away unexpectedly on Nov. 15, 2022, at his home. He was 71 years old. He was born at Travis AFB to Veries Sr. and Lillie Bea (Echols) Collier.

He graduated from Vanden High School, Class of 1969.

He was an amazing guitar ist, being a member of local bands: The Natural Souls, Danny Simmons & The Mellow Chords, The 7th Movement and most recently The BlackRock Project with his brother Darrell.

Vic was a U.S. Army veteran and retired from Mare Island Naval Ship yard as an electrician and also USPS Oakland as a machine specialist. He was known for his technical knowledge and was a true

believer in GOD. He will be missed by all who knew him.

He is lovingly survived by his father, Veries Sr.; brothers, Dennis (Jan), Ronald, Darrell Sr. (Debbie); sister, Shari, wife, Brenda; sons, Leon, Shadrick (Kari); daughters, Yava, Veonna (Josh) and Tamrha (Rick); six (plus one on the way) grandchildren; two stepgrandchildren; and numerous, cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

He joined his Mother in Heaven. He will be laid to rest at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, California.

Funeral will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022, at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery, 5810 Midway Road, Dixon, California.

July 10, 1931 — Nov. 14, 2022

Anna Lou Farley Rivera, 91, sur rounded by her family went to be with the Lord on Nov. 14, 2022.

Anna was born on June 10, 1931, to James and Glenna Farley. She grew up with her four brothers in Arkansas.

She attended business school and fell for a hand some military man, Antone Rivera, whom she married and they spent 68 years together.

In 1960 they moved from Canada to Califor nia, and settled in Fairfield. She served 20 years as a secretary to the Director of Transportation for FairfieldUnified School District.

Anna raised seven chil dren and was a devoted, loving, godly mother and grandmother. She led her life serving Christ and was

God of Fairfield. She spent her retirement years enjoying her chil dren, grandchildren and great-grand children.

She is survived by her husband, Antone; brother, Bryan; her children, Leon (Debbie), Tony (Reva), Ramona, John (Tracy), Dolores (Kevin), Mendez (Marcelle), Andre (Karen); 17 grandchildren, Nicole, Matthew, Thomas, Renee, Clark, Desi, Samantha, Cody, Logan, Jeff, Kyle, Josh, Sydney, Justin, Jenny; and 13 great-grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her parents; broth ers, James, Peyton and Raymond; grandson, Daniel; and granddaughter, Gracie Ann.

Service will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022, at the First Assem

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The City Council on Tuesday will continue its discus sion on trash and illegal dumping when it meets at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

The public session follows a closed session at 5:30 p.m. during which two workers’ compen sation claims will be discussed.

Also on the agenda is a discussion on a con tract change involving Harbor Park LLC related to the purchase and rede velopment of the Almond Gardens apartments to include 52 afford able units, in addition to market rate units. The request is to extend the due diligence period for pre-construction studies.

Another item is about the Lawler Mixed Use Planned Unit Develop ment Project, east of Lawler Center Drive between Anderson Drive and McCoy Creek Way.

Members of the public may take part remotely or at the council chamber at City Hall, 701 Civic Center Blvd. A limited number of seats are available in the council chamber. To reserve a seat, contact the city clerk at clerk@suisun. com or call 707-421-7302.

Remote public com ments may be made via email prior to 4 p.m. at clerk@suisun.com.

Remote public comment is also available during the meeting via the Zoom teleconference app, or

that frantic.

Oct. 18, 2022, at the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, California, seven years after her first breast cancer diagnosis. Brave and gutsy to the end, like the others afflicted with the devastat ing disease, the metasta sized cancer was too much to overcome.

Leslie Ellen McNeill was born on Feb. 4, 1983, in Woodland, California. Her childhood homes included Woodland and Danville in California, Hillsboro in New Jersey, and back to Califor nia in Fairfield.

Weeks following grad uation with an Education degree from Biola University, she hopped on a plane for New York to interview with that city’s Public Schools District. Two months later she loaded up the Honda for the drive east to start the school year at her new job in Queens, New York.

She was a fourth-grade teacher for five years at Public School 105 in the Far Rockaway projects. She returned home in 2010, landing in Orange County, and eventually, the Tustin School District. She was a second-grade teacher on medical leave at Arroyo Ele mentary School in Tustin at the time of her passing.

Teaching and educa tion were her passions. Leslie knew she was going to be a teacher as a fiveyear-old, setting up her play classroom, recruiting dolls, pets and her little brother as students. She lit up a

Suisun public safety committee to discuss military-style equipment

Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Emer gency Management will discuss funding for mil itary-style equipment when it meets Thursday.

The virtual meeting begins at 6 p.m.

The public may access the meeting at https:// zoom.us/join. The Meeting ID is 821 4040 0726. The public may also call in at 707-438-1720. If attend ing the meeting via phone, press *9 to raise your hand and *6 to unmute/mute for public comment.

The committee also will review recent police and fire activity.

Members of the public may take part remotely or at the council chamber at City Hall, 701 Civic Center

Blvd. A limited number of seats are available in the council chamber. To reserve a seat, contact the city clerk at clerk@suisun. com or call 707-421-7302.

Remote public com ments may be made via email prior to 6 p.m. at clerk@suisun.com.

Remote public comment is also available during

the meeting via the Zoom teleconference app, or via phone if calling into the meeting.

More information about the committee and its purpose, as well as an agenda for the meeting, is available at https:// www.suisun.com/govern ment/citizen-governance/ public-safety-committee.

what best would support the stu dent’s growth, with joy in the process.

A particular focus was reading com prehension. She did not hesitate to step up and call for our better efforts.

She is survived by her mother, Janet McNeill; father, Ian McNeill and his wife, Laurie Miller; older sister, Lauren Grounds, brother- in-law, Harry and their daughters, Grace, Abby and Dottie; younger brother, Scott McNeill, sis ter-in-law, Jennifer, and their son, Hudson and daughter, Harper; numerous aunts, uncles and cousins in Dixon, Vacaville, Mountain View, Rio Vista, San Rafael and Walnut Creek, and Salem and Albany in Oregon; and fellow teachers and close friends from her college days miss her.

An energetic and enthu siastic spirit was Leslie’s demeanor. Authentic as she could be, of strong faith (documented with her ‘Believe’ tattoo), earnest in all of her interactions, con stantly giving more than she took, always looking for a laugh, and wishing joy for the group; all that was Leslie too. We miss her terri bly, but she inspires the best in us moving ahead, and we can honor her in encourag ing the active efforts of the community in public educa tion support.

A life celebration will be held on Dec. 3, 2022. Please contact a family member if you can join us.

are because the deals are too good to pass up (59%), because of tradition (27%) or because it is some thing to do (22%) over the holiday.

But after the initial surge of shoppers as doors opened at the Solano Town Center, the scene was calm throughout the mall. The parking lot was filling up but there were still plenty of spots avail able within a short walk of front doors. Many locals were still recovering from a Thanksgiving feast of food and football before heading out to the stores.

The steady stream of shoppers did increase throughout the day.

Ken Jones of Fair field had his hands full just after 8 a.m. He found plenty of good deals without having to deal with crowds.

“It’s been going great,” Jones said. “The deals are very good. We were debating whether to go out because of the number people walking around, but we’re morning people anyway. Now we’re going do something to open eyes for kids.”

Best Buy had metal barriers to the side of the front door for the line of shoppers prior to the 5 a.m. opening. The bar riers weren’t needed by 8 a.m. Store manager Quincy Camposanto said there were people waiting at that hour to enter the store but it wasn’t

“It’s been pretty steady and we expect more shop pers late in the day,” Camposanto said. “TVs. Everybody wants deals on TVs. But everybody has been really good.”

Bath & Body Works employee Mei Cabrera greeted shoppers as they came into the store. They were offering a “Buy Three, Get Three,” and also offering a special silver gift box for those who made purchases of more than $40. One gift box had already been moved in the first two hours.

“We opened at six,” Cabrera said. “We were hoping there would be people waiting but there weren’t. It started picking up between 8 and 9. It’s been a steady flow.”

Anna Lou Farley Rivera

Lola May Simmons

Veries ‘Vic’ Echols Jr.

ARMY VETERAN

Suisun planners seek input on Railroad Avenue storage plan

DAily r epubliC STAff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The Planning Commission meets in special session Wednesday to take input from the community on plans to add portable storage to a property on Railroad Avenue.

A public hearing is scheduled on a proposal to add 13,500 square feet of portable storage on property located at 621 Railroad Ave. The project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, according to the staff report.

All five commission ers are expected to take part in the meeting via teleconference. Members of the public may take part remotely or at the council chamber at City Hall, 701 Civic Center Blvd. A limited number of seats are available in the council chamber. To reserve a seat, contact the city clerk at clerk@suisun. com or call 707-421-7302.

The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.

Remote public com ments may be made via

email prior to 6 p.m. at clerk@suisun.com.

Remote public comment is also available during the meeting via the Zoom teleconference app, or via phone if calling into the meeting.

Those who wish to take part remotely may do so at https://zoom.us/ join. The Meeting ID is 814 9543 4826. People may call in to the meeting at 707-438-1720. If attend ing the meeting via phone, press *9 to raise your hand and *6 to unmute/mute for public comment.

A full agenda for the meeting is avail able at www.suisun.com/ planning-commission.

Study: Just 1 in 20 people in the US have dodged Covid infection so far

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

An estimated 94% of people in the U.S. have been infected with the Covid-19 virus at least once, according to according to a new paper from researchers at Harvard’s School of Public Health.

The big reason for the surprising surge? The omicron variant’s recordshattering case rates early this year and mid dling booster rates that fell short of what experts had hoped to see.

While that’s far from good news, there is a silver lining: As of early November, the per centage of people with some protection from new infections and severe disease is “substantially higher than in Decem ber 2021,” according to the authors.

“Moving forward we

are in probably the best shape that we’ve been,” said Dr. Peter ChinHong, a professor of medicine at the Univer sity of California San Francisco who special izes in infectious diseases and did not participate in the study. But that does not mean Covid is less prevalent than before or that you’re less likely to catch it. In fact, cases are on the rise again, public health officials warn.

A preprint of the paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, was published this week on a website called MedRxiv. The findings contain uncertainties because they are based on a statistical analysis of Centers for Disease Control and Preven tion-reported diagnoses, hospitalizations and vac cinations, rather than

antibody testing of a representative sample of Americans.

The team estimated that 29.1% of Americans have been vaccinated and infected, 55.7% are vac cinated and reinfected, 2.4% are unvaccinated

and infected, 7% are unvaccinated and rein fected. Of those who have never been infected, 3.5% are vaccinated and 2.1% are unvaccinated.

The researchers from Harvard, Yale and

challenge Biden in 2024

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made it clear to President Joe Biden he wouldn’t challenge him for the 2024 presidential nom ination, Politico reported.

Newsom described conversations with first lady Jill Biden and White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, telling them he’d back a Biden reelection bid. “I’m all in, count me in,” he told them – and relayed the same message to Biden on election night this month, according to an interview with Politico.

Newsom’s decision follows a better-thanexpected showing by Democrats in the U.S. midterm elections, where Republican candidates who ran on false claims that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential vote lost key races.

While Biden has strong support within his party, his age – he turned 80 on Nov. 20 – has fueled questions about whether he will seek a second term. That ques tion has put Democrats on alert for anyone posi tioning to challenge Biden or run to succeed him if he bows out. Newsom said he wouldn’t run for president in 2024 even if Biden doesn’t, according to Politico.

The White House declined to comment on the report.

Suisun

From Page A4

via phone if calling into the meeting.

Those who wish to take part remotely may do so at https://zoom.us/ join. The Meeting ID is 884 4423 5129. People may call in to the meeting at 707-438-1720. If attend ing the meeting via phone, press *9 to raise your hand and *6 to unmute/mute for public comment.

A full agenda for the meeting is available at https://www.suisun.com/ government/city-council/ city-council.

Newsom says he won’t

walks and tours.

“There is still some work that needs to be fin ished before it will be open again,” he said.

But every once in while the Solano Land Trust does provide guided walks to the public on special days like Friday, or some weekends.

George Curry came with his wife from Vacav ille because he wanted to check it out.

“I have done walks before in Rockville Park and I have just been really looking forward to this walk because they are going to open soon and I wanted to get a preview,” Curry said.

Noelle Poulsen of Vacaville said she is looking forward to becom ing a docent for the Solano Land Trust and leading

her own tours through the various parks, but that wasn’t why she was there the day after Thanksgiving.

“I’m checking it out for my own but today, I just wanted to be out in nature,” Poulsen said.

Solano Land Trust and Solano County Parks present hikes throughout the 2022-23 winter migra tion season to give visitors the opportunity to see a variety of California birds and other wildlife.

Chu reminded the walkers they were doing a nature walk, not a walk of nature.

“The wildflowers aren’t blooming and it is kind of brown. So this is more a walk to enjoy being in nature, not a talk on the different species out here today. But there are some interesting volcanic rocks and walnut trees we could talk about,” Chu said.

The park area has new tables in the front by the

parking lot. They are still working on creating a space for the people with disabilities to enjoy.

The Solano Land Trust not able to let individ uals or groups visit the property unless they are accompanied by a quali fied docent. Solano Land Trust cannot open the pre serve to the public until the organization meets the requirements of the

California Environmental Quality Act, which include a CEQA-approved parking lot and restroom.

Formerly Rock ville Trails Preserve, Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park offers 1,500 acres of blue and live oaks, temporal vernal pools, wildflowers and wildlife.

Bob Berman of Benicia

came out specifically for the after-Thanksgiving walk. It was not his first walk but one of many. He was on the origi nal Solano Land Trust board and loves a good hike. Currently, he is with organization overseeing completion of the Bay Area Ridge Trail, which is working to create a 550mile loop connecting all

the trails together around the Bay Area.

“It is really about getting people out into nature with places to hike that they don’t have to drive very far to get to,” Berman said. “I really believe that being out doors is the greatest mental health insurance you can have.”

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic photos

About 24 walkers came out for the early morning #OptOutside on Black Friday and Walk Off That Turkey Hike at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park in Fairfield.

Steven Chu Steven Chu goes over what the #OptOutside on Black Friday and Walk Off That Turkey Hike at the Patwino Worrtla Kodoi Dihi Open Space Park, Friday.

Stanford set out to understand how immu nity to the virus had changed since December 2021. The calculations studied “the competing influences” of new vac cinations and infections and the waning of immu nity earned from them.

They compared the situation as of November 2022 to 11 months before and took into account the fluctuating prevalence of Covid over time and geography, how much and how fast immunity fades, reinfections, vac cination status and the efficacy of those shots.

In December 2021, 59.2% of people had been infected with the Covid-19 virus, they estimated.

“Between Dec. 1, 2021, and Nov. 9, 2022, protection against a new omicron infection rose from 22% to 63% nationally, and protec tion against an omicron infection leading to severe disease increased from 61% to 89%,” the analysis found.

The authors warn that “despite the high level of protection at the beginning of the 2022-2023 winter, risk of reinfection and sub sequent severe disease remains present.”

And they caution that the introduction of “a more transmissible or immune-evading (sub)variant, changes in (human) behavior, or ongoing waning of immunity” could change

the calculations.

The study estimated that in less than a year there were 116 million first infections in the country and 209 million reinfections, nearly all from omicron subvariants.

As the virus mutates, our understanding of how population immu nity impacts the spread of Covid also evolves.

During each year of the pandemic, the largest surges in Cali fornia have happened over the winter holi days, but the fact that so many people got Covid earlier this year means fewer might be vulnera ble this holiday season, the researchers found. At the beginning of this year the first omicron wave smashed all previous case records, sickening millions but also raising the level of immunity in the population, for at least a while.

Even with high levels of immunity, Covid con tinues to be a killer virus.

“We still have an unbelievable amount of deaths per day in the U.S.,” said Chin-Hong, “even more remarkable given this is a ‘lull.’ ”

California’s weekly Covid deaths have stayed under 200 each week so far this month, a far cry from the over 3,779 deaths reported in one week in early January 2021.

It’s a huge improve ment, but “it’s still nothing to celebrate” said Chin-Hong, pointing out that the virus contin ues to be a leading cause of death in the country. “We could do better.”

SpaceX gives Space Coast 52nd launch of the year

Tribune Con

ORLANDO, Fla. — A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Saturday from Kennedy Space Center on the 52nd successful flight of the year from the Space Coast.

The CRS-26 mission lifted off from Launch Pad 39-A on a resupply run to the International Space Station at 2:20 p.m.

A brand-new cargo Dragon spacecraft is carting up 7,700 pounds of food, scientific investi gation and supplies to the station, including a pair of rollout solar arrays to help with power supply.

“Everyone is anxious to see the science kick off as soon as docking occurs,” said Jeff Arend with NASA’s systems engineer ing and integration office for the ISS.

That includes a study that will let the ISS crew grow dwarf tomatoes as part of NASA’s plans to support long-term human space travel needs. A related investigation called BioNutrients-2 looks to produce on-demand nutri ents by using combination of yogurt, a yeast-based beverage, and the fer mented milk drink kefir.

Several student-led experiments are making the flight as well, including three payloads supported by central Florida non profit SpaceKids Global and the Girl Scouts of Citrus Council. One of those will investigate how brine shrimp, aka

sea monkeys, behave in microgravity.

The first-stage booster, which also flew for the first time, was able to land on SpaceX’s droneship, Just Read the Instruc tions, in the Atlantic Ocean. It marks the 153rd time SpaceX has been able to recover a booster among both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches.

The launch keeps the Space Coast on its record pace, averaging more than one liftoff a week this year from either KSC or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and hitting 52 in just 47 weeks with as many as half a dozen more launches that could come before Dec. 31. Last year, the Space Coast saw 31 launches.

SpaceX has managed the king’s share of those with its workhorse Falcon

9 rocket. Most send up the company’s Starlink internet satellites but also provide the only human flights from the U.S. with its Crew Dragon missions, of which the company flew three in 2022 with the Crew-4, Crew-5 and private Axiom-1 missions. This is the second cargo Dragon flight of the year, making it five Dragon spacecraft launches for the year among both crew and cargo.

This latest is set to autonomously dock with the ISS on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. alongside Crew Dragon Endurance that flew Crew-5 to the station in October. This cargo Dragon will stay docked to the station for about 45 days before returning with research and cargo for a splashdown off the coast of Florida.

With this launch, SpaceX has flown 42 Falcon 9s in 2022 as well as one of its power ful Falcon Heavy rockets that made only its fourth launch ever on Nov. 1. United Launch Alliance added six launches of its Atlas V rocket while Astra Space managed two launches of its Rocket 3.3. Launch No. 50 for the year, though, was the head liner on Nov. 16 as NASA managed to get its Space Launch System rocket aloft to carry the Orion spacecraft to space for the Artemis I mission to the moon. Orion on Saturday was headed for its farthest distance from Earth – more than 268,000 miles away – on its distant retrograde lunar orbit as part of the multi week mission that won’t see it return to Earth until Dec. 11.

The coming year is expected to see the pace continue with more Falcon 9 launches and at least two more Falcon Heavy launches.

Also in the coming year, new rocket company Relativity Space is expected to fly with its Terran-1 rocket already testing at CCSFS while Blue Origin continues efforts to get its massive New Glenn rocket ready for its first launch. Mean while, ULA plans to debut its new Vulcan Centaur rocket while continuing to fly Atlas V as well as a Delta IV Heavy from the Space Coast.

Edited by Patti Varol and Joyce Nichols Lewis

Red Huber/Getty Images/TNS file A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch complex 39A carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft on a commercial mission managed by Axion Space at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, April 8.

Crime logs

FairField

THURSDAY, NOV. 24

12:41 a.m. — Forgery, 1100 block of ALASKA AVENUE 12:48 a.m. — Grand theft, 5000 block of GREENWOOD COURT 6:15 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1000 block of VAN BUREN STREET 7:18 a.m. — Battery, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD 7:29 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 300 block of EAST TABOR AVENUE

11:19 a.m. — Battery, 2800 block of DOVER AVENUE 11:34 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 1000 block of VAN BUREN STREET

12:12 p.m. — Reckless driver, 300 block of HAMILTON DRIVE 12:52 p.m. — Battery, 3500 block of NELSON ROAD 1:08 p.m. — Battery, 4300 block of CENTRAL PLACE 3:03 p.m. — Battery, 1000 block of WEBSTER STREET 4:39 p.m. — Reckless driver, EASTBOUND INTERSTATE 80 5:42 p.m. — Shots fired, 500 block of FIESTA COURT 6:23 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 2400 block of AZURE PLACE 6:32 p.m. — Drunken driver, EASTBOUND INTERSTATE 80 7:54 p.m. — Trespassing, 3000 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 8:04 p.m. — Trespassing, 1300 block of EMPIRE STREET 8:20 p.m. — Shots fired, BROADWAY STREET 8:34 p.m. — Shots fired, 800 block of DELAWARE STREET 8:44 p.m. — Shots fired, 1800

10:45 p.m. — Commercial

burglary, 1500 block of HOLIDAY LANE

10:48 p.m. — Drunken driver, AIR BASE PARKWAY 11:29 p.m. — Battery, 3000 block of PEPPERTREE DRIVE FRIDAY, NOV. 25 5:35 a.m. — Trespassing, 2700 block of AUTO MALL PARKWAY 7:19 a.m. — Grand theft, 2800 block of CORDELIA ROAD 9:36 a.m. — Trespassing, 300 block of BECK AVENUE 10:17 a.m. — Battery, 1600 block of SAN BRUNO STREET 10:19 a.m. — Commercial burglary, 1500 block of GATEWAY BOULEVARD 10:51 a.m. — Battery, 1800 block of BRIDGEWOOD COURT 12:27 p.m. — Forgery, 1700 block of FILLMORE STREET 12:46 p.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1500 block of GATEWAY BOULEVARD 1:18 p.m.

From

SuiSun

singing from The B Sharp Academy and a parade. After the parade, the lights on the tree were illuminated, which prompted cheers from the crowd.

Domina Escalante of Benicia came with her children, Dominque, 1, and Theo, 4, for their first Christmas tree lighting.

“I have been here all the time growing up for school events and trips but never for the Christ mas lighting,” Escalante said. “I am so excited for this Christmas. I can’t wait for all the Christmas events to happen.”

She has a lot to look forward to over the next few weeks and maybe another trip to Jelly Belly for pictures with Santa,

From

There will be live per formances as well as the “Frozen” sisters. Train rides will be offered along with hot cocoa. Santa will be available for pic tures after the tree is lit. aazurdia@fairfield. ca.gov, 707-399-4101.

who will be at Jelly Belly throughout December for photos. His schedule is on the Jelly Belly website.

After the tree light ing, children and parents

waited in line upstairs to speak with Santa and share their wishes for Christmas.

Mayor Harry Price was out and about for his

annual visit to the Christ mas tree lighting.

“I love seeing every one out,” he said. “It’s great that everyone is enjoying themselves.”

Taylor Garcia, had a health emergency and was not available.

“Taylor really wants to be here but she can’t. She just needs to know we got this,” Hall said. “The goal is to expose local vendors to the public. It is about giving support and being seen.”

About 110 vendors come out for the afternoon event. Hall hopes to do another one next year.

“The city has been so great and this turned out so well, we hope to do something before next November,” Hall said.

Boss Con had eight vol unteers helping out.

“Taylor did such a good job organizing this that it really isn’t hard at all,” Hall said.

Vendors were happy with the turnout and enjoyed the day.

The Natural Node is a small business in Fairfield owned by Jessica Guzman.

Her boyfriend, Nick Vigil, was helping her out at the booth as custom ers browsed the small plants. Guzman hopes to open a store in Fairfield but for now it is a lot of popup events.

“The pandemic defi nitely helped propagate the idea of doing this,” she said. “Being inside, it gets depressing but having plants around always makes things better. It lowers stress levels.”

Guzman said it was about showing some love and support for her home town Saturday.

“This is really a cool event,” she said. “Fair field needs more stuff like this.”

Benicia Holiday Open House and Christmas Tree Lighting

FRIDAY

Benicia celebrates the holiday season with a Holiday Open House and Christmas Tree Lighting from 6 to 9 p.m. down town on First Street. Merchants offer bever ages and treats and show off their holiday goods while carolers in cos tumes sing traditional Christmas tunes. Live entertainment and the Christmas tree lighting add a festive atmosphere to this family event. www. beniciamainstreet.org.

Suisun City Christmas on the Waterfront

SATURDAY

Suisun City’s oldfashioned Christmas on the Waterfront, with its local entertainment and holiday gift vendors, will take place from 2 to 8 p.m. in and around Harbor Plaza on the waterfront next to Main and Solano streets. The lighted boat parade starts at approxi mately 5:30 p.m. with the arrival of Santa and Mrs. Claus at 6:15 p.m. at the public dock to light the community Christmas tree about 6:30 p.m. fol lowed by fireworks. www. suisunwaterfront.com

Vallejo Mad Hatter’s Holiday Parade and Events

SATURDAY

Vallejo’s holiday cel ebration starts at 2 p.m. and takes place in Unity Plaza in front of the John F. Kennedy Library,

505 Santa Clara St. The festival includes music, food, children’s rides, dancing horses and people in Alice in Wonderland costumes. The Mad Hatter Holiday Parade starts at 4:30 p.m. along Georgia Street between Sonoma Bou levard and Santa Clara Street. A Tree-Lighting Ceremony takes place at 6 p.m. behind the John F. Kennedy Library. The lighted boat parade starts at 6:30 p.m. www.hatter vallejo.com.

Rio Vista Christmas Celebration

SATURDAY

Rio Vista celebrates the start of the holiday season with the Delta Drifters Car Club toy drive at 9 a.m. at City Hall, 1 Main St., a Pop Up Shop at 10 a.m. at 45 Main St. and featuring down town businesses, music from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Starlight Stage, Christmas caroling start ing at 4 p.m. and the Hospice of San Joaquin Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall. Santa is sched uled to arrive at 5:45 p.m. The Delta Marina Boat lighted boat parade starts at 6 p.m. along the waterfront from Delta Marina to the Rio Vista Bridge. Pictures with Santa are available after ward at 45 Main St. http:// riovista.org.

Rio Vista Olde Tyme Christmas Faire

SATURDAY AND DEC. 4

The Rio Vista Muse um’s 14th Annual Olde Tyme Christmas Faire takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Rio Vista museum, 16 N. Front St. http://riovistamuseum. com/events

Benicia 28th Annual Christmas Parade and Holiday Market DEC. 10

Benicia continues to

celebrate the holiday season with a Christ mas Parade and Holiday Market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. downtown. The parade starts at 10 a.m. at First and D streets and ends at H Street.

The parade features local marching bands, dancers and the muchanticipated Santa Claus. The Holiday Market fea tures handcrafted arts and crafts, gourmet items and delicious foods. www. beniciamainstreet.org.

Grand Victorian Homes Tour

DEC. 11

Various homes in Vallejo. A two-hour reception begins at 2:30 p.m. at USA World Classics Event Center, 1521 Sonoma Blvd. Selfguided home tours are from 3 to 7 p.m. An after party is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. at Vino Godfa ther Winery, 1005 Walnut Ave. www.madhatter vallejo.com.

www.jewishsolano.com

5th Annual Travis Air Force Base Grand Menorah Lighting

DEC. 19

The 5th Annual Grand Menorah Lighting and Hanukkah Celebration starts at 5:30 p.m. at the corner of Skymaster Drive and Travis Avenue. The event includes live music, singing and dancing, hot drinks and holiday food, and greet ings from base officials. The celebration is free and open to everyone. www.jewishsolano.com

Jelly Belly Hanukkah Celebration

DEC. 20

14th

Annual Vacaville Menorah on Main

DEC. 18

The 14th Annual Menorah on Main takes place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the downtown dis trict at the Town Square at Main and Merchant Streets. The event fea tures greetings from the mayor and other offi cials, latkes and lattes, and children’s presen tations. A Car Menorah Parade will follow to the Chabad House for a

Jelly Belly hosts its annual Hanukkah cele bration from 4 to 7 p.m. at the company’s visi tors center, One Jelly Belly Lane, Fairfield. The event includes light ing of a candy-filled giant menorah at 4:30 p.m. which includes a musical performance by the Solano Kids Choir and a Menorah Parade. Jer emiah Johnston, who performs as Jeremiah the Juggler, will showcase his expertise at 5 p.m. www.jewishsolano.com

Hanukkah holiday party with soup and salad and live entertainment by Gabriel Guevara, a Bay Area multi-instrumental ist who performs a wide variety of music, from Baroque to hard rock. The celebration is free and open to everyone.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file (2021)

Santa and Mrs. Claus watch the fireworks in front of the Christmas tree during Christmas on the Waterfront in Suisun City, Dec. 4, 2021.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Santa and Mrs. Claus wave to the crowd during the Jelly Belly Tree Lighting in Fairfield, Saturday.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Members of Ballet Folklorico Netzahualcoyotl participate in a parade during the Jelly Belly Tree Lighting at the Jelly Belly Visitor’s Center in Fairfield, Saturday.

130,000

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of residents in the Ukrainian capital are still without electricity in the wake of intensive Russian attacks, accord ing to the local authorities.

Some 130,000 people in the metropolis of 3 million people were still affected, Kyiv’s military administration said Satur day, adding that repairs should be finished in the next 24 hours.

All heating systems should then be working again, the authorities said.

On Wednesday, Russia targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with dozens of missiles and cruise missiles, causing severe damage.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali

Kyiv still without power after Russian strikes

Klitschko warned of political unrest due to the power cuts and called for calm.

“We must continue to work together to defend the country and protect the infrastructure,” he said, adding that a solu tion was being sought at “record speed.”

The comments come shortly after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had criticized the former boxing world champion in an unusually open manner for the slow pace of power restoration.

Electricity, water and heating failed in many other parts of the country as well, with fears high that the crucial services would not be operating properly in the colder months ahead.

Also on Saturday, at least 13 people were injured after renewed Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian industrial city of Dnipro.

“Four of them are in hospital, including a 17-year-old,” the military governor of the Dniprop etrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, wrote on his Telegram channel.

More victims are suspected to be under the rubble of residen tial buildings.

According to the authorities, a total of seven residential build ings were damaged by the attack. In addition, a ware house was destroyed.

In addition to Dnipro, the small town of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine was

also hit on Saturday. In the town, which is under Ukrainian control, an apartment building was hit, injuring three people, according to the military governor of the region, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Meanwhile, Brit ain’s latest intelligence assessment has said that Russia is “likely removing nuclear warheads from ageing cruise missiles” and firing the unarmed missiles at Ukraine.

The use of the weapons indicates “the level of depletion in Rus sia’s stock of long-range weapons,” the Ministry of Defense said, citing intel ligence services. The unarmed mis siles on their own would not cause major damage but could serve to dis

tract Ukrainian missile defenses, London said.

As the war goes past the nine-month mark, Russia has been staving off a Ukrainian counterat tack that has strengthened in recent months.

Since the beginning of the war at the end of Feb ruary, the British Ministry of Defense has been pub lishing daily updates on the course of the conflict.

Moscow accuses London of a disinforma tion campaign.

Additionally, the heads of government of Poland and Lithuania reiter ated their support for Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion at a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart, Denis Shmyhal.

“This war can have

only one outcome: Either Ukraine wins or the whole of Europe loses,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the meeting in Kiev, accord ing to the Polish news agency PAP.

“Our support for Ukraine must and will continue until their and our victory,” Lithua nia’s head of government, Ingrida Simonyte, wrote on Twitter after the meeting.

The visit by the leaders of the two EU and NATO countries was organized in conjunction with the official commemoration of the Holodomor, a manmade famine in Soviet Ukraine, 90 years ago.

Club plans ‘Shop Small for Fall’ event

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

The Solano Community College Entrepreneur Club will host a “Shop Small for Fall” event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday on campus at 4000 Suisun Valley Road, Building 1400. It will be a pop-up event aimed to support and promote small businesses within the sur rounding area, as well as businesses operated by students.

The pop-up event will help the club fund future events. There will be no food sales.

For more infor mation, go online to https://www.eventbrite. com/e/430333879217.

Premier Commercial helps move properties

Premier Commercial Inc. assisted with several transactions in Fairfield, Dixon and Vacaville over the past several weeks.

B&C Building LLC leased 4,044 square feet of retail space at 1500 Oliver Road, Suite G in Fairfield to Mattress Barn; and Smile Innovations LLC leased 1,450 square feet of office space at 2201 Boyton Ave., Suite B to Redwood City Church of God in Christ.

Green Valley LLC leased 2,923 square feet of office space at 750 Mason St. in Vacaville.

Marc Castelli sold 0.07 acres of vacant prop erty at North Lincoln Street and Stratford Avenue in Dixon to Afshin Gooya.

Fiscal, monetary policies must work together

Inflation and other indicators of

deteriorating economic conditions are appearing. A recent report from Goldman Sachs (a bank) showed declines among “rich” countries.

JPMorgan Chase has reduced its forecast by half.

The outlook for the global economy has darkened in recent weeks.

The economy is slowing, perhaps into a recession.

Central banks raise interest rates to counter the inflation surge. There is scant evidence infla tion is anywhere near controlled. Indeed, in much of the world, it is broadening.

U.S. inflation and budget defi cits are both uncomfortably high. These are usually seen as sepa rate problems. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says he will get inflation back to 2% regardless of what Con gress and the president do with fiscal policy.

But fiscal and monetary policy are not so easily sepa rated. Fiscal stimulus had some role in pushing inflation up. As the Fed raises interest rates to combat that inflation, it will worsen deficits. Britain had to abandon deficit-financed tax cuts over fears they would drive inflation and interest rates higher. France’s Finance Minister recently warned that “Central banks’ restrictive pol icies are ineffective if public finances continue to expand.”

Two economic theories seek to explain the situation, but they are opposed to one another.

Modern monetary theory (MMT) asserts that monetarily sovereign countries (such as the U.S., U.K., Japan and Canada) which spend, tax and borrow in a fiat currency they fully control, are not limited by revenues when it comes to federal government

spending. Simply put, MMT states that such governments do not rely on taxes or borrowing for spending since they can print as much money as they need and are the monopoly issuers of the currency. Since their budgets aren’t like a regular house hold’s, their policies should not be shaped by fears of a rising national debt.

The other opinion is named fiscal theory of the price level (FTPL), and it argues monetary and fiscal policy do not just inter act; they are closely interrelated. If fiscal policy is irresponsible, even a responsible central bank cannot control inflation.

Orthodox economics has long held that inflation is ultimately under the central bank’s control.

Milton Friedman stated that inflation is always a monetary phenomenon, a role of central banks. Traditional Keynesian economists assign less signifi cance to the money supply, but

still believe the central bank uses short-term interest rates to influ ence interest rates.

Other opinions are emerg ing which state a government that runs unsustainable defi cits will eventually fail to sell enough bonds, at which point the central bank will have to finance the shortfall by printing money. The central bank may initially try to control inflation by raising interest rates sharply. But this will widen deficits further and ultimately make inflation even harder to control.

Simply put, high inflation is always a result of too much spending. The public will antic ipate this event long before it happens and act in ways that drive inflation up now, not in the future.

Government debt, not the money supply, influences whether the public expects it to be repaid, and thus determines inflation. Indeed, the distinction between money issued by the

central bank and bonds issued by the Treasury becomes irrele vant. Spending is too large.

MMT denies the separation between fiscal and monetary policy by asserting that gov ernments which borrow in a currency they also print can always repay their debt. This theory justifies unlimited deficit spending unless inflation goes up. FTPL, by contrast, predicts that unlimited deficit spending inevitably leads to inflation. that fol lowed Covid-19 and the trillions of dollars of deficit-financed cash transfers and aid has diminished the appeal of MMT, but inspired

The reality is that econo mies are complex, and no single theory can accurately predict the timing and results of any gov ernment action. For example, Japan has by far the highest debt among major advanced econ omies, but the lowest inflation. Rising debt after 2008 did put upward pressure on inflation but that offset the threat of deflation from soaring unemployment.

Proponents of FTPL acknowl edge it does not provide a clear-cut debt level at which inflation soars. The trigger is subjective and boils down to “You get more inflation when you get more government debt than people think the govern ment can or will repay.”

Expect the collision of these two arguments to be the center of debate in the next Congress.

The central message is that fiscal and monetary policies always must work together. Let us hope the next Congress addresses this fact in a prompt and serious manner.

Mark Sievers, president of Epsilon Financial Group, is a certified financial planner with a master’s in business administra tion from the University of California, Berkeley. Contact him by email at mark@ wealthmatters.com.

Mark Sievers Wealth matters

Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

National Influenza Vaccination Week is Dec. 5-9; are you protected?

Comedian Rodney Dangerfield

often complained, “I don’t get no respect . . . no respect at all.” The lowly influenza virus must feel the same way. Social interactions ground to a halt for nearly three years due to Covid-19. Influenza, however, seemed to be forgotten by John and Jane Q. Public.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates Dec. 5-9 as National Influ enza Vaccination Week. An earlier flu-awareness week might make sense, in my opinion. As Thanks giving approached, I heard a cacophony of sniffles and suppressed coughs in public settings. We all tend to mingle and travel, well before Turkey Day. If you did not get a flu shot, however, you still can.

The CDC describes key messages pertaining to the flu on its website. For example, every one 6 months and older should be considered for a flu vaccine. Moreover, a comprehensive preven tion strategy for the flu involves other actions, including avoiding close contact with those who are ill, avoiding close contact with others if you are sick, hand washing, and taking care to cover your mouth and nose if you sneeze.

For those who get the flu, antiviral drugs are available. Isn’t it better, however, to avoid getting sick in the first place? Flu symptoms include fever, cough, nasal congestion and discharge, sore throat, chills, fever and debilitat ing muscle or joint pain.

Although mortality rates for influenza declined precipi tously during the pandemic, the flu virus is a multi ple generation survivor. What, then, are the dif ferences between an illness caused by influenza versus Covid-19?

Both virus catego ries are highly contagious and spread largely by the respiratory route.

Covid-19 is a coronavirus, specifically SARS-CoV-2, isolated and identified in 2019. Covid-19 may be more easily transmit ted than the flu, according to some sources. Testing is necessary to deter mine which diagnosis is applicable.

Although Covid-19 is described by CDC as causing “. . . more severe illness in some people,” it is worth recalling that, overlooking the recent pandemicrelated downtick, we see at least 20,000 Ameri can flu deaths annually.

The Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 to 1921 killed 675,000 Americans, among 21 million who perished worldwide. The Spanish flu American death toll exceeded that of World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, added together.

Influenza viruses come in many forms. The sea sonal flu outbreaks we encounter are often due to influenza A or B. These viruses mutate and man ifest so-called “antigenic drift,” or slow muta tion rates over time.

Abrupt “antigenic shifts” may also occur. We also encounter avian flu, canine flu and swine flu

variants. Close monitor ing of outbreaks by health officials is necessary to guard against the emer gence of new pandemics.

Different proprietary flu vaccines are avail able, including three standard dose brands. In addition, a high-dose flu vaccine is available for people over the age of 65. All the standard flu vac cines for 2022-2023 are quadrivalent, protect ing against two influenza A types and two influenza B types. There are spe cific vaccine differences relative to what is prefer able for specific patient populations. Standard flu shots are produced with the use of viruses grown in eggs, but a completely egg-free preparation if out there for those with aller gies, manufactured using recombinant technology.

Ask your doctor for specific health concerns.

Every week I see people in clinic who decided not to get a flu vaccination. They often tell me they “never get the flu” or “got sick” after a previous flu shot. Vac cines typically cause muscle soreness, mild fever and malaise. By causing milder versions of an illness, vaccines stimulate our immune systems. This con trolled process protects us against life-threaten ing diseases. The flu shot confers a great cost-bene fit ratio for virtually every vaccine candidate.

Scott T. Anderson, M.D., Ph.D. (standerson@ ucdavis.edu), is a clinical professor at the Univer sity of California, Davis Medical School. This column is informational and does not constitute medical advice.

Scott Anderson Ask Dr. Scott

Be sure to visit for future events

This week

THINGS TO DO

I Fairfield

8 p.m. Sunday

New & Olde

Presented

1035 Texas St. https:// www.downtown theatre.com.

6 p.m. Friday

I Suisun City

‘Merriment on Main’ Downtown. www.merriment onmain.org.

6 to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

‘A Visit to Bethlehem’ New Hope Christian Fellowship, 4910 Allison Parkway. 707-446-4051.

7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday

‘An American Nutcracker’ Journey Downtown, 308 Main St. www. journeydowntown venue.com.

9 p.m. Friday

Dueling Pianos: Daniel & Jason H. Makse Restaurant, 555 Main St. dueling pianovacaville.com/ events.

9 p.m. Saturday

Dueling Pianos: Jason & Jason H. Makse Restaurant, 555 Main St. dueling pianovacaville.com/ events.

I Benicia

6 p.m. Sunday

Poker Night

The Rellik, 726 First St. www.therellik tavern.com.

5:30 p.m. Thursday

Chad and Bruce Duo

The Rellik, 726 First St. www.therellik tavern.com.

9 p.m. Thursday

DJ Rue Hefner

The Rellik, 726 First St. www.therellik tavern.com.

I Vallejo

5:30 p.m. Wednesday

Evan Thomas Blues Band Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St. https://empress theatre.org.

8 p.m. Saturday

The Sun Kings Empress Theatre, 330 Virginia St. https://empress theatre.org.

Christmas’ promises holidays-inspired smooth jazz experience

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

The Downtown Theatre will host a one-night holiday jazz concert starting at 7 p.m. Saturday.

“Swing Into Christ mas” features some of the Bay Area’s best jazz players combined with silky smooth soulful vocals to deliver what promoters describe as “a masterful evening of holiday music.”

The show will include holiday classics originally sung by Nat King Cole, Etta James, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Norah Jones, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne and even a few Vince Guaraldi “timeless instrumental tunes.”

Featured performers are Jamie Davis, Tiffany Austin and Alvon Johnson.

“Larry Vuckovich has put together

an incredible line-up of musicians and singers to perform for you on this early holiday concert the first weekend in December,” organizers said in the press release. “This show may sell out, so grab your tickets early.”

Vuckovich, a pianist, is one of the most versatile pianists in all of jazz having per formed with so many masters in various genres which include traditional jazz, swinging bebop/contemporary jazz, Latin Afro-Cuban salsa/Brazilian, blues and world music. The list of the masters he has worked with is quite impressive: Cab Calloway, Dexter Gordon, Jon Hendricks, Charles McPherson, Bobby Hutcherson, and Vince Guaraldi (to name a few).

Jamie Davis is a two-time Grammy nominated vocalist with the Count Basie Orchestra’s albums, “All About Basie” and “Live At Birdland.” Davis has per formed at venues in Rome, Dubai, Moscow, Tokyo, Milan, Zagreb Croatia, Baku, Kula Lumpur, Finland, Serbia, St.

Napa’s Lucky Penny in rehearsal for 2 Christmas musicals

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Lucky Penny Productions presents not one, but two musicals for the 2022 holiday season.

Last year’s hit “A Napa Valley Christmas Carol” returns, and a new musical for children and families, “Saving Santa,” makes its world premiere. The two shows will run in repertory Friday through Dec. 18 at the Lucky Penny Community Arts Center in Napa.

“A Napa Valley Christmas

Carol” sets the classic Dickens story in modern day Napa Valley and centers on the selfish Alex ander Yuge, owner of Yuge Wine Brands, his beleaguered employ ees, and struggling family. The story was written by Lucky Penny co-founder Barry Martin, with original music and lyrics created by Rob Broadhurst. The show was a smash in Decem ber 2021, winning three awards from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.

“Saving Santa” is an all-new

Petersburg, Spain, Paris and the Royal Albert Hall in London. He’s performed in the U.S. at Dizzy’s, Birdland, Blue Note clubs in New York, San Francisco Jazz, Monterey Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, Yoshi’s and more.

Tiffany Austin is regarded as one of the fastest rising jazz singers in North ern California with a tradition rooted yet thoroughly modern style, Austin is now stepping further forward with her debut CD, “Nothing but Soul,” on her own Con Alma Music label. The album is the outgrowth of anSan Francisco Jazz “Hot plate” concert for which she reimagined compositions by the American song writer Hoagy Carmichael.

Alvon Johnson is one of the most ver satile musicians, singers and entertainers on the music scene today. He travels the world singing and swinging jazz

Alive Music Orchestra presents its 31st Christmas concert

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The 31st Alive Music Orchestra Christ mas Show is scheduled Dec. 9.

The Vacaville Jazz Society puts on the annual event, this year titled “Child is Born.”

The show will incorporate traditional songs and carols “meant to remind people that the holidays are a season of peace, family and most importantly the miraculous birth of Christ, the Prince of Peace,” organizers sad in a statement.

The concert features big band vocalist the Rev. Frank Sal amone, of Dixon Cornerstone Church, and his daughter, vocal ist Leah Walker. Additionally, the Stout family with share their talents with vocals by mother and daughter, Terrie and Brette, Julie and Art Stout and renown jazz saxophonist Ken Stout, who takes over the baton from his twin, Keith Stout.

The concert will begin at 7 p.m. in the Valley Church, 5063 Maple Road.

Admission is free. Donations will be accepted.

Holiday Traditions

by Solano Winds Downtown Theatre,

Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Downtown.

Frazier Trager Presents/Courtesy photos

Jamie Davis, top left, Tiffany Austin and Alvon Johnson are featured in the “Swing Into Christmas” jazz show at the Downtown Theatre in Fairfield, Saturday.

Lopez announces another Affleck-inspired album on 20th anniversary of ‘This Is Me... Then’

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Bennifer 2.0 doesn’t

just come with wedding bells.

Jennifer Lopez announced a new album inspired by husband Ben Affleck on Friday – exactly 20 years after releasing her first album dedicated to the actor.

The Bronx, New York, native, 53, will release “This is Me… Now” next year, she announced in an Instagram video that shows the cover of her 2002 album “This Is Me… Then” transforming into the cover of the new one.

Lopez’s announce ment promises a musical journey through her reconciliation with the Oscar-winning Affleck, whom she married in July in Las Vegas after getting back together last year.

The 13 tracks on the new album include a title

From Page B1

standards with big bands. He also gallops the globe performing the songs that he sang while working with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group, The Coasters. His love and respect for the American art form is shared by large and enthusiastic audi ences the world over.

The ensemble includes Steve Heckman on reeds, Kai Lyons on guitar, Buca Necak on bass and Leon Joyce Jr. on drums.

For tickets, visit the Frazier Trager Pres ents website at https:// ftpresents.com/events/ swing-into-christmas.

Lopez’s Instagram

swingFrom Page B1

one-act musical by the creative team of Martin and Broadhurst devel oped from an idea by Artistic Director Taylor Bartolucci.

“I had the idea for a story where Napa Valley kids discover Santa has run into trouble and needs help on Christmas Eve,” Bartolucci said in a press release. “So I asked Barry and Rob to write a show that parents could bring their children to. It’s an adventure story with a lot of laughs and a message, too.”

The cast of the 2022 rendition of “A

announcement

The couple,

MusicalNapa Valley Christmas Carol” features Martin as Alexander Yuge, Daniela Innocenti-Beem as Sally Angell/Ghost of Christ mas Present, Dennis O’Brien as Buddy Wise/ Ghost of Christmas Past, Matt Davis as Joe Patch ett, Kirstin Pieschke as Mary Patchett, Cecilia Brenner as Goldie Patch ett/Ghost of Christmas Future, Dakota Dwyer as Frankie Patchett, and Jill Wagoner as Vivian Mandibel-Yuge.

“Saving Santa” fea tures Jenny Veilleux as Mandi, Sarah Lundstrom as Randi, Brad Fisher as Copernicus the Elf, Alex Gomez as Donner the Dog, and Trey Reeves as Door Dash Dave.

For both shows

2000s but went their

shortly after Lopez called off her engagement to former Yankee Alex Rodriguez last year.

Shortly before they got back together, Affleck reflected on the “sexist, racist [and] . . . vicious s–” that was written about Lopez during their first romance.

“If you wrote it now you would literally be fired for saying those things,” the “Good Will Hunting” co-writer and star told The Hollywood Reporter’s “Award Chatter” podcast in January 2021, saying Lopez is now “lionized and respected for the work she did, where she came from, what she accomplished – as well she f–ing should be.”

Lopez and Affleck got engaged again in April.

In a fan newsletter shortly after the Vegas wedding, Lopez referred to herself as Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck.

“We read our own vows in the little chapel and gave one another the rings we’ll wear for the rest of our lives,” Lopez wrote.

“They even had Blue tooth for a (short) march down the aisle. But in the end it was the best pos sible wedding we could have imagined. One we dreamed of long ago and one made real . . . at very, very long last.”

A few weeks later, Lopez and Affleck had a second marriage cere mony in Georgia.

Martin is the direc tor with Broadhurst is the music director. Bartolucci returns as choreographer for “A Napa Valley Christ mas Carol” with Alex Gomex as choreogra pher for “Saving Santa.” Lighting is by April George. Costumes are by Barbara McFadden and Bartolucci.

Tickets are on sale at www.luckypennynapa. com. For more infor mation, contact Lucky Penny at 707-266-6305 or by email at info@lucky pennynapa.com.

THE DAILY REPUBLIC DELIVERS. CALL 707-427-6989.

song and others called “Dear Ben pt. II” – pre sumably a continuation of 2002′s “Dear Ben” –“Midnight Trip to Vegas” and “Greatest Love Story Never Told.”

came days after she wiped out all of her previous posts and made her other social channels dark.

dubbed Bennifer by fans, were engaged in the early

sep arate ways, with Lopez starting a family with singer Marc Anthony and Affleck marrying and having three kids with actress Jennifer Garner. They got back together

Valerie Macon/AFP/Getty Images/TNS file Ben Affleck, left, and Jennifer Lopez arrive for a special screening of “Marry Me” at the directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, Feb. 8.

American evangelicals open a

The WashingTon PosT

JERUSALEM — In a country with one of the world’s most liberal abortion policies, groups funded by conservative Amer ican evangelicals are targeting women with a message famil iar in the United States but novel to most Israelis: Abortion is “murder.”

The idea resonated with Shir Palla Shitrit, 21, when she first contacted the “pregnancy crisis center” run by Be’ad Chaim – Hebrew for “pro-life.” In an office decorated with fetus diagrams, framed biblical pas sages and a ceramic sculpture of a breastfeeding mother, counsel ors offered her a year’s worth of material support and a place in a growing grass-roots community.

“They’re like my family,” said Palla Shitrit, next to a pile of donated diapers, winter baby clothes, and her monthly supermarket gift card, worth about $100.

“My life was very unstable. I didn’t have money, and I thought I would be the worst mother,” she said, whispering as her 10-month-old, Tohar, fell asleep in her arms. “Now I know that this is what gives life meaning.”

Israel legalized abortion in

1977, four years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Israeli Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz further eased access to abortion this year, saying the overturning of Roe had set back women’s rights “by a hundred years.”

But “pregnancy crisis centers” backed by conserva tive American evangelicals are becoming more prominent here, aiming to change the conver sation around abortion and lay the groundwork for a political movement. Be’ad Chaim, a mul timillion-dollar operation that has rapidly expanded in recent years, supplies women with carefully selected, or entirely distorted, facts to make the case against abortion. Pamphlets in Hebrew, English, Russian and Arabic show babies being stabbed in the heart or radiated to death, writhing in pain.

Public antiabortion cam paigns – a highway billboard showing a grainy ultrasound, with the caption “This is not a fetus, it’s a girl named Nofar”; a bus ad featuring a baby girl sleeping with her doll, with the text: “One day, she’ll be a famous singer” – are a growing phenom enon in a country where abortion

antiabortion front – in Israel

more confident.”

The pregnancy centers use the language of women’s empowerment, casting Israeli men – doctors, husbands, fathers – as oppressors who pressure women to give up their babies.

thing is.” Under Israel’s uni versal health-care system, she received the state-funded pro cedure within days of finding out she was pregnant.

has never been a controversial issue, said Noya Rimalt, codirector of the Forum for Gender Law and Policy at the Univer sity of Haifa.

She said Be’ad Chaim and another group, Efrat, as well as more loosely organized anti abortion advocates, “are using narratives, the images of the screaming unborn child, that are a direct import from the U.S.”

“I’ve been around for quite a long time and I don’t remem ber those images,” said Rimalt. “This is clearly a reaction to the U.S., where these groups are getting more money, feeling

“When a woman is in a crisis pregnancy, people aren’t usually listening to what she wants,” said Sandy Shoshani, an Amer ican Israeli who is the national director of Be’ad Chaim. Speak ing by phone while en route to a meeting with Swiss donors at the Dead Sea, she said her network spanned the world, with Ameri cans in the majority.

She said she is hoping to convince Israelis “that abor tion hurts them, it’s not in their best interest.”

But for most in Israel, access to abortion is a rare point of con sensus, even in an age of intense political polarization. According to Israel’s Central Bureau of Sta tistics, 98 percent of women who request the procedure are able to get one.

Billie Schneider, 26, an immi grant from New York who had an abortion in Tel Aviv two years ago, said she was “shocked at how easy the whole

But antiabortion advocates feel that momentum is on their side, buoyed by post-Roe state bans in the United States and the results of the Nov. 1 elections here, which delivered a decisive victory to former prime minis ter Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly hailed conser vative evangelicals as Israel’s “best friends.”

Horowitz’s left-wing Meretz party dropped out of the par liament entirely, unable to muster enough votes to cross the required threshold. Leftists and moderates fear that the farright Religious Zionism, now the third-largest parliamentary bloc, will introduce once-fringe ideassuch opposition to abortion - into the mainstream.

Bezalel Smotrich, Religious Zionism’s leader, has tweeted that Israel’s current abortion policy “promotes a license to kill fetuses.” He vowed: “We will not forget and we will not forgive, and above all, we will do everything . . . to repair the serious damages.”

“The People of The United Methodist Church™”

Kern/ The Washington Post Shir Palla Shitrit, 21, has been receiving support from Be’ad Chaim since deciding against an abortion.

I’m hopeful for these holiday ‘seasons’ of renewal

Dear Annie: I am looking forward to the holiday season this year, just as I have in years past, and I wanted to share my thoughts about this. Being an octoge narian, born in 1940, I see things more clearly as I enter the twilight of my life.

Talk about change and understanding, what a way to begin the fall and winter seasons of my life, both literally and figuratively, with Thanks giving, Christmas, New Year’s and the like.

Hopefully, this will be a renaissance for inspirational

occurrences and uplift ing events that are demonstrative of fight ing the good fight, as so many have been striving for.

For some, cruelty and bullying have been seen as strengths and signs of success. And yet, they are not.

Basically, I see these forthcoming “seasons” of renewal as promoting opportu nities for us, collectively, to get things right among ourselves.

Eventually, I hope and pray that we can coalesce together and be(come) one nation for the common good and overall

Horoscopes

by Holiday Mathis

Today’s birthday

You are keen to understand human exchanges more fully. The question of what is really being traded in interactions fascinates and mystifies you. You’ll often figure out the answer – a magic knowledge that not only makes projects work smoothly but also applies in interesting ways to improve things across the board of your life. Cancer and Scorpio adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 10, 3, 33, 12 and 9.

ARIES (March 21-April 19). You were vocal about an issue, but it seemed no one listened. Your instinct now is silence, not because the problem has gone away or you’ve changed your mind about it but because you’re quietly planning a new approach.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20). Ques tion how much freedom your path affords you. Is there another route that will give you more room to explore? It’s important that you’re in a position to say yes or no to new things according to your gut and not according to need.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). Just as accepting yourself makes it easier to accept others, accepting others makes it easier to accept yourself. The mutual appreciation is flowing today. You command respect by just being comfort able with who you are.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). To blend in, join the group and work in the spirit of cooperation has been a necessary plea sure and the foundation for your next shining moment. You’ll build from here. You’ll take a beloved concept and make it your own.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22). Though you will never completely know how another person sees you or regards the situa tion you’re in together, your curiosity and empathy will lead you to a better sense of it than most people are capable of.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). You’ll wonder why you feel a certain way or how a person or circumstance might be contributing to your overall emo tional climate. A feeling doesn’t have to be particularly dynamic to be worthy of your curiosity.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23). “By learning to obey, you will know how to command,” says the Italian proverb. It will be an easy lesson today because you are interested in the work at hand and genuinely admire the authority figure you’ll assist.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). You’re not responsible for giving each person what they need. Be like the sun. The sun doesn’t decide where to shine; it just shines. And it’s up to the others to lean in or duck out according their own requirement.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Your attraction to the exotic leads you to places where you don’t feel so sure of yourself, but there’s something wonderful about not knowing what to expect. You’ll be drawn bravely forward in the spirit of discovery.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Just as the bird’s wing evolved to find the support of air, you are evolving to discover what lift is available around you. The support is there, so keep moving and growing until you sense what you need to do to launch.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Today’s tone will strike a balance between mystery and accessibility. By strumming the right chord, you’ll enjoy treats and delights without the weight of extensive commitment.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). Once upon a time, a friend reached out to you in the moment you needed it most. It meant so much to you back there, and now another person is the one in need. You’ll pay it forward.

CELEBRITY PROFILES: Origi nal members of the band Chicago have released a new video recalling the time Jimi Hendrix invited them to be an opening act on his 1969 tour before their first album was even released. The show “Experience Hendrix” has sold out venues more than 50 years after the tragic passing of the rock idol. Hendrix was born when the sun, Mercury and Venus were in the passionate and adventurous fire sign of Sagittarius. “Excuse me while I kiss the sky.” – Jimi Hendrix

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

benefit of “we the people.”

What a way to begin the new season of politics, practices and policies for us all.

Just imagine: America the great; America the wonderful; America the blessed! — Per spective at Age 82

Dear 82: Love your hope fulness and striving for a better world. You might be an octogenarian, but your opti mistic attitude makes you very youthful.

Dear Annie: My husband and I have been together for 32 years. Prior to our engage ment, 27 years ago, there was communication and the exchange of gifts with our exes.

FOR YOUR HEALTH

My problem is that during the last three years, I discov ered through browser history that my husband had looked up two of his ex-wives. There was no evidence of contact.

I was surprised and felt that I am really not up for this at this juncture of my life. Too many other things have made me less forgiving. I’ve always been the one to organize and keep things light – fun, sexy and solid. But because of this, I’m not feeling it at all. I’m thinking of moving forward after 32 years.

What’s your take on this sit uation? Is this normal behavior or not for a 65-year-old married man? To me, it feels disrespect

ful. — Wondering Dear Wondering: If you think that it feels disrespectful, then it is disrespectful. But check ing your husband’s browser could be seen as disrespect ful, too. Regardless of who is in the right, there needs to be a conversation and more commu nication about why he is looking at his exes and why you are snooping on his computer. Trust and honesty are the pillars of a good marriage.

Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@ creators.com.

remember past, look ahead

FOR THE DAILY REPUBLIC

World AIDS Day is commemo rated each Dec. 1 as people around the world unite to demonstrate solidarity and bring awareness to the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS.

Most importantly, this day remem bers and honors those affected by HIV/ AIDS and celebrates the advances in HIV/AIDS prevention, treat ment and care. While significant strides have been made over the past four decades, HIV/AIDS remains a public health issue and continues to disproportionately impact certain pop ulations, particularly racial/ethnic and LGBTQ+ communities.

An estimated 1.2 million adults nationally have become infected with HIV and about 13% of those with HIV do not know they are infected.

Additionally, in 2020, Black/African American and Latinx populations, as well as gay and bisexual men, accounted for the majority of new HIV diagnoses.

The 2022 World AIDS Day theme, “Equalize,” focuses on addressing the inequalities and injustices that impede the progression in ending AIDS. Most importantly, it calls to action for collec tive efforts to prioritize transformative

measures for inclusive health systems and equitable access to prevention, treatment and care; policy reform on HIV/AIDS and human rights; and increase community engagement and participation to reduce stigma and discrimination.

Solano Public Health’s HIV Pre vention Program strives to mitigate the spread of HIV/AIDS through edu cation and preventive services such as with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which is medication taken to prevent HIV transmission. Solano Public Health also provides HIV testing, linkage to care and ensures access to health care services and treatment.

Recent program efforts continue to leverage equitable strategies and best practices by expanding cultur ally sensitive prevention and education resources through community out reach, social media campaigns, free condom distribution and harm-reduc tion interventions. Additionally, increasing awareness and access to HIV testing and counseling through free, rapid at-home HIV test kits and mobile HIV testing allows Solano County residents to know their status through confidential testing that is crit ically important and lifesaving for many Solano County residents.

Collective action and community-

led efforts continue to significantly contribute to the overall HIV/ AIDS response. In support of the 2022 UNAIDS World AIDS Day theme, Solano Public Health highlights com munity champions and STD and HIV/ AIDS advocates. Furthermore, Solano Public Health is working to invest more in communities most affected by HIV/AIDS.

Solano AIDS Coalition, Community Medical Centers, Club Stride Inc. and Solano Pride Center, along with Solano Family Health Services, are among the leading organizations in Solano County that continue to advocate for and support the most underserved and underrepresented communities affected by HIV/AIDS. World Aids Day welcomes all Solano County res idents to celebrate and participate in activities and observances that increase awareness and understanding for the risk of HIV/AIDS for them selves and their partners.

For more information on HIV testing, prevention efforts and PrEP and HIV treatment, visit https://www. solanocounty.com/std.

Desiree Miranda is a senior health education specialist from Solano Public Health’s Communicable Disease Department.

Annie Lane Dear Annie

Desiree MiranDa

Klaus Nielsen/Pexels

HIV/AIDS remains a public health issue and continues to disproportionately impact certain populations.

Vikings make a splash with back-to-back Section titles

Vikings hold off Capital Christian in tense D-4 final for another banner

nick DEcicco

SPECIAL TO THE DAILY REPUBLIC

SACRAMENTO — Vanden High barely got a breather.

In addition to a toasty November sun keeping Hughes Stadium warm, Capital Christian never let the Vikings stop feeling the heat in a 10-6 victory Saturday at Sacramento City College to capture their second Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV football champion ship in as many seasons.

The Vikings (12-1) advance to the Northern California championship for the second straight year. The bracket is scheduled for release Sunday.

“They wanted to set a legacy and make history and by winning their second straight, that’s what they did,” Vanden head coach Sean Murphy said after the game. “I love the journey. Every year, the journey’s a little different. This has been a challenging journey for us, so it’s exciting we get to celebrate this.”

The low-scoring tilt magnified the meaning of each possession. Vanden cel ebrated with relief the final time the ball changed hands.

As Capital Christian was set to begin a drive with 2 minutes remaining, Van den’s Devin Martin jumped, plucked a pass by Cougars quarterback Eddie Brusuelas out of the air and sealed the victory.

“The coach said, ‘Devin, drop this way, get under this player,’ and that’s what I did,” Martin said. “No matter what, how far they get, how close they get, we knew we had to get a stop no matter what.”

Martin’s pickoff was one of the few times Vanden got to catch its breath all afternoon.

After a first quarter in which Capital Christian dominated possession and the play clock but came up scoreless, the Vikings notched their only touchdown with 4 minutes and 55 seconds to go in the first half. Raheem Holt took a pitch from quarterback Tre Dimes around the left side of the line, squirted through the

One minute later, Marcellus Chan dler intercepted a pass from Brusuelas, giving the Vikings another chance to march into the red zone. After two short runs and a Brayden Chavez catch that was ruled out of bounds, Vanden settled for a 28-yard Ortiz Velez field goal with 1:37 left in the second and a 10-0 lead.

It was the last points they would put on the board.

Capital Christian threatened for the rest of the game. Twice, the Cougars moved into the red zone and twice watched as field goal attempts sailed wide of the goal posts.

Capital Christian’s only score came early in the fourth, when Brusuelas launched a ball to Kanye Clark, who weaved through the Vanden second

Goal of 49ers’ defense is to always ‘show up in the frame’

Eric Branch SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

SANTA CLARA —The best way to get noticed is to never go away.

That advice struck a chord with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordina tor DeMeco Ryans more than two decades ago when he was a linebacker with college-ball aspira tions at Jess Lanier High School in Bessemer, Ala.

One of his coaches, Ty Lockett, told Ryans the key to getting a full ride was to always go full throttle, ensuring he would be a fixture on the screen when recruiters studied his game film.

He said, “‘Hey, man, if you want a scholarship, you need to show up in the frame,’” Ryans recalled.

“Show up in the frame. So that’s kind of always been my mentality since high school.”

It worked for Ryans, 38, a former All-American at Alabama, the 2006 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and a two-time Pro

Bowl selection in his 10-year career. It’s also working quite well for his players, whose showup-in-the-frame mentality explains why they are showing up near the top in nearly every major NFL defensive category enter ing Sunday’s meeting against the Saints (4-7) at Levi’s Stadium.

The resurgent 49ers (6-4) will enter on a threegame winning streak thanks partly to heavy lifting from the NFL’s topranked defense, which hasn’t allowed a secondhalf point in each victory.

Opponents have aver aged a mere five first downs, 98.7 yards and 3.7 yards per play in the final 30 minutes during the win streak.

“I try to see how many times there’s 11 (defend ers) on the screen,” head coach Kyle Shana han said, “and it’s almost every play.”

In addition, opponents have converted just 26.7% of their attempts (4 of 15) on third and fourth down

during the second-half shutout stretch.

“They fly around to the football,” Saints quarter back Andy Dalton said.

The 49ers lead the NFL in fewest total yards (283.9) and rushing yards (81.1) allowed per game. They are second in yards allowed per play (4.7). And they are tied for fourth in sacks (32).

Running back Chris tian McCaffrey, who played against the 49ers’ defense on Oct. 9 before he was traded by the Pan thers 12 days later, said he noted their uncom mon ability to swarm to the ball before Carolina’s 37-15 loss.

“If you turn on the tape and you watch how many guys are surrounding the football every play, it’s impressive,” McCaffrey

On an unusual play in the third, Van den’s Elijah Fisherman fumbled twice on a rush toward the goal line, picking it up the first time and losing it through the end zone for a touchback the second time and halting the hopes of a Vanden touchdown.

The loss marked the conclusion of a Cougars (7-6) season that absorbed a sea of change in fortunes, losing five of their first six games before landing in the section finals.

At the conclusion of the tough battle, Murphy praised his staff and his players, appreciative of their attitude.

“We found ways to win because we wanted to find our identity,” Murphy said. “That’s who we are.”

Vacaville’s Cheruiyot runs to 17th overall in D-2 at state meet

M att MillEr MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE —

Vacaville High School senior Donovan Cheru iyot earned a top-20 finish and the Bulldogs took 16th out of 24 teams in Division II Saturday at the California Interscho lastic Federation state cross country champion ship in Fresno.

Rowland was 166th (17:46.1), sophomore James Rowland came in 182nd (18:18.2) and junior Colton Walker did not finish the course.

said. “And it’s a testa ment to the coaches and the leadership here. They take a lot of pride in not just doing their job, but doing it at a very high level. And doing it physi cally and fast.”

About the only area in which the 49ers’ defense is lagging is takeaways, ranking just 20th in the league with 12. As it happens, the Saints could boost the 49ers’ modest total in that area.

New Orleans’ four-win total is partly due to their 19 turnovers, which is tied for the NFL lead, and their league-worst turn over differential (-12). The Saints have thrown the most interceptions (12) in the NFL and have lost seven fumbles, tied

Cheruiyot finished 17th overall out of 199 runners with a time of 15 minutes. 36 seconds on the 3-mile course at Woodward Park. He was running 36th after the first mile and moved all the way up to 17th by the 2.1-mile mark.

“I thought Donovan did a great job for us,” Vacaville head coach David Monk said. “He carried out the race plan and competed well. These guys didn’t shy away from anything during the process.”

Vacaville sophomore Jackson Stream finished 73rd (16:27.1), junior Justus Hundley was 106th (16:49.0), senior Lorenzo Cilia took 125th (17:06.7), junior Josiah

Vacaville freshman Khloe Delatorre was 65th among 200 finishers in the Division II girls race. Delatorre completed the course in 19:30.1. Rodri guez senior Kate Kimball was close behind Dela torre in 80th (19:40.6).

Vacaville Christian’s boys were 23rd out of 24 teams in Division V. Freshman Gunner Lyon was 119th out of 204 runners (17:59.2). Sophomore Apollo Adam was 145th (18:29.3), sophomore Maverick Adam came in 149th (18:31.3), senior Harri son Jones came in 194th (20:24.1), senior Aaron Laxamana finished 195th (20:24.2), sophomore Lukas Donaldson was 199th (20:42.4) and soph omore Timothy Damon completed the course in 200th (20:47.3).

Vacaville Chris tian junior Kara Krulick finished 124th among 198 runners in Division V (21:39.7).

defense and crossed the goal line. After Rafael Ortiz Velez booted an extra point, Vanden took a 7-0 lead.

ary and high-stepped his way across the goal line on a 58-yard touchdown. The Vikings blocked the point-after touch down attempt.

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS file

Tashaun Gipson Sr. of the 49ers tackles Joshua Palmer of the Chargers after a catch in the third quarter at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Nov. 13.

Nick DeCicco/Special to the Daily Republic Vanden head coach Sean Murphy gets an ice water shower after the Vikings’ victory.

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic photos

Vanden High School’s Fe’la Guthrie, left, tackles Capital Christian’s

Kanye Clark during the Sac-Joaquin Section Championship game at Sacramento City College, Saturday. The Vikings beat the Cougars 10-6 for a title and a berth in the Northern California championship.

Vanden’s Muhammad Hakam makes a big catch during the championship game.

CALENDAR

Sunday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

• ESPN Events Invitational, Consolation, ESPN, 10:30 a.m.

• Knight Invitational, Third Place, ESPN2, Noon.

• Knight Legacy, Championship, 7, 10, 12:30 p.m.

• ESPN Events Invitational, Third Place, ESPN2, 2 p.m.

• Knight Invitational, ESPN, Third Place, 2:30 p.m.

• Knight Legacy, Third Place, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

• Knight Invitational, ESPN, Championship, ESPN, 7 p.m.

College Women

• Knight Legacy, Championship, 7,10, 10 a.m.

• Knight Invitational, Third Place, ESPN2, 10 a.m.

• Knight Invitational, Championship, ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.

• Knight Legacy, Third Place, ESPN2, 7 p.m.

NBA

• Golden State vs. Minnesota, NBCSBA (Fairfield and Suisun City), 12:30 p.m.

Figure Skating

• ISU Grand Prix, Grand Prix of Espo, 3,12:30 p.m.

Football NFL

• Tampa Bay vs. Cleveland, 2, 40, 10 a.m.

• Cincinnati vs. Tennessee, 5, 13, 10 a.m.

• New Orleans vs. San Francisco, 2, 40, 1:25 p.m.

• Green Bay vs. Philadelphia, 3, 5:15 p.m.

Golf

• DP World, Joburg Open, GOLF, 2 a.m.

Hockey NHL

• Vancouver at San Jose, NBCSCA, 5 p.m.

Skiing

• FIS, Killington Cup: Women’s Slalom, 3, 9:30 a.m.

Soccer World Cup

• Japan vs. Costa Rica, FS1, 2 a.m.

• Belgium vs. Morocco, FS1, 5 a.m.

• Croatia vs. Canada, FS1, 8 a.m.

• Spain vs. Germany, FS1, 11 a.m.

Shark’ defenseman forced to go on IR

By Curtis Pashelka BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SAN JOSE — The Sharks placed Mario Ferraro on injured reserve Saturday, meaning the energetic, heavy-minute defenseman will have to miss at least the next three games just as the team is trying to pull out its most recent funk.

The nature of Ferraro’s injury or when it might have taken place was not immediately clear. Ferraro did not prac tice Saturday but he played over 21 minutes in the Sharks’ 5-2 home loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

The Sharks close out their two-game homes tand on Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks, then begin a four-game road trip next week with stops in Mon treal, Toronto, Ottawa, and Buffalo.

Ferraro will miss the games against the Cana diens on Tuesday and the Maple Leafs on Wednes

day but would be eligible to return for the Sharks’ Dec. 3 game against the Senators. San Jose then closes its road trip Sunday against the Sabres.

The Sharks presently have six other defensemen on their active roster and it would appear, barring a recall from the AHL, that Nick Cicek would take Ferraro’s spot in the lineup for Sunday’s game.

Cicek has played in five games for the Sharks this season, all earlier this month as Radim Simek recovered from a mild concussion. Cicek aver aged 15:16 per outing and mostly earned posi tive reviews.

The Sharks had just six defensemen on their active roster earlier this month but might want to carry a seventh defen seman with them for at least the first half of their upcoming road trip as insurance against another injury.

Ferraro has played in all 23 Sharks games.

seven seasons.

for seventh-most.

These clearly aren’t the Saints of quarterback Drew Brees and head coach Sean Payton, whose 15-season partnership (2006-2020) produced nine 10-win seasons, seven division titles and a Super Bowlchampionship.

Sunday will mark the first time the 49ers have played New Orleans without Payton on the sideline and Brees in the starting lineup since Sept. 19, 2004, when the Saints beat them 30-27 in the Louisiana Superdome with head coach Jim Haslett and quarterback Aaron Brooks.

Asked about his overall impressions of the Saints, it was notable that Sha nahan devoted the first 87 words of his answer to an area that was often overshadowed in New Orleans for a decade-and-a-half. The Saints’ first-year head coach, Dennis Allen, was their defensive coordi nator for the previous

“Just starting with their defense, they look like a Dennis Allen team,” Shanahan said of the NFL’s 12th-ranked unit. “They are as tough and physical and as sound as anyone we played this year.”

As for their offense, the Saints rank 15th in the NFL in points scored after landing among the NFL’s top five in 10 of Brees’ 15 seasons.

Dalton, 35, who is on his fourth team in his past four seasons, ranks eighth in the NFL in passer rating (96.4). However, his seven picks have been critical in season in which the Saints have lost four games by eight points or fewer. Dalton’s intercep tion percentage (2.9) is 30th among 35 qualify ing passers.

Next, he’ll face a stern test Sunday against a defense that’s following the handed-down advice of its leader.

“If you want a better opportunity for yourself,” Ryans said, “whether it’s getting a scholarship, it’s winning a game or getting a new contract, show up in the frame.”

BASKETBALL

p.m. Denver at Carolina, 10 a.m. Tampa Bay at Cleveland, 10 a.m. Baltimore at Jacksonville, 10 a.m. Houston at Miami, 10 a.m. Chicago at N.Y. Jets, 10 a.m. Cincinnati at Tennessee, 10 a.m. Atlanta at Washington, 10 a.m. Los Angeles at Arizona, 1:05 p.m. Las Vegas at Seattle, 1:05 p.m. L.A. Rams at Kansas City, 1:25 p.m. Green Bay at Philadelphia, 5:20 p.m. Monday’s Game Pittsburgh at Indianapolis, 5:15 p.m.

Solano women’s basketball hopes to shine after 2-4 start to season

M att Miller

MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

ROCKVILLE — Matt Borchert is happy with the defensive effort of his Solano Community College women’s basket ball team at the start of the season.

Now the Falcons just have to get better at putting the ball in the basket on offense.

Solano is off to a 2-4 start heading into Tuesday’s 6 p.m. home opener against Modesto. The Falcons lost their season opener 73-53 at San Francisco City College, but have been in every other game since. The other three losses have been by a combined 17 points.

“We’re 2-4 but a couple of games just got away from us,” Borchert said. “We could easily be 4-2. We haven’t shot the ball well yet. The 3-point

line has not been great and the free throws have to improve.”

The team centers around sophomore captain Jaslyn Woods, a returning all-Bay Valley Conference selec tion from Manteca who Borchert said “does a little bit of everything.” Woods handles the ball as a guard, is a good scorer and a solid rebounder.

Sophomore forward Dominique Eaglin, at 5-foot-10 from Vanden, is the second-leading scorer and rebounder. She gave the team significant minutes in 2021-22 and offers solid post moves in the paint.

Another captain, soph omore Melody Rafan, is a guard from Vanden who has at times started and other times has been the first player off the bench. Rafan offers experience and is strong 3-point shooting when she

stays healthy, which has been at times a concern, Borchert said.

Sophomore guard Geneis Ernie-Hamil ton from Will C. Wood in Vacaville gives the Falcons what Borchert calls a “versatile inside-out player.” ErnieHamilton can shoot the 3-pointer and also work down low with a strong post game.

The most productive freshman thus far has been guard-forward Julia Wright from Heritage High School in Brent wood. Wright is off to a strong start as the leading scorer and rebounder.

The rest of the roster features freshman guard Aliyah Hayes (InderkumNatomas), sophomore forward Janae Jackson (Tennyson-Hayward), freshman guard Jade Dickson (Fairfield), freshman guard Charlize Hongo (Vanden), fresh

man guard Bella Merritt (Wood), sophomore guard Kyla Maghoney (Dixon), freshman guard Ella Gervasoni (Amador Valley-Pleasanton), sophomore forward Theresa McCarver (Bethel-Vallejo), fresh man forward-center Ale Ibarra (Vanden) and freshman forward-center Lala Toki (Fairfield).

“We’re sophomorerich and pretty balanced,” Borchert said. “I think we’re gritty, we play solid defense and are pretty stingy. We rebound well, we have a good culture with mental toughness and heart, and those are all great things.”

Solano has two “floating” Bay Valley Conference openers in December. The Falcons will play Dec. 21 at Napa Valley and will host Laney on Dec. 29.

State’s young voters did clinch elections

Every election year it seems there is a story about skyrocketing votes from young people. Every time it turns out to not be true.

Case in point: There have been reports young people turned out in such great numbers this year they surpassed seniors. That’s impossible.

Looking just at Califor nia, among the ballots we have recorded so far, there were 3.2 million seniors who cast ballots among the 5.1 million registered, but of the 6 million voters under 35, only 1.3 million voted.

Seniors comprise 23% of voters but 36% of ballots cast; younger voters are 27% of voters and only 15% of ballots cast. This gap will narrow a bit as we get final numbers from county registrars, but the story will stay the same: young people are massively underperforming.

In case you think California’s youth is espe cially disengaged, that’s not true. Studies show young Californians are more engaged, and our younger voters have a higher registration rate than other states.

But there is another side of this coin.

While youth turnout is disappointingly low, young people put their stamp on this election nonetheless – and it is because of their much more strident ideological stances.

Seniors are balanced in their political lean ings, with recent polling from Capitol Weekly showing approximately 40% of voters over 35 years old identify as moderates, with equal numbers considering themselves either liberal or conservative. This in contrast to the 25% of younger voters who identify as moder ates and are more liberal than conservative at a 3 to 1 ratio.

Most strikingly, upwards of 40% of these young voters consider themselves very liberal, while other age groups are in single-digits.

We can see this in recent polling that shows seniors in California favor Democrats by a 50% to 36% margin, while young voters are polarized toward Democratic candidates at a 70% to 18% margin. On a generic ballot ques tion that asked if they were likely to support a Democratic or Republican candidate, seniors supported Democrats by an 18-point advantage while younger voters supported Democrats by a whopping 56%. On progres sive policies like Gov. Gavin Newsom’s call to ban sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, seniors were evenly split, but 18 – to 34-yearolds were much more supportive at 70%.

Seniors are reliably Democratic-leaning in California but modestly so. Younger voters –even in their smaller numbers – are providing progressives with the overwhelming margins needed to win elections.

One way in which we see this data comes to life is the “blue shift” in the post-election counting of ballots. Analysis of the voters who are having their votes counted in the batches of late-received (but postmarked on time) includes large numbers of younger voters.

In the early waves of vote-by-mail ballots, seniors were outpacing young voters by a 5 to 1 margin. But in the late ballots, a third of ballots were from young voters and fewer than 15% from seniors. Democrats and leftleaning candidates in intra-party runoffs and municipal elections are gaining votes.

Splitting these concepts is important. We don’t need to continue the false narra tive that young people are voting more than seniors – that’s just not true and hides the real challenge faced with this population.

But we can recognize the massive left-lean ing nature of young voters is driving election outcomes. They help Democrats in California earn massive supermajorities in the Assembly and Senate, elect a congressional delegation that is nearly 4 to 1 Democratic, and provide support for the state’s environmental, gay rights, social, housing and other progres sive agendas.

Young people in California and nation ally are effectively helping progressives win, and they were a pivotal election constituency in 2022. One can only imagine what it would look like if they doubled their turnout and met seniors head-on in a future election.

CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Califor nia’s state Capitol works and why it matters. Paul Mitchell is the vice president of Politi cal Data, a voter data firm based in California, and the owner of Redistricting Partners, a firm which does municipal redistricting and con sulting nationally.

Thanks to city, businesses for Veterans Day

On behalf of all the veterans of Solano County, a big thank you to the city of Fairfield and the parade orga nizers for a great parade.

Also to all the establishments like Texas Roadhouse, Denny’s, Cattle mens steakhouse of Dixon, IHOP, Golden Corral and so many more to list, but a big thank you!

Larry Brumfield Suisun City short-term mayor-elect

Heal wrong again

A quick note to Earl Heal re: The Right Stuff column of Oct. 31 where he states near the end of his column that “mayors of riot-torn cities in 2021 who failed to prosecute rioters who killed and burned $2 billion of property, all remain unpunished for their crimes.”

Per USA Today, 10,000 protestors were arrested. Per The Washington Post, more than 14,000 arrests were made. The Hill reported more than 17,000 arrests were made in the first two weeks of the protest. Not surpris ing that different estimates exist as we’re talking about the whole country and an accurate count will likely never happen.

The point is Mr. Heal is wrong when stating all remain unpunished. Per The Associated Press, hundreds were charged with burglary, looting, assaults on police officers and other violent crimes. The information is out there if he bothered to look it up.

Yes, many were charged with simple misdemeanors as has been the case in the violent insurrection that took place on our Capitol. However, I believe it disingenuous to state that the rioters “remain unpunished for their crimes.”

Cindy L. MacDonald Suisun City

Batson’s word of the day –epistemic – get’s workout

I wish to thank Mr. Batson for introducing me to Yevgeny Prigozhin, but more importantly my new 75-cent word, epistemic, i.e.: abstract, ambig uous, philosophical.

To use it, you will see an ambiguous truth based on ideas of a truth as seen by someone or somebody, who wants to influence the uninformed (deplora bles, or sheeple) masses by giving only the information they want to hear.

Political cartoon disgraceful

D.A.

I believe both parties, Demo crats and Republicans, have done this and still do. “We the People” are not just toddlers for arrogant leaders who want to lead uninformed voters to slaughter for their own ambi tious needs.

National term limits on Senate and House of Representatives are needed now. The arrogance has got to stop. Drain the swamp!

As for Prigozhin (what a monster), I read, I believe, the article Mr. Batson mentioned by Anna Nemtsove of the Daily Beast, when Prigozhin stated, “. . . we have, are and will interfere. . . .” So Prigozhin and his cronies are using their epistemic truths to try and influence the most read, and want to be influencers of the United States (maybe .001% of voters) to see people cringe in fear when the rest of the voting population did not care what he/they thought. All I pictured was an old man at a podium with a big stick stirring a vat of horse excrement.

We have real problems in America. Let’s clean house and then worry about the yard.

Remember, according to our laws, anything said not under oath and then

proven is hearsay.

So as long as Mr. Batson peddles his thoughts in epistemic ways, I will stay entertained by his writings on the Opinion Page. This is based only on what I believe – that the Daily Repub lic has no fiction column. (Wait a second . . . the DR does: It’s called the comics!) Remember what opinions are like: We all got one.

Just one deplorable voter’s epis temic thoughts.

Michael Inabnett Fairfield

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@dailyrepublic.net or drop them off at our office, 1250 Texas St. in Fairfield.

Election denial reaching new levels of absurdity

The Trumpist belief that the 2020 elec tion was fraudulent was always rooted in fiction. Now, in the wake of the midterm elections, some in Arizona are showing how deep into this fantasy world they have ventured.

Arizona is home for many of the most fervent true believers in the election fraud myth. Their ire is directed toward election authorities in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where roughly 60% of the state’s votes are cast. After the 2020 election, the purveyors of the fraud narrative pushed the state legislature to autho rize the so-called audit of the county’s vote. That effort confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, but it did nothing to quell the faithful’s suspicions.

This led Arizona Republicans to nominate an entire slate of candidates for statewide office who contended 2020 the election was stolen. The slate was led by former television news anchor Kari Lake, whose steadfast advocacy of the election fraud myth was so pervasive that Donald Trump praised her chutzpah. The former president even told Blake Masters, Arizona’s Republican Senate nominee, to emulate her. “Look at Kari,” he said to Masters in a taped phone call. “If they say ‘how is your family,’ she says the election was rigged and stolen.”

The fraud squad was thus shocked when most of their candidates were defeated.

Lake, Masters and Mark Finchem –the Republican nominee for secretary of state, the office that oversees Arizona elections – all went down.

Meanwhile, Abe Hamadeh, the Republican nominee for state attorney general, is trailing by a few hundred votes in a race that will likely go to recount. While Masters has conceded, Lake and Finchem have disputed the results and are pressuring the state’s outgoing attorney general, Mark

Brnovich – who denied the claims of fraud in 2020 – to investigate.

This rerun of history is descending into farce.

One newly elected GOP state representative, Liz Harris, recently posted on Ins tagram that she would not cast any votes in the Arizona state house unless the midterm elections were redone. Her proof the election was fraudulent? Unspecific allegations of “machine malfunctions” and “chain of custody issues.” The kicker was her claim the reelection of Republican state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who was not part of the fraud faction, was itself proof of fraud. “How can a Republican State Treasurer,” she argued in her post, “receive more votes than a Republican gubernatorial or Senate candidate?”

That’s an easy question to answer. Yee won for the same reason many Republicans have done better than Trump and his ultra-MAGA acolytes in the past few years: She appealed to GOP-leaning, college-educated voters who despise hardcore Trumpism. That’s why Trump lost in 2020; edu cated suburbanites nationwide turned against a man they viewed as beneath the dignity of the office. That’s also why Lake and her crew lost.

The results from Arizona’s 1st Con gressional District bear this out. The seat contains Scottsdale and other well-off, highly educated Phoenix suburbs. Its voters reelected GOP Rep. David Schweikert and gave Yee more than 56%, as election analyst Drew Savicki reports. Yet they voted against all the other Republican state wide nominees, giving Democrats between 51 and 54% of the vote in every race. This is exactly what voters in these areas did in 2020, as Biden carried the seat with 50.1%. They will vote for a certain type of Republican, just not the uber-Trump backers they had on offer this year.

The same pattern held nationally this year. Trump-endorsed state wide candidates such as Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Pennsylvania Senate candidate Mehmet Oz did poorly in the educated suburbs around their states’ major cities. Philip Wallach of the American Enterprise Institute estimates Trumpbacked candidates in competitive House races ran five points behind the level mere partisanship would predict. All of the defeated Trumpy Arizonans lost by less than five points.

This doesn’t mean the elections were perfect.

Some 60 Maricopa County voting centers had printer issues on Election Day that could have discouraged some people from voting. There are also sworn affidavits alleging county elec tion workers did not follow protocol in handling ballots as part of the county’s plan to work around the malfunction ing machines. It’s clear something went wrong in some areas.

But there’s no reason to believe this was either malicious or changed the outcomes of the elections. Incom petent election administration is unfortunately more common that most people believe. But the margins of each candidate’s defeat are so large one cannot reasonably believe they are the result of these mis takes. As is often the case, the most obvious answer is the right one: mod erate college-educated voters just aren’t into MAGA.

Republicans can win a national majority. But they cannot do so if they tout false election narratives and nom inate extreme candidates. Arizona has been ground zero for the party’s fall into political perdition. Looking toward 2024, the race to replace Dem ocratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema would be a good time for the state’s GOP to repent and receive the voters’ grace.

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the

Ethics and Public Policy Center.

Paul Mitchell

Henry Olsen

The satirical cartoon in the Nov. 18 edition of the DR, Mr. Fetterman goes to Washington, was way below the line of human decency. A person who has suffered a stroke and is ridiculed for his condition post-stroke, is the lowest of lows, even for this publication. It doesn’t matter what political party you belong to, making fun of someone at his/her own expense is tantamount to bullying. Some may say it’s just a cartoon, but if that is so, a closer look at his opponent in the election as to why he lost would be a better use of print space.

In the same context, a cartoon about Hershel Walker and his upstanding background and high academic test scores should be next.

Medeiros Vacaville

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FICTITIOUS

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS ARMADA TATTOO COMPANY LOCATEDAT2700SonomaBlvd,Vallejo CA94590Solano.Mailingaddress2700 SonomaBlvd,VallejoCA94590.ARE HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)JoshuaSpinelliTattoosLLCCAVallejo,94590.THISBUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: aLimitedLiabilityCompany Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness n ameornameslistedaboveonN/A. Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/JoshuaSpinelli INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREIT EXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONNovember21,2027. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: November22,2022 NewASSIGNEDFILENO.2022001941 CHARLESLOMELI,SolanoCountyClerk DR#00059615 Published:Nov.27Dec.4,11,18,2022

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS TASTY DONUTS

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT

THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS FAMILY LOVE P&D CUSTOM

LOCATEDAT431BarclayCourt,Suisun CityCA94585Solano.Mailingaddress 431BarclayCourt,SuisunCityCA94585.

LOCATEDAT846TexasStreet,Fairfield

CA94533Solano.Mailingaddress846 TexasStreet,FairfieldCA94533.ARE HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOL-

LOCATEDAT4380SonomaBlvd#128, VallejoCA94589Solano.Mailingaddress4380SonomaBlvd#128,Vallejo CA94589.AREHEREBYREGISTERED

BYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)

businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameorname

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT THE FOLLOWING PERSON (PERSONS) IS (ARE) DOING BUSINESS AS TRIUMPHANT WORSHIP CHURCH

Theregistrantcommencedtotransact businessunderthefictitiousbusiness nameornameslistedaboveon 10/02/2022.

Ideclarethatallinformationinthisstatementistrueandcorrect(Aregistrantwho declaresastrueinformationwhichheor sheknowstobefalseisguiltyofacrime.) /s/ChristopherWillis INACCORDANCEWITHSUBDIVISION (a)OFSECTION17920AFICTITIOUS NAMESTATEMENTGENERALLYEXPIRESATTHEENDOFFIVEYEARS FROMTHEDATEONWHICHITWAS FILEDINTHEOFFICEOFTHECOUNTY CLERK,EXCEPTASPROVIDEDIN SUBDIVISION(b)OFSECTION17920, WHEREITEXPIRES40DAYSAFTER ANYCHANGEINTHEFACTSSET FORTHINTHESTATEMENTPURSUANTTOSECTION17913OTHERTHAN ACHANGEINTHERESIDENCEADDRESSOFAREGISTEREDOWNER. ANEWFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAME STATEMENTMUSTBEFILEDBEFORE THEEXPIRATIONOctober5,2027. THEFILINGOFTHISSTATEMENT DOESNOTOFITSELFAUTHORIZE THEUSEINTHISSTATEOFAFICTITIOUSBUSINESSNAMEINVIOLATION OFTHERIGHTSOFANOTHERUNDER FEDERAL,STATEORCOMMONLAW (SEESECTION14411ETSEQ.,BUSINESSANDPROFESSIONSCODE). FiledintheOfficeoftheCountyClerkof SolanoCounty,StateofCaliforniaon: October6,2022

LOCATEDAT325#2633Merganser Drive,SuisunCA94585Solano.Mailing address30305thSt#227,Davis.ARE HEREBYREGISTEREDBYTHEFOLLOWINGOWNER(S)JamesJackWilliams30305thStDavis,95618.THIS BUSINESSISCONDUCTEDBY: anIndividual