Daily Republic: Dec. 2, 2022

FAIRFIELD — The daily case rate for pos itive coronavirus testing increased for the fourth straight week, and hos pital numbers have started to rise.

“It’s consis tent that we are getting into a surge . . . so this rise is not unex pected,” Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County public health officer, said of the rate climb from 71.84 per day on the six-day period ending Nov. 23 to 86.5 for the eight days that ended Thursday. The rate was 45.14 Nov. 10 and 57.7 Nov. 17, both marking seven-day periods.

The 10-day rate for Thursday was 87.7, up from 68.6 Nov. 23, the county reported.

The number of resi dents in area hospitals with a positive coronavi rus test is up from 23 to 30 in the same eight-day period, with four patients in intensive care units with Covid-19. That is up from three patients.

Matyas said the numbers are not alarm ing, but it is early.

“We are the begin ning of the surge and we don’t know how big it is going to get at its peak,” Matyas said.

There were 710 new cases reported since Nov. 23, 692 of which were from that eightday period. It takes the pan demic total for Solano to 113,186, the county reported. There were no new deaths reported. That total held at 441.

Vallejo experienced 228 new cases to take its total to 34,368. Fairfield’s count went to 30,635 after 183 new cases. Vacaville is at 28,436 with 175 new cases, the county reported.

Suisun City (7,912) is up 40 cases; Dixon (5,360) is up 32; Benicia (4,658) is up 35; Rio Vista (1,590) is up 15; and two more cases in the unincorporated area take that total to 227, the county reported.

Matyas has previously indicated Covid-19 case See Weeks, Page A8

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Solano County Registrar of Voters Tim Flanagan on Wednesday certified the results from the Nov. 8 general election.

“The turnout was a little lower than what we expected, but from an operational perspective, it went very well,” John Gardner, the assistant registrar of voters, said in a phone interview.

The county reported that 50.69% of the 260,891 registered voters in the county cast a ballot.

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — A candi date who finished a very close third in a race for two open City Council seats argues the council’s first choice to fill the vacancy created by the ascension of Alma Her nandez to mayor should come from the list of candidates in

the Nov. 8 election.

be about $2 million.

But all the races and issues

settled.

Incumbent Scott Pederson, who finished 20 votes behind former Mayor Thom Bogue for the District 2 seat on the Dixon City Council, has asked for a recount, while Nora Dizon, who finished 12 votes behind K. Patrice Williams for the District 1 seat on the Fairfield City Council, said she is considering one.

“I

“There should be some consideration for candidates who . . . ran for that posi tion,” said Charles Lee Jr., adding, in fact, it should be the next highest vote-getter who gets that nod. That would be Lee.

If not, Lee argued, the council should call for a

be doing

homework on the issue starting (Thursday).

special election. The next opportunity for that would be in March.

Lee finished 29 votes behind Jenalee Dawson for the second council seat. The top vote-getter was Princess Washington. Sitting Coun cilwoman Jane Day finished fourth in that contest, 22 votes

“When we started the election, we thought we would be at about 65% based on historical guberna torial election cycles,” Gardner said. The cost of the election will

may not be

will

my

Todd R. H ansen

Storm drops rainfall on parched Solano with more to come A5

Martin to give Vanden emotional jolt again for NorCal title

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

MATYAS

LEE

DIZON K. WILLIAMS

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file

Election Clerk Celestine Tiller helps balance the poll places at the Government Center in Fairfield, Nov. 17.

Fresh memories of Travis Super Market

Travis Super Market, which was located at 1435 N. Texas St., served Solano County's seat from 1953 to 1977. The Fairfield family owned business pro vided sustenance for many, gainful employ ment for some and along the way created memo ries that still remain long after it ceased to be.

Owner Harry Yee had worked at the New Vallejo Market and decided to strike out on his own. Wayne Yee, an Armijo Class of 1976 grad and longtime Modesto dentist, explained how his father came to be a local businessman.

“Dad emigrated from China and graduated from college in Colorado as a mining engineer, but in 1938 he was unable to find a job in the United States reflecting his degree mainly because of his skin color and last name,” Yee said.

Harry Yee was an only child and the Travis Super Market was a vehicle for his cousins, uncles and other kin to have jobs while they labored to get their families from China to the U.S.

Travis Super Market had its grand opening Saturday, April 4, 1953. An estimated 2,000 people attended the mar ket’s kickoff party that featured prize giveaways including a $400 ($4,464 in 2022) handcarved Chinese camphor chest, a 17-inch console RCA TV, clocks, radios and numer ous food prizes including bacon and ham.

The 16,000-square-foot building cost in the neighbor hood of $100,000 (more than $1.1 million in today’s dollars).

“It had a 10-room dormi tory upstairs and was built so

my dad and my other relatives could live up there," Wayne Yee said.

“They would work all day and my grandfather would cook dinner for them and that’s where they would bunk out. On Saturday nights, all the guys would want to go out to see a movie, but my dad would stay home and iron his shirts for work.”

Travis Super Market boasted five cash registers and while there were other grocers across town, their biggest competition was the Safeway half a block away on Travis Boulevard.

“But we had a lot of loyal customers partly because our meat department was ahead of its time. We bought beef from a place called Stoeven Broth ers in Dixon and it was good quality beef, better than Safe way’s,” Yee said. “Another way we were ahead of our time is that we sold rotisserie chicken that was already cooked. You see this all the time now, but back then it was unheard of to have prepared food at a grocery store.”

Operating the store was a family affair, both imme diate and extended. Wayne worked there as did his three sisters, Linda, Carrie and Patricia, as well as his older brother Howard and younger brother Greg.

“My dad would have us stock shelves and would pay us by taking us to a 49ers game – that was our wages. The first day I worked there I was mopping up and I knocked over a display of 7 UP on an endcap. Oh and back then it wasn’t in plastic bottles,” Yee said.

There has been some con fusion among local longtimers about who owned what old

school grocery store because across town at 1319 Texas St., Fairfield Grocery was owned by the Yee family – a different Yee family that was no relation to the Yees who owned Travis Super Market.

“One of the first things the communist government in China did was get rid of the educated people so my dad had a big target on his back as he had a degree in mining engineering from a U.S. uni versity. Yee was the name that my dad used to come into the United States to make it con fusing for the communist government. Our original last name was Tom. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed a lot of the immigra tion records so to work around the system a bit, many Chinese people changed their last name to match those of relatives. Yee and Tom are like Smith and Jones in China,” Yee said.

Harry Yee wanted his chil

dren to get an education and find their own ways in life, but also hoped to pass on the family business.

“My dad used to use the Asian parent thing of ‘You can do anything you want . . . as long as you became a doctor, dentist or engineer,’ ” Yee said.

“After we all went through college, there was nobody left who wanted to take over the business. If any of us wanted to take it over, he wouldn’t have sold it.”

Harry Yee retired in 1977 and the Travis Super Market closed. It became another Food Fair in 1980, owed by local businessman/politician Manuel Campos.

Wayne Yee has many memo ries of his family’s store.

“Back in the day you got your driver’s permit at 15 and a half. My younger brother Greg didn’t have a license and he was a little more rebellious than me. He knew my dad’s routine and

knew that he wouldn’t leave the store until 9:15 or 9:20 at night. Greg would sneak over there, take my dad’s car, go cruis ing downtown and make sure to bring it back by 8:55. Honestly, I don’t think my dad ever found out,” Yee said.

Other locals shared memo ries of Travis Super Market: Sonda Green: That was where I won a large carved chest. It was my mom’s ticket, but she let me hold it and have if it won. My ticket was called and a man offered to trade a TV for the chest. No deal. I still have that beautiful camphor chest.

Frema Byrd: My mom used to send us there with a list and a signed check for just a few items, including her cigarettes. No questions asked. I miss the old days when life was real.

Cindy Smith Wagner: I stole a candy bar from there and my mom found out and made me go back, apologize and pay for it. I never stole again.

In addition to memories and stories, Wayne Yee also learned and took to heart some valuable life lessons.

“My dad would say to treat your customers like you wanted to be treated. That’s why that store succeeded. I have been a dentist for 30 some odd years and people I treat know that I care and that I’m doing my best.”

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

Tony Wade Back in the day

Wayne Yee/Courtesy photo

The Travis Super Market back in its heyday.

projects

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The city could be getting a new Italian restaurant if Camran Nojoomi’s plan for the Lawler mixed-use project goes as he hopes.

The City Council on Tuesday night gave Nojoomi, the former city redevelopment director and city manager, a little flexibility to get that done by allowing a live/work element into the devel opment plans.

Najoomi framed it as Plan B if the initial project goals cannot be met.

Nojoomi told the council he has one of the three needed signa tures for the restaurant to be located in one of the 3,600-square-foot com mercial spaces that is part of the Lawler project, which was approved in January for a four-story, 75-unit apartment project with two 3,600-square-foot buildings of commer cial retail space that face Lawler Center Drive between Anderson Drive and McCoy Creek Way.

However, the devel opers have struggled to find tenants for the com mercial space.

The council’s action allows for those spaces to be divided to include a res idential piece, ideally for

someone who would use the rest of the space to run a business.

The council, sitting as the Housing Author ity board, also extended to two years the time Harbor Park LLC has to complete all due dili gence activities, such as soil studies and techni cal engineering surveys of the property, and eval uate financing options for the redevelopment of the Almond Gardens site.

The complex is located at 709 Almond St.

That project, also fronted by Najoomi, calls for six apartment build ings each containing 16 apartment units, and one building that would contain the management office and an apartment unit for the manager. There will be 52 affordable housing units plus marketrate units. The project still requires Planning Com mission approval.

However, the land where the existing complex sits is unstable and sinking. Najoomi said he needs the extra time to get tax credits or other financing to fix the problem.

If the project does not go through, it was pointed out that would also affect the city’s regional housing needs counts for lowincome and other housing.

Suisun council creates ad hoc committee to develop trash plan

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — The early 1970s image of Iron Eyes Cody shedding a single tear in the face of the natural beauty of America being scarred by car emissions, fastfood wrappers and other pollution was invoked this week at the City Council meeting.

The anti-pollution ad campaign of the mid1980s, “Give a Hoot! Don’t Pollute!” also was dusted off and used as an example of how the city might develop its own anti-pollution program to reach school-age children.

Councilman Mike Hudson said being scolded by one of your own chil

dren about littering can be a powerful incentive.

A bigger incentive, it has been argued, is painful fines for illegal dumping and littering; fines that would start at $1,000 and go as high as $10,000 would replace the current Municipal Code limit of $500 if approved.

“And I think it is a good thing to do,” Council woman Wanda Williams said in what will be her last full meeting on the council. She will be joining the county Board of Supervisors on Jan. 3. Councilwoman Jane Day also will be leaving the city panel.

The council Tuesday night voted to estab lish an ad hoc committee

headed by Hudson. One of the new council members to be sworn in at the next meeting –Princess Washington or Jenalee Dawson – will be appointed as well.

Hudson said given the fact the city is in the middle of its budget year, the committee will need to focus on those things that can be done imme diately and leave the longer-term and more

costly options to be inte grated into a new fiscal year workplan. Details such as where and how many signs to use, and where lighting would go also would fall to the com mittee to determine.

Vice Mayor Alma Hernandez, who will be sworn in as mayor at the next meeting, set a threemeeting schedule for the committee to come up with its initial recommen dation. Hernandez, and the council in general, wants to show the public something tangible is being done, and quickly.

Part of that effort will be to find addi tional funding to support those goals.

Vacaville ready to start pilot downtown ID parking program

Todd R. H ansen THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN CITY — Local businesses now have an online portal where they can sell their products and services, and get other benefits for their compa nies, including marketing.

Jared Neumayr, pres ident and chief executive officer for the FairfieldSuisun Chamber of Commerce, presented a short video and addi tional information about the “Shop Where You Live” site.

Its use is free to chamber members and costs less than $21 a year for nonmembers, Neumayr said. Additionally, there are season discounts avail able right now.

There is a link to the site on the chamber webpage, too.

The presentation fol lowed a proclamation approved by the council recognizing November as “Native American Heri tage Month.”

“The city of Suisun City recognizes we sit on the territory of the Patwin, the ancestral and unceded land of the people of the Suisunes and Patwin of the Wintun nation. We acknowledge the history and legacy of this land and pay respect to the elders both past and present; and . . . like most indigenous people through out the United States, the Patwin people were forced from their ancestral lands onto rancherias during the early 1900s, where they currently reside, as citi zens of three sovereign, federally recognized tribal governments, today known

See Online, Page A4

VACAVILLE — A pilot program to identify avail able parking throughout the downtown core area is ready to begin.

“A new parking stall monitoring system will be installed to maxi mize the utilization of the city’s existing down town street parking and 12 public parking lots, all freely available through an integrated smartphone application,” the city’s Public Works Department said in a statement.

The work begins Courtesy photo illustration

on-

See Parking, Page A4

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

A shopping cart is discarded in a canal near the Central County Bikeway in Suisun City, Wednesday.

HERNANDEZ HUDSON

This map provided by the city of Vacaville shows the location of parking lots and

street parking subject to a new ID parking program in the downtown area.

Thompson calls on GOP leaders to work on gun violence prevention bill

VALLEJO — Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, challenged Republi can leaders Wednesday to commit time in the 2023 legislative calendar to gun violence prevention legislation.

Thompson is chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He called on Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, and Repub lican Whip Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, to take action in the wake of mass shoot ings in 2022.

Thompson released a

calendar of one-year mass shooting anniversaries to highlight the need for action in the aftermath of the shootings that garner attention from the national media. He also said there are a number of daily gun violence shootings that too often go unreported.

“Gun violence is an epidemic that is unique to the United States, and without gun violence pre vention legislation, lives will continue to be lost and communities trauma tized,” Thompson said in a press release. “Every day, over 100 lives are lost to gun violence, and

in 2022 alone, there have been over 610 mass shoot ings. This is a crisis that demands that Republican leader ship must commit to making this a priority, otherwise gun violence will continue to run rampant and additional lives will be lost.”

Thompson said McCar thy and Scalise “have a responsibility to their con stituents and the American people to advance pol icies that will save lives, and the American people overwhelmingly support

commonsense gun violence preven tion measures.”

“They must make this com mitment to work with Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and help us protect our com munities and save lives,” Thompson said in the release.

Thompson represents California’s 5th Congres sional District, which includes the Benicia and Vallejo areas in Solano County and all or parts of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties.

From Page A3

Local resident Donna LeBlanc, calling into the meeting, renewed her suggestion to dedicate a portion of the tax revenue generated by the canna bis retail businesses to a beautification fund that could be used for the antitrash campaign and other projects in the city.

“We obviously need funding . . . to do all the things we want to do,” LeBlanc said.

The costs could be substantial.

Installing about 700 feet of guardrail along Railroad Avenue, east of Sunset Avenue, to block off one of the city’s most problem atic illegal dumping sites could cost between $50,000 and $160,000.

Installing lighting in that area alone would be another $45,000 to $55,000, a staff report to the City Council states, and posting signs about trash and illegal dumping around town would cost about $500 per sign.

The city staff returned Tuesday night with cost estimates and other information about pos sible actions the City Council is considering in response to the trash and illegal dumping problem. The council, at its Oct. 18 meeting,

created a list of items it viewed as priorities and for which it requested more information.

Signage, video sur veillance, fencing around vacant properties and lighting were among those items, too.

One option that is certain to get immediate attention is to work with the garbage collection company to make sure commercial centers and apartment complexes have large enough bins for the volume of garbage generated, and that the lids on those bins and enclosures where they are kept have locks.

A general public edu cation campaign will also likely be launched with a reminder to residents to bag their garbage so it does not blow about when the cans are dumped into the collection trucks.

Another suggestion was to get Neighborhood Watch teams to keep their eyes out for illegal dumping activity.

Police Chief Aaron Roth said video of per petrators is only usable if a face can be seen, along with a license plate and other details. However, members of the public believe it can be used as a deterrent and some suggested, privately, as an embar rassment campaign.

“Really, for us, we need real-time phone calls,” Roth said.

can Heritage Month, we honor and celebrate their importance to our great nation and our world.”

Big rig crash blocks intersection, halts railroad traffic in Fairfield

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — A big rig that flipped on its side Thursday blocked a major thoroughfare in the city and impeded rail traffic for much of the remainder

of the day.

The crash happened near the intersection of Vanden and Cannon roads, which was closed at the train tracks. Emer gency personnel remained at the scene for several

hoursas the cleanup pro gressed. Police later reported it appears the driver attempted a turn that was too wide.

The intersection remained closed for much of the day.

No injuries were reported.

Police asked all drivers to avoid the area until further notice. People on Travis Air Force Base were specifically asked not to use the North gate until further notice.

RFC announces Pearl Harbor remembrance

Daily Republic Staff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — The Rowland Freedom Center will unveil its new Pearl Harbor display and ded icate a genuine artifact from the USS Arizona on the 81st anniversary Wednesday of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The ceremony will

include the first in a series of speaker events.

The first talk in a series of lectures titled “Faces of Freedom” is “Evacuat ing Afghanistan,” which will focus on the actions of several members of the military during the evac uation, including Lt. Col. W. Austin Street, Maj. Drew Dela Cruz and 1st Lt. Athena Robb of Travis

then progressing as each parking lot is worked on throughout the week. The team installing the sensors will be starting at 5 a.m.,” the statement said.

Air Force Base.

Before the lecture begins, the Rowland Freedom Center will ded icate its new Pearl Harbor display, highlighting an artifact from the USS Arizona. The ribbon will be cut by World War II Navy veteran Arthur Child, who was part of the crew of the USS Oklahoma and had transferred from the Okla

area businesses and other patrons.

homa in March 1941.

The event starts at 6 p.m. at the Rowland Freedom Center, 300 County Airport Road, Suite 300.

Admission is free but donations are welcome – or bring a toy for Toys for Tots.

For more informa tion, visit Rowland FreedomCenter.org.

city stated.

From Page A3

as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Kletsel Dehe Band of Wintun Indians, and Cachil Dehe Band of Wintun Indians,” the proclamation reads.

“From generation to generation, they handed down invaluable cul tural knowledge and rich traditions, which continue to thrive in Native American com munities across our country today. During National Native Ameri

Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation also was recog nized for the work and services it provides in Solano County.

Monday and continues through Wednesday.

“The Public Works Department will be setting 48-hour closure notices beginning Saturday . . . and

The larger lots –3 through 7 – each will be divided so half of the lot will be completed on one day, and the other half on a second day to help

“Closure signs and caution tape will cover the half of the lot that is being worked on and will not impede access to the half of the lot available for parking. Public Works crews will only keep the lot closed for the time needed to complete the work,” the

The work schedule calls for lots 2, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13 – a total of 228 stalls –to be worked on Monday; and lot 1 and half of lots 3 through 7 – 341 stalls –will be completed Tuesday. The other half of lots 3 through 7 will be done Wednesday, the city said.

THOMPSON

Courtesy photo

A tractor-trailer rig is shown on its side at the intersection of Vanden and Canon roads in Fairfield, Thursday.

Boy Scouts troops to pick up Christmas trees around town

DAily r epubliC STAff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VACAVILLE — Local Boy Scouts troops will once again be picking up Christmas trees after Christmas.

The pickups will take place from 8 a.m. to noon Dec. 31 and Jan. 7.

Different troops will be picking up in differ ent zones: Troop 180 will pick up east of Vine Street and north of Interstate 80; Troop 191 will pick up east of Peabody Road and south of Alamo Drive to the city limits; Troop 265 will pick up west of Dobbins Street and Gibson Canyon and north of Interstate 80; Troop 488 will serve the Leisure Town, Three Oaks, Willow Park,

Paden Park, Keating Park, New/Old Fairmont, Will C. Wood, Berryessa and Southwood areas; Troop 897 will handle Meadowlands, Regency Park, Stonegate, Canter field, Vaca Pena Middle School, Hawkins Park, Woodstock Greens and Factory Stores areas to the city limits.

Contacts for the Boy Scouts troops are:

n Troop 180: 707-7243133.

n Troop 191: 707-9994953.

n Troop 265: 707-3650038.

n Troop 488: 707-4557549.

n Troop 897: 707-9995091.

The cost is $15 for a green tree and $20 for flocked trees.

Wreath laying set at Sacramento Valley National Cemetery

DIXON — The Sac ramento Valley National Cemetery will host its annual wreath-laying cer emony next weekend.

Winters-based Remember-A-Vet and the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery Support Committee are coordinating the cere mony as part of the national Wreaths Across America effort.

Volunteers will help to unload the wreaths from trucks Dec. 9. The wreaths will be placed starting at 9 a.m. Dec. 10.

For those looking for a more private setting, wreaths will be available for pickup Saturday and Sunday at various Dixon/ Winters locations. People may place wreaths before the public event.

Remember-A-Vet

is a local organization that raises money and buys wreaths, which are placed on each veter an’s grave. It started in 2006 with 300 wreaths.

The Sacramento Valley National Cemetery is located at 5810 Midway Road. The event is open to the public.

For more information, visit rememberavet.net.

Vacaville Ice Sports preps for wonderland

VACAVILLE — Vacaville Ice Sports’ annual Winter Wonderland returns this year with a full month of ice skating.

Enjoy a wonderland on ice with festive lights and Christmas trees as holiday music sets the mood for memorial family event.

Skaters of all age levels are welcome. The price of admission includes skate rental.

The event begins Dec. 16 and runs through Jan. 8 at the Vacaville Ice Sports, 551 Davis St., behind Brenden Theatres.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit vacavilleicesport.com or call 707-455-0225.

Winter Wonderland returns to Sweet Pea’s

VACAVILLE — Sweet Pea’s Winter Wonderland welcomes visitors for a festive day filled with visits with Santa, vendors and more.

The day will also include gourmet food trucks, “Nutcracker” ballerinas and face painting.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 10 at 891 Alamo Drive. Visitors can get their pets pictures taken with Santa from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sat urday and Sunday.

For more information, go to www.sweetpeaspet.com.

Corrections officers shoot, kill 2 inmates

Two men were shot and killed by corrections offi cers during a fight with another inmate Tuesday at a state prison in Northern California, according to prison officials.

The men attacked 68-year-old Anthony Aguilera with prison-made weapons, the California Depart ment of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement Wednesday. Frank Nanez, 32, and Raul Cuen, 48, attacked Aguilera around 11 a.m. in a prison yard at the High Desert State Prison near Susanville.

Prison staff ordered the men to stop and then fired a warning shot from a Mini-14 rifle, but said the men ignored them. As the attack continued, the corrections officers shot Nanez and Cuen.

— Staff, wire reports

Storm drops rainfall on parched Solano with more to come

DAily r epubliC STAff DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — A “pow erhouse winter storm” moved through the region Thursday and dropped a third of an inch of rain in Fairfield and even more in Vacaville.

The rainfall Thursday will contribute to dense fog early Friday, with a dense fog advisory in effect from 1 to 9 a.m. across Solano County and much of the region.

Meteorologist Mike Pechner of Golden West Meteorology in Fair field had predicted the storms Thursday and this weekend, the third major complex of the season here in Solano County, would likely greet morning com muters Thursday. His prediction proved true for many commuters.

The cold front moved through the Bay Area Thursday afternoon as Pechner predicted. He expected showers over

night Thursday, clearing Friday. After a lull Friday night, the next weather system was expected to come overnight Friday with a period of steady rain into the early evening Saturday.

Officials with the National Weather Service prior to the storm’s arrival called it “a powerhouse winter storm” that would affect the Western U.S. with widespread heavy

mountain snow, locally heavy rain along the West Coast and gusty winds.

A total of 0.39 inches of rainfall was recorded as of just before 4 p.m. Thursday at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, the National Weather Service reports. A total of 0.49 inches had been recorded at that time at the Nut Tree Airport in Vacaville.

Local water supplies and Lake Berryessa should

“benefit greatly” from the new weather systems, Pechner reports.

The forecast calls for a 30% chance of showers overnight Friday increas ing to 70% Saturday, 90% Saturday night and Sunday, and 70% Sunday night at both Travis Air Force Base and at the Nut Tree Airport, the National Weather Service reports.

Officials with the Solano County Office of Emergency Services on Wednesday advised res idents to take certain precautions in advance of the storms. Among them, clean debris from roof gutters and downspouts, and keep yard drains clear of debris and other obstructions. The agency reminded people to never drive across flooded roads, and to check tires, wiper blades, fluids and lights before driving in the rain.

The next rainfall after this weekend’s storm is likely to come around Dec. 10, Pechner reports.

Church won’t have to pay Covid fines after California Supreme Court denies petition

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

SANTA CLARA COUNTY — In a victory for a San Jose church who openly flouted Covid rules at the height of the pandemic, the Califor nia Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a petition by Santa Clara County asking that Calvary Chapel pay more than a quarter million dollars in court fees.

“We feel really relieved,” said Mariah Gondeiro, the attorney rep resenting Calvary Chapel.

As a result, the church won’t have to fork over $217,500, which was pre viously decided by a 6th District Court of Appeal ruling issued over the summer. In that decision, the court reversed the fees stemming from court orders issued in Decem ber 2020 and February 2021 when Calvary Chapel openly defied the coun ty’s public health orders. In their August ruling, the appellate court cited mul tiple U.S. Supreme Court decisions last year that favored religious freedoms over public health rules.

The state court’s deci sion reflects the wider reverberations that the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court has had on the country’s legal systems.

“I think we have a very religious-friendly Supreme Court,” said Gondeiro, a who works for the Southern Califor nia-based Advocates For Faith & Freedom. “And

we’re starting to see that trickle down across the country. When it comes to religious freedoms, they know where the Supreme Court stands.”

However, in addition to denying the county’s peti tion Wednesday, the state’s high court also decerti fied the August appellate ruling. That move effec tively wipes away the 6th District’s precedent and doesn’t allow future legal challengers to use it. Santa Clara County’s counsel James Williams consid ers Wednesday decision as both a partial loss and partial victory.

“I’m certainly disap pointed they didn’t review the petition,” he admitted. “But in ordering the deci sion to be de-published, it can no longer be cited. It will no longer affect rule of law. I think the Califor nia Supreme Court sent that message.”

During the first year of

the pandemic, the Santa Clara County Superior Court granted the county a preliminary injunction against Calvary Chapel to stop holding indoor ser vices where congregants were not wearing masks, not following social dis tancing orders and singing – all in violation

of public health require ments at the time. Calvary Chapel – a nondenomina tional Christian church with 3,000 congregants –ignored the injunction and was found in contempt of court and fined hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In its unanimous Aug. 15 ruling, the appeals court sided with the church.

“From these decisions, we understand the U.S. Supreme Court to hold that where a pandemic-related public health order prohib iting indoor gatherings has the effect of prohibiting indoor worship services, the order is not neutral and of general applica bility if the public health order permits any other type of indoor secular activity, notwithstanding that secular indoor gath erings are also banned,”

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic photos

A vehicle turns into a flooded intersection at Washington Street and Bell Avenue in Fairfield, Thursday.

A pedestrian holding an umbrella walks through a rain storm on North Texas Street in Fairfield, Thursday.

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic file (2021) Hundreds came out to help place wreaths on the graves at the annual Wreaths Across America event at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in Dixon, Dec. 18, 2021.

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS file (2020)

A supporter of Calvary Chapel in San Jose waves an American flag outside of Santa Clara Superior Court in downtown San Jose, Dec. 8, 2020.

Supreme Court agrees to decide on student loan forgiveness plan

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thurs day refused an emergency appeal to immediately revive President Joe Biden’s student loan for giveness plan, but agreed to rule early next year on its legality.

The justices left in place an appeals court ruling that has put the program on hold.

The decision is a tem porary setback for the administration but not a defeat for its plan to forgive student loans of up to $20,000 for as many as 20 million borrowers.

Anticipating such a move by the court, the administration last week extended its pause for bor rowers to resume making monthly repayments, at least until June 30 of next year. By then, the high court will likely have handed down a ruling.

But Biden and his lawyers face an uphill battle against a conserva tive court that is skeptical of government agencies claiming a broad power that was not clearly approved by Congress.

At issue is whether the Covid-19 pandemic and the national emer gency declared by President Donald Trump in March 2020 authorizes the Education Department to go beyond its pause in repayments and forgive some or all of the student loans held by those earning less than $125,000 a year or up to $250,000 for a married couple.

Twice in the past year, the court’s conservatives rejected Biden’s use of the pandemic to extend his regulatory powers.

The justices in a 6-3 decision ended a nationwide moratorium on housing evictions and said it “strains credu lity” to believe Congress had given such authority to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

They also struck down a Labor Department rule that would have required large employers to enforce a vaccine mandate for their employees.

The administration’s student loan forgive ness plan is based on the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act of 2003, or HEROES Act, which Congress adopted without debate shortly after the start of the Iraq War.

It said the education secretary may “waive or modify” a student aid program if “necessary in connection with a war or other military operation or national emergency.”

The aim was to ensure that “affected individu als” such as soldiers and National Guard troops “are not placed in a worse position financially” from being called to serve. Their loans were not canceled.

The law also said an “affected individual” includes anyone who “resides or is employed in an area that is declared a disaster area by any federal, state, or local offi cial in connection with a national emergency.”

Biden’s lawyers argued that those who live in the United States or abroad qualify as an “affected individual” under the law because the Covid-19 pan demic is global in scope.

Six Republican state attorneys sued and argued that Congress never authorized the govern ment to forgive student loans at a cost of more than $400 billion, accord ing to the Congressional Budget Office.

They cited House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who last year said “it would take an act of Congress, not an executive order, to cancel student loan debt. People think that the president of the United States has the power of debt forgiveness. He does not. He can post pone. He can delay, but he does not have that power.”

Appeals court ends special master review of Mar-aLago documents

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

WASHINGTON — A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that a special master should not have been appointed to review materials the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-aLago estate, a decision that ends the outside review of thousands of docu ments that has delayed for months a criminal inves tigation into the former president’s handling of classified information after leaving office.

The decision allows the Justice Department to resume using those materials as part of its investigation into whether Trump illegally kept clas sified records after leaving office and obstructed the FBI’s attempts to recover them.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had ordered the government not to use the materials while the review took place, limiting what evidence the depart ment could access during its investigation.

During brief arguments before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta last week, the three judges suggested that Trump and

his legal team, in challeng ing the search warrant executed at his home long before charges had been brought, wanted special treatment that would not have been granted to any other American. They also said that the case did not appear to clear the bar for appointing a special master, a type of indepen dent expert used in some legal cases.

The judges also expressed concern that allowing Judge Cannon’s decision to stand would set a precedent that would allow other people under investigation to ask courts to limit law enforcement access to evidence before any indictments had been handed down.

Thursday’s unanimous 21-page ruling says that Cannon never had jurisdic tion to approve the special master review or order the government to stop using the documents.

The three members of the 11th Circuit panel were all appointed by Republi cans. Chief Judge William Pryor was appointed by former President George W. Bush. Judges Britt Grant and Andrew Brasher were appointed by Trump.

‘Zero Covid’ roiling China

But ending the policy may cause a massive health disaster

TAIPEI, Taiwan —

Nearly three years into a pandemic that has killed more than 6.6 million people worldwide, the offi cial death toll in mainland China stands at 5,233 – a stunningly low number for the world’s most pop ulous nation.

While most countries long ago stopped trying to eliminate the corona virus and decided to live with it instead, China has gone to extreme lengths to prevent it from spread ing. The government relentlessly tracks its cit izens, mandates constant testing, shutters workers inside factories and locks down entire cities under a plan that has come to be known as “zero Covid.”

Now, with its economy in steep decline and pro testers taking to the streets in a rare show of defiance against an authoritarian government, the country’s leaders are facing enor mous pressure to ease up on those restrictions.

But there’s a major problem they’ll have to contend with: Zero Covid has turned China into a coronavirus tinderbox.

With outbreaks scru pulously suppressed and vaccination rates lagging, the population is likely to have little natural immunity. If the rules were relaxed too much, experts fear the country of 1.4 billion would experience a public health emergency on a massive scale, which would threaten its capacity to care for the sick.

“Without a coordi nated and coherent plan, it might just lead to a rapid increase in cases, and then you will find the healthcare system quickly overwhelmed,” said Yan zhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on public health in China. “That will defeat the very purpose of the Chinese pandemic response.”

To get an idea of what that could look like, con sider Hong Kong in February. That’s when the highly contagious omicron variant broke through the city’s zero-

Covid defenses and swept through the densely packed metropolis.

Although 72% of resi dents had been vaccinated against Covid-19, vaccine uptake among vulnerable senior citizens was con siderably lower. Less than 45% of those 70 and older were inoculated when the outbreak got underway, and among residents of assisted-living homes, it was below 20%.

Within weeks, a massive convention center was transformed into a makeshift hospi tal to care for elderly Covid-19 patients. Wait times for ambulances lasted up to two days. Morgues ran out of coffins as the daily death toll soared from zero to nearly 300 even though the variant often seems less dangerous than its predecessors.

Public anger and frustration aside, many citizens fear a similar scenario could unfold on the mainland.

“Society is very divided,” said Xi Chen, a health policy expert at the Yale School of Public Health. “They worry about too-harsh lockdown mea sures, but they also worry about the government relaxing everything.”

When the novel coro navirus first turned up in Wuhan in late 2019, Chinese officials were slow to recognize the threat. But once the risk became clear, the country implemented sweeping measures to stamp out viral transmission. That meant canceling inter national flights, blocking highways and confining entire city populations to their homes.

Within months, life in China had returned to normal while countries such as the U.S., South Africa and Brazil strug gled to keep their death tolls under control.

President Xi Jinping has trumpeted zero Covid as one of his crowning achievements, calling it proof that China’s gov ernance is superior to those in the West. For a long time, it looked like he was right, said Michael Osterholm,

director of the Univer sity of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

“Then came omicron,” Osterholm said. “Earlier variants were like severe forest fires: They were chal lenging, but they could be contained. Omicron is like the wind. They can divert it. But they can’t stop it.”

Chinese officials have certainly tried.

Authorities require daily or near-daily corona virus tests to immediately identify infections. Sin gle-digit case counts have prompted protracted lockdowns. As new cases reached record levels, 95 out of China’s top 100 cities by economic output have implemented Covid restrictions as of Nov. 22, according to Bei jing-based research firm Gavekal Dragonomics.

Under the most severe lockdowns, citizens have struggled to get ade quate supplies of food and medicine. The measures have also dragged down the economy, shutting businesses, disrupting factories and stifling con sumer spending.

The government con tinues to tout the country’s low death count, which doesn’t include Hong Kong. Though the offi cial tally is a subject of debate, experts agree that China’s Covid-19 death rate remains one of the lowest in the world.

But that success has done little to quell the growing outrage. For many, the costs of such a unyielding policy has been crystallized by events such as a bus crash in the south ern province of Guizhou that killed 27 people who were being transported to a quarantine facil ity under zero Covid. Or the fact that anxious resi dents of Sichuan province were barred from leaving their apartment buildings after an earthquake that killed at least 93 people. Or the death of a 3-yearold boy in Gansu province who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning after health workers enforc ing a lockdown prevented his father from calling an ambulance.

The last straw was an

apartment fire that killed 10 people last week in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region that has been under lockdown for more than three months.

Angry citizens believed zero-Covid controls pre vented residents from fleeing and kept fire fighters from reaching the burning building in a timely manner.

Over the weekend, vigils for the Urumqi victims erupted into mass demonstrations across the country, with many partic ipants complaining about China’s zero-Covid policy and even the Communist Party and President Xi.

Though the government moved to quickly quell the protests, there are signs the public dissent has put more pressure on party leaders to come up with a zero-Covid exit plan.

Exactly what that would entail is unclear, but authorities reempha zised one major priority Tuesday: boosting the vac cination rate among the elderly. While 90% of Chinese people were fully vaccinated as of midNovember, the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control says only 66% of those 80 and older have been fully vaccinated, and only 40% have gotten a booster even though doses are widely available.

Increasing immunity among senior citizens is vital because they are the most vulnerable to serious illness with Covid. In Sin gapore, for instance, 99% of pandemic deaths have occurred in people over age 60. In England, that age group accounts for 92% of fatalities.

Until China increases its vaccination rate for seniors, improves the effi cacy of its vaccines and treatments and bolsters its medical resources, it cannot afford to loosen its grip on zero Covid.

“If they had one of those three things in place, that would shift the risk calculus tremen dously,” said Andy Chen, lead Covid analyst at Bei jing-based consultancy Trivium China.

But for now, China lacks all three.

health orders.

From Page A5

Presiding Justice Mary Greenwood wrote in a 36-page opinion.

The high court’s ruling Wednesday bars any future legal avenues for the county to force the church to pay the con tempt-of-court fees. The county had tried pointing out to the state Supreme

Court that the 6th District had let Calvary Chapel completely off the hook by interpreting a single one of its violations sur rounding capacity limits as unconstitutional. The church violated multi ple public health orders such as mask-wearing, the county contended, and therefore should still have been held responsible for being in contempt of court.

Despite the state Supreme Court ruling, the church and county are

still locked in a legal battle that could take years to resolve, with millions on the line.

The fight began in the summer of 2020 when Calvary Chapel sued in federal court, claiming that local public health orders were violating its right to hold church ser vices. That led the county to fight back by suing the church in state court, saying they were respon sible for $2.87 million in fines for violating public

Both sides have expe rienced victories and setbacks over the years, culminating in a deposi tion in August by Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody, a unique moment when the decision making of one of the country’s top public health officials was scru tinized. Hearings for both the state and federal cases will occur in January.

CNS/AFP via Getty Images/TNS

Employees work at a makeshift hospital that will be used for Covid-19 patients in Chongqing, China, Nov. 22.

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

NEW YORK — This season of “Saturday Night Live” will wind down with a trip down memory lane as former cast members Steve Martin and Martin Short co-host.

Dec. 10 will be Mar tin’s 16th time as host and Martin’s third, after the duo starred together in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.”

Fresh from netting seven Grammy nomi nations, country rocker Brandi Carlile is booked as the musical guest. Martin’s return to the 30 Rockefeller sound stage follows his two guest appearances earlier this year. He and Martin have made numerous cameos over the years.

This Saturday, Emmy winner Keke Palmer hosts, with

musical guest SZA. “Elvis” star Austin Butler will host the final episode of the year, on Dec. 17. Yeah Yeah Yeahs are booked as musical guest on that date.

The only star to host “SNL” more than Martin is Alec Baldwin, who’s had the role 17 times.

Tribune ConTenT AgenC

Pearls Before Swine

Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baby Blues Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott

Baldo Hector Cantú

Amy Sussman/Getty Images/ TNS file

From left, Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and Martin Short attend the afterparty for “Only Murders In The Building” Season 2 at Sunset Towers in Los Angeles, June 27.

Crime logs FairField

TUESDAY, NOV. 29

12:10 a.m. — Vandalism, 1700 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 2:15 a.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 600 block of MADDALENA WAY 6:44 a.m. — Hit-and-run with injury, EASTBOUND HIGHWAY 12 7:42 a.m. — Vehicle theft, 800 block of EAST TABOR AVENUE 10:40 a.m. — Trespassing, 2200 block of PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE 10:43 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 2100 block of WEST TEXAS STREET 11:45 a.m. — Battery, 100 block of BODIN CIRCLE 12:11 p.m. — Battery, 4700 block of STONEWOOD DRIVE 2:45 p.m. — Vandalism, 1100 block of DELAWARE STREET 3:15 p.m. — Trespassing, 1400 block of WEST TEXAS STREET 3:27 p.m. — Drunk and disorderly, 2500 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 4:33 p.m. — Forgery, 1000 block of HARDING STREET 5 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 3300 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 6:01 p.m. — Hit-and-run with injury, WISCONSIN STREET 6:16 p.m. — Battery, 1400 block of UNION AVENUE 6:19 p.m. — Trespassing, 2100 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 7:06 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 1700 block of VERMONT STREET 7:14 p.m. — Reckless driver, WESTAMERICA DRIVE 7:54 p.m. — Robbery, 600 block of JACKSON STREET 8:25 p.m. — Grand theft, 1500 block of GATEWAY BOULEVARD 9:09 p.m. — Trespassing, 2300 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 10:37 p.m. — Sexual assault, 700 block of TAYLOR STREET 11:31 p.m. — Trespassing, 2500 block of MARTIN ROAD WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30 4:53 a.m. — Trespassing, 1800 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 6:30 a.m. — Vehicle burglary, 100 block of MERLOT COURT 7:54 a.m. — Vandalism, 4600 block of OPAL COURT 9:09 a.m. — Battery, 1900 block of GRANDE CIRCLE 9:24 a.m. — Trespassing, 1300 block of EMPIRE STREET 9:41 p.m. — Vandalism, 3300 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 11:52 a.m. — Grand theft, 4600 block of CENTRAL WAY 2:17 p.m. — Vehicle burglary,

800 block of CHADBOURNE ROAD 2:28 p.m. — Vehicle burglary, 1000 block of WEBSTER STREET 2:57 p.m. — Sexual assault, 900 block of HARDING STREET 3:02 p.m. — Reckless driver, VANDEN ROAD 3:04 p.m. — Drunken driver, CEMENT HILL ROAD 3:45 p.m. — Battery, 1200 block of B. GALE WILSON BOULEVARD 3:50 p.m. — Trespassing, 200 block of JASMINE STREET 3:54 p.m. — Drunk and disorderly, 3000 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 4:30 p.m. — Trespassing, 1700 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 5:10 p.m. — Shots fired, 1600 block of NORTH TEXAS STREET 5:12 p.m. — Drunken driver, CEMENT HILL ROAD 5:39 p.m. — Grand theft, 1400 block of UTAH STREET 6:08 p.m. — Robbery, 1500 block of TRAVIS BOULEVARD 6:21 p.m. — Drunken driver, 800 block of PACIFIC AVENUE 8:45 p.m. — Hit-and-run with injury, 500 block of YARROW DRIVE 9:30 p.m. — Reckless driver, NORTH TEXAS STREET 10:33 p.m. — Hit-and-run property damage, 1300 block of CROWLEY LANE

SuiSun City

TUESDAY, NOV. 29 9:04 a.m. — Grand theft, 300 block of CIVIC CENTER BOULEVARD 9:41 a.m. — Reckless driver, HIGHWAY 12 / WALTERS ROAD WEDNESDAY, NOV. 30 8:23 a.m. — Grand theft, 1000 block of WHISTLER DRIVE 11:29 a.m. — Assault, 700 block of SUNSET AVENUE 3:25 p.m. — Vehicle theft, 100 block of SUNSET AVENUE 4:46 p.m. — Assault, 900 block of HARLEQUIN WAY

Senate clears rail labor agreement, rejects separate sick leave measure

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

WASHINGTON — The Senate passed a resolu tion Thursday that would put in place the rail labor agreement reached by the White House, rail roads and labor unions in September, but rejected a separate measure to provide an additional seven days of sick leave to workers.

The rejection of the sick leave resolution serves a blow to rail union workers who held up the bargaining process and have threatened to strike Dec. 9 unless they get the additional sick leave. The passed resolution would prevent unions from striking by imposing a contract agreement.

The Senate voted 80-15 to pass the labor resolution, which would enact contract agree ment provisions including one of the largest wage packages in nearly five decades, according to its advocates, as well as increased health benefits.

The resolution now heads to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.

workers will get one “paid personal day” and three periods off for medical care visits annually. They will also be required to schedule the visits only on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and at least 30 days in advance.

Congress has been racing against the looming threat of a rail strike next week after four out of 12 unions declined to ratify a labor agreement crafted by a Presidential Emer gency Board. In response to progressive Democrats, who threatened to block the agreement if Major ity Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., didn’t hold a vote on extra sick leave, House Democrats introduced the sick time resolution, technically an “enrollment correc tion,” Tuesday night. The House approved both res olutions Wednesday.

Jahn, CEO of the industry group American Chem istry Council, speaking about what would happen if lawmakers didn’t approve the resolution by Friday. “(Shipments) of things like chlorine for disinfecting drink ing water and a variety of other industries where these different technol ogies go into healthcare, energy production and food production would all be at risk.”

But unions advocat ing for additional sick leave call the agreement’s passage a bigger problem for the railroad industry’s morale problem.

private sector,” Rubio said. “Congress should have sent everyone back to the negotiating table, but instead it told rail workers to suck it up and be grateful.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, added that congressional action means lawmakers can get involved in “every collective bar gaining agreement,” stressing that it needs to be a “last resort.”

counts are likely much higher with the use of in-home testing, results of which are not generally reported to government agencies and in many cases are not shared with medical providers if medical treatment is not needed. He has also said the availability of vaccines and changes to personal behavior have slowed the disease throughout the Bay Area.

The full vaccina tion rate for residents 5 or older holds at 72%,

while 82% of that popula tion has received at least one shot. There were 170 additional booster shots administered, taking that total to 183,526, the county reported.

The number of shots given to children 6 months to 4 years old is at 2,451 (10.9%), and the number of shots to children 5 to 11 was adjusted down by eight to 14,876 (40.1%), the county reported. The adjustment is due to indi viduals who crossed from one age group to another and received another vaccine shot, Matyas said.

The number of monkey pox cases in Solano County held at 42.

next highest vote-getter –current Councilman Mike Hudson – and appointed Anthony Adams, who had not run in that same election.

“I want to thank Con gressional leadership who supported the bill and the overwhelming majority of Senators and Repre sentatives in both parties who voted to avert a rail shutdown,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House after the vote. “Congress’ decisive action ensures that we will avoid the impending, devastating economic con sequences for workers, families, and communi ties across the country.”

Since the chamber fell short of the 60 votes needed to approve the sick-leave measure – the vote was 52-43 – the rail

Ballot

From Page One

Schumer granted the vote on extra sick-leave provisions Thursday afternoon to build support for passing the labor agreement legislation by the end of the day. If the Senate hadn’t approved the labor agreement by Friday, the rail industry expected to lose business as soon as the weekend, since industries that rely on rail shipping would likely pull out their ship ments in expectation of a strike.

The now reigning agreement is a win for railroads, the industries that rely on them and the American public, indus try representatives say. The Association of Amer ican Railroads estimated that a rail stoppage could cost the U.S. economy $2 billion a day, as well as back up key supply chains.

“The impacts on the rail industry would start Saturday,” said Chris

in Solano and Napa coun ties had not yet been decided.

“It precludes us from going on strike . . . but it doesn’t build cama raderie and trust with their workers,” said Clark Ballew, spokesper son for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “Railroad ers are tired. They get jerked around by terrible attendance policies, awful scheduling, demands to come in at a moment’s notice because there’s no one else to respond.”

“You can damn well believe our members will remember which politi cians supported a basic, common courtesy of a sick day when they go to the ballot box,” he added.

The unions received unexpected support from a handful of Republi cans, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco Rubio of Florida, who criticized congressional action on the agree ment for the “precedent” it would set.

“By now everyone should realize nothing good happens when Con gress gets involved in issues best left to the

The Republican sena tors joined progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has been vocal about his opposition to imposing an agree ment without additional sick leave. Sanders even teased Cruz for his yes vote on the paid sick leave resolution, saying, “I always knew you were a socialist.”

After passage, Sanders promised to take up addi tional paid sick days in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Com mittee, adding that the “struggle is not over.”

Democrats in the Senate widely supported both the paid sick leave and underlying agreement resolutions, with Sen. Joe Manchin III, D-W. Va., the only member of the party to vote against the paid sick leave measure.

Prior to passage, the Senate voted 26-69 against an amendment offered by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, that would increase the cooling-off period for freight rail roads and unions that expires Dec. 4.

The unions would remain under the agree ment passed by Congress for the next two years until

begins again.

behind Lee. Katrina Garcia finished a distant fifth.

Tim Flanagan, the Solano County registrar of voters, certified the elec tion Wednesday.

Lee said the candi dates have already been “vetted” by the public and the council should not sub stitute its judgment for the voters’ choices.

The same argument was made the last time the council had a council appointment to make, but chose to pass on the

That position was vacant because now Assembly woman Lori Wilson had become mayor, leaving her council seat vacant.

Wilson had nomi nated Adams, calling him a “fresh voice” that the council needed.

Hudson said at the meeting Adams took his oath that he had run a good reelection campaign and that “real people voted for me and nobody voted for him.”

I have until Dec 5, 2022, to make my formal request,” Dizon said in an email response to the Daily Republic.

Williams said she is ready to go to work.

“I want the residents of District 1 to know that I see you and I hear you, and I look forward to engaging with you to find workable, innovative solutions and opportuni ties to make our city the best it can be for all res idents,” Williams said in a statement.

Measure S, the $249.6 million facility bond for the FairfieldSuisun School District, could be the subject of a recount as well. The initia tive reached the necessary threshold for 55% needed to pass by just two votes in Solano and Napa counties.

The Registrar of Voters Office has confirmed it has had discussions with the opposition about a recount, but also discus sions with the district; both discussions taking place when the voting

Napa County is not expected to certify its election until Friday, which leaves until 5 p.m. Dec. 7 to file a recount request on Measure S.

How much it would cost someone to pay for a recount depends on a lot of factors, including how many ballots are involved and from where, as well as how many recount boards someone, or some organi zation, is willing to pay for to speed up the count.

Gardner said his office will do a cost analysis Thursday for Pederson. There were 1,052 offi cial ballots between the two men, plus 133 dis qualified as undervotes, usually meaning no can didate was selected.

The last recount in Solano County was in 2020 for Trustee Area 2 on the Solano County Board of Education, which also involved Napa County. The count was stopped by the request ing party when it became clear the results would

not change. The price tag was about $9,000 for five days of work.

If the results change, the cost would fall on the county.

The Nov. 8 election resulted in four new mayors, 13 new council members and one new county supervisor being voted into office. Two of the mayors were in Suisun City: Larry Brumfield, on a short-term, and Alma Hernandez, for a full four-year term.

Six school districts held elections; three U.S. congressional seats involving Solano County were decided; and one state Assembly seat won by former Suisun City Mayor Lori Wilson. It was her third election in eight months for the same office.

Catherine Moy will be the new Fairfield mayor when she takes her oath

of office Dec. 20. John Carli, the former police chief in Vacav ille, becomes the city’s mayor when he takes his oath Dec. 13. Wanda Wil liams, formerly a Suisun City council woman, on Jan. 3 becomes the new 3rd District rep resentative on the county Board of Supervisors. The public ceremony is tenta tively set for Jan. 10.

All the election results can be found at www. solanocounty.com/ civicax/filebank/blob dload.aspx?blobid=39936.

There were more than 1,000 volunteers who helped put on the elec tion, with 50 extra-help staff added to the county employment rolls.

About half of the polling locations – 33 –were adopted by a group or organization, which in turn manages the poll workers’ schedules. The members are paid for each training session, which raises funds for their organizations, Gardner said.

CARLI MOY W. WILLIAMS

the collective bargaining process

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/TNS

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, left, talks with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) as they arrive for a closed-door policy luncheon with Senate Democrats at the U.S.

Capitol in Washington, D.C., Thursday. Buttigieg and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with the senators to encourage them to pass legislation to avert a nationwide railroad workers strike.

Martin to give Vanden emotional jolt again for NorCal title game

M att Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Devin Martin plays the middle linebacker posi tion for the Vanden High School football team with a level of passion and emotion that is not only conta gious to his teammates, but to his many fans in the stands as well.

Martin says the adrenaline rush comes moments after he hears the national anthem. He gets charged up and builds a laser focus on the opponent in front of him and the man who has the ball. He feels it’s

necessary to get ready, especially if his teammates aren’t matching his energy level.

“I joke that I love to hit, but that is only part of it,” Martin said. “Foot ball is my outlet and my distraction.

If I’m having problems, I’m ready to run out on the field and get it out of my mind. It’s such a great distrac tion. You cry, laugh, smile, frown, bleed and sweat out there.”

Martin and the Vikings are chasing a second straight Northern California title this weekend. Satur day’s Division 3-A final is scheduled for 2 p.m. at San Jose City College

against a powerful foe in Bellarm ine College Prep.

“They are a really disciplined team and one of the best we have seen all year,” Martin said. “They are a mix of all the great teams we have played this season: Vacav ille, Rancho Cotati, Foothill, Yuba. They are all those teams com bined. It should be a great game. It might rain so that could hamper the passing a little and have both teams running downhill.”

Reloaded Vikings’ girls basketball team aims for another big postseason

M att Miller MMILLER@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Allison and Jake Johnson are ready to try and take their Vanden High School girls basketball team on another deep postsea son run this season with another talented and experienced club.

It’s a family tradition.

Building power ful basketball teams is just as much of a tradi tion this time of the year as decorating the house for the holiday season and gift shopping. The husband and wife coach ing duo have a staggering record since taking over the program during the 2004-05 season.

There’s the 18 straight league titles in the Mon ticello Empire League and previously in the

Solano County Athletic Conference. There’s the 30 straight league victo ries and 138 in the past 140 games. Vanden hasn’t lost in the MEL since a 61-54 overtime loss to Rodriguez on Feb. 7, 2019.

All told, the Johnson & Johnson Corporation has a record of 450-93 with four Sac-Joaquin Section titles to their credit and one CIF state champi onship in 2017. The only season they didn’t win

20 or more games came in the spring of 2021, a season that was limited to 12 games because of the pandemic. They went 11-1 anyway.

And there is no sign of letting up.

Vanden returns the MEL MVP and four hon orable mention selections this season. That team went 26-4 overall before ending a stellar run in the second round of the state tournament with a 54-50 overtime loss at St. Ignatius in San Francisco.

Expectations are high. Cal-High Sports has the Vikings ranked as the No. 11 team in the state.

“The girls have high expectations of them selves and that is fun to watch,” Allison Johnson said. “They hold each

Giants great

Gaylord Perry dies at the age of 84 B2

US star ‘doing everything in my power’ to play Saturday

By K evin Baxter LOS ANGELES TIMES

Christian Pulisic learned the U.S. had advanced to the World Cup’s round of 16 by staring at a cellphone in a hospital examina tion room. Which is odd because it was Pulisic’s goal that had sent the Americans there.

But the scoring play ended with Pulisic sliding into Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Bei ranvand, whose knee slammed into Pulisic’s . . . well, we’ll get to that in a minute. The impor tant thing is the ball wound up in the net, the U.S. hung on for a 1-0 victory and will meet the Netherlands on Sat urday in the first round of elimination games.

Pulisic, meanwhile, wound up in the hospital where he was diagnosed with a pelvic contu sion, a condition that is a lot more painful than it sounds. But not, appar ently, as painful as it could have been.

“I mean, it’s a pelvic contusion,” he said. “At

the same time, I didn’t get hit in the [testicles]. It was very painful and, you know, that bone is there for a reason, to protect you. I hit it well. It was sore. But it’s getting better.”

Whether that bone protected Pulisic well enough that he’ll be able to play Saturday night will not be known until game time. But his absence would be a big blow to the U.S. since the Americans have just two goals in this World Cup and Pulisic set up one and scored the other.

“I’m taking it day by day right now, but doing everything in my power to be able to be out there on the field on Satur day,” said Pulisic, who was unusually upbeat and engaged during a 14-minute media con ference Thursday at the U.S. training complex.

Although the players chose Tyler Adams as their captain, Pulisic has long been the public face of the team, and it’s clear the players feed off his

49ers’ Bosa captures NFL award for his November work

CaM inM an BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

SANTA CLARA — Nick Bosa is the NFC’s Defensive Player of the Month, a month that opened with a bye, then saw Bosa and the 49ers extend a win streak to four while shutting out all opponents in the second half.

Bosa finished his November work shift with a fourth-and-goal sack to seal Sunday’s 13-0 shutout of the New Orleans Saints.

An oddity about Thursday’s NFL honor: He may have won monthly honors but neither he nor any 49ers defender cap tured player-of-the-week accolades, for Novem ber or any other month this season.

Now the 49ers (7-4) are onto December and

a home game Sunday against the offen sive-charged Miami Dolphins (8-3).

“It’s going to be fun. It’s my hometown team,” said Bosa, who grew up and maintains an off season home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “I’ve got some friends coming out. They’ll be wearing Dolphins jerseys which would be good to shut them up, but it’s going to be fun, a really good team, a taste of what can come.”

Bosa’s November totals: three sacks, and of his 10 tackles, five were for loss.

Dolphins’ first-year coach Mike McDaniel was a 49ers’ assistant the previous five years, so he sure knows Bosa’s capabilities, which make him a viable Player of the Year candidate.

Armijo’s boys soccer team nets win over American Canyon

Daily r epuBliC Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Senior Abraham Perez Ascencio scored four goals Wednes day night as the Armijo High School boys soccer team was able to storm out to a 5-1 win over Amer ican Canyon.

Ascencio scored in the first minute of the game and added three in the second half. He did so by dribbling through American Canyon players and making some

quick 1-2 plays off senior captain Diego Torres, senior Esteban Carcamo and junior Dawson Le.

Torres was able to also sink a free kick just outside the box at the halfway point of the second half.

Goalkeeper and captain Jackson Harrington had a shutout going until the final four minutes of the game when American Canyon finally scored.

“Overall, it was a really solid game, with some impressive plays by our

offense and great work by our keeper,” Armijo head coach Megan Flores said.

The Armijo varsity team improved to 2-0. The Royals are scheduled to take part in the Pittman Pride tournament Friday and Saturday in Turlock, weather permitting.

Armijo’s junior varsity team earned a 4-1 win in its first game. Within the first five minutes, fresh man Isaac Aguirre scored off a pass by sopho more Mauricio Galindo.

Aguirre scored again with 16 minutes remaining in the first half.

Aguirre scored his third goal in the second half off a cross by freshman Adrian Amador.

Fairfield boys play to 2-2 draw

FAIRFIELD — Angel Lopez scored a pair of goals as the Fairfield High School boys soccer team played to a 2-2 draw Tuesday night against vis

iting Analy.

Ryan Patterson was able to assist Lopez, who beat two Analy defend ers at the 15-minute mark of the first half for a goal. Then right before halftime, in the 37th minute, Lopez struck again from 5 yards out to give the Falcons a 2-1 lead at halftime.

Analy would equal ize the match in the 52nd minute off a header that came from a corner kick.

Fairfield head coach Aaron Dickey high

lighted the defensive performances of Daniel Zavala and Eduard “Lalo” Guzman. Goalkeeper Uriel Guerrero also made a big last-minute save.

Boys Basketball Rodriguez boys roll to victory

FAIRFIELD — Jerel Victor scored a team-high

Vanden High School senior linebacker Devin Martin has been the man in the middle on defense, making this stop in the 2021 state title game against Aquinas of San Bernardino.

LOCAL REPORT

See Martin, Page B9 See Vikings, Page B9

CALENDAR

Friday’s TV sports

Basketball

NBA

• L.A. Lakers vs. Milwaukee, ESPN, 4:30 p.m.

• Chicago vs. Golden State, ESPN, NBCSBA (Fairfield and Suisun City), 7 p.m.

Football College

• Pac 12 Championship, USC vs. Utah, 2, 40, 5 p.m.

Golf

• Investec SA Open Championship, GOLF, 2 a.m.

• Hero World Challenge, GOLF, 10 a.m.

• ISPS Handa Australian Open, GOLF, 7 p.m.

Soccer World Cup

• Korea Republic vs. Portugal, 2, 40, 7 a.m.

• Ghana vs. Uruguay, FS1, 7 a.m.

• Cameroon vs. Brazil, 2, 40, 11 a.m.

• Serbia vs. Switzerland, FS1, 11 a.m.

Saturday’s TV sports

Basketball College Men

• Syracuse vs. Notre Dame, ESPN2, 9 a.m.

• Florida State vs. Virginia, ESPN2, 11 a.m.

• Oklahoma vs. Villanova, 5, 13, 9 a.m.

• Ole Miss vs. Memphis, ESPN2, 4:30 p.m.

• Saint Mary’s vs. Houston, ESPN2, 6:30 p.m.

NBA

• Houston vs. Golden State, ESPN, NBCSBA (Fairfield and Suisun City), 5:30 p.m.

Football College

• Big 12 Championship: Kansas State vs. TCU, 7, 10, 9 a.m.

• MAC Championship: Toledo vs. Ohio, ESPN, 9 a.m.

• Sun Belt Championship: Troy vs. Coastal Carolina, ESPN, 12:30 p.m.

• Mountain West Championship: Fresno State vs. Boise State, 2,40, 1 p.m.

• SEC Championship: LSU vs. Georgia, 5, 13, 1 p.m.

• American Conference Championship: Tulane vs. UCF, ESPN2, 1 p.m.

• SWAC Championship: Jackson State vs. Southern, ESPN2, 1 p.m.

• Big 10 Championship: Michigan vs. Purdue, 2, 40, 5 p.m.

• ACC Championship: Clemson vs. North Carolina, 7, 10, 5 p.m.

Golf

• Hero World Challenge, GOLF, 9 a.m.

• Hero World Challenge,3, 11:30 a.m.

• ISPS Handa Australian Open, GOLF, 5 a.m.

Hockey

NHL

• San Jose vs. Ottawa, NBCSCA, 4 p.m.

Soccer World Cup

• Round of 16: United States vs. Netherlands, 2, 40, 7 a.m.

• Round of 16: Argentina vs. Australia, 2, 40, 11 a.m.

UFC

• Fight Night Prelims, ESPN, 4 p.m.

• Fight Night, ESPN, 7 p.m.

Sac State feels job not done heading into playoff debut

By Joe davidson THE SACRAMENTO BEE

SACRAMENTO —

Troy Taylor likes losing as much as the next guy likes to have his molars yanked at the den tist’s office, or having a last-minute tax audit con ducted by a fellow who does not smile.

Losses hurt. They sting. They linger. Taylor is a coach who isn’t much used to setbacks as a coach, having gone 58-3 during a champi onship march at Folsom High School with cocoach Kris Richardson and producing a 23-1 run in the Big Sky Confer ence since taking over at Sacramento State before the 2019 season. The 11-0 Hornets are seeded second in the FCS field and host the Richmond Spiders (9-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m. with a team sense of unfinished business.

The Hornets for all their Big Sky success have gone 0-2 in the FCS playoffs since 2019. Taylor didn’t cancel Christmas last season at home after absorbing a crushing 24-19 setback to South Dakota State, the top national seed this season. But the frown lin gered because he felt for his players who worked so hard to get to this point.

“I wasn’t very jolly,” Taylor said with a laugh

after Tuesday’s prac tice. “It used to take me months to get over losses. I’ve gotten better about it because, as a leader, you’ve got to be able to move on from it and learn from it. You don’t like losing. It’s one of those things that, if you play sports long enough, it’s part of the deal.

The reality is, there’s only one team that wins the last game. It’s how you respond.”

The Hornets responded from their 2021 playoff exit by not losing a game since. They are balanced with a seam less two-quarterback system with Jake Dunni way and Asher O’Hara, a 1,000-yard rusher in Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Cameron Skattebo and pass-catch ing options in tight end Marshel Martin and receiver Pierre Willaims.

The offensive line has been the unsung foun dation of the team under Richardson, Sacramento State’s assistant head coach. The defense, led by Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year Marte Mapu, has earned game balls for a lot of key stops that led to a Big Sky champion ship three-peat.

Richmond opened the playoffs with a 41-0 playoff-opening win over Davidson.

BASKETBALL

NBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB Boston 18 4 .818

Philadelphia 12 10 .545 6 Toronto 11 10 .524 6½ Brooklyn 12 11 .522 6½ New York 10 12 .455 8

Central Division W L Pct GB Milwaukee 15 5 .750 Cleveland 14 8 .636 2 Indiana 12 9 .571 3½ Chicago 9 12 .429 6½ Detroit 6 18 .250 11 Southeast Division W L Pct GB Washington 12 10 .545 Atlanta 11 11 .500 1 Miami 10 12 .455 2 Charlotte 6 15 .286 5½ Orlando 5 17 .227 7 WESTERN CONFERENCE Northwest Division W L Pct GB Denver 14 7 .667 — Utah 13 11 .542 2½ Minnesota 11 11 .500 3½ Portland 11 11 .550 3½ Oklahoma City 9 13 .409 5½ Pacific Division W L Pct GB Phoenix 15 6 .714 L.A. Clippers 13 10 .565 3

SACRAMENTO 11 9 .550 3½ GOLDEN STATE 11 11 .500 4½ L.A. Lakers 8 12 .400 6½ Southwest Division W L Pct GB New Orleans 13 8 .619 Memphis 12 9 .571 1 Dallas 10 11 .476 3 San Antonio 6 16 .273 7½ Houston 5 16 .238 8 Wednesday’s Games SACRAMENTO 137, Indiana 114 Cleveland 113, Philadelphia 85 Atlanta 125, Orlando 108 Boston 134, Miami 121 Brooklyn 113, Washington 107 Milwaukee 109, N.Y. Knicks 103 Minnesota 109, Memphis 101 New Orleans 126, Toronto 108 Oklahoma City 119, San Antonio 111 Denver 120, Houston 100

Phoenix 132, Chicago 113 Utah 125, L.A. Clippers 112 L.A. Lakers 128, Portland 109 Thursday’s Game Detroit 131, Dallas125 Friday’s Games Chicago at GOLDEN STATE, 7 p.m. Washington at Charlotte, 4 p.m. Denver at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Miami at Boston, 4:30 p.m. Toronto at Brooklyn, 4:30 p.m. Orlando at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m. L.A. Lakers at Milwaukee, 4:30 p.m. Philadelphia at Memphis, 5 p.m. New Orleans at San Antonio, 5 p.m. Houston at Phoenix, 6 p.m. Indiana at Utah, 6 p.m. Saturday’s Games SACRAMENTO at L.A. Clippers, 1 p.m. Houston at GOLDEN STATE, 5:30 p.m. Dallas at N.Y. Knicks, 9:30 a.m. Milwaukee at Charlotte, 3 p.m. Orlando at Toronto, 5 p.m. Oklahoma City at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Portland at Utah, 6 p.m.

HOCKEY

NHL

Montreal at Calgary, (N) Florida at Vancouver, (N) Washington at Seattle, (N) Arizona at L.A. Kings, (N) Friday’s Games Ottawa at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Nashville at N.Y. Islanders, 4:30 p.m. Columbus at Winnipeg, 5 p.m. Saturday’s Games SAN JOSE at Ottawa, 4 p.m. Anaheim at Minnesota, 11 a.m. Montreal at Edmonton, 4 p.m. Colorado at Boston, 4 p.m. New Jersey at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. St. Louis at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Toronto at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Vegas at Detroit, 4 p.m. Chicago at N.Y. Rangers, 4:30 p.m. Arizona at Vancouver, 7 p.m. Florida at Seattle, 7 p.m. Washington at Calgary, 7 p.m. Carolina at L.A. Kings, 7:30 p.m.

13

Thursday’s Game Buffalo at New England, 5:15 p.m. Sunday’s Games Miami at SAN FRANCISCO, 1:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 10 a.m. Denver at Baltimore, 10 a.m. Green Bay at Chicago, 10 a.m. Jacksonville at Detroit, 10 a.m. Cleveland at Houston, 10 a.m. N.Y.Jets at Minnesota, 10 a.m. Washington at N.Y. Giants, 10 a.m. Tennessee at Philadelphia, 10 a.m. Seattle at L.A. Rams, 1:05 p.m. Kansas City at Cincinnati, 1:25 p.m. L.A. Chargers at Las Vegas, 1:25 p.m. Indianapolis at Dallas, 5:20 p.m. Monday’s Game New Orleans at Tampa Bay, 5:15 p.m.

Hall of Famer, former Giant ace Gaylord Perry dies at age of 84

By Bill M adden NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

So long to the great spit ball artist.

Baseball Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry, who won 314 games in the majors while confounding and infuriating opposing batters, managers and umpires constantly accus ing him of doctoring his pitches, died Thurs day. He was 84.

Perry died of natural causes at his home in Gaffney, S.C., according to Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler.

A born and bred North Carolina farm boy who grew up in rural Wil liamston, N.C., working the tobacco, corn and peanuts fields with his older brother, Jim, on their parents’ 25-acre parcel of land, Perry was a work horse starting pitcher across 22 seasons with eight different teams.

He logged the sixthmost innings (5,350) in history, eighth-most strikeouts (3,534), along with 303 complete games, 53 shutouts and won two Cy Young Awards.

Throughout his career, however, Perry could not escape the persistent accusations of throwing spitballs – which he never actually denied. Rather, he seemed to delight in flaunting and flummoxing the baseball establish ment and, in fact, was only once – on Aug. 23, 1982 –ejected from a game (by home plate umpire Dave Phillips) for throwing two allegedly illegal pitches.

Local

21 points as the Rodriguez High School boys basket ball team cruised past Fortune Early College of Sacramento on the road Wednesday night.

Joe Gould and Giovanni Miles had 16 points apiece for the Mustangs. Rodri guez opened the game on a roll and led 29-9 after the first quarter. The Mus tangs improved to 1-1.

Rodriguez is playing in a tournament at Whitney High School in Rocklin.

Vanden starts strong in win at Rosemont

FAIRFIELD — Vanden High School’s boys bas ketball team had a strong early start Wednesday

It was perhaps because of his reputation as a cheater, it took Perry three years before being elected to the Hall of Fame by the Base ball Writers Association in 1991 (with 77.2%), despite his long career of pitching excellence and endurance, in which he won 20 games five times, three times leading the league in vic tories (23 in 1970, 24 in 1972 and 21 in 1978) and twice in innings (325 1/3 in 1969 and 328 2/3 in 1970). Perry was also selected for five All-Star teams and his 43.9% completion rate in his starts is the highest of all the 300-game winners since World War II.

According to Perry in his 1974 memoir “Me and the Spitter” with Bob Sudyk, he first learned

night at Rosemont and rolled to a 79-44 victory.

Tyler Thompson led the Vikings with 20 points. Sterling McClanahan and Edric Dennis had 10 points apiece. Vanden improved to 2-2.

Vanden led 18-6 after the first quarter and made it 43-15 at halftime.

Vanden plays Dough erty Valley of San Ramon at 6 p.m. Saturday in a tournament at Moreau Catholic in Hayward.

College Solano soccer earn BVC honors

ROCKVILLE — Amber Morales of the Solano Com munity College women’s soccer team was named the Midfielder of the Year in the Bay Valley Con

how to throw a spitter in 1974 with the Giants from Bob Shaw who’d come over to San Francisco in a trade from the Braves that winter. Perry, who signed out of high school with the Giants in 1958 for a $60,000 bonus (half of which he gave to his father to help save the farm), was in his third season in 1964 but still struggling to make the San Francisco rotation when the veteran Shaw taught him how to discreetly wet his two fingers on top of the ball and enabling it to sharply break downward at the last split second. It wasn’t until May 23 that season when Perry first was able to make liberal use of his new pitch while throw ing 10 innings of shutout

ference in recent voting by coaches.

The sophomore from Colusa had three goals and four assists this season for the Falcons. Morales was joined on the all-BVC first-team by fresh man midfielder/forward Kate-Lynn Jimenez from Benicia High and fresh man midfielder-forward Rebecca Smith from Will C. Wood in Vacaville.

Jimenez finished the season with three goals. Smith had one assist. Solano finished the season 5-11-2 overall.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jessica Biasotti from Will C. Wood, freshman forward Ani Lopez from Fairfield and freshman midfielder Abigail Arteaga from Vacaville High were all second team. Biasotti made 44 saves. Lopez had five goals and Arteaga

relief in a 23-inning game against the Mets at Shea Stadium. He continued to pitch near-flawless relief through June before joining the Giants rotation in July and finishing with a 12-11 record and 2.25 ERA.

In 1966, Perry began a streak of 10 straight seasons in which he won 15 or more games, includ ing 1972 – the year after the Giants traded him to the Indians (for the hardthrowing/hard-living “Sudden” Sam McDowell) ≠ when he won his first Cy Young Award with a major league-leading 24 wins and 29 complete games along with a 1.92 ERA over 342 2/3 innings. On Sept. 17, 1968, he hurled the only no-hitter of his career, a 1-0 Giants win against Bob Gibson and the Cardinals which took only one hour and 40 minutes to complete.

All the while Perry found himself constantly subjected to accusations, harassment and body searches from umpires and opposing managers convinced he was cheating, especially after joining the American League. In an early-season game against the A’s in 1972, Oakland manager Dick Williams had Perry strip-searched and ordered to change shirts. Another time, thenRangers manager Billy Martin brought a blood hound to a game to sniff the baseballs Perry had used, while in June 1973 Yankee manager Ralph Houk actu ally pulled the cap from Perry’s head,

added three assists.

Solano women’s basketball nets win

ROCKVILLE — The Solano Community College women’s basketball team had a strong first half and rolled a 60-47 win Tuesday night over visit ing Modesto.

The Falcons outscored the Pirates 16-8 in the first quarter and made it 35-18 at halftime. Solano improved to 3-4 overall.

Genesis Ernie-Ham ilton led Solano with 17 points, four rebounds and one steal. Jaslyn Woods had 14 points, two rebounds and five assists. Julia Wright also con tributed six points and seven rebounds.

Solano will be back home Friday for a game at 6 p.m. against Santa Rosa.

Jim McIsaac/Getty Images/TNS file (2019) Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry is introduced during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, New York, in 2019.

What now for Newsom’s oil profits tax?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has waged a war of words for several months on Califor nia’s petroleum industry, accusing it of price-gouging and asking the Legis lature to impose a tax on its soaring profits. “Big oil is ripping people off at the pump, and they’re making more in profits off of Californians than in any other state – that’s why we need a price gouging penalty to hold them accountable and get these profits into your pockets,” Newsom said Oct. 27 as he summarized what he said were huge increases in third quarter profits.

“These record profits came as Californians saw price hikes at the pump despite the cost of crude oil going down and no change in state taxes or fees,” Newsom continued. “Instead, the cost of gasoline skyrocketed purely because refineries wanted to put more in their own pockets.”

The state Energy Commision, an arm of Newsom’s administration, staged a hearing Tuesday that delved into the ups and downs of California’s gasoline prices, particularly their differences with those in other states.

The state’s refiners refused to partic ipate in the hearing. Paul Davis of PBF Energy told the commission in a letter that “The politicization of this issue by Governor Newsom, heightened by the misleading information he released and commented on relating to our (2022 thirdquarter) earnings, precludes us from participating in this hearing.”

Davis specifically objected to Newsom’s characterization of refiners’ gross operating margins as profits, saying it is “intentionally misleading to consumers and inflates pur ported ‘profits’ by purposefully excluding California’s highest-in-the-nation operating and regulatory costs that significantly lower actual profits.”

Despite the industry boycott, presen tations by the commission’s staff largely bolstered industry assertions that global and in-state factors largely beyond their control, rather than arbitrary price-goug ing, caused the sharp spike in pump prices.

They include declining refinery capac ity due to high operating costs, periodic maintenance outages in the few remain ing refineries, an uptick in gasoline imports whose prices are affected by the global oil market and transport costs, and a gradual decrease in California’s gasoline demand.

So where does that leave the excess profits tax that Newsom is demanding, but so far has not laid out in detail?

Gas prices spiked at more than $6 a gallon earlier in the year, but lately have been declining. This week, regular gas was selling in Sacramento for under $4.50 a gallon and by the time the Legislature would take up Newsom’s profits tax, several months hence, prices could be below $4.

A new tax would require two-thirds leg islative votes and while Democrats have more than those numbers in both legisla tive houses, the oil industry has been active in the campaign arena and will contend that any tax will eventually be passed on to consumers in higher pump prices. The highly unionized industry can also count on support from union leaders.

All of that aside, there are some odd aspects to Newsom’s crusade against the industry, beginning with the fact that his personal wealth was founded on oil money.

The seed money for Newsom’s Plump Jack chain of wineries, hotels and restaurants came from the trust of Gordon Getty, an heir of oil industry pioneer J. Paul Getty. The Getty trust was managed by Newsom’s late father, William Newsom, who had been a long-time adviser to the elder Getty.

It also seems strange Newsom should be railing against high gasoline prices when his declared goal is to banish gas-pow ered cars from the roads and shut down the industry that fuels them. High prices encourage Californians to drive less and shift to the battery-powered cars Newsom wants them to buy.

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

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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 downtown Fairfield.

COMMENTARY

Professors in UC strike can’t keep up with grading. Students will suffer

When graduate teaching assistants strike, my work becomes impossi ble. I’m a professor at the University of California as we see the largest higher edu cation strike in U.S. history. My 250 students – mostly new to UC San Diego this fall – have lost their teaching assistants to the picket line. They rely on TAs for feedback on their work, answers to their questions, and indepth discussions of the course mate rial in small group sections. While TAs strike, 250 students’ assignments lan guish unassessed. Final papers will come in next week. Student grades for the term are due in two weeks.

More than three weeks into the strike by 48,000 academic workers, a disaster is coming, but the University of California’s labor negotiations team seems in no hurry to get our TAs back into the classroom.

I have long seen the TAs strug gle to stay in stable housing in a hot housing market. I see them take on second jobs just to make ends meet, dragging out the time they must stay in school to complete their Ph.D. research. Graduate workers facing high housing and child care costs can end up living in their cars, moving far from work and outrunning evictions. Nine out of 10 pay more than a third of their salary to rent; 1 in 20 have expe rienced homelessness, according to a UC study.

UC and UAW, the union that rep resents graduate workers, have been negotiating wages for eight months. UAW has compromised on its demands, but UC has barely budged – agreeing to raises on Tuesday for 12,000 postdoctoral schol ars and academic researchers, though

COMMENTARY

they remain on strike in soli darity with the 36,000 graduate student employees. So UAW workers as a whole continue to pursue a contract that covers their costs of living as they do the essential work of the university.

In the meantime, students won’t get what they came for. As a professor, I want students to grow and have strong foundations for more advanced work. I respect the sacrifices students and their fam ilies make to get to college. Students deserve feedback to help them learn, and they deserve a respectful and thoughtful appraisal of their efforts. With grades due in two weeks, and without teaching assistants, we profes sors simply cannot give students what they deserve.

Even if I were willing to break the picket, it is impossible for me to com plete the grading myself. First, there are the assignments students turned in just before the strike: 250 short papers at 10 minutes a paper adds up to 41 hours of full-time grading work. Their final paper covers more mate rial; at 20 minutes a paper, that’s 82 hours, or two full-time weeks of work. That’s three weeks of grading work to be done in two weeks – during which I’m supposed to continue my own full-time role and its job duties. What will happen when the grades can’t go in? College bureaucracy morphs from nuisance to existen tial threat. Without grades to confirm their progress, students may lose their financial aid and, with it, their rent, food and tuition. Veterans can lose VA educational benefits. With incomplete transcripts, graduate school applica tions will get stuck. Students may find themselves unable to graduate.

The UC administration suggests a range of half measures to help pro fessors defuse the crisis. Water down the assignments, replacing observa tion and analysis with multiple-choice questions. Cancel the final, robbing students a chance to bring up their grade. Unable to educate students, we’re told to simply certify them and move on. These measures disrespect the work of college, asking professors to scab for TAs while devaluing highquality teaching.

Teaching assistants are the essen tial workers who make coursework into an education. I teach to an audi ence. My TAs teach people. I basically produce television content. The teach ing assistants connect the material to students’ aspirations and strug gles. The teaching assistants are the ones who figure out how to engage stu dents or notice when they fall through the cracks.

We want a public university that can serve more and more of Califor nia’s students, but we cannot connect with students’ diverse aspirations and capacities at scale without the often invisible care and expertise of tens of thousands of teaching assistants.

It may be hard to see this invis ible labor from the UC office of the president in Oakland. I invite UC Pres ident Michael Drake to come survey the site of bureaucratic and pedagog ical disaster in large classrooms like mine. Students who already endured two years of pandemic school are now facing an administratively manufac tured disaster.

As UC negotiators drag their feet on wages, I’m in a bind. TAs are on the picket. And California’s students lose. Lilly Irani is an associate professor of communication at UC San Diego.

Bankers can’t manage economies solo

The past three years have shown us the downsides of depending too much on low interest rates, and how a better balance of fiscal and monetary policy can achieve a stronger economy.

In the 2010s, the main eco nomic policy debate was about how to boost the labor market and return inflation to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target while avoiding deflation. The Fed settled on a strategy of holding interest rates at 0%, reducing borrowing costs and boosting financial asset valuations throughout the economy. The hope was that this combination would lead to more hiring and investing by companies.

While it was the best option the Fed had at a time when Congress was unwilling to spend money, the impact of the rapid rise in interest rates this year made it clear that the economic activity we got from ultralow rates wasn’t very high quality.

That’s a validation of some of the crit icism of monetary policy in the 2010s. The lesson for the future is that fiscal stimulus rather than monetary policy should carry more of the load when unemployment is high and infla tion is low.

The end of 2022 is a good time to revisit the era of zero-interest-rate policy because one could argue that it’s the economic activity spurred by low interest rates that’s currently in recession thanks to the Fed’s aggres sive increases this year. The housing market rally stalled out as mortgage rates rose to 7% from 3%. Specula tive and unprofitable tech companies have seen their stock prices slump as investors steer away from risky assets in favor of bonds that now carry a decent yield. Even at profitable tech companies, investors are punishing management teams that spend a lot on unproven “science projects” that were

seen as more attractive when interest rates were low. In the wake of the FTX bankruptcy, cryptocurrencies are increas ingly seen as a grift rather than a growing asset class.

So I’m sympathetic to the idea that some of the real estate activity and specula tive tech economy was only possible because of artifi cially low interest rates, but I still don’t think investors in those ven tures should blame the Fed for any losses they’re taking now. Yes, produc tivity growth was lower in the 2010s than it had been in decades. But the Fed’s mandate isn’t just to boost prof itable or productive economic activity. It’s also aiming for full employment and 2% inflation. And to the extent the tens of thousands of tech job cuts recently announced are due to a nor malization of interest rates, it stands to reason that the Fed’s policy actions in the 2010s helped support those jobs at a time when the labor market still needed support.

Now we can collect all the lessons of the 2010s, the Covid-19 pandemic and the painful adjustment of 2022 to make better policy decisions in the future. In the 2010s we had very little fiscal support from Congress and an extraordinary level of mone tary support from the Fed. The boost from the Fed was better than nothing, but the job growth it created doesn’t look so great in hindsight and may have just helped the financial markets more than the real economy. If instead we had gotten some of the fiscal measures we later saw during the pan demic – checks mailed to households or expanded unemployment benefits –we likely would have returned to full employment sooner without so much frenzied interest in Silicon Valley and cryptocurrencies.

We’ve had the opposite problem in 2022, where the fiscal boost in 2020 and 2021 was so large that raising interest rates aggressively hasn’t done much to slow down the economy in the aggregate. And monetary policy is a blunt instrument – rather than 7% mortgage rates and a frozen housing market, it would be more effective to slow down some of the less interestrate-sensitive parts of the economy and maintain a stable housing market. Now we’re swinging from too hot to too cold.

The main lesson for policymakers is that in a recession, monetary policy alone isn’t enough to combat the com bination of high unemployment and low inflation. The kind of economic boost we get from monetary policy in that environment is limited and of low quality. Apple Inc. was criticized during the 2010s for using its cash for stock buybacks and dividends rather than investing in self-driving vehi cles or other technological moonshots, but from the perspective of 2022 their decision looks like the right one. Other tech companies are struggling now to unwind investments that no longer make sense.

The good news is that the past few years have taught us that good fiscal policy can help avoid the combination of high unemployment, too-low infla tion and 0% interest rates. The right mix of fiscal stimulus – whether it’s checks to households, worker support, infrastructure, tax cuts or some thing else – will depend on the nature of the downturn and Congress’ polit ical will, but there’s no reason we should ever have to repeat the highunemployment, low-inflation economy of the 2010s.

Conor Sen is a Bloomberg Opinion col umnist. He is founder of Peachtree Creek Investments and may have a stake in the areas he writes about.

Dan Walters

Conor Sen

Lilly Irani

Columns&Games

Mother/daughter relationship proves hard in life, death

Dear Annie: I’m writing to ask your opinion about whether I should include my estranged daughter in my will. She accused me of something very vile that never hap pened and spread it throughout the family. She also broke her younger sister’s heart for another reason. I have a grandson I’m not allowed to see, and communication with my daughter is nonexistent.

I have moved 1,000 miles away to avoid the drama. Since I’m no longer welcome in her life, should I even consider her when I die? — Devas tated in Alabama

Dear Devastated: Wills are a bookend to human life and can include sentimental infor mation addressed to cherished loved ones. If the relationship you have with your daughter doesn’t fit that mold, you should not feel obligated to include her in yours. If you’re serious about not including her, though, you should write something specific to that effect so that it’s clear her exclusion isn’t an oversight but an intention.

Your daughter sounds trou bled, and you were wise to move away. At the same time, try to stay open to the possibil

ity of a reconciliation, perhaps starting with your grandson, if that is even possible. If you can talk to your daughter with love and forgiveness in your heart – recognizing that she is in pain – it is always possible that things will unfold so that you will find a totally different answer to the question of your will.

Dear Annie: In 2010, I dis covered that my husband of 47 years had been in touch with a woman who he had a long and intimate relationship with before we met. She had a child three months before we met and wanted him to marry her but he refused because he had learned that she was also intimate with someone else at the same time.

When I confronted him with the information about this, he lied to me.

Long story short, it turned out that he had visited and slept with this woman at least once in the 1970s, after we had three children. He visited her again in 2009 because she had con tacted him, and they talked frequently on the phone, alleg edly about her concerns about her daughter’s problems. The three of them met for lunch,

Horoscopes

ARIES (March 21-April 19).

You’re not expecting anyone to take care of you or behave differently because you’re there. Even so, your presence changes things. Your influ ence is powerful even if you don’t do anything other than just show up.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20).

If you have to be brave, gen erous or heroic you will be. But big calls to action rarely happen. Opportunities are more often small and invisible to anyone who’s not looking for them. You’ll do common things with uncommon grace.

GEMINI (May 21-June 21). You’re good on your own, but you’re way better when you involve others. Test your ideas out on your core group of trusted cohorts. If you don’t have such a group, don’t worry – you’ll make many new friends in the weeks to come.

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You’ll put yourself out there and learn who doesn’t agree. This is good information. From the ancients: “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare. And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere.” — Ali ibn-Abi-Talib

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22).

People influence your experi ence with their attitudes and behaviors. You could be in the same place with different people, and it wouldn’t be the

by Holiday Mathis

Today’s birthday

You’ve a talent for connecting with people from other cultures, or creatures from other species. As you communicate through shared instinct you’ll create a spirit of progress, adventure and goodwill. More highlights: a remarkable healing, a winning public performance and an idea of yours that catches on in the professional realm. Aries and Leo adore you. Your lucky numbers are: 7, 21, 14, 4 and 33.

same at all. In a sense, your environment will be as lovely as the people who populate it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).

Vanity serves a positive purpose. It keeps you doing the things you tell yourself you’ll do. So, if vanity has you in its clutches, at least you can count on your pride to energize you to do the work to fulfill your own wishes.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23).

Very occasionally, life rolls over and lets you control it. It will happen again, but not for a while. Right now, life is taking off like a shot. It’s all you can do to hold onto the mane and try to sync with the gallop.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21).

Among the best gifts you could

and he gave the daughter a very large amount of money.

For at least two years, I felt like a tidal wave had swept through my life. Of course, we separated, and I had several years of counseling. He had four counseling sessions. But I could never bring myself to get a divorce for several reasons, one being my age.

I don’t think the counsel ing was much help except for someone to talk to about how I was feeling. Ultimately, time heals the wounds, but I still haven’t forgiven, even though we’ve been living together again since 2016. — Betrayed Dear Betrayed: Therapy doesn’t always give us the happy ending that we want. What it does give us are the tools to cope with overwhelm ing emotions and the skills to articulately communicate in our relationships. Don’t under estimate the value of having someone to talk to about your feelings.

Yes, time heals all wounds, but counseling can often expe dite the process. Continue to talk through your emotions and evaluate your relationship in therapy. It’s never too late to start a new chapter.

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

hope for is the gift of a single purpose. When you devote yourself to one idea, everything else lines up. You want some thing, you’ll work hard for it and you will have it.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21). A well-timed silence will be magic. If you can accompany it with heartfelt emotion and your expres sive face, you’ll deliver a more complex communication than words could relay.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22Jan. 19). Movement is defined by stillness. Matter is defined by the space around it. Music is shaped by the silence. And today you will be experienced by others for what you don’t do. Your restraint is in itself an astounding act.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20Feb. 18). Who you are in the group is different from who you are alone, which is the way of humans. Make efforts to be around likable people. A group will change you and you will change a group, and it will all happen simultaneously.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20). You’re not content with the information on the surface. You sense there’s something more to know and you’ll dig for it. People like helping you because you bring energy to interactions, which keeps things interesting.

Write Holiday Mathis at HolidayMathis.com.

DO YOU START WITH LINE A OR LINE B?

In bridge, sometimes you see two chances to make your contract. Ideally, you start with line A and, if it fails, fall back on line B. The losing approach is first to take line B, and if it fails, you go down because it is too late for line A. How does that apply to this deal? South is in six hearts. What should he

Sudoku

Bridge

by Phillip Alder

do after West leads the spade jack?

In the auction, North’s response was the Jacoby Forcing Raise (recom mended). It showed at least four-card heart support and game-forcing values or more. South, with a huge hand, used Roman Key Card Blackwood to learn that his partner had either the spade ace or the heart king. (Note that if South had had eight hearts, he would have wanted only the spade ace, not the heart king. This is a drawback of RKCB.)

Declarer has potential losers in each red suit. There is only one sensible way to play diamonds: take the finesse. In contrast, the trump suit can be handled in different ways, depending on whether or not you can afford to lose a trick there. So, South starts with the spade queen and the diamond finesse. When it wins, he returns to the board with a spade and leads the heart two.

When East plays the three, declarer covers with his four, tying a world record. (If the four loses to the jack, the king will fall on the next round.)

If the diamond finesse had lost, South would have cashed his heart ace, hoping either defender had the singleton king. To lead dummy’s queen, hoping West had the singleton jack, would be half the odds.

by Wayne Gould

Difficulty level: SILVER

DO YOU START WITH LINE A OR LINE B?

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

In bridge, sometimes you see two chances to make your contract. Ideally, you start with line A and, if it fails, fall back on line B. The losing approach is first to take line B, and if it fails, you go down because it is too late for line A.

Bridge

Annie Lane Dear Annie

Connick Jr. jazzes up the holidays with tour, ‘Make It Merry’ album

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Singer-songwriter, composer, actor and former “American Idol” judge Harry Connick Jr. loves the Christmas season.

It’s not all about the fancy gifts, twinkling lights and the holiday rush for the Connick family, the 55-year-old per former insists. It’s more about the time spent together, loung ing around the house with his wife, Jill, who he says is an “absolutely amazing cook,” and their three adult daughters.

“We just like being together,” he said during a recent phone interview. “We eat some good food and just hang out. We’re thankful for what the holiday actually means, so we’ll go to midnight mass or church in the morning and it’s pretty laid back. We’re just hanging out and talking the whole time – or, let me rephrase that – I’m listening all of the time because there’s so much going on with my daugh ters and all of their adventures. I sit back and listen to what they have to say and we just have a really good time.”

Connick is closing out 2022 with his first holiday tour in a handful of years, which is in support of his fourth Christ mas album, “Make It Merry,” now streaming exclusively on Apple Music. Before his family hunkers down at his fatherin-law’s house in Colorado to spend Christmas Day this year, Connick will be spreading holiday cheer on the road.

The Connick family is also big on Christmas music, though Harry admits that his wife runs the household playlist. It includes classics like Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song.”

This year, Connick said he was able to curate his own playlist via Make It Merry Radio, which can be found on Apple Music. He included some of his favorites, even the ones that yank hard at the heartstrings, like coun

try-pop star Kacey Musgraves’ “Christmas Makes Me Cry.”

Though there’s plenty of upbeat holiday songs on the list, he said that Christmas can be an emotional time, which is why a song like Charles Browns’ “Please Come Home for Christ mas” have such an impact.

“I think my dad was telling me that he spent one Christmas without my mother, and that was back in the ’50s, and he was looking out the window and my gosh, you just want to, like the song says, be with the ones you love,” he said. “Those songs do make you cry.”

For the live shows, Connick will be playing selections from his latest album, including “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” and newly-recorded versions of his original songs, “(It Must’ve Been Ol’) Santa Claus” and “When My Heart Finds Christ mas.” He also has two new songs: “On This Christmas Morning” and the album title track, “Make It Merry.”

“There are different ways to write these songs,” he said of his holiday songwriting process.

“You can write them autobio graphically or you can just write like I did with ‘Make It Merry.’ That’s about a guy who’s alone and all he really wants is for this person to consider to come spend the holiday with him and that one’s not from per sonal experience. But definitely some of them go back to my own childhood.”

He’s ready to close out the year with his adoring fans and wants each one of these shows to be a true celebration, especially considering all of the holiday events that were canceled over the past two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“When you get out there and sing a song like ‘Sleigh Ride’ and everybody is in a good mood and singing along, that is a certain type of luxury for a

performer,” he said. “Not that there’s a heaviness to any other show, but as a person in charge of how the evening is going to go, when you walk into a situa tion where there are a bunch of people already ready to have a good time, it makes it just super fun and this will be a party the whole night.

“To know that all of us can all now see the light at the end of the tunnel and we’re able to be productive in a normal way again, that’s everything. And we don’t really know the effect this pandemic will have on us in the future. It was an immensely stressful time for so many reasons and I was one of the for tunate ones who could work at home. I think about all of the men and women who sacrificed so much to keep our lives normal and I feel thrilled to be able to get back to work. Those folks are still near and dear to my heart because I know that was a beyond stressful time for them.”

In 2021, Connick released “Alone With My Faith,” which he recorded in his home studio during the lockdowns and earned him a Grammy nomi nation. He also joined the cast of “Annie Live!,” playing Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks in the pro duction that aired on NBC last December. Next year, Connick said he has a bunch of music, TV, film and Broadway projects in the works – but he can’t talk about any of it just yet. However, he will serve as a judge on “Aus tralian Idol” in 2023. He was a mentor on “American Idol” in 2012 and returned as a judge alongside Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban in 2013.

“There’s some extraordinary talent out there,” he said. “When I was a mentor on ‘American Idol,’ I only did the one show, but that’s what I really like doing. Being a mentor is different than a judge because you can’t really

See Connick, Page B6

Bridge

by Phillip Alder

values, a four-card major and a side-suit doubleton. But that isn’t always true. For example, look at this North hand. With 15 points, he is close to a slam-try opposite a strong no-trump. Still, I think that North should raise to three no-trump. There will surely be at least nine tricks available, and unfriendly distribution might defeat a four-heart contract. As you can surmise, that is the case in my first deal.

Yes, here four hearts looks safe. After the defenders cash three club tricks, the winning heart finesse will bring home 10 tricks. However, now we come to another truism learned from your grandparents: Never concede a ruff-and-sluff. As you can guess, there is an exception to this rule as well. If you have won all possible side-suit tricks, giving the declarer a ruff-andsluff is your best defense.

THERE’S A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

The Senior Life Master’s classes were still popular, especially as it was cold and the ski resort had not yet opened.

I am sure (the SLM began) that each of you was told, when sitting on your grandmother’s knee, about Stayman: that the convention should be used when holding at least game-invitational

Sudoku

Bridge

On this deal, Gretchen Cooperman was sitting East, playing with her fiancee, Howard Cheal. After they had collected three club tricks, Gretchen saw that the only chance for a fourth trick lay in the trump suit. So, at trick four, Gretchen led her last club. Howard came through, ruffing with the heart eight and effecting a trump promotion for Gretchen.

Now Gretchen and Howard are happily married with their own team-of-four growing rapidly.

UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE

2022,

COPYRIGHT:

by Wayne Gould

THERE’S A TIME FOR EVERYTHING

The Senior Life Master’s classes were still popular, especially as it was cold and the ski resort had not yet opened.

I am sure (the SLM began) that each of you was told, when sitting on your

Andrew Savulich/ New York Daily News/TNS file (2017)

Harry Connick Jr. performs at the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in New York, Nov. 29, 2017.

Buzz and the gang hope to find new playmates at a childcare center in “Toy Story 3.’’

Bad Bunny pulls off a Spotify hat trick as the moststreamed artist

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Happy Spotify Wrapped day to all who celebrate – especially Bad Bunny, the most-streamed artist in the world for three years in a row.

The streaming plat form revealed Wednesday that the reggaeton sensa tion is the first musician to pull off a global Spotify hat trick. Rounding out the global top five artists this year were Taylor Swift, Drake, the Weeknd and BTS. In the United States, Bad Bunny was the third most-streamed artist, behind No. 1 Drake and No. 2 Swift.

The music streamer unveiled the moststreamed artists, songs, albums and podcasts of 2022 as part of its annual Spotify Wrapped campaign, in which the company rolls out its end-of-year streaming stats for total and individ ual listeners. Bad Bunny also topped the global Spotify album chart with his smash-hit record “Un Verano Sin Ti.” But Harry Styles had him beat for the most-streamed song: “As It Was.”

In addition to “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the global top albums included “Harry’s House” by Styles, “Sour” by Olivia Rodrigo, “=” by Ed Sheeran and “Planet

Connick

From Page B5

have an interaction and that kinda goes against my personality style, to just objectively judge.

I’d much rather collabo rate and work with them, but it’s really fun and in the short amount of time that I have, I do try to give them whatever sort of advice I think may help. Sometimes they don’t need it.”

This year, Connick said he’s just thank ful for everyone and everything. He’s also very much aware of the financial strain on indi viduals and families this holiday season, with the cost of just about every thing going way up, including the price of

Her” by Doja Cat. Round ing out the global top five songs were “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals, “Stay (with Justin Bieber)” by the Kid Laroi, “Me Porto Bonito” by Bad Bunny featuring Chencho Cor leone and “Tití Me Preguntó” by Bad Bunny. The global top five pod casts of 2022 were “The Joe Rogan Experience,” “Call Her Daddy,” “Any thing Goes With Emma Chamberlain,” “Case 63 (All Languages)” and “Crime Junkie.” And, of course, all over social media, Spotify listeners delighted once again in sharing their personal top artists, songs and albums of the year.

Spotify’s end-of-year roundup comes a day after fellow streamer Apple Music shared its music stats for 2022. As part of this year’s Replay campaign (Apple’s version of Spotify Wrapped), the audio platform announced that “Stay” by Bieber and the Kid Laroi was its global top song of 2022, followed by “As It Was” by Styles, “Wait For U (featur ing Drake & Tems)” by Future, “Super Gremlin” by Kodak Black and “Easy on Me” by Adele.

Earlier this month, Apple also crowned Bad Bunny its global top artist of the year.

concert tickets.

“I don’t take this lightly because tickets are expensive, especially around the holidays and people have presents to buy, so every single person that comes to these shows, I am really grateful,” he said. “I think people can see that I’m genuinely excited and humbled to be on that stage and I’m gonna give them everything I’ve got.”

With many giving the gift of concert tickets this year and opting to purchase experiences rather than material pos sessions, Connick said he’s happy if he gets to be someone’s gift this holiday season.

“Man, I hope I don’t suck,” he said with a laugh. “I hope they don’t want to return or regift me.”

Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

Pearls Before Swine Stephan Pastis

Dilbert Scott Adams

Baldo Hector Cantú and Carlos Castellanos

other accountable.”

Senior Alyssa Jackson is back after an MVP season where she aver aged 19.7 points per game, 5.7 rebounds and 4.8 steals. Jackson had 25 points Monday night as Vanden beat St. Mary’s of Stock ton 69-65 in a Foundation Game featuring a pair of powerhouse teams.

Jackson, on national let ter-of-intent signing day Feb. 9, confirmed she will be headed to San Diego State University.

“She’s an absolute gem,” Johnson said of Jackson. “She has all the abilities on offense and defense and is a tremen dous leader. She’s one of a kind. Even the way she walks conveys a message.”

Alongside Jackson are honorable mention selec tions senior Gabby Wright, sophomore Calonni Hol loway, junior Taytum Johnson and junior Mila Simmano. Wright averaged 6.3 points per game last season and 8.5 rebounds, Holloway scored 8.4 points per game, Johnson aver aged 6.2 points per game

and Simmano checked in with 3.3 points per game.

Vanden also pulled in talented transfers in junior Jakayla Gilmer from the Sacramento area and Maalia Cherry from Archbishop Mitty in San Jose. The rest of the team includes sophomore La’Miracle Lebon, junior Jaylen Kuehnel, sopho more Nia Riley and senior Kalyn Harris.

The Vikings took a trip to Chico last weekend for a pair of games. Vanden came away with an 81-51 win over Chico and an 82-54 triumph over Pleasant Valley. A huge 27-13 fourth-quarter surge Monday night resulted in the win over St. Mary’s.

And though Foundation Games don’t count in the overall standings, it was a good early test that the Vikings were able to pass.

“They’ve been working extremely hard and done what Jake and I have asked of them,” Johnson said. “We enjoyed the success in that one but the next day we had our hard hats back on and went back to work. We play some pow erhouses this year and it is a big girl schedule.”

The Vikings will be back in action at 4 p.m. Sat urday at Oakland Tech.

From Page B1

than 80 tackles this season, part of the reason he was named the Monticello Empire League’s Back of the Year. He had a very fortuitous interception with two minutes to play last week in the 10-6 win over Capital Christian at Sacramento City College that earned the Vikings their second straight Sac-Joaquin Section Divi sion IV title.

The interception halted the Cougars’ hopes of a go-ahead drive. In a pre vious game, Martin had an opportunity for an inter ception that he couldn’t put away and dropped. He and his coaches gave him pushups for the miscue. This time he delivered big time.

“I looked up after the play and we had 1:50 left in the game,” he said. “I was able to get the ball back to our offense and help us get that back-to-back section championship.”

Martin is the man in the middle, a vocal leader

Martinand one of the top tacklers. But he still credits the line backers beside him, the much improved defensive line and the rebuilt defen sive secondary that has helped Vanden gel into a stingy unit.

The Vikings in the past five games have allowed no more than six points in each contest.

“I’m just doing my part,” he said. “I try to fill my gap and be a leader. Film study and building trust between each other has been key. The defen sive line has been great and four DBs from last year’s team graduated. These guys have been able to step in and do the job.”

Vanden is 25-3 in the past two years with Martin in the middle, to go with two section titles and a Northern Califor nia and state crown on their resume. They hope to continue to add to those accolades. The next oppor tunity comes Saturday against Bellarmine.

The winner plays either Lake Balboa or Laguna Hills in the state finals next week.

pulisic

grit and determination. That will be a difficult intangible to replace if he can’t go against the Neth erlands, which is ranked eighth in the world and is unbeaten in 18 consecu tive matches.

“Huge player for us, obviously,” Adams said of his teammate. “I know he’ll do anything to play in the next game. So we’ll be counting on him.”

“Just shows his bravery,” midfielder Kellyn Acosta said of the goal, which Pulisic fin ished knowing a collision was coming. “He’s wanted it so bad. I’m glad that he was finally rewarded with a goal. He’s super hungry.”

This World Cup was

supposed to be Pulisic’s coming-out party after he and the U.S. missed out on the tournament four years ago. Since then, he played two seasons in the German Bundesliga for Dortmund and four in the English Premier League with Chelsea. He’s also appeared in 47 Champi ons League games, most

ever by an American. It’s already a Hall of Fame resume and Pulisic is just three months past his 24th birthday.

What was missing from that CV, though, was a turn under the red-hot glare of the global spotlight, which this tour nament has provided.

“It’s the biggest sport.

We’re on the stage,” team mate Tim Weah said. of beating at the World Cup “It’s up to us to take it as far as we can go and make sure that we make a statement.”

But when given the opportunity to make a statement about his own performance in Qatar, Pulisic put the focus back on his team.

“To score a goal and help the team in any way I can is what I’m here to do,” he said. “I want to make big plays and I want to do what I can help this team.”

“It feels great to score in a World Cup,” he added.

Well, it maybe didn’t feel so great at the time.

“I paid the price for it a bit,” he said. “Took a knee. It was not nice; obviously very painful.”

Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images/TNS U. s. forward Christian pulisic speaks during a press conference at Al Gharafa sC stadium in Qatar, thursday.