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High school athletes back on the field News, Page 2
Celebrating National FFA Week Features, Page 6
Volume 138, Number 4 — Locally owned since 1884
The hometown paper of Anita Boone
Winters, Yolo County, California, Wednesday, February 24, 2021
Yolo County returning to red tier By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media Restaurants, gyms and theaters are among the businesses that can resume indoor service on Wednesday now that Yolo County has moved to the red tier. It’s been more than three months since the county last saw red on the state’s color-coded, tier-based blueprint for reopening. The state provides a bonus to counties testing more than the state average by adjusting their case rates downward, so Yolo’s actual case rate of 11.1 per 100,000 residents on Tuesday was reduced
to 5.6, meeting the red tier requirement of 7 or below for the second week in a row. The two other metrics required to move to red — the test positivity rate and health equity quartile — were also met by the county. The countywide test positivity rate of 1.6 percent now meets the benchmark of the least-restrictive yellow tier while the health equity quartile — which measures test positivity rate in the county’s most disadvantaged areas — was 5.2 percent on Tuesday. The end result is more activities will be allowed in Yolo Coun-
Trustees release assistant superintendent for next school year
ty. “I am glad that we are finally able to re-enter the red tier,” said Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza of Davis. “This will benefit gyms, restaurants, youth sports and many others.” “I would like to caution Yolo County residents to continue observing safe practices such as distancing, wearing face covering and staying away from large gatherings so that we can avoid another surge in cases and a possible return to the purple tier.” The changes effective Wednesday include: • Restaurants may
Editor-in-Chief The Winters Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved the release of the assistant superintendent following a closed session on Thursday, Feb. 18. As listed on the meeting agenda, Trustees adjourned to the closed session following their regular meeting to: • Conference with District Labor Negotiator Superintendent Diana Jiménez regarding the Winters Area Education Association, Winters Area Pupil Personnel Services Unit, and California School Employees Association Chapter #694. • Public employee performance evaluation - District Superintendent. • Public employee(s) discipline/dismissal/ release. Upon adjourning back to open session, Board of Trustee Carrie Green reported in closed session the five Trustees voted unanimously in approval to
release Assistant Superintendent Sandra Ayón from her position. Jiménez told the Express in an email that Winters JUSD’s decision on the release of the Assistant Superintendent was aligned with a current revision of the school districts focus on closing student achievement gaps and revising district leadership roles. “The Board of Trustees is focused on refining our policies and practices, and aligning talent and resources to address teaching and learning. We are specifically looking at closing achievement gaps, and this sharp focus has required the District to review and revise resource alignment and transition work across various leadership positions in order to drive-hard the Board’s commitment to increase student achievement. The decision regarding Ms. Ayon’s position was part of this overarching discussion. We extend to Ms. Ayón our
See RELEASE, Page 5
Index
Weather
Features ........................ B-1
Date Rain High Low Feb. 17
.00
64˚ 39˚
Feb. 18
.00
62˚ 35˚
Feb. 19
.07”
62˚ 45˚
Feb. 20
.06”
60˚ 43˚
Eventos hispanos ....... A-6
Feb. 21
.00
61˚ 45˚
Feb. 22
.00
69˚ 46˚
Opinion ......................... B-3
Feb. 23
.00
74˚ 44˚
Classifieds ................... B-5 Community .................. A-7
Real Estate ................... B-2 Sports ........................... A-2
Rain for week: 0.13 in. Season’s total: 6.61 in. Last sn. to date: 11.35 in. Winters rainfall season began 7/1/20. Weather readings are taken at 9 a.m. daily.
See TIER, Page 5
Edward Booth/Winters Express
In the red tier Winters businesses will be able to expand the number of patrons allowed inside their buildings.
Winters exploring commercial cannabis operation regulations By Edward Booth
By Crystal Apilado
resume indoor dining at 25 percent capacity or 100 people, whichever is smaller. Only household members may share a table. • Gyms and fitness centers may resume indoor activity at 10 percent of capacity. • Retail establishments may increase indoor capacity to 50 percent. Schools — elementary, junior high and high schools — may resume in-person instruction. Youth sports may resume indoor practice at 10 percent capacity. Beginning Friday, competition will be permitted between
Express staff writer The Winters City Council directed city staff on Feb. 16 to gather more information and community input on establishing regulations that would allow commercial cannabis businesses to operate in the city. Commercial cannabis business is currently prohibited in the city because of a city ordinance that was passed shortly after California voters effectively legalized adult use of marijuana in the state in November 2016.
City manager Kathleen Trepa said Winters is the only public agency in Yolo County not allowing any form of cannabis activity — other than indoor cultivation of up to six plants for personal use, as allowed by state law. Davis is the only city in the county to allow retail sales of cannabis, but all areas of the county except Winters allow at least some commercial cannabis business activities, such as distribution, manufacturing and testing. The council discussion of whether to es-
tablish regulations that would allow commercial cannabis activity came as the result of a letter sent by the Winters Downtown Business Association and the Winters District Chamber of Commerce in January. The letter argues cannabis-based businesses could increase city revenue, create jobs and diversify local businesses. A rough staff estimate of the revenue a dispensary might produce for the city ranges from $250,000 to $350,000 annually for the city, Trepa said. Davis, which has five dispensaries, expects
Editor-in-Chief
With Yolo County moving into the red tier this week, Winters schools are able to welcome students back onto campus as early as March 1. At the Feb. 18 Winters Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Amy Sisson said that all K-12 schools may reopen after five days in the red tier. Sisson said Yolo County would officially move into the red tier on Wednesday, Feb. 24, allowing schools to become eligible to reopen in-person learning after Day five on Feb. 28. She also confirmed that after a school opens it would not have to shut down again if the county
goes back to purple tier. “Once a school has reopened it can stay open,” Sisson said. Superintendent Diana Jiménez said the school district would officially notify families on Wednesday, Feb. 24 to communicate the actual hybrid start date. Waggoner Elementary School, Shirley Rominger Intermediate School, Winters Middle School and Winters High School have already welcomed back small cohorts of students who were identified as needing the intervention of in-person learning opportunities. All Winters JUSD school sites, including the Winters State Preschool Center and the Wolfskill
See REOPEN, Page 5
By Anne Ternus-Bellamy McNaughton Media Jackie Wong spent part of Monday evening consoling her 12-year-old daughter who was distraught over the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes that have been reported since the pandemic began. Across the country and right here in Yolo County, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have reported being both verbally and physically assaulted and accused of causing the COVID-19 pandemic or spreading the virus. Locally, Lisa Yep Salinas, a Woodland resident (and wife of the county’s clerk-recorder/assessor/registrar of voters, Jesse Salinas) report-
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Winters schools ready County condemning to bring students back intolerance against By Crystal Apilado Asian Americans
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to receive about $1.5 million in revenue annually from its dispensaries, she said. The cost of a consultant — needed because of limited staff resources to help the city develop commercial cannabis regulations — runs from an estimated $40,000 to $80,000, Trepa said. City staff would be able to prepare draft regulations, which would include a comprehensive community engagement process, in six months to a year. Winters currently doesn’t have the budget to hire the
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ed being attacked multiple times at Woodland grocery stores as well as at a gym, where two women “tried to kick me out of the pool because they said I was spreading COVID-19.” Wong, meanwhile, a West Sacramento school board trustee, said her daughter “completely understood why her grandma would not leave the house. “She told me she believed that no one cared.” But Wong shared with her daughter on Monday evening that the Yolo County Board of Supervisors would be adopting a resolution the next day “to take a stand for people like me
See COUNTY, Page 5
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