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Ags come up short against Pacific
What does it take, to become a genius filmmaker?
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2022
With all votes in, attention turns to Frerichs’ seat By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer
“This really is a demonstration of how important it is that we settle our negotiations and truly provide the best for our students,” DTA President Victor Lagunes told The Enterprise. “The most recent California budget came in with a huge influx of money. What we know is that there are extreme
The final vote count is in — residents of District 1 in West Davis will be represented on the Davis City Council by Bapu Vaitla for the next four years and residents of District 4 in East Davis by Gloria Partida. The Yolo County Elections Office issued the final tallies on Tuesday, showing Vaitla took nearly 60 percent of the vote in District 1, followed by incumbent Dan Carson’s 27 percent and challenger Kelsey Fortune’s 13 percent. In District 4, Partida finished with 62 percent of the vote to challenger Adam Morrill’s 38 percent. Partida and Vaitla will be sworn in on Dec. 20. That’s also when the council is currently scheduled to designate a mayor and vice mayor for 2023 and discuss how to fill a looming vacancy on the council — the District 3 seat currently held by Mayor Lucas Frerichs. Having been elected to the Board of Supervisors in June, Frerichs will be vacating his council seat when he is sworn in as a county
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Davis Teachers and their supporters picket for better pay Wednesday at the corner of Fifth and B streets in downtown Davis. Aaron Geerts/ Enterprise photo
Teachers rally downtown for better pay By Aaron Geerts Enterprise staff writer The Davis Teachers Association and California Employees Association Chapter 572, along with supporters, rallied at the corner of Fifth and B streets Wednesday to demand the Davis Board of Trustees accept the DTA’s current contract proposal.
A press release by the DTA said its most recent offer to the Davis Joint Unified School District includes an across-theboard increase for all bargaining unit members, a one-time bonus and 100% coverage of the lowest, single-member health plan. Even with the greatest increase in public education funding, it said, Davis educators are still receiving the
lowest salaries in Yolo County. The rally itself was meant as a demonstration of the passion the community and its educators have for the students. Picket signs were raised that read, “Si se puede,” “Davis Students Deserve the Best! Invest In Our Teachers!” and nearly every car driving by honked its horn to compliment the crowd’s chanting.
City, county, university launch anti-hate campaign By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer Recent hate incidents in Davis, including anti-Semitic banners hung on a highway overpass in August and racist language shouted at the Black Student Union float during the Davis High School Homecoming parade in September, have prompted action by local officials. Taking a page from the successful collaboration of Healthy Davis Together, city, county and university leaders on Wednesday signed a resolution creating “Hate-Free Together,” a community-wide framework to combat and, it’s hoped, prevent hate incidents. The joint effort will begin in
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2023 and focus on three spheres — individuals, public agencies and businesses. Within those spheres are schools, religious institutions, nonprofits and other groups. Each will be invited to community workshops in 2023 to share what change they would like to see in the community and highlight key actions. A forthcoming website will provide local training, educational resources and instructions on how to report hate crimes across the three jurisdictions. The resolution creating HateFree Together was unanimously approved by the Davis City Council on Wednesday evening during
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WEATHER Saturday: Fog and showers. High 47. Low 40.
ADA lawyer pleads guilty to tax fraud By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer A Sacramento attorney who targeted thousands of businesses for disability discrimination — including several in Davis — more recently faced his own legal troubles, pleading guilty in federal court this week to filing false tax returns. Scott Norris Johnson, 60, underreported his income from lawsuits he filed alleging noncompliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, according to Philip A. Talbert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California. The omissions, which occurred in 2012, 2013 and 2014, caused more than $250,000 in losses to the Internal Revenue Service, Talbert said in a California Department of Justice news release.
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U.S. District Court documents and in-court statements showed that Johnson, who owned and operated Disabled Access Prevents Injury Inc., used that corporation and later a law firm to file more than 4,000 ADA lawsuits in the Eastern District of California, which includes the Sacramento region. Johnson, a quadriplegic who uses a motorized wheelchair, named himself as the plaintiff in the federal suits. The defendants in the complaints included multiple Davis businesses, including the former Redrum Burger and the Olive Drive Market, whose owner Suresh Kumar paid $6,000 to settle his lawsuit. In an 2013 interview with The Davis Enterpirse, Kumar said his
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