River Cats come within striking distance but Rainiers win — Page B3
Movies
Damion seeks a new home — Page A6
Might this man blow up the world? Page B1
Pets
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enterprise THE DAVIS
FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023
Council OKs $409K in upgrades for Arroyo Park
An electric school bus is charging at Grant Union High School in Sacramento on July 20. The chargers are bidirectional, which means they can feed power back to the electric grid.
By Monica Stark Enterprise staff writer
approved the bill earlier this month and it is now under consideration by a third. This two-way charging has big potential — but also faces big obstacles. By 2035, California expects to have 12.5 million electric cars on the road, but it’s an open question how much California can rely on them to feed the grid. Automakers say the technology would add
The Davis City Council passed a $409,000 construction bid for a shade structure, concrete pad, six picnic tables, and two barbecues at Arroyo Park at Tuesday’s meeting. With Councilwoman Donna Neville dissenting, the item was pulled initially from the consent agenda after hearing public commenters questioning the cost and urging alternative shade options, like trees. Public Works director and city engineer Dianna Jensen said the project, which was granted to the Stockton-based F. Loduca Company, came in over the engineer’s estimate. “But what we look at is the range of bids,” she said. “All of these came in fairly close to each other.” Ria de Grassi, a longtime Davis resident, said as a taxpayer, the project amount “is a heck of a lot of money for a picnic area.” “I don’t know all the ins and outs,” de Grassi said, “but part of my issue is prioritizing what needs attention.” She urged the council to deal with more “pressing issues with the parks” first.
See GRID, Page A5
See ARROYO, Page A4
Miguel Gutierrez Jr./ CalMatters photo
How EVs can give back to the grid By Alejandro Lazo CalMatters As a historic 10-day heat wave threatened brownouts across California last summer, a small San Diego County school district did its part to help: It captured excess power from its electric school buses and sent it back to the state’s overwhelmed grid. The seven school buses provided enough power for 452
homes each day of the heat wave, and the buses were recharged only during off hours when the grid was not strained. California energy officials have high hopes that this new power source, called bidirectional charging, will boost California’s power supply as it ramps up its ambitious agenda of electrifying its cars, trucks and buses while switching to 100% clean energy.
Gov. Gavin Newsom called two-way charging technology a “game changer,” saying “this is the future” during a speech last September, about a week after the heat wave ended. This year, a bill already approved by the state Senate in a 29-9 vote would require all new electric cars sold in California to be equipped with bidirectional technology by 2030. In the Assembly, two committees
Winters councilman pleads no contest to weapon charges By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer A Winters city councilman charged with felony weapon possession made a plea agreement Wednesday that reduces his two most serious charges to misdemeanors. Richard Thomas Casavecchia’s deal won’t be official until Aug. 2, however, as his attorney, who appeared in Yolo Superior Court remotely via Zoom, inadvertently filed a plea form that did not include Casavecchia’s signature. Under the agreement, Casavecchia pleaded no contest to two counts of
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INDEX
Arts ���������������������B1 Explorit ���������������A3 Pets ��������������������A6 Comics ���������������B4 Forum �����������������B3 Sports ���������������B6 Dial-A-Pro ���������B5 Movies ���������������B1 The Wary I ���������A2
possessing an assault rifle. A third count, possession of an unserialized firearm, will be dismissed. Casavecchia, 39, is expected to be sentenced to one year of informal probation and 100 hours of community service. He pledged to surrender the two rifles to law enforcement. His attorney, Michael Wise, could not be reached for comment. Documents filed in support of the motion alleged that police found the assault rifles in Casavecchia’s home on April 2, after Casavecchia’s wife arrived at the Winters Police Department to
WEATHER Saturday: Sunny and hot. High 105. Low 65.
Dominguez competency trial begins on Monday
report a domestic violence CASAVECCHIA incident Agreement official in and August request an emergency protective order. “She then told Winters police that defendant has a concealed weapons permit along with other weapons,” the document says. She initially declined to give officers consent to enter her home and remove the weapons, but later reversed that decision. About two hours earlier, a Winters patrol officer
See CHARGES, Page A4
By Lauren Keene
well as the May 1 knife attack on Kimberlee GuilWOODLAND lory. — Attorneys in Dominguez’s the Carlos Reales public defender, Dominguez case Dan Hutchinson, made brief declared a doubt DOMINGUEZ regarding appearances Wednesday in Mental status Dominguez’s at issue Yolo Superior competency back Court to confirm in May, stalling a competency trial for the the criminal proceedings former UC Davis student while Dominguez undercharged with murder and went an evaluation by a attempted murder. court-appointed psychiaA jury will determine trist who deemed him whether Dominguez, 21, incompetent. is mentally fit to stand Yolo County prosecutrial for the late April tors disputed that conclustabbing deaths of Davis sion, however, demanding residents David Breaux and Karim Abou Najm, as See COMPETENCY, Page A4
Enterprise staff writer
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