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enterprise THE DAVIS
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2023
Yolo County proclaims Gun Violence Survivors Week
Ground zero
The Savory Basin outside of Fresno, on Jan. 27, was built two years ago to refill the aquifer with captured stormwater. The Fresno district spent millions to buy farmland and create basins for percolating water underground to help meet the requirements of state groundwater management regulations.
By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer
Graham Fogg, a UC Davis professor of hydrogeology, said the recent rainfall could substantially help minimally impacted areas, like much of the Sacramento basin, where
With recent mass shootings still on the minds of many Californians, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday proclaimed this first week of February “Gun Violence Survivors Week” in Yolo County. The proclamation was presented to local representatives of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action at the board’s meeting Tuesday morning. “As we know, every year, 40,000 Americans are killed with guns, approximately 76,000 more are shot and wounded, and, in California, unfortunately, at least 18 people died and at least 10 more were injured in just a three-day period in our state,” said Supervisor Jim Provenza of Davis, who brought the proclamation forward to the full board. That proclamation noted that 59 percent of American adults, including 71 percent of Black and 60 percent of Latinx Americans, or someone they care for, has experienced gun violence in their lifetimes. Additionally, noted Provenza, “firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens.” “By commemorating Gun Violence Survivors Week,” he said, “we raise
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Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local photo
Rainstorms bring little relief to California’s depleted groundwater By Alastair Bland CalMatters The powerful storms that clobbered California for weeks in December and January dropped trillions of gallons of water, flooding many communities and farms. But throughout the state, the rains have done little to nourish the underground supplies that are critical sources of California’s drinking water. Thousands of people in the San Joaquin Valley have seen
their wells go dry after years of prolonged drought and overpumping of aquifers. And a two-week deluge — or even a wet winter — will not bring them relief. Even in January, as California’s rivers flooded thousands of acres, state officials received reports of more than 30 well outages, adding to more than 5,000 dry residential wells reported statewide in the past decade. “Just one wet year is nowhere
near large enough to refill the amount of groundwater storage that we’ve lost, say, over the last 10 years or more,” said Jeanine Jones, a drought manager with the state Department of Water Resources. Water from heavy rains can reach shallow groundwater basins in a matter of days, but in places where wells must pump from deep underground aquifers — like those in the San Joaquin Valley — this can take months. And even a season’s worth of storms is not usually enough to restore wells left high and dry by years of overdraft. Restoring California’s groundwater is not as simple as
waiting for rain and letting it seep into the ground. It requires detailed planning and scientific analysis of project sites, and uses tens of millions of dollars in state funds. Land has to be purchased or growers must be compensated for flooding their fields. And it also means that growers — and to a lesser extent, communities — must reduce the water they pump.
Davis law firm has role in Picnic Day names parade marshal whistleblower settlement By Monica Stark By Lauren Keene Enterprise staff writer Two plaintiffs represented by Davis and Sacramento law firms in a whistleblower lawsuit will share in a multimilliondollar settlement that alleged their former employer — an online birth-control provider — engaged in fraudulent practices. Cindy Swintelski Schwartz and Happy Baumann, who worked as nurse practitioners for The Pill Club (formerly Favor), claimed the company knowingly defrauded government and private insurers
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by submitting false claims for contraceptive prescriptions and services. Under the settlement agreement, announced Tuesday by the California Department of Justice and the women’s lawyers, Michael Hirst of Davis' Hirst Law Group and M. Anderson Berry of the Arnold Law Firm in Sacramento, The Pill Club will pay $15 million to the DOJ and $3.275 million to the California Department of Insurance. For their roles, Schwartz and Baumann,
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WEATHER Thursday: Early frost, then sunny. High 63. Low 37.
Enterprise staff writer
Cecelia “Cece” MaikaiBeard, a beloved principal food-service worker at UC Davis, will serve as the parade marshal for the university’s 109th Picnic Day, the Picnic Day Committee announced on Friday. Maikai-Beard, who has worked at UCD for 13 years, will address the opening ceremonies of the university’s annual open house and ride in the parade that will go through the campus and downtown Davis on Saturday, April 15. As part of her grand marshal responsibilities, she will also judge various contests that day.
Jeremiah James Noel/Courtesy photo
Picnic Day Marshall Cecelia Maikai-Beard meets Picnic Day chair Jesse Goodman, left, and vice chair Bradford Martin. “Cecelia Maikai-Beard exemplifies what it means to be a UC Davis community member — making her impact with her dayto-day selflessness and through her consistent and countless experiences with students here at UC Davis,” said Jesse Goodman, chair of Picnic Day’s board of directors. “Cece is awesome, and it is a testament to the positive energy she exudes that our students want to celebrate her in this way,” said Mike Sheehan, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Housing, Dining and Divisional Operations at UC Davis. The board of 15 students chose Maikai-Beard as the parade grand marshal. “We feel she embodies this year’s theme, ‘Ignite the
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Moment,’ for inspiring students — rain or shine — through her constant positivity,” Goodman added. The board selected the theme to showcase the bright passion the students have for UC Davis and the community. Students appreciate her friendly smile and cheerful demeanor when they enter the Cuarto Dining Commons after a long day. Maikai-Beard is known for her motivational mottos such as “Marvelous and Magnificent Mondays,” “Turn-It-Up Tuesdays,” “Wonderful Wednesdays,” “Thumbs up Thursdays,” and “Fantastic Fridays.” Maikai-Beard, who hails from the island of Oahu, brings a bit of “Aloha”
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