Vikings secure six spots on career scoring leaders list A10
Six Flags offers park holiday drive-thru experience B1
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Venerable Mare Island cemetery sees 1st holiday
wreath-laying ceremony
Susan Hiland
shiland@dailyrepublic.net
MARE ISLAND — The Mare Island Naval Cemetery – the oldest naval cemetery on the West Coast – for the first time Saturday was part of the nationwide Wreaths Across America program. About 50 people came out to place wreaths on the graves of some 1,000 soldiers buried at the cemetery, the recipient of a recent cleanup campaign that many hope will lead to better oversight in the future. Cmdr. Steve Nash, president of the Vallejo Council of the Navy League and a longtime military leader, has been aware of the cemetery and the years of neglect that it had weathered. “I found out it had never been adopted for the Wreaths Across America program and thought it should be,” Nash said. So began several months of paperwork and then fundraising. “Once we were accepted, I was like, ‘What now?’ ” he said. Nash reached out to business owners and corporations to get the money, eventually bringing in $17,000. “The goal was $15,000,” he said. “Anything that is left is going to purchase wreaths for next year. We can do that ahead of time in January.” Nash said in his speech that the cemetery was part of Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies and had been since 1871 and 1920, respectively. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark with three Medal of Honor recipients, James Cooney, U.S. Marine Corps; William Halford, U.S. Navy; and Alexander Parker, U.S. Navy, laid to rest there along with more than 860 sailors and marines who served in the periods from the War of 1812 to World War I and more than 100 of their relatives interred here. The first burial was George Dowd
Santa arrives early in Fairfield as community comes together shiland@dailyrepublic.net
of the USS Massachusetts on Feb. 12, 1856, President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The cemetery closed in 1921 but the last pre-arranged burial was in 1984. Also buried there is Anna Arnold Key Turner, whose husband, Daniel, fought in the War of 1812. She is the daughter of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the national anthem, “The See Wreath, Page A9
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Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., questions Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin during a hearing of the Congressional Oversight Commission on Capitol Hill, Dec. 10. both sides of the aisle dug in over the issue, imperiling prospects for a deal before Monday. Toomey, a conservative lawmaker on the
Senate’s banking committee, has demanded provisions be included in the Covid relief package that would curb the ability of the Fed to restart emer-
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Bethel Community Church of Fairfield was able to make the holidays special for area residents with the 8th Annual Holiday Toy, Coat and Food Giveaway drive-thru in the church parking lot.
Susan Hiland
Susan Hiland/Daily Republic
James Cooney, a Medal of Honor recipient, is one of the soldiers interred at Mare Island Naval Cemetery. Volunteers placed wreaths on some 1,000 graves of soldiers and their family members as part of the Wreaths Across America program, Saturday.
Lawmakers hit major roadblock over GOP plan to limit Federal Reserve WASHINGTON — Senior congressional lawmakers attempting to complete an emergency coronavirus relief package this weekend slammed into a major roadblock on Saturday over Republican demands to limit the authority of the Federal Reserve. A late push from Sen. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., to rein in the nation’s central bank had already divided lawmakers over the last several days. But the impasse appeared to grow significantly wider on Saturday, as congressional leadership and rank-and-file senators on
Susan Hiland/Daily Republic
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gency lending programs for localities and small businesses. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told Senate Republicans on a private call Saturday afternoon that the party should stick by Toomey’s plan, according to two people who requested anonymity to share details of the call. But Senior Democrats have balked at agreeing to what they see as a nakedly political attempt to limit the economic tools available to the Biden administration. Throughout Friday and Saturday, a chorus See GOP, Page A9
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Areas of dense fog before 11 a.m., then sunny. Fiveday forecast on A11.
FAIRFIELD — ’Tis the season of giving, a concept that was on full display Saturday with toys, coats and food giveaways. The line from the Bethel Community Church gates went down to the stop sign on East Tabor Avenue for the 8th Annual Holiday Toy, Coat and Food Giveaway. “This year the need is great,” said the Rev. Anthony L. Gilmore. Gilmore earlier in the week recounted how a mom called him and asked if she could get two coats early for her children. “I went and found two coats for them and when she came to pick them up I asked if she wanted anything else,” he said. “ ‘No,’ she said. ‘I just don’t have coats for the kids.’ ” It looks to him as if the toy drive grows every year – people were lined
up at 7:30 a.m. in cars and the line stretched down the street. The giveaway is unique in that the church has always had a car drive-thru for picking up gifts, coats and food. “We weren’t sure with the lockdown if this year they would let us,” Gilmore said. “But because we were going to practice safe distancing with masks and just really place the toys in the back of trunks, that was OK.” About 50 volunteers from the Fairfield police and firefighters came out to help. The U.S. Marine Corps brought toys from the Toys for Tots program; Macy’s donated coats; and other businesses donated toys, food and gift cards. “The older kids got gift cards,” event organizer Dolores Nichols said. “We probably had 1,500 items donated this year.” The gates opened with two lanes for cars to See Santa, Page A9
At least 200 victims identified in suspected Russian hacking Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — At least 200 organizations, including government agencies and companies around the world, have been hacked as part of a suspected Russian cyberattack that implanted malicious code in a widely used software program, said a cybersecurity firm and three people familiar with ongoing investigations. The number of actual hacking victims has been one of many unanswered questions surrounding the cyberattack, which used a backdoor in SolarWinds Corp.’s Orion network management software as a staging ground for
further attacks. As ma ny as 18,000 SolarWinds’ customers received a malicious update that included the backdoor, but the number that was actually hacked – meaning the attackers used the backdoor to infiltrate computer networks – is likely to be far fewer. Recorded Future Inc., a cybersecurity firm based in Massachusetts, has identified 198 victims that were hacked using the SolarWinds backdoor, said threat analyst Allan Liska. Three other people said the inquiry so far has determined that the hackers further
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See Hacking, Page A9