Daily Republic: Friday, January 6, 2023 by mcnaughtonmedia

Vanden basketball teams likely favorites again A3

State’s levees being pushed to the breaking point A4

FRIDAY | January 6, 2023 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

Fairfield fire takes over emergency response for Cordelia district Todd R. Hansen

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Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Pedestrians hold an umbrella while walking through Downtown Fairfield amidst a rain storm, Thursday.

Power outages, trees down, but Solano misses worst of storm Todd R. Hansen

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FAIRFIELD — There has been one fatality attributed to storm conditions and thousands of PG&E customers were without power Wednesday into Thursday, but emergency service officials said Solano County seemed to escape the worst of it moving into mid-Thursday. “Knock on wood,” sheriff’s Sgt, Christine Castillo, with the Solano County Office of Emergency Services, said in a phone interview Thursday morning. “We have checked in with all our cities and districts and they are not reporting anything significant . . . There have been some power outages, some trees down and a few (traffic collisions), but nothing significant,” Castillo said. She noted, however, the another storm is expected over the

weekend, and yet another coming in next week. As of 1 p.m. more than 700 customers were still without power. The worst of the outages was in Vallejo. “This was one of the most powerful winter storms to hit our region in years – second most powerful storm in the past decade and eighth most powerful storm in the past 30 years,” PG&E reported “Wind gusts topped more than 100 miles an hour and over 5 inches of rain fell in some areas.” The National Weather Service reported wind gusts up to 72 mph in Solano County. The fatality was a 19-year-old Fairfield woman who drove her car into some standing water and then crashed into a utility pole on Vanden Road, at One Lake, early Wednesday. Winds from the Wednesday night storm hit as high as 72 mph

at the 693-foot elevation on High Gates Hill. Otherwise the gusts were between 35 and 45 in most other regions of the county, the National Weather Service in Sacramento reported. The storm dropped between 1.7 inches to more than 2 inches of rain in the 48-hour period ending at 10 a.m. Thursday, also with the higher elevations getting more precipitation. Scott Rowe, a meteorologist and forecaster for the Weather Service, said as much as another half-inch of rain was expected through Thursday afternoon across Solano. “It is going to rain more Saturday into Sunday, but compared to the other days of the week, Friday looks calm,” Rowe said. Still some rain could fall on Friday, with lighter winds. In fact, the winds for the See Storm, Page A9

Historic deadlock continues: McCarthy takes another loss on 11th speaker ballot Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy of California failed Thursday in five more attempts to be elected speaker, extending the saga over which Republican will succeed Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Without an elected leader, the House remains paralyzed, delaying members’ oaths of office, GOP committee assignments, congressio-

nal probes and hearings, a rules package and passage of any legislation. Until a speaker is a elected by a majority of the chamber, the House can do little else beyond vote for a speaker or move to adjourn. House Republicans have begun complaining about the real-world effects of the impasse, such as losing access to national security intelligence and being unable to help their constituents

with casework. The historic failure puts the 118th Congress on track to tie or exceed the number of ballots it took to elect a speaker in the 17th Congress, which required 12 ballots in 1821. The all-time record is 133 ballots in 1855-56. A continued stalemate also risks House Republicans struggling to elect their leader on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Metal detectors

outside the chamber were immediately removed once Republicans formally took control of the chamber this week. McCarthy signaled to reporters ahead of the seventh ballot – the first of five votes Thursday – that he would again fall short because negotiations with some of his conservative antagonists were ongoing. But it remains unclear whether See Loss, Page A9

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Solano’s county roads among best in Bay Area; Vallejo among worst Todd R. Hansen

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FAIRFIELD — Solano County’s unincorporated roads rated as “very good” in the Pavement Condition Index for Bay Area Jurisdictions in 2021. It was the third year in a row for the distinction as being among the best roads in the Bay Area, scoring an 80 in 2021, an 80 in 2020 and an 81 in 2019, the report states. There were only six jurisdictions with a “very good” score between 80 and 89 in

2021, and Solano was the lone county. The best ranking, with a score of 84, was Cupertino. “Pavement with a PCI score in the 80 to 89 range is considered ‘very good’ and shows only slight or moderate distress, requiring primarily preventive maintenance,” states the report, which was released Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Solano County covers 930.1 lane miles of roads, the report states. See Roads, Page A9

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A road closure sign in front of Guittard Way in Fairfield allows construction crews to work on road improvements, Thursday.

WEATHER 57 | 47 Rain Forecast on B9

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FAIRFIELD — The city Fire Department on Wednesday assumed responsibility of emergency response for the Cordelia Fire Protection District. “Following years of financial struggles, the district made the tough decision to close their doors after over 100 years of service. In the short-term our contract for service is limited to emergency response. However, in the longterm the city and district hope to reach a more comprehensive agreement to include prevention and administrative functions,” the department said in a Facebook post. The Fairfield City Council on Oct. 4 authorized the department, through the Solano Local Agency Formation Com-

mission, to enter into a contract for service with the Cordelia district. The fee per call will be $475. Based on call volume, the contract will generate about $213,000 for the city through June 30, about $800,000 annually, and into the future, more than $1 million, the council was told. Cordelia has contracted with a consultant to work with Solano LAFCO and the city Fire Department to develop a service plan and financial arrangement for the long term. “While the district is large geographically, it is relatively unpopulated, and we anticipate a net new call volume impact of less than two calls per day. Service to the city of Fairfield will not be impacted,” the

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