Daily Republic: Wednesday, March 1, 2023 by mcnaughtonmedia

Thunder, hail, but no real problems from storm A3

Armijo grad Day has big week for Sac State B1

WEDNESDAY | March 1, 2023 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

Newsom ends Covid-19 state of emergency SACRAMENTO — California’s Covid-19 state of emergency officially ends Tuesday, bringing a symbolic close to one of the most challenging chapters of state history and of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political career. The Democratic governor declared the state of emergency three years ago, giving himself broad executive powers to protect Californians from an unpredictable and deadly virus. After previously resisting GOP pressure to end the emergency as conditions improved, Newsom now says California is finally ready to move forward. “California is better prepared and that’s because we have a serious Legislature and the health ecosystem in California is second to none in the country,” Newsom said. The governor proclaimed a state of emergency March 4, 2020, at a time when there were only 53 known cases

of Covid-19 in California. Anticipating rapid spread of the virus that could overwhelm hospitals, the proclamation gave the governor the legal authority to make, amend and rescind state regulations, suspend state statutes and redirect state funds. The emergency declaration also allowed Newsom to commandeer private property, including hospitals, medical labs, hotels and motels. Although the pandemic solidified Newsom’s legacy as a crisis governor, his use of power opened him up to scrutiny from across the political spectrum. His decisions to enact mask and vaccine mandates and ever-shifting restrictions on businesses and everyday activities turned him into a GOP caricature of oppressive Democratic rule. Newsom was spotted dining with lobbyist friends at the posh French Laundry restaurant in See Covid, Page A8

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS file (2022)

Gov. Gavin Newsom waits to speak at a news conference to unveil the next phase of California’s pandemic response in a United Parcel Service warehouse in Fontana last year.

‘Lab leak’ report energizes Republicans’ Covid probes The Washington Post WASHINGTON — Emboldened by an Energy Department analysis that concludes with “low confidence” that the coronavirus pandemic probably began with an accidental lab leak in central China, Republicans on Capitol Hill are teeing up new demands for information and broadening their planned probes of Covid-19’s origins. The classified report remains a minority view among the nine intelligence entities probing the pandemic’s origin, most of which still favor the theory that the virus naturally “spilled over” from animals to humans, probably in a Wuhan market near where the first cases of an unusual pneumonia were reported. None of the other agencies have changed their view after seeing the report, officials

say, and peer-reviewed scientific papers published last year also bolster the spillover explanation. But the Energy Department analysis, first reported Sunday by the Wall Street Journal, arrived just as GOP congressional leaders had embarked on their Covid oversight agenda. They have promised multiple probes into whether Chinese officials covered up a lab accident, and targeted scientists such as Anthony S. Fauci, the recently retired U.S. health official whose agency had supported virus research in China. In interviews on Monday, Republican lawmakers touted the Energy Department’s conclusion, which bolsters longstanding GOP talking points, while acknowledging they had yet to read See Report, Page A8

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic file

Construction equipment is set up for the Broadway Project in Vallejo, Feb. 7.

Supes struggle to agree on final ARPA distribution

Todd R. Hansen

THANSEN@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Solano County supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to provide $3 million so the 47-bed Homekey homeless project in Vallejo can complete construction. The board also affirmed $800,000 for the previously supported Shelter Solano kitchen and maintenance project, as well as $381,000 to Vacaville Solano Services Corp. for the purchase of its My Friend’s House transitional youth shelter. In a separate matter, the board allocated $300,000 to the kitchen project, funds that had been set aside for the purpose when Mission Solano ran the shelter. After the Homekey

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vote, it was a struggle to reach a four-fifths consensus on where to spend the remaining $7.564 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds under county control. “We are going to be at a stalemate today because you are not willing to compromise,” Supervisor Wanda Williams told board Chairman John Vasquez, who cast the lone dissenting vote on the Homekey project. That vote did not

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include an additional $1.05 million ask for furnishings and some operational costs. Vasquez also joined Supervisor Mitch Mashburn in twice voting against $2 million for the 125-bed Vallejo Navigation Center. The project had support from the majority of the supervisors – Monica Brown, Erin Hannigan and Williams – and the CAP Solano board chaired by

WILLIAMS

Mashburn, but the county board requires a fourfifths vote to approve final funding of any American Rescue Plan Act allocations. A motion by Williams to give $2 million to the Almond Gardens project in Suisun City died without a second. It would have helped fund foundation work needed for a project to renovate 52 affordable housing See ARPA, Page A8

Authorities link Fairfield girl to 3-day crime spree that left her, 2 others dead Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

FAIRFIELD — Authorities suspect a Fairfield High School student who died last week in a highspeed crash was involved in a carjacking several hours earlier in Vallejo and a shooting the day before in Fairfield that left a man paralyzed. The Fairfield High student, a 16-year-old female and a passenger in the vehicle, died after the crash while en route by ambulance to the hospital. Two others in the vehicle, driver Jackari Taylor, 18, of Vallejo, and a male juvenile passenger, were pronounced dead at the crash scene. Authorities report the crime spree started at approximately 9:48 p.m. Feb. 20 when Fairfield police officers were flagged down on Pennsylvania Avenue at Missouri Street and were told of a shooting that had hapWEATHER 54 | 34 Sunny. Five-day forecast on B10.

pened. Police found a man with a gunshot wound down in the middle of the street. The man, whose age and city of residence were not released, said he met up with the 16-year-old Fairfield High student but felt something was not right and that he asked the girl if she was setting him up, the Solano County Major Crimes Task Force reports in a press release issued Tuesday. Two Black males wearing ski masks jumped him shortly thereafter and shot him in the back. Authorities report the man is now paralyzed and as of Tuesday remained hospitalized in an intensive care unit. Witnesses reported seeing two males fleeing on foot. Both were dressed in all black clothing and wearing masks. Officers located 11 spent bullet casings at the scene.

A robbery, carjacking and high-speed chase A 17-year-old male Richmond resident agreed to meet the 16-year-old Fairfield High girl at approximately 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 at a residence in Vallejo. The teen parked at the residence and got out of the vehicle – a white Hyundai – at which point he said two males came out from the alley See Spree, Page A8

Courtesy photo

An AR-15 assault rifle and the Polymer 80 Glock-style handgun (ghost gun) are shown after being found at the scene of a crash that left three teens dead, Feb. 22.

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