Issuu

Joey Logano earns first win at Ambetter Health 400 B1

Boiled peanuts lets you look at the legume in a new light B2

MONDAY | March 20, 2023 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

FAIRFIELD-SUISUN

School trustees change up order of business for meeting agendas Susan Hiland

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Bil Paul of Dixon has written a book about his father’s military experience in the Aleutian Islands.

‘Awaiting the Sun’

Dixon resident tells intimate stories of men stationed on Aleutian Islands during WWII Daily Republic Staff

DRNEWS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

Schiffer Publishing

The cover of “Awaiting the Sun: WWII Veterans Remember the Aleutians” by Bil Paul.

DIXON — A young sailor sat a table, emptied an envelope with scraps of paper, then pieced them all back together so he could reread the letter from home – a seemingly forlorn wont that he repeated until he had folded and unfolded and reread it into tatters. Another sailer, Elliott Asimov, well known as the author of “Eight Men Out,” took a jeep out to the edges of his existence to scream and holler and exude his pain after having received a Dear John letter, which he tore into tatters never to be read again. His trip into the icy grip of the Aleutian Islands nearly killed him.

Those stories, along with tales of moonshine made from grape jam, all-night poker games, friendships and pinups, the segregation of Blacks and discrimination of Jews, difficult duty and boredom are compiled in the book “Awaiting the Sun,” authored by Dixon resident Bil Paul. It is a collection of stories, from the sailors’ perspectives, of life on the Aleutians during World War II. “One of my favorites, and there are a lot of them, was from Paul Kerrigan,” Paul said. Kerrigan, a weatherman who would later serve on a submarine to post weather reports for U.S. bombing runs to Japan, had nursed See Stories, Page A7

2 counties square off with state over mental health coverage Angela Hart

KAISER HEALTH NEWS

SACRAMENTO — Sacramento and Solano counties are in a standoff with the state over mental health coverage for a portion of Medicaid patients in those counties – a dispute that threatens to disrupt care for nearly 50,000 low-income residents receiving treatment for severe mental illness. The Department of Health Care Services, which administers Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program,

says Sacramento and Solano counties must take over managing and providing specialty mental health care for thousands of MediCal patients enrolled in Kaiser Permanente plans. It insists on shifting the responsibility because California’s remaining 56 counties already operate this way. State officials argue the switch would simplify the state’s disAnna Buchmann/The Sacramento Bee/TNS jointed mental health A new California law requires Kaiser Permanente and other system and is needed health plans to schedule a follow-up appointment for mental to implement a larger transformation of health patients no more than 10 days after their initial intake. Kaiser clinicians say the company has known about See Health, Page A7 the law but hasn’t done anything to achieve compliance.

See Agendas, Page A7

2 Swiss banking giants combine to quell growing global bank crisis The Washington Post Credit Suisse, the battered Swiss banking giant, has agreed to a takeover by Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS – a move aimed at staving off immediate concerns of a disorderly bankruptcy and stemming panic about global financial turmoil. UBS has agreed to buy Credit Suisse in an emergency deal that ties up two of Europe’s largest banks, Swiss authorities announced Sunday. Swiss authorities are planning to speed up the process by circumventing laws that would require a shareholder vote, the Financial Times reported earlier Sunday. The Financial Times also reported that the value of the all-share deal was more than $2 billion, but that figure was not officially confirmed by the Swiss authorities. A “swift and stabilizing solution was absolutely necessary,” Alain Berset, president of the Swiss Confederation, said in a Sunday afternoon news conference. The UBS deal, he said, was “the best solution for restoring the confidence that has been lacking in financial markets recently.” See Crisis, Page A7

WEATHER 57 | 42 Mostly sunny. Forecast on B8.

3VJHS .PYS 2UV^Z 9LHS ,Z[H[L

WANT TO SUBSCRIBE? Call 707-427-6989.

— N A PA VA L L E Y —

Dr. David P. Simon, MD, FACS.

Sandra Ritchey-Butler Expires 3/31/2023

FAIRFIELD — Changes to the order in which Fairfield-Suisun School District trustees conduct meetings drew the ire last week of an employee union leader and a trustee but was later defended by the board president as a way to encourage engagement. Trustees voted Thursday night to make staff-recommended changes to the order of business at upcoming board meetings. One of the changes that brought the wrath of several public speakers – including Fairfield Suisun Unified Teachers’ Association President Nancy Dunn – was moving PETERO reports for the employee unions and student board member to later in the meeting. “By moving reports to the end of agenda, employees are receiving the message from the board as dismissive, disrespectful and not possessing a clear understanding of when an association president is fulfilling our duties as association presidents,” Nunn said. “We are equals of the ISOM superintendent of the district but not under supervision of trustees. Putting us beneath the superintendent’s report indicates we are not viewed with the power fitting the position of association presidents. Until shared power is accepted and acknowledged, we will not move forward to create a learning environment all students deserve and positive working environment that all employees deserve.” Nunn received support from Trustee Ana Petero. “Moving student reports and association reports to

REALTOR® DRE# 01135124

707.592.6267 • sabutler14@gmail.com '2+%

Eye y Physician y & Surgeon, g , Col. ((Ret.), USAF Services include: • Routine Eye Exams • Comprehensive Ophthalmology • Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration Care • Diabetic Eye Exams • Dry Eye Treatment • Cataract Surgery • LASIK Surgery Now Accepting New Patients!

3260 Beard Rd #5 Napa • 707-681-2020 simoneyesmd.com