Daily Republic: Monday, April 24, 2023 by mcnaughtonmedia

Try a Roman-style frittata in tomato sauce for fun dish B2

Warriors take down Kings to draw even in series B1

MONDAY | April 24, 2023 | $1.00

DAILYREPUBLIC.COM | Well said. Well read.

Evacuations from Sudan continue with no cease-fire Bloomberg News

Susan Hiland/Daily Republic photos

BackRoad Vines at Village 360 offered several varieties of wine Sunday for Passport Sunday.

Visitors enjoy variety of tastes in a return to Passport Sunday Susan Hiland

SHILAND@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

SUISUN VALLEY — The Sunday morning started with a rescue mission for Ann Sievers, owner of Il Fiorello Olive Oil. Before Passport Sunday began she was visited at Il Fiorello by four friendly dogs who seemed to have escaped there owners and were Il Fiorello Olive Oil Company offered a fruity blend of looking for a good time. “They were very well tastes for a unique drink at the facility. behaved but I got them This year they offered Il Fiorello also offered inside the mill and called popcorn covered in a gelato, and olive oil tasting animal control,” she variety of herbs and along with a nice mill tour said. “They found the spices including jala- to cap off the day. owners and they were all peño, lime and Italian Fred Godinez, along seasonings. united again.” with his wife Devona Visitors got to taste a Godinez, visited with “That was crazy,” uniquely made blend of several family members she said. So began her day for a Spring Wine Cocktail to end a week of celone of the busiest events which combined several ebration for three fruity tastes. people’s birthdays in the valley.

during the week. “This is our finale,” said Devona. They had never been to Passport Sunday and very much enjoyed the lovely coolness of the morning. Passport Sunday returned after the pandemic woes with just as many participating wineries as before and even more people. The start of the pandemic in March 2020 forced the cancellation of that year’s event while the continuing pandemic delayed the 2021 event to the fall for a dialed-down outing that year. That was not the case this year, it was a celebration of all the good things of the vineyards offered. Jeff Anselmo poured See Passport, Page A8

Landmark firefighting law sparks a new hope for former inmates Will McCarthy THE MERCURY NEWS

SAN JOSE — When Benjamin Fowler was serving a second 10-year prison term, he didn’t see a clear path forward to a new life after his time was up. He was in his mid30s, with a young son, a teenage daughter and a 2023 release date. He figured he would try to get back into landscaping or become a carpenter. Then in Septem-

ber of 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2147 into law, allowing incarcerated people who served as inmate firefighters to have their records expunged. Before its passage, many inmates were unemployable as firefighters after leaving prison because of their criminal records – even if they had spent years doing the exact same job, and even though California had a shortage of firefighters.

“As soon as I heard about that law being passed, it was probably a two-year process,” Fowler said. “But when I got to the fire camp, I knew that’s where I was supposed to be.” Fowler, who was serving time for armed robbery, had to earn enough points in prison through good behavior to be eligible to apply to one of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation conservation fire

camps. Once he got that far, he waited another three months on the yard before being chosen for training. After a month of physical training and another few months of waiting, he finally went out on his first fire assignment. “I remember going out on my first fire, seeing people with posts back at basecamp saying, ‘Thank you inmate fireSee Inmates, Page A8

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See Sudan, Page A8

McCarthy says House will pass GOP debt limit bill this week Bloomberg News WASHINGTON — Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that the House will pass his $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase plan this week, but he dodged when asked if he has already secured the 218 Republican votes he needs. “We will hold a vote this week and we will pass it,” McCarthy said on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” Asked if he has the votes, McCarthy noted he has a “very small majority” margin where just five defectors can sink a bill. “I cannot imagine someone in our conference that would want to go along with (President Joe) Biden’s reckless spending,” he said. McCarthy’s proposal would increase the

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Efforts by many countries to evacuate consular workers and other citizens from Sudan picked up steam over the weekend yet continued to be hampered by a ninth day of widespread fighting. The U.K. and U.S. militaries managed to airlift their diplomats to safety, yet other countries were awaiting access to the airport in the capital of Khartoum as the war raged unabated. A temporary cease-fire agreed to by Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces militia it has battled since April 15 appeared to have dissolved. “UK armed forces have completed a complex and rapid evacuation of British diplomats and their families from Sudan, amid a significant escalation in violence and threats to embassy staff,” Prime Minister Rishi

Sunak said on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. Italy said that its evacuation would proceed from Khartoum’s airport, which other countries have so far avoided. “We are working to make sure that all Italians that wish to leave can do so by tonight,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said in an interview on Rai 3 national television. The conflict, the culmination of a long-simmering struggle between the army and the RSF, has upended plans for a power-sharing government that was supposed to lead the nation of about 45 million to democratic elections after a 2021 coup. It has left over 420 people dead and at least 3,700 wounded, according to the World Health Organization. Sitting at the crossroads of the Middle East

nation’s debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion, in order to stave off a U.S. payments default until March 31, 2024, at the latest. It aims to trim $4.5 trillion in spending over a decade, in part by cutting discretionary spending by $130 billion next year and capping its growth at 1%. The bill, a grab bag of conservative measures, would ease energy regulations, end clean energy tax breaks, rescind unspent COVID-19 funds and impose new work requirements on adults without children who receive Medicaid and food stamps. As of Friday, McCarthy’s top lieutenants were seeking to lock down the votes for the bill. Moderates in the conference were refusing to commit, See House, Page A8

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