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Memorial Day set at Dixon cemetery A3

Griner is still fighting to complete her comeback B1

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Feinstein insists she’ll finish her term, but what happens if that changes? Tribune Content Agency ANAHEIM — Despite continued – and mounting – questions about her health, Sen. Dianne Feinstein‘s office recently said she plans to finish out her term in the U.S. Senate. But recent revelations about complications she’s suffered from her shingles diagnosis, including a brain inflammation – coupled with an exchange she had with reporters in the U.S. Capitol in which she appeared to be confused about her absence – have only underscored the possibility that those plans could, at some point, change. At 89 years old, Feinstein is the oldest sitting U.S. senator, a trailblazer for women in politics who is back in Washington, D.C., working with a “lighter schedule” after a monthslong absence. Her office said Thursday that she plans to finish out her term, which ends

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., departs a Senate Ju dic iar y C ommi t tee Hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building, in Washington, D.C, May 11. on Jan. 3, 2025. Should that change in the next 600 or so days, it would be up to Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a replacement – an unenviable task amid a Senate race well underway and with promises already made. “It’s an absolute no-win situation for Newsom, one of his own making,” said See Term, Page A7

Biden, McCarthy to meet Monday, as staff debt-limit talks resume Bloomberg News Debt-limit negotiators will resume discussions in Washington ahead of a meeting on Monday between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as time grows short to avert a U.S. default. The Republican leader said he and the president had a “productive” call Sunday, shifting back to a more optimistic outlook on talks that have whipsawed between progress and breakdown for days. Negotiators for the two sides plan to resume talks 6 p.m. on Sunday, according to a statement from the White House. McCarthy stressed in comments to reporters at the U.S. Capitol that the two sides don’t have an agreement as the country

nears a catastrophic default that could come as soon as June 1. “Time is of the essence,” the speaker said. But he added that he was more hopeful of a deal after talking with Biden about solutions to bridge their differences. The president called McCarthy from Air Force One on his way back from an international summit in Japan. Investors are girding for more volatility in markets this week as the two sides grapple for a deal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said earlier Sunday that the chances the U.S. can pay all its bills by mid-June are “quite low.” Yellen underscored the urgency of the situaSee Debt, Page A7

Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic

Rose Pinson holds a print of her sister Pearl, in Vallejo, Wednesday. May 25 marks the seventh anniversary when then 15-year old Pearl Pinson was kidnapped. The

The fight to find Pearl Pinson remains strong

7 years after the teen was kidnapped Amy Maginnis-Honey

AMAGINNIS@DAILYREPUBLIC.NET

VALLEJO — For seven years, Rose Pinson Rodriguez has held out hope her sister will be found. Pearl Pinson was kidnapped May 25, 2016, on her way to school. A day later, the suspected kidnapper, Fernando Castro of Vallejo, was killed in a shootout with police. Pearl was not found. Their biological mother died last year not knowing the fate of her daughter, who was 15 at the time. “She always wanted to know where Pearl was,” Rodriguez said. “She’s up there searching for my sister.” Almost three years ago, three weeks after giving birth to her son, Andres Gabriel, her fiancé, Gabriel Mendoza, was killed. Mendoza, 24, was in the passenger seat of a

friend’s car when someone opened fire on Broadway Street in Vallejo. A suspect has not been arrested. “It feels like it’s been too long and too short,” Rodriguez said, reflecting on her sister’s kidnapping. “It’s hard to describe how I feel sometimes. In the last seven years there have times I heard her voice. I have tons of pictures of her.” A friend recently painted another. In December 2022, Rodriguez got a message about a potential sighting of her younger sister. It wasn’t Pearl, she said. She feels her sister and fiancé are in the cold case files. Rodriguez opts not to connect with detectives on the cases. Doing so brings back the heartbreak, as she is always

Santa Barbara County Sheriff ’s Office photo

This undated photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office shows Pearl Pinson, who has been See Pinson, Page A7 missing since May 2016.

Zelenskyy signals Bakhmut falling Bloomberg News Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested his country was losing control of Bakhmut after months of fierce fighting but downplayed Russian claims it now fully occupied the eastern city. “Today our people are performing an important task – they are in the Bakhmut, Zelenskyy said in Japan where he had

met with leaders from the Group of Seven nations and other invited guests. “I will not share the points where. Bakhmut is not covered by the Russian Federation, there must not be multiple interpretations.” Russia claimed overnight that the Wagner mercenary group had taken Bakhmut, with the Defense Ministry saying in a statement that the forces “completed the lib-

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Pinson’s biological mother died last year not knowing Pearl’s fate. Pearl’s friend Diamond Jones made the print in 2016.

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eration of the city.” Asked earlier by a reporter during a meeting on Sunday with President Joe Biden if Bakhmut was still in Ukrainian hands, Zelenskyy said: “I think no.” But his spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov later said journalists misunderstood the comment. The to and fro reflects the confusion that has reigned over Bakhmut for months, with frequent claims by both sides

that the other was losing ground. Either way, the city is now in ruins. “But for today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing,” Zelenskyy said earlier on Sunday, referring to the devastation the fighting has caused. The only thing left, he said, is “a lot of dead Russians.” Pictures he saw in Hiroshima of the devastation caused by the atomic See Ukraine, Page A7

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