Dear Folks,

Thought you might like to hear this clip, it is really a gold nugget.  Dr. Wilkes (the guy with BOTH a medical degree and a doctorate in public health) answers questions and shares tips about what is and is not safe to do sports wise at this stage of the pandemic.  The topic is "Youth Sports".....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LRd7llDnwvDtJb1ess0LYqHGaUIc7dd5/view?usp=drivesdk

Cheers!

John

PS  Did you hear the UCD Mini-Medical school talks yesterday?  They were great!  Just register and you can hear all previous talks, as they are recorded.

Photo courtesy of CSAA Insurance Group

(From press release) A local Davis woman, Suzanne Meraz, has been selected as one of the top 123 insurance professionals across the country and globe.

As Director, External Affairs of CSAA Insurance Group, Suzanne was chosen due to her and her teams' positive impacts on the insurance industry. Suzanne says, "As society's financial first responders, we're making and delivering on a promise to people to be there for people in their time of need. It feels good to be working in an industry that is doing something positive for the economy, for people, and for communities."

Six leaders from CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer, are among the 123 insurance professionals from across the country and overseas named to the 2021 Class of Emerging Leaders. The class will be honored at the 2021 Virtual Emerging Leaders Conference on Feb. 22-23, hosted by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), the Insurance Careers Movement (ICM) and AM Best.

Dear Friends,

Oh my, yes, we are pretty much all stressed by this long term pandemic.  There is a saying that you should be nice to people because you do not know what burdens they are carrying...... a message that is twice as important during this public health crisis.

What to do?

Well, one thing you can do is to tune in to the UC Davis Mini-Medical School each Saturday.  This is such a special gift from the University to the public, it cannot be overstated how wonderful it is!  

Over the years, I have attended a couple of times and am back at it this year.  Next Saturday, Dr. Yellowlees, a psychiatrist is going to talk about mental health during a pandemic.  I'm confident it will be an excellent talk.

Below you can see the schedule for the whole series.  The sessions given have been recorded and are available.  Upcoming ones will be recorded as well.  They start at 9 a.m. Saturday morning and go to about 11:15. You have to sign up on line to join the class, the class is free, and you can ZOOM from the comfort of your home (or wherever).  

I STRONGLY recommend you check these out.  And thanks again to UC Davis for offering this wonderful resource to the community!

Best regards,

John

Dear Friends,

Dr. Haydee Dabritz, a UC Davis graduate with a PhD in Epidemiology has recently left Yolo County Health Department after 8 years to work for the California Department of Public Health.  

Yolo County's loss is California's gain as Dr. Dabritz is a well regarded epidemiologist/scientist with a practical bent for data and pragmatic program design and evaluation.

Dr. Dabritz was the lead epidemiologist in helping Yolo County respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

She will be missed (although if you look at her LINKEDIN page she is being congratulated by a number of people)..... 

Below is a description of the work of the PhD in Epidemiology that you may find useful.... schools and programs of public health are experiencing a HUGE increase in applications as an educational response to the Pandemic.  Brown University's School of Public Health has experienced a 75% increase applications in one year!

Regards,

John

The following letter was sent to the Principal of Emerson Junior High School on February 12, 2021

Dear Ms. Kennedy,

I am the parent of a 13 year old boy in Emerson J. High School.

He has been stuck at home or in my law office since March, using Zoom, almost completely isolated from his school and other friends.

I think the DJUSD has done its best to provide some minimal education to its students and to keep them safe during one of the worst pandemic periods in a hundred years. The fact that Davis' infection and death rates are so low is testimony to how the community has handled the emergency. Thank you for your and the teacher and staff and Board's good efforts. Congratulations to all of you.

However, have you seen the new CDC Recommendations that came out today as to re-opening schools?

I think if the DJUSD immediately reviews and adopts those guidelines, our schools can be safely reopened in the very near future, not late spring or even next fall, as it currently looks like the plan is going to be.

May I ask you to refer this email to the Board, Administrator, General Counsel, and President of the DTA for review and comment?

I hope our District will immediately and seriously consider an updated plan for safely re-opening our schools as soon as possible, but not later than the end of spring break.

Thank you,

Michael J. Harrington
[email protected]

Bob Dunning writes “The Wary I” column for The Davis Enterprise. Davis Enterprise/Courtesy photo

(From press release) He’s spent the past 51 years chronicling life in Davis, sharing his opinions, prompting us to examine ours and reflecting on all that makes this town the special place it is.

Now, it’s Davis’ turn to show its admiration and respect for Bob Dunning with a springtime celebration in honor of his 51 years at The Davis Enterprise.

Dunning was hired by The Enterprise on Jan. 27, 1970, as a sports writer, and he remembers being terrified of deadlines as he sat down at his typewriter that first day on the job. Now, tens of thousands of deadlines later, he confesses that he never really wanted to be a journalist but admits that he wouldn’t trade his time in newspapers for anything.

(From press release) Valley Clean Energy announces the hiring of Edward Burnham as Director of Finance and Internal Operations. He will be responsible for oversight of finance and accounting tasks as well as VCE’s treasury, enterprise risk, information technology and audits.

Prior to joining the local electricity provider, Burnham worked for Yolo County’s Treasury Division, overseeing all revenue, treasury and finance activities, including handling investments for all county pool participants (county, local school districts and special districts), endowments and other investments. The pool was valued at an average of more than $500 million last year.

Additionally, Burnham spent 12 years abroad, working in finance for private and publicly traded companies in the energy sector. His duties took him to China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Cyprus, West Africa, and the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Dear Friends,

LOTS of good news!  

What is the headline?  

SACRAMENTO COUNTY NETS $60 MILLION WINDFALL FROM FEDS. HOW IT WILL HELP FIGHT COVID-19.

Sacramento County nets $60 million windfall from feds. How it will help fight COVID-19

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article249136850.html?ac_cid=DM382849&ac_bid=-588765852

But what about Yolo County?  And why wasn't Yolo in the headline (See Davis Enterprise, not Sacramento Bee).  We get $10.4 Million!!!!

That quickly brings up a question... what is Yolo County going to do with it?  Well, let's ask the experts, ok?

Dear Friends,

Supervisor Provenza ran on a ticket of BOTH fighting COVID and supporting local businesses.  And.... he is following through on his campaign promises!

Please see the press release below for details .... TODAY is the first day that restaurants can apply for this help.

Meanwhile, everybody, to the extent that you are able, please personally support local restaurants and markets...... get some healthy take out and LEAVE A TIP!  That is what I do on a regular basis.

Take care, be safe, and hang together.

John

Yolo County Announces Restaurant Fee Waiver

South-bound Pole Line just south of East Covell. Convenient to pick-up, not so convenient for people who want to use the lane

An hour earlier - most bikes are not equipped with headlights and the person on a bike might not see it.

UPDATE: The piles I've described in this post which were on or near the East Covell corridor have been removed. There are some others in the bike lane on Loyola between the entrance to Korematsu Elementary and Alhambra, and still nothing either here or in general to communicate to people driving motor vehicles that people on bikes may deviate from the bike lanes....

*****

Last week's storm was the worst in ten years by many accounts, with serious damage to trees and property, a significant loss of perishable food and other problems caused by lack of power.

Obviously city staff, private contractors and others had their work cut out for them and certainly we applaud their efforts, though many cheered PG&E field staff and they pooped on their bosses (and shareholders).

From what I saw, arterial streets in Davis were cleared for the most part by January 28th, the day after the storms mostly ended. When out then to photograph the weird non-standard lane design on Lake at Russell I passed the dangerousafety radar speed sign on East Covell Blvd. that I blogged about last week.

I noticed that street sweepers had made at least two passes on the traffic lanes of East Covell, because there was a consistent line of debris that started a  foot or two into the bike lane from the number two lane. I noticed the same, um, edging on other arteries.