Suisun Valley Wine Note in NY Times

Sept. 17 update: Not be outdone, the Boston Globe today ran an article on the Scholium Project in Suisun Valley. Seems the East Coast has discovered at least one local winery!

No less a source than the New York Times has taken note of an innovative Suisun Valley winery located just across Interstate 80 from Suisun City.

How's this for an endorsement:

"No winery in California is more unconventional, experimental or even radical than Scholium. Half the wines it makes in any given year are exquisite. The other half are shocking and sometimes undrinkable. All of them are fascinating, which is exactly the way Mr. Schoener wants it."

If you want to read more, here's the link.

Cheers.

Taste of Vacaville coming to Suisun City

By Carol Bogart

SUISUN CITY - If you have been going to Vacaville to dine at the restaurant that Daily Republic readers have voted that city's best the past three years, you might be able to enjoy a similar dining experience in Suisun City by November.

Merchant & Main Grill and Bar owner Bob Tooke has signed a lease to open a 4,000-square-foot restaurant in Harbor Square at Solano and Main streets in Suisun City's Waterfront District.

Tooke said the restaurant's look and menu won't be identical to Merchant & Main's, but he added the as-yet unnamed restaurant will resemble Merchant & Main in that it will be 'casual, comfortable and fun.' The new restaurant will accommodate 130 to 140 diners.

Tooke believes his new restaurant will draw from Suisun City, Fairfield and some of the '30,000 cars that pass by daily on Highway 12,' he said.

For the complete article, visit the Daily Republic web site.

Media: Science Olympiad to test teams from Sullivan and Crystal schools

Click here for the Vacaville Reporter's take on this same story

By Nika Megino | Daily Republic

FAIRFIELD - Kyra Duncan squinted at a test tube containing a thick orange liquid. She added drops of blue Biuret solution and then watched in amazement as the liquid turned purple, indicating a presence of protein.

The eighth-grader at Sullivan Middle School is a member of the school's Science Olympiad team, which will face Crystal Middle School (located in Suisun City) in the Sullivan Science Olympiad competition from 8 a.m. to noon today.

The competition requires students to compete in 12 stations that involve building, analyzing and problem solving. To prepare for the event, both teams have worked since September on the various types of challenges.

Duncan has become familiar with the Food Science challenge, an experiment that tasks students to find the composition of foods by testing substances for carbohydrates, proteins and lipids.

The 13-year-old said it's her favorite activity because she gets to look beyond the surface with the use of chemicals.

'They tell you stuff you wouldn't know just by looking at it,' Duncan said.

All around her, students were perfecting their knowledge in various subjects. Behind her, seventh-graders Emily Lamb and Michelle Reyes, both 12, began building a monoplane glider to be launched by a balloon.

The girls said their experience on the team has been fun.

'But we still work hard,' Reyes said. 'We have to know a lot of stuff.'

As part of the Science Olympiad team, students are exposed to Earth and life sciences, chemistry, physics and astronomy. Teacher Denise Gordon, who has been a coach with Sullivan's team for seven years, said the activities cause students to exercise their critical thinking abilities.

'It gives us a chance to go beyond what we can in the classroom,' Gordon said. 'They have the opportunity to explore.'

At Crystal Middle, seventh-graders Jessica Sims, 13, and Giovanna Singh, 12, have been working on a Food Science project. The girls said they joined the school's team because of their love of science.

'Science is pretty cool,' Sims said. 'You can experiment with things and get outcomes you never believe you would.'

Singh said she was surprised to learn that food has DNA.

'There's more things in (food) than you believe,' said Sims, who added she was shocked to find Vitamin C in apples.

This is Crystal Middle's return to Science Olympiad after taking a one-year break. The school brought it back because of high student interest, said teacher Tara Spinelli, who has coached the team for six years.

'They enjoy it. We enjoy it,' Spinelli said.

The teams are competing in preparation for the Northern California Regional Science Olympiad, which will be held in April at Cal State Sacramento. Today's competition, which will be held at Sullivan Middle, is open to the public. The school is located at 2195 Union Ave.

Reach Nika Megino at 427-6953 or nmegino@dailyrepublic.net.

Media: Suisun City man lucky at the lottery

By Nika Megino | Daily Republic

SACRAMENTO - A Suisun City man has won $25,000 on the California Lottery's 'The Big Spin,' which aired Saturday.

Thomas Delgado Sr., a retiree, won the reward over nine other contestants in the Aces High game, according a press release from the California Lottery headquarters. Delgado said he plans to buy his wife a new car and take her on the honeymoon they never had, according to the press release.

On the show, three contestants won a total of $125,000. The other awards were won by Eman Helo from Thousand Oaks and Felipe Adlawan from Westminister.

Media: Spring wildlife season prompts need for volunteers

By Barry Eberling Daily Republic

SUISUN CITY - The Wildlife Center next week will begin teaching prospective volunteers how to care for injured and orphaned creatures.

Classes will be 7- 9 p.m. Feb. 19, Feb. 21, Feb. 26 and Feb. 28. The center receives more than 200 species of birds and animals. Spring is a particularly busy time, with volunteers caring for orphaned baby birds.

People who are members of the nonprofit Suisun Marsh Natural History Association pay a $6 book fee for the classes. Non-members must join at a cost of $15 for individuals or $25 for families in addition to the book fee.

The Wildlife Center is located at 1171 Kellogg St., near the Suisun City boat ramp. For more information or to register for the classes, call 429-4295.

Media: Flu takes toll on Suisun Elementary children

By Carol Bogart Daily Republic

SUISUN CITY - Flu is suddenly hitting children hard across the country, and those at Suisun Elementary School are no exception.

What was a mild flu season has taken a dramatic turn, said Dr. Ron Chapman, Solano County Health Officer.

Two weeks ago Suisun Elementary attendance clerk Terri Phillips might fill 'half a page' a day with the names of 14 or 15 absent students, she said. Now, she has days when she fills 2.5 pages, 30 names to a page, and a page and a half is not unusual.

Chapman has been following reports issued by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, which tracks flu outbreaks. Severe pediatric cases are on the rise across the country, he said, with 20 children so ill they had to be hospitalized just in the past week.

'We watch the number of childhood cases very closely because it's an indicator of what's going on in the bigger picture,' said Chapman, who added that most of the 36,000 people who die from the flu each year are older than 65.

The flu strain causing at least 30 percent of the current spike 'mutated' from one that is in flu shots administered this year, Chapman said. Symptoms are those of a respiratory flu: cough, fever, muscle and joint aches, occasional headaches or dizziness, weakness and fatigue.

Suisun Elementary staff members call a student's family whenever the child is out sick. Phillips said. She has heard of symptoms such as 'hoarseness, stuffy nose and stuffy head, a lot of ear infections.'

At NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield, spokeswoman Marilyn Ranson said one employee has four children and 'all four have the flu.' Pediatricians she contacted Tuesday said, as yet, they are not seeing an increase in children with the flu.

Statewide, however, severe pediatric cases have more than doubled in the past two weeks, with a 50 percent increase in those requiring hospitalization, Chapman said.

Nationally, 31 states so far are reporting widespread flu activity, Chapman said, while California is experiencing pockets here and there.

Children and others who have had the flu shot may experience less severe symptoms of the strain that has mutated, Chapman said.

'The way it's changed, it's similar to what's in the vaccine, but not the same,' he added. 'With 'partial coverage,' those infected may not get as sick as they might have otherwise.'

Reach Carol Bogart at 427-6955 or at cbogart@dailyrepublic.net.

Media: Wal-Mart uproar comes down to council's vote

By Carol Bogart Daily Republic

SUISUN CITY - Not since the city demolished apartment buildings, bars and bait shops in the late 1980s and early '90s to redevelop the waterfront and Civic Center Drive has an issue drawn hundreds to city meetings.

The proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter is the first project since then to provoke such strong attendance, said Councilwoman Jane Day, who added it is 'much more organized.'

On Tuesday, the Suisun City Council will settle the feud that has split the city. Councilmembers will cast their votes on whether to override the Solano County Airport Land Use Commission's November 2007 decision that the project would create public safety issues for Travis Air Force Base.

Travis officials have said they have no such concerns.

Although the meeting starts at 5 p.m., the City Council is braced for an exhaustive evening that could stretch into the early morning.

Councilmembers will first decide whether to follow the Planning Commission's recommendation that the council certify the environmental studies for the project at Walters Road and Highway 12. The council will also review documents related to the airport commission's 'adverse use' decision.

A public hearing will allow residents and others one last opportunity to speak.

Because the issue has emotions running high, there was a visible police presence when the Planning Commission met Jan. 29 to address the project. City officials are preparing for an even larger turnout Tuesday.

If four of five councilmembers vote to override the airport commission's decision, they will pave the way for the project to move forward.

Councilman Sam Derting said although last thing he wants is for the project to divide the city, 'I ran on a platform to bring businesses to this city, to put businesses on those empty (Highway 12) lots that have sat vacant for 30-plus years.'

Councilmen Mike Segala and Derting may be most at risk politically with the vote, given they could seek re-election in November.

Some opponents of the project have vowed to launch a recall of any councilmember who votes to override.

Segala pointed out that three Highway 12 parcels zoned commercial drew no interest from developers until the city launched a series of improvements aimed at improving traffic flow.

Now, he said, developers are interested.

'It was a matter of time' before a developer submitted an application, Segala said, and 'the application before the council now is Wal-Mart's.'

Sales tax revenue projected from the supercenter would go into the city's General Fund while the property tax will go to the Redevelopment Agency.

Mayor Pete Sanchez lives at Lawler Ranch, directly across from the Wal-Mart site. Although 'personally' he would prefer to see the supercenter go somewhere less likely to disrupt neighborhoods, he said the city 'doesn't have the luxury of time to wait for annexation.'

Sanchez doesn't intend to 'preside over a bankrupt city,' he said, adding 'there will eventually be a retail box (store) there anyway.'

Reach Carol Bogart at 427-6955 or at cbogart@dailyrepublic.net.

Media: Suisun to decide on Wal-Mart bid

By Danny Bernardini/Vacaville Reporter Staff Writer

The fate of a proposal for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Suisun City likely will be decided Tuesday night by the city council.

If the Planning Commission meeting on Jan. 29 was any indication of what Tuesday's attendance will be, there likely will be standing room only and hours of public comment for and against.

The proposed project earned advisory approval from the planning commission at the January meeting, and now the city council must decide three things:

• whether or not the environmental documents address and mitigate any problems;
• whether the project fits into the city's general plan, and;
• whether to override the November decision by the Solano County Airport Land Use Commission against the project.

The proposal for the Wal-Mart on a 20.8-acre site near Highway 12 and Walters Road includes 230,000 square feet of commercial space including a 215,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter building, plus a fuel station with mini-mart, an 8,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant or commercial-use site and parking.

One of the biggest issues facing the council is overriding the ALUC's vote against the project. The commission felt it violated the Travis Air Force Base Land Use Compatibility Plan. For an override, there would have to be a 'super-majority' vote by four of five council members.

Suisun City staff reports claim the Wal-Mart Supercenter would bring in nearly $1 million annually in sales tax revenue and could act as an anchor to other businesses wanting to come to the area.

Opponents say the Walters Road location is not the right place for the store and would create safety issues in intersections along Highway 12. Opponents also have stressed their fear of falling parts or a plane crashing while taking off from nearby Travis.

The city of Suisun City Council meets in the Suisun City Government Center at 5 p.m.

Danny Bernardini can be reached at county@thereporter.com.