Social Justice

Speaking publicly against separating children from their parents who crossed the United States border illegally isn't something Vacaville resident Michael Kitzes is taking lightly.

"I struggled with it for awhile," he said about going public in opposition to how the children are being treated. "They're ripping these children away from families."

Kitzes, a Vacaville Unified School board member and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist for 28 years, added that it might be easy to call this an immigration issue, but it's so much more than that.

Nearly two years since ground was broken on a Habitat for Humanity project slated to house six homeless veterans in Dixon, state, city and community leaders came together to celebrate moving the project forward.

"It's exciting," said Congressman John Garamendi, D-Solano, Thursday morning. "Housing is a constant problem for veterans, homeless veterans. They need housing. And I'm excited about Habitat's concept of shared housing."

It's the organization's first shared housing venture, advised Gerry Raycraft, president of Solano-Napa Habitat for Humanity.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House easily approved a bipartisan $1.3 trillion spending bill Thursday that pours huge sums into Pentagon programs and domestic initiatives ranging from building roads to combatting the nation's opioid abuse crisis, but left Congress in stalemate over shielding young Dreamer immigrants from deportation and curbing surging health insurance premiums.

Mid-morning, Jan. 19, 1989, my wife Patti and I cautiously entered the intensive Care Unit at San Joaquin General Hospital. In the bed lay a tiny boy of just five, his right side and arm wrapped in massive bandages.

Hovering over his bed were his Hmong parents, recent refugees from war-torn Laos. They pleaded, "We came here to get away from war. How could this happen in America?" Later that day we visited the homes of two more parents. They were not at the hospital. Their child was dead.