President-elect Donald Trump will attend the reopening celebration for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this weekend, his first foreign trip since the election. The cathedral is set to reopen Saturday after more than five years of reconstruction following a devastating fire in 2019. The invite-only ceremonies Saturday and Sunday will be high-security affairs, with about 50 heads of state and government expected to attend. Philadelphia news 24/7: Watch NBC10 free wherever you are Trump announced his trip in a post on his Truth Social site Monday evening. “It is an honor to announce that I will be traveling to Paris, France, on Saturday to attend the re-opening of the Magnificent and Historic Notre Dame Cathedral, which has been fully restored after a devastating fire five years ago,” he wrote. “President Emmanuel Macron has done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!” Trump and Macron have had a complicated relationship. During Trump's first term in office, Macron proved to be among the world leaders most adept at managing the American president's whims as he tried to develop a personal connection built in no small part on flattery. Macron was the guest of honor at Trump's first state dinner and Trump traveled to France several times. But the relationship soured as Trump’s term progressed and Macron criticized him for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual-defense pact. Stories that affect your life across the U.S. and around the world. As he ran for a second term this year, Trump often mocked Macron on the campaign trail, imitating his accent and threatening to impose steep tariffs on wine and champagne bottles shipped to the U.S. if France tried to tax American companies. After Trump won another term last month, Macron rushed to win favor with the president-elect. He was among the first global leaders to congratulate Trump — even before The Associated Press called the race in his favor — and beat UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the punch in delivering a congratulatory phone call. "Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” Macron posted on X early on Nov 6. “Ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.” The reopening of Notre Dame will be an elaborate, multi-day celebration, beginning Saturday. Paris Archbishop Laurent Ulrich will preside at a reopening service that afternoon, banging on Notre Dame’s shuttered doors with his staff to reopen them, according to the cathedral's website. The archbishop will also symbolically reawaken Notre Dame’s thunderous grand organ. The fire that melted the cathedral’s lead roofing coated the huge instrument in toxic dust. Its 8,000 pipes have been painstakingly disassembled, cleaned and retuned. Macron will attend and address the VIP guests. After the service, opera singers Pretty Yende, from South Africa, and Julie Fuchs, from France; Chinese pianist Lang Lang; Paris-born cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Benin-born singer Angelique Kidjo; Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji and others will perform at a concert Saturday evening, according to the show’s broadcaster, France Télévisions. On Sunday morning, the Paris archbishop will lead an inaugural Mass and consecration of the new altar. Nearly 170 bishops from France and other countries will join the celebration, along with priests from all 106 parishes in the Paris diocese. The Mass will be followed by a “fraternal buffet” for the needy. Ile de la Cité, where the cathedral sits in the middle of the River Seine, will be blocked off to tourists for the events. A public viewing area with room for 40,000 spectators will be set up along the Seine’s southern bank. ___ Associated Press writer Zeke Miller contributed to this report from Washington.Pioneer farmers in the Davis region largely made a living growing grains. A big challenge before the arrival of the California Pacific Rail Road in 1868 was getting their bales of wheat and barley to the market in San Francisco. If it wasn’t flooded or impossibly muddy, they could drive their harvested crops to Washington (West Sacramento). From there a barge would move the grain on the Sacramento River to the Delta, Suisun and Grizzly Bay, through the Carquinez Strait and San Pablo Bay before sailing to San Francisco. Unfortunately, most years, what we now know as the Yolo Bypass was impassable by land. So instead, teamsters would load up horse-drawn flatbed trailers and haul large stacks of grain southwest to Suisun or Vallejo. The railroad’s arrival changed all that. It also led to the demise of a few villages on the main road and the appearance of new towns on the rail line. If you travel south a few miles out of Davis, you’ll come to Tremont Road. There’s an extant church and active cemetery that date to pioneer days. Until 1868, Tremont was a village with a schoolhouse, a hotel, a general store and a post office. It served travelers and teamsters on the road to and from the Bay Area. Tremont faded away and Davisville emerged when the railroad was built on the north side of Putah Creek. The same fate struck Silveyville when the new tracks skipped that village and passed through land owned by Thomas Dickson, a few miles east. Mr. Dickson realized having a railroad station nearby would be beneficial to himself and his neighboring farmers. So he donated 10 acres to the Cal-P with the agreement they would build a depot and subdivide his land to establish a new town. The plat map laid out, the first resident — not counting Mr. Dixon and his family — was a man named W.R. Ferguson, who purchased 1 acre, built a stone house and opened a store near the railroad station. According to an 1879 book — “History of Solano County: A full and particular biography of its early settlers and principal inhabitants” — the first package to arrive by rail in the new town was addressed to, “W.R. Ferguson, Dixon.” But for that spelling mistake, the city eight miles from Davis would likely have been called Dickson. Taking its cue from the parcel, the California Pacific erected a sign on the depot reading, “Dixon.” That spelling was finalized when the city incorporated in 1878. Not long after Ferguson opened his store, a man named Bernard Greinburg built the Empire Hotel near the tracks; and following him men named Eppinger and Kattenburg opened new Dixon enterprises. The growth in business and residents was at the expense of Silveyville. Residents of the old town — centered around where Silveyville Road and Schroeder Road now meet — were rapidly relocating to Dixon. According to an online history article by Sabine Goerke-Shrode, “Whole houses, even the Methodist Church, were moved on log rollers, pulled by 40-horse teams.” It wasn’t long before the community started by Elijah Silvey was largely gone, and the place named for Thomas Dickson was thriving. Like many Californians in his day, Dickson was drawn to the West by the hope of making money mining gold. He was born June 4, 1800, in Pennsylvania. His family moved to New York state four years later. When Thomas was 19 years old, the Dicksons left for Indiana. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk War in Illinois. One of his fellow soldiers in that conflict was Abraham Lincoln, who was nine years younger than Dickson. A year after returning home from those hostilities, Thomas met and married Jane Parker Hood, who was originally from Knoxville, Tenn. One year into matrimony, they started a family. Mrs. Dickson eventually gave birth to five boys — one died as an infant — and three girls. With their 1-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Francine, in tow, the couple relocated to Iowa and farmed there for 18 years. Thomas wasn’t quite a “49er.” The Dicksons didn’t arrive in the Sierra foothills until 1853, when Thomas was 53 and Jane was 39. They brought with them 12 head of oxen, three cows, three wagons and several horses. Mr. Dickson prospected for the elusive mineral for one year near Diamond Springs, south of Placerville, and decided that was enough. The family moved to Solano County in 1854. Mr. Dickson was impressed by the wild oats he saw growing near the town that would later be named for him. He farmed in the area around Dixon the rest of his life. Thomas started by renting 1 acre, and eventually he purchased land on what had been the Vaca-Peña property known as Rancho Los Putos. In 1855, he built a house that was still there, though larger, when he gifted those 10 acres to the railroad. Through the end of the 19th century, grain farming was the primary endeavor in the Dixon region. Growers relied on winter and spring rains and let their crops dry in the summer. Most farmers had no access to streams or wells for irrigation. The problem was the heavy clay under the topsoil couldn’t easily be penetrated to reach the aquifer below. That changed with new technology, and wells were dug all around Dixon early in the 20th century. Irrigation allowed farmers to grow alfalfa and raise cattle; and that turned Dixon into a hub for dairies and beef. Thomas Dickson never saw that change in his town. He died in 1885 and is buried at the Dixon Cemetery next to his wife (1906) and most of their children. — Rich Rifkin is a Davis resident; his column is published every other week. Reach him at Lxartist@yahoo.com .
Roland Sets Medium- to Long-Term Goals for CO2 Emissions Reduction
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Boston cancer researcher accused of tricking distant relative with dementia into changing her will to get apartmentPHILADELPHIA (AP) — The guy on the Philly sports talk radio station had something to say, and he started to vent about the perceived strained relationship between star quarterback Jalen Hurts and standout wide receiver A.J. Brown. Why weren’t these two Pro Bowl Eagles on the same page? Why had their personal and professional relationship changed even with Philadelphia enjoying tremendous success? It was football gossip usually ripe for a hot-take host or fed-up fan to stir up on the air — only in this instance, the temperature check came from inside the locker room. Normally respected team leader Brandon Graham, who is sidelined with a triceps injury, noted in a radio appearance that “ things have changed ” between Hurts and Brown in the wake of a stale passing game in last week’s win over Carolina. An apologetic Graham walked back his comments. Hurts and Brown both insisted their relationship was cool in front of media hordes more appropriate for the Super Bowl. As for the rest of the Eagles, they were ready to squash the so-called controversy. “We are moving on,” offensive lineman and Christmas song crooner Jordan Mailata said. “It is the Pittsburgh Steelers this week. Not the A.J. Brown and Jalen Show. It is the Pittsburgh Steelers. That’s it.” Oh yeah, the Steelers! Lost in the brouhaha ignited in a Philly sports bar is the fact that sitting — and winning — on the western side of Pennsylvania are the Steelers (10-3). Unlike most matchups in series history, this one Sunday at the Linc comes with the tantalizing appeal of a potential Super Bowl preview. The Steelers have won seven of eight, and the Eagles (11-2) have won nine straight and could clinch the NFC East with a win and a Washington loss or tie. It's the first time the teams — among the original eight NFL teams — will play each other when they both have a double-digit win total. Both teams are in strong position for a playoff run — the Eagles led by Saquon Barkley and his pursuit of Eric Dickerson's NFL season rushing record; Russell Wilson and the soft-schedule Steelers atop the AFC North in large part thanks to six wins against teams that currently have losing records. “I do like playing really good people, I think there's growth in it,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “You've got to get the job done. But man, I think there's significant growth in pitting your collective talents and skills versus big-time opponents and they're certainly that.” Will the drama out of Philly this week affect the Eagles? They certainly don't think so and neither do the oddsmakers — the Eagles are 5 1/2-point favorites, per BetMGM. “What I’ve noticed about this football team is they’re so locked in and determined to get better each day,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said. “We don’t really want anyone else talking to us about anything other than the Pittsburgh Steelers.” Good luck with that, Coach. Maybe playing the Steelers on Sunday at home can snap the Eagles out of their offensive malaise. Hurts threw three TD passes to Brown in a 35-13 win in 2022. Barkley leads the NFL in rushing with 1,623 yards, 216 yards ahead of Baltimore’s Derrick Henry. He is averaging 124.8 yards per game. At that pace, and with one more game to play than Dickerson had, he would become the top single-season rusher in NFL history. He needs 483 yards over the final four games to top Dickerson’s 40-year-old record. Barkley is on pace for 2,122 yards, which would put him just 17 yards beyond Dickerson’s 2,105 in 1984. Barkley doesn’t need much of a reminder from his 2020 performance when, while playing for the New York Giants, he ran into a Pittsburgh defense that seemed reminiscent of its famed Steel Curtain. The Steelers held Barkley to 6 yards on 15 carries. The Steelers will have to find a way forward against the NFL’s toughest defense without wide receiver George Pickens, who will miss his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Pittsburgh survived last week against Cleveland, with Mike Williams and Scotty Miller — afterthoughts of late — coming off the bench to make an impact. While Tomlin believes “the strength of the pack is the pack,” the reality is the Steelers don’t have anyone who can stretch the field like Pickens, who leads the team in receptions (55) and yards (850) by a wide margin. It’s a challenge, but considering the way Wilson has spread the ball around — eight players caught passes against the Browns — he won’t lack for options. “Everybody in the receiver room has a different skill set, different strengths,” Calvin Austin III said. “The coaching staff knows that and they know how to put us in position to be able to show that.” The cross-state trip to Philadelphia, where the Steelers haven’t won in nearly 60 years, is the start of an 11-day stretch in which Pittsburgh faces three teams likely bound for the playoffs. While Tomlin is leaning into the “nameless, gray faces” mantra he uses for every opponent, his players know facing the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs in such a short period is a litmus test for what’s to come in January. “That’s why I’m in the league, period,” linebacker Patrick Queen said. “When you sign up to play football, you want to play at the highest level. ... I love to play the game the right way. I think these next few games is going to show that and it starts with the Eagles.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl