🌱 Patch AM: How will the Benicia Bridge work delay affect your commute?

Hello Benicia! Stay connected with the latest updates from around town. Let's dive in! ☀️

In today's newsletter:

• How will the Benicia Bridge work delay affect your commute?
• What happens if Valero’s Benicia refinery really closes in 2026?

Also on today's calendar: Family Workshop: Magical Glass - A Holiday Celebration of Stained Glass and 9 more events.

📸 Have a great pic of holiday decorations from around Benicia? Post it to Benicia photos of the day! ☃️ 🟢-🟠-🟣-🔴-🟡-🔵 ☃️

Today's riddle: The doctor told me to drink carrot juice after a hot bath. - Did it help? 🤔 (Answer below!)

Weather forecast:

• Wednesday: A brief morning shower or two, with a high of 61 and low of 47 degrees.
• Thursday: Partly sunny, temps: high: 64, low: 49.
• Friday: Cloudy, a shower in the p.m., with a high of 63 and low of 54 degrees.

📰 News we're reading

• Work delayed on Benicia, Carquinez bridges (timesheraldonline.com) — Bridge safety work on the Benicia-Martinez Bridge is delayed up to two weeks, but no lane closures are planned and bike path work will continue into January. In contrast, Carquinez Bridge drivers face regular overnight and early-morning lane and ramp closures through February, which could affect Benicia commuters heading east on I-80.
   

• COMMODITIES 2026: Asian gasoil faces supply pressure; US refinery cuts to boost jet arbitrage (spglobal.com) — Benicia residents should know Valero’s local refinery is still slated to shut down in April 2026, despite California officials’ efforts to keep it open. The article explains how that closure, along with another in Los Angeles, could tighten jet fuel supplies and reshape global fuel trade, especially from Asian refineries to the U.S. West Coast.
   

📸 Around Benicia

Show off your photography skills and the sights around town! Click here to submit your Photo of the Day to Patch AM!

🗓 Upcoming Events in Benicia

Add your event to our calendar and newsletter!

★ Featured events ★

Sunday December 21

• Family Workshop: Magical Glass - A Holiday Celebration of Stained Glass
  St Peter's Chapel, 1181 Walnut Ave, Vallejo
  10:00 am

Want to see your event featured? Click here!

Other local events

Wednesday December 17

• Poetry by the Bay
  Mira Theatre Guild , 51 Daniels Ave , Vallejo
  7:30 pm

Thursday December 18

• Winter Band Concert
  Benicia Middle Benicia, CA 94510
  6:00 pm
• BHS Theatre presents: Puffs (PAB)
  Benicia High Benicia, CA 94510
  7:00 pm
• "PUFFS- Unsung Heroes Night"
  Benicia High School , 1101 Military W , Benicia
  7:00 pm

Friday December 19

• Story Time with The Craft Fairy at Dianna’s Bakery!
  Dianna's Bakery : Sweet & Savory Bakes & Bites , 639 First St , Benicia
  9:00 am
• YEAH, WRITE: Winter Sanctuary Series
  617 Marin St , Vallejo
  6:30 pm
• Puffs — TABBS
  Benicia High School , 1101 Military W , Benicia
  7:00 pm
• "PUFFS, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic"
  Benicia High School , 1101 Military W , Benicia
  7:00 pm
• BHS Theatre presents: Puffs (PAB)
  Benicia High Benicia, CA 94510
  7:00 pm

Saturday December 20

• Youth Soccer Camp
  Benicia High School , 1101 Military W , Benicia
  10:00 am
• "PUFFS, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic"
  Benicia High School , 1101 Military W , Benicia
  7:00 pm

📣 Benicia Shout Outs!

Want to say something great about someone in town? Click here to submit your Shout Out to Patch AM! It's free!

Have we missed something on our calendar? Add an event yourself! As always, before attending confirm event details to ensure accuracy.

Want to see your business here? Click here to connect with local customers.

💬 Chatter

What your neighbors are talking about on social media

• Message from the City Manager, Gleaning Programs in Solano, Library Digital Newspaper Archive, Toy Drive, Holiday Health & Safety Tips, and much more!
  https://mailchi.mp/c8e4f8bcce5d/cobtw-8336486 Message from the City Manager December 15, 2025 Good Afternoon, Benicia! In this, our last… (Nextdoor )
• Has anyone else wondered how for years BTEX emissions missed being detected by fence line monitoring around the Valero refinery?
  Did it just literally go up in the air? If this represented peril to the community, why the secrecy about it between the 2019 discovery of… (Nextdoor Lower Eastside)

• In-Terminal Services - ITS ConGlobal posted a job opening for Car Loader and Unloader in Benicia. Apply here.
• ASR Group posted a job opening for Payroll Associate in Crockett. Apply here. You can search for other jobs near Benicia here.

🗞 Nearby News

Vallejo

• Vallejo artist collective running food and clothes drive (vallejosun.com)
• City of Vallejo Secures $765,319 in PLHA Funding to Expand Affordable Housing Opportunities (californiacitynews.org)
• Vallejo City Council to ponder pilot project in case of shutdown (timesheraldonline.com)

Martinez

• Where to see the best Bay Area holiday lights (sanluisobispo.com)

Berkeley

Ok Benicia! So now you're in the loop about what's happening today. Thanks for reading, and see you in your inbox next time! Oh -- and if you like what you're reading, invite a friend to Patch AM!

-- The Patch AM Team

P.S. The answer to today's riddle: I don’t know. I can never finish drinking the hot bath!
Got a good riddle for PatchAM? Send it to us!

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