Sunday night, Sonoma County received many Nixle alerts, urging residents to leave as soon as possible, as there was yet again, another fire plowing through wine country. There were many fires along Los Alamos Road and St. Helena Road. With fires being the new normal for Sonoma County, it may be to your surprise that smoke damage destroys more than you think. Smoke and fire damage effects can be hazardous for one’s lungs as we can’t see all the harmful particles with the human eye. Found on Rainbow International Restorations, “Smoke from any type of fire is composed of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and soot. Depending on what’s burning, many other harmful chemicals also enter the air and are inhaled into your lungs or latch onto walls, furniture, clothing, ductwork, and other areas.”

On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the latest round of awards from the state’s $600 million “Homekey” program, which helps cities turn existing buildings into supportive housing during and beyond the pandemic. Newsom announced that the city of Oakland will be receiving $20 million for homeless housing to decrease the number of homeless on the streets. Natalie Orenstein from The Oakland Side said that the Coronavirus relief funds will turn dorms into single-family homes in Clifton Hall, a former residential hall at the California College of the Arts dorm in Rockridge.

Typically, most Americans scramble around their busy schedules in a chaotic rush, which makes days go by like seconds. That is, until this past March when everything came to a full stop. The novel coronavirus outbreak started in early Jan. and spread rapidly throughout the world. After the government mandated “shelter in place” orders, millions of Americans found themself stuck at home and with a significant amount of time on their hands.

The modern dating world has maybe changed forever with the impacts of COVID-19, but some experts say for the better. Dr. Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and the chief science advisor at Match.com, who has studied relationships for 40 years says, “This pandemic has led to more conversations, on all of the dating sites actually, more meaningful conversations, more self-disclosure, more intimacy (and) less anxiety about sex and money.”

The Humane Society of the United States writes on their website that they have in fact launched a COVID-19 Relief Fund, to support animal shelters, rescue groups and other organizations that are responding to the economic impacts of the virus, with the goal of keeping people and their pets together during this crisis. Contributions to the fund are being used, “to provide veterinary care, pet food, horse feed and animal care supplies, as well as other costs related to caring for animals during the outbreak.”

Found from the New York Post, Nicolas Vega said, “The Amazon CEO’s net worth soared to a record $200 billion on Wednesday when shares of his online shopping behemoth closed at $3.441.85 on surging demand for contactless shopping.” According to Tyler Sonnemaker from the Business Insider, if Jeff Bezos’ wealth grows 34% a year, he could become the world’s first trillionaire by 2026.

As COVID-19 is still actively infecting people every day, after what is said to be six months after its initial detection, it has gone onto affecting yet another school year as back to school season is amongst us. Ultimately, testing the reflexes of the administrators in charge and impacting the education system as a whole.