Contributed

Mt. San Jacinto College (MSJC) will open its free COVID-19 testing sites to the public this week. The three testing sites at the San Jacinto, Menifee Valley and Temecula Valley campuses are open this week from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and then 7 a.m. to noon Friday. Next week, the testing sites will be open to the public from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. MSJC contracts with Virus Geeks to offer the free testing service.

Call it a late Christmas present or a “Happy New Year” gift, but four local educators are celebrating their random selection as recipients of CalRTA Division 33’s $100 Teacher Grants. Division 33 of the California Retired Teachers Association conducts random drawings five times each year, awarding 3-4 $100 teacher grant checks to local teachers who complete the short application, no strings attached, via an online form they receive in their school email inbox or by accessing a link on the CalRTA Division 33 website or Facebook page. Chauntai Marchal, a TK (transitional kindergarten) teacher at Ramona Elementary School in Hemet, says, “My students love dramatic play.” She plans to purchase “more toys such as dress up clothes and a pretend cash register for them to play with.

Season One of the 2022 Tribute Mania Concert Series continues on Saturday January 22nd with a Tribute to Prince, performed by Prince Again. This group is the world’s #1 Prince tribute band and local fans have been anxiously awaiting this first appearance at HHT. Tickets have been selling fast, but are expected to still be available on day of show.

Distrust, misinformation and delays because of the holidays and bad weather have combined to produce what authorities say are alarmingly low COVID-19 vaccination rates in U.S. children ages 5 to 11.

A group of 23 eminent experts in global health and diplomacy serving on The Lancet COVID-19 Commission: Global Health Diplomacy and Cooperation Task Force published their findings in a new report.