Contributed

Testing! Testing! Testing! That’s what the experts say is necessary to move the country back to normalcy. Almost daily, local TV stations in New York City where I live run public service announcements urging viewers to get a test for COVID-19. Those announcements tell how to find a testing site, and most point out that the tests are free.

It was just two weeks ago that I submitted an article entitled "News Cycles" that pointed out that climate change has not received much publicity lately. It has been crowded out by the pandemic and Trump's failure to respond adequately to keep us safe. It has been crowded out by the Black Lives Matter movement brought back to the forefront by the killing of George Floyd and the kneeling of NBA players before their televised games in a deliberate effort to keep in our consciousness continued mistreatment of people of color.

In keeping with recently released California Department of Public Health guidance, La Sierra University will hold the majority of fall quarter classes online with allowed exceptions for certain labs and studio classes. It is also providing an automatic 10 percent fall quarter tuition subsidy for all enrolled students. School begins Monday, Sept. 21.

In a world where joy and unity may seem impossible to achieve, millions of Jehovah's Witnesses have "united" together virtually to stream their six-part annual summer convention featuring the theme "Always Rejoice"! The program which is available in 511 languages worldwide was designed to be released in six installments, each corresponding to a morning or afternoon session of what would have been three successive convention days. The final two sessions of this convention program will be streamed on jw.org on the weekends of August 22-23 and 29- 30, completing this historic event for the Witnesses around the globe.

Last Wednesday, August 12, marked the final summer community weekly meal distribution for San Jacinto Unified School District, with 451,704 meals served to children ages 0 through 18, covering the period June 5 through August 16. Food assistance during the COVID-19 crisis has been quite the challenge for many school districts, and SJUSD was honored by local Albertsons and the Albertsons Companies Foundation to Help Feed Children and Families during Summer campaign with a $50,000 grant to help off-set the costs. The campaign is part of Albertsons Nourishing Neighbors Community Relief initiative.