Jan 28, 2021
Thousands of wildfires raged across California last year, burning millions of acres, destroying buildings and taking lives—the majority being wild and farm animals with no means of escape.
In mid-August, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine deployed its Veterinary Emergency Response Team to the LNU Lightning Complex fire in Solano and Sonoma counties, and the North Complex and Bear fires in Butte County.
The team’s mission was to care for injured animals in evacuation centers and animal shelters—and to rescue those still trapped on scorched ranches, farms and in backyards.
Jan 28, 2021
Even in the midst of a global pandemic, Karla Burgess has gotten a “glimpse of the best in people” thanks to her work as logistics coordinator for Folsom Mask Makers, an all-volunteer group of local seamstresses formed in mid-March to address the community’s chronic lack of pandemic personal protective equipment.
To date, the group has produced nearly 65,000 masks, 2,650 scrub caps, 1,310 visual masks, hundreds of 3D-printed face shields, and thousands of crocheted and 3D-printed ear savers. They’ve donated to more than 350 hospitals, medical and dental groups, care homes, schools, nonprofit and community organizations, and emergency service agencies in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties.
Jan 28, 2021
For Sacramento students applying to college this fall, the future is shrouded in uncertainty. Hailey Kopp, a senior at St. Francis Catholic High School, says, “Things aren’t going as planned, so it has been difficult to adapt.”
Local high school seniors have received countless lessons in adaptability as they tackle the complex process of deciding where and when to begin their college careers amid COVID-19.
Jan 28, 2021
When you drive by Franklin Boulevard and 11th Avenue—one of the most highly trafficked corners of Curtis Park, just off Highway 99—you might notice things look a bit different.
The formerly nondescript building one block down from Sutterville Road now features an arresting mural by local artist Natalia Sanchez (who goes by the moniker CH3Z) of a Medusa-like figure with flowing locks and piercing eyes that glow at night. Overgrown bushes have been pruned or replaced with bright blooms. The building has been painted, and sleek new exterior lighting illuminates a chic sign for The London Beauty Bar. Everything in the three-tenant shopping center looks brighter and lighter—all thanks to new owner Margaret Levandoski.
Jan 28, 2021
“COVID test?”
Sonya Frausto and I have been talking by phone for only a few minutes before she pauses to greet a customer who’s come into her store for a COVID test. She points the customer in the right direction, continues our interview and then bids him farewell a few minutes later.
Frausto is the owner of Ten Acres Pharmacy, an independent pharmacy on Freeport Boulevard that opened last August in the midst of the pandemic. The store offers free COVID tests every day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (registration required), which keeps Frausto busier than ever on top of her normal duties running what she calls a “functional health pharmacy.”
Jan 28, 2021
One of Don Wulf’s favorite thoughts is from Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl: The meaning and purpose of your life is to help others find theirs.
A favorite quote is from Dr. Seuss: To the world you may be one person; but to one person you may be the world.
