Redwood Credit Union Hosts Free Webinar with Finance Expert Jean Chatzky

Redwood Credit Union (RCU) will host a free 60-minute webinar with personal finance expert Jean Chatzky titled “Finding Financial Resilience in Uncertain Times.” Open to the community, those interested are invited to register at redwoodcu.org/webinar.

Given COVID-19 and the current fires, financial resilience is especially critical right now. In this webinar, Chatzky will share tips for understanding one’s money and regaining control of it to enable positive changes that have a lasting impact.

Chatzky is the CEO of HerMoney.com and host of the podcast “HerMoney With Jean Chatzky.” As the financial editor of NBC Today for 25 years and the financial ambassador for AARP, she appears frequently on CNN, and MSNBC, and was a recurring guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. She also wrote a book called The Difference on how to thrive in a tough economy. In recent years, she has partnered with RCU to present community financial education events at Sonoma State University, Napa Valley College, and Dominican University.

RCU’s President & CEO Brett Martinez will act as moderator.

“One of our guiding principles is financial education,” says Martinez. “We regularly provide tools and resources to help people make the most of their money and Jean is one such resource. She also has a rare gift of coaching in a frank, funny, and compassionate way. Given our times, this type of empathy is very important right now. We’re pleased to bring back Jean to share this vital information with our members and community.”

About Redwood Credit Union
Founded in 1950, Redwood Credit Union is a full-service financial institution providing personal and business banking to consumers and businesses in the North Bay and San Francisco. RCU offers complete financial services, including checking and savings accounts, auto and home loans, credit cards, online and mobile banking, business services, commercial and SBA lending, and more. Wealth management and investment services are available through CUSO Financial Services L.P., and through RCU Services Group (RCU’s wholly owned subsidiary), insurance and auto-purchasing services are also available. RCU has $5.7 billion in assets and serves more than 366,000 members with full-service branches from San Francisco to Ukiah. For more information, call 1 (800) 479-7928, visit redwoodcu.org, or follow RCU on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for news and updates.

About Jean Chatzky

Jean Chatzky is an American journalist, a personal finance columnist, financial editor of NBC’s TODAY show, AARP’s personal finance ambassador, and the founder and CEO of the multimedia company HerMoney. For more information, visit jeanchatzky.com.

Kaiser Permanente and Other Community Leaders Announces $81.8 Million in Commitments to Support Isolation and Quarantine Efforts in Communities Disproportionately Impacted by COVID-19

Building on the state’s comprehensive actions to support diverse communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced $81.8 million in additional commitments from private and philanthropic partners to provide resources and services for individuals needing to isolate or quarantine. The partnership is led by Kaiser Permanente, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Ballmer Group, The James Irvine Foundation, The California Wellness Foundation, Weingart Foundation, Sierra Health Foundation, Blue Shield of California Foundation, California Health Care Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation, The California Endowment and the Skoll Foundation.

This new initiative expands on the previously announced grant funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has allocated $499 million to support the state’s response to COVID-19, of which $286 million was made available to local governments in their efforts to fight COVID-19. Nearly $52 million is going to eight counties in the Central Valley – Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare.

“Government can’t slow the spread of COVID-19 alone – it’s all hands on deck,” said Governor Newsom. “We must work in partnership and bring together leaders across sectors, including philanthropy, to leverage resources and scale up culturally and linguistically competent containment efforts. It’s on all of us to step up and pitch in, especially in communities disproportionately impacted by this virus. I thank our philanthropic partners for meeting this moment and doubling down on efforts to help stop the virus.”

Kaiser Permanente is committing $63 million in grant funding for community-based organizations in areas disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, to support local public health departments with contact tracing, while also connecting individuals who are not able to appropriately isolate and quarantine to services and supports. Additionally, a coalition of 10 philanthropies have committed $18.8 million to support local public health departments in building a culturally and linguistically competent contact tracing workforce.

Together with the state, these partners will identify the communities and populations most impacted by the virus and fund a coordinated set of efforts working with local public health leaders. This collective impact will magnify the impact of California’s response to COVID-19.

Testing, Tracing and Supported Isolation (and Quarantine), known as TTSI, has become a common continuum of effort in the COVID-19 response in order to effectively contain the spread of the virus in communities. Over the course of California’s response, testing, through the efforts of the Testing Task Force, has improved significantly. Although there remain real challenges with supplies and turnaround time for testing, the situation in California is vastly improved.

As it relates to disease investigation and contact tracing, the combination of local and state personnel resources has dramatically increased the number of individuals working to investigate and trace cases. Due to high levels of transmission, tracing is largely targeted to high-risk areas and in particular outbreaks. With efforts to mitigate spread and deepen containment, this new partnership aims to effectively connect Californians without supportive isolation and quarantine ability to the supports they need to safely isolate to reduce further transmission, such as food assistance and delivery, support for rent payments, child care, pharmacy deliveries, health care services and employment-based assistance and protections. This will be accomplished through community-based workers providing follow-on services to persons coordinated through county contact tracing efforts.

To date, the state has focused its work on filling the gaps identified by local public health departments. The state has:

  • Developed a data management platform in collaboration with county partners to manage contact tracing efforts;
  • Developed a virtual training academy with academic partners, including UCSF and UCLA, to scale training capabilities across all counties;
  • Redirected state staff to augment the local contact tracing workforce; and
  • Developed a public awareness campaign, California Connected, in partnership with philanthropy to educate the public on the importance of contact tracing.

These commitments by our private and philanthropic partners are intended to ensure those who are exposed or test positive can appropriately isolate and quarantine. This is also an opportunity not only to reduce the spread of COVID-19, but to create well-paying jobs and future job opportunities, particularly for Black and Brown Californians who come from the highest-risk communities and are culturally and linguistically in the best position to act as trusted messengers in those communities.

Governor Newsom Announces $81.8 Million in Commitments to Support Isolation and Quarantine Efforts in Communities Disproportionately Impacted by COVID-19 

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging Study Suggests Potential Therapy For COVID-19

Could a molecule our bodies make naturally play a role in treating COVID-19?

It’s possible, according to scientists at The Buck Institute for Research on Aging, a Novato-based independent biomedical research institution whose mission is to extend the healthy years of life.

In an article published July 15 in the journal Med, Buck Institute professor and lead author Dr. John Newman, along with a group of colleagues, suggest ketone bodies could be a possible treatment for viral respiratory infections, such as seasonal flu and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19. Ketones are chemicals the liver produces when there isn’t enough insulin to turn sugar into energy.

“My lab, in general, studies how metabolism regulates aging mechanisms, and a big part of that is about ketone bodies as molecules that are involved in our body’s metabolism, but that we found have effects on mechanisms of aging,” said Newman.

That’s where COVID-19 could have a role, given the disproportionate impact that the novel coronavirus has on older adults in terms of death and lasting disability, and the impact of common aging-related comorbidities like diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to Newman.

“I almost think of COVID-19 as a disease of aging, which doesn’t mean it’s a disease of old people,” said Newman, who also is a practicing geriatrician at the VA Hospital in San Francisco. “It affects people throughout their lifespan, but very much in the same proportions that other diseases of aging do, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. You can get these when you’re young, but you’re more likely to get them when you’re older, and they’re more likely to be worse.”

Newman cautions, however, that no matter a person’s age, they should not think they can ward-off COVID-19 by switching to a ketone diet.

“I want to be clear that there is no evidence that a ketogenic diet is protective in any way against COVID-19,” Newman said in a press release announcing the publication of the review. In fact, he added, there may be instances where the primary ketone body, beta-hydroxybutyrate acid, known as BHB, could actually promote viral replication.

“But given the promise that BHB shows against many of the age-related risk factors for COVID-19 … we want to take advantage of this unique opportunity to bring geroscience to the fight against COVID-19,” he said.

Newman and Eric Verdin, CEO of the Buck Institute and a contributor to the review in Med, also are co-founders and shareholders in BHB Therapeutics LTD., which is developing products related to ketone bodies.

So far, small clinical trials in humans have shown that BHB can improve cardiac function in people with heart failure and also help with their cognitive health. BHB also shows promise against type 2 diabetes.

Now, according to the release, doctors at Johns Hopkins University plan on testing a ketogenic diet on a small group of intubated COVID-19 patients.

The intersection of the science of aging and treating older adults

Newman’s work as a geriatrician at the VA Hospital extends beyond treating older patients for the underlying disease that put them in the hospital — which now includes COVID-19. It also involves preventing lasting problems just from being hospitalized for a long time.

“Dying is not the only bad outcome from COVID-19,” said Newman, noting that some people who survive have long-term severe memory impairments, extreme exhaustion and weakness from muscle wasting after an extended hospital stay.

“I think this is one of the things that’s underappreciated and may turn out to be worse than we feared, that when people get really sick from anything and they’re in the hospital, it’s not just about surviving, but it’s trying to help people survive with their lives intact,” Newman said. “People don’t realize that an awful lot of people — maybe even most people who are in the ICU on a ventilator for any reason — are not going to come out of that being the same person they were before.”

And so the work continues toward understanding and treating COVID-19.

“Honestly, this is the biggest public health crisis that we’re going to face for the next couple of years, at least,” Newman said. “So this paper (in Med) is our vision for how we can, as quickly as possible, do the basic and the clinical science to tell us how ketone bodies might be useful to help keep people from dying and from getting disabled.”

New Marin County study suggests potential therapy for COVID-19

Sonoma County Office of Education Receives $1 Million Grant to Expand Post-Disaster Mental Health Services For Children

A federally funded project is underway in west Sonoma County to help thousands of local students respond to trauma caused by years of wildfires and flooding, launching what could be a pilot program for rehabilitating children in other parts of the country.

Nine west county school districts will soon begin mental health screenings for up to 5,000 students thanks to a $1 million federal grant, helping educators explore how best to care for children who have experienced multiple natural disasters and traumatic events.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is funding training that will equip at least 25 school psychologists and local counselors with tools to detect hidden symptoms of trauma and special forms of therapy to treat it.

Information collected during the one-year program will be included in a study by UCLA and Drexel University that could shape how communities recover after future disasters, according to the Sonoma County Office of Education, which is overseeing the local effort.

Steve Herrington, Sonoma County superintendent of schools, said a one-year grant isn’t long enough to address the issue, but it can at least create new systems for communities that have endured one destructive event after another.

“Our county has experienced more multiple traumas than any other student population in California,” Herrington said. “This grant helps us address that growing need.”

The county education office applied for the grant last year after a three-day rainstorm in late February pushed the Russian River past its highest level since 1995, submerging Guerneville and flooding several other communities along its banks.

Guerneville School District Superintendent Dana Pedersen said 40 families at her schools were displaced during the flood. Many more are still recovering from its impacts and are now facing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has created additional economic hardships.

The grant provides the infrastructure to better address the mental health challenges in her community, Pedersen said, especially among children where the effects of those traumas have yet to emerge.

“We have a year to make some services (available), and at the state level, the eyes are on this grant,” she said. “This can be a gold standard as what mental and behavioral services looks like for families in crisis.”

In addition to Guerneville, Monte Rio, Forestville, Harmony, Fort Ross, Oak Grove, Sebastopol, Twin Hills and the West Sonoma County Union High School District are included in the project.

Training is expected to begin over the next few weeks for the west county staffers who signed up, although some professional development will be available for counselors in other parts of the county, said Mandy Corbin, assistant superintendent of special education and behavioral health services for the county education office.

Dr. Judith Cohen, a renowned child psychiatrist and Drexel professor, will lead the training and help pass along two different methods for mental health screening, Corbin said. Cohen will also teach a form of trauma-focused behavioral therapy she helped develop that equips children and their parents with skills for managing symptoms.

The screenings will begin next month and most likely will be done over the phone, Corbin said. No child will be tested without a parent’s consent.

“After this we will have a universal screening tool in place so we don’t miss anyone,” Corbin said.

Sonoma County receives $1 million grant to expand post-disaster mental heal

North Bay Business Leaders Mount Opposition to Tax Measures Amid Pandemic

North Bay business leaders are coalescing behind a claim that any new local taxes or renewals would deal too heavy a blow to an economy already staggered by the coronavirus pandemic, and they are openly calling on elected officials to put a stop to the series of tax measures slated for the November ballot.

The North Coast Builders Exchange and Sonoma County Farm Bureau have joined the North Bay Leadership Council in opposing all proposed tax increases and extensions this year. The groups are demanding that no new tax measures be put in front of voters until 2022, when the pandemic will hopefully have subsided.

“In the worst economic time that we’ve ever faced, it feels like government is piling on to be asking for more tax money,” said Keith Woods, chief executive of the North Coast Builders Exchange, a construction industry trade group. “Come back in two years, and if the economy has rebounded, we can look at each measure.”

Renewal measures on this year’s ballot in Sonoma County include the countywide quarter-cent tax to support transportation and transit upgrades as well as sales tax extensions in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Cotati and Cloverdale. The Petaluma City Council is poised to introduce a new 1-cent sales tax to support city services at its regular meeting on Monday as well.

In addition, Sonoma County supervisors have signaled support for placing on the November ballot a new 10-year, quarter-cent sales tax to fund mental health and homelessness services.

The business groups say such tax proposals would place an undue hardship on local businesses that have been forced to lay off employees and close their doors for months because of state and county shutdowns aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. They also say now is the wrong time to ask local residents impacted by the pandemic-induced recession to hand over any more money to local governments.

In his discussions with local public officials, Woods said, he’s received “mixed comments” about delaying any tax measures until 2022. Most have already been approved for this year’s ballot, with a few final votes scheduled for this week ahead of a Friday deadline.

Many city council members and county supervisors contend that extending local sales taxes, and raising new ones in two cases, is desperately needed to fund essential municipal services as the fallout from the pandemic decimates public revenues.

Sonoma Mayor Logan Harvey said he doesn’t believe there’s significant opposition from local businesses or residents to his city’s proposed half-cent sales extension for general services. If the measure fails to pass by a simple majority vote, however, it could result in “mass layoffs” of city employees, he said.

“This pays for everything you enjoy as citizen,” Harvey said, pointing to maintenance of Sonoma Plaza as well as police and fire departments. “Not supporting it would be disastrous for the city, especially during COVID.”

Some local business leaders remain unconvinced. They argue that city and county governments have long struggled to responsibly manage revenues, pointing to soaring payroll and pension costs, which have in part fueled current budget shortfalls.

Cynthia Murray, president of the North Bay Leadership Council, which represents more than 50 major businesses and nonprofits in the region, said that just as local business have had to make cuts during the pandemic, local governments should do the same. Instead of asking for new taxes, she said, local governments could rein in “growing” pension liabilities, renegotiate labor contracts and shed employees.

In addition, Murray and Woods pointed to existing funds such as the emergency federal aid made available through the CARES Act and the combined $240 million Santa Rosa and Sonoma County received from PG&E to settle claims from the 2017 fires.

“This is a time to try and do something cohesive and strategic … not to try to chop a little tax money here or there,” said Murray, a former Marin County supervisor and member of the Novato City Council. ”There’s a finite capacity for people and business to pay taxes right now.”

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane pushed back on claims that her board has mismanaged its spending, noting the county in recent years has put in place some pension reform measures.

Zane has given strong support to the countywide sales tax measure for homeless and mental health services, which would need a two-thirds majority vote to pass. She said it’s urgent that voters back the measure because the need for mental health and homelessness services will only continue to increase during the pandemic, and current state and federal funds aren’t enough to cover the cost.

She added that local business owners have for years agitated for the county to address homelessness near their establishments. She said she’s “angry” that some business groups have decided to oppose the measure.

“If you’re a business and (homelessness) bothers you, then you should vote for this and campaign for it,” she said.

The three business groups pushing for the delay of all tax ballot measures have formed what they’re calling a 2020 Tax Moratorium Coalition. Murray said she hopes more groups will join in the run-up to the election.

Peter Rumble, chief executive of the Santa Rosa Metro Chamber of Commerce, said in an email that his chamber is currently considering joining the coalition in asking for a tax moratorium.

Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat, is a member of the North Bay Leadership Council, and Sonoma Media Investments CEO Steve Falk is a council board member. Brad Bollinger, publisher of the North Bay Business Journal, also owned by Sonoma Media Investments, sits on the group’s executive committee.

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/north-bay-business-leaders-mount-opposition-to-tax-measures-amid-pandemic/

Jere Starks Inducted Into Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame

Long-time Sonoma Raceway executive Jere Starks, who oversaw the physical transformation of the raceway into one of the nation’s premier motorsports venues, has been inducted into the Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame.

Starks first came to the facility as a construction contractor in the early 1990s, and recently concluded his 26-year career at the raceway.

Since joining then-Sears Point Raceway full time in 1994, Starks’ accomplishments included oversight of the $90 million modernization of the facility from 1999-2002. The massive project included moving nearly 10 million cubic yards of dirt to create hillside terrace seats at Turns 2, 3, 4, 7 and 9, roads for better internal traffic circulation, expanded viewing areas, underground pedestrian tunnels and the separation of the road course from the drag strip, as well as the construction of competitor garages, permanent restrooms, the start/finish grandstand and the extension of pit road.

Starks spent the duration of his career managing the maintenance of Sonoma Raceway’s 1,600-acre property and facility preparation for annual visits from the NASCAR Cup Series and NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, among others. He also managed annual capital improvement projects, including the construction of The Point in 2019, the Real Strong Humboldt Redwood Deck above Turn 2 and Grill Garden shaded terraces at Turns 2 and 9.

Starks’ career also involved ushering the facility through a number of natural disasters, including the 6.0-magnitude South Napa earthquake in 2014, as well as the Sonoma County fires in 2017. Starks, an avid motorcycle rider, worked to continuously improve on-track safety, including redesigned portions of the track at Turns 1, 10 and 11, the addition of more than 100 pieces catchfence and increased run-off around the circuit.

Starks was involved in many of the raceway’s charitable and community efforts, including Speedway Children’s Charities and the annual Motorcycle Food Drive Ride. He helped found 3J’s Motorcycle Track Days and raised more than $506,000 for worthy causes over 23 charity track days. In addition, he is a member of the Teen Services Sonoma Board of Directors.

“Jere Starks’ DNA is in every square inch of this facility,” said Sonoma Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page. “I was fortunate to work alongside him for nearly three decades and to benefit from his experience and wisdom as we re-imagined the raceway and all of its modern features.  There is no one more deserving of this honor.”

Starks’ likeness has been engraved onto the raceway’s Wall of Fame, which is located on the back of the Main Grandstand in the main paddock. He is the 26th member of the raceway’s Wall of Fame, joining fellow Speedway Motorsports and raceway inductees, including O. Bruton Smith (2006), Joe W. Huffaker (2007), John Cardinale (2013), Georgia Seipel (2018) and raceway founder Robert Marshall (2019).

“I’m overwhelmed at the honor of being on the Sonoma Raceway Wall of Fame with so many others who are on there for some compelling reason,” said Starks. “It wasn’t an individual effort, it was a group effort. That wall will be there forever, and it’s a total honor.”

College of Marin Joins the California Community College Equity Leadership Alliance

College of Marin, along with 63 other community colleges, has joined the California Community College Equity Leadership Alliance to confront racial inequities within their educational system.

This alliance was started by Shaun Harper, Ph.D., at University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center to support community colleges in addressing issues of racial and educational inequities. Harper began the alliance in Los Angeles in January and launched the initiative statewide in the wake of mass protests fueled by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industry-news/north-bay-business-briefs-from-ultragenyx-wine-industry-expo/?taid=5f19a6e720fc0a0001aaac77

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. Gets FDA Approval for Dojolvi

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: RARE), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel products for rare and ultra-rare diseases announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Dojolvi (triheptanoin) as a source of calories and fatty acids for the treatment of pediatric and adult patients with molecularly confirmed long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders (LC-FAOD). They are a group of rare, lifelong and life-threatening genetic disorders in which the body is unable to convert long-chain fatty acids into energy.

Ultragenyx expects Dojolvi to be available to patients in the next 30 days. To support access, Ultragenyx’s UltraCare program helps patients and caregivers understand insurance coverage and assists them in finding financial support for Ultragenyx medicines, including Dojolvi, and for the administration of them. Dedicated in-house UltraCare Guides are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time at 888-756-8657.

https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industry-news/north-bay-business-briefs-from-ultragenyx-wine-industry-expo/?taid=5f19a6e720fc0a0001aaac77

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging Explores Fat as Coronavirus Weapon

Scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato are advocating for research to determine whether eating fatty foods could be protective for the coronavirus.

In an article published in the science journal Med, researchers at the institute and the University of California, San Francisco, assert that further investigation is warranted to discover if “ketone bodies” could serve as a possible therapeutic against COVID-19 and other viral infections such as influenza.

Ketone bodies are compounds produced naturally during fat metabolism. Eating a ketogenic diet, which is high in fat and low in carbohydrates, accelerates the production of the primary ketone beta-hydroxybutyrate acid (BHB).

“The article lays out the rationale putting puzzle pieces together to say this is an area of research we should be looking at,” said John Newman, a Buck Institute professor who is one of the article’s authors.

Small clinical trials in humans have demonstrated that BHB can improve cardiac function in people with heart failure. In the laboratory setting, BHB has also shown promise in treating type 2 diabetes and reducing harmful inflammation. Elevation of blood ketones have proved to be protective against tissue damage due to a lack of oxygen, which occurs in severe respiratory infections.

At John Hopkins University, doctors are about to test a ketogenic diet on a small group COVID-19 patients who have been intubated. The hope is that the diet will reduce the systemic inflammation, known as a cytokine storm, that results in acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Noting the false claims for hydroxychloroquine made by President Trump, Newman is quick to acknowledge that there is no evidence that a ketogenic diet is protective in any way against COVID-19. Newman and Buck Institute CEO Eric Verdin, who also contributed to the article, are co-founders and shareholders in BHB Therapeutics, which is developing products related to ketone bodies.

In fact, he says there might be instances where BHB could promote viral replication of coronavirus. Ketone bodies and the coronavirus both bind to some of the same proteins.

“Most of them work in the direction that you would hypothesize that ketone bodies would be helpful,” Newman said.

For example, BHB inhibits the activation of NLRP3, a protein that promotes inflammation.

“Basic research shows that BHB directly inhibits the activation of the pro-inflammatory pathway NLRP3, which is central to the disease pathogenesis of COVID-19 and is a likely contributor to the cytokine storm,” Brianna Stubbs, a Buck researcher and the article’s lead author, wrote in a statement.

Newman, however, said, “There is another protein that ketone bodies bind to, which has to do with how genes are expressed, and here ketone bodies turn on that protein and so does the virus.”

Newman said while a ketogenic diet is effective in addressing two major risks for heart disease, obesity and diabetes, many cardiologists still want to see more long-term study before endorsing its safety.

Newman said there is a common misunderstanding about what constitutes a healthy ketogenic diet.

“People think it means, oh, I’m going to eat my steak and bacon and eggs, and it is going to be good for me,” he said. “That is not the way it is supposed to be.”

Newman said a proper ketogenic diet should be mostly plant-based and include plenty of fish, healthy oils and low-carbohydrate vegetables.

“It’s olive oil and kale, not bacon and eggs,” Newman said.

One of the many things that scientists still don’t know about COVID-19 is why it has proven to be so much more lethal for people 65 and older.

“I’ve been surprised that there hasn’t been more emphasis on understanding this aging link with COVID,” Newman said.

He says that various strategies exist for reducing the risk for heart disease, such as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

“But if we could prevent or reverse even 10% of the age-related risk for heart disease that would be better than anything we have right now, and the same is true for COVID,” Newman said. “If we had a treatment that could reverse 10% of the age-related risk, it would be a blockbuster.”

Newman notes that the Buck Institute is all about understanding why humans age on a molecular and cellular level and why age is a risk factor for disease.

“We study how aging drives disease,” he said. “Maybe we should be starting to look at how aging drives COVID-19.”

Marin research center explores fat as coronavirus weapon

Star Staffing is Named a Forbes Best Temporary Staffing Firm in 2020

Star Staffing, a Northern California based staffing and recruiting firm, has been named to Forbes magazine’s list of America’s Best Temporary Staffing Firms in 2020.

Forbes partnered with market research company Statista to simplify the process with our inaugural ranking of America’s best temporary staffing firms. The list was compiled by surveying 26,000 recruiters and 5,400 job candidates and human resources managers who have worked with such firms. The 138 firms that received the most recommendations are ranked according to star ratings: five stars for the first half of awarded companies and four stars for the second half.

With strong ties to essential companies, Star Staffing was declared an essential business early into the Covid-19 pandemic.

Star Staffing President Nicole Serres shares, “What I think is so important about this incredible honor is that it was voted on by 26,000 recruiters and 5,400 job candidates and human resource managers. Our life’s work is to serve our clients, employees, and staff creating more jobs, connecting more people and companies, and improving the way we work. To hear we made the list voted on from those we serve is an extremely gratifying feeling and a testament to our alignment to our values and mission. This unexpected award has come at the perfect time and I couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate this accomplishment with our team who makes it all possible.”

With over 20 years in the industry, Star Staffing is still one of the “younger” agencies in the area, yet one that has seen tremendous growth. Growing from three locations to seven in the last 10 years, Star Staffing has thrived as a top agency supporting many winery, food and manufacturing, and warehouse and distribution employers. They also have a strong direct hire division that has picked up steam in recent years.

Companies and candidates that use staffing agencies were asked to submit nominations; self-nominations are not considered.

About Star Staffing

Star Staffing is a certified woman-owned, full-service staffing and recruiting firm focused on making the best match between employee and employer. With offices throughout Northern California including Lodi, Sacramento, Fairfield, Napa, Hayward, Petaluma, and Santa Rosa, Star Staffing has all your hiring needs covered and is just a phone call or click away.