Protecting Yourself from Fraud
Unfortunately, some are taking advantage of the coronavirus emergency to attempt to get your personal information or money. Stay alert and protect yourself with these tips.
- Be careful of online sellers who claim to have in-demand products, like cleaning, household, health and medical supplies, when they may not. Be sure to read the fine print.
- Hang up on robocalls. Scammers are using illegal robocalls to pitch everything from COVID-19 treatments to work-fromhome schemes.
- Ignore offer of vaccinations or home test kits. At this time, there are no FDA authorized home test kits for COVID-19.
- Don’t respond to texts or emails about government checks.
- Don’t let anyone rush you into making a donation. Research organizations before giving. If someone wants cash, gift cards or for you to wire them money, don’t do it.
2020 SLO Triathlon Cancelled
Due to the impacts of COVID-19 on planning major events and social gatherings, the City of San Luis Obispo announced the cancelation of the 41st annual SLO Triathlon that was scheduled to take place on July 26, 2020.
Putting on the half-mile swim, 14- mile bike and over three-mile run requires months of planning and preparation. During the COVID-19 emergency, the City’s primary focus is on providing essential services to protect the health and safety of the community. Given these factors and the importance of ensuring a safe event for participants, community, volunteers, staff, and sponsors the City has decided to cancel the event for this year.
Cal Poly Named Tree Campus
For the sixth consecutive year, Cal Poly has been named a Tree Campus USA for its commitment to urban forest management, the Arbor Day Foundation announced.
The 2019 award — the foundation honors campuses for their previous year’s commitment — recognizes Cal Poly’s best practices in managing one of the largest and most diverse university urban forests in the nation.
“Cal Poly’s urban forest serves many important functions,” said Christopher Wassenberg, the university’s landscape manager. “It is a living laboratory for students and an environmental filter for our air and water, and it provides psychological benefits to improve our everyday quality of life.
“Managing our urban forest requires a commitment not only to the urban forest as a whole but also to the value of each individual tree when making management decisions. Cooperation and coordination between many campus entities allows us to make choices that honor the value of trees as our campus continues to grow and evolve.”
Since 2014, Cal Poly has met Tree Campus USA’s five standards, which include maintaining a tree advisory committee, a campus tree-care plan, dedicated annual expenditures for its campus tree program, an Arbor Day observance, and student service-learning project.
“If ever there was a time for trees, now is that time,” said Lauren Weyers, coordinator of The Arbor Day Foundation’s Tree Campus USA program. “Communities worldwide are facing issues with air quality, water resources, personal health and well-being, and energy use. Cal Poly is stepping up to do its part. As a result of your commitment to effective urban forest management, you are helping to provide a solution to these global challenges.”
Cal Poly is among 16 California colleges or universities and more than 360 other schools in 47 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., to carry the Tree Campus USA designation. But it stands apart from the rest boasting the largest variety of tree species on a university campus in the nation.
Campus officials have inventoried 6,600 trees and nearly 550 varieties in the campus core alone. The coastal live oak (Quercus agrifolia) is the most common tree on campus, but it also has many exotic and rare species represented. In addition, the campus is home to two national champions listed on the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute’s Registry of California Big Trees.
