Hero: The number of reported cases of Lyme disease continues to grow in Marin each year and there’s no vaccine available. You don’t have to be an avid outdoors-person to contract it either. A Northern California study found ticks carrying the bacteria causing Lyme disease “in nearly every park that we looked—and not just in wooded areas.” So far, this is sounding like a Zero, right? Enter the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, an organization working to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure. To learn more, attend their upcoming free event, Preventing and Treating Lyme in Marin—Keeping Your Family Safe from Tick-Borne Diseases, on Thursday, March 15, from 6-8pm, at Dominican University in San Rafael. RSVP by emailing
sp***********@ba*********.org
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Zero: The taxman cometh and the scammers flourish. The San Rafael Police Department is warning about creative schemes trying to separate us from our cash. In addition to the garden-variety swindle where someone calls claiming to be from the IRS and asks for personal info, there’s the ploy where the conman demands immediate payment of past taxes in order to avoid a fine or arrest. Even accountants and tax preparers are targeted with phishing emails seeking taxpayer data. You may think that you’re too smart to fall for it, but there are more complicated scams out there. Remember, the IRS will never call and ask for your social security or bank account number, nor will they demand instant payment or threaten arrest. In doubt? Hang up.
