Golis: A year-end test of your knowledge of local news
Ready or not, it's time for the 2018 Quiz for News Junkies. (If you answer every question correctly, it may be a sign you need to get out more.)
You know the rules. No Tweeting, texting or colluding with Russians.
With eyes on your own paper, you may now begin:
1. Key Sonoma County political races remained undecided because the counting of ballots from the November election was not completed until December. Why?
(a) It was necessary to send ballots to Florida for counting.
(b) It took a long time to count late-arriving, mail-in ballots.
(c) An early outbreak of flu sidelined election workers.
(d) The abacus broke.
2. True or false, to assist new employees in their search for housing, Sonoma State University purchased its very own real estate agency.
3. Why should west county residents care who will direct the next James Bond movie?
4. The Golden State Warriors won the NBA championship for the second straight year in 2018, sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games. Name the Warriors' starting line-up in game four.
5. I served the better part of 20 years on the Petaluma City Council, including three terms as elected mayor, before stepping down in 2018. Who am I?
6. True or false, while 59 percent of Sonoma County voters endorsed the statewide ballot measure legalizing marijuana, almost half now say they wouldn't want marijuana grown in their neighborhood.
7. In August, Healdsburg High School canceled this:
(a) A controversial play about a family and the bitter disagreements that followed the election of Donald Trump.
(b) Plans for a new all-weather track.
(c) The football season.
(d) A field trip to a local brewery.
8. The Graton Resort and Casino in Rohnert Park celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2018. Within 200, tell us how many people are employed there.
9. More than 3,000 people once lived at this Sonoma Valley institution scheduled to close at year's end. What is it?
10. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors came up with an ambitious plan to build housing on 82 acres that comprised the old county hospital site on Chanate Road in Santa Rosa. Then what happened?
11. On the Sonoma County coast, a breathtaking landscape became home to a new nature preserve. Tell us its name and you will also be describing its location. Extra points if you name the mountain that becomes the ultimate goal for hikers there.
12. Who said, “I'd love to continue to be able to continue doing the job, but I don't think it's realistic at this point”?
(a) President Donald Trump.
(b) Bruce Bochy.
(c) Bob Aaronson.
(d) Chris Coursey.
13. True or false, in September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that would provide $10 million in aid to people who want to start a cannabis business but can't get a bank loan because of a previous marijuana conviction.
14. Who is Brandon Hyde?
15. True or false, a majority of Santa Rosa voters opposed Measure N, a $124 million housing bond on the November ballot.
16. After many years, this regional park near Petaluma finally came open to the general public in 2018. Tell us its name.
17. Owners of this iconic, north county attraction announced they would be shuttering the business at the end of year. They blamed a decline in patronage following the 2017 fires. Name this attraction.
18. In the October 2017 fires, 5,334 Sonoma County homes were destroyed. Within 5 percent, tell us what percentage of property owners has applied for permits to rebuild.
19. Something's happening to the Empire Building, the landmark on Old Courthouse Square in Santa Rosa. What is it? Extra points if you can name the year it was built and its original name.
20. True or false, the Sonoma County unemployment rate in September was lower than it's been any time in this century.
21. Santa Rosa celebrated a birthday this year. How old is it?
22. True or false, in April, the New York Times won the Pulitzer Prize for reporting on breaking news.
Answers:
1. The answer is (b) it took a long time, a very long time. Officials blamed mail-in ballots dropped off at polling places or mailed too late to be counted on Election Day.
2. False. The university did, however, purchase a $42 million Petaluma apartment complex.
3. The director of the 25th Bond film will be Cary Joji Fukunaga, a 1995 graduate of Sebastopol's Analy High School.
4. The Warriors started Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and JaVale McGee. (You missed on McGee, didn't you?)
5. In February, Mayor David Glass said he would not seek re-election, in part because he hoped to take politics out of efforts to pass a local tax to bolster the city's flagging financial condition.
6. True. A Press Democrat Poll in June found that 46 percent of the respondents “would not feel safe with a cannabis farm within any proximity to my residence,” and only 19 percent said they would feel safe with a marijuana farm near their residence.
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