1. How long did the recent California wildfires burn?

a. Over two months

b. Three weeks

c. More than one month

2. Which two corporations will reap a $7 billion tax cut due to the recent tax bill?

a. G.E. and Microsoft

b. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo

c. Google and Facebook

3. Chelsea Manning, the transgender woman convicted of sharing thousands of military documents with WikiLeaks, has filed to run for the Senate in which state?

a. Oregon

b. Maryland

c. New York

4. Information recently surfaced about Mississippi Gov. Eric Greitens’ involvement in which of the following scandals?

a. Money laundering

b. Affair and blackmail

c. Sexual assault

5. Which corporation received a $100 million loan from its CEO’s hedge fund?

a. Sears Holdings Corporation

b. Bank of America Corporation

c. ENRON Corporation

6. How much revenue does NBC expect to take in for advertisements on Super Bowl Sunday?

a. $300 million

b. $100 million

c. $500 million

1. c. California recently suffered its largest wildfire on record, with the fire burning for over a month, according to the Los Angeles Times. Although the spread of the fire was halted several weeks ago, it was finally considered 100 percent contained on Jan. 12.

The fires, fueled by high winds, burned over 1,000 structures and were to blame for two deaths. When the flames finally subsided, the fires had burned 273,246 acres of land.

2. b. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo will receive a combined tax cut of $7 billion in 2018, according to Bloomberg News. Both banks’ tax rates will drop from 30 percent to 19 percent this year. JPMorgan stated that a plan supporting communities and employees will be released within the next few weeks.

“We want to do really constructive, thoughtful things for all of our constituents but it won’t be the significant portion of that,” JP Morgan’s Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake said of the firm’s $3.5 billion tax break. “Much of it will fall to our bottom line in 2018 and beyond. Time is an important part to how this plays out.”

3. b. Chelsea Manning has filed to run for Sen. Ben Cardin’s seat in this year’s Maryland Senate election, according to the Baltimore Sun. She is registered as a Democrat and is one of three others filed to run for the seat. Cardin is not considered an easy opponent, with an approval rating as high as 50 percent in October 2017.

After leaking classified and sensitive information, Manning faced a court-martial and was sentenced to a 35-year prison term until President Barack Obama commuted her sentence before the end of his last term.

4. b. Mississippi Gov. Eric Greitens acknowledged having an affair in 2015, but he denies blackmailing the woman, according to the Los Angeles Times. Rumors of Greitens’ affair have circulated among journalists and political figures for as long as a year.

The affair carries more than just moral ramifications with the added weight of the alleged blackmail. St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner said she would launch an investigation leading to possible legal action against Greiten.

5. a. Sears announced last week that the corporation was receiving the $100 million loan from an originally-undisclosed source, according to the Chicago Tribune. In a later regulatory filing, the loan source was disclosed as CEO Edward Lampert’s hedge fund, and Sears said the loan was backed by “substantially all of the unencumbered intellectual property of the Company and its subsidiaries, other than intellectual property related to the Kenmore and DieHard brands, as well as by certain real property interests.”

This deal allows Sears to borrow up to $200 million more using the same collateral.

6. c. According to the Los Angeles Times, NBC expects to take in $500 million dollars in ad revenue on Super Bowl Sunday. This figure is roughly what the network makes over a year from its daily morning show “Today.” The average price for a 30-second advertising spot on game day is upwards of $5 million, compared to $4.5 million when NBC broadcasted the Super Bowl in 2015.

Last year’s Super Bowl had an average of 111.3 million viewers, which is part of the draw for advertisers. Dan Lovinger, executive vice president in advertising sales for NBC Sports, said, “There just aren’t a lot of places you can find big ratings in a live environment so advertisers do clamor to those types of opportunities.”