News

State slow to crack down on COVID-19 ‘treatments’

A photo illustration of the coronavirus pandemic and California. (Photo: bekulnis, via Shutterstock)

The state of California and its top medical regulator remain mired in a go-slow posture on the regulation of “snake oil” stem cell clinics that are currently riding the COVID-19 crisis to peddle dubious treatments to desperate patients. The marketing surge by the clinics has drawn increased attention nationally, including in prestigious scientific journals such as Cell Stem Cell whose usual fare deals with such things as “Stem Cell Hierarchy in Colorectal Cancer.”

News

California fights fires amid COVID-19 and a tight budget

A man watches the 2018 Woolsey fire in Los Angeles. (Photo: BrittanyNY, via Shutterstock)

Strapped California, facing an unprecedented budget crisis as it battles COVID-19, is setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars to confront wildfires. Already, more than 1,300 fires — mostly small — have been reported as the hottest, driest months of the year approach.

News

Courts to have final say over ‘business interruption’ coverage

A business in Los Angeles that was forced to close because of the pandemic. (Photo: Lando Aviles, via Shutterstock)

With no compromise in sight, at appears the debate over business interruption insurance coverage will be solved by litigation, not legislation. At issue are thousands of businesses around California with insurance policies to protect them against a sudden catastrophic event that forces them to close down for an extended period of time.

News

Cleaner air, the pandemic and fighting the EPA

A look at the L.A. skyline at sunset on a clear day. (Photo: Nadia Yong, via Shutterstock

Not everything’s been “doom and gloom” on social media during the coronavirus pandemic as trending posts have shown “Los Angeles without smog,” clear skies in India’s often-polluted airspace and dolphins swimming through the canals of Venice. But what can we actually learn about climate change during this virtually global, economic shutdown?

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: Jim Wunderman of the Bay Area Council

Jim Wunderman, photo by Margo Moritz

Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council, joins the Capitol Weekly Podcast to talk about the impact of the coronavirus on his association’s members, and what to expect as California reopens. What you can’t expect is for things to be the same as they were before COVID-19.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: Rose Kapolczynski

Rose Kapolczynski, a veteran campaign and communications strategist with more than three decades of experience joins Tim Foster and John Howard on the Capitol Weekly Podcast to chat about politics and the pandemic. Rose is best known for running former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer’s campaigns, from Boxer’s initial upset victory in 1992 in the “Year of the Woman” to her final race against Carly Fiorina in 2010.

News

The pandemic is hurting pediatric hospitals, too

A coronavirus checkpoint at the Children's Hospital in Los Angeles.. (Photo: MSPhotographic, via Shutterstock)

And children’s hospitals that have offered to take sick kids off the hands of adult hospitals, or extend the age of people they admit, have not seen an influx of patients to fill the beds they emptied. As a result, numerous pediatric facilities, like many of the adult ones, face sharply declining revenues and extra expenses.

News

Perfect budget storm: Virus, joblessness, weak tax receipts

A photo illustration of a tight budget. <(Image: Syda Productions, via Shutterstock)

The rise of unemployment, dwindling tax revenues, emergency spending to fight COVID-19 and renewed fears of wildfires this year are throwing deep strains on the state budget for the new fiscal year that begins just weeks from now.

News

Amid COVID-19, graduation ceremonies go online

A photo illustration of graduation ceremonies held online. (Image: Ekaphon Maneechot, via Shutterstock

Several universities have committed to having an in-person graduation at a later date but in the meantime, they are doing the best they can by staging virtual celebrations. University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, as one example, is having a watch party on Facebook Live May 22 for the nearly 150 students who are graduating.

News

Note to industry: Electric trucks save lives

An electric big-rig tractor-trailer truck. (Photo: Union of Concerned Scientists)

OPINION: Polluters never miss an opportunity to exploit a crisis for financial gain — and the coronavirus crisis is no exception. As millions of Americans hunker down in their homes, sacrificing their incomes to save lives, truck manufacturers are endangering people in my community by lobbying for delays to the nation’s first electric truck standard, which would slash toxic air pollution from trucks.

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