Posts Tagged: behavior

News

Amid pandemic, air quality remains critical environmental challenge

A nearly empty freeway interchange near downtown Los Angeles, photographed in April 2020. (Photo: Time Media)

In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by almost 9%, and the state’s smoggy skies briefly cleared. This was particularly true during the pandemic’s first months, when schools closed, offices went remote, and statewide shelter-in-place orders kept millions of Californians at home. That spring, clogged freeways went vacant. Fewer semis rattled down roads.

News

Ban on building gas stations is emerging as new policy goal

An old gas station along Route 66 with a 1957 Corvette parked in front. (Photo: Andrey Bayda, via Shutterstock)

In March 2021, Petaluma became the first community in America to permanently ban the construction of new gas stations. For a nation that has been ruled by automobiles for the last century, banning gas stations seems a bold, if self-destructive, move on the surface.

Opinion

Insurer’s new policy limits access to cataract surgery

An ophthalmologist performs eye surgery on a patient. (Photo: PRESSLAB, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” proclaims an elderly woman in a 1980’s commercial for LifeCall, a home system that summoned emergency care, but became the subject of derision and perhaps a bit of schadenfreude over time, spawning parodies. Of course,  it might seem funny until it’s you or a loved one, perhaps the victim of a fall due to poor eyesight.

News

Pandemic: Some leaders’ behavior sends mixed messages

Beachgoers in April at Huntington Beach, despite stay-at-home orders. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)

California, like the rest of the nation, is seeing a dramatic rise in COVID infections and deaths — and Los Angeles County has some of the most dire statistics. Health officials reported more than 7,500 new cases in the county on Tuesday, shattering the old record, set last week.

News

For survival, stem cell agency hunts for ‘wet signatures’

Robert Klein, who spent six years as the state stem cell agency's chairman, addresses issues related to the November ballot initiative. (Photo: David Jensen, California Stem Cell Report)

The folks who are trying to save the $3 billion California stem cell agency from financial extinction are using a well-worn technique that goes back to ancient Egypt, at least by some accounts. It is expensive, depending on what you are peddling, and generates a return as low as 1 percent. It is direct mail, but with a significant twist.

Opinion

We can’t protect our earth with Donald Trump in office

The forests of Humboldt County in northern California. (Photo: Ethan Daniels, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Right now, families and communities are paying the price of having a president who refuses to believe in science and the advice of experts and has managed to prioritize the well-being of polluters and corporations over public health. This is all completely unprecedented.

News

Childhood trauma a crucial public health issue

A fearful child seeks to protect herself. (Photo: 271 EAK MOTO, via Shutterstock)

Preventing childhood trauma should be one of the top goals of California policymakers, a coalition of child advocates say. In California alone, more than 1.5 million children have had two or more adverse childhood experiences, according to advocacy group Children Now, another co-sponsor of the policymaker education day.

News

Round 4 coming up: Honda vs. Khanna

A freeway sign to a Silicon Valley turnoff. (Photo illustration: boscorelli, via Shutterstock)

For voters in California’s 17th Congressional District, the Democratic match-up will be familiar. The Silicon Valley region is gearing up for yet another race between incumbent Congressman Mike Honda and challenger Ro Khanna, who nearly took the seat from Honda in the 2014 midterms. That year, they faced each other in the primary and, again, in the general election — which Honda won.

News

A dilemma: Wealthier means healthier

California Health Report: California is a land of health extremes, and to see what that means, you need only travel a few miles from the state Capitol. Placer and Yuba counties border each other about a half hour’s drive north of downtown Sacramento. Both places are largely rural. But the similarities end there.

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