Posts Tagged: families

Protecting California’s public lands is a top priority

A scenic road leads to the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth Lakes. (Photo: Craig Cooper, via Shutterstock)

by JUAN ROSAS posted 03.25.2022

OPINION: My love of nature started in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles. As a child, I went there to hike and enjoy trips with my father. Since then, going out into nature has become an essential part of my life. For me, it’s a spiritual experience – a chance to feel connected both to my Creator and to the creation.

With violent crime rising, lawmakers need to step up

A police detective dusts a car for fingerprints at a Lompoc crime scene. (Photo: Bill Morson, via Shutterstock)

by BRIAN R. MARVEL posted 02.24.2022

OPINION: Our nation is feeling the devastating impacts of rising crime and violence. The headlines are alarming: “Murders in U.S. Cities Were Near Record Highs in 2021,” “‘It’s just crazy’: 12 major cities hit all-time homicide records,” “Fueled by gun violence, cities across the US are breaking all-time homicide records this year”. We clearly have a serious problem to address.

Real change proves elusive in mental health care system

An illustration of the brain and potential links to instability -- including mental illness. Some elements provided by NASA.(Image: GrAI, via Shutterstock)

by SIGRID BATHEN posted 11.10.2021

Important legislation to improve California’s broken mental health system was passed this year, plus billions in new funding in the state budget — all aimed at stemming the tide of a growing crisis on California streets, in hospital ER’s, jails and prisons. But will it mean real change?

Capitol Weekly Interview: Susan Talamantes Eggman

Susan Talamantes Eggman is congratulated in the Assembly following passage of her right-to-die measure. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

by SIGRID BATHEN posted 09.20.2021

Susan Talamantes Eggman was raised in Turlock, where her family owned a small almond orchard and apiary (bee-keeping), and her first job that wasn’t on the family farm started her on a path to working in health care and mental health throughout her life.

California a key player in federal health care debate

A photo illustration of the California flag presented as a medical mask. (Image: kovop58, via Shutterstock)

by ANTHONY WRIGHT posted 09.16.2021

OPINION: Health care is once again front and center in Congress. And once again Californians will play a critical role in the federal budget debate that could result in the biggest expansion of help to access, afford, and improve health coverage since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act.

Labor to Lara: Cutting group insurance discounts is wrong

Construction workers in Bakersfield on the job at a shopping center project. (Photo: Richard Thornton, via Shutterstock)

by RON MILLER posted 08.05.2021

OPINION: We will always fight to protect the interests of these workers. That’s why we are urging Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to reject proposed new regulations that could eliminate group insurance discounts that we provide our members.

Frustration, anxiety mark families’ hopes for ‘bubble baby’ cure

Monica Nava and her 1-year-old daughter Clementine, who suffers from the "bubble baby" affliction. (Family photo).

by DAVID JENSEN posted 05.28.2021

The story about Jakob, Sheersha  and Clementine is a 6,000-mile biomedical tale that spans the Atlantic. The story ranges from the Saskatchewan River in Canada to the dusty Tehachapi mountains in drought-plagued Southern California. And it is a story of children with a terrible and rare genetic affliction known as the bubble baby disease.

Community health centers offer true fairness in vaccinations

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination from a nurse at a clinic set up in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Mission. (Photo: Ringo Chiu, via Shutterstock)

by ANITA ZAMORA posted 03.03.2021

OPINION: Many of the 55 elderly patients arrived for their second COVID-19 vaccines, leaning on their children’s arms or walkers. Most were Latinx or Black. All were age 75 or older, and they were eager to get vaccinated against the deadly virus.

The COVID tunnel: We need to push through

A hospital in Tustin with signs lauding health care workers. (Photo: BrianPham75, via Shutterstock)

by CARMELA COYLE posted 12.03.2020

OPINION: The numbers grow scarier each day. Over the past week, California has topped more than 20,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day, with more than 8,000 people hospitalized due to the virus. Those volumes dwarf any seen in the past year, and the impact of get-togethers during Thanksgiving are not yet being felt, nor is the projected effect of the December and New Year’s holidays.

PPIC: Who is losing ground in distance learning?

Two children receiving instruction via the internet. (Photo: adriaticfoto, via Shutterstock)

by NIU GAO, JULIEN LAFORTUNE and LAURA HILL posted 10.20.2020

The resurgence of COVID-19 over the summer and the predicted fall increase in cases means that many districts will continue some form of distance learning for months to come. Our findings show that distance learning has widened gaps for children of color, children in low-income families, and children of less-educated parents. More specifically, we find: