Participants in a Los Angeles rally for immigrants rights. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)Plaza Mexico in Lynwood was ground zero in a final election battle between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Nine miles south of downtown Los Angeles, Lynwood is 82 percent Latino and thus crucial in today’s presidential primary. Both Sanders and Clinton claim support for Latino voters, but how much support depends on age.
A VW bus converted to electric power, displayed last year in Beverly Hills. (Photo: Phil Pilosian)If you’ve ever been behind the wheel of an electric vehicle, you know that they’re really fun to drive. Many Californians have discovered the joys of electric drive, as our state is nearing 200,000 plug-in vehicles sold, and accounted for more than half of all the EVs sold in the U.S. last year. But we need to ramp up sales of these advanced technology vehicles in order to clean up our air, reduce our dangerous dependency on petroleum, and stabilize the climate.
A physician flanked by the California flag. (Illustration: Niyazz, via Shutterstock).OPINION: Prices for prescription drugs are rising precipitously, seriously threatening public and private healthcare budgets, and creating barriers preventing patients from accessing needed therapies. Pharmaceuticals now account for 19 percent of employer spending and Medicare spending on healthcare and, with a slew of approvals of new $100,000+ medications, there is no relief in sight.
Gov. Brown unveils his 2016-17 budget plan, urging caution about potential economic downturns. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/APCalifornia’s economy is on the mend and revenues are fat, but Gov. Brown offered some words of gloom as he unveiled a $171 billion budget blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1. “If you’re a betting person, you can easily conclude that deficits are more likely than surpluses,” Brown said Thursday as he presented his 2016-17 budget to the Legislature.
A smoker savors the vapor from an electronic cigarette, which is the focus of new legislation. (Photo:MisiArt, Shutterstock)Hang on to your hats, California smokers — a cyclone of tobacco legislation is blowing through the Golden State. Moves to crack down on electronic cigarettes, further regulate smokes in the workplace, raise the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21 years old and create new tobacco taxes all won support from the Senate health committee, the bills’ first major policy hurdle in the final weeks of the 2015 legislative session.
Demonstrators seeking more funding for health care coverage gathered recently at the state Capitol. Inside, the Senate voted to expand coverage to undocumented choldren. (Photo: Alvin Chen, Capitol Weekly)Hoping to fill a “billion-dollar hole,” lawmakers were poised to gather in a special session to figure out new sources of funding for the state’s complex health care programs – including Medi-Cal.
Millions of Californians receive quality health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act and Medi-Cal. And though most would probably thank President Obama or the Governor for that, Peter Harbage, who passed away Tuesday at age 43, after a courageous fight with cancer, had a lot to do with it too. “Peter is the unsung architect of health care reform in the United States,” says Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Health Access, a health care consumer advocacy group.
Calpensions: In a few years CalPERS retirees are expected to outnumber active workers, a national trend among public pension funds that makes them more vulnerable to big employer rate increases. The growing number of retirees, partly due to aging baby boomers, is one reason a staff report last week argues that CalPERS has too much “risk.”
DMV Director Jean Shiomoto on the job. (Photos: Scott Duncan, Capitol Weekly)Jean Shiomoto, who grew up on a pear farm in the Delta, has one of the toughest jobs in California – she runs the Department of Motor Vehicles. In this car-happy state – by one estimate, L.A. County alone has 5.9 million registered automobiles, more than all but five states – anything do with with automobiles is a big deal.
A surgical team works on a patient. (Photo: AUSaid)On Oct. 23, 2013, San Diego physician Dr. Scott D. Greer submitted urine and hair samples to an investigator for the Medical Board of California, which oversees physician licensing and discipline. Laboratory tests found the samples to be positive for opiates and oxycodone, but not for alcohol. Nearly one year later, on Sept. 8, Greer was placed on probation for seven years by the board. His license was suspended for 30 days, effective Oct. 24