Morning pollution over Longt Beach. (Photo: Katharine Moore, via Shutterstock)OPINION: We all have witnessed the devastation of climate change. As I write this, our California neighbors in Napa, Sonoma and up north are losing homes and businesses to wildfire. Every year, wildfire season is more severe than the year before. But the ravages of wildfire are not the only harmful result of climate change that is impacting us.
Demonstrators outside the state Capitol in Sacramento at the 2018 women's march.(Photo: Lorraine_M, via Shutterstock)Last January, about 36,000 people gathered in Sacramento to march in support of the #MeToo movement. Many women and their allies who marched included those that spoke out and signed an open letter denouncing sexual harassment within the Capitol community. Supporters hope they will have a similar turnout Saturday.
Downtown Los Angeles seen through the smog. (Photo: Justin Dennis, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Millions of Californians suffered from smog and smoke this summer, but help is on the way. Defying the expectations of many observers and the fierce opposition of the oil industry, the Legislature passed a historic climate protection package in August.
Nursing home patients receiving medication. (Photo: ChameleonsEye)OPINION: In the past decade, California has invested billions in improving nursing home care, yet for too many nursing home residents that investment hasn’t amounted to any improvement at all in the quality of the care they receive. How is this possible? According to nursing home caregivers of SEIU, the dollars haven’t consistently translated into improved staffing levels.
Storm clouds over Mt. Baldy, east of Los Angeles. (Photo: Joel Shawn)Even if this El Niño brings California an unusually wet winter, continuing to invest in science-based drought-related policy is essential to California’s continued success as a global innovation economy, a leader in environmental and public health, and being a darn nice place to live.
A man in a wheelchair prepares for his daily constitutional. (Photo: Vadim Ratnikov)Yvette Baptiste’s son Andrew was born with Klippel-Feil syndrome, a bone disorder where the neck vertebrae are fused, causing pain and limiting movement. But even though Baptiste, as the Executive Director of Eastern Los Angeles Family Resource Center, was a seasoned health advocate, it still took more than a year to find a new doctor to treat her adult son.
Elementary school students in a California classroom. ((Photo: Monkey Business Images)A new analysis of the state budget from the nonpartisan Legislative Analysts Office identifies about $1.1 billion in new money available in the budget for discretionary spending. Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders have an opportunity to make spending decisions that will prioritize children, many of whom took the brunt of budget cuts over the last decade.
California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)As a physician – especially a physician living in Los Angeles – I am deeply concerned about the effects of air pollution on lung health. Southern California is home to some of the most entrenched air pollution in our nation and it affects the millions of our residents living with asthma, heart and lung disease and other chronic health conditions.
Youngsters in a California classroom. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The health of California’s evolving and global 21st century economy depends on a skilled workforce. Yet, there are too few qualified applicants to create talent pools for jobs that fuel our economic growth. And while STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) jobs in the state are projected to grow 22 percent by 2020, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that in 2011, 75 percent of California’s 8th graders were not proficient in national math standards.
Islands in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, an aerial view. The Delta is home to about half of California's drinking water. (Photo: Worldislandinfo.comCalifornia’s top water official told a key gathering of south state water interests that “hard-earned progress” is being made on the Brown administration’s controversial plan to build twin tunnels through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. The comments by Mark Cowin, director of the state Department of Water Resources, were aimed in part at dispelling rumors that the project had run aground, perhaps permanently.