Posts Tagged: safety

Opinion

Optometrists doing eye surgery? Not a good idea

An ophthamologist looks through a surgical microscope. (Photo: Dragon Images, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Summer travel is back in full force. But would you get on an airplane if you knew the pilot’s only training was practicing in a simulator for a week or so and then completing a few test flights with an instructor? That is essentially what AB 2236 would require with regard to an optometrist doing eye surgery in California if the bill became law.

Opinion

Dams, a key part of state infrastructure, must be kept safe

O'Shaughnessy Dam in Hetch Hetchy Valley, Yosemite National Park, is a key source of water to the SF Bay Area. (Photo: SveKo, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: We applaud Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature for taking bold action last year to fund climate resilience and related water infrastructure in the fiscal year 2021-’22 state budget. In light of the current budget surplus, funding for climate resilience and water infrastructure should remain a key priority for investment in California.

Opinion

Needed: a true safety strategy — not the same failed approaches

Participants in a protest against police use-of-force policies speak with an LAPD officer. (Photo: John Doukas, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: The terrible gun violence in Sacramento shows, once again, that we cannot delay our effort to make Californians safer. Sadly, this task is being made harder by individuals making false claims about the incident to advance an incarceration-first agenda that is both ineffective and very expensive.

Opinion

When It comes to wildlife crossings, California must catch up

A mule deer with sunflowera in a mountain meadow. (Photo: Tom Reichner, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Roads and development create massive barriers for wildlife. Mountain lions, desert tortoises, California tiger salamanders and many other creatures have watched their home turf shrink. Building or upgrading wildlife crossings and preserving existing habitat can go a long way toward saving the state’s most imperiled species.

Opinion

Now, more than ever, a strong labor movement is needed

Construction workers on the job in Mountain View. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: For many, Labor Day means a day off work and one last summer BBQ. But without a strong labor movement, our country wouldn’t have weekends at all, let alone long ones. Unfortunately, union membership has fallen by half over the last 40 years, often as a result of state “right to work” laws.

Opinion

Historic spike in gun violence demands response from Newsom

Gunsmith working on an 300 Blackout AR rifle upper receiver in a vise at a gun shop in California

OPINION: As gun sales and gun deaths have continued to surge since the onset of the pandemic, California’s underinvestment in violence intervention programs has become a glaring policy failure. Even after January 2021 proved to be California’s single deadliest month for gun homicides since 2007, the governor and state legislators have still not agreed to make funding the California Violence Intervention and Prevention (CalVIP) grant program a priority.

Opinion

Advances in teledentistry shouldn’t imperil patient health

Telemedicine male dentist showing dental X-rays on a screen of an elderly woman's tablet. He explains to the remote patient her problems like cavities and impacted teeth.

OPINION: Orthodontists in practice throughout California embrace new technologies as a way to improve service delivery and access to care, but we want to caution policymakers and consumers that its utilization should not come at the expense of patient health and safety.

Opinion

Capitol annex project: A textbook example of a boondoggle

A view of the east side of the state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: ZikG, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: As legislators reconvened this month, they returned to a relatively empty Capitol building. Why, then, are they pursuing a $1.3 billion Capitol Annex “renovation” project? Cognitive dissonance is the most charitable explanation I can conjure for this costly boondoggle proceeding amidst the COVID-induced economic disaster that’s destroying the lives of Californians and plunging countless in the state into poverty

Opinion

Reproductive rights, access could be limited by Prop. 23

A march for women's rights on San Francisco's Market Street. (Photo: Sundry Photography, via Shutterstock)

It’s deeply concerning that a health care labor union in one of the most progressive, pro-choice states in the nation is pushing a ballot measure that could provide new ammunition to anti-abortion zealots in their quest to eliminate a woman’s right to choose.

Opinion

Equal access to maternal, prenatal care crucial for mothers

A doctor moves an ultrasound transducer across a woman's belly. (Photo: Andrey_Popov, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, expectant mothers of color in California now face two battles at once: potential exposure to a deadly virus, and long-standing inadequate access to the best prenatal and maternal healthcare. And as the Black Lives Matter protests and national conversations around racial injustice continue to spread across California, it is more important than ever that California lawmakers address the systemic racial health disparities that plague our communities and give rise to this lack of access. 

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