Author: Robin Urevich

The uninsured line up at an LA arena turned hospital

The Los Angeles Sports Arena was transformed last Thursday through Sunday into a giant field hospital for some of the city’s estimated 2 million uninsured and many more who are underinsured. More than 4,000 people registered for the event, sponsored by the non-profit CareNow USA. Some didn’t know how sick they were.

Memo shows how state caved to industry pressure on pesticide, environmentalists say

Environmentalists and others have been saying for nearly a year that the state caved to industry pressure when it approved the use of the pesticide methyl iodide at levels more than 100 times higher than its own scientists recommended. Now a newly uncovered memo written by an official of the company that makes the pesticide shows that the firm gave managers in the Department of Pesticide Regulation calculations they could use to overturn the conclusions of state scientists and an advisory panel convened to review their work.

Ex-offenders may soon find a home in public housing

Shelter has always been a problem for people leaving prisons – felons typically aren’t welcome in public housing. That might change soon in Los Angeles County, which is bracing for an influx of low-level offenders they are newly responsible for managing, as are counties throughout the state. So how are other jurisdictions responding to their housing crisis?

With help from Planned Parenthood, pregnant fieldworkers try to protect themselves from pesticides

At a Planned Parenthood clinic near Salinas, women farm workers who plan to have kids in the near future are learning to protect themselves against pesticide exposure on the job. Billions of pounds of pesticides are sprayed or injected in the ground each year in California, but researchers say they’re just beginning to learn how those chemicals affect pregnant women and their children.

Healthcare worker strike in Salinas may test the mettle of a new union

National Union of Healthcare Workers has struggled to make that case to the state’s healthcare workers ever since it broke from the Service Employees International Union, the nation’s largest labor union, two years ago in a dispute over local control and governance. But now, in Salinas, the union has another chance to prove itself, if it can win a solid contract and block lay-offs.

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