Members of a state Senate committee voted overwhelmingly today to kill a sweeping overhaul of the California health care system that aimed to provide coverage to millions of uninsured residents. Schwarzenegger, speaking to the editorial board of the Chronicle, said he will do everything he can to keep the measure alive. SF Chronicle 1/29/08
The state's fight against the light brown apple moth will restart in late spring or early summer in Santa Cruz County, state agriculture officials said this week. A method using twist-ties to apply a pheromone to plants, trees and fence posts is being considered, but Santa Cruz County is too heavily infested for that approach to be used here, said Steve Lyle, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. CC Times 1/26/08
A state panel reviewing October's huge Southern California wildfires called Friday for more night-flying helicopters, fire engines and firefighters. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger, facing a $14.5 billion state budget deficit this year, earlier this month proposed a 1.25 percent tax on residential and commercial property insurance to raise about $100 million for installing GPS tracking on fire engines, expanding seasonal firefighting crews and buying 11 new all-weather helicopters for the state firefighting agency. CC Times 1/26/08
Three weeks after a canal break swamped hundreds of homes in the northern Nevada town of Fernley, authorities are still puzzled over the cause of the rupture. CC Times 1/27/08
Two rare salamanders do not need Endangered Species Act protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. Inside Bay Area 1/27/08
The crews of the 20 local fishing vessels who spent four days scooping gallons of oil from the reaches of the Bay after the Cosco Busan spill Nov. 7 were given mixed reviews on effectiveness. Fishers were paid $3,000 a day, but no record exists of how effective the fishers were in the oil cleanup because the oil they recovered was not measured and they were not assessed individually. Representatives from The O’Brien Group said the boats were helpful, the Office of Spill Prevention and Response described their effort as “uncoordinated.” Both agreed the fishers’ assistance was not “crucial.” CC Times 1/27/08
Keep Antibiotics Working, a coalition backed by environmental groups and the American Medical Association, is pushing for a federal ban on antibiotics in animal feed. Introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, and Olympia Snow, R-Maine, the "Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act" would phase out in two years antibiotics deemed "important in human medicine." SF Chronicle 1/28/08
100-pound squid have quietly made their way from the tropical regions of the Pacific to the cooler reaches of California and the Bay Area and researchers in Santa Cruz have found that the squid's favorite foods are some of the most popular catches of fishermen in the region - meaning competition and perhaps another threat to an industry that has long struggled in the Monterey Bay. SJ Mercury 1/27/08
More than 600 Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California are testing a new genetically engineered flu vaccine that provides new promise for stopping the threat of an influenza pandemic. Inside Bay Area 1/28/08
Despite the stereotype that Asians are petite and skinny, studies show this population is rapidly becoming overweight – so much so that a state agency in California is targeting Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in a campaign. Orange County Register 1/29/08
If not for a recent federal court order, sonar would have been used freely at naval exercises through waters between Santa Catalina and San Clemente islands.But at times this weekend, the sonar had to be turned off. A judge, concerned about the potential harm to whales and dolphins, forbade its use in the area between the islands, waters known for their rich abundance of marine mammals. LA Times 1/28/08
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