State To Use Blood Tests To Refine Lead Cleanup Efforts, Following Pushback From Lawmakers
After the Los Angeles Times published an article on the failure of California to use children's blood tests to focus lead-contamination response, a common practice in other states, community groups and legislators reacted in force.
Los Angeles Times:
State To Begin Using Children's Blood Tests To Focus Cleanup Of Vernon Battery Recycling Plant
Under intense criticism from California lawmakers, the state will begin using blood test results from children to help focus its massive cleanup of lead-contaminated homes in southeast Los Angeles County, state officials said Wednesday. Environmental regulators have received a state Department of Public Health analysis of blood lead levels of children living near the closed Exide Technologies battery recycling plant in Vernon and will use it "to further refine and target our testing and cleanup," Barbara Lee, director of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, told an Assembly subcommittee. (Barboza and Poston, 3/30)
In other news from around the state —
The Modesto Bee:
Assembly Contenders Part Ways On Pot, Rail And Obamacare
Differences between five candidates vying to succeed Kristin Olsen in the 12th Assembly District quickly came into focus Wednesday at their first public debate in Modesto. The three Republican candidates – Heath Flora, Cindy Marks and Ken Vogel – espoused conservative values such as protection of gun ownership and opposing recreational marijuana. On the Democratic side, Virginia Madueño took a centrist view, while Harinder Grewal leaned further left, advocating marijuana legalization, high-speed rail and universal health care. (Stapley, 3/30)
The Press Democrat:
Sonoma County Ranks 5th In State For Women's Well-Being
Women fare better in Sonoma County than in almost any other county in California, according to a new report that examines the lives of women through a prism of 30 different statistical measurements on everything from child care costs to crime. Sonoma County was ranked the fifth-best place in California for women’s well-being, according to an index developed by the California Budget & Policy Center, a Sacramento nonprofit focused on improving the economic and social well-being of low- and middle- income Californians. (Warren, 3/30)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Flu Kills 9-Year-Old Boy In San Diego Region
The flu killed a 9-year-old boy from San Diego in late March, the county Health and Human Services Agency said Wednesday. The boy, who was said to have underlying medical complications, is the second pediatric patient to die of an influenza infection this season. The county said last week that a 16-year-old girl, who also had complications, died on Mar. 16 after coming down with the viral infection. (Sisson, 3/30)