December 25, 2011
Business interests were the top bill-killers inside California's Capitol during Gov. Jerry Brown's first year back in office, as concerns about the state's weak economy cut into labor's newfound clout.
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December 22, 2011
Despite California’s strict seismic safety regulations, the construction process at two school districts illustrates how mismanagement, disregard for safety requirements and allegations of fraud led to structural defects that could endanger students during an earthquake.
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December 16, 2011
Darlene Courtois had never heard of kwashiorkor, a dangerous form of malnutrition, but records show her hospital billed Medicare for treating the condition anyway.
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November 27, 2011
For three years, a small hospital east of Los Angeles has billed Medicare for the costs of confronting what appears to be a cardiac crisis of unprecedented dimension. Chino Valley Medical Center claimed 35.2 percent of its Medicare patients were suffering from acute heart failure – six times the state average.
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November 21, 2011
In a push to expand across California without interference, Wal-Mart is increasingly taking advantage of the state’s initiative system to threaten elected officials with costly special elections and to avoid environmental lawsuits.
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April 6, 2012
On Oct. 13, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided Northstone Organics, a medical marijuana co-op farm in Mendocino County.
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November 3, 2011
In one of California’s most industrial cities – near 2,000 factories churning out hot dogs, pesticides, patio furniture and other products – the Martin family has struggled for years with illness.
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October 27, 2011
The U.S. Department of Energy has moved ahead with $4.5 billion in new loans for clean energy projects in California – despite the recent bankruptcy of Silicon Valley-based Solyndra. The new loans all were approved last month during the final days of a federal program created with stimulus money. Reporter Dan Goldstein has the story.
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October 25, 2011
In Coachella Valley – one of the poorest, densest areas of the United States – an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 migrant workers pour into already crowded trailer parks, sleeping in fields, alongside irrigation ditches, on swatches of cardboard.
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October 24, 2011
More than a decade after voters approved an initiative to limit bilingual education in public schools, the state is using a hodgepodge of programs. Meanwhile, critics contend, young students pay the price.
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October 17, 2011
Since October 2004, 132 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees have been indicted or convicted on corruption-related charges. Rapid expansion and lack of funds for background checks are blamed.
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October 14, 2011
Prime Healthcare Services bills Medicare for a variety of unusual ailments – among them a brain disease and a condition causing eyes to bleed – that can generate lucrative payments to the chain.
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August 19, 2011
Under pressure from a lobbying group, schools officials edited environmental curriculum to include positive messages about plastic shopping bags, interviews and documents show.
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August 5, 2011
Mothers around the state are finding it almost impossible to collect child support from some Native American fathers because tribal governments and businesses are shielding them from court-ordered payments, records and interviews show.
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July 23, 2011
A Southern California hospital chain has transferred an unusually high number of patients from its emergency rooms to its hospital beds, gaining hundreds of millions of dollars by targeting people with Medicare, a California Watch investigation has found.
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