The Bay Area is a cradle of environmentalism and a region with a rich trove of health and medical research and resources. In this blog, we’ll report on the deepening understanding of how the places we inhabit and the lifestyles we adopt contribute to our own health and the health of our communities.
Jerald and Sandy Wolkoff filed the lawsuit against the coroner's office last year after learning that it had given parts of their 30-year-old son Steven's brain to an ambulance company to be dissected and examined.
The suit claimed that the couple experienced emotional distress because the coroner released the brain samples to American Medical Response, which was gathering forensic information to defend itself against a wrongful-death lawsuit also filed by the Wolkoffs.
In a tentative ruling issued Wednesday afternoon, the lawsuit was dismissed with the option for amendment. The court had been scheduled to hear a motion to dismiss the case on Thursday at 9 a.m.
The family's attorney, Jayme Burns, said the Wolkoffs are planning to file an amended complaint and are deciding whether to contest the tentative ruling.
In the separate wrongful-death suit, which has been settled, the couple sued the ambulance company claiming that a procedure paramedics had used on their son caused brain damage and contributed to his death, according to Burns.
The mountain lion was seen in the backyard of a home in the 200 block of 42nd Avenue at about 9 p.m., officials said.
The witness reportedly scared off the big cat by making a lot of noise.
The cougar-sighting follows an puma incident Tuesday morning in Los Altos when a dog chased a mountain lion up a tree. NBC Bay Area has excellent video of the treed big cat here. Both the dog and the mountain lion escaped unharmed.
Hunting mountain lions in California has been illegal since 1990. Since last week, California's top wildlife official has been taking heat for posing for a photo with the corpse of a mountain lion that he shot in Idaho, where hunting the big cats is legal. The gory game photo is here.
Residents who see a mountain lion are advised to never approach the animal.
Anyone who encounters a mountain lion should face the animal, make noise and try to appear larger by waving one's arms and throwing rocks, emergency officials said.
More information about mountain lions is available at this Web site.
To promote public transit throughout the city, park officials hope the free shuttle will encourage visitors to ditch the car this spring when heading to Golden Gate Park.
The shuttle will be free to all residents and visitors with stops at Golden Gate Park destinations, including McLaren Lodge, the National AIDS Memorial Grove, the Koret Children's Quarter Playground, the Conservatory of Flowers, the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, Stow Lake, the bison paddock and the park's two windmills and paths to Ocean Beach on its western edge.
The shuttles will run between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. every 15 to 20 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays and on city holidays.
Among those who attended today's event was the family of Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, of New York, who committed suicide last September after being bullied for years. His suicide made national headlines and his family has fought ever since to prevent future suicides.
"One of the last things he said was 'Why doesn't anyone listen to how bullied I am?'" Jamey's mother, Tracy Rodemeyer, said. "Unfortunately, Jamey did not tell us or any other grown-ups that could have done something for him ... Bullying 20 years ago was an 8 to 3:30 event. You came home, got off the school bus, and that was it. But now it's 24/7. These kids are under attack."
The Monster March Against Bullying, organized by the Gay-Straight Alliance Network and YouthVoice, will be held in October and organizers are inviting gay-rights supporter Lady Gaga to join the festivities.
Following Jamey's death, Lady Gaga tweeted "Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 years old, took his life because of bullying. Bullying must become be illegal. It is a hate crime."
Dr. Naim Katiby, a 62-year-old San Ramon resident who practices in San Leandro, was arrested after an undercover operation involving the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, local prosecutors and the state Department of Insurance, officials said.
DEA agents posing as victims of an auto accident visited Katiby several times between November 2008 and January 2009.
During those visits, prosecutors say Katiby agreed to bill a fictitious auto policy for nonexistent injuries, overbilled for treatments provided and even billed for a visit that never occurred.
He also prescribed Vicodin to both undercover agents despite their exhibiting behavior associated with addiction to the drug, and even prescribed the drug on one occasion without ever speaking to or examining one of the patients, according to the district attorney's office.
Katiby pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of filing a false insurance claim. He will be placed on five years of felony probation and pay a fine to be determined by a judge.
Contra Costa County's hazardous materials department first received calls around 3 a.m. from residents in the area reporting a "rotten egg-like" smell, according to county hazmat director Randy Sawyer.
Sawyer said it's unlikely the smell came from a wind turbine malfunction at a PG&E natural-gas plant on Wilber Avenue this morning, and a PG&E spokeswoman said investigators this morning determined that the equipment failure was unrelated to the smell.
No PG&E customers were affected by the malfunction, which prompted crews to shut down the plant around 4 a.m. to make repairs.
The plant was expected to be fully operational by 10:30 a.m., spokeswoman Tamar Sarkissian said.
San Mateo County Health officials today canceled a quarantine at the county jail after at least three inmates with mumps-like symptoms were found to be suffering from the flu.
Court appearances, trials and inmate visits were back to normal today after the flu virus was confirmed by the California Department of Public Health, Chief Deputy District Attorney Karen Guidotti said.
On Tuesday, a sick inmate saw a doctor who said his symptoms were consistent with the mumps, a highly contagious virus.
Some third-floor inmates at the Maguire Correctional Facility were quarantined while a specimen from the inmate was being tested, sheriff's Lt. Larry Schumaker said.
As many as seven court proceedings had to be rescheduled.
The new fish guidelines are based on mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls [PCB] levels in the fish. Children and developing fetuses are more vulnerable to the health impacts of eating contaminated fish.
The agency also recommended that children under the age of 18 and women between the ages of 18 and 45 should limit their intake of Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and shad to two to three servings per week.
Men over age 18 and women over age 45 can safely eat up to seven servings of shad, salmon or steelhead trout per week. It's also safe for them to consume up to two servings per week of striped bass or one serving of white sturgeon.
Dangerous levels of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls can inhibit brain development and may cause cancer. The new guidelines aim to “balance the health benefits of eating wild-caught fish against the health risks from exposure to contaminants in them,” said Dr. George Alexeeff, acting director of the office.
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