A federal judge has issued a tentative decision blocking California from cutting reimbursements to health care providers who treat low-income patients by 10 percent. Plaintiffs in the case, which included groups representing California doctors, dentists and pharmacists, argued that the cuts would limit Medi-Cal beneficiaries' access to care, which Judge Christian Snyder found persuasive. "The court's tentative ruling is encouraging to those of us practicing medicine," said Dr. James T. Hay, ......
The National School Lunch Program is getting a whole grain, low-fat update. The changes will effect what some 32 million children in the United States eat each school day. For the first time in 15 years, the United States Department of Agriculture unveiled new standards for school meals on Wednesday. Students can expect to see less fat and salt on the menu, but more fruits, vegetables and whole-grains. The new standards ......
The retailer Daiso California has agreed to pay $350,000 in civil penalties and costs to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company sold products marked to children containing illegal levels of lead or phthalates. The suit, brought by the district attorneys offices of Alameda and Santa Clara counties, charged that the company sold products that exceeded the legal limits without providing warnings. Officials from Daiso California declined to comment on the settlement. ......
Keep your fireplaces and fire pits cool on Wednesday. Bay Area air-quality regulators have declared the season's 13th "Winter Spare the Air Alert" when wood burning, both indoors and outdoors, will be illegal. During the winter, wood smoke is the leading cause of wintertime air pollution in the Bay Area, according to air-quality officials. The lack of rain this winter has contributed to frequent alerts, as The Bay Citizen has reported. ......
Slapping a one-cent-per-ounce tax on sweetened-beverages nationwide would prevent nearly 100,000 cases of heart disease, 8,000 strokes and 26,000 deaths over a ten year period, according to a new study published Monday in the journal “Health Affairs.” Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Columbia University estimated that such a tax would generate $13 billion in new tax revenue, but it ......
