California
California inmate overdoses plummet under drug program
The report says the big scale outcomes “are trending in a optimistic course” and officers are “cautiously optimistic”.
SACRAMENTO, Calif — The spiraling variety of overdose deaths and hospitalizations amongst California jail inmates fell dramatically through the first two years of a program that makes use of prescription drugs to deal with extra incarcerated addicts than any such program within the nation, officers stated Tuesday.
The speed of overdose deaths dropped 58% after this system started in 2020. Hospitalizations have been 48% decrease amongst these receiving the anti-craving medication than amongst these ready to start therapy. The promising outcomes present this system was efficient even after accounting for restrictions through the coronavirus pandemic, based on docs and researchers with the state corrections system and the federal official who oversees medical care in California prisons.
The report says the big scale outcomes “are trending in a optimistic course” and officers are “cautiously optimistic.”
The findings come as Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration seeks $126.6 million within the subsequent fiscal yr and $162.5 million yearly thereafter to develop therapy. The report stated increasing the therapy program is “on the highest precedence degree,” given the impression on prisoner well being, neighborhood security upon inmates’ launch, and drug trafficking and violence it brings to prisons.
The state’s strategy contains the once-controversial step of utilizing medication together with buprenorphine, naltrexone and methadone to dampen addicts’ cravings and euphoria and relieve withdrawal signs whereas weening them off opioids. It took years of urging by lawmakers and therapy professionals for jail officers to attempt this system, though the strategy is now broadly used and has basic help from California prosecutors and probation officers.
Early critics objected that the therapy substituted one drug for one more, and that there could possibly be a black marketplace for among the substitute medication. In California, inmates are given the medication in a sheet that dissolves beneath the tongue or by injection and are examined to ensure they’re taking their drugs.
Greater than 22,600 inmates have acquired the medication and officers count on to finally embody 25,000 inmates yearly, greater than 1 / 4 of the jail inhabitants. This system far exceeds the amount of remedies in every other U.S. correctional setting, California jail officers stated.
In 2019, California’s jail system had a record-high 51 overdose deaths per 100,000 inmates, greater than double the general dying fee for different state jail programs. The dying fee in California had been steadily climbing since 2012.
It fell to a fee of 21 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2020 and to a preliminary estimate of 20 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2021, with a ultimate report on final yr’s deaths not anticipated till late this yr.
Overdoses have been the third-leading reason behind dying for California inmates earlier than this system, however dropped to eighth in 2020, the bottom rating in 9 years.
“I’m not shocked on the outcomes, as a result of it’s been confirmed to be an efficient remedy that saves lives and reduces crime,” stated Don Specter, an lawyer for inmates in among the largest class-action lawsuits in opposition to the jail system.
J. Clark Kelso, the federal official who oversees inmate well being, known as the findings “a step in the fitting course.”
The outcomes distinction with opioid deaths that elevated throughout the U.S. as an entire. Pushed largely by extremely poisonous fentanyl, overdose deaths rose from about 21,000 in 2010 to greater than 100,000 final yr.
Overdoses in California prisons started to drop about six months earlier than the pandemic and continued after the division eased restrictions on visits and inmate actions, officers stated. They stated different state jail programs with comparable pandemic restrictions didn’t see comparable declines in overdose deaths and hospitalizations.
The outcomes observe earlier outcomes after jail officers started treating 60 inmates with remedy in 2016.
Officers estimate that at the very least 65% of inmates have a substance abuse drawback.
The usage of anti-craving medication is a part of an strategy that features what is named “cognitive behavioral remedy,” wherein folks discuss with psychological well being counselors to establish and alter their very own self-destructive habits.
This system additionally goals to ease former drug customers’ transition again into the neighborhood, serving to greater than 2,200 parolees up to now organize continued therapy after their launch.
Steven Fama, one other lawyer who represents inmates and tracks jail therapy applications, stated corrections officers have slowly however steadily elevated therapy and decreased the waitlist during the last two years, though there nonetheless are tens of 1000’s of inmates awaiting screening to see in the event that they qualify.
Corrections officers stated their purpose is now to scale back the backlog, whereas creating remedy for inmates serving quick sentences. In addition they goal to enhance the handoff of parolees to neighborhood based mostly therapy.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10: Sacramento police share the newest on the hostage state of affairs
A group of horses walk along a road as they are being evacuated during the Park Fire in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Park Fire in Chico
A home destroyed by the Park Fire is seen in Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25 a general view of damaged structure as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25 a general view of damaged structure as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews battle against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Dozens of burned up cars that were destroyed by the Park Fire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Smoke and flames rise from the forest as crews try to extinguish a wildfire in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: A view of huge smoke as crews are battling against to flames which Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire: Wildfire in Chico of California
CALIFORNIA, USA – JULY 25: Crews are battling against to flames as Park Fire of wildfires continue in Chico, California, United States on July 25, 2024.
Park Fire in Cohasset
A sports utility vehicle is seen engulfed in flames during the Park Fire in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Thursday, July 25, 2024.
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
Fire engines drive through flames ripping across Highway 36 as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
Firefighters Battle The Park Fire In California
The Park Fire near Chico, California, US, on Friday, July 26, 2024. Arson investigators in California arrested a man on suspicion of starting the state’s largest wildfire this year – a conflagration that has prompted evacuations and threatened the state’s power grid. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 26: A massive pyrocumulus cloud rises from the Park Fire, which has grown to 239,152 acres and is 0 percent contained, expands at a rapid rate on July 26, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousand of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 26: A massive pyrocumulus cloud rises from the Park Fire, which has grown to 239,152 acres and is 0 percent contained, expands at a rapid rate on July 26, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousand of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Firefighters Battle The Park Fire In California
A plane drops fire retardant during the Park Fire near Chico, California, US, on Friday, July 26, 2024. Arson investigators in California arrested a man on suspicion of starting the state’s largest wildfire this year – a conflagration that has prompted evacuations and threatened the state’s power grid. Photographer: Benjamin Fanjoy/Bloomberg via Getty Images
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
Vehicles drive through flames ripping across Highway 36 as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
A property is seen in flames as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
TOPSHOT-US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
TOPSHOT – Resident Grant Douglas takes a drink of water while evacuating his wife and dog as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. More than 1,150 personnel are deployed to fight the blaze, which has burned more than 180,000 acres and burned dozens of homes, and more than 3,500 people have been forced to flee their homes, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
TOPSHOT-US-ENVIRONMENT-CLIMATE-FIRE
TOPSHOT – A property is seen in flames as the Park fire continues to burn near Paynes Creek in unincorporated Tehama County, California on July 26, 2024. A huge, fast-moving and rapidly growing wildfire in northern California has forced more than 4,000 people to evacuate as firefighters battle gusty winds and perilously dry conditions, authorities said on July 26.
Park Fire in Butte County
Vehicles destroyed by the Park Fire are seen in the community of Cohasset near Chico, Calif., Friday, July 26, 2024.
Park Fire Ravages Communities In California
A destroyed car is seen parked along Cohasset Road in Cohasset, Calif. Friday, July 26, 2024 after the Park Fire ripped through the community and continues to burn through Butte County.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: Wild turkeys walk on scorched earth near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: A burned truck is seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
Park Fire Burns Thousands Of Acres In Northern California After Man Charged With Arson
CHICO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: The ruins of a structure are seen near the small community of Payne Creek as the Park Fire, which has grown to 348,370 acres and is still 0 percent contained, continues to expand on July 27, 2024 near Chico, California. Strong winds and dried vegetation fueled the fire that exploded 70,000 acres in the first 24 hours after a man allegedly pushed a burning car into a ravine to intentionally set the blaze. In 2018, more than 18,000 structures were destroyed and 85 people killed in the nearby town of Paradise when the Camp Fire entrapped thousands of people and became the deadliest and most destructive fire in California history.
The blaze has nearly doubled in size since Friday morning. It’s burning about 90 miles north of Sacramento.
Watch: Firefighters try to tame massive Park Fire in California
The destructive Park Fire has burned over 150,000 acres in California.
A fire that allegedly started when a man pushed a flaming car into a gully in a Northern California park on Wednesday has quickly ballooned into the West’s largest fire burning right now and one of the largest in state history.
The Park Fire, about 90 miles north of Sacramento, has now burned over 307,000 acres as of Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire. It’s currently the eighth-largest fire in California history, has no containment, and is even producing its own clouds.
The blaze has roughly doubled in size since Friday morning when it engulfed an area the size of Chicago.
Prosecutors allege the fire started when Ronnie Stout sent his mother’s car ablaze 60 feet down an embankment near Alligator Hole in Chico’s Upper Bidwell Park. That gave the fire its match to spread northward across the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Triple-digit temperatures, low humidity and gusty winds contributed to the Park Fire’s rapid growth, officials say. The Park Fire on Saturday has burned an area roughly the size of the city of Los Angeles. So far, the Park Fire has damaged 134 structures, Cal Fire’s latest incident report showed.
Cooler temperatures, with highs in the upper 80s, and more humidity are expected Saturday, according to the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office. On Friday afternoon, officials hoped these conditions would give some 2,500 firefighters the needed respite to reduce the fire’s spread from Butte County into Tehama County, where the majority of the fire is now occurring, as it burns grass, brush, timber and dead vegetation.
Evacuation orders and warnings continued through Friday night, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced. This included warnings for Magalia in the foothills east of Chico, located just next to Paradise, the California town burned by the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed 14,000 homes and killed 85 people. The Camp Fire, caused by faulty Pacific Gas & Electric power lines, maxed out at 153,336 acres, half the size of the current Park Fire.
There are nearing 100 large wildfires across 10 western states and Alaska that have burned over a million acres and growing. Climate change is driving fires’ growing size and severity as warmer temperatures, high winds and dry conditions help fuel fires.
Contributing: Christopher Cann and Dinah Pulver of USA TODAY
Gov. Gavin Newsom often touts California’s role as a global climate leader. Yet it’s hard to defend that claim as long as California remains one of the nation’s top oil-refining states, experts argued at a recent webinar calling for a phaseout of refineries.
The state has made major strides implementing policies to support the transition away from fossil fuels in the transportation and energy sectors, yet has largely ignored oil refineries.
This is an egregious oversight, policy experts and community advocates on the panel said, because refineries are the largest source of industrial fossil fuel pollution and one of the biggest threats to both health and the climate.
“There are significant acute and chronic public health and climate impacts from refiners,” said Woody Hastings, a policy expert at The Climate Center, a nonprofit that hosted the webinar and is working to rapidly reduce climate pollution. “There is no plan to phase them out.”
Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.
California can embrace its role as a global leader by charting a path to phasing out refineries that others can follow, as it’s done before, he said. When California passed a measure to cut vehicle tailpipe emissions in 2002, 13 other states followed suit. When it passed a 2018 law requiring that all electricity come from renewable sources by 2045, 10 other states and the federal government adopted the same goal, Hastings said.
The most recent climate Conference of the Parties, COP28 in Dubai, called for a transition away from fossil fuels and energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner, Hastings said. “Let’s have California create the model for how to do it.”
All the other major fossil fuel sectors—electricity, transportation and oil drilling—have some form of phaseout requirements and plan to lower emissions, said Alicia Rivera, an organizer with the nonprofit Communities for a Better Environment who works in Wilmington, a Los Angeles neighborhood dominated by oil wells and refineries. “Refineries have none.”
The costs of inaction are clear, she said. Almost all the census tracts near refineries are communities of color forced to endure very high toxic releases and other health harms, Rivera said.
“People on the other side of the refinery cannot see the emissions because they are invisible,” she said. “But they are large and they are always there, nonstop.”
Refineries convert crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products like butane and propane. One refinery can cover thousands of acres, with massive heaters and boilers superheating the crude and separating the liquids that will become gas and other fuels. The refining process, storage tanks and flaring—the burning of excess hydrocarbons—all emit pollution and toxic gases like lung-damaging sulfur dioxides and cancer-causing benzene.
“People on the other side of the refinery cannot see the emissions because they are invisible. But they are large and they are always there, nonstop.”
Oil refineries must report annual benzene emissions. But various studies have shown that many refineries underestimate emissions of volatile organic compounds, including benzene, understating the health risks.
“We’ve seen places where California has found significant risk from benzene without including that massive underestimation,” said Julia May, senior scientist with Communities for a Better Environment. “If you include the underestimation, that means the cancer risk is higher. It’s also a VOC that contributes to smog.”
Working Toward a Just Transition
California has failed to act partly because several cities benefit financially from contributing to the nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil refined a day in the state, May said, noting that regulators are under “severe pressure” to avoid phaseout requirements.
But just two refinery products, gasoline and diesel, cause about half of California’s greenhouse gas emissions, she said. “You can’t solve the smog or climate disaster without phasing out oil refineries.”
The state must start looking at ways to reduce refineries’ production on the road to a full shutdown, May urged. “We’re not talking about shutting down refineries tomorrow. All we’re asking for is, start a plan over the next two decades and start with gasoline and diesel.”
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California policy is headed toward no more oil production, which will significantly reduce refining capacity in the state, said Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, which represents oil extractors and refiners. “An EV mandate that limits the sale of internal combustion cars may not say, ‘Hey refinery, you have to reduce production by X amount,’” he said. “But if you don’t have vehicles on the road that use that product, the refiners are probably not going to be here.”
Even without specific bills that mandate refinery reductions, Slagle said, California policy will lead to fewer refineries in the state, “probably quicker than folks expect.”
That phaseout needs to be managed in a way that doesn’t leave workers behind, the panelists argued. And that requires understanding that the phrase “just transition” means different things to different people, said Brian White, a longtime union leader and policy director for Eduardo Martinez, mayor of Richmond, home of the Chevron refinery, where a catastrophic fire and explosion in 2012 sent 15,000 people to the hospital.
White’s union, the United Steelworkers, coined the term “just transition,” he said. For refinery workers it means making sure they can shift to a job with dignity, benefits and pay. For environmentalists, he said, it’s moving from a dirty, dangerous industry to a cleaner, greener world. And for local governments, it means replacing revenue lost by closing refineries in order to continue providing the services communities need.
The different groups need to recognize that they’re working toward the same goals, White said. On that note, he added, the Richmond City Council recently voted to place a “polluters tax” on the November ballot.
“Oil refining has negative impacts on the city, including environmental hazards, public health harms and stress on emergency services,” White said. The tax on oil refining—Chevron’s Richmond refinery is one of the biggest in the nation—aims to improve the city’s financial position and the quality of life for Richmond residents, he said, especially those most affected by the oil refinery.
How to coordinate policies designed to reduce demand for refinery products like gasoline and phase out refineries remains a major challenge, the panelists said.
One in every four new car sales in California is a zero-emission vehicle, said Siva Gunda, vice chair of the California Energy Commission. “We’ve crossed our peak demand of gasoline in California in 2017,” he said, noting a downward trend that he expects to continue. “Yet even if we are wildly successful with EVs, there will be some demand.”
For Gunda, it’s imperative to find ways to reduce demand for fossil fuel products while expanding access to zero-emission vehicles and renewable energy for all Californians, especially for fenceline communities where residents suffer from higher rates of respiratory problems like asthma attacks, heart disease and cancer.
Gunda saw firsthand the disproportionate burdens these communities endure when Rivera, the community organizer, took him on a tour of Wilmington. This predominantly Black and Latino community at Los Angeles’ southern edge sits atop the third-largest oil field in the country. Residents have such a distinctive way of clearing their throats it’s called the Wilmington cough.
“It’s heartbreaking to imagine that some of us get to see our grandmothers a little bit longer than some of us, because of where we live,” Gunda said.
Yet the climate crisis will not affect only disadvantaged communities, the panelists warned.
Climate change is widespread and rapidly intensifying, May said. She pointed to a 2022 study from the First Street Foundation, a nonprofit that studies U.S. risks from climate change, which found that about a quarter of the country could be practically unlivable in 30 years, frequently reaching temperatures higher than 125 degrees Fahrenheit. “It’s really quite frightening,” she said.
“We need just-transition planning to phase out refineries,” May said. “We need to deal with replacing the taxes. We need to support the workers. We need to support the communities and we need to survive catastrophic climate change. We can do it.”
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Liza Gross is a reporter for Inside Climate News based in Northern California. She is the author of The Science Writers’ Investigative Reporting Handbook and a contributor to The Science Writers’ Handbook, both funded by National Association of Science Writers’ Peggy Girshman Idea Grants. She has long covered science, conservation, agriculture, public and environmental health and justice with a focus on the misuse of science for private gain. Prior to joining ICN, she worked as a part-time magazine editor for the open-access journal PLOS Biology, a reporter for the Food & Environment Reporting Network and produced freelance stories for numerous national outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Discover and Mother Jones. Her work has won awards from the Association of Health Care Journalists, American Society of Journalists and Authors, Society of Professional Journalists NorCal and Association of Food Journalists.
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