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Fox 40

Senate Bill Could Clean Up Stockton Boulevard

August 14, 2018

by Pedro Rivera,

SACRAMENTO -- If you head south on Stockton Boulevard, you’ve probably seen the old San Juan Motel sign in the vacant lot with trash scattered everywhere and tall grass.

For more than 20 years, the piece of land on Stockton has been an eyesore, but a bill may soon change that.

Senate Bill 481 was heard in front of the assembly housing and development committee.

Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra, who represents the area, was in church with State Senator Richard Pan when the two began discussing the run down 2.5 acres.

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Sacramento Bee

Amid Stephon Clark autopsy controversy, doctors push bill to overhaul coroner's offices

August 14, 2018

By Taryn Luna

As Sacramento prosecutors consider dueling autopsies in the police shooting of Stephon Clark, a state senator is pushing a bill at the Capitol he says would give the public more reason to trust investigations into officer-involved shootings.

Sen. Richard Pan's Senate Bill 1303 would require coroners in the state to be licensed physicians who work independently of county sheriff's offices.

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Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Anti-vax doctors are granting bogus vaccine exemptions. How to make them think twice.

August 14, 2018

By the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board

Few pieces of legislation have made more of a difference to more Californians more quickly than the bill two years ago to tighten school vaccination laws.

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The San Diego Union Tribune

Editorial: Why California needs an even tougher vaccination law

August 14, 2018

By: The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board

California lawmakers deserved praise in 2015 for taking steps to push more students to have all the required vaccinations that are needed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Senate Bill 277, sponsored by state Sen. and pediatrician Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, barred parents from citing their personal beliefs in refusing to have their children vaccinated.

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Sacramento Bee

Why aren’t more kids showing up for summer lunch programs?

August 14, 2018

By Michael Finch II

Inside the Fruitridge Community Collaborative, organizers prepared to give kids something that statistics suggest was badly needed.

Around midday last Monday, about two dozen children lined up for a tray of low-fat milk, baby carrots and string cheese; a pre-packaged sandwich and an apple.

But if past trends are any indicator, the kids accounted for only a fraction of the school-age children who lived nearby.

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Calmatters

California lobbyist fights for his daughter, with Legislature’s help

August 14, 2018

By Dan Morain

Lobbyist Joe Lang is the guy to see if you’re a billionaire wanting to build a basketball arena in Inglewood, or a weed start-up testing the boundaries of commercial cannabis, or a tobacco company with its many issues.

In any legislative session, his firm—Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller—is one of the two or three top-billing lobby operations in Sacramento. For decades, he and his partners have been pushing, molding and killing legislation depending on their 60-plus clients’ wishes.

Lang also is Jordan’s dad.

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The Mercury News

A push for mental health care at colleges: Depression and anxiety ‘really eat up our kids’

August 14, 2018

By Felicia Mello

When student leaders from 23 California State University campuses came together last fall to set priorities for the academic year, improving campus mental health services received more nominations than any other issue. It beat out even that perennial concern, tuition costs.

Cal State Student Association president Maggie White said she’s not surprised.

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Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Amazon facility ‘just amazing’

August 14, 2018

By Mark Glover

Stepping in the door of Amazon’s sprawling fulfillment center at Metro Air Park north of downtown Sacramento on Friday morning, the energy was almost palpable.

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Sacramento Bee

He took on the NFL. Now he’s after California’s ‘primitive’ sheriff-coroner system.

August 14, 2018

By The Sacramento Bee editorial board

It has been months since the nationally renowned Dr. Bennet Omalu abruptly quit his job as chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, sending shock waves through California’s close-knit community of forensic pathologists.

A brilliant practitioner with a stellar reputation for his work identifying a pattern of brain disease among NFL players, Omalu probably could work anywhere in the country. Californians should be thankful that he has opted, so far, to stay here.

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San Diego Union Tribune

EDITORIAL: Why California needs an even tougher vaccination law

July 20, 2018

California lawmakers deserved praise in 2015 for taking steps to push more students to have all the required vaccinations that are needed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Senate Bill 277, sponsored by state Sen. and pediatrician Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, barred parents from citing their personal beliefs in refusing to have their children vaccinated.

Read more