Forget the 8-ball, health care is behind the glacier in terms of top issues the public is sweating as elections near. One opinion poll lists it floe-ing behind the economy, the war and the price of gas. Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg told the Washington Post: ''For a lot of people who have health insurance, they are paying more for health ...

It's the latest in the ''blame, don't blame'' game of health-care, finger-pointing -- with at least one worthwhile takeaway. The Public Policy Institute of California has a new report, ''Emergency Department Care in California; Who Uses It and Why?'' Key findings: Fresno, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties have the highest per-capita ED ...

The California budget that wasn't born on July 1, or Aug. 1, may also be overdue -- absent serious hard labor -- come Sept. 1. (BTW, a quick check shows that, since 1992, the latest date a state budget was enacted was Sept. 5, 2002.) Consider the possible scenarios playing out: Democrats leaning heavily on tax hikes to offset a $15 ...

Catching a bad case of the economic droopies? How better to buck up than at a conference where one speaker's job title is ''Director of All Things Fun, Meaningful and Rewarding.'' The director of salesforce.com's foundation zapped digital illumination into some of the 200 people who attended last week's Corporate Community Involvement ...

Readers of my last blog emailed me their wish/needs lists toward infusing personality into downtown Fresno. From Jim Cole: A pro sports team. There are many smaller cities with pro teams. Take Green Bay (pop.100,353). Please. An airport. (FAT does not count.) A theater district. (In fact, I am willing to accept anything of a cultural nature ...

Old-time cartoon character: J. Wellington Wimpy aka ''Wimpy.'' First introduced: 1934. Favorite saying: ''I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.'' New caricature: California state budget. Deadline missed: July 1 (as nearly always). Favorite saying, likely commencing in early August when state runs out of reserves to ...

Lots of smart people like to offer their view of life's niceties and lunacies ''from the 30,000-foot level.'' I came across one by a doc from a specialty near and dear to my heart -- emergency medicine. Dr. William Mallon is the new president of the California Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. (You'll find wildly ...

So, how did the president of the Philippines wind up visiting Community Regional Medical Center on the sultry Sunday morning of June 22?   It began about nine days earlier when a Community physician of Filipino heritage stopped by the hospital's administrative offices seeking help for the visit. Within 72 hours, the Philippines consul ...

A Rubik's Cube of laws must be changed to secure any flexible and functional change in American health care. That's the drawdown message of a concise, thoughtful assessment in the June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. ''Innovation will not occur if each novel way to organize and pay for care needs to be adjudicated ...

Yippee. The ludicrous price of gas means more shipping businesses may relocate to the Valley 'cause it's a great halfway point to lots of somewhere else's. I got to thinking outside ''the Valley as a call-center megalopolis'' box while touring the new Holiday Inn downtown and viewing the unveiling of a snazzy web site redesign by the Fresno ...