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 grass has turned to straw. The darkened building has a foreclosure sign taped to the door. Past-due notices are scrunched into the jamb. That describes houses in my Clovis neighborhood. It soon may well describe some California hospitals. Members of the California State Rural Health Association gathered recently in Reedley, and one ...

My dentist of 20 years calls me ''his dinosaur.'' I'm one of only a couple of his patients who gets teeth drilled and filled, crowns implanted -- dang near everything -- without an anesthetic. Anesthetic was never offered to me as a kid. And my Catholic upbringing suggested, ''Suffer in silence, offering your pain for the souls in ...

When cages are rattled, who yells loudest and who gets attention? The perennial debate over shriveling California resources -- worse this year because of a $17 billion-plus budget deficit -- may boil down to a food fight pitting health care vs. education vs. prisons. And the courts may play a key role. Last week, I was ...

Right there, prehistorically young Sean ''James Bond'' Connery's about to be lasered in the most unkind of male places. ''Do you expect me to talk?'' he queries nemesis ''Goldfinger.'' To which the golden one replies, ''No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!'' A couple of weeks ago, Sacramento lawmakers were trying to shoehorn through a $14 ...

It's such an annual ritual that it's almost ho-hum, except it's not. California is now 25 days into its fiscal year without a state budget. Imagine skipping your mortgage payment for 25 days -- with no seeming accountability. Imagine the electeds, waiting for proposals, conjuring up compromises while also drawing down about $113,000 in annual ...