I didn't expect a vacation in Monterey -- yelping seals, cavorting otters, lots of good seafood -- would provide a heaping helping of health incidents. Mold in pricey hotel room showers (OK, it's damp on the coast but ...). Waiter in top-rated restaurant accidentally dangles his tie --- first in the crab, next in the chocolate cake. But ...

With so many bodies under the budgetary knife and everyone screaming, who gets 9-1-1 treatment from Congressmen? The Congressional Management Foundation, a research arm for lawmakers and their staffs, has examined five popular myths and offered how-to's for those trying to make their ''Help!'' resonate. Myth: ''One size fits all'' ...

Do you care who runs California's lottery? Would you mind if Blue Cross or some other HMO provided care in the state's prisons? Do you have feelings for (or understand) the Williamson Act or the State Compensation Insurance Fund? Those were some of the ways mentioned to two-dozen Central California hospital officials April 25 by Assembly Minority ...

Lucky LA. Although lots of services are being cut in the name of budget ''austerity,'' (LA Times headline-ese), the Bureau of Street Services (oxymoron?) will be bumped up 3% so it can repair an additional 60 miles of streets. That means the city's backlogged calendar of street patch-jobs will decline from 63 years to 43 years, the Times ...