It no longer seems scary to drive on Interstate 80 between Auburn and the Nevada state line. Caltrans has finished the $821 million project. This 90-mile upgrade was completed over a 15-year period. Infrastructure improvements included rebuilding seven bridges, improving lighting and drainage and adding new traffic monitoring systems. Interstate 80 is one of three […]
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By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Mike McIntire, New York Times WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Obama started his second term, a loose-knit coalition of conservative activists led by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III gathered in the capital to plot strategy. Their push to repeal Obama’s health care law was going nowhere, and they desperately […]
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By Jeffrey J. Selingo, Chronicle of Higher Education When the filmmakers behind the animated summer blockbuster Monsters University needed inspiration for their fictional campus, they visited three of the nation’s best-known colleges: Harvard, MIT, and UC Berkeley. Such name-brand campuses, having provided the backdrop for Hollywood productions, help shape our collective vision of college as […]
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By Sharon Noguchi, Bay Area News Group SACRAMENTO — A bill ending the standardized tests that California public school students have taken in reading, math and social science since 1999 received Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature on Wednesday, despite a threat by the U.S. secretary of education to withhold federal funds if the state moved forward […]
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By Catherine Pearson, Huffington Post Toxic chemicals in the environment are detrimental to the reproductive health of both men and women, according to a new joint committee opinion written by two major medical organizations. In an opinion paper published last week in the journal Fertility and Sterility, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and […]
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By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times The blaze near Yosemite National Park had incinerated scores of acres and was spreading fast. It was time, federal officials decided, to attack it from the air with all the resources at their command. As the nation’s armada of air tankers began landing at a staging area near here, […]
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By Kamille Wong, NPR Nevada has the fourth highest rate of suicide in the nation. To combat this issue, the Nevada Suicide Prevention Office is forming a committee with 10 members from across the state. Each member will focus on a different facet of the problem, including how to help veterans and Native American youth. […]
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By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times Californians say the state’s water supply system has serious problems that require improvement, but they are unwilling to spend billions of dollars in ratepayer and taxpayer funds on the task, according to a new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The results suggest an uphill fight for proponents of a […]
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By Kathryn Reed With the majority of the land in the Lake Tahoe Basin being owned by the feds, the impact of the government shutdown is starting to be felt. This will be the last weekend Camp Richardson, Tahoe Tallac Site, Round Hill Pines and Zephyr Cove Resort will be open during the government shutdown. […]
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By Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times SACRAMENTO — Hundreds of items found on supermarket shelves, such as shampoos, cleaning supplies, cosmetics and food packaging, could get chemical makeovers under new rules being put in force by California. On Thursday, state toxic chemical regulators unveiled what they say is the nation’s most comprehensive program for identifying […]
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