[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Judy Dugan
Research Director
Consumer Watchdog
and OilWatchdog.org Project

It's amazing how fast Gov. Schwarzenegger reacts when it's his wife, Maria Shriver, whose medical records are being snooped. "This kind of practice has been happening all over the state, wherever there's celebrities involved" including himself, Schwarzenegger said at an unrelated news conference today. He reiterated that his administration is "working with UCLA," where the leaks were uncovered by an excellent LA Times investigation--and hadn't even been reported to state regulators.

Of course, UCLA never would have even checked access to its electronic medical records if it was me in the bed, instead of Britney Spears, Farrah Fawcett, Maria Shriver and 20-some other celebs being snooped. According to today's LA Times report, UCLA knew about the records breaches for nearly a year. Though it disciplined several employees in the Spears case, it didn't bother to tell the patients or the state, much less the district attorney:

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Working Californians blogs]

The California Air Board is back to making regulations, a welcome sign after quite a bit of controversy. They ruled yesterday that construction equipment that belches pollution be replaced with ones that emit less emissions. This ruling has been eagerly awaited for three years. LAT:

California's diesel-powered bulldozers, scrapers and other heavy construction equipment must be retrofitted or replaced over the next 13 years to reduce the air pollution that sickens tens of thousands of residents every year, state regulators decided Thursday.

Under tough new rules adopted by the Air Resources Board, California is the first state to make construction companies fix existing diesel-powered machines. Heavy equipment can last 30 years or more, so without the new mandate, it would take decades for fleets to upgrade to cleaner equipment.

Although the fumes are most often associated with big trucks and buses, 20% of California's diesel pollution comes from the construction industry. Building, mining and airport vehicles are responsible for an estimated 1,100 premature deaths statewide every year and more than 1,000 hospitalizations for heart and lung disease, along with tens of thousands of asthma attacks, scientists say.

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