Lifestyle/Society

No-go on Cal drunken driving starting Jan. 1

California, and other states deploy breathalyzers in cars to limit road deaths ’Tis the season to be a little too merry, and law enforcement officials across the country are once again reminding revelers not to drive if they’ve been drinking. Along with those warnings comes a bit of good news: Deaths involving drunken driving are only about half of what they were in the early…


Dangerous human research at local VA?

Rep. Scott Peters on Monday requested a congressional hearing into allegations of dangerous human research at the VA San Diego Healthcare System, as detailed in an inewsource investigation last week. If Peters’ request is granted, Congress will investigate the allegations of two whistleblowers – Martina Buck and Mario Chojkier – who said former San Diego VA division chief Dr. Samuel Ho performed unapproved liver research…


Seniors are hooked on useless vitamins

When she was a young physician, Dr. Martha Gulati noticed that many of her mentors were prescribing vitamin E and folic acid to patients. Preliminary studiesin the early 1990s had linked both supplements to a lower risk of heart disease. She urged her father to pop the pills as well: “Dad, you should be on these vitamins, because every cardiologist is taking them or putting…


Celebrity chef hip to orthopedic surgery

Pamplemousse Chef Gets More Time in the Kitchen Building one of San Diego’s most successful restaurants took a lot of hard work and skill, but also took its toll on Pamplemousse Grille owner and executive chef Jeffrey Strauss. “Being on your feet 12-15 hours a day…it finally caught up with me,” Strauss said as he walked the same kitchen floor he’s walked for the past…


Local flu deaths up, worst may be over

The number of flu deaths reported in San Diego County reached a new high, while at the same time lab-confirmed cases went down again, the County Health and Human Services Agency announced today. A total of 142 flu deaths have been reported through Jan. 13, 2018, the highest ever since the County began tracking fatalities about 20 years ago. The previous deadliest flu season was…


How Palomar Medical Center would deal with a Las Vegas-type mass casualty event

The tragic mass casualty shooting event occurring in Las Vegas this week tested the limits of the area’s trauma and emergency response systems. It may have raised questions in your mind about humanity and, oh by the way, how San Diego County and Palomar Medical Center Escondido, North County’s only trauma center, would respond in a similar circumstance. Palomar Health Trauma Medical Director John Steele,…


Where fast food drive-thru, vegans meet

Think fast food drive-thru places are bad? Think again. Ocean Beach-based Plant Power Fast Food has expanded to ever-trendy, and ever-retro-hipped-out Leucadia, and with a twist. Its new location at a former Burger King features a drive-thru window, believed to be the first drive-thru vegan restaurant experience offered by a fully plant-based fast-food restaurant chain in the nation. Plant Power Fast Food calls itself a…


Analyzing Trump for sanity’s sake

Analyzing Trump for sanity’s sake is a product of innewsource, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization based at San Diego State University providing readers with the most authoritative and in-depth stories. Used by permission. For more, visit innewsource.org It’s no secret Donald Trump is an unusual president, one whose late night tweets, comments and vitriol have prompted some to question his sanity. All that noise has led…


As GOP fiddles In D.C., Californians’ health coverage fears burn

More than half of Californians fear they or their loved ones will lose health coverage if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and replaced, a new statewide poll shows. A poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California-Berkeley, released Tuesday, unmasks a deep sense of insecurity across the Golden State, especially among low-income residents and people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s version of the…


Blue Shield CEO says GOP’s ‘flawed’ health bill would harm sicker consumers

The chief executive of Blue Shield of California, the largest insurer on the state’s insurance marketplace, issued a blunt critique of the Republican health care bill, saying it would once more lock Americans with preexisting conditions out of affordable coverage. In an interview with California Healthline on Wednesday, Paul Markovich said the GOP’s American Health Care Act is “flawed” and “could return us to a…