Author: NNPA

Governor Gavin Newsom announced his appointments to the first Racial Equity Commission for the State. Among his appointments is Bakersfield’s local, Traco Matthews. Matthews is the Chief Health Equity Officer at Kern Health System, a pastor, and a community advocate. 

The Great Recession left a lasting impact on the American economy, especially in the housing market. The subprime mortgage crisis, which ravaged the housing industry from 2007 to 2010, resulted in the widespread devaluation of residential homes and discouraged builders from investing in new housing construction. As a consequence, the number of new housing construction starts plummeted, and the repercussions of the recession continue to be felt in the construction industry to this day.

Weeks after Democratic lawmakers forced Gov. Gavin Newsom to make good on a four-year-old pledge to use tax penalty proceeds from fining the uninsured to increase health insurance subsidies for low- and middle-income Californians, Covered California officials announced they will funnel that money into reducing out-of-pocket spending for many enrollees struggling with the cost of care.

Deanna Denham Hughes was stunned when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year. She was only 32. She had no family history of cancer, and tests found no genetic link. Hughes wondered why she, an otherwise healthy Black mother of two, would develop a malignancy known as a “silent killer.”

Children are one of the groups at greatest risk of heat illness, including kids with disabilities or those with chronic health conditions like asthma or diabetes, so it is important to take extra precautions to protect them during extreme heat.