Local News

Oakland Tribune
SacBee -- Our Region
  • Western Health Advantage leads HMO ratings

    Most of the state's largest HMOs posted improvements in customer satisfaction, but California's latest Health Care Quality Report Card shows others still fall short on some measures.

    The annual report released today by the state-run Office of the Patient Advocate evaluates California's nine largest health maintenance organizations, which serve about 12 million enrollees, and more than 200 medical groups across the state.

    Western Health Advantage, which began as a partnership between the University of California, Davis and Catholic Healthcare West, was among three HMOs garnering the top, four-star ranking. PacifiCare of California and Kaiser Permanente's Southern California region were the others.

    Kaiser's Northern California operations received a three-star rating, as did Health Net, Anthem Blue Cross and Aetna.

    The Woodland Healthcare medical group and several Northern California groups under the banner of Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health received top ranking.

    Detailed ratings can be found online at www.opa.ca.gov. The Web site allows users to compare health plans based on survey data. It does not, however, provide information on cost.

  • Community colleges rethink missions as budgets tighten


    Daniel Lee, an automotive student at Sierra College, fears he won't be able to finish his degree; the automotive program is among those that may be cut.

    A packed board meeting inside the Sierra College theater last week offered a glimpse of the many kinds of students California's community colleges serve:

    There were golf, tennis and water polo players; 4H high school students who participate in the college's agriculture program; part-time college students prepping for jobs in construction and auto repair; and older adults taking classes for retirees.

    "We're asked to do so many things," Leo Chavez, president of Sierra College, observed later. "All our programs enroll a large number of people for a wide variety of reasons. We've been able to offer our community some luxuries that I'm not sure we can afford anymore."

    All those "luxuries" are now under scrutiny. As community colleges deal with the state's ongoing budget crisis and consider cuts to classes, programs and staffing, they are examining which kinds of students they should continue to serve. And even though state leaders have told colleges to prioritize three course areas – vocational education, remedial education and classes that prepare students to transfer to a four-year university – local districts are not always heeding the direction.

    State law says the primary mission of community colleges is to "offer academic and vocational instruction at the lower-division level."

    But over time the colleges have taken on many other roles in their communities, and laws were written to allow them to do a lot more things. In addition to preparing students for jobs or to transfer to a four-year university, community colleges can provide remedial education for high school dropouts, teach English to immigrants, train workers with new skills, and offer recreational courses for adults. Some also collaborate with high schools, allowing students to earn college credit while still in high school.

    "When there was a lot more funding in the system, maybe it was easier to continue to pursue multiple missions," said Steve Boilard, director of higher education for the state Legislative Analyst's Office.

    "But as the funding is contracting, the districts are facing the dilemma: Where do we retrench? … Who is going to lose their courses?"

    The answer at Sierra College still isn't known, but it looks like students in the construction, automotive and agriculture programs will probably lose their courses.

    At the board meeting that drew 500 people last week, trustees voted to send preliminary layoff notices to all instructors in those programs. They asked college administrators to come back with alternative cuts to close the school's $11.2 million deficit so they might be able to save the vocational classes.

    But no matter what they cut in the end, board members acknowledged the school won't be able to serve everyone it always has.

    "This … stinks because if you're going to cut the budget of a community college by $10 million, you are going to be impacting the mission," said trustee Scott Leslie.

    Automotive student Daniel Lee said he feels like Sierra College is compromising its mission to teach vocational skills.

    "They have another plan for this college," he said, adding that more emphasis seems to be placed on preparing students to transfer than sending them into the work force.

    Chavez says that's not the case. In recent years, Sierra College has developed new vocational programs to train people for jobs in solar electricity, engineering technology, pharmacy work, banking, insurance and finance.

    "We have to change along with the economy," he said.

    At San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, trustees grappling with budget cuts this fall decided to chop their basic-skills courses – the ones that taught first-grade math and second-grade reading, according to President Raul Rodriguez.

    "That isn't really our mission," he said. "If the average citizen were looking at community colleges and saying, 'What should they be doing?' I think they wouldn't say they should be correcting deficiencies of the elementary schools."

    Students protested the cuts, saying the course work allowed them to work toward a high school degree and turn their lives around. Rodriguez said the cuts simply brought "common sense" back to the community college curriculum.

    In the coming months, Rodriguez said he will suggest to his board that Delta College entirely eliminate its GED program that allows high school dropouts to obtain an equivalency diploma.

    "If we had unlimited resources, then I would say let's do it," he said. "But you have to be reasonable about what you do."

    The Legislature and the chancellor of the state's community colleges recognize that budget cuts mean the schools will be paring back what they do and whom they serve, but they want schools to keep teaching job skills, remedial academics and classes that prepare students to transfer to a four-year university.

    "Now is the time to eliminate courses that are primarily avocational," Chancellor Jack Scott said at a community college convention in November. "It is not our job to provide physical exercise for adults who don't want to pay the fees to join an athletic club or provide a course for those who want to learn quilting."

    Chavez, the Sierra College president, said he's trying to follow that advice by teasing out who's taking classes and for what reasons. He said he recently talked to a woman who was angry she couldn't get into an Italian class. When he found out she wasn't working on a degree at Sierra but wanted to take the class because she and her husband were planning a trip to Italy, he decided that keeping her out of the class was fair.

    Scott Lay, president of the Community College League of California, said similar decisions are being made across the state.

    "A lot of people are going to be unhappy," Lay said. "There is no class or program you can cancel without making a constituency mad."

  • Roseville, state battling over traffic fines

    Roseville and state officials find themselves this week in a traffic ticket turf war. The terrain: drivers' pocketbooks.

    For the past year, Roseville police have been using a new city code to cite some drivers a flat discount rate of $100 for a range of traffic violations.

    By sidestepping the state vehicle code, officials can keep the proceeds from the fines in the city, and drivers caught making illegal maneuvers pay only about a third of the state-fine amount.

    A state senator, who says she just heard about the practice, isn't pleased with Roseville's financial ingenuity, nor with a handful of other cities doing the same thing.

    Sen. Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach, introduced Senate Bill 949 last week to stop the practice.

    The fight is the latest in an ongoing fiscal tug-of-war between state and local officials, each scrambling to balance budgets.

    Local governments already are battling the state over its efforts to siphon off local redevelopment funds for statewide use and to eliminate funding for local transit agencies.

    Oropeza warns that cities are creating a mish-mash of local ticketing programs and that drivers won't know from one town to the next what the fines are.

    "This dual system is confusing, unfair and robs the state of legitimate income," Oropeza said.

    Under the traditionally used state vehicle code, fine amounts are similar across the state, and citation revenues are shared by the state, the local county and the city that issued the ticket.

    Oropeza said she understands cities are trying to patch their budgets: "Money is tight."

    But she said they shouldn't be allowed to take advantage of what she argues is a loophole in the law.

    "I don't think it was the intent of the vehicle code to allow for different fines in different municipalities," Oropeza said. "To me, that's nuts. Let's not manipulate the system."

    Oropeza's office counts Roseville, Oakland, Berkeley, Riverbank, Long Beach and Alameda County among the jurisdictions now citing some drivers under local codes.

    Roseville officials said they consider the new approach a win-win for the city and its residents. Not only is the city's $100 fine about a third of the cost of state vehicle code fines, the violation does not go on the driver's DMV record, and the driver's insurance company doesn't find out about it.

    Under Roseville's policy, police can choose whether to use the city code or state code during traffic stops for certain violations. If the driver has a good record and the violation is minor, the officer may cite the driver under the local code and warn the driver that next time he or she could get hit with the state fine.

    In Roseville, police cited drivers under the local code during 25 percent of eligible traffic stops beginning in February of last year, collecting $41,000 for the city general fund, according to e-mails from Roseville city and police officials. Roseville officials say they limit use of the local code to violations that involve failure to obey traffic signs. The city code does not apply to speeding citations or red-light violations.

    Police Chief Bill Pooley of Riverbank, near Modesto, said he heard about Roseville's program and got it instituted in his city last summer.

    Riverbank also charges $100 per citation, Pooley said.

    "If a soccer mom rolls a stop sign, and she has a clean record, we can use that as an enforcement and education tool," he said.

    The police chief said he isn't surprised the state would move to stop the cities.

    "I knew the state would try to come in and close that loop, so they can get the money," Pooley said. "I'm surprised it came this quickly."

San Jose Mercury News
Marin Independent Journal
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
  • Police say Petaluma woman concocted sex attack story

    By RANDI ROSSMANN THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

    A report of a sexual assault landed a Petaluma store clerk in jail last week, but when police concluded the woman had made up the story, he was freed and she was jailed, Petaluma police said Tuesday.

  • One lap finish for Santa Rosa

    By BOB NORBERG THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

    The Amgen Tour of California will race through downtown for one lap in May, sponsors announced Tuesday. They promised better weather, more competitive cyclists.

  • Petaluma Target center OK'd

    By GUY KOVNER THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

    A big-box shopping center in the works for more than five years won approval late Monday night from a divided Petaluma City Council.

Napa Valley Register

Sponsored by

Become a sponsor! Join KQED's corporate partner network today.

Sponsored by

Give now Browse our featured gifts Continue without giving