California Doctors Overbilling for Medicare
Officials with Medicare -- the federal health program for elderly and disabled Americans -- recently released reams of billing data. The goal: to enlist the public in spotting doctors who might be manipulating the system to collect more money. We partnered with the independent newsroom ProPublica to conduct an exclusive review of the state's physicians. We found hundreds of California doctors charging far more than is typical for routine office visits.
Former Lifers Discuss Hopes, Fears After Winning Parole
For decades, California inmates serving sentences like 25-years-to-life had very little chance of being released. Parole was routinely denied by the Board of Parole Hearings, or blocked by the governor. But in the past few years, there's been a dramatic change. Since a key Supreme Court ruling in 2008, the number of so-called "lifers" winning parole has steadily climbed. Since then, more than 1,700 lifers have been released - and the change is being felt behind prison walls.
Drones Help Central Valley Farmers Save Water
Many farmers in the Central Valley are facing drastic reductions from their usual supplies of state and federal water. And with climate change, they're wondering if this could be the "new normal." For that reason growers are trying to save every drop of water. Now farmers are looking to the sky for the newest water-saving tool: aerial drones.
100 Years Later, California's Lost Commune Comes Briefly Back to Life
This month marks the 100-year anniversary of the founding of a socialist colony called Llano Del Rio. It sprawled across Southern California's Antelope Valley, and existed for almost four years with over 1,000 residents at its peak. A group of artists recently paid tribute to this experiment in communal living.
Los Angeles Studies Its Tiniest Residents: Insects
If you think about the kinds of bugs you'd find in a city, you might imagine ants, cockroaches, bees -- maybe mosquitoes or even bed bugs. But that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. In fact there are probably millions of different insects out there. And now a large urban insect study is underway in Los Angeles, where scientists are helping Angelenos search out the bugs in their backyards.