Land and Water Conservation Fund on the Chopping Block
Over its 50-year history, the Land and Water Conservation Fund has pumped nearly $17 billion into parks across the U.S. It's a government program funded by profits from the oil and gas industry. California has benefited greatly from the fund, which has helped buy tens of thousands of acres for national parks like Sequoia and Pinnacles. The fund also repaired a pier in the San Francisco Bay and fixed a broken sewage system that closed down a beach near Santa Barbara. Lawmakers opposed to the fund say it no longer focuses on local projects and funds too many federal projects instead.
African-Americans Face Higher Colon Cancer Risk, Less Likely to be Screened
Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. But researchers in Los Angeles are finding that plenty of Californians at risk for the disease are still choosing not to get screened for it. African-Americans are especially vulnerable. The study found that African-Americans were 71 percent less likely to get screened than white Californians.