California Considers Raising Smoking Age to 21
A state senator is introducing legislation to raise the legal smoking age in California from 18 to 21. Ed Hernandez of West Covina says the goal of his bill is to reduce smoking rates and save the state money on health care costs associated with tobacco use.
Younger Doctors Get Crash Course on Measles
As public health officials struggle to contain California's measles outbreak that began at Disneyland, another problem has cropped up: many doctors aren't familiar with the disease. That's because measles has become quite rare in the U.S. Now, hospitals are giving their younger providers a crash course in how to identify and handle the disease.
Remembering Physicist Charles Townes
Charles Townes was a UC Berkeley professor and physicist who won a Nobel Prize in 1964 for his role in developing the laser. He said he never worked a day in his life -- he was just having fun doing physics. Townes died this week in Oakland at the age of 99.