Looking for Growth in the Ports
The holiday shopping season kicks into high gear this weekend and a lot of what you buy, from food to clothing to toys, arrived a few months ago at one of California's cargo ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach or Oakland. Economists track port activity for signs of economic recovery, and they're seeing positive signals this year.
Using Lichen to Point to Pollution
All those ships coming into port and the trucks driving off with their cargo generate a whole lot of air pollution. But it doesn't stay by the coast. It blows east. In fact, air pollution is becoming a big concern in California's national parks. In Yosemite, researchers are trying to measure the damage it's having there and they're using an unlikely tool: a unique kind of fungus called lichen.
A Natural Pharmacist
As flu season approaches, tissues, lozenges and cold medicine start flying off the shelves to battle those runny noses and sore throats. But in the San Francisco Bay Area, herbalists are looking to nature for a different kind of cure.
CD Review: Daniel Lanois' "Black Dub"
Musician-producer Daniel Lanois is known for his collaborations with some of industry's most distinctive voices, like Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan. The California Report's pop music critic Steve Hochman says Lanois' recent collaboration with fellow Canadian Neil Young clearly inspired his latest work.
Acting Behind Bars
Actor Tim Robbins is no stranger to prisons. He played an innocent man convicted of murder in the "Shawshank Redemption." And he got an Oscar nomination for directing "Dead Man Walking" -- a film about a death row inmate. Now Robbins is back behind bars, but this time with a theater troupe leading one of the last arts program in California prisons.