Even as controversy rages over a series of incidents in which local prosecutors appear to have withheld evidence, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr has adopted a combative response that appears to strain her campaign vow to end a “win at all costs” office culture.
Carr responded to outside criticisms of prosecutors’ conduct, including state disciplinary attention, by assuring a gathering of county prosecutors last week that none Read the rest of this entry »

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Kids at the MCGHealth Children’s Hospital got a surprise visit by Santa on Christmas.
He brought gifts by the sleigh-full for the whole family as he stopped in to see more than 60 good little boys and girls.
Many of the children were too sick to go home for Christmas, so Santa came to them to bring some cheer.
Jervonna McBride spent Christmas day at MCGHealth visiting her son, Calvin. Calvin has an advanced form of Leukemia Read the rest of this entry »

LOS ANGELES — After a Christmas Eve slaying in suburban Covina that left nine people dead, surviving family members on Sunday were grappling with how to best care for the victims’ children.
At least 13 young people were orphaned after the shooting and two others lost a parent, according to a family attorney.
“We have to help them,” said Jose Castillo, a relative who came out to the crime scene on Sunday to pay his respects.
The shooting Read the rest of this entry »

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a three-part series entitled Collision in Care about the shortage of primary care doctors in Santa Cruz County. Coming Saturday: Santa Cruz County’s inability to provide primary care to new Medicare patients is hard on everyone: Clinics and doctors, relatives and, especially, the elderly.
SANTA CRUZ — Eighty-three-year-old Gladys Man steered her cherry red electric scooter into the Planned Parenthood clinic in Read the rest of this entry »

Prosecutors must turn over all pertinent evidence to the defense. That requirement is a fundamental for a fair trial. It’s also the law.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office’s failure, over nearly two decades, to provide defense attorneys with hundreds, if not thousands, of tapes of medical examinations of child sexual-assault victims is a violation of legal procedure and possibly prosecutorial misconduct. Its action may lead to overturned Read the rest of this entry »

He doesn’t have a medical degree or wear a smart-looking white coat, but Dr. Dog has been known to cure more than one case of the blues.
A border collie-shepherd mix, Dante is a therapy dog at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara and is so good at what he does that people think of him as being on staff. He and his handler, Susie Levin, make rounds three times a week and will visit patients by appointment.
Getting past the front lobby is the hard part.
Read the rest of this entry »

The body of 43-year-old Jody Ira Reynolds was found at 7:49 p.m. Jan. 20 inside a mobile home on the 200 block of Mountain View Drive, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department. An autopsy revealed that he had been shot twice, authorities said.
On Tuesday, Ernest Paul Cassidy III, 27, Eric Manual Duran, 38, and William Sylvester Hammack Jr. , all from Santa Rosa, were arrested in the slaying.
On Wednesday, sheriff’s detectives arrested Read the rest of this entry »

Dientes Community Dental Care and the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Center each will receive $100,000 to expand services to low-income patients, thanks to the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation.
Dientes will start a pilot program to educate low-income children about dental care and provide screenings at elementary schools throughout Santa Cruz County. Students in grades 1-3 will receive exams, cleanings, fluoride applications and sealants at the school locations. Read the rest of this entry »

Dientes Community Dental Care and the Santa Cruz Women’s Health Center each will receive $100,000 to expand services to low-income patients, thanks to the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation.
Dientes will start a pilot program to educate low-income children about dental care and provide screenings at elementary schools throughout Santa Cruz County. Students in grades 1-3 will receive exams, cleanings, fluoride applications and sealants at the school locations. Read the rest of this entry »

Eileen and Robert Korjenek wish Santa Clara County voters could understand what they now know all too well: that critical care is something you never know you need until you’re waiting desperately outside emergency-room doors.
The Gilroy couple, whose 22-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 1995 car accident, are among the fiercest supporters of Measure A on the county ballot this November.
If approved by two-thirds of voters, the Read the rest of this entry »