State data show a record number of people experiencing a mental health crisis are waiting in jails for beds in state hospitals that don’t have enough staff to operate at capacity.
Roads in rural Fresno County are often neglected and underdeveloped. Potholes, flooding and basic safety measures go unfixed. There are no streetlights, sidewalks, bike lanes, crosswalks, center lines or even speed limit signs on many roads in rural towns, and public transit service is limited.
In California, cyanotoxins have become more of a problem amid the drought. The same toxin that shut down Toledo, Ohio’s water supply in 2014 has been detected in lakes, reservoirs and streams across the state.
The government framework set up to protect Sonoma County renters from unsafe and unhealthy living conditions has developed such extensive cracks that it has left many tenants without public recourse save for the court system, where help often comes too late to make fixes or fight evictions.
With high rates of many mental illnesses and not much money to treat them, are the rural counties of far-northern California destined for meager mental health services? What's lacking in these systems, and - perhaps more importantly - how did ones in similar areas overcome the same problems?
A growing national movement seeks to connect ex-offenders with health care services. Many people say it makes financial sense. Some say it can possibly reduce crime.
