California nursing board firings, resignations follow LAT/ProPublica investigation

Often following a major journalistic investigation a governor or a senator or a president even will call for hearings or declare the creation of a blue ribbon panel to assess the situation and decide how to proceed.

Years can go by before a report, usually thick with euphemism and buck passing, lands on someone's desk, often a different governor or senator or president than the one who called for the assessment. Processes are "streamlined." Efficiencies are realized. Nothing really changes.

The evidence presented by the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica on Sunday about the failures of the California Board of Registered Nurses clearly demanded a swifter and more dramatic response.

On Monday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger deposed three of six sitting nursing board members, and another one resigned. Today, the board's longtime executive officer, Ruth Ann Terry, also resigned.

Hats off to Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Maloy Moore for an incredible project that was impossible to ignore.