Insights

<p>Atul Gawande, surgeon and staff writer for The New Yorker, is one of the most prominent voices speaking about patient safety in the United States.&nbsp;But in his latest <em>New Yorker</em> contribution, "Personal Best: Should everyone have a coach?," the "everyone" in question here is, not surprisingly, just the physician.</p>

<p>"Appetite for Profit" author Michele Simon unpacks what journalists got right — and wrong — about this week's school lunch nutritition controversy, and how to add more context to your reporting on the issue.</p>

<p>On a clear night in the southern Valley towns of Tulare, Huron and Tranquillity, you sometimes can see a full moon over the thousands of miles of agriculture. On a warm, summer evening, these harvest moons are brilliant to see.&nbsp;However, disturbing to&nbsp;this brilliant scenery is the stench of spray drift from pesticides that linger at night and the choking thickness of particulate matter, the smog considered one of the worst in the nation, that engulfs the Valley on warm days.</p>

<p>Stress has always been a part of college life – moving away from home, living with roommates and cramming for tests. But college counselors are worried as new and serious stressors, many financial are hurting students' health and hindering their academic success.</p>

<p>In the richest county in California lies a motley assemblage of residents living aboard a flotilla of weather-worn boats in a narrow bay sandwiched between Sausalito and Tiburon.</p>

<p>The realm of AIDS/HIV and its prevalence in the African-American community is not one that has gone untouched, yet the problem continues to get worse. A new CEHJF Fellow describes her upcoming reporting project.</p>

<p>Seven years after voters passed Proposition 63 -- the landmark legislation that was supposed to radically improve mental health care in the state -- California is facing a deepening statewide mental health crisis. As the state struggles under the weight of a lingering recession and an enormous deficit, county mental health programs are often failing to provide care for even the sickest patients. In many cases, the minimal safety net that used to exist is disintegrating.</p>

<p>More Americans on anti-depressants and other behavioral drugs, lobbying for chemicals in California and good news for chunky kids, plus more in our Daily Briefing.</p>

<p>Few health writers in the country understand the whys and hows of health insurance as well as Lisa Zamosky, a former industry insider. In our Q&amp;A, she talks about juggling several freelance gigs and her transition from insurance to journalism.</p>

<p>Most of the people match the scenery—beautiful. But many struggle with ugly addictions to alcohol, heroin, marijuana and most prevalent, methamphetamine.</p>