Insights

<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>

<p>How does environmental degredation correlate with the recent spike in substance abuse (and particularly meth) on the Hoopa reservation? And what is (or isn't) being done about it?</p>

<p>Residents in the small town of Novato, Calif., are aging quickly and their slow-growth community may not be keeping up.&nbsp;For my project, I will examine what it will take to accomodate the changing demographics, and question whether a significant--and growing--population is being ignored in the state's wealthiest county.</p>

<p>Issues surrounding sexuality can be a difficult topic for many people to openly discuss, but additional cultural barriers can make talking about subjects like HIV/AIDS almost impossible to broach.</p>

<p>It's no surprise that the Central Valley is a medically underserved community, where recruiting doctors is a tough task. Many of the doctors working here have attended medical school overseas. In fact, if you crunch the numbers, Kern County comes in fourth among California's 58 counties for having the most foreign-trained doctors.</p>

<p>California's policies of massive incarceration take a toll on children, families and neighborhoods in Oakland.</p>

<p>"Food deserts" — geographic areas that don’t have access to fresh, affordable, healthy food, such as fruits and vegetables — are often covered from an angle that reports simply on the fact that produce is lacking. But there are plenty of angles to take when tackling this tough subject. Here are just a few.</p>

<p>Tomato paste a "vegetable" in school lunches, high lead levels in New Orleans homes, and suing medical marijuana outlets, plus more from our Daily Briefing.&nbsp;</p>