Sacramento, Calif., airport's parking garage part of economic development plan. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Cameron Jahn, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 26--In a metal shop near the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, as classical music blared in the background, Terry Schutten put the heat on Ron McPherson.

'We'd really like to have all the birds done next month,' said Schutten, talking loudly over the din of welding torches and polishing wheels.

Sacramento County's chief executive was pressing the welder to finish 12 giant stainless-steel birds -- each to be covered with plastic the colors of fresh salmon, lemon rind and mint ice cream, among others -- for the grand opening next month of Sacramento International Airport's first parking garage.

'We can't be done by then,' McPherson said quietly, shaking his head. He said he can deliver only one complete bird for the Sept. 23 ceremony.

You can understand Schutten's impatience.

Designed by artist Dennis Oppenheim, the birds are the final flourishing touches, a signature piece of artwork, for a $65 million garage meant to dazzle travelers arriving in California's capital.

'The idea is you round the corner and all these birds -- it's this vision of a flock of birds coming in to land,' Schutten said. 'Our goal is to have the best-looking garage in the country.'

But that's not all.

The 6,000-space garage is a precursor to an airport makeover that business leaders view as a ticket to the big leagues. The 37-year-old airport is in line for its most extensive renovation, including $1 billion for a new terminal, complete with a double-decker roadway, top-flight hotel, control tower and runway extension.

That work will not start until at least 2006, but local officials are hitching their fortunes to the airport, a $2.4 billion economic driver for the region that provides more than 14,000 jobs.

While Sacramento County's flagging budget does not benefit directly from airport operations, county officials believe that a profitable airport will translate into more jobs, commerce and sales tax dollars.

'County government is in a sort of shrinking phase, but the airport is one department that runs like a business,' said Schutten.

The airport's latest strategy to boost business is to compete head-to-head with airports in San Francisco and Oakland for passengers, while extending its reach into Redding, Reno and Tahoe, said airport spokeswoman Cheryl Marcell.

The more aggressive approach could transform the airport into the centerpiece of the region's economy, possibly creating more jobs than the current anchors of health care and government, said Robert Fountain, economist for the Sacramento Regional Research Institute, a joint venture of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization and California State University, Sacramento.

'I think the issue is people have trouble seeing Sacramento beyond its next 1 million people,' he said. 'By 2030, it's a more sophisticated, complicated picture, and that's where this airport will become a significant piece of our economy.'

Rick LaPado is an example of how the airport lures jobs to the region. When LaPado uprooted his 250-person operation in Sunnyvale in 2002, he passed over Monterey and San Francisco expressly because of Sacramento's 'easy-to-use' airport.

'The ultimate discriminator was the airport,' said LaPado, a vice president and general manager with defense contractor Northrup Grumman Mission Systems, which now leases 250,000 square feet of space at McClellan Business Park. 'It was really facilitating travel for my customers that drove me to this decision.'

While the airline industry as a whole has taken a hit since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Sacramento International has added five new airlines. Carriers now fly nonstop to 25 cities, up from 20 in 2000.

LaPado recently boarded his 11th nonstop flight to Washington D.C., something he couldn't do until JetBlue began offering that route in May. United launched similar service in June.

Mexicana Airlines established the airport's first international flight with service to Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2002.

Passenger totals ticked up 5 percent last year, topping 9 million for the first time. Officials expect to see 17 million by 2020.

The additional flights and growing passenger rolls strengthen Paul Hahn's sales pitch. As the county's economic development director, Hahn is charged with rustling up business any way possible.

'When we're chasing businesses, having excellent plane service and transportation service is very, very important,' he said. 'Flying nonstop out here, from New York say, is very critical to where (executives) place their business.'

The airport also wants to wring more money from concessions and parking. When the new terminal is completed, passengers will see minimalls and eateries on both sides of the security screeners so people who are not traveling also can shop. That terminal, replacing the existing Terminal B, will be built where a daily parking lot now sits.

The new parking garage nearly completed next to Terminal A also will boost airport revenues, bringing in another $2.7 million a year with a $2 hike in daily parking rates to $12 per day, Marcell said.

The building will feature an automated system to count the number of cars per floor, and electric signs on each level will inform drivers whether spaces are available.

The new garage will serve both terminals with hourly and daily parking. Rental cars and economy parking will remain in the remote lots served by shuttle buses.

Also on tap is a new, three-story central processing building that will connect terminals A and B as the airport's sole entry point. Marcell said passengers will check bags on the ground floor, pick up their boarding passes on the second floor, and ride to their gates on a people mover on the top floor.

The third floor also will have access to the lobby of a new hotel, a Starbucks coffee shop and a Chili's Too restaurant. Beyond the security gate, passengers will be able to wait for their flights in two breweries, Gordon Biersch and Pyramid Ale.

The new control tower is expected to open by 2007, the runway extension by 2009, and the new Terminal B, hotel and central processing complex could open as early as 2010.

A few plane lengths from the airport's eastern runway, construction teams are at work on another project that promises to create more airport-dependent businesses. Metro Air Park, 20 million square feet of industrial and office space, is designed for 38,000 jobs when it is completed over the next two decades.

Economists predict the airport will one day be surrounded by a ring of similar projects. The first one may get off the ground in November if voters in Sutter County, a few miles north of the airport, approve turning 7,500 acres of farmland into industrial parks and housing for as many as 39,000 residents.

Meanwhile, planners are working to enhance travelers' first impression of the Sacramento International Airport with more than $1.4 million in public art.

In the next few months, passengers walking out of Terminal A will gaze onto the airport's own version of the Pacific Flyway. The 12 bird sculptures, each with the wingspan of a small airplane, will hang from the new parking garage, some banking upward and others diving head-first toward the ground.

When the birds finally are bolted into place later this year, cascading planter boxes will begin to fill in the space between each sculpture to soften the six-story concrete facade.

The garage will connect to Terminal A via an enclosed 150-foot pedestrian bridge outfitted with a $105,000 custom-made wool carpet designed by Bay Area artist Seyed Alavi. The carpet depicts the twists and turns of the Sacramento River in a full palette of colors.

The airport is in line for a third piece of public art next summer, a bronze statue of an 8-foot-tall woman with open arms to welcome international passengers to Sacramento. Local artist Camille VandenBerge's statue cost $38,000.

'One day these projects will show up in all the art books, and people will come to the airport just to see the art,' Supervisor Muriel Johnson said while surveying the new garage recently. 'We've only got one chance to do this right.'

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com.

(c) 2004, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

SACRAMENTO STATE RESPONDS TO CAMPUS NEEDS AFTER SHOOTING - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Oct. 22 -- California State University Sacramento issued the following press release:

Sacramento State officials offered sympathy Thursday to the family of a student who died following an altercation on campus Oct. 21.

Campus police were called to the American River Courtyard residence hall at 2:23 p.m. regarding a disturbance. One student, Scott Hawkins, 23, was allegedly beaten by a suite mate, Quran Jones, 19.

When officers arrived, Jones confronted them with a knife, according to police. Officers fired several pepper balls at him when he refused to drop the knife, but it had no effect and when he charged the officers, they fired their weapons, police say.

Police found Hawkins on the floor with extensive injuries. He later died at UC Davis Medical Center.

Jones underwent surgery for his gunshot wounds and is listed in stable condition. He is under arrest on an open count of homicide and attempted murder of a police officer.

Police quickly contained the incident and ensured there was no further danger to the campus. A motive has not been determined.

'I want to express my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Scott Hawkins, who died yesterday in a terrible act of violence,' Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez said at the Thursday press conference. 'His life was far too short, and this is a tragedy that affects everyone in the Sacramento State community.'

Campus Police Chief Dan Davis and Vice President for Student Affairs Lori Varlotta also made statements and answered reporters' question.

'The brave officers who responded to the scene contained the incident and prevented further loss of life,' Gonzalez said. 'They risked their lives to protect the campus community, and they have my most sincere thanks for their courage.'

Sacramento State officials quickly arranged help for members of the campus community who needed to talk with someone. Crisis counselors were available to residence hall students Wednesday night. The students could also reach a chaplain through a special number. Psychological services are available to students through Sacramento State's Health Center at (916) 278-6416 during business hours. Faculty and staff can obtain counseling services through the Employee Assistance Program, (916) 278-5018.

A special website, www.csus.edu/pa/CampusSafety was set up with contact information and news updates. And a hotline was established at (916) 614-3277 with a recorded message guiding callers to campus resources.

The criminal investigation is being led by the Sacramento Police Department. Sacramento State police and administrators are cooperating fully and assisting the investigation.

Sacramento, Calif.-Area Hospital to Be Remodeled, Build New Facilities. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Lisa Rapaport, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 12--Sutter Health will spend $200 million over the next five years to remodel Sutter General and build a new women's and children's hospital in midtown Sacramento, hospital officials said Friday.

The capital project is part of a 10-year regional expansion plan that includes additions to emergency and trauma services at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, new medical office buildings in Roseville and Lincoln, and the possibility of construction in Davis and Auburn.

The ambitious plans come at a time when the vast majority of hospitals in the state are losing money on patient care and struggling to maintain stable credit ratings.

Financial problems were a main force behind 23 hospital closures in the state between 1995 and 2000, according to a recent study by the University of California at Berkeley.

Sutter, however, has investment-grade bonds and saw substantial gains in its operating surplus last year.

For the year ended Dec. 31, investments and real estate sales helped Sutter achieve net income of $111 million on revenues of $3.5 billion.

'There's been a lot of down news of hospitals holding on for dear life, but now there's been a turnaround for us,' said Jim Gray, chair of the Sutter central region board of trustees. 'We have modest and conservative expectations of increased revenue and cost reduction to finance expansions.'

Sutter officials said their health system will also go to the bond market and the community to help fund expansions, which will ultimately include work on a midtown Sacramento business improvement district.

As part of the master growth plan, Sutter Memorial in east Sacramento will close once its services are moved to Sutter General and the new women's and children's facility. While hospital officials offered no date for closure, they said it is likely to come before 2008 to avoid major state-mandated earthquake safety renovations.

'We focused our first phase of planning on the regional expansion, and one of the next phases is to decide the fate of Memorial,' said Thomas Gagen, chief executive officer of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.

By fall, Sutter will develop capital plans for Auburn Faith Community Hospital, which will need retrofitting or a new facility, and the 48-bed Sutter Davis, which needs more room for outpatient services, Gagen said.

Sutter said it will spend about $156 million to build its new 156-bed women's and children's hospital at 29th and L Streets. The seven-story building will house maternity services, a neonatal intensive care unit and pediatric wards for neurosurgery, cardiac and cancer care.

At Sutter General, an additional $43 million will be spent to add a new pediatric emergency unit to the recently expanded ER and to accommodate cardiovascular and transplant services now offered at Sutter Memorial. The work will transform Sutter General into a 290-bed facility.

The health system will spend another $25 million in Placer County by the end of 2003.

Much of this will fund nine new treatment bays for Sutter Roseville's emergency department and eight additional beds for the intensive care unit.

Sutter will also add a 62,000-square-foot medical office to the Roseville campus and purchase land to erect a 12,000-square-foot medical office in Lincoln.

Sutter said it has yet to determine whether the region will gain jobs as a result of planned expansions. Much of the construction relocates existing services to new facilities.

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com

UPDATE REGARDING RECALLED H1N1 VACCINE IN SACRAMENTO COUNTY - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Dec. 16 -- Sacramento County issued the following press release:

Sacramento County Public Health has completed its review of vaccine inventory following yesterday's Sanofi Pasteur recall of pediatric single-dose syringes of H1N1 flu vaccine. The recall was not related to safety problems, but rather because some lots were found to be slightly below the potency standard for the vaccine. The review has shown that Sacramento County Public Health received 400 doses of one recalled lot. Of these, 43 doses were administered at the Public Health Division's H1N1 vaccination clinics held between December 10th and December 12th. The rest of the doses are still in inventory and have not been used. 'We are in the process of pulling all 43 Vaccination Consent Forms to notify parents that their child received a dose of this recalled vaccine,' said Sacramento County Health Officer Glennah Trochet, M.D. 'The vaccine is still considered effective even though the potency was slightly below the standard.' Trochet said the parents will be told that no action is necessary on their part, other than making sure that their child receives a second dose of the vaccine one month after they received the first dose.

The Public Health Division is working with medical providers in the community who also received the recalled batches of vaccine to make sure that they are aware of the recall and to help them find substitute doses for their patients.

Per instructions from the California Department of Public Health, the unused vaccine will be returned to the manufacturer. For more information, go to www.SCPH.com and click on the H1N1 Flu Clinics graphic.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

REP. MATSUI PRAISES SACRAMENTO CLEAN-TECH COMPANIES FOR ACTIVE PURSUIT OF FEDERAL FUNDING. - States News Service

WASHINGTON -- The following information was released by the office of California Rep. Doris Matsui:

After touring green job training sites in Sacramento, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) returned to the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the 111th Congress this week, praising Sacramento's burgeoning clean-energy industry's dedication to and aggressive pursuit of federal grant funding. The federal government made historic levels of grant funding available in 2009 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including the largest federal investment in renewable energy, energy-efficiency, and green job training in our nation's history.

Sacramento has been one of the largest beneficiaries of this funding in the country, largely due to the aggressiveness of local business, government agencies, and non-profit organizations in seeking out and applying for competitive grants. As a result of their efforts and the grants made available through the Recovery Act, our local economy has received $27,126,256 for job training and assistance in clean-energy jobs, and $18,651,100 for energy efficiency improvements and investments. The almost $48 million is in addition to the $127,506,261 million SMUD and their partners are receiving to install a comprehensive regional smart grid system to serve the Sacramento community.

'As I toured the green job-training programs and construction sites of Sacramento last week, I was pleased to see Sacramento's growth in this sector,' said Matsui. 'Our local agencies, business owners, citizens, and students exemplify a community which is engaged in finding sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-efficient solutions to our nation's energy woes. I also saw the eagerness of our local workforce to gain new skills to take advantage of employment opportunities that are coming as a result of these federal investments. As an emerging clean-tech capitol, Sacramento's economy is poised to become a leader in the green industry for the twenty-first century.'

Last month, McClellan Park-based Renewable Energy Institute International (REII) received a $20,000,000 grant in federal funding authorized by the Recovery Act. REII's receipt of this award showcases the opportunities federal agencies have made available through the stimulus bill and is just one example of many Sacramento businesses which have competitively sought after grants.

'We are very happy that the Department of Energy has selected this project to demonstrate the conversion of biomass to renewable diesel fuel,' said Greg Tamblyn, REII Executive Director. 'The commercial deployment of the technologies that will be demonstrated under this grant have the potential to play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing the United States' reliance on foreign oil and creating high quality green jobs.'

Congresswoman Matsui continued, 'REII is just one of many constituents which I have witnessed succeed in securing federal funding. Last year, over $13,000,000 was awarded in stimulus dollars to Sacramento County, the City of Sacramento and other jurisdictions for energy efficiency improvements and training programs alone. Just this week, the Department of Health and Human Services released $48,660,000 in block grant funding for FY2010 to support the state of California's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). As Congress reconvenes for 2010, I will continue to advocate for federal funding in our region.'

To see where over $525 million in federal stimulus dollars was distributed around Sacramento, visit www.matsui.house.gov/recovery for a comprehensive list and interactive Google Map. Constituents interested in more information about applying for federal grants are encouraged to call Congresswoman Matsui's Sacramento office at (916) 498-5600.

REP. MATSUI PRAISES SACRAMENTO CLEAN-TECH COMPANIES FOR ACTIVE PURSUIT OF FEDERAL FUNDING - US Fed News Service, Including US State News

WASHINGTON, Jan. 15 -- Rep. Doris O. Matsui, D-Calif. (5th CD), issued the following news release:

After touring green job training sites in Sacramento, Congresswoman Doris Matsui (D-CA) returned to the House of Representatives for the Second Session of the 111th Congress this week, praising Sacramento's burgeoning clean-energy industry's dedication to and aggressive pursuit of federal grant funding. The federal government made historic levels of grant funding available in 2009 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including the largest federal investment in renewable energy, energy-efficiency, and green job training in our nation's history.

Sacramento has been one of the largest beneficiaries of this funding in the country, largely due to the aggressiveness of local business, government agencies, and non-profit organizations in seeking out and applying for competitive grants. As a result of their efforts and the grants made available through the Recovery Act, our local economy has received $27,126,256 for job training and assistance in clean-energy jobs, and $18,651,100 for energy efficiency improvements and investments. The almost $48 million is in addition to the $127,506,261 million SMUD and their partners are receiving to install a comprehensive regional smart grid system to serve the Sacramento community.

'As I toured the green job-training programs and construction sites of Sacramento last week, I was pleased to see Sacramento's growth in this sector,' said Matsui. 'Our local agencies, business owners, citizens, and students exemplify a community which is engaged in finding sustainable, eco-friendly, and cost-efficient solutions to our nation's energy woes. I also saw the eagerness of our local workforce to gain new skills to take advantage of employment opportunities that are coming as a result of these federal investments. As an emerging clean-tech capitol, Sacramento's economy is poised to become a leader in the green industry for the twenty-first century.'

Last month, McClellan Park-based Renewable Energy Institute International (REII) received a $20,000,000 grant in federal funding authorized by the Recovery Act. REII's receipt of this award showcases the opportunities federal agencies have made available through the stimulus bill and is just one example of many Sacramento businesses which have competitively sought after grants.

'We are very happy that the Department of Energy has selected this project to demonstrate the conversion of biomass to renewable diesel fuel,' said Greg Tamblyn, REII Executive Director. 'The commercial deployment of the technologies that will be demonstrated under this grant have the potential to play a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, decreasing the United States' reliance on foreign oil and creating high quality green jobs.'

Congresswoman Matsui continued, 'REII is just one of many constituents which I have witnessed succeed in securing federal funding. Last year, over $13,000,000 was awarded in stimulus dollars to Sacramento County, the City of Sacramento and other jurisdictions for energy efficiency improvements and training programs alone. Just this week, the Department of Health and Human Services released $48,660,000 in block grant funding for FY2010 to support the state of California's Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). As Congress reconvenes for 2010, I will continue to advocate for federal funding in our region.'

To see where over $525 million in federal stimulus dollars was distributed around Sacramento, visit www.matsui.house.gov/recovery for a comprehensive list and interactive Google Map. Constituents interested in more information about applying for federal grants are encouraged to call Congresswoman Matsui's Sacramento office at (916) 498-5600.For more information please contact: Sarabjit Jagirdar, Email:- htsyndication@hindustantimes.com.

Official Takes Notice of Cancer Scare in Sacramento, Calif., Neighborhood. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Chris Bowman, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Dec. 31--Three months after going public with fears of too many cancers in their neighborhood, residents on the southern outskirts of Sacramento see the first hint of expanded government help.

Sacramento County Health Officer Dr. Glennah Trochet has invited some residents in the Calvine-Florin area to meet with her and top state health officials next month.

Though the officials have made no promises, their call for the Jan. 16 discussion opens a crack in the state Department of Health Services' reluctance to use more than statistical analyses to investigate.

'There is now an activist group there that is not convinced there isn't a problem, so we need to engage in dialogues,' Trochet said.

Volunteers organized as the Concerned Residents Initiative believe their neighborhood just north of Elk Grove has an abnormally high rate of leukemia and lymphoma, which stem from cancerous cells in the bone marrow.

The cancers have struck at least 60 residents -- 17 of them children -- in the past 12 years, The Bee has verified. The diseases have killed 16, including two girls and a 3-year-old boy.

The victims were diagnosed while they lived in a 3-square-mile area between Florin and Calvine roads, or shortly after they moved away. Twelve lived on or within a few blocks of Auberry Drive, a milelong street with 127 homes.

Some residents suspect something toxic in their air, soil or drinking water is partly responsible for the cancers and fear more people will fall ill before the culprits are identified.

They hope to get the kind of leave-no-stone-unturned investigations that were undertaken with suspected cancer clusters -- an unusual grouping not likely due to chance -- in areas such as Long Island, N.Y.; Woburn, Mass.; and McFarland in the San Joaquin Valley.

But veterans of those investigations warn that results have been confounding and disappointing.

Scientists descended on the tiny Kern County farm town of McFarland in the 1980s believing pesticides most likely were to blame for the various cancers that struck 13 children.

More than 20 years of multiple environmental and health surveys totaling millions of dollars failed to unravel the mystery, said Richard Kreutzer, the principal investigator.

'We could not demonstrate anything we could assign as a factor causing the cluster,' said Kreutzer, now director of the state's environmental health investigation branch.

In the Calvine-Florin area, health officials maintain there is no evidence of a cancer cluster based on their statistical analyses of cases reported to the state.

But they have encouraged residents to come forward with cases and possible environmental causes.

'We want to find out what the questions are and hear what the issues are,' Trochet said of the upcoming meeting. 'It's an opportunity for us to do some education and find out how best to communicate with residents.'

The meeting would be the first between health officials and the community since The Bee broke the news of the residents' cancer concerns on Sept. 22.

Dee Lewis, a resident near Auberry Drive who is leading the neighborhood's search for answers, called Trochet's invitation 'a good start.'

Earlier this month, the state health department invited Lewis to join a group of nationally recognized scientists and public health advocates working to establish an environmental heath tracking system for California.

Such a system would help scientists spot disease clusters in individual communities and neighborhoods, such as Calvine-Florin, and act swiftly to resolve them.

For now, Lewis and her growing band of volunteers are pressing state officials with troubling questions:

What gave us cancer? How can we protect our children? Is there something different about the Calvine-Florin area? Are there clusters of cancer cases in neighborhoods here?

The odds are stacked against them getting definitive answers soon, if at all.

Even if the state looked deeper, and even if it found an unusually high cancer rate, chances are it would be the result of a random occurrence, most scientists say.

Even if it were an environmentally spawned cluster, health investigators would not likely find it in their computer analyses. Populations such as Calvine-Florin's 40,000 are too small for scientists to distinguish true clusters from statistical flukes.

And even if residents uncovered evidence of cancer-causing contamination, it likely would take huge political support to launch an investigation.

'These studies require a huge investment of human capital. They're not just academic exercises. They're political campaigns. And unless there's the political will, studies don't get done,' said Jan Schlichtmann, an attorney who represented families in the working-class Boston suburb of Woburn.

Residents' willingness to help solve the puzzle is key, said Schlichtmann, whose court battle over industrial pollution and childhood leukemia was the subject of the popular book and movie 'A Civil Action.'

'What I learned from Woburn is that nobody is going to care more about that community than the community itself,' he said.

Calvine-Florin is a relatively young, middle-class and transient community without much clout. Most of the community didn't exist until the mid-1980s when tracts of starter homes replaced farm fields.

It has nowhere near the influence of Marin County, one of the nation's wealthiest enclaves, nor the influence of New York's Nassau and Suffolk counties, home to some of the most well-connected people in the country.

Federal officials recently confirmed plans for a joint investigation of Marin's high rate of breast cancers -- 223 per 100,000 people compared with the national rate of 140 per 100,000.

The investigation will pull researchers from the National Cancer Institute, the National Institute of the Environmental Health Sciences, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

On Long Island, a group of women drew on their political connections and public relations savvy to engineer an astonishing achievement: Congress' 1993 passage of a law forcing the National Cancer Institute to spend about $30 million for an unprecedented series of studies on pollution and breast cancer in their communities.

'People with more resources and better connected to policymakers can make the wheel squeak louder,' said Joseph Lyou, executive director of the California League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, which is pushing for environmental health tracking.

On the flip side, Calvine-Florin is not poor enough nor disenfranchised enough to attract interests that come to the aid of the defenseless.

McFarland, a town of mostly farm workers, became a cause celèbre in the 1980s for politicians, pesticide-reform groups and civil rights advocates. The United Farm Workers union organized a well-funded campaign around the town's tragedy, complete with a video, 'The Wrath of Grapes.' '

In Calvine-Florin, Lewis and her volunteers have been building political and media attention from scratch.

'We're middle class and we get placated, kind of like parents do to the middle child,' said Lewis, 37, a stay-at-home mom with two children.

Her battle is hardly unique, said Shelley Hearne, a visiting scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore.

'Far too often, neighborhoods are forced to do the detective work that should be the job of public health experts,' Hearne said.

So far, Lewis and her helpers have not found any environmental smoking guns.

But in the past three months, she has formed a grass-roots group, held community and family meetings and recruited more than 200 volunteers who passed out health surveys at 17,000 area homes.

Lewis' group is verifying information from the 400 cancer questionnaires returned so far and plans to canvass another 8,000 homes in the area.

Meanwhile, individual scientists, engineers and doctors have volunteered to help residents evaluate disease patterns and test for pollutants. A pair of University of Arizona scientists recently extracted core samples from several area trees to check for toxic metals absorbed from soil and groundwater.

Also, Lewis and other residents have engaged two law firms that recently began sampling soil and water at the homes of cancer patients.

Some scientists and residents experienced in cancer cluster investigations said Calvine-Florin residents should not pin their hopes on environmental testing.

The best insights into the causes of the cancers won't come from reconstructing past exposure, they said. Rather, the causes will be revealed by following a group of healthy individuals who have different levels of pollution exposure and monitoring their health over time.

When scientists suggested such a 'cohort' study to the Long Island breast cancer activists a decade ago, 'most of them screamed, 'No, you should study me,' ' recalled Barbara Balaban, 73, a social worker who helped organize the women.

Scientists ended up doing a 'case-control' investigation of the prior exposures of 1,000 local women, half of them with breast cancer.

The study, released in August, found no evidence that pollution caused breast cancer. In retrospect, Balaban wishes the activists had put egos and individual concerns aside.

'Studying 'me' is not as fruitful as studying people who are unborn, newborn and adolescents,' Balaban said. 'That's the population where we really have to look and see what toxic exposures there really are.'

To see more of The Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sacbee.com

Two More Possible Cases of Outbreak Appear in Sacramento, Calif., Area. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

By Edie Lau, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Apr. 15--The number of possible cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Sacramento County has risen to three, and the county's health chief predicted the number would continue to grow.

Dr. Glennah Trochet, Sacramento County public health officer, said Monday that all three SARS instances are associated with travel to Asia.

The first case in Sacramento was identified last week; over the past weekend, physicians reported two more cases. Trochet said the three are unrelated.

'Right now we have no evidence of any spread of this disease in this community,' she said.

Nevertheless, she predicted the number of residents affected will rise to 10 or more before the international epidemic is over because 'we have a lot of travel to that area of the world.'

The respiratory syndrome first surfaced in China's Guangdong province in November. It has since appeared in other parts of Asia, in North America, Europe, South America, Africa and the Middle East. The vast majority of cases are in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Adding to the anxiety, the New York Times reported that 47 new SARS cases have been reported in the Shanxi interior province of northern China, heralding the possible spread of the disease through that country's vast, medically underserved hinterlands.

A World Health Organization tally showed 3,169 cases worldwide as of Monday. Of those, 144 people have died, and 1,499 have recovered.

In the United States, the number of cases totals 193, 41 of which are in California.

SARS is an insidious illness in that it comes on like the flu, but may rapidly deteriorate into a lethal pneumonia.

The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines American cases of SARS this way:

-- Illness began on or after Feb. 1; and

-- Fever is greater than 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit; and

-- Patient exhibits one or more signs of respiratory illness, including coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, hypoxia or radiographic findings of either pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome; and

-- Within 10 days of onset, patient traveled to China; Hanoi, Vietnam; and/or Singapore -- areas of documented or suspected community transmission of SARS; or patient had close contact within 10 days of onset with a person who traveled to a SARS area or has a suspected case of SARS.

Travel includes visiting an airport in a SARS hot spot. Close contact means having cared for, lived with or had direct contact with respiratory secretions or body fluids of a suspected SARS patient.

The cause of SARS has yet to be confirmed. The leading hypothesis is that the infection is caused by a coronavirus, which until now in humans was associated with the common cold, not killer pneumonia. The virus suspected of causing the syndrome is completely new to science.

In California, the illness has struck both genders equally, with 22 males and 19 females counted as suspect cases, according to Lea Brooks, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health Services.

Brooks said the people involved range in age from 1 1/2 to 85 years, four of them children under age 10. The vast majority -- 38 -- traveled recently; the remaining three were household contacts of travelers.

In Sacramento, Trochet declined to give the age or gender of the individuals involved, saying that with such a small number of cases, it would be too easy to determine from the details the patients' identities.

She also declined to say whether any of the people were hospitalized. 'Our understanding is that all of the cases are getting better,' she said.

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Smog Officials Declare Sacramento, Calif., Air 'Unhealthy' Five Days in a Row. - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

The Sacramento Bee, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 13--Valley and foothill residents in the Sacramento area are enduring one of the longest stretches of unhealthy air in recent years, smog officials said Monday.

The siege of smog has children's sports coaches and summer camp counselors on alert as the worst of the pollution comes during the peak swimming team practice and the start of soccer and football drills.

'Today's a hot day, so we're not going to do a lot of running,' Miguel Guido, an assistant soccer coach, told his Land Park boys team as it lined up for practice Monday afternoon.

Other coaches canceled workouts because of the heat and smog.

Sustained triple-digit temperatures, stagnant air and a strong system of high pressure over the region have combined to cook up high concentrations of smog in the Valley and keep a lid on the brew, from Sacramento to Grass Valley and Placerville, meteorologists said.

The scourge began Thursday when smog levels in Sacramento and western El Dorado counties reached 150 on the Air Quality Index -- unhealthy for sensitive people.

Ozone levels on Saturday, Sunday and Monday reached 174, a level deemed unhealthy for everyone. By state law, smog officials issue health advisories warning people to avoid prolonged periods of vigorous outdoor exercise in the late afternoon and into the evening, when smog levels peak.

The smog is forecast to be just as bad through Thursday, said Kerry Shearer, spokesman for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. The high temperature Monday was 105 in Sacramento and triple-digit heat is expected to continue through Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

On Sunday, the Sacramento area broke a record with its fourth consecutive day of 'unhealthy' air.

The region experienced higher levels of smog in the 1970s through early 1990s, when pollution controls on vehicles and businesses were not as strict. But the episodes typically last hours, not days, Shearer said.

'This is the only time I'm aware of when we have had a smog episode of this length, with numbers this high,' said Shearer, who has been with the air district since 1989.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, ozone levels measured at monitoring stations in Folsom and Sloughhouse in southeastern Sacramento County surpassed the federal health standard, marking the sixth such violation this year -- with 2 1/2 months remaining in the smog season. By comparison, the Sacramento region exceeded the federal ozone standard three times all of last year, Shearer said.

Factors combine to fuel the string of bad-air days.

Higher temperatures accelerate the formation of ozone from tailpipe emissions -- mainly nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons.

The stubborn ridge of high pressure over the area pushes air down. The compression heats the air, forming a thermal lid over the cooler air below.

This 'inversion layer' traps pollutants close to the ground, and the lack of wind ensures the smog will remain.

Shearer said the thermal lid was evident in the change of sky color from a hue of tea to clear as he flew over the Valley on Friday.

'It seemed you could see a very distinct line above 3,000 feet,' Shearer said.

Much of the day's pollution is carrying over to the following day, especially in the foothills, when ozone lingers throughout the night and early morning, said Charlie Knoderer, a meteorologist with Sonoma Technology Inc, a consultant for the Sacramento air district.

'Yesterday's pollution is added to today's,' Knoderer said.

The spate of smog heightens concerns among parents and coaches because of studies showing children's respiratory systems are more vulnerable than adults to ozone.

In addition, a recent study by the University of Southern California showed that children who routinely compete in vigorous sports on smoggy days are three times more likely to get asthma than their nonathletic peers.

Schools and sports leagues are getting the message as the air district steps up its 'spare-the-air' broadcasts on days predicted to be smoggy.

'If we have poor air quality for our sports with youth, we postpone or cancel the event,' said Rick Hormann, a youth sports coordinator for Folsom's Parks and Recreation Department. 'We're not going to put kids in danger.'

El Dorado Hills makes the call depending on the temperature, which is typically linked to smog, said Matt Lishman, a recreation supervisor with the El Dorado Hills Community Services District, who canceled a T-ball game last month.

'It was hard to breathe,' said Lishman, noting it was 112 degrees that day.

SPARE THE AIR

Active children and adults, and people with respiratory diseases such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion. Everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

Things you can do to Spare The Air:

--Eliminate all vehicle trips

--Use public transit whenever possible

--Carpool with friends or co-workers

--Eliminate the use of gasoline-powered yard tools

--Postpone errand

--Bicycle or walk in the morning before air quality hits unhealthy levels

--Work from home instead of driving to work if your employer is supportive

On the Web

--To monitor current air quality conditions, visit www.sparetheair.com .

Source: Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District

By Chris Bowman and Alicia Roca

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