Salmonella outbreak tied to California poultry plants

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture is threatening to shut down three Foster Farms poultry plants in the Central Valley today because of a salmonella outbreak that’s sickened nearly 300 people. The federal agency says it will pull its inspectors if the chicken giant doesn’t present a plan to fix the problem. Most of the illnesses have been in California, where some stores are pulling foster farm products from shelves…L.A. officials have given the developer of L.A. Live the keys to the L.A. Convention Center. The city is hoping Anschutz Entertainment Group can breathe new life into the dated downtown facility. The deal came the same day that the City Council passed a resolution renewing its request to the NFL to bring a professional football team to L.A. AEG has approval to build a downtown football stadium, which would mean tearing down and rebuilding part of the Convention Center. But those plans are on hold until AEG can strike a deal with the football league…Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will let nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants perform a type of early abortion. Backers say the new law will help expand access to abortion services in parts of the state with few physicians…

napahospitalSecurity has been beefed up, but the state’s mental hospitals are still becoming increasingly violent. That was the gist of testimony delivered to lawmakers yesterday by officials at Napa State Hospital, which is one of five state mental hospitals. It was at Napa that a psychiatric technician was strangled by a patient two years ago. Officials say the percentage of patients in state mental hospitals sent there by the criminal courts continues to grow – it’s now at 90 percent…And finally, California’s largest healthcare foundation is launching a seven-year initiative aimed at boosting the fortunes of minority boys and young men. The California Endowment plans to spend $50 million on the project. The foundation says the odds against young minority males succeeding in school and future careers are huge. It hopes to change that through programs that increase school attendance, reduce suspensions and develop youth leaders.