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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Group Files Civil-Rights Complaint Over Port of Oakland Pollution

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Friday, April 7, 2017   

OAKLAND, Calif. – Millions of Californians live close to a major port and this week, community leaders in West Oakland filed a federal complaint alleging that the continued pollution in their community of color is a violation of the Civil Rights Act.

Margaret Gordon, co-founder of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, says her group has tried for years to get the port and the City of Oakland to do something about the dirty air.

She says a Pacific Institute study showed that diesel fumes in West Oakland are 90 times higher than the state average.

"Our complaint is that since 2010, the City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland would not do a comprehensive emission-reduction plan around this property, which they are expanding to bring in new commodities," she explained.

The group wants the federal government to investigate its allegations of environmental discrimination. It's asking the city and the port to implement strategies similar to those at other California ports, which promote zero-emissions vehicles and equipment.

In a statement, Mike Zampa, communications director for the Port of Oakland, claims the port is one of the cleanest in the country, reducing diesel emissions by 98 percent and ship emissions by three-quarters since 2005.

Earthjustice attorney Yana Garcia helped file the complaint. She says the health impacts to the area remain severe.

"The rates of hospitalizations are much higher in West Oakland than other places in the city," she said. "The hospitalizations are specifically for asthma, often in children around five years of age."

The Alameda County Department of Health reports that life expectancy is nine years shorter in West Oakland than other parts of the county.


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