In the News
The lungs Bill Thompson was born with told a gruesome, harrowing and unmistakable tale to Dr. Anthony Szema when he analyzed them and found the black spots, scarring, partially combusted jet fuel and metal inside.
The retired Army staff sergeant had suffered catastrophic lung damage from breathing incinerated waste burned in massive open-air pits and probably other irritants during his tour of duty in Iraq.
A mobile vaccine clinic was held Thursday at Coachella Valley High School in Thermal as part of continued efforts increase commitment to provide COVID vaccine to the valley's low-income communities.
"We want to deliver vaccines to the most vulnerable, most valued communities that most need this," said said Dr. Conrado Barzaga, CEO of the Desert Healthcare District.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) is proud to support the passage of the American Rescue Plan, which will ensure that millions of Hispanic families will receive the help they desperately need by putting money in hardworking peoples' pockets, vaccines in arms, people in jobs, and students in schools.
Hundreds of people received COVID19 vaccinations Thursday in Thermal at a mobile clinic.
Congressman Raul Ruiz M.D., D-Coachella, teamed up with retail pharmacy Rite Aid and Desert Health Care District to distribute the vaccines.
The First Lady of the United States Dr. Jill Biden arrived in Palm Springs Tuesday afternoon.
The First Lady's plane touched down at Palm Springs International Airport Tuesday shortly before 5 p.m.
Biden's plane was seen on the runway at the airport.
Air Force Tech Sgt. Amie Muller deployed twice to Balad Air Base in Iraq, where burn pits were more than 10 acres in size and burned 100 to 200 tons of waste per day.
She lost a battle with pancreatic cancer and died at age 36 about 10 years after her last deployment. She is survived by her husband and three children.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is continuing work it started in January, when it nominated the movie "Selena" for the National Film Registry, with a list of 25 more films it would like to see the registry add.
The movies nominated by the caucus last week are from as early as 1982, and they also include films like "Spy Kids" (2001), a comedy featuring a Latino family, and "Frida" (2002), an Oscar-winning movie about the artist Frida Kahlo. The registry typically adds new movies in December.
Enactment would allow some 42,000 veterans with disability retirement to receive full compensation, sponsors say.
Disabled veterans would get full military entitlements, under bipartisan companion measures now pending before both houses of Congress.
If passed, the bills would end the dollar-for-dollar offset of veterans' disability pay from military medical compensation for service members who left the service after being medically retired with less than 20 years' service.
Congressman Raul Ruiz, M.D., CA-36, is advocating for upgrades at Joshua Tree National Park, which hosts an average of more than three million visitors annually.
Ruiz led other Southern California members of Congress in a letter to National Park Service Deputy Director Shawn Benge urging the Administration to green light upgrades to the Cottonwood Visitor Center. Roughly half of those visitors enter the park through the Cottonwood Visitor Center.
A Coachella Valley congressional member is calling on Walmart, Rite Aid and Walgreens to bring more life-saving COVIC19 vaccines to Riverside County.