- Newsmaker: Is so-called "outreach" to minority and women contractors a proper step toward equality or is it "preferential treatment" that violates Prop 209's ban on affirmative action in California? That's the question before the State Supreme Court, which is hearing arguments today on a case involving the city of San Jose.
- Reporter's Notebook: California's requirement for Zero-Emission Vehicles is the nation's toughest, but it's subject to regular review by the Air Resources Board. This week the Board is taking another look with this question in mind: Do consumers care enough to pay more for clean cars? We talk with Jack Doyle, former consultant to the White House and Congress, prolific writer on energy and environmental issues.
Race and Depression
It's been almost 40-years since the civil rights revolution produced laws requiring equal treatment for all Americans - including the descendents of black slaves. But even some African-Americans who have made it into the middle class still report a lack of acceptance and, as a result, a continuing sense of malaise. At all economic levels, the rates of clinical depression and suicide among blacks are said to be rising sharply. Has continued racism produced a mental health crisis? Some medical professionals say it has. But others claim that conditions really are much improved and that it's not so much a question of being black as it is a case of the blues.