Health gains that result from adopting new fad diets can be offset when they are taken too far, which is what nutrition experts in Long Beach say they are seeing more of, especially among young women.

Community members and elected officials recently celebrated the installation of 75 water bottle refilling stations in the eastern Coachella Valley. In a community that has long struggled with high levels of arsenic in the groundwater, these new water stations are providing much-needed access to safe drinking water for local students and families.

Sugar sweetened beverages have become a daily ritual for far too many. With soda often cheaper than bottled water, and with the questionable quality of the local tap water across many parts of Kern County, it isn’t hard to understand why that is the case.

Jeremiah Castillo, 13, is a seventh-grader at Cruickshank Middle School, part of the Merced City Elementary School District, which in January approved a new policy requiring all students to pay $1.50 for extra helpings during meal time. Castillo recently testified at a community forum hosted by the district, where he spoke out against the policy.