LA Times Science Files for 2007/05/31

These are items compiled by staff of the LA Times.

• PUBLIC HEALTH
  Mexican consulates offer healthcare help
  

  A program called Ventanillas de Salud, or Health Windows, aims to provide Mexican immigrants with basic health information, cholesterol checks and other preventive tests. It also makes referrals to U.S. hospitals, health centers and government programs where patients can get care without fear of being turned over to immigration authorities. By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Anna Gorman, Times Staff Writers.

• WASHINGTON – President Bush said Wednesday that he would ask Congress to
  increase U.S. support for the global fight against HIV/AIDS to $30 billion
  

• MEDICINE
  Surgery beats drugs and therapy for treating common back ailment
  

  Surgery is twice as effective as physical therapy and drugs for relieving pain and improving mobility in one of the most common back problems, researchers reported today. By Thomas H. Maugh II, Times Staff Writer.

• INFECTIOUS DISEASES
  TB carrier, officials differ on travel ban
  

  A Georgia man infected with a potentially deadly form of drug-resistant tuberculosis told a newspaper that health authorities in Atlanta never explicitly barred him from leaving on an overseas trip that may have exposed hundreds of people in the U.S., Europe and Canada. By Jia-Rui Chong, Times Staff Writer.

• ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
  Calpine to pump up the Geysers geothermal project
  

  Hoping to tap into California’s growing appetite for renewable power, Calpine Corp. today will unveil an ambitious expansion of its geothermal operations, considered one of the state’s most promising clean-energy sources. By Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff Writer.

• ENVIRONMENT
  CB Richard Ellis is aiming to make buildings
  

  greener CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. said it would go “carbon neutral” by 2010 – cutting its creation of greenhouse gases to virtually nothing by reducing energy use and, if necessary, buying carbon offsets. By Roger Vincent, Times Staff Writer.

• WHALE WATCH
  Once-wayward humpbacks appear to be home free
  

  With no whales in sight, experts assume that the mother and calf have safely made it back to the Pacific. By Eric Bailey, Times Staff Writer.