Interactive report

Get a close look at the Valley's air-quality problem with audio, video, animations, and an interactive quiz and game. You also can check the smog-test results of any California vehicle or light truck.

Listen to Bee staff

In a podcast, the reporters on the "Fighting for Air" special section discuss the pollution challenge facing the Valley.

Stories

Escaping smog

These families and people have left the Valley, blaming health problems caused by air pollution.

Graphics

ESCAPING SMOG: Patricia Jennings

Age: 52

Background: She was was a sociology professor at California State University, Bakersfield.

Why she left: A combination of asthma drugs was no match for smog, soot, dust, pollen and pesticides in Bakersfield's air. There were mornings when she had to rush to an urgent-care center for an emergency breathing treatment before giving her first lecture at the university, she said.

Now: Patricia teaches at California State University, East Bay. Her health is better, she said, and her asthma is controlled enough "so I am avoiding urgent care and emergency room visits."