Fighting for air

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

• Introduction: Fighting for air
• State smog test leaves polluters on the road
• Stiffer rules could speed cleanup
• Fleeing Valley's unhealthy air
• Trapped by the Valley's air
• Fresno is state's asthma capital
• Researchers looking for answers
• Farmers join clear-air fight
• Innovations for diesel vehicles stalled
• Stringent state rules still lack bite
• What has changed in five years?
• Valley air district defends improvement plan
• District's ozone strategy could backfire
• Air officials to explore drift of LA basin pollution
• Clean air can happen
• Who is on the Valley air board?
• Contacts, links to air-quality information

Escaping smog

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

• Bob Claypool
• Patricia Jennings
• The Julin family
• The Morphy family
• Catherine M. Rehart
• The Schwister family
• The Shaw family
• The Storm family
• The Terry family
• The Whipple family
• The Wiseman family

Graphics

• Play the Smogbusters board game
• Geography makes things worse
• Clearing the air: Progress and prognosis
• The worst places to breathe

ESCAPING SMOG: The Storm family

Background: Andrea Storm, 40, was a Fresno pediatric geneticist who practiced at Children's Hospital Central California in Madera County. Her husband Jeff, 44, was a database administrator at The Bee.

Why they left: Smoggy air made their 14-year-old son Brandon's breathing worse. And gray, hazy skies in Fresno were a constant reminder of the poor air, Andrea said.

Now: Last year, the Storm family moved to Durango, Colo. This summer they moved to Lakewood, near the mountains outside Denver. Brandon no longer needs high doses of asthma medicine.

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