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: Catherine M. Rehart

Age: 67

Background: For 18 years she has been the voice of Fresno history, writing stories for KMJ radio. She wrote "The Heartland's Heritage: An Illustrated History of Fresno County" and a six-volume series called "The Valley's Legends and Legacies." This summer she finished a book about Fresno County's sesquicentennial.

Why she left: After being diagnosed with non-infectious bronchitis that was aggravated by smog and soot, Rehart was told by her doctor to move somewhere with cleaner air or risk dying early.

Now: Her 135-year family legacy in Fresno County was broken last summer when she moved to Oregon City, Ore., to live with her daughter. Her first week in Oregon, Rehart said she was "amazed because I could walk outside, take a deep breath and not cough." After three months in Oregon, her doctor told her to throw away her asthma inhaler. She's homesick and misses lifelong friends. "I'm really sorry I had to leave," she said. "And I just think of the people who can't -- especially children."