Past the pristine doors of the Wells Fargo Center nestled a legion of people on a mission to eradicate lung disease. KCRA 3 anchor Edie Lambert was one of over 400 people who climbed the tallest building in Sacramento Saturday, as hundreds gathered to join the American Lung Association’s fight for healthy lungs and cleaner air by participating in the third annual Fight for Air Climb. They geared up in spandex, coordinated shirts and fire-retardant clothing to raise money for more than 33 million Americans suffering from lung disease. Lambert started the day with a heartfelt story about her father, who passed away from lung cancer. The event was dedicated to Steve Larson, Lung Health Amba

In April 2009, I summarized a story from Forbes that listed Sacramento as America's 6th dirtiest city for air polution, primarily ozone.  We were also ranked sixth in short-term particle pollution. That brief story can be found here. The latest list still has us at sixth for short-term particle pollution, but Sacramento has dropped to 9th dirtiest overall.  Meanwhile, California has gone from having 6 cities in the list to having 7/10 of the dirtiest cities, including the top 5. The ten dirtiest (in terms of air quality) cities in America, according to the American Lung Association and as reported by Forbes: 1: Bakersfield, Calif. 2: Los Angeles - Long Beach - Riverside, Calif. 3: Fres

Sacramento has been rated the sixth worst metropolitan statistical area for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association, as reported by Forbes.com – and other central valley communities are even worse. Here’s the top 10 (or bottom 10 depending on your perspective): 1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA 2. Bakersfield, CA 3. Visalia-Porterville, CA 4. Fresno-Madera, CA 5. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX 6. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA 7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX 8. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC/SC 9. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ 10. El Centro, CA Sacramento also ranks 7th for short-term particle pollution, but is not listed in the worst 25 areas for year-round particle p