Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has fired or accepted resignations from 30 workers following a sixth-month investigation into allegations of misconduct, including on-the-job use of alcohol or drugs, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday. Their last day was Friday, said Laura Elek, spokeswoman at the 2,300-employee hospital. Hospital officials will not release the names or departments of those involved, but said they did not work directly with patients and that no doctors were involved.

Blue Cross of California and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center reached a multiyear service agreement, resolving disagreements that had led Blue Cross to drop Pomona Valley from its provider list last month. The California Department of Managed Health Care had ordered Blue Cross to cover its members' visits to the hospital until it had prepared adequate alternative care plans. The new contract between Blue Cross, a unit of health insurer WellPoint Inc.

Blue Cross of California and Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center reached a multiyear service agreement, resolving disagreements that had led Blue Cross to drop Pomona Valley from its provider list last month. The California Department of Managed Health Care had ordered Blue Cross to cover its members' visits to the hospital until it had prepared adequate alternative care plans. The new contract between Blue Cross, a unit of health insurer WellPoint Inc.

Only a few months after a controversial deal created the nation's largest health insurer, the new WellPoint Inc. is raising the ire of a top California regulator. State Department of Managed Health Care Director Cindy Ehnes this week took the unusual step of ordering WellPoint's Blue Cross of California unit to reinstate coverage at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and allow its members to seek treatment there.

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center was sued Tuesday in federal district court in Los Angeles for requiring foreign-born nurses to speak only English on the job. Attorney Robin Toma of the American Civil Liberties Union charged that the hospital prevented Filipina nurses in the hospital's maternity unit from speaking their native Togalog while on breaks, in the cafeteria, or on the telephone.

A federal judge ordered Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to pay legal fees for a Filipina nurse who was demoted after she refused to obey a "no Tagalog" rule and sued the hospital over the language ban. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie made the latest order Monday.

A federal judge will allow the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to join a civil rights lawsuit accusing a Pomona hospital of requiring foreign-born nurses to speak only English at work. Under a motion granted Monday by U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie, the EEOC can conduct depositions and present witnesses in the trial involving Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center.

A Pomona hospital's "no Tagalog" rule did not discriminate against Filipino nurses because the policy was adopted to improve employee morale and job performance, a federal judge ruled this week. But Judge Edward Rafeedie ruled that the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center did violate the civil rights of a Filipina nurse who refused to obey the language rule and filed a discrimination lawsuit in 1989.

A woman who sold her infant son for $1,500 was arrested Saturday after family members discovered what she had done, police said. Norma Herrera, 36, the mother of 10 children living in another country, apparently did not want the baby, who was born Aug. 30, said Pomona Police Cpl. Mike Keltner. Another woman, identified only as "Maria," did, Keltner said.

The regional office of the National Labor Relations Board has turned aside objections from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to a vote by its registered nurses last fall to join a labor union. The hospital said that supporters of the Service Employees International Union had vandalized opponents' cars, threatened them with lawsuits, smeared feces on a bathroom wall, defaced anti-union literature and videotaped the polling area.

A woman who sold her infant son for $1,500 was arrested Saturday after family members discovered what she had done, police said. Norma Herrera, 36, the mother of 10 children living in another country, apparently did not want the baby, who was born Aug. 30, said Pomona Police Cpl. Mike Keltner. Another woman, identified only as "Maria," did, Keltner said.

Police are searching for a man who allegedly stabbed his girlfriend to death, injured a man who came to her aid, and fled with his 3-year-old son Tuesday. Police did not release the 28-year-old woman's name because her family had not been notified. The toddler was found unharmed at his grandmother's house in Chino. Investigators say that about 1 p.m., Jose Mario Armendariz, 32, stabbed the woman outside the apartment they shared in the 800 block of Reeves Place.

AZUSA: A man wielding a sawed-off shotgun stole an undetermined amount of cash from the Ranch Market at 150 W. 9th St. about 9 p.m. Sunday. The man stormed into the market waving the gun, ordered customers to the floor and ransacked the register, witnesses said. He fled in a blue Chevy pickup truck that was waiting for him in the parking lot. No arrests were made and no injuries were reported. ARCADIA: Four robbers armed with handguns and an Uzi entered a jewelry store at 921 S. Baldwin Ave.

A proposed merger between former rivals--West Covina's Queen of the Valley Hospital and Covina's Inter-Community Medical Center--will create the second-largest health care provider in the San Gabriel Valley. The two hospitals are scheduled to merge as a new nonprofit entity on April 29, under the name "Citrus Valley Health Partners," according to an agreement signed last week.

Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has fired or accepted resignations from 30 workers following a sixth-month investigation into allegations of misconduct, including on-the-job use of alcohol or drugs, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday. Their last day was Friday, said Laura Elek, spokeswoman at the 2,300-employee hospital. Hospital officials will not release the names or departments of those involved, but said they did not work directly with patients and that no doctors were involved.

The regional office of the National Labor Relations Board has turned aside objections from Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to a vote by its registered nurses last fall to join a labor union. The hospital said that supporters of the Service Employees International Union had vandalized opponents' cars, threatened them with lawsuits, smeared feces on a bathroom wall, defaced anti-union literature and videotaped the polling area.

Police are searching for a man who allegedly stabbed his girlfriend to death, injured a man who came to her aid, and fled with his 3-year-old son Tuesday. Police did not release the 28-year-old woman's name because her family had not been notified. The toddler was found unharmed at his grandmother's house in Chino. Investigators say that about 1 p.m., Jose Mario Armendariz, 32, stabbed the woman outside the apartment they shared in the 800 block of Reeves Place.

A federal judge ordered Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center to pay legal fees for a Filipina nurse who was demoted after she refused to obey a "no Tagalog" rule and sued the hospital over the language ban. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie made the latest order Monday.