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For over a year now there has been a moratorium on issuing new permits for fast-food restaurants in an area of South Central LA. Some see it as just one step government can take in combating an epidemic of obesity. Others say even if government could make us eat better, banning fast-food restaurants is not the solution. Plus, they're a long, and vibrant part of LA eating - food trucks. And humorist Brian Unger says life is scary enough - who needs Halloween?

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Congratulations! The recession is unofficially over.

Still, there are foreclosures on almost every block. Unemployment is at historic highs. The budget deficit is ballooning and the planet is warming. Do we really need a scary holiday, when EVERYDAY is scary enough? Humorist Brian Unger ponders Halloween, during the Great Recession.

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SoCal Connected anchor Val Zavala takes us on a mobile dining adventure, inside the food trucks that remain a vibrant part of the LA food scene. From the ubiquitous taco wagons, to the upscale restaurants on wheels, and all the specialty food vans in between, these migrating eateries are an important part of the local economy. And, she says, technology now makes finding them easy.

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For the past year, there's been a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants over a wide swath of South Central LA. Proponents say it's a way of improving the diet for the population, in an area with too few healthy food choices. Others think government has no business trying to legislate good eating habits. Correspondent Angie Crouch takes a hard look at food and politics in Los Angeles.

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Two-thirds of all American bankruptcy cases involve medical bills. Grandma has Medicare, but her grand-children may be uninsured. And even if you have insurance, you often have to fight tooth and nail to get your provider to pay for your care. Commentator Patt Morrison recently had surgery, and now, more than ever, she's wondering why we all know the health care delivery system is deeply ill, yet we are so resistant to finding a cure.

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Jovan Rodriguez had no insurance and no savings when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

He's one of the young people referred to by some as the Young Invincibles—those who fall in the 19-29 age bracket and make up the largest group of uninsured in the country—and he appears in our segment on the Young and Uninsured.

And he created a video documentary of his treatment, hoping to leave some kind of record in case it didn't go so well. This video is a condensed version of video taken during his last day of chemotherapy, and it's not for the queasy.

Links
• Visit Jovan's MySpace page

They seem to be popping up all over town - marijuana clinics.

Some are pretty low-key. You could drive by them every day and not notice. Others are more blatant about what they are selling. And in some places, like along the Venice boardwalk, barkers work the crowds, trying to steer people into storefronts, promising that "The doctor is in", and offering a no-wait prescription.

Here's a little visual taste of the cannabis clinics of the City of the Angels.

Comedian Robert Schimmel was diagnosed with Stage III non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2000. So what's a funny man to do but make jokes about it?

Last year Schimmel published a book, "Cancer on $5 a Day," exploring how humor helped him through his fight with the disease. Listen to him read an excerpt about sharing his love of laughs with his chemo support group.

CHEAT! CHEAT! The answer is here.

SoCal Connected introduces a little diversion to test your neighborhood knowledge - Name That Spot.

Here are some visual details from a specific site somewhere in Southern California. It might be a city block, a park, or a civic institution. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to study the material and try to guess the location.

OK. Can you Name That Spot?

CHEAT! CHEAT! The answer is here.

If you have a location to suggest for Name That Spot, use our contact form to send us your guess. .

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Can an emphasis on renewable energy not only fight cilmate change, but also restart America's faltering economy and create a boom in good paying jobs? We examine how an unusual group of students at an East L.A. school and an economically hard-hit community in the Antelope Valley are hoping to find gold in a green economy.

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Even though Locke High is now a charter school with higher academic standards, students are still as likely to drop out as graduate. The odds were against the three students we followed on Inside Locke High and Return to Locke High - Joanna Alatorre, Damon Horton and Bryan Ordaz - did they make it?

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What's a "move-away"?  While producing "He Said / She Said" the story of the effects of the bad economy on out of work parents paying child support,  Producer Angela Shelley found out the meaning of this term.  Attorney Rozanna Velen, who specializes in Family Law, explains.

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California’s child support system is the largest in the nation and L.A. County’s is the largest in the state with over 425-thousand cases. Each one is an individual drama that’s playing out more and more often in these tough economic times. Increasingly, people are filing for what’s called “support modification” - which is when parents say they’re facing financial hardship and can’t afford to pay child support.

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SoCal Connected cameras were there as a crowd of about 1,000 people gathered in Santa Monica to show support for the two American journalists imprisoned by North Korea. SoCal contributor Lisa Ling helped organize the vigil on behalf of her sister Laura Ling and colleague Euna Lee. The two journalists are accused of "illegal entry" and "hostile acts" for reporting on North Korean refugees in China. Lisa Ling spoke with producer Angela Shelley just before SoCal Connected joined the candlelight procession through the streets of Santa Monica.

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For our story on food waste, I went to the L.A. Regional Food Bank and talked with Michael Flood. He said demand for food is up 35% from a year ago. But at the same time, taking cooked food or leftovers from caterers is hard for them. They are not set up to store it or turn it around fast enough. But they have increased their store of fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to some innovative relationships with grocery stores and produce suppliers.

So do pickups from catered events make sense for a large food bank?

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On June 2nd, Governor Schwarzenegger addressed a special session of the state legislature, beginning his speech with the stark admonition that “California’s day of reckoning is here.” The state budget, which has been in and out of crises for years, is facing its biggest ever deficit, and action must be taken within weeks, not months.

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I care about the environment as much as anyone. If the environment weren’t looking where it was going and was about to get hit by a car, I’d yell, “Hey, environment, watch out!”