I think those people may have already been starting down that pathway toward Alzheimer's, and you can delay or reduce the rate of that pathway proceeding.

What is striking is that it didn't take much to reduce the risk ... If you don't exercise, you should start. It's never too late.

What we learned was that the modest amount of exercise would reduce a person's risk by about 40 percent.

Earlier research has shown that poor blood flow can damage these parts of the brain. So one theory is that exercise may prevent damage and might even help repair these areas by increasing blood flow.

The group that benefited most were the people who were frailest at the start of the study. Based on these findings, we can advise older people to 'use it even after you start lose it' because exercise may slow the progression of age-related problems in thinking.

This is not a pill you have to take. This is something you can do every day at virtually no cost.

If that trend continues, it could be damaging to seasonal growers and could affect their ability to harvest.

It's important to farmers because we will be looking at what can be done to have that balance between land-use regulations and making it so farmers can continue to thrive in San Diego County. The resulting plan could be one of the best things to come in 2006.

Even those elderly people who did modest amounts of gentle exercise, such as walking for 15 minutes three times a week, appeared to benefit. Based on these findings, we can advise older people to 'use it even after you start to lose it,' because exercise may slow the progression of age-related problems in thinking.

I truly understand people's concern. But it should be noted that the bear population in California is on the rise. As long as people continue pushing into the bears' territory the number of these interactions will increase.

If a community decides that they want that farmland in perpetuity . . . there'd better a strong desire on the part of the community to subsidize that farming operation. Somebody's going to have to pay fair-market value for that property.

Certainly for areas like Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa counties, vineyards are our largest group that is requesting depredation permits.