Reporters' Notebook

Surgeons from Mills-Peninsula Health Services will be volunteering their time this weekend and providing free surgery for 23 uninsured people. The day-long session is a team effort between the hospital and Operation Access, a nonprofit group that organizes such volunteer activities. The surgeries range from hernia repairs to cataract surgery. Mills-Peninsula has provided 34 surgeries during six sessions in the past.

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Attorney Gina Papan is "seriously considering" a run for Millbrae City Council, she said this week. Papan, the daughter of former state Assemblyman Lou Papan, ran for state Assembly District 19 in 2002, but lost to state Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco.

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Longtime San Mateo Parks and Recreation Commissioner Gary Sprague is retiring from his position after seven years. Former congressional candidate Ro Khanna has applied for the vacancy. Other names in the hat are: John Winborn, John Somorjai, John Shields, Dave Morrison and John Walker. Khanna is doubling his chances of being chosen for a board by also applying for a spot on the Planning Commission. Other Planning Commission applicants include Victor Ip and former City Council candidate Pete Tyo.

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Two of four poodles abandoned in Redwood City nearly one month ago were adopted this week to a family in Portola Valley, the Peninsula Humane Society reports. Two poodles remain at the shelter and staff is holding out another week in hopes of having the two adopted together. The poodles were abandoned in poor condition and had several teeth removed because of decay, prompting the shelter staff to dub them "The Gummy Girls."

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San Mateo County will host delegates from the United Nation's World Environment Day and international exposition taking place in San Francisco as the delegates tour the Calera Creek Water Recycling Plant in Pacifica and Pillar Point harbor in Half Moon Bay Friday. In recognition of World Environment Day, San Mateo County RecycleWorks and the San Mateo County Parks Department will be offering free tours of San Bruno Mountain Park Saturday June 4 and free admission to Coyote Point Park Sunday June 5.

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Bits of the Scott Peterson double-murder trial remain at the San Mateo County Courthouse. In Judge Quentin Kopp's courtroom, the scene for the notorious murder drama, the multi-colored circle stickers designating seating between reporters, family and observers remain on the stop of each seat.

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Did you know that nearly half of the more than 6.7 million Californians without health insurance are eligible for government health insurance? A new 24-hour help line at (800) 234-1317 has been set up to guide the uninsured through the maze of publicly-sponsored and lower-cost private programs. Operators also speak multiple languages. "Numerous public health care programs and government mandates were created by well-meaning legislators to help those in need, yet there is little awareness on this progress," said Philip Lebherz, founder of the Foundation for Health Coverage Education, in a statement. The foundation and Blue Cross of California launched the new help line, and more information is available at www.coverageforall.org.

The reporters' notebook is a weekly collection of facts culled from the notebooks of the Daily Journal staff. It appears in the Friday edition.