Soto returning soon

Assemblywoman Nell Soto, D-Pomona, who has been out sick for the last two months battling pneumonia, is expected to return to work within the next week.

Soto, who turns 81 this month, has been absent from the Capitol since March 8. Her Assembly colleagues have been helping to shepherd her bills through the legislative process. So far, 15 of her 23 bills this year have been approved in the Assembly and moved to the Senate.

Soto's chief of staff, Paul Van Dyke, said while she still has pneumonia, she is well enough to return to work. When she does return, she will have to be driven to Sacramento, he said, because her doctors have advised her to avoid the cabin pressure of air travel.

"She still has pneumonia," Van Dyke said. "It's getting better, but we need to be extremely cautious. But her condition has improved."

A story on Soto can also be found in today's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, a sister publication to the Daily News.