By DOUGLAS QUAN, The Press-Enterprise

After the country's first mad cow case was found in 2003, the federal government ramped up testing cattle for the fatal disease.

But three years later, citing the "extremely low" incidence of the disease in the United States, officials all but eliminated that extra testing, scaling the costly program back by 90 percent.

Loretta Wilson of Rialto, Calif. recently forked over $240 to get her daughter, Alysha, in a private driving school that includes classroom and behind-the-wheel training.