"Good News/Bad News For U.S. Air Quality"

"Almost 150 million people live in areas where air pollution levels are unhealthy to breathe, an increase from a previous American Lung Association report."

"A new report tries to clear the air on where America stands in its battle with air pollution.

The 2014 State of the Air report out Wednesday from the American Lung Association presents a good news/bad news mix showing improvements in America's air quality compared with previous decades, but more recently an increase in ozone readings since its 2013 report. Bottom line, the association says, is that 147.6 million people live in areas where air quality remains unhealthy, almost 16 million more than the 2013 report.

'The Clean Air Act has helped us come a long way,' says Janice Nolen, assistant vice president at the American Lung Association. 'But we have 120 days of unhealthy air in Los Angeles and other places, so we have to keep pushing because we know cleaning up the air has an impact on human health.'"

Mary Bowerman reports for USA TODAY April 30, 2014.