The Washington Post: Ventura Shooting: Guard, Officer Killed, Stoking Debate About Active-Shooter Defenses
The gunman began his rampage by shooting an unarmed security guard outside a country-music bar in California, police said. After the attacker began firing on patrons inside, a sergeant with the sheriff’s office charged into the building to confront him and was cut down by gunfire. The Ventura County mass shooting that left 12 dead Wednesday became a grim test case in a persistent debate about how places such as schools, nightclubs and houses of worship should steel themselves against shooters and how police should respond to them. (Jouvenal and Horton, 11/8)

The New York Times: A Look At California Gun Laws, Among The Toughest In The Nation
California, where a gunman killed 12 people in a bar in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night, has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. It was the first state to ban assault weapons in 1989 after a shooting at a Stockton elementary school left five students dead. In the wake of several recent mass shootings — including one in February in Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 17 students and employees at a high school — state legislators put forward at least nine new gun control bills in response. Here’s a look at the state of gun regulations in California. (Urbina, 11/8)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Gov.-Elect Gavin Newsom Criticizes Gun Rights Advocates In Remarks After Thousand Oaks Shooting 
When asked about reports that the suspect, Ian David Long, was a former U.S. Marine who may have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, [Gov.-Elect Gavin] Newsom said that he had empathy for veterans with PTSD and that the country as a whole has failed to provide proper care for them. He called behavioral health a “sensitive topic” and stressed that the vast majority of people with mental health issues are not violent. Newsom noted that Brown signed a bill in September to impose a lifetime gun-ownership ban on people who have been hospitalized twice in a one-year period for mental health issues and deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The measure does not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2020, but Newsom said there’s no evidence that it would have prevented the suspect from owning a firearm if it had already been implemented. (Willon, 11/8)

The Associated Press: California Gunman Was Volatile But Passed Mental Assessment
Neighbors of Ian David Long described the man who shot and killed 12 people at a country music bar as distant in public but combative with his mother inside the suburban Los Angeles home the two shared. One ruckus in April was so extreme that they called law enforcement. Authorities brought in a mental health specialist who concluded that Long could not be involuntarily committed for psychiatric observation but worried the 28-year-old Marine veteran might have post-traumatic stress disorder. (11/9)

Los Angeles Times: Mental Health Experts Declined To Commit Thousand Oaks Gunman Ian David Long After April Disturbance 
PTSD makes people about three times more likely to commit an act of violence than those without any mental disorder, but that risk of violence jumps dramatically in people who also have a substance abuse problem, he said. There are other risk factors for violence, he said, including being young, male, impoverished or experiencing trauma and violence at a young age. (Karlamangla, 11/8)

California Healthline: Deadly Shootings Are Rising In U.S. After Steady Declines
After steadily declining for more than two decades, deadly shootings are rising across the country, according to a new government report. The researchers also said that the number of suicides involving a firearm grew 21 percent between 2006 and 2016. The report, published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at gun deaths around the country and in 50 major metropolitan areas. The researchers found a rise in gun homicides in 2015 and 2016, reversing a downward trend and bringing them to a level comparable to a decade ago. (Heredia Rodriguez, 11/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Police Probe Motive In Southern California Bar Massacre
From Las Vegas to Parkland, Fla., Pittsburgh to Santa Fe, Texas, the nation has been shaken by the frequency of mass shootings over the past two years. The Federal Bureau of Investigation says 30 active-shooter incidents in 2017 left in 138 people dead—both the highest totals since the FBI began keeping track in 2000. The FBI defines an active shooter as someone actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. (Lovett, Frosch and Elinson, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: California Bar Shooter Had Domestic-Disturbance History After Serving In Afghanistan
Ian David Long, identified as the gunman in a mass shooting here, was a high-school baseball player remembered as a perfectionist who dropped the sport his senior year in part to focus on joining the military. When Long’s baseball coach sat down to write about him in a yearbook, one word came to mind: “Intensity!” (Berzon and Randazzo, 11/8)

KQED: Thousand Oaks Shooter's Health Frayed In College, Roommate Says 
Research on links between mental health disorders associated with military service and violent acts leaves an incomplete picture. Impulsive aggression, like getting into fistfights, has been tied to PTSD. But there was no higher likelihood for premeditated aggression in veterans suffering from PTSD. (Sepulvado, Jamali, Gilbertson and Denkmann, 11/8)

The Washington Post: ‘A Surreal Shock’: Las Vegas Shooting Survivors Live Through California Massacre
When the first shots were fired at Borderline Bar & Grill, David Anderson immediately knew he was in the middle of a mass shooting. He had lived through one last year. Anderson survived the attack at a country music festival in Las Vegas in October 2017 that left 58 people dead. On Wednesday, he again survived a gunman indiscriminately firing at people enjoying country music, this time at college night at a well-loved bar. Twelve people were killed. (Zezima and Mettler, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Thousand Oaks Parents: ‘I Don’t Want Prayers. I Don’t Want Thoughts. I Want Gun Control.’
Marc and Susan Orfanos awoke at 2 a.m. on Thursday in Thousand Oaks, Calif., to a call from a relative in New York. The groggy-eyed couple stumbled into a ritual that is familiar to parents in Columbine, Blacksburg, Aurora, Newtown, Orlando, Parkland — and, as of this week, also in the quiet outpost of Los Angeles. They waited to find out if their child, who had survived the deadliest gun massacre in modern American history last year in Las Vegas, had perished in another mass-casualty shooting. (Stanley-Becker, 11/9)

Los Angeles Times: 'We Have Been Drawn Into This Terror': At Vigils, Thousand Oaks Grieves For 12 Victims Of Mass Shooting
The wind that roared through Thousand Oaks on Thursday night threatened to drown out their voices, but the mourners still sang, channeling their grief, shock and anger into a familiar melody. More than 100 people fell silent as the strains of “Amazing Grace” wafted through the crowd and the light-wrapped trees on the lawn outside the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. (Gerber, Karlamangla, Newberry and Greene, 11/8)

The California Health Report: Researchers Warn That "Public Charge" Rule Changes Would Lead To Hardship, Economic Losses In California
The Trump administration’s proposed changes to public charge rules for deciding immigration cases could push thousands of Californians out of government assistance programs and result in billions of dollars of losses to the state’s economy, according to a forthcoming analysis from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Under the changes the federal government proposed in October, legal immigrants applying for permanent residency could be denied if they’ve received certain public health care, food or housing benefits. In California, these benefits include Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, which provides health insurance for low-income residents; housing assistance such as Section 8 vouchers; and CalFresh, the state’s name for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Even though the rule changes would affect a relatively narrow group of people, experts predict hundreds of thousands more Californians could drop out of government programs because of confusion and fear. This so-called chilling effect would disproportionately affect children and Latinos, increasing poverty, hunger and poor health in communities across the state, researchers said. (Boyd-Barrett, 11/8)

Sacramento Bee: Covered California Kicks Off Open Enrollment Campaign At Sacramento Event
Covered California, the Golden State’s health insurance marketplace, leaped into its open enrollment period at its headquarters in Sacramento on Thursday morning, commissioning a choreographer and dancers to depict how unexpected life events can leave people thankful they have medical coverage. (Anderson, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Google Picks Geisinger CEO To Oversee Health-Care Initiatives
Google is expected to name a prominent hospital-system chief executive to a newly created role overseeing the technology company’s health-care efforts. David Feinberg is moving to the new Google health-care post after leading the Geisinger health system, which includes a health plan and hospital system operating in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Hopkins and Wilde Mathews and MacMillan, 11/8)

CNBC: Google Hires Geisinger CEO David Feinberg To Oversee Health
The search has been underway for months, according to several people familiar with the search process. Artificial intelligence head Jeff Dean has been deeply involved in the process and personally interviewing candidates, the people said. Some of the candidates have included leaders in health consulting, hospital management and insurance. The position would report to Dean, but would also work closely with Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Feinberg's job will be figuring out how to organize Google's fragmented health initiatives, which overlap among many different business groups. (Farr, 11/8)

Business Insider: Google Hires Geisinger CEO David Feinberg 
Feinberg has been at Geisinger, a health system in Pennsylvania that provides health insurance as well as care through its medical centers, since 2015. Prior to that he served as CEO of UCLA's health system. Ryu is an emergency medicine physician, who previously worked as an executive at the health insurer Humana. He joined Geisinger in 2016. (Ramsey, 11/9)

Capital Public Radio: California Food Banks Receive ‘Trade Aid’ Food, But It Comes With A Cost 
As part of the Trump administration’s larger trade aid package to farmers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is buying up to $1.2 billion of domestic food items as a way to offset some of farmers’ losses. That larger program is known as the Trade Mitigation Program. Sue Sigler, executive director of the advocacy group California Association of Food Banks, says the extra volume of food coming in is wonderful, in terms of providing more for hungry communities. But, she adds, there are challenges that come with this boon. (Mitric, 11/8)

In other news across the state —

Capital Public Radio: City Of Sacramento To Declare Emergency Homeless Shelter Crisis 
Sacramento's city council is expected to declare a homeless shelter crisis at Thursday’s meeting. Mayor Darrell Steinberg said at a press conference this morning that the move could result in nearly $20 million in one-time state funds. (White, 11/8)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Sweetwater District Opens Sports Medicine Clinic For Care And Education 
For Dr. Charles Camarata, it was a dream come true. ...A week ago the Sweetwater Union High School District hosted the grand opening of a new 3,000-square-foot facility on L Street that includes an 800-square-foot Sports Medicine and Wellness Center. Consider that for 30 years, Camarata and Mike Stein, Manual Orthopedic Physical Therapy, have been providing free clinics every Saturday and more recently during the week to provide early treatment and diagnosis of injuries. (Brand, 11/8)

The Associated Press: 1 Death Linked To Ongoing Turkey Salmonella Outbreak
Federal health officials on Thursday reported the first death in an ongoing salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the death was in California but didn't have any immediate details. Since last November, the agency said 164 people have fallen ill in 35 states, with the most recent case being reported on Oct. 20. (11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Election Shifts Health-Care Landscape Across The U.S.
The midterm elections abruptly shifted the health-care landscape across the country, strengthening the position of the Affordable Care Act while resulting in a divided Congress that could mean most changes unfold on the state level. Health care was the No. 1 issue among voters this election, according to an AP survey of about 90,000 people. The voting results suggested a rebuke to repeated Republican efforts to roll back the health law, and that many Americans care deeply about issues such as coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. (Armour, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Health Insurers Riding Postelection Wave
Health insurers are extending their postelection streak before the opening bell thanks to several ballot initiatives and the increased chance that a divided Congress that may not repeal the Affordable Care Act. Shares of Centene Corp., WellCare Health Plans Inc. and Humana Inc., up between 7 percent and 9 percent this week, all edged higher in premarket trading, defying the broader markets which are retreating Thursday. The hospital chain HCA Healthcare Inc., up 5 percent for the week, is rising again. (11/8)

The Hill: House Dems Plan Key Vote On Pre-Existing Conditions 
House Democrats are planning to hold a vote to protect people with pre-existing conditions, a key issue that powered their victory on Tuesday, quickly after taking the majority next year. A House Democratic aide said the vote would be on a measure to have the House of Representatives formally intervene in an anti-ObamaCare lawsuit to defend the health law. (Sullivan, 11/8)

Politico: House Democrats Weigh Joining Obamacare Suit
The move would come soon after the next Congress is sworn in and marks an early attempt to make good on campaign pledges to protect the Affordable Care Act, House sources told POLITICO. Bringing up a resolution to intervene in the case also would force an early vote that puts chamber's Republicans on record about protecting the law and its popular preexisting condition protections.(Ollstein and Cancryn, 11/8)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Plans To Ban Most Flavored E-Cigarette Sales In Stores
The Food and Drug Administration plans to ban sales of most flavored e-cigarettes in retail stores and gas stations around the country, in an effort to reduce the popularity of vaping among young people. The agency also plans to require age-verification measures for online sales to try to ensure that minors are not able to buy the flavor pods. (Kaplan, 11/8)

Reuters: U.S. To Restrict E-Cigarette Flavors To Fight Teenage Vaping 'Epidemic'
The ban means only tobacco, mint and menthol flavors can be sold at these outlets, the agency official said, potentially dealing a major blow to Juul Labs Inc, the San Francisco-based market leader in vape devices. The FDA also will introduce stricter age-verification requirements for online sales of e-cigarettes. The FDA’s planned restrictions, first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed to Reuters by the official, do not apply to vape shops or other specialty retail stores. (Reuters, 11/9)

The Washington Post: FDA Plans Curbs On E-Cigarette Sales Over Concerns About Surge In Teen Vaping
The FDA’s initiatives on vaping are spurred by preliminary government data that show ­e-cigarette use rose 77 percent among high schoolers and nearly 50 percent among middle schoolers in 2018. That means 3.5 million children were vaping in early 2018, up 1 million from 2017. Gottlieb, who once served on the board of a North Carolina vaping company, was at one time viewed as an ally of the e-cigarette industry, and he delayed some critical e-cigarette rules shortly after becoming commissioner in 2017. He has also said his first priority is protecting children from tobacco-related disease. Most vaping products are flavored, and studies show teenagers are attracted to the flavors. (McGinley, 11/8)

The New York Times: Trump Said He Wants Tougher Gun Laws. Can A New Congress Help Get Them?
This is what it’s come to — there are now Americans who have lived through two gun massacres. Many of the people who were able to flee a California bar where a man shot dozens of people late Wednesday night had also survived an attack last year in which a gunman in a Las Vegas hotel fired down on a music festival, killing 58 people. But at least one of the Las Vegas survivors was among the dead at the bar. (11/8)

Sacramento Bee: CA Thousand Oaks: Gun Control Works, But It’s Not Enough
The names and faces and places are different, but the story is always heartbreakingly the same. This time it was Ian David Long, a 28-year-old former U.S. Marine who might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, who walked into the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday night and opened fire on a crowd of country music fans, many of them college kids. (11/8)

USA Today: The Sacrifice Of Ventura County Sheriff's Sgt. Ron Helus
Politicians, particularly at the federal level, could respond to these killings with common-sense gun laws that establish universal background checks and ban assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines. (California outlaws both, but both are readily available in neighboring states like Nevada.) But Congress remains paralyzed when it comes to sensibly limiting the nation's growing arsenal of firearms and mass-killing accessories.  So the rampages continue, and selfless police officers like Sgt. Ron Helus elect to move toward the gunfire to limit the dying, even if it means they might die themselves. (11/8)

The Washington Post: The NRA Wants Us To Talk About Mental Health Over Guns. Here’s Why It’s Wrong.
In the wake of almost every mass shooting — a term which, by now, has become so familiar as to feel almost disconnected from the vicious slaughter of random people in ordinary places — the National Rifle Association and its fellow travelers make the same point: There are many more guns in circulation in the United States than murders, so the problem isn’t guns, per se, but the people who turn them on innocents. The problem, they say, is mental health. (Elizabeth Bruenig, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Voters Sent A Message In The Midterms: Enough Is Enough On Guns
Americans woke Thursday morning to the sickening news of yet another mass shooting. The crime offered a kind of tragic punctuation to a message that midterm voters sent their government on Tuesday. That message: It is time to do more than lower flags and send thoughts and prayers. This time the carnage was at a country-western dance hall in Thousand Oaks, in Southern California. This time, 12 people, including an unflinching first responder, were gunned down. “The young kids, they were just having a good time. . . . Enjoying themselves. None of them deserved this at all,” one shellshocked witness told CNN. (11/8)

Los Angeles Times: Alabama's Amendment 2 Provides A View Of A Post-Roe World
In Alabama on Tuesday, 59% of voters ratified Amendment 2, adding the State Abortion Policy Amendment to the state constitution. It would be easy to dismiss Amendment 2 as an empty political gambit aimed at increasing Republican voter turnout, but that would be a mistake. Instead, it represents clear and troubling evidence of what a post-Roe vs. Wade world would look like — and the U.S. Supreme Court should take note now. (Ronald J. Krotoszynski Jr., 11/9)

The Mercury News: How Trump Administration Rule Would Worsen Hunger
As Bay Area food banks, we work every day to fight hunger in our communities, collectively distributing over 172 million pounds of food each year, the equivalent of 143 million meals. We are alarmed by the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed changes to “public charge” regulations, which would increase hunger and poverty by punishing legal immigrants for using programs to nourish those in need and keep families healthy. The longstanding public charge test is designed to identify immigrants who may depend primarily on the government as their main source of support. (Leslie Bacho, Suzan Bateson and Larry Sly, 11/7)

Sacramento Bee: Gov.-Elect Newsom, Let’s Work Together, Starting With Housing The Homeless
Congratulations to Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. I look forward to working with you on solving the state’s most pressing problems. ... Let’s start with addressing homelessness. ... We both could rattle off previous bills on homelessness and some of the underlying issues most prevalent with mentally ill people in California. Yet the state has only taken small steps toward removing the barriers so the least among us can actually afford a place to live. (John Moorlach, 11/8)

The Mercury News: How To Approach Solving Bay Area Housing Crisis
Tuesday’s election makes it clear that the Bay Area will not solve its housing crisis until it formulates a regional solution with broad support. Voters recognize that the region lacks a coherent approach that will provide the funding and engender the political support necessary to transform it into a place where young people and low- and middle-class workers can live and thrive. (11/8)

Sacramento Bee: Will Nevada Ever Do The Right Thing And Pay For The Mental Health Patients It Dumped?
Nevada officials should admit fault, cut their losses and pay up for their disgraceful dumping of mental health patients. Instead they’re choosing to continue a pattern of denial and stonewalling that has made this shameful chapter even worse. The state will likely appeal last week’s verdict in a class-action lawsuit, in which a jury found that it must pay $250,000 to each patient it discharged and shipped away on buses. (11/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Needs A Plan For LGBTQ Seniors 
In California, 20 percent of seniors live in poverty. In San Francisco, that number jumps to 30 percent. A lack of affordable and safe housing, the threat of eviction and profound income inequality are stripping this community of its heroes. While all of the state’s seniors face similar problems as they age, such as access to health care, long-term care affordability, economic security and affordable housing, LGBTQ seniors experience amplified challenges. (Scott Wiener and Karyn Skultety , 11/7)

Sacramento Bee: CA Election: Rent Control Measure Failed. Here’s How California Can Fix Housing Crisis 
Rising rents are the natural market response to an excess of demand over supply. While rent control benefits those lucky enough to secure below-market rents, it does not increase the number of units. (Larry Harris, 11/7)