San Francisco Chronicle: SF Gets State OK To Expand Involuntary Holds For Severely Mentally Ill
Officials in San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles counties will be able to expand conservatorship rules to give them more control over who can be involuntarily held for mental-health treatment. Gov. Jerry Brown signed SB1045 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on Thursday. The bill creates a five-year pilot program in the three counties intended to get more mentally ill people who suffer from substance abuse off the streets and into treatment. (Gutierrez, 9/27)

Capital Public Radio: Gov. Brown Signs Bills On Immigration, Family Leave, Marijuana Use
In other legislative actions Thursday, Brown signed a bill that expands California’s paid family leave program to cover military families. The new law, SB 1123 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), will allow family members to help care for a spouse, parent, son or daughter who is about to deploy abroad. (Adler, 9/27)

San Francisco Chronicle: Net Neutrality, Abortion Pills At UC And CSU Awaiting Jerry Brown’s Verdict
Gov. Jerry Brown has until Sunday to decide the fate of 350 bills on his desk, including legislation that would create net neutrality regulations in California, expand access to abortion pills at public universities and increase public access to police misconduct records. Brown can either sign or veto bills or let them become law without his signature. (Gutierrez, 9/27)

The Mercury News: New Rehab Laws May Revamp Addiction Treatment In California
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a raft of bills into law Wednesday that will begin imposing order on the Wild Wild West of California’s addiction treatment system. ...That bill is SB 823, by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, which requires licensed rehabs in California to adopt the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s treatment criteria as the minimum standard of care. (Sforza, 9/28)

Los Angeles Times: UC Health System Faces A Potential 'Existential Threat' Without Changes, Regents Are Warned 
The University of California’s massive health network brings in nearly half of UC’s revenue, but regents were told Thursday that its existence could be in peril if it isn’t able to be nimble and change. ...State officials have stepped up oversight of UC President Janet Napolitano’s office following a critical audit last year that questioned its budget practices and levels of executive pay. (Watanabe, 9/27)

In other news from across the state —

Los Angeles Times: Costa Mesa Looking To Secure 62 Homeless Shelter Beds Following Judge’s Direction
In response to direction from a federal judge presiding over litigation that threatens to imperil Costa Mesa’s ability to enforce its anti-camping laws, city officials have committed to securing 62 emergency homeless shelter beds, 12 of which would be in a local hospital and available to those suffering from a mental health crisis. Though there are no concrete plans for the 50 other beds — and it remains to be seen whether those would be in one facility or spread among different locations — officials hope to firm up details in the next month or so, according to city spokesman Tony Dodero. (Money, 9/27)

The New York Times: With A Key Vote Secured, Senators Will Advance Kavanaugh’s Nomination
Senator Jeff Flake, the lone swing Republican vote on the Judiciary Committee, said Friday morning that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, ensuring committee passage and bringing President Trump’s nominee to the brink of confirmation less than 24 hours after a remarkable public hearing with a woman accusing him of sexual assault. Mr. Flake of Arizona announced his decision just moments before the 21 senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered to hold the first of a series of votes on the nomination. As other Republicans lined up in support of Judge Kavanaugh as he denied the accusations, it had been unclear how Mr. Flake would vote after hearing tearful and compelling accounts from Judge Kavanaugh and the accuser, Christine Blasey Ford. (Fandos and Sullivan, 9/28)

The Washington Post: Charges And Denials Fuel An Emotional Hearing As Kavanaugh Nomination Hangs In The Balance
The day began with an emotional punch as a self-described “terrified” Ford, her voice shaking at times, described in stark detail being pinned on a bed by a drunken Kavanaugh at a high school gathering. Hours later, the drama escalated as a seething Kavanaugh faced the Senate Judiciary Committee from the same chair and adamantly denied her charges. “You may defeat me in the final vote, but you’ll never get me to quit. Never,” the red-faced and defiant nominee told Democrats. (Barnes, Kim and Viebeck, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Stark Divide, Raw Emotion In Kavanaugh-Ford Hearing
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Friday on the nomination. Republican senators said they expected the full chamber would hold its first procedural vote Saturday, and a final vote is expected early next week. (Hook, Peterson and Andrews, 9/27)

The New York Times: Not All Women Have A Clear Answer For How Sexual Assault Affected Them. That Doesn’t Mean It Had No Effect.
“Can you tell us what impact the events had on you?” Senator Dianne Feinstein asked Christine Blasey Ford during Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. It was the first of several questions aimed at getting Dr. Blasey to outline the toll on her life of a sexual assault that she testified involved Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh. Many people who work in the area of trauma found her answers, which included “anxiety, phobia and PTSD-like symptoms,” familiar and credible. But they said it’s important to remember something Dr. Blasey, a research psychologist, drew attention to during her testimony. (Murphy, 9/27)

The Associated Press: Experts Say Ford Got The Science Of Memory Mostly Right
In her testimony to a Senate committee, the woman who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers dipped briefly into the mechanics of memory. Experts say she got it pretty much right. When asked Thursday how she could be sure it was Kavanaugh who put a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet, psychologist Christine Blasey Ford cited levels of chemical messengers called norepinephrine and epinephrine in her brain at the time of the alleged attack. (9/27)

Los Angeles Times: Did Christine Blasey Ford's Account Sound Real? Here's What Experts Who Study Sexual Violence Have To Say
What Christine Blasey Ford remembers best about that night 30-plus years ago is the laughter. It came, she said, from Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge — two high school boys who drunkenly locked her into the bedroom of a friend’s house where she was sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh. (Healy, 9/28)

KQED: A Psychiatrist's 5 Tips For Dealing With The Kavanaugh Hearing
Dr. Lynn Ponton, a psychiatrist in San Francisco and a professor of psychiatry at UCSF, said she wasn't surprised when she started getting phone calls from clients on Thursday during the Blasey-Kavanaugh hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. ...Ponton has advice for people who are feeling upset and emotional after watching and listening to Christine Blasey Ford describe allegedly being sexually assaulted by U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and the subsequent questioning of both Ford and Kavanaugh. (McEvoy, 9/27)

Modern Healthcare: Azar Credits Trump For Lower Premiums, Lambastes 'Medicare For All'
HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Thursday praised President Donald Trump for taking "decisive action" to stabilize the individual insurance market and lower health insurance exchange premiums for American consumers. Health insurers have proposed to reduce benchmark exchange premiums by 2% in 2019 following years of increasing rates, Azar said, providing evidence that the Trump administration's moves to gives states flexibility to prop up their insurance markets and expand the types of health plans allowed have been successful. (Livingston, 9/27)

The Associated Press: Trump Health Chief: Premiums To Drop For Popular ACA Plan
Premiums for a popular type of "silver" health plan under the Affordable Care Act will edge downward next year in most states, the Trump administration's health chief announced Thursday. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said premiums for a so-called "benchmark" silver plan will drop by 2 percent in the 39 states served by the federal HealthCare.gov website. (9/27)

Nashville Tennessean: Trump ‘Better’ At Managing Obamacare Than Obama, Says Health Secretary
"It turns out, when you have a president who’s willing to take decisive action, who understands business, who’s willing to work with the private sector, you can find a way to help American patients, even within a failed system like the ACA," Azar said. “The president who is supposedly trying to sabotage the Affordable Care Act has proven better at managing it than the president who wrote the law.” (Kelman, 9/27)

Los Angeles Times: Proposition 8 Isn't About Dialysis Care, It's About Punishing Non-Unionized Clinics. Vote No
If Proposition 8 were truly about improving dialysis care, it would take steps clearly and directly related to quality, such as increasing clinic inspections or boosting competition in the market. It does none of those things. Voters should reject it. (9/26)

The Mercury News: Initiative Would Endanger Dialysis Patients’ Lives
Proposition 8 would set severely low limits on what insurance companies are required to reimburse to dialysis clinics for treatments. These limits are arbitrary and would not cover the cost of providing high-quality care in a clinic. (Theodore Mazer, 9/25)

The Mercury News: Put Kidney Patient Care Above Corporate Profits
Dialysis is a multibillion-dollar industry that profits from the misfortune of patients with a life-threatening condition, and these corporations are reaping those massive profits at the expense of patient care. Proposition 8 will ensure that the priority in California swings away from the current profit-driven system to one in which patients get the quality care they need. (Megallan Handford, 9/25)

Sacramento Bee: Endorsement: Vote Yes On Prop. 4, Save A California Child’s Life
Faced with a choice of whether to provide children with access to top-notch hospitals or leave them and their families to fend for themselves, big-hearted Californians have shown time and again that they will gladly hand over their tax dollars — even in the midst of a recession. They should do so again this year by voting “yes” on Proposition 4 on the Nov. 6 ballot. (9/25)

Los Angeles Times: Vote Yes On Prop. 4 For Children's Hospitals
California voters are being asked this November to authorize more than $16 billion in state bonds to fund a range of infrastructure projects, such as wastewater treatment and homeless housing. The smallest of these measures is Proposition 4, which would tee up $1.5 billion in new borrowing to add capacity, improve safety and upgrade equipment at nonprofit or public children’s hospitals around the state. Many of these hospitals serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients, leaving them dependent on the state’s help to meet their construction needs. Voters have approved two similar measures before, in 2004 and 2008, and they should pass this one as well. (9/25)

Los Angeles Times: Why Don't Women Come Forward? Talking About Sexual Assault Is Excruciating And People Don't Want To Hear It
Does anyone remember how difficult it was to talk about sexual assault 40 years ago? I do.I was raped in 1978, four years before Christine Blasey Ford alleges she was assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh. I was 19, on summer break after my sophomore year at UC Santa Cruz, helping my sister move across the country. Our car broke down. After the mechanic fixed it, I went for a drink with him. It was night by then and my sister and I had rented a motel room. I drank a Scotch, he drank a beer. On our way back, he swerved his truck into a cornfield. We fought. He broke a bottle of beer and held the jagged glass up to my face. I thought I would die, or be cut and disfigured, so I gave in. Then, he said, “I wouldn’t be embarrassed to take you anywhere,” as if this were a date. (Gabrielle Selz, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: Bummer About Your Medical Emergency, But Your Claim Is Denied Because You Didn't Call In Advance 
Of the many dubious reasons insurers use for denying claims, one of the most bizarre is telling a patient they neglected to obtain prior approval for treatment in the midst of a medical emergency. Because, of course, the first thing most people think of in a life-or-death situation is phoning some insurance company’s call center and jumping through bureaucratic hoops. (David Lazarus, 9/21)

Sacramento Bee: As Suicide Rates Rise, A Survivor Pleads For Action
The day last August that people in Sacramento’s restaurant and bar industry learned of Ben Moore’s death, his friends and colleagues gathered to toast and remember the bartender at Block Butcher and Low Brau, crying because he was gone and trying to understand what happened and why they had missed the signs. A month later, another Sacramento man attempted to die by his own hand. As his friends and colleagues around the world worked together to try to find him, as multiple law enforcement agencies in Northern California looked for him, as his son feared losing his father, as a woman tore herself apart in despair – trying to get him to choose life – that man had no idea who Ben Moore was. (Andre-Tascha Lamme, 9/21)

Fresno Bee: Fresno County Is Transforming How It Helps People With Mental Health Needs 
In partnership with many community leaders and organizations, the Fresno County Department of Behavioral Health, under the leadership of Director Dawan Utecht and her team, is transforming the county’s mental health care delivery network. Here are just a few of the accomplishments over the last few years. (Lynne Ashbeck, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: 'Screen Time' Is A Good Start To Curbing Our Smartphone Addiction, But Apple Needs To Do More
Screen Time, part of the operating system that iPhone owners began downloading last week, represents the biggest move yet by a technology company to encourage less use of a device, not more. That’s a good thing: According to data from a time-tracking app called Moment, Americans spend on average four hours a day — a quarter of our waking lives — staring at their smartphones.Screen Time, which is new with Apple’s iOS 12, automatically tracks how often you pick up your phone and how much time you spend on each app. It also allows you to set daily limits for time-sucks like social media, games, or streaming video. It’s a good start, but Apple could do more. A huge number of people need help creating better digital boundaries. (Catherine Price, 9/26)

Los Angeles Times: Now 90, Songwriter Burt Bacharach Is Doing Everything He Can To Stop School Shootings
The man who wrote that song “I Say a Little Prayer” and hundreds more — songs that are part of the soundtrack of your life and the whole force of his own — that man, Burt Bacharach, is now asking for a little prayer and a little support from his fellow Americans for a cause that has moved him to tears, and to music. He and songwriter Rudy Perez composed “Live to See Another Day.” It’s a plea that the mass shootings of schoolchildren be stopped. It’s a video that’s just out, and it was crafted, compellingly, in the hallways and classrooms of an empty school. Its lyrics, like “Our lives mean something more than pain,” are performed by two teenage singers. At the video’s end, it asks people to donate to the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, named for the school where 20 first-graders and six adults were murdered in 2012. (Patt Morrison, 9/26)

Sacramento Bee: The Next Big Move On Climate Change? Electric Buses
California’s climate and public health kryptonite is our addiction to cars, buses and trucks that burn fossil fuels. The California Air Resources Board has the opportunity to deploy our anti-kryptonite — electric buses. On Sept. 28, the board will discuss a proposed rule requiring California transit agencies to phase in zero-emission electric buses over the next two decades, with the goal of a statewide zero-emission bus fleet. That means as many as 11,000 electric transit buses by 2040. (Adrian Martinze, 9/21)

Sacramento Bee: Farm-To-Fork Is Paying Off In Sacramento 
Since the passage of our region’s Farm-to-Fork Capital resolution in 2012, community members and business leaders have championed the effort, improving the local economy, the health of our residents and long-term policy. The city and county passed ordinances in 2015 and 2017, respectively, to expand backyard farming, farm stands and urban agricultural education. (Tim Johnson and Amber K. Scott, 9/27)