San Francisco Chronicle: Doctors Who Question COVID Vaccines Sue California Over New Medical Misinformation Law
California will soon become the first state with a law aimed at punishing doctors who give patients false information about COVID-19 — and, not surprisingly, the law was challenged in court Tuesday by two physicians who question the effectiveness of vaccines for the virus, advocate unproven treatments and oppose mask mandates. “The goal of AB2098 is to chill speech — in particular the speech of doctors who make a different assessment of the available evidence than the state of California,” attorneys from two conservative nonprofit organizations said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles on behalf of doctors seeking to declare the law unconstitutional. (Egelko, 10/4)

The Hill: Fauci Says He Should Have Been ‘More Careful’ On Pandemic Messaging: ‘No One’s Perfect’
Chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said he should have been “much more careful” in his messaging on COVID-19 early on in the pandemic, including doing a better job of conveying the uncertainty present at that time. Fauci, who will be stepping down from government work in December, reflected on the first months of the coronavirus outbreak while speaking at a seminar hosted by the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism. (Choi, 10/4)

Axios: Fauci Says Another COVID-19 Variant Could Emerge This Winter
NIAID director Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that "we should not be surprised" if a new COVID-19 variant emerges this winter. (Doherty and Habeshian, 10/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Excess Death Rates Higher Among Republican Voters, Study Finds
Republican voters have experienced a higher rate of excess deaths since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. In an analysis of data on “excess deaths” in Ohio and Florida since January 2018, Yale University researchers found a sharp divergence between political party affiliation shortly after the first year of the pandemic. (Vaziri, 10/4)

San Francisco Chronicle: Long COVID Runs In The Family, Study Finds
If one member of a family suffers from the ongoing symptoms of long COVID other family members will likely experience them too, according to a new study published in the journal The Lancet. (Vaziri, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: Flu Could Be Far Worse This Season. Here's Why
More than 2½ years into the battle against COVID-19, officials are warning that this fall and winter could see the rebound of a more traditional foe: the flu. Influenza has been largely dormant the last two seasons, a development some attribute to the infection-prevention protocols put in place to ward off the coronavirus. (Lin II and Money, 10/5)

KQED: The V Word: Proposition 1 Revives Historic Abortion Debate Over 'Viability' In California
As soon as the leaked U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade published in May, threatening the federal right to abortion, California Democrats went to work writing an amendment to the state constitution, explicitly protecting the right to an abortion here. Californians will vote on the amendment in the form of Proposition 1 come November, but as the election approaches, lawmakers still do not agree whether the measure would merely enshrine abortion rights as they are currently articulated in state law, which allows abortion up to 24 weeks, or whether it would expand abortion rights, so as to permit abortions at any point in pregnancy, for any reason. (Dembosky, 10/4)

The New York Times: Biden Unveils New Measures To Protect Abortion Access 
President Biden unveiled new measures on Tuesday to protect access to abortion, 100 days after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, and called on Americans to pressure Congress to pass legislation that would ensure abortion is legal across the United States. (Rappeport, 10/4)

The 19th: Education Department Issues Title IX Guidance On Abortion
The Biden-Harris administration issued fresh guidance Tuesday reinforcing the legal protections for pregnancy and abortion under Title IX as it recognizes the 100-day milestone since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. (Panetta and Haines, 10/4)

Bloomberg: Biden Says Republicans ‘Doubling Down’ With Plan For Nationwide Abortion Ban 
President Joe Biden warned that Republicans want to institute a nationwide ban on abortion as his administration directed universities to increase protections for students who obtain the procedure. “Congressional Republicans are doubling down on an extreme position with the proposal for a national ban. Let me be clear what that means. It means that even if you live in a state where extremist Republican officials aren’t running the show, your right to choose will still be at risk,” Biden said Tuesday during a speech at the White House. (Gardner, 10/4)

Politico: Biden Wants To Use Medicaid To Address Abortion ‘Crisis.’ States Aren't Biting
The Biden administration is offering the opportunity to use Medicaid to help cover costs for people who cross state borders for abortions. States aren’t so sure they want to take it. In the two months since President Joe Biden signed an executive order encouraging states to use the health insurance program to expand abortion access, no state has applied to do so. (Messerly, 10/4)

The 19th: Petition To FDA Asks For Mifepristone Label To Include Miscarriage Management
Over 40 medical and advocacy groups submitted a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking for miscarriage management to be added as a use case for mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medical abortions, and ease the restrictions around who can prescribe it. (Gerson, 10/4)

Los Angeles Times: Dueling California Sports Betting Propositions Appear Headed To Defeat, Poll Finds
Online sports gambling companies, California tribes and card rooms have spent more than $410 million on a pair of dueling ballot measures to legalize sports betting in person and online. If either side thought Proposition 26 or 27 could win, they placed a bad bet. (Luna and Willon, 10/4)

Bay Area News Group: A $6,000 Urine Test? Bay Area Hospital Firm Sued Over 'Unconscionable' Fee
Savannah Thompson walked into the emergency department at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek just after midnight June 14, fearing she had ingested fentanyl — a synthetic opiate responsible for a North America-wide epidemic of fatal overdoses — in what she had been told was cocaine, according to a new lawsuit accusing John Muir Health of fraud. (Baron, 10/4)

Becker's Hospital Review: Palomar Health Launches Nurse Advice Line For All Local Residents
Escondido, Calif.-based Palomar Health has debuted an advice line that connects registered nurses with community members in need of guidance and treatment options. The system's nurse advice line is available to all members in the San Diego area — regardless of whether they have been a patient at the health system before — and is available 24/7, according to an Oct. 3 news release sent to Becker's. (Carbajal, 10/4)

Sacramento Bee: ‘I Called For Help.’ Family Wants Change After Crisis Ends In Fatal Sacramento Deputy Shooting 
Jaime Naranjo’s wife broke down as she spoke of the phone call that would lead a Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy to her door. “I called for help and the help I got was that they murdered my husband,” Elisa Dehar Naranjo told reporters Tuesday outside Sacramento County’s downtown Sacramento offices nearly a week after her Jaime was shot and killed by the deputy. (Smith and Amezcua, 10/4)

Palm Springs Desert Sun: Lithium Valley: California Panel Debates Site, Possible Health Risks
Commission chair Silvia Paz and commissioner Luis Olmedo, executive director of Comite Civico del Valle, who represents low-income communities in the potential lithium extraction area, said many questions remain about the environmental and health impacts of separating lithium from scalding, gritty geothermal brine that is currently used by 11 power plants to create steam energy. (Wilson, 10/3)

Sacramento Bee: As CA Restricts Marijuana Sales, The Illicit Market Thrives 
In 2016, Californians voted to legalize recreational adult-use marijuana. Proponents of Proposition 64, including then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, argued that it would generate massive revenue, while decreasing illicit cannabis and drug cartel activity in the state. Now, nearly six years later, it’s clear that promise has not been kept. (Sheeler, 10/4)

Los Angeles Blade: LAPD Marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The Los Angeles Police Department unveiled a new duty-uniform optional shoulder patch and a special events LAPD patrol vehicle to mark October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In a tweet the LAPD wrote: “October is #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth, a time we raise awareness of this complex disease and fund research into its causes, treatment, & cure. We offer our support for the many people affected by breast cancer. #LAPD." (Levesque, 10/4)

The Mercury News: Oakland Pursues Army Base Homeless Shelter Despite Objections
Despite objections that the site is potentially hazardous and tied up in bureaucratic red tape, City Council voted Tuesday to pursue turning a defunct Army base into much-needed shelter for homeless Oaklanders. The unanimous vote, which flew in the face of the city administrator’s recommendation, followed a heated discussion in which multiple council members expressed dismay with the lack of urgency the city has shown regarding the homelessness crisis. (Kendall, 10/4)

VC Star: Affordable Housing Planned For Farmworkers, Veterans In Oxnard
A 58-unit affordable housing complex for farmworkers and veterans planned for Oxnard is moving forward thanks to an approximately $26 million state grant. (Varella, 10/5)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. To End COVID Eviction Protections By February
After nearly three years of COVID-19 emergency restrictions, landlords will once again be allowed to evict tenants who have fallen behind on their rent, the L.A. City Council decided Tuesday. The unanimous vote allows the eviction protections, some of the longest-lasting in the country, to end starting Feb. 1. (Dillon, 10/4)