Los Angeles Times: Voices Of Terror From Monterey Park Shooting 911 Calls 
The voice on the 911 tape was quiet but terrified. The caller was the first to reach out for help after a gunman opened fire at a Lunar New Year’s Eve party in Monterey Park. (Mejia, 2/2)

AP: Federal Appeals Court Strikes Down Domestic Violence Gun Law
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the government can’t stop people who have domestic violence restraining orders against them from owning guns — the latest domino to fall after the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority set new standards for reviewing the nation’s gun laws. Police in Texas found a rifle and a pistol at the home of a man who was the subject of a civil protective order that banned him from harassing, stalking or threatening his ex-girlfriend and their child. The order also banned him from having guns. (Beam, 2/3)

The Hill: Democratic Senators Form Caucus For Gun Violence Prevention 
A group of eight Democratic senators formed the Gun Violence Prevention Caucus on Thursday, with the goal of promoting “commonsense solutions” to America’s abnormally high levels of gun violence. “We wake every day to headlines of another mass shooting in this country,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a member of the newly formed caucus, said in a statement. “We can’t allow this to continue.”  (Shapero, 2/2)

The Desert Sun: Rep. Raul Ruiz Appointed Ranking Member Of COVID-19 Subcommittee
Local Congressman Raul Ruiz has been appointed to serve as the Ranking Member of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. (Sasic, 2/1)

Voice of OC: OC’s Top Public Health Official Is Resigning; No Permanent Replacement Yet
Orange County’s top public health official is on her way out the door. Dr. Margaret Bredehoft, who has been the county’s chief of public health services for most of the COVID-19 pandemic, has announced she’s resigning and leaving her job next Friday, Feb. 10.“It is with both sadness and gratitude that I announce that I am resigning from my role,” Bredehoft said in a mid-January email to colleagues obtained by Voice of OC. She’s told colleagues she wants to spend more time with her family. (Gerda, 2/2)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Sonoma County To Close Two Key Pandemic-Era Vaccine Clinics By End Of February
A large bowl of candy on a table at the Roseland vaccine clinic Thursday afternoon still contained plenty of red and white striped Christmas candy canes, along with stacks of information about influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. (Espinoza, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: “Put Your Mask On,” Bay Area Health Official Urges As Cases Hit Another Plateau
The decline in California’s COVID-19 infections has slowed substantially, with the state’s health department reporting 2,434 average cases per day — or about 6 per 100,000 residents — as of Thursday. That marks a small improvement over the 2,715 cases per day, or 7 per 100,000 residents, reported a week ago. Other metrics also show signs of plateauing. (Vaziri, 2/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Most Virus Deaths In Older People, Study Confirms
Worldwide, over 80% of the people who died from COVID-19 in the first two years of the pandemic were over the age of 60, according to a new study. More than 5.4 million COVID-19 deaths were reported globally in 2020 and 2021, the report published Thursday by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that there were 14.9 million excess deaths during that time — indicating the actual toll of the COVID-19 pandemic is nearly three times the official tally. (Vaziri, 2/2)

KQED: These COVID-Sniffing Canines Are On The Job At Nursing Homes In Marin County
Dogs are detecting COVID in long-term care facilities in California, with an accuracy almost on par with rapid tests. Currently, two white labradors named Scarlett and Rizzo are on the job in Marin County. In less than a half hour, dogs can scan hundreds of patients at a nursing home by sniffing their shoes and ankles. If they identify COVID, they will sit down next to the suspected resident. A rapid antigen test can verify the results. (McClurg, 2/2)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Emergency Ending: What Does It Mean For California? 
Three years following the emergence of COVID-19, authorities at state and federal levels are preparing to lift emergency declarations originally issued to marshal pandemic responses. While the moves will undoubtedly be cheered in some circles, such steps aren’t merely symbolic. Transitioning out of the emergency phase could eventually spell the end of universal access to free vaccines, treatments and tests. (Money and Lin II, 2/2)

The Bakersfield Californian: Clinica Agrees To $26M Settlement Over Self-Reported Financial Fraud
Clinica Sierra Vista will pay almost $26 million to resolve Medi-Cal overpayments the nonprofit itself flagged in 2019 after finding fault with a practice the founder and former CEO defended Thursday as a give-and-take negotiation. (Cox, 2/2)

CalMatters: Medi-Cal Overhaul Proves Tricky For Mental Health Care
A year has passed since a massive statewide effort called CalAIM began rolling out. Among several significant changes CalAIM promised: An overhaul of the availability of mental health care for young people insured by Medi-Cal, the public insurance program for low-income Californians. Advocates for youth mental health say they remain enthusiastic about CalAIM’s potential, using words like “game-changing” and “transformational.” (Wiener and Hwang, 2/2)

inewsource: Troubles Continue At Veterans Village Of San Diego
Oversight agencies and lawmakers continue to scrutinize health and safety issues at San Diego’s premier rehab center for veterans. A state health care agency is conducting eight investigations into the organization, and county officials continue their six-month-long admissions freeze. The treatment center was also temporarily barred from accepting new San Diego VA clients late last year due to compliance issues. Castellano, 2/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: El Cajon Launches First-In-The-Region Overhaul Of 911 Program To Direct Less-Serious Calls To Nurses 
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, El Cajon became one of a handful of cities nationwide to rethink how it responds to 911 calls. (Nelson, 1/31)

NPR: Manufacturer Recalls Eye Drops After Possible Link To Bacterial Infections
The producer of a brand of over-the-counter eye drops is recalling the product after a possible link to an outbreak of drug-resistant infections, U.S. health officials said Thursday. Both the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advising against the use of EzriCare Artificial Tears, as they may be contaminated and linked to an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, causing one death. (Archie, 2/3)

Modesto Bee: How To Help A Loved Overcome Addiction In Stanislaus County
Drug addiction has plagued Stanislaus County, whether it’s the methamphetamine craze, heroin and now the extreme dangers of fentanyl. Treatment options are changing with closure of the county’s Genesis Narcotic Treatment Program on Scenic Drive, which has served as many as 370 clients annually in the last six years. (Carlson, 2/2)

Stat: New Report Highlights Lack Of Investment In Addiction Cures
There are about as many Americans living with addiction as there are Americans living with cancer — but you wouldn’t know it based on the world of venture capital. In the past decade, investment firms have poured roughly 270 times more money into developing cancer drugs than addiction cures, according to a new report from BIO, the biotechnology industry trade group. (Facher, 2/2)

Los Angeles Times: Some Mexican Pharmacies Selling Pills Laced With Fentanyl, Meth 
A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that pharmacies in several northwestern Mexican cities are selling counterfeit prescription pills laced with stronger and deadlier drugs and passing them off as legitimate pharmaceuticals. (Blakinger and Sheets, 2/2)

ABC News: If Fentanyl Is So Deadly, Why Do Drug Dealers Use It To Lace Illicit Drugs?
According to law enforcement officers and former drug dealers interviewed by ABC News, drug dealers often think they can mitigate the risk for their clients by measuring the fentanyl carefully. (Ordonez and Salzman, 2/1)

CNN: Tracking The Opioid Crisis: Inside The DEA's Secret Lab 
Sitting among the warehouses of Dulles, Virginia, is one of the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s forensic labs. It’s one of eight across the country where scientists analyze illegal drugs and try to stay ahead of what’s driving deadly overdoses. Starting in the late 1990s with overprescribing of prescription narcotics, the opioid epidemic has continued to plague the United States for decades. What has changed is the type of drugs that have killed more than half a million people during the past 20 years. (Sealy and Kounang, 2/2)

The Hill: Senate Democrats Press Maker Of Abortion Pill To Add Miscarriage Management To Label
A group of Senate Democrats is calling on Danco Laboratories, one of the manufacturers of the abortion pill mifepristone, to update the drug’s labeling to make it easier for patients to access the drug to help reduce complications from a miscarriage. The Democrats, led by Sens. Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Maggie Hassan (N.H.), urged the company to submit an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to add miscarriage management to the medication’s label, which currently only includes medication abortion. (Weixel, 2/2)

ProPublica: Lawmakers Pledge to Fight for Comprehensive Action on Stillbirths
A growing number of lawmakers across the country are calling for action following a ProPublica investigation that revealed the failures of federal agencies and health care providers to reduce the country’s stillbirth rate. More than 20,000 pregnancies in the U.S. annually end in stillbirth — the death of an expected child at 20 weeks or more — an alarming figure that exceeds infant mortality and is 15 times the number of babies who died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, in 2020. As many as 1 in 4 stillbirths may be preventable, experts say; the figure is even higher as a baby’s due date draws closer. (Eldeib, 2/2)

NPR: Muslim-American Opinions On Abortion Are Complex. What Does Islam Actually Say? 
After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion, Zahra Ayubi started to notice a theme among some critics of the historic shift. "They'll draw analogies between abortion bans in the United States and Muslim conservatism," Ayubi, a professor of Islamic Ethics at Dartmouth College, said of some of the commentary she saw on TV and on social media. Critiques ranged from attempts at humor to outright Islamophobia. (Mohammad and Brown, 2/1)

Fresno Bee: Violence. Mental Health Crises. Fresno Shelters' Private Security Say They Were Unprepared
Private security guards who worked at Fresno’s publicly funded homeless shelters say they were unprepared to handle the threats of danger and other challenges they faced on the job. (Montalvo, 2/2)

inewsource: San Diego Pays Private Companies To Help Meet Housing Demand
San Diego’s severely understaffed building department will get some outside help to speed up the permit process and clear a backlog of applications. The City Council agreed earlier this week to pay two private companies $2.5 million each to help review permit applications on new development over the next two years. This follows an analysis released in November that tried to explain why the city is so “woefully off pace” from meeting housing production goals. (Dulaney, 2/2)

Axios: White House Announces New Cancer Initiatives On Moonshot Anniversary
Families with kids fighting cancer in the U.S. will soon have clinical and patient navigation support to help them find optimal care, connecting with research trials and more portable, shareable health records under a partnership being launched by the National Cancer Institute. (Reed, 2/2)

The Hill: Bill Clinton Joins Biden, Harris To Mark 30th Anniversary Of Family And Medical Leave Act
The Biden administration on Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by urging expansion of the provisions guaranteed by the law and inviting former President Clinton, who signed it in 1993, to speak at the White House. President Biden was also joined by Vice President Harris to commemorate the signing of the FMLA in the White House’s East Room. The law requires certain employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if employees are sick, have a new child in their household or are taking care of a sick family member, without the risk of the staffer losing their job. Biden on Thursday issued a memorandum calling on the heads of federal agencies to “support access to leave without pay for Federal employees” so that they can bond with new children or take care of their own health or the health of their family members. (Choi, 2/2)

The Hill: Biden Task Force Unites More Than 600 Migrant Children With Parents 
The Biden administration has united more than 600 children who were separated from their families under former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, officials announced Thursday. Thursday marked the two-year anniversary of Biden’s Family Reunification Task Force that he established to reunite children with their families who were separated under the previous administration. The task force, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said nearly 1,000 children still remain separated from their families, according to a press release. (Sforza, 2/2)

Stat: From Industry ‘Greed’ To Workforce Shortages, Sanders And Cassidy Lay Out Health Committee Agenda
The Senate finally made long-expected committee assignments official on Thursday, kickstarting a new session for the top health committee under an unlikely pair: Vermont Independent and drug-pricing firebrand Bernie Sanders, and Louisiana Republican and doctor Bill Cassidy. (Owermohle, 2/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Social Security, Medicare Cuts Sidelined In Debt-Ceiling Talks
Republicans are backing away from proposals to reduce spending on Social Security and Medicare as they enter talks with Democrats over raising the nation’s borrowing limit, sidelining for now a politically perilous fight over how to best firm up the finances of the popular benefit programs. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) has said he wants to slash federal spending in exchange for voting to raise the debt ceiling, but in recent days he stressed publicly and privately that he isn’t seeking cuts to Social Security and Medicare. Democrats for weeks have pressed Republicans to provide more specifics of what they plan to cut, while warning against entitlement-eligibility changes some GOP lawmakers had sought to tie to a debt-limit deal. (Wise, 2/2)

NBC News: Heating Up: Bipartisan Duo Manchin And Cruz Pitch Bill To Defend Gas Stoves
A new bipartisan duo is diving in to defend gas stoves. Senate Energy Committee Chairman Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the new ranking member of the Commerce Committee, are teaming up on legislation Thursday that would bar the Consumer Product Safety Commission from using federal funding to ban new or existing gas stoves, according to a copy of the bill first shared with NBC News. (Wong and Richards, 2/2)

Fresno Bee: UC Merced Team Releases Study Of California Farmworker Health 
A new study from UC Merced Community and Labor Center sheds light on the chronic health issues, healthcare access, and workplace conditions that impact the wellbeing of California farmworkers. (Montalvo and Diaz, 2/3)

Marin Independent Journal: Bay Area Ticks Pose Threat After Recent Storms
Marin is among the counties in California with the highest prevalence of ticks carrying Lyme disease, said Linda Giampa, executive director of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation. The small, blood-sucking arachnids prefer moist, foggy areas in the grasslands and chaparral. (Houston, 2/3)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Cannabis Dispensary Faces Challenge From Clinic
La Krisha Young earned one of the 10 coveted dispensary licenses that the City of Sacramento awarded to people disproportionately affected by the war on drugs, but the permitting process that followed has become a challenge and exposed a gap in the city’s oversight. A nearby south Sacramento business owner has objected to Young’s conditional-use license based on the fact that the dispensary is less than 200 feet from her drug and alcohol treatment clinic. (Diamond, 2/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Violence Is The American Way. Will Asian Americans Assimilate?
Violence has always been the American way. But for many minority communities in the U.S., enduring and participating in that violence has also been a pathway to becoming American — albeit always as second-class citizens. People of color in the United States have endured genocide, slavery, massacres, wartime incarceration, police brutality and more, simply for not being white. They have also joined the military, police, FBI and CIA, and participated in state-sanctioned violence, often gaining the trappings of belonging as reward without ever fully being accepted. (Ji-Yeon Yuh, 2/1)

CalMatters: Small Hospitals Must Be Considered In California Seismic Legislation
The issue of seismic safety at hospitals is of utmost importance to the future of patients who live in remote areas in California. As the CEO of a rural hospital, I know California’s rural hospitals would love to build new hospitals if they could. (Douglas Shaw, 2/3)

Sacramento Bee: California CARE Court Lawsuit Could Harm The Mentally Ill 
According to certain disability and civil rights groups, California can’t even try to save the lives of people with schizophrenia. We have no right to get between them and their illness. Because to mandate the help that someone is too ill to know he needs would — are you ready? — discriminate against that person on the basis of his diagnosis. (1/31)

CalMatters: California Children Need Better Medi-Cal Mental Health Services
Despite California’s unprecedented investment in child and family wellbeing, the gap between promising policies on paper and what they actually accomplish for young people and families has never felt so vast. (Nancy Netherland, 2/2)

Los Angeles Daily News: Judge Right To Halt California’s Unconstitutional Medical ‘Misinformation’ Law 
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction halting the enforcement of Assembly Bill 2098, the patently unconstitutional California law that requires the Medical Board of California to investigate and possibly suspend physicians who say anything about COVID-19 to their patients that departs from the “contemporary scientific consensus.” (2/1)