Bloomberg: California Hospital Operator Files Chapter 9 Bankruptcy
In yet another sign of the increasing financial stress facing US hospitals, a public health care operator in California has filed for bankruptcy protection. San Benito Health Care District in Hollister filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy on Tuesday, citing labor costs, a years-long shortage of working capital and a $5.2 million overpayment from Medicare it had to return, the court filing said. The Chapter 9, which is filed by municipalities and public entities, is rare compared to other bankruptcy filings used by corporations and individuals. (Coleman-Lochner, 5/24)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Rady Children's Lands $2.5 Million Donation To Advance Neuro-Oncology Research
Rady Children’s Hospital has received a $2.5 million gift to support neuro-oncology research, with an aim of advancing treatments for young people with hard-to-cure brain and spinal cord tumors. (Freeman, 5/24)

Sacramento Business Journal: Sacramento Motel Into Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Center
Sacramento County has approved $9.1 million to kickstart the creation of 112 new inpatient beds for people recovering from substance use disorders. (Hamann, 5/23)

Reuters: Exclusive: Icahn Poised To Win At Least One Seat On Illumina's Board -Sources
Activist investor Carl Icahn is set to win enough [San Diego-based] Illumina Inc shareholder support to install at least one of his three nominees to the gene sequencing machine maker's board, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. (Herbst-Bayliss and Roumeliotis, 5/25)

Times Of San Diego: County's Top Health Official To Retire, Accept New Role At UCSD Health 
Nick Macchione, the director of San Diego County’s Health & Human Services Agency, will resign from his position at the county and become chief health officer of community health for UC San Diego Health, it was announced Wednesday. Macchione, who has worked for the county for 26 years and spent 15 years as the head of the HHSA, will take on the new role June 28. (Ireland, 5/24)

CalMatters: Bill Would Extend PTSD Care For California Firefighters 
A state Senate bill that would expand workers’ compensation coverage for California first responders experiencing post traumatic stress — aimed at addressing what Cal Fire officials call a mental health crisis — has cleared its first legislative hurdle and been sent to the Assembly. Authored by Sen. John Laird, a Santa Cruz Democrat, the bill is one of a growing number of state initiatives attempting to address the cause of mental health struggles and the difficulty first responders encounter when seeking medical care through state-run insurance. (Cart, 5/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Lawmaker Has A Dire Warning On ‘Tranq'
On Tuesday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy issued a public advisory that made plain what a growing number of pediatricians, parents and scientists already know: Social media is a threat to our children’s mental and physical health. In his 19-page report, Murthy noted that, while all the precise neurobiological mechanisms affected by social media are not yet fully understood, “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” (Bollag, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Official Confronts Mayor Breed Over Ending 'Drug Supermarkets'
Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin is increasingly confronting Mayor London Breed over San Francisco’s escalating drug crisis, signaling an inflection point in the city’s struggle to contain its open-air drug markets and skyrocketing overdoses. Peskin demanded Tuesday that Breed shut down what he called “drug supermarkets” in 90 days — arguing the city has the resources to do so, but lacks the coordination and focus.  (Moench, Morris and Arroyo, 5/24)

Axios: San Francisco To Launch Pilot Program To Address Fentanyl Crisis
San Francisco's emergency management department announced Tuesday it would launch a pilot program to address "when someone is so far under the influence of drugs that they may pose a danger to themselves or others," The San Francisco Chronicle reports. San Francisco is amid a deadly drug overdose epidemic, primarily driven by the opioid fentanyl. (Dickey, 5/24)

AP: DEA's Failure To Punish Distributor Blamed In Opioid Crisis Raises Revolving Door Questions 
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug distributors to keep shipping highly addictive painkillers for nearly four years after a judge recommended it be stripped of its license for its “cavalier disregard” of thousands of suspicious orders fueling the opioid crisis. The DEA did not respond to repeated questions from The Associated Press about its handling of the case against Morris & Dickson Co. or the involvement of a high-profile consultant the company had hired to stave off punishment and who is now DEA Administrator Anne Milgram’s top deputy. (Mustian and Goodman, 5/25)

Axios: GOP Fentanyl Plan Exposes Fault Lines Over Policing In Drug Policy
House Republicans' first major attempt to address the opioid crisis since taking power is resurfacing a long-running debate over the role of law enforcement in drug policy. The GOP-sponsored HALT Fentanyl Act is up for a House vote on Thursday, marking the 117th Congress' first substantive response to the epidemic. (Moreno, 5/25)

Voice Of San Diego: Escondido’s Mayor Used To Live On The Street Behind A 7-Eleven 
Last November, Escondido Mayor Dane White unseated the incumbent to win the mayoral race. At 33 years old, the Republican became Escondido’s youngest ever mayor. Thirteen years earlier, White was living on the street behind the 7-Eleven on Centre City Parkway and Country Club Lane in Escondido, severely addicted to drugs. (Layne, 5/24)

Oaklandside: Evictions Cases Are Rising Fast After End Of Alameda County Moratorium
Landlords are going to court in big numbers to try to remove tenants since Alameda County lifted its eviction moratorium, with 243 lawsuits filed so far in May compared to 65 in all of April. The immediate increase could foreshadow what to expect when Oakland’s moratorium expires on July 15. (Orenstein, 5/24)

The Mercury News: Debacle Over Homelessness Funds In San Jose May See A Resolution
The clock is ticking on a contentious debate over how to spend tens of millions of dollars to combat San Jose’s homelessness crisis, pitting advocates for permanent affordable housing against a mayor who says interim solutions are the most effective way to get the city’s 5,000 unsheltered residents off the streets. But a compromise may be emerging in what could ultimately mark a major shift in how the city tackles homelessness. The solution: tax funds from Measure E, a voter-approved measure to fund housing for low-income and homeless residents. (Greschler and Hase, 5/24)

Marin Independent Journal: Marin Education Office Sues Social Media Companies Over Negative Impact On Kid's Mental Health.
The Marin County Office of Education is suing social media companies, claiming they have a negative effect on children’s mental health. (Brenner, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Yes, Social Media Is A Threat To Our Kids’ Mental And Physical Health
On Tuesday, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy issued a public advisory that made plain what a growing number of pediatricians, parents and scientists already know: Social media is a threat to our children’s mental and physical health. In his 19-page report, Murthy noted that, while all the precise neurobiological mechanisms affected by social media are not yet fully understood, “there are ample indicators that social media can also have a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” (Scelfo, 5/24)

The New York Times: For One Group Of Teenagers, Social Media Seems A Clear Net Benefit 
The surgeon general’s warning Tuesday about social media’s “profound risk of harm” to young people included a significant qualification. For some of them, the warning said, social media can be beneficial to health in important ways. For one group in particular — the growing share of young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer — social media can be a lifeline, researchers and teenagers say. Especially for those growing up in unwelcoming families or communities, social media often provides a sense of identity and belonging at a crucial age, much earlier than for many L.G.B.T.Q. people in previous generations. (Miller, 5/24)

Military.Com: VA Issues New Warning That Default Could Have 'Catastrophic' Effects For Veterans 
The Treasury Department pays $25 billion worth of bills for the Department of Veterans Affairs each month -- for veterans benefits, employee salaries, private health care, pharmacy costs and other programs like payments to small and veteran-owned companies that do business with the VA. A default on the debt on June 1 could put all those payments at risk -- a situation that could be "catastrophic," VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Wednesday, paraphrasing his boss, President Joe Biden. (Kime, 5/24)

Military Times: Vets Will See A Cost-Of-Living Boost In Benefit Checks Next Year
House lawmakers this week finalized plans to guarantee a cost-of-living boost in veterans benefits next year, sending legislation to the White House to be signed into law in coming days. The move guarantees that veterans’ support payments will keep pace with increases in Social Security checks and other federal stipends. It’s a non-controversial annual procedure for Congress, but one that needs to be finished before the end of the year to ensure that veterans benefits keep pace with inflation costs. (Shane III, 5/24)

KVPR: As Wildfire Smoke Worsens Public Health, Government Watchdog Calls EPA Response 'Ad Hoc'
A new father drove home from the hospital in downtown Modesto, scared — not by having a newborn baby, but by smoke-filled, "apocalyptic-looking skies." Tom Helme couldn't see past the next stoplight on the flat, straight road ahead. On that fall day in 2017, it was dark, he said, "like if a nuclear bomb went off, or something blocked the sun." The San Joaquin Valley was already years into what regulators now say is a downward slide in air quality, choked by smoke from frequent wildfires. (Peterson, 5/23)

The Mercury News: New Setback For Efforts To Protect Californians Living Near Oil Wells
From storming the stage at a Shell shareholders meeting to filing lawsuits over anti-racketeering claims, climate activists are trying a wide range of tactics in attempts to shame fossil fuel companies and hold them financially responsible for the harms their operations can cause. Oil companies are pushing back, spending big money and counting on support from legislators, courts and voters — so far with mixed results. But big oil just scored another big win in California. (Staggs, 5/24)

The Mercury News: FedEx Hit With $2 Million Award To Deaf Worker Who Claimed Supes Yelled, Spit On Him
Younes Mchaar transferred from his FedEx package-handler job in Virginia to a similar position in San Jose, hoping to leave behind the disability discrimination he experienced at work as a deaf person. Instead, he found more of the same, and worse: Managers mocked him, yelled at him, and one even spit on him, Mchaar claimed in a lawsuit against FedEx that earlier this month led a jury to award him $2 million. (Baron, 5/24)

USA Today: Paralyzed Man Walks Naturally With Brain, Spinal Cord Implants
A Dutch man whose spinal cord was injured in a bike accident a dozen years ago can now walk thanks to stimulators implanted on his brain and spinal cord, according to a study published Wednesday. Previous versions of the spinal cord stimulation that Gert-Jan Oskam received have helped people stand and take steps, but only after first pushing a button to activate the device. The new system enables him to merely think about walking before he can do it. (Weintraub, 5/24)

NBC News: Brain Memory: Multivitamin Protects Aging Brain, Science Suggests
Multivitamin supplements may help slow the normal forgetfulness that comes with aging, researchers reported Wednesday. The analysis of data from more than 3,500 older participants showed that those who took a daily Centrum Silver pill over a period of three years had better memories than those who received a placebo treatment, according to the report published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (Carroll, 5/24)

Bloomberg: Many Sunscreens Still Have Potentially Dangerous Chemicals
In 2019 the Food and Drug Administration told sunscreen manufacturers it had safety concerns about 12 ingredients that give so-called chemical lotions and sprays their protective power. The one that became the poster child for concern among researchers and consumer advocates was oxybenzone. It can upset the balance of hormones in ways that may increase cancer risk and lead to shorter pregnancies as well as lower testosterone levels in adolescent boys, studies have shown. Oxybenzone has been found in amniotic fluid and breast milk. (Edney, 5/24)

NBC News: Clues Emerge About Possible Factors Behind Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
The prevailing theory points to three possible factors: First, the infant is at a critical stage of development during the first year of life. Second, the baby is exposed to a stressor, such as sleeping face down, which can lower the amount of oxygen in their blood while raising the level of carbon dioxide. And third, the infant has an underlying abnormality that makes it harder to survive that traumatic event. A study published Thursday in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology points to one such abnormality. (Bendix, 5/25)

Stateline: Births Decline In Most States, Continuing A Long-Term Trend 
Fast-growing Texas and Florida had the biggest increases in the number of births last year, while a dozen other states — half of them in the South — continued to rebound from pandemic lows. In the United States as a whole, however, the number of births has plateaued after a modest increase following the worst of the pandemic, according to preliminary data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Henderson, 5/25)

Bay Area News Group: Tina Turner Admitted She Put Her Life In Danger By Neglecting Kidney Disease, Hypertension
Two months before she died, Tina Turner announced that she had joined an international campaign to support kidney health, revealing that she had put her own life “in danger” by long ignoring her need to treat her kidney disease and its underlying cause — hypertension — with daily therapy and conventional medication. (Ross, 5/24)