Los Angeles Times: New COVID Coronavirus Subvariant Arcturus Is Now In L.A.
Los Angeles County has identified its first cases of an emerging Omicron coronavirus subvariant dubbed Arcturus, a strain global health authorities are watching closely as it has been linked to an upswing in cases in India. Officially designated XBB.1.16, the subvariant also has attracted attention after anecdotal reports linking it to what has been a rare COVID-19 symptom: pink eye. (Lin II and Money, 4/20)

CIDRAP: A Third Of US Households Used Government-Supplied At-Home COVID Tests 
A Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report study published today finds that one third of US households used free at-home COVID-19 diagnostic tests from the COVIDTests.gov program and suggests that, without the kits, one in four adults who used a test would likely otherwise have gone untested. A team led by Emory University researchers analyzed data from a national probability survey to estimate awareness, acceptability, and use of the COVIDTests.gov program in April and May 2022. The White House launched the program in January 2022 to enable all US households to order free, at-home rapid antigen tests delivered through the US Postal Service. (Van Beusekom, 4/20)

CIDRAP: US Racial Minorities Less Likely To Get COVID Vaccine After Bad Healthcare Experiences
US racial minorities who reported having worse healthcare experiences than those of other races were less likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-led study published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Van Beusekom, 4/20)

AP: Racial Gap In US Stroke Deaths Widened During Pandemic 
The longstanding racial gap in U.S. stroke death rates widened dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, government researchers said Thursday. Stroke death rates increased for both Black and white adults in 2020 and 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. But the difference between the two groups grew about 22%, compared with the five years before the pandemic. (Stobbe, 4/20)

The Mercury News: What's At Stake In California With Friday's Supreme Court Decision On Abortion Pills?
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide Friday whether to allow lower courts’ restrictions on a medication abortion pill to take effect while legal challenges to its approval more than two decades ago play out. So what would that mean for California, a state where two out of three voters in November approved a state constitutional amendment declaring abortion a right and where Gov. Gavin Newsom has championed abortion access? (Woolfolk, 4/20)

KQED: California Clinics Promise No Interruption In Abortion Care As Supreme Court Weighs Restrictions On Mifepristone
Planned Parenthood Northern California is vowing to maintain stability in abortion care in the region, should the U.S. Supreme Court decide to temporarily limit or ban the abortion medication mifepristone, while it sorts through conflicting lower court rulings over the drug. Amid the legal uncertainty of recent weeks, clinicians and staff at the organization’s 17 clinics, from San Francisco to Chico to Eureka, have been training to shift their protocol for medication abortion from a two-drug regimen, to just one drug, if needed. (Dembosky, 4/20)

CalMatters: Abortion In California: Creating The Easiest Access In The US
Gov. Gavin Newsom set the stage this fall for California to be an abortion “safe haven” for women across the U.S., signing into law some of the strongest abortion protections in the country. Among the bill package are measures protecting women who seek an abortion from criminal or civil liability, increasing digital privacy protections, and prohibiting medical providers from sharing patient information with out-of-state law enforcement agencies. (Hwang, 4/21)

The Washington Post: What Is Misoprostol, The Abortion Pill Used With Mifepristone?
As the Supreme Court weighs the future of mifepristone, a key abortion drug used for terminating early pregnancies, the threat of restricting its use has also put the spotlight on a second medication, misoprostol. It is used in conjunction with mifepristone in the United States to terminate pregnancies and should remain widely available, for now, no matter how the court rules on mifepristone. Here’s what to know about misoprostol, and whether its use as an abortion drug may be at risk. (Masih, 4/20)

WSET: No Way To 'Sugarcoat' Dangers Of Abortion Pill Restrictions, Says AMA President 
A decision on the future of the abortion pill mifepristone is expected Friday unless the United States Supreme Court orders a second extension for a ruling. ... The president of the American Medical Association spoke with 7News Health and Wellness Reporter Victoria Sanchez via Zoom on Thursday. (Sanchez, 4/21)

NBC News: European Group That Mails Abortion Pills To Americans Says Requests Have Surged
A group in Europe that prescribes abortion pills to people in the U.S. online said it has seen a surge in requests since a federal judge in Texas issued a decision imperiling future access to mifepristone. "We have seen an enormous ... increase in requests since the ruling in Texas," said Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, a Dutch physician who runs the service called Aid Access. "People are extremely anxious." (Da Silva, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: Beverly Hospital In Montebello Files For Bankruptcy
Beverly Hospital filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, a step that hospital officials said was needed to avoid the closure of the Montebello facility. Hospital officials said their goal is to find a buyer to keep the hospital open and maintain crucial services for residents in Montebello and nearby communities, including El Monte, Whittier and East Los Angeles. They laid the blame for their financial plight on surging costs that they said had outpaced government reimbursements to care for low-income patients. (Alpert Reyes, 4/20)

The Washington Post: U.S. News Delays Law And Med School Rankings Amid Data Questions 
U.S. News & World Report, already under scrutiny for the way it ranks some college programs, is delaying the release of its influential annual list of top law schools and medical schools as it answers “an unprecedented number of inquiries” from schools about the data. The news outlet did not give a new publication date, but said the lists would not be released until work to address the questions has been completed. “We take our role as a journalism enterprise very seriously and are working as quickly as possible to produce the best information available for students,” the company said in a statement. (Svrluga, 4/20)

Military.Com: Defense Department Sticking With TriWest To Run Tricare West Region
The Department of Defense has upheld its $65.1 billion decision to award the next generation contract to manage Tricare's West Region to TriWest, a ruling that will affect more than a million patients in the DoD health system. The company that currently has the contract for that segment of the Tricare system and lost out to TriWest, Health Net Federal Services, had filed a protest to stop the deal. (Kime, 4/20)

CNBC: Senate Bill Proposes Insulin Price Cap For Diabetes Patients
Bipartisan Senate legislation introduced Friday would cap the price of insulin at $35 per month for people with private insurance. The bill, drafted by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, comes two months after President Joe Biden called on Congress during his State of the Union address to extend the insulin price cap to the millions of people living with diabetes who have private insurance. (Kimball, 4/21)

Reuters: Factbox: What's In Republican McCarthy's Debt-Limit Spending Cut Package? 
Childless adults up to 56 who get health insurance through Medicaid, which covers low-income people, would have to work at least 80 hours a month or participate in job training or community service. Likewise, childless adults up to 56 years old who receive food assistance through the SNAP program would lose benefits after three months if they could not prove they were working at least 20 hours a week or participating in a job training program. Those work requirements currently apply to those up to 50 years old. (4/20)

Vox: Why The House GOP’s Debt-Ceiling Plan Includes Medicaid Work Requirements 
The House Republican majority has released its demands for major government spending cuts in exchange for increasing the federal debt limit. And they include a familiar target for conservatives: Medicaid. It’s a gambit that may be more than a decade out of a date and could pose a political risk to the party. For years, Republicans have believed that Medicaid, which primarily serves low-income Americans, is less politically potent than Medicare or Social Security, two of the other core features of the US social safety net, and therefore a safer target for proposed cuts. There may be some truth to that notion — but Medicaid is plenty popular on its own terms. (Scott, 4/19)

Politico: House Republicans Pass Bill Restricting Transgender Athletes From Women’s Sports 
House Republicans approved their measure to restrict transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams on a 219-203 vote Thursday morning. The legislation — H.R. 734 (118) — is a key part of the GOP’s education agenda and mirrors more than 20 laws that have been adopted in states across the country. It bars transgender women from playing on teams consistent with their gender identity and amends Title IX, the federal education law that bars sex-based discrimination, to define sex as based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth. ... The bill has no chance of becoming law as it is likely to stall in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and President Joe Biden has already announced that he would veto the bill if it were to reach his desk. (Quilantan, 4/20)

EdSource: Battle Over Transgender Student Privacy Isn’t Over, Bill’s Author Says
A bill requiring schools to inform parents if their children may be transgender might be stalled in Sacramento, but the debate is very much alive at the local level. The author of Assembly bill 1314, Assemblymember Bill Essayli (R-Riverside), has vowed to bring the idea to school boards directly, encourage parents to sue school districts and continue to push for a hearing in the Legislature. (Jones, 4/21)

The New York Times: How A Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives
Defeated on same-sex marriage, the religious right went searching for an issue that would re-energize supporters and donors. The campaign that followed has stunned political leaders across the spectrum. (Nagourney and Peters, 4/16)

Los Angeles Times: Will California Limit Solitary Confinement In Prisons? 
On a recent day in this sun-soaked suburb, conditions were perfect for an outdoor workout at a maximum-security prison in Northern California. Winter storms had turned the hills surrounding California State Prison, Sacramento lush green, and Maurice League was enjoying the view from his individual exercise yard, a caged plot of concrete not much bigger than a dog pen, during the roughly three hours a day he’s allowed outside. (Wiley, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: The Prison Reform That Divides California Democrats 
Will this be the year California limits solitary confinement in state prisons and jails? Even though the state’s voters and the Legislature’s Democratic majority have embraced a number of progressive criminal justice reforms over the last decade that have reduced the prison population, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom last year vetoed legislation to limit the use of solitary confinement. (Rosenhall, 4/20)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Rejects L.A. County's Revamped Homeless Settlement
A frustrated federal judge once again refused to sign off on an agreement that would have ended a long-running lawsuit over the government response to the homeless crisis, criticizing Los Angeles County officials for bringing him a settlement he felt the court had no way to enforce. It was the second time in recent months county leaders have appeared in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter with an agreement they hoped would put to rest a years-long legal battle with the Los Angeles Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of downtown residents and business groups that sued the city and county at the start of the pandemic arguing they had failed the region’s homeless population. (Ellis, 4/20)

inewsource: San Diego Leaders Eye A Homeless Solution Fraught With Problems
In the face of mounting public pressure to do something about the worsening homelessness crisis, San Diego leaders are pushing a proposal that would make it illegal to live in a tent virtually anywhere in city limits. Some have called it cruel and inhumane, urging the city to instead pour resources into housing and evidence-based approaches. Others have praised the city for taking action against the growth of tent encampments, saying they’re sick and tired of seeing people have sex, defecate and use drugs outside homes, businesses and schools. (Dulaney, 4/20)

CapRadio: Two Longtime Sacramento Hotels Could Soon Turn Into Permanent Homeless Housing
Sacramento County could soon convert two longtime hotels into approximately 240 units of permanent homeless housing. The Board of Supervisors this week approved applications asking Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration for $37 million to purchase and renovate the hotels through the state’s Homekey initiative. (Nichols, 4/20)

NBC News: Over-The-Counter Narcan To Cost Less Than $50 For A Two-Pack, Company Says
When Narcan finally becomes available over the counter later this year, the price may put the lifesaving antidote out of reach for many people, experts say. Emergent BioSolutions said Thursday that it plans to price the opioid overdose reversal medication at less than $50 for two doses. (Lovelace Jr., 4/20)

The New York Times: The Fight Over A Drug That Is Great For Horses But Horrific For Humans 
Drug dealers are mixing xylazine, an animal tranquilizer relied on by veterinarians, into fentanyl, with deadly results. But controlling it is tricky. (Hoffman, 4/20)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Narcan Is Needed In Schools To Prevent Overdoses 
Fentanyl overdoses among U.S. teenagers have tripled in two years, and, when it comes to teen overdoses at school, teachers need to be proactive. A spray dose of naloxone is exactly that lifesaver, but of course there will be resistance and red tape. (Mark Powell, 4/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: What My Mom’s OD, Sister’s Addiction Taught Me About SF's Drug Crisis
I was 12 years old the first time my mother was arrested for selling drugs. It wasn’t at an open-air market and it wasn’t fentanyl. A sting operation ended with my mom being taken into custody for selling marijuana. She was in jail for a bit until she made bail, but most of her sentence was served under house arrest. This was not the blessing it might seem. (Brandi Lawless, 4/18)

San Francisco Chronicle: Veterans With PTSD Like Me Are Suffering. Psychedelics Could Help
As anyone who has served on active duty can attest, the specters of war never really leave you. For 16 years, the trauma I came home with after my military service led to nightmares and cold sweats, and panic attacks during the day. I tried everything I could to end my suffering but, in the end, there was only one thing that worked. But our government won’t allow veterans to access it. (Joseph Holsworth, 4/15)

Fresno Bee: California Bill Offers Loan To Reopen Madera’s Only Hospital
Madera County’s only hospital closed at the end of December due to ongoing and overwhelming financial problems. Since then, the 160,000 residents of the rural area have either had to go to Fresno or Merced for a hospital. Some low-income residents have given up on getting treatment at all. (4/18)

San Diego Union-Tribune: California Bolsters Its Effort As A Bulwark Against Anti-Abortion Laws 
A proposed law in California prohibits fugitive hunters from “apprehending, detaining or arresting” people here who may have violated certain laws in other states. (Michael Smolens, 4/21)

Los Angeles Times: Instead Of Imposing A Travel Ban On Anti-LGBTQ States, California Should Engage 
In 2016, in a burst of anger over anti-LGBTQ legislation approved in North Carolina, Tennessee and elsewhere, the California Legislature approved a ban on taxpayer-funded travel to states with laws discriminating against people based on gender identity or sexual orientation. Democrats for the most part were enthusiastic. Stick it to the bad guys! Send a message that California won’t do business with bigots! Refuse to tolerate intolerance! (Nicholas Goldberg, 4/17)

Los Angeles Daily News: California Has New Chance To Stop Torture By Curtailing The Use Of Solitary Confinement 
Assembly Bill 280, called  The California Mandela Act, limits the ability of prison and jail officials to place certain vulnerable individuals, including elderly people, people with mental or physical disabilities and women who are pregnant, in isolated confinement. (4/19)