Sacramento Bee: Gov. Newsom’s Plan To Overhaul California’s Mental Health System Heading To Voters In March
California lawmakers endorsed Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest plan to address the state’s worsening homeless crisis. Now, it’ll be up to voters. (Angst, 9/16)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Pass Lead-Testing Bill For Schools
California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require kindergarten-to-12th-grade schools in the Golden State to test for brain-damaging lead in all drinking water outlets. ... The legislation comes on the heels of alarming data revealing that one in four of the state’s child-care centers has dangerously high levels of lead in their drinking water, suggesting that thousands of infants, toddlers and children are being exposed to the potent neurotoxin. (Pineda, 9/16)

Sacramento Bee: California Health Care Workers Could Earn $25 Minimum Wage After Union, Hospitals Make Deal
Hundreds of thousands of health care workers in California are likely to secure a new minimum wage of $25 an hour as the Legislature successfully sent the bill Thursday night to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. One caveat, though, is workers would have to wait between three and 10 years to see the full wage. (Miller, 9/16)

Bay Area Reporter: LGBTQ Youth, Health Data Bills Hit Newsom's Desk
An additional batch of LGBTQ-related bills have survived this year's legislative session and now await a decision by Governor Gavin Newsom on if they will be enacted. They include protections for LGBTQ foster youth and students, as well as improvements in the collection of health data for transgender and gender-nonconforming Californians. (Bajko, 9/15)

CalMatters: Lose Medi-Cal Or Medicaid? How To Get Health Insurance
Tens of thousands of Californians are losing health insurance every month as the state resumes checking people’s eligibility for Medi-Cal, which it suspended during the COVID-19 public health emergency. About 16 million people in California will be evaluated for eligibility from June 2023 to May 2024. About half of those up for a review were automatically renewed because officials were able to verify their information in the system. Others were sent yellow renewal packets that they were supposed to fill out and send back to their county Medi-Cal office. (Agrawal, 9/18)

CNBC: Why Health Insurance Is Poised To Make Inflation Jump
Inflation is broadly retreating in the U.S. economy. But starting in October, health insurance is poised to act as a countervailing force that buoys inflation for about a year, economists said. That’s significant at a time when policymakers are using inflation data to determine how to set interest rates. (Iacurci, 9/17)

Los Angeles Times: OC Health Care Agency Granted $10 Million For Crisis Mobile Units
“We are very excited to draw down these funds to better support the efforts of our crisis response system of care,” said Dr. Veronica Kelley, HCA chief of mental health and recovery services. ... The County’s CAT program provides a prompt response in the field when an individual is experiencing a behavioral health crisis. A behavioral health crisis may include a mental health crisis, substance use crisis, or co-occurring mental health and substance use crises. County clinicians respond to calls from anyone in the community and are dispatched 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round. (9/17)

Politico: Joe Biden’s Taking On Insurers To Address America’s Mental Health Crisis 
The Biden administration is going after health insurers for flouting a federal law requiring them to provide mental health care on the same terms as other care. The administration has proposed new rules it says will make the insurers comply and it’s threatening big fines if they don’t. Insurers are pleading innocent and, backed by some of America’s biggest companies, claiming the Biden administration plan could make an intractable problem worse. The battle comes as Americans’ mental health care needs are at modern highs, following a pandemic-driven spike that refuses to abate. (Leonard, 9/17)

The Gazette: Brandon Act Requires Commanders To Connect Troops To Mental Health Help 
Commanders across the military are now required to help troops get mental health care as soon as possible to help prevent suicides under a new law called the Brandon Act. (Shinn, 9/18)

Axios: AI Tools Help Doctors Screen For Mental Health Conditions In U.K., U.S.
A diagnostic "e-triage" tool from Limbic, a British AI startup, has screened more than 210,000 patients with a claimed 93% accuracy across the eight most common mental disorders, including depression, anxiety and PTSD, co-founder Ross Harper, a computational neuroscientist, told Axios. (Heath, 9/18)

Fox40.com: Northern California Health Center First In Nation To Be Designated A Voter Registration Center On Tribal Lands
The Shingle Springs Health & Wellness Center, located just off Highway 50 and Red Hawk Parkway, is the history-making voter registration center. ... In a news release statement, Tribal Chairwoman Regina Cuellar said, “As a health care center aimed at providing services to every citizen of this Tribe and the surrounding community, Tribal and non-Tribal, our motto of ‘Healthcare for all’ stands true to the spirit of the administration’s executive order, ‘Voting for all.’” (Robles, 9/13)

HIV.gov: Resources For 2023 National HIV/AIDS And Aging Awareness Day
HUD’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing is sponsoring the fifth session in its webinar series focused on HIV and aging. This webinar, Exploring Data and Engaging in Discussions of HIV, Aging, and Housing, will take place on Monday, September 18, 2023, from 12-1:30pm (ET). (9/14)

Daily Nurse: On National AIDS And Aging Day, A Veteran Nurse Looks Back: How Nurses Can Transform The Lives Of HIV/AIDS Patients Through Empathy
Any nurse entering the field, no matter how prepared or well trained, will do their best to learn about the realities of caring for others on the job. When I started working as a nurse back in the 1970s, I had no idea that in a few years, I would find myself on the frontlines of an epidemic that would irrevocably change and touch all our lives while also changing the career trajectories for a great number of people in healthcare. (Arthur Fitting, 9/18)

aidsmap: Another Class Of Cancer Drugs May Contribute To Curing HIV 
Two drugs from a class new to HIV medicine called BH3 mimetics were unveiled at July’s 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science in Brisbane. They may contribute to a cure for HIV by killing off long-lived cells that contain HIV genes in their DNA. Notably, venetoclax (Venclexta) and obatoclax only killed off cells containing intact DNA, capable of giving rise to new viruses, and did not delete cells containing defective, harmless DNA. (Cairns, 9/18)

Reuters: Climate Change Impeding Fight Against AIDS, TB And Malaria 
Climate change and conflict are hitting efforts to tackle three of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, the head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has warned. International initiatives to fight the diseases have largely recovered after being badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Fund’s 2023 results report released on Monday. (Rigby, 9/18)

CBS News: Oakland County Health Officials Investigate Suspected Hepatitis A Case At Pine Knob Music Theatre
The Oakland County Health Division says it is investigating a suspected case of hepatitis A reported at the Ivy Lounge at the Pine Knob Music Theatre. Health officials say all season members, guests, and staff who consumed food at the lounge between Aug. 26 and Sept. 8 should monitor their symptoms. Anyone unvaccinated, who was possibly exposed from Sept. 1-8, is urged to receive the vaccine by the 14-day deadline. (Booth-Singleton, 9/15)

inewsource: City Campsite For Unhoused San Diegans A 'Godsend' For Some
Harsh and unpredictable weather conditions, uncomfortable living arrangements, and confusion about who is welcome and where they should go. San Diego’s campsite for people experiencing homelessness has been marked by its share of challenges since opening nearly 12 weeks ago. But it also has had some success. (Dulaney and Meyers, 9/18)

The Washington Post: Trump, Who Nominated Antiabortion Judges, Calls Six-Week Bans ‘Terrible’
Former president Donald Trump, the front-runner in the GOP presidential primary, said a state abortion law signed by his top challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), which bans the procedure after six weeks, is “terrible.” ... Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” criticized DeSantis for being “willing to sign a five-week and six-week ban.” “I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” said Trump, who appointed three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationally. (Alfaro and Knowles, 9/17)

Military Times: House Republicans Demand Data On VA Abortion Procedures
Republican leaders from the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee are threatening to subpoena data on abortions performed at Veterans Affairs facilities if the department keeps refusing to turn over the information. In a letter to VA Secretary Denis McDonough, committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., and health subcommittee Chairwoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, said they will schedule a vote to force the department to turn over the information if it is not released to their panel by the end of the month. (Shane III, 9/15)

The 19th: Americans Don’t Trust Politicians On Abortion, Gender-Affirming Care, Poll Finds
The vast majority of Americans — 7 in 10 — think that politicians are not informed enough about abortion and gender-affirming care to create fair policies, new polling by The 19th and SurveyMonkey found. (Becker and Barclay, 9/18)

The 19th: Total Abortion Bans Are Not At All Popular Among Americans, Poll Finds
Only 9 percent of Americans believe that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances even as 14 states are enforcing near-total bans on the procedure, the 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll has found. Past polling has frequently found that people hold sometimes confusing and conflicting opinions about abortion, and this poll is no different: Some of those who say they support completely outlawing the procedure still believe abortion should be allowed in at least some circumstances. (Luthra, 9/18)

CBS News: New COVID Vaccine Shots Aren't Being Called "Boosters." Here's Why
"Bye bye, booster. We are no longer giving boosters, and it's going to be very difficult to stop using that word because that word has become pervasive," Dr. Keipp Talbot, a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's committee of vaccine advisers, said. Talbot was speaking Thursday at a webinar hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America titled, in part, "COVID-19 New Booster Vaccine & Variants Update." "We are beginning to think of COVID like influenza. Influenza changes each year, and we give a new vaccine for each year. We don't 'boost' each year," said Talbot. (Tin, 9/15)

NBC News: Covid Symptoms Are Now More Mild And Follow A Pattern, Doctors Say
Doctors say they're finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish Covid from allergies or the common cold, even as hospitalizations tick up. The illness' past hallmarks, such as a dry cough or the loss of sense of taste or smell, have become less common. Instead, doctors are observing milder disease, mostly concentrated in the upper respiratory tract. (Bendix, 9/16)

CIDRAP: Facebook's Policy On Anti-COVID Vaccine Content Didn't Stop Users From Finding It, Study Suggests 
Facebook's removal of some COVID-19 vaccine misinformation didn't drive down user engagement with the content—likely because the social media platform's architecture allowed users to view and interact with it and let groups boost each other's content or repost deleted posts, suggests an analysis led by George Washington University researchers. (Van Beusekom, 9/15)

USA Today: No, Pfizer's COVID-19 Vaccine Doesn't Cause 'VAIDS'
A Sept. 12 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a post on X, formerly Twitter, that discusses a supposed side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine called “vaccine-induced AIDS.” It includes a photo of a child whose face is covered with sores. ... The study proves no such thing. VAIDS is not a real condition, and there is no evidence linking COVID-19 vaccines to immunodeficiency, medical experts say. The study looked at the immune responses of vaccinated children, and its authors say their research was misrepresented. (McCreary, 9/16)

Axios: U.S. Tops 500 Mass Shootings In 2023
There have now been 501 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. A shooting that wounded four people in Denver, Colorado, on Saturday night marked the country's 500th mass shooting in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Hours later, that increased to 501 mass shootings after one person died and five others were wounded in El Paso, Texas, early Sunday. (Rubin, 9/17)

The 19th: Americans Want Gun Restrictions On Those Convicted Of Domestic Violence, Poll Finds
Michele Bell wishes more politicians knew what she saw in her 50 years working as a nurse at a Houston hospital, where she cared for countless women who had been shot by their partners. She wishes they knew what happened to her brother, a former police officer who was shot twice while responding to domestic violence calls and had to retire. She wishes that guns — who can have them, what laws can restrict them — weren’t a political issue. (Gerson, 9/18)

Axios: Health Programs Could Be Stranded By Government Shutdown
The threat of a government shutdown is hanging over Capitol Hill. But so is the realization that gridlock could claim an array of health programs that are due to sunset at the end of the month without congressional action. (Knight and Sullivan, 9/18)

The Washington Post: House Republicans Propose Short-Term Funding Deal That Senate Likely To Reject
Half a dozen House Republicans announced a proposed deal Sunday to temporarily fund the government with the goal of averting a shutdown at the end of the month. But it is far from certain that the proposal would unite their fractious conference to send a bill to the Senate, where it is expected to be rejected. (Sotomayor and Caldwell, 9/17)

Pew Research Center: Congress Has Long Struggled To Pass Spending Bills On Time
Congress’ chronic inability to follow its own appropriations process is hardly new. In fact, in the nearly five decades that the current system for budgeting and spending tax dollars has been in place, Congress has passed all its required appropriations measures on time only four times: fiscal 1977 (the first full fiscal year under the current system), 1989, 1995 and 1997. And even those last three times, Congress was late in passing the budget blueprint that, in theory at least, precedes the actual spending bills. (Desilver, 9/13)