The New York Times: A New Approach For People With Severe Mental Illness
Policymakers in California have been trying for years to change longstanding laws and bring people with severe mental illness in from the streets. Roughly a third of the nation’s homeless population is in California, and a substantial proportion suffers from schizophrenia or other serious psychotic disorders. Getting them treatment and medication, the authorities have long maintained, would make a significant dent in the state’s homelessness crisis. (Hubler, 9/29)

Modesto Bee: CARE Court Program Will Begin Monday In Stanislaus County
Starting Monday, a program including Stanislaus County and the Superior Court will try to assist people who aren’t getting treated for severe mental illness. Stanislaus is one of seven counties in the state’s CARE Court pilot program aiming to get people with untreated mental disorders off the streets and into housing and treatment. Many of these adults are not sheltered and exhibit behavior that could lead to injury or incarceration. (Carlson, 9/28)

Voice of OC: A Controversial Past Haunts Orange County’s CARE Court Judge
New mental health courts launch next week across California, and in Orange County the program is being run by a former prosecutor who was fired after a federal Department of Justice investigation found he ran a program that systematically violated prisoner’s civil rights. (Biesiada, 9/29)

Fresno Bee: What Will Happen To Californians If The Federal Government Shuts Down? Here's What To Know 
The federal government is hurtling toward a wide-scale shutdown at midnight Saturday after weeks of failed negotiations. What does that mean for Californians? (Brassil and Lightman, 9/29)

The Hill: House GOP To Consider Stopgap To To Avert Shutdown That Includes Deep Spending Cuts
House Republicans on early Friday rolled out their new plan for a short-term spending bill that would stave off a government shutdown. The plan, dubbed the Spending Reduction and Border Security Act, would extend funding through the end of October, but impose across the board cuts of about 30 percent – with exemptions for national defense, the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, and for funding designated disaster relief. (Folley and Brooks, 9/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Kevin McCarthy Wins Three, Loses One In Late-Night Spending Votes
House Republicans largely succeeded in passing a series of annual spending bills late Thursday night, trying to show that the often fractured conference can stay united on legislation headed into any last-gasp negotiations with Democrats to avert a government shutdown this weekend. (Stech Ferek, Hughes, Wise and Peterson, 9/29)

NPR: How A Government Shutdown Would Impact Safety-Net Clinics For Most Vulnerable
Community health centers across the country are anxiously watching the budget impasse in Congress. Some 1,400 clinics depend on federal funds to serve the most vulnerable patients, and any interruptions in their funding will only add to the financial pressures they already face. These federally-qualified health centers, or FQHCs, are often located in low-income or rural communities. They deliver care on a sliding-fee scale and are mandated to serve everyone regardless of a patient's ability to pay. For millions of Americans, these clinics are the only way they can access primary care. (Boden, 9/29)

Military.Com: How A Government Shutdown Impacts Military Family Services
For on-base medical care: Unless it's an emergency or an inpatient hospital service, your appointment is probably going to be canceled. Give your clinic a buzz to be sure or watch for specific information from your local base. For off-base medical care: You won't be affected. All Tricare functions will continue without interruption. (Bushatz and Theisen, 9/28)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Health Absorbs Central Coast Clinic Group
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health is expanding its California Central Coast presence with the integration of Sansum Clinic, a 36-facility outpatient network based in the Santa Barbara area. Sutter Health, a 23-hospital system, aims to make "significant investments" in the 102-year-old clinic system, including in the areas of primary care and women's health, and with improved technology. (Thomas, 9/29)

MedPage Today: Blue Shield Of California Has Fix For MA Enrollees Worried About Co-Pays
With little fanfare, Blue Shield of California is again offering its "underwriting holidayopens in a new tab or window" for two of its "Plan G" Medicare supplemental plans, with enrollment starting October 1 and the plan year starting Jan. 1, 2024. This means that applicants don't have to answer questions about their health that would reveal conditions that could disqualify them, and underwriting approval is not required. (Clark , 9/28)

KVPR: In California, Doctors From Mexico Help Fill The Need For Some Patients. ‘As Good As Any Doctor.’
A law created in 2002 paved the way for Mexican physicians to practice in communities across California. Twenty years later, half a dozen are practicing in the San Joaquin Valley. (Quintanilla, 9/28)

California Healthline: Bill Of The Month: She Received Chemo In Two States. Why Did It Cost So Much More In Alaska?
A breast cancer patient who received similar treatments in two states saw significant differences in cost, illuminating how care in remote areas can come with a stiffer price tag. (Zionts, 9/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Researchers Probe Whether Vaccines Could Solve The Opioid Drug Crisis
Twelve years ago, pharmacologist Marco Pravetoni was among the scientists trying to develop a nicotine vaccine that could help people quit smoking — a type of experimental shot that eventually fizzled out after testing showed it benefited only a subset of people who took it. That led Pravetoni, now a professor at the University of Washington, down a path to try to better understand why some people respond better to shots than others. He pivoted his research to focus on another highly addictive substance, oxycodone — the active ingredient in Oxycontin — which at the time was fueling an overdose epidemic of prescription pills. (Ho, 9/29)

The Hill: CDC Director Urges Flu, COVID Vaccination Amid Low Uptake
Vaccination rates for COVID-19 and the flu have declined, and a significant portion of the U.S. population indicated they are not interested in getting either this year, according to a new survey. The survey from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases found that only about 20 percent of Americans are worried about themselves or someone in their family getting infected with the flu, COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). (Weixel, 9/28)

CIDRAP: Study: 75% Of Infants Hospitalized With COVID-19 Born To Unvaccinated Women
This week, studies in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report describe the landscape of COVID-19 vaccination among women of reproductive age and those who are pregnant, showing better outcomes for infants whose mothers were vaccinated during pregnancy. Maternal mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 have been widely recommended by providers for more than 2 years, and now evidence from the Omicron surge shows they were effective in preventing hospitalizations for infants ages 6 months or less. (Soucheray, 9/28)

The Bakersfield Californian: Details Remain Reserved As Kern Celebrates $11 Million For Local Fentanyl Task Force 
Outside its Public Health Services Department office, Kern County celebrated an $11 million slice of the state’s pie, the $310.8 billion budget that included money for Kern to establish a local fentanyl task force and awareness campaign. (Donegan, 9/28)

Axios: Blue Cities Question Their Embrace Of Progressive Drug Measures
Blue cities that have taken the most progressive — and often controversial — steps to tackle the nation's drug crisis are beginning to question those strategies amid rising political backlash. Public health experts emphasize policies that prioritize saving the lives of drug users — like so-called safe injection sites — but the worsening fentanyl problem is testing the patience of even the seemingly most tolerant cities. (Owens, 9/29)

AP: Los Angeles City And County To Spend Billions To Help Homeless People Under Lawsuit Settlement
Los Angeles County and city will spend billions of dollars to provide more housing and support services for homeless people under a lawsuit settlement approved Thursday by a federal judge. The county ends more than two years of court battles over LA’s response to the homelessness crisis by agreeing to provide an additional 3,000 beds by the end of 2026 for people with mental health and drug abuse issues. (Jablon, 9/29)

CNN: Hot Flashes Are More Dangerous Than Previously Thought
The rush of heat comes out of nowhere, so fierce for some that their faces burn and sweat streams from every pore of their bodies. Welcome to the hot flashes and other symptoms of approaching menopause — an experience experts say about 75% of women will share if they live long enough. Even if menopause is years or decades away, it’s time to pay attention — because according to emerging science, the menopause experience may be damaging to future health. (LaMotte, 9/27)

Bay Area News Group: Tensions Run High At Another School Board Meeting -- This Time, In The Heart Of San Jose
The night began with a man dressed in a white coat with what looked like fake blood spilled over his front. He approached the podium at the Franklin-McKinley school board meeting ready to perform — and by pretending to be a doctor hell-bent on performing gender-affirmation surgeries on children, that’s what he did. (Miolene, 9/29)

CNN: The US Has A Mental Health Crisis That Could Undermine Our Democracy, US Surgeon Generals Say
While working in the West Wing under President George W. Bush, then-US Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona got a terrible telephone call from his daughter. After he had been missing, she found Carmona’s adult son in a catatonic state. He sat in the corner of his father’s home for two days and he kept screaming “incoming, incoming.” Carmona’s son served in the army for 21 years, and Carmona said while he doesn’t talk much about it, his son has had “crippling PTSD” and been in and out of mental care facilities since that incident. Yet when the family initially sought help from the VA, Carmona said, even with all of his connections as surgeon general, they started to see the cracks in the country’s mental health care system. (Christensen, 9/28)

Politico: House Republicans Introduce National Ban On Abortion Pills
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), flanked by leaders of anti-abortion groups, introduced a bill Thursday that would ban abortion pills nationwide. “Banning these dangerous drugs for the purpose of chemical abortion is an important step in protecting life,” he told reporters. “We have a duty to uphold the sanctity of life.” The new bill, which has 13 Republican co-sponsors as of Thursday, comes on the 23rd anniversary of the FDA approving the abortion drug mifepristone for terminating a pregnancy in the first 10 weeks. In recent years, the pills have become the most common method of abortion nationwide. (Miranda Ollstein, 9/28)

Politico: Manchin Snarls Top VA Nominee Over Abortion
Manchin (D-W.Va.) has joined Republicans on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee in blocking Anjali Chaturvedi, a top Department of Justice lawyer, over the agency’s policy allowing it to provide abortion counseling and some abortions. The VA last fall finalized the policy, which enables it to provide the procedure when the life or health of a veteran or beneficiary is in peril, or in cases of rape or incest. The policy also covers dependents. (Leonard, 9/28)

San Diego Union-Tribune: California Park Rangers Should Be Entitled To Workers' Compensation For Skin Cancer
California’s parks and wildlife are some of our state’s greatest treasures. Each year millions of people enjoy our beaches, parks and forests. Fish and game wardens and park rangers are on the front lines every day protecting our precious natural resources and keeping visitors safe. (Patrick Foy, 9/26)

Fresno Bee: Fresno Lawmaker Aims To Open Colleges To Disabled Students 
California prides itself on the quality of its public higher education system and the breadth of the opportunities it can offer. Many young people look to our state’s four-year universities to pursue their dreams and futures. However, students with developmental and intellectual disabilities have not had these opportunities. Their access to our state’s four-year public institutions, to be blunt, has been limited. (Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula, 9/28)

Sacramento Bee: State Bans On Gender-Affirming Care For Transgender Minors Are Unconstitutional 
The laws in Texas and more than a dozen other states which ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors are stunning in their cruelty and are clearly unconstitutional, as infringing on the rights of parents to control the upbringing of their children. They also interfere with the right to receive needed medical treatment. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 9/28)

Los Angeles Daily News: California Is Opening The Door To Psychedelics. The Federal Government Needs To Catch Up.
From clean energy to voting rights, as California goes, so goes the nation. Californians have long prided themselves on being at the leading edge of innovation and inclusion. And with California lawmakers voting to decriminalize psychedelics this month, we are entering another new chapter of this storied history, subject to Governor Newsom’s veto-power. (Lou Correa, 9/28)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Forever Chemicals Put Many Firefighters At Risk. This Bill Could Help Them 
During the 1960s, the U.S. Naval Research Lab partnered with 3M to produce a firefighting solution that would rapidly extinguish hydrocarbon fuel fires. The collaboration resulted in the development of aqueous film-forming foam, a flame-suppressant that quickly quelled difficult fuel blazes that gained widespread use across multiple military bases and civilian fire stations across the U.S. by the early 1970s. (Miguel Leyva, 9/25)

CalMatters: False Narratives Hurt California's Ability To Address Child Poverty 
In one year, we went from a record low poverty rate of 7.8% – and child poverty being cut nearly in half to 5.2% – to the largest ever single-year rise and the child poverty rate increasing by a stunning 138%. In California the poverty rate for children under age 18 rose from 7.5% to nearly 17%. (Devon Gray, 9/26)

CalMatters: CA Politicians Point Fingers As Tolerance Of Homelessness Wears Thin 
Many political promises have been made, many billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent and many programs have been launched, but the state’s homelessness crisis continues to worsen and Californians’ tolerance has worn thin. (Dan Walters, 9/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Lyme Disease Helped Kill Our Son. A Better Test Might Have Saved Him
In June, the unimaginable happened to our family: Our beloved son, Jonny, passed away because of Lyme disease. We are confused, angry and heartbroken about the preventable nightmare that cost our son his life. From the depths of indescribable pain, we are writing this to our community with the hope of saving lives. Lyme disease, transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected tick, has infected an estimated 14% of the global population. In the United States alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 30,000 cases each year. Many patients struggle to receive a proper diagnosis, leading to delays in timely and life-saving antibiotic treatment. (Jose and Monica Luis, 9/29)

Los Angeles Times: I Thought I Had It Made. Then I Accidentally Discovered My Brain Tumor
Eating in my favorite Westside restaurant last December, I had cause for celebration. At last I had my life in order. My husband and I had just moved with our teenage daughter from New York to Los Angeles to be closer to our aging parents. Our high schooler had joined the basketball team and was making friends. We’d found what I hoped would be our forever home. My work as a counselor gratified me. I thought I had finally reached that elusive place: stable and successful adulthood. Then in the wee hours that night, I woke up queasy. A delicious bite of sushi had made me ill. After feeling nauseated for five days, I checked into a hospital. (Haig Chahinian, 9/25)