KTLA: 23 Health Care Workers Arrested After Protesting Outside Kaiser Permanente Hospital In Hollywood
Health care workers who were staging a protest outside Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Hollywood were arrested and cited by the Los Angeles Police Department for “civil disobedience” on Labor Day after police declared the protest an unlawful assembly. The workers were participating in a Labor Day march and rally that came to a conclusion outside the Hollywood hospital. The workers, represented by Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, have been embroiled in a dispute with Kaiser, one of the nation’s largest health care systems, over what they say is unfair labor practices, including allegations of unsafe staffing levels. (Schlepp, 9/4)

Los Angeles Times: Healthcare Workers With Kaiser Permanente Rally For New Contract 
A Labor Day demonstration that blocked part of Sunset Boulevard led to the peaceful arrest of roughly two dozen people protesting Kaiser Permanente’s labor practices in front of the HMO’s medical center in Hollywood. Hundreds of workers marched from Los Feliz Elementary to the medical center’s entrance around 11 a.m., many of them holding signs and dressed in their local union’s T-shirts. At the behest of police, organizers ushered most of the group onto the sidewalk, leaving in the cordoned-off street a circle of two dozen protesters who seated themselves on the asphalt. (Purtill, 9/4)

NBC Bay Area: Thousands Of Health Care Workers Call On Kaiser To Increase Wages, Staffing 
“This is the day for the little people like me,” said Algera Bizzle-Jones, a Kaiser worker from Sacramento. “This is the day to show people without us you don’t exist. Without us, we make the money, we are the ones who make these corporations run.” The frontline workers say they are struggling to make ends meet, are burned out from the pandemic, and are tired of understaffed hospitals and clinics creating an unsafe environment for staff and patients. “Being able to be seen in the ER quickly, being able to get an appointment with their doctor quickly, a lot of those things that are just basic health care needs for the community are not being met correctly,” said Jimmie Morris of Kaiser Manteca. (Jones, 9/4)

Bay Area News Group: California’s COVID-Battered Healthcare Workers Rally For Staff Increases, Higher Pay
Among the crowd were Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley and other Bay Area cities. The rally was staged by SEIU United Healthcare Workers West, and two sister rallies occurred simultaneously in Los Angeles and San Diego. Dave Regan, SEIU UHW president, specifically called out healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, saying it has until Sept. 30, when the union contract expires, to meet the workers’ demands, or face a possible strike. (Metcalfe, 9/4)

California Healthline: Biden Administration Proposes New Standards To Boost Nursing Home Staffing
The nation’s most thinly staffed nursing homes would be required to hire more workers under new rules proposed on Friday by the Biden administration, the greatest change to federal nursing home regulations in three decades. The proposed standard was prompted by the industry’s troubled performance earlier in the coronavirus pandemic, when 200,000 nursing home residents died. But the proposal falls far short of what both the industry and patient advocates believe is needed to improve care for most of the 1.2 million Americans in nursing homes. (Rau, 9/1)

RevCycle Intelligence: Hospitals, Health Systems Recognized For Price Transparency Compliance
Fifteen hospitals and health systems have been recognized for their compliance with the federal price transparency regulations. The list includes Mercy Hospital Downtown Bakersfield and Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. (Bailey, 8/24)

CBS News: First Lady Jill Biden Tests Positive For COVID-19
First lady Dr. Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday evening, the White House said. Biden, 72, was experiencing mild symptoms at the time of the positive test, the first lady's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, said in a statement. She plans to remain at her home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. President Biden was administered a COVID-19 test after the first lady's positive result — he tested negative, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.  (Dev, 9/4)

CNN: US Lab Tests Suggest New Covid-19 Variant BA.2.86 May Be Less Contagious And Less Immune-Evasive Than Feared
Two teams of US scientists have completed lab experiments testing the antibodies from vaccinated and infected Americans to see how well they might be able to fend off currently circulating variants of the virus that causes Covid-19, including the highly mutated BA.2.86. Their results match up almost exactly, and the news – at least when it comes to BA.2.86, which has also been dubbed Pirola – is very good. Our immune systems can recognize and fight off this variant as well as, and perhaps even a bit better than, the currently circulating offshoots of the XBB variant. (Goodman, 9/4)

CNBC: Covid: When To Wear Masks As Cases Rise, New Variants Emerge In U.S.
An uptick in Covid cases and hospitalizations in the U.S., and the emergence of new variants of the virus, are prompting questions about whether Americans should start masking up again. One thing’s for sure: People infected with Covid should wear masks around others to prevent the spread of the virus. For those not infected, the decision to mask depends on a few things. That includes your personal risk level, Covid rates in your region and who you might make contact with, public health experts said. (Constantino, 9/1)

Voice of OC: Anaheim Officials Refuse To Audit Tourism Bureau’s Alleged Illegal Diversion Of COVID Funds 
They’re now under scrutiny after a city-commissioned independent investigation found Visit Anaheim took $1.5 million of the $6.5 million COVID relief dollars they were given by the city council and sent the money to a Chamber of Commerce controlled nonprofit. (Biesiada, 8/31)

California Healthline & Politifact: Activist Misuses Federal Data To Make False Claim That Covid Vaccines Killed 676,000
Anti-vaccine tech entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, whose wild assertions have been repeatedly debunked, wrongly attributes deaths following vaccination to the vaccines themselves. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which runs the database, calls that inaccurate and irresponsible. (Kertshcer, 9/1)

Berkeleyside: Evictions Are Allowed Again In Berkeley After 3-Year Ban
Berkeley’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium, which had been in place since March 2020, ended Friday. Good-cause evictions at properties under Berkeley Rent Board’s jurisdiction, and all evictions at non-covered properties, are once again allowed. (Yelimeli, 9/1)

Bay Area News Group: San Jose Evicts Homeless Squatters From City-Owned House
Orrin Carr peered through dark lace curtains from inside the lone house at the end of an orchard-lined street in San Jose’s Northside neighborhood, expecting authorities to arrive any moment. He’d taken a hot shower that morning — pretty sure it would be his last for a while. Soon, a fleet of white trucks, animal control vehicles and a police cruiser rolled up the drive. Carr and the rest of the half-dozen homeless people who’d been squatting for months at the city-owned property were given a few hours to pack up their belongings. Public works crews began sawing sheets of plywood to board up the seven-bedroom, single-story building shaded by tall palm trees beside a garden of shrubby pink rose bushes. (Varian, 9/4)

KQED: SF's Encampment Sweep Debate
Under what circumstances should San Francisco be able to clear homeless encampments? Last week, protesters and counter-protesters went head-to-head outside the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals over an injunction that limits the city’s ability to do that. KQED’s Sydney Johnson unpacks this legal battle, and explains why it has sparked such strong feelings. (Guevarra, Johnson, Montecillo and Esquinca, 8/30)

Sacramento Bee: Deadline Arrives For Sacramento DA’s Demands On Homelessness 
If Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho has any regrets about sparking a verbal feud over homelessness last month, he doesn’t show it. Ho threatened to file criminal charges against Sacramento officials if they don’t meet a series of his demands. That, he said, was driven by a desire to have the city do more to provide people with shelter, services and treatment. If he has to shake things up, and make people a little uncomfortable, then so be it. (Ho, 9/5)

Los Angeles Times: CARE Courts Open In A Month, But Some Families Have Doubts 
Nan Ibarra knows what psychosis looks like and wonders whether politicians do. Not long after her older son became convinced that she was Satan, he took a baseball bat to their Laguna Hills home, smashing windows, framed pictures and a curio cabinet. Then his brother began taking spoonfuls of sugar into the backyard because ants told him they were hungry. (Curwen, 9/4)

Voice of OC: In Reversal, State Holds Off On Approval Of Needle Exchange In Santa Ana After City Hall Objections
After objections by city officials, state public health officials have rescinded their approval for a needle exchange program in Santa Ana – placing a local substance abuse clinic’s application back into “pending” status. City of Santa Ana officials say the the California Dept. of Public Health alerted them to its reversal on Wednesday, in response to heavy pushback by City Manager Kristine Ridge and Police Chief David Valentin, both of whom called the program a public health and safety risk in a letter to CDPH. (Pho, 8/31)

Stateline: Death Rates For People Under 40 Have Skyrocketed. Blame Fentanyl
Accidental overdose became the No. 1 cause of death in 13 states for people under 40, overtaking suicide in nine states and vehicle accidents in five others; it’s now the top cause in 37 states. The only other change was in Mississippi, where homicide became the main cause of death, overtaking car accidents. In 40 states and the District of Columbia, overdose was the biggest increase in deaths for young people. (Henderson, 9/5)

Stat: GOP Candidates Talk Tough On Fentanyl. But What About Treatment?
Americans are dying of fentanyl overdoses in record numbers, and the Republican presidential candidates are talking tough about their plans to respond. Many of the plans are startling, even violent: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has pledged to “use lethal force” by sending troops to attack cartel operations in Mexico. Former President Donald Trump has called for convicted drug dealers to be sentenced to death. Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, meanwhile, has suggested taking a different tack: Decriminalizing nearly all drugs, including ayahuasca and ketamine. But for all the candidates’ big rhetoric about the war on drugs — either ending it or escalating it — few of their stump speeches make any mention at all of addiction treatment. (Facher, 9/5)

Los Angeles Blade: Cases Of Multi-Drug Resistant “Super Strain” Of Gonorrhea Multiply
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) along with the World Health Organization (WHO) are raising red flags for the second time this year as cases multiply of a “super strain” of drug-resistant gonorrhea globally, but particularly among men who have sex with men. (9/4)

Bay Area Reporter: California Health Officials Detail Actions For Improving LGBTQ Data Collection
Following a damning report issued in the spring by the state's auditor about its lackluster LGBTQ health data collection, California's health department has provided an update on how it plans to address the findings of the audit. It specifically responded to 10 recommendations from the auditor with timelines for when it expected to resolve the various issues. They include updating the forms it uses to ensure they include questions about people's sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), ensuring the phrasing of the queries are up to date, and making sure the data collected at the local level is sent to the state agency to review and report on. According to health officials, they already have completed several steps toward improving the department's knowledge about the health of LGBTQ Californians, while other initiatives are expected to be done by this October and December. (Bajko, 9/1)

Sacramento Bee: CA Disability Services For Families Vary By Race, Ethnicity
For years, Ana Soto’s heart sank at the sound of the jingle from their neighborhood ice cream truck. If her son Max heard the chimes, she knew it was moments before he would take off running. This left Soto, a San Joaquin County resident, with a difficult decision: chase after Max or stay put to watch over her youngest daughter. Max, who loves Spongebob Squarepants ice cream bars, was diagnosed at age 3 with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Yet, it would take his mother 10 years to get him a designated in-home aide — a service that people with diagnoses like Max’s are lawfully entitled to. (Angst and Miranda, 9/5)

Reuters: 'Barbie Botox' Goes Viral But Doctors Inject Caution
The viral trend of "Barbie Botox" that has women as young as in their 20s rush for toxin-based procedures to mimic the looks of the movie's lead actress Margot Robbie may lead to resistance among them and hinder medical use in future, doctors cautioned. The procedure, also known as "Trap Tox", has been widely used by doctors to inject a class of drugs known as botulinum toxins, such as Botox, into the trapezius muscles of the upper back to treat migraines and shoulder pain. (Leo, 9/1)

Los Angeles Times: NASA technology can spot wine grape disease from the sky. The world’s food supply could benefit
Cutting-edge NASA imaging technology can detect early signs of a plant virus that, if unaddressed, often proves devastating for wineries and grape growers, new research has found. While the breakthrough is good news for the wine and grape industry, which loses billions of dollars a year to the crop-ruining disease, it could eventually help global agriculture as a whole. ... Less disease and crop loss would mean more limited pesticide use and land use for agriculture — better for human and Earth health — as well as financial benefits, said Katie Gold, an assistant professor of grape pathology at Cornell University and a lead researcher on the project.

The New York Times: Jimmy Buffett Died Of Rare Form Of Skin Cancer
Jimmy Buffett died of skin cancer at his home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., on Long Island, according to a statement on the singer-songwriter’s website. After Mr. Buffett died on Friday at age 76, his site announced the death but did not give a cause or specify where he died. In an update over the weekend, the website said that he had Merkel cell carcinoma for four years. A rare and aggressive form of skin cancer, Merkel cell is diagnosed only about 2,500 times a year in the United States, and until recent years it had carried a life expectancy of five months. (Sisario, 9/4)

Fox News: Merkel Cell Carcinoma, The Disease That Killed Jimmy Buffett: What To Know About This Illness 
MCC is a rare but aggressive type of skin cancer that is known to have a high rate of recurring and spreading, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF). Around 3,000 cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. That number is expected to reach 3,250 by 2025. The disease is 40 times rarer than melanoma, the SCF states on its website. (Rudy, 9/3)

Axios: Sizing Up AI's Promise And Limitations In Cancer Detection
Amid new signs that AI could transform cancer care, clinicians and health systems are taking stock of thorny ethical and practical questions that still stand in the way of the technology's widespread adoption. Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the U.S. and innovations like AI-enhanced mammography could detect cases sooner and cut down on unnecessary tests and treatments. (Saric, 9/5)

Politico: Slightly Higher Times: Biden Administration Moves To Loosen Weed Restrictions
The Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is recommending that the Drug Enforcement Administration significantly loosen federal restrictions on marijuana but stopped short of advising that it should be entirely removed from the Controlled Substances Act. The health agency wants the drug moved from Schedule I to Schedule III under the CSA, potentially the biggest change in federal drug policy in decades. (Fertig and Demko, 8/30)

NBC News: Marijuana Users Found To Have Lead In Their Blood And Urine
Some marijuana users may have elevated levels of lead and cadmium — two heavy metals linked to long-term health issues — in their blood and urine, a new study shows. Among a group of more than 7,200 adults, the 358 who reported using marijuana within the past 30 days were found to have 27% higher blood lead levels than those who said they didn’t use either marijuana or tobacco. (Bendix, 8/30)