CalMatters: LA County Voters Face Huge Decision On Homeless Services Funding
Los Angeles voters’ decision about a new sales tax next month will have a significant effect on the resources dedicated to California’s largest homeless population: Either the county will be set to receive about $1 billion annually, or it will have until 2027 to find a new funding stream. Measure A would repeal an existing quarter-cent sales tax and replace it with a half-cent sales tax, slightly increasing what consumers pay for everything from clothes to sporting equipment. If it passes, it’s expected to raise more than $1 billion a year for shelters, housing and other services in a county where more than 75,000 people have nowhere to call home. (Kendall, 10/8)

Los Angeles Times: Measure A Homeless Sales Tax Edges Closer To The 50% Majority Needed For Passage 
A measure on the November ballot that would double the county’s quarter-percent homeless sales tax is edging closer to the majority it would need to pass in a new poll of likely Los Angeles County voters. Those saying they would vote for the measure outnumbered those opposing by 49% to 33% in a survey taken in late September, widening its lead by 5 percentage points over responses to an earlier poll. In August, 47% of likely voters said they would vote yes and 36% no. The percentage of voters who were undecided remained at 17%. (Smith, 10/7)

KQED: SF Frontline Workers Who Help People On Streets, In Shelters Call For Fair Pay
Brenna Alexander fills her backpack before her shift with granola bars, taxi vouchers and Narcan, the opioid overdose reversal medication. The UC San Francisco clinical social worker then goes to single-room occupancy hotels in the city, knocking on doors and slowly gaining the trust of residents, many with mental health conditions, so she can help them stay housed. Safety is always a concern. (Romero, 10/8)

KVPR: ‘It’s Easy To Start Your Life Again.’ A Fresno Program’s Novel Approach To House The Unhoused
Rizpah Bellard’s home isn’t a typical West Fresno property. The first difference is the animals. On a recent afternoon in her shady backyard, Bellard tended to sheep, goats and a pony. She showed off a miniature pig named Thomas, who’s learned how to sit and oink on command, as a hen – named Beyoncé – strutted across the yard in search of bugs to snack on. “This is a peaceful place,” Bellard said. “They let me know when something is not right or if the vibe is off.” (Quintanilla, 10/7)

Los Angeles Times: Nonprofit Alleges Widespread Section 8 Discrimination In California
A national investigative nonprofit on Monday lodged discrimination complaints against more than 200 California landlords and their representatives — including major real estate brokerages — alleging they illegally refused to rent to Section 8 voucher holders. The Housing Rights Initiative filed the complaints, based upon an undercover investigation, with the California Civil Rights Department. (Khouri, 10/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Is At War Over An Environmental Case Headed To The Supreme Court
As San Francisco prepares to ask the Supreme Court to ease federal restrictions on sewage pollution into the ocean and the bay, the case has divided the city’s all-Democratic leadership, and put the city in the unusual position of siding with oil companies and business groups and against the state and federal governments. The Board of Supervisors will take up a resolution Tuesday urging city officials to settle the case and avoid a ruling that could harm offshore water quality nationwide. (Egelko, 10/7)

The Washington Post: EPA Requires Water Utilities To Replace All Lead Pipes Within A Decade 
The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule Tuesday requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade, a move aimed at eliminating a toxic threat that continues to affect tens of thousands of American children each year. The move, which also tightens the amount of lead allowed in the nation’s drinking water, comes nearly 40 years after Congress determined that lead pipes posed a serious risk to public health and banned them in new construction. (Ajasa and Foster-Frau, 10/8)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser, HCA Subsidiary Expand Relationship In Colorado: 8 Things To Know
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Denver-based HCA HealthOne, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, have expanded their relationship to provide additional healthcare access in central Denver. (Ashley, 10/7)

Becker's Hospital Review: Hospital Group Urges Biden To Declare IV Shortage 'National Emergency:' 5 Things To Know
The American Hospital Association  called on President Biden to declare the current intravenous IV solution shortage a national emergency in an Oct. 7 news release, citing significant challenges for healthcare providers across the U.S. The action follows the closure of the Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International plant in Marion, N.C., due to storm damage in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Baxter has historically produced about 60% of North America's IV solutions, or around 1.5 million bags daily. The closure has already led to substantial shortages, affecting patient care. (Murphy, 10/7)

AP: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli 
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Martin Shkreli, who was once dubbed “Pharma Bro” after jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug. Shkreli appealed an order to return $64.6 million in profits he and his former company reaped after monopolizing the market for the medication and drastically increasing its price. His lawyers argued that the money went to his company rather than him personally. The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is typical, and there were no noted dissents. (Whitehurst, 10/7)

Stat: Janet Woodcock, Former FDA Official, Joins Board Of Patient Group Focused On ‘Rediscovering’ Old Drugs
An organization scouring thousands of existing drugs to see if any can cure hard-to-treat diseases has a powerful new ally: Janet Woodcock, who for decades was one of the most influential figures at the Food and Drug Administration. The group, Every Cure, is led by physician David Fajgenbaum, who has told his own story again and again: When he was a young medical student, he came down with a rare disease that turned his athletic, football-honed body bloated and weak and nearly killed him not once, but five times. He was read last rites until his own research led his doctors to try an existing drug, the transplant medicine sirolimus, which sent his disease into remission. (Herper, 10/7)

CalMatters: This California Ballot Measure Promises Money For Health Care. Its Critics Warn It Could Backfire
Among the blitz of election ads flooding TV, social media and street corners, you won’t see any opposition to a ballot measure proposing to lock in billions of dollars to pay doctors more for treating low-income patients. But opponents of Proposition 35 have a warning even if they don’t have the money to pay for ads: The measure could backfire and cause the state to lose billions in federal funding. (Hwang, 10/8)

KVPR: Amid Bird Flu Spread, Farmers Say 'Don't Panic'
As dairy farmers across the state take measures to protect their workers and cattle from bird flu, a Tulare County farmer is saying "don't panic." Pixley dairyman Joey Airoso told KVPR taking precautions is important, but overreacting to a health threat can also be harmful. (Klein, 10/7)

NBC News: CDC To Begin Testing Travelers From Rwanda For Deadly Marburg Virus
U.S. health officials are preparing to screen passengers flying in from Rwanda for symptoms of Marburg virus, a severe infection similar to Ebola. “Starting mid-October, airline passengers who have been in Rwanda in the last 21 days will have their travel to the United States rerouted” to one of three airports: Chicago O’Hare, JFK in New York and Washington Dulles in suburban Virginia, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Monday. (Edwards, 10/7)

HealthDay: Damage To Brainstem Could Be Driving Long COVID
Damage to the brainstem could be behind the physical and psychological effects of Long COVID, a new study suggests. Brain scans of 30 Long COVID patients found they had damage to the region of the brainstem associated with breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety, researchers reported Oct. 7 in the journal Brain. (Thompson, 10/8)

KVPR: The End Of Smallpox Was ... The Beginning For Mpox
It all started with an unremarkable trip to grandma’s house in 1970. But two days into the visit, something went terribly wrong. The 9-month-old grandson fell ill. First, a fever. Then, a nasty rash. Alarmed doctors suspected smallpox but, instead, they soon discovered something even more bewildering: The first-known human case of monkeypox, now called mpox. The child was patient zero. (Emanuel, 109/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Harris To Announce Plan To Help Families Pay For In-Home Health Care
Kamala Harris wants to expand home care services for seniors if she wins the White House, a position that is politically popular but would require the support of what will likely be a divided Congress. Harris will announce her efforts to ease the burden on seniors and their families in an interview Tuesday on “The View,” a senior campaign official who was granted anonymity in order to share details of a policy plan not yet released publicly told the Chronicle. She will also highlight her plan to assist families with the high costs of raising children. (Stein, 10/8)

The Hill: Harris Leans Into Healthcare In Race Against Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris focuses on health care in the campaign, highlighting threats to ObamaCare and the need for affordable prescription drugs. (Weixel, 10/8)

The New York Times: Harris Has A Glock, She Says On ’60 Minutes’ 
Vice President Kamala Harris has a Glock. And she has taken it to the shooting range. In a wide-ranging interview that ran on Monday night during a “60 Minutes” election special on CBS News, Ms. Harris revealed more details about her firearm, which she had teased last month in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I have a Glock, and I’ve had it for quite some time,” she told her “60 Minutes” interviewer, Bill Whitaker. “Look, Bill, my background is in law enforcement, so there you go.” When he asked if she had fired it, Ms. Harris laughed. “Of course I have,” she said. “At a shooting range. Yes, of course I have.” (Levien, 10/7)

Houston Chronicle: Fact Check: Trump Said Harris 'Wants To Legalize Fentanyl'
The claim: Former President Donald Trump vowed to stop fentanyl from pouring into the United States and said Vice President Kamala Harris has the opposite approach. "Kamala is so radical she even wants to legalize fentanyl," Trump said Sept. 29 in Erie, Pennsylvania. ... PolitiFact ruling: False. Trump spoke in the present tense as if it is on her presidential to-do list. She hasn’t said that. Trump was referring to a 2019 ACLU questionnaire that asked presidential primary candidates whether they supported decriminalization "of all drug possession for personal use." (Sherman, 10/7)

Bloomberg: Supreme Court In Texas Abortion Case Rules Against Biden Administration
The US Supreme Court rebuffed the Biden administration in an abortion clash, leaving intact an appeals court decision favoring Texas in a fight over the availability of the procedure in hospital emergency rooms. The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals said Texas, which has a broad abortion ban, wasn’t bound by a Department of Health and Human Services memorandum requiring hospitals to offer the procedure on an emergency basis to protect a mother’s health. The administration had asked the high court to order reconsideration of that ruling. (Stohr, 10/7)

AP: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal Of Alabama IVFs Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review an Alabama ruling that triggered concerns about in vitro fertilization availability by allowing couples to pursue wrongful death lawsuits over the the accidental destruction of frozen embryos. A fertility clinic and hospital had asked the court to review the Alabama Supreme Court decision that a couple, who had a frozen embryo destroyed in an accident, could pursue a lawsuit against them for the wrongful death of their “minor child.” Justices turned down the petition without comment. (10/7)

The New York Times: Nobel Physics Prize Awarded For Pioneering A.I. Research By 2 Scientists 
John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for discoveries that helped computers learn more in the way the human brain does, providing the building blocks for developments in artificial intelligence. The award is an acknowledgment of A.I.’s growing significance in the way people live and work. With its ability to quickly make sense of vast amounts of data, machine learning that uses artificial neural networks already has a major role in scientific research, the Nobel committee said, including in physics, where it is used for the creation of “new materials with specific properties.” (Taylor, Metz and Miller, 10/8)

Los Angeles Blade: Gender-Affirming Care: Battling Unsafe Body Enhancements
The use of silicone injections and other unconventional fillers like cooking oils, have gained traction within the transgender community as a method for body enhancement. These substances — often used in non-medical settings — are offered as cheaper, quicker alternatives to professional, medically supervised, gender-affirming procedures. While these treatments may seem like a lifeline for some people, their consequences are far more complex. Imagine living a life wearing a suit that doesn’t quite belong to you, explained Dr. Natalia Zhikhareva, better known as Dr. Z, a gender psychologist based in Los Angeles. (10/7)

The Washington Post: 2 Hours Outside Daily May Reduce Vision Problem In Kids, Study Says 
Children should spend up to two hours a day outside to reduce their risk of myopia, or nearsightedness, according to a new consensus report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. At least one of those hours should take place during the school day, the report says. Myopia is a condition in which distant objects are blurry but close-up objects look clear. The National Academies report cites research indicating a significant rise in myopia worldwide. (McMahan, 10/7)

NBC News: Arm Position During Blood Pressure Check May Result In Wrong Hypertension Diagnosis, Study Finds
Blood pressure readings may not be accurate unless a person’s arm is positioned correctly, a new study suggests. A comparison of blood pressure readings taken while people held their arms three different ways  — leaning on a surface, resting on the lap or hanging by the side of the body — showed certain positions could lead to a significant increase in systolic pressure, the upper number in a blood pressure reading, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Carroll, 10/7)

Bloomberg: Cancer Risk In Acne Creams Like Proactiv, Clearasil, Study Finds
A new analysis of acne creams and cleansers found dozens, including popular products like Proactiv and Clearasil, contain high levels of a chemical linked to cancer. The findings confirm some of an earlier study that received criticism for its methods, putting more pressure on the US Food and Drug Administration to take action on products widely used by American teenagers.Researchers tested more than 100 benzoyl peroxide acne products available at major retailers in six states. They found about a third were contaminated with high levels of benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer. (Edney, 10/7)

AP: Life Expectancy Is Hitting A Limit, Researchers Say 
Humanity is hitting the upper limit of life expectancy, according to a new study. Advances in medical technology and genetic research — not to mention larger numbers of people making it to age 100 — are not translating into marked jumps in lifespan overall, according to researchers who found shrinking longevity increases in countries with the longest-living populations. “We have to recognize there’s a limit” and perhaps reassess assumptions about when people should retire and how much money they’ll need to live out their lives, said S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois-Chicago researcher who was lead author of the study published Monday by the journal Nature Aging. (Stobbe, 10/7)

AP: A Peek Inside Human Brain Shows A Way It Cleans Out Waste 
A unique peek inside the human brain may help explain how it clears away waste like the kind that can build up and lead to Alzheimer’s disease. Brain cells use a lot of nutrients which means they make a lot of waste. Scientists have long thought the brain has special plumbing to flush out cellular trash, especially during sleep – they could see it happening in mice. But there was only circumstantial evidence of a similar system in people. Now researchers have finally spotted that network of tiny waste-clearing channels in the brains of living people, thanks to a special kind of imaging. (Neergaard, 10/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Inflammaging Is Chronic, Stealthy and Can Be a Serious Threat to Your Health
A combination of inflammation and aging, the term describes a simmering form of inflammation—the immune system’s response to a perceived threat—that is chronic and low-grade, and builds stealthily as you age. It is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other conditions. Inflammaging happens to everyone to some degree as we age, and some people don’t develop much. But scientists say we should pay closer attention. More research is showing the damage it can cause.  (Janin and McKay, 10/7)