Pasadena Now: LA County Board Approves New Housing Policy To Aid Wildfire Survivors 
At Wednesday’s Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency board meeting, members unanimously approved a new housing policy that will prioritize the development of new housing for communities impacted by recent wildfires. The motion, successfully introduced by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger, who represents Pasadena,  and coauthors Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell and Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath, directs the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency to incorporate wildfire recovery into both its five-year housing development plan and strategic funding plans. (1/23)

AP: California Wildfire: Cracks Emerge In House GOP After Speaker's Threat To Saddle Aid With Conditions 
California Republicans are pushing back against suggestions by President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans that federal disaster aid for victims of wildfires that ravaged Southern California should come with strings attached, possibly jeopardizing the president’s policy agenda in a deeply divided Congress at the outset of his second term. (Blood and Freking, 1/23)

Becker's Hospital Review: Cancer Care Can't Stop: Lessons From The Los Angeles Wildfires
As wildfires spread throughout their communities, cancer center teams across Los Angeles managed the delicate task of delivering oncology care amid mandatory evacuations, billowing smoke and personal loss. Los Angeles cancer center leaders, some of whom were directly affected by the fires, shared with Becker's reflections on what they've learned as they prepare to rebuild. (Gregerson, 1/22)

Voice of OC: Huntington Beach Disregards California’s Sanctuary Laws, Directs Police To Work With ICE
Huntington Beach City Council members unanimously agreed to ignore California’s sanctuary state law on Tuesday night, ordering police officers to work with federal immigration authorities and notify federal officials when they are about to release an undocumented immigrant from jail. It comes as Surf City launched a lawsuit against the state claiming the current rules are unconstitutional. (Biesiada and Elattar, 1/22)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley Reaffirms It’s A ‘Sanctuary City’ For Immigrants
Migrants and advocates gathered early Tuesday evening to rally in support of immigrant and refugee rights ahead of the Berkeley City Council’s vote to reaffirm its status as a “sanctuary city” following threats of mass deportations by President Donald Trump. Berkeley’s updated sanctuary city resolution includes new language aimed at protecting immigrants in places like schools, hospitals and churches from potential raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the Trump administration says arrests will now be allowed in “sensitive areas” where they were previously avoided. (Arredondo and Gecan, 1/22)

The Oaklandside: Local Leaders Vow To Resist Trump’s Immigration Crackdown
A group of local leaders in the realm of politics, health, and law gathered in Oakland on Wednesday morning to push back against the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. With the early afternoon sun lighting the Fruitvale Transit Village promenade, the Unity Council’s CEO, Chris Iglesias, set the tone by saying his nonprofit organization would help people in need and refuse to be intimidated. (Fermoso, 1/22)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Cancels Flights For Refugees Already Approved For Travel 
The State Department abruptly canceled travel for thousands of refugees already approved to fly to the United States, days before a deadline that President Trump had set for suspending the resettlement program that provides safe haven for people fleeing persecution. The cancellation of the flights comes on the heels of an executive order signed by Mr. Trump on Monday that indefinitely paused the refugee resettlement. The order effectively grinds to a halt the process of bringing refugees into the country, which involves multiple federal agencies, as well as nonprofits that receive the newcomers. (Jordan and Aleaziz, 1/22)

Military.com: 'Friends Begging For Help': Afghan Allies Stranded After Trump Suspends Refugee Program 
Afghans who have been approved to come to the U.S. as refugees, including allies during the war and a couple of hundred family members of American troops, are now stranded after the Trump administration suspended refugee flights, advocates are warning. One in the cascade of executive actions President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office Monday ordered a suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. (Kheel and Lawrence, 1/22)

CBS News: Which Industries Are Most Vulnerable To Trump's Immigration Crackdown?
Undocumented immigrants account for about 20% of the agriculture industry's overall workforce, although that figure can rise to roughly half for some speciality farms, according to Capital Economics, which advises large investors. ... "The inflationary impact could affect food overall, but particularly fresher fruits, rather than the ingredients in more processed foods," (Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist with Capital Economics) said. (Cerullo, 1/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump’s Halt On Health Communications Alarms Bay Area Experts
The Trump administration’s directive to halt external communications from federal health agencies raised concern Wednesday among Bay Area health experts and local agencies, who warned that the pause could have significant consequences for public well-being — especially amid ongoing threats like the H5N1 avian influenza, COVID-19 and the respiratory virus season. (Vaziri, 1/23)

Stat: Trump Administration Abruptly Cancels Scientific Meetings, Panels 
A flurry of scientific gatherings and panels across federal science agencies were canceled on Wednesday, at a time of heightened sensitivity about how the Trump administration will shift the agencies’ policies and day-to-day affairs. (Oza, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Order Seeks To Stop Virus Research That Critics Have Linked To Covid
The Trump administration is preparing an executive order that would halt federal funding, at least temporarily, for a risky and controversial kind of research into viruses that makes the pathogens more dangerous or contagious. The goal of the order would be to stop scientists with U.S. funding from conducting “gain-of-function” research on viruses that could endanger human health, people familiar with the plans said. (Subbaraman and Whyte, 1/22)

Military Times: Trump’s Federal Hiring Freeze Raises Fears About VA Medical Care
Congressional lawmakers this week expressed concern that President Donald Trump’s new federal hiring freeze could hurt operations at Veterans Affairs medical centers by complicating efforts to fill critical health care specialties. But whether the executive order even applies to those posts remains unclear. Trump’s pick to lead VA told lawmakers Tuesday that he is still examining the new rule, but he’s optimistic it will not adversely impact veterans’ care. (Shane III, 1/22)

CBS News: Who Is In Charge Of The CDC Right Now? Nobody Knows For Sure
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is operating without an acting director, multiple health officials confirm to CBS News, leaving the agency responsible for defending the U.S. against emerging pandemics and responding to health emergencies without a clear chain of command. A leadership vacuum atop the CDC is unprecedented. Under previous administrations, including the first term of President Trump, officials made sure either to immediately appoint their pick for the position or decide during the transition on whom would assume the top post in an acting capacity. (Tin, 1/22)

Politico: Anti-Vaccine No More? RFK Jr. Is Remaking His Image To Serve Trump
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a message that seems to be resonating in the Senate: He’s changed his mind. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is assuring the Republican senators who will decide whether he gets the job that he’s “all for” polio inoculations and that he won’t take away anyone’s vaccines. He has also told them he merely wants to make safety and efficacy data more readily available, lawmakers who’ve talked with Kennedy tell POLITICO. (Payne and Cirruzzo, 1/22)

The New York Times: Key Trump Nominee Hints At Push For Work Requirements In Medicaid
Russell T. Vought, President Trump’s nominee to run the Office of Management and Budget, told Senate lawmakers in a confirmation hearing on Wednesday that he supported work requirements for low-income Americans receiving publicly subsidized health insurance, a policy that Mr. Trump pursued in his first term but that the Biden administration mostly reversed. The comments suggested that the Trump administration was likely to seek a broad overhaul of how the federal government administers Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for more than 70 million people. (Weiland, 1/22)

Politico: Trump's EPA Pick Worked For Qatari-Led Firm Tied To Menendez Corruption Case
Lee Zeldin, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, received consulting payments from a Qatari investor involved in the felony corruption case against former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Zeldin’s financial disclosure records showed. Zeldin was paid at least $5,000 since January 2023 for his work with Heritage Advisors, a London-based venture capital fund run by Qatari royal family member Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, according to documents filed with the Senate’s environment panel. (Colman, 1/22)

Politico: Federal DEI Websites Go Dark After Trump Order And Threat Of ‘Consequences’ 
Federal government websites devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion went offline Wednesday as the White House threatened “adverse consequences” for agencies that fail to report DEI-related information within 10 days. The sites went down a day after the Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to all agencies Tuesday calling for all DEI workers to be placed on paid leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday. One of the instructions in the letter directed agency heads to remove “all outward facing media” related to DEI work by 5 p.m. Wednesday. (King and Leonard, 1/22)

NBC News: Federal Regulations Paused, Halting FDA's Proposed Ban On Formaldehyde In Hair Products
A proposal to ban formaldehyde in hair straightening products is now in limbo after President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing all federal regulations. The Food and Drug Administration announced it would decide by April 2024 whether chemical hair straightening products sold in the U.S. would be banned from using formaldehyde or ingredients that can release formaldehyde when heated. (Garcia and Lovelace Jr., 1/22)

Stat: Overreaction To SCOTUS Ban On Race Fueling Diversity Loss At Medical Schools
Medical schools are being told by their lawyers to stop using strategies to diversify classes that are still legally permitted, despite a Supreme Court ruling against the use of affirmative action in admissions. Experts said this response to the court decision, which some called “overzealous,” helped fuel the double-digit decline seen this year in the enrollment of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students — and may be a form of discrimination in itself. (McFarling, 1/23)

The Bay Area Reporter: Report Finds 266,000 LGBTQ+ Young People Left States With Anti-LGBTQ Laws
A new report estimates that roughly 266,000 LGBTQ+ young people and their families have uprooted their lives and left a state because of anti-LGBTQ politics or laws. It is also detailing in stark relief the positive outcomes on the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ youth that state lawmakers can have when enacting policy. ...The report drew on the findings of Trevor's 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People, which was based on the responses of 18,663 LGBTQ+ young people between the ages of 13 to 24 from across the country. And it incorporated MAP's policy tally scores for all 50 states that it compiles based on what laws individual states have passed benefitting or targeting the LGBTQ community. (Bajko, 1/22)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Homelessness Shrinks For The Second Straight Month In San Diego County 
December was the second consecutive month when San Diego County’s homeless population shrank, marking the crisis’ longest contraction since officials began publishing these statistics in late 2021. (Nelson, 1/22)

Voice of San Diego: Safe Parking At A City Heights School Isn’t Happening. Here’s Why
More than 18 months ago, San Diego Unified pitched the city of San Diego on a plan: The district would offer up its former Central Elementary campus for a safe parking lot for homeless families if the city could get a contractor to run it. That safe parking lot now appears unlikely to materialize. (Halverstadt and McWhinney, 1/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Woman’s ‘Remarkable’ Journey From Homeless To Heart Transplant
When Pamela Dorsey woke up in a UCSF hospital bed in late August, she felt the beat of a new heart in her chest and knew that her prayers had been answered. Dorsey said she was beaming with the realization that her surgery was successful. “And I’ve been smiling ever since,” she added. Doctors earlier last year thought Dorsey, 58, might have less than six months to live due to advanced heart failure caused by a major heart attack and cocaine use. (Angst, 1/23)