Voice of OC: San Clemente Opposes State Bill That Would Ban Bussing Homeless People Out Of City
San Clemente officials have opposed a state bill that would prohibit government employees from transporting homeless people outside the city and leaving them there. The practice is often referred to as “dumping” — when governments or other institutions release unhoused people onto the street without providing any resources, support or a place to go. It’s often done to shift responsibility for homelessness or reduce how many homeless people are visible in a certain place. (Hicks, 4/21)

Times of San Diego: Thousands On Waitlist For Country Rental Help Program That Ended
A rental assistance policy that offered a prioritization system to accommodate people at high risk of becoming homeless has been eliminated by the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS program. The HOPWA program provides housing and support for individuals living with HIV and AIDS, and initially relied on a two-tier system to assess eligibility and prioritize applicants. “Tier A” covered clients with medically verified HIV or AIDS, while “Tier B” allowed prioritization based on housing insecurity and vulnerability. (Gabir and San Diego Documenters, 4/21)

Voice of San Diego: Anonymous Account, Neighbors Target Provider As Homelessness Surges In Encinitas
A heated debate about the future of a homeless services nonprofit has erupted in Encinitas as residents react to a level of visible homelessness the city hasn’t seen before. Last month, a social media account called Save Encinitas Now shared an Instagram post that quickly spread. (Layne, 4/21)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Buckelew Mental Health Nonprofit Exits Napa After Housing Discrimination Case, Funding Cuts 
A man with a mental health disability spent nine months living on the streets of Napa — not for lack of housing, but because he had an emotional support animal, according to a 2023 federal housing complaint. (Booth, 4/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: Zuckerberg-Funded School For Low-Income Families To Shut Down
The Primary School, a tuition-free private school backed by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative serving low-income families in Silicon Valley, announced Monday it will close at the end of the 2025-26 school year. The school, founded in 2016 by Dr. Priscilla Chan, a pediatrician and the wife of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, was designed to integrate education, health care and family services under one roof. (Vaziri, 4/21)

Times of San Diego: Rep. Levin, IB Mayor Aguirre Continue To Urge Federal Funds To Fix Tijuana River Valley Crisis
Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre and Rep. Mike Levin are calling on the Trump administration to allocate funds to address the environmental crisis at the Tijuana River Valley ahead of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin’s visit to the South Bay. In urging the president to use Congressionally appropriated funds to help fight the overwhelming cross-border sewage pollution, Levin said Monday that the administration needs to continue funding agencies that are working to provide a solution. He specifically called out DOGE for targeting the International Boundary and Water Commission, which helps operate the cross-border treatment plant. (Balc, 4/21)

CBS News: Walgreens To Pay $300 Million To Settle Claims It Illegally Filled Invalid Opioids Prescriptions
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $300 million to settle claims that it unlawfully filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances. In its complaint, the Justice Department, along with other federal agencies, alleges that for more than a decade pharmacists at the second largest pharmacy chain in the U.S. knowingly filled prescriptions of controlled substances, despite clear signs of their illegitimacy. (Cunningham, 4/21)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Wrestles With Challenge To Affordable Care Act Over Free Preventive Care
The Supreme Court appeared divided during arguments on Monday over the constitutionality of a provision of the Affordable Care act that can require insurance companies to offer some types of preventive care for free. At issue is a part of the 2010 health care law that established a task force that determines certain kinds of preventative health measures that insurance companies are required to cover. (VanSickle, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: What The Supreme Court ACA Case Is About
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Kennedy v. Braidwood Management on Monday as it weighs a bid to eliminate one of the Affordable Care Act of 2010's most popular elements: no-cost coverage of preventive healthcare. A ruling for the employers that challenged this part of the ACA could enable health insurance companies to impose cost-sharing on a wide swath of preventive care, such as cancer screenings and drugs to protect against HIV infection. (Early, 4/21)

NBC News: RFK Jr. Announces Plan To Remove Artificial Dyes From Food And Beverages
The Trump administration said Monday it will announce a plan to remove petroleum-based synthetic dyes from the nation’s food supply. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary are expected to discuss the plan at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, according to a release from the Department of Health and Human Services. (Lovelace Jr., 4/21)

CBS News: RFK Jr.'s Autism Study To Amass Medical Records Of Many Americans
The National Institutes of Health is amassing private medical records from a number of federal and commercial databases to give to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new effort to study autism, the NIH's top official said Monday. The new data will allow external researchers picked for Kennedy's autism studies to study "comprehensive" patient data with "broad coverage" of the U.S. population for the first time, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said. (Tin, 4/21)

Stat: NIH Bans New Grants To Schools With DEI Programs, Israel Boycotts 
The National Institutes of Health will begin prohibiting the awarding of new grants to any institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies, in an escalation of the Trump administration’s use of research funding as leverage to dismantle activities at universities that it deems discriminatory or antisemitic. (Oza, 4/21)

Stat: NIH's Jay Bhattacharya Says Trump DEI Orders 'Misunderstood' 
National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharya on Monday asserted that the agency remains committed to research that advances the health of minorities — despite the Trump administration’s sharp focus on rolling back programs dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Wosen, 4/21)

Side Effects Public Media: Federal Funding Cancellation Threatens Major Diabetes Study, Researchers Say
The Trump administration's funding cancellations could dissolve a large nationwide study that's been ongoing for 30 years on diabetes and pre-diabetes. The research was partially conducted throughout the Midwest. Medical professionals say the landmark Diabetes Prevention Program changed the understanding of the process of developing type 2 diabetes and created the term 'pre-diabetes' — a condition in which a person's blood sugar is higher than normal and can indicate they're on the cusp of full blown disease. It also contributed to preventative treatments. (Gabriel, 4/21)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Inauguration Received Donations From Hims, J&J, AHA
San Francisco-based Hims & Hers, HCA Healthcare, Centene, Molina Healthcare, the American Hospital Association and other healthcare organizations donated at least $11.5 million to the inaugural committee for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Records the Federal Election Commission released Sunday show the pharmaceutical industry made the largest contributions among healthcare interests to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, which collected an all-time high $239 million. (McAuliff, 4/21)

CNN: Cancer Death Rates Declining, New Report Says, But Diagnosis Rates Are On The Rise For Women
A new report on cancer in the US shows a steady decline in overall deaths from 2001 through 2022. The rate of diagnoses among men fell from 2001 through 2013 and then stabilized through 2021 but these incidence rates among women increased slightly every year between 2003 and 2021. (Dillinger, 4/21)

NBC News: New Images Could Change Cancer Diagnostics. ICE Detained Harvard Scientist Who Analyzes Them
A groundbreaking microscope at Harvard Medical School could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and research into longevity. But the scientist who developed computer scripts to read its images and unlock its full potential has been in an immigration detention center for two months — putting crucial scientific advancements at risk. The scientist, the 30-year-old Russian-born Kseniia Pertova, worked at Harvard’s renowned Kirschner Lab until her arrest at a Boston airport in mid-February. (Lee, 4/21)

BioPharma Dive: Enhertu Combo Tops Standard Drugs In First-Line HER2 Breast Cancer 
A two-drug regimen involving AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Enhertu topped standard therapy in a large study in HER2-positive breast cancer, the companies said Monday. In a Phase 3 trial, a combination of Enhertu and the targeted therapy pertuzumab held tumors in check longer than THP, a regimen of chemotherapy and precision medicines that’s commonly used as an initial treatment for metastatic breast tumors expressing the HER2 protein. The companies didn’t provide specifics, but said the regimen displayed a “highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful effect” on so-called progression-free survival in the study, with benefits across all patient subgroups. (Fidler, 4/21)

MedPage Today: Women Don't Want AI As Sole Reader Of Breast Cancer Screenings
Few women wanted artificial intelligence (AI) as the sole reader of their screening mammograms, according to a survey, though most respondents generally supported some use of the technology. Among more than 500 women who presented for a screening mammography during a 6-month period in 2023, just 4% of survey respondents accepted the idea of stand-alone AI interpretation, whereas 71% were comfortable with AI as a second reader, reported Basak Dogan, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues. (Bassett, 4/21)

Live Science: Simple Blood Test Could Reveal Likelihood Of Deadly Skin Cancer Returning, Study Suggests
A simple blood test could reveal who is at high risk of skin cancer recurrence after tumor-removal surgery. The test can detect fragments of tumor DNA with a simple blood draw to reveal the lingering presence of Stage III melanoma — a metastatic form of the deadliest form of skin cancer — that can't be seen with CT scans. Although the test isn't perfect, it could help flag patients who need aggressive treatment because their cancer is likely to come back. (Pappas, 4/21)

Fortune Well: Vitamin D May Play A Big Role In Lowering Colorectal Cancer Risk, Study Finds
Vitamin D plays an important role in your energy levels and the health of your bones, brain, heart, and gut. Now, researchers say this powerhouse vitamin may also play a crucial role in lowering risk for colorectal cancer, which has been on the rise in younger adults, becoming the leading cause of cancer death for men under 50, and the second leading among women under 50, according to the American Cancer Society. A study published in the journal Nutrients has linked vitamin D levels with colorectal cancer risk. Reviewing data from 50 different studies on vitamin D and colorectal cancer, researchers found that those with the highest dietary intake of vitamin D (80 ng/mL) had a 25% decrease in colorectal cancer risk compared to those with the lowest amount (10 ng/mL). (Freedman, 4/21)

SciTechDaily: Scientists Discover Drug That Could Finally End Long COVID Suffering
Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research In Australia have discovered that a new drug compound can prevent long COVID symptoms in mice, a major breakthrough that could pave the way for future treatment of this debilitating condition. In this world-first study, mice treated with an antiviral compound, developed by a multidisciplinary team at WEHI, were protected from long-term brain and lung dysfunction, two hallmark symptoms of long COVID. (4/20)

CNN: Psilocybin Use Rising Along With Calls To Poison Control Centers, Study Says 
Unsupervised use of psilocybin, or “magic mushrooms,” has accelerated among all age groups in the United States, but especially among adolescents and people 30 and older, a new study found. “The prevalence of psilocybin use in 2023 rose dramatically over the prior five years since states began liberalizing policy in 2019,” said study coauthor Dr. Andrew Monte, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. (LaMotte, 4/21)