Los Angeles Times: California State Bill AB 602 Would Ensure College Students Seeking Overdose Help Don't Get Disciplined
Today, [TJ] McGee speaks regularly in support of California State Assembly Bill 602, which would prohibit public colleges and universities from punishing students if they call 911 during an overdose emergency, or if a peer does so on their behalf. It requires schools to offer rehabilitation options and requires students who seek emergency medical assistance to complete a treatment program. (Beason, 9/11)

Times of San Diego: Bill To Study Transitional Housing For Sexually Violent Predators Passes
Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones on Wednesday announced the passage of Senate Bill 380, which would prompt a study of housing for those who are deemed sexually violent predators. It will now head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office for approval. The bill directs the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to study the feasibility of placing SVPs in state-run transitional housing facilities upon conditional release. (Sleap, 9/10)

The Intersection: Hospital Cuts To Labor/Delivery Threaten To Create Maternity Care 'Deserts' In The Valley
When Madera Community Hospital reopened in March 2025 after being closed for more than two years, it did so without resuming labor and delivery services for expectant mothers that had existed before the closure. The result: Madera County was left as the only county in the San Joaquin Valley – and one of only nine counties statewide – where would-be mothers have no access to birthing services at a local hospital. (Sheehan, Central Valley Journalism Collaborative, 9/10)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego’s Legislative Delegation Probing Palomar’s Loss Of $50 Million Grant 
San Diego County’s legislative delegation — three state senators and five Assembly members — plan to meet soon with top leaders at Palomar Health to “discuss the circumstances” surrounding the state’s recent decision to rescind a $50 million grant earmarked to help build a 120-bed mental health hospital on the campus of Palomar Medical Center Escondido. (Sisson, 9/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser To Enter Nevada Through Health Plan Purchase
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health have entered a joint venture to launch a new outpatient care delivery system and co-own a health plan in northern Nevada. The agreement brings Kaiser into the Nevada market and pairs the health system’s integrated care model with Renown’s health plan, Hometown Health, which will be rebranded as Kaiser Permanente Nevada. It will start offering health coverage to employers and northern Nevada residents during the 2026 open enrollment period. (Ashley, 9/10)

Becker's Hospital Review: What 17 Leaders Wish Medical Students Learned About Cancer Care
As the medical school landscape shifts in response to federal pressures and new demands in the healthcare space — such as technological advancements, AI and drug innovations — new physicians may be entering the field with gaps in their clinical education and personal development. From accepting mortality to supporting survivorship, here are what 17 oncology leaders told Becker’s they wished would change about cancer care education. (Gregerson, 9/10)

Fierce Healthcare: FTC Warns Healthcare Employers, Staffers To Review Noncompetes
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson sent letters to "several large healthcare employers and staffing firms" Wednesday suggesting they review their employment contracts for any noncompete agreements that are overly broad or anticompetitive. The letters were sent to an undisclosed number of unnamed companies, and were intended as a broad warning rather than a suggestion that the recipients had engaged in illegal conduct. (Muoio, 9/10)

Modern Healthcare: CMS' Medicare Plan Finder Updates Push Insurers To Revise Plans
A little over a month before the annual enrollment period, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is urging Medicare Advantage insurers to make significant changes to how they present their offerings to beneficiaries. Perhaps most notably, CMS will incorporate provider network lists into the Medicare Plan Finder tool enrollees use to select plans, it notified insurers last month. The agency is simultaneously developing a national provider directory that will not be ready in time for the 2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D sign-up campaign, which runs Oct. 15-Dec. 7. (Tepper, 9/10)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Compensation Is Up In 2025. Here’s What To Know
Hospitals and health systems are rethinking compensation and staffing as they navigate financial challenges, and it’s not nurses but other employees who are seeing sizable pay bumps. The median national wage increase across all healthcare jobs for 2025 is 4.3%, up significantly from 2.7% in 2024, according to a recent survey by healthcare consultant SullivanCotter. (DeSilva, 9/10)

Phys.org: Doctors Are Joining Unions In A Bid To Improve Working Conditions And Raise Wages In A Stressful Health Care System
The share of doctors who belong to unions is rising quickly at a time when organized labor is losing ground with other professions. The Conversation U.S. asked Patrick Aguilar, a Washington University in St. Louis pulmonologist and management professor, to explain why the number of physicians joining unions is growing—a trend that appears likely to continue. (Aguilar, 9/10)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: West Nile Virus Footprint Expands In San Diego County
The West Nile virus threat continues to increase in San Diego County this week, with routine monitoring picking up the presence of the pathogen in San Diego’s City Heights and Skyline neighborhoods. The latest detection comes a little more than one month after workers sprayed about 4,000 parcels in the Rolando neighborhood just south and east of San Diego State University and parts of La Mesa in East County. (Sisson, 9/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Delays Decision On Homeless Encampment Crackdown
Should cities wait until they can offer someone a shelter bed and affordable housing before clearing homeless encampments and towing RVs? Oakland leaders grappled with that question on Wednesday. But despite hours of public comment from residents and a robust discussion in the council chambers, members of the city’s public safety commission could not reach a consensus. (Angst, 9/10)

The Oaklandside: County Leaders Warn Millions Could Be Lost If Oakland Adopts Stricter Homeless Camp Rules
Alameda County supervisors are urging Oakland leaders to back away from several proposed changes to the city’s rules regarding homeless camps. Councilmember Ken Houston’s proposed Encampment Abatement Policy — scheduled for a hearing in City Hall at a council committee today at 11 a.m. — imperils over $40 million in state funds, according to the county. (Orenstein, 9/10)

AP: Judge Blocks Trump Policy Ending Social Services For Immigrants
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked Trump administration restrictions on services for immigrants in the country illegally, including the federal preschool program Head Start, health clinics and adult education. The order from the judge in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island applies to 20 states and the District of Columbia, whose attorneys general, all Democrats, sued the administration. It puts the administration’s reinterpretation of a Clinton-era federal policy on hold while the case is decided. (Seminera, 9/10)

Los Angeles Times: A New Era Of American Political Violence Is Upon Us. How Did We Get Here? How Does It End?
If it wasn’t already clear from all those other incidents, [Charlie] Kirk’s killing put it in sharp relief: The U.S. is in a new era of political violence, one that is starker and more visceral than any other in decades — perhaps, experts said, since the fraught days of 1968, when two of the most prominent figures in the civil rights movement, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, were both assassinated in a matter of months. (Rector, 9/11)

AP: Charlie Kirk Shooting Brings Condemnation From Victims Of Political Violence
The fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah had particular resonance for public figures who have experienced political violence themselves. Kirk, who served as chief executive and cofounder of the youth organization Turning Point USA, made frequent appearances on college campuses and in other settings, engaging in political dialogue with students in public settings. Several leaders who have survived public attacks or had family members victimized joined in bipartisan condemnation of the attack on Kirk. (9/11)

The New York Times: House Moment of Silence for Kirk Descends Into Partisan Strife
The shooting that killed the political activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday drew expressions of sympathy and outrage from across the political spectrum.But on the floor of the House of Representatives, a request for a moment of silence to honor him quickly gave way to a moment of bitter partisanship, in a reminder of the polarization that has fueled political violence in recent years. ... As other Republicans began yelling at Democrats, calling on them to back down, one Democrat responded, “Pass some gun laws!” (Gold, 9/10)

Newsweek: RFK Jr. Says Mass Shootings May Be Connected To Video Games—What Data Shows 
Violent video games are sold worldwide yet the U.S. "far and away, has the highest rate of mass shootings or school shootings," a researcher noted. (Mordowanec, 9/10)

Bloomberg: US Government Shutdown Threatened By Democrats Over Obamacare
Democrats are threatening to block a bill needed to avert an Oct. 1 US government shutdown unless Republicans agree to stop a sharp spike in Obamacare health insurance premiums or meet other demands by the minority party. Obamacare insurance subsidies, which have slashed premiums for millions of Americans, will expire Jan. 1, and out-of-power Democrats said they view the stopgap funding bill as their best legislative chance. Republicans need at least seven Democratic votes in the Senate to pass the bill. (Wasson and Dennis, 9/10)

Stat: Lawmakers Snub Kennedy, Include MRNA Vaccine Funding In Spending Bill
House appropriators have snubbed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by including an amendment in their 2026 spending bill that specifically funds continued messenger RNA vaccine research, despite his effort to roll it back. (Cirruzzo, 9/10)

MedPage Today: House Hearing On Kids' Nutrition Veers Off In Many Directions
A House hearing on Tuesday aimed at discussing ways to improve children's diets -- but also veered off into many other directions. At the House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on "Better Meals, Fewer Pills: Making Our Children Healthy Again," Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.) said, "The health of the American people, especially our children, face significant risk when the most pressing threat is the growing anti-vaccine rhetoric that undermines decades of scientific consensus and life-saving health policy." (Frieden, 9/10)