San Francisco Chronicle: How The Shutdown Is Impacting Thousands Of Bay Area Federal Workers
On the first day of the first full federal government shutdown in nearly seven years, Jacqueline Hopkins reported to work as usual at the Social Security Administration’s Richmond field office. Considered an exempted employee, who must continue working through the shutdown without pay, Hopkins’ Wednesday began with a list of tasks, including benefits verification, that she can no longer perform until the government is funded again. Unable to access her timecard, she must now track her hours manually for her supervisor, hoping that Congress will eventually approve back pay. (Koseff, 10/1)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Social Security Delays, Farmers Sidelined, Veterans Wary: Shutdown Reaches Sonoma, Napa Counties 
In Sonoma and Napa counties, federally funded services such as Social Security, veterans’ clinics and Head Start centers remained open Wednesday morning, though officials warned staffing cuts and funding lapses could limit operations if the shutdown drags on. Lines formed at Santa Rosa’s Social Security office, veterans crowded a south Santa Rosa clinic and local food banks began preparing for a potential surge in need. (Mehta, 10/1)

KQED: ‘It’s Going To Be Painful’: Day 1 Of Government Shutdown Hits The Bay Area 
Many in the Bay Area woke up Wednesday bracing for what could be an extended government shutdown that began overnight, spurred by a deadlock on spending bills in the Senate. Already, the effects are being felt. (DeBenedetti, 10/1)

Los Angeles Times: Here's What The Government Shutdown Means For Wildfires, Weather And Disaster Response
The shutdown of the U.S. government has brought work determined by the Trump administration to be “nonessential” to a halt across the country as thousands of federal employees have been furloughed and ordered not to do their jobs. ... While much of the fallout remains to be seen, federal agencies that deal with wildfires, weather and disaster response — including the U.S. Forest Service, the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency — expect to see some impacts. (Smith, 10/1)

Becker's Hospital Review: Health Systems Scramble To Discharge Hospital-At-Home Patients
Health systems have had to scramble to discharge or move their hospital-at-home patients as CMS reimbursement for the program lapsed with the federal government shutdown. Healthcare organizations approved for the CMS waiver to provide acute hospital care at home had to discharge or transfer those Medicare beneficiaries to the hospital by midnight Oct. 1, sending many patients back to capacity-strained facilities. (Bruce, 10/1)

Times of San Diego: City, County, Join Lawsuit Challenging White House On Withholding Funds
The city and county of San Diego have filed a lawsuit with more than two dozen local governments, mostly in California, challenging the Trump administration. ... Filed in federal court in Northern California, the suit alleges that the federal government has threatened to withhold more than $350 million in Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency grants unless municipalities assist in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. (10/1)

Orange County Register: VA Adds Orange County’s Veterans Cemetery Plan To Priority List For Grants 
Orange County officials are celebrating word that the proposed location for a veterans cemetery has landed on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ priority list for cemetery grants, a long-awaited milestone in the push to give Orange County’s veterans a final resting place close to home. (Kang, 10/1)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Asks Colleges To Sign ‘Compact’ To Get Funding Preference 
The White House on Wednesday sent letters to nine of the nation’s top public and private universities, urging campus leaders to pledge support for President Trump’s political agenda to help ensure access to federal research funds. The letters came attached to a 10-page “compact” that serves as a sort of priority statement for the administration’s educational goals — the most comprehensive accounting to date of what Mr. Trump aims to achieve from an unparalleled, monthslong pressure campaign on academia. The compact would require colleges to freeze tuition for five years, cap the enrollment of international students and commit to strict definitions of gender. (Bender, 10/2)

Politico: Trump Plans To Block Funding To Groups That Promote Diversity Policies Abroad
The Trump administration plans to block U.S. funding to organizations that do work abroad on issues related to gender identity and diversity, according to a U.S. official and nonprofit groups informed of the plan. It’s a major expansion of the Mexico City Policy, which prevents foreign groups receiving U.S. global health funding from providing or promoting abortion, even if those programs are paid for with other sources of financing. (Paun and Toosi, 10/1)

Los Angeles Blade: West Hollywood Officially Welcomes A New Transitional Housing Program
On Tuesday evening, hearty crowds mingled in the courtyard of the old Holloway Motel, buzzing with excitement as West Hollywood mayor Chelsea Byers took the podium. All gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony and an open house preview of the Holloway Interim Housing Program, the city of West Hollywood’s latest step in its five-year plan to address chronic homelessness. In 2022, West Hollywood received a Homekey grant of $6 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development and purchased the property at Holloway Drive the following year, with plans to revitalize the space into a supportive facility for unhoused community members. After years of development, the Holloway Interim Housing Program is ready to open. The city is partnering with Ascencia, a nonprofit that provides services to unhoused individuals and families, which will manage daily operations at the facility and provide direct support to residents. (Song, 10/1)

Bay Area News Group: Addressing Homelessness: $8 Million State Grant To Fund New Berkeley Diversion Program 
A new diversion program meant to help unhoused residents struggling with substance and mental health disorders is coming to Berkeley thanks to an $8 million state grant. (Lopez, 10/2)

The Sacramento Bee: State Grants Boost Affordable Housing Projects In California
It had been several days since a California housing agency announced it was funding housing developments across the state, but Linda Mandolini was still excited. Her organization, Eden Housing, received tens of millions of dollars for five projects. (Hobbs, 10/1)

Los Angeles Times: Which Homeless Shelters Have Open Beds? Advocates Say It's Hard To Know.
In early August, data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority showed only two out of 88 beds at an East Hollywood homeless shelter were occupied, a shockingly low rate in a county where some 47,000 sleep on the streets. There’s just one big problem, according to the nonprofit PATH, which operates the shelter. The data were dead wrong. Path’s internal data showed 84 beds were filled. (Khouri and Smith, 10/2)

The Bay Area Reporter: City Finds New Location For SF STI Clinic
Come 2028, the city’s public health clinic that treats sexually transmitted infections is scheduled to move out of its current dilapidated site. Its new home will be at 1660 Mission Street. The Board of Supervisors signed off Tuesday on a resolution approving the city’s purchase of the property for $18,530,000. The six-story building of approximately 75,321 square feet comes with 52 underground parking spaces and an adjacent parking lot of approximately 5,340 square feet at 1670 Mission Street. (Bajko, 10/1)

Politico: Trump To The Health And Tech Giants: AI Is Not Your ‘Cartel’ 
The Trump administration has a message for the biggest names in health care and tech: You won’t control the development of artificial intelligence in medicine. Top officials at the Department of Health and Human Services tell POLITICO that the administration does not support a multi-year quasi-regulatory effort by firms including Microsoft and OpenAI, and health systems including the Mayo Clinic and Duke Health, to pilot private-sector-led vetting of AI tools under the banner of the Coalition for Health AI. (Reader, 10/1)

Stat: UpToDate Launches Expert AI To Answer Doctors' Clinical Questions 
When UpToDate, the decades-old, expert-curated medical resource for doctors, announced the launch of a generative artificial intelligence update last week, clinicians responded with a common refrain: It’s about time. (Palmer, 10/2)

Voice of San Diego: County’s Pharmacy Chief Also Works At A Law Firm
The county of San Diego’s chief pharmacy officer, who collects a $232,419 yearly salary, moonlights as a partner at a New York-based law firm that advises pharmaceutical companies. ... Dr. Emily Do is the county’s full-time chief pharmacy officer, who oversees county pharmacy practices and standards and has been in that role since 2019. In April, she joined the law firm Dilworth & Barrese as a partner and patent attorney, according to her LinkedIn profile. (Halverstadt, 10/2)

LAist: Long Beach Extends ‘Smart’ Public Restrooms At Parks And Pier
The ADA-accessible restrooms at DeForest Park near the pickleball courts, Harvey Milk Promenade Park in downtown and Belmont Pier will be available until at least next September. The Shoreline Marina location will be discontinued Thursday. (Sievertson, 10/1)

CapRadio: Sacramento Breast Cancer Resources
“We really try to be a one-stop shop for breast cancer resources in Sacramento,” said program director Melissa Manzo. “There's no income requirement.” Services include helping people navigate breast health screenings, patient navigation, and financial assistance. Albie Aware serves people in Sacramento’s six-county region: Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Yuba and Sutter counties. (Gonzalez, 10/1)

NBC News: Different Forms Of Autism May Exist, Not Only Different Severities, Genetic Study Shows
People who learn they have autism after age 6 — the current median age at diagnosis — are often described as having a “milder” form of autism than people diagnosed as toddlers. A new study challenges that assumption. A genetic analysis finds that people with autism spectrum disorder diagnosed in late childhood or adolescence actually have “a different form of autism,” not a less severe one, said Varun Warrier, senior author of a study published Wednesday in Nature. (Szabo, 10/1)

AP: Walmart Plans To Stop Using Artificial Colors And 30 More Food Additives
Walmart said Wednesday that it plans to remove synthetic food dyes and 30 other ingredients, including some preservatives, artificial sweeteners and fat substitutes, from its store brands sold in the United States by January 2027. The move announced by the the nation’s largest retailer amounts to an acknowledgment that American consumers and the U.S. government under President Donald Trump are paying attention to what goes into packaged foods. (D’Innocenzio and Aleccia, 10/1)