Millions Of Mental Health Dollars Go Unused In California
The funds come from Proposition 63, a 2004 initiative that levies a 1 percent income tax on people who earn $1 million or more in a year. A report found that the state isn't doing enough to reclaim the money.
Sacramento Bee:
Counties Slow To Spend Millionaires' Money On Mental Health
California counties are sitting on money from a special tax on millionaires that should be spent on mental health programs, but the state isn’t moving fast enough to reclaim the funds, according to a state audit released on Tuesday. California State Auditor Elaine Howle found that county mental health programs had stashed $231 million from the tax that should have been returned to the state by the end of the 2015-16 budget year. (Ashton, 2/28)
In other news from across the state —
Orange County Register:
What Happens When Homeless People Are Sent To Motels? Some Are Welcomed, Some Treated Warily, Some Kicked Out
Baymont is one of multiple local motels that in recent weeks agreed to take in homeless people as the county scrambled to close the tent encampments and find alternative living arrangements. ... The county began clearing the homeless encampments in late January in order to conduct a maintenance project and clean up hazardous waste along the bike trail between I-5 in Orange and Ball Road/Taft Avenue in Anaheim. The two lawsuits, filed Jan. 29 and Feb. 7, sought to stop the mass eviction; one suit also targeted anti-camping laws in the cities of Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Orange, where many of the homeless were expected to resettle as they left the river. (Walker and Graham, 2/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Newport-Based App Offers Patients A Faster Way To See Medical Specialists
A Newport Beach entrepreneur has created a mobile app that expands the idea of concierge doctors to include specialists. Concierge Key Health, which launched this month in Orange County, Phoenix and New York City, connects patients who pay $3,000 for an individual annual membership or $5,000 for an annual family plan to expedited appointments with doctors in fields such as cardiology, dermatology, pediatrics, reproductive health, ophthalmology and dentistry. (Davis, 2/27)
Long Beach Press-Telegram:
Pregnancy Scam Murder Trial Starts For California Man Accused Of Ripping Baby From Mother's Arms
Trial began Monday for a man accused of shooting three people and suffocating a newborn girl he’d ripped from her mother’s arms during a bizarre plot to kidnap infants in Long Beach and El Segundo. Prosecutors allege Anthony McCall, 32, was the muscle in an elaborate but ultimately failed scheme to steal two babies and pass them off as another woman’s children. (Dobruck, 2/26)