San Francisco Chronicle: Millions Sought To Stem Arrests At California Foster Care Shelters 
A California lawmaker is calling for $22.7 million in state funding to help prevent unwarranted arrests of abused and neglected children in the state’s residential foster-care facilities — a disturbing practice exposed in a Chronicle investigation last year. The three-year budget proposal, to be introduced next week by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, D-Carson (Los Angeles County), comes as arrests continue across the state at county children’s shelters, despite pledges of reform. (de Sá, Dizikes and Palomino, 4/5)

In other news from Sacramento —

San Francisco Chronicle: Dialysis Clinics’ Revenue Would Be Capped Under California Ballot Measure
The none-too-euphoniously named “California Limits on Dialysis Clinics’ Revenue and Required Refund Initiative” needs 365,880 valid signatures to go before the voters in the fall. While the large number of raw signatures makes it likely the measure will qualify, it probably be at least a month before the secretary of state can make that official. The initiative, sponsored by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, argues that dialysis companies are overcharging patients and insurance outfits, even as patient care is suffering, especially in low-income communities. (Wildermuth, 4/5)

Modesto Bee: Why Big Bust In Turlock Shows How Fentanyl Could Be Central Valley's New Scourge 
At a news conference in Modesto, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott of the Eastern District of California announced the indictment of two men charged with distributing fentanyl as part of a drug trafficking network stretching across counties in Northern California. (Carlson, 4/5)

In other opioid news —

KQED: Orange County’s Only Needle Exchange Program Seeks To Go Mobile 
Advocates say it may have even forced some intravenous drug users to share them or use dirty ones, increasing the likelihood of blood-borne illnesses like HIV and hepatitis. In its two years of operation, OCNEP gave out about 2 million clean needles and provided safe disposal for used syringes. (Wiley, 4/5)

Los Angeles Times: Surprise! Scientists Find Signs Of New Brain Cells In Adults As Old As 79
Do we continue to add new neurons to our brain circuitry throughout our lives? Or does our neuron count remain fixed once we reach adulthood? The scientific debate rages on. In a report published Thursday in Cell Stem Cell, scientists from Columbia University present new evidence that our brains continue to make hundreds of new neurons a day, even after we reach our 70s, in a process known as neurogenesis. (Netburn, 4/5)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: In L.A. Today, Fitness Can Mean IV Drips, Vitamin Shots And A Daily Freeze At -292 Degrees
When Amber Dodson needs a break from her rigorous workout regimen, she steps nearly naked into a high-tech machine that looks like a giant energy drink can. Only her head is visible as the temperature in the chamber plummets to minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit for three minutes, liquid nitrogen vapor billowing down the sides. "I tend to get extremely inflamed and I don't like taking days off," said Dodson, 36, who pays $299 a month for up to 30 sessions at Coast Cryo in Marina del Rey. "It's been a lifesaver because I can't deal with sore muscles and bad sleep." (White, 4/5)

KPCC: In The Eugenics Era, Mexican American Women Were Prime Targets Of Sterilization In California 
Franco was one of about 20,000 people sterilized in California institutions between the early 1920s and the 1950s. Once a patient was given to the state, administrators had the final word on sterilizations. It was a power granted to them by eugenics laws passed in the 1910s. (Cross, 4/5)

KPCC: LA Ranks 4th For Bed Bug Infestations, So Don't Let Them Bite
So how common are bed bugs throughout L.A., beyond this one case? The short answer is very. Last year, the city ranked fourth in the nation for bed bug infestations. (Carpenter, 4/5)

KQED: Federal Judge Holds Orange County Cities' Feet To The Fire Over Homeless Crisis
Orange County officials have begun to clear about 200 homeless people from the Santa Ana Civic Center’s Plaza of the Flags, the central plaza by City Hall and the federal courthouse. Support services began to triage people on Monday, and that work is ongoing. (Stryker, 4/5)

In other news from across the state —

Sacramento Bee: Fired After Stephon Clark Comment, Ex-Kaiser Nurse Raises $25,000-Plus On GoFundMe To Help Pay Bills
Faith Linthicum, the nurse who wrote that Stephon Clark "deserved it," launched a GoFundMe page Saturday and already has surpassed her fundraising goal of $25,000. She said she will use the funds to help pay for rent, food and other expenses. (Anderson, 4/5)

Bloomberg: Democrats Aim To Turn Obamacare Into Asset From Burden In 2018 
Andy Kim decided to run against House Republican Tom MacArthur last year as he watched TV coverage of GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare while waiting in a hospital room for news on his unborn son. Kim was sparked by MacArthur’s amendment that would have let insurers charge more for patients with pre-existing conditions and his central role in helping the repeal pass the House. An ultrasound had just shown that Kim’s son was dramatically underweight, and he wondered "if my baby boy is going to have a problem for the rest of his life." (John, 4/6)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: White House Report Uses Fuzzy Logic To Tout ‘Insurer Profitability’ In Obamacare
The Council of Economic Advisers was established by law in 1946 to provide presidents with objective economic advice. Naturally, as an arm of the White House, the analyses produced under each administration tend provide economic justification for a president’s policies. But they are supposed to be grounded in facts. Thus The Fact Checker was surprised to come across a three-page report issued by the CEA in March, just as lawmakers were deciding whether to add money to the omnibus spending bill to temporarily restore cost-sharing reduction (CSR) subsidies. (Kessler, 4/6)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: Under Trump, An Office Meant To Help Refugees Enters The Abortion Wars
Scott Lloyd’s unadorned job title betrays little hint of the power he has over the pregnant teenagers in his custody. As director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, he oversees the assistance program for the tens of thousands of refugees who still seek shelter in the United States, even with the Trump administration’s crackdown. But as the government official who is also responsible for the care of young, undocumented immigrants who enter the United States without their parents, he spends much of his time trying to stop those who want an abortion. (Peters, 4/5)

The Washington Post: Amid New Talk Of Criminalizing Abortion, Research Shows The Dangers Of Making It Illegal For Women
The idea of criminalizing abortions is not new, but a push has emerged recently among some antiabortion advocates for enacting strict penalties against women who have the procedure, and not just doctors and clinics that provide abortions. Research over the past decade, however, casts significant doubt on whether criminalizing abortion would reduce abortion rates. And data from countries where abortion is  outlawed suggests it could have serious consequences on women’s health and safety. (Wan, 4/5)

Bloomberg: When These New Pharma Bros Show Up, Drug Prices Tend To Go Monumentally Higher 
For at least the past three years, Todd Smith and Benjamin Bove have crisscrossed the U.S., offering a sure-fire fix for struggling pharmaceutical companies. And wherever they go, the price of prescription drugs tend to skyrocket. ...The Chicago-based duo has played important roles at no fewer than four companies that have raised prices on life-saving and other drugs by as much as 4,116 percent. (Hopkins and Martin, 4/6)

Bloomberg: JPMorgan CEO Sees Long Timeline, Big Goals For Health Venture
A three-way partnership between Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. has been the talk of the health-care industry, though the companies themselves have said precious little about it. That changed Thursday morning, when JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon laid out some of his ambitions for the venture in his annual letter to the bank’s shareholders, months after its January launch. Notably, Dimon said that the companies would be updating investors on their progress in “coming years,” suggesting a long timeline for the closely watched endeavor. (Tracer, 4/5)

California Healthline: Patient Advocacy Groups Take In Millions From Drugmakers. Is There A Payback?
Pharmaceutical companies gave at least $116 million to patient advocacy groups in a single year, reveals a new database logging 12,000 donations from large publicly traded drugmakers to such organizations. Even as these patient groups grow in number and political influence, their funding and their relationships to drugmakers are little understood. Unlike payments to doctors and lobbying expenses, companies do not have to report payments to the groups. (Kopp, Lupkin and Lucas, 4/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Single-Payer Plan Is Within Reach Of California
There is great desire and public support for health care coverage for every person in California. In our study, “Financing Universal Coverage In California: A Berkeley Forum Roadmap,” we identify three changes in the California health care system that can generate enough reductions in health spending to finance universal health coverage in the next few years. (Richard Scheffler, 4/3)

Los Angeles Times: California's Right-To-Die Law Is Working
When legislators in Sacramento passed a reasonable and conservative assisted-suicide law in 2015, California was only the fifth U.S state to allow terminally ill people to obtain a lethal prescription. Giving dying people who have six months or less to live an alternative to terrible pain and suffering was the compassionate and correct thing to do, so it's no surprise that Colorado and Washington, D.C., have passed similar right-to-die laws since then, and that more than two dozen states — from Hawaii to Maine — are now considering doing the same. (4/5)

San Jose Mercury News: Stop Trump From Discriminating Against Patients
Caregivers must advocate for patients, not discriminate against them. I’ve seen firsthand how people suffer when health care workers discriminate against patients on “moral grounds,” as President Donald Trump is now giving them the green light to do. (Sal Rosselli, 4/3)

Sacramento Bee: Dialysis Clinics Put Profits Ahead Of Patients
As someone who had kidney failure and needs dialysis to stay alive, I want the public to know that there’s a crisis in dialysis patient care, even if the huge corporations that dominate the industry don’t want anyone to know about it (“Union’s tactics put dialysis patients in the crossfire,” Viewpoints, March 23). Our goal is to push these corporations to invest more in patients and the people who care for us. (Richard Elliott, 3/29)

Los Angeles Times: State Senator Says It May Be Time For Law Requiring Easily Understood Medical Bills
[B]ills from hospitals, doctors and insurance companies are frequently indecipherable with their codes, abbreviations, misleading descriptions and lack of any explanation for why charges are so high. State Sen. Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) agrees. He told me he's looked at his family's own medical bills and scratched his head repeatedly over what they were being charged for. ... He said he and his staff will explore the issue and see if an existing regulation can be applied to making medical bills more transparent and easily understood. "If not," Glazer said, "then we'll look at the possibility of a new law." (David Lazarus, 4/3)

Sacramento Bee: California Values All People — Until They Need Housing
When did the endless debate over the unfairness of California’s housing market become such an exercise in missing the point? Developers huff and puff about rent control and how, if it’s enacted, the construction of apartment buildings will grind to a screeching halt, exacerbating the housing crisis. Renters rant about how they don’t care because they need help – now. And political candidates, well, they try to have it both ways. (Erika D. Smith, 3/25)

Seattle Times: Come On, California, Coffee Won’t Kill You
Don’t worry, coffee-addled Seattleites: You and your morning ritual are safe. Despite a Los Angeles judge’s ruling that in California coffee must carry a warning label, there’s little cause for concern.California’s Proposition 65 labeling certainly delivers a jolt, notifying consumers of the presence of chemicals the state has listed as causing cancer and birth defects. And while it’s smart to be cautious about food and drink, here’s something to ease your caffeinated mind. California’s coffee shop warning relates to acrylamide, a chemical produced when coffee beans are roasted. Acrylamide has been shown to cause cancer in rodents, but that’s when they are given doses up to 1,000 to 10,000 times higher than what people might be exposed to in foods, according to the American Cancer Society. (4/2)

USA Today: On Mpg Standards, Let California Be California
For just shy of a decade, a set of tough emissions standards have required vehicles in America to burn fuel more efficiently — increasing miles per gallon, saving each driver hundreds of dollars at the pump and lowering carbon emissions that threaten the planet. On Monday, the Trump administration announced plans to roll back these fuel efficiency standards for the years ahead. It’s being done in the spirit of President Trump’s anti-regulatory agenda, but this would be a major mistake for the planet and for drivers’ pocketbooks. (4/2)

Los Angeles Times: Don't Let Trump And Pruitt Make America Smoggy Again
The world is increasingly speeding toward a future of clean, zero-emissions cars. ...But here in the United States, President Trump and his anti-environmental protection sidekick, Scott Pruitt, are determined to head recklessly in the opposite direction. It's up to California and other environmentally responsible states to stop them. ...Pruitt has used his tenure at the EPA to systematically attack responsible, science- and health-based regulations. (4/3)

Sacramento Bee: Why Roll Back Progress Toward Cleaner Cars?
For decades California has used its market power and its policy innovation to push America toward a cleaner energy future. But the Trump administration seems just as determined to drag America backward to more dependence on dirty fossil fuels. While expected, the official announcement Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency is rolling back landmark fuel economy rules is still sweeping in its significance – and stunning in its stupidity. (4/2)