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Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
DIY Tech Gives People More Freedom In Managing Diabetes
People with diabetes say they’ve been waiting for years for better technology to manage their chronic condition. Tired of waiting, some tech-savvy, do-it-yourselfers are constructing their own devices using open-source programming instructions. (Heidi de Marco, )
Good morning, and happy Friday! Nationally, President Donald Trump again raised mental health care in relation to gun violence debate. And a court panel confirms that the government must provide necessities like sleep, soap and toothpaste to ensure the welfare of young immigrants in detention. More on those stories is found below, but first here are your top California health stories of the day:
Charity That Provides Health Care To Uninsured At Risk: California CareForce, a nonprofit group, offers free medical, dental and vision services in the Sacramento area to uninsured residents. A funding shortfall is putting future services in jeopardy though. Read the full story from Caroline Ghisolfi with The Sacramento Bee.
Gold Coast Medi-Cal Plan's Pharmacy Reimbursement Low But Reasonable, Audit Finds: Independent pharmacists have complained that Medi-Cal reimbursement rates paid by Gold Coast Health Plan are pushing them out of business. But a state audit finds that the payments as comparatively low but "reasonable." Read the full story from Tom Kisken with the Ventura County Star.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
NPR:
Trump Shifts From Background Checks To Mental Illness Reform At N.H. Rally
At his first campaign rally after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, President Trump appeared to back away from supporting a possible expansion of background checks in favor of a push for more attention to mental illness. "There is a mental illness problem that has to be dealt with. It's not the gun that pulls the trigger — it's the person holding the gun," Trump said to roars and a standing ovation from the Manchester, N.H., crowd. (Taylor, 8/15)
Politico:
‘We Have To Start Building Institutions Again’: Trump Again Links Guns And Mental Health
Trump argued that institutions for people with mental illness — whom “we can’t let … be on the streets” — were necessary to curb gun violence. “We have to start building institutions again because, you know, if you look at the ’60s and ’70s, so many of these institutions were closed, and the people were just allowed to go onto the streets,” Trump said on Thursday. “That was a terrible thing for our country.” (Choi, 8/15)
The Associated Press:
Lawsuit Challenges California's Assault Weapons Ban
A gun-rights group sued Thursday to block California from enforcing its assault weapons ban, contending it violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The lawsuit was the latest among gun advocacy and lobbying groups to challenge California’s firearms laws, which are among the strictest in the country, and comes after a recent series of deadly mass shootings nationwide involving military-style rifles. (8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
LAPD Chief Among Nation's Top Cops Who Ask Congress To Ban Assault Weapons
After back-to-back mass shootings killed at least 31 people and injured dozens more in Texas and Ohio, police chiefs in the nation’s largest cities, including Los Angeles, called on the nation’s top lawmakers to enact another ban on assault weapons and other measures to prevent mass killings. (Puente, 8/15)
Modesto Bee:
Gun Violence Restraining Orders Used By Law Enforcement
In 2016, California became the third state to adopt gun violence restraining orders as a tool for law enforcement, by order of a judge, to bar a person from possessing firearms if they can prove the person poses a threat to themselves or others. It was the first state to extend the right to petition for the order to immediate family members and roommates. A bill that passed in the assembly in May seeks to include school workers, employers and co-workers, as well. (Tracy, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Getting Shot By Police Is A Leading Cause Of Death For U.S. Black Men
About 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in America can expect to die at the hands of police, according to a new analysis of deaths involving law enforcement officers. That makes them 2.5 times more likely than white men and boys to die during an encounter with cops. The analysis also showed that Latino men and boys, black women and girls and Native American men, women and children are also killed by police at higher rates than their white peers. But the vulnerability of black males was particularly striking. (Khan, 8/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Detained Children Must Have Adequate Food And Hygiene Items, Court Rules
In a case that dramatized the plight of children detained at the border, a federal appeals court Thursday upheld an order requiring immigration authorities to provide minors with adequate food, water, bedding, toothbrushes and soap. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by the Trump administration to an order by a Los Angeles federal judge who found the government was violating a 1997 settlement. The settlement requires the government to provide detained minors with safe and sanitary conditions. (Dolan, 8/15)
Reuters:
Trump Rule Targeting Poor Immigrants Could Harm Children, Health: Advocates
A Trump administration plan to cut legal immigration by poor people will likely result in sicker children, more communicable diseases and greater homelessness in the United States, according to immigrant advocates and the federal government’s own analysis. (Trotta, 8/15)
The Associated Press & Frontline:
Claims: Migrant Kids Split At Border Harmed In Foster Care
The foster care programs are meant to provide migrant children with care while authorities work to connect them with parents, relatives or other sponsors. But instead the boy told a counselor he was repeatedly sexually molested by other boys in the foster home. A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press — some of which have never been made public — shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages from parents who said their children were harmed while in government custody. The father and son are among dozens of families — separated at the border as part of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy — who are now preparing to sue the federal government, including several who say their young children were sexually, physically or emotionally abused in federally funded foster care. (Burke, Linderman and Mendoza, 8/16)
Capital Public Radio:
Could California Efforts To Maintain Obama-Era Environmental Rules, Enact Rent Caps Succeed This Year? State Senate Leader Is Optimistic.
The Trump administration’s new Endangered Species Act regulations released this week could breathe new life into a twice-defeated effort to grandfather Obama-era environmental rules into California law. Democratic Senate leader Toni Atkins says her bill, SB 1, is necessary to leave existing protections in place. (Adler, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
L.A. Exposed City Workers To Trash And Bodily Fluids, State Says
The state agency that enforces workplace safety rules says employees of the city of Los Angeles were exposed to unsanitary conditions on the walkways outside City Hall East, according to two citations issued last week. Inspectors with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, found that workers at City Hall East were exposed to “trash and bodily fluids” on the exterior passageways. City Hall East is home to several city agencies, including City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office. Homeless people frequently sleep overnight on the sidewalks outside. (Zahniser, 8/15)
KPBS:
Documents Allege Serious Medical Neglect Inside Otay Mesa Detention Center
C.O., an asylum-seeker, suffers from severe headaches and other lingering effects of a gunshot wound – remnants of an incident that forced him to flee Guatemala. His ears and eyes bleed sporadically. When C.O. has sought medical treatment for the bleeding at the Otay Mesa Detention Facility where he’s being held, he’s been given ibuprofen, said Anne Rios, a staff attorney at Al Otro Lado, an organization that provides legal aid to immigrants. (Srikrishnan, 8/15)
The Associated Press:
California Bill Updates Transgender Students' School Records
California school districts would be required to update their records to reflect the names and genders of graduates who have changed them since getting their diplomas under a bill approved by state lawmakers on Thursday. The measure they sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom is intended to particularly help transgender graduates or those who identify themselves as having no gender, said Democratic Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco. (8/15)
Capital Public Radio:
Sacramento Group Works To Make Dance More Accessible For People With Autism
Breen is a performer and co-founder with the Capital Dance Project, founded in 2015 by dancers from the Sacramento Ballet. This summer the group expanded its offerings for people with autism and other disabilities with sensory-friendly classes. People with these conditions can experience sensory overload, so these classes feature low lighting and soft music. Noise canceling headphones and fidget toys are available for students who get overwhelmed, a support person is onsite, and breaks on the sideline are recommended. (Caiola, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Gov. Gavin Newsom Is Writing A Children's Book About Dyslexia
Gov. Gavin Newsom is writing a book for children with dyslexia, a project motivated by his personal struggles with the learning disability and experience helping his own dyslexic child to learn to read. “When you’re struggling with your child to read and they’re struggling, and their self-esteem, and they get to an age where they start comparing themselves to their peers, it is deeply emotional and very challenging,” Newsom told reporters Thursday. “That was a trigger to me. If there’s not something, do it.” (Luna, 8/15)
The Hill:
Trump Health Chief: Officials Actively 'Working On' ObamaCare Replacement Plan
A top Trump health administrator on Thursday said that officials are actively “working on” a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, which has remained a priority for President Trump even as many congressional Republicans look to move on. Trump has long promised a superior plan to replace ObamaCare and has drawn pushback from Democrats for never actually revealing a plan of his own. (Sullivan, 8/15)
California Healthline:
Health Plan’s ‘Cadillac Tax’ May Finally Be Running Out Of Gas
The tax on generous health plans — originally envisioned as a way to help pay for the ACA and change consumers’ behavior — has never been implemented, and Congress is considering repeal. (Rovner, 8/16)
Modern Healthcare:
Quality Ratings To Be Published For ACA Health Insurance Plans
HealthCare.gov and the state Obamacare exchange websites will start publishing quality star ratings for insurance plans, the agency announced Thursday. The Trump administration said the move is part of its drive toward more transparency and better quality in the healthcare system, and will help people choose a valuable insurance plan. (Luthi, 8/15)
Modern Healthcare:
700,000 Americans Lost Health Insurance In 2017
About 700,000 fewer people were enrolled in health insurance coverage in 2017 compared with the year before, marking the first year that the uninsured rate has increased since the major Affordable Care Act reforms took effect, according to a study published Thursday. The Urban Institute study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that the uninsured rate increased 0.2 percentage points from 2016 to 2017 to 10.2% of people under age 65, despite a strong economy and enrollment gains in the employer-sponsored insurance market. (Livingston, 8/15)
California Healthline:
‘What The Health?’ Podcast: We Answer Your Questions
You asked about drug prices, the “Cadillac tax” on generous insurance plans and why Americans don’t know that most other countries also have combination public-private insurance systems. This week, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Caitlin Owens of Axios join KHN’s Julie Rovner to answer those questions. (8/15)
The Associated Press:
Gov't Wants A New 911-Like Number Just For Suicide Hotline
With suicides on the rise , the U.S. government wants to make the national crisis hotline easier to reach. Once implemented, people will just need to dial 988 to seek help. Currently, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline uses a 10-digit number, 800-273-TALK (8255). Callers are routed to one of 163 crisis centers, where counselors answered 2.2 million calls last year. (Arbel, 8/15)
NPR:
New Look For Cigarettes? FDA Proposes Graphic Warnings On Packages And Ads
For years, American smokers have been spared the unpleasant images of gangrene infected feet, swollen tongues overtaken by cancerous tumors and blackened lungs that are often plastered onto packs of cigarettes sold around the world. But that momentary reprieve before lighting up may only last a few more years. The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday rolled out a proposed rule to require tobacco companies to include graphic warnings on cigarette packages and tobacco ads with the aim of promoting "greater public understanding of the negative health consequences of smoking," the agency said in a statement. (Romo, 8/15)
The Hill:
Trump Health Official: Controversial Drug Pricing Move Is 'Top Priority'
A top Trump administration health official on Thursday indicated that the administration is pushing forward with a controversial proposal to lower drug prices, despite opposition from some fellow Republicans. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma told reporters that the proposal to lower certain drug prices in Medicare by tying them to lower prices in other countries, known as the International Price Index, is a “top priority.” (Sullivan, 8/15)
California Healthline:
What The Trump Home Dialysis Plan Would Really Look Like
It takes more than an executive order to shift kidney disease patients from dialysis centers to home care. These patients show it takes discipline, skill, will and support. (Graham, 8/16)
Modern Healthcare:
AMA Exits Partnership Fighting Medicare For All, Public Options
The American Medical Association dropped out of the Partnership for America's Healthcare Future, a megacoalition of the healthcare industry devoted to killing single-payer and public-option proposals. The AMA still opposes single payer, or Medicare for all, AMA CEO James Madara said in a statement, attributing the reason for the departure to different advocacy priorities. (Luthi, 8/15)
The Hill:
#CVSDeniesCare Trends Over Plans To Cut Reimbursement Rates For Mail-Order Birth Control
The hashtag "CVSDeniesCare" began trending on Twitter on Thursday over reports that reimbursement changes for mail-order services could threaten women's access to birth control. The phrase was trending nationally with more than 37,000 tweets after it was reported that CVS Caremark will be cutting reimbursement rates for customers who get birth control delivered straight to their doors. (Gstalter, 8/15)
Politico:
Discrimination Complaints Hit Group Fighting Trump's Health Policies
A legal aid organization leading the fight against several Trump administration policies, including health care for LGBTQ and low-income people, is facing its own internal allegations of discrimination. The National Health Law Program, or NHeLP, was founded in 1969 to advocate for health care rights of underserved people. It has grown more prominent in the Trump era, taking on causes like fighting Medicaid work requirements. But some of its employees have described an environment allowing mistreatment of minority and LGBTQ employees, including instances of bullying black women; employees telling “off-color jokes” about women and Jewish people; and a “sense of not belonging among LGBTQ staff,” according to a 2018 assessment on its workplace culture obtained by POLITICO. (Pradhan, 8/16)
The Desert Sun:
Eisenhower Health To Open A $25 Million Birthing Center By 2021
Eisenhower Health announced on Thursday it plans to open a birthing center at its Rancho Mirage medical center by 2021. Creating a $20 million to $25 million maternity center has not been among the priorities Eisenhower has outlined publicly in recent years. The hospital launched a $200 million capital campaign in 2017 focused on improving and expanding its orthopedic and general surgery, cardiology, oncology, medical technology, and outpatient services. As the hospital has worked to expand its reach and offerings, the patients Eisenhower serves have continued to diversify, management said. Eisenhower Health now provides services in all corners of the Coachella Valley and in the high desert as well. (Hayden, 8/15)
Modern Healthcare:
New Drug Disposal Regulations To Be Implemented Next Week
A new federal rule will go into effect next week prohibiting healthcare organizations from flushing hazardous waste pharmaceuticals into the sewer system, which will cause some providers, distributors and pharmacies to change their protocol and processes. Starting Aug. 21, drugs like nicotine and chemotherapies will need to be disposed through the proper channels rather than down the drain, which will cost healthcare facilities time and money if they need to get up to speed. (Kacik, 8/15)
NPR:
Creative Recruiting Helps Rural Hospitals Overcome Doctor Shortages
Recruitment is a life or death issue, not just for patients in those areas, but for the hospitals themselves, says Alan Morgan, CEO of the National Rural Health Association. Over the last decade, more than 100 rural hospitals have closed, he says, and over the next decade, another 700 more are at risk. "Keeping access to health care in rural America is simply a challenge no matter how you look at it, but this shortage of rural health care professionals just is an unfortunate driving issue towards more closures," Morgan says. (Noguchi, 8/15)
Stat:
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality Can Improve Surgeons' Training
Rapid advances in the development of medical devices in the 21st century are contributing to healthier lives, but bring with them a new challenge: teaching clinicians how to use these often-complicated technologies. Teaching them poorly, or failing to do it at all, can negate the potential benefits and put patients at risk of harm from devices that were intended to benefit them. (Justin Barad, 8/16)
CalMatters:
Pregnant Or Trying? Here’s How To Get The Most Out Of California’s New Paid Family Leave Law
California recently approved a longer paid family leave, allowing workers whose pregnancies fall on the right side of the new law to take up to eight weeks off with partial pay to bond with a new baby. How’s that going to work? We asked the experts and read the fine print to help you figure it out now, before you’re too sleep deprived to think straight. (Rosenhall, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Photographers Are Finding A Spot In L.A.’s Labor And Delivery Rooms
Terra Hall never saw herself becoming a mother. But when the ambulance delivered her to Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood, writhing in pain at 9 centimeters dilated, her first thought — after getting an epidural — was how she would record it. “I don’t care what faces I’m making, I don’t care if it’s disgusting — I wanted photos of everything,” said Hall, 35, a media advocacy manager for the American Heart Assn. “I was kind of disappointed when I thought none of this is going to be documented.” (Sharp, 8/16)
Stateline:
Rural America Has A Maternal Mortality Problem. Midwives Might Help Solve It.
Hospitals and obstetrics units are shutting down across rural America, creating a shortage of care that may be contributing to the country’s rising maternal mortality rate. The United States’ maternal mortality rate ranks 138th in the world — between Lebanon and Qatar — and the rate in rural areas tends to be much higher than it is in cities and suburbs. Between 2011 and 2015, it was 23.3 deaths per 100,000 births in Tennessee and 19.4 in Kentucky, rates that are comparable to developing countries. (Simpson, 8/16)
Stat:
Cannabidiol Confusion: Lofty Promises And Barriers To Research
As cannabis researchers, we work in a field whose unknowns could positively or negatively affect the health of millions of Americans. But the U.S. government’s decades-long prohibition of cannabis research forcefully limits what we might learn. Adding to the absurdity, the recent relaxation of this prohibition may promote a public health threat. (Beatriz H. Carlini, Gregory Carter and Nephi Stella, 8/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Doctor Facing Murder Charges In Opioid Cases Was Already Under Investigation
A Santa Rosa physician facing murder charges in the deaths of five patients who suffered opioid overdoses was already under investigation by the state medical board for allegedly overprescribing strong pain drugs to five patients, including one man who was being prescribed 360 pills a month by the time he left the doctor’s care. Dr. Thomas McNeese Keller, a primary-care physician with a specialty in neurosurgery, still has a California medical license, though it is under review while the state medical board continues its investigation. The state attorney general’s office arrested Keller on Monday and charged him with four counts of second-degree murder and one count of elder abuse. He is currently in jail and awaiting a bail hearing next Tuesday. (Allday, 8/15)
California Healthline:
Among Hurdles For Those With Opioid Addictions: Getting The Drug To Treat It
It can be difficult to get a prescription for buprenorphine, one of the gold standards for treating opioid use disorder. And not all pharmacies stock the drug. (Feldman, 8/16)
Seattle Times:
Recovery Beyond Program Helps People Work Through Homelessness And Addiction By Getting Them To Scale Mountains And Explore The Outdoors
[Nate] Lanting shared stories of people who were working through addiction and homelessness or recovering from the havoc addiction wreaked on their lives. He showed videos and talked about how climbing to the top of a mountain was in some ways like the difficult journey through recovery. ...Recovery Beyond, which became a nonprofit in 2017, does not collect data on its participants, but executive director Gina Haines estimates 100 to 200 people have gone through the program since 2011, and 39 have summited Mount Rainier. (Paul, 8/15)
The Associated Press:
OxyContin Maker Purdue Agrees To Provide Research Data
The maker of the powerful painkiller OxyContin has agreed to provide access to proprietary research and other data to researchers at Oklahoma State University to help them find causes and treatments for drug addiction. Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma announced the agreement Thursday in a joint statement with the university. (8/15)
The New York Times:
The Weekly: A Secret Opioid Memo That Could Have Slowed An Epidemic
A confidential government document containing evidence so critical it had the potential to change the course of an American tragedy was kept in the dark for more than a decade. The document, known as a “prosecution memo,” details how government lawyers believed that Purdue Pharma, the maker of the powerful opioid, OxyContin, knew early on that the drug was fueling a rise in abuse and addiction. They also gathered evidence indicating that the company’s executives had misled the public and Congress.“ The Weekly” shines a light on that 2006 Justice Department memo and its consequences for today’s wave of lawsuits against opioid makers and members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma. (8/16)
The Associated Press:
Million-Dollar Opioid Drug Ring Started Small, No. 2 Says
A man who prosecutors call the second-in-command of a multimillion-dollar online opioid drug ring said Thursday the operation started small, when he needed cash for student loans so he let his roommate sell his prescription Adderall. Drew Crandall, 33, said the dark-web operation run by his roommate Aaron Shamo, 29, grew to include date-rape drugs, ecstasy, Xanax and more. (Whitehurst, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
California Shows All States How To Protect Patients From Trump's Attacks On Obamacare
This record shows not merely that a single state can protect the stability of its individual health insurance market in the face of determined sabotage at the federal level. It also shows other states how to do so, and teaches that investment in the ACA can pay for itself in lower premiums for residents, higher federal reimbursements, and lower overall healthcare spending. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Callous Attack On Immigrants Who Need Public Aid
The Trump administration is moving — again — to make it more difficult for even legal immigrants to get a foothold in the United States. Beginning in October, a new rule will make immigrants who use certain government safety-net programs ineligible for permanent residency, blocking their path to naturalized citizenship. The move, which is likely to be challenged in court, meshes with the administration’s other efforts to fundamentally change the nature of U.S. immigration from a focus on family reunification to one based on English proficiency, educational level and work experience. (8/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
How Trump’s New Rule On Immigrants Endangers Public Health
When a person applies for a green card or for a visa to enter the U.S., immigration officials conduct a public charge test to determine whether that person is likely to become dependent on the government to meet basic needs. Traditionally, the government has used very narrow criteria to make that determination. The new definition makes it a catch-all. Along with a variety of other criteria, participation in non-emergency Medicaid (called Medi-Cal in California), the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (called CalFresh in California), and certain types of federal housing assistance, among other programs, will now count against applicants. (Sandra R. Hernández, 8/15)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Two Med Students Make Case For Single-Payer Health Care
The solution for frustrated patients and for wary physicians-to-be is Medicare For All. We implore politicians to listen to voters, 70% of whom support such a plan (Reuters-Ipsos), and find the courage to continue Truman’s legacy by fighting for the health care we deserve. (Scott Swartz and Bradley Heinz, 8/14)
San Jose Mercury News:
Paid Family Leave Should Be A Right, Not A Luxury
Any parent can tell you that paid family leave isn’t a luxury vacation. It is essential in providing mothers with lower rates of stress, isolation and depression, and increases the likelihood of breastfeeding.In a society that often requires two incomes to survive as a family of three, let alone four, paid family leave increases the likelihood that working moms return to work and are paid better in the future. (Jonathan Rubinsky, 8/14)
Los Angeles Times:
Why The Short-Term Health Plans Trump Favors Are Cheap: They Shortchange You On Care
President Trump and other foes of the Affordable Care Act have made the expansion of short-term health plans a centerpiece of their campaign to gut the ACA. Their argument is that the plans, which the ACA limits to three-month nonrenewable terms, can bring cheaper coverage to millions of Americans supposedly burdened by the law’s mandate that every health plan offer certain minimum benefits. Two new statistical releases, however, reveal exactly why these plans are less expensive and less useful to the Americans Trump claims to be helping. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/12)
Los Angeles Times:
After My Mother's Disastrous Hospice Experience, We Filed A State Complaint. It Came To Nothing
We are aging rapidly in this nation; about 1.5 million people enter hospice care each year, and it is generally a great end-of-life service. Most of the nurses and medical assistants I met during the hospice care of my father and mother were admirably caring, professional, and devoted. And yet the regulation and oversight of hospice care are sorely lacking, and too little information is available to family members on how to make a smart choice for the best care. (Steve Lopez, 8/10)
Los Angeles Times:
Let's Call This Youth Vaping Crisis What It Is: A Juuling Epidemic
Almost daily, educators across the country tell me that at least half of their students use e-cigarettes, mainly the Juul brand. Many of these young people show clear signs of addiction. They are agitated, emotional and unable to sit through an entire class period. They often need to leave class to “take a puff.” National data about the pervasiveness of e-cigarettes show that it increased nearly 80% among high school students from 2017 to 2018. One in 5 report currently vaping. (Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, 8/15)
Los Angeles Times:
San Diego’s City Attorney Is Taking Away Hundreds Of Guns From Those Who Shouldn’t Have Them
So in 2016, [Mara] Elliott ran for San Diego city attorney and won, promising to be a champion of gun control. She specifically pledged to seek firearms restraining orders against gun owners who showed signs of potential violence. Today, the 51-year-old Democrat is California’s most aggressive planter of so-called red flags on suspicious gun owners who act like they shouldn’t be anywhere near a firearm. The goal is to seize guns from wackos. (George Skelton, 8/12)
San Jose Mercury News:
Democratic Candidates Are Still Unclear On Health Care
Candidates must answer legitimate questions about transition. Harris deserves the suspicion generated by her proposed 10-year transitional timeframe, more than two full presidential terms. But suspicion is also due those who fail to address transition, notably Sanders and Warren. Do they think the half-million Americans who would lose jobs with the elimination of the private insurance-sector under their plan, or those who would lose negotiated health benefits beyond the new universal benefit-package, should be compensated? (Ann Mongoven, 8/9)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Needs Safe Parking For People Who Live In Cars
With housing and shelter beds in short supply, the trend of people using their vehicles as homes has become increasingly common in cities across the state. That’s why Sacramento is rightly considering the creation of safe parking zones where people who live in their vehicles can safely park. In doing so, Sacramento would join several cities across the state – including Oakland, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Santa Barbara – in creating legal spaces for homeless people who live in cars. (8/9)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Pass The Right-To-Know Bill On Toxic Cosmetics
State Sen. Connie Leyva’s Cosmetic Fragrance and Flavor Ingredient Right to Know Act of 2019, en route to its final committee before a floor vote, represents a critical opportunity for California to protect its residents from chemical exposures. Unbeknownst to most consumers — who reasonably, but wrongly, assume that products offered for sale must be tolerably safe — dozens of known-toxic chemicals lurk behind the descriptor “fragrance” (and sometimes also, “flavor”) on cosmetic and personal care product labels. (Claudia Polsky, 8/11)
San Francisco Chronicle:
PG&E’s Legal Schemes In Bankruptcy To Hurt Fire Victims
Our state knows too well the devastation PG&E-caused fires did to thousands of Californians who lost loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods, and their health and well-being. One of the largest of these was the Tubbs Fire, which killed 22 people and destroyed nearly 37,000 acres. PG&E denies responsibility for this fire, but the Tubbs Fire victims want their day in court to present to a California jury compelling evidence that PG&E did in fact cause the fire. (Michael Carlson and Kirk Trostle, 8/12)