KVPR: State Is Investigating Potential Exposure To Hepatitis, HIV At Coalinga State Hospital
In early May, an internal email circulated at Coalinga State Hospital informed staff that patients who used the hospital’s pain clinic had potentially been exposed to hepatitis C and possibly HIV. “Given that we have had several hundred patients visit the clinic, we are set to begin testing for Hepatitis and HIV for all patients who utilized those services within a specific target window,” reads the email, which was written by chief psychologist Cory Fulton and obtained and verified by KVPR. (Klein, 5/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Icahn Nominee Elected To Illumina’s Board
Illumina shareholders voted to elect one of activist investor Carl Icahn’s three nominees to the company’s board of directors, giving him a partial victory in a bruising proxy battle he launched over the biotechnology company’s handling of a risky acquisition. (Loftus, 5/25)

CNBC: Elon Musk's Neuralink Gets FDA Approval For In-Human Study
Neuralink, the neurotech startup co-founded by Elon Musk and based in Fremont, California, announced Thursday it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its first in-human clinical study. Neuralink is building a brain implant called the Link, which aims to help patients with severe paralysis control external technologies using only neural signals. This means patients with severe degenerative diseases like ALS could eventually regain their ability to communicate with loved ones by moving cursors and typing with their minds. (Capoot, 5/25)

KQED: 'Screaming Into A Void': Long COVID Patients Have Waited In Vain For Years For Treatments
After contracting COVID-19 at the onset of the pandemic more than three years ago, Charlie McCone is still very much hostage to the disease. “I can shower myself and I can do that stuff, but that’s kind of about it,” said McCone, a previously healthy Bay Area man in his 30s. “If I have to make lunch, I’m laid out for a couple of hours. If I have to make dinner, it’s doomsday. I can’t stand up for longer than five minutes without all of my symptoms going haywire.” (Mizuguchi, 5/25)

The Washington Post: Long Covid Has 12 Key Symptoms, New Study Finds
More than 200 lingering symptoms have been reported in patients who suffer ongoing health problems after a covid infection. Now a new study has identified 12 key symptoms that best define the debilitating condition known as long covid. The findings, published Thursday in JAMA, are based on 9,764 participants in a study called the RECOVER initiative, which stands for researching covid to enhance recovery, a four-year, $1.15 billion study of long covid funded by the National Institutes of Health. (Morris, 5/25)

AP: US Study Finds 1 In 10 Get Long COVID After Omicron, Starts Identifying Key Symptoms 
About 10% of people appear to suffer long COVID after an omicron infection, a lower estimate than earlier in the pandemic, according to a study of nearly 10,000 Americans that aims to help unravel the mysterious condition. Early findings from the National Institutes of Health’s study highlight a dozen symptoms that most distinguish long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19. (Neergaard, 5/26)

AP: COVID Pill Paxlovid Gets Full FDA Approval After More Than A Year Of Emergency Use 
Pfizer received full approval on Thursday for its COVID-19 pill Paxlovid that’s been the go-to treatment against the coronavirus. More than 11 million prescriptions for Paxlovid have been dispensed since the Food and Drug Administration allowed emergency use in late 2021. The emergency status was based on early studies and was intended to be temporary pending follow-up research. The FDA granted full approval for adults with COVID-19 who face high risks of severe disease, which can lead to hospitalization or death. That group typically includes older adults and those with common medical conditions like diabetes, asthma and obesity. (Perrone, 5/25)

CBS News: Pfizer's Paxlovid Still Free, For Now, After FDA Grants Full Approval To COVID Drug 
The Biden administration will continue to manage the distribution of free courses of Pfizer's Paxlovid treatment for COVID-19 for at least another few months, the drugmaker said, even after the Food and Drug Administration granted Pfizer full approval Thursday to market the pills. "At this time, the U.S. government will continue to oversee the distribution of PAXLOVID, and U.S. residents eligible for PAXLOVID will continue to receive the medicine at no charge," Pfizer said in a release. (Tin, 5/25)

Reuters: BioNTech Is Proceeding With COVID-Shot In Line With WHO Guidance
Germany's BioNTech said it was on track to introduce a COVID-19 shot by the early fall in the northern hemisphere that is adapted to currently dominant virus variants in line with recommendations by the World Health Organization. BioNTech was targeting regulatory approval by the end of the summer to allow for a seasonal vaccination campaign to start in early autumn, CEO and co-founder Ugur Sahin told shareholders at the biotech firm's annual general meeting on Thursday. (5/25)

CalMatters: California Fentanyl: Five Hours In The Legislature
On an average day in California, about 18 people die due to overdoses from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. That works out to nearly four people every five hours. In that same five-hour period, legislators on Wednesday heard the sad account of a grieving mother, analyses from local officials and researchers and even one admission of teenage cannabis usage from an Assemblymember. (La, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s Where S.F. Wants To Put Money To Address Drug Crisis And ODs
San Francisco’s potentially painful budget cuts this year won’t hit one of the city’s top priorities: services to help people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction who are at risk of a fatal overdose. While Mayor London Breed’s administration must fill a $780 million shortfall over two years, officials stressed Thursday that her upcoming budget would increase investments in treatment beds, overdose prevention, case management and addressing racial disparities in drug deaths. (Moench, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Advocates Fear Supreme Court Ruling Could Become An Anti-Abortion Tool
The Supreme Court’s recent decision that California can prohibit sales of pork from pigs kept in small cages was celebrated by advocates of animal rights and supporters of the state’s authority to enforce laws based on Californians’ moral views, even if they might affect other states. But legal analysts say the ruling could potentially be applied to other issues that divide the states – for example, abortion. By the same logic, could a state like Alabama bar in-state sales of products from a state like California that supports the right to obtain an abortion? Or prosecute a California doctor for mailing abortion pills to a woman in Alabama? (Egelko, 5/26)

ABC News: Map: How Abortion Access Has Shifted In 11 Months Since Roe V. Wade Was Overturned
States in the West and Northeast have since taken steps to expand and protect abortion rights, while states across the South, Great Plains and Midwest have moved to ban or restrict abortion care. Sixteen states have ceased nearly all abortion services. (El-Bawab, 5/26)

CNN: Confusion On Abortion, Mistrust In US Supreme Court Followed Dobbs Decision, Survey Finds 
 The US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, created a fractured abortion landscape in the United States. Nearly a year later, a new KFF survey shows that it has left widespread confusion about the legal status of abortion, along with little trust in the high court to decide cases on reproductive health. (McPhillips, 5/26)

Times Of San Diego: Report Cites 'Poor Medical Command' Among Factors Leading To Aspiring Navy SEAL's Death 
“Failures across multiple systems” contributed to the “Hell Week” death of a Navy SEAL candidate in Coronado, according to an investigation released Thursday by the U.S. Navy. The nearly 200-page report focuses on “systemic issues” surrounding the training program that Seaman Kyle Mullen, 24, undertook just prior to his death on Feb. 4, 2022.Mullen died at a hospital from bacterial pneumonia, the report stated. (5/25)

Voice Of San Diego: This Couple Entered A Safe Parking Program For Stability. They Ended Up On The Street 
One couple’s story is an illustration of how some homeless people experience the complexity and bureaucracy of systems created to help them. (Lopez-Villafana and Halverstadt, 5/25)

Los Angeles Times: California Regulators Vote To Ban Toxic Chrome Plating By 2039
Although hardened chrome is harmless, the fumes from the plating process — 500 times more toxic than diesel exhaust — increase cancer risk in many disadvantaged communities across the state, according to California regulators. To reduce the health risks associated with this exposure, the California Air Resources Board adopted a first-of-its-kind rule for the chrome-plating industry to phase out the use of chrome-6 for decorative purposes by no later than 2030 and for essential functions by 2039. (Briscoe, 5/25)

Pasadena Star News: LA County Probation Chief Orders All Officers To Work Monthly Shift In Juvenile Halls 
Los Angeles County’s probation chief has ordered all 3,000 sworn peace officers in his department, regardless of rank, to work at least one shift per month in the county’s juvenile halls to help alleviate a staffing crisis that has created such dire conditions that the state is now forcing two of the largest facilities to shut down by the end of July. (Henry, 5/24)

Los Angeles Times: They’re In Their 60s And Parenting Yet Again, Balancing The Struggles, Joy Of Adoption
The graying couple raised their right hands in the children’s courthouse, as the judge swore them in. Teodulo Diarte held tight to his granddaughter Harmony as his wife, Olga Perez, kept her one good eye on their 2-year-old, Faith, who rocked back and forth. The couple, in their 60s, were preparing to adopt their two youngest granddaughters. The pre-Thanksgiving ceremony wasn’t the first time they had appeared in this courthouse on a similar crucial mission. They had already adopted their three older granddaughters here. (Mejia, 5/25)

The Washington Post: Debt Ceiling Deal 'Closer' As White House, GOP Negotiate 
White House aides and House Republican leaders were moving closer to a deal Thursday evening aimed at resolving the debt ceiling standoff just days before the U.S. government could run out of money, as key compromises on both sides seemed likely to pave the way for a bipartisan agreement. (Siegel, Stein, Kane and Caldwell, 5/25)

The Hill: House Leaves Town With No Debt Ceiling Deal
House lawmakers are leaving Washington for the long holiday weekend Thursday afternoon — just one week before the Treasury Department says the U.S. is at risk of a debt default — without a deal to raise the debt ceiling. (Folley, 5/25)

The Hill: GOP Negotiator Says White House ‘Refusing To Negotiate’ On Work Requirements 
A top Republican negotiating a debt ceiling hike blasted the White House on Thursday over work requirements for social benefits programs, indicating that the thorny issue remains a sticking point as the country inches closer to a government default. Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) argued the Democrats’ staunch opposition to tougher work requirements will threaten the recipients of other federal benefit programs. He characterized overall progress as “slow.” (Schnell and Lillis, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Wife Worried COVID Vaccine Gave Husband A Stroke But It Was APS
My husband can’t watch soccer games anymore, and for a year I wondered if the COVID-19 vaccine was to blame. His first stroke happened a few days after a COVID vaccination. It flummoxed everyone: He had no previous health problems, and the vaccine he got wasn’t associated with stroke. As a health researcher and vaccine proponent, I had a hard time making sense of it. (Michelle Mello, 5/22)

Los Angeles Daily News: Feinstein’s Health Has Newsom In A Political Trap Of His Own Making
Feinstein, a fixture of California politics for more than a half-century and a U.S. senator for three decades, recently returned to the Capitol after a weeks-long battle with shingles, a very debilitating disease. One might have thought that her return, after much carping from those on the Democratic Party’s left wing about her absence, would quiet those who wanted her to resign. (Dan Walters, 5/25)

CalMatters: How California Can Address Disparities In Maternal Health
In 2018, I gave birth to my second daughter. What was meant to be a beautiful, joyful experience quickly shifted to a dire situation that required an emergency cesarean section under general anesthesia. This meant I was unconscious during my birth, and my husband was not allowed in the operating room to witness the birth of our child. (Dana Sherrod, 5/24)

California Focus: Can Medi-Cal Help Solve Homelessness?
Settled in for his second and last term in Sacramento, not needing to worry about reelection and possibly looking to establish himself as America’s leading progressive long before a potential future run for president. (Tom Elias, 5/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nourishing A Suffering Brain
At 4 a.m. the Friday before Christmas, I lay curled up and crying on my bedroom floor, convinced my son was no longer alive. Matt, then 21, had been a star in elementary and high school, but he began experiencing insomnia and panic attacks. After a manic episode led to a hospitalization at age 19, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Two further hospitalizations and 10 different medications failed to provide stability. (Jan Ellison Baszucki, 5/23)

Los Angeles Daily News: Southern California Drug Warriors Oppose Sensible Psychedelic Decriminalization 
On Wednesday, the California Senate approved Senate Bill 58, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, to remove criminal penalties for possession of certain plant-based psychedelic drugs. (Rodriguez, 5/25)

Zocalo Public Square: Connecting The Poverty Of People And Poverty Of Local Governments
If California wants to curb poverty, its local governments must become richer. That’s one lesson from Stockton’s recent history, as recounted by Stanford Law School professor Michelle Wilde Anderson in her Zócalo Book Prize-winning book, “The Fight to Save the Town.” The author connects the dots between the poverty of people and the poverty of local governments. (Joe Mathews, 5/25)

Los Angeles Times: Why Does California Allow Cannabis Edibles That Look Like Kids’ Snacks?
When California voters passed Proposition 64 in 2016 to legalize the adult recreational use of marijuana, they were told cannabis would have strict labeling and would not be packaged or marketed in ways that would appeal to children. But the market is now flooded with pot products that are designed to look like candies and snacks popular with kids and in flavors that are enticing to young people. (5/26)