San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Conservators Say They're Overwhelmed Implementing New Law
Last year, San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a bold order: She directed her administration to aggressively compel more people into involuntary mental health and drug treatment. A new state law had just expanded the population eligible for conservatorship, a sweeping legal arrangement that lets the government make decisions for people deemed unable to care for themselves. Breed wanted San Francisco to take full advantage. (Bollag, 11/1)

East Bay Times: Prop 36 Aims To Force Drug Offenders Into Treatment. Would It Help Solve Homelessness?
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan wants you to know that Proposition 36 is about more than just cracking down on retail crime. Mahan — one of the statewide ballot measure’s most vocal supporters — argues that passing the initiative to toughen penalties for low-level theft and drug crimes would also help solve California’s intertwined homelessness and addiction crises by making it easier for judges to order drug offenders into treatment. (Varian, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: Riverside County: The Deadliest Year In One Of America's Deadliest Jail Systems
County facilities reported their highest detainee death count in decades in 2022, including multiple suicides that reveal deep institutional problems.‌ (Damien, 10/31)

The New York Times: Inside A Deadly Southern California Jail System: 5 Takeaways
Those suicides provide a detailed account of troubling — and persistent — patterns in Riverside County jails that put detainees at risk, particularly those with mental health issues, The New York Times and The Desert Sun found. Here are five takeaways from the investigation. (Damien, 11/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Mysterious Sign Highlighting S.F. Drug Crisis Installed On SoMa Street
A mysterious new street sign that reads “No Parking” because of a nightly “drug injection site” has been installed on a street corner teeming with open-air drug dealers and users in San Francisco’s SoMa neighborhood. The official-looking sign, affixed to a pedestrian crossing pole on the corner of Sixth and Jessie streets, is not a city sign, according to the Department of Public Works. It was not clear Thursday morning who was responsible for it. (Angst, 10/31)

NBC News: DACA Recipients Are Able To Sign Up For Obamacare For The First Time
When Camila Bortolleto was 9 years old, her parents brought her from Brazil to the U.S. Bortolleto’s parents are undocumented, but in 2013 she was approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed her to get a job and, with it, job-based health insurance. ... DACA recipients have been barred from receiving government-funded health insurance. That changed Friday, when tens of thousands of DACA recipients became able to sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act for the first time. (Lovelace Jr., 11/1)

Reuters: Harris Warns Trump Will Slash Obamacare; Trump Says He Never Mentioned It
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris warned voters on Thursday that Republican Donald Trump and his allies would scale back healthcare programs if he wins the White House and said his comments at a Wednesday rally were offensive to women. In a brief press conference, Vice President Harris reminded voters that former President Trump had tried unsuccessfully to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, during his 2017-2021 presidency. (Mason and Oliphant, 11/1)

Vox: Donald Trump’s Election Could Allow Republicans To Make Big Health Care Cuts
If you’re confused, it’s not an accident. Republicans are trying to have it both ways on health care during the 2024 campaign. They boast that they want to deregulate insurance and massively cut government spending, yet they also claim that they would never do anything to endanger people’s coverage. (Scott, 10/31)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Planned Parenthood To Close Mission Bay Clinic In San Diego 
In an effort to “streamline” its three-county operations, Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest will close its Mission Bay health center in San Diego in early 2025, the organization announced this week. (Sisson, 10/31)

Becker's Hospital Review: California HCA Hospital Violating Staffing Law: Nurses Union
The union representing registered nurses at HCA Healthcare's Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, Calif., accused management of violating the state's safe staffing law by neglecting to consider patient acuity. The California Nurses Association, which represents more than 900 RNs at the facility, alleged that, despite RNs filing more than 100 forms documenting unsafe staffing and missed meal and rest breaks, the hospital continues to disregard union members' input in staffing decisions. (Gooch, 10/31)

Becker's Hospital Review: CMS' Hospital Capacity Reporting Rule Takes Effect: 10 Notes
Beginning Nov. 1, CMS will require hospitals to report admission information related to respiratory illnesses, including capacity, to the CDC. The new rule reinstates some pandemic-era requirements that have been voluntary since May 1. (Gregerson, 10/31)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Appeals Noncompete Ban Ruling, May Go To Supreme Court
The Federal Trade Commission has appealed a federal court ruling blocking its ban on most noncompete agreements. The FTC filed a notice to appeal on Oct. 18, taking the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Attorneys ultimately expect the Supreme Court to review the issue as several other similar lawsuits over the ban wind their way through the courts. (Kacik, 10/31)

Becker's Hospital Review: Baxter Restarts Highest-Throughput Line: 5 Shortage Updates
Baxter restarted its highest-throughput IV solutions manufacturing line, which accounts for approximately 25% of the site's total production and approximately 50% of 1-liter IV solutions, the most commonly used size by hospitals and clinics, according to an Oct. 31 news release from the company. (Murphy, 10/31)

Oaklandside: Homicides Are Finally And Significantly Falling In Oakland
The city of Oakland’s announcement Monday that it received a $2 million grant from Vice President Kamala Harris’ Office of Gun Violence Prevention to boost its Ceasefire strategy comes as homicides and shootings finally appear to be falling from their peak during the pandemic. From 2020 to 2023, Oakland reported more than 100 homicides each year, with the city suffering a high of 134 killings in 2021, according to Oakland Police Department data. City officials called that a “challenging year in crime.” It rivaled previous spikes in gun violence such as in 2012, when 131 were killed, and in 2006 when 148 people were killed. (Romero, 10/31)

LAist: LA County Home Cooks Can Start Serving Meals. What You Should Know For Food Safety
Your next meal might come from inside a stranger’s private home. Health permits for home chefs are being issued starting Friday, which allows them to sell cooked meals from their kitchens to customers in most of Los Angeles County. The change comes under the L.A. County Department of Public Health’s microenterprise home kitchen operation program (MEHKO). (Hernández, 11/1)

California Healthline: Dentists Are Pulling ‘Healthy’ And Treatable Teeth To Profit From Implants, Experts Warn
Americans are getting dental implants more than ever — and at costs reaching tens of thousands of dollars. Experts worry some dentists have lost sight of the soul of dentistry: preserving and fixing teeth. (Kelman, 11/1)

The Oaklandside: With Jack London Inn Off Table, Oakland Shelter Moving To Uptown
In a change of plans, the large homeless shelter inside the Lake Merritt Lodge will move to a brand new apartment building in Uptown, instead of to the Jack London Inn. Last week, the city of Oakland said negotiations with the Jack London Inn “stalled” and that the building at 1888 Martin Luther King Jr. Way is a “preferable” alternative. (Orenstein, 10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Slaps Valero With Record Fine After ‘Egregious’ Pollution
Regional and state  air quality regulators handed Valero Refining Co. a nearly $82 million penalty for “egregious” emissions problems at its Benicia refinery, which for 16 years spewed illegal amounts of cancer-causing gases and chemicals into the air. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District and California Air Resources Board, in an announcement Thursday, said that from 2003 to 2019 Valero’s hydrogen stacks churned out tons of harmful organic chemicals each day in amounts more than 360 times the legal limit. Valero management knew about the emissions problems “but did not report them or take any steps to prevent them,” officials said. (Johnson, 10/31)

Fox News: This Is Now The World’s Deadliest Infectious Disease, According To WHO
Tuberculosis (TB) is once again the infectious disease responsible for the most deaths worldwide, according to a Tuesday announcement from the World Health Organization (WHO). The contagious disease was responsible for 1.25 million global deaths in 2023, WHO reported, including 161,000 people with HIV. COVID-19 had overtaken TB as the world’s leading infectious killer for the previous three years. (Rudy, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: McDonald's E. Coli Outbreak Now Has 90 Victims; Lawsuits Multiply
At least 90 people have been infected with E. coli in a multistate outbreak that health officials say likely stems from onions served on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and could see the fast food chain taken to court. (Harter, 10/31)

AP: Southern California County Official Pleads Guilty To Bribery Charge In COVID Funds Scheme
A high-ranking elected official in Southern California’s Orange County has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a far-reaching scheme that misused COVID-19 relief funds that should have been used to feed the elderly. (Taxin, 10/31)

Politico: California Medical Lobby Ask Voters To Guarantee Billions In Annual Funding
California’s zealous commitment to direct democracy often enlists voters to weigh in on proposals that commit funding to certain priorities. But rarely have they been invited to do what this year’s Proposition 35 asks: decide some of the nitty-gritty line items in the state’s vast Medicaid budget, work that typically takes lawmakers months of tortuous negotiating and debating each year. If Prop 35 passes, voters will hand over the keys to billions of dollars locked into a spending plan first hashed out in private by the state’s most powerful health care interests. Elected officials would have a much harder time adjusting the formula, allowing for only narrow changes passed by a three-fourths majority. (Bluth, 10/31)

The New York Times: Harris And Trump Trade Gender Attacks As He Floats RFK Jr. For ‘Women’s Health’
Vice President Kamala Harris attacked former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday for claiming that he would protect American women “whether the women like it or not.” Later, her campaign pounced on a new Trump remark that his ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would “work on women’s health” in his administration. (Rogers, Gold, Browning and Epstein, 10/31)

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Won’t Be Health And Human Services Secretary If Trump Is Elected, Transition Leader Says
Trump transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick said during a Wednesday interview on CNN that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wouldn't head the Health and Human Services department if former President Donald Trump wins the election. The comments came after Kennedy told supporters at a virtual event on Monday that Trump had “promised” him control of several health-focused governmental offices, including HHS. (Martinez, 10/31)

KQED: Anxious About The 2024 Election? Here's What Therapists Recommend
We’re almost there, folks. Two years of nonstop campaigning for the White House will finally come to a close this Tuesday, Nov. 5, on Election Day. In 2023, the Pew Research Center found that 65% of Americans say they always or often feel “exhausted” when thinking about politics. And that was before all the dramatic twists and turns of 2024 that have given us the present circumstances: Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump deadlocked in the polls of every single swing state, leaving even the most experienced political analysts with little clue of who will be the next president. (Cabrera-Lomelí, 10/31)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: The Campaign’s Final Days
It’s the final days of the 2024 campaign, and Republicans are suddenly talking again about making changes to the Affordable Care Act if former President Donald Trump wins. Meanwhile, new reporting uncovers more maternal deaths under state abortion bans — and a case in which a Nevada woman was jailed after a miscarriage. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews Irving Washington, a senior vice president at KFF and the executive director of its Health Misinformation and Trust Initiative. (10/31)

Los Angeles Times: ER Patients Are Still Being Hurt By Racial And Gender Biases
If you’re in pain and have to go to the emergency room, it’s good to be a white man. A new study finds that women who go to the ER for treatment of pain are less likely to get the needed pain medication, regardless of their age or ethnicity or even the sex of the medical professional — female doctors and nurses were as unlikely to provide the relief as male ones. And nurses are less likely to record how much pain a woman is experiencing. (10/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Recess Shouldn’t Be Dangerous. Voters Can Make Sure It’s Not
Recess shouldn’t be dangerous. Yet as temperatures continue to hit record highs across California and the country, playgrounds can pose serious health risks for students. When outdoor temperatures reach 92 degrees, schools with asphalt playgrounds and rubber mats become scorching hot zones, with surface temperatures soaring to a staggering 149-165 degrees. That’s literally hot enough to fry an egg outside. (Guillermo Rodriguez, 10/28)

Fresno Bee: Gov. Newsom Maintains A Discriminatory Policy That Impacts People With Epilepsy
Senate Bill 357, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, would have finally ended California’s shameful decades-old policy that all adults and teenagers with epilepsy must be reported to the government. The failure of the legislation revealed how hard it can be to correct the mistakes of the past, especially on lesser-known issues. (David Parker, 10/30)

Los Angeles Times: I Should Be Able To Treat Obesity The Same Way In East L.A. And Beverly Hills
As a diabetes specialist, I’ve treated thousands of patients, some in Beverly Hills and some in East Los Angeles. My Beverly Hills patients live to become healthy 80- and 90-year-olds. I can’t remember when my last patient from this community lost their vision, had an amputation or started dialysis. Almost none have heart attacks or strokes. But in under-resourced parts of East L.A. I see people every week in their 40s and 50s who have developed life-altering, preventable diabetes complications — blindness, kidney failure, the loss of a limb. These patients rarely live to grow old. (Anne L. Peters, 10/29)

Los Angeles Times: Electing Trump Again Could Make Abortion Restrictions Even Worse
It‘s preposterous that Donald Trump has declared that he will be a “protector” of women. Never has he been. During his (hopefully only) administration, he nominated three anti-abortion judges to the Supreme Court who were instrumental in overturning Roe vs. Wade which, for half a century, guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion. One of his nominees to the federal bench in Texas tried to take medication abortion off the market in 2023 and almost succeeded. (Carla Hall, 10/28)

Times of San Diego: Seniors Risk Homelessness As Social Security Falls Short In High-Cost San Diego
We all understand San Diego is an expensive place to live. Since 2019, San Diego rent has increased 41%, or $658 a month, for a one-bedroom apartment according to an August 2024 LendingTree study. Residents are feeling the economic heat. Thousands of older adults already struggling financially are experiencing severe consequences, including the increasing threat of homelessness. At Serving Seniors we see this daily as low-income and homeless adults over age 55 take part in our meal programs and other services. (Paul Downey, 10/29)

Voice of San Diego: Price Gouging In San Diego’s Housing Market Must Stop Now
You may not know it, but modern-day price fixing may be inflating the already too-damn-high rent you’re paying to live in San Diego. ... Today, thanks to technology, corporate giants don’t need a smoke-filled room — or any room at all.  Real estate corporations use algorithms to squeeze every last dollar from struggling renters and homebuyers. (Sean Elo-Rivera and Heather Ferbert, 10/28)