Sacramento Bee: California Health Workers Win $25 Minimum Wage After Union Deal
Hundreds of thousands of health care workers in California are likely to secure a new minimum wage of $25 an hour as the Legislature successfully sent the bill Thursday night to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. One caveat, though, is workers would have to wait between three and 10 years to see the full wage. (Miller, 9/15)

Los Angeles Times: Bill Requiring Pharmacies To Report Prescription Errors Heads To Newsom 
California state lawmakers approved a bill Thursday that would require pharmacies to report every prescription error — a move aimed at lowering the estimated 5 million mistakes pharmacists make each year. The bill — AB 1286 — still must be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not indicated whether he supports it. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Petersen, 9/14)

Sacramento Bee: CA Legislature Votes To Give Striking Workers Unemployment
Striking California workers are one gubernatorial signature away from being able to apply for and receive state-funded aid after a last-minute push by lawmakers. The California Senate voted 27-12 on Thursday to concur with Assembly amendments to Senate Bill 799, authored by Democratic Sen. Anthony Portantino of Burbank. Only workers who have been on strike for at least 14 days would be eligible for the unemployment benefits. (Miller, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: Arthritis From Scrubbing, Asthma From Chemicals. California Housekeepers Want In On OSHA Protections
Roxana Sanchez has slipped and fallen on freshly mopped floors on the job. She’s gone home with bruises. She’s scrubbed away feces and blood. She has two bulging disks in her back, arthritis in her wrist and chronic neck pain, problems she attributes to working long days cleaning houses for more than a decade. Domestic workers like Sanchez, a 43-year-old immigrant from Mexico who lives in Los Angeles, are excluded from federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration protections that other employees across the country benefit from. (Mays, 9/14)

CalMatters: ‘We Are Horrified’: Late Changes To California Gov. Newsom’s $6 Billion Mental Health Bond Surprise Providers
A last-minute change to one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health proposals this week shocked advocates for disabled Californians, who called the move a “bait and switch” that could open the door to the involuntary institutionalization of people with mental health illnesses. (Hwang, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Vote To Ban Mandatory Evictions For Arrested Tenants
State lawmakers approved legislation late Wednesday that would bar mandatory evictions or exclusion for California tenants and their families based on criminal histories or brushes with law enforcement. (Dillon, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: Condoms, Bathrooms, Suspension: Changes To Come In California Schools
Condoms, gender-neutral bathrooms and an end to some suspensions? These are three ways California lawmakers want to make schools a haven for all. Here’s what you need to know about three education bills that lawmakers passed this week and are now heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom. He has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto bills for this year. (Sosa, 9/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Calls For Constitutional Convention On Gun Control
California on Thursday became the first state to officially call for a convention to add a gun control amendment to the U.S. Constitution. California lawmakers called for the convention through a resolution that advocates for adding an amendment to raise the age to buy a gun in the U.S. to 21, mandate background checks for firearms buyers, impose a waiting period for gun purchases and ban assault weapons nationwide. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed calling for a constitutional convention on gun control in June, and worked with lawmakers to pass it through the Legislature. (Bollag, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Pass Newsom's Call For U.S. Constitutional Convention On Gun Control 
Robert A. Schapiro, dean of the University of San Diego School of Law, and other scholars note that it’s hard to imagine that the gun control protections would be approved even if a convention were called. Republicans control more than half of the state legislatures, some of which have recently reduced gun restrictions, and amendments to the Constitution must be ratified by three-fourths of the states to become law. (Luna, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: State Halts Some Pediatric Intensive Care Admissions At Santa Barbara Hospital
A key unit at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital has been restricted from accepting new patients under a California program for chronically ill children until it addresses dozens of concerns raised by state regulators. The California Department of Health Care Services found that the pediatric intensive care unit at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital had fallen short of standards for the California Children’s Services program, which serves young people up to age 21 with chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease, cerebral palsy, traumatic injuries and hemophilia — a group that the agency called “our youngest and most vulnerable Californians.” (Reyes, 9/15)

The Bakersfield Californian: San Dimas Medical Group To Close Nov. 30 
Despite lines that often extend beyond their automatic doors, San Dimas Medical Group Inc., an OB-GYN clinic in southwest Bakersfield, announced it will close at the end of November. (Donegan, 9/14)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: New COVID-19 Booster Now Available In Sonoma County
The new, updated COVID-19 vaccine booster — which provides some protection against the latest offshoots of the omicron subvariant — is now available at some local CVS pharmacies, with supplies still on the way to local physicians and other health providers.The question now: Who should get it? (Espinoza, 9/14)

CIDRAP: California Healthcare Industry Had Highest COVID-19 Death Rate Of All Occupations Early In Pandemic 
In the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic, Californians who worked in healthcare, "other services," manufacturing, transportation, and retail trade industries had higher death rates than the professional, scientific, and technical industries, which had some of the lowest rates, finds a study published today in the Annals of Epidemiology. California Department of Public Health researchers used death certificates to identify COVID-19 deaths that occurred from January 2020 to May 2022 among 17.7 million residents ages 18 to 64 years. They also used the Current Population Survey to estimate the number of working-age adults at risk of COVID-19 death. (Van Beusekom, 9/14)

The Desert Sun: DAP Health Unveils Harm Reduction Vending Machine At Hunters Nightclub
A free vending machine stocked with an overdose reversing spray, STI test kits and fentanyl and "party drug" test strips is now available at Hunters Palm Springs. As part of local nonprofit DAP Health's harm reduction program, which launched last year, officials say the vending machine is another way they hope to lower overdose and infection rates locally and reduce stigma associated with drug use. (Sasic, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: Here's How To Start The Conversation About Fentanyl 
Despite an increase in fentanyl-related deaths and surging police seizures of the drug, a new survey finds that parents are not talking about the dangers of fentanyl with their family because they don’t feel knowledgeable enough on the topic. Earlier this year California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta deemed the growing popularity of fentanyl a “multifaceted public health and safety issue.” His statement followed a seizure of a combined 40 pounds of fentanyl from two separate cases in Merced County. (Garcia, 9/14)

Times Of San Diego: Judge Halts Policy Preventing Teachers From Addressing Transgender Issues With Parents 
A federal judge sided Thursday with two teachers at Escondido’s Rincon Middle School who sued the district over policies related to transgender and gender-nonconforming students. The April suit, against the Escondido Union School District and state education officials, questioned policies governing what information can be shared with parents of such students. (9/14)

Fresno Bee: LGBTQ Youth React To Wave Of CA Parent Notification Policies 
A growing number of California school districts — such as Chino Valley, Rocklin and Orange unified school districts — are implementing policies requiring district staff to inform a student’s parents if their child requests to change their name, gender expression, or pronouns , or if students request access to sex-segregated school programs and activities, or bathrooms or changing facilities that do not align with the child’s biological sex or gender. (Montalvo, 9/13)

The Bakersfield Californian: Kern DA Consolidates Victims' Services In Downtown Bakersfield 
The Kern County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday its various services offered to victims will be consolidated in downtown Bakersfield starting Monday. The Kern County Family Justice Center and victims' advocate services will be housed at 1300 18th St. There were 2,646 visits to the Family Justice Center last year, a news release said. (9/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Cruise To Test Wheelchair Accessible Robotaxi In Bay Area
Next month, Cruise will begin testing a rectangular robotaxi equipped with a retractable ramp and ample interior that the autonomous vehicle company says is “the world’s first purpose-built, wheelchair accessible, self-driving vehicle.” (Cano, 9/14)

Los Angeles Times: CA Cities Try Licensed Tent Villages To Ease Homelessness 
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City. (Smith, 9/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area Researchers Lead The Way On MDMA Study
In what could bring the United States one step closer to approving the first psychedelic drug to help treat a mental health disorder, researchers led by a UCSF neuroscientist published a study Thursday confirming that MDMA-assisted therapy can be safe and effective for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that people with moderate or severe PTSD who received MDMA-assisted therapy in a clinical trial were more likely to show improvements in their symptoms than people who received a placebo and therapy. (Ho, 9/15)

Stat: MDMA Is Safe And Effective Treatment For PTSD, Says New Study
MDMA is a safe and effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in a racially and ethnically diverse population, according to the results of a study published Thursday in Nature Medicine. The research adds to the growing body of evidence supporting MDMA as a treatment for PTSD, and brings the psychedelic one step closer to potentially becoming the first to obtain Food and Drug Administration approval. (Merelli, 9/14)

KCRW: Magic Mushrooms Might Soon Be Legal In California. Who Benefits? 
Psychedelics have been getting a lot of attention recently. As the drug war cools down and the stigma dissipates, new research has revealed the potential of these substances to support transformational mental health care. The state of Oregon and the cities of Santa Cruz and Oakland have already decriminalized certain psychedelics, and a new bill that just passed the California legislature would do the same in the Golden State. (Reed, 9/12)

Big Think: How Psychedelics May Therapeutically Alter The Link Between Your Two “Selves” 
Interoception, the body's sense of its internal state, might be key to understanding consciousness and the benefits of psychedelic therapy. (Brigs, 9/13)

The Washington Post: After Chaotic Week, House Heads Home With Government Shutdown On Horizon
House lawmakers left town Thursday after a dramatic three-day workweek that saw them launch a divisive impeachment inquiry and calls for the removal of Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his position, as they made little movement toward averting a government shutdown. Republicans also weren’t able to move forward a traditionally noncontroversial defense spending bill, stymied by deep divisions in the party despite a shared goal of approving 12 individual appropriations bills. (Sotomayor, Caldwell, Wang and Alemany, 9/14)

Military.Com: Odds Of Shutdown And Missed Paychecks For Troops Grow Amid Chaos In The House
The threat of a government shutdown -- and the missed paychecks it would mean for service members -- is growing after a chaotic week in the House that saw lawmakers unable to even take up a bill that would fund the Pentagon. The House had been scheduled to vote this week on the fiscal 2024 defense appropriations bill. But members of the far-right Freedom Caucus and other staunch conservatives threatened to oppose a procedural motion on the bill because of demands unrelated to its content, prompting House Republican leadership to scuttle the planned vote. (Kheel, 9/14)

Roll Call: Sanders, Marshall Reach Deal On Health Programs, But Challenges Remain
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., announced Thursday that he has reached a deal with Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., to reauthorize and increase funding for several key health programs, but it’s unclear how much Republican support the agreement will have. (Hellmann and Clason, 9/14)

The Hill: GOP Faces Pressure To Reauthorize Key HIV Initiative Held Up By Anti-Abortion Republican 
Pressure is mounting on the GOP-majority House to pass a reauthorization of the U.S.’s long-term global HIV initiative, but the lawmaker holding up the legislation is showing no signs of moving.  Former President George W. Bush, who launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in 2003, called on Congress to pass a five-year reauthorization in an op-ed published by The Washington Post this week, saying it would become a source of national shame if the program’s authorization was allowed to expire. (Choi, 9/14)

Axios: Sanders' Primary Care Plan Draws Fire
A Bernie Sanders-led plan to fortify primary care and the health care workforce is drawing swift opposition from hospitals — and stirring dissent on the Senate HELP Committee he chairs. (Sullivan, 9/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Vaccine Hesitancy Isn’t Just For COVID. Why Rabies Could Come Back
Rabies is a serious and highly fatal viral illness that circulates widely in a variety of wild mammals. If someone’s pet dog is bitten by a rabid animal and becomes infected, it will die a dramatic and painful death. During that time, it may expose its owners, veterinary personnel and other contacts to the virus, creating risk of disease, death and a need for costly public health investigations and containment efforts. (Indu Mani and J. Scott Weese, 9/13)

CalMatters: How California Can Improve Safety, Transparency Of Private Bio Labs 
The discovery of an illegally operating bio lab in the Central Valley was disturbing to many, and especially frightening to the Reedley community living and working around the lab. Investigation of the samples and mice found in the facility revealed improperly stored pathogenic material, including coronavirus, malaria, dengue and HIV. (Allison Berke, 9/13)

EdSource: A New Resource Provides Trauma-Informed Training For Educators
In August 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced California’s master plan for kids’ mental health, a multiyear effort to more holistically serve the state’s diverse children, youth and families. (Diana Ramos and Linda Darling-Hammond, 9/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why Churches Could Become California’s Most Important Affordable Housing Developers
On a sunny corner in North Berkeley, a new apartment building stands out among the bungalow courts, single-family Craftsman-style homes and multifamily complexes of the surrounding neighborhood. This building — containing 35 studio units for low-income seniors — is notable, not because of its architectural style, but because it was built by a church. Jordan Court is an affordable housing development built on land owned by All Souls Episcopal Parish, right next door to the church’s sanctuary space. (David Garcia, Quinn Underriner and Muhammad Alameldin, 9/15)

Sacramento Bee: Growing Up Going Between The Two Worlds Of Deaf And Hearing
I was born completely Deaf in one ear and mostly Deaf in the other. My mom learned this by noticing that I didn’t respond to loud noises, such as banging pots and pans. Mom then got my hearing tested and learned all she could to help me. By age 3, I was fitted with hearing aids, though I didn’t notice much difference in how I was treated — or how I viewed the world — until I went to elementary school. (Craig Merry, 9/14)