Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Soil Testing Near Eaton, Palisades Fires Shows Significant Contamination
After months of questions in the aftermath of the Eaton and Palisades fires, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has finally shared preliminary results from soil testing in and around the burn areas. The publicly available data are still somewhat vague — but they do show concerning levels of lead on properties downwind of the Eaton fire, as well as isolated “hot spots” of contamination in the Palisades. (Smith and Briscoe, 4/11)

Los Angeles Times: Ashy Sediment Sits On L.A. Beaches After Fires. What You Need To Know
As warmer days approach, many Angelenos eager to once again spread their toes in the sand may find an unwelcome sight along the shoreline: dark, ashy sediment still sitting on beaches from the devastating January firestorm. But residents need not fear the detritus, which is composed of fine ash that swirled together with sand and washed ashore, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced. Tests performed by the L.A. Regional Water Quality Control Board found that the charred silt does not contain wildfire-related chemicals at levels considered to be dangerous to human health, the health department concluded. (Harter, 4/12)

The Washington Post: Early-Life Ozone Pollution Linked To Higher Asthma Risk In Young Kids
Ozone exposure early in life raises the risk a child will develop asthma and wheezing by age 4, a recent analysis found. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, analyzed data on 1,188 children in Washington state, Minnesota, New York, California and Tennessee who were drawn from three cohorts in the National Institutes for Health’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program. All of the children were exposed to modest ozone pollution between birth and age 2, and 81.9 percent had mothers with no history of asthma. (Blakemore, 4/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: Some Bay Area Restaurants Are Avoiding Seed Oils
There’s a villain lurking in the kitchen, says the nation’s top health official, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and some diners and chefs are piling on. Seed oils, though considered harmless in moderation by the vast majority of health experts, are out. Animal fats and olive oil are in. At the restaurant Camino Alto in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow, for instance, the popular pork shoulder is roasted in nothing but its own fat inside a wood-fired oven, while staff toss vegetables like Brussels sprouts in expensive extra-virgin olive oil rather than frying them in canola oil. (Cortez, 4/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Health Inspectors Shut Down Cupertino Whole Foods Deli Area
A Whole Foods in the heart of Silicon Valley was forced to shutter its prepared foods operation this week after health department inspectors discovered a vermin infestation. The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health ordered a Cupertino Whole Foods  to close its deli, bakery and juice bar following a failed health inspection on Monday, according to health department records. (Bauman, 4/11)

Los Angeles Times: Three Drug Overdoses At Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall
Three youths suffered drug overdoses at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey on Friday, the latest scandal at a beleaguered facility that was supposed to close last year after a state oversight body found it “unsuitable” to house juveniles. The youths were taken to a local hospital for “medical evaluation and treatment related to a possible substance-related incident,” according to a statement issued by the L.A. County Probation Department, which oversees the institutions. All three youths have since been returned to the facility, according to Vicky Waters, the probation department’s communications director. (Queally, 4/12)

Los Angeles Times: After Hailey Marie Okula's Death, Her Husband Urges Awareness
A Los Angeles firefighter is fighting to raise awareness about the rare but life-threatening birthing complication that resulted in the death of his wife, local nursing influencer Hailey Marie Okula. Matthew Okula said he hopes his efforts help educate expecting mothers and encourage them to discuss the potential complication — amniotic fluid embolism — with their healthcare providers. But aside from raising public awareness, he said he wants Hailey’s story to prompt additional medical research. (Garcia, 4/12)

Los Angeles Times: California Farmers Brace For The Consequences Of Trump’s Tariffs 
President Trump’s decision to pause punishing tariffs on most U.S. trading partners may have calmed financial markets last week, but it did little to quell anxiety in California’s $59 billion agricultural industry. While Trump kept smaller 10% blanket tariffs on countries around the world, he has imposed much higher levies on products from Canada and China, two of the top markets for California’s almonds, pistachios, oranges and other crops. (James, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Millions In The U.S. Take This Drug. Tariffs Could Complicate Their Care
Thousands of miles from a manufacturing plant in China, where the key active ingredient in heparin is sourced, Wanda Crowell receives a daily infusion of the drug in her bed at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Doctors give Crowell the inexpensive, essential anticoagulant every day, to prevent life-threatening blood clots from forming in her central line, a plastic tube inserted in her chest that delivers the nutrients she needs to live. ... She also needs heparin to treat a history of blood clots. (Malhi, 4/11)

Bloomberg: Pharmaceuticals Tariffs Will Harm Patients, AstraZeneca Chairman Says
Tariffs on pharmaceuticals would hurt patients and drugs should be exempt from these levies, AstraZeneca Plc’ Chairman Michel Demaré said. US President Donald Trump has warned that tariffs on pharmaceutical companies — which weren’t part of the so-called reciprocal tariffs he imposed and then paused — are imminent. (Furlong, 4/11)

Bay Area News Group: How Trump Administration’s Transgender Athlete Order Affects California
The Trump administration has talked a big game about transgender teens playing sports in California, but its ability to influence state policy is limited, according to athletic administrators surveyed by this news organization. (Webeck, 4/14)

The Hill: Trump Administrations Tells States Medicaid Funds Cannot Be Used For Gender-Affirming Care
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is urging states to not use Medicaid funds for gender-affirming care for minors, specifically gender reassignment surgeries or hormone treatments. “As a doctor and now CMS Administrator, my top priority is protecting children and upholding the law,” Mehmet Oz, the recently confirmed agency head, said in a statement Friday. (O’Connell-Domenech, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Trump Health Nominee Called For ‘Corrective Care’ For Trans Youth
President Donald Trump’s pick for a top health post has called for transgender youth to undergo “corrective care” instead of transitioning and has repeated conspiracy theories about the covid-19 pandemic, according to a Washington Post review of his podcast and radio appearances. Brian Christine, a 61-year-old Alabama urologist, would succeed former U.S. assistant secretary for health Rachel Levine, who made history during the Biden administration when she became the highest ranking openly transgender federal government official. (Nirappil, 4/12)

San Diego Union-Tribune: ‘Able To Happen Again’: Local Japanese American Historians Warn Of Trump’s Use Of 1798 Wartime Law 
Kay Ochi’s parents were 21 and 22 years old when they were forced to leave San Diego, where they were born, and taken to an incarceration camp in the desert of Poston, Arizona, simply because of their Japanese heritage. “That was three years of pure hell,” said Ochi, a third-generation Japanese American, or Sansei, who is president of the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. (Taketa, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Exclusive: Trump Administration Overrode Social Security Staff To List Immigrants As Dead
A senior executive who objected was marched out of his office and put on leave, while earlier warnings about the agency’s deaths database were ignored. (Natanson, Rein and Kornfield, 4/12)

Modern Healthcare: CMS To End Medicaid Designated State Health, Investment Programs 
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is cutting off funding for initiatives designed to address health-related social needs for Medicaid enrollees, the agency notified states in a letter Thursday. So-called designated state health programs and designated state investment programs currently in operation under 1115 waivers may continue, but CMS will not extend them nor approve new applications, Center for Medicaid Director Drew Snyder wrote in a letter to state officials. (Early, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: The $600 Billion Medicaid Maneuver On The Chopping Block
An obscure set of state taxes on hospitals and other health providers is in the crosshairs of congressional budget cutters because the levies can lead to higher federal spending on Medicaid. Known as provider taxes because states impose them on hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities that provide healthcare, the taxes boost a state’s budget for funding Medicaid. That in turn attracts more matching federal dollars to fund the program—money that is ultimately directed back to the hospitals and clinics. (Walker, 4/14)

The Hill: Johnson: GOP Medicaid Cuts Will Target People Not 'Eligible'
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Republicans would protect entitlement programs as they press ahead with deep cuts to federal spending, but he added the government must “eliminate people on Medicaid” who are not “eligible to be there.” “The president has made absolutely clear many times, as we have as well, that we’re going to protect Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, for people who are legally beneficiaries of those programs,” Johnson told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” (Suter, 4/13)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals To See Medicare Rate Increase For 2026 In CMS Proposal 
Medicare reimbursements for inpatient hospital care would increase 2.4% in fiscal 2026 under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Friday. Long-term care hospitals would get a 2.6% pay hike under the same draft regulation. A separate rule issued Friday calls for a 2.4% boost to inpatient psychiatric facility rates next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. (Early, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Nursing Homes Could See 2.8% Medicare Pay Increase In 2026 
Skilled nursing homes would receive a 2.8% payment bump in fiscal 2026 under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced late Friday. MS said the proposed rate increase includes a market basket update of 3%, a 0.6% market basket forecast error adjustment and a cut of 0.8% due to a productivity adjustment. The proposed pay hike is far below the 4.2% pay increase CMS gave nursing homes in fiscal 2025. (Eastabrook, 4/11)

MedPage Today: MedPAC: Medicare Paid MA Plans $38 Billion For Non-Medicare Services In 2024
Last year, Medicare Advantage (MA) plans spent $38 billion on services traditional Medicare doesn't pay for, such as gym memberships, meals, transportation, and dental care. But a report presented to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Thursday lamented the agency's inability to evaluate the value of those services, to what extent beneficiaries actually used them, and with which companies the plans contract to provide them. (Clark, 4/11)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Delays Plan To Limit Pricey Bandages
The Trump administration announced Friday it would delay the implementation of a Biden-era rule meant to restrict coverage of unproven and costly bandages known as skin substitutes. The policy will be delayed until 2026, allowing companies to continue setting high prices for new products, taking advantage of a loophole in Medicare rules. The companies sell those bandages at a discount to doctors, who then charge Medicare the full sticker price and pocket the difference, The New York Times reported on Thursday. (Kliff and Thomas, 4/11)

Politico: RFK Jr. Says Deep State ‘Is Real,’ Called FDA Employees ‘Sock Puppet’ Of Industry
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s visit to the FDA Friday was supposed to introduce him as a trusted leader to agency employees. It did anything but. Over the course of 40 minutes, Kennedy, in largely off-the-cuff remarks, asserted that the “Deep State” is real, referenced past CIA experiments on human mind control and accused the employees he was speaking to of becoming a “sock puppet” of the industries they regulate. (Cancryn, Gardner and Lim, 4/11)

CBS News: FDA To Replace Laid-Off Employees With Contractors, Sources Say
The Food and Drug Administration is finalizing plans to replace some of the employees it laid off with contractors, three FDA officials tell CBS News, after steep cuts to the agency's workforce disrupted drug and food safety inspections. "Recent adjustments in staff numbers have created a heightened need for the FDA to be nimble, efficient and respond creatively, in order to continue and maintain FDA's regulatory inspection presence and the gold standard of excellence," agency officials wrote, in emails and draft contracting documents obtained by CBS News. (Tin, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Official Who Oversaw Dismantling Of USAID Leaves State Department
Pete Marocco, a State Department official who oversaw the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), has left the agency after less than three months, according to a senior Trump administration official. The official, who like others in this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, confirmed to The Washington Post on Monday that Marocco had stepped down. The reason for his departure, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, was not immediately clear. (Hudson and Jeong, 4/14)

Stat: Key NIH Grant Review Panels Resume Meeting, But Are Not 'Back To Normal'
After being indefinitely suspended in the first days of the Trump administration, key National Institutes of Health committees that approve research grants resumed meeting this week. It appears to be a positive step toward restoring the flow of billions of dollars in biomedical research funding to universities and medical schools that for months has been significantly staunched. (Molteni, 4/11)

Stat: Why CDC Cuts Are Being Called 'The Greatest Gift To Tobacco Industry In The Last Half-Century'
Amid the 10,000 job cuts so far this month at the U.S. health department, what happened to OSH is “the greatest gift to the tobacco industry in the last half century,” said Tim McAfee, who headed the division from 2010 to 2017. (Todd, 4/14)

AP: Trump Is 'Fully Fit' To Serve, His Doctor Says After Physical
Donald Trump’s doctor says the oldest man elected president is “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief as the White House released results Sunday of Trump’s recent physical exam. The 78-year-old Trump is 20 pounds lighter since his checkup as president in 2020 showed him bordering on obesity. His physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, cited an “active lifestyle” that ”continues to contribute significantly” to the Republican president’s well-being. Trump turns 79 on June 14. (Superville, 4/14)

The Sydney Morning Herald: Read Donald Trump’s Full Medical Report
From scarring to his right ear due to a gunshot wound – confirming July’s assassination attempt – to a 62 beats-per-minute resting heart rate that could be attributed to his “frequent victories in golf events”, here are the results of Trump’s 2025 physical exam. (Gossling, 4/14)

The Hill: Former FDA Vaccine Chief On RFK Jr. And Autism Cause: Giving People False Hope Is ‘Wrong’
Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) vaccine chief Dr. Peter Marks weighed in on Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s remarks about finding a cause of autism, saying giving people false hope is “wrong.” Marks joined CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where host Margaret Brennan asked him about Kennedy’s claim that the world will find the cause of the “autism epidemic” by September. (Irwin, 4/13)

The Hill: Autism Society Says RFK Jr.'s Comments 'Unrealistic And Misleading'
Leadership at The Autism Society of America is pushing back against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s recent pledge to find the cause of autism spectrum disorder. Kennedy promised to launch a “massive testing and research effort” on Thursday to figure out what has caused the “autism epidemic” by September. “We find that unrealistic and misleading,” President and CEO of The Autism Society of America Christopher Banks told The Hill. ... It is unclear who will lead the new testing and research effort and what methodology will be used in the process.  (O’Connell-Domenech, 4/11)

The New York Times: Experts Doubt Kennedy’s Timetable For Finding The Cause Of Autism
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nation’s health secretary, pledged on Thursday to seek out experts globally to discover the reasons for the increasing rates of autism in the United States. “We’ve launched a massive testing and research effort that’s going to involve hundreds of scientists from around the world,” Mr. Kennedy announced at a cabinet meeting held by President Trump. “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.” (Jewett, 4/11)

The New York Times: The Many Ways Kennedy Is Already Undermining Vaccines
During his Senate confirmation hearings to be health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented himself as a supporter of vaccines. But in office, he and the agencies he leads have taken far-reaching, sometimes subtle steps to undermine confidence in vaccine efficacy and safety. The National Institutes of Health halted funding for researchers who study vaccine hesitancy and hoped to find ways to overcome it. It also canceled programs intended to discover new vaccines to prevent future pandemics. (Mandavilli, 4/13)

NPR: When Adults Reject Vaccines, Children Pay The Price
After visiting the families of measles victims in Texas, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated on X, "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine." But his history promoting the anti-vaccination cause alongside questionable alternative medicines has public health officials, parents, and even the MAHA constituency on edge. For the second episode in our Road to MAHA series, NPR's senior science and health editor Maria Godoy and NBC News senior reporter, Brandy Zadrozny, walk us through how anti-vaccine rhetoric has led to this moment in public health. (Luse, Godoy, Williams and Pathak, 4/14)

CBS News: Weekly Measles Cases Top 90 In U.S. For First Time In Years
The number of measles cases reported in the U.S. in a single week has topped 90 for the first time since a record wave in 2019, according to figures published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ninety-one cases of measles were reported with rashes that began the week of March 23, with Arkansas, Hawaii and Indiana joining the list of two dozen states with confirmed measles cases. (Tin, 4/11)