Sacramento Bee: America’s Hidden Horror: Sexual Abuse In Nursing Homes And Care Facilities
Sexual abuse of residents in long-term care facilities, assisted-living centers and nursing homes is a largely hidden problem nationwide. It hides behind reporting systems that fail to catalog such complaints separately from other forms of abuse that afflict the elderly and disabled. (Davis and Cummings, 4/23)

The Mercury News: Patients Can Teach The Next Generation Of Doctors, Stanford Experts Say
One of the most effective ways of making medicine more inclusive is to have doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, psychologists and occupational therapists all work together to learn about each patient as a person, and help them manage their care... To bring this into practice, medical school programs across the country are starting to bring engaged patients into the classroom, allowing them to share their story and become more than just a statistic in a textbook. (Bansal, 4/23)

The New York Times: Scientists, Feeling Under Siege, March Against Trump Policies
Thousands of scientists and their supporters, feeling increasingly threatened by the policies of President Trump, gathered Saturday in Washington under rainy skies for what they called the March for Science, abandoning a tradition of keeping the sciences out of politics and calling on the public to stand up for scientific enterprise. (St. Fleur, 4/22)

Los Angeles Times: 'We Need To Be Out Here': Thousands March In Downtown L.A. To Support Science In The Trump Era
Dressed in long sleeves and a sensible safari hat, Dr. Diane Brown carried a sign that read, “My patients need science because lupus is not cured, juvenile arthritis is not cured … CANCER is not cured!” Brown, a rheumatologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said she hadn’t attended any marches since President Trump took office at the beginning of the year. But on Saturday afternoon she joined thousands of others in downtown Los Angeles for the March for Science Los Angeles. The 52-year-old doctor said her sign had a special significance for her. Two of her patients were diagnosed with cancer last week. One was 8 years old. The other was just 4. (Netburn and Panzar, 4/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Protesters Take To The Streets In SF March For Science
A heaving mass of humanity stretching from the Ferry Building to City Hall waved signs, chanted, sang and danced Saturday in a giant, celebratory March for Science, one of hundreds held around the globe to commemorate Earth Day. The roiling crowd, tens of thousands strong, blocked San Francisco’s main thoroughfare for at least two hours as families, children, immigrants and lab-coat-wearing protesters enthusiastically demonstrated their enthusiasm for science. (Fimrite, 4/23)

San Diego Union Tribune: Fearing Trump Policies, 15,000 In San Diego Join Science Marches Across The Globe
As many as 15,000 scientists and their supporters, increasingly disillusioned with President Donald Trump’s posture on climate-change policy and proposed cuts to federal research agencies, gathered on Saturday in downtown San Diego as part of international day to champion science in government decision making. (Emerson Smith, 4/22)

KPBS Public Media: Southcrest School Offers No-Cost Blood Tests After Lead Scare 
The San Diego Cooperative Charter School is taking steps to give parents peace of mind after elevated levels of lead and plastic residue were found in its drinking water. A mobile clinic parked out front Friday to offer no-cost blood tests. (Burks, 4/21)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Lead Found At Two San Marcos Schools, As Districts Test For Toxin 
Water fixtures at two San Marcos schools had unsafe lead levels, according to tests intended to check whether California children are being exposed to the toxic metal at school. School district officials said this week the fixtures have already been removed. The investigation began early this year, after the State Water Resources Control Board ordered water districts to conduct free lead tests for school districts that request them. (Brennan, 4/22)

Los Angeles Times: Cannabis Workers, Once Facing Legal Peril, Get The California Seal Of Approval 
Last month, [Shayna] Schonauer became California’s first official cannabis pharmacy technician. She completed 2,000 hours of training — on safety, packaging, patient verification and best business practices — and was awarded her journeyman certificate by the California Apprenticeship Council of the state department of Industrial Relations. Another 35 enrollees in the Sacramento-area pilot program are still working toward their certificates. (Abcarian, 4/23)

Orange County Register: 11 Addicts Have Asked New Anaheim Police Program For Help Getting Treatment
The city’s Drug Free Anaheim initiative offers addicts an alternative to criminal prosecution and a path to sobriety. As long as a person is not under the influence at the moment or wanted for a crime, they can walk into an Anaheim Police Department station or contact a police officer for help without worrying about facing punishment. (Pimentel, 4/21)

In other news from across the state —

KPCC: LA Co. Officials Headed To DC To Push For Immigrant Rights, Help With Homelessness 
Members of L.A. County's Board of Supervisors are headed to Washington D.C. Monday to advocate for health care, immigrant rights and social services, among other priorities. The supervisors' annual trip to the nation's capital comes as officials in the largest county in the nation are looking to aid opposition to some of President Donald Trump's key policy points. (Palta, 4/24)

The Press Democrat: Hospice’s ‘Service Of Remembrance’ Helps Families Grieve 
Even though Adelina Felciano’s husband died about a year ago, she remembers how crucial her Hospice by the Bay team was during the difficult process. That’s why Sunday the Santa Rosa woman was at Trinity Episcopal Church in Sonoma to grieve and remember her husband, Gordon Davis, who died from a brain tumor at age 55. She was joined by more than 50 others — all of whom shared the experience of hospice — at Hospice by the Bay’s annual Service of Remembrance. (Swindell, 4/23)

The Mercury News: Silicon Valley Teens: Sex, Violence Down; Boredom In School Up
Fewer high school students are drinking, having sex, doing drugs and resorting to violence, a large-scale survey of Santa Clara County public school students shows. At the same time, engagement in school has plunged, as has students’ optimism about their future. (Noguchi, 4/24)

Politico: House GOP Leaders Won’t Rush Health Care Vote
House GOP leaders during a members-only conference call Saturday vowed to avoid a government shutdown and said they're closer to a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to members who participated on the call. But Speaker Paul Ryan also downplayed the possibility of a vote next week, the same sources said. The Wisconsin Republican said the chamber will vote on a conference-wide deal when GOP whips are confident they have the votes for passage — but not until then. (Bade and Haberkorn, 4/22)

The Associated Press: Possible Shutdown, Health Care Quagmire Awaiting Congress
Lawmakers returning to Washington this coming week will find a familiar quagmire on health care legislation and a budget deadline dramatized by the prospect of a protracted battle between President Donald Trump and Democrats over his border wall. (Taylor and Fram, 4/22)

The New York Times: Uphill Battle Looms As Trump Seeks Revamped Healthcare Plan
President Donald Trump, striving to make good on a top campaign promise, is pushing his fellow Republicans who control Congress to pass revamped healthcare legislation but the same intraparty squabbling that torpedoed it last month could do it again. Trump is looking for his first major legislative victory since taking office in January. House of Representatives Republicans are exploring compromises aimed at satisfying the party's most conservative members without antagonizing its moderates, but it remained unclear on Friday whether a viable bill would emerge. (Cornwell, 4/21)

The New York Times: Will The Government Be Open In A Week? Here Are The Dividing Lines
Congressional leaders and White House officials have steered the nation to the brink of a government shutdown that virtually all parties agree would be a terrible idea. ... Here are the dynamics at play as members return from a two-week recess. ... Seeking to squeeze Democrats, Mr. Mulvaney has offered a trade of sorts: $1 of subsidy payments under the Affordable Care Act — paid to insurers to lower deductibles and other costs for low-income consumers who buy plans through the law’s marketplaces — in exchange for every $1 to pay for the border wall that the president wants to build. (Flegenheimer and Kaplan, 4/24)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: How Is Medicare Affected By The House GOP Health Plan?
Medicare, the old-age health program, emerged largely unscathed from the proposed legislation — even the $700 billion in Medicare “cuts” that Republicans used to highlight in attack ads. Those spending reductions have been retained, for now.But there are two provisions in the bill affecting the financing of Medicare that have received relatively little attention. (Kessler, 4/21)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times: Nurse Replaces Surgeon General After Obama Appointee Resigns
Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, an Obama administration holdover, was asked to resign by the Trump administration on Friday. He was replaced by his deputy, Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, one of the first nurses to serve as surgeon general. Admiral Trent-Adams will for now be in an acting role. As of Friday evening, she had already replaced Dr. Murthy on the surgeon general’s Twitter account, and her portrait had replaced his on the agency’s Facebook page. One of the first comments on that post asked, “Where is Dr. Murthy?” (Ivory and Harris, 2/21)

The Wall Street Journal: Against All Odds, The U.S. Tobacco Industry Is Rolling In Money
It’s a great time to be a cigarette company again. Far fewer Americans are smoking, and yet U.S. tobacco revenue is soaring, thanks to years of steady price hikes. Americans spent more at retail stores on cigarettes in 2016 than they did on soda and beer combined, according to independent market-research firm Euromonitor International. Consolidation and cost cutting are boosting profit. Big Tobacco shares are on a roll. (Maloney and Chaudhuri, 4/23)

NPR: Is It Time For Hearing Aids To Be Sold Over The Counter?
Four out of five older Americans with hearing loss just ignore it, in part because a hearing aid is an unwelcome sign of aging. But what if hearing aids looked like stylish fashion accessories and could be bought at your local pharmacy like reading glasses? That's the vision of Kristen "KR" Liu, who's the director of accessibility and advocacy for Doppler Labs, a company marketing one of these devices. She thinks a hearing aid could be "something that's hip and cool and people have multiple pairs and it's fashionable." (Neighmond and Greenhalgh, 4/24)