The New York Times: California’s Ballot Measure on Mental Health Care Still Isn’t Decided. Why?
Proposition 1 was expected to be widely approved, but the vote is close. Here’s what the measure is and what’s at stake. (Hubler, 3/10)

Bay Area News Group: Students’ Mental Health Challenges Persist — Bay Area Schools Are Doing Something About It
Nearly 30% of teenagers experience episodes of poor mental health each month, and more than 40% have persistent feelings of sadness, according to a decade-long survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention released in 2021. (Poukish, 3/9)

Sacramento Bee: How Sacramento Community Barbershop Helps With Mental Health
Brothers Marichal and Rodney Brown follow in their father’s footsteps at their HAIRitage barbershop on Sacramento’s Broadway. Earlie D. Brown was a certified master barber in their Bay Area hometown who counted San Francisco Giants’ players among his clientele — he even named son Marichal for family hero and Giants’ Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal. But their father’s shop was much more than a haircut and a shave. It was also a sanctuary with Earlie, known as a trusted ear. His shop featured a back room where he would sit with customers who wanted a more private conversation. (Smith, 3/11)

KSBY: Sutter Health Acquires 2 Radiation Oncology Centers On The Central Coast
Sutter Health recently purchased five GenesisCare radiation oncology centers, including two right here on the Central Coast. The radiation centers are located in San Luis Obispo and Templeton. The health care company purchased three more centers in Modesto, Santa Cruz and Stockton. (3/9)

Sacramento Business Journal: Hollie Seeley Named CEO Of Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento 
Hollie Seeley comes to Sutter from Colorado, where she served as president and CEO of North Suburban Medical Center. (Hamann, 3/8)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Is San Diego County Getting Its Fair Share Of Medi-Cal Reimbursements? 
After an initial discussion with medical providers in San Diego County, Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer says she is convinced that the region is leaving Medi-Cal reimbursement on the table, and that’s money that could be used to improve the reimbursement rates that fund care for nearly 1 million San Diego County residents. (Sisson, 3/11)

The New York Times: A.L.S. Drug Relyvrio Fails Clinical Trial And May Be Withdrawn From The Market
One of the few treatments the Food and Drug Administration has approved for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has failed a large clinical trial, and its manufacturer said Friday that it was considering whether to withdraw it from the market. The medication, called Relyvrio, was approved less than two years ago, despite questions about its effectiveness in treating the severe neurological disorder. (Belluck, 3/8)

Stat: Medicare Announces Loan Program To Aid Providers Affected By Change Cyberattack
Medicare announced on Saturday that it will make advance payments available to physician groups, hospitals, and other health care facilities as part of its response to the February 21 Change Healthcare cyberattack. (Trang, 3/10)

Axios: Health Care Providers Losing Up To $1B A Day From Cyberattack
Disruptions from the Change Healthcare cyberattack are costing health providers as much as $1 billion a day and creating enough of a drag to depress first-quarter earnings, analysts and industry officials say. (Reed, 3/11)

The New York Times: With Cyberattack Fix Weeks Away, Health Providers Slam United
More than two weeks after a cyberattack, financially strapped doctors, hospitals and medical providers on Friday sharply criticized UnitedHealth Group’s latest estimate that it would take weeks longer to fully restore a digital network that funnels hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance payments every day. UnitedHealth said that it would be at least two weeks more to test and establish a steady flow of payments for bills that have mounted since hackers effectively shut down Change Healthcare. (Abelson and Creswell, 3/8)

Politico: HHS Wants UnitedHealth To Take Responsibility After Cyberattack
HHS told health care leaders Sunday that the agency is urging UnitedHealth Group to take responsibility for the impact of a massive cyberattack that has delayed provider payments. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote to the health care industry Sunday after lawmakers called on federal officials to do more to quickly get payments to impacted providers. In his response, Becerra defended HHS’ actions following the attack and said officials are now “asking private sector leaders across the health care industry — especially other payers — to meet the moment.” (Cirruzzo, 3/10)

Los Angeles Times: More Parents Are Delaying Kids’ Vaccines, Posing Risk To Toddlers
As measles cases pop up across the country this winter — including several in California — one group of children is stirring deep concerns among pediatricians: the babies and toddlers of vaccine-hesitant parents who are delaying their child’s measles-mumps-rubella shots. Pediatricians across the state say they have seen a sharp increase recently in the number of parents with concerns about routine childhood vaccinations who are demanding their own inoculation schedules for their babies, creating a worrisome pool of very young children who may be at risk of contracting measles, a potentially deadly yet preventable disease. (Gold, 3/11)

The Hill: Trump’s Vaccine Rhetoric Sends Chills Through Public Health Circles
Public health advocates are watching in growing alarm as former President Trump increasingly embraces the anti-vaccine movement. “I will not give one penny to any school that has a vaccine mandate or a mask mandate,” Trump said in a recent campaign rally in Richmond, Va. It’s a line Trump has repeated, and his campaign said he is only referring to school COVID-19 vaccine mandates — but that hasn’t eased fears that the GOP leader could accelerate already worrying trends of declining child vaccination. (Weixel, 3/9)

Axios: The Day Everything Changed
A new chapter in global history — the pandemic era — came crashing into existence four years ago today. It's pretty rare to be able to point to a single day that transformed the whole world. But March 11, 2020, is one of those days. (Baker, 3/11)

ABC News: On 4-Year Anniversary Of The WHO Declaring COVID A Pandemic, A Look At The Virus By The Numbers
Monday marks the 4-year anniversary of the WHO declaring the COVID global outbreak to be a pandemic. Since the pandemic began, more than 1.18 million Americans have died from COVID-19, according to CDC data. The U.S. crossed the 1 million mark on May 12, 2022. Here's a look at the virus in the U.S. by the numbers. (Kekatos, 3/11)

CIDRAP: SARS-CoV-2 RNA Can Persist In Blood, Tissue, May Play Role In Long COVID, Research Suggests
SARS-CoV-2 viral fragments can remain in blood and tissue for more than a year after infection, which researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) say could contribute to long COVID. In two studies, the researchers found SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the blood for up to 14 months post-infection and for more than 2 years in connective-tissue samples from 171 COVID-19 survivors without evidence of reinfection. (Van Beusekom, 3/8)

Time: The Isolation Of Having Long COVID As Society Moves On
March 11 marks four years since COVID-19 became a pandemic. Much of society has moved on, but those with Long COVID are feeling left behind. Cynthia Adinig, 38, has been dealing with symptoms of Long COVID since 2020, and says that, as someone who is immunocompromised, trying to avoid reinfection in a society in which most people have stopped masking has drastically impacted all aspects of her life. “It shrinks everything down so much,” she says. “My world gets smaller and smaller outside of these doors.” (Shah, 3/11)

The Bakersfield Californian: $9 Million In Federal Funds To Propel Capital Campaign For New Open Door Network Shelter 
A $9 million infusion of federal funds will jump-start a $40 million capital campaign to build a state-of-the-art, full-city-block shelter in Bakersfield for women and families who are experiencing homelessness or have been abused. (Peterson, 3/9)

Los Angeles Times: In Kern County, An Abandoned Church Gets A Second Life As Housing For Former Foster Youths
The church on Oildale Drive and Minner Avenue has stood on the corner since 1954, built after an earthquake damaged the Oildale Church of Christ’s building. Since then, the church has passed through a variety of denominations and congregations until it was abandoned in 2021. But the Kern County Housing Authority saw another life for the church building, in an often-overlooked area of the county. Oildale, an unincorporated town north of Bakersfield, borders the Kern River Oil Field, one of the largest active oil fields in California. The town was founded in the early 1900s as workers flooded into the area to work the oil rigs. It’s where musicians Buck Owens and Merle Haggard were raised and shaped. (Gomez, 3/11)

Voice Of San Diego: Sacramento Report: The Battle Over Who Is More Tough On Guns 
The two candidates for San Diego city attorney are sparring on gun control, as they enter a second round of campaigning for the general election. Days before the primary, Assemblymember Brian Maienschein announced a pair of gun control bills. This week Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert’s campaign blasted her opponent for voting against a 2014 state bill authorizing gun violence restraining orders. (Brennan, 3/8)

CalMatters: Desperate For State Help: Rural California Schools Seek Aid For Everything From Special Education To Construction 
Despite California being the most populous state, 35% of its school districts are considered rural — which the state defines as having fewer than 600 students and located more than 25 miles from a city. Nearly every county, including some of the most populous, has rural schools, even Los Angeles. (Jones, 3/10)

KVPR: Why It’s Now Easier For Children Of Injured Veterans To Get Into College In California
In the San Joaquin Valley, the number of veterans with a service-connected disability has increased in the last four years. Yet, income thresholds allowed by colleges has been a common challenge in accessing college for many children of those same injured veterans. (Livinal, 3/8)

Reveal: Blue State Barriers And The Messy Map Of Abortion Access
As blue states try to shore up access to abortion and reproductive care, some are facing a threat they didn’t see coming: Catholic health care mergers. In the first segment, Reveal’s Nina Martin takes us to New Mexico, a blue state that’s been working hard since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade to strengthen its already sweeping protections for many forms of reproductive care. But those guarantees have been threatened by a local merger between Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center, the only hospital in rural Otero County, and a Catholic health care system out of Texas, CHRISTUS Health. (Martin and Morel, 3/9)

Stat: Amid The Battle Over Abortion Rights, A Failure To Agree On How To Define Abortion
Every year, Lisa Campo-Engelstein tells her medical ethics class the story of Isabel: A fictional character who arrives at a health clinic seeking an abortion. Doctors determine that Isabel is 37 weeks pregnant and, what’s more, she’s suffering from high blood pressure that endangers the life of the fetus. Thirty-seven weeks is just three shy of an average full-length pregnancy, so instead of an abortion, the clinic’s doctors recommend that Isabel have an emergency C-section to maximize the chance of a live birth. Isabel refuses. “I don’t want to get cut open to save a baby I didn’t even want in the first place,” she says. By refusing the C-section, is she having an abortion? (Sidik, 3/11)

USA Today: Biden's Cancer Moonshot Is Expanding: New Patient Navigators, Insurance Coverage
More than a half dozen large private health insurance companies have agreed to cover the cost of navigators who guide cancer patients and their families through the confusing array of medical appointments and drug treatments that follow a diagnosis. The expansion of the cancer navigator program, part of President Joe Biden's ambitious Cancer Moonshot, is among a handful of health initiatives unveiled this week to coincide with the president's State of the Union address. (Alltucker, 3/8)

Newsweek: Fact Check: Are COVID Vaccines Being Used To Beat Cancer?
During his State of The Union Address on March 7, 2024, President Joe Biden said: "The pandemic no longer controls our lives. The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer, turning setback into comeback. That's what America does." The president's comments were met, by some, with incredulity. However, research since the pandemic has found that the technology used in the COVID vaccines may be useful in the treatment of other life-threatening illnesses and conditions. (3/8)

CNBC: Pfizer Is Betting Big On Cancer Drugs After Covid Decline
Pfizer is ready to move on from Covid. Now, the company is betting on cancer drugs to help it regain its footing after a rocky year marked by the rapid decline of its Covid business. It just might take a while before that bet pays off. (Constantino, 3/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Push To Ease Marijuana Restrictions Sparks Tensions
Federal officials are at odds over President Biden’s push to loosen restrictions on marijuana, a move some in the White House hope to see ahead of an election in which he needs the support of younger voters. The president’s latest advocacy came during Thursday’s State of the Union address, in which he touted his efforts to expunge marijuana-possession convictions and soften how the drug is categorized under federal law. (Gurman, 3/9)

The Washington Post: Daily Marijuana Users 25 Percent More Likely To Have A Heart Attack
Adults who use marijuana daily are 25 percent more likely to have a heart attack than those who don’t use it, according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association and funded by the National Institutes of Health. The study also found a 42 percent increased likelihood of stroke linked to daily marijuana (cannabis) use. (Searing, 3/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Zyn Nicotine Pouches Suddenly Seem To Be Everywhere. Are They Risky?
You may have seen Zyn on TikTok, where “Zynfluencers” pop what looks like a piece of white Chiclets gum under their lip. Or perhaps you caught SNL comedian Marcello Hernandez, dressed as a frozen embryo from Alabama, slipping a Zyn into his mouth and quipping, “All the embryos are doing it.” Tucker Carlson has said on podcasts that Zyn helps with mental acuity and that he uses one “every minute” he’s awake. Zyn suddenly seems to be everywhere, but what is it and why is it so popular? (Ho, 3/9)