San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Leaders Join Nationwide Lobbying Push To Save Medicaid
Everyone in health care is waiting for congressional Republicans to tell the nation just how they plan to cut Medicaid. But that does not mean those closest to the issue are sitting idle, preparing for bad news to land. (Sisson, 5/12)

Politico: States Bear The Brunt Of House GOP Medicaid Plan 
The House Energy and Commerce Committee proposal released Sunday night does not include the most controversial ideas, including per-capita caps on federal Medicaid payments to states, but it incorporates new mandates that will likely force states to revamp how they finance their programs or cut benefits. The health provisions also include new work requirements that are expected to lead many people to lose coverage, as well as a new cost-sharing requirement for some beneficiaries in the program, not to exceed five percent of a patient’s income. The plan also hits on hot-button social issues — proposing, for instance, to cut federal funding for groups like Planned Parenthood and ban the use of Medicaid dollars for gender-affirming care for youth. It also scales back funding from states that use their own funds to offer coverage for undocumented people. (Leonard and King, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Report On Faulty Alerts During L.A. Fires Calls For More Regulation 
After conducting an investigation into Los Angeles County’s faulty emergency alerts during the deadly January wildfires, U.S. Congressman Robert Garcia issued a report Monday calling for more federal oversight of the nation’s patchwork, privatized emergency alert system. (Jarvie, 5/12)

The New York Times: Elizabeth Holmes’s Partner Has A New Blood-Testing Start-Up
Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through her blood-testing company, Theranos. In the meantime, her partner is starting one of his own. Billy Evans, who has two children with Ms. Holmes, is trying to raise money for a company that describes itself as “the future of diagnostics” and “a radically new approach to health testing,” according to marketing materials reviewed by The New York Times. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Theranos similarly aimed to revolutionize diagnostic testing. The Silicon Valley start-up captured the world’s attention by claiming, falsely as it turned out, to have developed a blood-testing device that could run a slew of complex lab tests from a mere finger prick. (Copeland, 5/10)

Modern Healthcare: American Medical Association Hires Dr. John Whyte As CEO 
Dr. John Whyte has been tapped as the next CEO and executive vice president of the American Medical Association. Whyte, who specializes in internal medicine, will assume the role July 1, the physician trade group said Friday. He will succeed Dr. James Madara as CEO, who has held the position since 2011. (DeSilva, 5/9)

CNBC: Walgreens Doubles Down On Robots To Fill Prescriptions Amid Turnaround
As struggling drugstore chains work to regain their footing, Walgreens is doubling down on automation. The company is expanding the number of retail stores served by its micro-fulfillment centers, which use robots to fill thousands of prescriptions for patients who take medications to manage or treat diabetes, high blood pressure and other conditions. (Constantino, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Dental Offices Don’t Need To Be Sterile Holding Pens. This Beverly Hills Project Is Plush, Pink And Magical
In the circular office designed by Charlap Hyman & Herrero, each and every room is a unique experience. (Schilling, 5/12)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: San Jose Eyes Arrest Of Homeless Who Repeatedly Refuse Shelter
Bay Area officials say “shelter-resistant” homeless residents are the most entrenched in dangerous encampments, use the most emergency services and are among those most likely to die of an overdose on the streets. (5/11)

The Mercury News: Why Do Bay Area Homeless People Turn Down Shelter Beds?
Baby Lady, as she’s known on the street in San Jose, has been homeless for nearly eight years. She has little desire to move indoors. The 39-year-old with darting blue eyes has PTSD and severe anxiety dating back to childhood, making it almost impossible for her to stay in close quarters with others at homeless shelters, she said. After so long without a roof over her head, she’s grown accustomed to life in encampments. (Varian, 5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Berkeley Homeless Encampment Stokes Neighborhood Outrage
Wedged between tree-lined residential streets in North Berkeley sits Ohlone Park, a greenway spanning several blocks where dogs romp within a fenced enclosure, neighbors catch up over coffee and commuters cruise past on foot and on bikes. Over the past six months, the park has also been the site of a growing homeless encampment where at least two dozen people have pitched tents and stowed their belongings in the grassy expanse, angering neighbors who are fed up with finding overflowing garbage, discarded needles and human feces in their neighborhood park. (Bauman, 5/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F.’s Next Big Housing Development Could Rise In This Unexpected Neighborhood
A lush, 6-acre property next to the Presidio Golf Club long served as a quiet sanctuary for impoverished seniors at the border of San Francisco’s Presidio Terrace neighborhood, an upscale private enclave marked by tree-lined streets and multimillion-dollar homes. But with the closure of the St. Anne’s Home last month, the 59 residents who were cared for at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s nursing facility at 300 Lake St. have been moved out. The Catholic order is now selling its land for the first time in more than a century.  (Waxmann, 5/12)

Times of San Diego: Local Officials To Announce Effects Of Cuts To Food Programs
Farmers, food program providers, and labor leaders will meet with elected officials and others to discuss the importance of United States Department of Agriculture food assistance programs. The importance will be highlighted in an 11:30 a.m press conference at Feeding San Diego on Monday. (Binkowski, 5/11)

AP: Judge Pauses Much Of Trump Administration's Massive Downsizing Of Federal Agencies 
The Trump administration must halt much of its dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce, a California judge ordered Friday. Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco issued the emergency order in a lawsuit filed last week by labor unions and cities, one of multiple legal challenges to Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of a federal government he calls bloated and expensive. (Har, 5/10)

CBS News: HHS Moving To Fire Probationary Employees Again, Officials Say
The Department of Health and Human Services is moving for a second time to fire probationary employees at the nation's health agencies, multiple federal officials said, after many previously had their terminations paused amid court battles over their fate. In mid-February, thousands of recently hired or promoted workers at the department had received letters firing them, but those firings were temporarily reversed by multiple court orders. Many workers who did not leave for other jobs have been on paid leave since. (Tin, 5/9)

The Washington Post: Trump’s Funding Cuts Are Unofficially Halting Government Operations 
At the Environmental Protection Agency, research at 11 laboratories has ground to a halt because the Trump administration has not approved most new lab purchases. At the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, key work on weather forecasting has slowed to a crawl because Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick must sign off personally on many contracts and grants. And at the Social Security Administration, some employees are running out of paper, pens and printer toner because the U.S. DOGE Service has placed a $1 spending limit on government-issued credit cards. (DOGE stands for Department of Government Efficiency, though it is not a Cabinet-level agency.) (Natanson and Joselow, 5/11)

NBC News: Federal Workplace Safety Workers Say Gutting Their Agency Will Lead To Preventable Deaths On The Job
More than 100 current and former employees of a federal agency charged with ensuring workplace safety warn that American workers face a greater risk of death and injury on the job as the Trump administration slashes the organization’s ranks. In a letter to Congress, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health employees say that the agency’s mission is at risk due to the administration’s actions over the past several months. (Soboroff, 5/11)

NBC News: FDA Stalls In Posting Food Safety Warning Letters Amid Staff Cuts
A seafood company failed to follow federal safety rules to prevent potential botulism contamination. A business was hawking dietary supplements with the misleading claim that they’d cure, treat or prevent disease. A fresh sprouts producer didn’t take adequate precautions against contamination. The Food and Drug Administration laid out these inspection findings in warning letters, accusing the companies of committing “significant violations” of federal laws, according to an FDA staff member who described the letters to NBC News. (Khimm, 5/9)

Stat: NIH Cuts Heavily Impact Chinese, Chinese-American Scientists
Amid deep cuts to U.S. government-funded research and revived scrutiny of their work, Chinese and Chinese-American researchers are reassessing their futures in this country, potentially shifting the balance in global scientific innovation, as well as in the biopharma industry. (Yang, 5/12)

Voice of OC: Santa Ana Bans Whippets
Santa Ana is the latest city in Orange County to ban the sale of nitrous oxide – also known as whippets – for recreational drug use. On Tuesday, city council members voted unanimously to adopt an ordinance barring retailers like liquor stores and smoke shops from selling whippets to people intending to use the gas to get high. (Elattar, 5/12)

Times of San Diego: Gun Violence Crackdown In San Diego A Success, County Officials Say
San Diego County’s efforts to crack down on gun violence have been successful, an annual report says, although it emphasizes that the work needs to continue. Data released last week shows that seizures of untraceable “ghost guns” dropped 39% in 2024. (Binkowski, 5/11)

The Desert Sun: Riverside County Sheriff Joins Lawsuit Challenging California's Immigrant Protections
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco joined a lawsuit challenging California’s immigration protection laws, enlisting in a legal fight launched by the City of Huntington Beach against the state, its governor and attorney general. (Damien, 5/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area High Schooler’s Suicide Leads To Four Sextortion Arrests
Four members of a criminal group in the African nation of Côte d’Ivoire have been arrested on suspicion of running a sextortion scheme that resulted in a 17-year-old Morgan Hill student killing himself in 2022 after being targeted by the group, federal authorities said. The student, Ryan Last, died by suicide in February 2022, hours after being blackmailed by a person pretending to be a 20-year-old woman who threatened to post intimate photos of him online. (Barned-Smith, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Sam Altman's Eye-Scanning Orbs Spark Curiosity — And Fear
A San Francisco start-up backed by Sam Altman uses iris scans to verify human identity without requiring users to supply personal information, such as, their names, emails and phone numbers. (Wong, 5/12)

CBS News: FDA Approves First At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Test, A Pap Smear Alternative, Company Says
The maker of an at-home cervical cancer screening test said Friday it has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration, giving patients an alternative to in-clinic pap smears. The screening test, called Teal Wand, from women's health company Teal Health, is available for those aged 25 to 65 at average risk. It tests for human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus that causes nearly all cervical cancers. The approval comes after a study from the company confirmed self-collected samples using their device perform as accurately as clinician-collected samples. (Moniuszko, 5/9)

The Washington Post: 5 Percent Of 10th- And 12th-Graders Say They’ve Used Nicotine Pouches 
More U.S. high-schoolers used nicotine pouches — smokeless nicotine powder products — last year than the year before, according to new research published in JAMA Network Open. The researchers, who used data from a nationally representative survey of 10,146 youths in 2023 and 2024, said 5.4 percent of 10th- and 12th-graders reported having used nicotine pouches, up from 3 percent the year before. The 10th- and 12th-graders’ use of pouches in the 12 months and 30 days before the surveys also increased year to year. Males were also more likely to use pouches than females. (Docter-Loeb, 5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Protein Is Especially Critical For One Age Group, Experts Say
Across social media and even in more academic circles, protein is a hot topic at the moment: who needs it, how much they need and how best to consume it. The message from the gym bros and hot girls on TikTok is that most people need more protein, and their social media feeds are full of recipes, promotions and diet hacks to pump the macronutrient into every meal and snack. (Allday, 5/11)