San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Workers To Strike In Northern California
More than 1,300 health care workers across Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California hospitals are set to strike Monday, citing unsafe staffing levels, burnout and risks to patient care. The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents the workers, announced that caregivers from more than 20 facilities plan to walk out on Sept. 8. The strike marks the first major labor action by this group as they negotiate their initial union contract with Kaiser. (Vaziri, 9/5)

Stat: Summit Therapeutics Hits Possible Snag On Lung Cancer Drug Seen As Blockbuster
[Menlo Park-based] Summit Therapeutics may have a geography problem with its lung cancer drug ivonescimab. In a study update reported Sunday, patients from North America and Europe treated with the drug saw their lung cancer return and progress faster than patients from China — a discordant result that could complicate Summit’s plans to secure approval of ivonescimab in the U.S. and Europe. (Feuerstein, 9/7)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Lawsuit Alleges Patient Died After More Than 10-Hour Delay In Getting CT Scan
A civil lawsuit against Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center alleges that a doctor’s order for a patient’s immediate chest X-ray was delayed for more than 10 hours, contributing to his death from a pulmonary embolism — a major blood clot that blocked the arteries of his lungs. (Sisson, 9/7)

Los Angeles Times: How Long Will California's COVID Surge Continue? 5 Things To Know
The coronavirus has muscled its way back into headlines in recent weeks amid a summer wave of the illness and growing difficulties in getting the vaccine, as well as efforts by the Trump administration that could make getting inoculated harder for some people. The summer increase is decidedly smaller than what California and the U.S. saw during the pandemic years. Still, it has sidelined many who came down with COVID-19 and has some health officials concerned. (Lin II, 9/8)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Sees Covid-19 Wave And 'Tremendous Confusion' About Vaccines
With COVID cases surging across California at levels not seen since a year ago, and the fall respiratory virus season approaching, access to vaccines may be more limited. (Stringer, 9/8)

CBS News: Salmonella Outbreak Linked To Metabolic Meals Sickens More Than A Dozen People, 7 Hospitalized, CDC Says
A Salmonella outbreak linked to certain home delivery meals from Metabolic Meals has sickened more than a dozen people across 10 states, and seven had to be hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. ... People sickened lived in California, Missouri, Georgia, Minnesota, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Washington state, the CDC said. (Tabachnick, 9/5)

CIDRAP: H5N1 Detected In Texas Dairy Herd; Researchers Can't Pinpoint Source Of California Child's Illness
After a month with no H5N1 avian flu detections in dairy cattle, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today reported a positive test involving a herd from Texas, raising the nation's total since early 2024 to 1,079 infected herds in 17 states. ... In related news, investigators from California and their partners at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday published their investigation findings into one of two unexplained H5N1 infections in California children. (Schnirring, 9/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bugs Carrying Chagas Disease Are In California. Should You Be Worried?
A group of scientists this month published an article in a prominent medical journal urging the U.S. to classify Chagas disease — an unusual but potentially deadly disease caused by a parasite that lives in blood-sucking insects — as endemic. This prompted a recent spate of news coverage about Chagas disease, which has historically been more prevalent in Central and South America. California is one of 32 states where the insect that carries the parasite has been found; California is also one of eight states where humans have acquired the infection locally from the insects. (Ho, 9/6)

VC Star: Tests From Santa Paula TB Scare Show No Evidence Of School Spread
A tuberculosis scare at a Santa Paula elementary school has not brought any additional cases of the disease, indicating there was likely no transmission at the school, Ventura County public health officials said. (Kisken, 9/7)

Los Angeles Times: Some Vulnerable Seniors Can't Get COVID Vaccines Amid Case Spike
Seniors in some parts of the country say they are being denied COVID-19 vaccinations amid an ongoing wave of cases, leading to rising frustration over new Trump administration policies that are making it harder to get the shots. ... At least some people younger than 65 are encountering pharmacy staff asking probing questions about their medical conditions. That happened Friday at a CVS in Orange County, according to 34-year-old Alex Benson, who takes medication that can suppress his immune system. (Lin II, 9/6)

Bay Area News Group: COVID Vaccine Availability In Question
With COVID cases surging across California at levels not seen since a year ago, and the fall respiratory virus season approaching, access to vaccines may be more limited. The virus is no longer the menace that five years ago unleashed a pandemic, caused a million U.S. deaths and spurred government mask mandates and gathering restrictions. Demand for COVID vaccines has fallen, with some 60% in the U.S. showing little or no interest, according to an August Kaiser Family Foundation survey. (Stringer, 9/8)

NBC News: For Some, Medicare Isn't Covering The Updated Covid Vaccine Yet
Some older Americans on Medicare are facing an unexpected problem: The updated Covid shots — approved last month by the Food and Drug Administration for all adults 65 and up — aren’t being covered, forcing them to decide whether to pay out of pocket. Allison Engel, 74, said she visited her CVS in Pasadena, California, on Tuesday, where she was told the shot would cost $225 out of pocket. “They typed everything in, and handed me a rejection letter,” Engel said. “They told me it wasn’t in the Medicare system yet and I should come back in two weeks.” (Lovelace Jr., 9/5)

Politico: Trump Is Back To Touting His Covid Shot
A day after senators of both parties rebuked his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for restricting access to Covid vaccines at a congressional hearing, President Donald Trump praised them, along with some other shots, during an Oval Office event. “A lot of people think that Covid is amazing,” Trump said, referencing the vaccine, not the disease. “You know, there are many people that believe strongly in that.” (Paun, 9/5)

LAist: Food Assistance Groups Brace For Uncertain Future With Federal Cuts Looming
The Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act" that passed in July imposes funding cuts and new restrictive requirements for families trying to get help paying for groceries. Now local food access advocates are bracing for an uncertain future due to unprecedented changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — known as CalFresh in California. (Garrova, 9/7)

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr., HHS To Link Autism To Tylenol Use In Pregnancy And Folate Deficiencies
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce that pregnant women’s use of an over-the-counter pain medication is potentially linked to autism in a report that will also suggest a medicine derived from folate can be used to treat symptoms of the developmental disorder in some people, people familiar with the matter said. The report, expected this month from the Department of Health and Human Services, is likely to suggest as being among the potential causes of autism low levels of folate, an important vitamin, and Tylenol taken during pregnancy, people familiar with the matter said. (Whyte and Subbaraman, 9/5)

Bloomberg: Medicare’s Plan To Hire 2,000 Auditors Appears To Stall
The US government appears to be behind on its goal of hiring staff to audit private Medicare Advantage insurance plans for potential overpayments, casting doubt on how quickly it can clear a yearslong backlog that the new administration promised to tackle. In May, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it would hire about 2,000 medical coders by Sept. 1 to verify the data insurers submit for payment in the government’s health insurance program for the elderly. This would be an increase from the 40 people the agency already had in place. (Tozzi, 9/5)

NPR: Headed To The FBI, Missouri's Andrew Bailey Opposed Abortion, Backed Trump
In under three years, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey built a track record for using his office to oppose abortion even though voters supported it, filing lawsuits on culture-war issues and defending Donald Trump. Bailey was named a couple weeks ago to be a co-deputy director at the FBI and is expected to take office Monday. "My life has been defined by a call to service, and I am once again answering that call, this time at the national level," he said in accepting the post. He resigns his state position effective Monday. (Rosenbaum, 9/5)

Times of San Diego: UCSD Takes Detailed Look At How Space Flight Accelerates Aging
University of California, San Diego researchers working out of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute have found that space flight advances aging in cells. The study sent human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells or blood and immune system stem cells to the International Space Station, then used a tracking system to record changes in cells in real time. The stem cells struggled to make new, healthy cells, became more prone to damage, and by the end of the flight all showed signs of aging. (Hernandez, 9/7)

ScienceDaily: Autism Symptoms Vanish In Mice After Stanford Brain Breakthrough 
Scientists at Stanford have found that hyperactivity in the brain’s reticular thalamic nucleus may drive autism-like behaviors. In mouse models, drugs and neuromodulation techniques that suppressed this overactive region reversed symptoms, hinting at new therapeutic pathways that overlap with epilepsy treatments. (9/8)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Schools Not Taking L.A.'s Lead In Protecting Students From ICE
As students return to the classroom and begin a new school year, school leaders throughout the state are battling a new challenge — how to protect students and families from increasing immigration enforcement activity under the Trump administration. (Gibbs and Lauer, 9/8)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Santa Rosa Mom Fights School District For Place For Daughter With Rare Seizure Disorder
The new standoff pits a family in need of specialized medical care for their daughter against a small public district familiar with their situation for years, but contending now it is not equipped to handle that level of care as she moves up in grade level. (Gutierrez, 9/7)

Los Angeles Times: His Son Died In School Shooting. He’s Fighting For Gun Reform Onstage 
Manuel Oliver lost his son, Joaquin 'Guac' Oliver, in the Parkland school shooting. He's now bringing his gun-reform activism to the stage in a one-man show that's playing at Kirk Douglas Theatre in October. (Gelt, 9/8)

Voice of OC: Fighting Cancer, Spreading Awareness With Art
When Anita Tran – a Vietnamese American born in Santa Ana – was first diagnosed with stage IV neuroendocrine carcinoma at the age of 21 and given a life expectancy of three to five years she felt like an alien in her body. Now, she has taken that feeling to create a symbol of hope to show others battling cancer they are not alone and to spread awareness about the disease through her alien-themed artwork and its central character, Apollo the Alien. (Elattar, 9/5)

Los Angeles Times: 'I Lost Me': How Frontotemporal Dementia Changed A Mind And A Marriage
Marc Pierrat’s mind once ran as smoothly as the gears on his endurance bike. He was a mechanical engineer by training and a marathoner for fun, a guy who maintained complicated systems at work and a meticulously organized garage at his Westlake Village home. Three years after his diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, Marc’s thoughts are a jumble he can’t sort out alone. Once-routine tasks are now incomprehensible; memories swirl and slip away. (Purtill, 9/7)

The Oaklandside: Oakland Could Arrest People For Being Homeless Under Councilmember's Plan
Oakland would dramatically change how it treats homeless people when removing encampments under a new policy pitched by District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston this week. Houston’s plan, unveiled on Thursday night, would enable Oakland to shut down encampments regardless of whether the city has other shelter to offer residents. Currently, outreach workers are required to offer alternatives living arrangements before a camp is cleared. (Orenstein, 9/5)

Los Angeles Times: AB90 Seeks To Establish Safe Parking Sites For Homeless Community College Students
A state bill that could have established overnight parking programs for homeless students enrolled in California community colleges looks unlikely to pass in the legislative session ending Friday. The bill by Assemblymember Corey A. Jackson (D-Perris), Assembly Bill 90, was held “under submission” by the Senate Appropriations Committee last month, meaning it didn’t advance to the Senate floor. The bill is intended to address the large number of students who live out of cars and RVs due to the punishingly high cost of housing in California. (Smith, 9/7)