Latest California Healthline Stories
Daily Edition for Monday, May 12, 2025
Water Safe To Drink Again After LA Wildfires: Tap water is now safe to drink in areas served by all nine water systems where damage from the firestorms in Altadena and Pacific Palisades had prompted “do not drink” notices, state regulators said Friday. The last water utility with such a notice, the Las Flores Water Co. in Altadena, was cleared Friday. Read more from the Los Angeles Times. Keep scrolling for more on the fires.
Daily Edition for Friday, May 9, 2025
SF Mayor Touts Funds To Address Homelessness: Mayor Daniel Lurie has raised $37.5 million from wealthy donors to address San Francisco’s homelessness and behavioral health crises, making good on one of his early pledges to supplement taxpayer funds by tapping private dollars to clean up streets and get more people into treatment and housing. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and Bloomberg.
Daily Edition for Thursday, May 8, 2025
Stanford Medical School Grad Tapped For Surgeon General: President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he plans to nominate Dr. Casey Means, a wellness influencer and graduate of Stanford Medical School, as the nation’s surgeon general. “Casey has impeccable ‘MAHA’ (Make America Healthy Again) credentials,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Rite Aid Again Seeks Bankruptcy Protection: Rite Aid has put its Sacramento-area store leases on the market as the bankrupt pharmacy chain looks to offload its assets. The company plans to sell customer prescription files, inventory, and other assets. Stores will remain open for now, but the company isn’t buying new inventory, so bare shelves will likely become more common. Read more from the Sacramento Business Journal and AP.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, May 6, 2025
KP Mental Health Workers Tentatively Agree To End Strike: Approximately 2,400 mental health workers have ended a strike that began Oct. 21, 2024, after reaching a tentative labor contract with Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente. Read more from Becker’s Hospital Review, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and Capital & Main.
Daily Edition for Monday, May 5, 2025
Soil Testing Shows High Levels Of Toxic Substances After LA Wildfires: The federal government decided not to test the soil of L.A.'s burn areas for hazardous substances. The Los Angeles Times launched its own investigation and found high levels of lead and other heavy metals. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Friday, May 2, 2025
Grant To Support Students’ Mental Health Clawed Back: The West Contra Costa Unified School District Board has learned that the Department of Education intends to cut a five-year, $4.2 million grant to just one year. The Mental Health Services Professional Grant was supposed to enable the Bay Area district to address the mental health needs of its students. Read more from EdSource.
Daily Edition for Thursday, May 1, 2025
LA County Offers Isolated Hospital A $3M Lifeline: Avalon-based Catalina Island Health received $3 million in one-time funding to help keep its doors open. The hospital faces serious financial challenges with insolvency predicted as early as July. Read more from Becker’s Hospital Review.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, April 30, 2025
LA County Worker Strike Disrupts Health Care, More: Nonurgent health clinics were closed Tuesday — and expected to remain closed today — as a sea of SEIU Local 721 workers descended on downtown L.A. over a contract dispute. Union members decried the industry's reliance on high-paid contractors. “How would you feel if someone comes into your hospital for three weeks and makes four times your salary and leaves you,” one person said. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Daily Edition for Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Governor Closing Loophole Used At Psychiatric Hospitals: Gov. Gavin Newsom is moving to impose nurse-to-patient staffing ratios in California’s psychiatric hospitals in response to a Chronicle investigative series that spotlighted rampant abuse and neglect in many of the locked facilities. The administration intends to deploy the state’s emergency regulations process. Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle.