The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Sets Exit From Family Planning Program
Raising the stakes in an ideologically charged standoff over women’s health, Planned Parenthood said Wednesday it will soon leave the federal family planning program unless a court puts a hold on Trump administration rules that bar clinics from referring patients for abortions. The administration responded that it is ready to operate the Title X family planning program without the organization that has been the largest provider. About 4 million women are served nationwide under the program, which distributes $260 million in grants to clinics. It’s unclear how many patients would be affected. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/14)

NPR: Planned Parenthood To Withdraw From Title X, Unless Court Intervenes
In a statement to NPR on Wednesday afternoon, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson wrote, "To the extent that Planned Parenthood claims that it must make burdensome changes to comply with the Final Rule, it is actually choosing to place a higher priority on the ability to refer for abortion instead of continuing to receive federal funds to provide a broad range of acceptable and effective family planning methods and services to clients in need of these services." (McCammon, 8/14)

The Associated Press: Rep. Steve King Says Rapes, Incest Helped Populate The World
U.S. Rep. Steve King on Wednesday defended his call for a ban on all abortions by questioning whether there would be “any population of the world left” if not for births due to rape and incest. Speaking before a conservative group in the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, the Iowa congressman reviewed legislation he has sought that would outlaw abortions without exceptions for rape and incest. King justified the lack of exceptions by questioning how many people would be alive if not for those conceived through rapes and incest. “What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled those people out that were products of rape and incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?” King asked, according to video of the event, which was covered by The Des Moines Register. “Considering all the wars and all the rape and pillage that’s taken place ... I know I can’t certify that I’m not a part of a product of that.” (McFetridge, 8/15)

Politico: House GOP Leaders Condemn Steve King For 'Appalling' Rape Comments
Democrats in Congress and on the 2020 campaign trail reacted with fury, saying that King's comments amounted to excusing violence against women and disregarding the victims of rape and incest. (Ferris, 8/14)

The Washington Post: How Support For Abortion Overlaps With Votes
We probably don’t need to explain how views on the availability of abortion overlap with partisan politics. The issue has been one of the most polarizing in American politics for decades, with Democrats broadly advocating expanded availability and Republicans generally opposing the procedure. We can be more precise than that. Seventy percent of Democrats think abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 34 percent of Republicans agree. That’s from PRRI’s new national poll on the subject, published Tuesday. When PRRI polled on the subject in 2014, incidentally, the gap between the parties was narrower. Then, 67 percent of Democrats supported legal abortion, as did 39 percent of Republicans. (Bump, 8/14)

Capital Public Radio: Could California Efforts To Maintain Obama-Era Environmental Rules, Enact Rent Caps Succeed This Year? State Senate Leader Is Optimistic.
The Trump administration’s new Endangered Species Act regulations released this week could breathe new life into a twice-defeated effort to grandfather Obama-era environmental rules into California law. Democratic Senate leader Toni Atkins says her bill, SB 1, is necessary to leave existing protections in place. (Adler, 8/15)

Sacramento Bee: California To Pay $1.5 Million Settlement In Inmate Suicide
On April 14, 2016, one day before she was to appear before a parole board hearing at which she was expected to be granted her freedom, Rocha hanged herself inside her cell with a bed sheet tied to an air vent. Her death followed years of suicide attempts by the troubled young woman – court records say tried to kill herself eight times between the ages of 7 and 14 – and the corrections department eventually determined her death was “both foreseeable and preventable,” the Rocha family’s lawyer, Lori Rifkin, said Tuesday. (Stanton, 8/14)

Los Angeles Times: California's $3 Billion Legal Marijuana Market Is Largest In The World
California is on track to post a record $3.1 billion in licensed cannabis sales this year, solidifying its status as the largest legal marijuana market in the world, according to a study released Thursday by financial analysts who advise the industry. Legal sales are up significantly from an approximate $2.5 billion in 2018, the first year of licensed cannabis sales in California, according to the analysis by sales-tracking firms Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics. After a rocky start in 2018, retailers that have survived California’s tough licensing, testing and packaging regulations are “battle hardened” and stronger because of an influx of investment that has allowed them to take advantage of the state’s large population and pent-up demand for legal products, said Tom Adams, managing director and principal analyst for BDS Analytics. (McGreevy, 8/15)

USA Today: California Mother Sues Los Angeles School District, Alleging Son Suffered Brain Damage After Bullying Attack
A California mother is suing a Los Angeles school district, alleging that her 12-year-old son was left with permanent brain and spinal injuries after another student assaulted him last year. The mother said her sixth-grade son was "brutally assaulted and strangled" last January by a 14-year-old boy who had allegedly been violent toward other students, according to a lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court. (Ravikumar,8/14)

Modesto Bee: CA Congressman Visits Immigrant Detention Centers In Texas
U.S. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, found that conditions have slightly improved at an infamous border detention facility housing immigrants and asylum-seekers in McAllen, Texas. But he says there are still plenty of improvements that need to be made.Harder was part of a congressional delegation on Tuesday that visited a series of U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facilities near the border with Mexico in southern Texas, including the largest immigrant detention center in the country. (Ahumada, 8/14)

The Desert Sun: Raul Ruiz's Bill Would Classify Burn Pit Exposure Alongside Agent Orange
This week, [Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert] introduced legislation to lower the costs of healthcare for veterans suffering from illnesses that appear to stem from exposure to burn pits, which yields smoke plumes that contain carcinogens and particulate matter laden with acid and other hazardous chemicals. More than 11,000 veterans have filed disability compensation claims related to burn-pit exposure. Since 2007, the VA has denied roughly 54% of the claims "due to a lack of evidence establishing a connection to military service,” a department spokesman said earlier this year. (Metz, 8/14)

Los Angeles Times: Purdue Pharma Sought To Divert Online Readers From Critical L.A. Times Series On Opioid Crisis, Records Show
But Purdue Pharma, the maker of the widely abused painkiller OxyContin, considered a different tack. Internal documents from 2016 show company officials discussed diverting online traffic away from a series of stories published by the Los Angeles Times that detailed the company’s marketing of OxyContin and its links to the deadly opioid crisis. (Christensen, 8/15)

California Healthline: Doctors Can Change Opioid Prescribing Habits, But Progress Comes In Small Doses
Research out Wednesday indicates that guidelines are making strides in cutting back the number of pain pills doctors offer after specific types of surgeries. (Appleby and Lucas, 8/14)

PolitiFact California: Gavin Newsom’s Ridiculous Claim: ‘Vast Majority’ Of San Francisco’s Homeless People Come From Texas 
We examined Newsom’s mayoral record on homelessness in a previous fact check. And we’re tracking his gubernatorial campaign promise to tackle the issue statewide through our Newsom-Meter project. The Los Angeles Times first pointed out Newsom’s questionable statement about Texas, leading the California Republican Party to later call it "a baseless claim."  (Nichols, 8/14)

Capital Public Radio: Debate Over Homeless Shelter In South Sacramento Divides City Officials, Residents
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg wants each city council member to find a location for a homeless shelter in their districts. Proposed sites already exist for three, including at Cal Expo and a downtown hotel. But Councilman Larry Carr, who represents Meadowview and parts of South Sacramento, does not want a proposed location in his district to be the fourth. (Moffitt, 8/14)

Los Angeles Times: The Street Within: Moving A Homeless Encampment Off The Streets 
After 10 months — February through November — and the efforts of dozens of social workers, the program known as Encampment to Home had ended. A few individuals remained to be housed, but 68 men and women, once living on the streets of South Los Angeles, called the two apartment buildings home. (Curwen, 8/15)

Politico: Gun Control Groups To Rally In All 50 States To Pressure GOP
Gun control groups will hold rallies in all 50 states this weekend to urge the Senate to pass universal background checks, as well as a "red flag" measure aimed at potentially dangerous gun owners. Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America — both funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg — will also air nearly $1 million of TV and digital ads to pressure key GOP senators. (Bresnahan, 8/14)

The Associated Press: Synagogue Shooting Suspect Had Invalid License To Buy Gun
A 19-year-old nursing student accused of opening fire at a California synagogue didn’t have a valid hunting license, which is the only way someone under 21 who isn’t in the military or law enforcement can legally buy a weapon under state law. The California Fish and Wildlife Department said Wednesday that John T. Earnest was issued a hunting license, but it had not gone into effect yet. (Watson, 8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Advisers Are Wary As President Considers Gun Proposals
President Trump’s public push for gun-control measures is causing consternation among conservatives and some of his advisers, who have privately raised concerns about the political and policy fallout of the approach, according to White House officials and people familiar with the discussions. At least so far, Mr. Trump doesn’t appear to have been swayed by the concerns, and the president has indicated privately to aides that he wants to be seen taking action in response to back-to-back mass shootings earlier this month. Aides said he remains interested in pushing for legislative action to expand background checks and prevent mentally unstable people from possessing guns. (Ballhaus, Restuccia and Andrews, 8/14)

Politico: Susan Collins And The GOP Court Trump On Guns
Susan Collins has watched countless gun debates stall out over the years. But this time, she says, will be different. The Maine moderate has long been a lonely voice on guns in the GOP. She’s one of just two Republicans left in the Senate who previously supported a bipartisan background checks bill and the only Republican serving who backed an assault weapons ban. Every time she’s gotten close to winning even modest new gun regulations, the effort collapses due to conservative opposition. (Everett and Levine, 8/14)

POLITICO Pro: 'Red Flag' Laws May Prevent Gun-Related Suicides, Research Shows
"Red flag" laws that President Donald Trump and some congressional Republicans have promoted in response to this month's mass shootings in Texas and Ohio may be effective at preventing suicides, though it's unclear whether they can thwart mass killings, according to recent studies. Mental health and gun rights advocates say the effectiveness of measures allowing firearms to be temporarily seized from people deemed a threat hinges on identifying specific high-risk behaviors instead of focusing on an individual's mental health diagnoses or behavioral history. (Rayasam, 8/14)

Politico: House Panel Issues Subpoena To Compel Testimony From 8chan Owner
The House Homeland Security Committee issued a subpoena to force the owner of fringe online message board 8chan, which has been linked to mass shootings, to testify at a deposition next month on any efforts his platform has made to combat racist and violent content. (Lima, 8/14)

Becker's Healthcare: How California's Surprise Billing Policy Led To Healthcare Consolidation
A California law aimed at addressing surprise medical bills influenced bargaining leverage between payers and providers, and led to greater consolidation, according to a study published in The American Journal of Managed Care. For the study, Erin Duffy, PhD, a researcher with the RAND Corp., examined the early effects of a California policy implemented in 2017. The policy addressed surprise medical bills for out-of-network nonemergency physician services at in-network hospitals. Dr. Duffy completed a case study of how the policy affected stakeholders within the first six to 12 months after the policy implementation. Twenty-eight policy experts, advocates and executives of physician groups, hospitals and health plans participated in interviews for the study. (Haefner, 8/14)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital, Health Tech Company Stocks Fall Faster Than The Market
Shares in nearly all the investor-owned hospital chains shed value at higher rates than the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 on Wednesday, which declined 3.1% and 2.9%, respectively. Tenet Healthcare Corp. saw the biggest drop among its peers. Shares of the Dallas-based company shed nearly 8% of their value on Wednesday. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems saw its share price slide 7%. (Bannow and Cohen, 8/14)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals' DSH Funding Limited By Federal Appeals Court
Hospitals that care for a large share of Medicaid, low-income and uninsured patients stand to receive less funding from the federal government after the D.C. Circuit reconsidered how Medicaid disproportionate-share hospital reimbursement is calculated. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed a lower court and reinstated a 2017 rule establishing that payments by Medicare and private insurers are to be included in calculating a hospital's DSH limit, ultimately lowering its maximum reimbursement. (Kacik, 8/14)

The Hill: 2020 Democrats Fight To Claim Obama's Mantle On Health Care 
Democratic presidential candidates are vying for former President Obama's mantle on healthcare, arguing that he would support their stance in the raging debate over Medicare for All. Obama remains enormously popular among Democrats, and his backing in the party's divisive health care debate would be a one-of-a-kind boost for a candidate. (Sullivan, 8/15)

California Healthline: Watch: Defining The Debate On Health Care Coverage Options
Politicians are throwing around a lot of terms when they talk about their health care plans: universal care, “Medicare for All,” “Medicare Buy-In.” KHN and California Healthline help explain what they are talking about. (Rovner, Hillyard and Zuraw, 8/15)

The Associated Press: Vaping Companies Sue To Delay US Review Of E-Cigarettes
A vaping industry group sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to delay an upcoming review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market. The legal challenge by the Vapor Technology Association is the latest hurdle in the Food and Drug Administration’s yearslong effort to regulate the multibillion-dollar vaping industry, which includes makers and retailers of e-cigarette devices and flavored solutions. (Perrone, 8/14)

ProPublica: Senators Call For Closing “Loopholes” That Make Health Care Fraud Easy
Following a detailed account of how scam artists can easily gain access to health care cash, six Democratic senators this week sent a letter to federal regulators urging them to “close loopholes” that allow “bad actors” to commit fraud. The letter came in response to a recent story by ProPublica and Vox that traced the brazen scam of a Texas personal trainer, who despite having no medical credentials was able to submit a blizzard of fake bills with some of the biggest insurance companies in the country and recoup millions. (Allen, 8/14)

Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Hoping To Overhaul Privacy Rules For Substance-Use Disorders
Lawmakers are hoping Congress can pass a proposed overhaul of addiction-related privacy laws now that the American Medical Association is no longer opposed. Hospitals badly want Congress to waive the statute known as 42 CFR Part 2 and its dictates that only substance-use disorder, or SUD, patients themselves can decide who sees their medical history. They argue that given the stakes with widespread opioid addiction, it's risky to ban doctors from sharing medical histories when appropriate. (Luthi, 8/14)

The Washington Post: ‘This Will Be Catastrophic’: Maine Families Face Elder Boom, Worker Shortage In Preview Of Nation’s Future
Across Maine, families like the Flahertys are being hammered by two slow-moving demographic forces — the growth of the retirement population and a simultaneous decline in young workers — that have been exacerbated by a national worker shortage pushing up the cost of labor. The unemployment rate in Maine is 3.2 percent, below the national average of 3.7 percent. The disconnect between Maine’s aging population and its need for young workers to care for that population is expected to be mirrored in states throughout the country over the coming decade, demographic experts say. And that’s especially true in states with populations with fewer immigrants, who are disproportionately represented in many occupations serving the elderly, statistics show. (Stein, 8/14)

The Associated Press: FDA Approves TB Pill That Cures More Hard-To-Treat Patients
U.S. regulators Wednesday approved a new tuberculosis medicine that shortens and improves treatment for the hardest-to-treat cases, a worsening problem in many poor countries. It’s the first TB drug from a nonprofit group, the TB Alliance. Formed to come up with better treatments, the group developed pretomanid with help from charities and government agencies. The pill was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with two other antibiotics. Decades of incomplete or ineffective treatment has resulted in TB strains that have become drug resistant and aren’t killed by long-standard medicines. (Johnson, 8/14)

Bloomberg: Generic-Drug Giants Accused Of Blocking Congressional Probe 
Lawsuits filed by state attorneys general in 2016 and this year allege a conspiracy among 20 drugmakers to carve up the market and raise prices of more than 100 drugs including commonly prescribed antibiotics as well as medications for reducing cholesterol and controlling seizures. Those actions, authorities allege, cost taxpayers and patients billions of dollars. The prices of some drugs increased by as much as 8,281% between October 2013 and April 2014, according to the lawmakers’ letter made public on Wednesday. The most recent lawsuit included emails from 2014 in which executives at Teva, Mylan and Heritage planned to respond to congressional inquiries with “polite f-u” letters. (Flanagan and Griffin, 8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis Replaces Two Researchers Amid Data Scandal
Zolgensma, which costs $2.1 million for a one-time infusion, treats babies with a devastating inherited disease known as spinal muscular atrophy. ... Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said data manipulation had taken place during company studies of Zolgensma, but that the drug should stay on the market as the manipulation involved a small portion of early-stage data on animals, rather than human clinical trials. Dr. Narasimhan has said the issue came to light internally in mid-March and that Novartis decided to hold off alerting the regulator until the company had completed its own investigation. (Roland, 8/14)

Reuters: Novartis Replaces Top Scientists At Avexis After Drug Data Manipulated
Novartis AG said on Wednesday it replaced the two top research and development executives at its Avexis unit after some data was manipulated from early testing of a gene therapy for infants that costs more than $2 million. Avexis’ Chief Scientific Officer Brian Kaspar and Senior Vice President of Research and Development Allan Kaspar have not been involved in any operations at Avexis since early May 2019, Novartis said in a statement. ... Page Bouchard has taken on both those roles at Avexis as of Aug. 5, Novartis said. (8/14)

Stat: Regeneron Drug Proves Effective In Genetic Form Of High Cholesterol 
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals presented new data Wednesday showing a drug it developed can treat patients with a genetic disease that causes very high cholesterol levels. In homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HoFH, patients can have levels of low-density lipoprotein of 500 milligrams per deciliter or more, five times normal levels, and can have heart attacks or other cardiovascular problems in their 20s. The disorder, which results from having two non-functioning copies of the LDL receptor gene that is involved in removing cholesterol from the blood, afflicts about 1,300 patients in the United States. (Herper and Garde, 8/14)

Bloomberg: DNA Test For Antidepressants Raises FDA Doubts; Myriad Drops 
A company that helped pioneer genetic tests used to diagnose and treat disease lost more than 40% of its value on Wednesday, after U.S. regulators raised questions about whether a DNA test that’s key to the firm’s growth can help personalize the prescribing of antidepressant drugs. Myriad Genetics Inc. fell as much as 43% to $25.45 Wednesday, the stock’s worst intraday drop since 2000. In a securities filing, it said the Food and Drug Administration had asked for changes to its GeneSight test, which is used to determine how well popular antidepressants will work for patients. Several other companies sell similar tests. (Brown, 8/14)

Sacramento Bee: Vietnamese Transgender Person Talks About Medical Transition 
An estimated 1,615,000 California residents – about 5.8 percent of the state’s population – identify as LGBT, the largest estimated state population in the U.S., according to UCLA’s Williams Institute. While data show that only 2 percent of people of Asian descent identify as LGBT, many may not have come out yet or choose not to, according to Glenn Magnpantay, Executive Director of the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance. Magnpantay said Asian LGBTQ people often choose to suffer in silence because they don’t want to disrespect their parents, who sacrificed a lot to bring them to the United States. (Yu, 8/14)

NPR: Kids On Medicaid Who Start ADHD Drugs Aren't Getting Good Follow-Up Care
Most children enrolled in Medicaid who get a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder don't get timely or appropriate treatment afterward. That's the conclusion of a report published Thursday by a federal watchdog agency, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General." Nationwide, there were 500,000 Medicaid-enrolled children newly prescribed an ADHD medication who did not receive any timely follow-up care," says Brian Whitley, a regional inspector general with OIG. The report analyzed Medicaid claims data from 2014 and 2015. (Neighmond, 8/15)

Los Angeles Times: Everything You Need To Know About Toxic Algae Blooms
Green pond scum floating on a lake is not just unsightly. As animal lovers have learned the hard way, it can be deadly. In recent days, three pet dogs in North Carolina and another in Georgia died after swimming in water contaminated with toxic organisms. Warm temperatures and an influx of nutrients from agricultural runoff or other sources can prompt toxic algae and bacteria to grow out of control. The result is a phenomenon called a toxic algae bloom. (De Marco, 8/14)

NPR: MDMA, Or Ecstasy, Shows Promise As A PTSD Treatment
The first time Lori Tipton tried MDMA, she was skeptical it would make a difference. "I really was, at the beginning, very nervous," Tipton remembers. MDMA is the main ingredient in club drugs ecstasy or molly. But Tipton wasn't taking pills sold on the street to get high at a party. She was trying to treat her post-traumatic stress disorder, with the help of licensed therapists. (Stone, 8/14)

The Associated Press: Experts Call For Steps To Stem Increases In Legionnaires'
Top U.S. science experts are calling for stronger policies to combat the growing Legionnaires’ disease problem. In a report released Wednesday, the experts said annual cases of Legionnaires’ jumped more than fivefold from 2000 to 2017, and that as many as 70,000 Americans get the disease every year. Legionnaires’ is caused by bacteria that can thrive in buildings with large water systems. About 20 outbreaks are reported each year, including recent ones at an Atlanta hotel and a hospital near Chicago. (Stobbe, 8/14)