Bay Area News Group: Kaiser Will Shift More Than 1,000 Oakland Workers To Pleasanton Campus
Kaiser Permanente has sketched out plans to relocate more than 1,000 workers from Oakland to the healthcare provider’s big campus in Pleasanton as part of a recalibration of its administrative operations. (Avalos, 2/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Permanente To Move 1,200 Jobs Out Of Oakland Headquarters
Health care giant Kaiser Permanente plans to move about 1,200 office jobs, or 10% of its Oakland workforce, to its Pleasanton campus in 2024. The news comes as a setback for the city as it attempts to boost its economy following the pandemic. (Ravani, 2/22)

Bloomberg Law: Covid Test Maker Lucira Goes Bankrupt As Demand For Kits Wanes
Lucira Health Inc., a publicly traded maker of at-home Covid-19 tests, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday. California-based Lucira listed assets of about $146 million and liabilities of about $85 million in its bankruptcy petition. The company will keep operating during bankruptcy as it seeks to sell itself, according to a statement. (Pollard, 2/22)

Fierce Biotech: 'We Beg You': Biotechs Plead For Help With Long COVID Research
Behind the unrelenting challenges of long COVID, which leaves many of the disease’s sufferers with exhaustion, sleep problems and brain fog, is just a handful of biotechs trying to drum up interest—and funds—to find a treatment. (Bayer, 2/22)

KQED: When Can I Get A Second Bivalent COVID Booster? Here's What We Know Right Now
It’s been almost six months since the bivalent COVID vaccine booster became available. And many people are now wondering, "When can I get my second bivalent booster dose?" The short answer: As long as you've already got one dose of the bivalent COVID-19 booster shot, there's no need to rush. (Johnson, 2/22)

California Healthline: Looming Cuts To Emergency SNAP Benefits Threaten Food Security In Rural America
In a few weeks, pandemic-era emergency boosts to SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, will be rolled back across 32 states, putting more pressure on food pantries to fill the gaps and exacerbating challenges for rural areas, where a greater share of people are enrolled in the program compared with metro areas. (Orozco Rodriguez, 2/23)

ABC7 San Francisco: Long COVID Patients Feel Isolated, Concerned As San Francisco Public Health Emergency Comes To An End
One week from today, San Francisco's COVID-19 public health emergency order is coming to an end. It's the same day California's COVID-19 state of emergency is expiring. While public health officials say it is time for these declarations to end, some people experiencing long COVID are raising concerns about what it means for the future of the virus. (Kreutz, 2/22)

Tradeoffs: Bringing Medicaid Behind Bars Has Wide Bipartisan Support
Some states like Arizona require private Medicaid plans to connect with incarcerated people before they are released, which state officials say helps individuals get care more quickly when they get out. And small pilot programs in California and New Mexico showed offering care coordination before release led to more primary care visits, less recidivism and fewer ER trips. But the inmate exclusion policy remains a significant barrier. (Levi and Gorenstein, 2/23)

Fresno Bee: California Lawmaker Proposes Dyslexia Screening In Schools 
“Dyslexia is the most common learning disability, and yet it often goes undetected,” Portantino said in a statement. “Early identification and intervention with evidence-based strategies is key to helping children read and vital to their academic success.” (Thornton, 2/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here's What Students Are Learning In Sex Ed In SF— And Why Some Of It Is Banned Elsewhere
A significant part of what ninth graders in San Francisco are taught about sex and sexuality is not only absent in many schools across the country, but often banned at a state level. (Tucker, 2/22)

Bay Area News Group: Google Excludes Thousands Of Workers From Benefits: Report
Google’s minimum wage and benefits for contractors are withheld from thousands of its U.S. contract workers, a new report from a union alleges. (Baron, 2/22)

CapRadio: Birth Rates Are Declining In California. Here’s Why Experts Think It's Happening.
California’s birth rate is at its lowest level in roughly 100 years, according to a new report from the Public Policy Institute of California. According to the January report, the number of births hit a peak in 1992 at roughly 613,000 children born. Now, more than 30 years later, that number dropped by nearly a third to 420,000. Authors called the trend “a new baby bust.” (Gonzalez, 2/23)

CapRadio: Sacramento City Council OKs Cannabis Dispensary, Denying Appeal By Nearby Detox Center
The Sacramento City Council approved a permit for a cannabis dispensary in a 8-0 vote on Tuesday, denying a request to prevent the store from opening near a detox center. City officials said La Krisha Young, the owner of the proposed dispensary and graduate of the city’s equity cannabis program, met requirements and added extra restrictions to respond to the detox center’s concerns. (Lam, 2/22)

Sacramento Bee: Can A Weed Dispensary And Drug Treatment Center Be Good Neighbors? We're About To Find Out
The Sacramento City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve a new cannabis dispensary in South Sacramento over the objections of a particular neighbor — a drug treatment center. (Diamond, 2/22)

California Healthline: States Seek Crackdown On Toxic Ingredients In Cosmetics To Close Gaps In Federal Oversight
Washington state regulators found formaldehyde, lead, and arsenic in lipstick, powder foundations, skin lotions, and hair products marketed to and popular with women of color. Now legislators there are seeking to ban the products and, like at least a dozen other states, make up for lax federal rules. (Scaturro, 2/23)