Los Angeles Daily News: Some Southern California Blood Donors Asked To Postpone Giving Amid Zika Concerns
On the same day Texas health officials announced the first U.S. Zika virus transmission contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, local blood banks asked prospective donors Tuesday who have traveled to affected countries to postpone giving for about a month. The American transmission of the Zika virus involved a Dallas County resident who had sexual contact with someone who acquired the infection while traveling in Venezuela, Texas health officials said. (Abram, 2/2)

STAT: Blood Banks Turning Patients Away Over Zika Virus Concerns
Blood banks in the United States and Canada have begun turning away prospective donors who have visited Latin America in the past four weeks to avoid contaminating the blood supply with the Zika virus, according to officials with the group that represents nearly all of the blood donation centers in the United States. (Kaplan, 2/3)

Meanwhile, LA County officials try to soothe fears about the virus —

KPCC: Officials Say Zika Can Be Curbed By Fighting Mosquitoes And Deferring Travel
Los Angeles County public health officials Wednesday suggested there's no reason to panic about the Zika virus, saying there are steps the public can take to ensure the disease doesn't take hold in Southern California. (Plevin, 2/3)

Bay Area News Group: Where Does Your Bay Area City Rate On Tobacco Policies?
Bay Area cities are ranked best in the state when it comes to controlling smoking and implementing tobacco-free policies, according to a report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association. (Tan, 2/4)

The Sun: How Did San Bernardino, Los Angeles Counties Fare In This Year's Tobacco And Smoking Report?
In an annual scorecard showing where California stands on tobacco control policies, the American Lung Association in California gave a grade of C and two Ds to cities in San Bernardino County. The rest of the group of 24 got Fs. In neighboring Los Angeles County, six cities got As, including one — Manhattan Beach — that raised last year’s D to an A. (Steinberg, 2/3)

CBS8: San Diego Gets D Grade For Tobacco Control Policies
The city of San Diego received a D for tobacco control policies while only two area municipalities received a grade as high as B, according to an annual report released Wednesday by the American Lung Association and its California affiliate. Statewide, California, once a national leader in tobacco control efforts, continues to fall behind other states in protecting its residents from tobacco, according to the 14th annual American Lung Association State of Tobacco Control 2016 report. (2/3)

The Press Democrat: Sonoma County Cities Improve Scores On American Lung Association's Tobacco Report Card
Santa Rosa, Cotati and Sonoma took significant steps in 2015 to combat tobacco use among their residents, earning high marks in individual categories in the American Lung Association’s latest survey of communities statewide. Santa Rosa and Cotati scored perfect A’s in the category of smoke-free housing, a year after both cities earned F’s on the same scale. (Moore, 2/3)

The Sacramento Bee: California Voters Favor Taxes, Labels For Sugary Drinks
Proponents of limiting the consumption of sugary drinks have mostly fallen short in the political arena in recent years, but Californians are largely supportive of their efforts. A new Field Poll, sponsored by The California Endowment, found that overwhelming majorities of voters favor taxing and putting safety warnings on soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages, proposals that advocates argue would help reduce health conditions such as diabetes. (Koseff, 2/3)

The Sacramento Business Journal: Davis City Council Gives Thumbs-Down To Soda Tax Initiative
The Davis City Council on Tuesday voted 3-2 against a plan to put a soda tax initiative on the June ballot. Council members ultimately decided the measure wouldn't have been an effective way to raise revenue for the city. Proponents had argued the proposal would bring needed funds for infrastructure improvements. (2/3)

The San Francisco Business Times: Look Out, Calico -- This Startup Is Taking A Killer Approach To Aging
A young biotech company focused on aging emerged from stealth mode Wednesday, aiming to nip at the heels of secretive Google Inc.-backed Calico Life Sciences LLC. Unity Biotechnology Inc., incubated over the past year at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, pulls together the work of three researchers with the idea of ridding the body of a buildup of dead cells to treat — and maybe even reverse — a wide range of aging-related diseases. (Leuty, 2/3)

The San Francisco Business Times: Peninsula Biotech Forges New Path To Combat Peanut Allergies
The company is backed by crowdfunding from rich family foundations and a key collaboration with a Georgia peanut processor. (Leuty, 2/3)

The Associated Press: Johnson & Johnson, ViaCyte Testing Possible Diabetes Cure
Johnson & Johnson, continuing its long quest for a Type 1 diabetes cure, is joining forces with biotech company ViaCyte to speed development of the first stem cell treatment that could fix the life-threatening hormonal disorder. They’ve already begun testing it in a small number of diabetic patients. If it works as well in patients as it has in animals, it would amount to a cure, ending the need for frequent insulin injections and blood sugar testing. (Johnson, 2/4)

Meanwhile, Sutter Health is looking for partners in the Silicon Valley —

The San Francisco Business Times: New Sutter Health CEO Aims For Silicon Valley Partnerships
Sutter Health, one of Northern California's largest hospital and health care systems, has changed its organizational structure in recent years, in large part to make it easier to partner with. Research and technology partnerships with Silicon Valley companies, large and small, are a key part of the new approach, according to new CEO Sarah Krevans, who took on the role in early January after three years as chief operating officer. (Rauber, 2/3)

Los Angeles Times: Thousands Of Dollars' Worth Of Medication Stolen In Recent Pharmacy Burglaries, Glendale Police Say
Police are investigating a series of break-ins at Glendale pharmacies in which thousands of dollars worth of medications were stolen, police said. In the most recent burglary, early Saturday morning, thieves smashed a window of Med Zone pharmacy, located on the 400 block of East Glenoaks Bouelvard, and made off with $10,000 worth of medicine, according to Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot. (Tchekmedyian, 2/3)

The San Diego Union Tribune: Flu Claims Unvaccinated 62-Year-Old Man
Public health officials announced Wednesday that a 62-year-old man from the unincorporated part of San Diego County died on Jan. 25 after coming down with the same H1N1 strain of the flu virus that caused a nationwide epidemic in 2009. The man, who was not vaccinated, is the first under age 65 to succumb to the disease this season and is also the first who did not have other underlying conditions that contributed to his death. The other four, three men and one woman, were all age 90 or older. Health officials said they don’t know whether any of the four were vaccinated. (Sisson, 2/3)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Split Verdict For 'pH Miracle' Author
The author of the popular “pH Miracle” book series was convicted Wednesday on two counts of practicing medicine without a license, but acquitted on a third count, in a case that his attorney said was as an attack on alternative care. (Figueroa, 2/3)

The Associated Press: FTC Shuts Down Diet-Pill Distributor For Alleged Fake Claims
A Glendale, California, company shut down 10 months ago will pay about $10 million to settle claims by the Federal Trade Commission that it wildly exaggerated the results of its diet supplements, used fake endorsements from people like Oprah Winfrey and hired marketers to send millions of spam emails. FTC Midwest Region attorney Matthew H. Wernz said the $43 million settlement allows $33 million to be suspended if the defendants comply with conditions of the settlement. If they fail to comply, the full amount will be reinstated. (2/3)

The Ventura County Star: Supreme Court Schedules Oral Arguments In Thomas Aquinas Birth Control Case
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month in a birth control case that includes Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic college, has argued that it should not have to offer birth control in its insurance coverage because the requirement violates its religious beliefs. (2/3)

The Fiscal Times: Sanders’ Single-Payer Plan Would Add Up To $14 Trillion To The Debt
As interest grows in Bernie Sanders’ “revolutionary” agenda following his strong showing against Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Iowa caucuses, a new study warns that the Vermont senator’s plan for universal government health care coverage could add as much as $14 trillion to the national debt over the coming decade -- even with enactment of the massive tax hikes that Sanders has outlined. (Pianin, 2/3)

The Associated Press: Ryan Calls For Unity, Less Anger From His Fractious GOP
House Speaker Paul Ryan called on Republicans Wednesday to unify and stop fighting each other as he tried steering his fractious party into an election year devoid of the collisions between conservatives and pragmatists that transformed parts of 2015 into a GOP nightmare. "We have to be straight with each other and more importantly, we have to be straight with the American people," Ryan, R-Wis., said at a Heritage Action for America policy meeting. "We can't promise that we can repeal Obamacare when a guy with the last name Obama is president. All that does is set us up for failure and disappointment and recriminations." (2/3)

Reuters: Obama Budget To Adjust Health Insurance 'Cadillac Tax': Adviser
President Barack Obama will propose tailoring the controversial "Cadillac tax" on expensive private health insurance plans to reflect regional differences when he releases his 2017 budget plan next week, a senior White House adviser said in an article released on Wednesday. Obama's proposal would reduce the bite of the unpopular tax by raising the threshold where it takes effect in areas where healthcare is particularly expensive, according to the article in the New England Journal of Medicine co-written by Jason Furman, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. (Walsh, 2/3)

The Associated Press: Health Care Law Makes Tax Season Tougher For Small Companies
As more requirements of the health care law take effect, income tax filing season becomes more complex for small businesses. Companies required to offer health insurance have new forms to complete providing details of their coverage. Owners whose payrolls have hovered around the threshold where insurance is mandatory need to be sure their coverage — if they offered it last year — was sufficient to avoid penalties. (2/3)

In other news, slower health care inflation helps U.S. debt outlook, but Medicare issues loom in the background, and a study looks at the effect of defunding Planned Parenthood —

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Debt Burden: It’s Gotten a Bit Less Bad
Budget watchdogs for years have warned of a looming debt crisis in the U.S. The federal debt, already its highest as a share of the economy since 1950, is poised to rocket higher as retiring baby boomers draw on Medicare and Social Security. Here’s the surprise: Compared to seven years ago, the long-term budget outlook has gotten better, not worse, thanks to slower health-care inflation and, more important, much lower interest rates. The hands on the doomsday debt clock have been moved back. (Ip, 2/3)

The Los Angeles Times: After Texas Stopped Funding Planned Parenthood, Low-Income Women Had More Babies
The state of Texas’ sustained campaign against Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics affiliated with abortion providers appears to have led to an increase in births among low-income women who lost access to affordable and effective birth control, a new study says. (Netburn, 2/3)