Politico: California’s AG Won’t Run To Succeed Newsom 
California Attorney General Rob Bonta won’t run for governor, ending months of speculation about him eyeing the crowded 2026 contest. Instead, the Democrat will seek reelection as attorney general and back former Vice President Kamala Harris if she jumps into the fray to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom after his final term ends. Aides say Harris is weighing her options after returning home to Los Angeles. (Gardiner, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: Deadly Version Of H5N1 Bird Flu Spills Over Into Nevada Dairy Cattle
A version of the H5N1 bird flu virus that killed a person in Louisiana and severely sickened a teenager in Canada has now been detected in dairy herds in Nevada. The version, known as D1.1, is circulating in wild birds around the nation — causing massive die-offs in places such as Chicago, upstate New York and Ohio. ... Finding D1.1 in dairy cows caught investigators off-guard, but it is just the latest surprise as the H5N1 bird flu continues to flummox researchers and public health officials. It’s a stark reminder that this virus does not behave like a “typical” flu virus. (Rust, 2/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bird Flu Detected In Bay Area Backyard Poultry Flock
Bird flu has been detected in a backyard poultry flock in San Mateo, local officials said Tuesday. No human cases have been linked to the flock, but the detection highlights the risk of H5N1 to people who live near, work with or handle poultry — including those who have small backyard flocks, San Mateo County officials said in a news release. (Ho, 2/5)

Redding Record Searchlight: How To Help Stop Bird Flu And Salmonella Spreading At Feeders, Backyard Poultry Cages
Wintering birds, including the celebrated snow geese, return to California winter. The down side is migrating birds can help spread H5N1 bird flu and other diseases among other bird species, animals and occasionally people. (Skropanic, 2/5)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Federal Government Freezes Santa Rosa Charity's Grant For Aid To Legal Immigrants
For the amount of bad news it contained, the memo was surprisingly brief. On Tuesday, Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa got an unwelcome, 75-word email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. “Effective immediately,” it announced, “your grant from U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services is frozen.” (Murphy, 2/5)

Bloomberg: Elon Musk’s DOGE Team Mines For Fraud At Medicare And Medicaid Agency CMS
Elon Musk’s team at the Department of Government Efficiency has been on-site at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to mine key systems for examples of what they consider fraud or waste, according to a person familiar with the matter. The DOGE representatives have gained access to payment and contracting systems, according to the person, who asked not to be named discussing internal matters. They have also been working to cancel diversity, equity and inclusion-focused contracts at CMS and more broadly across the Department of Health and Human Services, the person said, including with organizations like Deloitte. (Griffin and Muller, 2/5)

AP: VA Nurses Are In Short Supply. Unions Say Trump's Deferred Resignation Plan Could Make Things Worse
For the federal government’s largest group of employees — nurses caring for military veterans through the Department of Veterans Affairs — the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer and its looming Thursday deadline come amid longstanding staffing shortages, deemed severe at more than half of all facilities. Unions are discouraging nurses from accepting the offer, and leaders say an exodus would directly and immediately affect the care of its 9.1 million enrolled veterans. (Johnson and Witte, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Put On Hold By 2nd Federal Judge
A second federal judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary pause on President Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for anyone born in the U.S. to someone in the country illegally. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman said no court in the country has endorsed the Trump administration’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment. “This court will not be the first,” she said. (Kunzelman and Catalini, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: USAID Has Had Big Impact Across The Globe
The Trump administration’s decision to close the U.S. Agency for International Development has drawn criticism and raised questions about the influence billionaire ally Elon Musk wields over the federal government. The United States is the world’s largest source of foreign assistance by far, although several European countries allocate a much bigger share of their budgets. While aid to Africa dwarfs the roughly $2 billion that Latin America receives annually, the Western Hemisphere has long been a spending priority of both Democratic and Republican administrations. (Kruesi, 2/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: San Francisco Giants Tap UCSF Health For Medical Care
The San Francisco Giants have teamed up with San Francisco-based UCSF Health to enhance healthcare services for players, staff and the broader Bay Area community. As the team's official healthcare provider, UCSF Health will offer medical care to both major and minor league players while also extending its expertise to fans and visitors at Oracle Park, according to a Feb. 5 news release. (Diaz, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: Kroger Health, Express Scripts Sign New Agreement
Kroger has inked a new deal giving more than 100 million Express Scripts members access to the grocery chain’s pharmacies, the companies announced Wednesday. The agreement applies immediately to Medicare prescription drug plans and TRICARE military health plans. The pharmacy benefit manager's commercial and Medicaid clients can opt to add Kroger pharmacies to their networks, according to a news release. (Berryman, 2/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: 'Capturing The Child's Voice' In Oncology: Why Self-Reporting Is Key
Enabling pediatric cancer patients to electronically self-report their symptoms helped physicians manage care more quickly and effectively, according to research published Nov. 13 in JAMA. David Freyer, DO, director of the Survivorship and Supportive Care Program at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, spoke to Becker's about the clinical trial and what the findings mean for pediatric care. (Gregerson, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. City Council Panel Rejects Rent Freeze, Advances Eviction Protections 
A key Los Angeles City Council committee on Wednesday rejected an effort to freeze rents citywide, but advanced a series of eviction protections for people economically affected by recent fires. In a 3-1 vote, the Housing and Homelessness Committee approved a motion that would bar landlords from evicting tenants for a variety of reasons, including for nonpayment of rent or if an owner wanted to move into a unit. Such evictions would be prohibited only for tenants who were economically harmed by the fires, and the prohibition would last one year. (Khouri, 2/5)

Bay Area News Group: California Pushes More Drug Treatment In Jails To Break Cycle Of Addiction
Amid an epidemic of drug overdoses that’s finally showing signs of slowing in California, public health experts are improving access to drug treatment in prisons and jails, which are often awash in fentanyl and other smuggled drugs. Nationally, drug and alcohol overdose is a top cause of death in jails and the leading cause of death for those who have been recently released. (Stringer and Varian, 2/6)

NPR: Shoppers Face Tough Time Telling Legal Weed From Black Market
On a crisp winter morning last month, Sgt. Erin McAtee watched as members of his team with the California Department of Cannabis Control executed a search warrant at a home in Fairfield, halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco. They broke open the door of what looked on the outside like any other upscale suburban house on this street. Inside, the home had been gutted, transformed into a smelly mess of marijuana plants, grow lights, chemicals and pesticides. (Mann, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: Red Cross Will Move Eaton Fire Evacuees From Pasadena
The Red Cross will soon close its temporary shelter at the Pasadena Convention Center and relocate nearly 300 people whose homes were destroyed in the Eaton fire to a new space closer to Altadena, officials say. The exact timing and location of the move remain unclear, but the Red Cross said Wednesday that it would continue to shelter evacuees until they could be placed in more permanent housing. (Solis, 2/5)

EdSource: LAUSD Outlines Initial Plans For Recovery Of Schools Damaged In Palisades Fire
The Los Angeles Unified School District announced initial plans to clean up and rebuild campuses destroyed by the Palisades fire at a news conference Tuesday morning. Students, teachers and staff at Marquez Elementary and Palisades Charter Elementary have since been transferred to Brentwood Elementary Science Magnet and Nora Sterry Elementary School. (Seshadri, 2/5)

Sacramento Bee: Is Setting A Wildfire Murder? CA Supreme Court To Decide 
Raymond Lee Oyler, sentenced to death for starting a 2006 Southern California blaze that killed five firefighters, didn’t shoot or stab his victims, or kill them personally with his bare hands. So should he be put to death? Oral arguments in his nearly 20-year-old case were heard Wednesday by the Supreme Court of California, meeting for the first time in five years in Sacramento’s historic appellate courtroom at the Stanley Mosk Library and Courthouse on the Capitol Mall downtown. (Bernstein, 2/5)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Sheriff’s Computer Dispatch System Crashes Again
For the second time in just over a month, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s computer dispatch system crashed on Wednesday evening, rendering patrol car computers unusable and forcing deputies to handle calls by radio. Previously, the 38-year-old computer-aided dispatch system — known as CAD — went down on New Year’s Eve, when a Y2K-style glitch was “not allowing personnel to log on with the new year,” according to the department. (Blakinger, 2/5)

Axios: Black Maternal Mortality Rate Isn't Improving, CDC Data Shows
The mortality rate for Black mothers in the U.S. has not improved, per data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pregnancy-related death rate for Black women is more than three times the rate for mothers of other racial and ethnic groups. (Mallenbaum, 2/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: This Simple Habit Could Reduce Your Stroke Risk By 44%, Study Shows
Regular flossing may do more than just improve dental hygiene — it could also help substantially reduce the risk of stroke, according to new research. A study presented Wednesday at the 2025 American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles revealed that flossing just once a week could lower the risk of ischemic strokes and strokes linked to heart-clot migrations by as much as 44%. (Vaziri, 2/6)