Newsweek: California Faces Probe After Sharing People's Health Data With LinkedIn
California Representative Kevin Kiley has called for an investigation after the state's handling of sensitive health information came under scrutiny following a report that data entered by residents on the state's health insurance marketplace was shared with LinkedIn. In a letter exclusively shared with Newsweek, the Republican asked the Department of Health and Human Services to launch an investigation into the issue "due to Covered California's blatant disregard for privacy and the law." "This is incredibly disturbing," Kiley also wrote on X, formerly Twitter. (Laws, 4/30)

Southern California News Group: California’s US Senators Revive Effort To Ban Assault Weapons
U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both Democrats from California, have revived an effort to impose a nationwide ban on assault weapons — more than two decades after a similar ban expired. (Tat, 5/1)

AP: Northern California Town's Sugary Soda Tax Is First To Defy State Ban
A tax on sugary drinks takes effect Thursday in the beachside community of Santa Cruz, seven years after California banned its cities and counties from implementing local grocery taxes as part of a reluctant deal with the powerful beverage industry. The 2-cent-per-ounce tax, approved by voters in November, is the first in the state since lawmakers approved the 2018 deal. The American Beverage Association spent heavily to campaign against the ballot measure in the small city of 60,000, and in court called the tax illegal and likely to strain city resources. (Har, 5/1)

Los Angeles Times: Mayor Bass Seeks To Shutter Department Serving The City's Youths
In her proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, [Mayor Karen] Bass suggested that the city fold the Youth Development Department — along with the Department of Aging and the Economic and Workforce Development Department — into the larger Community Investment for Families Department. The Youth Development Department would no longer exist, though some of its functions would be preserved. Under Bass’ proposal, the budget dedicated to those functions would decrease from $2.3 million to less than $1.6 million. Eight employees would be laid off, with 10 remaining. (Goldberg, 5/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Judge OKs San Diego’s Newest Safe Parking Lot For Homeless Residents — For Now
A judge has given San Diego at least a temporary green light to launch another safe parking lot for hundreds of homeless residents, a victory for city officials trying to expand the region’s packed shelter system. (Nelson, 4/30)

CBS News: Santa Clara County Confirms First Carfentanil Overdose Death
Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed a 39-year-old man has died from a carfentanil overdose. County health officials said he was found with counterfeit pills that were made to look like prescription oxycodone. "Using drugs alone increases the risk of death. We urge people to avoid the dangers of opioids, especially fake pills that may contain carfentanil or fentanyl," said Dr. Michelle Jorden, Chief Medical Examiner and Neuropathologist in the Office of the Medical Examiner. "Fake pills look real, but they can be deadly. People should not take any pill that they did not buy from the pharmacy."  (Corry, 4/30)

Los Angeles Times: After Overdoses And Chaos, Will State Take Over L.A. Juvenile Halls?
For years, conditions at L.A. County’s juvenile halls have been deteriorating in plain sight. But despite entering into a settlement with the county to mandate reform, the California attorney general’s office has done little to force change as kids remain in squalid and dangerous conditions. (Queally, 5/1)

Stat: Sedative Medetomidine, Or 'Dex,' Complicates Battle Against Fentanyl
The era of “tranq” may be ending. But tranq, as the powerful veterinary tranquilizer xylazine is known in the illicit drug supply, is being replaced at least in part by a dangerous new sedative: medetomidine. (Facher, 5/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Pushes To Expand Valley Fever Screening As Cases Surge
Cases of valley fever, a fungal scourge of the arid American Southwest, appear to have hit a record high last year in California, where legislators now are calling for new screening measures to better identify new infections and make sure patients are getting the appropriate care. California reported more than 12,600 cases of valley fever, a respiratory illness that is caused by the coccidioides fungus, in 2024, according to provisional data released by the state public health department. That’s a 37% increase in cases over the previous year, which was already a near-record year for the state. (Allday, 5/1)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Lifeguards Taking Mental Health Leave As Beach Algae Bloom Takes Toll
Spencer Parker has never seen so many dolphin strandings in his more than 20 years as an L.A. County lifeguard. Since he started in 2002, only twice had he seen them come ashore before this year. But in just the last two weeks, there have been four. Now, things have gotten so bad that L.A. County lifeguards have begun taking mental health days off to cope with the devastation as an algae bloom is poisoning and killing marine life from San Diego to Santa Barbara. (Lin, 4/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Study: At-Home Testing Program Slashes Colorectal Cancer Rates, Deaths
An innovative colorectal cancer screening program at Kaiser Permanente Northern California has significantly reduced cancer rates and deaths, according to a new study by Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Northern California. The program mails at-home fecal tests to patients yearly — a convenient, noninvasive part of a screening protocol that also includes other, less frequent routine tests like colonoscopies. (Ho, 4/30)

CBS News: Diabetes Deaths Fall To Lowest Levels In Years, In Early CDC Figures
Diabetes deaths in the U.S. have fallen to some of the lowest rates in years, according to new preliminary figures published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reversing a surge in mortality that was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 26.4 deaths per 100,000 people from diabetes, according to early death certificate data for the third quarter of 2024 published this month by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. (Tin, 4/30)

MedPage Today: Breast Cancer Mortality In Young Women Declined Precipitously After 2010
While the incidence of breast cancer in young women has been increasing over the last 20 years, breast cancer deaths in this age group fell significantly between 2010 and 2020, researchers found. Among women ages 20 to 49, incidence-based mortality declined from 9.70 per 100,000 women in 2010 to 1.47 per 100,000 in 2020, reported Adetunji Toriola, MD, PhD, MPH, of the Siteman Cancer Center at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in Chicago. (Bassett, 4/30)

ABC News: Active Ingredient In Weight Loss Drug Wegovy May Help Treat Type Of Fatty Liver Disease: Study
The active ingredient in the popular weight loss drug Wegovy may help treat a type of fatty liver disease, according to new research. The disease, known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), occurs where fat builds up in the liver, leading to inflammation, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (Chang, 4/30)

The Washington Post: RFK Jr. Will Order 'Placebo' Testing For New Vaccines, Alarming Health Experts 
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. intends to shift the way vaccines are tested, a move that the agency said will increase transparency but that medical experts fear could limit access to vaccines and undermine the public’s trust in immunization depending on its implementation. The potential change outlined in a statement says all new vaccines will be required to undergo placebo testing, a procedure in which some people receive the vaccine and others receive an inert substance — such as a saline shot — before the results are compared. (Weber, Roubein, Sun and Johnson, 4/30)

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Bets $500 Million On Universal Vaccines In Shift From Covid-19 Funding
In a shift away from next-generation Covid-19 vaccines, the Trump administration is investing $500 million in a vaccine project championed by two scientists who were recently tapped to serve in senior roles within the National Institutes of Health, according to emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The unusually large sum comes as the nation’s health agencies are cutting budgets, shrinking staff and terminating hundreds of active research grants. (Subbaraman, 5/1)

NBC News: The Little-Known Database At The Heart Of Kennedy’s Vaccine Conspiracy Theory
Without evidence, anti-vaccine lawyer Aaron Siri and activist Del Bigtree have claimed on the internet show "The HighWire" that the CDC scattered the vaccine safety data after Kennedy took office, making it unavailable for Kennedy’s team to examine. The goal, according to Siri, was to “thwart the ability for the current administration to actually conduct a study in the VSD.” ... A CDC spokesperson confirmed that nothing about the stewardship of VSD data had changed in the last year. (Zadrozny, 4/30)

CIDRAP: CIDRAP's Vaccine Integrity Project Names Steering Committee Members
The University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) has announced the steering committee members for its Vaccine Integrity Project, which was introduced last week. (Van Beusekom, 4/30)

CIDRAP: Analysis: Small But Meaningful Menstrual Cycle Changes Follow Flu Vaccination
Receiving an influenza vaccine with or without a co-administered COVID-19 vaccine was associated with a small and temporary—but meaningful—change in the menstrual cycles of regularly menstruating women, according to a study published yesterday in JAMA Network Open. The study was based on data collected from an English-language digital birth control app used globally. (Soucheray, 4/30)

NBC News: New Research Contradicts RFK Jr.'s Claim That Severe Autism Cases Are Rising
When Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the government’s new autism findings this month, he painted a grim and highly controversial picture: Not only was autism becoming more prevalent, he said, but “most cases now are severe.” The notion that severe symptoms are becoming more common isn’t substantiated by scientific evidence. Rather, new research being announced this week at the annual meeting of the International Society for Autism Research in Seattle suggests that the share of autism cases with moderate or significant symptoms remained relatively consistent from 2000 to 2016. (Bendix, 4/30)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley Nonprofit's Violence Prevention Program Defunded By Trump Administration
Violence prevention and intervention programs, resources for crime victims, opioid addiction treatment, and other public safety initiatives are being slashed in Alameda County following an announcement last Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice that it is reducing $811 million in grants across the nation for community groups. Locally, the funding cuts impact groups including Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency or BOSS, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, Impact Justice, Phillips Black, Youth Alive, and The Working Group. (Romero, 4/30)

Medill News Service: NIH Ends Role In Safe To Sleep Campaign To Prevent Infants Deaths 
The Trump administration has cancelled federal participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep, STAT and the Medill News Service have learned. (Belkoura, 4/30)

Stat: NIH Plans To Reduce Animal Testing In Federally Funded Research 
In a significant move, the National Institutes for Health said it would reduce its reliance on animals in federally funded research and instead prioritize investment in human-based alternatives, the second time this month that a key government agency has taken such a step. (Silverman, 4/30)

Fierce Healthcare: Trump's First 100 Days: A Pulse Check On Healthcare
The opening months of President Donald Trump’s second term in office have brought a clear paradigm shift across healthcare—both inside and outside of the federal government. Since his opening salvo of executive orders, the president and his administration have been pushing to overhaul the funding and oversight of care delivery. Mainstay health programs have been on the chopping block, international collaborations have been severed, public health research priorities have been shifted and non-government organizations supporting politically contentious services or practices have been outright targeted. (Muoio, Tong, Beavins, Gliadkovskaya and Minemyer, 4/30)