San Diego Union-Tribune: Gloria's Proposed Budget Cuts Would Hit San Diego's Neediest Especially Hard, City Analysis Finds
Nearly $40 million of the $100 million in budget cuts San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is proposing would damage recent city efforts to boost low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, a new report says. (Garrick, 5/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: County Moves Forward With Plan For A Long-Term Migrant Center After Securing Federal Funding 
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to move forward with a plan for a long-term transfer center and respite shelter after securing federal funding to assist arriving migrants. (Mendoza, 5/1)

CapRadio: Health Fair For Unhoused Sacramentans Offers Direct Link To Health, Housing Services
The second annual River District Health Fair was held last week in Sacramento. It offered unhoused residents in the Sacramento neighborhood north of downtown free screenings, showers, employment and housing help and connections to health services. With her second child on the way in a few months, 24-year-old Tykia Morgan of Sacramento said health care will be critical for her growing family. (Nichols, 5/1)

Los Angeles Times: Housing In Los Angeles: One Man’s Creative Solution For Finding A Place To Live
After a hard day’s work, Cameron Gordon sometimes finds a bit of solace as he lounges on the gurney in his yard, surveying a patchwork of weeds, potted plants, garden beds and a hose that meanders across the dirt. This is where his struggle to navigate the housing crisis has left him: living by day on an 18,000-square-foot lot in Sun Valley, pulling weeds, watering trees — and then leaving at night as he searches for a safe place to sleep. (Gauthier, 5/2)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Likely To Dismiss Climate Change Lawsuit By California Children 
Eighteen California children who allege the United States’ climate policies intentionally discriminate against minors appeared in federal court this week with their landmark lawsuit in jeopardy. The children, ages 8 through 17, sued the U.S. government and the federal Environmental Protection Agency for violating their constitutional rights. Their attorneys claim the nation’s environmental policies have allowed dangerous levels of greenhouse gases to be released and accumulate in the atmosphere, knowing these emissions will endanger their well-being and future. (Briscoe, 5/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: 2024 Could Be Hottest On Record. Here’s What It Means For California
2023 was the planet’s warmest year on record, coming in 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average. But California bucked the trend. The state overall was just 0.8 degrees above the 1991-2020 average; some places had near- to below-average temperatures. There’s a 55% chance that 2024 will be even warmer than 2023, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And for now, California is expected to be in line with this projection. (Lee, 5/2)

Oaklandside: Rattlesnake Season Is Here. Here’s How To Stay Safe
The sun is coming out, the hiking trails are heating up, and more East Bay residents are heading out to get some vitamin D. But they’re not the only ones looking to soak up the sun. With warmer temperatures on their way, the local rattlesnake population is also taking to the trails. On April 30, the East Bay Regional Park district issued a rattlesnake advisory, advising park visitors how to stay safe this summer as rattlesnakes emerge from hibernation. (Rhoades, 5/1)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Tri-City Nurses Speak Out On Staffing 
Nurses gathered Wednesday morning outside Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside to call for better staffing as the public hospital, reeling from cost increases, struggles to regain its financial health. (Sisson, 5/1)

Reuters: Healthcare And Drugmaker Groups Seek To Revive Challenge To US Drug-Pricing Law 
Healthcare and drug industry groups on Wednesday urged a U.S. appeals court to revive their challenge to a law requiring manufacturers to negotiate the prices of some drugs with the U.S government's Medicare health insurance program or pay heavy penalties. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the Global Colon Cancer Association and the National Infusion Center Association (NICA) sued the government last year, claiming the program, a signature initiative of Democratic President Joe Biden, violated the U.S. Constitution by giving too much power to federal regulators and imposing excessive fines on companies that refuse to participate. (Pierson, 5/1)

Stat: DEA Reverses Course To Avert Morphine Shortages 
The Drug Enforcement Administration is reversing a regulation that had been expected to create shortages of morphine and other opioid injectables, according to a DEA letter to drugmakers obtained by STAT. (Wilkerson, 5/1)

Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Slam UnitedHealth's Andrew Witty At Change Healthcare Hearings
UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty endured withering criticism from lawmakers Wednesday as Congress held a pair of hearings on the Change Healthcare cyberattack and its fallout. The Senate Finance Committee got first crack at the healthcare executive Wednesday morning before Witty headed to the other side of Capitol Hill to testify before a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee in the afternoon. (McAuliff, 5/1)

CBS News: UnitedHealth Data Breach Caused By Lack Of Multifactor Authentication, CEO Says
Hackers breached the computer system of a UnitedHealth Group subsidiary and released ransomware after stealing someone's password, CEO Andrew Witty testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The cybercriminals entered through a portal that didn't have multifactor authentication (MFA) enabled. During an hourslong congressional hearing, Witty told lawmakers that the company has not yet determined how many patients and health care professionals were impacted by the cyberattack. (Brooks, 5/1)

CNBC: One-Third Of Americans Could Be Hit By Change Healthcare Cyberattack
UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty on Wednesday told lawmakers that data from an estimated one-third of Americans could have been compromised in the cyberattack on its subsidiary Change Healthcare, and that the company paid a $22 million ransom to hackers. (Capoot, 5/1)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth’s Andrew Witty Leads CEO Compensation In 2023
UnitedHealth Group's Andrew Witty became the highest-paid CEO among the major health insurers last year, but his total compensation paled in comparison to Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini. Witty's total 2023 compensation was $23.5 million, up 12.8% from a year earlier, driven by gains in stock and option awards. (Berryman, 5/1)

The War Horse: PACT Act Update: VA Signs Up 280,000 New Veterans, But Some Are Still Left Out
The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has signed up more than 280,000 new veterans and completed roughly 900,000 new toxic exposure claims under the expansion of the PACT Act, a Biden administration move that sped up the implementation of a 2023 law aimed at securing benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits overseas. Veterans who had exposure to some toxic substances during their military service, whether they deployed or not, became eligible for VA health coverage under the legislation as of March 5. Former service members who served as far back as the Vietnam War can have their health care costs covered for a long list of possible illnesses considered service connected, including those from exposures during domestic training or assignment. (Myers, 5/2)

NBC News: Two Possible Bird Flu Vaccines Could Be Available Within Weeks, If Needed
The U.S. has two vaccines ready should the strain of bird flu circulating in dairy cows begin spreading easily to people, federal health officials said Wednesday. They could begin shipping doses widely within weeks, if needed. ... At a briefing Wednesday, government health officials said they are preparing for a potential scenario of H5N1 jumping from animal to person — or person to person. (Lovelace Jr., 5/1)

CIDRAP: FDA Finds No Live H5N1 Avian Flu Virus In Sour Cream Or Cottage Cheese, Will Assess Raw Milk 
In updates today from federal agencies involved in the response to H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in dairy cows, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said egg inoculation tests on cottage cheese and sour cream that tested positive for traces of the virus traces showed no live virus. (Schnirring, 5/1)

Stat: Missing Data Stymies Scientists Tracking Bird Flu Virus Changes 
Another upload of genetic sequence data from the H5N1 bird flu outbreak in dairy cattle has exacerbated the scientific community’s frustration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the agency again failed to include basic information needed to track how the virus is changing as it spreads. (Branswell, 5/2)

CBS News: Ground Beef Tested Negative For Bird Flu, USDA Says
Tests of ground beef purchased at retail stores have been negative for bird flu so far, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday, after studying meat samples collected from states with herds infected by this year's unprecedented outbreak of the virus in cattle. The results "reaffirm that the meat supply is safe," the department said in a statement published late Wednesday after the testing was completed. (Tin, 5/1)

KVPR: The CDC Says Maternal Mortality Rates In The U.S. Got Better, After A Pandemic Spike
After spiking in 2021, the maternal mortality rate in the U.S. improved significantly the following year, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data shows that 817 women died of maternal causes in the U.S. in 2022, compared to 1,205 in 2021. These are deaths that take place during pregnancy or within 42 days following delivery, according to the World Health Organization, "from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes." (Simmons-Duffin, 5/1)

NPR: Benefits Of Hormone Therapy For Menopause Symptoms Outweigh Risks, Study Finds
The benefits of hormone therapy for the treatment of menopause symptoms outweigh the risks. That's the conclusion of a new study published in the medical journal JAMA. "Among women below the age of 60, we found hormone therapy has low risk of adverse events and [is] safe for treating bothersome hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms, " says study author Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. This is a departure from the advice many women have been given in the past. (Aubrey, 5/1)

AP: Abortion Consumes US Politics, Courts Two Years After SCOTUS Draft Leak 
Two years after a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion signaled that the nation’s abortion landscape was about to shift dramatically, the issue is still consuming the nation’s courts, legislatures and political campaigns — and changing the course of lives. The Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case was released officially on June 24, 2022, upending nearly 50 years of abortion being legal nationwide. But the world caught a glimpse of it about six weeks earlier, on May 2, after a news outlet published a leaked draft. (Mulvihill, 5/2)

The New York Times: Aspirin Can Prevent A Deadly Pregnancy Complication. Why Aren’t Women Told? 
Baby aspirin is routinely prescribed to people who survive heart attacks. But there’s another vulnerable group who benefit from daily low-dose aspirin: pregnant women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, life-threatening high blood pressure. But not enough pregnant women are getting the word that low-dose aspirin can help. Now leading experts are hoping to change that. (Rabin, 5/1)

KVPR: Amazon, Target And Other Retailers Pull Weighted Infant Sleepwear Over Safety Fears
Three of the nation's largest retailers have pulled weighted infant sleepwear from their shelves over mounting concerns that the products could be unsafe for babies. The decisions by Amazon, Walmart and Target come amid repeated warnings from federal regulators, medical experts and safe-sleep advocates over the potential dangers of products such as swaddles and sleep sacks that contain added weight. (Hernandez, 5/2)

CBS News: 12% Of LGBTQ Youth Attempted Suicide Last Year, Nationwide Survey Says
More than a third of LGBTQ young people, or 39%, seriously considered suicide in the past year, the survey found. That number was even higher for transgender and nonbinary youth at 46%. Of all LGBTQ youth, 12% attempted suicide in the past year. Despite these risks, half of LGBTQ youth who wanted mental health care could not get it, the survey found. (Breen, 5/1)

Los Angeles Times: LGBTQ+ People In Huntington Beach Fearful From A Rise In Hostility
Huntington Beach radiates California cool. The best surfers in the world descend here each summer to compete on waves rolling in under its public pier. Convertibles zoom past towering palms along Pacific Coast Highway. Beachfront homeowners enjoy breathtaking views, and everybody seems to sport a hang-loose attitude. But trans activist Kanan Durham says Surf City USA and Orange County in general have grown more and more unwelcoming — in some cases hostile — for members of the LGBTQ+ community. (Beason, 5/2)