KQED: California Lawmakers Propose $23 Billion Bond To Make Up Trump Cuts To Science Funding
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday announced an ambitious effort for California to make up for billions of dollars the Trump administration is seeking to cut from scientific and medical research, which critics say threatens American innovation and health. The proposal, SB 607, would ask state voters in November 2026 to authorize the issuance of bonds for $23 billion. That ballot measure would create and fund the California Foundation for Science and Health Research to continue developing cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and other diseases, as well as discoveries in climate science, wildfire prevention, pandemic preparedness and other fields. (Romero, 9/17)

Stat: NIH Releases New Plan For Awarding Foreign Research Grants
Starting early next year, scientists hoping to secure funding from the National Institutes of Health to pursue projects involving research partners overseas will encounter a new system for awarding and tracking those grants. Agency officials say the changes will improve the integrity, accountability, and national security of NIH-funded research. “It’s something that had been a long time coming,” Jon Lorsch, the NIH acting deputy director for extramural research, told STAT in an interview. “It was clear that we did not have good data at all for where the money was going or how it was being spent.” (Molteni, 9/18)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Health Invests $4.5M In Epic EHR Integration
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health has invested $4.5 million to launch a shared Epic EHR system with Sacramento-based WellSpace Health, one of the region’s largest federally qualified health center networks. The integration brings both organizations onto Epic, giving clinicians real-time access to patient data such as lab results, medications, allergies and clinical notes. (Diaz, 9/17)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Health Adopts AI Agents For Patient Self-Service
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health is partnering with Hyro to deploy AI agents across voice, chat and SMS to extend self-service capabilities to patients. Sutter Health will integrate Hyro’s agentic AI tools into its systemwide operations to streamline functions such as appointment scheduling, prescription refills, billing inquiries and other routine communications, according to a Sept. 17 news release. (Jeffries, 9/17)

Modesto Bee: Promotoras Program In Stanislaus County Faces Uncertainty
The Promotoras Community Health Outreach Workers program, a bridge between Spanish-speaking residents and services in Stanislaus County, could come to an end next year. This comes as more Latino community members become hesitant to access resources amid fears of immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration. (Bisharyan, 9/17)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Husband And Wife Physicians Join Sutter Medical Group Of The Redwoods
Two new physicians — a husband-and-wife team — have joined Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods. (Sarfaty, 9/17)

The Washington Post: U.S. Organ Transplants Corrupted By Greed And Bias, Whistleblower Says
In early 2020, a director of the kidney transplant program at Parkland Health in Dallas noticed a problem. Patients were languishing on the waiting list for donated kidneys. One patient, he said, had waited nine years for a kidney transplant, and by that time he had become too sick for the procedure. Others died waiting. “No one should have to wait that long,” he said in a recent interview. (Whoriskey, 9/17)

MedPage Today: Medical Imaging Linked To Blood Cancers In Kids
One of every 10 blood cancers in children may result from radiation exposure associated with medical imaging, according to a large retrospective analysis. ... A key takeaway from the analysis is to avoid unnecessary imaging in children. (Bankhead, 9/17)

KQED: Newsom’s New Statewide Encampment Taskforce Ramps Up Operations In San Francisco
As Caltrans workers cleared the last remnants of an encampment from beneath a San Francisco overpass on Tuesday, Candice Dixon wondered if she would soon be asked to leave. There, workers were for the latest operation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new task force, which brings together California’s departments of transportation, law enforcement, health and housing, among others, to remove homeless encampments across California. (Baldassari, 9/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Can Proposed S.F. Homeless Shelter Help Fentanyl Users Stay Sober?
San Francisco is looking to relocate a tiny cabin village for homeless people and test out a new program model to keep those addicted to fentanyl in treatment. San Francisco’s homelessness department submitted a permit application last week to relocate a recently shuttered, 60-unit tiny cabin site near the Mission’s 16th Street BART Station to 428 11th St. in the South of Market neighborhood. At the new location, officials are considering piloting a new recovery-based housing model that would give those struggling with opioid addiction a shelter bed if they agree to initiate a long-lasting, injectable form of medication-assisted treatment, according to Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents SoMa. (Angst, 9/18)

The New York Times: Trump Wants States To Force More Drug Users Into Rehab: What To Know
The sight is increasingly common: people openly using drugs, menacing pedestrians, strewing sidewalks and parks with needles, syringes and resin-crusted patches of foil. President Trump recently proposed a solution. He wants to force them off the streets and into treatment. The concept is not as unlikely as it might seem. (Hoffman, 9/17)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Healdsburg Mom Helps Pave Way For Sonoma County's First Disability-Inclusive Playground
The Healdsburg playground will be the first of its kind in Sonoma County, said Magical Bridge founder and Chief Executive Officer Olenka Villarreal. “Magical Bridge exists to create a new kind of public playground to include the needs of the whole family,” Villarreal told the City Council. “A playground should be a place where everyone comes together no matter their ability or disability.” (Windsor, 9/17)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Increasingly Places Immigrants In Solitary Confinement, Report Finds
Use of solitary confinement in immigration detention is soaring under the Trump administration, according to a report published Wednesday by Physicians for Human Rights using federal data and records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed at least 10,588 people in solitary confinement from April 2024 to May 2025, the report found. Contributors also included experts from Harvard University’s Peeler Immigration Lab and Harvard Law School. (Castillo, 9/18)

Fierce Healthcare: RFK Jr. Demanded Vaccine Policy Change Without Evidence, Fired CDC Director Testifies
Ousted Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Susan Monarez, Ph.D., testified Wednesday that ahead of her firing, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told her there was “no science or evidence” in support of the current childhood vaccine schedule and that he planned to change it in September. ... Monarez recounted her side of the conflict with the secretary that occurred during multiple meetings Aug. 25. “We got into an exchange where I had suggested I would be open to changing the childhood vaccine schedule if the evidence or science were supporting,” Monarez said. “And he responded that there was no science or evidence associated with the childhood vaccine schedule, and he elaborated that CDC had never collected the science or the data to make it available [in relation] to the safety and efficacy." (Muoio, 9/17)

The Boston Globe: Susan Monarez Hearing: Senators Try To Divide RFK Jr. And Trump
Less than two months ago, Susan Monarez sat before a Senate committee and convinced senators to confirm her to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Wednesday, she returned to that same committee to give her version of the events that led to her removal by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after just 29 days, reportedly for refusing to rubber-stamp upcoming recommendations from a vaccine panel stocked with his allies. She was joined by former chief medical officer Debra Houry, who resigned in protest when Monarez was fired. (Kopan, 9/17)

CBS News: Inside The CDC Vaccine Panel's High-Stakes Meeting: Science, Politics And The Future Of Vaccination
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will convene Thursday and Friday of this week under an unaccustomed spotlight. The committee, known as ACIP, usually attracts little attention as it deliberates vaccine schedules and eligibility, but suddenly finds itself navigating political scrutiny, public skepticism and internal upheaval. The stakes extend well beyond the technical details of dosing intervals or eligibility cutoffs. (Gounder, 9/17)

CIDRAP: Insurance Trade Group Says COVID, Flu Vaccines Covered Through 2026
In a major development, AHIP (formerly America's Health Insurance Plans), the insurance company trade group, announced that it will continue to cover updated COVID vaccines and flu vaccines through the end of 2026. The announcement comes just before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is set to meet beginning tomorrow to discuss the use of and recommendations for those vaccines. (Soucheray, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Why Seniors Who Want Covid Shots Should Consider Getting One This Week
For people 65 or older considering getting a new covid shot, this week might be the best opportunity to get vaccinated without complications before a federal vaccine advisory committee’s scheduled Friday vote to issue recommendations. That’s because that panel, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, has been weighing revisions to coronavirus vaccine recommendations that could make it more difficult for seniors to access the shots as soon as this weekend, according to several people familiar with their deliberations. (Sun and Ovalle, 9/17)

Bloomberg: Risk Of US Government Shutdown Rises With Democratic Counteroffer
An increasingly rancorous standoff over funding the US government intensified Wednesday as congressional Democrats swung big on a counteroffer, ratcheting up the risk of an Oct. 1 shutdown. Democrats are demanding President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans agree to health care policy changes that House Speaker Mike Johnson has said have “zero” chance of becoming law as part of the spending bill. (Wasson, 9/17)

Politico: Trump’s Health Care Cuts May Hit Voters Sooner Than He Thinks 
he conventional wisdom in Washington is that by pushing off big changes to Medicaid until after the 2026 midterms, Republicans shielded themselves from voter backlash. Don’t be so sure. A full year before anyone casts their vote in November 2026 — meaning now, in the fall of 2025 — the American health care system will begin transitioning from an era of unprecedented expansion of coverage to an era of unprecedented cutbacks. And President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will be easy to blame. (Kenen, 9/18)

Modern Healthcare: PBM Bill Will Pass This Winter: Rep. Buddy Carter
Bills to limit pharmacy benefit managers have been among the most popular and bipartisan pieces of legislation introduced in Congress during the last two years, yet none have passed. Is this finally the year? The House passed the Lower Costs More Transparency Act of 2023 with a PBM provision in the last Congress. The Senate, however, only advanced PBM bills as far as committee consideration. (McAuliff, 9/17)

VC Star: LA Public Health Officials Issue Warning. What Is Kratom, 7-OH?
A supplement marketed as a remedy for pain and anxiety, commonly sold at gas stations and smoke shops, is the subject of a public health warning after multiple overdose deaths in Los Angeles County. (Cattani, 9/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: UC Berkeley-Led Study Vindicates ‘Drunken Monkey’ Hypothesis
A new study led by UC Berkeley scientists reports that as chimpanzees nosh on ripe fruits in their native habitats, they consume as much alcohol as a typical can of beer or glass of wine each day. The researchers are the first to measure daily ethanol consumption by wild chimpanzees. Their findings support the “drunken monkey” hypothesis, that posits the human appetite for alcohol was inherited from our primate ancestors. (Lee, 9/17)

NPR: Vitamin B3 May Help Prevent Skin Cancer, New Study Finds
Doctors who perform skin cancer surgeries often recommend nicotinamide — which is a form of Vitamin B3 — to their patients. It's been shown to protect cells from UV radiation damage. Now, a new study of nearly 34,000 veterans, finds this over-the-counter supplement is linked to a reduction in non-melanoma skin cancers among people who've already had skin cancer. The research was published in JAMA Dermatology. (Aubrey, 9/17)

AP: FDA Proposes To Ban The Food Dye Orange B From Sausage Casings And Frankfurters
Federal regulators are proposing to remove another artificial dye from the U.S. food supply — Orange B, a synthetic color that hasn’t been used in the U.S. for decades. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it would seek to repeal the regulation allowing use of the dye approved in 1966 to color sausage casings and frankfurters. No batches of the dye have been certified, or asked to be used, since 1978, FDA officials said. (Aleccia, 9/17)

Bloomberg: Lilly Seeks Mounjaro Approval For Diabetic Kids On Positive Study Results
Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro helped kids as young as 10 control their blood sugar and lose weight in a study that may give doctors another tool to fight childhood diabetes. The shot that’s been embraced by adult diabetics proved similarly beneficial for younger patients, reducing their blood sugar levels by an average of about 2%, according to results released at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Vienna. They also lost more than 10% of their body weight after a year of treatment. (Muller, 9/17)

Medical Xpress: Antipsychotic-Treated Patients With Schizophrenia See Benefits From Semaglutide, Study Claims
A multicenter collaboration of Danish researchers reports that once-weekly semaglutide for 30 weeks lowered blood sugar levels and body weight and improved physical quality of life in antipsychotic-treated adults with schizophrenia and prediabetes. Cardiometabolic illness cuts life expectancy in schizophrenia, with lifestyle risks and barriers to physical care adding to the burden. Second-generation antipsychotics can accelerate weight gain and impair glucose tolerance. (Jackson, 9/17)