The Associated Press: California Tightens Rules For Concealed Weapons, Bump Stocks
Californians will have to undergo at least eight hours of training, including live-fire exercises, before carrying a concealed weapon, under one of several firearms bills acted on by Gov. Jerry Brown. The bill helps standardize the state's current patchwork requirements for obtaining concealed weapons permits. It was among dozens of bills that the Democratic governor announced signing or vetoing Wednesday. (9/26)

Los Angeles Times: Why Australia's Famed Gun Control Laws Probably Wouldn't Reduce Shooting Deaths In America
On a spring day in the Tasmanian town of Port Arthur, a lone gunman shot an elderly couple at the inn they owned, 22 diners lunching at a nearby tourist spot, two tour bus drivers and several of their passengers, four occupants of a BMW, and two customers at a gas station. By the time the bullets stopped flying on April 28, 1996, 35 people were dead and another 23 were wounded. It was the worst mass shooting Australia had ever seen. In a matter of months, Australia rolled out the National Firearms Agreement, which banned the possession of automatic and semiautomatic firearms in all but “exceptional circumstances.” (Kaplan, 9/26)

The Desert Sun: Family Border Separations: Teen Immigrant's Mental Health Collapsed In Detention
Artemio spends a large portion of his days sleeping. When he's awake, the 18-year-old from Guatemala often stares blankly into the distance and repeats a set of mannerisms: He rubs his wrists as if they are sore and cradles his ribs as if he has a stomachache. He massages his collarbone and, one at a time, extends his knees and then relaxes them. He speaks only when he's asked a question, mumbling sentence fragments in response. Fifteen months ago, Artemio's father, López, said his son was "100 percent well." The two traveled last summer from their home in the Guatemalan countryside to the California-Mexico border. When they crossed the border in Calexico, they asked immigration agents for asylum. Officials separated the father and son; Artemio spent the next 11 months in migrant youth detention facilities in San Diego and New York. (Plevin, 9/26)

In other news —

The California Health Report (healthycal.org): Stress And Health Problems Plague Rural, Immigrant Communities Near The Border 
Foreign-born immigrants in rural areas of the United States are facing grinding poverty, high levels of stress, discrimination and lack access to medical resources, putting their mental and physical health in jeopardy, according to a new study by the University of California, Riverside. Ann Cheney, an assistant professor with the university’s School of Medicine, led research in Southern California’s Eastern Coachella Valley, near the border with Mexico. Between 2015 and 2016, she and her team interviewed dozens of Mexican farmworkers, farmworker advocates, community leaders and health care providers about the challenges immigrants face and the effect these have on their health. (Boyd-Barrett, 9/26)

The Bakersfield Californian: Dozens More Jobs Being Cut At Adventist Health Bakersfield 
Dozens more jobs will soon be eliminated at Adventist Health Bakersfield as the Chester Avenue hospital continues an outsourcing drive that has affected about 175 positions at the medical center since April. About 40 workers in the division known as patient financial services have been told their positions will be cut in the first or second quarters of next year, though some may be rehired in Missouri. An additional 20 employees would have been affected but they found other jobs within or outside the hospital. The affected employees do not include 13 to 15 lab assistant jobs being cut at the hospital effective Nov. 16, or the undisclosed number of local positions lost last year and early this year as Adventist cut some finance and human resources functions in Bakersfield. Fewer than 10 local workers eventually transferred to the company's headquarters in Roseville. (Cox, 9/26)

In other news —

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Medical Center Gets Interim Chief
Brad Simmons, the chief operating officer at UC Davis Medical Center, will take over as the interim chief executive officer of the teaching hospital as CEO Ann Madden Rice leaves to become president of Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis in mid-October. Simmons’ appointment is pending approval by the University of California Board of Regents. He has served as the second-in-command at the medical center since 2016. (Anderson, 9/26)

The Associated Press: Congress Sends Bill To Trump To Avert Government Shutdown
Congress has approved a bill keeping the government open through Dec. 7, as lawmakers move to avert a government shutdown looming next week. The $854 billion bill also funds the military and a host of civilian agencies for the next year. The House approved the bill, 361-61, on Wednesday, a week after the Senate approved it, 93-7. (9/26)

Reuters: Trump To Back U.S. Spending Bill, Avert Government Shutdown
The massive package includes some $675 billion to fund the Department of Defense for the full year ending on Sept. 30, 2019, as well as about $180 billion for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Departments. (Cowan and Zengerle, 9/26)

The Wall Street Journal: House Passes Spending Bill To Avert Shutdown
The bill also raises spending for the National Institutes of Health to $39 billion, a $2 billion increase, and provides a 1.6% bump in the maximum Pell grant award for college students with financial need. (Duehren, 9/26)

The Washington Post: Trump Pledges ‘We’ll Keep The Government Open’ Days Ahead Of Shutdown Deadline
President Trump pledged Wednesday that he would not allow the government to partially shut down next week, backing down from his demand that Congress appropriate billions of dollars for new construction of a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Keeping the government open after Sunday would require Trump to sign a bipartisan spending bill from Congress, something he had resisted committing to for weeks. (Werner and Paletta, 9/26)

In other national health care news —

The Associated Press: 80,000 People Died Of Flu Last Winter In US
An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter — the disease's highest death toll in at least four decades. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, revealed the total in an interview Tuesday night with The Associated Press. Flu experts knew it was a very bad season, but at least one found the size of the estimate surprising. (9/26)

The New York Times: Dozens Of Doctors Who Screen Immigrants Have Record Of ‘Egregious Infractions,’ Report Says
The doctors tapped by the federal government to medically screen immigrants seeking green cards include dozens with a history of “egregious infractions,” according to a report from a federal watchdog agency. The report looked at more than 5,500 doctors across the country used by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services as of June 2017 to examine those seeking green cards. More than 130 had some background of wrongdoing, including one who sexually exploited female patients and another who tried to have a dissatisfied patient killed, the report said. (Zaveri, 9/26)

The Hill: Dems Want To Hold Officials’ Feet To The Fire On ObamaCare 
Democrats say they will grill top Trump administration officials over what they say has been its efforts to “sabotage” ObamaCare, if they take back the House majority this fall and win committee chairmanships with subpoena power. While Democrats are unlikely to see significant health-care legislation enacted while President Trump is in the White House, they say they’ll work to advance several bills designed to “undo” the damage caused by the administration and build up the Affordable Care Act (ACA). (Hellmann, 9/27)

The Wall Street Journal: More Young Veterans Committing Suicide, VA Data Show
The rate of suicide among young military veterans has increased substantially despite efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs to curb the problem, though overall veteran suicides declined slightly, according to new data to be released Wednesday. The VA’s National Suicide Data Report paints a troubling picture for vets ages 18 to 34, for some troops who served in the National Guard or reserves, as well as female veterans. (Kesling, 9/26)

The New York Times: Male, Female Or ‘X’: The Push For A Third Choice On Official Forms
Charlie Arrowood does not identify as male or female. So in January, when a new New York City law takes effect, they plan to modify the sex recorded on their birth certificate to one that fits: “X,” a gender-neutral option. Mx. Arrowood, who is transgender, changed both their name and sex on the certificate last year. But putting “male” instead of “female” on the document did not feel quite right either. (Newman, 9/27)