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California Healthline Original Stories
Lawmakers Send Contested Vaccine Bill To Governor. But Will He Sign It?
The state Senate on Wednesday sent a measure to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom that would tighten the rules for children’s medical exemptions from vaccines. Newsom, who said in June that he would sign the measure after amendments had been made at his request, now wants more changes. (Ana B. Ibarra, )
Good morning! Here are your top California health news stories of the day.
Controversial Vaccination Law Headed To Governor’s Desk, But Its Fate Is Not A Sure Thing: Gov. Gavin Newsom previously pledged to sign Senate Bill 276 by state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), but some uncertainty remains about the future of the legislation. On Tuesday, Newsom’s office said that the governor wants changes to the bill, which would tighten the state’s school immunization law. Newsom would “only put his signature on a bill that reflects his values,” the governor’s chief strategist Daniel Zingale told reporters. The changes Newsom wants would eliminate the penalty of perjury for doctors and retroactive counting of a doctor’s medical exemptions. Newsom’s office says the governor wants to clarify that the medical exemption forms will not be releasable under public records laws and that doctors can present additional evidence to a review panel should their decision be questioned. He also wants to clarify that the Department of Public Health will begin a reviews of schools and doctors starting in 2020. The changes would be made in a separate bill that would have to be finalized before the Legislature’s Sept. 13 deadline to pass bills.
Read more from Hannah Wiley and Sophia Bollag of the Sacramento Bee; Melody Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Times; and Dustin Gardiner and Alexei Koseff of the San Francisco Chronicle.
San Francisco Unanimously Approves Resolution Deeming NRA A Domestic Terrorist Organization: The resolution was introduced by Supervisor Catherine Stefani on July 30, two days after a shooting at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California, in which three people were killed and more than a dozen others injured. Before the resolution was put to a vote on Tuesday, Stefani spoke about the “carnage across this country,” also citing mass shootings last month in El Paso; Dayton, Ohio; and near Odessa, Texas. Stefani said the NRA conspires to limit gun violence research, restrict gun violence data sharing and block every piece of sensible gun violence prevention legislation proposed at local, state and federal levels. The NRA saw the action as a publicity stunt. “This is just another worthless and disgusting ‘sound-bite remedy’ to the violence epidemic gripping our nation,” Amy Hunter, a spokeswoman for the association, said in a statement on Wednesday. Read more from Mariel Padilla of The New York Times.
Advancing Calif. Bill Would Require Insurers To Cover Fertility Preservation For Some Cancer Patients: This year the California Legislature once again refused to pass a bill requiring insurers to provide broad coverage of in vitro fertilization. But a more tightly targeted bill is advancing and headed for a final vote: It aims to clarify that insurers must cover the cost of preserving eggs, sperm or embryos for patients whose treatment for diseases such as cancer could destroy their ability to have children. Neither, however, would benefit the one-third of low-income Californians who receive their health care through the state-administered Medi-Cal program. The average cost for in vitro fertilization, also known as IVF – where eggs are retrieved and combined with sperm in a lab to create an embryo — is $10,000 to $15,000, with an additional $5,000 to $7,000 for medication. Read more from Elizabeth Aguilera of CalMatters.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
The Desert Sun:
Desert Regional Medical Center Nurses Could Strike By Mid-September
Rumors have been swirling among the Coachella Valley that nurses at Desert Regional Medical Center could strike this week in response to unresolved labor disputes. While a strike won’t happen this week, it could take place by mid-September if the California Nurses Association decides that’s the best course of action to push negotiations forward. On Wednesday, nurses at Desert Regional voted to authorize a strike, giving bargaining representatives at the power to call a strike if they choose. By law, the union would have to give the hospital 10 days notice of the strike. (Hayden, 9/4)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Watchdog Finds HHS Shelters Unequipped For Mental Health Of Migrant Children
Migrant children who travel to the U.S. alone face significant trauma during their journeys — but the government-funded shelters tasked with their care are ill-equipped to address their mental health needs, according to a government watchdog report released Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General visited 45 facilities last year that house unaccompanied minors across 10 states, including three in California: BCFS in Fairfield, Southwest Key in Pleasant Hill and an unnamed facility in Yolo County. (Sanchez, 9/4)
The Associated Press:
'Can't Feel My Heart:' IG Says Separated Kids Traumatized
Separated from his father at the U.S.-Mexico border last year, the little boy, about 7 or 8, was under the delusion that his dad had been killed. And he thought he was next. Other children believed their parents had abandoned them. And some suffered physical symptoms because of their mental trauma, clinicians reported to investigators with a government watchdog. (9/4)
Sacramento Bee:
Sacramento Mayor Wants Downtown SRO Hotel For Homeless Fixed
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and City Council members on Tuesday demanded their housing authority address harsh conditions in downtown’s Capitol Park Hotel “with great urgency” following a Sacramento Bee report that elderly and disabled residents of the historic hotel are living with bedbug infestations and broken elevators. Steinberg on Tuesday directed the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to provide a public report by Friday on a myriad of issues that residents of the single-room occupancy hotel are experiencing, including broken elevators, bedbugs, cockroaches and water shutoffs. (Clift, 9/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Two Could Face Arson Charges In Eagle Rock Brush Fire Started At Homeless Camp
Prosecutors are still weighing criminal charges against two Los Angeles men who are accused of intentionally setting fire to a homeless encampment late last month, a situation that sparked a brush fire and led to the evacuations of several homes in Eagle Rock and Glendale, authorities said Wednesday. The Los Angeles Police Department announced the arrests of Daniel Nogueira and Brian Araujo Cabrera, both 25, on suspicion of attempted murder late Tuesday afternoon. (Queally, 9/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
‘So What’s His Kill Count?’: The Toxic Online World Where Mass Shooters Thrive
Less than two weeks after a gunman killed more than 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand, law-enforcement officials found a disturbing piece of graffiti outside a San Diego County mosque that had been set on fire. “For Brenton Tarrant -t./pol/,” it read. The cryptic message, which paid homage to the alleged New Zealand shooter and a dark corner of the internet where such shootings are celebrated, foreshadowed a string of violence. In April, one month after the graffiti appeared, John Earnest, the man who police say vandalized the mosque, allegedly attacked a nearby synagogue, leaving one person dead. Then, in August, a shooting in an El Paso Walmart killed 22. One week later, a Norwegian man allegedly opened fire at an Oslo mosque. (Wells and Lovett, 9/4)
The Associated Press:
Trump Administration Announcing Nearly $2B In Opioid Grants
The Trump administration is awarding nearly $2 billion in grants to states and local governments to help fight the opioid crisis. Health and Human Services Secretary Alexander Azar says the grants come from money that President Donald Trump secured from Congress last year. Trump says "nothing is more important than defeating the opioid and addiction crisis." (9/4)
Politico:
Trump Teases Action On Gun Control 'soon' But Is Coy On Specifics
President Donald Trump maintained Wednesday that he hopes to quickly see legislative action to address a spate of mass shootings, but he remained coy about what exactly he would support. Fielding questions from reporters following a White House event on the opioid crisis, the president said that any gun reform proposal would need to be bipartisan. (Oprysko, 9/4)
Reuters:
U.S. Judge Approves CVS Purchase Of Insurer Aetna
A federal judge reviewing a Justice Department decision to allow U.S. pharmacy chain and benefits manager CVS Health Corp to merge with health insurer Aetna said on Wednesday that the agreement was in fact legal under antitrust law. Judge Richard Leon of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had been examining a government plan announced in October to allow the merger on condition that Aetna sell its Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans Inc. Both deals have already closed. (9/4)
The New York Times:
Trouble For The Pentagon: The Troops Keep Packing On The Pounds
The United States Navy has eliminated fried food and sugary drinks on its ships. It is keeping base gyms and fitness centers open all night. But its sailors keep getting fatter: A new Defense Department study found that 22 percent of them — roughly one in every five — now qualifies as obese. The Navy’s figure is the highest, but the study found striking rises in obesity rates in the other armed services as well, even though the Pentagon has rolled out one strategy after another in recent years to try to keep the troops trim. And the increases have military leaders worried. (Philipps, 9/4)
The Washington Post:
FDA’s Ned Sharpless Gets Endorsement For Job As Permanent Commissioner
The jockeying over who will be the next Food and Drug Administration commissioner intensified Tuesday when former agency heads and dozens of health groups urged the White House to nominate acting FDA chief Norman “Ned” Sharpless to become the agency’s permanent commissioner. Supporters of Sharpless sent two letters — one from four former FDA commissioners and the other from more than 50 cancer and other groups — to President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The letters had the same message: The FDA needs a permanent commissioner, and Sharpless should be nominated and confirmed to lead the agency. (McGinley, 9/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Planned Parenthood To Expand App-Based Health Services To All 50 States
Planned Parenthood Federation of America will expand a telemedicine program to connect patients with birth-control and other services via smartphone, part of the organization’s effort to extend the reach of its health-care offerings that Republican policy makers have sought to weaken or destroy. Planned Parenthood’s telemedicine app will be available in all 50 states by next year, up from 27 states and Washington, D.C., currently, officials said Wednesday. (Armour, 9/4)
ProPublica/The New York Times:
How Amazon Hooked America On Fast Delivery While Avoiding Responsibility For Crashes
When she added Gabrielle's name to the chart in her kitchen, Judy Kennedy could picture the annual ritual. At birthdays she would ask her newest grandchild to stand up straight, heels against the door frame, so she could mark Gabrielle’s height beside that of her other granddaughter in the Maine house the family has lived in since the 1800s. But there are no lines for Gabrielle. In January, the 9-month-old was killed when a driver delivering Amazon.com packages crashed a 26-foot rented box truck into the back of her mother’s Jeep. The baby was strapped into a car seat in the back. (Callahan, 9/5)