Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
The New West: Smoke In The Sky, A Purifier At Home
Amid forecasts for increasingly unhealthy air due to wildfire smoke, residents in Western states are snatching up home air purifiers. With good reason. (Mark Kreidler, )
Good morning! Here are your top California health stories of the day.
Newsom Expands State Task Force To Deal With Extremism, Demands Gender Be A Part Of Gun Violence Conversation: Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed expanding a state task force to combat violent extremism following the three mass shootings that left at least 34 people dead in Texas, Ohio and California over the past week. The commission, created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, would seek ways to reduce the threat of similar violent attacks and increase safety at schools and major public events. Newsom also called on urged leaders to talk about the role gender plays in the mass shooting incidents that have struck the country. "These shootings overwhelmingly — almost exclusively — are males, boys, men. I do think that is missing in the national conversation," Newsom said. "I think that goes deep to the issue of how we raise our boys to be men, goes deeply to values that we tend to hold dear — power, dominance, aggression, over empathy, care and collaboration." California already has some of the strongest gun laws in the nation, but Newsom said Monday he is considering ways to strengthen the state's gun violence restraining order that can prevent people from obtaining a firearm if they pose a danger to themselves or others. Read more from Phil WIlon of the Los Angeles Times and Angela Hart of Politico.
Newsom also suggested that there should be a national law that echoes California legislation requiring background checks for ammo purchases. Just this week, new data was released from court filings that show more than 100 illegal purchases have been blocked by the law that just went into effect July 1. Following mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton, Newsom said ammunition sales is a missing piece of the national discussion about how to reduce gun deaths. “It’s interesting we are debating background checks on guns, but we’re not debating background checks on their dangerous component,” he said. “That’s rather curious to me. It’s an incomplete part of this debate.” Read more from Bryan Anderson of the Sacramento Bee and Don Thompson of The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein renewed her call Monday to reinstate a federal assault weapons ban and cited data that said an expired one was effective. But would that really work? Read the fact check from Emily Cadei of the Sacramento Bee.
And Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael ) said he will add the bullet tax to a bill he plans to revive that would also set a $25 tax on the sale of handguns and semiautomatic rifles sold in California. The tax revenue would go to grants to local programs that seek to reduce violence in communities where gun crimes are common. Read more from Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times.
In related news, in Gilory the lessons learned from earlier shootings across the country almost certainly saved lives and improved the long-term outlook for those who survived, say local doctors and other health care providers. “We’ve used lessons we’ve learned from military physicians as well as shootings that have happened around the country. All of those tools allow us to stop bleeding and ensure patients get to care in relatively decent condition, with wounds that are treatable,” said Dr. Adella Garland, the trauma medical director at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, which treated several shooting victims from the garlic festival. Read more from Erin Allday of the San Francisco Chronicle.
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
Capital Public Radio:
For Cash-Strapped Older Adults, A Costly Wait For Medicare
Medicare covers nearly all seniors in California – only 1.4% of those 65 and older in the state lack health insurance, according to a study conducted by UC Berkeley looking at the years 2015 to 2017. But nearly 9% of Californians ages 50 to 64 are uninsured. ...While new state subsidies aim to make individual premiums more affordable for middle-income individuals, officials still fear that won’t be enough for the pre-Medicare age group seeking insurance through Covered California. (Hayden, 8/5)
inewsource:
Quadriplegic Veteran’s Death At San Diego VA Might Have Been Avoidable, Report Says
Staff at the San Diego VA hospital failed to follow rules and guidelines that might have prevented the death of a 68-year-old quadriplegic veteran last summer, according to a report released last week by federal investigators. A team of investigators from the VA’s Office of Inspector General visited the hospital in February to examine the cause of the veteran’s unexpected death. (Castellano, 8/6)
Los Angeles Times:
Two L.A. County Residents Are Sick With West Nile — The County's First Cases Of 2019
Two people in Los Angeles County have been diagnosed with West Nile virus, in what officials say are the first two cases in the county this year. Both people became ill with West Nile, which is transmitted to humans through a mosquito bite, late last month and are recovering, officials said Monday. One lives in the San Fernando Valley and the other in the southeastern region of L.A. County, they said. (Karlamangla, 8/5)
The New York Times:
A Quarter Of Humanity Faces Looming Water Crises, Study Says
Countries that are home to one-fourth of Earth’s population face an increasingly urgent risk: The prospect of running out of water. From India to Iran to Botswana, 17 countries around the world are currently under extremely high water stress, meaning they are using almost all the water they have, the World Resources Institute said in a report published Tuesday. (Sengupta and Cai, 8/6)
East Bay Times:
San Jose Sues CVS, Walgreens And Other Drug Distributors, Manufacturers Over Opioids
San Jose has joined cities across the country in calling out the makers and sellers of prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet for furthering the nation’s opioid epidemic. Last week, the nation’s 10th largest city filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Jose against manufacturers such as Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson and distributors including CVS and Walgreens for helping turn thousands of local residents into drug addicts. “The manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction,” reads the suit, which also accuses sellers like CVS of failing to effectively monitor and report suspicious orders of prescription opioids. (Deruy, 8/5)
Sacramento Bee:
Camp Fire Victim Faces Cancer And Brain Trauma, After Losing His Home
Within eight months, Craig Hauschildt, suffered three devastating setbacks: He lost his home to the Camp Fire, he was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and he was crushed by a 7-foot-tall refrigerator that caused half a dozen fractures and brain trauma. But with the help of his doctors and his family, he is recovering at their new home in Murphys.His wife, Ginger Hauschildt, says the harrowing series of tragedies began last November, when California’s most destructive fire struck Paradise. (Ghisolfi, 8/6)
The Associated Press:
Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against UCLA Gynecologist
Two women say in a federal class action lawsuit they were sexually assaulted by a former gynecologist who worked for the University of California, Los Angeles. The lawsuit says that Dr. James Heaps sexually assaulted the women and made sexually inappropriate comments during their appointments. The class action lawsuit is the latest lawsuit to be filed against Heaps and UCLA, though others have been pursued through state court. (8/5)
San Francisco Chronicle:
New Law Eliminates Appeals For New Navigation Centers
Challenging the construction of new Navigation Centers in California got significantly harder last week, after lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom quietly passed legislation intended to speed up creation of the service-rich homeless shelters statewide. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill in December to require cities to approve new Navigation Centers, as long as they comply with local zoning laws, building codes and safety requirements, and if they provide the intensive health and housing services the centers are intended to offer. (Fracassa, 8/6)
The New York Times:
Trump Condemns White Supremacy But Stops Short Of Major Gun Controls
President Trump on Monday denounced white supremacy in the wake of twin mass shootings over the weekend, and citing the threat of “racist hate,” he summoned the nation to address what he called a link between the recent carnage and violent video games, mental illness and internet bigotry. But he stopped well short of endorsing the kind of broad gun control measures that activists, Democrats and some Republicans have sought for years, such as tougher background checks for gun buyers and the banning of some weapons and accessories such as high-capacity magazines. And while he warned of “the perils of the internet and social media,” he offered no recognition of his own use of those platforms to promote his brand of divisive politics. (Crowley and Haberman, 8/5)
Reuters:
Trump Denounces White Supremacy After Shootings, Cites Video Games And Internet
Trump said mental health laws should be reformed to better identify mentally disturbed individuals and he called for capital punishment for those who commit mass murder and hate crimes. He said he had directed the Justice Department to work with local authorities and social media companies to detect mass shooters before they strike. He said the Internet, social media and violent video games had helped radicalize people. Earlier on Monday, Trump had urged lawmakers in a tweet to put strong checks in place on potential gun buyers, suggesting action could be tied with immigration reform. In his remarks at the White House, however, he did not mention immigration. (8/5)
The Washington Post:
Trump Condemns White Supremacy After El Paso, Dayton Shootings; Focuses On Mental Illness Over Gun-Control
“Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger. Not the gun,” said Trump, who was flanked by Vice President Pence and did not take questions from reporters. Trump also called for cultural changes, including stopping the “glorification of violence in our society” in video games and elsewhere. (Wagner and Sonmez, 8/5)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump Denounces El Paso And Dayton Shootings, But Won’t Call For Stricter Gun Laws
Trump had endorsed gun law reforms, including expanded background checks, following the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., but quickly reversed himself after meeting with the National Rifle Assn. The co-sponsors of a bill to strengthen background checks, Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), both spoke with Trump on Monday about taking up their legislation, which failed to garner the required 60 Senate votes to advance in 2013 months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. “The president showed a willingness to work with us,” they said in a statement. (Stokols, 8/5)
The Washington Post:
Trump’s Jumble Of Ideas To Reduce Gun Violence Elicit Mixed Response
“While he is, in some ways, talking about gun violence, he continues to conflate gun violence to other things,” said Kyleanne Hunter, vice president of programs at Brady, which advocates for gun restrictions. “Almost every country has a mental-health problem. Every country has video games. Every country has immigrants and migrants and refugees. Hunter added: “America is alone in the fact that they have a gun violence problem.” (Kim, 8/5)
The Associated Press:
Experts: Mental Illness Not Main Driver Of Mass Shootings
Mental health experts repeated what they have said after previous mass shootings: Most people with mental illness are not violent, they are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, and access to firearms is a big part of the problem. "Until we begin to have our political leaders speaking more accurately to these issues, it's up to us to put the facts out there," said Arthur Evans, chief executive officer of the American Psychological Association. (8/5)
The New York Times:
Shootings Spur Debate On Extremism And Guns, With Trump On Defense
The politics of American gun violence follow a predictable pattern in most cases: outraged calls for action from the left, somber gestures of sympathy from the right, a subdued presidential statement delivered from a prepared text — and then, in a matter of days or even hours, a national turning of the page to other matters. But after a white supremacist gunman massacred 22 people in El Paso, the political world hurtled on Monday toward a more expansive, and potentially more turbulent, confrontation over racist extremism. Though the gun lobby was again on the defensive, it was not alone; so were social media companies and websites like 8chan that have become hives for toxic fantasies and violent ideas that have increasingly leaked into real life, with fatal consequences. (Burns, 8/5)
The New York Times:
Politicians Again Blame Video Games For Shootings, Despite Evidence
Armed with little and often unconvincing evidence, politicians have blamed violence on video games for decades. Their rhetoric quickly ramped up in the 1990s, after games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom popularized the genre of violent first-person shooting games. Since then, video games have been blamed for shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, and many others in between. Researchers have extensively studied whether there is a causal link between video games and violent behavior, and while there isn’t quite a consensus, there is broad agreement that no such link exists. According to a policy statement from the media psychology division of the American Psychological Association, “Scant evidence has emerged that makes any causal or correlational connection between playing violent video games and actually committing violent activities.” (Draper, 8/5)
The Associated Press:
After Shootings, Congress Again Weighs Gun Violence Response
Newtown. Charleston. Orlando. Parkland.And now after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, Congress again is confronted with the question of what, if anything, lawmakers should do to combat the scourge of gun violence afflicting the country. While both parties are calling for action, the retreat to familiar political corners was swift. Democrats demanded quick approval of gun-control legislation — some of it already passed by the House — while Republicans looked elsewhere for answers, focusing on mental health and violent video games. (8/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Isolation And Social Media Combine To Radicalize Violent Offenders
Recent mass-violence incidents in America share common threads: disaffected individuals who feel powerless, radical ideas that blame particular groups and the use of social-media platforms that bring these factors together and amplify them. Radicalization, researchers have found, is driven by a need to matter and be respected. Violence is often a means to that end, especially when it is in the name of a cause, like fighting against immigrants who are viewed as invaders upsetting white people’s dominance in the U.S. Social media is increasingly playing a role in that process, especially among lone actors like the ones responsible for the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. (Hernandez and Olson, 8/5)