Los Angeles Times: Democrats Are Emphasizing Abortion To Mobilize Voters. Will It Work In Orange County?
Each day, Summer Bailey saw the congressional campaign signs staked into the succulent greenery near the entrance to Balboa Island in the heart of Newport Beach. One belonged to Max Ukropina, a Republican businessman. The other was a sign for former GOP Assemblyman Scott Baugh. Both candidates are vying for Rep. Katie Porter’s seat in Congress, hoping to flip the Democratic-leaning district to Republicans as Porter runs for the U.S. Senate. (Fry, 2/13)

CalMatters: She Opened A Business To Deliver Babies. California Policies Drove Her Out Of The Country
Madeleine Wisner dreamed of making community midwife services available to all expecting parents regardless of their income when she opened Welcome Home Community Birth Center in south Sacramento. But 451 births and five years later, Wisner is packing up her family and moving from California to New Zealand, where government policies are far more favorable to midwifery. She closed her birth center in October. (Hwang, 2/12)

Sacramento Business Journal: Senior Living Provider Eskaton Downsizes Amid Operating Loss  
Eskaton finished last year around one-third smaller than it was at the start, as hardships stemming from Covid-19 continue to impact the senior living industry. (Hamann, 2/12)

Becker's Hospital Review: Ex-California Hospital CEO Pleads No Contest In Corruption Case
A former California hospital CEO has pleaded no contest to charges related to his time at Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, a hospital management firm based in Tulare, Calif. Yorai "Benny" Benzeevi, MD, pleaded no contest to six felony counts of conflict of interest and two misdemeanor counts of failure to timely disclose campaign expenditures and using an official position for personal gain, according to the Tulare County district attorney's office.  (Gooch, 2/12)

The Bakersfield Californian: Steve Schilling (1946 To 2024): Visionary Leader Opened Health-Care Access To Poor 
Sequoia Community Health Centers' 2009 bankruptcy filing had suddenly brought into question the health care of some 44,000 families in the San Joaquin Valley. But Schilling negotiated to have Sequoia be acquired by the peer organization he ran: Clinica Sierra Vista. (Cox, 2/12)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless Numbers Down, Malibu Wants Everyone To Know
A few days after a yearlong stint at a sober living home in Los Angeles, Kacy Richardson finished a sandwich and stared at the gray clouds cruising over the green slopes of the Santa Monica Mountains. He was happy to be back in Malibu. Richardson, 33, said he’s lived outdoors in the wealthy beach town for much of the past 10 years because it’s peaceful and people are kinder than those in Los Angeles or Santa Monica. (Vives and Smith, 2/13)

The Washington Post: Medicaid’s Prescription For Health Includes Food And Housing In Some States
On Sundays, the Rev. Carl Nichols preaches at Big Zion AME Zion Church in little Kenansville on North Carolina’s coastal plain. Tuesdays to Fridays, he drives a cargo van on a daily 320-mile circuit along rural roads edged with pine and fields of tobacco, collards and corn. His mission: delivering boxes of food to people who cannot always afford their own. The minister, his wife, two grown daughters and three helpers make up a tiny nonprofit whose food deliveries are part of an experiment that places North Carolina at a leading edge of the new face of Medicaid. A pillar of the nation’s social safety net since the 1960s, Medicaid is the largest public source of health insurance. Now, it is becoming something more. (Goldstein, 2/12)

The Washington Post: CDC Plans To Drop Five-Day Covid Isolation Guidelines 
Americans who test positive for the coronavirus no longer need to routinely stay home from work and school for five days under new guidance planned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency is loosening its covid isolation recommendations for the first time since 2021 to align it with guidance on how to avoid transmitting flu and RSV, according to four agency officials and an expert familiar with the discussions. (Sun, 2/13)

CNN: Millions Of Americans Have Long Covid, Including Children And Pregnant People, Studies Show
Millions of people deal with Covid–19 symptoms long after their initial infections. Two new studies – one looking at pregnant people and the other on children – give a better look at the burden from this health problem that doctors say often goes under the radar. (Christensen, 2/13)

Scientific American: CDC's Labs Are Making A Comeback. Now They Need Support 
Almost unnoted, the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the COVID pandemic in the U.S. passed in January. Missteps made in the early weeks of that tragedy, however, still offer vital lessons about what public health agencies need to do better to keep us safe. (Jill Taylor, Ewa King and Scott Becker, 2/12)

The Washington Post: Getting Free Paxlovid Is Not Hard. But Consumers Need To Be Proactive. 
When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course. (Leana S. Wen, 2/13)

Axios: Sick Days Ushered Into Confusing New Era
Employees, parents and students are trying to figure out the new norms for taking a sick day. Schools and businesses largely erred on the side of caution at the height of the pandemic, but expectations are now shifting — in ways that can be difficult to predict. (Rubin, 2/12)

Axios: Measles Comeback Is "Canary In The Coal Mine" For U.S., Vaccine Expert Says
The return of measles is a "canary in the coal mine" for the country's ability to fight the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, vaccine expert Paul Offit warned in an interview with Axios. That's among the many consequences of vaccine misinformation and politicization that exploded during the pandemic, Offit writes in a new book out Tuesday, "Tell Me When It's Over: An Insider's Guide to Deciphering COVID Myths and Navigating Our Post-Pandemic World." (Reed, 2/12)

Military.com: VA Plans To Expand Agent Orange Disability Benefits To Cover Exposure In A Dozen New States
The Department of Veterans Affairs plans to expand eligibility for Agent Orange disability benefits to Vietnam-era veterans who served at 129 locations in the U.S. during specific time frames, as well as parts of Canada and India, officials announced Friday. Ahead of a notice published Monday in the Federal Register, VA officials also said they plan to widen eligibility for veterans who were sickened by herbicides used after World War II in the Demilitarized Zone in Korea in the 1950s and in areas off the shores of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. (Kime, 2/12)

The Washington Post: Lloyd Austin Undergoes New Procedure In Third Hospitalization 
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underwent new medical procedures under general anesthesia on Monday to address a bladder problem that landed him back in the hospital over the weekend, the Pentagon said, as officials forecast he would resume his job duties soon. Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that doctors had performed “non-surgical procedures” on Austin, 70, related to an “emergent bladder issue.” Ryder declined to provide more information about what was entailed or what symptoms the defense chief had experienced before returning to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday, his third admission there since having surgery to treat prostate cancer in late December. (Ryan and Nirappil, 2/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF’s Noe Valley Is Finally Getting Its Public Toilet
The infamous expensive toilet in Noe Valley is expected to open to the public in April, according to San Francisco officials. Construction for the restroom is scheduled to start this month with installation at Noe Valley Town Square in March, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department announced last month. (Flores, 2/12)

Times Of San Diego: Issa Calls On International Water Commission To Explain Border Sewage Cost Overruns 
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Fallbrook, Monday sent a letter to the Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission addressing what he describes as cost overruns and lack of transparency around the efforts to fix sewage infrastructure on the border. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom reiterated the need for Congress to approve $310 million that President Joe Biden included in his emergency supplemental appropriations bill to address contamination in the Tijuana River Valley — specifically the South Bay International Wastewater Plant, which is a federal facility on federal land. (Ireland, 2/12)

The Sacramento Bee: Train Carrying Over 100 Tons Of Coal Derails, Spills Into Northern California’s Feather River 
A Union Pacific train carrying 118 tons of coal derailed Sunday due to a track defect and dumped its contents into and around Plumas County’s Feather River, according to railroad officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Fifteen rail cars chugging west on tracks parallel to the Middle Fork Feather River in Blairsden derailed, spilling the coal into the river. At least 14 rail cars tipped over or sustained damage, Fish and Wildlife officials said. At least one rail car fell into the water. (Desai, 2/12)

CNN: Cheese, Yogurt And Dairy Recall: Here’s A List Of Items Linked To Listeria Outbreak
Multiple large retailers, including Costco and Trader Joe’s, have recalled items containing dairy products from Rizo-López Foods Inc. due to possible Listeria contamination. Rizo-López Foods Inc. initially recalled dozens of dairy products last week after an investigation identified them as the source of a multistate Listeria outbreak that led to two deaths and 23 hospitalizations. (Cheng, 2/12)

ABC News: What To Know About Rare Virus Alaskapox After 1st Fatal Case 
The Alaskapox virus was first identified in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2015, according to the Alaska Department of Health. Since then, there have been only seven cases reported in the state, according to the state health department. This is the first case of an Alaskapox infection resulting in hospitalization and death ever reported. State public health officials noted the patient was an elderly man who was immunocompromised, putting him at higher risk for severe illness. The virus typically occurs in small animals, commonly identified in voles and shrews, according to the Alaska State Department of Health. There have been no reports of human-to-human spread, according to the state health agency. (Benadjaoud, 2/12)

San Diego Union-Tribune: All The News That’s Fit: Heart Attack Tolls, Fishing For Tapeworms And Ladies With Cavities 
Suffering a heart attack or other severe cardiac event is a life-threatening and life-changing event. Every year, roughly 805,000 people in the U.S. have a heart attack, about one every 40 seconds. (LaFee, 2/13)