Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Medical School Receives Initial Accreditation
The Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine in Pasadena, Calif., has received initial accreditation, having completed the institutional review process. The accreditation review was conducted by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges’ Senior College and University Commission. (Gooch, 3/17)

Becker's Hospital Review: Scripps Plans $1.2B Hospital Campus On Land It Acquired 35 Years Ago
San Diego-based Scripps Health is moving forward with plans to build a $1.2 billion hospital and outpatient campus in San Marcos, Calif., a spokesperson for the health system confirmed to Becker’s. The Scripps San Marcos Medical Center campus will be built on a 13-acre site. The first phase of the project will be a comprehensive ambulatory facility. The second phase will be an acute care hospital that will include 200 to 250 beds. (Condon, 3/17)

Becker's Hospital Review: UC San Diego Health's Strategy To Improve Care Access
Bringing care closer to home has been a driving force for UC San Diego Health as the system works to enhance access and stabilize healthcare in one of California’s most underserved regions. From acquiring a community hospital to expanding outpatient services, CEO Patty Maysent is leading efforts to meet growing demand. (Kuchno, 3/17)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Shuts Down Plant Accused Of Spewing Toxins Onto L.A. School 
A South L.A. recycling plant accused of spewing toxic waste and lead onto the grounds of a nearby high school was ordered shut down on Monday, a major victory for community activists and student groups who have been fighting against the facility for two decades. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Terry Bork said S&W Atlas Iron & Metal can no longer accept or process new materials, “essentially shutting down operations,” according to Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman. (Queally, 3/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Wants To Send More Hazardous Waste To Local Landfills
California’s nation-leading environmental laws have helped fuel an unintended consequence: Nearly half of all hazardous materials produced here is trucked to out-of-state landfills where requirements are less stringent. The state’s toxic waste regulators are now proposing sweeping changes that could start reversing that trend. In a draft report published Saturday, the Department of Toxic Substances Control proposed sending more polluted soil and other materials to local California landfills that don’t currently accept the state’s most hazardous waste. (Johnson, 3/17)

The Oaklandside: How Residents And Environmental Officials Are Trying To Clear The Air In East Oakland
In a small yellow room in East Oakland’s Youth UpRising building, a group of community members were speaking Thursday with environmental officials, nonprofit leaders, and employees from the Port of Oakland on the matter of air pollution. One of the topics on the docket: fugitive dust. Don’t know what fugitive dust is? That was precisely the community members’ point. (Rhoades, 3/17)

Bay Area News Group: Santa Clara County Leaders Slam Mayor Matt Mahan's Plan To Cite And Arrest Homeless Residents: 'Ineffective And A Distraction'
As San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan looks to institute a new policy that would allow police to cite and arrest homeless people who repeatedly refuse shelter, Santa Clara County leaders are pushing back, calling the proposal “ineffective and a distraction” at a time when 1,400 individuals are on the county’s shelter waiting list. (Hase, 3/18)

Voice of OC: Garden Grove Sees Fewer Homeless People On The Streets, Housing Still Scarce
Despite a 39% reduction in the city’s unhoused population since 2022, Garden Grove officials acknowledged long-term solutions such as affordable housing remain key challenges. It’s prompting new goals for the city’s 2025-2030 Comprehensive Strategic Plan to Address Homelessness. (Ostroy, 3/17)

NPR: ‘Segregated Facilities’ Are No Longer Explicitly Banned In Federal Contracts
After a recent change by the Trump administration, the federal government no longer explicitly prohibits contractors from having segregated restaurants, waiting rooms and drinking fountains. The segregation clause is one of several identified in a public memo issued by the General Services Administration last month, affecting all civil federal agencies. (Simmons-Duffin, 3/17)

Capital & Main: The United Fates Of America
In discussions about crises rooted in inequality — mass incarceration, criminal justice, housing — African Americans and Latinos have, over the last few decades, seemed to blur into a single sociological entity. From academics to activists, Black and brown are frequently discussed as one, subject to similar oppression and engaged in similar struggles for justice. But statistics alone — such as the fact that in 2023, the rate of poverty in California was highest amongst Latinos at 16.9%, followed closely by African Americans at 13.6% — were never enough to build unity or make common cause. (Kaplan, 3/17)

The Intersection: For Valley Trans Residents, The Fear Is Real But So Is The Resilience
The Central Valley’s LGBTQ+ community is once again learning what a difference a presidential administration makes. And it’s adapting. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House last month, his administration has unleashed a wave of anti-transgender, anti-diversity and anti-inclusive policies that have made daily life – and legal decisions – more complicated, and frightening, for transgender and nonbinary people. (Rowland, 3/10)

NPR: VA To Deny Gender Dysphoria Treatment To New Patients
The Department of Veteran Affairs said that, effective immediately, it will no longer offer medical treatment for gender dysphoria to veterans who are not already receiving the treatment from the VA or the Department of Defense. "If Veterans want to attempt to change their sex, they can do so on their own dime," VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a press release Monday announcing the new policy. (Jingnan, 3/17)

The Hill: Third Challenge Filed To Trump’s Order On Transgender Troops
Two transgender service members are suing the Trump administration over a pair of executive orders targeting transgender Americans and their implementation by the U.S. military. The lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey by two transgender men ... argues that President Trump’s executive orders proclaiming the government recognizes only two sexes, male and female, and barring trans people from serving openly in the military subject transgender service members “to unequal, harmful, and demeaning treatment.” (Migdon, 3/17)

ABC News: Gender-Affirming Care May Lower Depression Risk, Study Finds, But Many Are Losing Access
Transgender adults who received gender-affirming hormone therapy had a significantly lower risk of moderate-to-severe depression over four years compared to those who did not receive such care, according to a new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open. ... The findings "support the mental health-promoting role of hormones" and their status as "a medically necessary treatment,” said Sari Reisner, an associate professor of epidemiology at University of Michigan School of Public Health and one of the study’s authors. (Gao, 3/17)

Stat: How One Advocacy Group Is Stepping In To Bolster Transgender Data 
Since the first day of his presidency, Donald Trump has targeted transgender communities with executive orders that attempt to limit access to medical care, restrict how people identify on government documents, curb gender-inclusive research, and more. Two months later, Trump’s directive to eliminate “gender ideology” in particular is still reverberating through federal health agencies. (Gaffney, 3/18)

The Oaklandside: Oakland Seniors Protest Trump's Social Security Cuts, Rally For Their Grandkids
Donald Trump’s second term has already sent Oakland’s young people marching in the streets, rallying for a better future for themselves and their peers. Now their grandparents and great-grandparents are protesting. On a busy stretch of Broadway in Rockridge, about 40 residents of a senior living facility staged a “walk-in” Saturday morning — cheekily dubbed as such because of the plentiful walkers and canes the protesters used. (Orenstein, 3/17)

Politico: Trump Removes Gun Violence Public Health Advisory
The Department of Health and Human Services recently removed a former surgeon general’s warning declaring gun violence a public health crisis to comply with the president’s executive order to protect Second Amendment rights, according to a White House official. Giffords, the gun violence prevention group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, announced on Monday that former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s advisory recognizing gun violence as a public health crisis was wiped from the Department of Health and Human Services’ website. (Friedman, 3/17)

The New York Times: Anti-Abortion Lawyer Pushed Out Of F.D.A. After Republican Senator’s Pressure Campaign 
Hilary Perkins, a career lawyer and a conservative, was targeted by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri for defending the Biden administration’s position on the abortion pill. (Barrett, 3/17)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Moves To Reinstate Thousands Of Probationary Workers 
The Trump administration has moved to reinstate at least 24,000 federal probationary employees fired in the president’s push to shrink the government, according to filings in one of two cases in which a federal judge ruled the terminations illegal. (Mettler, 3/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Stephen Curry Makes Mouthguards Cool, Says Dental Expert
The California Dental Association is applauding Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors star, not just for his game-changing 3-pointers, but for becoming an unexpected champion of oral health. ... Though mouthguards are typically associated with protecting teeth from injury, Curry’s unique and visible use of his mouthguard has made it a notable part of basketball culture. [UCSF oral epidemiology professor Benjamin W.] Chaffee suggests that Curry’s behavior may have shifted public perception of mouthguards, making them seem more mainstream. (Vaziri, 3/17)