San Diego Union-Tribune: Illumina Cuts Workforce At San Diego Headquarters
Gene-sequencing giant Illumina is laying off 96 employees from its San Diego headquarters, according to paperwork filed with the state. (Rocha, 3/3)

Bloomberg: Sycamore Nears Acquisition Of Walgreens Boots Alliance
Sycamore Partners is nearing an acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., people with knowledge of the matter said, in a deal that could end the drugstore operator’s tumultuous run as a public company. The private equity firm and Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens are putting the final touches on a transaction that may be announced as soon as this week, according to the people. (Tse, Kirchfeld, and Basu, 3/4)

Modesto Bee: Modesto Receives $5 Million For Homelessness
Modesto received a $5.7 million grant from the state of California to help residents experiencing homelessness transition from encampments to shelters and permanent housing, according to a city press release. The city plans to target a “larger encampment” that “is a closely linked community of several smaller encampments” on a two-mile span of Yosemite Boulevard between South Santa Rosa Avenue and South Riverside Drive. About 40 people currently live at this encampment, but the grant has the potential to affect 140 people who “inflow,” according to the city’s grant application. (Morgan, 3/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nonprofit Founded By Lurie To Give $11 Million To Help S.F. Homeless
As a mayoral candidate, Daniel Lurie said he wanted to tap private dollars to fund San Francisco’s efforts to fight homelessness. Now, as mayor, he’s declaring his first official public-private partnership to that effect — with the charity he founded. Lurie’s office said Tuesday that Tipping Point Community will give $11 million to pay for a pilot program aimed at preventing homelessness among families, which skyrocketed over the pst few years amid a surge in migrants. Tipping Point is the antipoverty nonprofit created by Lurie 20 years ago; it was his most substantial professional endeavor prior to being elected mayor. (Morris, 3/4)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Lemon Grove Gets Millions Of Dollars For Homeless Outreach As Other State Funding Remains Up In The Air 
Lemon Grove is getting $8.4 million from the state to find and house more than 100 people living along a highway, significantly boosting homeless outreach in a region that historically has had fewer services. California’s Encampment Resolution Fund money will be directed toward an approximately two-mile stretch of State Route 94 along the northern edge of the city. (Nelson, 3/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: High Rents, Fewer Vouchers, Longer Waits: Federal Cuts Could Worsen Housing
More than 180,000 households are on San Diego’s city and county waiting lists for rental assistance. Already they have to wait an average of 15 years before ever getting a Section 8 voucher. And now, congressional proposals to cut funding for housing vouchers risk further setting back efforts to combat San Diego’s housing affordability crisis, officials say. (Taketa, 3/3)

Voice of San Diego: An Advocate Thought CARE Court Would Be A Lifeline. Then She Used It.
Anita Fisher thought CARE Court would be different when she sat down for a “60 Minutes” interview almost two years ago. The longtime Spring Valley mental health advocate thought the initiative would provide a new tool for families like hers – families who have felt powerless as their loved ones with serious psychotic disorders repeatedly cycle between jails, hospitals and the street. (Halverstadt, 3/4)

CalMatters: California Made A Big Bet On Producing Its Own Insulin. There’s No ‘Date Certain’ For Delivery
Two years ago, California made a bold announcement that it would manufacture a state-branded, low-cost insulin. Drug manufacturers, insurers, economists and diabetics took notice. It had the potential to disrupt the market, bring down drug costs and save patients’ lives. Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a “2024 delivery” for the insulin. (Hwang, 3/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Looming Threat Of LA Lawsuits Could Bankrupt California Counties
A wave of sexual assault lawsuits threatens to bankrupt Los Angeles County and severely imperil its ability to recover from the January wildfires, lawyers for the nation’s largest county told the California Supreme Court in a filing last week. Los Angeles County is the biggest public entity sounding an alarm over the crush of child sexual assault lawsuits precipitated by a landmark state law that dramatically expanded the pool of victims who could file claims. But it’s not alone. It joins a chorus of school districts and counties that say the lawsuits threaten their ability to provide for the students and residents they serve. (Bollag, 3/3)

inewsource: Bird Flu Spread In San Diego Impacted By Pacific Flyway
Researchers say wild bird species in Southern California are contracting a deadlier and more contagious strain of bird flu, causing concern that the virus is more widespread than data shows. They say the H5N1 virus is threatening vulnerable species and increasing the chances for mutations capable of transmission between humans. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has fired workers from federal health agencies, sparking concerns over how the cuts may impact the U.S. response to the outbreak. (Salata, 3/3)

St. Louis Public Radio: Wash U Engineers Create Bird Flu Detector 
Engineers at Washington University have built a sensor that can detect the presence of bird flu particles within minutes. Bird flu has been spreading throughout the United States, with farmers having to kill millions of chickens and turkeys that have tested positive for the virus. The researchers say the biosensor machine could keep farmers from having to cull their flocks when they detect the contagious virus, which has affected more than 5 million birds in Missouri since 2022. (Fentem, 3/4)

Axios: Medicaid Is A Health Issue To Watch In Trump Speech
Health care may not feature prominently in President Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday night, but whatever he says about Medicaid will be closely parsed. Trump has said he would "love and cherish" the safety net program, but it still could be in the crosshairs as Congress looks for ways to pay for an extension of the president's 2017 tax cuts. (Reed, 3/4)

Reuters: Exclusive: US Health Agency Says Employees Can Apply For Early Retirement
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told employees on Monday they could apply for early retirement over the next 10 days and should respond to a request for information on their accomplishments of the past week, according to emails seen by Reuters. The HHS told employees in an email that it received authorization on Monday from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to offer early retirement under the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, which impacts agencies "that are undergoing substantial restructuring, reshaping, downsizing, transfer of function or reorganization." (Wingrove and Levine, 3/3)

Politico: Trump’s NIH Plan B
A federal court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s proposed across-the-board cut to the National Institutes of Health funding for universities’ “indirect costs,” such as facilities and administration. But even if the courts reject the plan, Trump could turn to Plan B — renegotiating the payments one university at a time, Erin reports. At stake is $4 billion, a shortfall the universities say would devastate the nation’s scientific enterprise. (Hooper and Cirruzzo, 3/3)

The Washington Post: Universities Scramble To Respond To Federal Funding Cuts
Some universities are freezing hiring, admitting fewer graduate students and warning that recent federal changes and proposals pose an existential threat to higher education. A U.S. judge last month put a temporary block on Trump administration orders for deep cuts to federal funding rates that the National Institutes of Health provides to support overhead costs for research at academic institutions. (Svrluga, 3/3)

The Hill: House Republican Says He ‘Can’t Guarantee’ Staff Cuts Won’t Impact Veterans
Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) on Monday defended the budgets and workforce cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, as he said he “can’t guarantee” veterans’ benefits and care would be immune from cuts. In an interview with CNN’s Brianna Keilar, Murphy said the cuts are essential to reining in government spending and restructuring to ensure the agencies work efficiently for the American people. (Fortinsky, 3/3)

Bloomberg: Trump’s NIH Pick Bhattacha Urges ‘Scientific Dissent’ In Senate Hearing Remarks
Jay Bhattacharya, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US National Institutes of Health, will tell senators this week that he plans to establish a culture of “scientific dissent” at the agency. “Over the last few years, top NIH officials oversaw a culture of coverup, obfuscation, and a lack of tolerance for ideas that differed from theirs,” Bhattacharya said in prepared remarks seen by Bloomberg ahead of a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee hearing on Wednesday. He pledged to “create an environment where scientists — including early career scientists – can express disagreement respectfully.” (Muller, 3/3)

Stat: Marty Makary, Trump Nominee To Lead FDA, Pledges To Act To Avoid Conflicts
Marty Makary, President Trump’s pick to be Food and Drug Administration commissioner, promised to step down as an adviser to various health tech, medical device, and telehealth startups if confirmed, and to sell off stock holdings in the companies as well, according to financial disclosures filed ahead of his confirmation hearing. (Lawrence, 3/3)

Stat: NIH Terminates Ongoing Grants For LGBTQ+ Research
The funding was supposed to last for at least several more months, said Jace Flatt, an associate professor of health and behavioral sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. But on Friday, he and several other scientists studying LGBTQ+ health received a letter from the National Institutes of Health informing them that some existing, ongoing grants from the federal government were terminated, effective immediately. (Chen, 3/3)

The Hill: Transgender Athletes' Sports Ban Fails Senate Vote
Legislation to prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports failed to advance in the Senate on Monday after all Democrats voted against it. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act failed to clear an initial procedural hurdle on a 51-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance, which would have required at least seven Democrats to vote with all Republicans to move it. The bill cleared the House in January on an almost entirely party-line vote. (Migdon, 3/3)

NBC News: Synthetic Hair Marketed To Black Women Contains Carcinogens And Lead, Report Finds
Ingredients that can cause cancer were found in 10 synthetic hair products used in braids, extensions and other hairstyles popular with Black women, including artificial hair from popular brands such as Magic Fingers, Sensationnel and Shake-N-Go, according to a Consumer Reports study published Thursday. Lead, which can cause serious health and developmental problems, was also found in nine of the 10 packs of synthetic hair surveyed, including one package of braiding hair that exceeded the maximum allowed dose of lead by more than 600%, according to the study. (Schwanemann, 3/3)

St. Louis Public Radio: Black Pediatric Patients Have Barriers To Care, Study Shows
Black pediatric patients believed to have neurological conditions are falling through the cracks. Half of Black pediatric patients completed the necessary genetic tests for diagnosis and treatment. That puts them well behind white pediatric patients at 75%. This is just one disparity highlighted in a new study from Washington University’s School of Medicine. WashU Medicine neurology professor Dr. Christina Gurnett said these tests are necessary to unlock treatment options. (Lewis-Thompson, 3/4)

Axios: High Maternity Costs Hit Black And Hispanic Patients Hardest: Study
Black and Hispanic people paid more in out-of-pocket costs for maternal care than Asian and white people with the same commercial insurance, a new study published in JAMA Health Forum found. Black mothers in the U.S. face a pregnancy-related death rate that is more than three times the rate for white mothers. About 80% of these deaths are preventable. The maternal mortality rate for Hispanic women is similar to that of white mothers but has surged in recent years. (Goldman, 3/3)

Modern Healthcare: What UnitedHealth, Cigna, And Humana Say, Or Don’t, About DEI
The largest health insurers, including UnitedHealth Group, CVS Health, Cigna, Humana and Elevance Health, are expressing less interest in diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, and more worry about bad publicity and the Trump administration, based on what they've tucked into their 2024 annual reports. Each year, publicly traded companies file the reports for investors with the Securities and Exchange Commission, filling the pages with dense details on finances, operations, leadership and risks. (Berryman, 3/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Study: Living In A Hot Area May Impact How Fast You Age
Older adults living in very hot regions may age faster biologically than those living in cooler climates, according to a new study by University of Southern California researchers that sheds additional light on the negative health impacts that extreme heat can have on older adults. The findings, published Wednesday in Science Advances, highlight the need for cities and neighborhoods to adopt measures to protect older residents in preparation for extreme heat events, which are becoming more common due to human-caused climate change. (Ho, 3/4)

Bloomberg: Snack Makers Are Removing Fake Colors From Processed Foods
If a potato chip isn’t bright red, will people know it’s spicy? This type of question kicked off a yearlong effort by PepsiCo Inc.’s marketing innovation, research and development, and consumer insights teams to invent a new kind of seasoning. The result will hit grocery store shelves in North America on March 3: Simply Ruffles Hot & Spicy. The chips are not flaming red. They’re orangish and speckled with spices, but placed next to the famous Ruffles Flamin’ Hots, these chips are basically beige. (Shanker, 3/3)