San Francisco Chronicle: California Joins 19 States In Trying To Stop Kennedy
As President Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised to “make America healthy again.” But his massive budget cuts, staff reductions and termination of vital programs is doing just the opposite, California and 19 other states said in a lawsuit Monday. (Egelko, 5/5)

Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Governments Join Lawsuit Against Trump's Homeless Fund Conditions
Santa Clara County and San Francisco, along with seven other local governments, are asking a federal judge to block the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from placing “unlawful” conditions on federal funds — stipulations that could put millions of dollars to address homelessness at risk. (Hase, 5/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump, Musk Budget Reductions Take Aim At Newsom’s Volunteer Program
The scattershot, short-sighted and poorly-conceived cuts by the President Trump and Elon Musk-directed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aren’t just hitting the unelected government bureaucrats hated by MAGA world. They are also affecting people like Alfanzo Rodriguez, a $1,000 a month worker who helps kids struggling to get by in East Oakland. Last week, DOGE cut $400 million from AmeriCorps, the national volunteer program that connects young adults to volunteer opportunities in poor neighborhoods. That reduction will include $60 million in federal funds for California’s nationally emulated volunteer programs, California Service Corps. They are people who are helping out in classrooms and food banks, and are planting trees and distributing relief supplies to state wildfire victims. The largely unseen work that is integral to communities across the state. (Garofoli, 5/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: For LGBT Nonprofits, Trump’s Orders Target Their Very Existence
The Los Angeles LGBT Center describes itself as the world’s largest provider of services to the LGBTQ community, with more than 500,000 client visits a year. But under President Donald Trump, the organization is being forced to confront an existential crisis: either stop serving transgender people or lose its federal funding. Los Angeles LGBT “has been told it must remove terms like ‘LGBT’ (which is in the organization’s name), ‘queer,’ ‘trans’ and ‘transgender’ from its materials” or forfeit its $2.25 million grant from the U.S. Office of Family Violence and Prevention Services, lawyers for the group and others targeted by the administration have told a federal judge as part of an ongoing lawsuit in Oakland. (Egelko, 5/6)

Berkeleyside: 9 Berkeley Nonprofits Trump’s Federal Funding Cuts Have Affected
Berkeley nonprofits that feed, clothe, house and provide myriad services and advocacy for underserved, homeless and immigrant communities, those that address environmental justice and arts organizations like Berkeley Rep are bracing for the effects of recent slashes made to the federal budget by President Donald Trump’s administration. (Furio, 5/5)

Times of San Diego: Trump Cuts Threaten Head Start Program Serving Thousands Of Kids
An early childhood education program serving thousands of San Diego children is at risk due to a Trump administration budget proposal to cut it entirely.Episcopal Community Services Head Start Early Childhood Education provides support for early education, health, and services for preschool children. If funding is reduced, the nonprofit agency would lose $24 million, impacting over 300 employees and limiting service to 200 slots compared to 1,300, according to Rosa Cabrera-Jaime, director of early education and family services at ESC. (Gabir, 5/5)

Capital & Main: How Did Farmers Respond When The Trump Administration Suddenly Stopped Paying Them To Help Feed Needy Californians?
Every year brings its own unique challenges for California farmers: water shortages, fires, finding laborers to do the work, bureaucrats in Sacramento adding new requirements and fees, and more. But the second term of President Donald Trump has made this year very different. (Sánchez-Tello, 5/5)

NPR: Trump Restricts Funding For Controversial 'Gain-Of-Function' Research
President Trump issued an executive order Monday restricting federal funding for research that involves a controversial field of scientific study known as "gain-of-function" research. The research, which is also known as "dual-use" research, involves experimenting with viruses and other pathogens that have the potential to trigger a pandemic. Those studies could discover how infectious agents might become more transmissible or make people sicker. (Stein, 5/5)

CBS News: National Institutes Of Health Lays Off Hundreds More Staff, Including At Cancer Research Institute
The National Institutes of Health has laid off hundreds more staff, multiple current and laid-off employees of the health agency told CBS News, including at its cancer research institute. Around 200 employees began receiving layoff notices Friday evening, said three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The move surprised NIH officials, since the department previously claimed no further cuts were planned at the agency. (Tin, 5/5)

Stat: Trump Signs Order In Bid To Boost Pharma Manufacturing In The U.S. 
Amid ongoing anticipation over tariffs on pharmaceuticals, President Trump on Monday signed an executive order designed to lower regulatory hurdles and make it faster for drug companies to manufacture their products in the U.S. The move also includes plans to place more pressure on foreign drugmakers to comply with quality control inspections. (Silverman, 5/5)

The New York Times: Trump Administration Asks Court To Dismiss Abortion Pill Case
The Trump administration asked a federal judge on Monday to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone — taking the same position as the Biden administration in a closely watched case that has major implications for abortion access. The court filing by the Justice Department is striking, given that President Trump and a number of officials in his administration have forcefully opposed abortion rights. (Belluck, 5/5)

CBS News: FDA's Top Inspector Abruptly Retires
The Food and Drug Administration's top official overseeing drug and food safety inspections told staff on Monday he has decided to leave the agency, and multiple federal health officials told CBS News it comes amid frustration from inspectors with the FDA's new commissioner. Michael Rogers had worked for the FDA for more than three decades, culminating in a role as the agency's associate commissioner for inspections and investigations. Colleagues said they were surprised to learn that his final day in the office will be May 14. (Tin, 5/5)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. to Pay $1,000 to Migrants Who Self-Deport
The Trump administration plans to begin paying immigrants in the country illegally a stipend of $1,000 to self-deport, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday. The administration has set up a mobile app that migrants can use to make departure plans. The app provides assistance in booking flights whose costs the government would cover in addition to facilitating payment of the stipend. (Hackman, 5/5)

Modern Healthcare: FEMA Cuts Leave Hospital Disaster Preparedness Funding In Limbo
The federal government's cuts to disaster preparedness grant funding will cost providers millions of dollars and potentially jeopardize patient care. President Donald Trump’s administration last month eliminated roughly $3.3 billion in annual federal grants when the Federal Emergency Management Agency ended the 2025 Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities and Flood Mitigation Assistance programs. (Kacik, 5/5)

Fierce Healthcare: New Tool Helps Employers Predict Climate-Related Health Costs
Climate-related health challenges are driving up employer spending, and a new tool built by Mercer aims to help firms anticipate the potential costs. The Climate Health Cost Forecaster was developed in partnership with the National Commission on Climate and Workforce Health. It seeks to arm employers with the data necessary to estimate the long-term health costs tied to weather events like extreme heat, poor air quality, flooding and hurricanes. (Minemyer, 5/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: California System To Launch Specialty Pharmacy Services
Santa Barbara-based Cottage Health is partnering with Clearway Health to develop a specialty pharmacy program at the five-hospital system. As part of the collaboration, pharmacists and patient liaisons are integrated into the health system’s specialty clinics to help patients navigate insurance coverage, manage prior authorizations and attain financial assistance. (Twenter, 5/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Permanente Doubles CRC Screening Rates, Halves Mortality: Study
An outreach program at Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente Northern California more than doubled colorectal cancer screening rates in almost 20 years, from 37.4% in 2000 to 79.8% in 2019. ... Kaiser Permanente Northern California first implemented the screening program in 2006, which alerted patients of the need for colorectal cancer screening and mailed them an at-home fecal immunochemical test kit, according to an April 25 news release. (Gregerson, 5/5)

The Intersection: Senior Population Growth In The San Joaquin Valley Outpaces Available Specialists, Care Resources
Senior citizens make up the fastest growing age demographic in the San Joaquin Valley. And they need more doctors. Members of the Baby Boomer generation – people born in the post-World War II era from 1946 to 1964 – are rapidly joining the ranks of senior citizens. The oldest members of the cohort reached age 65 in 2011, and the youngest boomers will become seniors before the end of this decade. At the same time, the San Joaquin Valley is confronting a shortage of doctors and other health professionals who specialize in geriatric medicine – the branch of health care that involves caring for the aged. All of this creates a problem. (Sheehan, 5/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: Top 10 Organizations Hiring Nurses: Indeed
Amid National Nurses Month, celebrated in May, Indeed has released a list of top organizations hiring nurses [four are in California]. The platform included employers with the highest share of new nursing job postings over the last year in the U.S. To be considered, organizations also needed an overall rating above 3.5 and a public Work Wellbeing Score (via Indeed Company Pages) above 72. (Gooch, 5/5)

Bloomberg: Hims & Hers Health Taps Amazon Veteran Kabbani To Lead Operations
Hims & Hers Health Inc. is tapping former Amazon.com Inc. executive Nader Kabbani to be chief of operations as the telehealth company expands into new areas like blood testing. Kabbani led the acquisition of PillPack and the launch of Amazon Pharmacy during his nearly two decades at the e-commerce giant, before leaving in 2023 for stints at startups Flexport Inc. and Symbiotic Inc. He will replace Melissa Baird, who is stepping into an advisory role after more than seven years with Hims. (Muller, 5/5)

Bloomberg: 22.5% Of Patients On Opioids Like OxyContin Develop Addiction: FDA Study
More than one in five people prescribed extended-release painkillers such as OxyContin developed an addiction within a year, according to a newly released study mandated by the US Food and Drug Administration. The study, repeatedly delayed by more than a decade and released Monday, revealed a far higher percentage of pain patients addicted to opioids than drugmakers’ sales reps claimed in their marketing materials and representations to physicians. (Hornblower, 5/5)

CalMatters: After Son's Overdose, Mom Presses For CA Addiction Treatment Law
Deep breath. Christine Matlock Dougherty inhaled, pursed her lips and exhaled slowly. She stared intently at the Scrabble game on her phone, trying to calm her nerves as she waited to testify before the Assembly health committee. Deep breath. She checked her texts. She moved on to a dice game. “It gets to be a little much sometimes,” she said, quietly. On a sunny afternoon last month, hers was the privilege no parent wants: The chance to convince a roomful of lawmakers to fix the broken system she believes contributed to the death of her child. (Wiener, 5/6)

Los Angeles Times: A New Tool To Combat L.A.'s Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes Shows Promise
A battle is underway against an invasive mosquito behind a recent surge in the local spread of dengue fever in Southern California — and officials may have unlocked a powerful tool to help win the day. Two vector control districts — local agencies tasked with controlling disease-spreading organisms — released thousands of sterile male mosquitoes in select neighborhoods, with one district starting in 2023 and the other beginning the following year. (Seidman, 5/6)

CNN: Marijuana Is Extremely Dangerous To The Fetus In The Womb, Study Finds
Using marijuana during pregnancy is linked to poor fetal development, low infant birth weight, dangerously early deliveries and even death, according to a new meta-analysis of research. (LaMotte, 5/5)

CBS News: Shingles Vaccine Lowers Risk Of Heart Disease For 8 Years, Study Finds
Getting a shingles vaccine may help with more than the viral infection that causes painful rashes — new research shows it can also lower the risk of heart disease. In the study, published Monday in the European Heart Journal, researchers found people given the shot had a 23% lower risk of cardiovascular events, including stroke, heart failure and coronary heart disease, for up to 8 years. ... The protective effect was particularly prominent in men, people under 60 and those who smoke, drink or aren't active, the study found. (Moniuszko, 5/5) 

Fox News: Risk Of Cancer Death Linked To How Much People Pay In Taxes, Study Finds
People who pay more in taxes could be less likely to die from cancer. The link was revealed in a new study published in JAMA Network Open, which aimed to explore how state-level tax revenue impacts cancer screenings and mortality in the U.S. (Rudy, 5/5)

Newsweek: Parents' Phone Use May Harm Kids' Health And Development
As smartphones and tablets become increasingly embedded in daily life, a growing body of research is raising alarms about their subtle yet significant effects on young children. A new study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that when parents use technology in the presence of their young children—a behavior researchers call "parental technology use" (PTU)—it may be harming key aspects of kids' health and development. (Gray, 5/5)