Los Angeles Times: Newsom Says Soliciting Older Minors Should Be A Felony In California 
Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke out Tuesday in support of legislation that sought to increase the punishment to a felony for soliciting a 16- or 17-year-old for sex in California after Democrats in the state Assembly watered down the bill. “The law should treat all sex predators who solicit minors the same — as a felony, regardless of the intended victim’s age,” Newsom said in a statement first provided to KCRA. “Full stop.” (Luna, 4/29)

Los Angeles Blade: Governor Newsom Supports Bill To Put LGBTQ Helpline Number On Student ID's
Gov. Gavin Newsom expressed support for LGBTQ suicide hotline measures for K-12 students in direct response to recent reports that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s., plans to cut funding for the national nonprofit that provides the resource to LGBTQ people. ... Assembly Bill 727, introduced by Assemblymember Mark González, would aim to facilitate pupil and student safety by requiring schools and institutions to have the telephone number and text line for a specified LGBTQ suicide hotline provided by The Trevor Project, that is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. (Palomera, 4/29)

KQED: Trump Administration Considers Immigration Detention On Bay Area Military Base, Records Show 
The Trump administration is looking to build an immigration detention facility at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California, and pushing to speed up a review process, according to internal government communications obtained by KQED. (Hendricks, 4/29)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Napa County’s $133 Million Jail To Open This Summer, With Shift Toward Rehabilitation, Mental Health Support
Napa County’s long-anticipated new jail is slated to open in June, marking a major shift in how the county houses and rehabilitates people in custody. (Booth, 4/29)

Bay Area News Group: Man Died In Hayward Police Custody After EMT Injected Controversial Sedative
A man died in police custody here six weeks ago, after a paramedic injected him with a controversial sedative linked to deaths around the country, but Hayward police never told the public about it, this news organization has learned. (Gartrell, 4/30)

Fresno Bee: Fresno Abruptly Loses Federal Grant Credited For Big Drop In City’s Gun Violence
A gun violence reduction program credited for making a noticeable impact in Fresno has suddenly lost its federal grant funding.“ On Tuesday afternoon, Fresno EOC Advance Peace Fresno received word that its $2 million, three-year grant from the Department of Justice ended immediately with no forewarning,” Brian Angus, Interim CEO of Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission, said in a statement to The Bee Thursday afternoon. (Montalvo, 4/28)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Approves Largest Sex Abuse Settlement In U.S. History
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history on Tuesday, agreeing to pay $4 billion to victims abused as children in county-run juvenile facilities and foster homes. The vote is the culmination of years of fighting by victims, who argued that no one had paid the price for the rampant sexual abuse they said they suffered in county custody. The settlement includes nearly 7,000 claims, most of which involve alleged abuse from the 1980s through the 2000s. (Ellis, 4/29)

Modesto Bee: Stanislaus City Of Ceres Issues Fentanyl Warning To Residents
Stanislaus County’s third-largest city issued a public health warning Tuesday about fentanyl, citing six deaths this year due to the dangerous street drug. Ceres has seen a 35% rise in opioid-related emergencies in the past month, according to a post on the Police Department’s Facebook page. (Carlson, 4/29)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: New Fund To Help Napa Nonprofits Meet Growing Demand For Services 
As demand for food, housing, child care and mental health services rises across Napa County, a new fund is aiming to shore up the social service organizations trying to meet it. (Booth, 4/29)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Air Pollution Control District Still Has Purifiers For Those Affected By Cross-Border Sewage Odors
The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District wants more people in South County communities impacted by odors stemming from cross-border sewage flows to apply for a free purifier. (Murga, 4/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: A Pioneering S.F. Program Seeks To Keep These Elders At Home
When Jennifer Lai’s mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2021, she scrambled to find a residential care facility where the Cantonese-speaking 88-year-old could live. Lai retired early to care for her mom, but she knew she’d eventually need around-the-clock help. Her mom had lost her English-speaking ability by then, a common effect of dementia. The pair visited one facility after another that only had English- or Spanish-speaking staff. (Lyn Cheang, 4/29)

Los Angeles Times: Preventing Homelessness: The Tough Job Of Predicting Who Is At Real Risk
When the unknown number popped up on her phone, Jocelyn Escanuela was in the checkout line at Walmart. She still can’t explain why she picked up and then listened to a cold-caller’s pitch that sounded a lot like a scam. She had been selected to receive a grant of $6,000, the caller told her. And she would have a personal assistant to help her get her through her “crisis.” How did they even know she was in a crisis? (Smith, 4/30)

Index-Tribune: Women's Health Symposium In Sonoma To Focus On Stress Management
Stress management will be the focus of the 2025 Women’s Health Symposium offered by the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation on Tuesday, May 6, at Hanna Center. (Johnson, 4/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: Zuckerberg Is Worth Billions. Why Is His Nonprofit School Closing?
Two of the richest people in the world made a slew of promises to low-income families when they opened a nonprofit school in East Palo Alto in 2016. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his pediatrician wife, Priscilla Chan, vowed that the Primary School would give their children a free education, with a long list of extras on top to overcome the odds the families faced. No one thought the promises had an expiration date. (Tucker, Bauman and Flores, 4/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF, Santa Clara Sue Trump Over DOGE Firings Of Federal Workers
San Francisco is among more than two dozen local governments, nonprofits and labor unions that sued the Trump administration Monday over sweeping reductions to the federal workforce. The coalition argues in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that President Donald Trump has dismantled the federal government without congressional approval “in clear excess of his authority.” (Bauman and Egelko, 4/29)

Los Angeles Times: California, Other States Sue Trump Administration To Block Cuts To AmeriCorps
California joined a coalition of states Tuesday in suing the Trump administration over massive cuts to AmeriCorps, the federal program that each year deploys hundreds of thousands of volunteers to natural disaster sites and needy communities nationwide, state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said. Bonta said the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency were acting unlawfully by unilaterally axing a program established and funded by Congress to support devastated parts of the country at their greatest time of need, such as Los Angeles after its recent wildfires. (Rector, 4/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: 100 Days In, Here’s How California Has Fared Under President Trump
It is no surprise that California was President Donald Trump’s biggest foil during the first 100 days of his second term. California’s Democratic-dominated politics and what Trump derides as “woke” policies made the state a natural target for the president to aim his executive orders and sharpest barbs. California’s response, however, has been more muted than expected, in part because Gov. Gavin Newsom is caught in a bind: While he has tried to gird the state against Trump’s anticipated attacks, he has also tamped down his attacks for fear of endangering federal disaster aid for the Los Angeles wildfires. In February, Newsom asked Congress for $39.6 billion in additional wildfire relief. (Garofoli and Egelko, 4/29)

The New York Times: Trump’s Cuts To Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows 
Cutting federal funding for scientific research could cause long-run economic damage equivalent to a major recession, according to a new study from researchers at American University. In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to cancel or freeze billions of dollars in grants to scientists at Columbia, Harvard and other universities, and has moved to sharply curtail funding for academic medical centers and other institutions. Deeper cuts could be on the way. As soon as this week, the White House is expected to propose sharp reductions in discretionary spending, including on research and development, as part of the annual budget process. (Casselman, 4/30)

NBC News: Kennedy Planning $20 Million HHS 'Take Back Your Health' Ad Campaign
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to launch a sweeping, four-year public relations campaign called “Take Back Your Health” that could cost tens of millions of dollars, according to a document obtained by NBC News. ... The document, a request for proposals, calls for public relations firms to bid to run the campaign. The winning firm would employ up to 30 people to manage the campaign and oversee the purchase of up to three ads a day on five major television networks. (Strickler, 4/29)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Lays Off 38 California Employees
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente laid off 38 California employees across multiple locations April 21, according to multiple WARN notices. The positions were primarily business function-related and do not provide patients direct care, a spokesperson for Kaiser said in an April 29 statement shared with Becker’s. (Ashley, 4/29)

Bloomberg: Novo Nordisk Partners With Hims, Ro To Sell Cheaper Wegovy
San Francisco-based Hims & Hers Health Inc. soared after Novo Nordisk A/S said it would sell its popular weight-loss drug Wegovy for a steeply reduced price on several telehealth platforms. The strategy comes as rival Eli Lilly & Co. is working with telehealth firms to distribute lower-cost vials of its own obesity medication, Zepbound, as competition heats up. Lilly and Novo have struggled to get widespread insurance coverage for their obesity medications and at first viewed telehealth companies, which started out by selling copycat versions of their drugs, as competitors. (Muller, 4/29)

Roll Call: Supreme Court Decides Medicare Reimbursement Calculation 
The Supreme Court sided on Tuesday with the Department of Health and Human Services in a dispute over the rate under Medicare the government pays to hospitals that serve low-income patients. The 7-2 decision rejected an attempt from a group of more than 200 hospitals across 30 states to change the formula the government uses to calculate reimbursement for hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients. (Macagnone, 4/29)

CBS News: FDA Chief Says They're Looking At Whether To Approve COVID Shots For Next Winter
The head of the Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that the agency is now looking at whether it will still approve COVID-19 vaccines for next winter, citing a lack of data on booster shots. "We're taking a look. I can't comment on any particular application. As you know, we have a bunch of applications for those booster shots," FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett. Makary said many health care workers did not get the last round of COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, calling it "a bit of a public trust problem." (Tin, 4/29)

The New York Times: Kennedy Advises New Parents To ‘Do Your Own Research’ On Vaccines
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advised parents of newborns to “do your own research” before vaccinating their infants during a televised interview in which he also suggested the measles shot was unsafe and repeatedly made false statements that cast doubt on the benefits of vaccination and the independence of the Food and Drug Administration. Mr. Kennedy made the remarks to the talk show host Dr. Phil in an interview that aired Monday on MeritTV to mark the 100th day of the Trump administration. (Gay Stolberg and Jewett, 4/29)

Reuters: US CDC Cancels Science Group Workshop On Preventing Human Bird Flu Infections 
The National Academy of Sciences has canceled a workshop on preventing human bird flu infections after being told to stop work on the event by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to an email sent to one of the workshop presenters and seen by Reuters. (Douglas, 4/29)

CIDRAP: Top Virologists Urge World Leaders To Act On Rising Avian Flu Threat
In a commentary in The Lancet Regional Health–Americas, leading virologists from more than 40 countries are exhorting global leaders to address the increasing threat of H5N1 avian flu by boosting surveillance, enhancing biosecurity, and preparing for potential human-to-human viral transmission. The Global Virus Network (GVN) scientists review the US outbreak status, discuss the importance of robust surveillance systems to detect emerging strains with pandemic potential, spotlight the risks facing the dairy and poultry industries, and recommend risk mitigation strategies. (Van Beusekom, 4/29)