The Oaklandside: ‘Life-Saving Services’: Oakland’s Only LGBTQ Center Is In Jeopardy Under Trump 2.0
Formed during the onset of the first Trump Administration, the Oakland LGBTQ Community Center now finds itself at dire risk from the crackdowns happening under the second. Since its opening in 2017, the center, Black founded and Black operated, has fostered critical spaces, services, and events for the Town’s diverse LGTBQ community. It offers support groups and medical testing; hosts community and pride events; and works with local political leaders to advance the causes of queer Oaklanders. In 2023 the center led the effort to establish the Lakeshore LGBTQ Cultural District — the reason the area now features so many pride flags. (Rhoades, 4/8)

East Bay Times: Students Protest As University Of California Campuses Reports Visas Revoked For Some 50 International Students 
The University of California system has seen about 50 students have their visa revoked by the federal government, UC President Michael Drake said Tuesday, as the Trump administration recently began increasing terminations across the country. (Slatten and Clay, 4/9)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Across San Diego, Students, Parents And Educators Raise Alarm Over Funding Cuts To Schools, Research 
Dozens of arms shot toward the midday sun Tuesday at UC San Diego when a protest organizer asked roughly 200 students if they work in laboratories whose research funding has been cut by the Trump administration. (Robbins and Stephenson, 4/8)

Los Angeles Times: DOGE Cuts Bring Chaos, Long Waits At Social Security For Seniors
When Veronica Sanchez called a Social Security hotline Thursday, she waited two hours before her call was abruptly disconnected. ... For Sanchez, the stakes are high: If she does not obtain a medical letter from the agency by April 15, her parents, who are on a fixed income, risk losing about $2,500 a month in medical care. They would no longer receive insulin medication for their diabetes, she said, and could lose their daily visit from a nurse. (Jarvie and Solis, 4/9)

San Francisco Chronicle: Supreme Court Blocks S.F. Judge's Order To Rehire Federal Workers
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a San Francisco federal judge’s order to the Trump administration to reinstate at least 16,000 federal employees who were summarily fired in February. In a 7-2 ruling, the justices did not decide whether the workers were illegally fired, but agreed with the Trump administration that the organizations that filed the lawsuit — nonprofits impacted by the loss of government services in national parks, agriculture, veterans’ benefits and other fields — had not shown they were directly harmed by the dismissals. As a result, they have not yet demonstrated they have legal standing to sue, the court said. (Egelko, 4/8)

Bloomberg: UAW Joins Critics Slamming RFK Jr.’s Cuts To Worker Safety Unit NIOSH
The Trump administration’s move to gut the agency tasked with ensuring workplace safety is facing intensifying pushback, including from the nation’s largest auto union and a conservative lawmaker, in one of the more prominent public fights against some of the widespread cuts last week. On Tuesday, the United Auto Workers union said it “adamantly opposes” the cuts to almost 900 workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which does research and makes recommendations to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses, including chemical hazards. (Smith, 4/8)

MedPage Today: Groups Demand RFK Jr. 'Immediately' Restore CDC's Axed Blood Division
The American Society of Hematology (ASH) and nearly 100 other organizations blasted the dismantling of CDC's Division of Blood Disorders and Public Health Genomics (DBDPHG) and called for its full restoration. Nearly all staffers at DBDPHG -- which works with states, patients, and providers to reduce the impact of serious blood disorders -- were placed on administrative leave amid the mass layoffs and restructuring at HHS last week. (Ingram, 4/8)

Stat: Public Health Leaders, Besieged And Regretful, Talk Of Re-Establishing Trust
For public health agencies across the country, the Trump administration has meant taking blow after destabilizing blow. Covid-19 pandemic dollars were pulled. States like Minnesota and cities like Austin cut jobs that had been federally funded. Research grants were canceled in the name of excising diversity programs. (Cooney, 4/9)

Los Angeles Times: A Federal Appeals Panel Suggests Judge Overreached In Ordering The VA To Build Housing
A federal appeals panel appeared sympathetic toward a claim that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has failed in its duty to veterans but also raised concerns that a trial judge may have overstepped his authority in a broad order requiring the agency to build more housing on its West Los Angeles campus. “When you look at things that have occurred on this property, I struggle with how some of the things the VA did benefited veterans at all,” presiding Judge Consuelo M. Callahan said early in the proceeding. But she added, “I guess the remedies here are what caused me concern, the reach of what Judge Carter [ordered].” (Smith, 4/8)

LAist: LA City Council Votes To Explore Pulling Its Funding From Beleaguered Homelessness Agency
The L.A. City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to explore withdrawing from the troubled agency tasked with serving the unhoused just one week after L.A. County supervisors voted to end hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding. County supervisors voted last week to pull nearly $350 million a year in funding from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, following a series of scathing reports on accountability and transparency. (Rynning, 4/8)

Times of San Diego: New Affordable Housing Community Links Homes To Healthcare, Support Services In National City
A major milestone in affordable housing and community planning was recently celebrated with the opening of Kimball Highland Apartments, a 145-unit development in National City designed to connect residents with healthcare and community resources in an intentionally intergenerational setting. Developed by San Diego-based nonprofit Community HousingWorks, the apartments are the cornerstone of the Kimball Highland Master Plan, a public-private partnership that includes affordable housing, a senior center and an adjacent healthcare facility led by San Ysidro Health. (Ireland, 4/8)

Military Times: Troops Need Better Health Care Access, Top Enlisted Tell Lawmakers
Senior enlisted leaders called on lawmakers to help address ongoing problems with health care access for troops and their families during a congressional hearing on military quality-of-life challenges this week. Funding shortages in the Military Health System and Defense Health Agency continue to affect the care available to beneficiaries and provider recruitment, said Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy James Honea during testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. (Jowers, 4/8)

CalMatters: Special Needs Dentists Open More CA Clinics With New Grants
Martha Rodriguez spent years searching for a dentist. Several turned her away because she has Down syndrome, and they felt they could not accommodate her. Her plight, “broke my heart,” said Dr. Maxmillian Chambers, an Imperial County dentist who agreed to treat her. Today, she is one of his favorite patients at the Innercare community health clinic in El Centro, and she’s inspiring a new investment in care. (Hwang, 4/9)

Becker's Hospital Review: How Scripps' CEO Built A Systemwide Culture From The 'Middle' Out
When Chris Van Gorder became president and CEO of San Diego-based Scripps Health in 2000, the system was made up of a group of hospitals effectively in competition with one another. “Every hospital had its own culture — we really didn’t have a Scripps corporate culture,” Mr. Van Gorder told Becker’s. “I knew we needed to change that.” In part through leadership development and sustained investment in its workforce, Scripps Health has cultivated a unified culture. (Kuchno, 4/8)

Los Angeles Times: State Lawmakers Grapple With Child Safety Concerns Over AI Chatbots
When her 14-year-old son took his own life after interacting with artificial intelligence chatbots, Megan Garcia turned her grief into action. Last year, the Florida mom sued Character.AI, a platform where people can create and interact with digital characters that mimic real and fictional people. Garcia alleged in a federal lawsuit that the platform’s chatbots harmed the mental health of her son Sewell Setzer III and the Menlo Park, Calif., company failed to notify her or offer help when he expressed suicidal thoughts to these virtual characters. (Wong, 4/9)

San Diego Union-Tribune: County Supervisors Vote In Favor Of Mental Health Care Investments 
Faced with the increasing possibility of significant Medicaid cuts, San Diego County supervisors did not back away from further mental health care investments Tuesday, approving requests for additional inpatient and outpatient contracts that would add an estimated $15 million to the fiscal 2026 budget. (Sisson, 4/8)

Los Angeles Times: Long Beach Food Bank Misused Millions Meant For Aid, Lawsuit Says
The state has filed a lawsuit against the Foodbank of Southern California alleging that its leaders misappropriated more than $11 million in state funds to enrich themselves and their families over the course of a decade. The nearly 50-year-old Long Beach nonprofit shuttered most operations in September after the state halted all funding and California Highway Patrol agents raided the building as part of an investigation into the nonprofit’s use of government money. (Harter, 4/8)

Berkeleyside: Berkeley Cuts Back Free Rides Program For Senior, Disabled Residents
City officials are cutting transportation benefits older adults and people with disabilities use to access health care and social services around town, following surges in applications and ridership costs. The Berkeley Rides for Seniors and the Disabled (BRSD) program, operated by the Department of Health, Housing, and Community Services, provides eligible residents free taxi services from cabs, accessible wheelchair van rides and trips on Uber and Lyft.  It is funded by Alameda County Measure BB. (Arredondo, 4/8)

CapRadio: Sacramento Public Library Adds Free Pregnancy Tests At 12 Locations
The Sacramento Public Library has become one of the first in the nation to offer free pregnancy tests and sexual health supplies through its new Sexual Health Resource Cabinets. The initiative launched in February with self-serve cabinets installed at 12 branch locations. Todd Deck, community engagement services manager for the library, said the program was designed to increase access, reduce cost barriers and protect privacy. (Zavala, 4/8)

Victorville Daily Press: California Stands By By Fluoridated Drinking Water As RFK Jr., EPA Raise Concerns
California public health officials are touting the safety and health benefits of fluoride in drinking water, as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly revealed plans to curtail the practice and the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will conduct a review on the topic. (Day, 4/7)

CIDRAP: H5N1 Detections In US Dairy Cattle Reach 1,000
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) today reported two more H5N1 avian flu detections in dairy herds, one in California and the other in Nevada, raising the nation's total to 1,000 since March 2024. California has been the hardest-hit state, and though detections have dropped sharply, sporadic H5N1 confirmations continue and have now reached 759 in that state. (Schnirring, 4/8)