Becker's Hospital Review: Pipeline Health Opens Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit In LA Area
El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health is welcoming its first patients to a new inpatient behavioral health unit at its Coast Plaza Hospital in Norwalk in Los Angeles county. The unit will also serve patients from other Los Angeles-area hospitals operated by Pipeline Health, which emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year. (Thomas, 8/8)

Los Angeles Times: Inglewood Hospital Fined $75,000 After Maternal Death 
California regulators have fined Centinela Hospital Medical Center $75,000 after faulting the Inglewood hospital for “deficient practices” that led to a patient dying while admitted there for labor and delivery. The California Department of Public Health found the hospital failed to ensure the patient was properly assessed and treated to prevent blood clots, did not follow up appropriately on her complaints about leg heaviness, and failed to alert her physician when her vital signs had veered out of normal parameters, among other lapses. (Reyes, 8/7)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Former California Public Health Czar Bringing Experience To Sonoma County, But Not For Long
Sonoma County’s new health officer is a veteran public health official who’s been through it all, from pandemics to anthrax scares to fires and floods. (Espinoza, 8/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: Latina Doctors Are A Troubling Rarity, Study Finds
When Dr. Anabel Ruiz, 43, was a medical student at John Hopkins University, she said she made it her mission to return to her East Bay community to practice in underserved areas. “It’s something that provides a great amount of meaning to me and exactly why I went into medicine,” said Ruiz, who identifies as Mexican American. (Flores, 8/9)

Stat: Senators Push IRS To Launch Nonprofit Hospital Probe
A bipartisan group of senators wants federal tax regulators to probe nonprofit hospitals’ compliance with community benefit requirements, ratcheting up a longtime campaign to hold the tax-exempt providers accountable. Nonprofit hospitals are often subsidized by state or federal funding and exempt from many taxes. In exchange, they are required to aid their surrounding area through public health programs and providing free or discounted care to low-income patients. (Owermohle, 8/8)

Sacramento Bee: CA Public Health Departments Struggle To Fill Vacancies 
About 24% of the jobs across the California Department of Public Health were vacant in June — nearly 10% higher than six years earlier, according to the State Controller’s Office. Over those same six years, the department added more than 1,200 positions, including more than 750 in just the past two years. Its budget jumped from $3.2 billion to $5.5 billion. (Angst, Miller and Reese, 8/8)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Is Heating Up This Summer. Should We Wear Masks Again?
The uptick in coronavirus transmission this summer has not brought major alarm from health experts. But it is raising questions about whether the risks are high enough to go back to safety measures that many have abandoned. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, a UC San Francisco infectious diseases expert, said transmission is increasing and “we haven’t seen the crest yet” of the wave. (Lin II, 8/9)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: What Sonoma County’s Interim Health Officer Says About New COVID-19 Variant EG.5
There’s a new COVID-19 variant quickly gaining dominance in the United States. The new strain is not radically different from its parent, omicron, which has been around since late 2021. The Press Democrat asked Dr. Karen Smith, Sonoma County’s interim health officer, if the new strain might pose a new challenge. (Espinoza, 8/8)

NPR: A New Clue To The Reason Some People Come Down With Long COVID
Stéphanie Longet is an immunologist and a COVID researcher at the University of Saint-Etienne in France, and just like 10-20% of adults who were infected with the virus, she continues to have symptoms well after her infection has resolved – a condition known colloquially as long COVID. ... Longet and other scientists don't exactly know why some people develop long COVID while others don't, but preliminary research released in medRxiv in July suggests that genetics plays a role. (Barnhart, 8/8)

Stat: ‘Underwhelming’: NIH Trials Fail To Test Meaningful Long Covid Treatments — After 2.5 Years And $1 Billion
More than 2.5 years after the National Institutes of Health received a $1 billion mandate from Congress to study and treat long Covid, the agency has finally launched clinical trials for the often-debilitating condition. But both scientists who study long Covid and patients who have struggled with it say the trials are unlikely to deliver meaningful treatments, suggesting the federal government’s landmark Covid research effort may have been wasted. (Ladyzhets, 8/9)

Fresno Bee: Reedley Was Third CA Stop For Chinese-Owned Medical Lab Found To Have Covid-19, Other Deadly Viruses Inside 
Nina Salazar was happy to have a job when she worked for three years at a Chinese-owned laboratory in Tulare that made disease and drug test kits – the same lab that was shut down in Reedley after Covid-19 and more than 20 infectious agents were found in refrigerators in the ramshackle facility that was operating without proper permits. (Sheehan, 8/8)

Sacramento Bee: Another Southern California School District Considers Policy Of Outing Transgender Students
Another Southern California school district is considering adoption of a policy that would require school staff to out transgender students to their parents. (Sheeler, 8/8)

The Bakersfield Californian: Education Board Clears Room After Outbursts Over Transgender Policy Proposal 
The Kern County Board of Education retired early to private session Tuesday evening after a series of outbursts following a failed effort to force a discussion about whether local schools should be required to notify parents if their children declare themselves transgender. (Cox, 8/8)

The 19th: House GOP Adds Dozens Of Anti-LGBTQ+ Provisions To Must-Pass Bills
House Republicans have embedded at least 45 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions into must-pass funding bills — many of which would weaken discrimination protections for same-sex couples or restrict gender-affirming care for adults and minors. The volume and severity of these provisions is an unprecedented attempt by federal lawmakers to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ people, activists say. (Orion Rummler, 8/8)

Sacramento Bee: Fight Over Sacramento Homeless Camps Between District Attorney, Mayor Steinberg Escalates
A fight over homelessness between Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho and city officials is escalating. Ho sent a letter Monday to city officials to give official written notice that he plans to file charges against city officials if the city does not comply with a long list of demands, including a citywide daytime camping ban. (Clift, 8/8)

LAist, 89.3 FM: LA County Homelessness Lawsuit Now Heads To Trial Following Appellate Court Rejection
A federal appeals court has rejected L.A. County’s request to end a major homelessness lawsuit seeking more treatment beds for people struggling with mental illness and drug addiction. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, issued Friday but not reported in the press until now, paves the way for the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights case to proceed for a scheduled November trial before federal Judge David O. Carter. (LAist, 8/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Can’t Sweep Homeless Encampments. Business Owners Blame One Man
Outside an empty storefront, Toro Castaño stands barefoot sweeping up debris near his tent and chatting with his neighbor. With dirt-covered, calloused hands, he picks up the corner of a gray, duck-taped tarp and enters his tent just feet away from a truck loudly whizzing by on Market Street. Castaño, a former art teacher, isn’t camping out in the fentanyl-ravaged Tenderloin or the languishing Financial District: The 52-year-old man lives on the street in the heart of the affluent Castro. Police have assured him they won’t remove him from his spot, as they have from other places he’s pitched his tent, usually because he’s blocking access to city or private property. (Toledo, 8/9)

The New York Times: California Battles Fentanyl With A New Tactic: Treating Addiction In Prison 
In blistering 100-degree heat one recent afternoon at Valley State Prison in California’s Central Valley, inmates crowded around small windows in a prison yard to pick up their daily doses of buprenorphine, an opioid addiction medication. At one window, Quennie Uy, a nurse, scanned inmate identification cards, then retrieved strips of the medication, slipping them through a sliding panel below the window. One by one, inmates deposited the strips in their mouths, then flashed their palms — proof they had not pocketed the drug that was helping to stanch their cravings. (Weiland, 8/9)

Axios: Black And Poor People Found Less Likely To Access Medication Abortion
Black pregnant people and pregnant individuals below the poverty line are less likely to access medication abortion, according to surveys of more than 4,700 patients by the Guttmacher Institute. It's evidence of how race and economic status can disadvantage some groups, especially in areas where medication abortion is the only option available. (Dreher, 8/9)

Daily Beast: Vulnerable House Republicans Sweat The GOP’s New Abortion Pill Proposal
Moderate House Republicans, many from battleground districts, are squabbling with members of their own party on whether to advance a controversial provision that would overturn federal guidance allowing mifepristone, a pill that can induce an abortion in the first two months of pregnancy, to be sent by mail. At the crux of the holdup is the political risk for moderates in taking votes on abortion-related issues. (Perano, 8/9)

Politico: Abortion Fight Erupts Over Pregnant Workers' Protections
Republicans and social conservatives are fuming over the inclusion of abortion language in proposed rules to protect pregnant workers, threatening to mar a law that passed with bipartisan support. The rule put forward Monday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission includes abortion among the potential medical conditions for which employers may have to make workplace accommodations, such as rest breaks. (Niedzwiadek, 8/8)

CNBC: Amazon To Offer Reproductive Care To 1 Million Employees
Amazon, the United States’ second-largest employer, will now offer fertility and family planning services to employees through a partnership with Maven Clinic. The free offering will be available to more than 1 million eligible Amazon employees spread across 50 countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. (Goldberg, 8/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Weight-Loss Drug Wegovy Cuts Stroke, Heart-Attack Risk By 20% In New Study
Novo Nordisk’s anti-obesity drug Wegovy not only helped people lose weight but also reduced their risk of suffering heart attacks, strokes and cardiovascular deaths by 20% in a large study. The results provide evidence that the weight loss that Wegovy delivers can have important secondary benefits, such as improved cardiovascular health, in people who don’t have diabetes. Novo and other companies are studying whether these types of drugs can treat sleep apnea, liver disease and chronic kidney disease. (Loftus, 8/8)

Stat: Wegovy’s Successful Heart Trial Raises Vital Question About Weight Loss
A landmark study that found the blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy reduces the chance of heart problems adds urgency to a basic question in medicine: what exactly is the relationship between weight and health? (Chen and Garde, 8/9)

The Washington Post: Patients Grapple With Side Effects Of Popular Weight-Loss Drugs 
After years of fad diets and even gastric bypass surgery, Robin Demoy turned to the weight-loss drug Wegovy. The once-a-week injection helped the New Hampshire travel agent shed more than 60 pounds. But when she got up one morning several weeks ago, Demoy was so dizzy it felt like she had motion sickness. Her legs turned weak, and she was nauseous. She vomited and had little desire to eat for weeks. (Ovalle and McGinley, 8/8)

Los Angeles Daily News: Gun Restraining Orders Are Barely Used In LA County. Supervisors Want To Change That. 
A state law enacted to prevent gun violence, mass shootings and suicides that allows the public to petition the court to remove guns from the home of someone deemed violent or mentally ill has been in effect since 2016. But usage locally is sparse. Six years later, in 2022, 66 Gun Violence Restraining Orders (GVROs) were granted in Los Angeles County, a population of 10 million. Of those, 65 were issued to law enforcement, such as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, while just one was requested from a member of the public. (Scauzillo, 8/8)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Revives Federal Rules Against 'Ghost Guns' 
The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted an emergency appeal from the Biden administration and revived federal rules that forbid the sale or use of assembled guns that can be bought online and are untraceable. The justices set aside a Texas judge’s order from last month that had voided the federal rules on these “ghost guns.” (Savage, 8/8)

CalMatters: How Hungry Is California? Millions Struggle To Eat Well In An Abundant State
California is full of food, yet scarred with hunger. Despite the state producing nearly half the country’s fruits and vegetables, one in five Californians are food insecure, meaning they have limited or uncertain access to adequate food. Food insecurity does not necessarily cause hunger, but hunger is a possible outcome. (Jetha, Kuang and Kimelman, 8/8)

CalMatters: San Diego Jail Deaths Shape Sheriff Oversight Bill
Eighteen people died in the San Diego County jail system in 2021, the most in-custody deaths ever recorded there. Local officials expressed consternation. State representatives demanded answers. Calls for change rang out. The next year, another 18 people died in custody. San Diego County jails, which house an average of 3,800 people per day, are among the state’s deadliest. So far this year, 11 people have died in San Diego County jails, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. (Duara, 8/9)

Voice of OC: Will Paid Parental Leave Become Standard For OC’s Public Sector Employees?
Public employees at two of Orange County’s largest cities can now take paid parental leave. It comes as part of new labor contracts approved this and last year by city council members in Santa Ana and Irvine. That makes them the first public agencies in the county to approve the workplace accommodation, according to labor leaders and city officials. (Pho, 8/9)

Berkeleyside: Lake Anza Open To Swimmers After Squishy Fern, Toxic Algae Retreat
Swimmers are allowed at Tilden’s Lake Anza this summer for the first time in four years. ... The lake has struggled with intermittent harmful algae blooms since at least 2015, and swimming was halted in 2020 because of one such spike in toxic cyanobacteria. (Kowk, 8/7)

Los Angeles Times: Remote Work Gave Them A Reprieve From Racism. They Don't Want To Go Back
As LeRon Barton weighed his options, he realized what he had to do. If he took a pay cut of $5,000, he could have a fully remote tech job that would let him roam the country and give him the flexibility he craved. Or he could keep his salary and stay at his current job — a network engineer position based at a San Francisco hospital that required occasional site visits and kept him tethered to the region. Patients at the hospital sometimes gave him funny looks when he came to check their room’s Wi-Fi, recalled Barton, who is Black, and staff members questioned his competence. Working remotely during the pandemic showed him a whole different lifestyle: no commute, more time with his family and a break from the onslaught of microaggressions and other racist behavior he’d had to endure. (Masunaga, 8/8)

AP: Mexico Shutters 23 Pharmacies At Caribbean Coast Resorts After US Warned Of Dangerous Pill Sales 
Mexico has shuttered 23 pharmacies at Caribbean coast resorts, six months after a research report warned that drug stores in Mexico were offering foreigners pills they passed off as Oxycodone, Percocet and Adderall without prescriptions, authorities said Tuesday. A four-day inspection raid targeted drugstores in Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum. (8/8)

NBC News: Just 4,000 Daily Steps May Lower Your Risk Of Death, Study Finds
Walking just 4,000 steps per day is associated with a lower risk of death, according to the analysis published Tuesday in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The research pooled the results of 17 studies that looked at the health benefits associated with step counts across six countries. The least active people in the studies took around 4,000 steps per day and still saw a reduced risk of death from any cause. The more steps people took, the lower their risk of dying. (Bendix, 8/9)

The Wall Street Journal: Women’s Problem Drinking Is Catching Up To Men’s 
Women are closing a gender gap, but it isn’t a good one: They’re catching up to men when it comes to problem drinking. Women’s drinking, on the rise for the past two decades, jumped during the pandemic as women reported more stress. Although men still drink more alcohol than women and have higher alcohol-related mortality rates, doctors and public health experts say women are narrowing that divide. (Reddy, 8/8)

Fox News: Bedbugs Could Transmit MRSA Bacteria That Causes Staph Infections 'In Some Settings,' Study Suggests
Bedbugs may be able to acquire and transmit methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a recent study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. MRSA is a type of bacteria found on people’s skin that can cause serious infections. In some cases, it can lead to sepsis or even death, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (Rudy, 8/8)