Bay Area News Group: Sacramento Democrats Say They Have Enough GOP Support To Pass Health Care Tax
After months of tense negotiations, Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders have finalized the framework of a tax on managed health care plans that they say has enough GOP support to clear key votes in the Senate and Assembly scheduled for Thursday. (Calefati, 2/23)

The Sacramento Bee: Tobacco Tax Push To Delay Assisted Death Law
The forthcoming legislative vote to renew a health-plan tax would seem to be good news for proponents of last year’s controversial bill legalizing assisted death. That proposal, which will allow doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to terminally ill patients, passed through the same special health care session where the tax deal is now pending, meaning it won’t take effect until 90 days after the session has ended. (Koseff, 2/23)

In other state house news —

The Press Democrat: Assemblyman Marc Levine Seeks Health Standards For Professional Models
Assemblyman Marc Levine says stronger legal protections are needed to safeguard the health of professional models. Why is the North Bay legislator getting involved in an issue that one might normally associate with Los Angeles or Manhattan? Levine, D-San Rafael, said his interest was sparked by a conversation with some of the women on his staff. (Warren, 2/23)

The Ventura County Star: Thousand Oaks To Consider Regulations On Large Drug Treatment Centers
Land use and other regulations concerning certain kinds of drug abuse treatment facilities will be discussed by the Thousand Oaks City Council on Tuesday. The city doesn't have zoning and permitting requirements for large treatment facilities. If the council approves the proposal passed by the Planning Commission last month, such facilities would be able to operate with a special permit in land use zones designated as public, commercial office, rural and hillside development. (Leung, 2/23)

The San Diego Union Tribune: Oceanside To Crack Down On 'Synthetic Drugs'
Selling, marketing or possessing synthetic drugs commonly called “spice” or “fake weed” will soon be illegal in Oceanside. City police officials say they’ve noticed a increase in the number of crimes related to the cheaply-made drugs, sometimes sold openly at gas stations, head shops and small convenience stores. (Sifuentes, 2/23)

The Ventura County Star: Simi Valley Council Moves To Ban Personal Cultivation Of Medical Marijuana
Despite impassioned, sometimes angry pleas from medical marijuana advocates to allow personal cultivation of the plant, a divided Simi Valley City Council this week took the first step to ban it. The council introduced an ordinance after about 25 speakers implored it in a sometimes raucous, unruly hearing not to criminalize personal cultivation. Many of them were medical marijuana users who spoke of the healing powers of cannabis. (Harris, 2/23)

KERO: KCSO Develops Nasal Naloxone Program In Hopes Of Reducing Opioid Overdoes Deaths In KC
The Kern County Sheriff's Department is training and equipping deputies with Nasal Naloxone (Narcan) in hopes of reducing the number of deaths caused by opioid (morphine, codeine, oxycodone, methadone, vicodin, meth) overdoses. According to KCSO there are 680 law enforcement agencies nationwide that have a Narcan program, three of which are in California. KCSO will become the fourth department in California to carry Nasal Naloxone (Narcan). (Harrington, 2/23)

The Associated Press: S.F.: Homeless Tent City A Health Hazard
San Francisco health officials declared a tent city that has been growing along a city street a health hazard and gave homeless people living on the sidewalk 72 hours to clear the area. (2/23)

KQED: CDC Investigates Teen Suicides In Palo Alto
Investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently in Palo Alto, in the second of a two-week study on youth suicide. (Dembosky, 2/23)

KPCC: How To Talk About The HPV Vaccine
Now, experts have another reason to push the HPV shot: Since it was introduced a decade ago, the shot has cut the rate of human papilloma virus - the most common sexually transmitted infection - by about two-thirds among young women ages 14 to 19, according to a report published in Pediatrics this week. (Plevin, 2/24)

The Ventura County Star: Ventura County Students Learn How Tobacco Firms Target Them
About 375 students in Ventura County are being taught this week how tobacco companies target their products to young people and how teens can fight back with their own anti-tobacco messages. Nearly 180 middle schoolers attended the 18th annual Teens Kick Ash presentation Monday at the Ventura County Office of Education in Camarillo. About 200 high schoolers will attend Tuesday. (Kallas, 2/23)

The Sacramento Business Journal: Regulators Hit Woodland Tomato Processing Giant With $1.5M
Regulators have hit tomato packaging giant Morning Star Packing Co. with a $1.5 million fine for wastewater violations at its Williams plant. But the company plans to fight back. The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board charged the Woodland-based company with unauthorized expansion of wastewater ponds. The board also required Morning Star to address 10 other violations at the packing operation. (Anderson, 2/23)

The Press Democrat: Emeritus at Santa Rosa Nursing Home To Pay $1M In Settlement
A high-end Santa Rosa nursing home has agreed to pay $1 million to settle a wrongful death and elder abuse lawsuit alleging it allowed a patient to die from complications of a bedsore, attorneys said Tuesday. Emeritus at Santa Rosa, since renamed Brookdale Fountaingrove, agreed to the payout in the 2013 death of Eleanor Buckingham, 87. (Payne, 2/23)

Bay Area News Group: Oakland: Family Sues County And Health Care Provider In Inmate's Death
In an emotional news conference on the courthouse steps, the family of a Hayward man who died from an asthma attack in Santa Rita Jail this summer announced on Tuesday it was filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the county and the jail's health care provider. (Lawton, 2/23)

The San Francisco Business Times: Cancer Centers Claim Genetech Shipped Less Cancer Drug Herceptin Than Promised
Nine cancer care centers in seven states claim in a flurry of lawsuits that Genentech Inc. shipped less of its popular breast cancer-fighting drug Herceptin than labeled. The suits, filed in New York, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Minnesota and Oklahoma, say vials of freeze-dried Herceptin when mixed with a liquid failed to produce the correct concentration of the drug, causing the cancer care centers to buy additional vials. A Genentech spokeswoman said the South San Francisco-based company declined to comment, (Leuty, 2/23)

The San Diego Union Tribune: New Salk President Promises To Protect Institute's Mission
Elizabeth Blackburn, the new president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, held her first public meeting with donors Tuesday and reassured them that the center would remain strictly focused on basic research. (Robbins, 2/23)

NPR: Two More U.S. Cases Of Zika Virus Likely Shared Via Sex
Health officials announced Tuesday that they are investigating 14 new U.S. cases of possible sexual transmission of the Zika virus. The virus was confirmed to be in blood samples from two women, using a method that detects pieces of the virus' genetic material, say doctors from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bichell, 2/23)

The Los Angeles Times: Five Ways Scientists Are Going After The Zika Virus
To determine whether the Zika virus is indeed responsible for a surge in birth defects, public health officials are drawing on expertise from many disciplines. These collaborators are galvanized by more than mere scientific curiosity. Having battled Ebola, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, West Nile virus and other scourges, they remain vigilant against any outbreak that could morph into the “Big One” — a deadly and highly transmissible new pathogen for which the public has no natural immunity. (Healy, 2/24)

The Associated Press: Healthcare.gov 'Passive' On Heading Off Fraud
With billions in taxpayer dollars at stake, the Obama administration has taken a "passive" approach to identifying potential fraud involving the president's health care law, nonpartisan congressional investigators say in a report due out Wednesday. While the Government Accountability Office stops short of alleging widespread cheating in President Barack Obama's signature program, investigators found that the administration has struggled to resolve eligibility questions affecting millions of initial applications and hundreds of thousands of consumers who were actually approved for benefits. (2/24)

The New York Times: Texas Abortion Case On Justices’ Docket May Have Effects Beyond State Lines
About 20 women came to the abortion clinic here on a recent morning, hurrying past the shouting protesters as volunteer escorts held up umbrellas to shield their faces. Inside the Reproductive Health Services clinic was Dr. Willie Parker, an Alabama native and one of a few physicians willing to face the professional shunning and the personal threats that come with being an abortion doctor in the conservative Deep South. He travels constantly among three different cities, two in Alabama and one in Mississippi, to provide a service that no local doctors will. (Eckholm, 2/24)

The Washington Post: Republicans Vow No Hearings And No Votes For Obama’s Supreme Court Pick
Senate Republicans on Tuesday united behind an official position on how to deal with President Obama’s expected nominee to replace the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia: no hearings, no votes and no new justice until Obama is out of office. “Presidents have a right to nominate, just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a morning floor speech. “In this case, the Senate will withhold it.” (DeBonis and Kane, 2/23)

Reuters: Senators Push Protections For Opioid-Dependent Parents, Infants
Key senators said on Tuesday they are crafting a law that would allow states to use federal foster care funds to help opioid-addicted parents raise their infants. The senior Republican and Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee envision the law as part of a comprehensive effort to address the opioid crisis with increased prevention, treatment and law enforcement. (2/23)

And on the campaign trail, Donald Trump claims another primary win -

Los Angeles Times: Trump Wins Nevada Caucuses, Fortifying His Lead In The Republican Race
Donald Trump romped to a third straight election victory Tuesday night, winning the Nevada caucuses and solidifying his position atop the Republican field as the presidential race now expands into a nationwide test. Marco Rubio was trailing far behind with about a quarter of the vote counted, followed by Ted Cruz in third place. (Finnegan and Barabak, 2/24)