Los Angeles Times: Newsom, Democrats Announce $321-Billion California Budget Deal
California leaders reached a tentative agreement Tuesday night on the state budget, which hinges on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s demand that the Legislature pass a housing reform proposal. ... The cuts lawmakers and the governor ultimately agreed to will reduce the expansion of state-sponsored healthcare to undocumented immigrants and reinstate asset limit tests for Medi-Cal enrollees. The final deal, however, achieves less savings for the state than Newsom originally proposed. (Luna, 6/24)

Times of San Diego: California Attorney General's Office Suing Sweetwater Care
The California Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday it is suing the San Diego-based Sweetwater Care nursing facility chain for allegedly failing to adequately staff its facilities. The lawsuit claims that understaffing at Sweetwater’s 19 facilities in California has directly led to harm to patients and violated minimum staffing levels required by state law. (6/24)

CalMatters: CA May Reclaim Millions In Health Research Grants Trump Cut
Federal judges handed California researchers temporary victories in their quest to retrieve what’s likely tens of millions of dollars in federal grants the Trump administration cancelled this year. The judges issued the rulings in three cases Monday. In one case, more than 800 science research grants, including about 430 in California, need to be restored after a federal Massachusetts judge ruled the Trump administration’s cancellation of the grants was “illegal” as well as “arbitrary and capricious.” The list could grow as the trial advances. The judge said last week that he had “never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable” in his 40 years on the bench. A similar case filed by a national coalition of health researchers and graduate students affects a few dozen California research grants and hundreds of others across the country. (Zinshteyn, 6/24)

Los Angeles Times: UC Berkeley Law Professors Take On A Case For Colleagues: Fighting Trump Research Cuts
Six individual UC arts, science and medical researchers banded together to fight cancellations to their at times relatively small, but distinct federally funded studies: examining racial equity in education, assessing health risks to racial minorities who face wildfire smoke, evaluating the role of Greek Orthodox Christians in Istanbul in the 19th century. Lacking the power of big institutional legal backing to pursue their case, they got help from of two of their UC Berkeley colleagues to personally make their case: Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school and an expert in constitutional law, and Claudia Polsky, former California deputy attorney general-turned-UC law professor. (Kaleem, 6/25)

NBC News: Hundreds Of International Doctors Due To Start Medical Residencies Are In Visa Limbo
A week before they are due to start work at U.S. hospitals, hundreds of doctors from abroad are still waiting to obtain visas granting them temporary stays in the country. Many of them have been in limbo since late May, when the State Department suspended applications for J-1 visas, which allow people to come to the U.S. for exchange visitor programs. The visas are the most common way for international doctors to attend residencies in the U.S., which provide medical graduates with training in a given specialty. (Bendix, McLaughlin and Berk, 6/24)

Los Angeles Daily News: Anger, Uncertainty At Westwood Hospital After Immigration Agents Arrive With Woman In Custody; Small Protest Ensues
Anger and uncertainty descended Tuesday afternoon on UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center after federal immigration agents showed up with a woman who was having health issues while in their custody, upsetting doctors and nurses as the agents entered the emergency room and drawing protesters outside who feared an ICE raid was underway, according to witnesses. Hospital officials later said that no raids had taken place at the Westwood facility, and that the woman had been discharged. (Van Der Brug and Klick, 6/24)

The (Santa Rosa) Press Democrat: Homelessness Drops 23% In Sonoma County, According To Preliminary Data, But More Families Are Living Without Shelter 
Sonoma County recorded 1,952 people living on the streets or in homeless shelters earlier this year — a 23% decline from 2024 and the lowest total in the nearly two decades officials have been conducting the annual one-day winter tally. That’s 570 fewer homeless people than in last year’s “Point-in-Time” count, conducted Jan. 31. But county officials and homeless service providers fear that the progress may be short-lived — and could unravel — as both state and federal governments pull back on pandemic-era spending for homeless services. (Spinoza, 6/24)

Times of San Diego: San Diego City Council Axes Arts, Homelessness Funds From Budget
The San Diego City Council sided with Mayor Todd Gloria Monday, chopping funding for the arts, homeless services and other community initiatives as the deadline nears for next year’s tight budget to take effect. The cuts that the council passed in a 6-3 vote were a scaled-back version of nearly $5 million in funding that Gloria vetoed from the 2025-26 fiscal year budget. (Nguyen, 6/24)

Times of San Diego: Support System For Homeless Seniors Grows With Foundations' Gifts
The Lucky Duck Foundation will expand its Seniors Safe at Home program through a $100,000 grant from the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation, matched dollar-for-dollar by Lucky Duck Foundation executive committee member Tom Mulvaney and his wife Karen, according to an announcement this month. The non-profit organization Serving Seniors administers Seniors Safe at Home, which provides shallow rent subsidies, case management and job search help to seniors facing homelessness. (Miller, 6/24)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Mayor Looks To Ban Overnight Sleeping At City Hall
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty is spearheading a policy that would prohibit homeless people from sleeping outside City Hall overnight — a reversal of the city’s approach to homelessness under his predecessor. Under proposed change, people will be prohibited from sitting or laying down on the ground outside City Hall except in limited circumstances. The amendment comes six years after the Sacramento council voted to allow people to sleep on the property overnight but not during the day. (Miranda, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: The Profound Environmental Health Disparities Between Latino And White Neighborhoods In L.A.
A new data tool from researchers at UCLA highlights significant environmental health disparities between Latino and white neighborhoods in L.A., providing critical insights amid escalating public health concerns linked to the places where climate change and the Trump administration’s recent immigration policy actions intersect. The Latino Climate and Health Dashboard, developed by UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Institute with support from the California Wellness Foundation, consolidates county-specific data on how Latino communities disproportionately suffer from extreme heat and air pollution. (Magaña, 6/24)

The 19th: Evictions Hurt Physical And Mental Health Of Black Mothers, New Study Shows
Black mothers are more likely to face eviction and housing discrimination, which has lasting impacts on their mental and physical health — as well as that of their neighbors, a new report says. (Turner, 6/24)

Modern Healthcare: UC San Diego Health Job Cuts Affect 230 Positions
The University of California San Diego Health eliminated an estimated 230 positions system-wide on Monday due to mounting financial pressure. The cuts affect an estimated 1.5% of UC San Diego Health’s more than 14,000 employees, the system said in a statement Tuesday. It did not specify what types of positions were affected, whether all eliminated positions were filled, or if affected employees would have the opportunity to work elsewhere within the organization. (DeSilva, 6/24)

Los Angeles Blade: APLA Opens Eighth Location In LA County
The Michael Gottlieb Health Center is latest APLA facility to open, making it the eighth location in L.A. County to offer accessible healthcare services. ... The Michael Gottlieb Health Center in West Hollywood, ... APLA’ eighth facility, will help the organization provide dedicated LGBTQ-inclusive health services to its more than 22,000 patients. (Salerno, 6/24)

Becker's Hospital Review: Kaiser Permanente Backs AI Startup In $30M Funding Round
Kaiser Permanente Ventures is among the investors in an AI startup focused on medication management. The venture capital arm of the Oakland-based health system participated in a $30 million series C funding round June 24 for Arine. The company plans to use the funding to expand into specialty pharmacy management and advance AI automation, according to a news release. (Bruce, 6/24)

Becker's Hospital Review: SuperDial Raises $15M To Scale Healthcare AI Platform
San Francisco-based SuperDial has raised $15 million in debt and equity funding to scale its AI platform, which automates administrative phone calls between providers and insurers. The series A round was led by SignalFire with participation from Slow Ventures, BoxGroup and Scrub Capital. SuperDial said it will use the funding to expand its product and go-to-market teams, according to a June 24 news release. SuperDial now has $20 million in funding and was the first to receive investment from SignalFire’s $1 billion fund dedicated to applied AI. (Dyrda, 6/24)

Becker's Hospital Review: Sutter Health, Aidoc Collaborate On AI
Sacramento-based Sutter Health is partnering with Aidoc, a clinical artificial intelligence company. Aidoc’s real-time AI operating system will be deployed across Sutter Health’s system, which operates 24 acute care hospitals and more than 200 care sites across California. (Woldenberg, 6/24)

Los Angeles Times: Palm Springs Bomb Accomplice Suspect Dies In Federal Custody
A Washington state man facing terrorism charges related to the bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs has died inside a federal detention facility in Los Angeles, officials said. Daniel Park, 32, was found unresponsive in his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, officials said. (Winton, 6/24)

The Hill: House GOP Moderates Tell Leadership They Won't Back Senate Tax Bill Over Medicaid Cuts
More than a dozen House Republicans warned they won’t support the Senate’s version of the tax and spending bill because the proposed Medicaid cuts are too steep. Led by Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.), 15 other vulnerable Republicans sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) saying they support the Medicaid reforms in the House version of the legislation, but the Senate Finance Committee proposal went too far. (Weixel, 6/24)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Cuts In Tax Bill Would Lower Provider Pay: CBO
States would be forced to reduce provider reimbursements to cope with the Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concludes in an analysis issued Tuesday. The legislation, which passed the House last month and which President Donald Trump and Senate GOP leaders are hurrying to finish as soon as this week, would reduce federal Medicaid spending by more than $800 billion over 10 years, in part by restricting provider taxes that states use to help cover their Medicaid expenses. (McAuliff, 6/24)

The Hill: Kennedy Clashes With Democrats During House Hearing
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with Democrats throughout a House budget hearing Thursday, with members accusing Kennedy of lying about changes to vaccine oversight, and Kennedy accusing lawmakers of being influenced by campaign contributions from Big Pharma. Kennedy appeared before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health to discuss the Trump administration’s budget request for fiscal 2026. But much of the hearing saw Democrats question Kennedy about his tenure so far as HHS secretary, with several blasting his actions in office. (Choi, 6/24)

MedPage Today: 'You Lied': Physician Lawmaker Confronts RFK Jr. About ACIP Firings
Rep. Kim Schrier, MD (D-Wash.), tore into HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday, accusing him of lying and arguing that he broke a promise not to change the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). During an HHS budget hearing of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Schrier, a pediatrician, asked Kennedy if he had ever treated measles, bacterial meningitis, pertussis, or whooping cough (Kennedy said he had not). (Firth, 6/24)

The New York Times: Kennedy’s Handpicked Vaccine Advisers Are Set To Meet For The First Time
A scientific meeting on vaccines, which will begin at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s campus in Atlanta on Wednesday, promises to be nothing like previous ones. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic, fired all 17 members of the agency’s Advisory Council on Immunization Practices just two weeks ago. He replaced them with eight new members, at least half of whom have expressed some skepticism about vaccines. (Mandavilli, 6/25)

CNN: Presentation For CDC Advisers Appears To Cite Nonexistent Study To Support Claims About Risk Of Vaccine Preservative
A presentation slated to be shared at this week’s meeting of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that a study in animals suggested that use of the vaccine preservative thimerosal can have “long-term consequences in the brain.” But the study doesn’t appear to exist. (Tirrell, 6/24)

The New York Times: China Tightens Controls On Fentanyl But Calls It A U.S. Problem
China has strengthened controls on two chemicals that can be used to make fentanyl, its latest step in addressing an issue that has become tangled in its broader trade dispute with the United States. The Trump administration has accused Beijing of not doing enough to stem the flow of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, into the United States, where it kills tens of thousands of Americans each year. Earlier this year, the administration cited the issue as it imposed tariffs totaling 20 percent on Chinese goods. (Pierson and Bradsher, 6/25)