VC Star: Newsom Orders New Return-To-Office Policy For California State Workers
California state workers will be required to work at least four days a week in person beginning July 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Monday. (Barraza, 3/4)

San Diego Union-Tribune: ‘People Are Frustrated. People Are Angry’: Fear And Chaos Grip San Diego’s 47,000-Strong Federal Workforce
They deliver mail, forecast weather and prosecute white-collar crime. They provide medical care to veterans, maintain trails in national forests, answer phones at federal offices and so much more. But these days, the rank-and-file employees who make the U.S. government function in San Diego and beyond have more to worry about than managing their routine obligations. (McDonald, 3/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Spent Millions On A Homeless RV Dweller Site With Few Results
The demise of San Francisco’s only parking site for homeless people living in vehicles could be used as a case study on how difficult it is for one of the nation’s wealthiest cities to solve its intractable homelessness crisis. Over the past three years, San Francisco has poured more than $18 million into establishing and operating the site in an underused parking lot at Candlestick Point — likely the most expensive per capita intervention ever tried by the city. But despite city efforts to get the residents into housing or shelter, when officials shut down the site late Monday night, nearly all of the site’s 35 or so residents were back to where they started — on the streets. (Angst, 3/4)

CalMatters: First-Of-Its Kind Order Halts Sweep Of California Homeless Camp
The Bay Area city of Vallejo is putting California cities’ newfound power to clear homeless encampments to the test. A federal judge last month stopped the city from dismantling the makeshift shelter of 64-year-old Evelyn Alfred, which she erected nearly two years ago on an empty strip of land next to a residential neighborhood. The ruling proves that, even as more cities in California crack down on encampments with sweeps and criminal charges, there are pathways open for unhoused people to fight back. (Kendall, 3/5)

Los Angeles Times: Parents Are Suing Snapchat For Their Teens' Fentanyl Deaths
Jaime Puerta keeps a shrine to his son, Daniel, behind his desk — a collection of candles, old pictures and his son’s beloved toy car. He also keeps a stash of naloxone, the lifesaving opioid overdose reversal drug, and a yellow poster Puerta carried while marching with other grieving parents outside the headquarters of Snap, creator of the disappearing messaging app Snapchat. At the bottom of the poster is the solemn slogan of his son’s life: “Forever 16.” (Gerber, 3/5)

The New York Times: Trump Says Tariffs Will Stop When Opioid Deaths Fall. They’ve Already Fallen. 
One month ago, President Trump agreed to delay tariffs on Canada and Mexico after the two countries agreed to help stem the flow of fentanyl into the United States. On Tuesday, the Trump administration imposed the tariffs anyway, saying that the countries had failed to do enough — and claiming that tariffs would be lifted only when drug deaths fall. But the administration has seemingly established an impossible standard. Real-time, national data on fentanyl overdose deaths does not exist, so there is no way to know whether Canada and Mexico were able to “adequately address the situation” since February, as the White House demanded. (Katz and Sanger-Katz, 3/4)

San Diego Union-Tribune: County: Medicaid Cuts Could Stymie Substance Use Treatment Reform
San Diego County would lose significant momentum in its multi-year quest to transform substance use treatment if Congress goes through with Medicaid cuts of the magnitude that some speculate may soon occur. (Sisson, 3/4)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Waivers Linked To Housing, Nutrition Dropped By CMS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rescinded waivers for programs that fund housing, nutrition and other social services for high-risk Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollees. The agency rolled back guidance linked to health-related social needs programs under Section 1115 Medicaid demonstration waivers. States use these programs to pay for wraparound services such as temporary housing and meals for children and adults who may become homeless, struggle with mental illness and transition from institutional care, among other risk factors. (Kacik, 3/4)

Axios: Why Medicaid Cuts Could Leave Millions Without Dental Care
If Congress cuts Medicaid funding to states to help extend tax cuts, dental care for adults could be one of the first casualties as legislators and governors re-sort priorities and try to make do with less. (Goldman, 3/5)

Modern Healthcare: Tariffs, Medicaid Cuts Could Hurt Hospital Credit Ratings: Fitch
The Trump administration's cuts to federal agencies could negatively impact some healthcare companies' financial stability and spark more deal activity as businesses look for additional support. The future of Medicaid is top-of-mind, as proposed cuts loom large. Decreased reimbursements could have a materially negative impact on providers' credit ratings, especially organizations that have relied on supplemental payment programs, and create revenue challenges for payers as well, according to a Fitch Ratings report published last week. (Hudson, 3/4)

Bay Area Reporter: Even In CA, Report Finds LGBTQ Youth Struggle With Mental Health
Despite the myriad measures and protective policies California lawmakers have enacted to improve the lives of LGBTQ youth, it has not shielded queer and transgender young people in the Golden State from struggling with mental health issues. A new report is detailing how depression and suicide remain at elevated levels among those aged 13 to 24. According to the Trevor Project's "2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People by State" report, being published Wednesday, 35% of LGBTQ+ young people in California "seriously considered suicide in the past year, including 39% of transgender and nonbinary young people." Eleven percent attempted suicide in the past year, including 14% of transgender and nonbinary young people. (Bajko, 3/5)

CalMatters: Transgender California Youth Alarmed By Trump's Executive Orders
A spate of recent policy decisions by the Trump administration targeting transgender youth has led to an escalating mental health crisis among an already vulnerable population, experts and advocates say. Even in California, where top state leaders have championed policies to protect transgender people, nonprofit leaders and case workers say they are seeing sharp increases in depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts among the young people they serve. (Wiener and Hwang, 3/5)

Los Angeles Times: Transgender Americans Weigh Leaving U.S. Over Trump's Policies
Alexia Nunez presumed “things were going to be pretty bad” for transgender people under President Trump, given his campaign rhetoric, but had decided to stick it out in the U.S. “as long as possible.” Her breaking point came just days after Trump’s inauguration, she said, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the suspension of passport applications seeking a gender marker different from an applicant’s birth sex. (Rector, 3/5)

AP: Judge Orders Longer-Term Nationwide Block On Trump Orders On Transgender Youth Health Care
A federal judge extended a nationwide block Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s executive orders halting federal funding for providers of gender-affirming health care for transgender people under age 19. The judge’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed earlier this month on behalf of families with transgender or nonbinary children who allege their health care has already been compromised by the president’s orders. (3/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: China Hits Illumina With Import Ban. What Does That Mean For The San Diego Gene Sequencer?
The Chinese government took its economic sanctions against San Diego-based Illumina a step further Tuesday by banning the gene-sequencing company from importing its machines to the country. (Rocha, 3/4)

Bloomberg: Private Credit Lenders Look To Fund Walgreens Buyout By Sycamore
Private credit lenders are in talks to provide about $4.5 billion of debt to fund Sycamore Partners’ potential buyout of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. as part of a plan to split up the pharmacy retailer into separate businesses, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. HPS Investment Partners and Ares Management Corp. are among lenders vying to finance what would be one of the largest leveraged buyout debt deals to hit the market in more than a decade, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. (Schneider and Scigliuzzo, 3/4)

NPR: Consumers Can Buy Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound From Eli Lilly If They Pay Cash
Every month, roughly 100,000 people buy Zepbound directly from Eli Lilly through its website. "It's about the size of a small city," says David Ricks, Eli Lilly's CEO. That's about 10% of the 1 million people who use the blockbuster obesity drug every month, though the numbers can vary, he says. (Lupkin, 3/5)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Veolia Faces New Lawsuit Over Sewage Crisis. This Time From Coronado Unified School District 
The district seeks damages for costs it says it has expended for “medical treatment of students and faculty, counseling for students’ fear of future physical injury, costs sufficient to cover the need for medical monitoring, and physical injury to real and personal property, and other economic damages.” (Murga, 3/5)

Times of San Diego: San Diego Foundation Awards $1.5M For Mental Health And Workforce Support
 The San Diego Foundation announced Tuesday that it will provide $1.5 million in grants to expand mental and behavioral health support for children and families in the region. “San Diego Foundation is committed to supporting children and families furthest from opportunity to ensure they have a bright future and thrive in our region,” said Pamela Gray Payton, VP, Chief Impact & Partnerships Officer. “Our investment in this work with our nonprofit partners reflects the critical need in our community, both now and in the future.” (Sklar, 3/4)

Times of San Diego: Firefighters Host 26th Annual Boot Drive Wednesday For Burn Institute
On Wednesday, March 5, from 6 to 9:30 a.m., hundreds of uniformed firefighters from 30+ departments will be at intersections across the county (morning and afternoon commutes) to collect donations for the Burn Institute’s burn survivor support services and its ongoing fire and burn prevention education. All funds raised will be sent locally to San Diego County. (Sklar, 3/4)