The Mercury News: California Sues To Defend National Clean Car Rules
In a major struggle over the future of America’s auto industry and the amount of pollution that cars and light trucks will be able to emit, California and more than a dozen other states filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the Trump administration’s move to weaken national vehicle emissions standards. (Murphy and Rogers, 5/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Brown Slams ‘Outlaw Pruitt’ As California Sues EPA Over Clean-Car Rules
Pruitt last month moved to reconsider fuel economy standards for the years 2022 through 2025, requirements set by the Obama administration and closely modeled on California’s clean-car regulations. By 2025, those standards require the fleet-wide average mileage for cars and light trucks to nominally top 50 miles per gallon (though the actual number is lower due to credits and loopholes). Pruitt argued that the rules were too stringent and could greatly increase car costs for consumers. Brown and other California officials on Tuesday called Pruitt’s decision arbitrary and therefore illegal, saying the administrator was trying to change a regulation without supporting evidence. At one point referring to the administrator as “Outlaw Pruitt,” Brown said Pruitt and President Trump want Americans to buy more gasoline. He slammed both for ignoring global warming science, which holds that rising greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels are heating the planet. In California, well over a third of greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. (Baker, 5/1)

KQED: California's Climate Posse 
California, 16 other states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration over EPA plans to scrap car emissions standards, with Gov. Jerry Brown calling administrator Scott Pruitt, "Outlaw Pruitt." Brown, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Air Resources Chair Mary Nichols announced the lawsuit at a press conference in Sacramento on Tuesday. (Fiore, 5/1)

Los Angeles Times: If You're Worried About Prescription Opioids, You Should Be Really Scared Of Fentanyl
The U.S. opioid crisis has passed a dubious milestone: Overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids like illicit fentanyl have surpassed deaths involving prescription opioids. This switch occurred in 2016, according to data published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. And it seemed to happen pretty suddenly. Data from the National Vital Statistics System show that there were 42,249 opioid-related overdose deaths in 2016. That includes 19,413 that involved synthetic opioids, 17,087 that involved prescription opioids and 15,469 that involved heroin. (In some cases, more than one type of drug was implicated in the death.) (Kaplan, 5/1)

In other news on the crisis —

KQED: Fentanyl Blamed For Apparent Overdoses That Killed California Prisoner, Sickened Others 
The narcotic suspected of killing an inmate and sickening 12 other prisoners at Mule Creek State Prison last month was fentanyl, tests conducted by the state Attorney General's office have found. The apparent overdoses took place at the state lockup in Ione (Amador County) on April 21 and 22. (Goldberg, 5/1)

Ventura County Star: Grand Jury Says More Should Be Spent On Opioid Abuse Prevention.
Leaders of Ventura County’s drug and alcohol prevention program should consider spending more on opioid abuse prevention and less on drug treatment services, according to a Ventura County Grand Jury report. The grand jury cited the $7.1 million budgeted for narcotics treatment and the $2.4 million budgeted for prevention services in the drug and alcohol program administered by the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department. Calling the funding disproportionate, the grand jury recommended that agency officials consider reworking the mix. (Kisken, 5/1)

KPCC: Kids With Disabilities Face A Tough Transition To Adult Care 
Families with children who have Rett, cerebral palsy, and other severe physical or cognitive disabilities often struggle to find quality care for their kids. That only intensifies when they age out of pediatric services they can get at school or through state-sponsored programs. (Faust, 5/2)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Can You Skip Your Regular Workout And Just Shiver Instead?
What do shivering and exercise have in common? More than you might think. Both shivering and exercise cause you to contract your muscles and expend energy — that's pretty obvious. But less obvious is a new discovery, published Tuesday in Cell Metabolism, that they both release a molecule into the bloodstream that tells your muscles to start burning fat. (Netburn, 5/1)

The Associated Press: US Seeking 1 Million For Massive Study Of DNA, Health Habits
Wanted: A million people willing to share their DNA and 10 years of health habits, big and small, for science. On Sunday, the U.S. government will open nationwide enrollment for an ambitious experiment: If they can build a large enough database comparing the genetics, lifestyles and environments of people from all walks of life, researchers hope to learn why some escape illness and others don’t, and better customize ways to prevent and treat disease. (Neergaard, 5/1)

The Associated Press: Genetic Website Subpoenaed In California Serial Killer Probe
Investigators hunting for the so-called Golden State Killer subpoenaed a genetic website last year while investigating an Oregon man who was misidentified as a potential suspect. The revelation that investigators compelled a genetic company to provide user information adds to a growing debate about legal and privacy concerns involving law enforcement and companies whose millions of users submit their DNA to discover their heritage. (5/1)

KPCC: An Ambitious Attempt To Make Medical Research Not So White 
In an attempt to greatly expand the diversity of participants in research into precision medicine and other areas, the National Institutes of Health has launched a 10-year plan to collect the biological, health and environmental information of at least 1 million Americans, particularly people of color. Against a historical backdrop of medical research that often focused on white males, the "All of Us" campaign seeks to recruit a geographically, demographically and medically diverse population. (Faust, 5/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Will Try New Approach For Conservatorships For The Most Troubled
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance to give the city attorney authority over conservatorship proceedings, the process of forcing mentally ill people into treatment or putting them in the care of a guardian. Those cases are currently overseen by the district attorney. (Swan, 5/1)

In other news from across the state —

Capital Public Radio: Sacramento Police Release Stephon Clark Autopsy, Calls Family Private Findings 'Erroneous' 
The Sacramento Police Department released the Sacramento County coroner's autopsy of Stephon Clark on Tuesday, with the coroner calling information from the Clark family’s private autopsy “erroneous.” An independent review of the autopsy also says the county’s findings “do not support the assertion that Clark was shot primarily from behind.” (Miller, 5/1)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Scripps Translational Science Institute Gets $34 Million For Digital, Genomic Health Care 
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a grant of over $34 million to the Scripps Translational Science Institute to apply digital and genomic technologies to health care. The five-year grant is the third Clinical and Translational Science Award the NIH has awarded to the institute, part of The Scripps Research Institute. As part of its new grant, announced on Monday, the translational science institute has partnered with Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine, which performs rapid genome sequencing for seriously ill infants. The institute, headed by Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, is part of Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. (Fikes, 5/1)

NBC News: Trump Doctor Harold Bornstein Says Bodyguard, Lawyer 'Raided' His Office, Took Medical Files
In February 2017, a top White House aide who was Trump's longtime personal bodyguard, along with the top lawyer at the Trump Organization and a third man, showed up at the office of Trump's New York doctor without notice and took all the president's medical records. The incident, which Dr. Harold Bornstein described as a "raid," took place two days after Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine for the president for years. (Schecter, 5/1)

The New York Times: Trump’s Former Doctor Says Office Was Raided And Files Seized
He told NBC that he decided to speak out after seeing reports that Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the president’s nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, had been accused of doling out medications and behaving inappropriately while serving as the White House physician. Dr. Jackson withdrew from consideration for the post shortly afterward. (Rogers and Altman, 5/1)

CNN: Bornstein Claims Trump Dictated The Glowing Health Letter
When Dr. Harold Bornstein described in hyperbolic prose then-candidate Donald Trump's health in 2015, the language he used was eerily similar to the style preferred by his patient. It turns out the patient himself wrote it, according to Bornstein."He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter," Bornstein told CNN on Tuesday. "I just made it up as I went along." (Marquardt, 5/1)

The Hill: Tom Price: ObamaCare Mandate Repeal Will Drive Up Costs 
Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price on Tuesday said that the repeal of ObamaCare’s individual mandate would drive up costs, a remark seized on by Democrats.“ That may help, but it still is nibbling at the side,” Price told the World Health Care Congress, according to The Washington Times. “And there are many, and I’m one of them, who believes that that actually will harm the pool in the exchange market, because you’ll likely have individuals who are younger and healthier not participating in that market, and consequently, that drives up the cost for other folks within that market.” (Sullivan, 5/1)

In other national health care news —

The Wall Street Journal: Pentagon Begins Probe Into Former White House Physician Jackson
The Pentagon has begun an investigation into Navy Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, who served as the personal physician for three presidents until misconduct allegations emerged last week, dooming his bid to become secretary of veterans affairs. The Defense Department’s Office of Inspector General is conducting the probe into allegations against Dr. Jackson and will decide afterward what further investigation or action should be taken, Pentagon spokesman Tom Crosson said in a statement. (Youssef, 5/1)

The New York Times: Vaping Products That Look Like Juice Boxes And Candy Are Target Of Crackdown
Federal authorities said on Tuesday they were issuing 13 warning letters to companies that sell vaping products like liquid nicotine in packaging that may appeal to children, including products that resemble juice boxes and candy. The joint action by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission is the latest step by the federal government to crack down on the vaping industry, particularly on devices that are popular with teenagers. (Thomas, 5/1)

The Washington Post: Sessions To Opioid Distributors: ‘I’m Not Shedding Any Tears If You’re No Longer Making Profits’
Next week, top executives from the nation’s largest distributors of prescription painkillers will testify before Congress about the role their companies played in the deadliest drug crisis in U.S. history. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that if he were still senator, he would have tough questions and choice words for the company executives. “This has been a colossal detriment to America, and you have profited enormously by it,” Sessions said he would tell them. “And I’m not shedding any tears if you’re no longer making profits.” (Horwitz and Zezima, 5/1)

The Associated Press: Cecile Richards' Message: Now Is The Time To Get Involved
Cecile Richards, who steps down from the helm of Planned Parenthood on Tuesday after 12 years as one of the nation's most visible activists, has a message for her fellow women: Now is the time to get involved. Not soon, not next year. Now. "Don't wait for instructions," she says. "Don't wait for the perfect opportunity. Most of all, don't wait for somebody to ASK you to do something." And, she wants women to know, being an activist really isn't as daunting as it might seem. "It isn't dreary, it isn't depressing," she promises. "It can actually be incredibly joyful, and you meet amazing people." (Noveck, 5/1)