San Diego Union-Tribune: Kaiser Refuses Cut-And Paste Religious Exemption Claims From Anti-Vax Sites 
Kaiser Permanente confirmed Monday that it is denying some requests for religious exemptions to the coronavirus vaccination mandate on grounds that it believes they were insincere. The situation came to a head over the weekend when a nurse at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center in Kearny Mesa posted two videos of herself being escorted from the facility after learning she was being put on unpaid leave after her request was deemed “not good enough for Kaiser.” (Sisson, 11/1)

Fresno Bee: Fresno Church Hosts Town Hall On COVID-19 Vaccine Exemptions 
Just hours after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine for children 5-11 years old on Tuesday, hundreds gathered at a church in downtown Fresno for a town hall on vaccine exemptions. Approximately 400 people attended the town hall at the Cornerstone Church.Cornerstone Pastor Jim Franklin and attorney Brad Dacus, founder of the Pacific Justice Institute, led the town hall. The nonprofit legal defense organization says it focuses on religious freedom and parental rights, among others. (Montalvo, 11/3)

The New York Times: Military Grants Few Coronavirus Vaccine Exemptions As Deadlines Loom
Two months after the Pentagon began requiring all troops to get the coronavirus vaccine or face dismissal, the vast majority have now had shots, in part because none received a religious exemption, military officials said. While vaccine exemptions are often broadly worded, requests based on religious beliefs are coming under close scrutiny in the military and at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the first federal agency to impose a mandate. They will likely be followed by the rest of the federal government, where most workers are required to be vaccinated by the end of this month. (Steinhauer, 11/2)

Fox News: Air Force Kicked Out 23 Recruits From Boot Camp Who Refused To Get COVID Vaccine
The U.S. Air Force removed 23 recruits from boot camp last week after they refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of the Nov. 2 deadline, defense officials confirmed to Fox News. According to Pentagon officials, there is no military-wide punishment for those who refuse the vaccine, and each service must decide how to handle those situations. The deadline for active-duty members in the Navy to receive the vaccine is Nov. 28, with the Army's being set at Dec. 15. "The secretary's been very clear with the leaders of the military departments that he wants them to execute the mandate with a sense of compassion and understanding," John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said Monday. (Tomlinson and Morris, 11/2)

Modesto Bee: Army Scientists Expect First Data Soon On Coronavirus Vaccine 
Army scientists working on a vaccine to target all coronaviruses, including mutations of the one causing COVID-19 and others that may emerge in the future, are finding data from early human trials promising and expect to publish the results by year-end. Researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have been working since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic on a pan-coronavirus vaccine and are currently analyzing data from the Phase I clinical trial, which began in April with dozens of volunteers. They are following up with participants to monitor the safety and effectiveness of the new vaccine one month after each received their last dose. (Wilner, 11/03)

Los Angeles Times: The 'Wait And See' Crowd Of Unvaccinated People Is Shrinking 
Not all unvaccinated people have totally ruled out the shots. Some say they will “wait and see” about getting vaccinated, or will do so “only if required,” recent surveys from the Kaiser Family Foundation show. But that group — those who are unvaccinated but still open to the idea — appears to be shrinking, the survey shows. Between March and October, the percentage who said they would either “wait and see” about the shots or get vaccinated only if it were required dropped from 24% to 9% of respondents. (Alpert Reyes and Branson-Potts, 11/03)

Los Angeles Times: Here's What Must Happen For L.A. County To Lift Mask Mandate 
Los Angeles County has unveiled the criteria necessary to retire the public mask mandate it imposed months ago to combat the latest COVID-19 surge. But that doesn’t mean the requirements will be going away soon. The county’s criteria are strict: They require coronavirus community transmission to fall significantly below current levels, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 to decline and stay low and more people to complete their vaccination series. Even then, masks could be removed only in select indoor public settings if everyone present is fully vaccinated. (Money and Lin II, 11/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Monterey County To Mandate Masks Indoors Even As Bay Area Looks Toward Loosening Restrictions
Monterey County residents will be required to wear masks indoors in public spaces starting Friday, just as parts of the Bay Area move toward loosening their rules for face coverings. The mandate was triggered by the county’s move into the orange “substantial” coronavirus transmission category on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 transmission map. Monterey County was previously in the yellow “moderate” tier — albeit briefly — with county officials recommending but not requiring masks inside. (Vaziri, 11/02)

San Francisco Chronicle: SFPD Places Police Officers On Leave For Failing To Meet COVID-19 Vaccination Deadline
The San Francisco Police Department said Tuesday that it placed as many as 70 employees on leave who failed to meet the city’s vaccination deadline this week. In a news release Tuesday, SFPD said 97.5% of its employees — 2,747 out of 2,817 — were fully vaccinated by Monday’s deadline. The department did not explicitly say how many employees were placed on leave or how many may have received exemptions, but noted that those who were not fully vaccinated and those who did not provide vaccination records were placed on leave pending termination proceedings. (Picon, 11/02)

City News Service: 1,357 LAPD Employees Have Not Reported COVID-19 Vaccination Status 
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday, Nov. 2, that 1,357 department employees had not submitted their vaccination status as of Friday — and each commander has received a list of their names to begin enforcement of the city’s vaccination and testing mandate. The department has 9,473 sworn personnel and 2,670 civilian personnel. A majority of those who haven’t reported their status were sworn employees, but Moore said he did not have the breakdown. (11/2)

Los Angeles Times: Sheriff Villanueva Blasts Vaccine Mandate; LAPD's Moore Braces For Impacts 
For weeks, Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has blasted the county’s vaccine mandate for employees, saying he won’t force his deputies to get inoculated. It’s a decidedly different stance from the one taken by Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, who has agreed to enforce the vaccination rules city officials put in place. And it shows in their vaccination figures. About 53% of 16,070 Sheriff’s Department employees, both sworn and civilian, have had at least one dose of a vaccine, compared with 74% of 12,143 LAPD employees, according to figures released by each agency. (Tchekmedyian, Rector and Winton, 10/3)

Los Angeles Times: Palmdale Wants To Test L.A. County's COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate 
The city of Palmdale is looking into how it can challenge an L.A. County mandate requiring residents to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor bars, wineries, nightclubs and lounges, becoming another focal point in the debate over personal freedom and public health. Palmdale City Council members on Oct. 20 voted unanimously to direct the city attorney to report back with options to push against the rules, whether by resolution, ordinance, lawsuit or other measure. (Seidman, 11/03)

San Francisco Chronicle: Muni Service Reduced On Some High-Ridership Lines As Nearly 50 Operators Remain Unvaccinated
Starting this week, service on Muni bus lines with some of the highest riderships will be scaled back as San Francisco’s transportation agency grapples with a shortage of operators following the city’s employee vaccination deadline. Four so-called “short” routes — serving parts of the 1-California, 14R-Mission Rapid, 30-Stockton and 49-Van Ness lines — have been temporarily suspended in response to the personnel shortages. These four truncated routes cover portions of these popular lines and are meant to help improve frequencies and reduce crowding. (Cano, 11/02)

Modesto Bee: COVID-19 Disease Keeps A Tight Hold On Stanislaus County 
The rate of COVID-19 infection is not slowing down this fall in Stanislaus County and public health officials are watching an uptick in hospitalizations. Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county public health officer, told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday the county is recording about 150 new cases per day. A falling case rate in September leveled off and stayed above 20 per 100,000 the entire month of October. (Carlson, 11/02)

San Diego Union-Tribune: New COVID-19 Outbreak At San Diego County Jail Underscores Difficulty Of Controlling Virus 
Officials at the San Diego Sheriff’s Department continue to struggle with COVID-19 infections running through the county jails, sickening inmates and deputies alike. According to data posted on the Sheriff’s Department website Friday, more than five dozen active cases have been reported among staff and detainees. (McDonald and Davis, 11/1)

Los Angeles Times: No L.A. Unified Vaccine Mandate So Far For Students Ages 5 To 11 
The Los Angeles school district is not requiring students ages 5 to 11 to get COVID-19 vaccines, although the shots will be available on campus if parents want their children to be inoculated. Students 12 and older are still required to be fully vaccinated in the L.A. Unified School District by Jan. 10, one of six schools systems in California with various versions of a student mandate. (Blume, 11/03)

EdSource: New Law To Bring CalFresh Food Benefits To More College Students 
Thousands of college students in California may soon find they qualify for CalFresh, the state’s food program that provides an average of nearly $6 billion annually in benefits, thanks to a recently passed state law. On average, more than 127,000 California college students receive CalFresh funds each year, according to a report by the state Department of Social Services. The program, once known as food stamps, is designed to provide money for groceries to California residents, with college students receiving up to $250 per month. The same report, however, estimates that the number of college students who are eligible is much higher — between 416,000 and nearly 700,000. (Rosales, 11/3)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Tuberculosis Case Reported At Downtown San Diego Federal Prison 
A tuberculosis case has been reported at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego, and county health officials are working to notify people who may have been exposed over a five-month period, authorities said Tuesday. The period of potential exposure is from April 28 to Sept. 22. (Davis, 11/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Over 20 Years, San Diego's Defibrillator Program Has Saved Almost 200 Lives, Officials Say 
San Diego is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Project Heart Beat, a program that has placed more than 9,000 automated external defibrillators — AEDs — citywide, officials said Monday. AEDs deliver an electric shock to victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The portable devices, especially in tandem with CPR, help keep victims alive until they can receive further medical treatment. (Hernandez, 11/2)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Declares Nasty Smell In Carson A Local Emergency 
A noxious smell that has sickened residents in Carson and nearby areas for the last month was declared a local emergency Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The move will allow the county to expedite requests for state and federal money to clean up the Dominguez Channel, where hydrogen sulfide gas has been emanating from decaying vegetation, and to provide aid for residents. (Cosgrove, 11/02)

San Francisco Chronicle: The Pollutant PM2.5 Is An Increasing Problem In The Bay Area. Here Is Why It Is So Bad For You
Fine particles called particulate matter (PM) 2.5 are tiny but incredibly dangerous. Many scientists now view these inhalable particles with a diameter of 2.5 microns (micrometers) or less as the most damaging source of pollution for Bay Area residents, and for many other communities across the globe. Particulate matter consists of a combination of liquid droplets and small solid particles. (Bhattacharyya and Zhu, 11/02)

Los Angeles Times: Podcast: Extreme Heat, The Silent Killer 
Every year, people in the American West die from scorching temperatures. Experts fear that the number of deaths is undercounted — and that as the climate continues to heat up, the death rate will rise. Officially, California says 599 people died due to heat exposure from 2010 to 2019. But a Los Angeles Times investigation estimates the number is much higher: about 3,900 deaths. (11/03)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Legalizes RVs And Some Tiny Homes On Private Property To Combat The Homeless Crisis. Will It Help?
Oakland residents can legally park recreational vehicles and tiny homes on wheels on private property, under a new set of laws passed Tuesday to help combat the city’s housing and homelessness crisis. Under the new policies, RVs and tiny homes will be allowed on private property in all areas where housing is permitted, but not on city streets and state-owned property. (Ravani, 11/02)

CalMatters: How A Real Estate Agent Ended Up With An Eviction Notice 
Commercial real estate agent Maybelle Manio is one of many middle-class Californians who found themselves financially stranded by the pandemic. The 42-year-old commercial real estate agent turned to public support for the first time in her life. (Bedayn, 11/02)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Biolinq Raises $100M For Needle-Free Diabetes Monitoring 
San Diego’s Biolinq Inc., which is developing tiny dermal biosensors to help people with diabetes track their blood sugar needle free, has raised $100 million in a second round of venture capital investment. The money will be used to push Biolinq’s first product — a continuous glucose monitor — through regulatory review and initial launch. (Freeman, 11/2)

San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Biotech Chases ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ Cancer Drugs 
San Diego biotech Shoreline Biosciences announced Tuesday that it has raised $140 million to fund a one-size-fits-all strategy that would use genetically modified immune cells to kill cancer cells. That’s a popular goal these days. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a growing list of so-called CAR-T therapies, which take a patient’s own immune cells, equip them to recognize and attack a certain cancer, and reinfuse those modified cells back into the patient. (Wosen, 11/2)

Bay Area News Group: Elizabeth Holmes Trial: New Trouble For Holmes
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was hit with more damaging testimony Tuesday, as jurors learned she distributed a report bearing an apparently unauthorized logo from a second pharmaceutical company, adding to claims that she had knowingly misled potential investors and corporate customers. The email that jurors in Holmes’ criminal fraud trial saw Tuesday, sent from Holmes to Walgreens, had a Theranos company report attached bearing the logo of major pharmaceutical firm Schering-Plough. The drug giant has since merged with Merck. Walgreens at the time was considering partnering with Theranos to put the company’s blood-testing machines inside drugstores. (Baron, 11/02)