Times-Standard: ‘Committed To One Mission’: McGuire Announces $5.5M For Mental Health Service Expansion 
California Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) met with local leaders to host a “Tackling Addiction, Expanding Mental Health Care” news conference on Monday afternoon. At an event held at the Eureka Veterans Memorial Hall, the senator highlighted the recent “massive $70 million in a historic expansion of mental health care and addiction services in Humboldt County.” McGuire announced two new investments — a $5.5 million investment in the Mad River Crisis Triage Center in Arcata and a $750,000 award to the Sorrel Leaf Healing Center. (Schaulis, 10/21)

EdSource: California Students Plan To Join Walkout In Support Of Climate Legislation 
Hundreds of students across more than 50 California high schools are planning to participate in walkouts on Oct. 24 to voice support for legislation that would hold oil companies accountable for damage to infrastructure and costs associated with the climate crisis, The Hechinger Report reported. (Seshadri, 10/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Streets Are Getting Filthier, New Data Shows
The amount of feces, graffiti and illegal trash dumping on San Francisco sidewalks slightly increased over the past year, according to a recently released city report. ... Neighborhoods like the Mission, Bernal Heights, the Tenderloin and the Bayview reported worsening street conditions over the past year, the report said. (Flores and Devulapalli, 10/21)

Becker's Hospital Review: How Sutter Provides A Unified Physician Onboarding Process 
Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health is working to streamline the physician onboarding process to ensure newly hired clinicians feel prepared, connected and supported from day one. Over the past two years, Sutter has hired 2,000 clinicians as part of a broader effort to expand access to care across Northern California. In 2025 alone, the system has opened 17 new ambulatory care sites and plans to open several more. (Cerutti, 10/21)

HR Dive: 5 Minutes With Sutter Health’s CHRO
Learning and development has proven key to fighting burnout and ensuring the success of the health system’s people managers, Deborah Yount, senior vice president and CHRO of California-based health system Sutter Health, told HR Dive. (Golden, 10/21)

Stat: Gilead Agrees Not To Raise Prices On HIV Medicines For State AIDS Drug Programs 
After months of tense negotiations, Gilead Sciences has agreed not to boost prices next year for HIV medicines that are sold to state AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, an outcome that lessens the financial strains for agencies that are relied on by many low-income people. (Silverman, 10/21)

USA Today: ICE Says It Provides 'Proper Meals.' Detainees See Crystalized Jelly, Rancid Beans And Iced Bologna
Months after leaving immigration detention, Camila Muñoz can still remember the ice cream scooper used to ladle food onto plastic trays and the "sour feeling" after every meal. Hunger. "You have to eat no matter what, or the night is going to get you," she told USA TODAY. "We were really hungry." In Louisiana – a major hub of the Trump administration's mass deportation effort – detainees and their representatives say people in custody are going hungry on a diet of processed foods that are barely edible, often expired and never filling. (Villagran, 10/19)

The Guardian: Dim Days, Bright Nights: A Hidden Cruelty Of Ice Detention
At the Northwest Ice Processing Center in Tacoma, Washington, about 1,500 people in immigration detention await their day in court. Most are held for months, living not by the rising and setting sun but under the perpetual twilight of fluorescent lights. “We couldn’t tell if it was day or night,” said one former detainee who spent 10 months at the facility and whom the Guardian is not naming for fear of retaliation from US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the Geo Group, the private company that operates the detention center. “The lights were on 24/7. We maybe saw the sun twice a week.” Windows were coated in dark paint, and people made eye masks with their socks, he recalled. (Peeples, 10/20)

The Orange County Register: For Orange County’s Lawmakers, Government Shutdown And Health Care Are Intertwined 
For nearly a month, the federal government has been shuttered — and Orange County’s congressional delegation says health care costs are directly tied to negotiations to reopen it. (Schallhorn, 10/21)

NBC News: Food Banks And Community Groups Brace For Spike In Demand As Shutdown Continues
Food banks from coast to coast were already seeing an uptick in visits from federal workers who are furloughed or working without pay. Now, they are preparing for an additional influx from Americans who rely on federal food benefit programs, which are set to run out of funding at the end of the month, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps, and WIC, the food program for women, infants and children. (Nobles, 10/21)

The Hill: Senate GOP Chatter Rises On Filibuster Reform To End Shutdown
Senate Republicans are increasingly chattering about changing the filibuster’s rules if Democrats do not end the shutdown, even though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he opposes weakening a tool safeguarding the minority’s power. Initially, there was no discussion about filibuster reform when it came to the shutdown, but the idea is getting more attention in Republican circles as the stalemate drags on. (Bolton, 10/22)

Modern Healthcare: Government Shutdown Opens Opportunity For Telehealth Lobbyists
The government may be shut down but it’s no vacation for healthcare lobbyists. The standoff between the Republican congressional majority and the Democratic minority that triggered the shutdown at the start of fiscal 2026 on Oct. 1 is centered around a battle over health insurance exchange subsidies, but there’s much more on the line for the healthcare sector. (McAuliff, 10/21)

Stat: Institutions Move To Provide Data Now Found In CDC MMWR Journal 
In the latest bid to plug gaps in the federal government’s public health infrastructure, two institutions are coming together to create an alternative to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaunted Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report — often called “the voice of the CDC.” (Oza, 10/21)

The Hill: Moderate Republicans Push For Extension Of Health Subsidies
A group of front-line House Republicans on Tuesday called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to “immediately” address the expiring enhanced ObamaCare tax credits once the government shutdown ends. Led by Reps. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) and Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), 13 lawmakers told Johnson that millions of their constituents would face a massive spike in health premiums without an extension of the subsidies before their expiration at the end of the year. (Weixel, 10/21)

The New York Times: Obamacare Is Expensive. But So Is All Health Insurance. 
The main difference is that most Americans don’t confront the full cost of their coverage. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 10/22)

Bloomberg: Senate Plans Confirmation Hearing For Surgeon General Nominee
A Senate confirmation hearing is being planned next week for Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s nominee for surgeon general who has faced criticism over her experience and views, according to people familiar with the matter. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Thursday but isn’t yet finalized and could change, the people said. Means plans to appear virtually due to her pregnancy, the people said. (Muller and Cohrs Zhang, 10/21)

Axios: Trump Adviser Threatens Regulation Over RFK Food Dye Policy
The Trump administration may move to impose new regulations on food companies that don't follow through on promises to remove artificial colorants from their products, White House adviser Calley Means said at a health industry conference on Tuesday. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy has so far focused on getting voluntary commitments from companies like Kraft Heinz and Walmart on varying timelines. (Goldman, 10/21)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Seeks To Move Special Education Program To New Agency 
The Trump administration is exploring moving the $15 billion program that supports students with disabilities to a different agency within the federal government as it works to close the Education Department altogether, a department official said Tuesday. The effort comes on the heels of the agency’s decision this month to lay off the vast majority of employees working on special-education services and months after Education Secretary Linda McMahon talked about moving the program to the Department of Health and Human Services. Her goal is to fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise to close the Education Department and move its functions to other parts of the government. (Meckler, 10/21)

Bloomberg: US Taps Ex-Defense Official To Run Health Tech Moonshot Agency
The Trump administration chose a new leader for a federal health research funding organization that focuses on high-risk, high-reward programs, after firing its previous head in February. Alicia Jackson, a health technology entrepreneur who used to work for the Defense Department, was appointed director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report. (Griffin and Swetlitz, 10/21)

Stat: New DTC Business Drug Sale Models Mix Lower Insurance, Discounts
As pharma companies and President Trump tout initiatives to sell branded medications directly to cash-paying consumers, some entrepreneurs have seized on a potential business opportunity — pitching a new model for employers to help their workers pay for medications without using insurance. (Chen, 10/22)

The Sacramento Bee: Daylight Saving Time Is Coming To An End In CA. How Could It Affect Your Health? 
The end of daylight saving time is nearly here. Soon, Californians will get an extra hour of sleep as we “fall back” and set our clocks and watches behind one hour. How could the end of daylight saving time affect your health? And how long will it take for your body to adjust to the time change? (Poukish, 10/22)

The Hill: Shrimp Recall: Another Frozen Brand Cites Possible Radiation Exposure
Another company has issued a recall of its frozen shrimp due to possible exposure to radiation levels. In a news release issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Seattle-based AquaStar said its shrimp may have been exposed to “very low levels” of cesium-137 (Cs-137). (Perkins, 10/21)