Los Angeles Times: Police Investigate Possible 'Swatting' Call To Hoag Hospital In Newport Beach
Newport Beach Police responded to reports of a shooting at Hoag Hospital on Tuesday morning, but said there appeared to be no threat to the public. Police swept the premises at the hospital just after 7 a.m. after receiving a 911 call reporting a shooting, according to a department spokesperson. But when officers arrived there were no signs of a shooting and hospital staff said there was no emergency. (Solis, 10/7)

The Orange County Register: Allegations A Doctor Committed Sexual Misconduct At Hoag Hospital Draw Concern From Congress Members 
Allegations that a pioneering infectious-disease expert accused of sexually abusing patients used Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach for what an attorney for the accusers has called a “sexual playground” have drawn the attention of two U.S. congressmen from Orange County who question whether any misconduct was the result of “systemic failures.” Rep. Dave Min (D-Irvine) and Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano), in a letter sent late last month to Robert Braithwaite, the president and chief executive officer of Hoag Hospital, wrote that the allegations against Dr. William Moore Thompson IV are “deeply troubling and represent a serious breach of the trust patients place in their healthcare providers." (Emery, 10/7)

Los Angeles Times: Federal Agents Held, Shackled A Seriously Injured Man To Hospital Bed For 37 Days Without Explaining Why
For more than a month, federal immigration officials surveilled Bayron Rovidio Marin in a hospital bed at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, where he lay recuperating from serious injuries to his leg after an encounter with agents at a Carson car wash they raided. He was never charged, and his lawyers say he was shackled to his bed for several days and couldn’t speak privately with doctors or legal counsel. Over the weekend, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring immigration officials to remove the guards watching over Bayron Rovidio Marin, take off the handcuffs and leave him unrestrained. (Mejia and Uranga, 10/7)

Becker's Hospital Review: How Renown Health Found A ‘Like-Minded, Mission-Oriented' Partner In Kaiser
It’s been just under a month since Reno, Nev.-based Renown Health and Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente inked a joint venture, and Brian Erling, MD, president and CEO of Renown, feels this partnership marks an important step toward expanding access, affordability and choice for patients in northern Nevada. The partnership, pending regulatory approval, will establish Kaiser Permanente Nevada, as a jointly owned health plan and new outpatient care delivery system. It will also pair Kaiser’s integrated care model with Renown’s existing Hometown Health plan and rebrand it. (Ashley, 10/7)

Becker's Hospital Review: ASHP Names 10 Hospital Pharmacies Centers Of Excellence
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists has named 10 hospitals [three in California] as ASHP-certified Centers of Excellence in medication-use safety and pharmacy practice. The designation recognizes hospitals with high-quality pharmacy services and a demonstrated commitment to medication safety, continual improvement and advanced pharmacy practice, according to the ASHP website. (Jeffries, 10/7)

Bloomberg: Diagnostics Firm BillionToOne Files For US IPO Despite Shutdown
BillionToOne Inc. filed for a US initial public offering, becoming the second notable health-care company to advance public listing plans despite the US government shutdown. The Menlo Park, California-based company had a net loss of $4.23 million on revenue of $125.54 million in the six months ending June 30, compared with a net loss of $15.19 million on revenue of $69.09 million a year earlier, according to a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Lipschultz, 10/7)

Bay Area News Group: Tech Companies Mount Hundreds Of Bay Area Job Cuts In Fresh Layoffs
Tech companies have revealed plans for hundreds of Bay Area job cuts — with most of the reductions occurring as a result of tariff turbulence, California’s burdensome business regulations, and customer woes in China. (Avalos, 10/8)

AP: Molecular Discovery That Won Nobel Prize In Chemistry Is Likened To ‘Harry Potter’ Enchanted Handbag
Three scientists — including one from the University of California, Berkeley — won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for their development of metal–organic frameworks that could eventually help reduce pollution and combat climate change. A member of the Nobel committee likened the discovery to Hermione Granger’s seemingly bottomless enchanted handbag in the fictional “Harry Potter” series, in that the frameworks may look small from the outside, but are able to hold surprisingly vast quantities within them. The Nobel Committee said Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and UC Berkeley's Omar M. Yaghi were being awarded for “groundbreaking discoveries,” saying “some of these may contribute to solving some of humankind’s greatest challenges.” (Manenkov and Dazio, 10/8)

Bay Area News Group: Newsom Signs Controversial Antisemitism Bill That Sets Up First-In-The-Nation Measures 
Despite widespread opposition from California educator groups, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed unprecedented legislation Tuesday that supporters say will crack down on antisemitism in the state’s classrooms. The bill, Assembly Bill 715 — introduced by Democratic Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles and Dawn Addis of San Luis Obispo — establishes a new Office of Civil Rights and a first-in-the-nation statewide Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator in an effort to rein in antisemitism in schools. The bill was a joint effort between the chairs of California’s legislative diversity caucuses, including the Black, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Jewish caucuses. “California is taking action to confront hate in all its forms,” Newsom said in a statement Tuesday. (Gibbs, 10/8)

CalMatters: Newsom Signs California Law Targeting Loud Streaming Ads
Even California’s governor is fed up with obnoxiously loud advertisements that pop on when he’s streaming his favorite shows. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Monday that bans streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu from playing advertisements substantially louder than the programming they accompany. (Sabalow, 10/7)

The Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Proposes New Homelessness Prevention Model 
Sacramento County is looking to replace its current model for addressing homelessness by putting elected officials involved with funding and regional targets. This new model — the Sacramento Homeless and Housing Board — would include elected officials in setting funding and regional approaches. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and elected officials from cities around the region would create policies and budgets that coincide with the Homeless and Housing Board. This board, proposed by Sacramento County, would oversee housing development and rental assistance programs in Sacramento County. Its cities and nonprofit groups must agree to this new model. (Hall, 10/8)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Sees A Free-Speech Problem With Laws That Ban 'Conversion Therapy' For Minors
The Supreme Court justices on Tuesday heard a free-speech challenge to state laws against “conversion therapy” and sounded likely to rule the measures violate the 1st Amendment. California and more than 20 other states have adopted laws to forbid licensed counselors from urging or encouraging gay or transgender teens to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. (Savage, 10/7)

Berkeleyside: Saba Grocers Awarded $2M To Expand Fight Against ‘Food Apartheid’
Not long after Oakland’s Soda Tax was implemented in 2017, Lina Ghanem found herself behind the counter of a corner store, where customer after customer complained about the new tax, which levied a 1-cent per ounce fee on all sugar-sweetened beverages. At the time, Ghanem was working at a research institute in Berkeley, gathering information from corner stores about the impact of alcohol, tobacco and other legal substances on local communities and knew “nothing about the soda tax,” she said. But she started doing research about the tax and how it was meant to address public health concerns, such as diabetes. (Dalton, 10/7)

KQED: Alameda County Child Care Providers Receive Much Needed Cash 
After a yearslong holdup, Alameda County has started distributing funds from Measure C, a 2020 ballot measure that uses a half-cent sales tax to increase access to child care and preschool for the county’s youngest residents. Now, officials from other Bay Area counties are considering doing the same. (Cruz Guevarra, Nguyen, Kariisa and Montecillo, 10/8)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Family Sues Coronado School District In 7th-Grader’s Death, Blaming Unaddressed Bullying 
The family of a Coronado Middle School seventh-grader who died by suicide has sued Coronado Unified School District, saying the school failed to protect him from “persistent and severe bullying” and ignored the serious impacts on his mental health. Gabriel Palacios, 13, had long faced bullying because of his disabilities, including ADHD, Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder — bullying that had gone unaddressed for so long that his family was pursuing transferring him to a private school, his family says. (Stephenson, 10/7)

CBS8.com: San Diego County Manages TB Exposure At Chula Vista School
San Diego County’s Tuberculosis Prevention and Care Program is working with Innovation High School in Chula Vista to notify students and staff who may have been exposed to tuberculosis (TB) between June 1 and Sept. 4, 2025. Health officials say individuals at the highest risk have already been contacted, and free TB testing is being arranged for those who may have been exposed. (10/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Dublin Police Seize Magic Mushrooms, Illegal THC Products From Shops
Dublin police confiscated thousands of illegal products — ranging from flavored tobacco to magic mushrooms — in a recent enforcement probe into local smoke shops, police said. Last month, police visited smoke shops to determine if retailers were selling illegal goods to minors. Royal Novelties and Smoker Friendly, smoke shops located near local schools, were found with over $135,000 worth of illegal products, including 81 boxes of flavored tobacco, illegal THC products and psilocybin mushrooms, police said. (Park, 10/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Canyon Ranch To Shutter Luxury Woodside Wellness Retreat Center
Canyon Ranch Woodside, a Michelin-rated luxury wellness resort tucked away in a hillside redwood forest on the San Francisco Peninsula, will close this month. A Canyon Ranch spokesperson said the retreat center will close to guests starting Oct. 26 at the request of the property owner, a Fort Worth, Texas company. (Bauman, 10/7)

KQED: Medicaid Cuts Could Put Services For Disabled Californians At Risk
Medicaid helps pay for programs that allow disabled Californians to live and work in their homes and communities, rather than in institutions. But federal cuts might endanger those services. (Bloom, 10/8)

The Washington Post: These Veterans Are Defrauding VA's 'Honor System' Disability Program 
Kinsley Kilpatrick put on a convincing show. During visits to Atlanta VA Medical Center, the Iraq War veteran arrived in a wheelchair, claiming multiple sclerosis had paralyzed his arms and legs. By the time he turned 35, the onetime athlete said he could barely move from the neck down, leaving him dependent on others to eat, dress and bathe, according to court records. ... The hoax lasted for three years and might have continued indefinitely, if not for a whistleblower who sent VA proof that Kilpatrick was lying: videos of the Army veteran backflipping on a trampoline, prancing around a sports field like a ballerina and swan diving into a playground ball pit. ... The Kilpatricks pleaded guilty in 2019 to defrauding taxpayers of more than $200,000. (Whitlock, Rein and Jones, 10/8)

Stat: Court Rules Against Novo Nordisk On Medicare Price Negotiations
A federal appeals court unanimously rejected a Novo Nordisk challenge to Medicare’s drug price negotiation program, a ruling that will allow the government to lump together products with the same ingredient for the purpose of choosing drugs for negotiation. (Wilkerson, 10/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Wants To Overhaul Drug Sales. A Company Tied To His Son Stands To Benefit.
The country’s top drugmakers are set to meet in early December at the Four Seasons hotel in Georgetown with Donald Trump Jr. and senior Trump administration officials that regulate the pharmaceutical industry. The host: BlinkRx, an online prescription drug delivery company that this year installed Trump Jr. as a board member. The summit will conclude with a dinner at the Executive Branch, the exclusive new club founded by Trump Jr. and his close friends, according to people with knowledge of the event and a copy of the invitation viewed by The Wall Street Journal. (Linskey and Dawsey, 10/7)

The Intersection: Expiration Of COVID-Era Tax Credits Could Spike Health Insurance Costs By More Than Double For Lower-Income Valley Residents
Almost 185,000 lower-income San Joaquin Valley residents – and nearly 2 million statewide – who purchase health insurance through Covered California will see their monthly premiums skyrocket in January after Congress failed to reach agreement on extending “enhanced tax credits” that subsidize a large share of the cost. The result is that thousands of families likely won’t be able to afford health coverage and will join the ranks of the uninsured, said Jessica Altman, Covered California’s executive director. (Sheehan, 10/7)

The Hill: White House To Use Tariff Revenue For WIC Program
The White House said Tuesday it will use money from tariff revenue to fund a supplemental nutrition program facing a funding shortage amid the ongoing government shutdown. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on the social platform X that President Trump and the White House had identified the “creative solution” to shift tariff funds to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, which was set to run out of money in the coming days. (Samuels, 10/7)

Axios: Exclusive: Organ Transplant Network Oversight Stalled Due To Shutdown
The Health and Human Services Department last week ordered the federal organ procurement and transplant network to halt many operations until the government shutdown is over, Axios has learned. Patients will still be able to receive and donate organs, but many compliance and policy development activities will stop for the remainder of the shutdown, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. (Goldman, 10/8)

The New York Times: Mass Layoffs Trump Is Threatening In Shutdown Fight May Be Illegal 
Throughout the government shutdown, President Trump and his top aides have repeatedly threatened to conduct another round of mass federal layoffs, insisting at times that they may have to shed workers to keep essential services from closing down. But the firings now under consideration may be unlawful or unnecessary, according to a wide range of budget experts, legal scholars and union officials. They say that the White House is only looking to exploit the fiscal stalemate to further its political agenda, shrink the government and punish Democrats. (Romm, 10/7)