Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FiercePharma: Pharma AbbVie Plots 85 Summer Layoffs Tied To Allergan Unit In California
A year after a major layoff round at its Allergan headquarters in California, AbbVie is making more edits to its workforce with a new round of 85 layoffs. The 85 permanent layoffs at the company’s Irvine, California, location will become effective on July 20, according to a recent California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice, and concern AbbVie's eye care business. (Becker, 5/22)
Bay Area News Group: Bay Area Braces For Trump's Tougher CalFresh Rules
Tens of thousands of CalFresh recipients in the Bay Area will soon have to comply with federal work requirements to keep their food assistance. (Stringer, 5/26)
KQED: Lurie Eyes $34 Million To Cushion H.R. 1 Blows To Medi-Cal And CalFresh
If his budget is approved, San Francisco will hire 154 new staff to process paperwork, help San Franciscans navigate job applications and conduct employment training. (Jackson, 5/21)
Bay City News: Health Leaders Urge Funding Restoration For Mobile Crisis Intervention
Health officials in the Bay Area and across the state are demanding that Gov. Gavin Newsom restore proposed budget cuts of mobile crisis intervention services. (5/22)
San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Doctor Has Bold Plan For Universal Primary Care In California
A UCSF doctor has co-authored a paper on how to achieve single-payer health care in California — focused on primary care for all. (Ho, 5/26)
Reveal: 911, Please Hold
America’s 911 dispatchers are straining under pressure, leaving thousands of callers waiting during emergencies. (Duncan, 5/23)
CalMatters: The Form Asked To Share My Health Data. Then It Wouldn’t Let Me Say No.
Dark patterns force patients to share their data with big healthcare networks, even when the privacy form they’re signing explicitly says they can opt-out. (Rosenblat, 5/27)
East Bay Times: What Gov. Newsom’s Budget Proposal Means For Homelessness Funding
California should free up another $500 million for a grant program that helps cities and counties prevent and end homelessness, Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s latest budget proposal said — but that money comes with some strings. (Schallhorn, 5/22)
The New York Times: In Homeless Crisis, California ‘Is Waging A War On R.V.S’
The R.V.s are seen as an eyesore — the most visible sign of the state’s homelessness crisis. Neighbors and politicians want them gone. The people who call them home feel under siege. (Berman, 5/24)
inewsource: Blocked In Court, HUD Again Tries To Cut Federal Housing Funds
HUD is proposing to redirect $4 billion from housing meant for homeless people — affecting more than $40 million in San Diego County grants. (Kincaid, 5/22)
Bay Area News Group: Why Homelessness Is So Bad In The Bay Area
A Bay Area News Group analysis found the region does not stand out for poverty, unemployment, drug use or mental illness. Its rents are another story. (Zambrano and Varian, 5/21)
Los Angeles Times: O.C. Communities Hit By Chemical Crisis Are Safe For Return, Officials Say
The vast majority of the 50,000 people evacuated because of a damaged chemical tank officials feared would explode began returning home, and officials said conditions in the area are safe. (McDonald, 5/26)
Press Telegram: GKN, Company Behind Garden Grove Toxic Chemical Threat, Issues Apology On Sunday
GKN Aeropace, the United Kingdom-based company that owns the tank posing a possible chemical explosion in Garden Grove, issued a statement, along with an apology, on Sunday morning. (5/24)
The San Diego Union-Tribune: Disneyland Issues Operations Update On Orange County Chemical Threat
Disneyland is located approximately five miles from the hazmat incident and is not currently inside the mandatory evacuation zone. (MacDonald, 5/24)
The San Diego Union-Tribune: Workers, Guests Warned Of Measles Exposure At Downtown San Diego Hotel
San Diego County public health officials investigating measles exposure at the Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina near the San Diego Convention Center. (Sisson, 5/23)
The Sacramento Bee: Norovirus Outbreak Sickens Hikers On Pacific Crest Trail
Dozens of hikers have fallen ill while on California section of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, authorities said. (Sweeney, 5/24)
Bay Area News Group: State Health Officials Probe E-Coli Outbreak Linked To Kebab Shop
State health authorities are investigating an E. coli outbreak linked to The Kebab Shop restaurant chain, which operates several dining establishments in the Bay Area. (Avalos, 5/25)
Bay Area News Group: California Takes Big Step Toward Banning Deadly Quartz Countertop Work
California safety officials moved toward a first-in-the-nation ban on fabrication and installation of quartz countertop, in a bid to halt an epidemic of silicosis. (Baron, 5/22)
Los Angeles Times: Feds Declare Eaton Fire Was A Cleanup Success. Their Testing Shows Otherwise
In announcing its findings, the EPA cited federal lead standards only, and not California's more stringent thresholds. (Briscoe, 5/21)
VC Star: Health Benefits Boosted For Top County School Officials, Records Show
Ventura County Superintendent of Schools César Morales gave his top deputies lifetime health benefits without the Board of Education's knowledge. (Biasotti, 5/25)
EdSource: Soaring Healthcare Costs Put California School Districts And Teachers At Odds
Twin Rivers Unified School District teachers in Sacramento spent 12 days on strike in March, in part, because healthcare premiums for some teachers and their families had reached $1,600 a month — a growing burden now fueling labor battles in school districts across California. (Lambert, 5/26)
The San Diego Union-Tribune: Long Before San Diego Mosque Shooting, Teen Suspect’s Chula Vista School Raised Alarms
Well more than a year before the May 18 attack, Caleb Vazquez’s behavior had so concerned officials that he was placed on a 72-hour involuntary hold for a mental health evaluation, feared to be a danger to himself or others, court documents indicate. He was then 17 years old and a student at High Tech High in Chula Vista. (Figueroa, 5/26)
inewsource: Chula Vista May Tighten Tobacco Retailer Rules
Chula Vista leaders may put more restrictions on tobacco retailers in an attempt to crack down on illegal sales and concerns about “overconcentration” of the businesses on the city’s west side. (Fong, 5/26)
Palo Alto Daily Post: Palo Alto Sued Repeatedly For Trip And Fall Injuries
The city of Palo Alto has been sued six times this year for alleged injuries on sidewalks, at bus stops and in parking lots — most recently from an RV dweller who fell at a city-owned shelter. (Cartwright, 5/21)
The San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego County Health Official Arrested In Deadly Hit-And-Run
A senior San Diego County health official, Assmaa Elayyat, has been arrested in a hit-and-run car crash that killed a woman waiting for a bus Friday afternoon in Southcrest, police and sheriff’s records show. (McDonald, 5/26)
Sacramento Bee: Rancho Cordova Grocery-Style Food Hub To Open This Summer
A new way to support families experiencing food insecurity is coming to Rancho Cordova this summer. The Rancho Cordova Community Food Hub is set to open in mid-July, said Executive Director Carrie Johnson at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. And it’s unlike any other center in the region. (Dadey, 5/21)
EdSource: California Launches Trust Fund For Foster, Covid-Bereft Youth
California foster youth and children who have lost a parent to Covid-19 can now apply for a trust fund to help them begin their adult lives. (Lambert 5/26)
Palo Alto Daily Post: Trial Set In Suit Against County For Requiring Employees To Get Covid Vaccination
Santa Clara County is headed for a trial against three government workers who were put on unpaid leave for refusing to take the Covid vaccine. The class-action lawsuit was filed by nurses Maria Ramirez and Elizabeth Baluyut and air conditioning mechanic Tom Davis. They said they were uncomfortable because vaccines were tested on fetal cells from abortions, and they believe abortion is murder. (Cartwright, 5/21)
The Sacramento Bee: Placer County Approves New Jail Medical Services Contract
Placer County has signed a seven-year agreement with a new provider for inmate medical services at the county’s jail and juvenile detention facilities. (Malhotra, 5/26)
San Francisco Chronicle: ICE Tried To Separate An SF Mom From Her Baby But She Fought Back
Yulisa Alvarado Ambrocio joined fellow asylum-seekers in blocking arrests at San Francisco’s immigration courthouses. They’re on the cusp of a bigger victory. (Hosseini, 5/26)
Orange County Register: Researchers At UC Irvine Want To Build Biggest Database Ever
The ASPIRE Cohort could help unravel some mysterious and troubling links between cancer and race. (Mouchard, 5/21)
The Desert Sun: Citrus Women Raise Record-Breaking $250,000 For Local Cancer Patients
In just five years, the group has contributed nearly $750,000 to programs that care for the whole patient. (Maggio, 5/22)
Santa Maria Times: Pinstriping For A Cause: West Coast Kustoms Raises $50K For Alzheimer’s Research
The donation honored the legacy of Rich Pichette, co-founder of the longtime custom car show who died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2010. (5/26)
