By California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced last week that they are backing a bill introduced by the state legislative women’s caucus that would allow Arizona-based doctors to provide abortion care in California to patients from Arizona.

Senate Bill (SB) 233 was authored in response to the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision on April 9 that an 1864 ban on abortion in the state is enforceable. The bill also aims to counter growing support for anti-abortion legislation in states with Republican-majority legislatures since Roe v. Wade was overturned, according to supporters.

“California will not sit idly by. We’re urgently moving legislation to allow Arizona doctors to provide safe and reliable reproductive care to Arizonans here in California,” Newsom said.

Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus said that abortion bans are based on laws that set women back to a time when they had limited human rights.

“Anti-abortion forces have resurrected a dead law passed at a time when women couldn’t vote and husbands beating their wives was lawful,” Skinner said.

On April 24, the Arizona House of Representatives voted to repeal the 1864 abortion ban. It now moves to the Arizona Senate for deliberation.

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By Oakland Press Staff

On Feb. 20, Dr. Lisa Warhuus, a psychologist with over 25 years of social services experience, will take over as Marin County’s new Director of Health and Human Services.

She replaces Dr. Benita McLaren, who retired in December 2023.

“We feel very fortunate to have someone with Dr. Warhuus’ skills and ability join our executive team,” said Marin County Executive Matthew Hymel.

“Throughout her career, Dr. Warhuus has demonstrated an ability to bring stakeholders together to effectively address our most complex community challenges,” Hymel continued.

With the County of Marin, Dr. Warhuus will lead a team of over 800 full-time equivalent staff positions and manage an annual budget of $258 million.

Her annual salary will be $288,433 with benefits consistent with those received by other department heads.

Most recently, Warhuus served as the Director of Health, Housing, and Community Services for the City of Berkeley. In that role, she oversaw a budget of more than $100 million and more than 200 employees across various divisions, including Public Health, Mental Health, Environmental Health, Housing and Community Services, and Aging Services.

“It is a true honor to have been selected for this important position. I cannot wait to get to know the incredible community of Marin County and to collaborate with the dedicated team within the Department of Health and Human Services,” said Warhuus.

Before working for the City of Berkeley, Warhuus served as Director of Children and Youth Initiatives at the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency. Before that, she was an Associate Director. In that role, she “managed and cultivated partnerships that helped expand mental health programs in multiple school districts. She also championed culturally responsive health and wellness services that aimed to support vulnerable populations,” according to a Marin County press release.

For Berkeley, “Warhuus was also a vital member of the Senior Executive Team providing counsel to the City Manager, Mayor, City Council, and the public on matters pertaining to health and housing,” the press release continued. “Notably, she played a key role in initiatives such as the City’s response to COVID-19, contributing to the citywide emergency efforts, and spearheading the development of a 24/7 mobile crisis response for individuals facing mental health and/or substance use crises.”

Warhuus earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Berkeley and master’s and doctoral degrees from Aarhus University in Denmark.

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By California Black Media

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12) marked Worlds AIDS Day on Dec. 1, with a critical call-to-action.

The Congressmember, who is running for U.S. Senate, urged her colleagues to pass legislation that will reauthorize the PEPFAR program, a U.S. government-supported global initiative that provides lifesaving HIV medications to people in the United States and around the world who can’t afford to buy them.

“World AIDS Day is an opportunity to celebrate the incredible progress we have made toward becoming an AIDS-free generation. In the past two decades we’ve saved 25 million lives, especially among the Black community globally, through transformative programs like PEPFAR,” said Lee in a statement.

In 2003, with bipartisan support — and after vocal and extensive advocacy by members of the Congressional Black Caucus — Congress passed the law approving the program. Former President George Bush, who famously championed the program, signed it into law.

On Nov. 30, Dr. Robyn Neblett Fanfair, acting division director in the Division of HIV Prevention at the National Center for HIV and the Centers for Disease Control, said the AIDS crisis is at a crossroads.

“Together with ongoing commitment, we can honor the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to HIV-related illness in the United States and millions worldwide by ensuring that everyone benefits equally from four decades of groundbreaking scientific advances,” Fanfair said in a letter.

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The CDC estimates that 1.2 million people in America have HIV, and 1 in 8 carriers don’t know it.

Since its inception, the U.S. government has provided over $100 billion to support the PEPFAR program.

“For 20 years, PEPFAR has been one of our nation’s most profound and transformational investments globally. Five and a half million babies have been born HIV-free because of the critical work funded by the program,” Lee continued.

The PEPFAR program is credited with significantly lowering the AIDS death rates in Black communities across the United States, where there is still a disproportionate number of HIV cases and where incidents continue to increase. For example, in Los Angeles County, which includes California’s largest and most populous city, there was a 13% year-over-year increase in new HIV cases between the last two years, according to data compiled by the LA County Department of Health.

PEPFAR is also lauded for turning around the epidemic in Africa, where it was most severe when the initiative was established.

“On World AIDS Day, I call upon my colleagues in Congress to reignite the bipartisanship that has been linked to PEPFAR for so long and act swiftly to keep this lifesaving program alive,” said Lee.

To commemorate the 35^th anniversary of World AIDS Day, the California State Capitol was illuminated in red light on the evening of Dec. 1.

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