Tag Archives: California

Texas Teaches Designated Doctors to See What Brain Scans Miss

Four roofing workers in helmets and harnesses on a residential roof

A roofer hits his head; they get a clean brain scan; months later, they can’t even retain a short grocery list in their mind. In Texas, doctors are now legally mandated to determine if such issues are the results of a brain injury, depression or something else.

In October 2026, the Texas Division of Workers’ Compensation tackled the issue in a six-part online case study related to non-musculoskeletal traumatic brain injury. Designated doctors were taught to rate impairment, using the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment (Fourth Edition, 1993), by performing a physical exam that covers all areas and functions of the brain. Doctors were told to use neuropsychological testing, structured memory, attention and effort test to objectively determine whether TBI residuals exist or if there is an alternate explanation. (Questionnaires like the oft-used PHQ-9, a nine-question depression screen, can result in exaggerated symptoms, and lack built-in checks which can have legal ramifications.)

Other states, including California, train their independent medical examiners in impairment rating, so Texas’s dedicated TBI module is unique. Its stress on objective evidence echoes federal concussion guidance from agencies like the CDC and VA.

The Fungus in the Dust That Can Reach Your Brain

Two hikers on a rocky trail overlooking forested canyons and distant mountains

A fungus hiding in Western dirt is sickening Americans at record pace, various publications reported in the past few months. A 2026 CDC study found that, in Arizona’s cooler northern plateaus, infections now run 6.6 times higher than in 2005–2007. In a study published in June 2025, available in the PubMed database, “a nationwide* total of 273,000 incident symptomatic coccidioidomycosis cases were estimated in 2019.” California recorded nearly 12,500 Valley fever cases in 2024, which reportedly is its highest ever. Federal modelers estimate up to 360,000 Americans get sick each year from fungus.

While infections typically affect the lungs, when spores reach the brain, they cause meningitis. As described by the CDC, meningitis is inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Among patients hospitalized for Valley fever, 63.6% needed procedures like brain shunts. In one study, half developed hydrocephalus, a buildup of brain fluid, and 39% suffered strokes.

Scanning electron micrograph of fungal spores and branching hyphae, with 10 µm scale bar

“Too many patients are misdiagnosed and left without answers while their condition worsens,” said Congressman Vince Fong (CA) in September 2026. As always, the most important step is to protect yourself, so this misdiagnosis cannot occur. Protect yourself. While avoidance of dusty areas is optimal, it is not always possible. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with the CDC and various state governments, recommend wearing an N95 mask when in dusty outdoor environments, and when digging is involved. Ideally, stay fully indoors during dust storms. Also, be cautious about domestic or international travel: in 2023, a fungal meningitis outbreak tied to Mexican cosmetic-surgery clinics killed 12 of 24 US patients. See a doctor about any cough or headache that lingers.

*The number of Valley fever incidents are not recorded in every state, but of those who do, California, Arizona and the rest of the Southwest seem to have the greatest number of cases.

The Ride of a Lifetime or a Lifetime Injury?

For years, thrill-seekers lined up at Six Flags Magic Mountain to be spun, flipped and dropped at 76 mph on X2. Now more than 100 say that momentary thrill left them brain-injured. On September 21, three riders sued the park and the ride’s car manufacturer, alleging brain bleeds, some requiring emergency surgery. Separately, Six Flags recently settled a wrongful-death suit following a man’s death from head trauma after riding X2 in 2022.

Roller coaster inspection scene with safety gear, Mechanical Inspection checklist, and ECG waveform labeled P, Q, S, T

Doctors state that through the rides’ rapid acceleration-deceleration, force can make the brain bleed even when the head hits nothing.

Currently, there is no national database of ride accidents, and no federal agency polices fixed-site rides. Permanently installed rides have been exempt from federal safety oversight since 1981. Rides are subject to state rules, such as that in California: Cal/OSHA closes hazardous rides and fine operators up to $70,000. On March 5, 2025, Rep. André Carson (IN) introduced HR1855, the National Amusement Park Ride Safety Act, “to amend the Consumer Product Safety Act to ensure amusement rides permanently fixed to a site are treated as consumer products.” In response, the amusement park industry’s trade group, IAAPA, says states already inspect rides.

For now, the thrill remains and can be enjoyed, with caution in mind.

CA Chooses Prevention vs Punishment for E-bikers

Electric bicycle with helmet and reflective vest on a bike path

The average e-bikes can travel up to 28 mph. However, drivers may have little or none of the training required to drive vehicles that can obtain that speed.  Young e-bike riders suffer traumatic brain injuries at nearly twice the rate of traditional cyclists, and fewer than half of hospitalized riders wore helmets. To address this, California has passed a law that chooses prevention over punishment, seemingly similar to the law requiring that teenagers take Driver’s Education classes.

On August 27, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1569, directing the California Department of Education, with the California Highway Patrol, to build a standardized e-bike safety and training program for students in grades 7 through 12 by March 2028. Sponsored by Assemblymembers Laurie Davies and Phillip Chen, the Pupil safety: electric bicycle: safety and training program bill unanimously passed the Assembly 77–0.

California’s attempt to address the risks of e-bikes, brain injury and otherwise, through the classroom, contrasts the approach of eleven other states that currently require licenses for their operation: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, West Virginia, New Mexico, North Dakota, and New Jersey, the strictest. It will be interesting to compare the efficacy of these approaches and to see if some sort of a combination of law and education is needed.

Federal Crackdown on Commercial Truck Drivers Beyond Immigration

In 2024, Dalilah Coleman was critically injured when an 18-wheeler truck crashed on a California road that the government attributes to an undocumented immigrant driver. On August 31, 2026, in Detroit, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, joined by Dalilah and her father, announced a major interagency crackdown on the trucking industry, targeting fraud. This fraud specifically applies to commercial licenses and unlicensed, non-English-proficient drivers, as Mullin had warned that unqualified drivers who cannot “understand the rules of the road” are endangering Americans.

Emergency crews respond to a truck and car collision on highway

Motor-vehicle crashes cause about 24.5 percent of all traumatic brain injury hospitalizations. A loaded tractor-trailer presents more danger because it can outweigh a passenger car twentyfold. In 2024, crashes involving large trucks killed 5,340 people and injured an estimated 161,201. Data isolating brain injuries caused by unlicensed commercial drivers does not yet exist, but enforcement figures hint at the scale.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration also announced the emergency removal of certifications for 110 CDL schools, and the proposed removal of certifications of dozens of other training schools. Totaling over of 160 schools, and associated with more than 5,000 drivers, the FMCSA cites these school for certifying drivers who fail English language proficiency tests. Additionally, since 2025, the USDOT put more than 28,000 drivers “out of service” for English language proficiency violations, though this equals a temporary stop, not a license revocation. They also forced states to cancel over 30,000 improperly issued licenses.

Hawaii’s New Strick E-Bike Law to Prevent Brain Injury

Dr. Josh Green in white coat with stethoscope in office and Hawaiian flag

Governor Josh Green signed Act 259 (HB 2021) on July 15, 2026, giving Hawaii its first comprehensive statewide e-bike framework. The law requires helmets for all riders under 18, bars anyone under 15 from operating an e-bike, and prohibits riders under 16 from using Class 2 or Class 3 models without adult supervision.

The measure grew out of an alarming rise in head trauma. Hawaii Department of Health data reported that e-bike injuries more than doubled between 2022 and 2025, from 106 to 244. Honolulu EMS also found that 81 percent of the e-bike patients that were treated wore no head protection. Honolulu-based Kapi’olani Medical Center’s trauma team reported that e-bike crashes recently became the leading cause of injury among the children it treated.

Man riding a bicycle on the sandy beach during sunset

Green, previously an emergency physician, has been blunt about the stakes. “If they have a head trauma, they’re probably going to have long-standing disability from the traumatic head injury,” he said in a September 2025 interview.

The law also reclassifies machines exceeding 28 mph as e-motorcycles, subject to licensing, registration, and insurance. California imposes comparable rules, while New Jersey now goes further, requiring helmets for e-bike riders of every age.

See also: E-Bikes and Brain Injury: The Risks, the Recovery, and the Law

Group-home Debate in NH Focuses on Those With Brain Disorders

Elderly man with walker, young woman wearing helmet, and caregiver talking outside a blue assisted living home

New Hampshire’s group homes for people with brain injuries and developmental disabilities are getting new legislative scrutiny: Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 1763 into law on June 19, 2026, creating a committee to study how these residences are sited, built and maintained statewide, and whether siting disputes push vulnerable residents from needed care.

The panel, which was formed after neighbors in towns like Bow objected to state-backed homes appearing without notice, must report findings by Nov. 1, 2026. Sponsor Rep. Mike Drago said “residents feel blindsided” when facilities open unannounced. Disability advocate Lisa Beaudoin countered that “it is perfectly safe to have people with developmental disabilities in one’s neighborhood.” More so, advocates state that it is needed, as New Hampshire’s estimated 2,000 residents with acquired brain disorders rely on such housing to stay near family and services.

New Hampshire isn’t first to grapple with this tension. California has guaranteed small group homes equal footing with single-family houses since 1978. Connecticut adopted similar zoning-parity protections around 1980, later adding density limits after litigation. New York took a study-first approach in 2025, forming a working group on group-home families – a path New Hampshire now follows, as well.

VT Acknowledges Your Brain Has Rights

Vermont state flag flying on a pole with mountainous landscape in background

When Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H.814 into law on May 18, 2026, it marked a quiet but historic moment: every Vermonter gained a legal right to the privacy of their own mind. For the brain injury community, which is a population that increasingly relies on brain-computer interfaces, AI-powered rehabilitation tools, and wearable neurotechnology, the law provides a crucial layer of protection for some of the most intimate data imaginable.

Formally titled “An act relating to neurological rights and the use of artificial intelligence technology in health and human services,” H.814 takes effect July 1, 2026. The bill legally recognizes what should already be commonsense: every Vermonter has a right to “mental and neural data privacy,” “the freedom of thought,” and protection from “unauthorized access to or manipulation of an individual’s brain activity.” For those with brain injuries who depend on neurotechnology for communication, mobility, or cognitive support, that last phrase is a safeguard for the data generated at the most vulnerable intersection of their lives.

With this bill, Vermont joins Colorado, California, Montana, and Connecticut, though each of which has taken a distinct approach to neurological privacy. Colorado and California moved first in 2024, amending existing consumer privacy statutes to classify neural data as sensitive personal information. Montana went further with a standalone law amending its Genetic Information Privacy Act, requiring robust consent and uniquely prohibiting the storage of neural data in U.S.-sanctioned countries. Connecticut’s 2025 amendment was narrower, covering only the central nervous system. Vermont’s law aligns most closely with Connecticut’s, in that it establishes specific rights, while directing the state’s AI Advisory Council to develop further ethical guidelines, which extends through 2030.

Sponsored by State Representative Brian Cina, a clinical social worker, Vermont’s new legislation, and beyond the aforementioned five states that have similar laws, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Illinois, and New York are currently advancing similar bills. For the brain injury community, the question is no longer whether neurotechnology will be part of care and recovery, as it already is. The question is whether the law will keep pace.

The Chemical Time Bomb in Orange County

Workers in high-visibility vests wearing masks walking in a dusty warehouse near caution-taped barrels

A catastrophic chemical emergency has engulfed Orange County, California, forcing more than 50,000 residents to flee after a massive tank of methyl methacrylate ruptured at the GKN Aerospace facility in Garden Grove. Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. President Trump also approved of Newsom’s request for federal aid, unlocking critical FEMA resources to help stabilize the crisis.

What many people don’t realize is that many chemicals, including methyl methacrylate, don’t just threaten the lungs. They also target the brain. Research published on NIH’s PubMed has found that methyl methacrylate causes measurable neurological deficits in exposed industrial workers, impairing memory, learning, and movement. One study documented that vapor exposure depressed electrical activity in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center. The neurological symptoms of exposure, like headaches, lethargy, and a heavy, numb sensation in the limbs, can take days or weeks to appear.

As research further reveals, chronic exposure can cause degenerative changes in the brain and permanent nerve damage. Children, the elderly, and those with respiratory conditions face the greatest risk. As Garden Grove begins to recover, the invisible injury to thousands of brains is only beginning to unfold.

Workers in high-visibility vests wearing masks walking in a dusty warehouse near caution-taped barrels

This concern over industrial chemical dust is not new. California already has the strictest regulations on chemical plants and manufacturers of any state. Proposition 65 states that these companies must provide public warnings if they emit or use hundreds of chemicals linked to cancer or reproductive harm. Beyond just being one of the first states to mandate regulations, New Jersey also imposes some of the most rigorous chemical safety and security standards. Additionally, with the Matt Haller Act, Illinois enforces some of the strictest emission regulations. As Illinois Senator Dick Durbin captured in a 2017 letter addressed to the CDC Director: “It is clear that public exposure to [industrial chemical] dust can lead to serious health, safety, and environmental issues.”

E-Bikes and Brain Injury: The Risks, the Recovery, and the Law

E-bikes continue to grow in popularity, allowing one to avoid automobile traffic. But because e-bikes can reach speeds of 20 to 28 mph or more, crashes carry serious consequences, including severe traumatic brain injuries. More so, studies have found that young e-bikers suffer traumatic brain injuries at nearly twice the rate of traditional cyclists (37.8% vs. 19.4%). Notably, only 44% of hospitalized e-bike riders were wearing helmets, and helmetless riders were almost twice as likely to sustain a head injury.

The case of Bella Prince, a Utah teenager who crashed her e-bike into a retaining wall at 40 mph and tumbled 25 feet down a cliff, brought special attention to the e-bike issue in the State. The teen survived because of emergency neurosurgery, but she was left with a severe traumatic brain injury. Horrific stories like Bella’s are driving legislative action. Utah’s HB 381, Electric Mobility Device Amendments, passed both the House and Senate with broad support on February 13, 2026. The bill requires helmets for e-bike riders under 21 and empowers police to impound e-bikes from unsafe riders. (As of March 16, 2026, HB 381 has not been signed into law by the governor.)

Currently, only Alabama, Connecticut, and Massachusetts require helmets for all e-bike riders of every age and class. California, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, and Virginia, mandate helmets for all Class 3 e-bike riders, with Class 3 defined as bikes that are pedal-assist up to 28 mph. California also enacted a package including AB 1778 in 2024, which created a Marin County pilot program requiring all Class 2 riders to wear helmets and banning riders under 16 from Class 2 e-bikes. In New York, pending bill S2526 would require helmets for all e-bike and bicycle riders in larger cities, though the same bill has failed in prior years. New Jersey S4834/A6235 abolished the three-class system entirely and reclassified all e-bikes as “motorized bicycles” requiring licensing, registration, insurance, and mandatory helmets beginning in January 2026. However, as of now, no federal e-bike helmet law exists.

Yet e-bikes can also be part of traumatic brain injury recovery. The pedal-assist feature allows TBI survivors with limited stamina, balance issues, or motor challenges to engage in outdoor physical activity, which research links to improved cognitive function and mental health during rehabilitation.

Ultimately, the message is clear: e-bikes offer real benefits, but only when ridden safely.