Health Officials Work To Combat Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak

Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, January 15, 2026

• California health officials are renewing their warning to avoid mushroom foraging this season as more people have become ill from eating death caps. They’re calling it the largest outbreak of mushroom poisonings in the country. 
• A federal court has upheld California’s voter-approved congressional redistricting map, handing Governor Gavin Newsom and state Democrats a big win.
• Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher is running in the special election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Congressman Doug LaMalfa.

California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak In The Country

State health officials on Wednesday issued their second warning this season to avoid mushroom foraging as illness and deaths from eating wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to unprecedented highs.

35 people have gotten sick so far this season, three needed liver transplants, and three died, compared to a typical year that sees only three to five cases. Doctors worry more cases are coming amid a “super bloom” of death caps, sparked by early rains and warm temperatures in the fall. “We anticipate that these mushrooms could continue to be fruiting in abundance throughout the rainy season in California,” said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System.

Immigrants from Mexico and China make up a disproportionate number of the cases, as death caps, or Amanita phalloides, look very similar to edible mushrooms that grow in those countries. The California Department of Public Health released a series of fact sheets and videos on Wednesday in multiple languages, including Mixteco, an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by communities in Monterey County, where the first poisonings emerged in November. Since then, people have been treated in hospitals throughout the Bay Area after eating mushrooms found in the Oakland Hills, Stinson Beach and Pinnacles National Park, among other sites, though Smollin said that they grow along the West Coast and that no part of California is a death cap-free zone. Some dogs have also died.

Symptoms of death cap poisoning include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and can occur 6 to 24 hours after ingestion. Extreme cases can lead to liver failure, necessitating an urgent liver transplant or death. Cooking, boiling or freezing the mushrooms does not inactivate the toxin. “A single bite of the mushroom could cause significant toxicity,” Smollin said.

Local mushroom experts and enthusiasts have bemoaned the state’s messaging around the poisonings as narrow and fear-based. Many would prefer to see an emphasis on education, rather than a prohibition on all foraging, and point out that touching, smelling and looking at mushrooms is safe. “There’s a lot more nuance,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society. “It’s much more important to steer people to places where they can educate themselves about the safety and the dangers of eating wild mushrooms.”

Federal Judges Uphold California’s New Congressional Maps Favoring Democrats

A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that the new congressional maps created by California voters in the fall are legal and should remain in place, handing a win to state Democrats who hope the new districts will swing five congressional seats for their party next year.

The ruling denies a request by California Republicans and the Trump administration for the federal court in Los Angeles to issue a preliminary injunction blocking the maps created by Proposition 50.

In the 117-page ruling, the federal judges rejected GOP arguments that the new maps amounted to racial gerrymandering, which has been prohibited by the U.S. Supreme Court. The panel ruled 2-1, with the two Democratic appointees ruling for California and Judge Kenneth K. Lee, who was appointed by President Trump, dissenting.

In the opinion, Judge Josephine Staton wrote that the panel’s conclusion “probably seems obvious to anyone who followed the news” about Proposition 50 last year. She noted that during the campaign, no one ever described the new maps as racially motivated — including the Republican plaintiffs.

Assemblymember James Gallagher To Run For Congress

Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher announced Wednesday that he’ll run in the special election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Congressman Doug LaMalfa.

LaMalfa died during emergency surgery at Enloe Health in Chico early Jan. 6, leaving the North State without a representative in Washington. He had represented the state’s 1st Congressional District for more than a decade. In a press release, Gallagher referred to LaMalfa as a mentor and friend. He said if elected to serve out the remainder of LaMalfa’s term, he plans to continue the late congressman’s legacy and serve as a strong voice for the North State.

Jill LaMalfa said in the release that she prayed over who might be best to fill the vacant seat. She said Gallagher has her full support. “The kids and I believe this is what Doug would have wanted,” she said.

The special election to fill the remainder of LaMalfa’s term will not use the new congressional district lines that favor Democrats and were approved by voters in November as part of Proposition 50, CalMatters reported. Instead, the existing congressional map for California’s 1st District that stretches from Yuba County to the Oregon border will be used. It includes the counties of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama. Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to announce the date for the special election soon.