Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
State Highlights: Police Chiefs Back Red Flag Gun Legislation In Massachusetts; Medical Marijuana Bill Passes In Missouri House
The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association is urging lawmakers to pass a so-called "red flag" bill aimed at reducing gun violence, describing it as another tool for public safety and a way of closing "dangerous loopholes." ...The bill, pending before the House Ways and Means Committee, would allow a family member, roommate or law enforcement official to petition the court to bar someone from owning a firearm if their gun ownership presents a "significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others." (Lannan, 5/1)
The Missouri House of Representatives voted 112-44 Tuesday to legalize medical marijuana for people with several health conditions, sending the measure to the Missouri Senate. If enacted, House Bill 1554 would allow people with terminal illnesses verified by doctors to request a registration card from the state that would allow them to possess and use smokeless marijuana. (Marso, 5/1)
Legislation that would legalize marijuana for medical use in Missouri passed the state House on Tuesday. The bill originally would have only allowed medical marijuana use for terminally ill patients, but the House added amendments last week to expand access to those with chronic and debilitating, but not necessarily fatal, illnesses. (Griffin, 5/1)
Pictures of Rebecca Zeni during her younger years showed her with flawless skin, well-defined eyebrows and long, thick lashes.聽Her hair, parted in the middle, was neatly tied with a bow behind her ear. Her beauty could capture a room, her daughter said, but she was more than just a beautiful face. She was a modern-day woman of the 1940s and 1950s, headstrong, career-oriented and hard-working,聽said Mike Prieto, a lawyer representing Zeni鈥檚 family. At a time when women were expected to marry young and聽have children, the small-town girl from North Carolina moved to Norfolk after high school to work at the naval base there, her daughter, Pamela Puryear, said. She later became a model in New York City and worked as an assistant for CBS News鈥檚 Mike Wallace before she married and became a stay-at-home mother. (Phillips, 5/1)
University of Illinois at Chicago officials on Tuesday told faculty, staff and students that research misconduct by one of the campus鈥 star faculty members was an anomaly and there are no systemic oversight problems at the institution. ...The message to the campus came after a ProPublica Illinois investigation last week revealed how the National Institute of Mental Health recently ordered the university to repay $3.1 million in grant money that it had received to fund one of UIC psychiatrist Mani Pavuluri鈥檚 studies on bipolar disorder among children. (Cohen, 5/1)
Gov. Chris Sununu plans to nominate Assistant Commissioner John Elias to take over the state Insurance Department, replacing Commissioner Roger Sevigny after 16 years in the post, the governor鈥檚 office announced Tuesday. Sevigny, who announced his retirement in March, is set to step down in mid-June. Elias was appointed assistant commissioner in April 2016, entering the public realm after years in the insurance industry outside of New Hampshire. (DeWitt, 5/2)
The Arizona Senate voted Tuesday to pass Gov. Doug Ducey's plan to prevent mass shootings in schools, but lawmakers reduced funding for new on-campus police officers by nearly half. ...Ducey's plan would create a new type of restraining order to keeps guns out of unstable people's hands. It would also increase funding to put at least 50 new police officers in schools. (Gardiner, 5/1)
Several Twin Cities schools are re-examining how they address mental health issues, hoping to provide struggling teens with more resources. Efforts in the Hopkins and Mounds View school districts come in the aftermath of several student suicides and the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., which put new urgency around boosting mental health programs in schools nationwide. (Smith, 5/1)
Community Health Systems managed to narrow its operating loss in the first quarter of 2018, and revenue was up slightly on a same-hospital basis. The Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital chain on Tuesday afternoon reported revenue of about $3.7 billion in the first quarter, down nearly 18% from $4.5 billion in the first quarter of 2017. That's due in part to having 28 fewer hospitals in the first quarter of 2018. (Bannow, 5/1)
The Mayo Clinic is investigating mysterious instances of dark-colored tap water coming out of taps at its sprawling St. Marys hospital. Patients and staff at the St. Marys Campus are being asked to stop drinking tap water or using ice from the ice machines. (Richert, 5/1)
The Senate unanimously approved a bill late Tuesday to reduce instances when victims of domestic violence are arrested alongside their attackers. The chamber also unanimously adopted a second measure that mandates a broad array of changes to the treatment of incarcerated women, particularly those who are pregnant. (Phaneuf, 5/1)
One high school in Lane County had so many students with pertussis -- or whooping cough -- that the public health department is investigating the cause. Twelve people at Sheldon High School, a public high school in Eugene, contracted pertussis, a highly contagious bacterial infection. Pertussis is also highly preventable through vaccination. According to The Oregonian/OregonLive's database of vaccination rates for Oregon schools last school year, Sheldon High has enough students vaccinated that contagious diseases should have a hard time spreading. However, any adults or students who aren't vaccinated are susceptible to contracting pertussis, according to the local health authorities. (Harbarger, 5/1)
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance to give the city attorney authority over conservatorship proceedings, the process of forcing mentally ill people into treatment or putting them in the care of a guardian. Those cases are currently overseen by the district attorney. (Swan, 5/1)
The GOP farm bill before Congress could lead to the loss of food stamps for thousands of children in Wisconsin, Democratic lawmakers said Tuesday. Statehouse Democrats said the legislation before the U.S. House of Representatives could result in 23,400 children in Wisconsin losing access to FoodShare benefits. (Stein, 5/1)
A group home in upstate New York will pay $450,000 to the family of a developmentally disabled boy who used his PlayStation to record caretakers threatening his life. The boy, Ralph White, was 12 when he allegedly was physically and psychologically abused at the privately run Northeast Parent and Child Society home in Schenectady in 2014. In one of the videos he recorded for his mother, White points to his swollen right eye and says 鈥淢om, this is what it looks like.鈥 (Klepper, 5/1)
Senators on both sides of the aisle expressed frustration Monday with the House鈥檚 refusal to consider a bill that would expand Iowa鈥檚 medical marijuana program. Republican and Democratic senators have been calling for an expansion of the list of medical conditions that allow a patient to obtain medical marijuana. (Sostaric, 5/1)