The Hill: Trump Says He Will 'Save' Social Security After Signaling Openness To Entitlement Cuts
President Trump on Thursday sought to assure his followers on Twitter that he would protect Social Security benefits after Democrats seized on an interview in which he indicated he would be open to cutting entitlement programs down the road. Trump told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he would "take a look at" rolling back entitlements "at the right time" before quickly pivoting to discuss the strength of the economy. (Samuels, 1/23)

The New York Times: Trump Tries To Walk Back Entitlement Comments As Democrats Pounce
When President Trump suggested to an interviewer at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that he would, “at some point,” look at cutting entitlement programs, his Democratic critics seized on the comments as evidence that Mr. Trump would gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in a second term. “Even as the impeachment trial is underway, Trump is still talking about cutting your Social Security,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said at the beginning of a news conference that was ostensibly about the Senate impeachment trial. (Haberman and Rappeport, 1/23)

Meanwhile —

The Hill: Social Security Emerges As Latest Flash Point In Biden-Sanders Tussle
A spat between former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over social security has brought an issue long considered a sacred cow for Democrats to the forefront of the 2020 race. The two leading Democratic contenders have in recent days lobbed attacks against each other on social security, as they both engage in an intensifying battle for the nomination with just over a week left before the Iowa caucus. (Elis, 1/24)

Politico: Trump Administration Finalizing Medicaid Block Grant Plan Targeting Obamacare
The Trump administration is finalizing a plan to let states convert a chunk of Medicaid funding to block grants, even as officials remain divided over how to sell the controversial change to the safety net health program. CMS Administrator Seema Verma plans to issue a letter soon explaining how states could seek waivers to receive defined payments for adults covered by Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, according to seven people with knowledge of the closely guarded effort. An announcement is tentatively slated for the end of next week, more than one year after Verma and her team began developing the plan. (Diamond, 1/23)

Modern Healthcare: Care Coordination Key To Helping Pregnant Women With SUD
Medicaid advisory staff on Thursday said policymakers will need to focus on how to improve care coordination and align state-level policies and programs to speed up a reduction in the number of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. The rate of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome grew about three-fold from 2008 to 2016 for newborn hospitalizations where Medicaid was the expected payer, according to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission staff at a meeting Thursday. The rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome paralleled a rapid increase in the number of pregnant women suffering from opioid use disorder. (Brady, 1/23)

Texas Observer: In Texas, Thousands Of Kids Lose Medicaid Coverage Each Month
It’s becoming a familiar scene across Texas: a parent brings her child to the doctor for a checkup. She signs in at the front desk. Only then does she learn that her child has been kicked off her health insurance—a casualty of missing paperwork and hoops she didn’t know existed. Next comes the awful decision: Pay out of pocket or delay the appointment, skipping critical care like vaccinations against measles, which is seeing a resurgence in Texas and around the country. (Novack, 1/22)

The Associated Press: New Mexico Minimum Wage Could Affect Medicaid Eligibility
Thousands of New Mexicans who are enrolled in the Medicaid program could end up losing their eligibility because of the recent increase in the state’s minimum wage. Starting Jan. 1, base pay rose to $9 an hour, marking the first in a series of increases in New Mexico’s minimum wage that will top out at $12 an hour in 2023. (1/23)

North Carolina Health News: Medicaid Managed Care Companies In Court
While a move to switch Medicaid to a managed care system in North Carolina is on indefinite hold, several companies rejected by state health officials for lucrative managed care contracts are still vying for seats at the table. If N.C. Administrative Law Judge Tenisha Jacobs agrees with lawyers in her Raleigh courtroom this week who claim the selection process was flawed, it will throw yet another wrench into the already beleaguered transition of the state’s massive Medicaid program to managed care. “They’re asking you to go in and basically rework the [selection] process,” Mary Mandeville, an attorney for AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina, a company that did get one of the state’s four statewide slots, said in arguments to Jacobs. “If that Pandora’s box is opened, other offerors are going to want to do that.” (Ovaska, 1/24)

And in other CMS news —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Will Consolidate Its Eight Consumer-Facing Tools
The CMS announced Thursday that the eight online tools designed for Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers to make healthcare choices will be combined later this year. The agency said the changes will allow users to have a "streamlined experience" on Medicare.gov. (Castellucci, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: EPA Releases New Clean-Water Rules Scaling Back Federal Oversight
The Environmental Protection Agency released new federal clean-water regulations Thursday that are less restrictive than those adopted under the Obama administration, removing many seasonal streams, small waterways and wetlands from federal oversight. Lobbying groups that represent U.S. businesses, farmers and landowners said the new rule will end a period of confusion for property owners who have complained about having to apply for federal permits to do work near smaller waterways. (Ferek and Puko, 1/23)

Politico: Trump Erodes Water Protections: 6 Things To Know
The move delivers a major win for the agriculture, homebuilding, mining, and oil and gas industries, which have for decades sought to shrink the scope of the water law that requires them to obtain permits to discharge pollution into waterways or fill in wetlands, and imposes fines for oil spills into protected waterways. (Snider, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Replaces Clean Water Rules With Weaker Ones
The changes to the Clean Water Act’s protections are expected to hit California and other Western states especially hard. Federal data suggest 81% of streams in the Southwest would lose long-held protections, including tributaries to major waterways that millions of people rely on for drinking water. (Phillips, 1/23)

Undark: Mocking 'Prophets Of Doom' Abroad, Trump Guts Water Rules At Home
According to Environmental Protection Agency estimates made under the Obama administration, well over half of all streams in the U.S. flow seasonally, or only after rain — and yet they have a significant impact on downstream waters. These were among the water sources that the new rules were designed to protect. Speaking to The New York Times, Blan Holman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, called the move “the biggest loss of clean water protection” ever seen in the United States. “This puts drinking water for millions of Americans at risk of contamination from unregulated pollution.” Holman added that the Trump’s tack did more than reverse rulemaking made under his immediate predecessor. “This is stripping away protections that were put in place in the ’70s and ’80s that Americans have relied on for their health,” Holman told The Times. (Zeller, 1/24)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: EPA Rule Change Leaves More Wisconsin Waters And Wetlands At Risk
In a move designed to help business interests, the Trump administration on Thursday announced a new rule to reduce federal protections under the Clean Water Act. The Navigable Waters Protection Rule sets a "new, clear definition for waters of the United States” that "protects the nation’s navigable waters from pollution and will result in economic growth across the country," said Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Smith, 1/23)

Meanwhile —

The Washington Post: Scientists Leave Federal Jobs Under President Trump
Dozens of government computers sit in a nondescript building [in Kansas City], able to connect to a data model that could help farmers manage the impact of a changing climate on their crops. But no one in this federal agency would know how to access the model, or, if they did, what to do with the data. That’s because the ambitious federal researcher who created it in Washington quit rather than move when the Agriculture Department relocated his agency to an office park [in Kansas City] last fall. (Gowen, Eilperin, Guarino and Tran, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Indian Health Service Faces Civil Suit Over Alleged Sexual Abuse
Three Native American men filed a civil lawsuit alleging that the U.S. Indian Health Service failed to protect them from sexual abuse by a pediatrician, Stanley Patrick Weber, in Montana during the 1990s, a federal court filing shows. The lawsuit filed in the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C., is the first civil action seeking monetary compensation from the U.S. government over Mr. Weber’s growing legacy of sexual abuse of Native American children. His case has shaken the IHS, which provides medical care to 2.6 million tribal members. (Weaver and Frosch, 1/23)

In other news from the federal agencies —

The Wall Street Journal: Thousands Of Housing Vouchers For Homeless Veterans Go Unused
Rising rents across the country and hiring difficulties at the Department of Veterans Affairs have left unused thousands of housing vouchers designated for homeless veterans. Last week, officials testified at a congressional hearing that 11,000 vouchers remain unused. They cited a number of issues such as a shrinking number of homeless veterans, which makes it harder to find people eligible to use the vouchers. More than 100,000 of housing vouchers for veterans are currently allocated to public-housing authorities. (Kesling, 1/23)

The New York Times: China Expands Virus Lockdown, Encircling 22 Million
The authorities drastically expanded a travel lockdown in central China on Thursday, essentially penning in more than 22 million residents to contain a deadly virus that is overwhelming hospitals and fueling fears of a pandemic. The new limits — abruptly decreed ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, China’s busiest travel season — were an extraordinary step that underscored the ruling Communist Party’s deepening fears about the outbreak of a little understood coronavirus. It has killed at least 26 people and sickened more than 800 in China and at least six other countries, including the United States, according to statistics from health officials. (Buckley and Hernandez, 1/23)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Live Updates: China Extends Travel Restrictions, Covering 35 Million People
The authorities are scrambling to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak, restricting travel in 13 cities including Wuhan, the center of the mysterious outbreak. The new virus has sickened more than 800 people in China. (1/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Spreading Chinese Coronavirus Death Toll Rises As More Cities Are Locked Down
The tally of deaths and infections from the spread of China’s new coronavirus mounted, further stretching hospital resources, leading to canceled events and more locked-down cities near the center of the outbreak. China’s National Health Commission confirmed 830 cases of infection on Friday morning, logging more than 250 new cases since an official count was released a day earlier. And the official death count rose to 26, according to the commission and state media. (Yang, 1/24)

The New York Times: Panic And Criticism Spread On Chinese Social Media Over Coronavirus
While China’s state-run media has urged calm and praised the official response to the coronavirus outbreak, a different story is playing out across the country’s tightly controlled social media networks. In the digital world, China’s citizens are expressing panic and frustration. They are overcoming a lack of reporting in the official media by sharing their own videos and information — sometimes inaccurately. (Victor, 1/24)

The Washington Post: Healthy Young Man Dies Of Coronavirus In China; New Cases In Japan And South Korea
A young, healthy man from Wuhan and a person living 1,500 miles from the epicenter of the coronavirus are among the latest victims of the outbreak, which has incited fear and anger across China as the important Spring Festival gets underway. Reports of eight new deaths from the pneumonia-like virus, taking the total to 26, came as authorities enforced a lockdown across large parts of the province of Hubei, population 59 million. But they also came as the medical system clearly struggled to cope with the outbreak, with reports of crowded hospitals, stressed doctors and dwindling supplies. (Fifield, 1/24)

Reuters: Wuhan To Build Designated Hospital To Treat Coronavirus Patients: Beijing News
The Chinese city of Wuhan, epicenter of a new coronavirus outbreak, will build a dedicated hospital to treat patients, which it aims to complete in six days, state media outlet Beijing News reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed source at the construction company that will build it. (1/23)

The Associated Press: Social Controls, SARS Experience Help China Close Off Cities
Cutting off access to entire cities with millions of residents to stop a new virus outbreak is a step few countries other than China would consider, but it is made possible by the ruling Communist Party’s extensive social controls and experience fighting the 2002-03 outbreak of SARS. (1/24)

The Wall Street Journal: China’s Coronavirus Response Is Questioned: ‘Everyone Was Blindly Optimistic’
On Sunday, more than 10,000 families gathered in Wuhan for a banquet, sharing dishes including spicy duck necks and braised prawns, in a tradition the government had held for years to mark the Lunar New Year. Days later, Beijing made the unprecedented decision to lock down the city of 11 million people, shutting public transportation, movie theaters, internet cafes and other cultural centers, in an effort to contain the spread of a virus that has killed at least 18 people. (Wei and Deng, 1/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Racing For The Last Train Out Of Wuhan: ‘If I Don’t Leave Now, I Won’t Be Able To’
As the sun rose Thursday morning, Wuhan’s streets filled with people making their way to one of the main train stations, trying to escape being trapped in the city with a virus that had already killed 17 people. Thousands of travelers packed the station’s waiting hall after Chinese authorities announced plans to block travel out of the city, the latest measure to stop the spread of a deadly new strain of coronavirus believed to have emerged from an animal market in Wuhan. Some sat calmly, eating and chatting, while others, late to hear about the lockdown, rushed through in a panic. (Li, 1/23)

Bloomberg: Coronavirus Death Toll Hits 25 As Travel Limits Expanded
The pressure is rising on China as it tries to come to grips with a disease that some fear could rival SARS, which 17 years ago claimed almost 800 lives. While global experts have mostly praised efforts to contain the virus, Chinese citizens are increasingly critical and anxious as travel restrictions grow to encompass a population bigger than Australia. (Bloomberg News, 1/23)

Reuters: Canada Girds For New Coronavirus, 17 Years After Deadly SARS Epidemic
The arrival of a new, sometimes deadly strain of coronavirus to just outside Canada's borders has health officials determined not to repeat the country's stumbling response to the SARS epidemic 17 years ago. SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, killed 44 people in Canada, the only country outside Asia to report deaths from that virus in 2002-2003. Government health officials say Canada is better prepared this time. (1/23) 

The New York Times: Coronavirus Is Spreading, But W.H.O. Says It’s Not A Global Emergency
The World Health Organization on Thursday decided not to declare the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak a global emergency, despite the spread of the dangerous respiratory infection from China to at least five other countries. Although the disease has reached beyond China, the number of cases in other countries is still relatively small, and the disease does not seem to be spreading within those countries, agency officials said. Of more than 800 cases now reported, the wide majority — and all the 25 deaths — have been in China, according to Chinese officials. (Grady, 1/24)

Reuters: WHO Says Not Declaring Virus A Global Emergency But Taking It Seriously
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the announcement after its Emergency Committee of 16 independent experts reviewed the latest evidence and made its recommendations, which he accepted. "Make no mistake, though, this is an emergency in China," Tedros told a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva. "But it has not yet become a global health emergency. It may yet become one." (1/23)

Bloomberg: WHO Does Not Declare Coronavirus Outbreak A Global Emergency 
Public heath experts gathered by the United Nations agency to review the situation were split over whether they should recommend declaring a public health crisis of international concern and instead opted to continue monitoring the outbreak. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said he would reconvene the committee within 10 days, or at a moment’s notice should the situation take a turn for the worse. (Paton, Mulier and Cortez, 1/23)

Stat: WHO Declines To Declare China Virus Outbreak A Global Health Emergency
Tedros said the world should be ready for additional cases and an evolution in the outbreak and that he could reconvene the emergency committee as circumstances changed. “It could be in a day, it could be in a couple, it could be any time,” he said. The committee did recommend that WHO send an international mission of experts to China to assist the country’s investigation and response. Tedros accepted that suggestion, but China has to agree to it before a team can go. (Joseph, 1/23)

The New York Times: Many In China Wear Them, But Do Masks Block Coronavirus?
Chinese authorities have encouraged people in the city of Wuhan to wear surgical masks in public to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus. The question is: do they work? Many infectious disease specialists say the cheap disposable masks, which cover the nose and mouth, may help prevent the spread of infections if they are worn properly and used consistently. (Rabin, 1/23)

Reuters: Wuhan Virus Does Not Appear To Be As Deadly As SARS, Singapore PM Says
Singapore's prime minister said on Friday that the city-state was well prepared to tackle the Wuhan flu virus, adding that it did not appear to be as deadly as the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pandemic. The Southeast Asian city-state, a global travel hub, on Thursday confirmed its first case of the coronavirus strain, which originated in China, and said another case has preliminarily tested positive. (1/24)

The Washington Post: How Does Coronavirus Spread? What We Know So Far
Global health officials have almost as many questions as answers about the mysterious, pneumonia-like virus that originated in China last month and has spread to at least five other countries, including the United States. How exactly is it transmitted? How infectious is it and, most critically, how deadly? They do know that the new virus is believed to have come from animals sold in a Wuhan market and that it shares many similarities with SARS, the coronavirus that also originated in an animal-to-human transmission in China in 2002, though it does not appear to be as deadly. (Abutaleb, 1/23)

Boston Globe: What You Need To Know About The New Coronavirus
A newly discovered virus has sickened hundreds of people in China and several others in Asia, with 18 deaths reported so far. And a person traveling from China to Washington state was confirmed this week as the first case on US soil. But despite international jitters over the emerging disease, a new variety of coronavirus, the World Health Organization decided on Thursday that it’s too early to declare a public health emergency, although it’s still monitoring the outbreak and seeking more information. (Freyer, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Everything You Need To Know As The China Coronavirus Spreads
A traveler who arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on a flight from Mexico City was taken to a hospital early Thursday for an evaluation. The unidentified passenger arrived on American Airlines Flight 2546 shortly before 6:40 p.m. Wednesday and was screened by CDC officers at LAX. Based on their recommendation, an ambulance was called shortly after midnight to take the person to a hospital, said Heath Montgomery, an LAX spokesman. Health officials expect to find more patients with the virus. “We do expect additional cases in the U.S. and globally,” Messonnier said. (Baumgaertner, Karlamangla and Fry, 1/23)

Bloomberg: What Is Coronavirus: Mapping The Pneumonia-Like Respiratory Illness In China, Globally
An outbreak of a pneumonia-like illness that started in the city of Wuhan has put health authorities on high alert in China and around the world. The new coronavirus—named 2019-nCoV—is thought to have originated in the food market of the central China metropolis and has since infected hundreds of people. (Sam, Whiteaker and Recht, 1/24)

Stat: Four 'Generations' Of Spread Seen With Virus In China, Alarming Experts
Emerging data on the new virus circulating in China adds to evidence there is sustained human-to-human transmission in the city of Wuhan, and that a single case was able to ignite a chain of other infections. The World Health Organization reported Thursday that there have been at least four generations of spread of the new virus, provisionally called 2019-nCoV, meaning a person who contracted the virus from a non-human source — presumably an animal — has infected a person, who infected another person, who then infected another person. It’s not clear from a WHO statement whether transmission petered out after that point, or whether further generations of cases from those chains are still to come. (Branswell, 1/23)

Bloomberg: No Fever In Some China Virus Carriers Makes Detection Harder
China’s new deadly virus is more difficult to contain than other pandemics because those infected may not get a fever, a symptom governments around the world are using to screen for the pathogen. The National Health Commission told local governments and hospitals on Jan. 18 that some of those with the virus may not have a fever and the pathogen’s incubation period could be up to two weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing the situation. (Bloomberg News, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Rush To Develop Vaccines Against China Virus
Several drugmakers are racing to develop vaccines that could protect against the new respiratory virus originating in China, as fears mount it could spread more widely. Moderna Inc., Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Novavax Inc. said Thursday they plan to develop vaccines against the newly identified viral strain, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia are also trying to develop a vaccine against the strain. (Loftus and McKay, 1/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly-Area Company Gets $9 Million Grant To Develop Vaccine For New Chinese Coronavirus
Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. in Plymouth Meeting announced Thursday that it received a grant of up to $9 million to rapidly develop a vaccine for the new coronavirus that is spreading in China and sparking screenings at some U.S. airports. (Burling, 1/23)

Stat: U.S. Hospitals And States Ready For More Cases Of Novel Virus From China
Even before the first U.S. case of a novel coronavirus that’s broken out in China was confirmed Tuesday, American health officials and hospitals were braced to respond. Hospitals and clinics were adapting their screening protocols to ask about travel to Wuhan, the city where the spread has been centered. State health departments were relaying messages to local providers, alerting them to be on the lookout for the infection’s symptoms. Labs were set to collect patient samples and ship them off for diagnostic testing.Even though this is a new virus, health officials said this was the type of situation they anticipated. They’ve prepared before for other emerging infectious diseases, including Zika and Ebola, as well as other coronaviruses like SARS and MERS. For this current outbreak, federal health officials have already issued recommendations for surveillance, testing, and care of patients, and hospitals have been following those guidelines. (Chakradhar and Joseph, 1/24)

The New York Times: Texas Student May Have Wuhan Coronavirus, As Dozens In U.S. Are Monitored
A Texas A&M University student was being isolated at home on Thursday as health officials said they were examining whether he could be the second known case of Wuhan coronavirus in the United States. The man had traveled from Wuhan, China, where the outbreak of the respiratory illness began, and health care providers determined that he met the criteria for coronavirus testing, health officials in Brazos County, Texas, said. (Baker, 1/23)

Dallas Morning News: Possible Coronavirus Case In Texas A&M Student Being Investigated In Brazos County
The student, a male in his 20s, recently had traveled from Wuhan, China, where the virus was identified earlier this month. He is being isolated at home until testing is complete. Health officials have not said whether the student lives on or off campus. (Marfin, 1/23)

Houston Chronicle: Brazos County Investigating First Suspected Case Of Coronavirus In Texas
"He presented at the ER out of concern because he'd been in Wuhan, not because of the severity of his symptoms," Dr. Eric Wilke, health authority for the Brazos County health district, said at a news conference broadcast on Facebook Thursday. "He's doing well." (Houston Chronicle, 1/23)

The Nashville Tennesseean: Coronavirus: Tennessee Tech Tested By Dept. Of Health
A Tennessee Tech University student is being tested for possible Coronavirus infection, according to the Tennessee Department of Health and the university. The student has not been identified. A student presented very mild symptoms possibly related to the virus. He is being kept isolated while precautionary testing is underway, the school indicated. "His recent travel history met the criteria for testing for possible infection with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV)," a statement from Tennessee Tech read. "Health providers quickly recognized that the patient met the criteria for Coronavirus testing, but nothing has been confirmed." (Timms, 1/23)

NPR: Coronavirus May Spread Through Travel, But Can Airport Screenings Help Catch It?
Airports around the world are screening travelers from certain parts of China for symptoms of an illness that has sickened 830 people and killed 25. The illness, caused by a novel form of the coronavirus, originated in the city of Wuhan, China, and the bulk of the confirmed cases are in China. (McClurg, 1/23)

The Washington Post: Travel Ban Halts Flights Between Wuhan And U.S., As Airports Prepare To Screen Passengers For Coronavirus
More than half of the 566 flights scheduled from China’s Wuhan international airport were canceled Thursday, giving U.S. health officials a brief respite as they focused on the logistics of rerouting U.S.-bound travelers from the region to one of five airports for special screening. The U.S. airports have been designated as enhanced screening points for travelers arriving from the region believed to be the epicenter of a new strain of coronavirus that has killed at least 25 people and sickened more than 800 in China. (Aratani and Sun, 1/23)

The Hill: Administration To Give Senate Briefing On Coronavirus
Senators are set to hear from top federal health officials Friday regarding the outbreak of the new coronavirus originating in China. The administration’s briefing will be jointly hosted by the Senate Health and Foreign Relations committees, the panels said in a joint statement on Thursday. (Weixel, 1/23)

The Hill: State Department, CDC Issue Travel Advisory Over Chinese Virus
The State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are advising travelers to China to “exercise increased caution” due to the outbreak of the coronavirus that originated in Wuhan. According to the travel advisory, anyone who has traveled to Wuhan and feels sick should seek medical care right away. It also urged people to call ahead to the doctor’s office or emergency room to tell them about the recent travel and any symptoms. The agencies are urging Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Wuhan. (Weixel, 1/23)

Bloomberg: Stocks Jump, Futures Rise as Virus Fears on Hold: Markets Wrap
Still, traders remain cognizant of the chance the virus develops into a more devastating pandemic like the SARS illness that emerged in China 17 years ago.“Drastic steps, such as city-wide quarantine measures, can be a double-edged sword when it comes to market impact,” ING senior rates strategist Antoine Bouvet wrote in morning note. “On the one hand they signal the authorities are taking the problem seriously and help containment, on the other hand, they help paint a dramatic picture to investors unfamiliar with dealing with this sort of risk.” (Courcoulas, 1/23)

The New York Times: Surgeon General Says ‘Shocking’ Portion Of People Aren’t Told To Stop Smoking
The United States surgeon general warned on Thursday that despite the well-known lethal dangers of cigarettes, too many smokers are not routinely advised by their doctors to quit. In a new report, the surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, urged smokers to use a range of cessation methods that have been proven effective — and cautioned that e-cigarettes have not. “Forty percent of smokers don’t get advised to quit,” Dr. Adams said in an interview. “That was a shocking statistic to me, and it’s a little embarrassing as a health professional.” (Kaplan, 1/23)

USA Today: Surgeon General: Time To Quit Smoking, But Vaping Isn't The Best Way
Stopping smoking at any age could add a decade to your life, but don't bother quitting with e-cigarettes — there's not enough evidence it works, the Surgeon General says. In an interview before the release of the first Surgeon General report on smoking cessation in 30 years, Dr. Jerome Adams urged those as old as 85 to quit smoking and added fuel to the burning debate over the benefits and risks of vaping, which has been billed as a smoking alternative but also has led millions of young people to start using nicotine. (O'Donnell, 1/23)

Modern Healthcare: Surgeon General: Not Enough Doctors Advise Patients To Quit Smoking
Behavioral counseling and Food and Drug Administration-approved cessation medications have proven to improve patients' success at quitting smoking. But Adams said considerable disparities exist that make it more difficult for more vulnerable groups to get the kind of support they need. "It's easy for me, who lives in the suburbs, to think that no one smokes anymore — when I look around, I don't see anyone smoking, and we're at historically low numbers," Adams said. "But the fact is many groups have been left behind by the progress we've made over the last several decades." (Johnson, 1/23)

CNN: Surgeon General Says Doctors Aren't Encouraging Enough Smokers To Quit
The new report also notes that "there is presently inadequate evidence to conclude that e-cigarettes, in general, increase smoking cessation" and more research is needed in that area."E-cigarettes are a continually changing and diverse group of products that are used in a variety of ways. Therefore it is difficult to make generalizations about their effectiveness for cessation based on studies of a particular e-cigarette," Adams said. (Howard, 1/23)

Stat: Labs Study Mini Brains And Lungs. Next Up: Snake Venom Gland Organoids
The procurement allowed the researchers to grow organoids of the snake venom glands — essentially miniature 3D versions cultivated in lab dishes. And in doing so, they opened the door to potential discoveries that could help human health. That first egg belonged to a Cape coral snake, also known as a Cape coral cobra. With the specimen in hand, Clevers and his team removed the snake from the egg before it hatched, excised tissue samples, and then grew the venom gland organoid, they reported Thursday in Cell. They did the same with eight other species. (Joseph, 1/23)

The New York Times: Depression May Elevate Dementia Risk
People with depression are at increased risk for dementia, researchers report, and the risk may persist for decades. Using the Swedish National Patient Register, scientists identified 119,386 people over 50 with depression and matched them with an equal number of people without that diagnosis. (Bakalar, 1/23)

Stat: 23andMe Laying Off 14% Of Employees Amid Falling Spit Kit Sales
In the latest sign of a slump in consumer genetic testing, 23andMe is laying off 14% of its workforce amid falling sales of its DNA spit kits. The cut of about 100 jobs, which could be the company’s largest downsize yet, will mostly impact 23andMe’s operations teams, CEO Anne Wojcicki told CNBC on Thursday. A company spokesperson, Christine Pai, told STAT in an email: “What I can confirm is that we are restructuring the consumer business, which impacts about 14% of employees. Our therapeutics business is not impacted. We’re also narrowing focus on the core businesses — consumer and therapeutics.” (Brodwin, 1/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Novel Pill To Treat Bleeding From Uterine Fibroids Aims For FDA Approval
For millions of premenopausal women, uterine fibroids turn their monthly periods into virtual hemorrhages. A new drug called elagolix cut blood loss by half over six months in the overwhelming majority of women who participated in two clinical trials published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.(McCullough, 1/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 18 Amish Children Died Of Rare Genetic Mutation, Study Finds
Over more than a decade, an additional 16 children from two extended Amish families would die before researchers pinpointed the culprit: a rare genetic mutation. The details were described this month in a study led by the Mayo Clinic, along with researchers from the Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington and other institutions. (Avril, 1/23)

WBUR: Going To Therapy Can Be Hard, Especially For Immigrants — Here's How To Start
Immigrants face unique stressors that may contribute to mental health problems — and are less likely to seek help for them. Here are some of the best ways for immigrant communities to start therapy. (Hodges, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Kotex Decides Women’s Blood Is Red, Not Blue
Blood is no longer blue for Kotex. A new ad campaign for the Kimberly-Clark Corp. brand is using a realistic-looking red fluid, rather than the ubiquitous antiseptic-blue liquid, to represent menstrual blood. Kimberly-Clark’s approach to marketing its U by Kotex products on social media and streaming TV comes as more companies look to tap into a movement to end the squeamishness and stigma around women’s health and grooming needs, from body hair to bladder leaks and menopause, that have been standard in such marketing for decades. (Terlep, 1/23)

Boston Globe: The Danger In Our Salad Bowls: Leafy Green Vegetables Have Become The Leading Cause Of E. Coli Poisoning. And The Federal Government May Not Be Ready For The Next Outbreak.
More than a year after the Thanksgiving outbreak, the E. coli threat is as real as it ever was, and the government still lacks the means, and maybe the will, to take it on, a six-month Globe review finds. There have been four E. coli outbreaks traced to lettuce since September alone, sickening people in more than two dozen states. Since 2017, there are nearly 500 documented victims and six deaths from leafy green vegetables contaminated by E. coli. Because the disease is difficult to document, the actual numbers are likely many times higher. (Haughney, 1/23)

The New York Times: Insys Founder Gets 5½ Years In Prison In Opioid Kickback Scheme
A federal judge sentenced John Kapoor, the founder of the opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics, to five and a half years in prison Thursday for his role in a racketeering scheme that bribed doctors to prescribe a highly addictive opioid and misled insurers. The case had been closely watched because it represented a rare criminal inquiry into the practices of a drug company that aggressively sold painkillers while the nation was in the grip of a deadly opioid epidemic that killed thousands of people in the last decade. (Thomas, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Founder Of Opioid Maker Sentenced To 5½ Years In Prison
Two other senior Insys executives, ex-CEO Michael Babich and former vice president of sales Alec Burlakoff, pleaded guilty before last year’s trial and testified against their former colleagues as part of cooperation agreements with the government. The convictions marked the first successful prosecution of top pharmaceutical industry executives for illegally promoting prescription opioids, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston, which brought the case. (Walker and Kamp, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Ex-Pharmaceutical Exec Gets 5 1/2 Years For Pushing Opioid
Kapoor and others were accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to doctors across the United States to prescribe the company’s highly addictive oral fentanyl spray, known as Subsys. The bribes were paid in the form of fees for sham speaking engagements that were billed as educational opportunities for other doctors. Prosecutors also said the company misled insurers to get payment approved for the drug, which is meant to treat cancer patients in severe pain and can cost as much as $19,000 a month. (1/23)

Boston Globe: Former Insys Executive Who Rapped As Giant Fentanyl Bottle Gets 26 Months
A former high-ranking Insys Therapeutics executive who dressed as a giant fentanyl spray bottle in a rap video that championed the firm’s addictive opioid painkiller was sentenced to 26 months in prison Thursday for conspiring to bribe doctors to prescribe the drug, despite a prosecutor’s plea for a lighter sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Wyshak sought only 20 months for Alec Burlakoff, who became a star witness for the government. Without the cooperation of the former vice president of sales, Wyshak said, it would have been hard, if not impossible, for prosecutors to convict five other former Insys executives at last year’s trial of bribing doctors to prescribe the painkiller to patients who shouldn’t have gotten it. (Saltzman, 1/23)

Bloomberg: McKesson Board Agrees To $175 Million Accord In Opioid Case
McKesson Corp.’s board reached a $175 million settlement with investors who claimed directors failed to maintain adequate internal systems for spotting suspicious opioid shipments, as the U.S.’s largest drug distributor continues to grapple with claims it helped fuel a public-health crisis tied to the painkillers. (Feeley, 1/23)

And in other news on the opioid crisis —

Politico: HHS Forgets To Renew Trump’s Opioid Emergency Declaration
For nine days, the nation's opioid crisis was no longer considered a "public health emergency" after the Trump administration failed to renew a two-year-old declaration that expired last week. An HHS spokesperson on Thursday night said that the lapse had been corrected. "This was a clerical error," the spokesperson said. "The public health emergency for opioids has been renewed." (Diamond, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Missouri Doctor Indicted In Alleged Fentanyl Fraud Scheme
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted a southwest Missouri physician accused of receiving tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks for prescribing fentanyl spray to hundreds of patients in a $2.4 million medical fraud scheme. Randall D. Halley, 63, of Nixa, was charged in a 29-count indictment in Springfield. (1/23)

The Knoxville News Sentinel: Walgreens, Food City Were Opioid Profiteers, Tennessee AG Says
The role of Tennessee’s pharmacies in flooding the black market with opiates and fueling a deadly epidemic of addiction — is revealed in a lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry by the state attorney general’s office. Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III is using the Knox County Circuit Court lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen to build a case of deliberate drug trafficking — and racketeering — by the Pennsylvania opioid distributor and its top 12 Tennessee customers. The records were obtained by Knox News through a successful lawsuit to make them public. The lion’s share of the dozen high-volume Tennessee customers were located at the epicenter of specific opioid epidemics — Knoxville and the Tri-Cities. And, according to lawsuit records, each of those pharmacies knowingly dispensed opiates to drug dealers and seekers. (Satterfield, 1/23)

NH Union Leader: Chronic Pain Patients Plead For Prescribing Reform 
Chronic-pain patients pleaded with a state Senate committee this week to eliminate “pre-determined” limits on prescription opioids they said threaten to leave them in unrelenting agony and contemplating suicide. They embraced a groundbreaking bill (SB 546) aimed at protecting these patients and the doctors who treat them by allowing each provider to “administer care sufficient to treat a patient’s chronic pain based on ongoing, objective evaluations of the patient without fear of reprimand or discipline. ”The legislation would free doctors from having to stop or restrict medication like opioid painkillers based on pre-determined guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that New Hampshire and many other states have adopted into their own rules. (Landrigan, 1/23)

Carroll County Times: This Carroll County Drug User Got Sober, As Overdoses Declined In 2019. But Officials Aren’t Celebrating Yet. 
But a decrease in overdoses is not a cessation in overdoses, and while Carroll officials have been cautiously hopeful about the downturn in the numbers, they’ve been left wondering what is responsible, whether it’s fair to claim even a small victory and if the numbers accurately reflect reality at all.Tempered optimism“It’s easy to look at numbers like that and say, ‘OK, we’re seeing a downward trend.’ But it is an absolutely struggle and fight day to day,” Carroll County Sheriff Jim DeWees said. “I am always cautious about raising my arms in victory and say, ‘Look at us,’ because I live in a world where things can go wrong rather quickly.” (Kelvey, 1/24)

Stat: How Contentious Is Drug Pricing In Washington? Check The Receipts
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and the 31 other major drug makers that belong to the trade group PhRMA together spent more than $120 million lobbying Congress in 2019, according to recently released federal disclosures. That helped pay for an army of over 450 lobbyists who helped the drug makers and their trade group vehemently oppose the sweeping proposals lawmakers and the Trump administration put forth in their efforts to lower prescription drug prices. PhRMA also broke its all-time annual lobbying record this year. It spent $28.9 million in 2019, surpassing its previous record of $27.5 million, set last year. (Florko, 1/23)

Roll Call: Big Business, Tech, Health Care Lead K Street Spending In 2019
Groups representing hospitals, doctors and pharmaceutical concerns were also among the biggest spenders last year, as lawmakers debated prescription drug pricing and surprise medical billing measures. (Ackley, 1/22)

Stat: Patient Groups Have Deep Ties To Pharma But Fail To Disclose Backing
Amid ongoing debate over the role the pharmaceutical industry plays in shaping health policy, a new analysis finds that patient groups funded by drug makers generally support corporate interests, few groups have policies governing industry backing, and transparency is often lacking. A systematic review of 26 studies that examined patient advocacy groups found industry funding ranged from 20% to 83% of these organizations. Of those that received corporate backing, only 27% disclosed this information on their web sites. In addition, anywhere from 2% to 64% of the groups had policies concerning corporate sponsorship, according to the analysis, which was published in BMJ. (Silverman, 1/23)

Politico Pro: Trump's Tirade Gives New Life To International Drug Pricing Plan
President Donald Trump has one big option to make good on his promise to slash drug prices: tie the cost of U.S. drugs to the lower prices paid overseas. There’s only one problem. It’s too late for him to make a dent in what people pay for their prescription drugs before the election. The president’s outburst last week at Health Secretary Alex Azar over not getting credit for tackling drug costs has left Azar scrambling to get the plan the administration first floated in 2018 finished in time for Trump’s State of the Union address. (Karlin-Smith and Cancryn, 1/23)

Modern Healthcare: California AG Says 'Not Time To Panic' Over Affordable Care Act Lawsuit
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, the lawyer leading the charge to defend the Affordable Care Act against a challenge by the Trump administration and a group of GOP states, said on Thursday that proponents of the landmark law should not yet begin panicking about its fate. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it denied a petition by a coalition of Democratic attorneys general to fast-track consideration of the case. (Cohrs, 1/23)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: SCOTUS Punts On ACA Case — For Now
The Supreme Court has declined to take up immediately a case out of Texas that could overturn the entire Affordable Care Act. But that is not likely to stop the case from becoming a major political issue in the 2020 presidential and congressional campaigns. Meanwhile, the American College of Physicians, which represents internists, became one of the first major doctor groups to endorse “Medicare for All” — although the group also endorsed a somewhat less sweeping public option. (1/23)

Sacramento Bee: New Enrollees At Covered California Exceeds 2019 Total
Covered California reported Thursday that the number of new enrollees has surged to 318,000, surpassing the total number from last year, as open enrollment nears its close on Jan. 31. Still, leaders of the state-based insurance marketplace say a survey shows that many Californians are unaware that a new state law mandates that everyone have health care coverage. (Anderson, 1/23)

The Hill: House Candidate Asks FEC To Let Her Use Campaign Funds For Health Insurance
Nabilah Islam, a progressive Democrat running for a House seat in Georgia, is asking the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to let her use campaign funds to purchase health insurance. Islam, 30, said the ban on using campaign funds for health insurance creates hurdles for working class Americans to overcome if they wish to run for office. “Running for Congress, running for office, is cost prohibitive,” Islam told The Hill. (Klar, 1/24)

11alive.Com/WXIA: Atlanta-Area Congress Hopeful Seeks Ruling To Use Campaign Funds For Health Insurance 
"I think what I want to do is give this community a voice, a voice it’s never had, reflective representation of someone who has actually lived the shared experiences of the people who live here," she told 11Alive. ... "People from marginalized communities, she said in a release, are held back from running for office by the financial burdens of everyday living. (Raymond, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Bill Requires Care For Infants Surviving Abortion
A bill that would require doctors and other health workers to provide life-saving care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt was approved by a Kentucky Senate panel Thursday. The measure sailed through the Senate Veterans, Military Affairs and Public Protection Committee without any opposition. No one spoke against the bill during the meeting. Afterward, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky laid out its opposition by releasing a letter it sent to the committee members. The group said the bill perpetuates “myths and lies about abortion care." (Schreiner, 1/23)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Kentucky Abortion Bill To Protect Infants Born Alive Advances
Sponsor Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, who sponsored a similar bill last year that did not pass, said Thursday he is not aware of any such situation in Kentucky. But he wants to make sure the law is clear, he said. "We want to make sure the law is there to prevent it from ever happening," he said. No one spoke in opposition to the bill that passed 9-0, and committee Chairman Al Robinson, a London Republican, praised Westerfield for sponsoring a measure "to protect the most innocent in our society." (Yetter, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Lee To Pitch Sweeping Abortion Bans In Tennessee
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says he wants to enact some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, which would include banning women from undergoing the procedure once a fetal heartbeat is detected. The Republican governor made the announcement Thursday surrounded by dozens of mostly male GOP state lawmakers — many of whom are up for reelection later this year. (1/23)

The Associated Press: Advocates Want To Make Virginia An Abortion 'Safe Haven'
With a newly empowered Democratic majority at the Virginia General Assembly, abortion-rights advocates say the state has a chance to roll back decades of restrictions and become a “safe haven” for women in neighboring conservative states. Pro-choice groups laid out their legislative priorities this week, emphasizing a measure to undo Republican-backed laws including a 24-hour waiting period before an abortion, as well a requirement that women seeking an abortion undergo an ultrasound and counseling. (1/23)

Meanwhile, ahead of the annual March for Life —

Politico: DeVos Compares Abortion Rights Debate To Slavery
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos compared the abortion rights debate to the battle to eliminate slavery during remarks at a Colorado Christian University event in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night. DeVos, a Christian conservative, discussed the Trump administration's record of opposition to abortion, and said she was reminded of President Abraham Lincoln. "He, too, contended with the 'pro-choice' arguments of his day," she said, according to prepared remarks shared Thursday by the department with POLITICO. "They suggested that a state’s 'choice' to be slave or to be free had no moral question in it." (Gaudiano, 1/23)

The Washington Post: March For Life: Why Some Anti-Abortion Advocates Boycott Starbucks, Other Companies
The Rev. Bjorn Lundberg will escort busloads of his parishioners to Washington on Friday for this year’s March for Life. They won’t be stopping at Starbucks on the way. The coffee giant is not aligned with their cause, Lundberg says. As a Catholic priest who leads a 9,500-member parish in Winchester, Va., he stopped patronizing Starbucks when he learned the chain matches its employees’ charitable donations, including to Planned Parenthood and other nonprofit groups that support abortion access. (Zauzmer, 1/23)

The New York Times: A Show Of Artists Galvanized By The Abortion Debate
Its organizers call it an “emergency exhibition,” prompted by a series of challenges to abortion rights. The premise of the show, titled “Abortion Is Normal,” is that a procedure that’s been subject to so much controversy should instead be accepted as an ordinary part of health care. (Steinhauer, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Mayor Garcetti Foresees Progress On Homelessness Via Talks With HUD Secretary Ben Carson
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that he hopes to reach a preliminary agreement with the Trump administration on a joint plan to help combat the city’s swelling homelessness crisis when he meets with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson on Friday. Garcetti said a final deal was still days or weeks away but expressed optimism that the two sides were making progress toward an agreement to provide federal resources, including land, to augment local efforts to erect more shelter space for people living on the streets. (Bierman and Oreskes, 1/23)

Georgia Health News: Health Care Budget Cuts Raise Alarm As Waiver Plan Draws Criticism
Gov. Brian Kemp’s tough budget plan spares two giant health care programs from cuts: Medicaid, and the Georgia health plan covering teachers and state employees. But in a Thursday hearing, state lawmakers were briefed on funding cuts in other state health programs, including behavioral health services and physician training programs. (Miller, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Proposed Cuts To State Mental Health Budget Called ‘Life-Robbing'
State officials said Thursday that proposed cuts to the state’s mental health budget would result in an increase in suicides and substance abuse problems that the state’s services will be unable to prevent. “The safety net is stretched to the max,” Judy Fitzgerald, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, told legislators during a budget hearing. “They’re painful cuts.” (Hart, 1/23)

Iowa Public Radio: Lawmakers Advance Bills To Allow Guns On Some School And Work Property
Lawmakers advanced proposals Thursday to allow Iowans to have loaded firearms on work and school property, which would override some employers’ no-firearm policies. Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said it’s difficult for Iowans to carry the guns they have permits for when restrictions are in place at work and their children’s schools. (Sostaric, 1/23)

Health News Florida: Moody Asks Judge To Reject NRA Challenge To Gun Legislation
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association challenging gun legislation passed after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 14 students and three faculty members. The national gun-rights group challenged part of a sweeping school-safety law that raised the age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21. (Kam, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Hate Crimes In Los Angeles Reach Highest Level Since 2002, Data Show
Reports of hate crimes rose in Los Angeles for the fifth straight year in 2019, increasing 10.3% over the year before and reaching their highest level since 2002, according to data released Wednesday. A total of 322 hate crimes were reported last year, compared with 292 in 2018, according to numbers from the Los Angeles Police Department that were disclosed at an L.A. City Council Public Safety Committee meeting. (Wigglesworth, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Principal Disciplined, Did Not Report Alleged Mistreatment Of Students
A Coweta County elementary school principal was suspended for two days without pay earlier this month as part of an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of special needs students. Christi Hildebrand, the principal at Elm Street Elementary, failed to report the allegations, leading to her suspension, Coweta County School System spokesman Dean Jackson told AJC.com. The investigation has led to two school employees being placed on paid administrative leave. (Hansen, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Agency Would Not Fill Vacant Child Safety, Benefit Eligibility Positions
The Georgia agency that oversees child protection and federal benefit programs would hold open more than 200 vacant jobs under the budget recently unveiled by Gov. Brian Kemp. Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Director Tom Rawlings told a panel of state lawmakers Thursday that it would leave open 127 child welfare positions and 105 in the department that handles eligibility for federal benefits that are currently vacant. The changes would take place in the 2021 fiscal year, which begins July 1. (Prabhu, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Governor Tours Prison Rocked By Deadly Violence
Mississippi's new governor says he and the interim corrections commissioner toured a troubled state prison to see conditions and to try to understand what led to an outburst of deadly violence in recent weeks. Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he and the commissioner, Tommy Taylor, also toured an empty prison that the state owns. The Republican governor, who took office Jan. 14, said it's possible that the state could move some inmates into the empty prison in the central Mississippi town of Walnut Grove. (1/23)

Charlotte Observer: Atrium Starts Construction On New Union County Hospital
Atrium Health broke ground on a new, $116 million hospital Thursday morning, amid a continuing fight between Charlotte’s biggest health systems for hospital beds. Atrium is building a 150,000-square-foot hospital — to be called Atrium Health Union West — in Stallings, Union County, near the Mecklenburg County line. The health systems estimates the building will be completed in early 2022.Atrium announced plans for the hospital in October 2018. The hospital will have 40 acute care beds, two operating rooms and 10 emergency department bays. (Smoot, 1/24)

Boston Globe: Children’s Hospital Ethicist Questioned Handling Of Justina Pelletier’s Case, Documents Show
Boston Children’s Hospital’s own in-house ethicist questioned the hospital’s handling of the high-profile dispute over the care of Justina Pelletier that broke out between her parents and her doctors, according to documents in the lawsuit that is underway in Suffolk Superior Court. Pelletier’s doctors soon cut her parents out of the decision making, and the couple’s daughter ultimately ended up in the hospital’s locked psychiatric unit for nine months, with the state’s child protection agency assuming custody. (Lazar, 1/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Josh Kaul's Fight Over Sexual Assault Kits Escalates In Wisconsin
Attorney General Josh Kaul laid into a New Berlin lawmaker Thursday for blocking legislation to prevent backlogs of sexual assault kits, accusing Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of issuing a string of falsehoods about the issue. "It’s an outrage that this hasn’t passed," Kaul told reporters. "He needs to take action." The Republican lawmaker said he planned to hold a hearing on the issue in the coming weeks but said it might be on a bill other than the one Kaul wants. He said Kaul was "bullying" him on an issue that isn't urgent. Sanfelippo said he's not sure he wants lawmakers to get involved in the issue because a past backlog was resolved without them. (Marley, 1/23)

Dallas Morning News: Cook Children’s Describes Duty Of Treating Baby Tinslee As ‘Unethical’ And ‘Cruel’ In Latest Filing
After months of painful treatments for an infant girl who, according to the hospital’s legal team, “doesn’t have any hope of surviving,” some nurses at Fort Worth’s Cook Children’s Medical Center have begun requesting shift changes to avoid what they say is an “unethical and even ‘cruel’” assignment.A new court filing describes the dilemma a team of doctors and nurses at Cook Children’s face while being forced to keep treating Tinslee Lewis, an 11-month-old baby being kept alive despite multiple deadly heart and lung conditions.Her family and state politicians, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, are fighting in the courts to change a law that they say allows doctors to “sentence ill people to premature death.” (Scudder and Branham, 1/23)

MPR and Associated Press: Minnesota Reports 1st Child Death Of Flu Season
Minnesota health officials on Thursday reported the first child death of the flu season.For privacy reasons, the state is not releasing details about the case, including the child's age, or any underlying conditions. (Sepic, 1/23)

Boston Globe: First Pediatric Flu Death This Year Reported In Massachusetts
State public health officials on Thursday confirmed the first pediatric flu death of the season in Massachusetts.The state Department of Public Health said in a statement that the victim was a teenager who lived in Worcester County and who tested positive for influenza B. Last flu season, DPH said, there were four confirmed flu-related deaths of people under the age of 18 in Massachusetts, and the CDC has reported 39 pediatric deaths this flu season nationwide. (Anderson, 1/23)

Modern Healthcare: Four Chicago Hospitals To Merge
Four financially struggling hospitals have agreed to merge in hopes of transforming care for Chicago residents on the South Side. Advocate Trinity Hospital, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital plan to create a single system with one leadership team. Crain's reported late last year that a deal was in the works. (Goldberg, 1/23)

Chicago Tribune: Struggling South Side Hospitals To Form New Health Care System
Four financially strapped hospitals on Chicago’s South Side plan to combine into a new system and embark on a $1.1 billion plan that includes building at least one hospital and potentially closing others. The move by Advocate Trinity Hospital in Calumet Heights, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Bronzeville, South Shore Hospital in South Chicago and St. Bernard Hospital in Englewood is an effort to better serve patients in some of the city’s most challenged neighborhoods. The deal, announced Thursday, could be finalized by fall. (Schencker, 1/23)

Houston Chronicle: Kindred Hospital Shuttering 4 Houston Locations
Kindred Healthcare, a long-term, acute care hospital network, will close the doors of four Houston-area hospitals and lay off hundreds of workers in March, according to company officials and the Texas Workforce Commission. In a Jan. 15 filing with state officials, the Louisville, Ky.-based healthcare system said it would close three locations in Spring, Dallas and Fort Worth and lay off 541 employees. (Wu, 1/23)

The Oregonian: Teen Cancer Patient Kylee Dixon Undergoes Successful Surgery, Report Says
Kylee Dixon, 13, is now cancer-free, according to KPTV. Her case became an emblem of the debate when her mother was accused of defying a court order to deliver Kylee to state care in order to prevent her from getting a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. Last summer, Christina Dixon was charged with two counts of custodial interference and two of criminal mistreatment. Dixon and her daughter had previously been on the run for several days and were found in a Las Vegas hotel. Kylee was then turned over to state custody and has since then been living with a foster family. (Ryan, 1/23)

Detroit Free Press: Lakeview Pediatrics, Ascension Medical Group Worker May Have Spread TB
Hundreds of patients, including children, who visited pediatric offices in Macomb and Oakland counties may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a health care worker diagnosed with the highly contagious and deadly disease. "All individuals who may have been exposed are being notified and encouraged to obtain testing," the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday, urging that they call a hotline if they have concerns. "Testing is being offered at no cost." (Witsil, 1/23)

CT Mirror: After Our Reporting, Connecticut Officials Are Taking On Housing Segregation
Frustrated with the lack of options for low-income families in Connecticut’s tony suburbs, the governor and the leader of the state Senate are calling for new measures to entice towns to build more affordable housing. Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, said that he is poised to tie state spending on transportation upgrades in affluent communities — such as new or renovated train stops — to local approval of more affordable housing projects. (Rabe Thomas and Carlesso, 1/24)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Lawmakers Revisit Marijuana Legalization, 'Home Grow' For Medical Cannabis
New Hampshire legislators are starting work on a dozen marijuana bills filed for the 2020 session, including allowing patients enrolled in the state's therapeutic cannabis program to grow their own medical marijuana. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee heard a handful of bills Wednesday that propose expanding qualifying conditions — adding autism, for example — and addressing access and affordability. (Tuohy and McOwen, 1/23)

Texas Tribune: Austin, Texas Will Stop Arrests, Tickets In Low-Level Marijuana Cases
The Austin City Council approved a resolution Thursday that will largely end arrests and fines for low-level marijuana possession. This comes after Texas' legalization of hemp last June threw marijuana prosecution into chaos since the plants look and smell identical. (McCullough and Andu, 1/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Awards 192 Dispensary Licenses For Medical Marijuana Program
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services began awarding the 192 state medical marijuana dispensary licenses on Thursday. According to the constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2018, the department was required to license at least 192 dispensaries, 24 in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. This means DHSS could have awarded more licenses, but they want to see if the minimum number can meet demand. (Driscoll, 1/23)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Decision Day: Missouri Begins Licensing Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Missouri officials on Thursday began notifying hundreds of business hopefuls whether they would receive a license to sell medical marijuana. The Department of Health and Senior Services plans to license 192 dispensaries statewide — 24 in each of the state’s congressional districts — to sell marijuana legally to Missourians with a valid medical marijuana patient card. Even though the department has started to send off notifications, it doesn’t plan to publish an official list of application scores until at least Friday, said Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the DHSS. (Benchaabane and Suntrup, 1/23)

Undark: Psychology Still Skews Western And Affluent. Can It Be Fixed?
When Christine Legare gives talks to groups of psychology researchers, she likes to take a quick poll of the room. How many of them, she asks, consider themselves to be “Western ethnopsychologists?” The question does not go over well. “They’re like, ‘What?’” Legare, a developmental psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin, said. “It doesn’t resonate at all.” That confusion is precisely Legare’s point. For decades, the overwhelming majority of psychology research has examined people who live in the United States and other affluent Western countries. By focusing on such a narrow population, Legare and other critics argue, psychology researchers have — mostly unwittingly — presented a skewed view of the human mind. (Schulson, 1/20)

Politico: How Baltimore Is Experimenting Its Way Out Of The Food Desert
Rosemary Johnson wheels a metal cart into the Family Food Market, a corner store in the rowhouse-filled Gowans neighborhood whose three aisles mix groceries with a cornucopia of plastic-wrapped sugar and salt. She passes the Cheez doodles and two-liter soda bottles, eyes focused on a refrigerator emblazoned with a bright yellow sign that reads “FreshCrate.” She reaches in, below the winter strawberries and Roma tomatoes, and pulls out two bags of green Bartlett pears. (Trickey, 1/23)

Politico: 5 Lessons From Cities Using Food To Solve The Health Crisis
Health problems that bedevil the urban poor such as diabetes and obesity have well-known causes but elusive cures. Public health professionals have known for a while that these disabilities are exacerbated by an abundance of inexpensive but fatty, high-calorie food in poorer communities. The challenge for city officials has been finding effective ways to create healthier food ecosystems in those communities in ways that harness the power of the free market to help people make choices that improve their quality of life. Here are five lessons that cities have learned. (Duryea, 1/23)

Politico: How The Gun Show Became The Trump Show
The snow was coming down sideways as I encountered a growling pride of pickup trucks jockeying for position in what was once a parking lot, searching for a place to stop searching. Some drivers had given up on circling and sat idling in anticipation of a coming vacancy. Others got creative, dropping into low gear to mount glacial embankments where yellow lines were once visible. The one thing nobody did was speed off entirely. They had come too far, defying the elements, and now the destination was in sight: the Mid-Michigan Gun & Knife Show. (Alberta, 1/24)

The New York Times: My Father’s Passport
In his mid-60s, my father unfolded a United States road atlas, laid a ruler across it, and drew a straight line from Cape Flattery, Wash., to Key West, Fla. “It’s downhill all the way!” he boomed. Then he drove that line, from the northwest corner of the continental United States to its southeastern endpoint — alone. “I made a rule for myself,” my father told me later. “No going beyond 50 miles either side of that line.” At the halfway point in Kansas he found a chunk of cottonwood and buried it where he could find it again. (Hemp, 1/23)

The Washington Examiner: ‘Not Just About That Baby’: Inside A Refuge For Pregnant Women In Crisis
Kathleen Wilson swept crumbs off the floor of the soft yellow-painted lobby and returned toys to the playroom at the end of the day. Children had been snacking and playing here at the office for Mary’s Shelter, which provides housing to pregnant women with nowhere else to go. Earlier in the day, Wilson gave away toys to siblings and sent a mother home with a Crock-Pot and gift cards to a big-box store. (Leonard, 1/24)

The New York Times: Becoming A Man
It’s April 2018, and my wife of 20 years, Lynette, and I are on our way to my parents’ house. This is our first cross-­country drive since my transition. We drive Interstate 90 from Boston through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, then finally to my childhood home, Elkhart, Ind. One highway, 880 miles. Though I’m 51, I’m outfitted as if I’m in my mid-20s, the decade of my life I most mourn missing as a man: I’m bearded, wearing overpriced sweats, exclusive sneakers that you have to compete to buy before they sell out and, as always, a Chicago Cubs baseball hat. My integration into the straight white America of middle-­aged, middle-­class couples who road trip across the United States is seamless. (Carl, 1/21)

The New York Times: Is America Ready For Another Outbreak?
The last time the world heard about a coronavirus outbreak in China, in early 2003, it ended up spreading to more than two dozen countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia, sickening about 8,000 people and killing almost 800. The illness was named severe acute respiratory syndrome, more commonly known as SARS and still remembered as a near miss. It could have been much worse, we were told — no thanks to severe mismanagement by health authorities in China and elsewhere. (Saad B. Omer, 1/23)

The Hill: How Worried Should We Be About The Coronavirus?
The perception that we may be on the verge of a worldwide pandemic may be greater than the reality in the case of the coronavirus, which is thought to have originated in China. The coronavirus has now infected over 600 people and has spread to Singapore, Saudia Arabia, and even the United States — although the World Health Organization has just declined to declare it a global health emergency. China announced that it is quarantining Wuhan, a city of some 11 million, and several nearby cities, blocking air and rail travel in or out, mass transit in the city, and starting to restrict highway travel as well. (Dr. Marc Siegel, 1/23)

Bloomberg: Drug Industry May Lack Pandemic Preparedness
Drugmakers have made significant scientific advances in recent years. Unfortunately, their ability to combat potential pandemics isn't included. Driven in part by high prices and an easier path to profit, pharmaceutical companies have increasingly focused on medicines targeting cancer and rare diseases, and they are often amply rewarded by investors for doing so. That's helped lead to important new drugs and a notable drop in American cancer deaths. But, as I have noted, those efforts can come at the expense of vital but less lucrative work in the service of public health. (Max Nisen, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: The Myth Of The ‘Moderate’ Public Option
Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Mike Bloomberg claim they’re proposing a moderate, less disruptive approach to health-care reform when they advocate a public option—a government policy offered as an alternative to private health insurance—in lieu of Medicare for All. Don’t believe it. My research finds that such proposals would increase the federal deficit dramatically and destabilize the market for private health insurance, threatening health-care quality and choice. (Lanhee J. Chen, 1/23)

The Washington Post: The Hidden Homeless: Not Guys Sleeping In Tents But Kids Sleeping On Buses And Floors
It was 30 degrees on Wednesday night and David Putney said it was one of his best evenings in a long time. Dressed in a mustard-yellow full-body padded jumpsuit he used to wear when he worked in construction, he was still bone-cold. And he asked whether we could stand above a sidewalk grate to talk. It was about 20 degrees warmer in the cloud of dank grate air. (Petula Dvorak, 1/23)

The New York Times: DNA Collection At The Border Threatens The Privacy Of All Americans
What if the United States government took the DNA of vast numbers of Americans for use without their consent? The Trump administration has just brought us one step closer to that dystopia. On January 6, the federal government began collecting DNA from any person in immigration custody — previously, it had required only fingerprints. With this move, the federal government took a decisive step toward collecting and tracking large numbers of its citizens’ genetic information too. (Daniel I. Morales, Natalie Ram and Jessica L. Roberts, 1/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Just Gave Away The Republican Game On Social Security And Medicare
Davos went to President Trump’s head. Perhaps it was the rarefied air of the annual World Economic Forum, a place where billionaires congratulate one another on what they see as their unique virtues and smarts. Perhaps it was the ego boost, as Trump basked in acceptance by a high-end business crowd that once held him at arm’s length. But whatever the reason, it caused Trump to make a major mistake. (Helaine Olen, 1/23)

The Washington Post: A Partisan Supreme Court Ruling On The ACA Just Gave President Trump A Boost
The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration a gift Tuesday — one that could greatly help the president in the 2020 election. In an order that received less attention than it deserved, the court declined to speed up its consideration of a challenge to the Affordable Care Act. In that case, Texas v. United States, the Trump administration has argued that the court should invalidate all of the ACA, including its legal protections for people with preexisting conditions. The administration is pursuing this course even though President Trump has made bizarre assertions that imply quite a different stance. (Leah Litman, 1/23)

Stat: Using Social Norms To Drive Positive Changes In Health
Well-intentioned efforts to help others often backfire, but we can learn from our mistakes. Vaping has captured the nation’s attention with news that it can be deadly, but many Americans are still buying e-cigarettes. And despite large-scale public health campaigns advocating vaccination, the U.S. is experiencing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Our country is trying to contain the growing use of methamphetamine, but without much luck. (Jessica Fishman, 1/24)

The Hill: When A Health Policy Causes Harm
Policies, whether they are federal, local, state, administrative, or at an individual institution’s level, sometimes fail to address the deeper issues that created the problem or ignore the issues that may arise as a result. Social problems and social determinants of health affecting everyone, from youth to elders, can’t be addressed with a simple checkbox system or a straightforward policy. (Dr. Laura Deon, 1/21)

The Hill: Cancer Mortality Is Decreasing And We're Just Getting Started
This month the American Cancer Society (ACS) delivered good news to start the new year: steady progress has led to a drop of over 29 percent in cancer deaths since 1991. The dramatic decrease has led to an estimated 2.9 million lives saved in the last 25 years. Over the past decade, the improvement in overall cancer survival is mostly a result of better outcomes for patients with melanoma and lung cancer. The latter is especially significant because it is the leading cause of cancer deaths in both sexes. Lung cancer — which is my specialty — kills more people every year than colon, breast, prostate, and brain cancers combined. (Dr. Michael Liptay, 1/23)

Stat: Dubious Study Casts A Cloud Over Water Fluoridation Anniversary
Seventy-five years ago, on Jan. 25, 1945, public health officials began an experiment in Grand Rapids, Mich., to prevent the pain, misery, and cost of tooth decay: adjusting the level of fluoride in drinking water. Cavity rates plunged with fluoridation. Today, 211 million Americans have access to fluoridated water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hailed this strategy as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. Yet as we celebrate this milestone, community water fluoridation faces a renewed threat from a recent study. (Jennifer Meyer, 1/24)

The Washington Post: Traffic Light Diets Label Foods ‘Red,’ ‘Yellow’ And ‘Green.’ That’s Too Black And White.
Traffic lights are useful for managing intersections — less so for making food choices. The traffic light diet and related food-labeling systems have gradually become more popular over the past several years, used in dieting apps, on food labels and in cafeterias. Even Google and the Army are on board. But the danger is that labeling foods as “green,” “yellow” or “red” won’t really help us become healthier eaters — just guiltier ones. The original traffic light diet was developed in the 1970s for use in pediatric weight-loss research. It’s largely based on calories: Green foods are low in calories, yellow foods are moderate and red foods are high. (Carrie Dennett, 1/20)

The Washington Post: Psychiatric Meds During Pregnancy: How I Navigated A Minefield
At 31, I was diagnosed with bipolar II and generalized anxiety disorder. At first I hated the powerful drugs I was prescribed. They scared me. But the black moods, hypomania and panic attacks that almost landed me in the psych ward scared me more. After years of trial and error, I landed on the right combination of meds. Seroquel tamed mood swings, Lamictal regulated the full-body agitation that comes with bipolar, Remeron helped anxiety and depression. (Jennifer Pollock, 1/20)

The New York Times: Rigorous Bilingual Training, Seen With A Tinge Of Regret
We sat in toddler-size wooden chairs around an orderly circle of Chinese 2-year-olds, busy with circle time. As a parent of three children who collectively spent 15 years in American day care, I am very familiar with circle time. But I was in this Shanghai classroom as a professor, with college students from many different countries in a class I’m teaching here on children and childhood. (Dr. Perri Klass, 1/20)