First Edition: January 27, 2020
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Call For FDA To Withdraw Preterm Birth Drug Divides Doctors And Insurers
Doctors fear that the only drug approved to prevent preterm birth, the nation’s leading cause of infant mortality and disability, will no longer be available to expectant mothers. The drug, sold under the brand name Makena, has been in limbo since October, when an expert panel convened by the Food and Drug Administration reviewed the accumulated evidence and concluded that Makena is not effective in preventing preterm birth. (Huetteman, 1/27)
Kaiser Health News:
Something Far Deadlier Than The Wuhan Virus Lurks Near You
There’s a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children. The virus is influenza, and it poses a far greater threat to Americans than the coronavirus from China that has made headlines around the world. (Szabo, 1/24)
Kaiser Health News:
Medi-Cal Benefits Eliminated A Decade Ago, Such As Foot Care And Eyeglasses, Are Back
San Diego podiatrist Dr. John Chisholm recalls the jolt some of his patients felt in 2009 when Medi-Cal, the government-funded health insurance in California for low-income people, eliminated coverage for podiatry care and several other benefits for adults due to a massive budget shortfall engendered by the Great Recession. Chisholm calls that cut “the Big One,” and for some of his low-income patients, the consequences were catastrophic. (Glionna, 1/27)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: The Hidden Cost Of Health Systems Gobbling Up Rural Hospitals
KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal appeared on the WAMU radio program “1A” to discuss the issue of community hospitals merging with larger, corporate systems and what that means for communities around the country. Rosenthal is the author of “An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back.” (1/24)
The Washington Post:
‘I Am Fighting For You’: Trump Rallies Antiabortion Activists In Unprecedented Appearance At The March For Life
President Trump on Friday became the first president to attend the March for Life event in Washington, expressing solidarity with tens of thousands of conservative and evangelical voters that his campaign considers a core constituency for his reelection bid. Trump made no mention of the ongoing Senate impeachment proceedings taking place just blocks away at the Capitol as he addressed throngs of antiabortion activists on the Mall. But his relatively brief appearance offered an implicit split screen for a president who has been consumed with the Democrats’ efforts to oust him. (Nakamura, 1/24)
The New York Times:
Trump Administration Threatens California Over Abortion
In an announcement on the morning of the March for Life, the high-profile annual anti-abortion rights demonstration, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would give California 30 days to commit to lifting the requirement. If the state does not do so, the administration said it will take steps to cut off money from one or more federal funding streams. “People should not be forced to participate, or pay for, or cover other people’s abortions,” said Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services. (Belluck, 1/24)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Strikes At California’s Abortion-Coverage Mandate
Religious groups say the mandates force them to violate their beliefs by purchasing health insurance that covers abortions or by using their premiums to help pay for other consumers’ abortions. Abortion-rights groups say that states have the long-held right to regulate their own insurance markets. They say that abortion, which has been legal nationally for decades, is a medical procedure that should be covered just like prenatal and maternity care. (Armour and Lucey, 1/24)
The Associated Press:
California Defies Threat Of Fund Loss Over Abortion Coverage
California’s Democratic leaders were defiant Friday after the Trump administration threatened to cut federal health care funding to the nation’s most populous state over its requirement that insurance plans cover abortions. The administration's announcement came hours before President Donald Trump became the first president to address participants in the anti-abortion March for Life in person, telling marchers gathered in the nation's capital that “unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.” (Thompson and Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/24)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Threatens Funds To California Over Requirement That Health Plans Cover Abortion
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) dismissed the threat as a political maneuver. “The Trump administration would rather rile up its base to score cheap political points and risk access to care for millions than do what’s right,” he said in a statement. “California will continue to protect a woman’s right to choose, and we won’t back down from defending reproductive freedom for everybody — full stop.” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) said on Twitter that California would defend the law. (Wan and Abutaleb, 1/24)
Politico:
Trump Threatens To Cut California Funding Over Abortion Coverage
While public insurance programs like Medicaid have long been barred from covering abortion services, Friday’s announcement also marks an escalation of the administration’s efforts to extend the prohibition to private coverage. In December, HHS unveiled a rule requiring private insurers on Obamacare markets to send patients separate monthly bills to separate the portion of the premium that goes toward abortion coverage. The added administrative burden could prompt some insurers to drop abortion care altogether. (Ollstein, 1/24)
The Associated Press:
Thousands Of Abortion Opponents March In San Francisco
Thousands of people who want to outlaw abortion marched across downtown San Francisco on Saturday in the 16th annual Walk for Life. The event, which included a Roman Catholic Mass and a rally near City Hall, came three days after the 47th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. It also came a day after the March for Life in Washington, where President Donald Trump became the first sitting president to speak at the annual gathering that is one of the movement’s highest profile and most symbolic events. (1/25)
The New York Times:
Cities Prepare For The Worst As Trump’s Food Stamp Cuts Near
Next month, Cuyahoga County, Ohio’s second largest, will begin sending letters and fliers, making phone calls and hosting information fairs to alert struggling citizens of a change about to befall them: Come April, able-bodied adults without children may lose their food stamps if they do not find work fast. A Trump administration rule change, long in the making, is about to become real, and by the administration’s own estimates, nearly 700,000 people across the country — 20,000 of them in Ohio, 3,000 alone in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County — will be dropped from the food-stamp rolls. (Fadulu, 1/25)
The New York Times:
More U.S. Coronavirus Cases Emerge, As China’s Death Toll Rises
The mayor of Wuhan, which is at the center of the viral outbreak, said on Sunday that there could be about 1,000 more confirmed cases of the mysterious illness in the city — a sign that China’s monumental efforts to halt the disease may only just be starting. In a news conference, the mayor, Zhou Xianwang, said that the estimate was based on the assumption that around half of the city’s nearly 3,000 suspected cases of the coronavirus would eventually test positive for the disease. The youngest confirmed case involved a 9-month-old girl in Beijing, according to The People’s Daily, a state newspaper. (1/27)
The Wall Street Journal:
Three More Cases Of Coronavirus Confirmed In U.S.
Health authorities in Orange County and Los Angeles County in California, and Maricopa County in Arizona confirmed cases of the virus there. All had recently traveled to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originated, health authorities said. The news came hours after U.S. State Department officials said they would evacuate a planeload of diplomats and other U.S. citizens to San Francisco from Wuhan, which is under quarantine. (Findell and Armour, 1/26)
Los Angeles Times:
California Confirms 2 Cases Of Coronavirus In L.A., Orange Counties
“The risk of local transmission remains low,” officials said. The L.A. County patient is a Wuhan resident who was flying through Los Angeles International Airport on Wednesday on his way back to China, L.A. County public health officials said during a news conference Sunday. “The infected person presented themselves immediately for care at LAX airport once they noticed they weren’t feeling well,” said L.A. County public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer. The patient was taken from LAX directly to a hospital, and no L.A. County residents were infected or at risk as of Sunday morning, Ferrer said. (Wigglesworth, Lin and Kohli, 1/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Should You Panic About The Coronavirus From China? Experts Say No
It’s a virus scientists have never seen before. Health officials don’t know exactly where it came from, but it has traveled more than 7,000 miles since it was discovered late last month in central China. New infections are confirmed every day despite an unprecedented quarantine. The death toll is rising, too. If this were a Hollywood movie, now would be time to panic. In real life, however, all that most Americans need to do is wash their hands and proceed with their usual weekend plans. (Baumgaertner, 1/24)
The New York Times:
As Coronavirus Fears Intensify, Effectiveness Of Quarantines Is Questioned
A top Chinese health official warned on Sunday that the spread of the dangerous new coronavirus, already extraordinarily rapid, is accelerating further, deepening global fears about an illness that has sickened more than 2,700 people worldwide and killed at least 80 people in China. The grim diagnosis came amid concerns that China’s efforts to contain the spread of the disease, despite a lockdown of unprecedented scope affecting 56 million people, may not only have come too late but could even make the situation worse, including by exacerbating shortages of medical supplies. (Buckley, Zhong, Grady and Rabin, 1/26)
The Washington Post:
Chinese Leader Warns Of ‘Accelerating Spread’ Of Deadly Coronavirus
Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned Saturday the "accelerating spread" of coronavirus infections had created a "grave" situation in his populous nation, which extended travel restrictions to 48 million people in hardest-hit Hubei province, banned inter-province buses to Beijing and canceled tour group travel abroad. As the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday, began without much of the usual festivity, Hong Kong announced that schools would be closed through Feb. 17. The United States, France and Russia sought ways to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, the central Chinese city of 11 million where the outbreak originated and is continuing to spread. (Shih, Abutaleb, Denyer and Bernstein, 1/25)
The Washington Post:
Worries Grow That Quarantine In China Not Enough To Stem Increasingly Virulent Coronavirus
The effectiveness of an unprecedented quarantine around the viral epicenter in central China’s Hubei Province has become a key question as Chinese and international authorities ponder how to rein in the outbreak — and, at this point, whether it could be contained at all. “Radical times call for radical measures,” said Dong-Yan Jin, a professor of molecular virology and oncology at Hong Kong University’s School of Biomedical Sciences. “A lot of cities have followed Wuhan in announcing a lockdown, but don’t forget that many potential patients are already out there before such an administrative order. Are we going to shut down the whole country?” (Shih and Denyer, 1/27)
The Washington Post:
Unprecedented Chinese Quarantine Could Backfire, Experts Say
China’s quarantine of more than 35 million people, almost certainly the largest in modern public-health history, is surprising and troubling experts who said such drastic restrictions rarely work and often backfire. In the United States, mandatory limits on movement for people in whole cities or regions have received little serious consideration in planning for disease outbreaks like the coronavirus infection now sweeping across China,according to public-health authorities and a review of government reports. (Bernstein and Craig, 1/24)
Stat:
Containing New Coronavirus May Not Be Feasible, Experts Say
Some infectious disease experts are warning that it may no longer be feasible to contain the new coronavirus circulating in China. Failure to stop it there could see the virus spread in a sustained way around the world and even perhaps join the ranks of respiratory viruses that regularly infect people. “The more we learn about it, the greater the possibility is that transmission will not be able to be controlled with public health measures,” said Dr. Allison McGeer, a Toronto-based infectious disease specialist who contracted SARS in 2003 and who helped Saudi Arabia control several hospital-based outbreaks of MERS. (Branswell, 1/26)
Reuters:
China Testing HIV Drug As Treatment For New Coronavirus, AbbVie Says
China is testing an HIV drug as a treatment for symptoms of the new coronavirus that is rapidly spreading, said drugmaker AbbVie Inc on Sunday. China health authorities requested the drug to help with the government's efforts to address the crisis, according to Adelle Infante, a spokeswoman for North Chicago, Illinois-based AbbVie. (1/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
China’s Vast Ambition In Medicine Gets Reality Check From Coronavirus
China wants to become a world leader in health and science. It has invested billions in cutting-edge drugs, state-of-the-art laboratories and research at the frontiers of medicine. Its political leaders want Chinese scientists to win Nobel Prizes. All that prowess and ambition is now being put to the test by an elementary health challenge: a deadly infectious disease outbreak. Early indications are that its performance is troubled. (McKay, Areddy and Deng, 1/24)
The Wall Street Journal:
Relatives Wonder Why Pneumonia Deaths Not In Coronavirus Tally
A 53-year-old fitness trainer died on Wednesday after checking into a hospital in Wuhan a little more than a week earlier, said his niece. His family had expected the death certificate to reflect the deadly coronavirus, because as his condition deteriorated, his doctors told his family he was suffering from an untreatable virus in his lungs. Instead, it recorded “severe pneumonia” as the cause of death, she said. The relatives of two other people who died in separate hospitals in Wuhan this week also described similar situations, saying the causes of death had been given as “viral pneumonia.” The relatives of all three said the deceased hadn’t been included in China’s official count of 41 deaths attributed to coronavirus. (Fan, 1/24)
Stat:
DNA Sleuths Read The Coronavirus Genome, Tracing Its Origins
As infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists race to contain the outbreak of the novel coronavirus centered on Wuhan, China, they’re getting backup that’s been possible only since the explosion in genetic technologies: a deep-dive into the DNA of the virus known as 2019-nCoV. Analyses of the viral genome are already providing clues to the origins of the outbreak and even possible ways to treat the infection, a need that is becoming more urgent by the day: Early on Saturday in China, health officials reported 15 new fatalities in a single day, bringing the death toll to 41. There are now nearly 1,100 confirmed cases there. Reading the DNA also allows researchers to monitor how 2019-nCoV is changing and provides a roadmap for developing a diagnostic test and a vaccine. (Begley, 1/24)
The New York Times:
Effects Of Coronavirus Begin Echoing Far From Wuhan Epicenter
The repercussions from a mysterious virus that has sickened hundreds of people began reverberating far from its epicenter in central China on Saturday, as Hong Kong closed its schools for several weeks, Beijing began restricting buses in and out of the capital, and the country’s travel association suspended Chinese tour groups heading overseas. The new measures, coming on top of previous travel restrictions that had effectively penned in tens of millions of people in Hubei, the province at the heart of the outbreak, are certain to further dampen celebrations of the Lunar New Year, which began on Saturday. (Buckley and May, 1/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
China’s Premier Tours Virus Epicenter As Anger Bubbles At Crisis Response
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang traveled to the epicenter of the country’s dangerous viral outbreak to meet infected patients and front-line health workers, signaling the Beijing leadership’s concern as public frustration rises over how local officials have handled the crisis. The central government website published photos on Monday showing Mr. Li wearing a face mask and swaddled in blue protective gear as he toured medical facilities in Wuhan, a sprawling city in central China where the outbreak began. In one image, Mr. Li appeared to be speaking through a walkie-talkie to a patient on a video screen. (Chin, 1/27)
The New York Times:
The Coronavirus: What Travelers Need To Know
The death toll from a novel coronavirus has now reached at least 76, with most of the more than 2,000 cases reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease. At least 10 other countries have also reported cases, and five people in the United States have been diagnosed; all had recently returned from China. Here’s what travelers making their way to or from China can expect. (Arnot, 1/26)
Stat:
New Coronavirus Can Cause Infections With No Symptoms And Sicken Otherwise Healthy People, Studies Show
Two papers published Friday in the journal the Lancet offer some of the first rigorous analyses of patients who contracted a novel coronavirus that has broken out in China and spread to other countries. Among their discoveries: The virus does not only affect people with other, underlying health conditions, and people who are not showing symptoms can still be carrying the virus. (Joseph, 1/24)
The Associated Press:
Virus Death Toll In China Rises As US Prepares Evacuation
The U.S. has confirmed cases in Washington state, Chicago, Southern California and Arizona. Canada said it discovered its first case, a man in his 50s who was in Wuhan before flying to Toronto. Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea each reported one new case Sunday, while Thailand reported three new cases. A notice from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said there would be limited capacity to transport U.S. citizens on a Tuesday flight from Wuhan that will proceed directly to San Francisco. It said that in the event there are not enough seats, priority will be given to to individuals “at greater risk from coronavirus." (Moritsugu, 1/25)
The Wall Street Journal:
Virus Hits Hong Kong As Economy Is Still Catching Its Breath After Unrest
Hong Kong banned visitors from the Chinese province at the center of a new virus epidemic as echoes of SARS send panic through the community, threatening more misery for an economy already in recession after months of protests battered tourism and retail sales. Many people in the city donned masks as local authorities confirmed at least eight cases of infection by the deadly pathogen from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the outbreak’s epicenter. Disneyland shuttered, Lunar New Year festivities were scrapped and schools will remain closed until Feb. 17. (Yap and Wang, 1/27)
The Associated Press:
Movement To Highlight Missing Native Women Expands To Males
Margaret Bitsue's days are filled with prayer: that her son has a clear mind and that he remembers home, a traditional Navajo hogan at the end of a dirt road where a faded yellow ribbon hanging from the cedar trees points to her agony. Bitsue hasn't seen or heard from Brandon Lee Sandoval, the youngest of her four children, in more than two years. Wearing blue jeans, a black shirt and work boots, he left the home in northeastern Arizona before sunrise Sept. 3, 2017, saying he was going to see friends in Phoenix and would be back. (1/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Pharmacist Is Out: Supermarkets Close Pharmacy Counters
In some towns, it is getting harder to pick up your blood-pressure pills with that gallon of milk and rotisserie chicken. Hundreds of regional grocery stores in cities from Minneapolis to Seattle are closing or selling pharmacy counters, which have been struggling as consumers make fewer trips to fill prescriptions and big drugstore chains tighten their grip on the U.S. market. (Terlep and Kang, 1/26)
NPR:
When Insurers Don't Cover Drugs, Prescriptions Often Go Unfilled
The majority of Americans have health insurance that includes coverage for prescription drugs. But unfortunately that doesn't ensure that they can afford the specific drugs their doctors prescribe for them. In fact, many Americans report that their insurance plans sometimes don't cover a drug they need — and nearly half the people whom this happens to say they simply don't fill the prescription. That's according to a poll released this month on income inequality from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Neighmond, 1/27)
The Associated Press:
Hospital Group Fights Drug Shortages By Making Needed Meds
U.S. hospitals fed up with shortages of critical medicines — mostly generic drugs that aren’t profitable — have banded together. Seven hospital systems and three philanthropies formed nonprofit CivicaRx in 2018 to produce what they need. The group now includes 1,200 hospitals nationwide — about 1 in 4 — and already is shipping medicines. (Johnson, 1/26)
Stat:
These 10 Startups Acquired By Alphabet Reveal A Health Care Play Centered On Surveillance
So how is a tech company that began as a simple search engine starting to impact health care so broadly? One strategy involves buying health startups and speeding them toward their goals. Another involves picking up tech startups that can pivot to health applications. What appears to unite those acquisitions is a strategy focused on massive data gathering and surveillance — both in people’s homes, using devices like speakers and smart thermostats, and on their bodies, using smartwatches. (Brodwin, 1/27)
Reuters:
Nestle Buys Allergan Business To Expand In Medical Nutrition
Swiss food giant Nestle on Monday bulked up its medical nutrition business by buying Allergan's Zenpep, a product for people whose pancreases do not provide enough enzymes to properly digest fats, proteins and sugars. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Zenpep had sales of $237 million in 2018. (1/27)
The New York Times:
75 Years After Auschwitz Liberation, Worry That ‘Never Again’ Is Not Assured
Even before the gas chambers were destroyed and the savage toll of years of industrialized mass murder revealed to the world, prisoners at the largest Nazi concentration camp were already repeating two words: Never again. But as the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz approaches, an occasion being marked by events around the world and culminating in a solemn ceremony at the former death camp on Monday that will include dozens of aging Holocaust survivors, Piotr Cywinski, the director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, is worried. (Santora, 1/25)
Reuters:
Sorrow And Triumph, An Auschwitz Survivor's Journey Back To A Former Hell
Jona Laks could smell the burning flesh as she walked towards death at the Auschwitz crematorium. More than 75 years later, aged 90, she has returned to what was the most notorious Nazi death camp of World War Two's Jewish Holocaust. "I can see it now," she says, gazing upon the crematorium where the corpses of Jews from across Europe who were murdered in gas chambers were later burned in furnaces. (Lubell, 1/26)
Los Angeles Times:
On The Auschwitz Liberation Anniversary, A Survivor Returns A Fourth Time
Ralph Hakman thumbed through a display of books about the Holocaust on a table at the Jewish museum in Krakow, not far from where he was born. One was about Dr. Josef Mengele, the so-called Angel of Death who performed deadly experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz death camp. “Oh yes, I remember him,” Hakman said. (Kaleem, 1/26)
Stat:
‘Traumatic As Hell’: Patients Describe What It’s Like To Be Restrained In An ER
Sometimes, in especially intense moments in the emergency room, a staffer might have to take the drastic step of physically restraining a patient who is in mental health crisis. ER staffers themselves have described it as an exceedingly difficult process, rife with the tension between providing good care and feeling physically threatened. And it raises questions that providers alone can’t answer: How does a patient feel during the experience, and how does that affect a person’s care and recovery? To begin to answer those questions, researchers at Yale interviewed 25 patients who had been restrained in two urban ERs about their experiences. Their findings — published Friday in JAMA Network Open — shed light on the range of the patients’ perspectives. (Thielking, 1/24)
NPR:
How Super Sniffer Dogs Are Helping Detect Disease Around The World
As the owner of a yellow lab named Gus, author Maria Goodavage has had many occasions to bathe her pooch when he rolls around in smelly muck at the park. Nevertheless, her appreciation for his keen sense of smell has inspired her write best-selling books about dogs with special assignments in the military and the U.S. Secret Service. (Schumann, 1/25)
Stat:
‘Gurus Of Sperm’: Ohana Biosciences Takes A Different Approach To Fertility
Ohana Biosciences is hoping an emphasis on improving sperm quality and motility will ultimately improve in vitro fertilization or perhaps help even people without fertility issues have healthier pregnancies or children. It’s one of a number of “add-on” fertility treatments that have grown increasingly popular with investors in recent years. Ohana’s science is still in very early stages — its first clinical trial only launched in September. And experts caution that it’s still not clear that sperm has a long-term contribution to the health of either a pregnancy or a child. Ohana will have to fill that literature out if it hopes to win over skeptics — which the company’s CEO, Amber Salzman, believes it can do.“We have a deep understanding of sperm like nobody else,” Salzman told STAT. “We really are the gurus of sperm.” (Sheridan, 1/27)
The Washington Post:
David Vetter Was ‘The Boy In The Bubble.’ His Short Life Provided Insights Into How The Rare Disorder SCID Works.
He ate, played and learned like any other kid. But David Vetter’s life unfolded in a series of unusual environments: plastic, bubblelike enclosures that protected him from germs. He had severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and even a seemingly harmless germ could kill him. The subject of pop culture scrutiny and medical fascination, David was called “the boy in the bubble” by the media. SCID is rare and often fatal; it affects about 1 in 58,000 infants. (Blakemore, 1/25)
The Washington Post:
Hair Dye Raises Questions About Chemicals' Effect, Changing Trends
When Keanu Reeves walked into a Los Angeles gala holding hands with artist Alexandra Grant, fans applauded the 55-year-old actor for choosing an “age appropriate” romantic partner. Most striking about Grant, 46, was her steel-gray hair. Why wasn’t she coloring it? In an Instagram post, she explained: In her 20s, she began graying, and she covered it with various shades of dye until she could no longer tolerate the chemicals. (Cohen, 1/26)
The Washington Post:
The Cause Of This Man’s Suffering Was Hiding In Plain Sight
Their December 2017 meeting was winding down when Albuquerque neurologist David R. Smith III decided to say something. His lawyer, Cid Lopez, looked very ill — much worse than he had a few months earlier. His skin had the grayish pallor common to cancer patients, he had dark circles under his eyes and had lost so much weight that his cheeks were sunken. What, Smith gently inquired, was wrong? (Boodman, 1/25)
Los Angeles Times:
The American Dream May Help The Poorest Among Us Live Longer
For Americans who live in communities where prospects for economic advancement are scant, life is not only bleak — it’s shorter too. New research has found that people who live in counties with more opportunities to improve their lot in life can expect to live longer than those who live in counties where it’s virtually impossible to get ahead. (Healy, 1/24)
The Associated Press:
Abortion Among Key Issues In Missouri 2020 Governor's Race
Abortion is expected to play a key role in Missouri's 2020 governor’s race, when voters will decide whether to stick with a Republican who signed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S. or go with the only Democrat who holds statewide office. Republican Gov. Mike Parson, who served as lieutenant governor and assumed leadership after Gov. Eric Greitens resigned amid scandal in 2018, is heading into the race with good odds over state Auditor Nicole Galloway in the GOP-dominated state. (1/26)
The Wall Street Journal:
Alabama Has The Deadliest Prisons In The Country. It Says It’s Looking For Reforms.
One afternoon in October, the warden at the prison where Sandy Ray’s son was serving time called to say he was hospitalized in critical condition, she recalled. He had fought with correctional officers who accused him of rushing at them with handmade weapons, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. When Ms. Ray arrived, her 35-year-old son, Steven Davis, lay in bed unconscious, his face swollen and disfigured, photos she took show. “He was unrecognizable,” Ms. Ray said in an interview after a demonstration for prison reform where she spoke publicly. “He looked like a monster.” (Campo-Flores, 1/26)
ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News:
Alaska’s Public Safety Officer Program Is Failing. Can It Be Saved?
A task force of Alaska legislators is proposing an overhaul of key elements of the state’s failing Village Public Safety Officer Program. The group of legislators spent five months looking for ways to fix the 40-year-old program, which uses state money to train and pay officers working in remote villages. In 2019, the number of VPSOs fell to an all-time low of 38 — compared with more than 100 in 2012. (Hopkins, 1/24)