First Edition: November 6, 2019

Kaiser Health News: As States With Legal Weed Embrace Vaping Bans, Black-Market Risks Linger
Cannabis shops around Washington state are now required to hang signs warning customers of “severe lung injuries” and “deaths” associated with vaping. Kevin Heiderich, a co-owner of one such shop, Tacoma House of Cannabis, argues the government response to vaping illnesses should focus instead on the black market.“Something has just changed, and no one really knows what it is,” he said. (Stone, 11/6)

Kaiser Health News: For Young People With Psychosis, Early Intervention Is Crucial
Andrew Echeguren, 26, had his first psychotic episode when he was 15. He was working as an assistant coach at a summer soccer camp for kids when the lyrics coming out of his iPod suddenly morphed into racist and homophobic slurs, telling him to harm others — and himself. Echeguren fled the soccer camp and ran home, terrified the police were on his heels.He tried to explain to his mom what was happening, but the words wouldn’t come out right. His parents rushed him to a children’s crisis center, where an ambulance arrived and transported him to the adolescent psychiatric facility at St. Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. (Rinker, 11/6)

California Healthline: California Air Quality: Mapping The Progress
Ed Avol grew up in Los Angeles in the 1960s, but he rarely caught a glimpse of the rolling green contours and snowy peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains just east of the city. More often than not, they were obscured by the low-hanging gauze of smog that cloaked the L.A. basin in a dreary gray much of the year.“Most days you could not see the mountains” said Avol, now a professor of clinical preventive medicine at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine and chief of its environmental health division. “I was amazed that there were even mountains there.” (Rowan, 11/5)

Kaiser Health News: Analysis: Elizabeth Warren Throws Down The Gauntlet
Laying the table for the next Democratic debate, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren has issued a plan that explains how she would fund what she calls Medicare for All. She had studiously avoided saying whether it would raise taxes for the middle class, and in her proposal, she says (repeatedly) it will not.It will instead be financed by a mix of wealth taxes, employer transfers of money they currently spend on health care and reductions of the many inefficiencies in our current byzantine system — among other initiatives. (Rosenthal, 11/6)

The New York Times: Democrats Win Control In Virginia And Claim Narrow Victory In Kentucky Governor’s Race
Democrats won complete control of the Virginia government for the first time in a generation on Tuesday and claimed a narrow victory in the Kentucky governor’s race, as Republicans struggled in suburbs where President Trump is increasingly unpopular. ... Mr. Beshear, a 41-year-old moderate whose father preceded Mr. Bevin in the governor’s mansion, sidestepped questions about Mr. Trump and impeachment while keeping his distance from national Democrats. He focused squarely on Mr. Bevin’s efforts to cut Medicaid and overhaul the state’s pension program while drawing attention to the governor’s string of incendiary remarks, including one that suggested striking teachers had left children vulnerable to molestation. (Martin, 11/5)

The Hill: Beshear Vows To Rescind Kentucky's Medicaid Work Requirements After Claiming Victory In Governor's Race
"In my first week in office I am going to rescind this governor's Medicaid waiver," Beshear said in his speech claiming victory on Tuesday night. The Trump administration approved Bevin's request last year to require some Medicaid beneficiaries work as a condition for receiving benefits. However, the requirements have not taken effect because of ongoing litigation. Under the proposal, beneficiaries who gained coverage under the state's Medicaid expansion would have to work, volunteer or go to school 20 hours a week to retain their benefits. (Hellmann, 11/5)

The Washington Post: Virginia Election: Democrats Flip Senate And House, Taking Control Of State Government For The First Time In A Generation
Democrats gained control of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly on Tuesday, tapping strength in the suburbs to consolidate power for the first time in a generation and deliver a rebuke to President Trump. The new Democratic majority is younger, more diverse and more liberal than Virginia Democrats of the past. Northam promised to work with them to enact gun-control measures, protect LGBTQ rights and fight climate change. “Virginia is officially blue!” Northam said to wild cheers at a celebration with other Democrats in Richmond. (Schneider and Vozzella, 11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Election Results 2019: Democrats Take Control Of Virginia Legislature
A mass shooting in Virginia Beach that left 12 dead in May spurred Mr. Northam to call a special session on gun-control bills in July. The GOP-led legislature rapidly adjourned without voting on any gun legislation, instead directing a state crime commission to do a review. Recent polls by Christopher Newport University found gun control to be popular among voters, including independents. (Calvert and Kamp, 11/6)

The San Francisco Chronicle: Repeal Of SF E-Cigarette Ban, Once Backed By Juul, Is Overwhelmingly Rejected By Voters
San Francisco’s upcoming ban on the sale of e-cigarettes will remain in place, as voters soundly rejected a ballot measure Tuesday that would have overturned the prohibition approved by the Board of Supervisors in June. Proposition C was losing by 4-1. The measure would have allowed the sale of vaping devices and nicotine cartridges with some new restrictions. It would have limited the number of vaping products a person could buy to two devices and five packs of cartridges per transaction in brick-and-mortar stores, and two devices and 60 milliliters of nicotine liquid each month online. (Ho, 11/5)

The New York Times: Warren Has Her Plan. Buttigieg Suggests Another Way To Cut Health Prices.
One way Elizabeth Warren wants to control health care spending in the United States is simple in principle: pay doctors and hospitals significantly less. Under her version of “Medicare for all,” the government would provide health insurance to everyone, and it would be able to set the prices it pays for medical services. Numerous international studies have shown that the biggest reason the American health system is so expensive is that prices for medical care are so high. We pay more for doctors, hospitals, drugs and medical devices. This insight has become a sort of cliché among health economists, who are fond of citing a famous paper: “It’s the Prices, Stupid.” But Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Ind., mayor, has another idea about how to regulate health care prices. (Sanger-Katz, 11/6)

Reuters: U.S. Presidential Contender Biden Calls Warren Jab 'Elitism'
U.S. presidential contender Joe Biden launched a new attack on one of his fiercest rivals in the Democratic party on Tuesday, accusing U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of "elitism" for dismissing his criticism of her healthcare plan. On Friday, Warren unveiled details of a $20.5 trillion Medicare for All plan she wants to implement to extend government healthcare coverage to all Americans. The Biden campaign said the plan relied on "mathematical gymnastics" and would raise taxes. (Hunnicutt, 11/5)

The New York Times: Biden Attacks Warren As A ‘My Way Or The Highway’ Elitist
Mr. Biden and Ms. Warren have clashed repeatedly over health care, especially as Ms. Warren has overtaken Mr. Biden in some early-state polls. Ms. Warren supports “Medicare for all,” an expansive government-run health insurance system that would all but eliminate private health insurance, while Mr. Biden wants to add a “public option” to build on the Affordable Care Act, but still allow people to choose private insurance. Last week, after Mr. Biden’s campaign criticized Ms. Warren’s proposal to pay for Medicare for all, she suggested that Mr. Biden was “running in the wrong presidential primary.” (Glueck, 11/5)

The Hill: Democrats Give Warren's 'Medicare For All' Plan The Cold Shoulder 
Senate Democrats are distancing themselves from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) “Medicare for All” plan, casting doubt on whether it could pass even if she does win the presidency. Warren rolled out her proposal for Medicare for All last week, instantly fanning the flames of a raging debate among the Democratic presidential contenders over the idea. (Sullivan, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal: States’ Attempts At Medicare-For-All Proposals Haven’t Ended Well
Democratic presidential front-runners Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are confronting the same challenges to their health-care policies that foiled state lawmakers who tried to launch universal health systems in recent years. Legislators in Vermont, Mr. Sanders’s state, backed Medicare for All before figuring out a detailed financing plan, and the final numbers were too high to sell politically. Colorado weighed its own version of guaranteed health care, but public support fell as the industry ramped up an opposition effort. (Armour, 11/5)

The Hill: Warren Unveils Plan To Address Veteran Suicide Rates, Mental Health
White House hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Tuesday set a goal of cutting the rate of veteran suicides in half during her first term as part of a sprawling plan to improve their lives. "Every single one of these deaths is a tragedy that could have been prevented," Warren said on a webpage outlining the plan. "As President, I will set a goal of cutting veteran suicides in half within my first term — and pursue a suite of concrete policies to make sure we get there." (Frazin, 11/5)

Politico: Warren Pledges To Overturn Military Transgender Ban On Day 1
Elizabeth Warren Tuesday released a detailed plan to tackle the needs of the military and veterans that pledges to roll back Trump administration policies that bar transgender troops and to not deport non-citizens who have served in uniform, or their families. The Massachusetts senator who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination maintains her first step as president would be to overturn President Donald Trump's decision to prohibit transgender troops in the military. (Bender, 11/5)

The Associated Press: White House And Pelosi Part Ways On Relief For Drug Prices
The White House on Tuesday signaled President Donald Trump's blunt thumbs-down to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Her office's sharp retort: "Working people won't like it if he sells them out. "Despite the House impeachment inquiry, the White House and top aides to the California Democrat have been in regular contact on efforts to curb drug prices, a mutual objective and a top concern for Americans across party lines. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/5)

Stat: What Money? The CDC Is Urged To Acknowledge Industry Funding
Several advocacy groups petitioned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop making claims that it does not accept commercial support or have financial relationships with drug makers and other companies that may benefit from agency research. In arguing their case, the groups contend that disclaimers appear in various CDC publications, even though the agency has actually accepted tens of millions of dollars of commercial support through the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nonprofit, which was created by Congress to generate private sector support for the agency’s work, was launched in 1995. (Silverman, 11/5)

Reuters: UPS Drone Makes First Home Prescription Deliveries For CVS
United Parcel Service Inc Flight Forward drones have flown prescription medications to the front lawn of a private home and to a retirement center, the UPS unit's first revenue-generating deliveries for drugstore chain CVS Health Corp. Flight Forward's maiden delivery flight on Friday in Cary, North Carolina, beat rivals in one phase of the race for the nascent market. The second drone flight delivered medications to a public space at a retirement community. (Baertlein, 11/5)

Reuters: Special Report: Juul Disregarded Early Evidence It Was Hooking Teens
The San Francisco startup that invented the groundbreaking Juul e-cigarette had a central goal during its development: captivating users with the first hit. The company had concluded that consumers had largely rejected earlier e-cigarettes, former employees told Reuters, because the devices either failed to deliver enough nicotine or delivered it with a harsh taste. Developers of the Juul tackled both problems with a strategy they found scouring old tobacco-company research and patents: adding organic acids to nicotine, which allowed for a unique combination of smooth taste and a potent dose. (11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Expected To Ban All E-Cigarette Flavors Except Tobacco And Menthol
The Food and Drug Administration is expected to ban all e-cigarettes other than those that taste like tobacco and menthol, citing new data on the vaping flavors most popular among teenagers. (Maloney and Abbott, 11/5)

The Associated Press: US Teen Vaping Numbers Climb, Fueled By Juul & Mint Flavor
New research shows U.S. teens who use electronic cigarettes prefer those made by Juul Labs, and mint is the favorite flavor for many of them, suggesting a shift after the company stopped selling fruit and dessert flavors in stores. The results are in a pair of studies published Tuesday, including one that details previously released figures indicating that the surge in underage use of e-cigarettes shows no signs of slowing down. (Tanner, 11/5)

The Associated Press: US Health Officials Link Childhood Trauma To Adult Illness
U.S. health officials estimate that millions of cases of heart disease and other illnesses are linked to abuse and other physical and psychological harm suffered early in life. In a report released Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried to estimate the impact of harmful childhood experiences on health in adulthood. (Stobbe, 11/5)

NPR: Preventing Adverse Childhood Experiences Can Reduce Chronic Disease, CDC Says
Experiencing traumatic things as a child puts you at risk for lifelong health effects, according to a body of research. The CDC's new report confirms this, finding that Americans who'd experienced adverse childhood experiences or ACEs, were at higher risk of dying from five of the top 10 leading causes of death. And those who'd been through more bad experiences — such as abuse or neglect, witnessing violence at home or growing up in a family with mental health or substance abuse problems — were at an even higher risk. (Chatterjee, 11/5)

Stat: You Had Questions For David Liu About CRISPR, Prime Editing, And Advice To Young Scientists. He Has Answers
While Mother Nature takes first prize in the race to develop new forms of CRISPR, biochemist David Liu is a close runner-up — and his CRISPR inventions have the potential to treat or prevent a long list of dreaded diseases, from progeria to Tay-Sachs. In 2016 Liu and his junior colleagues invented CRISPR “base editing,” which seamlessly changes a single DNA letter; that simplest of all edits may be all that’s required to repair mutations that cause thousands of inherited diseases. Last month he gave the world “prime editing,” which can delete long lengths of disease-causing DNA or insert DNA to repair dangerous mutations, all without triggering the chaotic (and possibly harmful) genome responses introduced by other forms of CRISPR. (Begley, 11/6)

The New York Times: The Right Kind Of Exercise May Boost Memory And Lower Dementia Risk
Being physically fit may sharpen the memory and lower our risk of dementia, even if we do not start exercising until we are middle-aged or older, according to two stirring new studies of the interplay between exercise, aging, aerobic fitness and forgetting. But both studies, while underscoring the importance of activity for brain health, also suggest that some types of exercise may be better than others at safeguarding and even enhancing our memory. (Reynolds, 11/6)

NPR: From Lawn Mowers To Rock Concerts, Our 'Deafening World' Is Hurting Our Ears
Our ears are complicated, delicate instruments that largely evolved in far quieter times than the age we currently inhabit — an early world without rock concerts, loud restaurants, power tools and earbuds. Writer David Owen describes our current age as a "deafening" one, and in his new book, Volume Control, he explains how the loud noises we live with are harming our ears. (Davies, 11/5)

ProPublica/Sacramento Bee: A Jail Increased Extreme Isolation To Stop Suicides. More People Killed Themselves.
Each year, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office sends hundreds of people into this kind of suicide watch isolation. Inmates awaiting trial spend weeks and sometimes months in solitary, according to state and county records. When those cells fill up, deputies place people into “overflow” areas, rooms with nothing more than four rubberized walls and a grate in the floor for bodily fluids. They receive no mental health treatment, only a yoga mat to rest on. Kern County sheriff’s officials say they turned to isolation rooms to help prevent deaths after a spate of jail suicides that started in 2011. This wasn’t what state lawmakers envisioned when they undertook a sweeping criminal justice overhaul nearly a decade ago to alleviate what the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the “cruel and unusual” conditions for people in overcrowded state prisons. (Pohl and Gabrielson, 11/5)

Los Angeles Times: California Fire Season Likely To Last Through December, With No Rain In Sight
The sun was beginning to set on Halloween when a small fire began to glow on a hillside near Santa Paula. Within seconds — fanned by the most potent Santa Ana winds of the season — the blaze roared to life with immense speed, chewing through thousands of acres of bone-dry brush and eventually consuming homes. Devastating fire weather that ushered in a flurry of blazes across the state last month helped the Maria fire, which charred nearly 10,000 acres in four days, earn the title of this year’s largest Southern California wildfire. (Fry and Rong-Gong, 11/5)