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)

CNN: Kentucky, Virginia And Mississippi Elections: 3 Takeaways
It's true that Bevin was a troubled candidate. He worked to roll back Kentucky's Medicaid expansion. His brash style was on display when he accused protesting teachers of being "selfish" and having a "thug mentality" when they objected to his efforts to slash their pensions. Polls showed he was among the nation's least popular governors. But make no mistake: National Republicans were all-in on Bevin. (Bradner, 11/6)

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)

Vox: Mississippi Governor Results: Republican Tate Reeves Defeats Democrat Jim Hood
Mississippi Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves has won the state’s 2019 gubernatorial election, and his victory both cements Republican power in Mississippi and ends discussion of expanding Medicaid in the state. Reeves faced a surprisingly close race that saw his rival, Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, leading in polls for much of the year. That lead began to falter in the weeks leading up to the election, and Reeves received some last minute get-out-the-vote assistance from President Donald Trump, his son Donald Jr., and Vice President Mike Pence. (Collins, 11/5)

And in San Francisco —

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)

KQED: San Francisco Voters Uphold Ban On E-Cigarette Sales, Rejecting Juul-Funded Proposition C
Supervisor Shamann Walton, who co-authored San Francisco's ban on the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes, celebrated Tuesday night. "Other municipalities across the country will be able to look to San Francisco and say we beat Juul, we beat big tobacco, and we can do it together," Walton said. (Klivans, 11/5)

Politico Pro: San Francisco Voters Overwhelmingly Uphold E-Cigarette Ban
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who committed more than $7 million to fighting the measure, said San Francisco voters got the message. "Proposition C was designed to circumvent a San Francisco law enacted with the support of local residents and their elected officials, but the city stood so strongly in favor of kids’ health that Juul was forced to drop out of its own campaign," Bloomberg said in a statement. "The message is clear: kids’ health comes before tobacco industry profits." (Colliver, 11/6)

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)

And Warren addresses military and veteran issues, as well —

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)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Lawmakers See Help, Gaps In Kemp Health Plans
Gratitude, anger, confusion and caution greeted Gov. Brian Kemp’s new health care waiver proposals Tuesday with the launch of public discussions.Kemp’s aides detailed the proposals, meant to help thousands of Georgians get health insurance, at a joint hearing Tuesday afternoon of the Senate and House Health committees. Listeners began to decide whether they liked that it would make important progress — or mourned that it fell short in dealing with opioid addiction, maternal health, mental illness and other top state priorities. (Hart, 11/5)

Albany Times Union: Unplanned Medicaid Costs Present Tough Choices For State
New York could be forced to make more than $1.5 billion in drastic cuts to Medicaid spending over the next five months as the state grapples with unplanned health care costs. An October report from the state Division of Budget acknowledged that the state's Medicaid spending is on track to exceed statutory limits by more than $3 billion for the fiscal year that ends March 31. In response, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is "expected" to delay as much as $2 billion in Medicaid payments and make up the rest of the shortfall in savings, including "across-the-board reductions in rates paid to providers and health plans and reductions in discretionary payments," according to the report. (Lombardo, 11/5)

In other Medicaid news —

NBC News: Residents Suffer As Mississippi And 13 Other States Debate Medicaid Expansion
Darlene Velasco can’t afford to treat her Type 2 diabetes. She doesn’t make enough money at her job selling college sports memorabilia to pay for medication or private health insurance and, at $13.50 an hour, earns too much to qualify for Medicaid. That’s been the case for years and without treatment, Velasco, 45, was declared legally blind in May. The disease built up cataracts in her eyes and when her vision began to blur and disappear, she found herself driving to her job that carries no health benefits steered only by the memory of the backcountry roads that surround her home. (McCausland, 11/4)

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 Hill: Juul Ignored Early Signs It Was Hooking Teens: Report
The early goal of Juul was to develop a better e-cigarette for users, as previous e-cigarette consumers complained that the product did not provide enough nicotine and the flavor was harsh. The company then created flavors that congressional investigators and health advocates have argued targeted young people. Two researchers also told Reuters they cautioned the founders and top company scientists about the potential for youth e-cigarette addiction. (Coleman, 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 Hill: Studies Show Teen E-Cigarette Users Favor Juul Products, Mint Flavors As Trump Considers Ban
Juul dominates the e-cigarette market in the U.S. with their sleek, flash drive-shaped devices and has been blamed by some for spurring a growing teen vaping “epidemic" with misleading advertising and kid-friendly flavors. “The popularity of e-cigarettes shaped like USB flash drives and other similar devices likely has contributed to youth uptake,” government researchers from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in the study. (Hellmann, 11/5)

CNBC: More Than Half Of Teens Who Vape Use Juul, New Studies Show
“You need to have an IQ of 5 to know that when customers don’t find mango they buy mint,” then CEO Kevin Burns allegedly told employees, according to the lawsuit. Mint pods accounted for about two-thirds of Juul’s total pod sales in February 2019, up from about a third the previous September, the lawsuit alleges. The researchers noted that mint may have surged in popularity since Juul removed the other flavors from store shelves. Last month, Juul suspended sales of all of its flavors, except mint, menthol and tobacco. (Setty, 11/5)

Bloomberg: Youth Vapers Favor Mint And Menthol As White House Considers Ban 
The findings come as the Trump administration is mulling a ban on flavored vaping products, but e-cigarette advocates are pressing to preserve mint and menthol for adults. The White House is undecided, even though Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said last month that the administration would soon ban all flavors of vaping products except tobacco. Meanwhile, lung injury linked to vaping -- mostly of THC-containing products -- has been linked to 1,888 cases in 49 states. (Baumann, 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)

Bloomberg: Vapers Sweat As White House Scraps Meetings, Weighs Flavor Ban
Vaping advocates fear the Trump administration will press forward with tight curbs on e-cigarette flavors, after planned meetings between industry groups and White House officials were scratched. Several groups opposed to a wide-ranging ban said Tuesday that meetings this week with the Office of Management and Budget had been canceled -- a signal the Trump administration was abruptly scrapping consultations and possibly preparing an announcement. (Porter and Wingrove, 11/5)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Cigarettes And Vaping May Be Outlawed For Those Under 21 In Durham 
The town council in Durham has been considering an ordinance that would make it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase, use or possess tobacco and vaping products. Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley of the Durham Police Department says enforcing the use or possession element of such an ordinance would be difficult. Durham is the home to the University of New Hampshire. This fall, there were 2,731 new freshmen enrolled at the college and a total of 12,103 undergraduates, according to school statistics. (Haas, 11/5)

Boston Globe: Ban On Medical Marijuana Vapes To End Unless Cannabis Commission Votes To Keep It, Judge Rules
Governor Charlie Baker’s ban on medical marijuana vaping products will end next week unless the state Cannabis Control Commission votes to keep it in place, a state judge ruled Tuesday.The ruling does not apply to the ban on nicotine or recreational marijuana vapes. (Martin, 11/5)

State House News Service: Judge Orders Vape Ban Lifted For Medical Marijuana Users
The group's premise is that the 2017 law that created the CCC "transferred authority to regulate all legal marijuana" from DPH to the CCC and that the Legislature was clear in its law that the CCC should be the lead regulatory body. Judge Douglas Wilkins, in an order issued Tuesday, agreed and said the DPH "likely exceeded its authority by banning vaping products used by medical marijuana card holders." (Young, 11/5)

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)

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)

The Daily Beast: CDC: Childhood Trauma Linked To Illnesses In Adulthood
The CDC also found that decreasing such events in childhood would reduce the number of depressed adults by 44 percent, adults with coronary heart disease by 13 percent, and adults with weight problems by 2 percent. According to the agency, women and minorities—like African Americans, American Indians, and Alaskan Natives—were more likely to experience four or more kinds of harm while they were kids. The conclusions were reportedly drawn from surveys taken by adults between 2015 and 2017. (Arciga, 11/5)

Chicago Tribune: Ending Childhood Abuse And Other Damaging Experiences Could Reduce Up To 21 Million Cases Of Depression, 1.9 Million Cases Of Heart Disease, CDC Finds 
While public health advocates have known since then that these negative experiences early in life can have long-term health consequences, Tuesday’s report marks the first estimation of how prevention of ACEs can reverse negative health affects, having an impact on the overall health of the nation, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, CDC principal deputy director. (Thayer, 11/5)

Stat: After An Unprecedented Death, FDA Is Offered Divergent Forecasts On Future Of Fecal Transplants
They may be unparalleled lifesavers. Or they may be keeping lifesaving drugs off the market. For more than three hours on Monday, FDA officials heard dramatically different forecasts for the future of fecal matter transplants, a relatively new therapy that is mostly used to treat recurrent Clostridium difficile infections. The meeting happened less than a week after a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed new details about the first-ever death associated with the procedure. (Sheridan, 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)

PBS NewsHour: Burnout Is Rampant Among Doctors And Nurses. Can The Arts Help?
For decades, art therapy has been used to help patients. But today, people like Moss are looking at how it can also help health care providers. It’s a shift that has come about out of necessity, experts say, because stress and burnout among doctors, nurses and other hospital staff has become a public health crisis. (Flock, 11/5)

CNN: Only Children Are More Likely To Be Obese, Study Says
Only children may be at a higher risk for obesity than children who have siblings, according to a new study published Wednesday. The study looked at the eating habits and body weight of only children -- called "singletons" by researchers -- and found they had less healthy eating habits and beverage choices than families with multiple children. (LaMotte, 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)

CNN: Medical Groups Differ On When To Start Colon And Rectal Cancer Screening. Here's Why
Conflicting recommendations on when and how average-risk adults should get screened for colon and rectal cancer could leave you confused -- but new guidance aims to make sense of it all. The American Cancer Society recommends to start regular screening at age 45, while other recommendations have stuck with recommending to start at age 50. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care recommends not using colonoscopy as a primary screening test, while other recommendations do. (Howard, 11/4)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Pledge $700 Million To Fight Economic Disparities
Fourteen of the country's largest hospital systems on Tuesday pledged to invest more than $700 million toward community-based initiatives aimed at addressing the economic and environmental drivers behind a widening disparity in health outcomes. The funding over the next five years will go toward projects to tackle housing instability, food insecurity and economic revitalization, among other issues. The effort is part of a national campaign organized by the Healthcare Anchor Network, a collaborative of 45 hospitals and health systems launched in 2017 to help providers learn and share ways to implement strategies aimed at economic inclusion of communities. (Johnson, 11/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Advocate Aurora Health Commits $50 Million For Economic Disparities
Advocate Aurora Health announced Tuesday that it would commit $50 million over the next five years in Illinois and Wisconsin to help lessen economic, racial and environmental disparities. The health system said it would partner with community-development financial institutions in initiatives such as small and diverse business development and affordable housing as well as support community health centers and food centers. (Boulton, 11/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aurora Sinai Medical Center's Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners Help Many
Sharain Horn has treated people on what may be the worst day of their lives. And she carries with her memories of specific patients. Horn is one of roughly 40 sexual assault nurse examiners who staff the Aurora Healing Center at Aurora Sinai Medical Center. (Boulton, 11/5)

In other hospital news —

Modern Healthcare: CMS May Not Have Power To Make Hospitals Disclose Negotiated Prices
The CMS might not have the legal authority it needs to force hospitals to reveal the prices they negotiate with insurers, a shortcoming that could eventually sink the Trump administration's price transparency push. The administration delayed its price transparency proposal for hospitals after significant backlash and questions over whether the CMS can even implement the policy legally. While the CMS wanted to include the measure as part of its update to the Outpatient Prospective Payment System, the proposal didn't make it into last week's final rule. (Brady, 11/5)

The Hill: Critics Fear Google's Power In Fitbit Deal 
Privacy advocates and lawmakers are raising concerns over Google’s $2.1 billion deal to acquire fitness tracking company Fitbit. The acquisition is an ambitious step by Google to expand the company’s footprint into wearables and health apps. However, the deal comes amid mounting scrutiny into the tech giant’s market power and growing fears about Big Tech’s collection of health data from consumers. (Rodrigo, 111/6)

WBUR: Calls To Break Up Big Tech Can't Stop Merger And Acquisition Frenzy
Fitbit could soon be part of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, after a $2.1 billion offer was announced last week. The acquisition would put Google in a stronger position in the growing market for wearable technology. But Google and other tech giants are also under increased scrutiny for possible antitrust violations. (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)

Texas Tribune: Federal Judge Hammers Texas Officials Over Failures In Foster Care System
Nearly four years after a federal judge first ruled that Texas violated foster children’s civil rights by placing them in a system where rape and over-medication were the norm, it’s high time for the state to stop dragging its feet and start making changes, that same federal judge ruled on Tuesday. Failure to do so could cost the state up to $100,000 per day under a new ruling from U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack, who found the state in contempt of court for failing to comply with some of her earlier orders. (Walters, 11/5)

KCUR: Missouri Senate Committee Holds First Meeting To Address Gun Violence 
A Missouri Senate committee heard several hours of testimony on Monday regarding gun violence throughout the state, with possible solutions including more money for gang intervention and better retention of police officers. Witnesses at the hearing were invited by one of the seven senators on the newly formed Interim Committee on Public Safety. They included police, prosecutors and research analysts. (Driscoll, 11/5)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Fisher House Will Give Veterans' Families A Free Place To Stay In New Orleans During Treatment 
Officials broke ground Tuesday on Fisher House of Southern Louisiana, marking the start of construction on a home away from home for veterans receiving treatment at the New Orleans VA Medical Center. "Military service is part of the culture here. Having a Fisher House is vital because it serves the unique culture of Louisiana," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie, a New Orleans native who made the trip from Washington, D.C., to lead the groundbreaking ceremony. (Woodruff, 11/5)

Columbus Dispatch: Combatting Childhood Lead Poisoning Focus Of Roundtable Discussion 
Columbus Public Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts and Gov. Mike DeWine hosted a roundtable discussion on childhood lead poisoning Tuesday in Columbus. Among community efforts are initiatives to increase screenings at pre-K centers, inspect units that receive rental assistance from the shelter system and rehabilitate homes that test positive for lead. Columbus’ top health official says an expanded statewide focus on preventing childhood lead poisoning will allow the community to provide additional treatment for affected youth, remediation of homes with deteriorating lead paint and housing assistance for displaced families. (Viviano, 11/5)

Boston Globe: Toxic Chemicals Can Be Dumped Into Merrimack River, Federal And State Officials Say
Federal and state environmental officials have renewed a controversial permit allowing a New Hampshire landfill to send as much as 100,000 gallons a day of polluted runoff to a Lowell treatment plant that empties into the Merrimack River, a source of drinking water to more than a half-million people. Regulators made the decision in September even though the owner of the Turnkey Landfill acknowledged this year that polluted water drained from its facility in Rochester contains exorbitant amounts of highly toxic chemicals known as PFAS, which have been linked to kidney cancer, low infant birth weights, and other diseases. (Abel, 11/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: California DMV Improperly Shared Social Security Info For Thousands Of People
The California Department of Motor Vehicles granted other state and federal agencies improper access to Social Security information about thousands of its customers, the department said Tuesday. At least seven agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, received permission to review driver’s license records they were not legally entitled to over the past four years, DMV spokeswoman Anita Gore said. (Koseff, 11/5)

North Carolina Health News: To Help Those In Crisis, Program Uses Peers
With an emphasis on community inclusion and peer support, GreenTree’s model of support marks a shift toward “mental health recovery” rather than the usual model of using medications to adjust brain chemistry and manage symptoms, said Laurie Coker, director of GreenTree. ...In addition to promoting self-expression, the center’s PhotoVoice project measured the level of community participation of its eight subjects, said Chinyu Wu, a professor at Winston-Salem State University who ran the study. The participants received point-and-shoot digital cameras and three photo assignments “to voice their experiences [and] to share their worldview,” Wu said. At feedback meetings, the participants discussed how the photos touched on their community, work, identity, spirituality and family. (Duong, 11/6)

MPR: State Developing Report Card For Assisted Living Facilities
The state of Minnesota wants to create a new report card system that rates assisted living facilities across key metrics, much like the system for nursing homes. The report card came out of a series of new regulations and oversights for the assisted living industry passed by the state legislature last session. (Cox, 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)

WABE: Atlanta Researcher Looks To Trees To Help Ease Highway Air Pollution
In addition to greenhouse gases that cause climate change, car and truck emissions have been linked to heart and lung problems. So a Georgia State University public health professor is studying how effectively trees can help filter out some of that pollution. (Samuel, 11/5)

Kansas City Star: Sharice Davids Urges Kansas GOP To Speak Out On LGBTQ Rights
Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids urged her Kansas GOP colleagues Tuesday to speak out against a Trump administration policy that will enable faith-based adoption services to turn away same-sex couples. They won’t be heeding her advice. (Lowry, 11/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: State To Require Greater Transparency For Regional EMS Councils
Georgians would get better information on the time it takes an ambulance to arrive on the scene of an emergency, as a result of a proposal aimed at improving the quality of emergency medical services in Georgia. Set for adoption by Dec. 9, the proposal demands that regional EMS councils adhere to the state open meetings law and that council members disclose potential conflicts of interest. (Berard, 11/5)

Houston Chronicle: Montgomery County Doctors Charged In Overdose Deaths Of 8 Patients
Four Montgomery County doctors have been taken into custody and are facing felony charges as a result of an investigation into their medical practices. Authorities are saying three of the doctors prescribed drugs to eight patients who suffered overdose deaths, according to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office. Doctors Emad Bishai, Miguel Flores and Fadi Ghanem are each facing charges for committing unprofessional or dishonorable conduct by prescribing to a person they knew or should have known was an abuser of controlled substances, a third-degree felony, and of prescribing without a medical purpose, a state jail felony. (Gonzalez, 11/5)

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)

The Advocate: Lafayette, Houston Home Health Companies Pay $2.5 Million To Settle Fraud Claims 
Home health firms in Lafayette and Houston have agreed to pay $2.5 million to resolve allegations that they defrauded the federal Medicare and Louisiana Medicaid programs, U.S. Attorney Brandon Fremin reported Tuesday. Health Care Options Inc. and Health Care Options of Lafayette, and Home Care Options of Houston, were accused of submitting fraudulent claims for payment for home health services without the required face-to-face encounters between patients and physicians, Fremin stated. (Gyan, 11/5)

Wyoming Public Radio: Legislators Look For Answers With Impending Coal Plant Closures
Wyoming's Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee used its last hearing before the budget session to discuss concerns over Rocky Mountain Power's recently announced Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). The public utility's long-awaited plan detailed its shift away from coal, including the early retirement of two Wyoming coal plants. (McKim, 11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Obscure Model Puts A Price On Good Health—And Drives Down Drug Costs
The makers of the cholesterol-lowering drug Praluent, which first went on sale for $14,600, offered to sell it for as little as $4,500, after rebates. A new migraine drug called Aimovig, expected to cost up to $10,000 a year, went on sale for $6,900. And Zolgensma, a lifesaving gene therapy for children that its maker said might cost up to $5 million, was priced at $2.1 million. Behind all the price restraint was a complex economic model invented decades ago to determine how to price health care fairly. These days, a little-known Boston nonprofit group is using it to shame drug manufacturers to lower their prices. (Roland, 11/4)

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)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Drug Pricing Bill Will Stop Innovative New Medicines, California Trade Groups Say
Drug price control legislation now in Congress would reduce the supply of new drugs from California’s large life science sector by as much as 88 percent, as well as cutting 80,000 R&D jobs nationwide, the state’s two life science trade groups said Thursday. Those conclusions were contained in a report commissioned by Biocom and the California Life Sciences Association. The study was performed by Vital Transformation, a Belgian health care consulting company, about the potential effects of the bill, H.R. 3. (Fikes, 11/1)

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)

Bloomberg: UPS Debuts Drone Service To Homes With Delivery Of CVS Medicine 
UPS Chief Executive Officer David Abney is betting that drone deliveries will grow quickly, especially in rural areas, and investing to keep the courier competitive with Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and FedEx Corp. UPS was the first company to gain authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly commercial drones under the broadest airline rules, giving the green light to build out the business despite certain restrictions. (Black, 11/5)

Stat: With High Stakes, Eight Experts Would Wield Extraordinary Influence On Fate Of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s Drug
After 17 years of hope and frustration, the decision over whether to approve, at last, a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease could come down to eight people sitting in a suburban hotel ballroom. Biogen is planning to seek Food and Drug Administration approval for a once-disregarded drug, and if everything goes according to plan, the company will have a date with the agency’s Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee. That revolving group of outside experts is one of about 50 committees tasked with voting on whether the FDA should approve a product. The results aren’t binding, but experts’ opinions can sway how regulators rule on controversial applications. (Garde, 11/5)

Stat: China Is Pharmacy To The World — And A National Security Risk For The U.S.
As concern mounts over the global pharmaceutical supply chain, more fingers are being pointed at India and China due to increasing quality-control infractions at manufacturing facilities. Such problems have led to shortages of key medicines — notably, the lower-cost generics that account for 89% of all prescriptions filled in the U.S. But Rosemary Gibson, a health care and patient safety expert at The Hastings Center, a bioethics nonprofit, argues that developments in China pose an even greater risk. (Silverman, 11/5)

Stat: Cleveland Clinic’s Nissen Denies Any Communication With FDA About Amarin’s Vascepa
Drama, thy name is Amarin. If you want to get a rise out of investors who have been following Amarin, the maker of the fish-oil-derived heart drug Vascepa, try mentioning the name of Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen. (Herper, 11/4)

Reuters: Mylan Shares Slide After Warning Of Hit To Revenue
Generic drugmaker Mylan NV (MYL.O) said on Tuesday reevaluation of its portfolio of medicines will continue next year and cautioned of a hit to revenue, and its shares nearly 6%. Mylan, which posted higher-than-expected third-quarter profit with the help of cost constraints, said it would reassess products it sells outside United States and had nearly completed its review of U.S. products. (Joseph, 11/5)

Bloomberg: Baker Brothers Make $1.4 Billion In Two Weeks On Biotech
Even in the volatile world of biotech, Baker Bros. Advisors has notched some extraordinary returns in the past two weeks. On October 21, Seattle Genetics Inc. added $2.1 billion to its market capitalization after a study showed one of its therapies slowed the spread of breast cancer, including for patients whose disease had metastasized to the brain. Then on Friday in Hong Kong, BeiGene Ltd. gained 32% after Amgen Inc. said it would take a $2.7 billion minority stake in the Chinese-American drug developer. (Foxman, 11/1)

The New York Times: The American Way Of Paying For Drugs Isn’t Working
A bill now making its way through the House could finally provide relief from the sky-high drug prices that have become a hallmark of the American health care industry. But to get there, Americans will need to accept a trade-off that other advanced nations have long since come around to: Slightly fewer new drugs will come to market, in exchange for better prices on the medications that already exist. The Lower Drug Costs Now Act, spearheaded by the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, could save $345 billion in federal spending over seven years, the Congressional Budget Office has found. (11/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Sometimes Drug Prices Are Too Low 
When Americans talk about drug prices, the conversation is dominated by the eye-popping sticker prices of certain new drugs. We’re all aware of how sky-high prices can make it hard for some patients to afford the drugs they need. Yet few appreciate how patients also lose access to treatments when prices are too low. The federal government’s attempts to keep prices low have created a chain of unintended consequences. Start with the “best price” law of 1990, which mandated that manufacturers offer drugs to state Medicaid programs at the lowest price available to any other buyer. (David R. Henderson and Charles L. Hooper, 10/31)

Washington Times: Nancy Pelosi Plays A Dangerous Game With Her Drug-Pricing Proposal
Presidential campaigns reveal important truths about political parties. It’s easy to pass off candidates’ debate comments and stump speeches as mere political rhetoric. But leading Democrats’ support for nationalized health care isn’t just theoretical. We’re already seeing Democrats’ radical approach in real legislative proposals, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s prescription drug legislation, H.R. 3. This proposal would accelerate the nationalization of health care, diminishing patients’ access to the treatments of today as well as the cures of tomorrow.  (Chris Christie, 11/5)

Bloomberg: Pelosi's Drug-Pricing Bill Calls Pharma's Bluff
Every time Congress tries to take on drug prices, it runs into the pharmaceutical lobby’s timeworn objection: Lowering prices even a penny would end all drug innovation, allowing cures to slip through our fingers and dimming the flickering hopes of desperate patients. This doomsday argument has worked for decades, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug-price negotiation legislation is putting it to the test. A Congressional Budget Office analysis finds that the lower prices envisioned by her bill would barely slow new drug discovery at all. (Peter B. Bach, 10/31)

Modern Healthcare: Nancy Pelosi’s Un-Radical Drug-Pricing Plan
The drug-pricing bill that’s headed for House passage later this month will provide a modicum of relief for Medicare patients while saving taxpayers an estimated $345 billion over the next 10 years. Its core element gives the government a limited authority to negotiate drug prices. What it doesn’t do is allow Americans to import lower-priced drugs from other countries. It doesn’t give insurers selling Medicare Part D plans the power to set formularies or otherwise restrict access. It doesn’t give the government the right to seize patents if companies refuse to negotiate. (Merrill Goozner, 10/31)

Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune: Passing House Bill Would Intensify Fight Against Higher Drug Prices
As people age, they need more prescription drugs to address chronic and age-related health issues at a time when their household income and resources are declining. This issue is especially critical in Florida, which leads the nation in aging seniors, with 20% of the population being 65 or older as of 2017. With no limit on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare drugs, millions of seniors are struggling, forced to make tough choices between paying for prescriptions or for basic needs like food and housing. (Benjamin and Lorraine Tuliano, 11/1)

Stat: The Emergence Of Laboratory Benefits Managers: PBM Dejà Vu?
Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), the companies that administer prescription drug coverage for employers, municipalities, insurance companies, and the like, have taken heat for adding to the cost of drugs instead of controlling or lowering them. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has called PBMs “gnarled, confounding riddles.” An emerging parallel industry, laboratory benefits managers (LBMs), could be following in their footsteps. (Eli M. Chan, 11/5)

NJ.com: Should Drug Companies Be Able To Charge You $9K A Month For A Drug That Will Save Your Life?
The famous first sentence of Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina, “All happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way” can be made relevant to modern times as “All health-insured families are alike; every family where an uninsured member requires an unaffordable prescription suffers in its own way.” (Jordan Belkin, 11/5)

The New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Is Asking The Most Important Question On Health Care
Last week, Senator Elizabeth Warren released the much-anticipated financing details of her Medicare for All proposal. And they look good — too good, critics say. She has managed to outline a plan that could, in theory, finance generous universal care without a middle-class tax increase. Experts and opponents are diving in, and they’re already finding much to dispute. But we shouldn’t lose sight of what Ms. Warren is trying to do. (Jacob S. Hacker, 11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Elizabeth Warren’s Health-Care Hara-Kiri
Is the country ready for the “big structural change” that Sen. Elizabeth Warren is promising? Would the Democratic Party be wise to bet that it is? The answers to these questions will shape the outcome of the nomination contest and the general election. Now that Ms. Warren has released her long-awaited Medicare for All plan, there is no longer any need to discuss this issue in the abstract. She has zoomed past the last offramp and is now fully committed to a plan that would revolutionize the way health care is financed and delivered in the U.S. She can’t run on this plan in the primaries and then shift to something more modest in the general election, even if she wants to. (William A. Galston, 11/5)

Boston Globe: Elizabeth Warren’s Health Care Pipe Dream
Elizabeth Warren has just violated the first rule of holes. When you are in one, stop digging.That’s what a conventional politician might do, but not Senator Warren. Oh no. She’d rather try to burrow right through the center of the Earth if there’s a chance of emerging successfully on the other side.Consider what she’s doing by embracing a hugely expensive single-payer health care scheme that would eliminate private insurance. (Scot Lehigh, 11/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Black Democrats Favor Joe Biden
The older blacks who are backing Mr. Biden believe that he has the best chance of beating Mr. Trump. They want to keep their medical insurance and their gas-powered cars. They understand that national borders are important, and they don’t want their taxes raised to finance free health care for illegal immigrants. And if Joe Biden, or someone who starts sounding like him, isn’t on the ballot, many of them might just stay home again. Ask Mrs. Clinton how that turned out for her. (Jason L. Riley, 11/5)

The CT Mirror: The Un-Affordable Care Act
I don’t think Sen. Chris Murphy has a clue as to how expensive health insurance is for people who do not get a subsidy. As a self-employed, married parent with two children, I have to purchase my own health insurance coverage each year for my family. Every year the cost goes up 10% to 20%. (Bill Dineen, 11/6)

The CT Mirror: Let Congress Know: Newborn Screening Needs Continued Funding!
Without these federal funds and support of the newborn screening programs we would not be able to continue to save the lives of thousands of babies each year, through detection of disease giving us the knowledge to treat. The Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act of 2019 (H.R. 2507/S. 2158) will not only increase and renew funding for the CDC, HRSA and NIH but it will also fund a study to develop policy recommendations for newborn screening. (Sarah Flynn-Savoie, 11/6)

Nashville Tennessean: How Tennessee Will Set An Example With TennCare Block Grant
Tennessee has a plan to revolutionize health care for its low-income residents. The Volunteer State is petitioning the federal government to fund its Medicaid program, TennCare, with an annual lump-sum payment. (Sally Pipes, 11/5)

USA Today: Spend The Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement Funds To Stop The Crisis
It is welcome news that the companies that profited from the opioid epidemic will soon be held responsible for the pain and financial damage they caused. When all is said and done, the amount of money that will flow from these opioid related settlements could reach about $50 billion. These settlements represent a prime opportunity to solve not just the symptoms of the crisis but the root cause as well. In order to do so, we must put the funding toward solutions that work. (David Trone, 11/5)

The Hill: An Addiction Shouldn't Cost You A College Degree
We’ll never know exactly how many people with drug convictions have seen their dreams of a college degree brought to an end due to the federal government’s withholding of financial aid. While hundreds of thousands have had their aid applications rejected, that number doesn’t capture the countless others who expected rejection and didn’t even bother applying. With 1.6 million Americans arrested for drug law violations annually, the true count of affected individuals is likely staggering. This discrimination against those with addictions has been woven into the fabric of the financial aid system for over 20 years now. However, last week the House Education & Labor Committee approved the Financial Aid Fairness for Students Act, which would end this unjust policy. (Brian Barnett, 11/5)

Nashville Tennessean: Seeking The Real Truth Regarding The National Vaping Crisis
America is indeed in the middle of a public health crisis, but when it comes to vaping, the real culprits are the marketing and sales group who targets underage minors - and the illegal and unregulated tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cartridges being sold through the black market, not the regulated e-cigarette products legally sold to adults in Tennessee’s vape shops. (Dimitris Agrafiotis, 11/5)

Stat: CMS's 'Expanded Pathway' Will Help Fight Antimicrobial Resistance 
Americans are under siege by drug-resistant bacteria. The challenge of antimicrobial resistance, or AMR as it is referred to in the medical community, has become a public health crisis. Thousands of deaths every year are attributed to drug-resistant microbes, as well as billions of dollars in health expenditures. And the problem is only going to get worse, which will certainly be a topic of discussion at this week’s World Antimicrobial Resistance Congress.Why? In part because front-line antibiotics are becoming less effective. Access to new antibiotics today is so limited today that the United States — the land of patient choice — has desperate patients like Roger Poser stuck on waiting lists to get the right drug for their drug-resistant infections. (Seema Verma, 11/6)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: When People On The Front Lines Of Gun Violence Burn Out, Who Is There To Help Them?
At a news conference where the state controller announced the results of a study on the economic impact of gun violence, Shira Goodman, executive director of CeaseFirePA, said she was tired — and not just because after she stood by the controller, she led a call to action against violence at her own rally. Tragedy and trauma take a toll far beyond shattered families and loved ones, but we cede the work of improving our world to a handful of activists. We tell ourselves that we don’t have the time, but they do. In the end, they become our proxies. And they are suffering because of it. (Helen Ubiñas, 11/5)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: We Must Start Treating Firearm Fatalities As A Public Health Problem
As an American and a physician, I am disturbed that we are no longer capable of making decisions to protect the lives of Americans as nearly 40,000 fatalities from firearms occur each year. A commonsense solution does exist -- to approach this issue as a public health crisis.If you don’t think that gun violence in America is a national public health crisis and growing epidemic, please take a day to walk in the shoes of health care practitioners. (Joseph Nally, 11/6)

Boston Globe: Leave Adoption Out Of The Culture Wars 
November is National Adoption Month, so it is fitting that the Trump administration has just taken a step that will make it a little easier to find permanent homes for children who need them.On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to roll back a regulation that for three years has discriminated against traditional Christian adoption and foster care agencies. The regulation — imposed during the final days of Barack Obama’s presidency — decreed that agencies providing child-welfare services could not receive federal grants if they were unwilling to place children with same-sex couples. (Jeff Jacoby, 11/5)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Trump's Coal Plan Puts Politics Ahead Of Public Health And Planetary Survival
The Trump administration’s move to relax regulations regarding disposal of coal ash and wastewater produced by coal-burning power plants is yet another example of the president’s environmental defiance — fueled by a combination of fealty to big industry and pandering to the portion of his base that revels in tearing down anything that smacks of Obama-era progress. It’s also President Donald Trump’s latest move to prop up the struggling coal industry at a time when America should be transitioning away from it. (11/5)