State Highlights: Former Foster Care Youth Hopes His Story Can Create Change In Kansas; Alaskan Board Takes Steps To Tackle Law Enforcement Crisis

Kansas City Star: Former Indiana Foster Child Becomes Advocate For Change
In a hallway inside Indiana’s Capitol, the young man walks up to a state senator and gives her a quick hug. “Hey, it’s Josh Christian,” he tells Sen. Erin Houchin, a member of the Senate’s child welfare committee. “I went to Capitol Hill and I got published. It was crazy!” The encounter would have seemed more than unlikely just a few years ago, when Christian was one of the thousands of kids in Indiana’s foster care system. In about 18 years, he was moved to 18 different places. The experiences were so deflating he had given up on ever finding his forever family. (Bauer and Thomas, 12/22)

Kansas City Star: US Foster Care Problems Lead Kids To Prison & Homelessness
He still has the last name of a woman who adopted him in grade school — then gave him back. From the time he was 3 until he turned 14, Dominic Williamson was bounced to 80 different foster homes. When he turned 18, he found himself alone and homeless, and resorting to a life of crime. Now, at 20, he has a home more permanent than any he’s ever known. The Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas. (Bauer and Thomas, 12/15)

ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News: Alaska’s Law Enforcement Crisis Is A Public Emergency. Here’s How Experts Want To Fix It.
Decades into a burgeoning public safety crisis, with a stubbornly high rate of sexual violence, Alaska finally may have arrived at a moment of change. The state board that regulates police officers is now, for the first time, working to identify and train officers who work for remote villages and ensure they meet basic hiring standards. A legislative task force is examining the failing village public safety officer program that was intended to support state troopers by training village residents to become certified, state-funded first responders. (Hopkins, 12/21)

ProPublica/The Public's Radio: This Former Firefighter Has A Criminal Past. Now, He’s On The Board That Advises The State On Its EMS System.
When Rhode Island lawmakers ousted two state Health Department officials from the board that helps oversee its emergency medical services system, Gov. Gina Raimondo replaced them with a city mayor and this man: Albert F. Peterson III. “His decades of experience as a first responder coupled with his recent experience operating a company that trains EMTs made him well qualified to serve on this board,” the governor’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Bogdan, said of Peterson in an email. (Arditi, 12/23)

The Associated Press: California Church To Pay Off $5.3M In Family Medical Bills
A Los Angeles church is paying off $5.3 million worth of medical debt for nearly 6,000 households in Southern California, according to one of the church's pastors. Christian Assembly purchased the debt for $53,000 and is working with a nonprofit organization to pay the outstanding bills for 5,555 families in 28 neighborhoods, co-lead pastor Tom Hughes said in a video posted online Thursday. “We are able to give a Christmas gift to the people of Los Angeles, no strings attached,” he said. (12/22)

Houston Chronicle: Mental Health Match Helps More Than 500 Houston-Area Residents Find Help
In about five minutes, users can complete a anonymous five-part questionnaire with questions like whether you want to see an in-person or an online therapist and what you wish to discuss and work on. Then, you can select what approach of therapy you want to try, what cultural areas you want to look at or select from and how much you would be willing to pay so that you can find someone that you can forward. (Many therapists operate on a sliding scale, based on what clients can pay.) At the end of their questionnaire, users can see providers that have been matched up with them, complete with their pictures and a detailed profile of what they focus on and offer. All information on the website is completely anonymous, and the service for users is free. (The providers pay to be on the site.) At the end of the selection process, users do enter their email so that a therapist can contact them. (Maness, 12/20)

The Associated Press: Governor: Update On Flint Water Crisis Probe To Come In 2020
An update is expected at the start of 2020 regarding a criminal investigation into the Flint water crisis that was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said. Whitmer told MLive.com on Tuesday that she trusts Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel “to do the right thing” in the probe of Flint's water crisis. (12/22)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento CA Jail Guards Abused Inmates, Kept Jobs, Files Say
Patrick Hoyt ended up in the Sacramento County Main Jail on Dec. 1, 2015, after being picked up on a misdemeanor domestic violence warrant. Within hours, he said, he was escorted by two deputies into an area of the jail without camera coverage, where one of them twisted his arm and shoved his face into a brick wall so hard he ended up with a swollen black eye. Hoyt said he later complained of excessive force and, after his release, was interviewed by internal affairs investigators who asked, “What would make this right again?” (Stanton and Sullivan, 12/22)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Mercy Ends Plan For Midwifery Services In Ferguson After Dispute With Jamaa Birth Village 
Hospital giant Mercy has ended plans to provide midwifery services in Ferguson in response to claims by the founder of a black midwife-led clinic that Mercy was violating an agreement and copying her model. Brittany “Tru” Kellman, who opened Jamaa Birth Village in 2016, said in a written statement that Mercy’s decision was a victory for addressing health inequities with community-driven approaches. (Benchaabane, 12/21)

Tampa Bay Times: Tampa Bay Doctor And Marketing Executives Sentenced In Tricare Fraud
A Pinellas County doctor and two Pasco County marketing company executives were sentenced this week to federal prison for their roles in a conspiracy to profit from prescriptions for pain creams billed to the U.S. military’s Tricare health service. On Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Baldizzi, 56, of Treasure Island was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. Baldizzi, who had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of receiving kickbacks, also was ordered to forfeit $100,000, including a BMW that he had received. Prosecutors said he will give up his medical license in January. (Danielson, 12/20)

The CT Mirror: Parents’ Erratic Work Schedules Put Children At Risk
Jesus Manuel Gomez quit his restaurant dishwashing job when he saw the effect his long work days had on his 10-year-old son with special needs. Although he was scheduled to work from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., the Honduran native said through a Spanish-speaking interpreter that he would get out between midnight and 1 a.m. and then still be asleep when his son left for school the next morning. “He takes medication so he can concentrate and gets treatment at school,” Gomez said of his son. “But when I saw what was happening with my schedule, that it was impacting his ability to focus even though he was getting treatment, I only worked there a couple of weeks.” (Backus, 12/22)

Health News Florida: Proposal Targets Pensacola Shooter ‘Loophole’
Three U.S. House members from Florida want to close a “loophole” used by a Saudi national to buy a handgun before he killed three people and injured eight others this month at a Pensacola naval base. A bill spearheaded in the House by Democrats Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg and Val Demings of Orlando and Republican John Rutherford of Jacksonville would address foreign nationals who meet current requirements to buy handguns in the United States. It would require them to petition the U.S. attorney general before being able to buy guns and would lead to more-rigorous background checks. (Turner, 12/20)

MPR News: 1 Dead, 7 Hurt In Shooting Outside Concert At Spring Lake Park Venue
A 19-year-old St. Paul man is dead and seven other people were hurt following a shootout in the parking lot of a Spring Lake Park restaurant and event center overnight Saturday. (Nelson, 12/22)

MPR News: Holiday Bummer: Flu Spreads Widely In Minnesota Just In Time For Season's Gatherings
Outbreaks of influenza in Minnesota schools are expected to ease as students head for winter break. The bad news: sick kids will likely spread the virus at holiday gatherings over the next two weeks. “Kids may share pop cans and may not have the best respiratory etiquette with covering their coughs and sneezes and doing a lot of hand washing,” said Noreen Kleinfehn-Wald, a public health supervisor for Scott County Public Health. (Wurzer and Dunbar, 12/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A Mobile Application Has Shown Strong Results In Treating Lower Back Pain And Lowering Medical Costs
A mobile application developed by a small startup company in Madison has shown strong results in treating one of the most common and costly medical conditions: lower back pain. The company is Kiio, and two pilot projects have found the company’s app effective in helping people with lower back pain while significantly reducing medical costs. The pilot projects were done by Quartz Health Solutions, based in Sauk City, and WEA Trust, based in Madison. (Boulton, 12/20)

Boston Globe: At A North Shore Nursing Home, They’re Drumming Up Christmas Cheer For Residents With Dementia
Some steadied themselves with walkers as they entered the familiar dining hall. Others were wheeled in by aides. Their eyes, blank or restless, surveyed the colorful array of drums and fruit-shaped sound shakers set up in front of them. A mesmerizing rhythm enveloped them as they formed a circle around David Currier, a visitor bearing the gift of music for older folks grappling with illness and memory loss. He was beating softly on a Korean hourglass drum hanging from a shoulder strap. (Weisman, 12/22)

Kaiser Health News: Government-Funded Day Care Helps Keep Seniors Out Of Nursing Homes And Hospitals
Two mornings a week, a van arrives at the Escondido, Calif., home of Mario Perez and takes him to a new senior center in this northern San Diego County town, where he eats a hot lunch, plays cards and gets physical therapy to help restore the balance he lost after breaking both legs in a fall. If he wants, he can shower, get his hair cut or have his teeth cleaned. Those twice-weekly visits are the highlights of the week for Perez, a 65-year-old retired mechanic who has diabetes and is legally blind. (Basheda, 12/23)

Health News Florida: ABA Therapists: GPS Tracking Pilot Program Fraught With Issues
A state pilot program that uses GPS to track therapists who serve children on the autism spectrum is so fraught with problems that providers say they are having a hard time going to appointments and getting paid. The program is one of many changes that state officials made after discovering Medicaid fraud among providers in the applied behavior analysis, or ABA, therapy field two years ago. (12/19)

Health News Florida: Report: Florida Drops From 29th Healthiest State To 33rd
A new report shows Florida's health ranking has dropped from 29th to 33rd, making it the second-largest drop nationally, especially in terms of terms of health behaviors, the environment, public health policies and clinical care. The annual America’s Health Rankings report, sponsored by the United Health Foundation, says there has been a significant rise statewide in the rates of obesity, physical inactivity, diabetes and drug deaths. (12/20)

The Washington Post: Detroit Green Liquid: Cancer-Causing Chemical Gushed Onto Highway
A bright greenish-yellow liquid gushed onto the side of a Michigan highway Friday, prompting a multiagency investigation that discovered the mystery substance was probably a chemical that is known to cause cancer. The hexavalent chromium-contaminated water that rushed from a retaining wall onto Interstate 696 in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights appeared to come from a shuttered electroplating business, said Jill Greenberg, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. (Iati, 12/22)

Texas Tribune: How Dallas' Paul Quinn College Became America's First Urban Work College
On a recent Sunday night, Paul Quinn College president Michael Sorrell kicked off an hourlong, unstructured group discussion during his problem-solving course with a question. “What’s on your mind?” he asked the class composed of the school’s top 18 students. Sophomore LaMontria Edwards promptly asked a question about Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War,” the ancient and seminal Chinese text about war and strategy assigned to the class. (Tatum, 12/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Brooklyn Hospital Center Plans To Sell Land To Finance Overhaul Of Campus
Facing financial pressure and increasing capital needs, the Brooklyn Hospital Center wants to redevelop its downtown Brooklyn campus and sell large parcels of its site to finance the project. The hospital plans in the coming weeks to submit initial paperwork to seek rezoning for the entire square-block site in a bid to encourage residential development. That is the start of a multiyear effort to gain technical approvals for the development. (West, 12/22)