$12 Billion Plan Proposed For Housing California’s Homeless

AP: California Governor Proposes $12B To House State's Homeless
Buoyed by a large budget surplus and swimming in federal pandemic recovery money, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday proposed $12 billion to get more people experiencing homelessness off the streets and into homes of their own. Newsom’s proposal includes $8.75 billion over two years to create an estimated 46,000 housing units, expanding on a program he launched last year to convert motels and other properties into housing. Nearly half the money would go toward housing in places where people with mental health and other behavioral issues can get services onsite. (Watson and Har, 5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Is Rapidly Losing Care Facilities For The Mentally Ill And Elderly. But A Plan To Save Them Is Promising
In San Francisco, the number of assisted living facilities for seniors and adults with disabilities dropped 38% since 2012, with beds dropping 17%, according to city reports. Hardest hit were the smallest facilities serving low-income residents. At least 100 people were waiting to get a spot in a facility, according to the most recent count. Advocates say the shortage means more people are sent out of county, which is hard for families, or end up on the streets. “If we are serious about ending homelessness for seniors and people with disabilities, we need residential care facilities,” Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said. (Moench, 5/11)

Axios: Tennessee Governor Orders End To Federal COVID Unemployment Benefits 
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) announced Tuesday that his state will withdraw from federally funded pandemic unemployment benefits on July 3. Tennessee joins a growing list of states with Republican governors that are turning down the federal benefits citing worker shortages. Some experts say, however, it's the job climate and not unemployment benefits that is determining when and how people return to work. (Saric, 5/11)

The Baltimore Sun: Audit Finds Maryland Health Benefit Exchange Has Continued Problems In Verifying Some Applicants’ Medicaid Eligibility 
For the second time in three years a state audit of Maryland’s health insurance exchange system found continued problems in the program’s verification of some applicants’ income to determine their eligibility for Medicaid over a three-year period. A 2018 audit of the quasi-governmental agency that oversees the Maryland health exchange found similar problems with Medicaid eligibility screenings over fiscal years 2015 to 2017. (Miller, 5/11)

The Washington Post: Prosecutor To Seek Hate-Crime Charges Against White Man Accused In Atlanta-Area Spa Killings
Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty and hate-crime charges against the White man accused of fatally shooting eight people — mostly Asian women — in a March rampage across Atlanta-area spas that authorities are calling domestic terrorism. Robert Aaron Long, 22, was indicted on murder charges Tuesday by grand juries in Fulton County and Cherokee County, where authorities say Long fired on employees and customers at three Asian-run businesses. (Knowles and Willis, 5/11)

North Carolina Health News: After Tragedy, Families Want Stronger Good Samaritan Law 
Members of five families, united in grief from a common experience, made a heartbreaking trek to Raleigh on Tuesday to talk to their legislators. Their common experience is one that no family should have to endure – the loss of a beloved child. What’s worse for these families is knowing that someone had been with their son or daughter as they neared death. In each case, their friends ran away, fearful of getting into trouble because their friend had overdosed on an opioid or because they all were drinking alcohol under the legal age. (Hoban, 5/12)

AP: UPS Drivers Plan Action Against Company In Auburn
United Parcel Service drivers represented by the Teamsters union are planning to picket at a distribution hub in Maine. The 80 to 100 drivers based in Auburn are protesting about being overworked during the pandemic, said Brett Miller, president of Local 340. The goal is to get the attention of management, he said. “They are working Christmas hours and they’ve been doing this for 14 months straight. They’re wearing down,” he said. (5/12)

Mississippi Clarion-Ledger: EPA To Jackson, Mississippi: Water Safe To Drink Despite Problems
Officials with the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday spelled out significant concerns with the city's water system, including necessary fixes to maintain safe drinking water, following the worst water crisis Jackson has seen in recent history. EPA administrators in their first public appearance with city officials said it will take both short-term and long-term fixes to remedy the system, a prospect that will require millions of dollars of funding. The visit follows an inspection by the federal agency, along with the state Department of Health, in February of last year that found several severe violations at the city's two water treatment plants, the O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Facility and the J.H. Fewell Water Treatment Facility. (Vicory, 5/11)

The Advocate: Bill To Decriminalize Small-Time Marijuana Possession OK'd By Louisiana House; Next Up: Senate
The Louisiana House has approved a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, taking away the possibility of jail time and reducing the maximum penalty to a $100 fine for possession offenses. The move, on a 67-to-25 vote Tuesday, would represent a significant step in the effort to loosen Louisiana’s prohibition on marijuana. If approved by the Louisiana Senate, where the legislation heads next, and Gov. John Bel Edwards, Louisiana would become the latest in a string of states to eliminate the possibility of jail time for people caught with small amounts of marijuana. (Karlin, 5/11)

The Advocate: Proposal To Limit, Ban Doctor Non-Competes Moves Forward; Here's What's Next In The Process
The state House on Tuesday approved legislation to roll back the use of noncompete agreements for doctors, amid a fierce battle between Ochsner Health System, which is fighting the bill, and doctors groups and other hospital systems pushing for it. The House voted 56-38 to approve House Bill 483, by Rep. Mark Wright, to restrict the use of noncompete provisions for doctors. Members voted 68-23 for another bill by Rep. Larry Bagley, R-Stonewall, to ban their use entirely for public employees – a bill that arose out of LSU Health Shreveport's use of the provisions at that public institution, which is run in conjunction with Ochsner. House Speaker Clay Schexnayder voted in favor of both bills. (Karlin, 5/11)

KHN: Don’t Eat The Yellowstone Snow: Elite Ski Resort Aims To Turn Sewage Into Powder
An exclusive Montana resort wants to turn sewage into snow so that its rich and famous members can ski its slopes in a winter season that’s shrinking because of climate change. The Yellowstone Club — a ski and golf resort just north of Yellowstone National Park that counts Bill Gates, Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel among its members — has asked the Montana Department of Environmental Quality for a permit to allow it to use wastewater for snowmaking operations on its ski slopes. (Franz, 5/12)

And in updates on the opioid trial in West Virginia —

Charleston Gazette-Mail: Data Analyst Says Potency Of Opiates Shipped Increased Over Time, Defense Questions His Credibility
Drug wholesalers accused of fueling the opioid epidemic by shipping millions of opiates to Cabell County over a nine-year period continued to blame federal regulators in court Tuesday and attempted to discredit years of work completed by a data analyst. The city of Huntington and Cabell County argued that the defendants — AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. — became culpable when 127.9 million opiate doses were sent to the county from 2006-14. When the number of shipped doses decreased around 2012, users turned to illicit opiate drugs, such as heroin, the plaintiffs said. (Hessler, 5/11)