State Highlights: Kansas Legislature Contemplates Plan To Fight Diabetes; Ohio Cracking Down On Uninvestigated Cases Of Childhood Lead Poisoning

KCUR: Anti-Diabetes Plan Progressing In Kansas Legislature 
When the Kansas Senate comes back after this week’s midsession break, it may consider legislation to form a comprehensive state plan to fight diabetes. House Bill 2219 would instruct the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to conduct an analysis of state costs from diabetes, identify best practices to prevent and control the condition, and develop a budget to implement those practices. (Marso, 2/28)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: ODH To State's Lead Programs: Close All Your Open Cases 
The Ohio Department of Health is cracking down on local health authorities that investigate childhood lead poisoning cases, demanding "action plans" to close open cases and alerting programs to a high number of cases being closed due to an inability to contact the affected child's family or a homeowner. In a strongly worded letter mailed in mid-February, ODH Director Rick Hodges reminded health officials at city and county programs that investigate lead cases, referred to as "delegated authorities," of the state's plans for enhanced monitoring. (Dissell and Zeltner, 3/1)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Cracks Down On Lead Poisoning Cases Closed Without Family Contact; Local Programs Cry Foul 
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is warning it will no longer accept the "high number" of lead poisoning cases statewide that are never investigated because local health officials fail to contact a child's family. ODH, which delegates its authority to investigate lead poisoning cases to local health departments, sent letters last month warning lead programs across the state that it expects them to do more to reach parents or guardians. (Dissell, 3/1)

Texas Tribune: Texas Has An Alarming Maternal Death Rate. Now What? 
Rise in Texas maternal deaths absent from legislative agendaThe maternal death rate has been overshadowed by issues like child welfare, the so-called “bathroom bill” and sanctuary cities. Around D.C., Sheila Jackson Lee's image belies her persistenceAccording to dozens of interviews with members of Congress, House staffers and political players back home in Houston, there is a method to Jackson Lee's madness. (Mansoor and Blanchard, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Flint Residents Must Start Paying For Water They Still Can’t Drink Without A Filter
Residents in Flint, Mich., are about to start paying the full cost of their water again, even though what’s flowing from their taps has yet to be declared safe to drink without an approved filter. On Wednesday, state officials will end a program that has helped pay residents’ bills since a series of ill-fated decisions by state-appointed emergency managers left the city’s water system contaminated with lead. Since that 2014 disaster, the state has spent roughly $41 million in credits to help offset local utility bills. Residents have gotten a 65 percent credit each month on their water use, while commercial accounts received a 20 percent credit. (Dennis, 2/28)

The New York Times: Upstate Village Tables Pollution Deal With Saint-Gobain And Honeywell
It has been decades since the plastics companies first arrived and silently started polluting this small village in northeastern New York, and four years since the death of a local man prompted his son to search for answers. Given that timetable, it is not completely surprising that the story of Hoosick Falls, where the local water was contaminated with high levels of a toxic chemical, has not come to a quick conclusion.  (McKinley, 2/28)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Brady Sullivan To Pay $90,000 For Exposing Tenants To Lead 
Brady Sullivan Properties, one of New Hampshire's biggest developers, will pay a fine for violating federal lead paint laws. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Brady Sullivan did not disclose the existence of chipping lead paint to tenants of Mill West in Manchester before they moved in. Then the landlord exposed tenants to lead dust from a construction site below apartments. (Rodolico, 2/28)

KQED: Five Months After Incident, Agencies Still Haven’t Pinpointed Source Of Vallejo Fumes
Five months after dozens of Vallejo residents sought medical treatment after being overpowered by an unbearable odor that spread over their community, a collection of federal, state and local agencies have failed to follow up on the cause or declined to release results of their investigations. The fumes prompted about 800 phone calls to authorities, who imposed a shelter-in-place order covering much of the city of 118,000. The onset of the sickening odor appears to have coincided with a petroleum spill at the Phillips 66 refinery the same evening. (Goldberg, 2/28)

The New York Times: Healthier Cereals Snare A Spot On New York School Menus
The New York City public school system has quietly replaced breakfast cereals made by the Kellogg Company, the titan whose name is virtually synonymous with cereal, with those from a small California upstart called Back to the Roots. The switch, which follows a student taste test that began last spring, adds menu options that are lower in sugar and sodium and higher in whole grains. (Strom, 3/1)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Creditors Question Viability Of North Philadelphia Health System
Unsecured creditors in North Philadelphia Health System's bankruptcy on Tuesday filed objections to the tax-exempt organization's plan to go $3 million into debt to help it get through bankruptcy, arguing that the system must prove its viability before borrowing more. The creditors committee, represented by Edmond M. George of Obermayer Remann Maxwell & Hippel LLP, in a filing Tuesday questioned "whether there is a reorganizational plan possible for the debtor, or whether liquidation should be the focus." Lawrence G. McMichael, of Dilworth Paxson LLP, North Philadelphia Health System's bankruptcy attorney, said the system would provide information to allay the creditors' concerns. (Brubaker, 2/28)

Iowa Public Radio: GOP Bill Would Ease Up On Marijuana Penalties 
A bill to lower the penalties for first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana cleared a Republican-dominated panel in the Iowa Senate Tuesday. The same bill passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support when Democrats were in control two years ago, but it was not considered in the Republican-controlled House. (Russell, 2/28)

The Washington Post: Federal Officials Are Auditing D.C. Public Health Lab In Wake Of Botched Zika Tests
Federal regulators are auditing the District’s public health lab in response to botched Zika testing that erroneously provided negative results to at least nine pregnant women, D.C. Department of Forensic Sciences Director Jenifer Smith said Tuesday. At an oversight hearing before a D.C. Council committee, Smith said officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had visited the lab Monday and Tuesday to review its operations and investigate how the mistakes were made. (Jamison, 2/28)