State Highlights: N.H. Gov. Signs Mental Health Reform Bill; Md. Insurance Officials OK Evergreen Health Conversion To For-Profit Status

New Hampshire Public Radio: Sununu, Mental Health Advocates Celebrate Bill Signing
The bill calls for changes both to the mental health system and child protection standards. Among other things, it forces the Department of Health and Human Services to come up with a new 10-year plan for reforming the mental health system, focusing on wait times and gaps in the current system. (McDermott, 6/14)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Insurance Administration Approves Evergreen Health Acquisition 
Maryland Insurance Administration on Wednesday approved plans for Evergreen Health to be acquired by investors and convert to a for-profit insurance company. Evergreen was one of 23 so-called consumer oriented and operated health plans created under the federal Affordable Care Act and one of the few still operating. In a bid to stay in busines amid mounting financial pressure, Evergreen sought investors to shore up its finances. (Gantz, 6/14)

Boston Globe: State Approves Plan For UMass Medical To Reduce Psychiatric Beds 
State public health officials on Wednesday approved a $30 million renovation project at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester that includes a controversial plan by the hospital to cut about half of its psychiatric beds. Hospital officials want to convert 13 psychiatric beds into space for medical and surgical patients, arguing that they are facing greater demand from those patients than from people with severe mental illness. (Dayal McCluskey, 6/14)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota Teen Pregnancy Rates Continue Declining, But STD Infections Soar
Teenage pregnancy and birth rates are continuing to tumble in Minnesota, according to a report released Wednesday by University of Minnesota researchers. But they tend to be higher in rural counties than elsewhere. Overall, teen pregnancy rates dropped almost 70 percent from 1990 to 2015 in Minnesota, according to the report. Just between 2014 and 2015 — the last year for which data are available — the decline was a little more than 11 percent. (Lundy, 6/14)

Minnesota Public Radio: Report: Teen Pregnancies Are Down, But Gonorrhea Is Up 
Fewer teens than ever are getting pregnant, according to report author and director of adolescent sexual health Jill Farris... On the other hand, teen rates of gonorrhea are up 40 percent and chlamydia is up 15 percent. (Enger, 6/14)

Health News Florida: Shower Areas At Orlando-Area Gyms Linked To Legionnaires’ Disease
The Florida Department of Health is investigating two gyms in the Orlando area for a possible outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. Four people have caught the bacterial lung infection in Orange County. (Aboraya, 6/14)

Los Angeles Times: Torrance Memorial Hospital Receives $32-Million Donation
Philanthropists Melanie and Richard Lundquist have donated $32 million to Torrance Memorial Medical Center to improve neurological, orthopedic and spinal care at the hospital. The gift announced this week brings the couple’s total contributions to the hospital to $100 million over the last 11 years. The sum is the most a single donor has given to a hospital that isn’t a research or teaching facility since the Chronicle of Philanthropy began tracking donations over $1 million in 2005. (Karlamangla, 6/14)

East Bay Times: East Bay Water: Cancer-Causing Contaminants On The Rise
Cancer-causing compounds in East Bay drinking water have increased sharply over the past several years, and water in some areas is close to violating a federal public health standard, the East Bay Municipal Utility District reported Tuesday. Water-quality managers said the drought is at least partly to blame for the increase in contaminants called trihalomethanes or THMs,  a byproduct of chlorine used to kill germs reacting with natural organic matter in water. (Cuff, 6/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF’s Proposed Ban On Flavored Tobacco Sales Upsets Store Owners 
San Francisco officials are looking at a ban on flavored tobacco products, ranging from cherry cigarillos and blueberry blunt wraps to menthol cigarettes, e-cigarettes, hookahs and smokeless tobacco. Berkeley recently passed a similar law. The proposed ban is the latest in a string of restrictions on tobacco products, including a $2-per-pack tax that went into effect in the state in April. (Johnson, 6/14)

Ventura County Star: Surprise Witness Backs Mother's Story In Pesticide Trial
A surprise witness testified Tuesday that he had seen pesticides regularly sprayed close to strawberry harvesters at a farm near Oxnard, completely supporting the plaintiff's version of events in a birth defect trial. Jose Antonio Madrigal, a former supervisor for Well-Pict Berries, said he had seen tractors spraying two or three times a week in fields at Anacapa Berry Farms while workers were present in 2007. The tractors were applying the chemicals well under 100 feet from the workers, he said. (Wilson, 6/13)

WBUR: Innovation Boost: 3 Digital Health Startups Win Cash To Accelerate Business 
Three digital health startups — one to help detect concussions, another to streamline emergency medicine, and a third to improve the mental health of seniors — were awarded a total of $200,000 Tuesday as part of an innovative accelerator program aimed at boosting such ventures across the state... The top winners of PULSE's cash prizes were selected based on their ability to demonstrate impact and meet milestones while working over the past six months with established corporate partners, including leading health care companies and big-name medical institutions. (Zimmerman, 6/14)

Health News Florida: Florida Among Worst At Providing Home Health Care Options 
Florida is the second worst state in the nation at providing home- and community-based health care options for seniors and the disabled, a new report says. The AARP's scorecard says the result is that too many seniors are pushed into nursing homes. (Ochoa, 6/14)

Austin American-Statesman: Baylor Scott & White May Bring Health-Care Options To Spicewood Ar
Baylor Scott & White Health officials and Thomas Ranch Development Interests announced a partnership this week that could bring a clinic or other health-care facility to Thomas Ranch, a proposed 2,200-acre master-planned community to be built off Texas 71 and Paleface Ranch Road. The proposed development, which straddles western Travis County and eastern Burnet County, is one of the largest master-planned communities announced in recent years for Central Texas. (Novak, 6/14)

San Jose Mercury News: New Sex Ed Curriculum To Be Tested Next Year
A new sexual health curriculum will be tested next spring for seventh- and eighth-grade students in the Cupertino Union School District.The move comes a few months after the school board, in a 2-2 vote, failed to adopt sex education curriculum that conforms to new state standards. Parents in March told school officials the proposed curriculum was “too graphic” and “not age-appropriate,” while others suggested it did not align with their cultural values, and some complained that it explicitly described different types of sex. (Myllenbeck, 5/14)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Challenges Kentucky's Medical Marijuana Ban
Kentucky's criminal ban against medical marijuana was challenged Wednesday in a lawsuit touting cannabis as a viable alternative to ease addiction woes from opioid painkillers. The plaintiffs have used medical marijuana to ease health problems, the suit said. The three plaintiffs include Dan Seum Jr., the son of a longtime Republican state senator. (6/14)

Georgia Health News: Her Home Showed High Lead; She Wasn’t Told 
In Georgia, the state apparently has not taken any action against the North Fulton County water utility, though the system has received repeated written warnings — five since 2004 — for failing to tell consumers about their water quality quickly enough. State officials did not respond to our inquiry about the situation. (Goodman and Miller, 6/14)

Orlando Sentinel: Boca Raton Prohibits Swimming At Beaches After High Bacteria Levels Found At Two Sites
The city of Boca Raton is prohibiting swimming at all its beaches after results from testing at two sites showed high bacterial levels in the water. The beaches will remain open to the public, with red flags and signs at its entrances enforcing no swimming. (Hall, 6/14)

Health News Florida: Mosquito Fish Another Tool For Disease Prevention 
County officials this summer are giving away "mosquito fish,” a guppy-like, native freshwater fish - for free - to residents. The two-and-a-half-inch long fish can eat about 100 mosquito eggs and larvae a day. (Miller, 6/14)

WBUR: Proposed Changes To Mass. Pot Law Would Bump Tax To 28 Percent
Taxes on recreational marijuana products could be as high as 28 percent under a bill about to be taken up by the Massachusetts House on Thursday, according to a draft copy of the legislation obtained by WBUR late Tuesday. The bill, drafted by the House chairman of the Legislature's Marijuana Policy Committee, makes some major changes to the way legal pot would be regulated when compared to how the law was written in a voter-approved referendum last November that legalized recreational marijuana in the state. (Brown, 6/14)

Denver Post: Domestic Cat Contracts Plague In Rural Northwest Weld County 
A domestic cat contracted plague in rural northwest Weld County in early June but is receiving treatment and is expected to recover. Although plague is rare, it occurs naturally in Colorado and can be found in wildlife such as rodents and rabbits, according to the Weld County Health Department. People most commonly contract the disease from infected fleas but can also contract it from direct contact with an infected animal. (Worthington, 6/14)