State Highlights: Candidates’ Stance On Single-Payer Dominates California’s Gubernatorial Race; Iowa’s Restrictive ‘Fetal Heartbeat’ Law Temporarily Blocked

The Associated Press: Health Care, Immigration Dominate California Governor Race
No topic has dominated California's governor race like President Donald Trump. The Republicans want to be like him; the Democrats want to oppose him. But whoever wins will face a long list of challenges from housing and homelessness to health care. Here's a look at some of the debates that have emerged during the race, which includes Democrats Gavin Newsom, Antonio Villaraigosa, John Chiang and Delaine Eastin and Republicans John Cox and Travis Allen. (Cooper, 6/2)

Iowa Public Radio: Judge Temporarily Blocks 'Fetal Heartbeat' Abortion Law 
A Polk County judge Friday temporarily blocked Iowa’s “fetal heartbeat” abortion law from being enforced while a legal challenge is underway. The law, which bans most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, was supposed to take effect July 1. (Sostaric, 6/1)

The CT Mirror: Malloy Vetoes ECS Bill, Declines To Sign Health Measure 
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Friday vetoed a bill that would have prohibited him or future governors from cutting education-cost sharing grants to cities and towns as a means of addressing a budget shortfall that develops during the fiscal year. He also allowed a bill to become law without his signature, a first for the governor. The new law he declined to sign allows pregnant women to purchase health insurance from Access Health CT outside the enrollment period. (Pazniokas, 6/1)

KCUR: Hard To Tell If Kansas Lowering C-Section Rates 
Physicians, researchers and hospitals broadly agree that cesarean sections have become too common. That’s powered efforts to limit them to ever fewer cases. Still, it can be hard to gauge the track record of most Kansas hospitals. When a national group came asking for numbers that reveal how regularly C-sections are performed, many hospitals in the state didn’t reply. Among those that did respond to the health advocacy Leapfrog Group, about half had reached or exceeded a federal goal to scale back C-sections. (Llopis-Jepsen, 6/1)

Reuters: His Twin Shot Dead, A Washington Teen Shines Spotlight On Gun Crime
Every school day, Zion Kelly passes by the locker once used by his slain twin brother, Zaire, who was shot in the head during an attempted robbery in their Washington, D.C. neighborhood last September. Zaire is one of more than 170,000 youths between the ages of 5 and 24 that have been killed by gun violence in the United States since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began collecting data in 1981. (6/1)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Hospitals Ease Emergency Room Pressure With Clinical Decision Units 
So the hospital last week opened a new Clinical Decision Unit, next to the emergency department, to free ER rooms faster without compromising care. The unit is designed to observe and provide tests to patients who come to the ER and aren't ready to go home once they are seen by a doctor, but don't need to be admitted to the hospital. They can include people treated for chest pains, asthma and hypertension. (Cousineau, 6/2)

Politico: San Francisco To Vote On Flavored Tobacco Ban
A major tobacco company is pouring millions of dollars into a ballot initiative that would repeal the country’s strongest effort yet to ban the sale of flavored tobaccos, which are attracting a whole new generation of users including children and teens. A $12 million campaign primarily funded by R.J. Reynolds is urging San Francisco voters next Tuesday to reject the city’s ban on selling flavored vaping products, hookah tobacco and menthol cigarettes. The flavored tobacco comes in brightly colored packages and tastes like bubblegum, mango or chicken-and-waffles, which public health advocates say are designed to entice young people. (Colliver, 6/2)

Kaiser Health News: Outsiders Swoop In Vowing To Rescue Rural Hospitals Short On Hope — And Money
Beau Gertz faced a crowd of worried locals at this town’s senior center, hoping to sell them on his vision for their long-beloved — but now bankrupt — hospital. In worn blue jeans and an untucked shirt, the bearded entrepreneur from Denver pledged at this town hall meeting in March to revive the Surprise Valley Community Hospital — a place many in the audience counted on to set their broken bones, stitch up cattle-tagging cuts and tend to aging loved ones. (Feder Ostrov, 6/4)

Dallas Morning News: Woman Claims Former Dallas County Health Chief's Sexual Harassment Ruined Her Life — And HIV/AIDS Program
The alleged sexual harassment that cost Dallas County's former health chief his job caused problems in a health care program that serves thousands of HIV and AIDS patients in North Texas, according to the woman making the allegation. The woman -- who worked for former Health Director Zachary Thompson -- had oversight responsibilities for the county's Ryan White office. The office is supposed to manage tens of millions of federal dollars per year to help poor, uninsured HIV/AIDS patients. A federal report made public this week found the office riddled with incompetence, mismanagement and a lack of training. (Martin, 6/2)

The Star Tribune: Fairview Tries To Break Geographic Lines In New Structure
Fairview Health Services shuffled its leadership structure and trimmed a few dozen jobs earlier this year while transitioning to a new “operating model” — management-speak for a change that aspires to make it easier for patients to get care across the growing health care system. The new structure at Minneapolis-based Fairview is focused on “service lines” rather than the geographic location of various hospitals and clinics. Part of the goal, Fairview executives said, is to eliminate “unhealthy competition” in which one Fairview hospital might be rewarded for gaining market share at the expense of another Fairview facility. (Snowbeck, 6/3)

The Associated Press: Proposal Would Add ‘X’ Category To NYC Birth Certificates
People born in New York City who do not identify their gender as either male or female would have the option of choosing a third category for their birth certificates under a new proposal. Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said the new category of “X’’ would be available through the proposal, which is expected to be introduced by Johnson on Thursday with public hearings to be held later this month. Currently, if parents of a newborn do not want to identify a sex, they can say the sex of the child is undetermined or unknown. The “X’’ category would be something adults could choose for their own birth certificate. (Hajela, 6/3)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Legislators Decline Maternal Mortality Review
In the waning days of the legislative session, Missouri Rep. Sarah Unsicker stood up during a long stretch of floor action and urged her colleagues to establish a committee to study the state's rising maternal mortality rate. ... Missouri ranks 42nd nationally with 32.6 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births, according to data published in March by the UnitedHealth Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the insurance company UnitedHealthcare. (Marso, 6/3)

Houston Chronicle: Ex-Health Care Boss Gets 19 Years In Prison In A $15 Million Fraud Case 
The former CEO of a multi-state physical therapy chain based in Houston was sentenced Friday to 19 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $15 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Team Work Ready CEO Jeffrey Eugene Rose Sr., 56, had been convicted in 2016 -- along with two of the company's other top officials -- of conspiracy, health care fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, after submitting more than $18 million in fraudulent claims at clinics in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Memphis and Alabama, prosecutors said in a press release. (Barned-Smith, 6/1)

Sacramento Bee: California Water Systems That Don't Comply With Drinking Water Standards
There are 3,015 independent water systems serving communities in California. As of May, 269 of these suppliers were out of compliance with state drinking water standards. Select your county to see if the water supplier for your community is out of compliance. (6/1)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota's First Self-Training CPR Kiosk Unveiled
A new self-training kiosk at Hennepin County Medical Center seeks to train more Minnesotans so they understand CPR and aren't afraid if they ever need to use it. Designed in shape and simplicity like a Whac-A-Mole arcade game, the console takes people through the basics of hands-only CPR, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and has them practice compressions on a dummy chest to get the pressure and pacing right. (Olson, 6/1)

The Associated Press: Clinic Owner Accused Of Medical Marijuana Fraud
A clinic owner in Delaware has been arrested and charged with submitting fraudulent applications for medical marijuana. Delaware State police said Saturday that Carolan Krajewski has been charged with forgery and tampering with public records. Krajewski is owner of Delaware Holistic Medicine in Lewes. The clinic was formerly known as Disjointed. (6/2)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Medical Contractor Ends Relationship With Richmond City Justice Center Following Poor Review
Sheriff Antionette Irving is rushing to retain a medical contractor for the Richmond City Justice Center after the private company responsible for providing treatment to the jail’s 900-plus inmates backed out of its contract following a critical review. Correctional Medical Care Inc. gave notice in April, only nine months after coming aboard, that it would end its three-year, $20.5 million agreement with the Richmond Sheriff’s Office on July 14. (Robinson, 6/3)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Private Mental Hospitals In Richmond Region Become 'More Selective' In Emergency Admissions, Raising Pressure On Central State 
For years, local mental health agencies say they rarely relied on Central State Hospital for emergency admissions of acutely ill patients in the Richmond region. ...Now, local mental health officials rely increasingly on Central State and other state institutions as private psychiatric facilities admit fewer acutely ill patients under temporary detention orders. (Martz, 6/1)

Minnesota Public Radio News: Tick Activity Continuing To Increase In Minnesota 
This year's tick season got off to a slow start in Minnesota. ...Earlier this spring, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention reported that between 2004 and 2016, Minnesota had nearly 27,000 confirmed cases of tick-borne infections.(Moen, 6/3)

The Associated Press: Missing Woman With Dementia Found Dead At SF Hospital Campus
"I don't know how she died," her daughter, Charlene Roberts, told KRON-TV . "Did she have a stroke or fell? I don't know what happened." Roberts, who gave her mother's age as 76, said the woman had dementia and two hearing aids and went missing on May 20 from a mental health facility. (5/31)

Miami Herald: After A Slow Start, Florida's Medical Marijuana Industry Takes Off
Call it the New Marijuana Math: 91,000 Floridians are buying 56 pounds of pot a week under the orders of 1,400 doctors. A year and a half after an amendment to the state constitution legalized medical marijuana, the fledgling industry is finally starting to show some muscle. (Garvin, 6/1)