Viewpoints: Prevent The Severely Mentally Ill From Getting Guns; Unlearned Lessons On Trump’s ‘Fantastic’ Job in Puerto Rico

St. Louis Post Dispatch: A Better Way To Keep Guns Away From The Severely Mentally Ill
David Katz should never have been able to legally purchase two handguns before embarking on his deadly shooting spree in Jacksonville, Fla., where he killed two and wounded 10 others before taking his own life on Sunday. The killer in Florida’s latest mass shooting had a documented history of severe psychiatric problems yet was able to purchase his weapons from a licensed dealer in Maryland.While mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of it, existing laws and procedures don’t do enough to keep guns out of chronic patients’ reach — for their own good as well as everyone else’s. (8/30)

Bloomberg: Hurricane Maria: Republicans Ignore Lessons From Federal Failures
There’s a new official death toll from Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and it’s ugly: The island now estimates that 2,975 people died. Donald Trump, however, is still telling everyone his administration did a “fantastic job” and making excuses for the things that did go wrong, which he somehow also doesn’t acknowledge.   And Congress? They don’t seem very interested in the subject. (Jonathan Bernstein, 8/30)

USA Today: Betsy DeVos, Deny Schools Wanting To Arm Teachers With Federal Grants
Just in time for those back-to-school preparations, the federal government is considering financing firearms for teachers. The Department of Education would act as arms dealer, dispensing cash for guns. As ludicrous as this might sound, it has not been rejected out of hand by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who once famously suggested some K-12 campuses might need guns to ward off grizzly bear attacks. Texas educators have asked DeVos to see whether federal Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants could be tapped for arming teachers or other school staff in the wake of America's infamous mass shootings. The state is one of at least nine that explicitly allow school staff to carry guns on campus. (8/30)

USA Today: In Case Of School Shooting: Armed Staff Make Our School A Safe Place
Shootings in our schools are taking place too regularly to be considered coincidence. Causation can be debated, but facts remain; shootings happen, and after they happen, copycat shooting emergencies spread across the country. As the Harrold School superintendent, I believe guns are tools that can be used for good to stop these horrible atrocities. (David Thweatt, 8/30)

Kansas City Star: Kansas On The Wrong Side Of Transgender Supreme Court Case
Kansas has joined with 15 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn employment protections for transgender Americans. The state’s position is wrong-headed and counterproductive. Kansas should rethink its approach to this issue. (8/30)

The Washington Post: Canada Shows How Overdose Prevention Sites Can Help Tackle The Opioid Crisis
These sites (beginning with Insite in Vancouver in 2003) reduce HIV rates, hospital admissions and ambulance calls. They link users to health care, social services and addiction treatment. There are no fatalities. Despite persistent assertions that the sites encourage or perpetuate drug use, there is no evidence to support this claim. In fact, we need more of these sites. There is no treatment for addiction if the patient is dead. Also, the lives of people who use drugs are valuable whether or not they seek treatment. (Carlyn Zwarenstein, 8/30)

USA Today: Treat Opioid Addiction As A Health Crisis And Pass A Senate Bill Now
If this were any other public health crisis, decisive action would have been taken long ago. Three hundred and fifty of our sons, daughters, brothers, daughters, husbands, and wives are lost every day to alcohol and other drugs, including opioids.The House passed the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act on June 22 — a package of more than 50 individual opioid bills designed to help communities in dire need. They cover everything from stronger guidance for sober living facilities to ensuring treatment for those who overdose to studying new pain management protocols and treatments. And, yet despite the overwhelming 396-14 vote in the House 10 weeks ago and the death toll rising in our communities, the Senate is still mulling details and trying to reach an agreement. (Michael King, 8/30)

The New York Times: The Continuing Tragedy Of The Separated Children 
While family separations have slipped from the spotlight — allowing Mr. Trump to enjoy his morning executive time without enduring televised images of sobbing migrant children — the crisis itself is far from over. Hundreds of children remain separated from their parents. Many of those who have been reunited bear the scars of trauma. Migrant families continue to be rounded up into government detention centers, though now at least they are being held together. (8/30)

Stat: Securing The U.S. From Its Most Dangerous Invader: Infectious Disease
As the Democratic Republic of Congo works to contain the latest outbreak of Ebola, in what could be a test of the world’s ability to contain the disease since the calamitous outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015, it’s a good time to think about the global infectious disease pandemic that happened in May. In case you didn’t hear about it, that pandemic killed 150 million people around the world, including 15 million Americans, within a year and caused the U.S. stock market to crash. Fortunately, the deaths and economic cataclysm were just on paper — or in electrons — the result of a daylong simulation with a group of high-ranking U.S. government officials that was organized by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. (Ashley Arabasadi, 8/31)

The New York Times: Our Coronary Complacency
I thought about Ally many times as I was writing about heart disease over the past few years. In particular I wondered why, despite its still being the major killer in the United States — responsible for about 610,000 deaths according to the American Heart Association — it seems to generate less fear among the public than cancer, which is expected to take 609,000 lives this year, or even the opioid epidemic, which killed 72,000 people in 2017. (Mimi Swartz, 8/30)

The Hill: Regenerative Health Is A Door We Can Open Together
“I once was blind, but now I see” is an inspirational phrase we often hear sung in church, but it is very rare that anybody gets to declare it as literally true, especially if they’re talking about being restored from an untreatable, incurable disease. But I can, and even more amazingly, it turns out the treatment for my blindness came from within: Yes, my own adult stem cells gave my sight back. I went from legally blind, walking with a stick and prohibited from driving, to getting my driver’s license once again and ceremoniously gifting my now-unnecessary walking stick to U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander after we worked hard together to write and pass the 21st Century Cures Act into law. (Doug Oliver, 8/30)

Columbus Dispatch: Medicaid Expansion Has Improved Ohioans' Health
The recent report on Ohio’s Medicaid expansion shows that the program is working as intended and is cost-effective, pointing the way for the General Assembly and next governor to support its continuation. The expansion’s positive health and economic outcomes resulting from increased access to care — all of which are documented in the report — are welcome news to Ohio’s philanthropic community, which focuses on the same goals of improved health status and economic security for all residents of Ohio. Of particular note among the report’s findings is the expansion’s contribution to addressing substance-use disorders, as enrollees diagnosed with opioid addiction received medication-assisted therapies and psychosocial treatment. (Claudia Y.W. Herrold, 8/30)

LA Daily News: How You Can Stop Sacramento From Raising Your Water Rates And Property Taxes
On Thursday, August 30, at 8:00 a.m., an obscure committee in Sacramento will hold an informational hearing that will commit you, your children and your grandchildren to paying higher rates and higher property taxes to cover the cost of the proposed boondoggle known as WaterFix. Under state law, the Department of Water Resources can finalize a long-term contract for water from the State Water Project through a unique process that doesn’t require a vote of the Legislature or any legislative committee. The DWR simply sends over a copy of the contract, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee holds an informational hearing, and 60 days later, the contract can be finalized. (Susan Shelley, 8/29)