State Highlights: California’s Kaiser Permanente Plans To Drop Tuition For First 5 Medical School Classes; 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Running Low On Money

The New York Times: Kaiser Permanente’s New Medical School Will Waive Tuition For Its First 5 Classes
Kaiser Permanente, the California-based health system that is preparing to open one of the few American medical schools not connected to a university, was set to announce Tuesday that it would waive tuition for every student in its first five graduating classes. Kaiser Permanente, which has its own hospitals, clinics, doctors and insurance plan, is following the New York University School of Medicine, which announced last year that it would eliminate tuition for all current and future students. Like N.Y.U., Kaiser’s main goal is to keep students from forgoing lower-paying specialties like family medicine because of crushing debt, or foreclosing the option of medical school altogether because of the cost. (Goodnough, 2/19)

The Associated Press: 9/11 Fund Running Out Of Money For Those With Illnesses
The compensation fund for victims of 9/11 is running out of money and will cut future payments by 50 to 70 percent, officials announced Friday. September 11th Victim Compensation Fund special master Rupa Bhattacharyya said she was "painfully aware of the inequity of the situation" but stressed that awarding some funds for every valid claim would be preferable to sending some legitimate claimants away empty-handed. "I could not abide a plan that would at the end of the day leave some claimants uncompensated," Bhattacharyya said. (2/15)

The Associated Press: Officials: Ohio Has A Hepatitis A Outbreak, But It's Not New
The Ohio Department of Health says reports that wrongly imply a newly declared outbreak of hepatitis A are circulating around the state, apparently prompted by a recent case involving a restaurant worker. A statewide outbreak of hepatitis A was declared last summer. Department spokesman J.C. Benton said Monday that outbreak is ongoing, but no further outbreak has been announced and there's no new cause for concern. (2/18)

The CT Mirror: Tax On Sugary Drinks Tops Lamont’s List Of New ‘Sin Taxes’
Gov. Ned Lamont’s first budget will include a series of new “sin tax” proposals, including levies on sugary drinks, electronic cigarettes and plastic bags, and deposits on alcoholic beverages. Lamont, who must submit his first two-year budget proposal to the General Assembly on Wednesday, also will recommend raising the age, from 18 to 21, to purchase both cigarettes and e-cigarettes. (Phaneuf, 2/17)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Senate Passes Bills To Boost Mental Health, Child Protective Services
The state senate yesterday unanimously passed two bills aimed at boosting mental health services and protecting vulnerable children. The votes came on the same day Governor Chris Sununu was outlining his budget which looks to tackle some of the same issues. One bill, passed Thursday, would add 77 positions to the Department for Children, Youth, and Families over the next two years. That's 15 more positions than Sununu called for in his speech. (Moon, 2/15)

The Washington Post: For These Four, Having A Beer Is A Crime — And They’ve Gone To Court To Challenge That
Police arrested Ryan Williams for sleeping in a park bathroom in Roanoke where an empty beer was found in the trash. Bryan Manning was picked up in the same city for smelling like alcohol and later for being at a Walmart where alcohol was sold. Richard Deckerhoff and Richard Eugene Walls were arrested near Richmond for being near beer cans. In the past decade, each man has been prosecuted in Virginia at least 11 times under a state law that makes it a crime for people designated in court as “habitual” drunks to consume or have alcohol. (Marimow, 2/18)

Health News Florida: Florida Senate Bill Would Require Baby Changing Tables In Many Buildings
A Senate Democrat filed a proposal Thursday that would lead to a requirement in the Florida Building Code that baby-changing tables be included in many buildings that are newly constructed or undergo “substantial” renovations. Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, filed the proposal (SB 1082) for consideration during the legislative session that starts March 5. (2/15)

Health News Florida: New Fight Emerges Over HIV, AIDS Care
An ongoing legal battle over which managed-care plan should be picked by the state to provide care to low-income AIDS and HIV patients in South Florida has triggered a new round of litigation that pits two competitors. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation this week asked a circuit judge to order competitor Simply Healthcare to stop communicating with the foundation’s Medicare patients. (Sexton, 2/18)

San Jose Mercury News: South Bay's Gender Health Center Promotes 'Healthy Equity'
For transgender, nonbinary and gender diverse individuals, gender identity carries with it a host of medical, social and emotional issues that aren’t always fully addressed by the healthcare system. Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s new Gender Health Center aims to provide services for these populations under one roof at the downtown San Jose facility. Dr. Jackie Newton, MD, co-founder of the center, said these services need to be multi-disciplinary, so center staff is taking a collaborative approach to patient care. (Gelhaus, 2/17)

San Jose Mercury News: California Mail Carrier’s Heat-Related Death Prompts Bill To Require Air Conditioning In U.S. Postal Service Mail Trucks
Seven months after a mail carrier’s heat-related death in Woodland Hills, U.S. Rep. Tony Cárdenas introduced a bill Friday that if enacted would require all U.S. Postal Service delivery vehicles to be equipped with air conditioning within three years. U.S. Postal Service carrier Peggy Frank, 63, was found dead in her non-air-conditioned mail truck on July 6, a day that temperatures soared to 117 degrees. The North Hills resident died of hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by a failure of the body to deal with heat coming from the environment. (Gazzar, 2/16)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Homeless Advocates Gather For Vigil, Call For An End To Violence
A candle flickered Monday afternoon at the center of a snow trodden circle on Euclid Avenue where mourners gathered to recognize the life of Marsha Carroll, a woman experiencing homelessness who was killed earlier this month. Carroll, 57, was allegedly beaten to death on Feb. 6 outside the Rainbow Place Apartments on East 79th Street in Midtown, according to a police report. (Christ, 2/18)

San Jose Mercury News: East Bay Nun, Founder Of Bay Area Crisis Nursery Fired
On a recent Christmas, Sister Ann Weltz received a letter from a mother who years ago dropped her 2-year-old daughter at the Bay Area Crisis Nursery for one night’s care. The woman had been jobless and homeless and planned to spend the night of respite working with social workers on a plan to place her daughter up for adoption to give her a better life. But Sister Ann talked her out of it. And about 15 years later, the woman wrote to share her news: she was starting law school — and her little girl was heading to college. (Gafni, 2/16)

Los Angeles Times: Family Of Mentally Ill Anaheim Man Say Police Choked And Beat Him During Fatal 2018 Arrest
The family of a mentally ill Anaheim man who died in police custody last year has accused the arresting officers of choking him and failing to render medical aid after the violent clash, according to a federal lawsuit. Justin Perkins, 38, was beaten with batons and choked by two Anaheim officers at an apartment complex around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 27, the lawsuit alleges. Perkins collapsed after the altercation, and the suit accuses the officers — identified as Shao Wang and Kenny Lee — of failing to get him medical aid for nearly 45 minutes. (Queally, 2/18)

Arizona Republic: Maricopa County Evictions Up In 2018 And Help Is Slow In Arriving
Maricopa County's eviction epidemic grew through another year.  Nothing has been able to slow the system's relentless churn. Not newfound attention in the county's Justice Courts. Not a state-funded eviction prevention program, which has been delayed for months. Even early discussions in the state Legislature, which is debating at least two bills that could tip the scales for tenants and landlords, have failed to contain the crisis.  (Woods, 2/18)

The CT Mirror: CT's Window To Rake In Big Bucks From Pot Could Be Closing
Proponents of legalizing recreational marijuana estimate Connecticut could make roughly $160 million a year by taxing sales of the drug. But the state’s potential take has a chance to be much higher — possibly double or more — if  Connecticut can outrace some of its neighbors into the marijuana marketplace. (Phaneuf, 2/19)