State Highlights: 12% Of Missouri Seniors Lack Access To Healthy Foods; Oregon Lawmaker Challenges ‘Do-It-Yourself’ Vaccine Exemption Option

St. Louis Public Radio: One In 8 Missouri Seniors Don't Have Enough To Eat, Report Finds
Food insecurity is affecting a significant number of seniors, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. A recently released report found 12% of Missouri seniors did not have consistent access to food in 2015. (Fentem, 4/5)

The Hill: 95 Percent Of Oregon Parents Who Secure Vaccine Exemptions Use Do-It-Yourself Option, State Data Shows 
An overwhelming majority of parents in Oregon who secure vaccine exemptions for their children do so using the state's do-it-yourself option, according to state data. Data from the Oregon Health Authority shows that of the 31,500 non-medical vaccine exemptions sent in last year, 30,000 were from parents who watched an online education video and printed a do-it-yourself form, according to The Oregonian. (Frazin, 4/6)

Bloomberg: J&J Wins Trial Over California Man's Talc-Cancer Claim 
Johnson & Johnson won the latest trial over claims its iconic baby powder can cause cancer, as a jury in Long Beach, California, rejected a lawsuit brought by a 65-year-old retired teacher who claimed the product was contaminated with asbestos. The J&J victory Friday comes the week after the company settled three cases alleging baby powder caused a rare asbestos-connected cancer. Two, in Oklahoma and California, were settled during trial. The other, in New York, was settled less than two weeks before trial was set to begin. (Fisk and Feeley, 4/5)

The Associated Press: Baltimore’s Embattled Mayor Intends To Return To Work
A spokesman for the embattled mayor of Baltimore says she’ll return from her leave of absence as soon as her health allows. Spokesman James Bentley told The Baltimore Sun on Saturday that Catherine Pugh’s health is improving. It’s unclear when she’ll return. It won’t be Monday. Pugh abruptly took her leave last Monday to recover from pneumonia. Meanwhile, a scandal involving her sale of children’s books to high-profile clients has intensified. (4/7)

The Star Tribune: Medtronic, Blue Cross Sign Glucose Monitor Deal Linked To Patient Outcomes 
Medtronic is striking a first-of-its-kind agreement with Minnesota's largest health plan in which the device maker will pay back the insurer if patients using a specific Medtronic diabetes device don't see their blood sugar levels stay within an acceptable range. The "value-based" arrangement, to be unveiled Monday, is designed to make it easier for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota members to obtain and use a Guardian Connect continuous glucose monitor from Medtronic. (Carlson, 4/6)

North Carolina Health News: Selling Sex To Meet Daily Needs: Life In Assisted Living On $66 A Month 
Some advocates for these vulnerable people living in North Carolina institutions are pushing the state legislature to boost the money provided to residents, called the personal needs allowance. ... At a March 26 presentation before the General Assembly’s House Committee on Aging, representatives of the Division of Aging and Adult Services said it would cost $5.9 million to increase the personal needs allowance to $70 for more than 20,000 North Carolinians who receive special assistance in adult care homes. It would cost $7.16 million to increase the personal needs allowance from $30 to $70 for about 30,000 residents of nursing homes. (Goldsmith, 4/8)

Texas Tribune: Texas Decreased Special Ed Funding. Now It Might Owe $233 Million.
The U.S. Department of Education has found Texas in violation of a federal statute prohibiting states from reducing their funding for kids with disabilities from year to year, and warned the state that a financial penalty was coming. Now, advocates are concerned that Texas could lose an even bigger chunk of its funding, harming its efforts to overhaul special education for hundreds of thousands of students. (Swaby, 4/5)

Des Moines Register: Severely Disabled Iowans Die At State Facility; Staffers Blame Care
Employees at the state institution here have repeatedly warned officials that medical care for 200 of Iowa’s most disabled residents has eroded to a deadly point. Fourteen Glenwood Resource Center residents have died since last June — more than twice the usual rate — according to public records, obituaries and interviews with former and current staff members. Critics, including several former managers, say some of the deaths were unavoidable. But they believe others could have been prevented by more careful monitoring and aggressive treatment of the facility’s fragile patients. (Leys, 4/6)

Denver Post: Inpatient Mental Health Care Arrives At Boulder Community Health
Colorado was recently found to be in the bottom tier of states for mental health care, but Boulder Community Health is now operating one of the most sophisticated and pioneering units in the country for a client base whose needs are seen as increasingly critical to improving national well-being. The $45 million Della Cava Family Medical Pavilion opens for business on Tuesday. Situated at 4801 Riverbend Road, directly east of Boulder Community Health’s main facility at its Foothill campus, hospital officials say the 70,000-square-foot complex houses the most modern mental health care facility in Colorado. (Brennan, 4/6)

San Jose Mercury News: Pregnant Prison Guards Say They Must Choose: Jobs Or Babies
California state correctional officers who become pregnant face a difficult choice, according to a newly filed class action lawsuit. They can keep working and risk their babies’ health, take a leave of absence and lose pay or switch to a different position and risk losing their peace officer certification, which can compromise their future in public safety. (Venteicher, 4/7)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Health Department Warns Of Possible Hepatitis A Exposure At South Philly Acme
Acme shoppers who ate precut fruit and vegetables from a store in South Philadelphia last month should consider getting vaccinated “as soon as possible” because a worker at the store has “acute” hepatitis A, the city’s Department of Public Health said Saturday. The warning involves the Acme store at 1400 E. Passyunk Ave. and purchases made there between March 17 and 29, the department announced on Twitter. (Hetrick, 4/6)

Boston Globe: In State’s Broken Foster System, Some Kids Can’t Find A Bed For The Night
Children are landing in foster care and mired there for increasingly longer stretches of time as the opioid epidemic continues to splinter families and overwhelm the state’s child protection system. Facing this deluge of need, the Department of Children and Families has been unable to recruit and retain enough foster parents to shelter all the abused and neglected children without a safe home. (Lazar, 4/6)

Kaiser Health News: Mourning Paradise: Collective Trauma In A Town Destroyed
One of the final memories Carol Holcomb has of her pine-shaded neighborhood was the morning sun that reflected red and gold on her trees last Nov. 8. That day, she said, promised to be a beautiful one in the Butte County town of Paradise. So she was surprised to hear what sounded like raindrops tapping her roof a short time later. Holcomb, 56, stepped outside to investigate and saw a chunk of pine bark floating down from the sky. “It was about 3 inches by 2 inches,” she said. “And it was smoking.” (O'Neil, 4/8)

The New York Times: Texas Inmate With Allergies Has Asked For A Cotton Blanket For 10 Years, Lawsuit Says
A Texas inmate who says he is allergic to the synthetic blankets provided by his prison says he has asked for 10 years to be given a cotton blanket instead. The inmate, Calvin E. Weaver, 73, filed a lawsuit against the prison system in May, claiming that its employees violated his civil rights by ignoring his frequent complaints about relentless itchiness and resulting health problems caused by the blanket. (Jacobs, 4/6)

San Jose Mercury News: How The Bay Area Housing Crisis Hurts Region's Youngest Residents
As high prices and a shortage of available housing continue to squeeze local families, issues that once were the purview of adults, such as rent control and just-cause eviction protection, increasingly are entering the vocabulary of Bay Area kids. Children of renters wonder when the rent increase will come that forces them out of their house, away from the friends they’ve grown up with and the places that feel like home. (Kendall, 4/7)