State Highlights: Defense Lawyers Push To Halt Stay Over New Records In Flint Water Case; Advocates’ Report Warns Of 65,000 Homeless By 2022 In NYC

The Associated Press: Defense Strikes Back In Records Dispute In Flint Water Case
Lawyers for Michigan's former health director are firmly opposing an effort to put his Flint water criminal case on hold for six months, saying it's a sign of "dysfunction" by prosecutors. In blunt language, Nick Lyon's defense team urged Judge Joseph Farah to reject a timeout and instead decide whether involuntary manslaughter charges will stick. (4/30)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC Homeless Shelter Population Could Rise By 5,000, Report Says
New York City’s homeless shelter population could rise by more than 5,000 people during the next three years, according to a new report. The nonprofit organization Coalition for the Homeless released its annual report on Tuesday, warning that the shelter population—already hovering at a record of about 60,000 people—could hit 65,000 by 2022 because of the lack of shelters and permanent housing in the city. (Honan, 4/30)

The Star Tribune: Syphilis Cases In Babies Alarm Minnesota Health Authorities 
The growing number of syphilis cases in Minnesota women has spawned a new problem: syphilis infections in newborns. Ten cases of congenital syphilis were found in 2018 in fetuses or newborn babies, a shocking number given that the Minnesota Department of Health leapt into action after just two such cases were reported in 2015. Untreated, syphilis in babies over time can affect the development of children’s eyes, ears and bones and can damage organs. (Olson, 4/30)

North Carolina Health News: MedAssist Fills Prescriptions For Tar Heels In Need 
MedAssist is a non-profit pharmacy, partially funded by the state, which ships 90-day supplies of free prescription medications to people in need across all 100 counties of North Carolina. Based in Charlotte, the program also runs a free “store” for over-the-counter medications for local residents, a mobile free pharmacy with OTC giveaways and a consultation program for seniors who fall in the Medicare “donut hole.” Last year, MedAssist served more than 37,000 Tar Heels across its three programs and gave out $68.5 million worth of medications. (Duong, 4/30)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda Healthcare, Where Patient Was Raped, Receives A State License
The specialized-care facility where a patient with intellectual disabilities was raped last year now has a license from the state.Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law last week requiring intermediate-care facilities for people with intellectual disabilities in the state to be licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services. Those facilities had been exempt from state law since 1997. (Innes, 4/30)

Modern Healthcare: Three Health Systems To Build $48M Medical Laundry Center In Detroit
Three Michigan health systems are banding together to construct a $48 million medical laundry service center in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood in Detroit. Henry Ford Health System; Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan's healthcare arm; and St. Joseph Mercy Health System, owned by Livonia-based Trinity Health, have stitched together a joint venture to build the facility, according to a Monday news release. (Jibrell, 4/30)

Georgia Health News: State Finds Many Valid Complaints Against Health Insurers
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Ambetter of Peach State, and Humana had high levels of consumer complaints last year that the state determined to be justified, according to newly released figures. Georgia Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck and his staff recently posted complaint data for all health insurers in 2018. (Miller, 4/30)

North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Look For Ways To Reduce Barriers To Rural Broadband 
But getting high-speed internet into every corner of North Carolina is proving to be a challenge. Advocates and lawmakers say that broadband is an economic, education, safety and health care issue that needs to be overcome to help rural communities. ...First responders say they need broadband access to better communicate and protect their communities. Broadband would help medical providers better connect and care for their patients through telemedicine, particularly those in rural parts of the state where there’s a lack of providers. (Knopf, 5/1)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Emergency Motion Alleges Inmate's Life Is Threatened By Health Care Failures At Fluvanna Prison
Lawyers for an inmate at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women have filed an emergency motion alleging repeated and life-threatening mismanagement of the inmate’s medication. Margie Ryder, 39, who is due to be released Oct. 15, suffers from terminal pulmonary arterial hypertension and is dependent for her survival upon the correct use of a medication, Remodulin, which is continuously delivered to her heart with a pump, according to her lawyers with the Legal Aid Justice Center, Wiley Rein LLP and the Washington Lawyers’ Committee. (Green, 4/30)

Texas Tribune: Arming More Texas Teachers Makes Some Black Students, Parents Feel Unsafe
Come fall, the high school senior’s worries will focus on younger black students at schools where educators trained as school marshals can carry their concealed handguns when students are present. He’s even more concerned that there could be no limit on how many marshals a school district can appoint — and that those marshals could have immunity in court for any “reasonable action” taken to maintain safety. (Samuels, 5/1)

Modern Healthcare: Memorial Health In South Florida Earns Top Brand Ranking
A new report ranking health system brands gave the top three spots, in descending order, to Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood , Fla., Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. The announcement comes in a report that features not one, but two photos of businessmen standing on tables trying to amp up their wide-eyed colleagues, whose mouths hang open in shock. (Bannow, 4/30)

North Carolina Health News: Firefighters Return To NCGA Looking For Help For Sick Colleagues 
Modern firefighters continue to struggle with health consequences caused by the products of combustion, as evidence grows that firefighters are prone to higher rates of many forms of cancer. Last year, President Donald Trump signed legislation setting up a system to track the cancers diagnosed in firefighters after the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health completed studies finding that firefighters had higher rates of nine types of cancers. ...The Firefighters Fighting Cancer Act would create a presumption that if a firefighter who’s been serving for more than five years in a local department is diagnosed with one of the nine cancers, then the care and treatment for that cancer would be covered by workers’ compensation. (Hoban, 5/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: No Stanford Nurses Strike As Union, Hospitals Reach Bargaining Agreements
The union representing 3,700 registered nurses at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has reached tentative bargaining agreements with the hospitals, bringing an end to a contract impasse that the nurses had previously authorized a strike over. A spokesman for the union, the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA), said the three-year agreements — one with Stanford Health Care and one with Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital — include increased pay opportunities, the maintenance of part-time nursing positions, protection of vacation and attendance policies, and the establishment of workplace-violence prevention provisions to ensure nurses have a role in ensuring safe working conditions. (Ho, 4/30)

San Jose Mercury News: County, San Jose Officials Grapple With Rising Homelessness
The number of homeless people in Santa Clara County is increasing faster than the new county resources allocated to help them, a reality that frustrated county and San Jose elected officials at a joint meeting Monday afternoon. ...The county has tried to respond — adding 1,372 permanent homeless housing units — some still under construction — and 1,034 temporary shelter beds since 2015. And county voters in 2016 passed a nearly $1 billion affordable housing bond, Measure A, a quarter of which has been allocated for so far. (Vo, 4/30)

Tampa Bay Times: Healthcare Bill Breathes New Life Into Proposal To Cap Strong Smokable Medical Pot
While House Health & Human Services Chairman Ray Rodrigues' bill to cap medical THC — the naturally occurring element in marijuana that produces a high — was never heard on the floor and failed to get a Senate companion, the Estero Republican's proposal is not dead yet. But although there is only a matter of days left in the legislative session, the proposal to cap strong medical pot was tacked on as an amendment to a larger health-related agency bill, as often happens to some major changes in the final days of session. (Gross, 4/30)