State Highlights: ‘There’s Evil’: Alaska Town Starts To Confront High Sexual Assault Rate; Beverly Hills Council Votes To End Most Cigarette Sales In 2021

ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News: “No More Silence”: Her Kidnapping, Sexual Assault And Murder Stunned A Town, And Started A Movement
Nine months and a long Arctic winter have come and gone since the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 10-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr in the northwest Alaska hub community of Kotzebue. Signs of Ashley can be found everywhere in this town of 3,200. At the cemetery, groups of kids gather at the purple-painted wooden cross marking her grave. They leave trinkets, teddy bears, necklaces, even sports medals. People slip bouquets of artificial flowers through the chain link fence at Rainbow Park, where the fifth grader was last seen playing on a Thursday evening in September. (Theriault Boots, 6/4)

The Associated Press: Beverly Hills Becomes The First U.S. City To End Most Tobacco Sales
Beverly Hills has become the first U.S. city to end most tobacco sales. The City Council on Tuesday unanimously voted to snuff out sales of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products beginning in 2021. The ban covers sales at gas stations and pharmacies as well as convenience and grocery stores. But it exempts hotels and three plush cigar lounges in the wealthy and glamorous Los Angeles suburb. (6/4)

The Associated Press: Where Things Stand In The Flint Water Crisis Investigation
Questions abound after Michigan authorities executed search warrants in recent weeks to seize from government storage the state-owned mobile devices of former Gov. Rick Snyder, top aides and other government employees in a long-running criminal investigation of Flint's water crisis. The three-year probe of lead contamination in the city's water supply and a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak has led to charges against 15 people, including two members of Snyder's Cabinet along with two state-appointed emergency managers effectively ran Flint due its financial troubles. (6/4)

MPR: 5 Things To Know About Minnesota's Medical Provider Tax
Most of us will continue to pay a tax every time we visit the doctor, a clinic and other health care providers in Minnesota. A major accomplishment of the legislative session was a bipartisan agreement to extend a tax on health care providers but at a lower rate, after it had been set to disappear at the end of the year. (Zdechlik, 6/4)

The Oregonian: Judge Holds Oregon In Contempt, Finding State Violates Mentally Ill Defendants’ Rights
A judge held Oregon’s public psychiatric hospital in contempt of court on Tuesday, ruling that hospital leaders “willfully violated” court orders to quickly admit defendants in need of mental health evaluations and treatment. The contempt ruling, issued by Judge D. Charles Bailey of the Washington County Circuit Court, is the clearest rebuke yet of the state’s lapses in handling the rise in criminal cases with mentally ill defendants. (Friedman, 6/4)

Boston Globe: Partners Pulls Out Of Talks For Rhode Island Health System
Partners HealthCare on Tuesday halted its two-year effort to acquire Care New England Health System, Rhode Island’s second-largest hospital operator, after Governor Gina Raimondo called on local hospitals to come up with a solution for health care in the state. With Raimondo’s urging, Care New England, Lifespan, and Brown University said they would begin negotiations to create a Rhode Island-based academic health care system. (Dayal McCluskey and McGowan, 6/4)

The Associated Press: More Patients Diagnosed Amid Legionnaires' Outbreak
Health officials in Ohio say 10 people have now been diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease amid an outbreak at a recently opened hospital near Columbus. Franklin County's health department said Tuesday that's up from seven. One of those patients died Sunday. (6/4)

WBUR: Partners Backs Out Of Rhode Island Expansion At Governor's Request, For Now
Partners HealthCare says it is withdrawing efforts to acquire Care New England, the second-largest health care network in Rhode Island.The move comes at the request of Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, who says she wants the two top health care networks in her state and Brown University to resume efforts to create a more unified, local system. (Bebinger, 6/4)

The Associated Press: San Francisco To Force Treatment On Mentally Ill Drug Users
San Francisco officials decided Tuesday to force some people with serious mental illness and drug addiction into treatment, even if it goes against the spirit of a city known for its fierce protection of civil rights. Several members of the Board of Supervisors voiced deep concerns Tuesday about the possibility of taking away a person’s civil liberties, but the proposal for a pilot program passed 10-1. Mayor London Breed and other supporters say the move — known as conservatorship — is necessary to help people who are often homeless, addicted to drugs and have a mental illness, making them a danger to themselves. (Har, 6/4)

The Associated Press: Homelessness Rises 12% In Los Angeles County, Study Finds
The number of homeless people counted across Los Angeles County jumped 12% over the past year to nearly 59,000, with more young and old residents and families on the streets, officials said Tuesday. The majority of the homeless were found within the city of Los Angeles, which saw a 16% increase to 36,300, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said in presenting January's annual count to the county Board of Supervisors. (6/4)

Tampa Bay Times: Pasco County Is Cold To Request For Indigent Medical Aid
A nonprofit medical clinic wants to turn $350,000 from Pasco County into $900,000 worth of health services for the needy. Pasco’s response? Go ask the hospitals for help. The scene played out Tuesday morning when Premier Community HealthCare Group asked commissioners for $350,000 in the upcoming county budget. The local government dollars allow Premier to tap an additional $556,000 from the federal government in what is known as the Low-Income Pool. Money from the private sector does not qualify for the federal match. (Bowen, 6/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Supervisors Tepidly Support Tiny Expansion Of Forced Treatment For Mentally Ill
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a controversial law Tuesday that will allow the city to force about five people who are severely mentally ill and addicted to drugs into inpatient treatment.After months of intense debate in City Hall, the board voted 10-1, with Supervisor Shamann Walton dissenting, to adopt state law SB 1045. (Thadani, 6/4)

Arizona Republic: Arizona Prisons Have A History Of Women Giving Birth In Cells
Letters sent to a federal judge in May claimed women at an all-women state prison were not receiving adequate maternal healthcare. The letters mentioned stories of miscarriages, poor diets and a woman giving birth alone in her cell. The Arizona Department of Corrections is under scrutiny for not providing adequate health and dental care to inmates. (Castle, 6/4)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Releases 2019-20 Recommended Budget
Improvements to Sacramento County jails stemming from a lawsuit alleging “inhumane” solitary confinement conditions made up the bulk of new spending recommended to the Board of Supervisors for the county’s 2019-20 budget. Released Tuesday, the $4.4 billion spending plan is a 2.4 percent increase from last year’s budget, with county departments angling to get about $33.1 million for new or improved programs. (Yoon-Hendricks, 6/4)

The Advocate: LCMC And East Jefferson General Hospital Negotiating On Possible 'Strategic Affiliation' 
East Jefferson General Hospital is one step closer to being taken off Jefferson Parish's hands. Hospital leaders announced Tuesday that they have signed an agreement to discuss a potential takeover by LCMC Health, the New Orleans-based hospital operator that already leases West Jefferson Medical Center and runs several other local hospitals. The agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, is nonbinding, but it commits the board of EJGH and leaders of LCMC to negotiating in secret over the next several months on the terms of a potential takeover. (Roberts, 6/4)

KCUR: Report Names Kansas And Missouri Nursing Homes With ‘Persistent Record Of Poor Care’ 
Nine nursing homes in Kansas and 14 in Missouri are among nearly 400 nationwide with a “persistent record of poor care” whose names had been withheld from the public, according to a U.S. Senate report released Monday. The facilities are not included on a shorter list of homes that get increased federal scrutiny because of health, safety or sanitary problems. (Margolies, 6/4)

Georgia Health News: Gainesville-Based System Warns Of Potential Break With Anthem
Northeast Georgia Health System has sent letters to 40,000 patients, warning them that its contract with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield may end Sept. 30 without a new agreement. The Gainesville-based system said that Anthem is seeking “drastic cuts’’ in payments for medical services. (Miller, 6/4)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County To Pay $3 Million To Family Who Says Failed 911 Calls Led To Girl's Death
Ashley Flores was at home on Christmas Eve 2017, anticipating the gifts she and her siblings would soon open, when she began having difficulty breathing. The 11-year-old’s older sister dialed 911 and was put on hold by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, her relatives said. The next four times her sister and other family members called, the same deputy failed to properly transfer the emergency calls and eventually routed them to an empty fire station where no one picked up, the family alleged in a lawsuit. (Lau, 6/4)

North Carolina Health News: Samples Suggest Unreported Coal Ash Spills
Coal ash found in the sediment at the bottom of Lake Sutton suggests multiple, unreported and unmonitored spills have occurred for years at Duke Energy’s former coal-fired plant near Wilmington, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Duke University. Sediment samples collected from the lake in 2015 and again last year after Hurricane Florence detected contaminants including arsenic, selenium, thalium and copper – metals found in coal. (Talton, 6/4)

The Washington Post: Baltimore’s Nightclub For Disabled Adults Fosters Love, Friendship And Inclusion
By the time the doors open 15 minutes early this Saturday night, dozens are lined up to get inside. Women wear wedges and bodysuits that hug their curves. Men sport collared shirts and their favorite sneakers. Some have caregivers guiding them; others need wheelchairs. Many wear the signature T-shirts stamped with the logo, Club 1111. It’s the long-awaited evening when the League for People with Disabilities transforms into a glittering nightclub for disabled adults. The classrooms become dance floors, with DJs playing pounding club music. Merchandise, such as sunglasses and blinking rings, is stacked up and ready to be sold, and volunteers wait in a makeshift spa to do fingernails and apply temporary tattoos. A lounge with dim lights is set up for chilling. (Wenger, 6/4)

The Associated Press: Oakland Becomes 2nd US City To Legalize Magic Mushrooms
Oakland on Tuesday became the second U.S. city to decriminalize magic mushrooms after a string of speakers testified that psychedelics helped them overcome depression, drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder. The City Council voted unanimously to decriminalize the adult use and possession of magic mushrooms and other entheogenic, or psychoactive, plants and fungi. Denver voters in May approved a similar measure for people 21 and older. (Maldonado, 6/5)