The Associated Press: 2020 Democrats Converge In Miami For 1st Night Of Debates
Ten presidential candidates, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will converge on the debate stage on Wednesday on the first night of Democratic debates to offer their pitches to voters and attempt a breakout moment for their campaigns. For many of the White House hopefuls, it will be the highest-profile opportunity yet to offer their vision for the country and, if for just two hours, chip into a political news cycle often dominated by President Donald Trump. Given the massive field , the debate will be split over two nights , with 10 other candidates — including former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — appearing Thursday. (Summers, 6/26)

Boston Globe: Two Nights. Twenty Candidates. The First Democratic Debates Mark A New Phase In The Presidential Race
In a windowless conference room in downtown Miami, Julian Castro practiced answering mock debate questions while an aide kept an eye on the clock, raising two hands in the air whenever Castro spoke longer than one minute. Elsewhere in the city this week, another Democratic presidential contender, California Senator Kamala Harris, huddled with her advisers over Caribbean food. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren squeezed in one last rally with her final debate preparations. And New Jersey Senator Cory Booker’s aides passed around a memo laying out his goals for the mere 7 to 11 minutes he will likely speak onstage. (Bidgood, 6/25)

The New York Times: Debate Night One: Political Dynamics To Watch
Ms. Warren is the only candidate on the first night who is polling in double digits, but there are plenty of intriguing story lines and political dynamics to watch for. (Goldmacher, Parlapiano and Ramic, 6/26)

Politico: Five Topics To Watch For In The First Democratic Debates
Thanks to Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run for president, “Medicare for All” has cemented itself firmly in the Democratic lexicon. Now, the 2020 candidates have embraced policies aimed at addressing the cost of health care that range from Sanders’ single-payer plan to improving the Affordable Care Act. Look for health care to be one of the most prominent issues over  which candidates clash during the debates.Supporters of California Sen. Eric Swalwell were most likely to say health care was their top issue, while supporters of author Marianne Williamson were least likely to rank it the issue they cared most about. (Jin and Oprysko, 6/25)

Vox: Democratic Debate June 19: 2020 Candidates’ Policies On Health Care
The Democrats running for president in 2020, while sharing a general goal of “expanding health coverage,” have two fundamental disagreements about health care. One is on the policy: Would the best insurance system be one fully funded by the federal government? The Democrats who support Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Medicare-for-all bill are saying it is, while other candidates prefer to build more gradually on the public-private system we have now or openly running against the idea of single-payer. The other debate is over strategy: Even if Democrats are lucky enough to win full control of the government in 2020, which is by no means guaranteed, should they try to enact another major health care overhaul? Or should they use their time, energy, attention, and political capital for other pursuits? (Scott, 6/25)

CQ: Democrats Face Pressure In Debates On Overhauling Health Care
When 20 of the Democratic presidential candidates reach the debate stage Wednesday and Thursday, one key difference that could emerge is whether candidates say they would seek another overhaul of the nation’s health insurance system. The debate will be an opportunity for the White House aspirants to outline their health care plans – an issue that polls consistently show is a priority for Democratic voters. Most of the party’s 23 candidates have yet to release their own comprehensive plans explaining their priorities on an issue that contrasts significantly with President Donald Trump’s approach. (McIntire, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: First Democratic Debates To Pit Experience Against Lesser-Knowns
Mr. Biden has been here before, but this will be his first time on a presidential debate stage as the front-runner. The former vice president has been making the case that he’s the best candidate to beat Mr. Trump. But Mr. Biden is also reckoning with a Democratic Party that has shifted leftward on some issues, even in the two years since he left office. In response, he recently reversed himself on his longstanding support of the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of Medicaid funds for abortion in nearly all cases. (Day, Collins and Parti, 6/26)

PBS NewsHour: Avoiding Debate Blunders Is Just As Important For 2020 Dems As Scoring A Breakout Moment
Political watchers said candidates focused on engineering a signature moment would do well to follow another debate rule: avoid a major mistake that can draw headlines for all the wrong reasons. “As we look at the memorable moments in debates, almost all of them are cases where people fell to pieces, rather than cases where people said something really memorable and inspiring,” said David Birdsell, an expert in presidential debates and the dean of the Baruch College Marxe School of Public and International Affairs. (Yarvin, 6/25)

The Hill: Poll Finds Trump Vulnerable On Health Care In Battleground States 
A majority of people polled in four major battleground states would not vote for a president who supports many of the policies being pursued by the Trump administration, according to a new survey. The poll, conducted on behalf of pro-ObamaCare group Protect Our Care, found voters in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin would not consider voting for a presidential candidate who supports policies including eliminating protections for people with pre-existing conditions, cutting funding for Medicare or letting insurance companies stop covering the costs of prescription drugs. (Weixel, 6/25)

The New York Times: House Approves Border Aid, Seeking To Curb Trump’s Crackdown
A divided House voted on Tuesday to send $4.5 billion in humanitarian aid to the border to address horrific conditions facing a crush of migrants, attaching significant rules on how the money could be spent in the first action by Democrats to rein in President Trump’s immigration crackdown. But the package — which passed by a vote of 230 to 195 nearly along party lines, only after Democratic leaders toughened restrictions on the money to win over liberal skeptics — faces a tough path to enactment. (Hirschfeld Davis and Cochrane, 6/25)

Politico: House Passes Border Spending Package In Win For Pelosi
Top Democrats made several tweaks to the contentious emergency spending package just hours before it was considered on the floor to fend off a left-wing rebellion, according to multiple lawmakers and aides. The final version included strict conditions requiring private detention facilities to meet certain standards of care within six months or risk losing their contract. It was the second time in two days that progressive leaders forced changes to the bill amid reluctance to giving Trump any money for his immigration agenda. (Ferris, Caygle and Scholtes, 6/25)

CNN: House Passes Border Aid Bill Despite White House Veto Threat
The progressive pushback against the bill was an unexpected wrinkle in the race to get the legislation passed and signed into law before a key agency -- the Office of Refugee Resettlement -- runs out of money at the end of the month. That's not the only agency in desperate need of funding to stem the crisis at the border. The funding would also go to help other agencies and help manage the crisis. (Foran, Killough, Fox and Raju, 6/25)

Texas Tribune: U.S. House Passes $4.5 Billion Border Aid Bill Amid Concern For Migrant Children
Ultimately, only four Democrats broke rank, none of them were Texans. Among the Republicans from the state, U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, was the only member to buck his party, voting in favor of the bill. Hurd's districts covers much of the state's border with Mexico. In the days leading up to the vote, opposition on the Democratic side was concentrated primarily among members of the House Progressive and Congressional Hispanic caucuses who voiced concerns that the Trump administration would twist the bill’s intent to put some of the money toward border enforcement rather than migrant aid. (Willis, 6/25)

The Associated Press: Time Running Short, Showdown Looms Over Border Aid Package
“The Senate has a good bill. Our bill is much better,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told her Democratic colleagues in a meeting Tuesday morning, according to a senior Democratic aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private session. “We are ensuring that children have food, clothing, sanitary items, shelter and medical care. We are providing access to legal assistance. And we are protecting families because families belong together,” Pelosi said in a subsequent floor speech. (Taylor and Fram, 6/26)

The Washington Post: House Passes $4.5 Billion Emergency Border Aid Bill With Provisions For The Treatment Of Migrant Children In U.S. Custody
The backdrop for the vote is not only the humanitarian concerns about the surging numbers of migrants but also Trump’s threats — delayed but not canceled Saturday — to begin a mass deportation of undocumented immigrant families. Democratic lawmakers has expressed concerns about passing a border aid bill that would not address both of those issues. (DeBonis and Werner, 6/25)

The Wall Street Journal: House Passes $4.5 Billion Bill For Humanitarian Assistance At Border
The Trump administration has indicated that it would veto the House legislation, and Republicans in both chambers have dismissed the House effort as ultimately futile. The Senate bill passed out of the Appropriations Committee with 30 supporting votes and a single dissent, encouraging lawmakers in both parties. “You can’t get 30-1 around here to say the sun’s going to rise in the east. We passed it 30 to 1,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It’s a no-brainer, bring it up.” (Duehren, 6/25)

NBC News: House Passes Border Funding Bill To Address Humanitarian Crisis
The Senate is expected to take up its version of the bill Wednesday, McCarthy said after speaking with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and pass it by the end of the week before senators leave for a weeklong July 4 recess. The House and Senate will still need to reconcile the differences between their measures. (Shabad and Caldwell, 6/26)

The New York Times: Migrant Children Moved Back To Troubled Texas Border Facility
At the squat, sand-colored concrete border station in Texas that has become the center of debate over President Trump’s immigration policies, a chaotic shuffle of migrant children continued on Tuesday as more than 100 were moved back into a facility that days earlier had been emptied in the midst of criticism that young detainees there were hungry, crying and unwashed. The transfer came just days after 249 children originally housed at the station in Clint, Tex., had been moved to other facilities to relieve overcrowding. (Rubio and Dickerson, 6/25)

The Washington Post: U.S. Returns 100 Migrant Children To Overcrowded Border Facility As HHS Says It Is Out Of Space
Immigration and health authorities have scrambled in recent days to move hundreds of migrant children out of one Border Patrol station in Clint, Tex., after lawyers who visited the facility described scenes of sick and dirty children without their parents, and inconsolable toddlers in the care of other children. The alleged conditions raised the specter that masses of migrant children — some still in infancy — who had arrived unaccompanied or been separated from their relatives after crossing the border are being exposed to additional undue trauma as they spend days or weeks in ill-equipped Border Patrol stations, the lawyers said. (Hausiohner, 6/25)

Texas Tribune: Immigrant Children Returned To Beleaguered West Texas Facility
Customs and Border Protection said in a written statement that the Border Patrol had activated contingency plans to manage the number of unaccompanied children in custody by using additional facilities in the El Paso Sector. "Due to the transfer of a large number of these children to the Department of Health and Human Services in the past few days, El Paso Sector is currently resuming use of the Clint Station as the consolidated UAC holding facility to streamline transfer to HHS and accommodate separate holding areas based on age and gender," the statement said. "CBP continues to utilize all available resources to prioritize and care for children in our custody and facilitate their expeditious transfer to HHS custody." (Aguilar, 6/25)

NBC News: Border Patrol Moves 100 Children To 'Appalling' Texas Facility
The agency official said the allegations of inadequate food and sanitation are being "taken seriously" and have been referred to the Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP. "I personally don’t believe the allegations," the official added. Federal law requires unaccompanied or separated migrant children be transferred to HHS custody within 72 hours, though many children at the facility had been there for weeks, according to the lawyers who visited the site. The children remain under CBP custody until they can be placed with HHS. (Gutierrez and Kaplan, 6/25)

Politico: ‘Kids Are Really Suffering’ As Migrant Surge Overwhelms Health Department
Hundreds of migrant children being transferred from squalid, overcrowded Border Patrol detention centers are heading into the custody of a federal refugee agency that’s already struggling to feed and care for tens of thousands of minors. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is so swamped with new arrivals that it is burning through cash to house children in military bases around the country, including one in Oklahoma that interned Japanese-Americans during World War II. On Tuesday, the agency even had to send 100 children back to a much-criticized Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, saying it lacks the room to take them. (Rayasam and Diamond, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Former Captives Contrast Conditions With U.S. Treatment Of Child Migrants
American journalist Michael Scott Moore, abducted in 2012 while reporting in Somalia, watched Fabian argue that minimal necessities, like toiletries and sleeping conditions, were not essential to meet minimum “safe and sanitary” standards. “That was — let’s say — below my experience in Somalia,” he told The Washington Post Tuesday of his more than two years in captivity. “The conditions were about as miserable as you could imagine,” he said, describing a barren and concrete prison house. Often there was no electricity, he said, “but we had certain minimum things that kept it from being completely wretched.” (Paul, 6/25)

The New York Times: ‘A Constant Game Of Musical Chairs’ Amid Another Homeland Security Shake-Up
Turmoil intensified on Tuesday inside the agency responsible for securing the country’s borders as a top official was replaced by an immigration hard-liner and former Fox News contributor who last week pushed for nationwide raids to deport undocumented families. That hard-liner, Mark Morgan, will take over as the head of Customs and Border Protection, administration officials said Tuesday. (Kanno-Youngs and Haberman, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Mark Morgan To Replace John Sanders As Border Chief As DHS Shake-Up Continues
Immigration hard-liners in recent days have been pushing Trump to remove acting DHS secretary Kevin McAleenan at the moment when the policies McAleenan has advanced — including a deal with Mexico for an unprecedented immigration crackdown there — are beginning to yield results. U.S. authorities detained more than 144,000 migrants last month along the Mexico border, the highest level since 2006, but preliminary reports indicate fewer have been crossing in recent weeks and others are being turned back by Mexican military forces. (Miroff and Dawsey, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: Shakeup At Homeland Security As Migrant Children Are Moved Back To Troubled Texas Facility
Trump said he was “very concerned” about conditions in migrant detention facilities but contended, without evidence, that conditions were better under his administration than under that of President Obama. He added he did not ask Sanders to step down, but said he “knew” the change at the top of the agency was coming. The president and his closest aides kicked off a purge of top Homeland Security officials in April that has left roughly a dozen leadership vacancies. (O'Toole, Haberkorn and Hennessy-Fiske, 6/25)

PBS NewsHour: How Political Instability Is Making U.S. Immigration Situation Worse
The U.S.-Mexico border continues to drive political turmoil. After reports of miserable conditions for detained migrant children, John Sanders, acting head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, resigned. Meanwhile, Congress is scrambling to reach a border funding deal. Lisa Desjardins talks to reporter Bob Moore of the digital news organization El Paso Matters about the problem's origins. (6/25)

The New York Times: A Photo Captures The Pathos Of Migrants Who Risked It All
The father and daughter lie face down in the muddy water along the banks of the Rio Grande, her tiny head tucked inside his T-shirt, an arm draped over his neck. The portrait of desperation was captured on Monday by the journalist Julia Le Duc, in the hours after Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez died with his 23-month-old daughter, Valeria, as they tried to cross from Mexico to the United States. The image represents a poignant distillation of the perilous journey migrants face on their passage north to the United States, and the tragic consequences that often go unseen in the loud and caustic debate over border policy. (Ahmed and Semple, 6/25)

USA Today: Photo Of Drowned Father And Daughter Renews Immigration Outrage
Some people were furious over the graphic nature of the photo. Others were incensed over U.S. immigration policy that they say is allowing the tragedy to coldly unfold. Others expressed anger that the public is not doing enough to help families who are fleeing violence and poverty. (James, 6/25)

Politico: O’Rourke On Haunting Photo: ‘Trump Is Responsible For These Deaths’
Beto O’Rourke on Tuesday blamed President Donald Trump directly for the deaths of a father and daughter who were found earlier this week along a bank of the Rio Grande. “Trump is responsible for these deaths,” O’Rourke wrote on social media, sharing an Associated Press story and the image of drowned man and girl that was ricocheting around the internet. (Siders, 6/26)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: How Many Migrants Show Up For Immigration Court Hearings?
The nation’s nearly 400 immigration judges are under a mountain of backlogged cases, and hundreds of thousands of Central Americans continue to arrive at the border each year. Because of a lack of holding capacity and a court settlement requiring the release of children, U.S. immigration authorities allow many migrant families into the country while they wait for hearings. On CBS, Pence claimed that “the vast majority” never show up. On CNN, he said the rate of no-shows was “plus-90 percent.” (Rizzo, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Wayfair Is Supplying Beds To Texas Detention Centers For Children -- And Its Employees Are Protesting
Employees at online furniture giant Wayfair are organizing a walk-out to protest the retailer’s sale of $200,000 worth of beds and other furniture to a Texas detention center for migrant children. The walk-out, planned for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. near the company’s Boston headquarters, comes after Wayfair executives said they would fulfill an order for beds and other items for a detention center in Carrizo Springs, Texas, according to two Wayfair employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity. (Bhattarai, 6/25)

Boston Globe: Wayfair Employees Plan Walkout To Oppose Furniture Sales To Migrant Detention Facilities
“Knowing what’s going on at the southern border and knowing that Wayfair has the potential to profit from it is pretty scary,” said Elizabeth Good, a manager on the engineering team at the company and one of the walkout’s two dozen organizers. “I want to work at a company where the standards we hold ourselves to are the same standards that we hold our customers and our partners to.” (Nanos, 6/25)

The Hill: Senate Finance Leaders In Talks On Deal To Limit Drug Price Increases
The leaders of the Senate Finance Committee are in bipartisan talks on a potentially sweeping deal to limit drug price increases in Medicare, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the top Democrat on the panel, is pushing to make drug companies pay back rebates to Medicare’s prescription drug program, called Part D, if their prices rise faster than inflation. Another measure would force drug companies to pay money back to Medicare if they launch a new drug with a high price. (Sullivan, 6/26)

The Hill: Lawmakers Map Out Path Forward On Medicare Part D
Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) put forward their ideas for improving Medicare Part D during an event on Tuesday at a time when seniors are facing rising out-of-pocket costs and fewer options for affordable medications. “My fix is that you have to look at the whole thing, and this is a shared responsibility," Matsui told moderator Steve Clemons at The Hill's "Cost, Quality and Care: The Medicare Equation" event, sponsored by Astellas Pharma US. (Manchester, 6/25)

And in other news —

CQ: Senate Could Address Generic Drug Concerns In Health Costs Bill
A bipartisan Senate bill designed to lower health care costs is expected to advance out of committee with broad support Wednesday, though lawmakers plan to debate amendments to address the generic drug industry's concerns. The nearly 250-page Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee bill addresses a wide range of issues, including emergency room charges and prescription drug prices. The manager’s amendment of the bill, released Monday, also includes language to increase the national tobacco purchasing age from 18 to 21 years old. (Siddons, 6/25)

The New York Times: Botox Maker Allergan Is Sold To AbbVie In $63 Billion Deal
The drugmaker AbbVie said on Tuesday that it planned to buy Allergan, the maker of Botox, for about $63 billion, in one of the biggest mergers in the health care industry this year. The deal represents a classic response to a perennial drug industry challenge: how to recover when a blockbuster drug is losing its patent protection. In acquiring Allergan, AbbVie gets to bypass the risky process of research and development by buying a portfolio of popular products as it faces the loss of patent protection for Humira, a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis that is the world’s top-selling drug. (Thomas and de la Merced, 6/25)

Reuters: AbbVie Looks Beyond Humira With $63 Billion Deal For Botox-Maker Allergan
AbbVie has long been under pressure to diversify its portfolio and its shares have lost more than a third of their value since January 2018 over concerns about Humira. The world's top-selling drug brought in sales of $20 billion last year. But it now faces competition from cheaper versions in Europe and a 2023 expiration of its patents in the United States, by far the most profitable market. (Erman, Banerjee, and Steenhuysen, 6/25)

The Washington Post: AbbVie Makes $63B Bid For Botox Maker Allergan
Humira logged a staggering $20 billion in sales last year, or about 61% of AbbVie’s revenue. That dangerous dependence on one drug forced AbbVie to make a big move. Allergan’s management likewise has been under pressure to reverse a long stock plunge, from $340 a share in July 2015 to about $130 on Monday. The combination could solve those problems for AbbVie Inc., based in North Chicago, Illinois, and Allergan, which is based in Dublin on paper but operates from headquarters in Madison, New Jersey. The acquisition should also mean Allergan officially moves back home, after having switched its legal headquarters to Ireland in a tax-saving strategy. (Johnson and Murphy, 6/25)

Bloomberg: Abbvie Drops By A Record As Allergan Deal Fails To End Doubts
The proposed takeover doesn’t give AbbVie a pipeline full of potential blockbuster drugs, but it buys the company time to develop more. Allergan provides AbbVie with a set of products big enough to diversify its revenue from Humira, the rheumatoid arthritis injection that is the world’s biggest-selling drug worldwide, with about $20 billion in sales last year. Allergan, which is heavily reliant on the wrinkle reducer Botox, will get a profitable exit for shareholders after a four-year slide. (Spalding and Griffin, 6/25)

The Wall Street Journal: AbbVie Strikes Deal To Acquire Allergan For About $63 Billion
Lately, Wall Street has been clamoring for change at Allergan, with its shares trading at a fraction of their peak of more than $330 in the summer of 2015. Analysts have been saying the company could split into two pieces, but few expected Chief Executive Brent Saunders to pull off a sale, especially at such a lofty premium. AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez said the company’s board about a year ago started discussions that led to a decision to pursue a large acquisition. AbbVie wanted to boost the size of its non-Humira business, Mr. Gonzalez said Tuesday on a conference call with reporters. (Lombardo, Rockoff and Cimilluca, 6/25)

The Associated Press: AbbVie Makes $63-Billion Bid To Buy Botox Maker Allergan
On Tuesday, Allergan shares jumped 25.4% to $162.43 while AbbVie shares slid 16.3% to $65.70. AbbVie is to pay $120.30 in cash and a portion of AbbVie stock for each Allergan share. That amounts to $188.24 a share, a 45% premium to Allergan’s Monday closing price. (Johnson and Murphy, 6/25)

USA Today: AbbVie Buys Allergan In $63B Pharmaceutical Acquisition
The deal comes as the latest in a string of acquisitions for the pharmaceutical industry. Other companies making deals recently have included Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly. (Bomey, 6/25)

Reuters: Special Report: How Judges Added To The Grim Toll Of Opioids
The opioid epidemic that has so far killed half a million Americans is routinely blamed on greedy drug makers, feckless doctors and lax regulators. But there’s another group that has contributed to the depth and duration of the catastrophe: judges. Judges like Booker T. Stephens. Until his retirement in May, Stephens sat on the West Virginia Circuit Court in Welch, deep in Appalachian coal country, where addiction took early root among miners who were prescribed the blockbuster opioid OxyContin for the pain their jobs inflicted. And it was in his court where the first lawsuit filed by a state against OxyContin’s maker, Purdue Pharma LP, landed in 2001. (6/25)

The Associated Press: Tension Brews Between Cities, States Over Opioid Lawsuits
Tension is emerging between lawyers representing state and local governments over the path forward in a set of lawsuits seeking to hold the drug industry accountable for the toll of the nation’s opioid crisis. A federal judge scheduled a hearing Tuesday in Cleveland on a plan pitched by for lawyers for local governments on distributing money to nearly 25,000 municipal and county governments across the country. The plan would take effect if companies that make and distribute the powerful prescription painkillers agree to one or more legal settlements. (Mulvihill and Gillispie, 6/25)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Proposal To Unite Cities, Counties Suing Big Pharma Over Opioid Epidemic Put On Hold
The request came Tuesday during a hearing in front of U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland. Lawyers for the local governments said they wanted to address concerns, including those laid out by dozens of attorneys general for states and U.S. territories who undertook their own litigation and settlement efforts. Polster allowed for a few more weeks of tweaking and input from both sides and said he will hold another hearing on Aug. 6. (Heisig, 6/25)

Bloomberg: Opioid Judge Calls Proposed Settlement Group A ‘Novel Approach’
Setting up this type of class “constitutes a new and novel procedure that could result in a grave miscarriage of justice and do significant harm to the ability of states to protect their own people,” Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas said in a letter to Polster. Kristin Hunter Chasen, a McKesson spokeswoman, didn’t return a call seeking comment on whether the company opposes the creation of the class. Brandi Martin, a Cardinal Health spokeswoman, didn’t have an immediate comment. (Feeley, 6/25)

CNN: Oklahoma's Final Witness In Opioid Trial Rips Into Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson
The final witness for the state of Oklahoma on Tuesday said Johnson & Johnson's claims that the company bears zero responsibility for the state's opioid epidemic are "absolutely incorrect" and "is one of the most difficult things to swallow." "To hear them say that they bear zero responsibility, it's painful," said Terri White, the Oklahoma mental health commissioner. "That offends my decency." White offered some of the most dramatic testimony in the weekslong trial, shredding Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries for distancing themselves from the opioid epidemic. (Drash, 6/25)

In other news on the crisis —

The Wall Street Journal: Overdose Deaths Likely To Fall For First Time Since 1990
For the first time in decades, drug-overdose deaths in the U.S. are on the precipice of declining. Authorities are still counting fatalities around the U.S. from 2018, but provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are pointing lower. Those data predict there were nearly 69,100 drug deaths in the 12-month period ending last November, down from almost 72,300 predicted deaths for 12 months ending November 2017. (Kamp, 6/26)

Boston Globe: Opioid-Related ER Visits Decline In Mass. — But Not Everywhere
The number of emergency department visits by people with opioid-related conditions dropped by nearly 6 percent in Massachusetts from 2016 to 2017, according to data providing another hint that the state may be getting some traction in its efforts to halt the opioid crisis. But the findings, to be released Wednesday by the Health Policy Commission, a state agency that monitors health care spending, also show that Massachusetts still has a long way to go. In 2017, the state had by far the country’s highest rate — more than double the national average — of emergency department use by patients diagnosed with opioid-related disorders. (Freyer, 6/26)

Stat: In National First, N.J. Program Will Let Paramedics Administer Buprenorphine
In a potential paradigm shift for addiction medicine, New Jersey’s health commissioner this week authorized paramedics to administer the drug buprenorphine to patients almost immediately after reviving them from an opioid overdose. Paramedics would offer patients the drug, often referred to by the brand name Suboxone, after their overdose had been reversed using the opioid antidote naloxone. The first-in-the-nation model has a twofold purpose, health officials said: Beyond treating the withdrawal symptoms that can result from a naloxone revival, administering buprenorphine on scene could serve as an immediate transition to longer-term treatment. (Facher, 6/26)

CNBC: FDA Warns Companies Against Claiming Herbal Drug Cures Opioid Addiction
The Food and Drug Administration recently issued warnings to two businesses that are illegally marketing and making “unproven” claims that their products, which contain a drug called kratom, can treat or cure opioid addiction and withdrawal. Kratom, which is an herbal extract that naturally grows outside of the U.S., is not approved by the FDA. The drug acts as a stimulant at low doses, according to the Mayo Clinic, but can reduce pain and potentially cause euphoria when taken in higher quantities. (Turner, 6/25)

Reuters: Juul Loses Home Turf As San Francisco Bans E-Cigarette Sales
San Francisco will become the first major city in the United States to ban the sale of e-cigarettes as officials look to control the rapid uptick in teenage use of nicotine devices made by companies such as Juul Labs Inc. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved the ordinance on Tuesday, banning the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes until they have approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (6/25)

CNN: San Francisco Passes Ban On E-Cigarette Sales, A US First
The ordinance says "no person shall sell or distribute an electronic cigarette to a person in San Francisco" unless that product has undergone premarket review by the US Food and Drug Administration. To date, none have. This includes sales in brick-and-mortar stores, as well as online sales shipped to a San Francisco address. The ordinance also applies to flavored tobacco products in addition to e-cigarettes. The measure does not ban the use of vapes among people 21 and older. (Nedelman, 6/25)

The New York Times: San Francisco Bans Sale Of Juul And Other E-Cigarettes
“We’ve worked for decades to decrease tobacco usage and try to end nicotine addiction,” said Shamann Walton, a member of the board of supervisors and a co-author of the bill, which will go into effect 30 days after it is signed by the mayor. “Now you have this device loaded with nicotine and chemicals that’s drawing people to addiction. We need to keep it out of the hands of young people.” Passage of the bill was praised by anti-tobacco advocates and the American Heart Association, among other health organizations. (Fuller, 6/25)

CBS News: San Francisco E-Cigarette Ban Makes It First City To Outlaw Vaping
City Attorney Dennis Herrera weighed in with a statement last week after the city board supported the measure in its preliminary vote. "If the federal government is not going to act to protect our kids, San Francisco will," Herrera said. "E-cigarettes are a product that, by law, are not allowed on the market without FDA review. For some reason, the FDA has so far refused to follow the law. Now, youth vaping is an epidemic, Herrera said, encouraging Juul and other e-cigarette companies to prove that their products are a benefit to public health "rather than a lure to addict another generation." (Cerullo, 6/25)

The Associated Press: San Francisco Is 1st Major US City To Ban E-Cigarettes
San Francisco is a city that celebrates its marijuana culture, but it appears deeply opposed to other vices. Last year, voters approved a ban on the sale of flavored tobacco and in 2016, a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks. E-cigarette maker Juul Labs, which is based in San Francisco, says it is opposed to youth vaping. The company is working on a ballot initiative that would regulate but not ban e-cigarette sales. (6/25)

The San Francisco Chronicle: Juul Move To Block SF E-Cigs Ban Is A Page Out Of Big Tobacco Playbook, Critics Say
Juul’s push to secure a San Francisco ballot initiative that would preserve the company’s right to continue selling e-cigarettes in the city — over the wishes of city officials — is being criticized by tobacco control advocates and legal experts as a familiar tactic taken by tobacco companies, which for decades sought to block or overturn local tobacco regulations that threatened their profits. If the Juul-authored initiative garners enough signatures to get on the November ballot and is approved by voters, it would trump legislation the Board of Supervisors passed Tuesday that bans the sale of e-cigarettes in stores and bars e-cigarettes bought online from being delivered to San Francisco addresses. (Ho, 6/25)

The Wall Street Journal: San Francisco Passes Ban On E-Cigarette Sales
Aimed at combating the rise in teen vaping, the ban would take effect seven months after the mayor signs the ordinance. Under the measure, violators could be subject to a $1,000 fine or other penalties. It would remain in place until the Food and Drug Administration approves the marketing of e-cigarettes. The FDA has given e-cigarette companies, including Juul Labs Inc., until 2022 to submit their products for a health review. (Ansari, 6/25)

USA Today: San Francisco Passes E-Cigarette Ban, A First For A Major US City
The United States Public Interest Research Group commended the San Francisco measure in a statement. “San Francisco’s lawmakers have done what the FDA should have done years ago: ensure that e-cigarettes undergo the appropriate health review before hitting the shelves," campaign director Matt Wellington said. "With the rampant rise in e-cig use among our kids, it’s clear the agency made a bad call by letting e-cigarettes remain on the market." (Lam, 6/25)

California Healthline/KQED: San Francisco Set To Ban Sales Of E-Cigarettes
San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Walton, who co-authored the legislation, sees it as part of a long-term battle against the effects of smoking. “We spent a few decades fighting big tobacco in the form of cigarettes,” Walton said. “Now we have to do it again in the form of e-cigarettes.” (Klivans, 6/25)

CNN: Half Of Tobacco And Vape Shops Don't ID Teenagers, Undercover Research Finds
An undercover operation in California found that half of tobacco and vape shops failed to check IDs for teens purchasing e-cigarettes and other nicotine products, despite a state law raising the legal age for purchasing tobacco products to 21. Researchers sent 18- and 19-year-old "decoys" into stores without ID, instructing them to tell the truth about their age if asked. The teenagers then attempted to purchase vape products -- e-cigarettes or e-liquids with nicotine -- and a chaperone watched to see if the store asked for ID and made a sale. (Azad, 6/24)

The Wall Street Journal: When Patients Can’t Pay, Many Hospitals Are Suing
Carlos Ortiz underwent tests last year at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg, Va., for dizziness that later was linked to an inner-ear problem. When the uninsured gardener couldn’t pay his bill of about $15,000, the nonprofit institution took him to court. Mary Washington Hospital and others in Virginia were suing so many other patients that day that Fredericksburg Circuit Court had cleared the docket to hear all the cases. The patients “were coming one by one in front of the judge,” said Mr. Ortiz, 65, of Locust Grove, Va. “It was sad to see how many people were going through this.” (Armour, 6/25)

NPR: Hospitals Earn Little From Suing For Unpaid Bills. For Patients, It Can Be 'Ruinous'
The Fredericksburg General District Court is a red-brick courthouse with Greek columns in a picturesque, Colonial Virginia town. A horse and carriage are usually parked outside the visitor center down the street. On a sunny morning — the second Friday in June — the first defendant at court is a young woman, Daisha Smith, 24, who arrives early; she has just come off working an overnight shift at a group home for the elderly. (Simmons-Duffin, 6/25)

In other news on health care costs —

Modern Healthcare: HHS Takes Price Transparency Reins After Trump Executive Order
Hospital and insurer trade groups have allied to bash President Donald Trump's latest executive order on rate disclosures. The groups and consumer advocates are closely watching how far HHS will decide to go with its price transparency requirements, since the order itself left the details vague. In the executive order signed Monday, Trump gave the agency 60 days to write the hospital requirements on publishing "standard charge information, including charges and information based on negotiated rates and for common or shoppable items." (Luthi and Bannow, 6/25)

Politico: How The VA Uses Algorithms To Predict Suicide
The Department of Veterans Affairs is using artificial intelligence to figure out which veterans are in critical need of mental health treatment as part of a massive effort to stem suicide in its ranks, a top priority of President Donald Trump and his VA leadership. A computer program scours millions of records for medications, treatment, traumatic events, overall health and other information, and based on prior experience, it plucks out the names of veterans most likely to die by suicide in the next year. Clinicians then reach out to them directly, sometimes before the patient has expressed suicidal thoughts to anyone. (Ravindranath, 6/25)

The New York Times: Wounded By Chemical Weapons In Iraq, Veterans Fight A Lonely Battle For Help
On Dec. 2, 2005, three HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters hovered over the northern end of Camp Taji, Iraq, as a nine-man pararescue team on the ground moved toward rows of identical white warehouses during a training exercise. One of the pararescuemen doubled over and vomited, then fell to one knee. Two airmen moved to assist the man, dragging him up by his armpits. In one of the helicopters, a flight engineer, Staff Sgt. Annette Nellis, started coughing. Her skin began feeling itchy all over. Bile shot up from her stomach into her mouth. (Ismay, 6/26)

The Associated Press: North Dakota’s Abortion Clinic Sues Over 2 Laws, Including Demand To Tell Women They May Reverse Medication Abortion
North Dakota's sole abortion clinic filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday over two state laws it believes forces doctors to lie, including one measure passed this year requiring physicians to tell women that they may reverse a so-called medication abortion if they have second thoughts. The complaint from the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the Red River Women's Clinic and the American Medical Association also targets an existing law requiring doctors to tell patients that abortion terminates "the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being." The suit says the laws violate the constitutional rights of doctors by forcing them to "convey false information and non-medical statements" to patients. It asks a judge to block enforcement. (Kolpack, 6/25)

The Associated Press: Missouri's Only Abortion Clinic Continues Fight Over License
Missouri's only abortion clinic on Tuesday asked a state panel for an extension to continue providing abortions after its license is set to expire Friday. The state health department last week refused to renew the St. Louis Planned Parenthood affiliate's license, and a court order protecting abortions at the clinic is set to expire Friday. (Ballentine, 6/25)

And in other news on abortion —

Deseret News: Utah County Latest Body To Adopt Anti-Abortion Stance Amid National Roe V. Wade Pressure
Another Utah community is taking a strong stance against abortion, declaring formal support for state and national legislation "that protects human life from its earliest stages." The Utah County Commission — applauded by more than a dozen supporters wearing bright yellow shirts in solidarity against abortion — voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the resolution, formally declaring Utah County's "support for protecting all human life." (McKellar, 6/25)

Kaiser Health News: A Roundup Of State Bans On Abortion Early In Pregnancy
This year has brought an unprecedented wave of new state laws that allow abortions to be performed only early in pregnancy — if at all. Most of the new laws — known as early abortion bans — explicitly outlaw abortion when performed after a certain point early in the pregnancy. The laws vary, with some forbidding abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, and some after eight weeks. (Gordon and Hurt, 6/26)

The Washington Post: They Turn To Facebook And YouTube To Find A Cure For Cancer — And Get Sucked Into A World Of Bogus Medicine
Mari pressed kale leaves through the juicer, preparing the smoothie that she believed had saved her life. “I’m a cancer-killer, girl,” Mari told her niece, who stood next to her in the kitchen. The pair were filming themselves for a YouTube video. Mari said she was in remission from a dangerous form of cancer, and the video was meant as a testimony to what she believed was the power of the “lemon ginger blast.” In went some cucumber, some apple, some bok choy, a whole habanero pepper. (Ohlheiser, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Robocalls Prompted Federal And State Action 94 Times Over Past Nine Months
Federal and state authorities on Tuesday announced that they had targeted dozens of robocallers accused of placing an estimated 1 billion spam calls to consumers, a crackdown they said should send a signal about the government’s heightened attention to Americans harmed by such scams. Some of the robocallers sought to deceive people into paying fees or surrendering their personal information for fraudulent services, such as lowering their credit card interest rates or providing help with health insurance, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which worked alongside state attorneys general and other local law enforcement officials. (Romm, 6/25)

The Hill: Pressure Builds To Secure Health Care Data
Momentum is growing on Capitol Hill to provide more protections for personal medical information as lawmakers work on drafting the first national data privacy law. Recent health data breaches have put a spotlight on the issue, which is likely to grow in importance as medical professionals shift more of their work online and increasingly turn to data and analytics to treat patients. (Miller, 6/26)

Stat: 5 Burning Questions About Digital Chronic Disease Management 
Chronic diseases are costly in every sense of the word. Not only are they expensive to treat but they are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States, where more than half of U.S. adults have at least one of them. The CDC cites chronic diseases as a leading driver of the nation’s $3.3 trillion in annual health care costs. Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common and expensive to treat chronic conditions. Nearly 30 million people in the United States are living with it, and 84 million have prediabetes, which can lead to the full-blown disease, though 90% of them don’t know they have it. (Flaherty, 6/26)

The New York Times: Judge Halts Treatments At Florida Stem Cell Clinic
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a permanent injunction against U.S. Stem Cell, a Sunrise, Fla., clinic accused of blinding three patients by injecting a fat extract into their eyes. The company is just one of hundreds of businesses that have sprung up around the country offering to treat a wide array of illnesses with products they say contain stem cells that have healing and regenerative properties. Medical experts say there is no proof that such treatments work. (Grady, 6/25)

The Washington Post: Judge Orders Stem Cell Company To Stop Selling Treatment
The order comes three weeks after the judge ruled against the company and in favor of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has ramped up its efforts in the past year to rein in the booming and lucrative stem-cell industry. It is unclear, however, whether the judge’s order — which is narrowly confined to the one company — will lead other stem-cell clinics to stop the practice. (Wan, 6/25)

The New York Times: Risk For Dementia May Increase With Long-Term Use Of Certain Medicines
Can certain medications increase your risk of dementia? A new study suggests that people who take a class of common medicines called anticholinergic drugs for several years may be more likely to develop dementia as they age. This is not a new hypothesis about these drugs, which are used to treat a wide range of conditions from depression to epilepsy to incontinence. (Belluck, 6/25)

CNN: Dementia Risk Tied To These Commonly Prescribed Drugs In A New Study
Researchers wrote in the study that "there was nearly a 50% increased odds of dementia" associated with a total anticholinergic exposure of more than 1,095 daily doses within a 10-year period, which is equivalent to an older adult taking a strong anticholinergic medication daily for at least three years, compared with no exposure. "The study is important because it strengthens a growing body of evidence showing that strong anticholinergic drugs have long term associations with dementia risk," said Carol Coupland, professor of medical statistics in primary care at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom and first author of the study. (Howard, 6/25)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Study: Commonly Prescribed Medications Could Increase Dementia Risk
After analyzing the results, they found those on anticholinergic medications had almost a 50% increased chance of developing dementia, compared to those who didn’t have prescriptions for anticholinergic drugs. The risk was only associated with 1,095 daily doses within a 10-year period, which is equivalent to an older adult taking a strong anticholinergic medication daily for at least three years. (Parker, 6/25)

USA Today: These Common Prescriptions May Increase Risk Of Dementia, Study Finds
The researchers found no significant increases in dementia risk associated with antihistamines, skeletal muscle relaxants, gastrointestinal antispasmodics, antiarrhythmics, or antimuscarinic bronchodilators, but associations were found among other classes of anticholinergic drugs. An estimated 47 million people worldwide were living with dementia in 2015, while in the United States around 5.7 million people have Alzheimer dementia, according to the study. (Aspegren, 6/24)

The New York Times: Do Brain Injuries Affect Women Differently Than Men?
In 1994, the National Football League formed a Committee on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury to study an alarming trend: Players were retiring early because of what seemed to be concussion-related problems, including persistent headaches, vertigo, cognitive impairment, personality changes, fatigue and difficulty performing ordinary daily activities. Around the same time, Eve Valera, then a Ph.D. student in clinical psychology at the University of Illinois, began to volunteer in a domestic-violence shelter and wondered how many of the women there might be experiencing comparable post-concussive symptoms as a result of head injuries inflicted by their partners. (Tingley, 6/26)

The Washington Post: USDA Deregulation Plan In Hog Plants Raises Concerns About Worker Safety
The Office of Inspector General is evaluating whether the U.S. Department of Agriculture concealed information and used flawed data to develop and promote a new hog inspection system that would shift many food-safety tasks from federal inspectors to pork industry employees. The USDA’s inspector general, Phyllis Fong, notified 16 members of Congress on Friday that her office has launched the probe in response to concerns the lawmakers raised in March, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post. (Kindy, 6/25)

Modern Healthcare: Shorter Clinical Rotations Reduce Burnout, Study Finds
Burnout decreases and job fulfillment improves when physicians work shorter rotations in the hospital, according to a new study. The results, published Tuesday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found burnout was substantially lower among critical-care physicians at Penn Medicine who opted to shorten their clinical rotations from 14 consecutive days to seven days. The study shows 24% of physicians screened positive for burnout in an intensive-care unit that switched to seven-day rotations, while 61% of physicians in an ICU with both seven-day and 14-day rotations screened positive for burnout. (Castellucci, 6/25)

Stat: Consumer Genetic Testing Companies Team Up To Lobby On Privacy Policy
Anticipating more federal scrutiny of genetic privacy policies, three leading consumer genetic companies have formed an advocacy group to defend their efforts to safeguard information about their customers’ DNA and separate themselves from perceived bad actors. The Coalition for Genetic Data Protection — launched by Ancestry, 23andMe, and Helix — will provide the companies a “collective voice” in talking to lawmakers, said its executive director, Steve Haro, a principal at Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas. The group is advocating for a comprehensive genetic data privacy bill that aligns with the policies the companies follow and have espoused, he said. (Joseph, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: Wildfires Fueled By Climate Change Will Mean Shorter Lives For Many Americans
Climate change in the Western U.S. means more intense and frequent wildfires churning out waves of smoke that scientists say will sweep across the continent, affecting tens of millions of people and causing a jump in premature deaths. That emerging reality is prompting people in cities and rural areas alike to prepare for another summer of sooty skies along the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains — the regions widely expected to suffer most from blazes tied to dryer, warmer conditions. (Brown, 6/25)

CNN: Vittorio Caruso, 10th American To Die In Dominican Republic This Year, Died Of Heart Failure
Vittorio Caruso, the most recent American to die in the Dominican Republic, died from respiratory and heart failure after a long history of related-health problems, the country's Attorney General's office said, citing a preliminary autopsy report. Caruso had suffered from hypertension, heart disease and pulmonary disease for a long time, the office said. (Flores, 6/25)

PBS NewsHour: How Access To Period Products Removes A Barrier To Education
A growing number of states are exempting menstrual products from tax. Advocates for period equity argue taxing these supplies is unfair because periods are a necessity, not a choice. And some schools and universities are now opting to provide these products free in an effort to reduce absences and ensure that low-income students have access to them. Education Week's Kavitha Cardoza reports. (Cardoz, 6/25)

NPR: Anger Poll: 84% Say We're Madder Than A Generation Ago
Do you find yourself getting ticked off more often than you used to? If the answer is yes, you're not alone. Some 84% of people surveyed said Americans are angrier today compared with a generation ago, according to the latest NPR-IBM Watson Health poll. When asked about their own feelings, 42% of those polled said they were angrier in the past year than they had been further back in time. Anger can have an effect on health. (Hensley, 6/26)

The New York Times: Queer People Of Color Led The L.G.B.T.Q. Charge, But Were Denied The Rewards
The words of José Sarria, typed with handwritten edits on aging paper, are enshrined behind glass at the GLBT Historical Society Museum in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood. “Tonight I would like to explain my platform, ‘Equality before the Law,’” Mr. Sarria wrote in a campaign speech when he was running for city supervisor. In 1961 he was the first openly gay person to run for public office in the United States. Mr. Sarria did not win, but like so many involved in the initial battles for L.G.B.T.Q. rights, he was a minority-group member and defied gender conventions — he worked as a drag queen at a local nightclub. (James, 6/22)

PBS NewsHour: 50 Years After Stonewall, Why So Many LGBTQ People Are ‘Still Grieving’
During the era of 1969’s Stonewall Riots, police raids against LGBTQ establishments were common. But when Stonewall patrons fought back, the modern gay rights movement was launched. On Stonewall’s 50th anniversary, Judy Woodruff gets perspective from Reverend Emma Chattin, activist and journalist George Johnson, The Anti-Violence Project’s Beverly Tillery and Mark Segal of Philadelphia Gay News. (6/25)

The Associated Press: California To Require Background Checks For Ammo Purchases
California has among the most stringent gun laws in the country and on Monday a far-reaching new initiative to curb violence will require background checks for every ammunition purchase. Gov. Gavin Newsom and other proponents said it will save lives but opponents are suing in hopes of eventually undoing a law they said will mostly harm millions of law-abiding gun owners. (Thompson, 6/25)

Sacramento Bee: CA Gun Owners Confused By Gavin Newsom Real ID Regulation
While touting California’s gun control policies, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that residents would need Real IDs or equivalent documents to buy ammunition next month. Minutes later, the California Department of Justice contradicted him, clarifying that there would be no Real ID requirement as part of new firearm and ammunition regulations taking effect July 1. The mixed messages are adding to the confusion and frustration California gun owners and advocacy groups have expressed in recent weeks as they try to navigate new regulations they first learned about earlier this month. (Bollag an Anderson, 6/25)

Kansas City Star: Lawsuit Against Gun Manufacturer Blames Company In Homicide
The parents of a 29-year-old Kansas City man who was killed in a 2016 shooting have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a firearms manufacturer and the gun dealer who allegedly sold the handgun that was used in the shooting. The civil lawsuit was filed in Jackson County Circuit Court by Alvino and Beverly Crawford on behalf of their son, Alvino Dwight Crawford Jr., alleging negligence on the part of Jimenez Arms, a Nevada-based gun manufacturer. (Rice, 6/25)

St. Louis Public Radio: Local Surgeons, Mother Discuss Trauma And Gun Violence Facing Many Children And Families
Earlier this month, four St. Louis-area children died as a result of guns over the course of just five days. On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, St. Louis Public Radio’s Rachel Lippmann discussed the ongoing violence and related trauma that many children in the region face – as well as resources and ideas for a way forward. (Hemphill, 6/26)

USA Today: Deadliest State: For Women In Alaska, Rape And Murder Are Too Common
She wore her hair down to cover bruises on her neck and collarbone. She’d go days without speaking to her family, explaining later that her husband didn’t want her communicating with them. In turn, her family grew suspicious, then fearful. Was Linda safe, they wondered? They knew the state's grim reputation: Alaska often ranks as the deadliest state for women. A staggering 59% of adult women in Alaska have experienced intimate partner violence, sexual violence or both. Linda Skeek's family knew, too, that as violence escalates in the home, victims are less and less likely to make it out unscathed. But they kept hoping: She’d be OK, right? (Schnell, 6/25)

Modern Healthcare: Mandated Staffing Ratios Would Cost $3B A Year: N.Y. Hospital Association
Legislation that would mandate nurse staffing ratios for all hospitals and nursing homes in the state would cost providers $3 billion a year, according to the Greater New York Hospital Association. Lorraine Ryan, senior vice president for legal, regulatory and professional affairs for the association, stated the figure in testimony before the City Council hospitals committee Monday afternoon. Ryan's testimony on behalf of the association was in strong opposition to forced nurse staffing ratios. (Henderson, 6/25)

The Star Tribune: Mayo Spending $223 Million On Florida Cancer Center 
Mayo Clinic plans to build a $233 million facility for cancer patients at its Florida hospital that includes “proton beam” radiation, an advanced treatment that Mayo currently provides at medical centers in Rochester and Phoenix after making big infrastructure investments earlier this decade. The 140,000-square-foot facility being planned for Jacksonville is scheduled for completion in 2023. (Snowbeck, 6/25)

The Associated Press: Prisoner Survey: Filth, Neglect In Solitary Confinement
More than 700 Louisiana state prison inmates who responded to a questionnaire said they'd been placed in solitary confinement, in some cases for years, with many complaining of poor food and health care, small and filthy rooms and overall conditions that drove some to self-harm and suicide attempts, criminal justice advocates said Tuesday. State officials pushed back Tuesday evening with a statement disputing some of the inmates' claims — saying inmates are let out of their cells during the day and are provided with medical care. (6/25)

North Carolina Health News: Report Updates Estimates On Potential Medicaid Expansion Benefit
About 634,000 people could benefit if North Carolina expanded the Medicaid program to cover more people, according to an updated report released today on the effects of the policy. The report, commissioned by two state foundations and completed by economists from George Washington University, says that Medicaid expansion would inject about $11.7 billion in federal funding into the state between 2020 and 2022, produce about 37,200 jobs and boost North Carolina’s Gross State Product by $2.9 billion in 2022. (Hoban, 6/26)

Boston Globe: Partners Names Dr. Anne Klibanski As Its New CEO
Partners HealthCare on Tuesday promoted Dr. Anne Klibanski to become its permanent chief executive, making her the first woman to hold the job at the state’s largest hospital network as it rethinks its companywide strategy. Klibanski had been leading the company as interim CEO since February, after Dr. David Torchiana abruptly announced his departure. The Partners board had planned to conduct a national search for a permanent leader. But that search now seems to be over before it truly began. (Dayal McCluskey, 6/25)

Boston Globe: Five Things To Know About Dr. Anne Klibanski, Partners’ New CEO
Partners is Massachusetts’ largest hospital network and the largest private employer in the state and Klibanski faces a complex balancing act to weigh the goals of Partners’ corporate office, hospitals, doctors, and patients. (Bailey-Wells, 6/26)

North Carolina Health News: New General Assembly Budget Includes Many Health Care Features, But No Medicaid Expansion
After several weeks of negotiations between the North Carolina Senate and the House of Representatives, the two chambers came together Tuesday to present a compromise budget they’ll be sending to Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature. But it’s likely Cooper will be vetoing it. For months, the governor has signaled that he would veto any state spending plan which does not contain provisions to expand the Medicaid program to cover hundreds of thousands of additional low-income workers who would become eligible under expansion. (Hoban, 6/25)

Boston Globe: Mass. Regulators Inch Closer To Approving Marijuana Delivery, Cafes
Marijuana delivery services — and maybe even cannabis cafes — are inching closer to reality in Massachusetts. The Cannabis Control Commission on Tuesday voted to approve draft regulations that would allow both business types in the state, though with significant restrictions. The agency is expected to sign off on modest tweaks to the rules at a meeting Thursday before kicking off a formal public comment period. Final revisions and votes to implement the policies will probably occur in September. (Adams, 6/25)

Georgia Health News: Duncan Urges Culture Of Transparency In Health Care
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan told journalists Tuesday that he wants to see transparency on quality of medical care as much as on medical prices. Duncan said there’s a vacuum of information on medical outcomes that he would like to see filled. (6/25)

Boston Globe: The Condition Of Providence’s Schools Had A Review Team In Tears
Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green has been on the job for less than two months, but she already has a startling response to a litmus test question about Providence schools: Would you send your children to any of them? “No. Not one” of the schools, she said bluntly during an interview Tuesday morning. A scathing new report, issued hours later by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, demonstrated why even the state’s top education official would avoid Providence schools. (McGowan, 6/25)

Modern Healthcare: City Of Hope More Than Doubles Investment In Calif. Cancer Campus
City of Hope drastically increased its investment to build a new cancer campus in Orange County, Calif., in terms of both size and cost, the cancer research and treatment center said Tuesday. The $1 billion campus will mark City of Hope's first expansion into Orange County. Despite being known as a fairly prosperous region, Orange County suffers from a dearth of specialty cancer care, said Annette Walker, president of City of Hope, Orange County. (Cohen, 6/25)

Sacramento Bee: 8 Top Paid County Employees In CA Worked For San Joaquin General
It pays to be a doctor. It really pays to be a neurosurgeon. It really, really pays to be a neurosurgeon at San Joaquin General Hospital. The eight highest-paid county employees in California last year were all physicians or physician managers for San Joaquin County, with three of them making more than $1 million in 2018, according to wage data released Tuesday by the state Controller’s Office. (McGough, 6/25)

Iowa Public Radio: Illinois' Governor Signs Law Legalizing Recreational Use Of Marijuana
Illinois has become the 11th state in the country to legalize the recreational use and purchase of marijuana. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was elected last year, signed the bill into law on Tuesday, fulfilling a key campaign promise. The state joins 10 others and the District of Columbia in allowing recreational use. The legislation takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020. (Neuman, 6/26)

Houston Chronicle: MD Anderson Patient Died After Getting Contaminated Blood 
The event that triggered increased government oversight of MD Anderson Cancer Center was the death of a 23-year-old leukemia patient who received a contaminated blood product, according to a new report. The report, issued Monday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, notes the patient, a woman, died two days after receiving a transfusion tainted with a bacterial infection commonly acquired in hospitals but rarely found in blood transfusions. She had had serious complications prior to the transfusion, the report noted. (Ackerman, 6/25)

Miami Herald: 4 Florida Nursing Assistants Suspended For Drug Convictions
Holding drugs ranging from just half a Xanax to enough marijuana to be charged with being a dealer has gotten several Florida certified nursing assistants suspended this month. Certified nursing assistants on probation for drug charges comprise all of the Emergency Suspension Orders (ESO) that the Florida Department of Health have dropped on licenses this month. Usually, each month’s list of ESOs includes several licensed medical professionals who have defaulted on student loans. (Neal, 6/23)

Detroit Free Press: Wayne State Medical School Advisers Urge To Renew Henry Ford Talks
Wayne State University's Board of Governors needs to stop squabbling, band together and restart talks to make Henry Ford Health System the primary partner for the medical school instead of the Detroit Medical Center, a pointed letter from an advisory group says. If Wayne State's governing board can't get its act together, there could be huge problems ahead for the medical school, the medical school's Board of Visitors said in a June 19 letter, obtained by the Detroit Free Press. (Jesse, 6/26)

Arizona Republic: Grand Canyon University Student Claims School Misled Her About Degree
A Grand Canyon University student claims she was misled by a university recruiter who told the student that bad grades from college classes she took while in high school wouldn't affect her career path. But now, those grades have altered her future, the student says. Brooke Chytil moved from Washington state to attend GCU in 2018 with hopes of becoming a nurse. (Leingang, 6/25)

The New York Times: Drug Companies Are Focusing On The Poor After Decades Of Ignoring Them
Twenty years ago, thousands of Africans died of AIDS each day as pharmaceutical companies looked on, murmuring sympathy but claiming that they could not afford to cut the prices of their $15,000-a-year H.I.V. drugs. It’s hard to imagine such a nightmare unfolding today. Vast changes have swept the drug industry over the last two decades. Powerful medicines once available only in rich countries are distributed in the most remote regions of the globe, saving millions of lives each year. (McNeil, 6/24)

Stat: The AbbVie And Allergan Deal: 'Two Turkeys Don't Make An Eagle'
Over the past couple of years, AbbVie (ABBV) executives have struggled to convince investors they had a long-term strategy for growth. Now, something resembling a plan has emerged: The drug maker agreed to pay $63 billion in cash and stock for Allergan (AGN), which has had even more difficulty appeasing critics over some of its own ill-fated moves that pummeled its stock and sapped confidence in management. (Silverman, 6/25)

Boston Globe: Drug-Pricing Watchdog Under Fire For A 'One-Size-Fits-All' Approach
An influential Boston-based watchdog group uses a “one-size-fits-all” approach to judge a fair price for prescription drugs, a mindset ill-suited for a growing wave of expensive medicines that treat rare diseases, according to a new report by a think tank. The report by the libertarian-leaning Pioneer Institute challenged how the nonprofit Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, or ICER, gauges what drugs should cost. The watchdog’s real agenda, said the Pioneer report, is simply to build pressure on drug firms to cut prices. (Saltzman, 6/24)

The Associated Press: Suit: Generic Drug Makers Used Code To Fix Price Increases
Representatives of some of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers used code words to collude with competitors to divvy up market share and coordinate price increases according to a federal lawsuit. The code words were used in internal emails highlighted in the lawsuit filed last month by attorneys general from 43 states and Puerto Rico. The 510-page federal lawsuit was released in full Monday. The lawsuit says the representatives used phrases like “playing nice in the sandbox” and “fluff pricing” in emails to one another. (LeBlanc, 6/24)

WBUR: This Mass. Woman Has 2 Insurance Plans. She's Still Struggling To Pay For Prescriptions 
A new WBUR poll finds that although the vast majority of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, nearly one in three who’s filled a prescription in the last year has struggled to afford it. More than one in four reports skipping doses or rationing pills because of concerns about cost. (Weintraub, 6/24)

Stat: Insulin Rationing Higher Among US Diabetics Than Worldwide Rate, Survey Finds 
In the latest indication of how some people are struggling to afford their medicines, a new survey finds that 18 percent of people who have diabetes around the world rationed their insulin at least once last year, but this occurred among nearly 26 percent of people with diabetes in the US. (Silverman, 6/21)

The Star Tribune: Frustrated Diabetics Turn To Internet Black Market For Insulin
Abigail Hansmeyer had waited weeks for her health insurer to approve the type of insulin that works best to control her diabetes. Finally, with her supply running low, the New Brighton woman turned to a source that many diabetics have come to depend on: the robust black market for insulin and diabetic supplies. “It is amazing how many people rely on it on a day-to-day basis,” said Hansmeyer, who has type 1 diabetes and got the insulin off an internet site. “For two months I had to rely on that black market.” (Howatt, 6/24)

The CT Mirror: Diabetics Taking Desperate Measures As Cost Of Insulin Skyrockets
The Health Care Cost Institute reported that Type 1 diabetes patients – who generally must inject themselves every day — paid an average of $5,705 for insulin in 2016, nearly double what they paid four years earlier. But this raises an obvious question, of course. Why is a drug that’s been around since the 1920s so expensive? (Radelat, 6/21)

The CT Mirror: Tong: Emails Highlight Collusion Among Generic Drug Manufacturers
The state Attorney General’s office made public Monday a series of emails tied to its sweeping drug price-fixing complaint that it says demonstrate a conspiracy to inflate the cost of generic prescription medication. One email highlights an attempt by a lawyer for Heritage Pharmaceuticals to coordinate a response with other companies to a Congressional inquiry. In it, the attorney suggests they respond with “polite FU letters.” (Carlesso, 6/24)

WBUR: WBUR Poll: 76% Of Mass. Residents Think Drug Prices Are Unreasonable 
The vast majority of Massachusetts residents view the cost of prescription drugs as unreasonable, and two out of three say it's a major problem, according to a new WBUR poll .Among people who've recently taken a medication, more than a third said they've been told their insurance plan would not cover a drug prescribed by their doctor. (Harrison, 6/24)

The Advocate: Louisiana To Announce Details For 'Netflix'-Style Deal Aimed At Cutting Cost Of Hepatitis C Treatment 
Louisiana officials are set to announce a deal with drug makers Wednesday aimed at providing broader access to a Hepatitis C drug for some of the state's most vulnerable patients. In an agreement shepherded through negotiations by Louisiana Health Department Secretary Rebekah Gee, pharmaceutical giant Gilead Sciences Inc. has authorized Asegua Therapeutics to distribute a medication that typically costs $24,000 per treatment to the state's Medicaid patients and patients in state prisons in unlimited quantities for the next five years. (Woodruff, 6/25)

Columbus Dispatch: Small Town Pharmacy Prospers In Other States, Suffers In Ohio
Pharmacists across Ohio have blamed low reimbursements for Medicaid drugs for making it difficult to stay in business. During the past three years, a net 177 pharmacies have closed, according to records maintained by the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. Fruth said that during the past year, more that 30 struggling Ohio pharmacies asked her to make an offer to buy them. (Schladen, 6/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind Spate Of Drug Deals, The Need For Short-Term Growth
Pricing pressures and patent expirations for top-selling drugs are opening up opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to make major deals at relatively bargain prices. But questions remain about whether the transactions will lead to long-term growth. AbbVie Inc.’s $63 billion planned acquisition of Allergan PLC announced Tuesday is the latest example of two challenged pharmaceutical companies hoping to be more successful as a combined entity. Similar scenarios helped bring together Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. and Shire PLC last year, as well as Bristol-Myers Squibb & Co. and Celgene Corp. in January. (Hopkins, 6/25)

Stat: ICER Says Novartis MS Drug Price 'Out Of Line' As Groups Push Back
A controversial cost-effectiveness watchdog has declared that Novartis (NVS) priced its recently approved multiple sclerosis drug “far out of line,” the latest slap at the pharmaceutical industry over pricing for such treatments. But critics are using the watchdog’s analysis to push back on the approach it takes to assess the value of new medicines. (Silverman, 6/21)

Kaiser Health News: ‘An Arm And A Leg’: Why Are Drug Prices So Random? Meet Mr. PBM
Surely, an old-time, generic drug can’t cost $720 — for a three-month supply? After a close call with an outrageous Rx tab, host Dan Weissmann tackles the health care cost puzzle he’s been avoiding: figuring out prescription drug prices. Here’s what he found: Your insurance company is probably in cahoots with a pharmacy benefit manager — and the negotiations that go on between them are trade secrets. No wonder it’s so hard to know what you’ll pay at the drugstore counter! (Weissmann, 6/26)

Portland Press Herald: Gov. Mills Signs 4 Bills To Reduce Medication Prices, Including Buying From Canada
Gov. Janet Mills signed a package of bills Monday that aim to reduce prescription drug prices, including one measure allowing the state to act as a drug wholesaler to purchase cheaper medications from Canada. Mills said the bills she signed into law will help address what she described as “unsustainable” and “intolerable” price increases that force many Mainers to choose between paying for medications or other necessities. (Miller, 6/24)

Stat: You Can't Pay For 21st Century Drugs With 20th Century Rules
Many Americans are angry and worried about the price of prescription drugs. Yet underneath the anecdotes and headlines, a deeper, more consequential issue is often ignored. A major transformation in the drug industry has occurred in recent years — and continues today. The science and economics of the pharmaceutical industry have fundamentally changed, but the way we pay for medicines has not. We essentially have 21st-century drugs with a 20th-century payment system. It’s like using a 1999 road atlas in the era of Google Maps. There’s been a huge shift, and few policymakers understand its implications or what to do about it. (Rep. Devin Nunes, 6/20)

Los Angeles Times: German Patients Get The Latest Drugs For Just $11. Can Such A Model Work In The U.S.?
Patients who come to the Havelhöhe cancer clinic in the leafy outskirts of Germany’s capital are often very sick. Struggling with advanced-stage cancers, many need strong doses of expensive, cutting-edge chemotherapy that can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But like all Germans, none of the patients sitting quietly in the infusion ward here pay more than 10 euros a prescription, or about $11. “We never talk about costs,” said Dr. Burkhard Matthes, a senior oncologist at the clinic. (Noam N. Levey, 6/19)

Bloomberg: Allergan Deal Is AbbVie’s $63 Billion Botox Job
When the maker of the top-selling arthritis drug says it’s buying a leader in anti-wrinkle treatments, you’d be forgiven if your initial response to the news was that it seems like a match made in heaven. But take a closer look, and AbbVie Inc.’s $63 billion purchase of Botox maker Allergan Plc isn’t such a perfect fit. AbbVie is desperate for diversification as sales of its $19 billion arthritis blockbuster Humira begin to slow; in Allergan, it has the opportunity acquire a rival at a relative bargain. Even at a 45% premium to Allergan’s closing share price Monday, AbbVie is paying a fraction of what the drugmaker was worth just a couple of years ago, and Botox is still growing. (Max Nisen, 6/25)

Orlando Sentinel/Tampa Bay Tribune: Beware: Drug-Price Talk In Debates May Not Reflect Reality
The presidential debate stage is never the first place to look for objective analysis. Candidates are looking to score political points, not solve vexing problems. Keep that in mind when Democratic presidential hopefuls take the stage in Miami for two nights of debates, particularly if the issue of prescription-drug prices comes up. You will probably hear about how prices are skyrocketing and pharmaceutical companies alone are to blame for the soaring costs of American healthcare. What you won’t hear is that prescription drugs represent a relatively small slice of the overall healthcare market or that overall spending on these drugs has slowed dramatically in recent years, especially compared with other health costs. (Patrick O'Connor, 6/25)

Stat: Should The FDA Speed Up Or Slow Down Approval Of New Cancer Drugs?
Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration announced the creation of Project Facilitate. This pilot program facilitates access to innovative treatments for cancer that have not yet been approved by individuals who aren’t able to enroll in clinical trials. This move suggests that the FDA finds the approval process for cancer drugs to be too slow. (Jason Shafrin, 6/21)

The Hill: 'Big Pharma' Is The Big Winner Of The USMCA
The longstanding debate in the United States on its sky-high prescription drug prices and access to health care is raging where you might least expect it — within the pages of President Trump’s new trade deal: the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).  Critics of the USMCA are very concerned that it would increase medicine prices in North America and strengthen the hand of one of the world's most powerful industries.  At Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center and School of Public Health, we have been studying the impact of trade treaties on access to medicines and can confirm that there is real truth to these concerns. They require policy action. (Veronika J. Wirtz, Warren A. Kaplan and Kevin Gallagher, 6/23)

WBUR: Mass. Residents Want Government Action On High Drug Prices
Massachusetts is a relatively affluent state with near universal health insurance coverage. But even here, a new WBUR poll finds that a large majority of Massachusetts residents say the cost of prescription drugs is too high, and most place the blame squarely on the shoulders of pharmaceutical companies and health insurers. Three-quarters of residents (76%) call the cost of prescription drugs unreasonable. Another two-thirds (67%) call drug costs a “major problem” with Massachusetts’ health care system, second only to the high cost of health insurance. And nearly as many (61%) hold an unfavorable opinion of pharmaceutical companies. (Maeve Duggan and Steve Koczela, 6/25)

The Wall Street Journal: How Big Pharma Suppresses ‘Biosimilars’
Biologic drugs—pharmaceuticals produced from living organisms—are at the forefront of medical innovation and hold tremendous potential to improve and save lives. Unfortunately, their pricing has been a driver of rapidly escalating, unsustainable drug costs. Congress recognized the need for competition to slow price growth, and in 2010 passed the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act. That opened the door to the development of biosimilars—lower-cost versions of brand-name biologics that are interchangeable in clinical efficacy and safety. Yet nearly 10 years later, brand-name manufacturers are using a combination of coercive, anticompetitive tactics to box out biosimilars and maintain their monopolies. If policy makers want to reduce drug prices and maintain patient access, it’s time to end the manipulative practices that take choice away from physicians and patients. (Denny Lanfear, 6/23)

The Hill: Patent Settlements, Not Lawsuits, Are Lowering Drug Costs 
Following the introduction of generic alternatives into the market, drug costs have been shown to have declined by an impressive 85 percent. Overall, the use of generics, in combination with the innovation from brand name drugs, has produced tremendous savings — $1.67 trillion from 2007 to 2016 alone. This shows the positive benefits of competition. However, for prices to remain low and quality to remain high, it is critical that the incentives for everyone to innovate and compete remain preserved. While some believe that the government can achieve this balance through new rule-making processes, the empirical data shows that no one knows how to best strike this stability than the private companies themselves. (Michael Busler, 6/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Marijuana Activists Pass Their High Point
This was supposed to be the year full cannabis legalization in the U.S. moved much closer to being a reality. Instead it has been a disaster for advocates. Although Illinois legalized recreational use on the final day of its legislative schedule, a half-dozen other deep-blue states that were expected to legalize failed to follow—including New York. Advocates want to believe legalization on their terms, with few restrictions on marketing and age limits potentially as low as 18, remains inevitable. Polls show that between 62% and 66% of Americans support legalization. But cannabis supporters are wrong, and the pushback against marijuana has only begun. (Alex Berenson, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: Santa Barbara County Has Too Much Marijuana Too Close To Kids 
The legalization of cannabis has created another disruptive industry in California, one that is now in the hands of local governments to regulate. At the top of the list of goals for counties and municipalities should be protecting the health and safety of all, especially children. Unfortunately, in my home county of Santa Barbara, the prospect of attracting a high-profit, taxable growth industry seems to be outweighing every other consideration. I support the legalization of marijuana for adult use and the establishment of cannabis businesses, but my county has opened the pot floodgates too far. (Laura Capps, 6/26)

USA Today: 2020 Democrats Must Focus On Health Care To Beat Trump
The firing pistol went off on the 2020 election and the incumbent President Donald Trump aimed it in a strange direction — directly at his own health care record. “If we win back the House, we’re going to produce phenomenal health care,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News on the eve of his 2020 kickoff rally in Florida. “And we already have the concept of the plan. And it’ll be much better health care.” As Democrats enter the presidential primary debate season, this presents an opportunity. They would be smart to talk about health care as a core economic issue facing Americans, not a theoretical debate on how to cover more people. Polls show health care has been an area of repeated and considerable failure for Trump. (Andy Slavitt, 6/26)

Bloomberg: Trump Executive Order On Health Care Prices Is A Good Start 
This week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at pushing the health-care industry to do something it has vehemently resisted: reveal the prices that providers such as doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies actually charge for their goods and services. It’s a great idea, and potentially an important first step toward reining in America’s famously high and rising health-care costs. The U.S. health-care system has long been maddeningly opaque. Patients are typically aware of their out-of-pocket expenses, but nobody has a full picture of what the entities that cover most of the bills — private insurers, employers, pharmacy benefits managers — ultimately pay. This veil of secrecy helps hospitals, doctors, drugmakers and insurers avoid criticism and competition, and complicates government efforts to get prices under control. (6/25)

Stat: It's Time To Find New Targets For Brain Diseases 
Most of the limited success in drug development for brain diseases has come from either “me too” medicines that merely tweak formulation or delivery, or “somewhat new” medicines that act on already proven targets. The appeal of pursuing incremental improvements with medicines that act on old, familiar targets is understandable. Pursuing known targets and mechanisms is less daunting to investors and seems less risky to pharmaceutical company executives. But repeatedly filling drug-development pipelines with agents that act on the same handful of CNS targets has done little to help patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Our industry needs to accept, if not embrace, risk taking with new drug targets. (Brad Margus, 6/26)

The Washington Post: Biden Is Trying To Prove His Abortion Rights Bona Fides. Will He Muddle His Position In The Process?
Before his entry into the 2020 presidential race, there was plenty of discussion about where former vice president Joe Biden would fall on abortion. His attempts to clarify that question haven’t necessarily erased doubts among abortion rights supporters, and they have probably made it harder for him to make inroads with abortion rights opponents. (Eugene Scott, 6/25)

The New York Times: A Philosopher On Brain Rest
In January 2018, while I was chaperoning my daughter’s school ice-skating trip, a sturdy third-grade boy lost control and came sliding into me from behind on his knees. He was just the right-size projectile to undercut my skates and send me flying backward on the ice, where I landed on my head. Thus began my ignoble descent into becoming a philosopher on brain rest. When I got up I was not my usual self. Feeling disoriented and unable to remember my own address or the date, I was taken to the emergency room, where I was examined and told I had whiplash and a concussion. (Megan Craig, 6/25)

The Washington Post: I Was Fired For Being Transgender. The Supreme Court Should Make Sure It Doesn’t Happen Again. 
“With the support of my loving wife, I have decided to become the person that my mind already is. I cannot begin to describe the shame and suffering that I have lived with . . . at the end of my vacation on August 26, 2013, I will return to work as my true self, Aimee Australia Stephens, in appropriate business attire.” That was the letter I gave to my boss and co-workers at R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes. For me, it’s the reason I lost my job. But for other transgender people around the country, it is the basis of a landmark case that will be argued at the Supreme Court next term that could finally recognize that federal law protects us from discrimination in the workplace. (Aimee Stephens, 6/25)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Preserve Ohio Medicaid Expansion. Help Save Black Babies’ Lives
In 2018, black babies in Cuyahoga County were almost four times as likely to die before their first birthday than white babies. That’s an atrocity. ...We got some good news about a potential new front in the battle this spring when researchers revealed data showing that the expansion of Medicaid, the government program that provides health coverage to low-income families and individuals, seems to be saving the lives of black babies. (Mitchell Balk and Akram Boutros, 6/25)

Los Angeles Times: Bills Seeking To Firm Up California's Red-Flag Gun Law Offer A Mixed-Bag
Three years ago, California became the first state to give immediate family members of mentally unstable people the ability to obtain a court order temporarily barring the ailing person from possessing firearms. The genesis of that measure was the May 2014 tragedy at Isla Vista, in which 22-year-old Elliot Rodger stabbed and shot to death six UC Santa Barbara students before killing himself. A month earlier, Rodger’s parents had discovered troubling videos he’d posted on YouTube and called police, but the officers who responded found insufficient cause to intervene. The new law allowed a judge, at the request of a mentally troubled person’s close relatives or law enforcement officers, to order firearms be removed immediately. (6/26)