State Highlights: Measles Outbreak Slows In NYC As Repeal Effort On Vaccination Exemptions Moves Forward; North Carolina Lawmakers Eye Mental Health Solutions For Prison Safety

The Wall Street Journal: Measles Outbreak In New York City Slows
New York City health officials expressed optimism that the measles outbreak is slowing, while a bill in Albany seeking to repeal the religious exemption to New York’s school-vaccination requirements appears to be moving forward. As of Monday, there were 588 confirmed cases of measles in New York City, up from 566 cases on June 3, according to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The majority of the confirmed cases is in unvaccinated children ages four and younger. The cases are concentrated in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, where there is a large, insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. (West and Vielkind, 6/11)

North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Look To Mental Health Solutions To Improve Safety In Prisons 
The year 2017 was a deadly one for North Carolina prison officers. Five died in two separate incidents. Both made statewide headlines and lawmakers vowed to do something. ...In response, the state senate formed a special committee to investigate ways to improve prison safety and make correction facilities more desirable places to work. The committee met several times over the past year and released its final recommendations on Monday. Two of the senators’ eight recommendations are to improve the mental health of officers and inmates. (Knopf, 6/11)

The New York Times: Surrogate Pregnancy Battle Pits Progressives Against Feminists
The proposal to legalize surrogacy in New York was presented as an unequivocal progressive ideal, a remedy to a ban that burdens gay and infertile couples and stigmatizes women who cannot have children on their own. And yet, as the State Legislature hurtles toward the end of its first Democrat-led session in nearly a decade, the bill’s success is anything but certain. (Wang, 6/12)

Pioneer Press: State Health Officials: Air Pollution Hurts Minnesotans In Rural Areas, Too 
Residents of the Twin Cities metro area are not the only ones whose health is affected by air quality. A new analysis by the Minnesota Department of Health found in 2013 that as many as 10 percent of deaths and 5 percent of hospital visits statewide were due in part to air pollution. That means polluted air played a role in up to 4,000 deaths, 800 visits to the emergency room and 500 hospital stays statewide. The “Life and Breath” report looked at the two main types of air pollution: fine particles and ground-level ozone. The 2013 data is the latest available. (Magan, 6/11)

Texas Tribune: Look Up Texas Vaccine Exemption Rates For Your School Or District
Health officials are watching pockets of Texas closely because of the number of parents requesting exemptions under Texas’s broad vaccine exemption law. Texas is one of 16 states that allow parents to bypass vaccine requirements for enrolling their kids in school by claiming a conscientious exemption, along with citing medical or religious concerns. (Byrne and Cheng, 6/12)

Houston Chronicle: Regulators Cite Care Deficiencies At MD Anderson After Patient’s Adverse Event 
The federal government has found MD Anderson Cancer Center in violation of serious hospital requirements for patient care and safety and notified the hospital it will come under more aggressive government oversight in the aftermath of an “adverse event” involving a blood transfusion. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services noted the deficiencies earlier this month in letters and reports issued following investigations conducted at MD Anderson after the cancer center reported the event in December. The center is currently developing plans of corrective action, which will be submitted next week. (Ackerman, 6/11)

Iowa Public Radio: Psychologist Testifies School Restraint Device Is "Akin To A Torture Device"
A clinical psychologist said the use of solitary confinement and a physical restraint device at a state-run school for deliquent teenage boys "falls way outside of professional standards." Washington D.C.-based psychologist Andrea Weisman testified in federal court on Tuesday that techniques used by the Boys State Training School in Eldora could be further traumatizing to a population of youth that statistically have experienced high levels of trauma. (Krebs, 6/11)

New Hampshire Public Radio: New UNH Research Maps N.H.'s Access To Food
New research from the University of New Hampshire shows many towns outside the I-93 corridor lack access to grocery stores and farm stands. That’s among the findings of a new report from UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy that maps every grocery store and farmers market across the state. (Moon, 6/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Free Mental Health Care For All San Franciscans? Politicians Debate Its Feasibility
A proposed ballot measure to offer free mental health care to all San Franciscans would be a gargantuan undertaking meant to hit at the heart of the city’s homelessness crisis. But with no guaranteed source of funding, public health officials say it could also force the city to more than double its budget for those services. (Thadani, 6/11)

The Star Tribune: Children's Nurses Set Strike Vote In Deadlock Over Health Benefits 
Nurses with Children's Minnesota will vote Thursday whether to authorize a strike at the organization's two Twin Cities hospitals amid a contract dispute over health benefits. The vote would be the first in the 2019 bargaining cycle as nurses negotiate new contracts with the major Twin Cities hospitals, a group that includes the Allina, Children's, Fairview and HealthEast systems, as well as Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park and North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale. (Olson, 6/11)

The New York Times: He Tried To Plug A Wasp Nest. He Ended Up Sparking California’s Biggest Wildfire.
It was a fire that crossed mountain ranges and valleys, that spanned multiple counties and shocked Californians by its sheer scale — by far the biggest wildfire in modern state history. And yet a newly disclosed investigation suggests it was probably started by a single man and a single spark. In a report released in recent days, forensic investigators found that a rancher started the fire when hammering a metal stake in his backyard to snuff out a wasp nest. Sparks flew, igniting dry grass stalks and spreading fire quickly across the desiccated landscape. (Fuller, 6/11)

Sacramento Bee: Who Wins And Who Pays Under Newsom’s CA Budget Deal?
The budget deal includes funding to increase the state’s paid family leave plan from six to eight weeks. Lawmakers on Sunday also proposed increasing the pay replacement from 60 percent of wages to 90 percent of wages. The budget would end sales taxes on diapers and feminine hygiene products like tampons for two years. (Bollag, 6/12)

Georgia Health News: Why Do Some Georgia Women Live So Long?
In recent years, two sets of Georgia siblings made the headlines for their combined longevity. Such joint achievements are probably signs of good genes and healthy environments, but some individual supercentenarians had nothing in their backgrounds to explain why they made it to extreme old age. The only unusual thing about them was that they kept on living. (Dyer, 6/11)

The Hill: Texas Governor Signs Law Legalizing Hemp, CBD Products 
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed legislation creating a state-regulated hemp industry, which will allow farmers to grow hemp and hemp-derived products, such as cannabidiol (CBD). The law makes it legal for Texas farmers to grow and cultivate hemp and for the Texas Department of Agriculture to regulate the process, including inspections, fee collections and licenses. (Weixel, 6/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: What's Ahead For Missouri As Medical Marijuana Applications Open Up For Patients, Providers
June 4 marked the first day Missouri posted application forms for patients who want medical marijuana ID cards, which is unprecedented in the state’s history. The application forms are also for would-be marijuana businesses — dispensaries, growers and others. Patients may file the applications beginning July 4, and businesses Aug. 3. (Hamdan, 6/11)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Medical Marijuana: Ohio May Add Autism, Anxiety As Conditions
The Ohio State Medical Board is scheduled to decide Wednesday whether to add anxiety and autism to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana in the Buckeye State. Physicians could recommend medical marijuana for any new conditions immediately following the vote. (Borchardt and Saker, 6/11)

Health News Florida: Board Signs Off On Medical Marijuana Changes
While some members expressed concern about patients smoking medical marijuana, the Florida Board of Medicine has approved forms for doctors to use in ordering smokable pot. The board Friday agreed to change its medical-marijuana rules so that physicians can certify that the benefits of smoking marijuana for medical use outweigh the risks. It also agreed to change mandatory informed-consent forms that physicians and patients must fill out together. (Sexton, 6/11)