State Highlights: New York Anti-Vaxxers Linked To Progressive School Where Textbooks, Technology Are Banned; Strong Economy Is Why 128,000 Tennessee Kids Lost Medicaid, GOP Leaders Say

The New York Times: Bastion Of Anti-Vaccine Fervor: Progressive Waldorf Schools
The mother of an unvaccinated child here in the New York suburbs says eating papaya helps to combat measles. The father of another child who has not been immunized believes that big pharmaceutical companies are paying millions of dollars to doctors, government officials and even judges to bury the truth about vaccine complications. Another mother says the souls of her children are on a journey that vaccines would impede. “As a parent, for me, a lot of my job is to just not put extra obstacles in that soul’s way,” she said. (Freytas-Tamura, 6/13)

The Associated Press: GOP Leaders: Economy Helped Remove Kids From TennCare Rolls
Top Republican elected officials in Tennessee say their state's improved economy is partly why at least 128,000 children were cut from its low-income health insurance programs over the past two years — but Democrats and some health care advocates dispute that contention. (6/12)

The New York Times: Former U.C.L.A. Gynecologist Charged With Sexual Battery
A gynecological oncologist who worked at a University of California, Los Angeles, student health center has been charged with two counts of sexual battery, according to his lawyer. The doctor, James Heaps, was employed at the clinic from about 1983 to 2010 and was hired by U.C.L.A. Health in 2014, the school said in a statement on Monday. The university said it was made aware of the accusations of sexual misconduct last year and began an investigation. Dr. Heaps has pleaded not guilty to both charges, his lawyer, Tracy Green, said. (Garcia, 6/12)

CNN: She Was Sent To Rikers Island Because She Couldn't Pay $500 Bail. Now, She's Dead And Her Family Wants Answers
Layleen Cubilette-Polanco was arrested in April and sent to New York's Rikers Island jail because she could not afford the $500 bail, her family said. Nearly two months later, the 27-year-old transgender woman was found unresponsive in her cell and later pronounced dead, according to the Department of Corrections. Civil rights groups say Polanco's death represents a web of factors that can trap people of color in the justice system -- especially transgender women of color -- with devastating outcomes. (Grinberg, Haider and Romine, 6/12)

Miami Herald: Panhandle Officials Warn Of Post-Storm Mental Health Crisis
Hundreds of students have been evaluated for symptoms of mental distress and referred for further care as officials have started more closely tracking students’ mental health needs. According to a survey done through the school district in the spring, more than a third of the district’s roughly 30,000 students and staff likely have clinical symptoms of depression, anxiety or PTSD. (Koh, 6/13)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Lawsuit Alleges Sutter Shares Patient Information
In a class-action complaint filed this week in Sacramento Superior Court, two plaintiffs allege that Sutter Health is secretly sharing their medical information with Facebook, Google, Twitter and other third parties, impinging on their privacy and opening them up to targeted internet advertising. Sutter “commandeers the web-browsers of patients and other users and causes personally identifiable data to be sent to third-partis, as well as the exact contents of communications exchanged” between Sutter and its patients, according to the court filing by two plaintiffs identified only as Jane Doe I and Jane Doe II. (Anderson, 6/13)

Cincinnati Enquirer: The Truth About Money: The Less You Have, The More, Percentage-Wise, You Pay
All families make decisions about money. How much to spend. How much to save. What to do when there’s not enough. Having less has always made those decisions harder. But today, for many of Greater Cincinnati’s poor and middle class, the choices are becoming starker. They are about basic needs. About survival. School supplies or the electric bill? Medicine or groceries? (6/12)

Arizona Republic: Arizona Prisons Deny Some Applicants Who Are Intersex, Transgender
After passing the department's physical-fitness, psychological and departmental-policy tests, Smith said she was denied on the basis of her April medical exam. The medical notes regarding her gender, which essentially said she did not fit neatly into one gender category, apparently violated Rule 20 of the Department of Corrections' physical requirements for the job. (Polletta, 6/12)

Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Schools Lawyers: Sharing Explicit Videos Of Girls Isn't Sexual Harassment
Lawyers for Metro Nashville Public Schools are arguing that the circulation of videos of unwelcome sexual encounters — taken without the permission or knowledge of the high school girls depicted in them — does not rise to the level of sexual harassment. The arguments were filed during an ongoing, multi-million dollar lawsuit against MNPS by four girls and their parents. (Wadhwani, 6/13)

The Associated Press: Judge Rules Federal Prison Must Treat Inmate’s Breast Cancer
A judge has ordered the federal prison system to make sure a North Carolina woman gets timely treatment for breast cancer while she is incarcerated in Alabama. The Winston-Salem Journal reports that a judge admonished federal officials for what she called a ‘longstanding failure’ to make sure 47-year-old Angela Beck gets the cancer treatments she needs. The Monday order would require prison officials to coordinate with medical providers to get tests and treatment for Beck, who is serving almost 14 years for drug and firearms offenses. (6/12)

The Associated Press: Health Executive Says He Bribed Arkansas Governor's Nephew
A former health care executive admitted Wednesday to taking part in a conspiracy to bribe a former Arkansas lawmaker who is also the governor's nephew, in a widening corruption probe that's ensnared several legislators and lobbyists. (6/12)