State Highlights: Barriers Slow Investigation Of Deaths At St. Louis County Jail; Health Insurance Scam Impacts Dozens In Massachusetts

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Why Are People Dying At The St. Louis County Jail? Even The Head Of The Jail Struggles To Find That Out.
When a top St. Louis County police commander on April 22 took over management of the county jail where three inmates had died, he said he planned to evaluate the jail and make improvements. Lt. Col. Troy Doyle, the interim director of justice services, promised to be transparent about what he found. But county officials acknowledged Thursday that nearly three months into his tenure — which included a fourth inmate death — Doyle’s ability to review breakdowns or make changes at the jail has been limited because he does not oversee the nurses and other medical staff. (Kohler, 7/11)

Boston Globe: Dozens Of Mass. Residents Bought Fake Health Insurance, State Officials Say
About 50 Massachusetts residents purchased sham insurance coverage through Simple Health Plans LLC, they said. A judge ordered the Florida company to shut down temporarily last fall after a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission. Officials at the Massachusetts Health Connector — where individuals can purchase comprehensive insurance plans — said they will allow those affected by the scam to buy new coverage through the Connector, even though the normal enrollment period is closed. (Dayal McCluskey, 7/11)

The New York Times: 22 States Considered Eliminating The ‘Tampon Tax’ This Year. Here’s What Happened.
Why are tampons taxed when Viagra isn’t? That’s the question at the heart of the push to repeal the so-called tampon tax, a catchy phrase that refers to state sales taxes applied to menstrual products, including pads and cups. Thirty-five states still tax the items, despite momentum to change that. Opponents of the tax argue that tampons and pads should be treated like groceries and medical supplies: they should be tax-exempt because they are necessities. (Zraick, 7/12)

Des Moines Register: Rural Homeless Safety Net Sparse In Some Places But Getting Stronger
Katie Bennett needed to move. The 34-year-old was staying with a friend in Belle Plaine while she worked a seasonal job after being released from jail in mid-2015. When the job ended, she couldn’t find work in the eastern Iowa town of 2,400. Her criminal record didn't help. “I wasn’t able to provide any source of income,” she said. “I absolutely had to go to a big city just to get work so I could establish myself.” (Richardson, 7/11)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Police Agencies Have For Years Broken Law Mandating Reporting Of Excessive Force, Charges Against Officers
In the wake of Freddie Gray’s death from injuries suffered in police custody and the subsequent protests and rioting in Baltimore in 2015, state lawmakers passed a law mandating police agencies across Maryland report when officers use excessive force or injure someone and cases of officers’ criminal misconduct, among other data. However, dozens of agencies — including the Baltimore Police Department — never did so. That’s resulted in extreme undercounting of such encounters in annual reports mandated by the law and collated by the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission. (Rector, 7/11)

The Associated Press: LA Police Chief Vows To Erase Homeless People's Warrants
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said he is working to eliminate thousands of homeless people's old warrants for minor offenses in the coming weeks as part of a solution to help get people off the streets. "This is a humanitarian crisis of our generation," Moore said Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press. "This matches any other calamity that this city or this region or this country has seen. It is, I believe, a social emergency." (7/11)

USA Today: Disney World: Rabies Warning Issued For Area Around Epcot Center
The Florida Department of Health in Orange County has issued a 60-day rabies warning at Walt Disney World Resort in response to reports a rabid cat had been found in the area. The alert, announced Tuesday, covers the two-mile radius of the intersection of Interstate 4 and Epcot Center Drive, which includes Disney's Epcot Center theme park. (Trepany, 7/11)

The Washington Post: Health Officials Investigate After Respiratory Illnesses Claim 2 Lives, Hospitalize 18 From Assisted Living Facility
Two residents of a Virginia assisted living facility have died and 18 more have been hospitalized with respiratory symptoms in the past 11 days, prompting Fairfax County health officials to launch an outbreak investigation at the Springfield facility, officials said Thursday. The Fairfax County Health Department announced the probe of Greenspring after 54 residents out of 263 were reported to be ill with symptoms ranging from coughs to pneumonia, department officials said in a statement. (Williams, 7/11)

Denver Post: Colorado Medical Students Pursue Training As Abortion Providers
With the recent flurry of activity in state legislatures and concerns about the future of Roe vs. Wade, medical students in Colorado are taking note. (Seaman, 7/11)

Sacramento Bee: California To Pay Off $10.5M In Student Debt For 40 Dentists
The state of California is paying off $10.5 million in student loans for 40 dentists who agree to ensure that 30 percent of their patient caseload is made up of Medi-Cal patients – among the state’s poorest and frailest residents. ...Ruiz said the grant will pay off $300,000 of the $307,000 he owes for dental school at the University of California, San Francisco. In exchange, he will commit for five years to ensuring his patient mix is at least 30 percent Medi-Cal beneficiaries. (Anderson, 7/12)

NH Times Union: $733B Defense Veto Threat Plays Politics With PFOA, PFOS Contamination, Says Pappas
Advisers in the Trump administration are recommending the President veto any defense authorization bill that includes millions for water contaminated from PFOA and PFOS chemicals, much of which was earmarked for New Hampshire. The Trump administration takes issue with using the EPA drinking-water health advisory to determine unhealthy levels of water used for agriculture purposes. The veto recommendation is included in a 10-page memo issued Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget. (Hayward, 7/11)

The Washington Post: A Dying Woman Raised Money For Her Own Funeral. Strangers Donated So Much, She’s Now Giving Away The Surplus.
Chalise Scholl’s mother died of heart disease and breast cancer two years ago, and to pay for the burial, Scholl cashed in her own small life insurance policy of $1,000. Scholl, then 35, assumed she had plenty of time to buy a new policy. Sadly, she was wrong. Almost one year later, in November 2018, Scholl, of Peoria, Ill., ended up in the emergency room with abnormal bleeding. (Free, 7/11)

Stat: How Patient Records From One Boston Hospital Fueled Explosion In AI
Some of the patients had suffered heart attacks or were in septic shock; others had cancer, pneumonia, or a whole host of other conditions. From 2001 to 2012, more than 46,000 of them passed through the intensive care units at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Boston hospital affiliated with Harvard. Their vital signs were monitored and recorded, as were their lab test results, their doctors’ notes, and reams of other data. (Robbins, 7/12)

NH Times Union: Bill Allowing 'X' To Mark Gender On NH Licenses Becomes Law
Starting next year, “X” can mark the gender on New Hampshire driver’s licenses.Gov. Chris Sununu allowed House Bill 669 to become law this week without his signature. It allows driver’s licenses or non-driver identification cards to be marked “M” for male, “F” for female or “X” for other. New Hampshire joins 12 other states and Washington D.C. in providing the third designation for “non-binary” people who do not identify as male or female. HB 669, which passed both the House and the Senate on voice votes earlier this year, takes effect Jan. 1, 2020. (Feely, 7/11)

Los Angeles Times: Social Workers Didn’t Remove Boy From His Home Despite Court Order. He Later Died
Los Angeles County caseworkers allowed 4-year-old Noah Cuatro to remain in his parents’ home despite a court order in May — weeks before the Palmdale boy died under what authorities say are suspicious circumstances, according to two sources who have reviewed court documents. At the time of his death Saturday, Noah remained under active supervision by the county Department of Children and Family Services after at least 13 calls to the child abuse hotline and police from people who said they suspected that the children in the home were being abused, the sources said. (Therolf and Stamos, 7/11)

Miami Herald: Homestead Housing Teens Who Were Apprehended In The Interior
Far from being a recent arrival at the southern border, the teen entered the country when he was a 9-month-old infant; he has lived in Houston his whole life, along with his mother, who brought him to the U.S. in 2004. ...Lawyers for teens at the Homestead facility say they’ve represented at least 20 other kids with similar cases: all were apprehended in the United States far from border towns or ports of entries without immigration documents, and while they were not physically with their biological parents. ( Madan, 7/12)

Iowa Public Radio: Republican Leaders Deny Democratic Lawmakers' Request For Medical Marijuana Committee
Republican leaders in the Iowa Legislature Thursday denied Democrats’ request to form a special committee to make recommendations for the state’s medical marijuana program. Rep. John Forbes, D-Urbandale, said a study committee would help with crafting a proposal to expand the program. (Sostaric, 7/11)

Tampa Bay Times: Smoke Medical Marijuana? This Rule Update Might Affect You
If you smoke marijuana for medical purposes, it’s time to check in with your doctor.Starting Friday, any doctor’s orders for medical marijuana that contain a recommendation for smokable, whole flower marijuana must be up to date. The system was updated June 28 to include smokable flower as a newly established route of administration for medical patients. (Gross, 7/11)

Modern Healthcare: Michigan Surgeon Accused Of $60M Healthcare Fraud
Dr. Vasso Godiali, a vascular surgeon in Bay City, Mich., was charged with orchestrating a $60 million healthcare fraud. Federal prosecutors charged Godiali with submitting false claims for placing stents in dialysis patients and for treating arterial blood clots, according to a criminal indictment unsealed Wednesday. (Kacik, 7/11)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Suspends OB-GYN Physician Amid Accusations
Mississippi has suspended the medical license of an OB-GYN physician amid several complaints about him, including that he had an affair with one of his married employees starting in 2015 and tried to insert abortion-inducing drugs into her while she was pregnant with his child. The baby was born in 2016. (Pettus, 7/11)

The Associated Press: Nebraska State Hospital Worker Accused Of Sex With Patient
A woman has been accused of having a sexual relationship with a patient while working as a security supervisor at a Nebraska psychiatric hospital. Lancaster County Court records say 36-year-old Chalice Closen is charged with felony sexual abuse of a protected person. County jail records say Closen remained in custody Thursday. The court records don't list the name of an attorney for her. (7/11)