Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After 1-Year Delay, Montana Governor Signs Bill Defining Sex As Binary
Montana Free Press: What To Know About Montana's New Law Defining Sex As Only Male Or Female
Nearly a year after it passed the Legislature, Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a bill Tuesday defining sex as binary, based on a person’s reproductive system. The move officially amends wide ranging sections of Montana law to include new definitions of “male,” “female,” “sex,” and “gender.” Senate Bill 437 is largely similar to a 2023 law that was declared unconstitutional twice — first in June 2024, because its subject wasn’t clear in its title, and second in February 2025 because a judge found it violated the equal protections clause of the Montana Constitution. (Fairbanks, 3/30)
AP: Justice Department Targets Minnesota In Transgender Athletes Lawsuit
The Trump administration sued Minnesota and its school athletics governing body on Monday, carrying out a threat to punish the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls sports. The lawsuit is part of a broader fight over the rights of transgender youth. More than two dozen states have laws prohibiting transgender women and girls from participating in certain sports and some have barred gender-affirming surgeries for minors. Courts have blocked some of those policies. (Karnowski, 3/30)
The Colorado Sun: Gender-Affirming Care Still Suspended At Children's Hospital Colorado
Earlier this month, a federal judge in Oregon said he would strike down a declaration from President Donald Trump’s administration targeting gender-affirming care for transgender youth, as well as hospitals that provide such care. The ruling was, at first glance, a win for supporters of transgender rights and hospitals. But Children’s Hospital Colorado still has not resumed providing gender-affirming care, which it suspended earlier this year in the face of mounting federal threats. (Ingold, 3/30)
More health news from across the U.S. —
Bridge Michigan: ‘Extreme Shortage’ Of Paramedics, EMTs In Rural Michigan
Paramedics and emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, face a harsh reality in Michigan — shrinking revenue has left emergency medical service agencies grappling with multiple financial issues at once, with staffing being their top expense. Despite the state investing millions of dollars in grants to train workers, staff shortages that began at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to strain EMS agencies, especially in rural communities. (Newman, 3/30)
AP: Florida Hospital Drops Lawsuit After Patient Who Refused To Vacate Room Finally Leaves
A Florida hospital has dropped its lawsuit seeking to evict a patient who refused to vacate a room for months after she was discharged because, the hospital said, she finally left. Tallahassee Memorial Hospital filed the lawsuit this month requesting an injunction to force the woman to leave room 373 and authorizing the county sheriff’s office to assist if necessary. She was officially discharged from the hospital in early October. A hearing had been scheduled for Monday, but was canceled after the hospital filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice. (3/30)
Minnesota Public Radio: Family Of Man Killed At St. Peter Psychiatric Hospital Sues State
The family of a man killed at a state psychiatric hospital by a fellow patient alleges in a lawsuit filed Monday that staff ignored warning signs and allowed the alleged killer to play a violent video game shortly before the attack, in violation of hospital rules. (Sepic, 3/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco ‘Orgasmic Meditation’ Founder Gets 9 Years
The founder of a San Francisco company that built a national following around “orgasmic meditation” was sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison, after a jury convicted her last year in a forced labor conspiracy case. Nicole Daedone, 58, the founder of OneTaste, was also ordered to forfeit $12 million. Seven victims were awarded about $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said. (Vaziri, 3/30)
River City Journalism Fund: What’s The Future Of A St. Louis Hospital ‘Gradually Stripped’ For Parts?
Kathy Cash walks down Miami Street with her chiweenie Charley Joe in her arms. In a hurry to cross Jefferson Avenue, she still makes time to comment on the looming empty medical complex beside her. “I think it needs to be turned into housing for the homeless,” she says. “The city does nothing but make people complacent and comfortable while [others] are homeless.” She doesn’t use any of its recent titles — South City Hospital, SouthPointe, or St. Alexius — but its original, Lutheran Hospital. (Frommelt, 3/30)
The Texas Tribune: Federal Trial Over Insufficient AC In Texas Prisons Starts
There were allegedly five heat-related deaths over the last two summers in Texas prisons, the plaintiff’s attorneys presented on the first day of the federal trial over insufficient air conditioning in these facilities. (Nguyen, 3/30)
NBC News: 15-Year-Old Texas Student Shoots Teacher At High School And Then Kills Himself
A student shot a teacher Monday morning at a Texas high school before fatally shooting himself, law enforcement said. The teacher at Hill Country College Preparatory High School was hospitalized and the student, a 15-year-old boy, died at the scene, the Comal County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. (Burke and Romero, 3/30)
On Superfund pollution —
The New York Times: Vermont Hits Back At Trump’s Effort To Block ‘Climate Superfund’ Law
The Justice Department and the state of Vermont faced off in a federal courtroom on Monday over the state’s landmark 2024 “climate superfund” law, which will require fossil fuel companies to pay for the mounting costs of climate change. Vermont’s law takes its name from the federal Superfund program, created in the 1980s by requiring polluters to help pay to clean up land, such as old industrial sites, that has been contaminated with hazardous materials. (Zraick, 3/30)
AP: About 100 Toxic Superfund Sites Vulnerable To Flooding, Storms, Wildfires
About 100 of the nation’s most contaminated toxic waste sites are in areas prone to flooding and wildfires, a potential public health threat to millions of Americans in surrounding communities, the internal watchdog at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found. The EPA’s Office of Inspector General issued two new reports last week that are part of a series assessing the weather-related vulnerabilities of the 157 federal Superfund sites prioritized for cleanup due to the serious risk they pose to public health and the environment. About 3 million Americans live within a mile of a Superfund site, while 13 million people live within 3 miles (4.8 kilometers). (Biesecker and Dearen, 3/30)
