California Governor Kicks Off Homeless Encampment Cleanups

AP: Newsom Orders California State Agencies To Start Clearing Homeless Encampments
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered state agencies Thursday to start removing homeless encampments on state land in his boldest action yet following a Supreme Court ruling allowing cities to enforce bans on sleeping outside in public spaces. This executive order directs state agencies “to move urgently to address dangerous encampments while supporting and assisting the individuals living in them.” It also provides guidance for cities and counties to do the same, which applies pressure on them, though they are not legally bound to the order. (Nguyen, 7/25)

AP: West Virginia Is Asking The US Supreme Court To Consider Transgender Surgery Medicaid Coverage Case 
West Virginia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review rulings that found the state’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory, Republican Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Thursday. In April, the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid, finding that the “coverage exclusions facially discriminate based on sex and gender identity,” according to a majority opinion penned by Judge Roger Gregory. (Willingham, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Va. Health Staff Failed Irvo Otieno As He Suffocated, Experts Say
Virginia authorities moved quickly to investigate after Irvo Otieno, a 28-year-old Black man, was suffocated on the floor of a state psychiatric hospital in March 2023. By the following week, seven officers and three hospital orderlies who piled on him had been charged with second-degree murder, and that same month, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) promised an “aggressive transformation” of the behavioral health-care system that experts say failed Otieno. But a year later, the criminal case has fractured, and little public scrutiny has been given to the actions of the clinical staff, including doctors and nurses, at Virginia’s Central State Hospital in Dinwiddie County, where Otieno died. (Oakford, 7/26)

WUSF: Mental Health Professionals Are Now Responding To 911 Calls In Tampa
Dispatchers now have another option when someone in Tampa calls 911 with a mental health emergency. Instead of police officers, crisis counselors will respond. The program partners the Tampa Police Department and the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. (Shanes, 7/25)

Stateline.org: In The 10 States That Didn’t Expand Medicaid, 1.6M Can’t Afford Health Insurance
Nearly 1 of every 5 uninsured working-age adults across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are, according to a new analysis, stuck in a health care limbo known as a “coverage gap.” That means they earn too much money to receive Medicaid but not enough to qualify for financial help to purchase their own plan on the marketplace. (Chatlani, 7/25)

The CT Mirror: CT Had The Nation's Highest Jump In Alcohol-Related Deaths. Why?
In 1993, Newport mother Dorrie Carolan founded Parent Connection to support parents whose children were battling addiction after her son died of a prescription drug overdose. In the decades that followed, her organization has faced a new enemy, one of the oldest recreational drugs: alcohol. (Pohly, 7/26)

KFF Health News: Union With Labor Dispute Of Its Own Threatens To Cut Off Workers’ Health Benefits
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest union, is threatening to cut off health insurance to about 300 Washington, D.C.-based workers on Aug. 1 in an effort to end a bitter contract dispute. It’s a tactic some private employers have used as leverage against unionized workers that has drawn scrutiny from congressional Democrats and is prohibited for state employers in California. Experts on labor law say they’ve never seen a union make the move against its own workers. (Galewitz, 7/26)