Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Complex 'Coal Ash' Health Case In Tennessee Supreme Court
AP: Coal Ash Workers' Case Heard By Tennessee Supreme Court
Tennessee Supreme Court justices fired numerous questions Wednesday at a company that is challenging lawsuits alleging its workers were sickened or died after cleaning up the nation’s worst coal ash spill, which happened more than a decade ago. Oral arguments centered on Jacobs Engineering’s contention that the workers’ claims should fall under a Tennessee law that limits legal challenges involving exposure to silica, a component of coal ash. Workers who participated in the cleanup of the 2008 spill at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant and their family members watched intently in court, many wearing “Remember Kingston” pins. (Mattise, 6/1)
In news from California —
AP: California Child Abuse Database Lacks Half Of County Reports
More than half of substantiated California child abuse reports in recent years were not in the state’s database, which could result in child abusers being allowed to care for children, state auditors said Tuesday. The unreliability of the database “puts children at risk,” auditors said. The database is used by state and county social services and welfare departments, adoption agencies, medical workers treating possible victims of child abuse, agencies conducting background investigations of applicants for law enforcement jobs, and agencies conducting background investigations on those who want to work or volunteer in positions that would give them access to children, like day care centers or group homes. (Thompson, 5/31)
AP: California Bid To Create Legal Drug Injection Sites Advances
California moved a step closer Wednesday to creating sites where people could legally use drugs under supervision designed to save them from dying if they overdose, over the objections of opponents who said the state would be enabling dangerous and illegal activity. The full Assembly will now consider allowing test programs in Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, more than a year after the proposal narrowly passed the state Senate. (Thompson, 6/1)
San Francisco Chronicle: New Report Finds S.F.’s Biggest Development Project Ignores Huge Climate Change Risk: Rising Contamination
Rising seas caused by climate change could ultimately expose thousands of people to hazardous chemicals at San Francisco’s biggest redevelopment project — and the city is unprepared for the risks, according to a new grand jury report. San Francisco plans to build housing units, commercial spaces and parks in low-lying areas of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, which hugs the bay in southeastern San Francisco. The project is the city’s biggest redevelopment effort since the 1906 earthquake. (Fagone and Dizikes, 6/1)
In news from Mississippi, North Carolina, and Wyoming —
Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State Department Of Health Taking Marijuana Applications
Mississippi's Medical Marijuana program officially began Wednesday as the Mississippi State Department of Health began accepting applications. Applications being accepted Wednesday were for cultivation, processing, transportation, disposal, research testing, patient ID cards, and physician certification. Businesses and people wanting to apply for work permits could also apply as of Wednesday. However, the Mississippi Department of Revenue will not begin accepting applications for dispensaries until July. (Reily, 6/1)
AP: Ex-Governor Seeks To Open Medical Marijuana Testing Facility
Former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove is teaming up with a health care executive to apply for a state license to open a medical marijuana testing facility. The Mississippi State Department of Health started taking applications Wednesday for the state’s new medical marijuana program for patients, medical practitioners, growers, processors, testers, and transportation and waste disposal providers. (Pettus, 6/1)
North Carolina Health News: Kody Kinsley Comes Before Senate Committee For HHS Confirmation
As Kody Kinsley, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, answered a lawmaker’s question about how to get more nurses trained in North Carolina’s community college system, he noticed a group of school children walking by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the North Carolina Legislative Building. He didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, there’s me in fourth grade,” Kinsley dropped in mid-sentence, before continuing his answer to lawmakers at the first part of his official confirmation hearing. (Hoban, 6/2)
Wyoming Public Radio: New Campaign Focuses On Mental Health Awareness At State Parks
As we head into summer, more people are going outside. And, studies show the outdoors can improve mental health. But Wyoming Governor Gordon's Communication Director Micheal Pearlman said that doesn't always help in regards to mental health, which is why the governor has partnered with Wyoming State Parks on a new mental health awareness campaign centered on the outdoors. "Mental health issues don't disappear when folks visit some of our more beautiful places in the state," said Pearlman. "So, we thought having that reminder of how to reach out for help is valuable, even in places that are not where you go every day." (Kudelska, 6/1)
In news about LGBTQ+ health —
Salt Lake Tribune: Utah Families Of 2 Teens Sue Over State Ban Of Transgender Athletes In School Sports
The families of two transgender girls filed a civil rights lawsuit Tuesday, challenging a controversial Utah law set to ban young transgender athletes from competing in school sports that match their gender identities — a measure that “feels like an attack on our family,” a mother of one of the girls said. The ban goes into effect July 1 under HB11, a bill that Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed, calling it “fundamentally flawed,” but the Utah Legislature ultimately overrode in March. The lawsuit argues that the ban will cause the young athletes irreparable harm and isn’t supported by medical or scientific evidence. “This law bans transgender girls from competing with other girls in every sport, at every grade level, and regardless of each girl’s individual circumstances,” attorney Christine Durham, who is representing the families, said. “It cannot survive constitutional scrutiny and it endangers transgender children.” (Peterson and Pierce, 6/1)
Dallas Morning News: Prisons Agency Agrees To Pay For First Gender Surgery For Trans Inmate
It was a different world for transgender people when Cristina Iglesias was first locked up. Back in the early-1990s, there were no mainstream trans celebrities. Even the word — “transgender” — was only beginning to enjoy more widespread use. Iglesias didn’t think she would be accepted as female in that world, especially not in small-town Florida where she grew up. So she kept acting out, kept breaking the law, she said, to stay in the one place where the men around her treated like a woman — behind bars. “I did stuff to stay in prison because I was afraid to come out,” Iglesias, a transgender woman, said. (McGaughy, 6/1)
Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Transgender Athlete Bill Quietly Passes House For Second Time
House Republicans passed a bill late Wednesday that would prohibit transgender girls from joining female sports teams in high school and college, shoving the proposal into an unrelated bill before taking off for summer break. Wednesday's vote, which came on the first day of Pride Month, marked the second time Republicans sought a back-door path for the controversial measure. The House initially added it to a bill to allow college students to profit off their name, image and likeness, a move criticized by Gov. Mike DeWine when it passed last year. (Bemiller, 6/1)
