First Edition: July 1, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Have Cancer, Must Travel: Patients Left In Lurch After Hospital Closes
One Monday in February, 65-year-old Karen Endicott-Coyan gripped the wheel of her black 2014 Ford Taurus with both hands as she made the hour-long drive from her farm near Fort Scott to Chanute. With a rare form of multiple myeloma, she requires weekly chemotherapy injections to keep the cancer at bay. She made the trip in pain, having skipped her morphine for the day to be able to drive safely. Since she sometimes “gets the pukes” after treatment, she had her neighbor and friend Shirley Palmer, 76, come along to drive her back. (Tribble, 7/1)

Kaiser Health News: State Lawmakers Eye Federal Dollars To Boost Mental Health Counseling By Peers
It’s 1 p.m. on a balmy Oakland afternoon as residents of Great Expectations Residential Care, a home for people with mental illness, gather in an activity room for a game of bingo. Lee Frierson, an unpaid volunteer, introduces himself as he and his team leader, Charlie Jones, unpack chips, soda, batteries and shampoo that they will hand out as prizes.“I’m Lee with Reach Out,” Frierson says. “I’m a peer. I suffer from depression. It helps me to help you guys.” (Waters, 7/1)

Reuters: Democrat Harris Clarifies: She Won't Ban Private Health Insurance
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was forced to clarify her position on private health insurance again on Friday, an unwelcome distraction from a standout debate performance that her campaign said drew a surge of financial contributions. Harris and U.S. Senate colleague Bernie Sanders were the only two candidates to raise their hands during Thursday night's second Democratic debate when asked, "Who here would abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan?" (6/28)

The New York Times: Where Is Kamala Harris On Medicare For All Vs. Private Insurance?
On the debate stage Thursday, Senator Kamala Harris raised her hand, seemingly in support of a government insurance proposal that would eliminate employer insurance. On Friday, she said she had misunderstood the question. The wording of the question left room for confusion, but Ms. Harris also has a history of making conflicting statements on the issue. In a CNN town hall in January, she said she’d favor eliminating all private health insurance. The next day, her campaign walked it back. (Sanger-Katz, 6/28)

The New York Times: Democrat Vs. Democrat: How Health Care Is Dividing The Party
It was a command as much as a question, intended to put an end to months of equivocating and obfuscating on the issue: Which of the Democratic presidential candidates on the debate stage supported abolishing private health insurance in favor of a single government-run plan? Show of hands, please. Just four arms went up over the two nights — Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York on Wednesday, and Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kamala Harris of California on Thursday — even though five candidates who kept their hands at their sides have signed onto bills in Congress that would do exactly that. (Goodnough and Kaplan, 6/28)

Stat: What The Democrats Said About 'Big Pharma' — And Why It Matters
Practically the first words spoken at the first Democratic primary debate on Wednesday zeroed in on drug companies, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) fingered biopharma as a prime example of corporate excess and a culprit for an economic system skewed in favor of the wealthy. Democrats rushed to echo Warren’s remarks, sharply criticizing “Big Pharma” for its lobbying presence in Washington, for high drug prices, and for furthering the opioid crisis. All told, nine of the 20 candidates worked drug industry jabs into their remarks. (Facher, 6/28)

Politico: Undocumented Immigrants Should Get Health Care, Julian Castro Affirms
Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro on Sunday stood firm on wanting to give undocumented immigrants access to health care if he is elected. After the first Democratic debate Wednesday night, the former HUD secretary, along with other candidates, drew criticism for saying they would give undocumented immigrants access to health care. (Quilantan, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Trump Administration Agrees To Delay Health Care Rule
The Trump administration has agreed to postpone implementing a rule allowing medical workers to decline performing abortions or other treatments on moral or religious grounds while the so-called "conscience" rule is challenged in a California court. The rule was supposed to take effect on July 22 but the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its opponents in a California lawsuit mutually agreed Friday to delay a final ruling on the matter until Nov. 22. (6/29)

CNN: 'Conscience Objection' Rule For Medical Care Delayed After Legal Challenge
The rule was set to take effect on July 22, but after Dennis J. Herrera, the city attorney of San Francisco, filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to halt the rule from taking effect, the US Department of Health and Human Services agreed to delay it until at least November 22, the news release says. "Faced with the law, the Trump administration blinked," Herrera said. "We have won this battle -- and it was an important one -- but the fight is not over. The Trump administration is trying to systematically limit access to critical medical care for women, the LGBTQ community, and other vulnerable patients. We're not going to let that happen. We will continue to stand up for what's right. Hospitals are no place to put personal beliefs above patient care. Refusing treatment to vulnerable patients should not leave anyone with a clear conscience." (Shuttleworth and Boyette, 6/28)

The Hill: Trump Administration Delays Implementation Of 'Conscience Protection' Rule 
A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit against the administration in May saying the policy, which would allow health care providers to refuse to provide services on the basis of their religious beliefs, is unconstitutional. (Axelrod, 6/29)

The New York Times: Judge Orders Swift Action To Improve Conditions For Migrant Children In Texas
A federal judge has ordered a mediator to move swiftly to improve health and sanitation at Border Patrol facilities in Texas, where observers reported migrant children were subject to filthy conditions that imperiled their health. Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Central District of California asked late on Friday that an independent monitor, whom she appointed last year, ensure that conditions in detention centers are promptly addressed. She set a deadline of July 12 for the government to report on what it has accomplished “post haste” to remedy them. (Jordan, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Amid Immigration Crackdown, Undocumented Abuse Victims Hesitate To Come Forward
As threats of deportation continue to rattle immigrant communities, advocates and attorneys in the Washington area say they have seen a marked increase in undocumented victims of domestic violence choosing not to pursue legal recourse against their abusers. Many victims are reluctant to even start the legal process, experts say, concerned that police will turn them over to federal immigration authorities or that their partners will retaliate by revealing their immigration status. Others, afraid of being ambushed by federal agents at a courthouse, drop their cases once they realize they have to appear before a judge. (Tan, 6/30)

The Wall Street Journal: In The Arizona Desert, An Elite Border Patrol Unit Responds To Desperate Cases
Shortly after starting their midafternoon shift, Border Patrol agents Timothy McNeil and Jason Pope got their first 911 call: a 27-year-old Mexican man had been walking in the desert for 10 days and needed help. The agents, both part of the elite Border Patrol Search, Trauma and Rescue unit, found Manuel Gutierrez Lopez in a tangle of mesquite trees about 30 miles west of Tucson and some 70 miles north of the border. Mr. Gutierrez, who had called 911 on his cellphone, told them he got separated from a group of eight or nine others a few days before and had been without water for at least two days. The temperature showed 104 degrees in Mr. McNeil’s truck when the call came in last week just after 3:30 p.m. (Caldwell, 6/30)

Los Angeles Times: Migrants Contemplate Dangerous Crossings Despite Border Deaths And Detention Conditions
Some migrant families this weekend contemplated crossing the swirling Rio Grande from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. despite several recent drowning deaths. Cuban migrant Viviana Martinez was considering the dangerous crossing with her husband and 1-year-old son. She’s five months pregnant and has been in the northeast border city of Matamoros waiting to cross the border legally into Texas for more than two weeks. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Seeks To Block Georgia Law That Bans Most Abortions
A federal lawsuit filed Friday in Atlanta is the latest effort by abortion providers and advocacy groups to challenge a wave of restrictive abortion laws passed in conservative-controlled state legislatures. Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed the lawsuit challenging a new Georgia law that effectively bans abortions about six weeks into a pregnancy. (Brumback, 6/28)

Reuters: U.S. Rights Groups, Doctors Sue To Stop Georgia 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban
The law, which was passed by Republicans, will make abortion possible only in the first few weeks of a pregnancy absent a medical emergency, in many cases before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. It is due to take effect in January. "This law is an affront to the dignity and health of Georgians," the lawsuit, which was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of the plaintiffs, said. It said that Georgians, particularly black Georgians, already die from pregnancy-related causes at a higher rate than in most other U.S. states. (6/28)

NPR: Georgia Abortion Providers File Federal Suit Against State's 'Fetal Heartbeat' Law
"This law is an affront to the dignity and health of Georgians," reads the suit, which calls the abortion restriction an attack that is particularly aimed at low-income residents, people of color and those who live in rural areas. Those groups, it states, "are least able to access medical care and least able to overcome the cruelties of this law." (Chappell, 6/28)

The Hill: Georgia Sued Over 'Heartbeat' Abortion Ban
Federal judges this year blocked a similar ban in Mississippi, while a challenge to a six-week ban passed in Kentucky is pending. Opponents of six-week abortion bans say most women do not know they are pregnant at that point. (Frazin and Hellmann, 6/28)

Reuters: Supreme Court Declines Alabama Bid To Revive Abortion Restriction
The law in question is different than an even more strict Alabama measure signed by Republican Governor Kay Ivey in May. The new law, also facing a legal challenge, would ban nearly all abortions in the state, even in cases of rape and incest. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote an opinion agreeing with the court's decision not to hear the issue now but making clear that he would vote to uphold such laws. (Hurley, 6/28)

CNN: Clarence Thomas Urges Supreme Court To Revisit Abortion Precedents
Thomas agreed that the court should not have taken up this case because a lower court had held that other abortions methods available in Alabama were "too risky." He reiterated, however, that the Supreme Court should revisit its precedent on abortion. He described the high court's abortion jurisprudence as having "spiraled out of control" and urged the justices to take up the issue soon. "Although this case does not present the opportunity to address our demonstrably erroneous 'undue burden 'standard, we cannot continue blinking the reality of what this court has wrought," Thomas added. (Kelly and de Vogue, 6/28)

The Hill: Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Restore Alabama Abortion Law
Friday's move by the Supreme Court means the justices will once again duck on having to rule on abortion and potentially on the 1973 decision that established a woman's right to the procedure. The Supreme Court earlier this year also declined to hear arguments on an Indiana abortion law, instead choosing to uphold part of the statute that involved fetal remains while sending the rest of it back down to a lower court. They declined to hear a challenge to a provision of the law that blocked abortions on the basis of sex, race or disability. (Thomsen, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Order: Abortions Can Continue At Missouri's Lone Clinic
A Missouri commissioner on Friday ruled that the state's only abortion clinic can continue providing the service at least until August as a fight over its license plays out, adding that there's a "likelihood" that the clinic will succeed in the dispute. Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi granted what's called a "stay," which will allow the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic to continue providing abortions past Friday. (Ballentine and Salter, 6/28)

The New York Times: Lone Missouri Abortion Clinic Can Stay Open In Dispute With State
The conflict, over whether the clinic has complied with health department requirements, has threatened to make Missouri the first state in about 45 years where women would not have access to abortion services. So far the clinic has hung on, finding legal relief in state court. On Friday, that legal protection was extended again, this time by an official in the Administrative Hearing Commission, a body in the executive branch that resolves disputes involving state agencies. A hearing was set for Aug. 1. (Tavernise and Williams, 6/28)

The Hill: Missouri Abortion Clinic Gets Extension, Will Remain Open Through August
Administrative Hearing Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi wrote Friday that Planned Parenthood is likely to succeed in its arguments because interviews aren't required for license renewals. "Because DHSS relies substantially on the lack of these interviews as grounds for denial, we find there is a likelihood that Petitioner will succeed in its claim," Dandamudi wrote, according to The Associated Press. (Hellmann, 6/28)

The Associated Press: US Judge Blocks Indiana 2nd Trimester Abortion Procedure Ban
A federal judge blocked an Indiana law that would ban a second-trimester abortion procedure on Friday, just days before the law was set to come into force. The order putting the Indiana law on hold was released hours after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to revive a similar law in Alabama that sought to ban dilation and evacuation abortions. (Davies, 6/28)

HuffPost: Inside The Dangerous Rise Of ‘Abortion Reversal’ Bills
The rise of so-called “abortion reversal” bills has alarmed leading medical groups that say such legislation forces physicians to give misleading, unscientific and potentially dangerous advice to women, undermining the trusted doctor-patient relationship. So far this year, five states ― North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arkansas — have passed legislation mandating that physicians counsel women that a medication abortion, a safe and common method for ending a pregnancy before 10 weeks, can be reversed. Similar laws are already on the books in South Dakota, Utah and Idaho. Arkansas expanded an existing law. (Jeltsen, 6/29)

South Bend Tribune: 'Abortion Pill Reversal' Sign Near South Bend Clinic Fuels Controversy
Two doors down from a recently opened abortion clinic on Lincoln Way West is a sign put up by a Catholic man in his front yard. It displays an “abortion pill reversal” hotline number and says, “It may not be too late.” Rick Fodrocy, a parishioner at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, put up the sign to catch the eye of clients at Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, which offers medication-induced abortions to women up to 10 weeks pregnant. (Booker, 6/30)

Newsweek: Late-Term Abortion, Fetal Viability, Heartbeat Bill: What People Get Wrong About Abortion
The abortion debate has expanded beyond state politics and into the 2020 presidential campaign. Nearly every Democrat vying for the nomination has spoken out against abortion bans. But politicians, activists and pundits on both sides have been misusing or misconstruing key terminology. Here's everything you need to know about some of the most common terminology used in the abortion discussion. (Hutzler, 6/25)

The New York Times: ‘You Have To Go By The Law’: Alabamians Defend Arrest Of Woman Whose Fetus Died In Shooting
In the days since police officers arrested Marshae Jones, saying she had started a fight that resulted in her unborn baby getting fatally shot, the hate mail has poured in. “I will encourage all U.S. business owners to boycott your town,” a woman from San Diego wrote on the Facebook page of the Pleasant Grove Police Department. “Misogynist trash,” wrote another. “Fire the chief and arresting officers,” wrote a third. (Stockman, 6/30)

The Washington Post: Marshae Jones: Pregnant Alabama Woman Charged With Death Of Own Fetus Prompts Unthinkable Questions
The 27-year-old was five months pregnant when she was involved in a fight that, authorities say, prompted a woman to fire a gun in self-defense. The bullet tore through Jones’s abdomen and caused a miscarriage, anguishing the young mother — and the historic East Thomas neighborhood of central Alabama, where her family has lived for generations. “As her pastor, I would ask whoever to prayerfully consider the heart of this young lady,” said the Rev. George Robinson Jr., the pastor of First Baptist Church of East Thomas, where Jones and her family attend. “Marshae is not the person that has been pictured or painted of her. She’s not that young lady.” (Platenburg and Brice-Saddler, 6/29)

Chicago Tribune: Here’s Why Many Black Women Are Silent About Their Struggle With Infertility
Tiffany Harper, a 36-year-old attorney in Chicago, suffered in silence for five years. Expecting to get pregnant as soon as she got married, she was confused when her pregnancy tests continued to be negative. Harper knows her way around most issues. But, she said, “I didn’t know other black women who were getting (infertility) treatments — the only women who talked openly about it were white women,” Harper said. “There’s a silence about it that makes it really isolating.” (Braff, 6/29)

The New York Times: Luis Alvarez, Champion Of 9/11 Responders, Dies At 53
Luis G. Alvarez, a former New York City detective who pleaded with Congress this month to extend health benefits to police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers who responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, died on Saturday in a hospice in Rockville Centre, N.Y. He was 53. His family announced his death in a post on Facebook. The cause was complications of colorectal cancer, for which Mr. Alvarez received a diagnosis in 2016. The disease was linked to the three months he had spent at the site of the toppled World Trade Center towers in Lower Manhattan, searching for survivors and for remains of his fellow officers on nearby rooftops and in the toxic rubble at ground zero. (Roberts, 6/29)

The Associated Press: Detective Who Fought For 9/11 Compensation Funding Dies
Alvarez appeared with former "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart earlier this month to plead with Congress to extend the compensation fund. "This fund isn't a ticket to paradise, it's to provide our families with care," a frail Alvarez told a House Judiciary subcommittee June 11. He added, "You all said you would never forget. Well, I'm here to make sure that you don't." (6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: At Purdue Pharma, Business Slumps As Opioid Lawsuits Mount
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is struggling with slumping sales, a shrinking workforce and restructuring challenges as it battles lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, according to people familiar with the company. Purdue’s revenue is expected to drop below $1 billion this year for the first time in more than a decade, as employees leave and a potential bankruptcy filing looms, people familiar with the matter say. (Hopkins, 6/30)

NPR: Income Inequality Is Linked To Health Inequities, And The Gap Is Widening
Income inequality in the U.S. has grown over the past several decades. And as the gap between rich and poor yawns, so does the gap in their health, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open Friday. The study drew from annual health survey data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 2017, including around 5.5 million Americans ages 18-64. (Neilson, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes To Go On Trial Next July
Elizabeth Holmes will go on trial next summer to face criminal fraud charges for allegedly defrauding investors, doctors and the public as the head of the once-heralded blood-testing startup Theranos. U.S. District Court Judge Edward Davila ruled Friday that the trial against Holmes and the company's former Chief Operating Officer Ramesh Balwani will start July 28, 2020. (6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Founder Elizabeth Holmes To Face Trial Next Year On Fraud Charges
Jury selection will start the week of July 28, 2020. The trial is scheduled to start Aug. 4 and will last about three months, he said. “Restrain your enthusiasm, please,” Judge Davila said to the defense lawyers, who had lobbied for a later start date, citing the amount of documents they had to review and the challenges of gathering witnesses. (Summerville, 6/28)

Reuters: Encompass Health To Pay $48 Million To Resolve False Claims Act Allegations-U.S. DOJ
Encompass Health Corp has agreed to pay $48 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. The settlement resolves allegations in three lawsuits that some of Encompass Health's inpatient rehabilitation facilities provided inaccurate information to the federal Medicare programme to maintain their status as an IRF and earn a higher rate of reimbursement, and that some admissions were not medically necessary, the department said. (6/28)

CNN: 'Crypto' Warning: CDC Says Fecal Parasite Can Live For Days In Swimming Pools
Health officials are asking Americans to take precautions over reports that "crypto," a fecal parasite that can be transmitted via swimming pools, is on the rise. The parasite's full name is cryptosporidium. It causes cryptosporidiosis, which can leave healthy adults suffering from "profuse, watery diarrhea" for as long as three weeks. The effects can be worse for children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems." The number of treated recreational water-associated outbreaks caused by cryptosporidium drives the summer seasonal peak in both waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreaks and cryptosporidiosis outbreaks overall," according to a statement from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McLaughlin, 6/30)

The New York Times: Reversing The Damage Of A Massive Stroke
Strange as it may seem, the massive stroke Ted Baxter suffered in 2005 at age 41, leaving him speechless and paralyzed on his right side, was a blessing in more ways than one. Had the clot, which started in his leg, lodged in his lungs instead of his brain, the doctors told him he would have died from a pulmonary embolism. And as difficult as it was for him to leave his high-powered professional life behind and replace it with a decade of painstaking recovery, the stroke gave his life a whole new and, in many ways, more rewarding purpose. (Brody, 7/1)

NPR: Fake Smiles Don't Always Improve Mood
The notion that you can smile your way to happiness is an enduring one. Back in the 1800s, Charles Darwin was among the first to come up with what modern scientists further developed into the "facial feedback hypothesis." That's the idea that smiling can make you happier and frowning can make you sadder or angrier — that changing your facial expression can intensify or even transform your mood. (Singh, 7/1)

The Washington Post: ‘We Can Change Something’: These 13-Year-Olds Found Mold In Their Schools And Did Something About It
The runny noses, coughing and headaches flared inside the students’ biology classroom at George Washington Middle School in Northern Virginia — subsiding once the children left. Bridget Baron said she watched splotches of mold colonize a wall to the right of her desk until, one day, “they all shriveled up and died.” It was a clear sign for the 13-year-old and her classmates at the Alexandria school that something was amiss. (Truong, 6/30)

The New York Times: Do Hand Dryers Hurt Kids’ Hearing? This 13-Year-Old Published A Study About It
Do hand dryers pose a threat to children’s hearing? The answer may be yes, according to a new study published in the official journal of the Canadian Paediatric Society, which found that some of the devices can be as loud as a sporting event or an approaching subway train. To investigate that question, Nora Keegan, the study’s author, spent more than a year taking hundreds of measurements in public restrooms throughout Calgary, her hometown. (Chokshi, 7/1)

The Wall Street Journal: New Thinking Challenges The Stigma Around ‘Shock Therapy’
Doctors are taking a second look at the procedure known as shock therapy, saying the long-stigmatized treatment is safer than before and can be remarkably effective in patients with severe symptoms. Electroconvulsive therapy, its official name, is a brief electrical stimulation of the brain that causes about a minute-long seizure, helping to realign disrupted circuits. Although the treatment’s most serious potential side effect—memory loss—remains a meaningful risk, advances in technology and technique have reduced the severity. Experts say ECT is among the most effective treatments for serious depression when medications and talk therapy don’t work. (Reddy, 6/30)

The Washington Post: Depersonalization Disorder Made Me A Stranger To Myself
I would stare at my hands and think, “I’m not me.” No matter where I was, in the middle of a busy street or at my dining table at home, the condition would be the same. It was like looking at my hands through a plate of glass. Although I could feel the skin on my palms, it did not feel like my own. Half of myself would move through the day while the other half watched. I was split in two. Nothing I did would relieve the condition. I went to see an ophthalmologist, convinced I had cataracts. The verdict was near-perfect vision. (Dunne, 6/30)

The New York Times: ‘Pear-Shaped’ May Be Healthier Than ‘Apple-Shaped’
For postmenopausal women, being “pear-shaped” may be healthier than being “apple-shaped.” Even in women with normal body mass index, the location of fat varies. Apple-shaped women have more fat around the waist, pear-shaped more around the hips and legs. (Bakalar, 6/30)

The Washington Post: For Brain Health, Skip The Supplements And Focus On A Healthy Diet
Americans and others around the world have turned increasingly to dietary supplements to maintain or preserve their brain health. A recent study found that a quarter of adults over 50 take a supplement for brain-related health. But that same study, done by experts convened by AARP, suggests that seniors should spend their money elsewhere. The supplements don’t work. (DeKosky, 6/29)

CNN: Secondhand Harms Of Drinking Impact 1 In 5 Adults, Study Says
About one-fifth of adults in the United States have experienced some form of harm due to someone else's behavior while drinking. That's according to a study published Monday in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, which found that in 2015, an estimated 53 million adults -- or nearly 1 in 5 -- said they had experienced at least one harm attributable to someone else's drinking in the past year. That harm ranged from property damage to physical injury. (Howard, 7/1)

The Associated Press: 7 Hurt When Gunfire Erupts At Louisiana Nightclub 
Police continued Sunday to investigate a shooting at a Baton Rouge nightclub that left seven people injured, even as officials in Louisiana's capital city pledged to do more to fight gun violence after several high-profile shootings. Local news outlets report gunfire strafed the inside and parking lot of the Stadium Ultralounge & Bar early Saturday, apparently after a fight in which video footage showed one man breaking a bottle over another man's head. (6/30)

The Associated Press: Charter Renewed For Colorado School Where Shooting Happened
A Colorado school that was the site of a fatal shooting received a conditional five-year renewal of its charter on Saturday that requires it to meet certain reporting, staffing and safety requirements, such as the hiring of additional security personnel. (6/29)

The Associated Press: 1 Child Dies, 3 Sickened By E. Coli Linked To San Diego Fair 
Authorities say E. coli bacteria encountered at the San Diego County Fair has killed one child and sickened three others. A Friday night release from the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency announced four confirmed cases linked to animal contact. While three cases didn't result in hospitalization, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Jedidiah King Cabezuela, 2, visited the Del Mar Fairgrounds on June 15, became ill on June 19, and died on June 24. (6/29)

The New York Times: Toddler Dies From E. Coli Linked To Contact With Animals At San Diego County Fair
The 2-year-old died on June 24 from complications of the bacteria; the other three children who were sickened were not hospitalized. Their conditions were not immediately available on Sunday. The fair features more than 2,900 animals and numerous activities, including pig races and livestock shows with calves, rabbits, pigeons and goats. The fair shut public access to animals on Saturday, and on Sunday it began removing them from the fairgrounds. (Taylor, 6/30)

The New York Times: Utah Family Sues After Son With Diabetes Is Kept From School
The 8-year-old son of Caly and Wade Watkins is an active and happy Utah boy, they say. He fishes in a pond, sometimes landing a catfish, which he throws back. He rides his dirt bike for miles. He pores over his schoolwork, which in second grade included mastering multiplication tables. But at least four times a day, the Watkinses’s son, who has Type 1 diabetes, needs to test his blood sugar and take injections of insulin, including while in school. (Hauser, 6/29)

The Associated Press: Religious Discrimination Suit Involving Flu Shot Is Settled
A mid-Michigan health care system has agreed to pay almost $75,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of a job candidate who was passed over because her beliefs preclude her from getting flu shots. The Lansing State Journal reports the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says Memorial Healthcare of Owosso rescinded its job offer for a medical transcriptionist position after learning of Yvonne Bair's Christian beliefs. Court records say Bair believed she must use "natural methods" for health. (6/28)

ProPublica: “Dire” Law Enforcement Crisis In Rural Alaska Prompts Emergency Declaration, New Federal Funding
U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr declared an emergency for public safety in rural Alaska on Friday and announced more than $10 million in funds as part of a sweeping plan to support law enforcement in Alaska Native villages. The U.S. Department of Justice will immediately provide $6 million to the state to hire, equip and train rural police, and for mobile holding cells. An additional $4.5 million will support 20 officer positions and be provided to Alaska Native organizations by the end of July. (Demarban, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Top Kansas Court: Cities Can Raise Age For Buying Tobacco
Kansas' highest court ruled Friday that cities can raise the age for buying tobacco products even though state law sets it at 18, bolstering a public health movement driven in part by concerns about teenagers' use of e-cigarettes. The state Supreme Court's unanimous decision allows the city of Topeka to enforce an ordinance setting the age to buy tobacco products, e-cigarettes or liquid nicotine at 21. (6/28)

The Washington Post: Driven From Paradise By Fire, Evacuees Worry That Gentrification Will Prevent Them From Coming Home
As heavy equipment hauls out mangled bedsprings, tree trunks and charred fireplace bricks, evidence of rebirth is emerging in this town scorched seven months ago by the most destructive fire in state history. Signs offering “Cash for your lot” are tacked up on telephone poles; real estate agents and developers in shiny SUVs are riding across the torched earth; and the frames of houses are taking shape, more modern and fire resistant than the ones that preceded them. (Sellers, 6/20)