First Edition: June 13, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Medicare Takes Aim At Boomerang Hospitalizations Of Nursing Home Patients
“Oh my God, we dropped her!” Sandra Snipes said she heard the nursing home aides yell as she fell to the floor. She landed on her right side where her hip had recently been replaced. She cried out in pain. A hospital clinician later discovered her hip was dislocated. That was not the only injury Snipes, then 61, said she suffered in 2011 at Richmond Pines Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center in Hamlet, N.C. Nurses allegedly had been injecting her twice a day with a potent blood thinner despite written instructions to stop. (Rau, 6/13)

California Healthline: When Erratic Teenage Behavior Means Something More
Mary Rose O’Leary has shepherded three children into adulthood, and teaches art and music to middle-school students. Despite her extensive personal and professional experience with teens, the Eagle Rock, Calif., resident admits she’s often perplexed by their behavior. “Even if you have normal kids, you’re constantly questioning, ‘Is this normal?’” says O’Leary, 61. (Bazar, 6/11)

The New York Times: A ‘Sick Joke’: Democrats Attack Health Secretary On Pre-Existing Conditions
Democratic senators blistered President Trump’s health secretary on Tuesday, telling him that the Trump administration’s efforts to undo health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions made a mockery of the president’s campaign to rein in prescription drug prices. The secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, told Congress that he would be glad to work with lawmakers on legislation — “alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, modifications of the Affordable Care Act” — to provide access to insurance for people with pre-existing conditions. (Pear, 6/12)

The Washington Post: Azar Backs Protections For Preexisting Conditions, Skirting Administration’s Legal Stance
Calling it “a constitutional position . . . not a policy position,” Azar sidestepped grilling on whether he agreed with a legal brief filed last week by Justice Department attorneys stating they would not defend the Affordable Care Act in a federal lawsuit by Texas and 19 other Republican-led states. During a hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that was mainly about the president’s blueprint to address drug prices, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) told Azar that Justice’s legal position is “like some kind of a sick joke.” The administration argues that the ACA’s individual mandate, requiring most people to carry health insurance, will become unconstitutional next year — and, with it, the law’s insurance protections for consumers. (Goldstein and McGinley, 6/12)

Politico: McConnell: 'Everybody' In Senate Likes Pre-Existing Condition Safeguards
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said “everybody” in the Senate wants to preserve consumer protections for people with pre-existing conditions, an Obamacare provision that the Trump administration last week said is unconstitutional and should be struck down in court. “Everybody I know in the Senate — everybody — is in favor of maintaining coverage for pre-existing conditions,” McConnell told reporters in the Capitol. “There is no difference in opinion about that whatsoever.” (Haberkorn, 6/12)

The New York Times: The New Obamacare Lawsuit Could Undo Far More Than Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions
A new Trump administration court challenge is explicitly aiming to remove a central promise of Obamacare — its protections for people with pre-existing health conditions. But it could also make it much harder for any individual to obtain health insurance on the open market. The administration’s brief, filed in Federal District Court in Texas on Thursday, focuses on the core Obamacare provisions that make insurance available to people with prior illnesses. Those protections — which President Trump once praised and Republicans in Congress vowed not to disrupt last year — don’t exist in a vacuum. (Sanger-Katz, 6/12)

The Hill: GOP Senator: DOJ's ObamaCare Argument 'As Far-Fetched As Any I've Ever Heard'
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate's health committee, called the Trump administration's argument against ObamaCare in a court case "as far-fetched as any I've ever heard." The Justice Department wrote in a filing Friday that it would not defend ObamaCare's protections for people with pre-existing conditions, siding in large part with a challenge to the law brought by a coalition of Republican-led states. (Hellmann, 6/12)

The Hill: Senior DOJ Official Resigns In Wake Of ObamaCare Decision 
A senior career Department of Justice (DOJ) official has resigned, one week after the Trump administration made a controversial announcement that it would argue key parts of ObamaCare are unconstitutional. A DOJ official confirmed to The Hill that Joel McElvain resigned and his last day is July 6, but declined to comment on whether the resignation was due to last week’s announcement. (Roubein, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: HHS Secretary Says Several Drug Companies Looking At ‘Substantial’ Price Cuts
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday touted the administration’s plan to combat high drug prices, saying several drug companies are looking at “substantial and material” price cuts, while Democrats said the plan would accomplish little. He said in testimony before the Senate health committee that companies are working with industry middlemen, including pharmacy-benefit managers, to make sure “they’re not discriminated against” for cutting their prices. Middlemen currently have an incentive to provide more favorable coverage to drugs with higher list prices, he said. (Armour and Loftus, 6/12)

Stat: Azar Says HHS Could Change Medicare Drug Rebates Without Congress
The federal government has the authority to modify or eliminate the rebates pharmacy benefit managers get from drug makers on behalf of patients in Medicare prescription drug plans, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday, the clearest indication yet that the administration might exercise that power. “Rebates are allowed under an exception to the anti-kickback statute, and that’s an exception that we believe by regulation we could modify,” Azar told lawmakers. (Swetlitz and Mershon, 6/12)

Politico: Trump’s Health Chief Suggests ‘Massive’ Drug Price Cuts Not Imminent
Azar claimed pharmacy benefits managers and drug distributors have held up efforts to reduce prices, and he blamed the drug pricing system for incentivizing high list prices. Drug companies are worried that if they cut list prices, these drug supply chain middlemen will no longer prioritize their products, Azar said. That’s because these companies sometimes make more money when a drug’s list price is higher. (Karlin-Smith, 6/12)

The Hill: Warren Presses Health Chief Over Trump's Promise Of Drug Price Cuts 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday about why no drug companies have announced price decreases despite President Trump saying they would soon. Warren focused on Trump’s statement at the end of May that "in two weeks" drug companies would "announce voluntary massive drops in prices." The two-week mark from that statement is this Wednesday. (Sullivan, 6/12)

Stat: FDA Broadens What Information Drug Makers Can Share With Insurers
It’s a small update to a Food and Drug Administration policy first launched by the Obama administration, but top Trump health officials — and key congressional Republicans and drug makers — are nonetheless touting it as a central part of the Trump camp’s efforts to lower prescription drug prices. On Tuesday, the FDA finalized guidance documents, released in draft form in mid-January 2017, making it clear that drug and device companies are allowed to share with insurers information that is not in the FDA-approved labeling. Insurers can use that information to determine how much they should pay for the drugs, FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. (Swetlitz, 6/12)

Stat: The Trouble With Those Post-Marketing Studies Required By The FDA 
To ensure a new drug works properly after marketing approval is granted, the Food and Drug Administration regularly requires a drug company to run a so-called post-marketing study. But a new analysis found a troubling lack of timely follow-through as well as basic information. Specifically, one in four studies was never publicly disseminated. Meanwhile, there was often little information about post-marketing requirements — the median description was just 44 words — and some were difficult to categorize. There was also a lack of up-to-date information on the progress of about one-third of these study requirements. (Silverman, 6/12)

Politico: Insurers Spark Blowback By Reducing Emergency Room Coverage
Health plans intent on driving down costs are zeroing in on emergency room visits — one of the biggest drivers of medical inflation but a category of care that's seldom been subject to denials. Anthem, the country’s largest Blue Cross Blue Shield plan, shook the market last year by refusing to pay for some ER visits it deemed unnecessary, triggering heated battles with hospitals and doctors and fueling a broader debate over whether patients can find less expensive settings without putting their health at risk. (Rayasam and Demko, 6/12)

The New York Times: Common Drugs May Be Contributing To Depression
Could common prescription medications be contributing to depression and rising suicide rates? Over one-third of Americans take at least one prescription drug that lists depression as a potential side effect, a new study reports, and users of such drugs have higher rates of depression than those who don’t take such drugs. (Rabin, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: Are Prescription Medications Making Americans Depressed?
The incidence of depression has been rising in the U.S. for more than a decade. So has Americans’ reliance on prescription medications that list depression as a possible side effect. Coincidence? Perhaps not, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Using 10 years of data collected from more than 26,000 Americans, researchers reported a significant link between the use of medications with the potential to cause depression and the chances of becoming depressed. (Kaplan, 6/12)

NPR: Many Common Drugs May Be Making People Depressed
The list includes a wide range of commonly taken medications. Among them are certain types of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) (used to treat acid reflux), beta blockers, anxiety drugs, painkillers including ibuprofen, ACE inhibitors (used to treat high blood pressure), and anti-convulsant drugs. "The more of these medications you're taking, the more likely you are to report depression," says study author Mark Olfson, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University. (Aubrey, 6/12)

The New York Times: How Cognitive Behavior Therapy May Help Suicidal People
After a week of devastating news about suicide, there has been much discussion of the need for people who may be thinking of ending their lives to reach out for help. But some people who are suffering may be skeptical that therapy could make a difference. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy, or C.B.T., in treating suicidal individuals and decreasing subsequent attempts. A 2016 review of 15 randomized controlled trials found that C.B.T. “is a useful strategy in the prevention of suicidal cognitions and suicidal behaviors.” (Beck, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: Psychedelic Drugs Change Brain Cells In Ways That Could Help Fight Depression, Addiction And More
Psychedelic drugs’ mind-expanding properties may be rooted in their ability to prompt neurons to branch out and create new connections with other brain cells, new research has found. This discovery may explain why psychedelic drugs appear to be a valuable treatment for a wide range of psychiatric diseases, scientists said. In test tubes as well as in rats and flies, psychedelic drugs as diverse as LSD, ecstasy, psilocybin and ketamine all share this knack for promoting neural “plasticity,” the ability to forge new connections (called neurites) among brain cells. In particular, the drugs appeared to fuel the growth of dendritic spines and axons, the appendages that brain cells of all sorts use to reach out in the darkness and create connections, or synapses, with other brain cells. (Healy, 6/12)

The Associated Press: House Aims At Campaign-Season Bills Battling Opioid Abuse
The House dove Tuesday into a two-week vote-a-thon on dozens of bills aimed at opioid abuse, as lawmakers try to tackle a crisis that's killing tens of thousands a year and to score a popular win they can tout for the midterm elections. A handful of the measures are contentious, including one Republican bill that would create new criminal penalties for making or trafficking certain synthetic drugs containing fentanyl. That powerful opioid can be made illegally and is taking a growing toll. Democrats complain that the legislation would give the government unfettered power to decide which drugs would be banned, without scientific input. (Fram, 6/12)

Stat: Can Major Opioids Legislation Make A Dent In A National Epidemic?
By the end of next week, the House will have considered more than 50 bills aimed at staunching the opioid crisis. The volume “may well be a record for legislating on a single issue,” Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said Tuesday on the House floor. The House’s work touches on most aspects of the crisis, aiming to better monitor opioid prescriptions, increase treatment funding, improve drug enforcement efforts, and provide additional support to families affected by the epidemic. But does quantity equal quality? (Facher, 6/13)

The Hill: NIH Outlines Plans For $500M To Combat Opioid Epidemic
The effort will be conducted through the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative. “Like most other pioneering scientific initiatives, HEAL will focus on a range of objectives, from short-term goals to research priorities that will take longer to bear fruit,” the trio wrote. “Yet, all will be aimed at the same ultimate vision: a nation of people with far less disabling pain and opioid addiction.” (Roubein, 6/12)

The Associated Press: Massachusetts Sues Opioid Maker, Executives Over Drug Crisis
Massachusetts sued the maker of prescription opioid painkiller OxyContin and its executives on Tuesday, accusing the company of spinning a “web of illegal deceit” to fuel the deadly drug abuse crisis while boosting profits. Purdue Pharma is already defending lawsuits from several states and local governments, but Massachusetts is the first state to personally name the company’s executives in a complaint, Attorney General Maura Healey said. It names 16 current and former executives and board members, including CEO Craig Landau and members of the Sackler family, which owns Purdue. (Richer, 6/12)

The Hill: Lawmaker: Bill Tackling Maternal Death Rates To Get Vote Before August 
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-Wash.) is confident her bill aimed at addressing increasing maternal death rates can pass, and says she has a commitment from leadership that a vote on the House floor will occur before August. "I’m in the trust but verify camp, so if you’re helping us advocate for this, don’t let up,” Herrera Beutler said Tuesday at an event hosted by The Hill and sponsored by AMAG Pharmaceuticals. (Roubein, 6/12)

The Associated Press: Frustrated AMA Adopts Sweeping Policies To Cut Gun Violence
With frustration mounting over lawmakers' inaction on gun control, the American Medical Association on Tuesday pressed for a ban on assault weapons and came out against arming teachers as a way to fight what it calls a public health crisis. At its annual policymaking meeting, the nation's largest physicians group bowed to unprecedented demands from doctor-members to take a stronger stand on gun violence — a problem the organizations says is as menacing as a lethal infectious disease. (Tanner, 6/12)

The Hill: AMA Endorses Assault Weapons Ban
Under pressure from members, delegates from the American Medical Association (AMA) took a strong stance on gun control measures at the group’s annual policy conference. The group also endorsed a ban on bump stocks, which are mechanisms that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly. Bump stocks came under scrutiny last year after a gunman used them in the shooting in Las Vegas that left 59 people dead. (Weixel, 6/12)

The Associated Press: Money To 'Harden' Schools Draws Backlash After Shootings
An alliance of U.S. education groups expressed shock Tuesday that the Trump administration would let schools purchase metal detectors and police patrols through a $1.1 billion program that the White House and Congress have used to defend their response to an epidemic of school shootings. The concern comes nearly a month after a gunman killed 10 people at a high school near Houston, which prompted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to urge schools to use federal education dollars to "harden" campuses through more armed guards or altering buildings. (6/12)

The Associated Press: Governor Set To Sign 6 Gun Control Measures In New Jersey
New Jersey is set to become the latest state to enact measures to tighten its already strict gun laws. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy says he will sign the half-dozen bills on Wednesday. The measures began advancing after the fatal high school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in February that left 17 people dead. Other states, including Florida and Vermont have enacted gun control measures since the shooting. (6/13)

The Washington Post: Half Of Women In Science Experience Harassment, A Sweeping New Report Finds
Science has a sexual harassment problem. From the most polished ivory tower to the local community college, harassment pervades lecture halls and laboratories, observatories and offices, teaching hospitals and Antarctic field sites. And it takes an economic and emotional toll on female researchers and stifles their scientific contributions, according to a sweeping new study released Tuesday. The solution will require a “systemwide change to the culture and climate in higher education,” the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine conclude. (Kaplan and Guarino, 6/12)

Stat: At Biotech Industry Party, Topless Dancers Had Logos Painted On Their Bodies
When Kate Strayer-Benton arrived at a Boston nightclub last Wednesday night for a party for attendees of the BIO International Convention, she was expecting to see extravagant costumes. The annual party — called the Party At BIO Not Associated With BIO, or PABNAB for short — after all, has a reputation for bringing over-the-top themes and festivities to an industry networking event. But Strayer-Benton was shocked and frustrated by what she saw: At least two topless women dancing on mini-stages, their bodies painted with logos of several of the companies that had sponsored the party. (Robbins, 6/12)

The New York Times: How Universities Deal With Sexual Harassment Needs Sweeping Change, Panel Says
Years of efforts to prevent sexual harassment of women in the fields of science, engineering and medicine have not succeeded, and a sweeping overhaul is needed in the way universities and institutions deal with the issue, a major new report by a national advisory panel concluded on Tuesday. “Despite significant attention in recent years, there is no evidence to suggest that current policies, procedures, and approaches have resulted in a significant reduction in sexual harassment,” said the report, which was more than two years in the making, starting well before the #MeToo era. It was issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, independent agencies that advise the government and the public. (Belluck, 6/12)

Stat: Sexual Harassment Is Rampant In Science, Landmark Report Finds
“Most of that harassment is not the Harvey Weinstein harassment. It’s the everyday put-downs, and exclusions, and belittlings. It’s all of the ways of making women feel unwelcome,” said Kathryn Clancy, a member of the committee that produced the report and a University of Illinois anthropologist who has studied sexual harassment in science. (Thielking, 6/12)

The New York Times: A Crispr Conundrum: How Cells Fend Off Gene Editing
Human cells resist gene editing by turning on defenses against cancer, ceasing reproduction and sometimes dying, two teams of scientists have found. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Medicine, at first appeared to cast doubt on the viability of the most widely used form of gene editing, known as Crispr-Cas9 or simply Crispr, sending the stocks of some biotech companies into decline on Monday. (Zimmer, 6/12)

The Washington Post: Kids In These U.S. Hot Spots At Higher Risk Because Parents Opt Out Of Vaccinations
Public health officials have long known that the United States has pockets of vulnerability where the risk of measles and other vaccine-preventable childhood diseases is higher because parents hesitate or refuse to get their children immunized. Eighteen states allow parents to opt their children out of school immunization requirements for nonmedical reasons, with exemptions for religious or philosophical beliefs. And in two-thirds of those states, a comprehensive new analysis finds a rising number of kindergartners who have not been vaccinated. (Sun, 6/12)

The New York Times: High Blood Pressure At Age 50 Tied To Dementia Risk
Elevated blood pressure at age 50 is linked to an increased risk for dementia in later years, a new study reports. The research, published in the European Heart Journal, found that systolic blood pressure (the top number) as low as 130 increased the risk, even though 140 is the usual level at which treatment with blood pressure medication is recommended. (Bakalar, 6/12)

The Wall Street Journal: The Great Egg Debate: Are They Healthy Or Not?
Are eggs good for you or not? It’s never been more confusing for consumers to answer that seemingly simple question. Vilified for years for their high cholesterol content, eggs more recently have broken back into dietary fashion. Nutrition experts today are touting eggs’ high levels of protein, essential vitamins and nutrients like brain-booster choline. (Byron, 6/12)

The New York Times: C-Sections Not Tied To Overweight Children
Several studies have suggested that babies born by cesarean section are at higher risk for obesity in childhood than those born vaginally, perhaps because of differences in the babies’ microbiomes. But a new analysis suggests that mode of birth has no effect on body mass index in children. The new study, in JAMA Pediatrics, used a large clinical database to study 16,140 siblings born between 1987 and 2003 and their 8,070 mothers. Of these, there were 2,052 siblings of whom one was delivered vaginally and one by cesarean section. Looking at these sibling pairs eliminates most other variables that could affect childhood B.M.I., such as socioeconomic factors, the health and weight of the mother, race and ethnicity, so that the effect of mode of delivery alone can be determined. (Bakalar, 6/12)

NPR: Electrocardiograms Not Worth It For Low-Risk Patients
Doctors shouldn't routinely perform electrocardiograms on patients at low risk for heart disease, an influential federal panel is recommending. While an ECG test of the heart's electrical activity is safe and inexpensive, the benefits for patients at low risk of heart disease are very low and the results can trigger possibly dangerous, unnecessary follow-up testing and treatment, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. (Stein, 6/12)

The New York Times: Exercise Vs. Standing? You Probably Need To Do Both
Exercise alone is probably not enough for us to achieve and maintain good health. We must also try to sit less, according to a fascinating new study of the separate physiological effects that exercise and light, almost-incidental activities, such as standing up, can have on our bodies. By now, we all know that regular exercise is good for us. The United States national exercise guidelines, which are based on a wealth of scientific evidence, recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise each week in order to lengthen our life spans and reduce our risks of a variety of diseases. (Reynolds, 6/13)

The New York Times: He Had No Symptoms — Except He Felt Nauseated All The Time.
“Dad, you have to come home, right away,” the woman said calmly but insistently on the phone to her 73-year-old father. He and her mother had just embarked on a two-week European vacation with close friends, but he told his daughter that he had never felt this sick. It frightened her that this man, who was in excellent health, competed in triathlons and whose stoicism was a family joke, felt bad enough to call her from France to tell her how the very smell of food nauseated him. Eating, he said, was even worse. For days, he hadn’t been able to do much more than nibble the bread and sip the water and try to pretend that he was having a good time. He and his wife had been looking forward to this post-retirement trip for so long that he couldn’t bear to ruin it. But he wasn’t sure he could make it to the end. (Sanders, 6/13)

Los Angeles Times: What Causes ‘Chemobrain’? It’s Time For Neuroscientists To Get Serious About Finding Out, Experts Say
At some point in their treatment for cancer, somewhere between 17% and 75% of patients with malignancies that don’t affect the central nervous system report the sensation that a mental fog has set in. For months or years after their hair has grown back, the exhaustion has lifted and the medical appointments taper off, the “new normal” for these patients includes problems with concentration, word-finding, short-term memory and multitasking. (Healy, 6/13)

The New York Times: Can’t Sleep? Let Bob Ross Help You Find Some Happy Little Zzzs
For years, insomniacs have been lulled to sleep by the dulcet voice of Bob Ross, the bushy-haired painter whose PBS show, “The Joy of Painting,” rose to popularity in the 1990s and has lately enjoyed a second life on YouTube. Now, the maker of a popular meditation app hopes Mr. Ross will put everyone else to sleep, too. Calm.com, which produces meditation products, is recasting classic episodes of “The Joy of Painting” into “Sleep Stories,” an audio series designed for restless adults to ease the burden of slumber. It is the first time the company that manages Mr. Ross’s estate has agreed to license audio of the show that turned Mr. Ross into a celebrity and, after his death in 1995, a pop culture favorite. (Holson, 6/12)

The Associated Press: What Goes Into A Go-Bag? How To Prepare An Emergency Kit
Heather Kretzer, a health consultant for the Florida Department of Health in Panama City, lives near the water. But the most recent call for an evacuation in her area wasn't because of a hurricane but because of an active shooter. The incident, which did not result in any bystanders being injured but did lead to the temporary evacuation of an apartment complex, drove home to Kretzer the need for all families to have a survival bag they can grab in an emergency. (6/12)

Reuters: 'We Are Still At War' With Ebola: WHO Chief
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday cautioned against declaring victory too early in Congo's Ebola epidemic, despite encouraging signs that it may be brought under control. "The outbreak is stabilising, but still the outbreak is not over," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists on a visit to Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa. "We are still at war, and we need to continue to strengthen our surveillance and ... be very vigilant." (Nyemba, 6/12)

The Associated Press: Puerto Rico Issues New Data On Hurricane Maria Deaths
Eight days after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, Efrain Perez felt a pain in his chest. Doctors near his small town sent him to Puerto Rico's main hospital for emergency surgery for an aortic aneurysm. But when the ambulance pulled into the parking lot in the capital, San Juan, after a more than two-hour drive, a doctor ran out to stop it. (6/12)

The Associated Press: Judge Allows Missouri Medical Abortion Rules To Stand
A federal judge has denied a Planned Parenthood request to block new Missouri regulations on abortion that have so far prevented the organization from offering medication-induced abortions at two of its clinics. U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips wrote in a ruling Monday that the regulations "have virtually no benefit" but do not impose enough of a burden on women to be considered unconstitutional, The Columbia Tribune reported. (6/12)

The Associated Press: Patients Being Tested For HIV After Nurse Reused Syringes
A Cherokee Nation hospital in Oklahoma is testing more than 180 patients for HIV and hepatitis after allegations that a nurse reused syringes to administer medications. The nurse violated protocols by using the same vial of medication and syringe to inject multiple intravenous bags at W.W. Hastings Hospital in Tahlequah, according to Cherokee officials. The nurse no longer works for the tribe, the Tulsa World reported. (6/12)

The Associated Press: Brothers Who Ran 7-Year Health Fraud Scam Face Sentencing
Two brothers who ran a bribes-for-referrals health fraud scam that brought in more than $100 million over several years were due in court Wednesday to face sentencing, in a case that already has produced more than 50 guilty pleas or convictions. David and Scott Nicoll were arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy and money laundering through their New Jersey company, Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services. Of more than 50 people who have pleaded guilty since then, more than three dozen were doctors who admitted taking bribes. (6/13)

The Associated Press: Rare Type Of Tick Inexplicably Turns Up In Arkansas
A hardy, invasive species of tick that survived a New Jersey winter and subsequently traversed the mid-Atlantic has mysteriously arrived in Arkansas. No one is sure how the Longhorned tick, native to East Asia, arrived in the country, nor how it made its way to the middle of the continent. The Arkansas Agriculture Department said late Monday researchers at Oklahoma State University had confirmed a tick found on a dog in Benton County in the far northwestern corner of the state was a Longhorned tick. Until then, the bug had only been reported in New Jersey, Virginia and West Virginia. (Grabenstein, 6/12)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Expands Homeless Services With Toilets In Venice And Overnight Parking In Hollywood And North Hollywood
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to expand services for homeless people in areas where the city of Los Angeles has struggled. The supervisors approved the overnight placement of two portable toilets and hand-washing stations at the Rose Avenue beach parking lot in Venice Beach — the latest development in an ongoing debate about bathroom access for the homeless. (Agrawal, 6/12)