First Edition: June 29, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Father’s And Son’s Injuries Lead To The Mother Of All Therapy Bills
Angel Dean Lopez is a Hollywood television writer and father who enjoys doing projects with his three kids. Every fall, he helps them transform 7-inch-long blocks of wood into whimsical race cars for the neighborhood’s annual Pinewood Derby in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.“So you have to take your block of wood, shape it, sand it, paint it, use your imagination,” Lopez said, pointing to some favorites from derbies past that sit on a shelf in his home office — cars in the shape of an ice cream cone, a penguin and an Altoids peppermint box. (O'Neill, 6/29)

California Healthline: Under Pressure, California Lawmakers Ban Soda Taxes For 12 Years
“The industry is aiming basically a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, ‘If you don’t do what we want, we’re going to pull the trigger and you’re not going to be able to fund basic government services,'” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “This is a ‘pick your poison’ kind of a situation, a Sophie’s Choice, if you will.” (Young, 6/28)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Podcast Turns 1. Justice Kennedy Retires. Now What?
The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has triggered a political earthquake in Washington, as Republicans see a chance to cement a conservative majority and Democrats fear a potential overturn of abortion rights and anti-discrimination laws, and even — possibly — challenges to the Affordable Care Act. Kennedy has been the deciding vote in dozens of cases over his long career on the high court, mostly siding with conservatives but crossing ideological lines often enough that liberals see him as the last bulwark against challenges from the right to many policies. (6/28)

The New York Times: With Roe In The Balance, Two Republicans Hold High Court In Their Hands
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s retirement announcement was less than a day old when liberal activists rallied on the steps of the Supreme Court on Thursday, invoking the names of two Republican senators who, they believe, hold the future of Roe v. Wade in their hands. “Remember Susan Collins! Remember Lisa Murkowski!” Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress, exhorted the crowd. “If they claim to be pro-choice, choice is on the line with this decision.” (Stolberg, 6/28)

The Washington Post: ‘Everyone Is Focused On Lisa And Susan’: The Two Most Powerful Senators In The Fight To Replace Kennedy
“It’s been kind of interesting in this firestorm. Afterward, everyone is focused on Lisa and Susan,” Murkowski said in an interview Thursday. “If I were John or Jerry or Bill, I’d say, ‘Wait a minute. How come I’m not being viewed as an important voice in this process?’ ” But Murkowski and Collins are the rare elected Republicans in Washington who support abortion rights and voted against repealing the Obama-era Affordable Care Act — issues Democrats are using to frame the battle over the Supreme Court nominee. (Kim, 6/28)

The Washington Post: ‘Which Side Are You On?’: Liberals Pressure Centrist Democrats On Trump’s Court Pick
Three centrist Democrats fighting for their political lives faced growing pressure from liberal activists and some of their own Senate colleagues Thursday to oppose President Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court. Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana already were navigating tough politics five months before the midterms, seeking reelection in states Trump won by hefty double digits in 2016. Each is critical to Democratic chances of wresting control of the Senate in November. (Sullivan, 6/28)

The New York Times: Denied A Filibuster, Democrats Eye Other Tactics In Supreme Court Fight
This truly will be a Supreme Court confirmation like none before. It will be the first for a court vacancy that opened during the Trump administration. It will be the first in an election year since President Barack Obama’s nominee was blocked by Republicans in 2016. Most importantly, it will be the first time the process has begun with the threat of a filibuster off the table. (Hulse, 6/28)

The New York Times: Political War Over Replacing Kennedy On Supreme Court Is Underway
A political war over replacing Justice Anthony M. Kennedy roared to life on Thursday in Washington, the start of an election-season clash over a Supreme Court retirement that will reshape the country’s judicial future. Hours after Justice Kennedy’s announcement on Wednesday that he will step down July 31, conservative organizations were mobilizing to support the Republican-controlled Senate in a quick confirmation of a justice who would be expected to vote against the court’s liberal precedents. One group, the Judicial Crisis Network, has already started a $1 million ad campaign urging people to support the president’s choice. (Shear and Kaplan, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Both Parties Mobilize For Supreme Court Battle Over Kennedy’s Successor
The White House again has enlisted Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, a conservative lawyers network, to assist in a selection process that already is focusing on fewer than a half-dozen candidates. Within hours of Justice Kennedy’s retirement announcement Wednesday, Mr. Leo took a leave of absence from the Federalist Society to serve as Mr. Trump’s outside adviser on the nomination. (Radnofsky and Jamerson, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Abortion Foes Play Down Possibility Of Immediately Overturning Roe V. Wade
Leaders of the antiabortion movement said Thursday that they are in no hurry to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, saying they plan to stick with their long-standing strategy of pushing for incremental restrictions despite the tantalizing prospect of a more conservative Supreme Court. Even with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy’s announced retirement, these activists said they are not sure the time is ripe for a wholesale reconsideration of the 1973 ruling. (Gardner, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Abortion Foes To Take New Aim At Roe V. Wade
With Justice Kennedy’s retirement, President Donald Trump could replace him with a justice who is more likely to side with the court’s four conservative members on abortion issues. As a candidate, Mr. Trump promised to appoint “pro-life” justices with a “conservative bent” to the Supreme Court. His first appointee to the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch, has yet to review an abortion case. Justice Kennedy didn’t always side with the liberal bloc of the court on abortion cases, but he did in the 1992 ruling Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed the central holding of Roe—that women have a constitutional right to first-trimester abortions. He voted with the four left-leaning justices again in 2016 to strike down Texas restrictions on abortion providers, in a case that made it easier for women to argue that regulations placed an undue burden on their rights. (Palazzolo and Hong, 6/28)

NPR: What Justice Kennedy's Retirement Means For Abortion Rights
Almost as soon as Kennedy's retirement was announced, several anti-abortion rights groups seized on the moment."We're the closest we've ever been to overturning Roe v. Wade," a woman says in a video released online by the group Students for Life of America shortly after the news broke. In an interview with NPR, Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins called the retirement of the court's swing vote "a day that we've been waiting for." (McCammon, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: If A Reshaped Supreme Court Tosses Abortion Decisions Back To States, Several Would Move Fast To Outlaw The Procedures
President Trump’s ability to reshape the Supreme Court with a conservative nominee could quickly send the nation back to a reality that had seemed far in the past: Abortion would be illegal in a large swath of America, subjecting doctors and perhaps pregnant women to criminal prosecution and potentially upending the political landscape in many states. As many as 17 states are poised to effectively ban abortion should the Supreme Court overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. If the decision were overturned, each state could set its own rules on abortion. (Halper, 6/28)

The New York Times: Inside The White House’s Quiet Campaign To Create A Supreme Court Opening
President Trump singled him out for praise even while attacking other members of the Supreme Court. The White House nominated people close to him to important judicial posts. And members of the Trump family forged personal connections. Their goal was to assure Justice Anthony M. Kennedy that his judicial legacy would be in good hands should he step down at the end of the court’s term that ended this week, as he was rumored to be considering. (Liptak and Haberman, 6/28)

The Washington Post: ‘If It Wasn’t The Roberts Court Already, It Is The Roberts Court Now’
With the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and the likelihood that President Trump will choose a more conservative replacement, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is poised to play a pivotal role on the court he has headed for 13 years. Roberts has been content to play the long game, moving the court to the right with incremental steps. But now, with more conservative colleagues on one side and liberals on the other, Roberts will have the ability to supply the deciding fifth vote and dictate the terms of the deal. (Barnes, 6/28)

The Associated Press: US Supreme Court Declines City’s Bid On Abortion-Notice Law
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear from a Maryland city that wants pregnancy centers opposed to abortion to notify patients they don’t provide such services. The Daily Record of Baltimore reports the high court declined Thursday to hear Baltimore’s appeal of a lower-court ruling that struck down a city ordinance requiring notification. (6/28)

The New York Times: 4 Misleading Or False Claims From Trump’s North Dakota Rally
President Trump mounted a case for electing more Republicans to Congress in November with misleading attacks on Democrats and exaggerated boasts of his achievements at a campaign rally in Fargo, N.D., on Wednesday night. ... Mr. Trump also updated his familiar stump speech — and its repeated inaccuracies — with a few new claims. Here’s a fact check. (Qiu, 6/28)

The New York Times: In Human Trafficking Report, State Dept. Warns Against Separating Children From Parents
The State Department warned in a report on Thursday that separating children from their parents can cause lasting psychological damage that leaves them vulnerable to trafficking, a cautionary tale that comes amid an uproar over a Trump administration immigration policy that has temporarily broken up migrant families as they enter the United States. (Harris, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Ivanka Trump Helps Unveil Administration Report That Decries The Effect Of Separating Children From Parents
A new 68-page report on international human trafficking, unveiled by Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo during a ceremony with Ivanka Trump at the State Department, devotes two pages to withering condemnation of separating families. The harmful "physical and psychological effects of staying in residential institutions," it said, put children at additional risk of human trafficking. (Bierman, 6/28)

The New York Times: Amazon To Buy Online Pharmacy PillPack, Jumping Into The Drug Business
In the world of health care, PillPack, an online pharmacy, is a pretty small player. Its work force of 1,000 or so people pales in comparison with the 235,000 who work for Walgreens. But when Amazon announced on Thursday that it was buying PillPack, the deal immediately shook the industry. Shares of Walgreens and Rite Aid tumbled more than 9 percent, while CVS Health dropped 6.6 percent. That’s because with one move, Amazon answered the question about when — and how — it would grab a piece of the $560 billion prescription drug industry. (Ballentine and Thomas, 6/28)

Reuters: Amazon To Buy PillPack In Potentially Disruptive Drug Retail Push
The deal's potential to disrupt major players across the drug supply chain nationwide prompted a sell-off in shares of possible rivals, while sending Amazon shares up 2.5 percent. PillPack supplies pre-sorted prescription drugs and other services to people who take multiple medications, a growing market as the U.S. population ages and requires treatment for multiple complex, chronic conditions. Amazon is vying for a share of what is a more than $450 billion total U.S. prescription drug market, according to research firm IQVIA. (Rai and Banerjee, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Amazon Buys Online Pharmacy PillPack For $1 Billion
But the health-care market may be challenging for Amazon to disrupt. It is highly regulated, and depends on a complex web of contracts, interconnected data systems and other relationships with health plans, drug-benefit managers and other health-care players that Amazon may not want to alienate if it wants its pharmacy business to prosper. Walgreens executives were holding a conference call with financial analysts when Amazon announced the deal. Walgreens CEO Stefano Pessina said the company is “not particularly worried” about the move. (Terlep and Stevens, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind PillPack’s $1 Billion Sale, A Frustrated 32-Year-Old Pharmacist
TJ Parker grew up working the counter for his father’s pharmacy in Concord, N.H., where he became frustrated by how much customers struggled to keep track of their medications. He went to pharmacy school but rather than take up the family business, he and a friend set out to change it. In 2013, they launched an online pharmacy from Manchester, N.H. On Thursday, the 32-year-old CEO said he sold his startup to Amazon.com Inc. It was a roughly $1 billion deal, according to people familiar with the deal. Mr. Parker is expected to stay involved after the deal, said a person familiar with the matter. (Brown and Terlep, 6/28)

Reuters: U.S. Charges Hundreds In Healthcare Fraud, Opioid Crackdown
The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday announced charges against 601 people including doctors for taking part in healthcare frauds that resulted in over $2 billion in losses and contributed to the nation's opioid epidemic in some cases. The arrests came in dozens of unrelated prosecutions the Justice Department announced together as part of an annual healthcare fraud takedown. (Raymond, 6/28)

Reuters: U.S. Fines CVS For Failing To Report Opioid Theft In New York
CVS Health Corp agreed to pay a $1.5 million civil fine to resolve U.S. charges that some of its pharmacies in Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York failed to report in a timely manner the loss or theft of prescription drugs, including the opioid hydrocodone. Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, on Thursday said delays contribute to opioid abuse, and that CVS' failures impeded the ability of Drug Enforcement Administration agents to investigate, violating federal law. (Stempel, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Some Good News In The Fight Against Opioid Overdose Deaths
Prisoners addicted to opioids are at an extremely high risk of overdose in the period right after their release. A bill that just passed the House is designed to help. Post-incarceration overdose risk is a consequence of how the body responds to the use and non-use of opioids. Long-term, regular use of opioids (e.g., OxyContin, heroin) results in physical tolerance, meaning that larger and larger doses are needed to get the same effect. Because obtaining a steady supply of drugs in prison is very difficult, opioid-addicted offenders generally lose tolerance while behind bars. The result: If they take their “usual dose” after leaving prison, the effects can be fatal. (Humphreys, 6/28)

The New York Times: How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached, Study Finds
Since 1900, average life expectancy around the globe has more than doubled, thanks to better public health, sanitation and food supplies. But a new study of long-lived Italians indicates that we have yet to reach the upper bound of human longevity. “If there’s a fixed biological limit, we are not close to it,” said Elisabetta Barbi, a demographer at the University of Rome. Dr. Barbi and her colleagues published their research Thursday in the journal Science. (Zimmer, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Good News For Human Life Spans — At Age 105, Death Rates Suddenly Stop Going Up
Jeanne Louise Calment lived for 122 years and 164 days, the oldest verified age of any person, ever. Her interviews revealed a portrait of the centenarian in high spirits: “I've only ever had one wrinkle, and I'm sitting on it,” she told reporters when she turned 110. Calment died in 1997 in Arles, France, where she spent much of her impressively long life. No one else, according to accurate records, has lived beyond 120 years. (Guarino, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Can Humans Reach Even Older Age? We Haven't Maxed Out Yet, Some Scientists Say
For humankind in general, these findings hint at an intriguing, if largely theoretical, prospect: that the maximum possible human lifespan — essentially, the species’ design limit — has not yet been reached. It may even be extended by means as yet undiscovered. If the “oldest old” tell us how long we could live, then many centenarians could, in principle, get even older. And maybe older still with the right elixir. “This data suggest our genetic heritage is permissive,” Wachter said. “Our bodies are not put together so that at some point, everything goes wrong.” (Healy, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Romaine Lettuce Outbreak Tied To Tainted Irrigation Canal
Tainted irrigation water appears to be the source of a national food poisoning outbreak linked to romaine lettuce, health officials said Thursday. About 200 people were sickened in the E. coli outbreak and five people died. The outbreak, which started in the spring, is now over, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (6/28)

The Washington Post: Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreak Is Over As New Evidence Points To Tainted Water
“More work needs to be done to determine just how and why this strain of E. coli 0157:H7 could have gotten into this body of water and how that led to contamination of romaine lettuce from multiple farms,” he said. FDA officials, who have been investigating the source of the outbreak since mid-March, are trying to determine whether canal water was used to irrigate the lettuce fields. The Yuma region — which includes farms across the Colorado River in southeastern California — grows the overwhelming majority of the lettuce and other leafy greens consumed in the United States in the winter months. (Sun, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Another US Diplomat Hurt In Mystery Incidents In Cuba
The State Department confirmed Thursday that another U.S. diplomat has been affected by mysterious health incidents in Cuba, bringing the total of Americans suffering from such ailments to 26. Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the diplomat was "medically confirmed" to have experienced health effects similar to those reported by other members of the U.S. Havana diplomatic community. (6/28)

The Washington Post: College Students Are Forming Mental-Health Clubs — And They’re Making A Difference
Mental-health problems among college students have been climbing since the 1990s, according to the American Psychological Association. And with services increasingly stretched at campus health centers, students have been taking action themselves through peer-run mental-health clubs and organizations. The approach appears to be paying off, a new study finds. (Nutt, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Cyndi Lauper Unveils Report On LGBTQ Youth Homelessness
Years before reaching pop music stardom, Cyndi Lauper was down on her luck, broke and homeless. She was in her late teens and ready to move out of her family’s house, but her parents wouldn’t sign a lease for her own place. She found a job at a restaurant, but that didn’t pan out either and she ended up living on the streets and in a shelter in Vermont. “I felt like a failure because I couldn’t even be a good waitress,” the singer recounted Thursday morning to a small group of journalists in the courtyard of a luxury hotel off the Sunset Strip. (Pena, 6/28)

The Associated Press: California Bows To Beverage Industry, Blocks Soda Taxes
A new push by the beverage industry is slowing the expansion of soda taxes in California and elsewhere. California cities pioneered soda taxes as a way to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday bowed to pressure from beverage companies and reluctantly banned local taxes on soda for the next 12 years. (6/28)

Reuters: California Prohibits City Soda Taxes Through 2030
The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown as a compromise in the face of a soda industry-backed ballot initiative, prevents any local government from imposing future taxes on groceries including carbonated and noncarbonated nonalcoholic beverages through 2030. So-called soda taxes gained traction in the San Francisco area in 2014 and 2016. (Prentice, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Mother: Girl At Center Of Debate Over Brain Death Dies
A girl at the center of the medical and religious debate over brain death has died after surgery in New Jersey, her mother said Thursday. Nailah Winkfield said doctors declared her daughter Jahi McMath dead on June 22 from excessive bleeding and liver failure after an operation to treat an intestinal issue. (6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Jahi McMath, Girl At Center Of Debate Over Brain Death, Dies, Mother Says
In the years since Jahi McMath was declared brain dead, she sometimes showed signs of life: a twitch of her finger, the wiggling of a toe. Those moments, and their Christian faith, invigorated Jahi’s family in their fight to keep the girl on life support. “Jahi wasn't brain dead or any kind of dead,” her mother, Nailah Winkfield, told the Associated Press. “She was a girl with a brain injury, and she deserved to be cared for like any other child who had a brain injury.” (Tchekmedyian, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Judge Temporarily Blocks Abortion Reporting Rule In Indiana
A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked a new Indiana law's requirement that medical providers report detailed patient information to the state if they treat women for complications arising from abortions. U.S. District Judge Richard Young granted the preliminary injunction sought by Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky. The order blocks the provision in a state law taking effect Sunday. (6/28)

The Associated Press: Officials: Kentucky's Hepatitis A Outbreak Now Worst In US
The hepatitis A outbreak in Louisville and other parts of Kentucky is now the worst in the country. The Courier Journal reports state health officials confirmed Wednesday at least 969 people have contracted the liver disease. State Public Health department Commissioner Dr. Jeff Howard says the outbreak is the worst on record across the nation and in Kentucky. (6/28)

The Associated Press: Appeals Court: Infants, Preschoolers Must Get Flu Shot
New York City's requirement that infants and preschoolers in city-regulated child care or school-based programs must get yearly flu shots was upheld Thursday by the state's highest court. The Court of Appeals said that the city's Department of Health had the authority to require the shots, a rule the city first enacted in 2013 during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration. (6/28)

The Associated Press: Clinic Opens Hours After Oklahoma Approves Medical Marijuana
A clinic for prescribing medical marijuana opened in Tulsa just hours after Oklahoma voters approved the pot measure — and before election officials had even certified the vote. Tulsa Higher Care Clinic opened Wednesday morning, although it could be weeks before residents can apply for a license to possess marijuana for medical purposes. (6/28)