First Edition: October 16, 2019

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Biden Gets Too Specific On ‘Medicare For All’ Tax Hikes
Sparring over “Medicare for All” and universal health care, former Vice President Joe Biden leaned on a new variation of his attack line, highlighting potential costs to middle-class Americans. “For people making between $50,000 and $75,000 a year, their taxes are going up about $5,000 because the fact is, they will pay more in new taxes,” Biden said. (Luthra, 10/16)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: Warren Trots Out Her Own Harvard Law Research
In a back-and-forth about “Medicare for All” and the cost of health care, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) directed the discussion back to medical debt and bankruptcy — citing her own work from Harvard Law School. “Back when I was studying it, two out of three families that ended up in bankruptcy after a serious medical problem had health insurance,” Warren said. This is a new emphasis in the ongoing debate over health care costs, and the debate over what role health care plays in American finances. Instead of focusing on uninsurance, Warren stepped into whether the insurance people currently have is sufficient. (Luthra, 10/16)

California Healthline: No More Tater Tots? California Schools Put Healthier Lunches To The Test
When Miguel Villarreal addresses a crowded education conference, a group of school district administrators or a room full of curious parents, he often holds aloft a foil-wrapped package of Pop-Tarts — the heavily processed, high-sugar snack routinely sold on school campuses. Villarreal, who oversees nutrition for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District in Northern California, then speaks clearly and loudly as he unloads the news: “School food services are completely broken.” (Kreidler, 10/15)

The New York Times: Warren Draws Fire From All Sides, Reflecting A Shift In Fortunes In Race
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts faced a sustained barrage of criticism from her Democratic rivals at a presidential debate in Ohio on Tuesday, tangling with a group of underdog moderates who assailed her liberal economic proposals, while former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to fade from the fray after parrying President Trump’s attacks on his family. The debate confirmed that the primary race had entered a new phase, defined by Ms. Warren’s apparent strength and the increasing willingness of other Democrats to challenge her. (Burns and Martin, 10/15)

Politico: Warren's Charmed Campaign Just Entered A Brutal New Phase
Warren’s biggest gains have come since the last debate, so Tuesday's debate was the natural point for a more full-throated engagement from the other candidates. Until now, three elements central to Warren’s candidacy have received relatively little pressure from her opponents as she has slowly ticked up in the polls. (Lizza, 10/16)

The New York Times: 6 Takeaways From The October Democratic Debate
For a candidate who has risen in the polls based on her policy acumen and specifics, Ms. Warren’s unwillingness to address the question of whether her “Medicare for all” plan would require higher taxes on the middle class was striking. And her opponents put her on the defensive. (Goldmacher and Epstein, 10/16)

The New York Times: ‘Medicare For All’: Elizabeth Warren And Pete Buttigieg Clash At Debate
Pete Buttigieg directly criticized Elizabeth Warren over health care at Tuesday night’s debate, saying that she had not been forthcoming about whether she would raise taxes on the middle class to help finance “Medicare for all.” Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator, was asked if she would raise taxes on the middle class, and she responded by focusing on the costs that middle-class families would face. “I will not sign a bill into law that does not lower costs for middle-class families,” she said. (Kaplan, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Elizabeth Warren Faces Debate Attacks Over Healthcare
“This is why people here in the Midwest are so frustrated with Washington in general, and Capitol Hill in particular. Your signature, Senator, is to have a plan for everything — except this,” South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said to Warren. “No plan has been laid out to explain how a multi-trillion-dollar hole in this Medicare for all plan that Sen. Warren is putting forward is expected to get filled in.” (Mehta, 10/15)

CNN: Ideological Divide In Democratic Primary Exposed As Moderates Gang Up On Elizabeth Warren
"I don't understand why you believe the only way to deliver affordable coverage is to obliterate private plans," Buttigieg said to Warren. "We're competing to be president for the day after Trump. Our country will be polarized, more than now. After everything we have been through, after everything we are about to go through, this country will be more divided. Why divide this country over health care when there's a better way to deliver coverage for all?" (Reston, 10/16)

The New York Times: Amy Klobuchar Goes After Elizabeth Warren Over Health Care Plan In Debate
Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has championed a single-payer system, said taxes would go up for “virtually everybody.” But he added that the tax increase would be substantially less than what people currently pay for premiums and out-of-pocket health care expenses. “At least Bernie is being honest here, and saying how he’s going to pay for this and that taxes are going to go up,” Ms. Klobuchar, of Minnesota, said after his comments. “And I’m sorry, Elizabeth, but you have not said that and I think we owe the American people to tell them where we will send the invoice.” (Zraick, 10/15)

Politico: Klobuchar Charges At Warren
“I want to give a reality check here to Elizabeth because no one on this stage wants to protect billionaires — not even the billionaire wants to protect billionaires,” Klobuchar said, referencing Tom Steyer, the environmental activist and former hedge fund manager participating in the debate. “We just have different approaches. Your idea is not the only idea.” Warren responded in part that “the rich are not like you and me,” asserting that “the really, really billionaires are making their money off their accumulated wealth, and it just keeps growing.” She added: “Look, I understand that this is hard, but I think, as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started.” (Forgey, 10/15)

Reuters: Warren Comes Under Attack On Healthcare, Taxes At U.S. Democratic Presidential Debate
"I have made clear what my principles are here, and that is that costs will go up for the wealthy and for big corporations and, for hard-working middle-class families, costs will go down," [Warren] said. The expansive Medicare for All proposal, based on the government-run healthcare plan for Americans over age 65, has sharply divided Democratic presidential contenders. Some analysts have said it would cost $32 trillion over a decade. Many other Democratic candidates back a Medicare-based plan as just one option for Americans seeking healthcare coverage. (Hunnicutt and Renshaw, 10/16)

The Washington Post: Warren Faces First Sustained Attack In Debate That Begins With Unified Condemnation Of Trump
Warren fought back against the attacks, casting her challengers as too small-minded or timid for the moment, or as part of an entrenched political system that is dominated by corporations and the wealthy. “Look, I understand that this is hard, but I think as Democrats, we are going to succeed when we dream big and fight hard, not when we dream small and quit before we get started,” Warren said. (Olorunnipa, Janes and Viser, 10/16)

NPR: 6 Takeaways From The 4th Democratic Presidential Primary Debate
But while a similar line from Warren at an earlier debate got thunderous applause, it didn't land the same way this time, and Klobuchar was ready with a response, going after Warren for, in her view, dismissing others' plans because they weren't hers. "You know, I think simply because you have different ideas doesn't mean you're [not] fighting for regular people," Klobuchar said. (Montanaro, 10/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Warren Pressed On Health-Care Plan At Democratic Debate
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas joined in the critique of Ms. Warren, saying “sometimes, I think that Senator Warren is more focused on being punitive or pitting some part of the country against the other, instead of lifting people up and making sure that this country comes together around the solutions.” Ms. Warren appeared puzzled, telling Mr. O’Rourke, “I’m really shocked at the notion that anyone thinks I’m punitive.” (Thomas, Siddiqui and McCormick, 10/16)

Politico: Dems Go After Warren, And Other Big Moments From Tuesday’s Debate
Sanders, noting (again) that he “wrote the damn bill” on Medicare for all, said that “deductibles are gone. All out-of-pocket expenses are gone ... At the end of the day, the overwhelming majority of people will save money on their health care bills. I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. They will go up significantly for the wealthy and for virtually everybody, the tax increase will be substantially less -- substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expansions.” (Caputo and McCaskill, 10/15)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The Democratic Debate
What Mr. Sanders said: “I do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. They’re going to go up significantly for the wealthy and for virtually everybody, the tax increase they pay will be substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out-of-pocket expenses.” This lacks evidence. Mr. Sanders’s health care plan would substantially increase the amount that the federal government spends. Estimates of its precise cost vary, but according to an estimate from the conservative Mercatus Center, which Mr. Sanders has mentioned approvingly, federal spending would need to increase by about 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, triple what the government spends on the military. (10/15)

The New York Times: Kamala Harris Calls For Attention On Reproductive Rights At Debate
Senator Kamala Harris of California made an impassioned plea on Tuesday for her fellow presidential candidates to focus on women’s access to reproductive health care, generating applause. “This is the sixth debate we have had in this presidential cycle,” she said at the night’s debate in Ohio. “And not nearly one word, with all of these discussions about health care, on women’s access to reproductive health care, which is under full-on attack in America today. And it’s outrageous.” (Murphy, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris Slams Republicans On Abortion, Says They're Killing Poor Women Of Color
“There are states that have passed laws that will virtually prevent women from having access to reproductive healthcare,” she said at the CNN/New York Times debate in Westerville, Ohio. “And it is not an exaggeration to say women will die. Poor women, women of color will die because these Republican legislatures in these various states who are out of touch with America are telling women what to do with their bodies.” Harris hadn’t been asked about abortion. But when her turn came to respond to comments by other candidates on healthcare, she raised her voice in protest. The crowd cheered Harris several times. (Finnegan, 10/15)

The New York Times: Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden And Elizabeth Warren Discuss Age At Debate
Loath as the candidates have been to talk about it, age is an inescapable subject in this Democratic primary: The three highest-polling candidates are all in their 70s, and one of them just had a heart attack. So it was perhaps not surprising that, about two hours into the debate on Tuesday, the moderators bluntly asked how Senator Bernie Sanders, 78, Joseph R. Biden Jr., 76, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, 70, could assure voters that they were up to the rigors of the presidency. (Astor, 10/15)

The Associated Press: Takeaways: Warren Under Fire, 70s Club Ignores Age Issue
Biden promised to release his medical records before the Iowa caucuses next year and said he was running because the country needs an elder statesman in the White House after Trump. Warren, whose campaign has highlighted her hours-long sessions posing for selfies with supporters, promised to "out-organize and outlast" any other candidate — including Trump. Then she pivoted to her campaign argument that Democrats need to put forth big ideas rather than return to the past, a dig at Biden. (10/15)

Los Angeles Times: 7 Takeaways From The Democrats' October Debate
At 76, with a penchant for wandering answers and cultural references that can seem cringe-inducingly dated, some say the vice president’s time has come and gone. Obviously, it’s impossible to turn back the clock. Instead, Biden sought to make his longevity an asset. “One of the reasons I’m running is because of my age and experience,” he said, citing his decades in public life and, especially, eight years as vice president. “I know what has to be done and I will not need any on-the-job training the day I take office.” (Barabak, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Sanders, Biden And Warren Talk Age At Democratic Debate
Sen. Bernie Sanders, in his first major public appearance since suffering a heart attack this month, raised the issue as he tried to insert himself into a debate question about the opioid epidemic. “I’m healthy, I’m feeling great,” the Vermont Democrat said, leading moderator Erin Burnett to ask the 78-year-old how he would reassure the American people after his health scare. (Seema Mehta, 10/15)

Politico: What Heart Attack? Bernie Bounces Back At Debate
The inevitable question Sanders received from moderators about his age was relatively brief and painless. Asked how he would reassure Democratic voters that he has the energy to be president after his heart attack, he urged them to come to his rally in New York City this weekend, which drew laughter from some in the crowd. “We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country,” he said. “That is how I think I can reassure the American people.” (Otterbein, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Debate: The Moments That Mattered
Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Buttigieg had a heated exchange over whether to implement a mandatory government buyback of assault weapons, which devolved into the two bickering over who was more courageous. Mr. O’Rourke has become a vocal advocate for tougher gun-control measures after 22 people were killed in a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, in August, and he supports a mandatory buyback program. He said he expected Americans would follow the law and turn in their weapons voluntarily, but guns would be confiscated if people refused and then used their guns for intimidation. (Parti and Collins, 10/16)

Los Angeles Times: Democratic Debate: Candidates Sharpen Attacks
O’Rourke denied he would send law enforcement door-to-door to retrieve guns but struggled to explain how he would otherwise enforce the proposal beyond relying on voluntary compliance from gun owners. “Look, Congressman, you just made it clear that you don’t know how this is actually going to take weapons off the streets. If you can develop the plan further, I think we can have a debate about it,” Buttigieg said. (Mason, Bierman and Halper, 10/15)

Los Angeles Times: Pete Buttigieg And Beto O'Rourke Clash Over Gun Control
“We cannot wait for purity tests; we just have to get something done,” Buttigieg said. “This is not a purity test,” O’Rourke replied, saying that if the government was going to ban the sale of assault rifles for being too dangerous, then logically it followed that those guns should be taken off the streets. O’Rourke also implied that Buttigieg’s caution on confiscations was the result of poll testing and focus groups. Buttigieg replied: “I don’t need lessons from you on courage. We are this close to an assault weapons ban” — for sales, that is. (Pearce, 10/15)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Dems Debate On Guns, Syria, Health Care
PETE BUTTIGIEG: "On guns, we are this close to an assault weapons ban. That would be huge." AMY KLOCHUBAR: "I just keep thinking of how close we are to finally getting something done on this." THE FACTS: No, the U.S. is not close to enacting an assault-weapons ban, as Buttigieg claimed, nor close on any significant gun control, as Klobuchar had it. Congress is not on the verge of such legislation. Prospects for an assault-weapons ban, in particular, are bound to remain slim until the next election at least. (Yen and Woodward, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Fact Check Of The 4th Democratic Debate
“You have half a million people sleeping out on the street today.” –Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) The way Sanders frames this is exaggerated. Sanders’s number come from a single-night survey done by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to measure the number of homeless people. For a single night in January 2018, the estimate was 553,000 people are homeless. But the report also says that two-thirds — nearly 360,000 — were in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs; the other 195,000 were “unsheltered” — i.e., on the street, as Sanders put it. The number has also been trending down over the past decade; it was 650,000 in 2007. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Transcript Of The Fourth Democratic Debate
A field of 12 candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination met onstage in Westerville, Ohio, for a fourth primary debate, this one hosted by CNN and the New York Times. Below is a transcript of the debate; we’ll update it as the text becomes available. (10/16)

The Associated Press: Study: 'Medicare For All' Not Only Way To Universal Coverage
Health care memo to Democrats: there's more than one way to get to coverage for all. A study out Wednesday finds that an approach similar to the plan from former Vice President Joe Bide n can deliver about the same level of coverage as the government-run "Medicare for All" plan from presidential rival Bernie Sanders. The study from the Commonwealth Fund and the Urban Institute think tanks concludes that the U.S. can achieve a goal that has eluded Democrats since Harry Truman by building on former President Barack Obama's health care law. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/16)

The Hill: New Study: Full-Scale 'Medicare For All' Costs $32 Trillion Over 10 Years 
A new study finds that a full-scale single-payer health insurance program, also called "Medicare for All," would cost about $32 trillion over 10 years. The study from the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found $32.01 trillion in new federal revenue would be needed to pay for the plan, highlighting the immense cost of a proposal at the center of the health care debate raging in the presidential race. (Sullivan, 10/16)

The Washington Post: State AGs Dangle $18B Potential Settlement, But Fail To Delay Federal Opioid Trial
An 11th-hour bid to delay a landmark federal opioid trial failed after a group of state attorneys general tried to persuade U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster to give them more time to craft a settlement in their own cases, according to people with familiar with the events. They told Polster they were trying to reach an $18 billion settlement with the nation’s three largest drug distributors, McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, according to the people familiar with the events who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations. (Bernstein, Higham, Horwitz and Davis, 10/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Distributors In Talks To Settle Opioid Litigation For $18 Billion
The three distributors— McKesson Corp. , AmerisourceBergen Corp. , and Cardinal Health Inc. —would collectively pay $18 billion over 18 years under the deal currently on the table, the people said. Johnson & Johnson is also involved in the discussions to contribute additional money, some of the people said. Players up and down the pharmaceutical supply chain, including drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies, have been sued by virtually every state and thousands of city and county governments. Over 2,000 lawsuits allege the industry’s overly aggressive marketing of prescription painkillers and lax oversight over drug distribution contributed to widespread opioid addiction. (Randazzo, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Landmark Opioid Trial Against Giant Drug Companies Begins In Ohio
The U.S. opioids epidemic has claimed more than 400,000 lives and left millions of people addicted, strained health care, law enforcement and social service systems, cost governments billions, and bankrupted the best-known manufacturer of narcotic painkillers. Now, 12 ordinary people will decide whether drug companies should be held responsible for the worst drug crisis in U.S. history and forced to pay billions of dollars to help clean it up. That effort begins Wednesday in U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster’s courtroom on the 18th floor of the federal building here, where attorneys will start picking a jury for the landmark trial. (Bernstein, 10/15)

NPR: Opioid Crisis: A Guide To The Massive (And Massively Complex) Litigation
In less than a week, a landmark battle over who bears responsibility for the U.S. opioid crisis will begin in federal court. The case involves thousands of plaintiffs at virtually every level of government and defendants from every link in the chain of opioid drug production — from major multinational corporations such as Johnson & Johnson and CVS, right down to individual doctors. And on Oct. 21, the first trial is set to kick off before a judge in the Northern District of Ohio. (Dwyer, 10/15)

The Associated Press: New Study: Opioid Crisis Cost US Economy $631B Over 4 Years
The opioid crisis cost the U.S. economy $631 billion from 2015 through last year — and it may keep getting more expensive, according to a study released Tuesday by the Society of Actuaries. The biggest driver of the cost over the four-year period is unrealized lifetime earnings of those who died from the drugs, followed by health care costs. (10/15)

The New York Times: Fed Up With Deaths, Native Americans Want To Run Their Own Health Care
When 6-month-old James Ladeaux got his second upper respiratory infection in a month, the doctor at the Sioux San Indian Health Service Hospital reassured his mother, Robyn Black Lance, that it was only a cold. But 12 hours later James was struggling to breathe. Ms. Black Lance rushed her son back to the hospital in western South Dakota, where the doctors said they did not have the capacity to treat him and transferred him to a private hospital in Rapid City. There he was given a diagnosis of a life-threatening case of respiratory syncytial virus. “They told me if I hadn’t brought him back in, he would have died,” Ms. Black Lance said, choking back tears. (Walker, 10/15)

The Associated Press: Judge In Chicago Latest To Block Trump Green Cards Policy
A federal judge in Chicago had joined three others nationwide in temporarily blocking President Donald Trump's policy to deny green cards to many immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps and other government benefits. Judge Gary Feinerman granted a temporary injunction Monday night blocking the new rules hours before they would have taken effect. It followed rulings by federal judges Friday in California, New York and Washington. (10/15)

ProPublica: Welcome To Coffeyville, Kansas, Where The Judge Has No Law Degree, Debt Collectors Get A Cut Of The Bail, And Americans Are Watching Their Lives — And Liberty — Disappear In The Pursuit Of Medical Debt Collection.
On the last Tuesday of July, Tres Biggs stepped into the courthouse in Coffeyville, Kansas, for medical debt collection day, a monthly ritual in this quiet city of 9,000, just over the Oklahoma border. He was one of 90 people who had been summoned, sued by the local hospital, or doctors, or an ambulance service over unpaid bills. Some wore eye patches and bandages; others limped to their seats by the wood-paneled walls. Biggs, who is 41, had to take a day off from work to be there. He knew from experience that if he didn’t show up, he could be put in jail. Before the morning’s hearing, he listened as defendants traded stories. One woman recalled how, at four months pregnant, she had reported a money order scam to her local sheriff’s office only to discover that she had a warrant; she was arrested on the spot. (Presser, 10/16)

The New York Times: A Young Man Nearly Lost His Life To Vaping
Gregory Rodriguez thought he had the flu when he went to the emergency room on Sept. 18, feeling feverish, nauseated and short of breath. He woke up four days later in a different hospital, with a tube down his throat connecting him to a ventilator, and two more tubes in his neck and groin, running his blood through a device that pumped in oxygen and took out carbon dioxide. The machines were doing the job of his lungs, which had stopped working. (Grady, 10/15)

The Associated Press: Judge Blocks Michigan's Ban On Flavored E-Cigarettes
A Michigan judge temporarily blocked the state's weeks-old ban on flavored e-cigarettes Tuesday, saying it may force adults to return to smoking more harmful tobacco products and has irreparably hurt vaping businesses. Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens put the prohibition on hold until "further order of this court." The preliminary injunction will be appealed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who ordered the creation of the emergency rules in a bid to combat the epidemic of teen vaping. (10/15)

NPR: DNA Sequencing And Rare Disease Cold Cases
When Alex Yiu was born 14 years ago, he seemed like a typical healthy kid. But when he turned 2, his mother Caroline Cheung-Yiu started noticing things that were amiss — first little problems, then much bigger ones. As Alex's health slowly deteriorated, Caroline and her husband, Bandy Yiu, set off on what's become known among families like theirs as a "diagnostic odyssey." This ended up being a 12-year quest that ended after a lucky accident. (Harris, 10/16)

The New York Times: What Are The Benefits Of CBD?
The CBD industry is flourishing, conservatively projected to hit $16 billion in the United States by 2025. Already, the plant extract is being added to cheeseburgers, toothpicks and breath sprays. More than 60 percent of CBD users have taken it for anxiety, according to a survey of 5,000 people, conducted by the Brightfield Group, a cannabis market research firm. Chronic pain, insomnia and depression follow behind. Kim Kardashian West, for example, turned to the product when “freaking out” over the birth of her fourth baby. The professional golfer Bubba Watson drifts off to sleep with it. And Martha Stewart’s French bulldog partakes, too. (MacKeen, 10/16)

The New York Times: What Are The Benefits Of Turmeric?
Have you noticed lattes, ice cream and smoothies with a tawny hue? That could be a sign of a not-so-secret ingredient: turmeric. The botanical is omnipresent in health food aisles, in the form of pills and powders. Turmeric, native to South Asia, is one of the fastest-growing dietary supplements. In 2018 products racked up an estimated $328 million in sales in the United States, a more than sevenfold increase from a decade earlier, according to a report from Nutrition Business Journal. (MacKeen, 10/16)

The New York Times: Is Celery Juice A Sham?
Celery juice has been seemingly everywhere: The murky green potion looks like water from an algae-filled pond, yet its disciples have been downing it by the glassful.  Yes, that staid crunchy workhorse usually smeared with peanut butter has gone to the top of the vegetable cart. (MacKeen, 10/16)

The New York Times: Are There Benefits To Drinking Kombucha?
Kombucha is a fermented food, much like cultured yogurt, cheese, kefir, kimchi and sauerkraut. Traditionally a carbonated drink with live micro-organisms, kombucha is made by brewing together sugar, black or green tea, liquid from a previous batch and the Scoby, short for symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (though its more popular nickname is “mother,” since it reproduces during fermentation). (MacKeen, 10/16)

NPR: How Magic Mushrooms Can Help Smokers Kick The Habit
Carine Chen-McLaughlin smoked for more than 40 years. She didn't want to be a smoker. She'd tried to stop dozens of times over the decades. But she always came back. Smoking was "one of my oldest, dearest friends," she said of her habit. "To not have that relationship was very, very scary." (Sofia and Brumfiel, 10/15)

The New York Times: Exercise Advice For Surviving Cancer, And Maybe Avoiding It
Even a little exercise may help people avoid and survive many types of cancer, according to new exercise guidelines released today that focus on how exercise affects cancer outcomes. The guidelines, issued jointly by the American College of Sports Medicine, the American Cancer Society and 15 other international organizations, update almost decade-old recommendations with new science and specific advice about how much and what types of exercise may be the most needed, helpful and tolerable for anyone facing a cancer diagnosis. (Reynolds, 10/16)

The Associated Press: Panel: Florida Should Tighten School Shooter Drills
Florida's public schools should have realistic active-shooter drills and any armed school employees must be trained by a sheriff's office and not a private company, the commission investigating last year's high school massacre recommended Tuesday to the Legislature. The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, meeting in Orlando, recommended that each school have four active-shooter drills per year and that each be unique so teachers and students have to react to the situation presented. (10/15)

The Associated Press: Missouri Appeals Court Overturns $110 Million Talc Verdict
A Missouri appeals court has overturned a $110 million verdict in a case alleging that Johnson & Johnson products containing talcum powder caused a Virginia woman’s ovarian cancer. The appeals court ruling Tuesday reversed a 2017 judgment on behalf of Lois Slemp. She is among many women whose lawsuits have claimed that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder contributed to their cancer. Johnson & Johnson says its Baby Powder is safe and does not cause cancer. (10/15)

The Associated Press: Toxic PCBs Linger In Schools; EPA, Lawmakers Fail To Act
At first, teachers at Sky Valley Education Center simply evacuated students and used fans to clear the air when the fluorescent lights caught fire or smoked with noxious fumes. When black oil dripped onto desks and floors, they caught leaks with a bucket and duct-taped oil-stained carpets. Then came the tests that confirmed their suspicions about the light ballasts. (10/16)