Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lead Levels In Some Michigan Water Must Be Made Safe, EPA Orders
Detroit Free Press: EPA Orders Benton Harbor To Take Steps To Fix Lead-Tainted System
The city of Benton Harbor must take immediate actions to improve the safety and reliability of its lead-tainted drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ordered Tuesday. The order comes as state and local officials continue to provide Benton Harbor residents with bottled water, and have embarked on a $30 million project intended to replace the city's thousands of lead service lines within 18 months. The city's municipal water system has tested for lead levels above the federal action limit of 15 parts per billion since 2018. But it was this September, when a group of 30 environmental and community organizations appealed to the EPA to intervene in Benton Harbor as the lead problems languished, that state and local response intensified. (Matheny, 12/2)
In news from Missouri, Texas and Tennessee —
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri Medical Marijuana Program Hit With Subpoenas From Feds
Missouri marijuana regulators received two federal grand jury subpoenas last fall, almost a year after authorities issued an initial demand for records from the state. The first demand for records, issued in November 2019, directs the Department of Health and Senior Services to provide “any and all records pertaining to medical marijuana applications” for four individuals. Their names are redacted from the document. The second subpoena, dated Sept. 9, 2020, requires marijuana regulators to provide records, but what the records pertain to is redacted from the document. (Suntrup, 11/2)
Dallas Morning News: Fort Worth Judge Rules Religious Businesses Can Be Shielded From LGBTQ Discrimination Claims
A federal judge in Fort Worth has ruled for-profit businesses with sincerely held religious beliefs can be shielded from LGBTQ discrimination claims, carving out exceptions to sexual orientation and gender identity protections previously granted by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Sunday ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor held that Braidwood Management Inc., a Christian health care companies operator in Katy, can avoid LGBTQ anti-bias protections under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment. The anti-bias protections stem from Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. (Wolf, 11/2)
AP: Tennessee To Hold Free Flu Vaccination Events
The Tennessee Department of Health is urging the public to get a flu shot if they have not already received one. According to a news release, the department will hold “Fight Flu TN” vaccine events that will offer free shots in every county on Nov. 9 to help boost the number of Tennesseans vaccinated against influenza. (11/3)
In news from Maryland —
The Baltimore Sun: Shortage Of Inpatient Beds In Maryland Psychiatric Hospitals Is Putting Children At Risk, Officials Worry
Inside a Maryland juvenile detention facility in Anne Arundel County, officials struggled to manage a girl who tried to injure herself and staffers on numerous occasions. She threatened to stab workers with colored pencils and attempted to assault them and other youth. After she tried hanging herself, staff at the Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center in Laurel, not trained for the level of mental health care needed, put her in physical restraints inside her cell, one of several times they’ve done so after she attempted to kill herself or harm others. (Davis, 11/3)
The Aegis: Dismissal Of Health Officer David Bishai Draws Comments From Over 60 Harford County Residents At Council Meeting
Public comment at Tuesday’s Harford County Council meeting lasted well after 11 p.m. with more than 60 speakers expressing a range of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the termination of the county health officer, Dr. David Bishai, late last month. Bishai, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health adjunct professor with degrees in medicine and economics, has said he was not given a reason for his firing, which happened two weeks ago. He said he was called to an in-person meeting with officials from the Maryland Department of Health who informed him that the Harford County Council voted to remove him, and that state Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader approved the vote. (Bateman, 11/3)
