Maine Warns Funding Shortfall Could Cripple Its Emergency Medical System
A legislative commission has recommended that the state set aside an extra $70 million annually for five years to cover the shortfall. Also: free lunch plans for all K-12 students in New Mexico, a plea for more adult changing tables in Ohio, and more.
Bangor Daily News:
Maine’s Emergency System Needs More Funding To Avert Crisis, Panel Says
A legislative commission is recommending that Maine set aside $70 million annually for the next five years to cover a shortfall in funding for emergency medical services. The panel said nearly a third of those funds should be dedicated toward EMS services at immediate risk of failing due to a lack of funding and few volunteers. (Ogrysko, 12/6)
AP:
New Mexico Governor Wants Free Lunch For All Students K-12
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants New Mexico to help provide school lunches without charge to all K-12 students across the state. Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett confirmed Tuesday that the governor will pursue legislation when lawmakers meet in January 2023 to ensure that every student has access to free and nutritious school meals by covering the cost of breakfast and lunch for students that don’t already qualify for free or reduced-price meals. (12/7)
Columbus Dispatch:
Adult Changing Tables: More Sought In Ohio's Public Restrooms
Kim Boulter has used bathroom floors, angled the back of her van away from onlookers in various parking lots and cleared off conference room tables in order to change her 9-year-old son. (King, 12/6)
WUSF Public Media:
Immunizations For Florida's Kindergarten Students Are At A 10-Year Low
Last school year marked a more than 10-year low for Florida’s kindergarten and seventh-grade students completing all doses of required immunizations, according to a recent report from the state Department of Health. (Dailey, 12/6)
The Boston Globe:
In Major Policy Shift, Massachusetts Clears Marijuana Growers To Use Certain Pesticides
Licensed marijuana growers in Massachusetts will now be allowed to apply certain pesticides to their crops, after state agricultural officials repealed a longstanding ban on the practice that the cannabis industry had long derided as unnecessarily strict. (Adams, 12/6)
NPR:
Asbestos Exposure On The Job Was Common, These Chemical Plant Workers Say
When LaTunja Caster started working at the Olin Corp. chemical plant outside of McIntosh, Alabama, she had no idea that asbestos was used in the production process. But when she became a union safety representative around 2007, she started to pay attention. In certain parts of the plant, "you would see it all the time," she said. "You definitely breathed it in." (McGrory and Bedi, 12/7)
The Texas Tribune:
East Texas Has Regular Boil-Water Notices That Go Unnoticed
On the same day that 2 million residents in the nation’s fourth-most-populous city faced a boil-water notice that garnered national attention, a water system near this tiny East Texas town issued similar warnings to customers, marking the 68th boil-water notice issued this calendar year. And while Houstonians responded to the news by scrambling to stock up on bottled water, customers of the Consolidated Water Supply Corp. proceeded as usual. (Salhotra and Lozano, 12/7)
AP:
Dozens On Hunger Strike At Nevada Prison Over Food, Health
At least two dozen people are on hunger strike over conditions at a maximum-security prison in rural eastern Nevada, prison officials and an advocacy organization said Tuesday. The strike was launched Thursday by people incarcerated at Ely State Prison who are fed up over what they say are inadequate food portions and shortages in the prison commissary, among other grievances, said Jodi Hocking, executive director of the prisoners’ rights group Return Strong. She said they’re also protesting longstanding problems at correctional facilities across the state. (Stern, 12/7)
KHN:
Colorado Option’s Big Test: Open Enrollment
Critics declared Colorado’s new quasi-public option a failure this fall, before it was even available for purchase on the state’s Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace. They seized on an October announcement from the state that premiums for individual coverage were rising by an average of 10% in 2023 despite the arrival of the much-anticipated Colorado Option, which was meant to drive down costs. What’s more, people in most counties had access to traditional plans that were cheaper than the new option. Supporters warned against calling the Colorado Option a bust just yet. With open enrollment underway, consumers on the ACA marketplace can choose Colorado Option plans for the first time since the 2021 law that created them took effect. State officials are betting that people will look beyond the cost of the premiums. (Hawryluk, 12/7)
