State Highlights: Gulf Between Red And Blue States Widens Over Abortion; Adult Homes For Mentally Ill Get Second Chance In New York

Stateline: New Laws Deepen State Differences Over Abortion 
More state abortion laws were enacted this year than at any time since 1973, the year the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade that women have a constitutional right to end their pregnancy. Many of the new laws — either banning or protecting the right to abortion — came in reaction to President Donald Trump’s second nomination of a conservative justice to the high court, creating the possibility that the historic abortion rights decision could be overturned. (Vestal, 7/30)

ProPublica: After Failing Mentally Ill New Yorkers, Adult Homes Get Second Chance
Five years ago, New York City’s long-troubled adult home industry appeared to be facing a slow, painful death — a fate it had earned after four scandal-ridden decades of housing mentally ill residents for profit. The homes were once envisioned as an alternative to the state’s notoriously inhumane psychiatric hospitals. But in 2002, The New York Times exposed how they had become flophouses, rife with neglect, exploitation and despair. Residents threw themselves from rooftops and died of heatstroke in rooms that lacked air conditioning. (Sapien, 7/30)

Boston Globe: Child Deaths Under State’s Watch Fall, But New Data Raise More Questions
The number of children dying while under the state’s watch has fallen to its lowest level in the past five years, according to new data from the Baker administration, but child advocates say the information raises as many questions as it answers. The new numbers — released in response to a request from the Globe after three deaths — show 34 children died in the past fiscal year, from July 2018 through June, down from 48 the previous year, and 52 in 2015. (Lazar, 7/29)

State House News Service: House Set To Vote On Children's Health Bill
The Massachusetts House suddenly appears poised this week to pass a multi-pronged children's health bill, which includes provisions addressing behavioral health, the pediatric health workforce and insurance coverage for young people aging out of foster care. Speaker Robert DeLeo outlined the legislation Monday morning at a briefing with representatives involved in crafting it. (Lannan, 7/29)

Boston Globe: Lawmakers Seek To Bolster Child Health Services
Massachusetts House leaders plan to unveil legislation this week to help families navigate health care services and ensure that all children, including those in state custody, have access to services they need. The legislation would require health insurance companies to maintain accurate lists of all the providers in their networks, and to update their online directories at least monthly. (Dayal McCluskey and Lazar, 7/29)

Reuters: Puerto Ricans Worry Political Turmoil Could Further Delay Federal Aid
The nonprofit All Hands and Hearts arrived here in January 2018, to fix roofs in the rural town where Hurricane Maria made its first, most damaging landfall. "We kept an open-door policy," partnership manager Nicole Franks said at the group's makeshift compound in an old schoolhouse. "We said: 'If you need help, come put your name on our list.'" (7/29)

The New York Times: Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak Is Linked To Sheraton In Atlanta
An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Atlanta has been linked to a Sheraton hotel downtown, and officials said dozens of people had likely been infected. The Georgia Department of Public Health said Monday that in addition to 11 confirmed cases of people who contracted the disease, 55 more cases were “probable.” There have been no reported deaths but some people have been hospitalized, a spokeswoman said. (Fortin, 7/29)

Georgia Health News: Georgia Outbreak Of Legionnaires’ Could Reach Historic Level
Newly released state figures on Legionnaires’ cases linked to an Atlanta hotel suggest that the outbreak could become among the biggest in U.S. history. The Georgia Department of Public Health said that in addition to the 11 confirmed Legionnaires’ disease cases, there are 55 “probable’’ cases. (Miller, 7/29)

North Carolina Health News: PFAS Shows Up In Haw River, Pittsboro Water, But Little Local Outcry 
The chemical company eventually entered a consent order with the state, agreeing in February of this year to pay $12 million in fines and to keep GenX out of the river, air and groundwater. It’s been a far different story in Pittsboro, where researchers have identified and documented contamination in the town’s drinking water for decades, but there’s been little done about it and almost no outcry. (Barnes, 730)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Has Fewer Rats Than D.C., And Other Important Facts About The City’s Long History Fighting Rodents 
Rat bites were once a significant enough public health threat to prompt Johns Hopkins research on the spread of polio and rabies. In a study published in the Journal of American Medicine in 1947, Dr. Curt P. Richter called rat bites “a hitherto overlooked means of transmission of such diseases.” The study found that 65 people were treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital for rat bites from 1939 to 1943. But the prominent journal's editors noted that the health effects were likely no greater in Baltimore than in any other city, or even on farms. (Reed and Dance, 7/30)

Georgia Health News: Grady Eye Cases Inspire Look At Safety Of Sideview Mirrors
Within three months, three patients came to Grady Memorial Hospital with similar, devastating eye injuries. And the circumstances of their accidents were strikingly similar. ...This cluster of 2017 injuries led Grady eye surgeon Dr. Yousuf Khalifa to study the problem as a potential safety issue. “These particular cases got me wondering if shattering sideview mirrors were causing injuries on a large scale,” he said. (Miller, 7/29)

KCUR: It's Easier To Buy CBD In Kansas Than To Know For Sure What's In It Or What It's Good For 
Kansas legalized CBD, the cannabis extract cannabidiol, last summer. Since then, the state that came late to this multi-billion dollar industry has seen the number of CBD vendors skyrocket. Spas and massage parlors don’t want to miss their piece of an ever-expanding pie. Last month, Dillons supermarkets rolled out non-edible CBD offerings — balms, lotions and the like — in its Kansas grocery stores with pharmacies. But as Americans turn to CBD in search of help for everything from migraines to insomnia to cancer, scientists and regulators worry that some companies market unproven health claims, and that others sell products with inaccurate labels. (Llopis-Jepsen, 7/29)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Seventh Graders Would Have To Get Meningitis Vaccine
An update to DHS Rule 144 would add the meningitis vaccine to the list of required vaccinations for students entering the seventh grade. The proposal says this requirement will "ease the burden on families, providers and schools" by ensuring vaccines are administered at the same visit and the same grade level. (Andrea, 7/29)

Boston Globe: Tainted Bottled Water Is Being Sold At Supermarkets Throughout New England
Nearly a month after spring water from a Haverhill company was found tainted with toxic chemicals, its gallon-sized jugs are still stocked on supermarket shelves across New England, despite a health advisory from state health officials that pregnant women, nursing mothers, and infants should not consume the water. Last month, as officials in New Hampshire were completing new standards to reduce exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, part of a national push to tighten their regulation, they decided to conduct a random sampling of bottled water sold at supermarkets in the state, something rarely done. (Abel, 7/29)

The CT Mirror: MAPOC Member At Center Of State Lawsuit Says She Won't Resign
The woman at the center of Attorney General William Tong’s lawsuit accusing a Watertown therapy company of Medicaid overbilling said Monday she has no plans to resign from the state’s Medicaid oversight committee. (Carlesso, 7/29)

Texas Tribune: Texas Lawmakers Were Warned Hemp Bill Would Complicate Marijuana Charges
Months before Texas district attorneys started dropping or delaying low-level marijuana cases, state lawmakers were told that a well-liked bill to legalize hemp was going to complicate pot prosecutions. The warnings fell flat. (McCullough, 7/30)

St. Louis Public Radio: Black Entrepreneurs Face Tougher Entry Into Medical Marijuana Industry
The legal marijuana business is a market that people of color have had trouble breaking into. Just 4% of licensed cannabis companies nationwide are African American owned and operated. For people of color, there are a lot of unique barriers to entry — from a lack of generational wealth and connections, to past history with what’s been an illegal drug. (Ruff, 7/30)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Mentor Podiatrist Sentenced To Prison For Health Care Fraud
A Mentor podiatrist was sentenced Monday to 33 months in federal prison for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by submitting claims worth more than $1.1 million for treatment he provided, even though he was prohibited from doing so. Dr. Robert Rosenstein executed a scheme through Community Foot & Ankle of Mentor to get money for claims submitted to both programs, according to charging documents filed in March. (Heisig, 7/29)