State Highlights: Calif. Medical Students Call For Health Care Equity After Stephon Clark’s Shooting; State Lawmakers Back Off On Curtailing LGBT Rights

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Medical Students Hold Protest After Stephon Clark Shooting
Lying on the cement in front of the University of California, Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, roughly 100 medical students participated in a "die-in" protest Tuesday, urging healthcare providers to do more to help people experiencing trauma after police incidents. Tuesday's event was hosted by the school's chapter of White Coats 4 Black Lives, a national group founded in 2015 in the aftermath of the police shooting of Michael Brown and the in-custody death of Eric Garner. (Chavez, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Bills To Curtail LGBT Rights Are Failing In US Legislatures
In a striking shift from recent years, major legislation curtailing LGBT rights has been completely stymied in state capitols around the country this year amid anxiety by Republican leaders over igniting economic backlash if they are depicted as discriminatory. In the thick of this year's legislative sessions, LGBT activists were tracking about 120 proposed bills that they viewed as threats to their civil rights. Not one of them has been enacted as many sessions now wind down; only two remain under serious consideration. (4/17)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Legislators Look To Clamp Down Harder On Communities That Try To Pass Local Gun Restrictions
Ohio lawmakers blocked cities and villages from enacting their own gun laws 12 years ago, but now they want to remove any wiggle room that could allow new restrictions and penalties in local communities. Language inserted months ago into a "stand your ground" bill is getting new attention from city leaders who want to pass gun laws in the wake of shootings in Parkland, Florida, and Las Vegas. (Borchardt, 4/17)

KCUR: State Of Kansas Takes Control Of 15 Financially Troubled Private Nursing Homes 
The owner and operator of 15 Kansas nursing homes has consented to be placed in receivership after defaulting on payments to vendors and failing to meet payroll. Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Tim Keck has been appointed receiver and will oversee operations of the homes, which are scattered across the state. The owner, Skyline Health Care LLC of Wood-Ridge, New Jersey, previously acknowledged that it had insufficient funds to pay basic utilities and food service vendors. (Margolies, 4/17)

Boston Globe: Mass. Is About To Become A Battleground Over Transgender Rights
In the campaign video, the little girl wearing ponytails and Mary Janes looks bewildered. There’s a man beside her at the sink in a public restroom. He’s putting on lip gloss. “A little girl shouldn’t have to wonder why there’s a man using the women’s bathroom,” says the child narrator. Expect many similar images this year as Massachusetts becomes ground zero in the latest round of the nation’s culture wars. A November ballot question asking voters whether to keep or repeal the state’s 2016 antidiscrimination law is expected to be the first statewide referendum on transgender rights, taking the national temperature on a fiery hot social issue. (Ebbert, 4/17)

Georgia Health News: Facing Heat From Governor, Blue Cross And Piedmont Settle Dispute
The pressure from Gov. Nathan Deal evidently worked. Deal announced Tuesday afternoon that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and Piedmont Healthcare had reached a “handshake” agreement on a new contract. The accord thus met his deadline of close of business Tuesday, after which the state would have been forced, in his words, “to initiate executive action.” (Miller, 4/17)

The Associated Press: Advocates Call For Action On State's Maternal Mortality Rate
Women's reproductive health advocates are calling on New York officials to take steps to reduce the state's maternal mortality rate among black women. Planned Parenthood of New York leaders, state Assembly members and maternity health services providers held a news conference in Albany Monday to call for action to reduce the state's national ranking of 30 out of 50 states when it comes to maternal deaths. (4/17)

KCUR: Overland Park Weight-Loss Hospital Sues After Government Cuts Off Medicare Funding 
An Overland Park hospital that specializes in weight-loss surgery is suing government health officials after they cut off its participation in Medicare. Blue Valley Hospital (BVH), an acute care facility at 129th Street and Metcalf Avenue, claims to perform 35 percent of all Missouri Medicaid bariatric surgeries, the umbrella term for weight-loss operations. If it loses its Medicare funding and has to shut down, “the residents of Kansas and Missouri will lose access to crucial bariatric procedures, which are necessary to prevent a multitude of life-threatening and life-altering conditions,” the suit alleges. (Margolies, 4/17)

Health News Florida: Senators Back Hospitals On Payment Challenges
Tampa General Hospital is throwing its support behind a bipartisan proposal that, if passed by Congress, would allow it and other large health-care systems to challenge how the government estimates additional Medicare payments. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., are filing legislation Tuesday that would strike a provision in current law that precludes hospitals from challenging such payment decisions or the data used in reaching the decisions. (4/17)

California Healthline: California Insurer Faces Whistleblower Complaint Over Health Law Taxes
A federal whistleblower complaint alleges that a major California insurer failed to pay an estimated $89 million in taxes on premium revenue as required under the Affordable Care Act. The complaint against Blue Shield of California focuses on the taxation of certain health plans that are funded by both an employer and insurer. It could spark more scrutiny by federal officials into whether all insurers are paying their fair share of taxes on premiums. (Terhune, 4/17)

Seattle Times: Washington Spends Little To Help The State’s 900,000 Smokers Quit — Despite Collecting $622M In Tobacco Taxes 
Nearly 8,300 Washingtonians die from tobacco-related illness each year: more than car crashes, suicide, opioid overdoses and alcohol combined. And smoking costs Washington an estimated $2.8 billion per year in direct medical costs, including almost $790 million in Medicaid spending. Yet, with nearly 900,000 smokers in the state and $622 million in tobacco-related tax collections, Washington spends almost no money on programs to help people quit. (Alexander, 4/17)

The Associated Press: N.H. Child Advocate Asks For Greater Authority To Protect Kids
New Hampshire's new child advocate is pressing for changes to the law to strengthen her office's ability to protect the state's most vulnerable residents. Lawmakers created the office last year as part of larger effort to reform New Hampshire's Division of Children, Youth and Families, which has been under scrutiny since two toddlers under its supervision were killed in 2014 and 2015. (4/17)

The Associated Press: Florida Lawyer Gets Prison For Role In $23M Insurance Fraud
A Florida man has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for his role in a $23 million auto insurance fraud involving chiropractors' clinics. The SunSentinel reports 55-year-old Jason Dalley wept in court Monday as a judge sentenced him to spend a year and nine months in prison and pay more than $1.8 million in restitution. (4/17)

The Washington Post: E. Coli Romaine Lettuce Contamination: New Jersey Woman Sues Panera Bread
A 66-year-old woman who was sickened by E. coli is suing Panera Bread after apparently eating contaminated romaine lettuce at a restaurant in New Jersey. Louise Fraser first experienced abdominal pain within days of eating at a restaurant in Somerset County, according to a federal complaint. Then came bloody diarrhea and vomiting that sent her to the emergency room March 25. Doctors diagnosed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening illness that happens to a small number of people infected with Escherichia coli and can lead to kidney failure. (Phillips, 4/17)

Sacramento Bee: Water Along The Lower American River In Sacramento Shows High Levels Of E. Coli, According To New Weekly Testing
Water at one of Sacramento’s most popular public beaches regularly records E. coli levels far higher than what federal regulators recommend as safe for recreational use. Tiscornia Beach, at the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers near Discovery Park, recorded E. coli levels in February that were seven times the threshold set by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to new weekly testing by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. (Fletcher, 4/17)

KPCC: 'It's Nowhere Near Enough': LA Homeless Advocates React To Mayor's Shelter Plan
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has a new plan to try to solve the city's homeless crisis. Garcetti would like to spread temporary shelters across the city, placing one in each of L.A.'s 15 council districts. There's also a promise of more enforcement to keep the areas near those shelters clear of homeless encampments. It's an ambitious plan with a $20 million price tag. Andy Bales is CEO of the Union Rescue Mission. The mayor's proposal is a good first step, Bales said, but more needs to be done. (Henderson, 4/16)