State Highlights: California’s Aging Population Is A Challenge For Next Governor; Two Out Of Three North Carolinians Who Died Because Of Florence Were 60 Or Older

Los Angeles Times: California’s Senior Population Is Growing Faster Than Any Other Age Group. How The Next Governor Responds Is Crucial
It was early in their courtship seven years ago when Manuel Villanueva warned his now-husband, “I come as a package of three.” The other parts of that deal: his father, Ramon Villanueva, whose failing kidneys forced him to stop working, and his mother, Maria Guadalupe Olague. Now they live as a family unit of four — six, if you count the cats — in a Highland Park two-bedroom apartment. As caring for his parents has increasingly taken a toll on his finances, time and psyche, Manuel Villanueva has taken up a matter-of-fact mantra to soldier on: “Adapt and understand your reality.” (Mason, 10/7)

North Carolina Health News: Nearly Half Of Tar Heels Killed By Hurricane Florence Were 70 Or Older
Hurricane Florence hit older Tar Heels harder. That’s the takeaway from a state-compiled list of the adults who died as a result of the catastrophic storm. It shows that two out of three North Carolinians who died during or as a result of Florence were 60 or older, and nearly half were 70 or older. The median age of adults who died during or as a result of the storm was 67, while the statewide median age is 38.3. (Goldsmith, 10/8)

Denver Post: Colorado Hospitals' Profits Among Highest In U.S. As Patients Pay More
Colorado hospitals hiked prices by 76 percent over a seven-year stretch as they pushed their profits to among the largest in the nation and built more aggressively than hospitals in all but one other state, according to data the state plans to use to change spending priorities. Along the way, hospitals doubled their administrative costs from 2009 through 2016 and contributed to residents in the state’s mountainous west region paying the highest insurance rates in the nation, according to the information collected for the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing. (Osher, 10/4)

The Associated Press: Flint Residents Seek To Reinstate Snyder In Water Lawsuit
Residents and businesses affected by the lead-contaminated water crisis in Flint are asking a judge to reinstate Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and other Michigan officials as defendants in a class-action lawsuit. (10/7)

The New York Times: Deputies Made Jokes About A Veteran Thrashing In His Cell Before He Died
Two years ago, a man died of an apparent drug overdose after being held at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City, Ore. This week, video emerged in which sheriff’s deputies could be heard laughing as the man thrashed uncontrollably in a padded cell before he died. They joked that he could be used as a cautionary example to warn students about the dangers of drugs. (Fortin, 10/6)

Politico: Marijuana Skeptics Fear 'De Facto Legalization' In States
When Jason Nemes, a Republican legislator in deeply conservative Kentucky, proposed a bill allowing the sale of medicinal marijuana this year, he included strict conditions to prevent doctors from rampantly prescribing the drug. After all, Nemes has no interest in actually legalizing pot: He hasn’t smoked, he’s decidedly anti-drug and, until recently, he was even skeptical of marijuana’s effectiveness for treating conditions like cancer or epilepsy. (Sutton and Marinucci, 10/6)

The Washington Post: Military Families Raise Concerns About Housing Problems After Hurricane Florence
Families living on one of the Marine Corps’ largest bases are ramping up criticism of the private company that manages their homes, saying it is ignoring long-standing problems with mold and structural defects that were exacerbated after Hurricane Florence slammed North Carolina last month. Even before the hurricane unleashed devastation across the Carolinas, several spouses were working to draw attention to what they called a lackadaisical attitude by Atlantic Marine Corps Communities about the conditions inside Camp Lejeune’s private housing — from leaky and crumbling ceilings to 70-foot-tall rotting trees in danger of collapsing. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 10/6)

Health News Florida: Scott Says Health Care A ‘Right,’ But Questions Remain
[Rick] Scott’s statement, which came during a debate against U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, is at odds with other Republican politicians and followed years of Scott fighting against heavy government involvement in providing health care. Even before he launched his first campaign for governor, Scott ran television ads decrying the idea of having a “public option” as part of the federal health care overhaul pushed by then-President Barack Obama. (Sexton, 10/5)

The Baltimore Sun: As Pregnancy-Related Deaths Rise In Maryland And The U.S., Local Groups Focus On Maternal Health
An ensemble of nurses and therapists at Baltimore Healthy Start Inc. are trying to prevent moms from dying. The East Baltimore nonprofit holds “belly buddy” classes that teach meditation, needlework and scrap-booking to ease stress. Nurses make home visits to check on moms’ well-being. Transportation and daycare are provided so pregnant women can get to checkups. Several weeks after delivery, moms are offered gift cards as an incentive to come back to the doctor’s office. Complications can take moms by surprise weeks after delivery. (McDaniels, 10/4)

Arizona Republic: Phoenix-Area Southwest Key Migrant Child Shelter Closed After Incident
The federal government has suspend operations at a Southwest Key shelter for unaccompanied migrant children in Youngtown, a spokesman for the non-profit confirmed on Friday. The Southwest Key spokesman said its Hacienda Del Sol facility was shuttered following an unspecified incident. Southwest Key reported the incident to local law enforcement, the federal government, and state regulators, spokesman Jeff Eller said. (Philip, 10/5)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Pease Will Join New PFAS Study On Childhood Vaccine Effects
The Silent Spring Institute will study how PFAS chemicals affected the health of children in Portsmouth and on Cape Cod. ...It'll look at the effectiveness of early childhood vaccines in kids who drank PFAS-tainted water at Pease International Tradeport and in Hyannis, Massachusetts. (Ropeik, 10/6)

North Carolina Health News: Health Insurer Promotes Health And Builds Their Brand Through Basketball
Dozens of children in bright blue t-shirts roared and bounced across the bleachers. Meanwhile, a handful of breakdancers somersaulted across the gym floor and froze in gravity-defying holds. A minute later, the purpose of the last week’s rally in Charlotte became clear when a rapper yelled “We’re getting asthma under con….” and the school-age children screamed “troll!” (Duong, 10/5)

California Healthline: Patient Advocacy Or Political Ploy? Union, Industry Square Off Over Dialysis Initiative
This year, California dialysis clinics — and their profits — are in a powerful union’s crosshairs. On Nov. 6, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West union hopes to deliver a stinging blow with a ballot measure designed to limit clinic profits. (Tuller and Rowan, 10/5)

NH Times Union: NextPhase Medical Devices Kicks Off New Hampshire Manufacturing Month
State officials chose NextPhase Medical Devices as the setting to celebrate the beginning of Manufacturing Month in New Hampshire. Zenagui Brahim, president of New Hampshire Manufacturing Extension Partnership in Concord, was at NextPhase on Airport Drive in Rochester on Friday to talk about the company’s efforts to connect high school students with advanced manufacturers. Brahim said last year 1,865 students from 50 high schools visited 55 manufacturers in New Hampshire as part of the monthlong effort. (10/7)

Austin American-Statesman: Dell Children's Opens New Hearing Center To Centralize Services
Like what UT Health Austin is doing for cancer, gynecological disorders, multiple sclerosis, arm and leg pain, and work-related illnesses at its clinics at the University of Texas, Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas is now doing the same for hearing loss: bringing all of the patient’s resources under one roof. This summer it began seeing patients at the Hearing Center, which is located in the Strictly Pediatrics building near the hospital. (Villapando, 10/5)

The Associated Press: California Wildfire Victims Say Cleanup Crews Add To Woes
One year after a devastating series of wildfires ripped through Northern California wine country, destroying thousands of homes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' first experience cleaning up after a wildfire has turned into an expensive bureaucratic mess and California's top emergency official suspects fraud played a role. (Elias, 10/8)

Miami Herald: Carlton Palms— Florida Home For Disabled— Shut Down, APD Says
Carlton Palms — a Florida home for people with severe disabilities beset by rapes, rats and abuse — officially shut its doors Saturday, state officials announced. The last of its 190 residents moved to a new community-based home over the weekend after years of abuse, violence and death perennially plagued the institution. (Madan, 10/6)

The Baltimore Sun: North Baltimore Apartment Water Back On After Treatment To Remove Legionnaires' Bacteria
ater restrictions at a north Baltimore apartment complex have been lifted after several residents fell ill with Legionnaires’ disease, according to the manager of the complex and a letter from the health department. The Baltimore City Health Department lifted the restrictions at The Metropolitan of Baltimore on Loch Raven Boulevard on Thursday, after nearly a month of a partial shutdown. Legionnaire’s disease is a severe form of pneumonia that may spread through airborne water particles. (Rentz, 10/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: Three SF Elected Leaders Announce Opposition To Prop. C — Raising Business Taxes For Homeless Services
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Assemblyman David Chiu and Sen. Scott Wiener released statements Friday opposing Proposition C, a local ballot measure that would raise taxes on the city’s largest businesses to fund an array of homelessness services. ...The measure would impose an average of about 0.5 percent in gross receipts tax on corporate revenue above $50 million, impacting between 300 and 400 of the city’s biggest corporations. (Fracassa, 10/5)

The Star Tribune: Mayo Complex Is Early Test Of Rochester's Big Plans
The ribbon-cutting and official opening is still months away, but a new research building rising here within blocks of the Mayo Clinic has already filled most of its available space. Normally a routine matter for any new commercial development, finding tenants for the building known as One Discovery Square stands as an early test of Mayo’s multibillion-dollar effort to create a new economy in Rochester. (McKinney, 10/7)

Health News Florida: Judge Chastises State Over Marijuana Licenses
In a harshly worded order scolding state officials for treating the Constitution “like a recommendation,” a Tallahassee judge Friday gave the Department of Health two weeks to begin registering new medical-marijuana operators or risk being found in contempt. Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson, siding with Tampa-based Florigrown LLC, rebuked Gov. Rick Scott, the Scott administration and the Republican-dominated Legislature for failing to properly carry out a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. (Kam, 10/8)

Boston Globe: Students’ Pot Use Puts Colleges’ Funding At Risk
It’s been two years since Massachusetts voters approved legalizing marijuana for adults over 21, and state officials are now starting to approve retail pot sales. But on campuses across the state, administrators have a dilemma: they follow federal law, which prohibits people from using marijuana on the property of educational institutions. (Nierenberg, 10/8)