State Highlights: CalPERS Expands Ban On Investing In Tobacco Stocks; Groups Cite N.H. Nurse-Licensing Delays As Part Of Problem

Los Angeles Times: CalPERS Widens Its Ban On Tobacco-Related Investments
CalPERS on Monday rejected its staff’s recommendation to again invest in tobacco stocks and instead widened the ban on tobacco investments for the nation’s largest public pension fund. The staff of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System had recommended that the system’s board approve ending restrictions on tobacco investments managed by its own staff. The ban began 16 years ago. (Peltz, 12/19)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Providers Blame State For Delays In Licensing Ready-To-Work Nurses 
The delay in the state’s licensing of nurses was among the major complaints found by a survey released in September by the New Hampshire Health Care Association. That complaint was repeated by many in attendance at last week’s annual meeting of the Home Health Care Association of New Hampshire. These two groups represent the bulk of New Hampshire’s elder health care providers, including nursing homes, assisted living facilities, at-home care and adult day cares — and they are feeling the brunt of a nursing shortage. (Grosky, 12/20)

Tampa Bay Times: $1.9M Grant Helps USF College Of Nursing Researchers Study Delirium In ICU 
Nearly $2 million in grant funding will help researchers in the University of South Florida College of Nursing study a potential method of preventing delirium in the intensive care unit... The intervention is called Family Automated Voice Reorientation (FAVoR). Recordings play for patients every hour during the day, helping orient them using a familiar voice. (McNeill, 12/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Medical-Device Company Lensar Files For Chapter 11
Medical-technology company Lensar Inc., which makes lasers used in cataract surgery, filed for chapter 11 protection Friday with a deal to hand control of the company to its senior lender while preserving more than $125 million in tax credits. The Orlando, Fla., company’s immediate aim is to maintain a “business-as-usual atmosphere” during its chapter 11 case, Chief Executive Nicholas Curtis said in a declaration filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Friday. (Chaney, 12/19)

Los Angeles Times: A State Fitness Test Suggests L.A. Students Have Some More Exercising To Do
How fit are the students of the Los Angeles Unified School District? According to a statewide test, not nearly as fit as they should be.L.A. Unified students at two of three tested grade levels performed a tad less well on the California Physical Fitness test last year than they did the year before. And overall, fewer than one-third of the tested students passed each fitness area assessed. (Resmovits, 12/19)

Sacramento Bee: UC Davis Takes Part In Nationwide Study On The Biology Of Exercise 
We all know exercise is good for us. But how does it really work inside our bodies? That’s the question behind a $2.3 million grant recently awarded to two UC Davis researchers who will study how intense bouts of exercise change the minute, molecular structures inside tissue, muscle and organs. It’s part of a nationwide, six-year study by researchers at more than 20 universities and health research centers, funded by the National Institutes of Health. (Buck, 12/19)

Sacramento Bee: California Population Hits 39.4 Million, Birth Rate Falls
California’s birth rate has fallen to the lowest levels in modern state history, according to new Department of Finance estimates, which peg the state population at 39.4 million after growing by 295,000 from July 1, 2015 to July 1, 2016. (Miller, 12/19)

Health News Florida: Florida's Deadly Roads See Rising Motorcycle Fatalities 
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found Florida's roads are among the deadliest for motorcyclists. Florida Highway Patrol's data also points to 2016 to being a deadlier year on the roads in Lee, Charlotte, Hendry, Manatee, and Sarasota counties for all motorists. (Smith, 12/19)

Sacramento Bee: They’re Serving 20 Years For Running A Pot Dispensary. Will Obama Grant Them Clemency? 
California last year enacted legislation to regulate for-profit medical marijuana businesses. And voters in November legalized pot for recreational use by passing Proposition 64, a measure that also allows people convicted of certain state (though not federal) marijuana offenses to petition to expunge criminal records or reduce charges. To date, 26 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana in some form, with licensed pot shops flourishing in many locations.(Hecht, 12/19)

Columbus Dispatch: Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Found At U.S. Pig Farm By Ohio State Scientists
A gene that can make many bacteria highly resistant to crucial antibiotics has been found for the first time on a livestock farm in the United States, and researchers say they will begin looking more closely at other farms to determine whether the problem is widespread. (Viviano, 12/19)