State Highlights: Cities Pitted Against States In Paid Sick Leave Debate; D.C.’s Initiative To Staff 911 Centers With Nurses Sees Only Muted Success

Stateline: As More Cities Push For Paid Sick Leave, States Push Back 
In the last three years, a dozen states have banned localities from passing paid leave requirements, more than doubling to 22 the states that now outlaw such local ordinances. The push for so-called preemption laws is backed by the Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, a membership organization of state legislators who favor limited government. The state moves come in response to the increasing number of cities and counties passing paid sick days ordinances. Since 2015, more than 20 cities, as well as eight states, have approved measures mandating that companies provide local workers with paid sick leave. Since San Francisco approved the first paid sick leave ordinance in 2006, paid sick day requirements have been passed in 35 cities or counties and 11 states. (Alvarez, 9/24)

The Washington Post: Nurses In D.C.’s 911 Center Are Helping Cut Some Unnecessary Ambulance Runs, But Not Most
D.C. Fire and EMS officials found positive signs in the first 90 days of a $1 million nursing phone line at the 911 call center, but have yet to see big dividends in one of the program’s intended goals: reducing ambulance trips for patients who don’t need them. D.C. Fire Chief Gregory Dean sent a letter to the department this month highlighting early data from the “Right Care, Right Now” program that staffs a triage line at the 911 center with registered nurses. The nurses are there to diagnose callers who appear to have nonlife-threatening maladies or injuries and may not need medics or a fire crew and a trip to the emergency room. (Williams, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Report: Missouri Landfill Emissions Once Posed Health Risks
Emissions near a troubled St. Louis County landfill once posed health concerns for workers and nearby residents, but the risks have largely disappeared thanks to cleanup efforts, according to a state report released Friday. The report from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is based on air quality data collected near Bridgeton Landfill , which has come under intense scrutiny because a smoldering underground fire burns only a few hundred yards from Cold War-era nuclear waste. (9/21)

The Star Tribune: Court Rules Against UnitedHealth Group On California Fines 
A California appeals court has ruled in favor of state regulators in their attempt to impose fines on a subsidiary of Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group related to more than 900,000 alleged violations of a California law on insurance claims. Dave Jones, the insurance commissioner in California, issued a statement Friday saying the court ruling this week paves the way for another court to affirm some $91 million in fines against PacifiCare, an insurance company that UnitedHealth Group acquired more than a decade ago. The deal substantially expanded the company's UnitedHealthcare health insurance business, which is now the nation's largest carrier. (Snowbeck, 9/21)

The Washington Post: State Agency Rejects Va. School District’s Plan To Arm School Employees
A Virginia school district’s effort to arm teachers and other school employees has encountered a setback after a state agency refused to endorse the district’s plan. The Department of Criminal Justice Services rejected Lee County Superintendent Brian Austin’s application to register as an armed special conservator of the peace, a designation the district hoped would permit school employees to carry firearms in schools. (Truong, 9/23)

Columbus Dispatch: State Slow To Release Records About CVS Contract For HIV Drug Program
The Ohio Department of Health says it isn’t purposely delaying release of documents related to a mailing last year that could have publicly identified 6,000 HIV-positive Ohioans. But others have their doubts.It has been more than 10 weeks since The Dispatch requested records relating to the department’s decisions that led to the mailing by CVS, which undertook the work even though the department’s request for proposals said the state would handle it. (Schladen, 9/21)

Columbus Dispatch: Families Sue To Keep Loved Ones With Disabilities In Care Centers
Families fighting to preserve the rights of Ohioans with developmental disabilities to live in residential care centers equipped to meet their needs have filed a lawsuit against the state and other groups in federal court in Columbus. The dozen families named in the case say the push toward policies that promote home- and community-based services could force their loved ones into apartments, group homes and other settings not suitable for people with complex disabilities and medical conditions. (Price, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Judge: California Child Can Take Cannabis Drug To School
A California kindergartner can keep bringing a cannabis-based drug used for emergency treatment of a rare form of epilepsy to her public school, a judge ruled Friday. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reported that a judge sided with the family of 5-year-old Brooke Adams. The Rincon Valley Union School District in Santa Rosa sought to ban the ointment from school grounds because it contains the active ingredient in marijuana. (9/22)

KQED: Santa Rosa Family Wins Fight For Daughter To Go To School — With Her Cannabis Meds
California administrative law judge ruled on Friday that a 5-year-old Santa Rosa girl with a severe form of pediatric epilepsy is entitled to attend public kindergarten with her cannabis oil. And her one-on-one nurse, provided by the school district, will be able to administer it to her whenever she needs it. (Romney, 9/21)

Texas Tribune: Teacher Retirement System Leaves Retired Teacher Health Premiums Unchanged
After exploring the idea and stirring worries and warnings from retired teachers and elected officials, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas opted Friday not to raise monthly health care premiums for a group of nearly 68,000 retired teachers. Last month, the TRS Board of Trustees considered raising premiums for TRS-Care —Texas’ health insurance program for retired teachers —by $50 per month, starting in 2019. (Zdun, 9/21)

Kansas City Star: Foster Child’s Rape New Concern For Kansas Child Welfare
After months of headlines about missing runaways, foster children sleeping in offices and high-profile deaths, this was the last thing the Kansas Department for Children and Families wanted to see. A 13-year-old in the state’s custody reportedly was raped inside a child welfare office in Olathe. And the young man charged with the assault earlier this month also was in Kansas’ care. (Bauer, 9/23)

Columbus Dispatch: Franklin County Infant-Mortality Rate Drops, But Black Babies Nearly 3 Times More Likely To Die
While Franklin County’s infant-mortality rate dipped in 2017, disparities worsened for African-American babies, who were nearly three times more likely to die than white babies. Babies also were at higher risk in eight Columbus neighborhoods — in the Hilltop, Franklinton, the Near South Side, the Near East Side, the Southeast Side, the Northeast Side and one in the Northland area — prioritized by the countywide CelebrateOne infant-mortality initiative. (Viviano, 9/21)

Tampa Bay Times: Tampa General Nurses Record The Last Heartbeats Of Dying Patients, Making A Family Memory
Beats of Love was started by a handful of nurses in Tampa General’s neonatal intensive care unit who had heard of a similar program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. ...The instrument allows nurses to record a heartbeat while they listen to it during a routine exam. (Griffin, 9/21)

Health News Florida: E-Cigarette Use Increased By 60 Percent Among Florida’s Youth
E-cigarette use among young people in Florida spiked over the past year, according to data released by Tobacco Free Florida. The rate of e-cigarette use among youth between the ages of 11 and 17 increased by 60 percent between 2017 and2018. Nearly one in four high school students now report using e-cigarettes. (Ochoa, 9/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee's 2019 Budget Would Spend $20 Million On Lead Removal Work
Lead paint and other hazards would be removed from more Milwaukee homes. Thousands of water filters would be given to city residents, and 1,000 lead pipes would be removed. And a special team would be created to focus on homes with lead-poisoned children living in them. Those are among the proposals included in Mayor Tom Barrett’s 2019 budget plan, which includes $20 million devoted to addressing Milwaukee’s ongoing lead crisis. (Spicuzza, 9/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Lead Crisis: Staffer Scaled Back Home Cleanups
A top Milwaukee Health Department staffer scaled back efforts to clean up homes with lead-poisoned children living in them, newly released records say. During the last two years — 2016 and 2017 — the city didn't clean up a single house with lead-poisoned children living in it, the records also show. (Spicuzza and Bice, 9/21)

The Associated Press: Georgia Jury Awards $31M Over Boy’s Botched Circumcision
A law firm says a Georgia jury has awarded $31 million to a boy for a botched circumcision he received as a newborn. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the award was handed down Friday in northern Georgia’s Clayton County. A lawsuit filed by the boy’s family says he was 18 days old in October 2013 when part of his penis was severed during a circumcision at Life Cycle Pediatrics in Riverdale. (9/23)