State Highlights: Coffee Companies Challenge California Law On Cancer Warnings; Boston Teaching Hospitals Vow To Hire More Minorities

The Wall Street Journal: Coffee Brands Fight California Ruling On Cancer Warnings
The coffee industry is fighting the suggestion its products could cause cancer. A Los Angeles judge’s recent ruling in a lawsuit over cancer labels has galvanized coffee brands and retailers, including Starbucks Corp., to push harder to avoid carrying the labels. The companies say that trace amounts of the chemical acrylamide in their brew doesn’t justify a warning to consumers in California—an important market for food and beverage brands. (Randazzo and Gasparro, 4/16)

Boston Globe: Teaching Hospitals Pledge To Hire, Treat More Minorities
Two of Boston’s top teaching hospitals said they are expanding efforts to hire more black and Latino doctors, and to ensure their facilities are welcoming to minorities they treat — an attempt to address two longstanding issues in the health care industry. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, one of the nation’s leading cancer centers, plans to hire a new leader for diversity programs and to require all faculty and administrative leaders to complete a bias awareness workshop, and has set diversity goals in its 2018 strategic plan. (Kowalczyk, 4/16)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Suicide At St. Louis VA Hospital Is One In A String Of Self-Inflicted Deaths At Veterans Facilities 
An estimated 20 to 22 veterans die of suicide each day, at an average age of 60. While it is unknown how many of those deaths occur at VA facilities, they include a 76-year-old who shot himself in a parking lot of a New York hospital in August 2016, a veteran of Afghanistan who hanged himself at age 32 in a Tennessee hospital in November 2016, a 63-year-old Navy veteran who shot himself in a car at a North Carolina hospital and a 35-year-old Marine who overdosed on fentanyl at a Massachusetts VA psychiatric facility. (Bernhard, 4/16)

Georgia Health News: Deal Tells Health Care Giants To Settle Dispute Or Face State ‘Action’
Gov. Nathan Deal has given Piedmont Healthcare and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia a deadline to resolve their contract dispute.Deal said in a tweet Monday morning that he has asked the two sides to come to an agreement by close of business Tuesday, or else the state “will be forced to initiate executive action.’’ The warning represents an unprecedented level of involvement by a Georgia governor in a hospital/insurer contract dispute, experts say. Leaders of Blue Cross and Piedmont met with Deal early Monday morning to explain the remaining differences to reaching a new contract. (Miller, 4/16)

San Jose Mercury News: Transgender Services Boosted In Santa Clara County With New Manager, Clinic Plans
For years, it’s been a community that health officials say has been underserved. But now transgender residents in Santa Clara County will have their own health clinic that specializes in their care. The county’s first transgender health clinic is scheduled to open in the fall on the second floor of the Valley Health Center Downtown on East Santa Clara Street in San Jose. “There’s a long history of this community being treated poorly and that has resulted in individuals not seeking care,” said Maribel Martinez, director of the county Office of LGBTQ Affairs. “We want a happy and healthy population, and that’s only possible if all residents have access to medical care proficient for their needs.” (Salonga, 4/16)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Critics: Ascension Abandoning Mission Of Providing Health Care To Poor
A growing chorus of public officials, community leaders and health systems is calling on Ascension Wisconsin to reconsider its plans to limit the services it provides at St. Joseph hospital in a largely low-income part of Milwaukee. "There is a reason we (the city) have the second-lowest health outcomes in the state,” said George Hinton, a former health care executive. “And it has a lot to do with how the systems are applying their resources to poor communities.” (Boulton, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Los Angeles Plans To Double Spending On Homeless Crisis
Just steps from City Hall’s main door, a homeless woman sprawls on a cardboard box spread across the lawn, her belongings stuffed into a battered shopping cart beside her. Within a short walk, rows of tents line the streets, creating makeshift encampments edged by piles of trash. The smell of urine is unmistakable. (Blood, 4/16)

Health News Florida: First Responder, State College Issues Go On Ballot
Florida voters will decide whether the state Constitution should mandate death benefits be paid when law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters and other first responders are killed while performing their official duties. In a 30-7 vote on Monday, the Florida Constitution Revision Commission backed the proposal (Proposal 6002), which will appear as Amendment 7 on the Nov. 6 general-election ballot. (4/17)

Dallas Morning News: 'Unacceptable' Errors Spur Abbott To Send Aide To Ride Herd On Texas Health And Human Services
Gov. Greg Abbott says he is alarmed by contracting mistakes at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and is sending a top aide, former state Sen. Tommy Williams, to correct the problems. ...The recent string of flubs in evaluating bids has raised the possibility that the commission, which grants hundreds of billions worth of Medicaid and other contracts each year, may have to cancel and rebid other contracts that were incorrectly handled, costing taxpayers more money. And it comes as lawmakers, especially in the Texas House, have spoken scornfully of the agency's ability to police vendors and make sure they provide the services to vulnerable Texans the state is paying them for. (Garrett, 4/16)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Akron City Council Votes To Raise The Legal Age To Buy Tobacco To 21
After weeks of discussion, Akron City Council voted Monday to raise the age for buying tobacco products in the city from 18 to 21. The new law also applies to e-cigarettes, vaping oils and paraphernalia. Voting for the legislation were council members Linda Omobien, Russel Neal, Jeff Fusco, Rich Swirsky, Zach Milkovich, Margo Sommerville, Mike Freeman and  Bruce Kilby. (Conn, 4/16)

California Healthline: California Lawmakers Seek Reparations For People Sterilized By The State
Rosie Zaballos liked to host playtime tea parties and was sweet to everyone she met. But her older brother worried that the 16-year-old, whom her family described as “a little slow,” might someday become pregnant. In his 30s and married, he had three kids of his own. And their mom was sick and needed help. So he took Rosie to be sterilized at a state-run hospital so she couldn’t have babies who might place an extra burden on the family. (Young, 4/16)

The Associated Press: 5 Plead Guilty In Florida State Hazing Death
Five men have accepted a plea deal and will serve jail time for the hazing death of a Florida State University student. The men originally faced up to five years in prison for a felony hazing charge before agreeing to plead guilty to a misdemeanor hazing charge. The Tallahassee Democrat reports four of the men will serve 60-day jail sentences and a fifth will serve 30 days after cooperating with the investigation. (4/17)

The Associated Press: Medical Marijuana Push Spreads To Utah, Oklahoma
The push for legalized marijuana has moved into Utah and Oklahoma, two of the most conservative states in the country, further underscoring how quickly feelings about marijuana are changing in the United States. If the two measures pass, Utah and Oklahoma will join 30 other states that have legalized some form of medical marijuana, according to the pro-pot National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana laws. Nine of those states and Washington, D.C. also have broad legalization where adults 21 and older can use pot for any reason. Michigan could become the 10th state with its ballot initiative this year. (McCombs, 4/17)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Where Will Louisiana's 1st Medical Marijuana Pharmacies Operate? 
Metairie could be home to one of the state's first medical marijuana pharmacies. The Louisiana Pharmacy board, which took applications under advisement last month, is scheduled to award permits during its meeting Tuesday (April 17.) in Baton Rouge.Five companies are competing for the medical marijuana operating permit for Region 1, which covers the New Orleans metro area, including Jefferson, Orleans, and St. Bernard parishes. (Bacon-Blood, 4/16)

Health News Florida: Patient's Right To Grow, Use Pot Challenged
A Leon County circuit judge has scheduled a hearing Tuesday to consider lifting a stay in a case in which Tampa businessman Joe Redner seeks to grow marijuana as part of his treatment for cancer. Judge Karen Gievers last week ruled that Redner, who made his fortune as a strip-club owner, should be able to grow pot under a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana. (4/16)