State Highlights: Illinois Bills Focus On Ending Overuse Of Isolation, Restraints In Schools; Lawmakers Neglected To Improve Finances At Miss. Jails Where Deaths Occurred, Report Says

ProPublica/Chicago Tribune: Educators Push To Ban Seclusion Of Students And Shift School Culture
Educators testifying before Illinois lawmakers Tuesday urged an end to the practice of secluding students inside small rooms but said it would take a cultural shift as well as a new law to end years of misuse. At the first legislative hearing on two reform bills — one in the House, one in the Senate — educators and advocates also pointed to the need for state officials to hold schools accountable and require robust training for employees. (Cohen and Richards, 1/7)

ProPublica: Lawmakers Refused To Increase An Infamous Prison’s Funding. Then, Chaos Erupted.
One prisoner strangled another to death while other inmates cheered the killing. Two convicts escaped a dilapidated building by walking out an open door. Maximum-security detainees freely roamed hallways, beating and threatening others. Violence has roiled the Mississippi prison system for more than a week, with state corrections officials imposing a statewide lockdown and a county coroner declaring that gangs in the prisons have launched an all-out war against one another. (Mitchell, 1/8)

CNN: Northeast Struck By Flu As Virus Sets Tragic Record For Children Around The Country
As flu reaches high levels in New York and other parts of the Northeast, this season has set a tragic record for children. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 27 children in the United States have died of the flu so far this season. That's the highest number of child flu deaths at this point in the season since the CDC started keeping records 17 years ago. (Cohen, 1/7)

The Associated Press: Health Center Employee Accused Of Raping Disabled Woman
A North Carolina man who worked at a behavioral health center raped a 19-year-old with disabilities, authorities said. Timothy Lynn Alford, 53, of Burlington was arrested Monday and charged with second-degree forcible rape and misdemeanor sexual battery, according to a news release from the Alamance County Sheriff's Office. The sheriff's office said it received a sexual assault complaint involving a disabled female on Aug. 21, 2018. (1/7)

The Advocate: Head Of Baton Rouge Area Health Agency Resigns After Serving More Than Two Decades
The longtime executive director of the Capital Area Human Services District, a quasi-governmental health care agency, is resigning at the end of February. Jan Kasofsky, who has led the agency since its creation by the Louisiana Legislature in 1996, will step down from her post on Feb. 29 to work in private health care in New Orleans. (1/7)

Boston Globe: Weight-Loss Balloon Company Gets Another $34M In Funding
Allurion Technologies has obtained another $34 million in funding as the venture-backed Natick startup prepares to seek US approval this year for its medical device to help people lose weight. The sum includes $20 million in venture capital from investors such as New Hampshire-based Novalis LifeSciences and Boston-based Romulus Capital. (Saltzman, 1/7)

Modern Healthcare: Feds Accuse Indiana Hospital System Of Violating Stark Law
The U.S. Justice Department has intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging Community Health Network broke the law by billing Medicare for services delivered by physicians who had improper financial relationships with the Indiana hospital system. Since at least 2008, Community Health Network knowingly paid employed physicians a salary above fair market value and awarded bonuses based on the referrals they made to the hospital system, in violation of the Stark law, according to the complaint-in-intervention filed Jan. 6 in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. (Livingston, 1/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Will Open Vacant State Land For Homeless Shelters Under Newsom Order
California will open vacant state land to emergency shelters for homeless people under an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to sign Wednesday. The order, which Newsom announced ahead of his annual budget plan due this week, would also create a fund to pay rent and build affordable housing for homeless people. The governor will propose to start the fund with $750 million in taxpayer money, which the Legislature would have to approve. (Koseff and Fagan, 1/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF’s Laguna Honda Hospital Patient Files Elder Abuse Suit Following Scandal
A resident at Laguna Honda Hospital has filed the first lawsuit against the facility following the patient abuse scandal that roiled the city last year, alleging hospital staffers secretly took photographs of his anal and genital areas and disseminated them for their own entertainment. The suit, filed Monday in San Francisco County Superior Court, comes after a series of bombshell allegations of similar behavior disclosed last year by the city attorney’s office and Department of Public Health. (Cassidy, 1/7)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Maricopa Assessor Paul Petersen Resigns Ahead Of Adoption Fraud Trial
Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who faces dozens of felony charges in an adoption fraud scheme, resigned from his county job Tuesday. Petersen's resignation comes after he pledged for months that he would not resign.In a statement, Petersen said he is an "innocent man, but the media and the Board of Supervisors have presumed my guilt rather than my innocence in this matter." (Boehm, 1/7)

MPR: Minn. Health Officials Concerned About Radon's Threat To Renters, Low-Income People
The Minnesota Department of Health warns renters and residents of low income neighborhoods are more likely to be exposed to radon, an odorless gas that comes from the soil around a building and can lead to lung cancer. Health officials say about 40 percent of Minnesota homes have dangerous radon levels and every home should be tested. But the health department says radon testing and remediation efforts are much less common in neighborhoods with many renters and low-income households. (Moylan, 1/7)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Siteman Cancer Center Celebrates Opening New Facility In Metro East 
Siteman Cancer Center celebrated Tuesday the opening of its newest facility with hospital officials, staff, community members and patients at Memorial Hospital East. The site in Shiloh is the fifth Siteman Cancer satellite facility in the metropolitan area. It will be open to patients Jan. 13. Siteman is based at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. (Munz, 1/7)

Health News Florida: State Moves Forward With CBD Regulations
As sales boom in retail establishments throughout Florida, state regulators are now keeping tabs on CBD products that marketers claim can ease arthritis, anxiety and sleeplessness. The items --- including gummy bears, chocolates and dog treats --- are part of a national mania for CBD, a non-euphoric compound derived from cannabis plants. (Kam, 1/7)

Texas Tribune: Texas Arrested A Man For Hauling Marijuana. Lab Tests Say It Was Hemp.
Last month, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper arrested a driver who the agency claimed was hauling more than a ton of marijuana through the state near Amarillo. Aneudy Gonzalez was jailed for nearly a month on federal charges, and the plant material was seized. But last week, the 39-year-old was released from jail, his case was dismissed and the cargo is expected to be returned. The reason? Lab results indicate the substance was not marijuana but legal hemp. (McCullough, 1/7)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Law Enforcement Keeping An Eye On Recreational Pot In Illinois
As of the New Year, Iowans can go just over the Mississippi River into neighboring Illinois to buy recreational marijuana. Now that sales are legal in the Prairie State, some officials in Iowa are warning residents to be mindful of state law. Despite the law change in Illinois, it is still illegal to transport the drug across state lines or to drive impaired. (Payne, 1/7)