State Highlights: Illinois Takes Steps To End ‘Appalling’ Isolated Seclusion Of Children In Schools; Calif. Court Rejects Missionary Group’s Abortion Challenge

ProPublica: Illinois To Take Emergency Action To Halt Isolated Timeouts In Schools
The Illinois State Board of Education announced Wednesday that it will take emergency action to end the seclusion of children alone behind locked doors at schools, saying the practice has been “misused and overused to a shocking extent.”Responding to a Chicago Tribune and ProPublica Illinois investigation published a day earlier, Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the isolation of children in the state “appalling” and said he directed the education agency to make emergency rules for schools. (Smith Richards, Cohen, Chavis and Petrella, 11/20)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Supreme Court Turns Down Abortion Challenge By Missionary Group
The state Supreme Court rejected a challenge by a Catholic missionary organization Wednesday to decisions by state health regulators and an appeals court that voluntary abortions are “medically necessary” procedures that must be provided by health care service plans in California. Regulations requiring the coverage, adopted by the California Department of Managed Health Care in 2014, were upheld in August by a state appeals court in Sacramento. (Egelko, 11/20)

The Advocate: Group Wants FDA Investigation Of Louisiana Prisons Offering Unapproved Addiction-Fighting Implant 
A Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group is calling for a federal investigation into a short-lived pilot program that involved treating Louisiana prisoners addicted to opioids using a surgical implant never approved by regulators. The group, Public Citizen, sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Wednesday demanding they “launch a formal compliance investigation” into a program developed through a partnership between the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections and a California health care company that distributes the implant. (DeRobertis, 11/20)

The CT Mirror: Courtney Bill To Protect Health Workers From Violence Set For House Vote
he U.S. House is expected to vote on a bill this week sponsored by Rep. Joe Courtney that aims to protect nurses and other health care and social workers who are physically attacked by patients or their family members. Under Courtney’s bill, the Labor Department would have to issue a rule requiring health care and social service employers to implement workplace violence prevention plans. (Radelat, 11/20)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota Hospitals Using Antibiotics More Carefully 
Minnesota hospitals have ramped up their efforts to prevent antibiotic overuse and the drug-resistant infections that can follow. The share of hospitals in the state meeting national guidelines for appropriate use of antibiotics is now 76% — up from a rate of 24% in 2015 that was one of the lowest in the nation, the Minnesota Department of Health announced on Wednesday. Minnesota still trails the national rate of 85% but has closed the gap through efforts at its many small, rural hospitals, said Jan Malcolm, state health commissioner. (Olson, 11/20)

St. Louis Public Radio: Cancer Risk From St. Louis Air Pollution Highest In Poor Black Neighborhoods
Predominantly black neighborhoods in the St. Louis region where poor people live have a much higher exposure to carcinogenic air pollution than white middle-class neighborhoods, according to a study from Washington University. Researchers analyzed the Environmental Protection Agency’s data on risk of cancer from air pollutants, like ozone, among census tracts in the St. Louis metropolitan area. (Chen, 11/20)

The Associated Press: Officials: Multistate Hepatitis A Cases Traced To Berries
A hepatitis A outbreak in Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin has been traced to blackberries sold in Fresh Thyme grocery stores and federal authorities on Wednesday warned consumers in 11 states against eating some berries bought from that chain. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release that the outbreak began several weeks ago in Nebraska. (11/20)

The Oregonian: New Measles Risk At Portland International Airport After Infected Child Passes Through
An unvaccinated child under 11 returned with measles from a country experiencing an outbreak of the disease, Clark County Public Health officials said Wednesday. The child passed through Portland International Airport on Nov. 14. Health officials did not say where the child had traveled. The agency warned that people in Vancouver and Portland may have been exposed to the virus. If somebody was exposed to the measles and is susceptible to an infection, they might start showing symptoms between Nov. 18 and Dec. 9. (Zarkhin, 11/20)

The Oregonian: Multnomah County Staff Mishandled Hundreds Of Mental Health Abuse Complaints, Report Finds 
Multnomah County employees in charge of protecting adults with mental health issues failed to do so on multiple fronts, according to District Attorney Rod Underhill and county officials. Those determinations, both made public Tuesday, came in the midst of a wide-ranging review in the wake of findings that county staff knew about deaths and abuse at the main psychiatric facility in the county yet did nothing. (Harbarger, 11/20)

The Oregonian: In Multnomah County, Mental Health Services Are Increasingly Scarce 
Caught between stagnant funding, an insurance maze and an affordable housing crisis, Multnomah County is struggling to deliver its mental health services to the people that need it the most. That’s according to an audit released Wednesday from the Multnomah County Auditor’s Office. The county’s ability to deliver its services is “limited and faces imminent risks,” the audit states. (Goodykoontz, 11/20)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Childhood Trauma In Wisconsin And The Nation A 'Public Health Crisis'
If such a world of trauma-free households could ever exist, national unemployment would fall 15%. There would be 24% fewer heavy drinkers and 33% fewer smokers. Cases of coronary heart disease — the leading cause of death in the U.S. —would fall 13%. Those are among the findings in a new study that has special relevance to Milwaukee and Wisconsin, regions that already have been studying the impact of nonmilitary psychological trauma on their populations. (Schmid, 11/20)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Talks Between LCMC And East Jefferson Hospital Focus On Likely Sale, Sources Say 
Seven months after East Jefferson General Hospital officials began discussions with LCMC Health about LCMC operating the financially troubled Metairie hospital, it appears the parties may be headed toward a sale, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The talks, which began in April, have been conducted in strict secrecy and have explored various strategic partnerships that would allow the New Orleans-based LCMC to operate the public hospital. (Faimon, 11/20)

WBUR: 'We're Here Standing In Solidarity': Health Care Providers As Immigrant Advocates In The Age Of Trump
Boston-area health care providers are increasingly finding themselves in the middle of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. New policy proposals and partisan politics are combining, making it more difficult for immigrant patients to access health care and in turn, leading more physicians to push back. (Dooling, 11/21)