State Highlights: Judge Limits Scope That Plaintiffs Consider Crucial In Roundup Cancer Case In California; Fla. Officials Waited 4 Months To Alert Residents About Unsafe Water

Reuters: U.S. Judge Limits Evidence In Trial Over Roundup Cancer Claims
A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer causes cancer has issued a ruling that could severely restrict evidence that the plaintiffs consider crucial to their cases. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco in an order on Thursday granted Bayer unit Monsanto's request to split an upcoming trial into two phases. The order initially bars lawyers for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman from introducing evidence that the company allegedly attempted to influence regulators and manipulate public opinion. (Bellon, 1/3)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Officials Delayed Telling Residents About Tainted Water, Emails Show
In August, the Department of Environmental Protection confirmed that flame retardants containing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) had been used at the Fire College in the past. In early September, the college was told to only drink bottled water. ...It took about four months for state health officials to notify Lawson and others in the community about potentially elevated levels of the chemicals, emails obtained by the Times/Herald show. (Gross and Koh, 1/3)

The Star Tribune: UCare Letters To 21,000 People List Wrong Premium Price
About 21,000 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in UCare health plans are receiving letters this week that wrongly list monthly premium prices, making some think they are being charged $21 per month more than the true rate. The problem is confined to Medicare subscribers with supplemental dental benefits from UCare who pay their premiums via electronic transfer of funds from bank accounts or the federal Social Security program, said Ghita Worcester, a senior vice president with Minneapolis-based UCare. (Snowbeck, 1/3)

Pioneer Press: St. Paul Nursing Home Again Cited In Death Of Ventilator-Dependent Resident 
For the second time in a year, the state has faulted the same St. Paul nursing home for failing to respond in a timely manner to the ventilator alarm of a resident who died. According to a report made public this week, the Minnesota Department of Health investigated an allegation relating to an Aug. 19 incident at Bethel Care Center in which “a resident was neglected after facility staff found the resident unresponsive and alarms were sounding on the ventilator.” The department determined that the claim was true — that staff at the 420 Marshall Ave. facility did not intervene for at least 39 minutes after the alarm sounded. (Vezner, 1/3)

Reuters: Woman First To Claim Infection After Surgery At New Jersey Facility
A former patient at a New Jersey surgical facility that state health officials said may have exposed thousands of patients to HIV and other blood-borne pathogens has tested positive for hepatitis B, one of her lawyers said on Thursday. The unidentified 58-year-old Brooklyn woman, a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed on Monday, is the first of 3,778 former patients at HealthPlus Surgery Center in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, known to claim she or he became infected because of faulty sterilization and medication practices at the facility. (1/3)

St. Louis Public Radio: EPA Proposes Rolling Back Mercury Standards That Improved Air Quality In Missouri
The Environmental Protection Agency is considering making changes to its 2012 mercury standards, which were responsible for major improvements to Missouri’s air quality in recent years. ... Utility companies installed pollution-control equipment at coal-fired power plants in order to comply with strict federal standards. However, the federal agency last week announced that it’s proposing to revise the rule, based on its conclusion that it’s too costly for the coal industry. (Chen, 1/4)

Georgia Health News: Grady Curbing ER Overuse By Showing Patients A Better Way
Atlanta’s main safety-net hospital, Grady Memorial, is running a program that helps these ER ‘’frequent flyers’’ better manage their health through primary care – and not in an emergency room, which is the most expensive place to get medical services. From Grady’s standpoint, its Chronic Care Clinic aims to reduce unnecessary use of its emergency services while connecting patients to the medical and social services they need. (Miller, 1/3)

Modern Healthcare: Hackensack Meridian Health, Carrier Clinic Complete Merger 
Hackensack Meridian Health and Carrier Clinic completed their merger that will bring new addiction treatment centers to New Jersey as well as the first urgent-care centers in the state to offer on-site behavioral health services, the organizations announced Thursday. The merger agreement also includes a $25 million investment in Carrier's Belle Mead campus. The organizations pledge to better integrate addiction and mental health treatment, boost behavioral research, bolster their psychiatry residency programs and add a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship. (Kacik, 1/3)

The Associated Press: Judge Issues Injunction Over Women’s Prison Medical Care
A federal judge issued an injunction Wednesday against top Virginia Department of Corrections officials, saying the department failed to provide adequate medical care at a women’s prison near Charlottesville. News outlets report that Judge Norman Moon ruled the department didn’t live up to 8 of 22 standards established by a 2016 settlement aimed at improving care at Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. Lawyers for the state have denied that any settlement provisions were breached. (1/3)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Judge Issues Injunction Against State Over Medical Care At Fluvanna Women's Prison; Ruling References At Least 4 Inmate Deaths There Since 2016
A federal judge in Charlottesville ruled Wednesday that the Virginia Department of Corrections failed to live up to eight of 22 standards of health care established in a 2016 settlement agreement for inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon issued an injunction against top officials of the department requiring that within 45 days the prison have an adequate staff of 78 nurses. (Green, 1/3)

Tampa Bay Times: After The Storm, Ruins And Rebuilding Overshadow Personal Anguish
Residents of the Forgotten Coast instead loop a holding pattern around disaster, driving past rubble on every corner. The focus, for them and for many volunteers helping with recovery, is on the physical: food, clothing, buildings, trash, places to go to the bathroom. ... But the hurricane caused emotional trauma, too, experts say, stress and despair that can lead to less visible devastation through depression and anxiety. (Sampson, 1/4)

The Associated Press: Local Maryland Officials To Support Prescription Drug Board
Leading local officials in Maryland’s largest counties are expected to support a proposal to create a state board to review the affordability of prescription drugs. Several county executives are expected to endorse legislation on Thursday to create a prescription drug affordability board. They include Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. (1/3)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore And Maryland Are Among The Cities And States Facing The Worst Economic Impact Of The Opioid Overdose Crisis
The White House Council of Economic Advisers last year decided that previous estimates for the overall loss imposed by the [opioid] crisis were too low. ... The council also increased the estimated number of opioid-related fatalities by 24 percent because recent evidence has shown that such deaths are under-reported on death certificates. It also included deaths involving heroin to estimates that had only counted prescription opioids. The council’s estimate for the national cost: $504 billion. (Donovan, 1/4)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Creating More Medical Education Positions, State Report Says
Georgia education leaders are on pace to exceed their goal to create new residency positions at teaching hospitals, but the state is still far below the national average, according to a new report. The Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts report also warned more medical residency positions are needed south of metro Atlanta. (Strigus, 1/3)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Attorney: Family Of Eighth Cuyahoga County Jail Inmate Preparing Lawsuit Against County
An attorney hired by the family of a 27-year-old man who died after hanging himself in the Cuyahoga County Jail said it is “inconceivable” that another inmate could die in the jail after months of scrutiny surrounding seven other inmate deaths. [Brenden] Kiekisz, who suffered from mental illnesses and had previously tried to commit suicide, is the eighth inmate in Cuyahoga County’s custody to die in 2018. (Ferrise 1/3)

The Washington Post: New Jersey 11-Year-Old Cameron Jean-Pierre Died After Inhaling Fish Fumes, Father Says
Cod was cooking on the stove when 11-year-old Cameron Jean-Pierre arrived at his grandmother’s home in New York. Cameron, who had a known allergy to seafood, started to wheeze during the visit this week, so his father said he reached for his son’s asthma medication. But this time, the nebulizer machine that Cameron had used during allergy attacks in the past, did not seem to be working — the young boy could not breathe in the air, his father said. (Bever, 1/3)

Boston Globe: Cannabis Commission Receives Extra $3 Million To Oversee Medical Marijuana
State marijuana regulators this week received an additional $3 million to pay for their new responsibilities overseeing the state’s medical cannabis program. Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday signed the supplemental budget for the Cannabis Control Commission, an allocation expected to last through the end of the fiscal year in June. (Martin, 1/3)