State Highlights: LA Mayor Optimistic About Working With Trump Administration On Homelessness; Proposed Cuts To Ga. Health Spending Will Lead To More Suicides, Advocates Warn

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Mayor Garcetti Foresees Progress On Homelessness Via Talks With HUD Secretary Ben Carson
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Thursday that he hopes to reach a preliminary agreement with the Trump administration on a joint plan to help combat the city’s swelling homelessness crisis when he meets with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson on Friday. Garcetti said a final deal was still days or weeks away but expressed optimism that the two sides were making progress toward an agreement to provide federal resources, including land, to augment local efforts to erect more shelter space for people living on the streets. (Bierman and Oreskes, 1/23)

Georgia Health News: Health Care Budget Cuts Raise Alarm As Waiver Plan Draws Criticism
Gov. Brian Kemp’s tough budget plan spares two giant health care programs from cuts: Medicaid, and the Georgia health plan covering teachers and state employees. But in a Thursday hearing, state lawmakers were briefed on funding cuts in other state health programs, including behavioral health services and physician training programs. (Miller, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Proposed Cuts To State Mental Health Budget Called ‘Life-Robbing'
State officials said Thursday that proposed cuts to the state’s mental health budget would result in an increase in suicides and substance abuse problems that the state’s services will be unable to prevent. “The safety net is stretched to the max,” Judy Fitzgerald, the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities, told legislators during a budget hearing. “They’re painful cuts.” (Hart, 1/23)

Iowa Public Radio: Lawmakers Advance Bills To Allow Guns On Some School And Work Property
Lawmakers advanced proposals Thursday to allow Iowans to have loaded firearms on work and school property, which would override some employers’ no-firearm policies. Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said it’s difficult for Iowans to carry the guns they have permits for when restrictions are in place at work and their children’s schools. (Sostaric, 1/23)

Health News Florida: Moody Asks Judge To Reject NRA Challenge To Gun Legislation
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking a federal judge to toss out a lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association challenging gun legislation passed after the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 14 students and three faculty members. The national gun-rights group challenged part of a sweeping school-safety law that raised the age to purchase rifles and other long guns from 18 to 21. (Kam, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Hate Crimes In Los Angeles Reach Highest Level Since 2002, Data Show
Reports of hate crimes rose in Los Angeles for the fifth straight year in 2019, increasing 10.3% over the year before and reaching their highest level since 2002, according to data released Wednesday. A total of 322 hate crimes were reported last year, compared with 292 in 2018, according to numbers from the Los Angeles Police Department that were disclosed at an L.A. City Council Public Safety Committee meeting. (Wigglesworth, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Principal Disciplined, Did Not Report Alleged Mistreatment Of Students
A Coweta County elementary school principal was suspended for two days without pay earlier this month as part of an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of special needs students. Christi Hildebrand, the principal at Elm Street Elementary, failed to report the allegations, leading to her suspension, Coweta County School System spokesman Dean Jackson told AJC.com. The investigation has led to two school employees being placed on paid administrative leave. (Hansen, 1/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Agency Would Not Fill Vacant Child Safety, Benefit Eligibility Positions
The Georgia agency that oversees child protection and federal benefit programs would hold open more than 200 vacant jobs under the budget recently unveiled by Gov. Brian Kemp. Georgia Division of Family and Children Services Director Tom Rawlings told a panel of state lawmakers Thursday that it would leave open 127 child welfare positions and 105 in the department that handles eligibility for federal benefits that are currently vacant. The changes would take place in the 2021 fiscal year, which begins July 1. (Prabhu, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Governor Tours Prison Rocked By Deadly Violence
Mississippi's new governor says he and the interim corrections commissioner toured a troubled state prison to see conditions and to try to understand what led to an outburst of deadly violence in recent weeks. Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday that he and the commissioner, Tommy Taylor, also toured an empty prison that the state owns. The Republican governor, who took office Jan. 14, said it's possible that the state could move some inmates into the empty prison in the central Mississippi town of Walnut Grove. (1/23)

Charlotte Observer: Atrium Starts Construction On New Union County Hospital
Atrium Health broke ground on a new, $116 million hospital Thursday morning, amid a continuing fight between Charlotte’s biggest health systems for hospital beds. Atrium is building a 150,000-square-foot hospital — to be called Atrium Health Union West — in Stallings, Union County, near the Mecklenburg County line. The health systems estimates the building will be completed in early 2022.Atrium announced plans for the hospital in October 2018. The hospital will have 40 acute care beds, two operating rooms and 10 emergency department bays. (Smoot, 1/24)

Boston Globe: Children’s Hospital Ethicist Questioned Handling Of Justina Pelletier’s Case, Documents Show
Boston Children’s Hospital’s own in-house ethicist questioned the hospital’s handling of the high-profile dispute over the care of Justina Pelletier that broke out between her parents and her doctors, according to documents in the lawsuit that is underway in Suffolk Superior Court. Pelletier’s doctors soon cut her parents out of the decision making, and the couple’s daughter ultimately ended up in the hospital’s locked psychiatric unit for nine months, with the state’s child protection agency assuming custody. (Lazar, 1/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Josh Kaul's Fight Over Sexual Assault Kits Escalates In Wisconsin
Attorney General Josh Kaul laid into a New Berlin lawmaker Thursday for blocking legislation to prevent backlogs of sexual assault kits, accusing Rep. Joe Sanfelippo of issuing a string of falsehoods about the issue. "It’s an outrage that this hasn’t passed," Kaul told reporters. "He needs to take action." The Republican lawmaker said he planned to hold a hearing on the issue in the coming weeks but said it might be on a bill other than the one Kaul wants. He said Kaul was "bullying" him on an issue that isn't urgent. Sanfelippo said he's not sure he wants lawmakers to get involved in the issue because a past backlog was resolved without them. (Marley, 1/23)

Dallas Morning News: Cook Children’s Describes Duty Of Treating Baby Tinslee As ‘Unethical’ And ‘Cruel’ In Latest Filing
After months of painful treatments for an infant girl who, according to the hospital’s legal team, “doesn’t have any hope of surviving,” some nurses at Fort Worth’s Cook Children’s Medical Center have begun requesting shift changes to avoid what they say is an “unethical and even ‘cruel’” assignment.A new court filing describes the dilemma a team of doctors and nurses at Cook Children’s face while being forced to keep treating Tinslee Lewis, an 11-month-old baby being kept alive despite multiple deadly heart and lung conditions.Her family and state politicians, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, are fighting in the courts to change a law that they say allows doctors to “sentence ill people to premature death.” (Scudder and Branham, 1/23)

MPR and Associated Press: Minnesota Reports 1st Child Death Of Flu Season
Minnesota health officials on Thursday reported the first child death of the flu season.For privacy reasons, the state is not releasing details about the case, including the child's age, or any underlying conditions. (Sepic, 1/23)

Boston Globe: First Pediatric Flu Death This Year Reported In Massachusetts
State public health officials on Thursday confirmed the first pediatric flu death of the season in Massachusetts.The state Department of Public Health said in a statement that the victim was a teenager who lived in Worcester County and who tested positive for influenza B. Last flu season, DPH said, there were four confirmed flu-related deaths of people under the age of 18 in Massachusetts, and the CDC has reported 39 pediatric deaths this flu season nationwide. (Anderson, 1/23)

Modern Healthcare: Four Chicago Hospitals To Merge
Four financially struggling hospitals have agreed to merge in hopes of transforming care for Chicago residents on the South Side. Advocate Trinity Hospital, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital plan to create a single system with one leadership team. Crain's reported late last year that a deal was in the works. (Goldberg, 1/23)

Chicago Tribune: Struggling South Side Hospitals To Form New Health Care System
Four financially strapped hospitals on Chicago’s South Side plan to combine into a new system and embark on a $1.1 billion plan that includes building at least one hospital and potentially closing others. The move by Advocate Trinity Hospital in Calumet Heights, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Bronzeville, South Shore Hospital in South Chicago and St. Bernard Hospital in Englewood is an effort to better serve patients in some of the city’s most challenged neighborhoods. The deal, announced Thursday, could be finalized by fall. (Schencker, 1/23)

Houston Chronicle: Kindred Hospital Shuttering 4 Houston Locations
Kindred Healthcare, a long-term, acute care hospital network, will close the doors of four Houston-area hospitals and lay off hundreds of workers in March, according to company officials and the Texas Workforce Commission. In a Jan. 15 filing with state officials, the Louisville, Ky.-based healthcare system said it would close three locations in Spring, Dallas and Fort Worth and lay off 541 employees. (Wu, 1/23)

The Oregonian: Teen Cancer Patient Kylee Dixon Undergoes Successful Surgery, Report Says
Kylee Dixon, 13, is now cancer-free, according to KPTV. Her case became an emblem of the debate when her mother was accused of defying a court order to deliver Kylee to state care in order to prevent her from getting a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. Last summer, Christina Dixon was charged with two counts of custodial interference and two of criminal mistreatment. Dixon and her daughter had previously been on the run for several days and were found in a Las Vegas hotel. Kylee was then turned over to state custody and has since then been living with a foster family. (Ryan, 1/23)

Detroit Free Press: Lakeview Pediatrics, Ascension Medical Group Worker May Have Spread TB
Hundreds of patients, including children, who visited pediatric offices in Macomb and Oakland counties may have been exposed to tuberculosis by a health care worker diagnosed with the highly contagious and deadly disease. "All individuals who may have been exposed are being notified and encouraged to obtain testing," the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Thursday, urging that they call a hotline if they have concerns. "Testing is being offered at no cost." (Witsil, 1/23)

CT Mirror: After Our Reporting, Connecticut Officials Are Taking On Housing Segregation
Frustrated with the lack of options for low-income families in Connecticut’s tony suburbs, the governor and the leader of the state Senate are calling for new measures to entice towns to build more affordable housing. Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, said that he is poised to tie state spending on transportation upgrades in affluent communities — such as new or renovated train stops — to local approval of more affordable housing projects. (Rabe Thomas and Carlesso, 1/24)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Lawmakers Revisit Marijuana Legalization, 'Home Grow' For Medical Cannabis
New Hampshire legislators are starting work on a dozen marijuana bills filed for the 2020 session, including allowing patients enrolled in the state's therapeutic cannabis program to grow their own medical marijuana. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee heard a handful of bills Wednesday that propose expanding qualifying conditions — adding autism, for example — and addressing access and affordability. (Tuohy and McOwen, 1/23)

Texas Tribune: Austin, Texas Will Stop Arrests, Tickets In Low-Level Marijuana Cases
The Austin City Council approved a resolution Thursday that will largely end arrests and fines for low-level marijuana possession. This comes after Texas' legalization of hemp last June threw marijuana prosecution into chaos since the plants look and smell identical. (McCullough and Andu, 1/23)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Awards 192 Dispensary Licenses For Medical Marijuana Program
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services began awarding the 192 state medical marijuana dispensary licenses on Thursday. According to the constitutional amendment that voters approved in 2018, the department was required to license at least 192 dispensaries, 24 in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts. This means DHSS could have awarded more licenses, but they want to see if the minimum number can meet demand. (Driscoll, 1/23)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Decision Day: Missouri Begins Licensing Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Missouri officials on Thursday began notifying hundreds of business hopefuls whether they would receive a license to sell medical marijuana. The Department of Health and Senior Services plans to license 192 dispensaries statewide — 24 in each of the state’s congressional districts — to sell marijuana legally to Missourians with a valid medical marijuana patient card. Even though the department has started to send off notifications, it doesn’t plan to publish an official list of application scores until at least Friday, said Lisa Cox, spokeswoman for the DHSS. (Benchaabane and Suntrup, 1/23)