State Highlights: Lack Of Access To Clean Drinking Water Continues To Affect Non-White Communities In California; Mormon Church Agrees To Utah’s Ban On Conversion Therapy

The New York Times: How Racism Ripples Through Rural California’s Pipes
Bertha Mae Beavers remembers hearing stories as a child about the promises of California, a place so rich with jobs and opportunity that money, she was told, “grew on trees.” So in the summer of 1946 she said goodbye to her family of sharecroppers in Oklahoma and set out for a piece of it. For decades she labored in the Central Valley’s vast cotton and grape fields, where eventually her children joined her. Looking back, Ms. Beavers, who turned 90 this year, has sometimes wondered why she left home at all. It was all the same trouble, she said. (Del Real, 11/29)

The Associated Press: Utah Banning ‘Conversion Therapy’ With Mormon Church Backing
Utah is on its way to becoming the 19th state to ban the discredited practice of conversion therapy in January after state officials formed a proposal that has the support of the influential Church of a Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Republican Gov. Gary Herbert announced Tuesday night that church leaders back a regulatory rule his office helped craft after legislative efforts for a ban on the therapy failed earlier this year. (11/27)

The Associated Press: Uber Driver Says S. Carolina Hospital Dumped Patient On Him
An Uber driver says a South Carolina hospital dumped a patient on him, saying where she ended up was his responsibility. Chris Wilson tells The Greenville News that he stopped in October at AnMed Health Medical Center, a common pickup location for patients headed home. He says he instead was greeted by 59-year-old Tambralyn Hill, who was moaning in pain and too weak to walk. (11/29)

The New York Times: Boys, 10 And 14, Are Among 5 People Shot In The Bronx
Five people, including two boys, ages 10 and 14, were shot in the Bronx on Wednesday by a man firing into a crowd, the police said. The hail of bullets caused chaos on a block with stores, a day care center and students headed to after-school classes the day before Thanksgiving. None of the injuries sustained by those who were hit in the shooting, on Courtlandt Avenue near East 151st Street in the Melrose neighborhood, were life threatening, the police said. The other victims were two women, ages 35 and 19, and a 20-year-old man, the police said. (Shanahan, 11/27)

The Associated Press: New Orleans Shooting Leaves 11 Wounded On The Edge Of The French Quarter
New Orleans police said that, early Sunday morning, 11 people were shot on the edge of the city’s famed French Quarter. A statement from police said two people were in critical condition and no arrests had been made. Police Supt. Shaun Ferguson told the Times-Picayune/the New Orleans Advocate that a person of interest had been detained. Police said 10 people were taken to two hospitals and another walked in. Further details haven’t been released. (12/1)

The Star Tribune: Shakopee Hospital Spends $44 Million To Expand ER, Build Surgery Center 
St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee is spending about $44 million to build a free-standing surgery center while also expanding the hospital’s emergency room and cancer center. The projects, which were disclosed in a financial statement this month, were approved by the hospital’s board of directors earlier this year and are scheduled for completion by autumn 2021. (Snowbeck, 11/29)

The New York Times: ‘Turn Off The Sunshine’: Why Shade Is A Mark Of Privilege In Los Angeles
There is no end to the glittering emblems of privilege in this city. Teslas clog the freeways. Affluent families scramble for coveted spots in fancy kindergartens. And up in the hills of Bel-Air, where a sprawling estate just hit the market for a record $225 million, lush trees line the streets, providing welcome relief from punishing heat. They say the sun has always been the draw of Los Angeles, but these days, shade is increasingly seen as a precious commodity, as the crises of climate change and inequality converge. (Arango, 12/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Legislators Concerned About Auditor’s Complaints That University Of Maryland Medical System Is ‘Hindering’ His Probe 
Maryland lawmakers say they’re concerned and closely monitoring the University of Maryland Medical System’s behavior after the state’s top legislative auditor said the hospital network was “hindering” his work. Some legislative leaders, including the sponsors of sweeping reform legislation passed this year after a self-dealing scandal at UMMS, say more bills could be needed if the hospital network refuses to comply with the state audit. (Broadwater and Rector, 11/27)

Miami Herald: Patient Accuses Florida Doctor Of Unwanted Mouth Kissing
A Melbourne osteopathic physician has been disciplined by the Florida Department of Health after an interaction with a patient that involved hugs and kisses, but the manner of lip contact is in debate.According to the emergency restriction order (ERO), Eric Lang saw a female patient on Aug. 21 and examined one of her legs after she complained of swelling. He hugged her as she left. (Neal, 12/1)

Columbus Dispatch: Emergency Room Visits More Frequent In Ohio Than Other States, But No One Quite Knows Why
Ohio Medicaid recipients go to the hospital emergency department for care more often than Medicaid receipients in all 30 other states reporting like data to federal regulators. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services warn that the findings in the recently released state scorecards for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program may indicate beneficiaries are having difficulty accessing primary care providers or specialists and could cause overcrowding and longer wait times at hospitals. (Candisky, 11/28)

Boston Globe: Draconian State Child Care Assistance Leaves Too Many Working Poor With Debt, Advocates Say
Poor families in Massachusetts with state-subsidized day care still pay, in proportion to their income, the highest child care fees in the nation. Some, in order to get the child care they need to work, wind up spending more than 20 percent of their income for care, nearly three times what federal guidelines recommend for needy families. (Lazar, 12/1)

The Associated Press: Records: Arkansas Youth Treatment Center Broke Federal Rules
State records indicate an Arkansas youth mental health treatment center broke federal rules by using chemical injections to restrain young people held in seclusion. Inspection records obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette say the Piney Ridge Treatment Center was cited for at least 13 violations of Medicaid rules prohibiting simultaneous restraint and seclusion in 30 days. (12/1)

KQED: Med School Free Rides And Loan Repayments — California Tries To Boost Its Dwindling Doctor Supply
Primary care doctors are a hot commodity across California. Students are being lured by full-ride scholarships to medical schools. New grads are specifically recruited for training residencies. And full-fledged doctors are being offered loan repayment programs to serve low-income residents or work in underserved areas. (Aguilera, 11/29)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Filed Over Hepatitis A Outbreak Linked To Berries 
An Omaha woman who contracted hepatitis A after eating blackberries she bought at a Fresh Thyme grocery store has sued the company. The woman who filed the lawsuit Wednesday, Kerrie Tabaka, said she was hospitalized for a week for treatment of hepatitis A and continues to experience fatigue and other symptoms. (11/27)

The Associated Press: Mountain Village Embraces Its Legacy As Cure Center For TB
Tuberculosis put Saranac Lake on the map. Through the middle of the 20th century, ailing people seeking a “rest cure” reclined on cottage porches in the community to take in the crisp Adirondack Mountain air. Saranac Lake grew into a mini-metropolis of medical care, with a dozen trains chugging in and out daily, a famous mountainside tuberculosis sanitorium, hotels — and three undertakers. (12/1)

The Associated Press: Technology To Keep Lights On Could Help Prevent Wildfires
B. Don Russell wasn’t thinking about preventing a wildfire when he developed a tool to detect power line problems before blackouts and bigger disasters. The electrical engineering professor at Texas A&M University figured he might save a life if his creation could prevent someone from being electrocuted by a downed live wire. (12/2)