State Highlights: New York Lawmakers Expected To Ban ‘Gay Panic’ Defenses In Murder Cases; Texas, Florida Cut Back On Charging Students In School Shooting Threats

The New York Times: New York Set To Ban ‘Gay Panic’ Defenses In Murder Cases
Since as early as the 1960s, defense lawyers have introduced the idea that people accused of violent crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people had acted in a state of temporary insanity caused and justified by their victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The legal strategy, known as the “gay panic” or “transgender panic” defenses, was not always effective, and as attitudes toward L.G.B.T. people shifted, it was used less often. But it has still been deployed in recent years by lawyers hoping to win a jury’s sympathy, lessen a defendant’s charges or shorten a sentence. (Gold, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Afraid Of Missing The Next School Shooter, One Prosecutor Charged 216 Kids. Now He’s Rethinking.
In the tense aftermath of last year’s massacre in Parkland, Fla., prosecutors around the country vowed to go after any student who made threats against schools, hoping to keep their communities from suffering a similar fate. Now, some are moving away from the zero-tolerance approach, saying they want to avoid overcharging students in school threat cases that don’t turn out to be serious. “Obviously, we’re all petrified of the next school shooter. But our mission should be to protect kids, not arrest kids,” said John Jordan, chief juvenile prosecutor for the district attorney of Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston. (Frosch and Hobbs, 6/19)

Los Angeles Times: Cancer Patient Says UCLA Gynecologist Sexually Assaulted Her, Faults University Inaction
A cancer patient sued UCLA and Dr. James Heaps on Tuesday, accusing the former campus gynecologist of repeatedly sexual assaulting her during her two years of treatment. The 44-year-old woman was battling mesothelioma when, in October 2015, she went to Heaps for surgery, she said. During four visits that stretch to June 2017, the woman alleges Heaps abused his position of trust to improperly touch her clitoris repeatedly, fondle her breasts and squeeze her nipples — all under the guise of medical examination. (Winton, 6/18)

Des Moines Register: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' Staff Says New Direction Coming To State DHS
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds asked the director of the state's largest agency to resign because she "wanted to go in a new direction at the Department of Human Services," her spokesman said Tuesday. ...Jerry Foxhoven, the former head of the human services agency, resigned Monday at Reynolds' behest. Democrats used the exit to offer fresh criticism of Iowa's controversial privatized Medicaid system, which is run by national insurance companies but is overseen by the agency. Garrett declined to comment Tuesday on what direction Reynolds wants for the agency. The Republican governor was in North Carolina on Tuesday for a workforce-related event, but she was expected to have public events in Iowa on Wednesday. (Rodriguez, 6/18)

The Hill: San Francisco Votes To Ban E-Cigarettes Not Approved By FDA
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously voted to ban the sale of e-cigarettes in city limits if they are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The decision brings San Francisco one step closer to becoming the first U.S. city to ban the sale and distribution of e-cigarettes. A final vote is required before it becomes law. (Daugherty, 6/18)

NH Times Union: Budget Writers Strike Deal On $17.5 Million Secure Psychiatric Unit 
House and Senate budget writers on Tuesday agreed to meet Gov. Chris Sununu halfway on his proposal for a new forensic psychiatric hospital to serve some of the state’s most challenging mental health patients. In the second day of a three-day budget conference between House and Senate members, both sides agreed to include the Senate proposal for a $17.5 million, 25-bed Secure Psychiatric Unit on the grounds of New Hampshire Hospital, the state’s existing psychiatric hospital in Concord. (Solomon, 6/18)

Modern Healthcare: FTC Hears Concerns About Ballad Health Merger
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday heard several experts sound off on their concerns about the newly formed Ballad Health and the regulatory framework that permitted the merger to form the health system. The FTC publicly opposed the 2018 merger to form Ballad. It hosted a workshop in Washington, D.C., to examine the impact of states' certificates of public advantage on healthcare price, quality, access and innovation. One session focused specifically on Ballad, whose 10-year COPA was approved in January 2018 and the merger finalized the following month. (Bannow, 6/18)

The Star Tribune: Three Twin Cities Health Systems Reach Tentative Contracts With Their Nurses 
Three Twin Cities health systems reached tentative contracts with their nurses after HealthEast agreed Tuesday to allow nurses to close unsafe or understaffed units and Fairview Health and Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park agreed to pay raises and other benefits. Nurses will vote on the contracts this month, but negotiators with their union, the Minnesota Nurses Association, said they addressed key issues, including protections against workplace violence. (Olson, 6/18)

WNYC: More Instances Of Fraud And Mismanagement Over New Jersey Tax Incentives Surface In New Report
In a November 2014 email included in the report, a Cooper Health executive acknowledged that the hospital did not intend to leave New Jersey but was “quietly” seeking a lease quote for office space in Philadelphia to satisfy the tax break program’s legal requirements. The email from Cooper vice president Andrew Bush to a realty firm in the Philadelphia area suggested that the hospital had decided to move its administrative offices to Camden but needed a quote on a cheaper space across the river to qualify for the breaks. (Pillets and Solomon, 6/18)

Boston Globe: Challenges Remain As Rhode Island’s Key Health Care Players Discuss Governor’s Call For A Local System
The CEOs of Lifespan and Care New England said they were committed to getting back to the table for a new round of merger talks. Brown University president Christina Paxson said she was looking forward to having more conversations. Even Partners HealthCare, the Massachusetts giant that had been trying to acquire Care New England for the past two years, agreed to step back and give the Rhode Island companies space. (McGowan, 6/19)

North Carolina Health News: Hepatitis A Outbreak In North Carolina Centered In Mecklenburg County
Fourteen months into a widespread outbreak of hepatitis A, Mecklenburg County continues to see new cases of the viral infection. North Carolina, and Mecklenburg County in particular, is part of a national trend—since 2017, 22 states have reported hepatitis A outbreaks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ...Across the country, over 19,000 cases have been identified. About 57 percent of those resulted in hospitalizations and 185 people have died from complications associated with the disease, which is often sexually transmitted but can also be linked to improperly handled food if an infected preparer does not wash their hands. (Duong, 6/19)

The Associated Press: Hospital Largely Cleared In Newborn Cut From Womb Case
Investigators have largely cleared a hospital for how it dealt with a Chicago woman accused of cutting a baby from his mother's womb and claiming him as her own, despite questions from the victims' family over why it took the hospital more than two weeks to tell child services that the woman had shown no signs of having just given birth. (6/18)

Sacramento Bee: U.S. News: UCD-Shriners In Top 10 For Kids’ Orthopedic Care
Sacramento’s UC Davis Children’s Hospital and Shriners Hospital for Children — Northern California ranked among the top 10 medical institutions in the United States for children to get orthopedic care, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by U.S. News & World Report magazine. Shriners and UC Davis ranked at No. 8 on the 2019-2020 list, but they have consistently ranked in the top 50 hospitals on the U.S. (Anderson, 6/18)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Lawmakers Call For Reforms In Response To Deaths At Cuyahoga County Jail
A pair of local state lawmakers are calling for legal changes in response to the ongoing issues at the troubled Cuyahoga County Jail, which has been plagued by poor health care, inmate deaths, staffing issues and lax state inspections. Lakewood state Sen. Nickie Antonio and Parma state Rep. Jeff Crossman, both Democrats, said Tuesday they’re working on jail accountability legislation that would complement reforms imposed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. (Tobias, 6/18)

State House News Service: 'Food Is Medicine' Report Outlines Menu Of Options
About one in 10 households in Massachusetts struggles with food insecurity, or not having consistent access to enough food for a healthy and active lifestyle, leading to $1.9 billion in annual health care costs that could be avoided, the report said. Though Massachusetts has programs that try to address the issue of food insecurity and inaccessibility of fresh foods, the report said access to food as medicine programs remains limited in the state and across the country. (Young, 6/18)

Georgia Health News: Where Does Georgia Rank On Some Key Health Measures?
The KIDS COUNT Data Book for 2019, released Monday, measures children on education, economic well-being, health, and family and community. Georgia has come a long way from a ranking of 48th in 1990, the report said. Georgia’s health care rankings in two other recent reports, though, languish in the 40s among states. (Miller, 6/18)

The Oregonian: Report: Hospital Calls About ‘Unwanted’ People Trespassing Leads To Jail, Criminalizing Mental Illness 
She was among more than 100 people arrested for trespassing at five Portland hospitals and the metro area’s psychiatric emergency department from the summer of 2017 through the summer of 2018, according to a report released Tuesday. In 94 percent of the cases – representing 133 of the 142 times hospitals called police about an “unwanted person,’’ the subject of the call ended up arrested and booked into jail. (Bernstein, 6/18)

North Carolina Health News: Health Officials Battle Increase In Rural STD Rates
An increase in sexually transmitted diseases across the country isn’t as surprising to health professionals as is the insight that rates of STDs are rising more in rural areas than in urban areas. Health officials are working to educate rural residents about the dangers of unprotected sex and to make residents aware that STDs are present in their area. (Carey, 6/19)

NPR: In Rural Wyoming, This Program Is Designed To Help Patients Manage Medical Needs
Managing chronic pain can be particularly difficult for people in rural areas because of the necessity of frequent doctor visits. Volunteers in rural Wyoming are trying to help. (Mullen, 6/18)