State Highlights: Number Of ‘Unsheltered’ Homeless People In New York City Inches Downward; New Hampshire Becomes 2nd State To Sue Makers Of Dangerous PFAS Chemicals

The New York Times: New York’s Toughest Homeless Problem
They are the most visible sign of New York’s homelessness crisis: A man covered in dirt sits outside a subway station in Jamaica, Queens. Another man, cross-legged and ragged on a Midtown sidewalk, begs for money. A dozen people form an encampment in Central Park. While the overwhelming majority — about 95 percent — of the more than 78,000 people who qualify as homeless in New York actually have temporary shelter, others live on the streets, for a host of reasons. They represent a persistent challenge. (Stewart, 5/30)

The Associated Press: New Hampshire Sues 3M, Dupont, Other Chemical Companies
New Hampshire has sued eight companies including 3M and the DuPont Co. for damage it says has been caused by a class of potentially toxic chemicals found in pizza boxes, fast-food wrappers and drinking water. The substances — known collectively as PFAS — have been used in coatings meant to protect consumer goods and are commonplace in households across the United States. Studies have found potential links between high levels of PFOA in the body and a range of illnesses including kidney cancer, increased cholesterol levels and problems in pregnancies. (5/29)

The Washington Post: Hawaii Department Of Health Confirms New Cases Of Rat Lungworm Disease
Hawaii public health authorities are urging both islanders and tourists to take precautions against rat lungworm, a parasitic worm that has infected five people in the state this year. Officials with Hawaii’s Department of Health announced last week that lab tests have confirmed two visitors contracted rat lungworm disease while traveling in western Hawaii earlier this year. Over the past several months, three residents have also been sickened by the parasite, and 10 cases were confirmed statewide in 2018, officials said. (Bever, 5/29)

North Carolina Health News: State Senators Unveil Their Budget, Negotiations Can Begin
State Senate leaders rolled out their two-year budget proposal for North Carolina on Tuesday, highlighting several health care provisions. State senators want to address mental health needs by funding a psychologist for every North Carolina school district, adding additional money for addiction recovery treatment, and by adding staffing and beds to Broughton psychiatric hospital. (Knopf and Davis, 5/29)

Pioneer Press: Concussions And Thrown Feces — Staff At Anoka Psychiatric Hospital Fear For Their Safety 
Staff at the Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center say safety conditions have deteriorated so badly at the state-run psychiatric hospital that many are afraid to go to work. Workers say staff members have been knocked unconscious, dragged across the floor by their hair and had feces and urine thrown at them. Recently, a nurse was hospitalized after being beaten by a patient — it was the 28th injury at the center due to patient aggression that was reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration this year. (Magan, 5/29)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gwen Moore Launches Mamas First Act To Expand Coverage For Doulas
Introduced May 15, the act proposes an expansion of Medicaid coverage to expectant mothers who seek services provided by doulas and midwives. These health care workers provide mothers with key support throughout pregnancy that mitigates birth complications and other adverse outcomes. (Peryer, 5/29)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: New Tool Estimates Cost Of Child Lead Poisoning In Ohio At $2.8 Billion
For children born this year, exposure to lead in homes, water and the soil will cost Ohio nearly $3 billion in reduced productivity and premature mortality, as well as added health care, education and social assistance spending. That’s according to a new online tool released today by Altarum, a non-profit research and consulting organization that focuses on solutions to health problems. (Zeltner and Dissell, 5/30)

Kansas City Star: Sharice Davids Tours Johnson County Talking Mental Health
Johnson County mental health officials — facing what they say is the highest suicide rate in any county in Kansas — told U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids on Wednesday they need private insurers to pay more for treatment, especially outpatient care. Erin Dugan, the president and CEO of the KidsTLC treatment center in Olathe, told Davids that Medicaid pays more for those services than the private sector — something that’s almost unheard of in the physical health realm. (Marso, 5/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: UCSF Medical School Graduates First Undocumented Student In Its History
Latthivongskorn completed the program in Medical Education for the Urban Underserved, a five-year track for students focused on serving marginalized communities. He’ll start his residency training in family and community medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in June, through a UCSF program. (Sanchez, 5/29)

KCUR: To Prevent 'Little League Shoulder' In Kids, Kansas City Sports Experts Prescribe Fun 
An increase in year-round sports has led to overuse injuries in young athletes, which raises the question: Is the quest for athletic glory worth the toll it exacts on kids? At least one Kansas City-area sports official believes the hypercompetitive nature of high school sports has robbed it of its reason for being – namely, simply to have fun. ...Another byproduct of year-round sports is overuse injuries like little league shoulder. It’s caused by stress to the arm bone nearest the shoulder and commonly occurs in youth overhand pitchers between the ages of 11 and 16, according to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. (Margolies, 5/29)

Kansas City Star: IV Nutrition Chiropractor Calls Kansas Medical Board Biased
The co-owner of an Overland Park vitamin IV business claims she was sanctioned by the Kansas medical board not because her business had unsafe practices but because the board is biased against chiropractors. The Kansas Board of Healing Arts issued an emergency order in December barring Tara Zeller from working at IV Nutrition, 6301 W. 135th St., or similar IV therapy clinics, while it investigated allegations of improper advertising and unsafe practices there. (Marso, 5/29)

Arizona Republic: $6.75 Million Settlement Paid In Terrill Thomas Jail Dehydration Case
Milwaukee County and the company that formerly provided health care at the jail have paid $6.75 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the estate of Terrill Thomas, who died of dehydration in his cell in 2016. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported the proposed settlement in January. The payments, about $5 million from the county and $1.7 million from Armor Correctional Health Services, have now been made. (Vielmetti, 5/29)

North Carolina Health News: $2 Billion Roundup Verdict May Be Just The Beginning 
Class-action lawyers have been circling on social media since a jury decided earlier this month that a California couple deserves more than $2 billion for the cancer they say was caused by using Roundup on their lawns for more than three decades. The verdict against Monsanto, the maker of the country’s most widely used herbicide before it was bought by Bayer last year, was the third since last summer. An estimated 11,000 more cases are waiting in the wings. Judging by the number of lawyers on social media hoping to make it rain, that number seems destined to climb. (Barnes, 5/30)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Agrees To Let Homeless People Keep Skid Row Property — And Some In Downtown Aren’t Happy
In a pivotal legal settlement, the city of Los Angeles has agreed that it won’t put a ceiling on the total amount of property that homeless people can keep on skid row, but will throw away sofas, refrigerators and other large items crowding the squalid 50-block area of downtown. The agreement, released Wednesday and reached after months of closed-door negotiations, applies only to skid row and adjoining streets. (Holland and Zahniser, 5/29)

Arizona Republic: Marijuana Dispensaries React To Arizona Court Ruling On Concentrates
Concentrated forms of marijuana are likely to continue with explosive growth in sales following a Tuesday Arizona Supreme Court decision that affirms their legality, according to experts. The court decided in a 7-0 decision that Yavapai County was wrong to prosecute and convict a man who had a valid, state-issued medical-marijuana card and was in possession of a concentrated form of the drug, hashish in his case. (Randazzo, 5/29)