State Highlights: Texas Lawmaker Pledges To Reverse Cuts To Disabled Kids’ In-Home Therapy; Md. Nursing Home Gets Million-Dollar Makeover

Texas Tribune: House Speaker Joe Straus Vows To Reverse Cuts To Disabled Kids' Therapy Services 
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said Tuesday that lawmakers in the Capitol’s lower chamber would seek to restore funding for disabled children’s in-home therapy services during the upcoming legislative session, potentially reversing the state's course in an emotionally fraught, year-long legal battle. (Walters, 11/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Nursing Home Shows Off A $1 Million Face-Lift 
Westgate Hills Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center has a new look after a $1.5 million renovation by parent company Marquis Health Services. The 120-bed center, on the Baltimore City border with Catonsville, features an Activities of Daily Living suite — complete with a bedroom and functioning kitchen — designed to prepare patients for a return home by giving them a chance to practice tasks such as getting out of bed and cooking, and an expanded gym with parallel bars, stairs, treadmills, space for floor exercises and hydraulic equipment to assist with physical therapy. (Bleiweis, 11/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Towson Nursing Home Manager Pleads Guilty In Federal Court 
The manager of a Towson assisted living facility pleaded guilty this week to a scheme in which he stole residents' personal information to open credit card accounts, spending more than $70,000, the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office said. Salah Eldean Sood, 35, of Lutherville, who ran Holland Manor Eldercare, was charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, after federal prosecutors said he opened credit card accounts using patients' stolen information between July 2014 and January 2016. (Anderson, 11/29)

Los Angeles Times: Air Quality Agency Aims To Stop Metal Plants Accused Of Polluting Paramount With Cancer-Causing Emissions
Air quality officials are taking enforcement action against two metal-processing plants they believe are contributing to alarming levels of cancer-causing hexavalent chromium discovered recently in Paramount. The South Coast Air Quality Management District filed for an administrative order Tuesday against Aerocraft Heat Treating Co. and Anaplex Corp. to force them to cease operations or take steps to stop violating pollution and public nuisance rules. (Barboza, 11/29)

Kaiser Health News: Pushups In The Park: Cal State Students Lead Outdoor Exercise In Low-Income Areas
The Cal State students are instructors in a free exercise program offered at parks in the San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles, San Francisco and Stanislaus County. The participants are mostly Latino, and many had never exercised regularly before joining the group. Several have diabetes, high blood pressure or other chronic diseases. Irma Fuentes, 53, attends the exercise boot camp three times each week. She said it has motivated her to change her diet, lose weight and start hiking with her husband on the weekends. (Gorman, 11/30)

Tampa Bay Times: Galvano To Advocate Medical Pot Research At Moffitt 
As lawmakers grapple with implementing medical marijuana in Florida, a powerful senator is pushing for the state to set up a pot research program at the Moffitt Cancer Center. State Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is working on legislation establishing Florida's first major cannabis research center at Moffit, focusing on the drug's potential benefits for cancer patients. He wants to put money in the state budget to start the program, as well. (Auslen and McGrory, 11/29)

Chicago Sun Times: Chicago Restaurants Not Getting Inspected Enough, New Report Says 
Less than 44 percent of Chicago restaurants and 24.8 percent of bars are being inspected as often as state law requires — undermining public trust and jeopardizing state funding — because the city’s Department of Public Health is “seriously understaffed,” Inspector General Joe Ferguson has concluded. State law requires the city to inspect high-risk food establishments twice a year. The category includes restaurants, hospital kitchens, day care centers and schools that prepare food on site. (Spielman, 11/29)