State Highlights: The Job Of Counting The Homeless In California; Virginia Senate Green-Lights ‘Red Flag’ Gun Law

Los Angeles Times: Meet The Woman Who Runs L.A.'s Massive, Annual Homeless Count
The hand-drawn thermometer on the wall had just jumped to 7,100, assuring everyone in the command center that this year’s homeless count would have enough volunteers. But for Clementina Verjan, in charge of every count since the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority began conducting them in 2005, that didn’t mean all was well. She knew it would be next to impossible to spread that many people across Los Angeles County in an even manner. Some locations would have too many volunteers and some would have too few. (Smith, 1/22)

Reuters: California Governor Seeks Free Surplus Federal Land To Help House Homeless
California Governor Gavin Newsom, stepping up his bid to enlist U.S. government help to combat homelessness, has urged the Trump administration to open up surplus federal property for construction of more low-cost housing across the state. Newsom's request came in a letter on Tuesday to U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson, who rejected pleas from California in September for more money to fight homelessness but has since adopted a more cooperative stance on the issue. (1/23)

The Washington Post: Virginia Senate Approves ‘Red Flag’ Law Allowing Temporary Seizure Of Guns From Someone Deemed A Threat
The Virginia Senate on Wednesday passed a "red flag" law that would allow authorities to temporarily seize the firearm of someone deemed a threat, a measure that was strongly opposed by gun rights advocates who swarmed the streets around the state Capitol on Monday. The bill passed on a party-line vote of 21-19, with every Democrat in favor and every Republican against. Debate grew unusually sharp as some GOP senators suggested that the bill would violate the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. (Schneider, 1/22)

Stateline: ‘Every State Should Be Passing A Law To Deal With This’: The Danger Of Impaired School Bus Drivers 
After school bus driver Carole Ann Etheridge dropped off 31 middle and high school students in Walton County, Georgia, one August morning in 2017, she was summoned to the principal’s office. A worried parent had contacted the school system after getting a text from her child on the bus, who said Etheridge was driving erratically and had crossed the center line into oncoming traffic. The school resource officer, Walton Sheriff’s Office Lt. Charlie Rodriguez, gave Etheridge an initial breath test that showed she had a blood alcohol level of .089 — more than twice the legal limit for commercial drivers. She failed field sobriety tests and was arrested on charges of DUI and child endangerment, according to a police report. In a formal breath test a few hours later, she blew a .048. The Etheridge case was one of 118 since 2015 that Stateline identified in which a school bus driver was arrested or cited by police on suspicion of driving a bus impaired by alcohol or drugs. Hundreds of other drivers have failed random testing while on duty. (Bergal, 1/23)

Colorado Sun: Sen. Brittany Pettersen Makes History As First State Lawmaker To Give Birth During A Legislative Session In Colorado
State Sen. Brittany Pettersen made history late Sunday when she gave birth to her son, becoming the first state lawmaker in Colorado history to give birth during the course of a legislative session. ... The Colorado legislature doesn’t have a maternity leave policy, meaning that the Senate Democratic Caucus will have to adapt to accommodate Pettersen. She cannot vote remotely, and thus plans to return to the Capitol as soon as possible — with Davis — to take votes on the floor. (Paul, 1/21)

Boston Globe: R.I. Child Advocate’s Office Criticizes Nonprofit’s Youth Group Homes In Providence
The state child advocate’s office said that the local group homes run by Communities for People were poorly supervised and showed little to no accounting for the services promised to the troubled adolescents in their care. A three-month investigation into the Providence group homes found “incomplete and substandard” files and medication records, lack of supervision and unprofessional staff, sexual activity between youths, and, at one home, not enough food. (Milkovits, 1/22)

Des Moines Register: Iowa's Board Of Medicine Reviewing Treatment At State-Run Facility For People With Disabilities
An investigation into possible human experimentation at a state-run institution in southwest Iowa that provides care to people with severe disabilities has expanded to include an additional state regulatory board. The Iowa Board of Medicine, which licenses physicians and regulates the practice of medicine in the state, notified the Iowa Department of Human Services on Jan. 16 that it is reviewing "any studies or experiments conducted" at the Glenwood Resource Center. (Rodriguez, 1/22)

Chicago Tribune: Chicago Trying To Wipe Out Cervical Cancer
January is cervical cancer awareness month and Williams is just one of many women whom the new initiative Equal Hope (formerly known as the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force) aims to help. Created in 2008, the health equity nonprofit network of health care providers, community leaders and advocates led efforts to reduce breast cancer deaths for the city’s African American female population (down from a 62 percent death gap to a 39 percent gap over the past decade). The group is now setting its sights on eliminating cervical cancer disparities and ultimately eradicating the disease in Chicagoland, according to Anne Marie Murphy, executive director of Equal Hope. (Rockett, 1/23)

Chicago Tribune: Teacher Sues School District For Being Denied Fall Maternity Leave After Giving Birth In Spring
But since Dynak’s baby arrived just before summer break, district officials didn’t allow her to use up to 30 days of paid leave when work resumed in August, according to a lawsuit filed on Dynak’s behalf by her union, the Illinois Education Association. As a result, Dynak lost about $8,000 in wages when she took 12 weeks off during the next school year, all unpaid, through the Family and Medical Leave Act, court records in the case state.Dynak’s case, which has the potential to affect parental leave policies for thousands of school employees across Illinois, reached the state Supreme Court on Wednesday, with both sides making oral arguments about whether the 30 days of paid sick leave must begin right after a birth or whether it starts on the soonest subsequent workday. (Cherney, 1/22)

Sacramento Bee: UC Makes Tentative Labor Deal With 8000 Service Workers
More than 8,000 service workers at the University of California announced Wednesday that they have negotiated a tentative contract agreement with their employer, ending one of the university system’s longest-running labor dispute. The union did not immediately provide details on the agreement, but it released a statement saying that the agreement would lift labor standards and curtail outsourcing. (Anderson, 1/22)

North Carolina Health News: NC Dental Hygienists Gain New Freedoms
Many of North Carolina’s school children in rural and low-wage areas who have never seen a dentist could have greater access to oral health care soon. On Jan. 16, the legislative rules review commission adopted a long-telegraphed change to scope of practice rules for North Carolina dental hygienists, an amendment that goes into effect on Feb. 1. The commission’s approval came after the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners unanimously approved the suggested amendment, which was several years in the making. (Blythe, 1/23)

Capitol Beat News Service: Gov. Kemp Aims Three Bills At Human Trafficking
Gov. Brian Kemp Tuesday unveiled the specifics of a crackdown on human trafficking he proposed in more broad terms in last week’s State of the State address to the General Assembly.Kemp asked the legislature to support three bills that would tighten restrictions in existing state law targeting human traffickers and, in one case, implement a federal rule promulgated last year by the U.S. Department of Transportation. (Williams, 1/22)

The CT Mirror: Lamont Uses Executive Authority To Track Cost, Quality Of Health Care
Gov. Ned Lamont used his executive authority Wednesday to direct the state’s Office of Health Strategy to come up with annual benchmarks for the growing cost of health care – and require providers, insurers and others in the industry to report their yearly price increases. The order is a transparency measure designed to expose the hospitals, medical practices and insurance companies whose costs soar beyond the state-imposed targets. (Carlesso, 1/22)

Seattle Times: Sex-Education Bill Advances In Washington Senate — And We’re Answering Your Questions About It
Comprehensive sexual-health education inched closer to becoming a mandate for all Washington public schools Wednesday as the state Senate resurrected legislation that failed last year. Dividing along party lines, senators voted 28-21 to advance Senate Bill 5395 to the House, where a similar bill would require every Washington school district to teach some form of sex education in kindergarten through 12th grade. Opponents of SB 5395 — which maintains parents’ rights to opt their children out of such instruction — argued the legislation strips local school boards of the opportunity to work with families to set their own standards for sex education. (Morton, 1/22)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: HIV/AIDS Nonprofit Doorways Plans New St. Louis Campus 
Doorways, an interfaith nonprofit that provides housing services for people living with HIV/AIDS, plans to build a $7 million, 50-apartment campus in the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood.“This campus will give us a new headquarters in addition to 50 new housing units in the first phase,” said Doorways President and CEO Opal Jones. (Barker, 1/23)

Chicago Sun Times: Chicago’s 911 Emergency Center To Get A $75 Million Upgrade
The 20-year-old computer-aided dispatch system that forms the guts of Chicago’s 911 center will be replaced by a $75 million upgrade that is expected to dramatically improve both the speed and quality of emergency response. After years of planning, City Hall has chosen TriTech Software Systems to install the complex software and hardware systems that will allow Chicago to comply with a 2020 deadline to make the switch to, what’s known as “Next Generation 911.” When the three-year transition is completed, people who live, work and play in Chicago will finally have the ability to send texts, photos and videos from emergency scenes, improving the quality of the city’s response. (Spielman, 1/22)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: 'It's A New Day In New Orleans': New Children's Hospital Mental Health Unit Near Completion
After a 15-month construction period, the new behavioral health center is almost finished. Officials expect construction on the top three floors of the five-story building to be completed over the next two months.The facility is the only psychiatric program in the Gulf Coast region for children and teens with mental health issues and will replace an older facility on the hospital's 17-acre Uptown campus. (Woodruff, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: SUNY Downstate Accused Of Retaliating Against Whistleblower Surgeons
Two surgeons have accused a New York state-run university and its medical school of retaliating against them for reporting concerns to senior management about patient safety and deaths in the institution’s heart-surgery and organ-transplant programs. The accusations, made in lawsuits filed in December and January in state court in Brooklyn, name as defendants the State University of New York and SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. (West, 1/22)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Lawyers Suspended Over Effort To Pressure Suicide Victim’s Father Into Paying Them $1 Million For 15 Hours Of Work
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended two Cuyahoga County lawyers who tried to collect $1 million in legal fees from the family of a teenage suicide victim as part of a wrongful death case on which the lawyers did about 15 hours of work. Attorneys Mark D. Amaddio of Beachwood and John J. Wargo of Berea tried to pressure the girl’s father into paying the fee by threatening to ask a judge to remove his name from his daughter’s estate in the county’s probate court, according to court records. (Shaffer, 1/22)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: East Jefferson Hospital Board Takes No Action On Proposed LCMC Deal But Calls Special Meeting
The board of East Jefferson General Hospital took no action Wednesday on a proposed deal with LCMC Health to sell or lease the publicly owned hospital, even after close to two hours of closed-door discussions. However, the board called a special meeting for Tuesday. Board members were tight-lipped as they exited, but an email earlier in the day to EJGH employees noted that the board would begin considering a “proposed partnership” with the private New Orleans-based hospital operator. (Roberts, 1/22)

The CT Mirror: Senate Dems To Propose Extending Statute Of Limitations In Civil Sexual Assault Cases
Senate Democrats will propose legislation in the 2020 legislative session to extend the statute of limitations for civil sexual assault cases. “For far too long in our state, our civil court system has denied access to justice for victims of sexual abuse,” said Sen. Mae Flexer, D-Killingly, adding that the proposal would “make sure that all victims of sexual abuse, regardless of how long ago that abuse occurred, can come forward and make their case, and if the evidence is there, they will get justice.” (Lyons, 1/22)

MPR: In Many Minneapolis Schools, The Therapist Is Just Down The Hall
More than 15 years ago, Minneapolis Public Schools program helped pioneer a national model of bringing community mental health care directly to its students. Today, most of the public schools in Minneapolis — more than 50 of them — have a therapist on site, and many other districts, like Elijah’s, have followed suit. (Roth, 1/23)

Georgia Health News: Why Does Telehealth Sometimes Fail To Catch On In Schools?
A school-based telemedicine program was launched in the county in 2017, and it has since shut down.Four Habersham County schools — Cornelia Elementary, Wilbanks Middle School, South Habersham Middle School and Habersham Ninth Grade Academy — ended their telehealth programs last year.That lack of success may seem surprising, but it isn’t unique, according to the findings of a December state report. (Jones and Miller, 1/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Area Developer Brian O’Neill To Build Cell And Gene Manufacturing Facility In King Of Prussia
Brian O’Neill, the Main Line developer who founded the substance abuse treatment chain Recovery Centers of America, plans to develop a $1.1 billion cell and gene therapy manufacturing facility in King of Prussia. The company, which O’Neill has named the Center for Breakthrough Medicines, is part of the Discovery Labs, a 1.6 million-square-foot, $500 million biotechnology, health-care, and life sciences office complex he is building in an industrial section of King of Prussia. The center will claim 680,000 square feet of the Discovery Labs. (Park, 1/23)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Shibinette Confirmed As State Health Commissioner
The Executive Council has voted unanimously to confirm the CEO of New Hampshire Hospital to lead the state's Health and Human Services Department. Lori Shibinette succeeds Jeff Meyers, who resigned late last year after almost four years in what many consider the most challenging job in state government. (Rogers, 1/22)

Chicago Tribune: Legal Weed Sales Prompt More Applications For Medical Cards
Since recreational weed went on sale in Illinois three weeks ago, long lines have formed outside dispensaries, stores have established buying limits and some have run out of product. All that was expected, based on what’s happened as other states legalized cannabis. But there’s also been a less anticipated result: More people want medical marijuana cards. More than 2,570 people applied for medical cards between Jan. 1, when recreational sales started, and Jan. 17, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. That’s a nearly 34% increase over Dec. 1 though 17. Included in that uptick, analysts said, are people interested in using marijuana for medical purposes now that recreational sales are legal. The increase also is driven by consumers looking for a way around sky-high taxes attached to some products. (Marotti, 1/21)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgians Support Law Requiring Everyone To Buckle Up
The decades-long campaign to coax Georgia motorists and their passengers to buckle up could culminate in a new law this year requiring everyone in a vehicle to wear seat belts. Current state law does not require adults to buckle up in the back seat. But a state Senate committee has recommended legislation that would end that exemption. (Wickert, 1/22)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Reports 11th Flu-Related Death, A 34-Year-Old
Dallas County reported its 11th flu-related death of the 2019-20 season Wednesday. The patient was a 34-year-old Dallas County resident who did not have any underlying medical conditions, according to the county’s Health and Human Services department. The department did not release the patient’s name, citing privacy reasons. Health officials are working to determine whether two additional deaths — both children — were caused by the flu. (Steele, 1/22)