State Highlights: Va. Governor Cites ‘Unacceptable’ Rates Of Maternal Mortality, Pledges $22M; Violence Worsens At NYC Jail Despite Reports To The Contrary

The Washington Post: Virginia's Northam Proposes $22 Million To Fight Maternal Mortality
Gov. Ralph Northam on Monday proposed spending nearly $22 million over two years to help reduce maternal mortality rates among women of color, previewing the stamp he’ll put on the state’s budget when it comes out next week. Northam (D) plans to announce funding for early-childhood education programs on Tuesday, followed by expanding the use of renewable energy and boosting jobs and inclusivity later in the week, each day highlighting a different aspect of his proposed two-year budget. (Schneider, 12/9)

ProPublica: New York City Paid McKinsey Millions To Stem Jail Violence. Instead, Violence Soared.
In April 2017, partners from McKinsey & Company sent a confidential final report to the New York City corrections commissioner. They had spent almost three years leading an unusual project for a white-shoe corporate consulting firm like McKinsey: Attempting to stem the tide of inmate brawls, gang slashings and assaults by guards that threatened to overwhelm the jail complex on Rikers Island. The report recounted that McKinsey had tested its new anti-violence strategy in what the firm called “Restart” housing units at Rikers. The results were striking. Violence had dropped more than 50% in the Restart facilities, the McKinsey partners wrote. (MacDougall, 12/10)

ProPublica: These Homes For Mentally Ill Adults Have Been Notoriously Mismanaged. Now, One Is A Gruesome Crime Scene.
On the afternoon of Dec. 3, workers at the Oceanview Manor Home for Adults found resident Ann McGrory, 58, lying on the floor, lifeless, with her pants down around her ankles. She had cuts and bruises on her hands, head and face. By her side, seated atop his bed in Room 512, was resident Frank Thompson, 64, her sometimes-boyfriend who had a reputation at the home as a heavy drinker with a short temper. The aides called police. Thompson was brought into custody for questioning later that day and placed under arrest on Wednesday. (Sapien, 12/9)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Department Of Corrections Rolling Out Policy To Address Racial Disparities
The Iowa Department of Corrections has been rolling out a new policy in the past year aimed at addressing racial disparities in the state’s prison system.Iowa disproportionately incarcerates African-Americans at a higher rate than almost all other states in the nation. Iowa’s population is less than 4 percent African-American, and the state prison population is about 25 percent African-American. The state’s prison system has started using specific strategies to try to mitigate that ongoing problem. (Sostaric, 12/9)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 31 At Pa. Health-Care Facilities; Many Ate Pre-Cut Fruit
Thirty-one people have been sickened by salmonella at four health-care facilities in Southeastern Pennsylvania, in many cases after eating pre-cut fruit from a New Jersey distributor, state and federal health officials said. Tailor Cut Produce of North Brunswick has agreed to recall its mix of cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pineapple, and grapes distributed between Nov. 15 and Dec. 1 as it has been “potentially linked” to the illnesses, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. (Avril, 12/9)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohioan’s Adult Heart Becomes First In US History Donated After Circulatory Death
Justice Yoder always hoped he’d be able to donate his organs to a person in need one day, but he’ll never know how he made medical history by giving his heart to someone. Yoder, 26, of Bellefontaine, went into sudden cardiac arrest Nov. 25. He was transported to Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center, where he died Dec. 1. Six of Yoder’s organs — including his heart, kidneys, lungs and liver — were transplanted into others, according to Lifeline of Ohio, a nonprofit group that coordinates the donation of human organs and tissue. Yoder’s heart, which had completely stopped circulating blood in him, was flown to Duke University hospital, where it was given to someone in need. (Filby, 12/9)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Bill Aims To Increase In-Network Care For Mental Health, Addiction Treatment
A new bill in the General Assembly aims to increase mental health and addiction treatment covered by Ohio insurance companies, after a recent report showed patients are increasingly going out-of-network for care. (Hancock, 12/9)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Missouri Health Officials Want More Money To Defend Against Deadly Legionnaires' Disease 
Missouri health officials want to spend more money combating Legionnaires’ disease, the severe form of pneumonia that has sickened more than 800 people in the state over the last five years. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, according to documents submitted to state budget officials, said Missouri’s response to Legionnaires’ has grown and that existing state laboratory staff can no longer absorb all duties. (Suntrup, 12/9)

North Carolina Health News: NC's Maternal Health Gap Takes Center Stage 
The racial disparities are more pronounced in North Carolina than much of the country, both for maternal health and infant mortality rates. Those data and how to drive down the numbers were part of a three-hour discussion on Friday when the Early Childhood Advisory Council met in Raleigh. Even though North Carolina has decreased the rate of infant deaths by 47 percent since the advisory council was formed in 1991, African American births result in infant mortality at a rate 2.5 times the rate of white births. (Blythe, 12/10)

Georgia Health News: Blood Tests Show Environmental Exposure To Ethylene Oxide
Illinois residents living about a mile away from a medical sterilization facility have levels of the cancer-causing gas ethylene oxide in their blood that are about 50% higher than those who live farther away, according to newly released test results. The testing was limited, involving blood samples from just 93 people who responded to fliers and social media posts about the project. Participants were not randomly selected, which may have introduced bias. The results have not been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. (Goodman and Miller, 12/9)

The CT Mirror: State Officials Mum On Reforms At York Following Prison Birth Report
More than a year after a Department of Correction investigator concluded that a series of missteps led to a teenager giving birth behind bars – and days after her report was made public – neither the DOC nor the governor’s office would say whether the state had implemented reforms to prevent the situation from happening again. (Lyons and Carlesso, 12/10)

California Healthline: Wildfire, Floods, Extreme Heat: California Prepares For Climate Change
While the U.S. has moved away from the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, the state of California has dug in. Alongside New York and Washington, it created the United States Climate Alliance, a coalition looking to uphold the agreement through state actions. It’s also fighting with the Trump administration over the state’s long-standing restrictions on car emissions, which traditionally have been more stringent than federal standards. The state, with its range of climates and landscapes, faces multiple threats from climate change. More frequent and larger wildfires are among the most visible, but flooding, increased air pollution, the spread of infectious diseases and more days of extreme heat also are looming. (Barry-Jester, 12/9)

Boston Globe: Report: Colleges Aren’t Doing Enough To Prepare Students For Mass. Life-Sciences Jobs
Life-sciences jobs are opening up faster in Massachusetts than employers can fill them, according to a report that says colleges aren’t preparing enough qualified graduates for such positions. Despite a nationwide push in recent years to encourage young people to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics, or STEM, the growth of life-sciences jobs in the state far outstrips the growth in the number of qualified candidates, the report says. (Saltzman, 12/10)