The New York Times: White House, Under Pressure, Says It Will Address Baby Formula Shortage 
The Biden administration said on Thursday that it was working to address a worsening nationwide shortage of infant formula, announcing efforts to speed manufacturing and increase imports as pressure mounted to respond to a crisis that has desperate parents scouring empty store aisles to feed their children. Officials outlined the plan after President Biden met with retailers and manufacturers, including Walmart, Target, Reckitt and Gerber, about their efforts to increase production. They also discussed steps the federal government could take to help stock bare shelves, particularly in rural areas, according to senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail the conversation. (Karni, 5/12)

Politico: White House Announces Steps To Combat Infant Formula Shortage 
Biden also sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on Thursday, asking the agency to address “any illegal conduct” that might be worsening the shortage or driving people to hoard the supplies. He also asked the FTC to look into whether small or rural retailers are being put at a disadvantage as supply tightens. “It is unacceptable for families to lose time and spend hundreds of dollars more because of price gougers’ actions,” the president said in the letter. “I therefore ask that the Commission further examine whether there is price gouging in infant formula occurring, thoroughly investigate complaints brought to you through channels such as your fraud hotline, and that you bring all of the Commission’s tools to bear if you uncover any wrongdoing. We know State attorneys general are also examining this issue and may be valuable partners in this effort.” (Ward and Evich, 5/12)

Bloomberg: Baby Formula Shortage: Biden Under Fire For FDA Response
The White House raced Thursday to show it’s trying to ease a national baby formula shortage, as Republicans showered criticism on President Joe Biden for a crisis that has left frantic parents scouring store shelves to feed their children. Biden spoke with formula manufacturers, including Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and Gerber Products Co., and retailers including Walmart Inc and Target Corp and announced new actions intended to increase supply. The administration is asking more states to relax rules on sizes and types of formulas eligible for government benefits, allowing parents to use subsidies for whatever products are in stock. (Sink and Edney, 5/12)

More on the baby formula shortage —

The Wall Street Journal: Baby Formula Shortage Could Leave Parents Scrambling For Months
Baby-formula manufacturers and retailers say they are working to address a long-running shortage in products on store shelves, but the hardships facing U.S. families may take months to abate. Abbott Laboratories, producer of Similac baby formula, said it is bringing products from its factory in Ireland to the U.S. as it continues talks with the Food and Drug Administration to restart production at its factory in Michigan. However, the company has said it would take weeks before products from the plant are available on store shelves. (Gasparro and Kang, 5/12)

USA Today: Nationwide Baby Formula Shortage: Parents Hoard Amid Price Gouging
As the national baby formula shortage has escalated in recent months, parents have been confronted with familiar problems seen throughout the pandemic: purchase restrictions, hoarding, price gouging and nagging questions about the sacrifices required to make ends meet. In this case: feeding their children. “Across the board, searching for formula at this point has become a full-time job,” said Brian Dittmeier, senior director of public policy at the National WIC Association, the non-profit advocacy arm of WIC. “Families are feeling that stress – both financially and in a time cost sense.” (Schulz, 5/13)

NPR: Senator Says Biden Should Consider Defense Production Act For Baby Formula
The infant formula shortage "is a life or death issue" for a lot of babies in the U.S. and a national emergency, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says. The New York Democrat told All Things Considered that she will ask President Biden to consider using the Defense Production Act to get more manufacturers on line to address the dire situation. Regular and specialized formulas, made for babies with allergies and metabolic disorders, have been running low across the U.S. for some time. (Martin and Diaz, 5/12)

Bloomberg: Infant Formula Shortage: Abbot Factory Bacteria Risk Spotted Last Year
Federal inspectors spotted the potential for baby formula made at an Abbott Laboratories plant to become contaminated months before a recall that exacerbated a nationwide shortage, a government document shows. A Food and Drug Administration report obtained by Bloomberg News through a freedom of information request showed that during a routine visit to Abbott’s Sturgis, Michigan, manufacturing facility in September, inspectors determined that employees may have transferred contaminants including deadly cronobacter from surfaces to baby formula. In one instance, the report said, records showed Abbott detected cronobacter in a finished batch of formula that may have been tainted by a worker who touched a contaminated surface without changing gloves. That batch wasn’t distributed. (Edney, 5/12)

NBC News: Breast Milk Banks Get Surge In Calls From Parents Amid Baby Formula Shortage
A baby formula shortage has prompted a “major surge in interest” in donor breast milk, according to Lindsey Groff, the executive director of the Human Milk Bank Association of North America, which accredits nonprofit milk banks. With the formula shortage worsening in recent weeks, “every milk bank that I have spoken with has seen a major increase in demand,” Groff said, adding that premature or medically fragile infants, such as those in the neonatal intensive care unit, receive priority for donor milk but that healthy, full-term babies can be recipients as well.  (Chuck, 5/12)

Also —

The Washington Post: The Faux Outrage That Biden Is Stockpiling Baby Formula For Undocumented Immigrants 
Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) sparked a furor Thursday when she posted photos that compared what she said were stockpiles of baby formula for undocumented immigrants with empty grocery shelves for Americans in local stores. “You see the American government sending by the pallet thousands and thousands of containers of baby formula to the border, that would make my blood boil,” she said. (Kessler, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Alito Reluctant To Discuss State Of Supreme Court After Roe Leak 
In his first public address since the explosive leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion he wrote that would overturn Roe v. Wade, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. breezed through a detailed examination of statutory textualism, and renewed a disagreement over the court’s decision saying federal discrimination law protects gay and transgender workers. But he was a little stumped by the final audience question from a crowd at Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University: Are he and the other justices at a place where they could get a nice meal together? (Barnes and Lumpkin, 5/12)

Fox News: Roe Reversal Draft Fallout: Alito Gives Update On Supreme Court Status Amid Abortion Protests
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito briefly addressed the status of the court amid pro-choice protests after Politico published Alito's leaked draft opinion reversing Roe v. Wade (1973). Alito spoke remotely from the court building, addressing a crowd at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University Thursday night. Both the court and the justices have received ramped-up security amid protests following the draft's release. (O'Neil, 5/13)

The New York Times: A Battle Over How To Battle Over Roe: Protests At Justices’ Homes Fuel Rancor 
For the protesters chanting loudly outside Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s home, incivility was the point.They said they wanted to impinge on his privacy with picket signs and chants of “We will not go back!” to condemn the Supreme Court justice’s apparent support for ending the constitutional right to privacy that has guaranteed access to abortion since Roe v. Wade was decided nearly 50 years ago. ... But the protests outside the homes of several justices, which erupted after the leak of a draft opinion indicating the court’s conservative majority is ready to overturn Roe, have sparked another searing debate about appropriate forms of protest at a moment of enormous upheaval in a deeply polarized country. (Kanno-Youngs, 5/12)

On the abortion debate in Congress and the Biden administration —

Politico: Dems Face Facts: They Need A November Turnaround To Save Roe
Democrats are facing up to their grim reality: After Roe v. Wade likely falls next month, they’ll need a comeback November win to save it. Constrained by narrow majorities, Democrats have virtually no legislative power to prevent the Supreme Court from striking down five decades of abortion rights precedent. So outraged lawmakers are instead taking the fight to voters — many of whom are pleading for a more immediate solution as the high court prepares to rule in June. (Ferris and Levine, 5/12)

The New York Times: The Looming End To Abortion Rights Gives Liberal Democrats A Spark 
Around the country — from South Texas to Chicago, Pittsburgh to New York — the looming loss of abortion rights has re-energized the Democratic Party’s left flank, which had absorbed a series of legislative and political blows and appeared to be divided and flagging. It has also dramatized the generational and ideological divide in the Democratic Party, between a nearly extinct older wing that opposes abortion rights and younger progressives who support them. (Weisman, 5/12)

Dallas Morning News: Congressional Republicans Willing To Punt Abortion Policy Questions To States
Many Capitol Hill Republicans who have supported federal abortion restrictions were eager this week to leave adopting such measures to the states. A majority of the justices are poised to overturn landmark abortion rights established in Roe vs. Wade and the follow-on Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, based on a draft opinion recently leaked to Politico. “If the Supreme Court ultimately - which we don’t know - ultimately were to overrule Roe and Casey, then the states would be the ones that would be making those determinations,” Sen. John Cornyn said this week when asked whether he would push for a national ban on the procedure. “To me that’s the best outcome.” Reversal of Roe and Casey would represent the culmination of decades of work by abortion rights opponents and open the door for tighter restrictions at all levels of government. (Morton, 5/12)

The New York Times: Harris Emerges As The Voice Of Abortion Rights In The Biden Administration 
With three words last week, Vice President Kamala Harris inserted herself forcefully into the roiling debate over abortion rights — and may have finally seized on an issue that is popular among key Democratic voters, plays to her strengths and is central to the future of her party. “How dare they?” she demanded. (Shear and Gupta, 5/12)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: The Invisible Pandemic
Covid-19 cases are on the rise again, but you couldn’t tell from the behavior of the public (rushing back to normal), as well as public health and elected officials who fear backlash from even suggesting the reimplementation of precautions. Meanwhile, the Senate (again) failed to muster even a simple majority of votes for a bill to write abortion protections into federal law, as the fallout continues from the leaked majority draft opinion from the Supreme Court suggesting it is about to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade. (5/12)

Concerns grow for women in the military —

The Hill: Senators Press DOD On Abortion Protections For Service Members
A group of eight Senators is urging Pentagon officials to ensure that service members can get access to an abortion even if the medical procedure becomes illegal in states where they are based.  The lawmakers, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), are pressing the Department of Defense (DOD) to act quickly on the matter following the leaked draft ruling from the Supreme Court made public last week. The draft document indicates the court is set to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. (Mitchell, 5/12)

The 19th: Military Mothers Push Army To Change Parenthood With TRICARE Policies
Austin Carrigg wanted more children, but it wasn’t easy to grow her family, especially since her husband was an active-duty soldier in the Army. The family frequently moved from one base to another, and access to health care was in constant flux. Carigg and her husband wanted to avoid passing on a life-threatening genetic condition that their second son was born with, so they paid for intrauterine insemination procedures — which is not covered by TRICARE, the Defense Department’s health care system   — and used a sperm donor. The attempts didn’t work, and the couple couldn’t afford in vitro fertilization procedures. Carrigg noted that there are some Army and Navy programs that offer infertility care — but those are accessible to only those fortunate enough to be assigned to certain bases. (Padilla, 5/12)

AP: No More Murder Charge For Women In Louisiana Abortion Bill 
The sponsor of a bill that would have subjected Louisiana women to murder charges for having abortions abruptly pulled the proposal from debate Thursday night after House members voted 65-26 to totally revamp the legislation, eliminating the criminal penalties. The controversial bill would have ventured farther against abortion than lawmakers’ efforts in any other state. It would have made women who end their pregnancies subject to criminal homicide prosecutions. (McGill, 5/13)

In abortion news from Minnesota, Georgia, Missouri, and elsewhere —

The Hill: Red States Plan Special Sessions To Target Abortion
If Republicans in Congress have any qualms about announcing new abortion restrictions in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned, they are not shared by their state-level counterparts. GOP governors and state legislators are planning to hold special legislative sessions later this spring and summer to consider new measures to remove or restrict abortion rights, after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority is expected to reverse the landmark decision half a century ago guaranteeing those rights. (Wilson, 5/12)

NBC News: Some Birth Control Could Be Banned If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned, Legal Experts Warn
With trigger laws in 13 states poised to go into effect if the Supreme Court strikes down Roe v. Wade, a new era of restricted access to birth control could unfold in states that narrowly define when life begins, legal experts say. “This is the new Jane Crow that we’re about to enter,” said Michele Goodwin, a chancellor’s professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of “Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood.” (Lozano, 5/12)

AP: Minnesota Senate Democrats Try To Force Abortion Debate
The Minnesota Senate Democratic minority tried unsuccessfully to force consideration Thursday of nine abortion and health-related bills that the Republican majority has kept bottled up in committee, saying it was critical to take a stand even though they lacked the votes to prevail. The leak of a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and sharply curtail abortion rights in roughly half the states has energized both sides of the abortion debate in Minnesota. While it’s unlikely that any abortion measures will pass the divided Legislature before the May 23 adjournment deadline, the issue is certain to take on new importance in the November elections. (Karnowski, 5/12 )

AP: Georgian Wants Congress To Decry Prosecution Of Abortions 
A Georgia representative is proposing that Congress condemn attempts to criminally prosecute people who perform abortions, have abortions or experience miscarriages. Rep. Nikema Willams, an Atlanta Democrat who formerly lobbied for Planned Parenthood in the Southeast, is introducing her resolution Thursday, and has already collected 115 co-sponsors, all Democrats, her spokesman said. (Amy, 5/12)

Kansas City Star: Inside Missouri’s Anti-Abortion History Before Roe V. Wade 
When Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade leaked this month, it included an appendix of 19th-century state laws criminalizing abortion. Missouri was first on the list. “That every person who shall wilfully and maliciously administer or cause to be administered … any poison, or other noxious, poisonous or destructive substance or liquid,” the 1825 law read, “to cause or procure the miscarriage of any woman then being with child, and shall thereof be duly convicted, shall suffer imprisonment not exceeding seven years, and be fined not exceeding three thousand dollars.” (Shorman, 5/13)

In abortion news from Oklahoma —

The 19th: Oklahoma Abortion Clinics Have A Closer Look Than Most At A Post-Roe World
The day after the Supreme Court leak, Andrea Gallegos had already started to cancel patients’ appointments. A draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed access to abortion, had been published online and verified by the court. In the aftermath, Gallegos, the administrator for Tulsa Women’s Clinic, an Oklahoma-based abortion provider, wasn’t worried about Roe — at least, it wasn’t the first thing she was worried about. To her, there was a bigger, more immediate threat: a six-week abortion ban the Republican governor was expected to sign any day now. The law, a direct copycat of a prohibition currently in effect in Texas, was expected to survive legal challenges. It would take effect immediately. (Luthra, 5/12)

Oklahoman: Senate Candidate T.W. Shannon Accuses Planned Parenthood Of Racism
With abortion rights curtailed in Oklahoma and potentially in jeopardy nationwide, Republican Senate candidate T.W. Shannon has launched an attack on Planned Parenthood, calling it “the true face of white supremacy.” In a television ad running statewide, Shannon, who is Black and Native American, calls Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger a “vile racist” and says, “Four hundred thousand Black babies killed every year since Roe versus Wade.” He says, “Don’t tell me Black lives matter 'til these lives matter.” Shannon, the CEO of the Chickasaw Community Bank in Oklahoma City and former speaker of the state House of Representatives, is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Inhofe. Shannon, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2014, is one of 13 Republicans seeking the nomination. (Casteel, 5/12)

The Hill: Most Americans Support Free, Widely Available Birth Control If Abortion Is Banned: Poll
Most Americans say that birth control should be made free and widely available if abortion is outlawed, according to a new poll conducted shortly after a leaked draft opinion shows the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion.  YouGov America and The Economist released results of a new nationwide survey that assessed how Americans view abortion and reproductive rights. A majority of respondents, 45 percent, indicated they do not want the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which affirmed abortion access as a constitutional right.  (Ali, 5/12)

Brookings: Overturning Roe Highlights Need For Family Planning, Especially In Trigger Ban States
Access to family planning, whether it be contraception or abortion, has positive effects on women’s long-term outcomes by allowing them to determine whether, when, and under what circumstances to start or grow their families. The widespread availability of the birth control pill in the second half of the twentieth century allowed researchers to study the impact of contraception on women’s outcomes. Goldin and Katz (2002) find that the availability of the pill was linked to an increase in women’s educational attainment and professional achievement. On the other hand, unintended pregnancies impact women’s life trajectories. According to a survey conducted by the Urban Institute, a majority of women report that an unintended birth would negatively affect their educational attainment, career performance, and mental health. (Smith and Welch, 5/11)

Politico: How One Clinic in Texas Explains the Threat to Contraception
In a small one-story clinic with peeling white paint, Community Health Services provides health care, including family planning, to low-income, mostly Latina, women in this city a 45-minute drive south of booming Austin. The women who come here, many of whom had their first child when they were still teenagers, live in Texas, which has been on the front line of the abortion wars since September when the Republican-controlled legislature passed a novel piece of legislation banning all abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy. (Kenen and Ollstein, 5/12)

AP: Tennessee GOP Leaders Not Planning To Ban Contraception 
Top Republican leaders in Tennessee say they don’t have plans to ban contraceptives as they await a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court on whether the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case will be overturned. Earlier this month, a leaked draft opinion suggested the nation’s highest court is poised to abolish a nationwide right to abortion. The news quickly sparked concern from some reproductive rights advocates, who warned if SCOTUS does overturn Roe then lawmakers may look to impose restrictions surrounding emergency contraception and IUDs. (Kruesi, 5/12)

Springfield News-Leader: Birth Control, Fertility Care Not Addressed In Missouri 'Trigger Law'
Following the leaked Supreme Court draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade, there has been concern about how Missouri's "trigger law" would impact other forms of birth control — like intrauterine devices and emergency contraception — and fertility care like in vitro fertilization. However, abortion-rights groups say the trigger law will not impact access to those reproductive services, despite claims to the contrary.  (Szuch, 5/10)

In other news —

NBC News: Getting Abortion Pills By Mail Is Already More Complicated Than It Might Seem
Thirty-two states require the pills to be prescribed by physicians, rather than nurse practitioners or physician assistants. Nineteen require clinicians to be physically present for one or more visits, effectively eliminating access by mail. (They are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.) Six of those states — Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas and West Virginia — had also made it illegal to use telehealth for abortion access as of February, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Bendix, 5/12)

Los Angeles Times: Abortion Ads Are Suddenly Flooding Your TV And Phones
The anticipated overturning of Roe vs. Wade quickly became the focus of political ads coast to coast. “A woman’s fundamental rights ... hang in the balance,” a New Hampshire senator warns. A candidate for governor in Alabama accuses the incumbent of “aiding and abetting murder.” “Our freedom is on the ballot,” exhorts an ad in support of a Texas congressional candidate. A California congressional candidate pledged, “We will not go back to women dying.” (Mehta and Castleman, 5/12)

New York Post: Students Stage School Walkout Against SCOTUS Abortion Leak
Hundreds of New York City high school students put down their pencils and picked up placards Thursday to denounce the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion expected to overturn Roe v. Wade. Water-soaked teens — gripping signs in the Washington Square Park fountain with phrases like “Not Your Uterus, Not Your Opinion” — told The Post they plan to protest the anticipated ruling every week until the final opinion is released. (Fofana and Bamberger, 5/12)

Axios: Businesses Face Major Benefits Questions Amid Roe Uncertainty
Corporate America is facing a flurry of questions about how it provides health benefits in the wake of a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft that indicates the federal right to abortion could be overturned. Businesses hoping to use reproductive health benefits as part of efforts to recruit and retain employees would have to be careful not to run afoul of laws should states be allowed to ban abortions. The balancing act over the next several months could get messy, experts warn. (Reed, 5/13)

KHN: Should You Worry About Data From Your Period-Tracking App Being Used Against You? 
It’s estimated that millions of people in the U.S. use period-tracking apps to plan ahead, track when they are ovulating, and monitor other health effects. The apps can help signal when a period is late. After Politico published on May 2 a draft opinion from the Supreme Court indicating that Roe v. Wade, the law that guarantees the constitutional right to an abortion, would be overturned, people turned to social media. They were expressing concerns about the privacy of this information — especially for people who live in states with strict limits on abortion — and how it might be used against them. (Norman and Knight, 5/13)

Bloomberg: Meatpackers Ignored Covid Spread To Keep Operating, House Report Says
The nation’s biggest meatpackers ignored warnings that Covid-19 was spreading through their plants, hyped claims of impending shortages and helped draft a Trump administration order to keep the facilities running during the early days of the pandemic, a congressional investigation found. A report released Thursday by a House panel examining the nation’s pandemic response portrayed a coordinated campaign by major meatpacking companies and their Washington lobbyists to enlist senior officials of then-President Donald Trump’s administration in an effort to circumvent state and local health departments’ attempts to control the spread of the virus in meatpacking facilities. (Dorning, 5/12)

AP: Report: Trump Officials, Meat Companies Knew Workers At Risk 
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meat processing industry worked closely with political appointees in the Trump administration to stave off health restrictions and keep slaughterhouses open even as the virus spread rapidly among workers, according to a congressional report released Thursday. The report by the House’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis said meat companies pushed to keep their plants open even though they knew workers were at high risk of catching the coronavirus. The lobbying led to health and labor officials watering down their recommendations for the industry and culminated in an executive order President Donald Trump issued in spring 2020 designating meat plants as critical infrastructure that needed to remain open. (Funk, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Meat Industry Hyped ‘Baseless’ Shortage To Keep Plants Open Amid Covid 
The biggest players in the U.S. meat industry pressed “baseless” claims of beef and pork shortages early in the pandemic to persuade the Trump White House to keep processing plants running, disregarding the coronavirus risks that eventually killed at least 269 workers, according to a special House committee investigating the nation’s pandemic response. In a report released Thursday, the committee alleges that Tyson Foods’s legal team prepared a draft with input from other companies that became the basis for an executive order to keep the plants open that the Trump administration issued in April 2020, making it difficult for workers to stay home. (Telford, 5/12)

And a lawsuit is settled over a deadly covid outbreak —

The Boston Globe: State To Pay $56 Million To Settle Lawsuit Brought By Families Of Veterans Who Got COVID-19 At Holyoke Soldiers’ Home
Governor Charlie Baker has agreed for the state to pay $56 million to the families of veterans who contracted COVID-19 at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home in the spring of 2020 in one of the nation’s most notorious and deadly outbreaks of the virus. Families of 84 veterans who died from COVID will each receive a minimum of $400,000, with an average payment of $500,000, according to lawyers who brought the federal lawsuit in July 2020. Families of another 84 veterans who contracted COVID at the home and survived will also qualify for a payment of at least $10,000, with an average payment of $20,000. (Estes, 5/12)

AP: State Settles With Families Of Holyoke Soldiers Home Victims 
The terms of the settlement will cover veterans who lived at the facility at any time between March 1, 2020 and June 23, 2020 and who became ill or died from COVID-19 during that period. The settlement amount also covers attorneys’ fees. Gov. Charlie Baker plans to file legislation seeking $56 million for the claims fund in the coming weeks. (Pratt, 5/12)

Lawmakers want better working conditions for TSA employees —

The Hill: House Passes Bill To Improve Working Conditions For TSA Employees Despite GOP Opposition 
The House passed a bill on Thursday that seeks to improve working conditions for employees of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The bill, dubbed the Rights for the TSA Workforce Act, passed in a 220-201 vote that mainly broke along party lines. ... “Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, TSA Transportation Security Officers have risked their health and safety to keep our skies safe. And yet, for twenty years TSOs have been unable to access the same workforce rights afforded to other Federal employees – and are among the lowest paid,” said. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). (Schnell, 5/12)

Axios: U.S. And World Leaders Pledge More Than $3B To Fight Pandemic Globally
The U.S. and other world leaders pledged Thursday more than $3 billion in new funding to fight the pandemic globally at the Biden administration's second Global COVID-19 Summit. "This includes over $2 billion for immediate COVID-19 response and $962 million in commitments toward a new pandemic preparedness and global health security fund at the World Bank," the White House said. (Doherty, 5/12)

Bloomberg: US, EU Grieve Millions Of Covid Dead In Summit On Vaccine Push
President Joe Biden and fellow world leaders called for a new push to quell the Covid-19 pandemic abroad, as the US and Europe marked grim milestones and American lawmakers balk at fresh funding. The Biden administration opened its second summit aimed at bringing the coronavirus to heel on Thursday, where leaders acknowledged Covid deaths surpassing 1 million in the US and 2 million in the EU. (Wingrove, 5/12)

NPR: 4 Takeaways From The White House Summit On Fighting COVID In Needy Countries
We're still in a pandemic — and we can't be distracted by the war in Ukraine and other global crises. That was the big message at the second Global COVID-19 Summit, a virtual event hosted by the White House along with the governments of Belize, Germany, Indonesia and Senegal on Thursday. It aimed to refocus world leaders' attention on fighting COVID. The summit was "a win against complacency," wrote Carolyn Reynolds cofounder of the Pandemic Action Network in an email to NPR. The network had urged the White House to hold the summit. She added that the half-day event has "provided a much-needed shot in the arm for both the global COVID response and to begin to prepare the world for the next pandemic threat." (Gharib, 5/12)

Axios: Biden Orders Flags At Half-Staff For 1 Million COVID Deaths
President Biden ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on Thursday to honor the Americans who have died from COVID-19 as the death toll nears 1 million. "One million empty chairs around the dinner table. Each an irreplaceable loss. Each leaving behind a family, a community, and a Nation forever changed because of this pandemic," Biden said in a statement. "As a Nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow," he added. "To heal, we must remember. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible." (Saric, 5/12)

NPR: Of 1 Million COVID Deaths, How Many Could Have Been Averted With Vaccines?
One tragic fact about the nearly 1 million people who died of COVID-19 in the U.S. is that a huge share of them didn't have to. In Tennessee, 11,047 of the people who died could have survived if everyone in the state had gotten vaccinated. In Ohio, that number is 15,875. Nationally it's nearly 319,000, according a new estimate. (Simmons-Duffin and Nakajima, 5/13)

More from the administration —

CNN: New White House Covid Projection Puzzles Experts And Catches Some Biden Officials Off Guard 
It was a stern and startling warning from the White House's new Covid response coordinator: In the fall and winter, the US could potentially see 100 million new Covid-19 infections if Congress doesn't approve federal funding to fight the pandemic. That warning from Dr. Ashish Jha, who said the projection was based on a range of internal and external models, jolted some public health experts and even came a surprise to some top Biden administration officials, with sources telling CNN that the grim forecast -- and details of where exactly that 100 million number had been derived from -- was not discussed with some key officials intimately involved in the administration's work to fight Covid before Jha's TV interview over the weekend. (Lee and McPhillips, 5/12)

PBS NewsHour: Dr. Fauci On The State Of The Pandemic As The U.S. Marks 1 Million COVID-19 Deaths
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Adviser to President Biden: Well, it's terribly tragic. I mean, the idea of one million deaths in an outbreak, that is historic in nature. We have had nothing like this in well over 104 years. One of the parts about it that adds to the tragedy is that many of those deaths were avoidable, avoidable if people had been vaccinated. It's estimated that, if people had been vaccinated to a much greater extent right now, that vaccines would have avoided at least a quarter of those deaths, namely about 250,000. (5/12)

In updates on federal covid funds —

AP: The AP Interview: US 'Vulnerable' To COVID Without New Shots 
White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha has issued a dire warning that the U.S. will be increasingly vulnerable to the coronavirus this fall and winter if Congress doesn’t swiftly approve new funding for more vaccines and treatments. In an Associated Press interview Thursday, Jha said Americans’ immune protection from the virus is waning, the virus is adapting to be more contagious and booster doses for most people will be necessary — with the potential for enhanced protection from a new generation of shots. (Miller, 5/13)

The Hill: 5 Risks If Congress Does Not Pass New COVID-19 Funding
Republicans have long said they do not see an urgent need for the funding, and have insisted it be paid for with cuts to money from previous COVID-19 relief bills. ... Here are five risks if the funding does not go forward. (Sullivan, 5/12)

KHN: Few Eligible Families Have Applied For Government Help To Pay For Covid Funerals 
On a humid August afternoon in 2020, two caskets ― one silver, one white ― sat by holes in the ground at a small, graveside service in the town of Travelers Rest, South Carolina. The family had just lost a mom and dad, both to covid-19. “They died five days apart,” said Allison Leaver, their daughter who now lives in Maryland with her husband and kids. When Leaver’s parents died that summer, it was a crushing tragedy. And there was no life insurance or burial policy to help with the expense. (Farmer, 5/13)

Bloomberg: Can I Get Covid Twice? Covid Surges Again In US, With Reinfections Rising
As a stealth wave of Covid makes its way across the U.S., those who have so far evaded the virus are now falling ill — while others are catching Covid for a second, third or even fourth time. Several factors have conspired to make the state of the pandemic harder than ever to track. The rise of at-home tests, which rarely make it into official case numbers, have made keeping accurate count of positive cases impossible. Additionally, many U.S. states and jurisdictions are now reporting Covid data only sporadically to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this week, Washington, D.C., reported case data to the agency for the first time since April. (Muller, 5/13)

Stat: What The Current Spike In Covid-19 Cases Could Say About The Coronavirus’ Future
As the Omicron wave subsided in the United States earlier this year, many experts anticipated a sort of reprieve. We certainly weren’t done with Covid, but perhaps we would get a well-deserved rest. That break seems to be over. An increase in infections that began in places including the Northeast and Puerto Rico is now being seen in other parts of the country. Cases will rise and fall going forward, but more worryingly, hospitalizations have started to increase as well — up 20% over two weeks. The decline in deaths has bottomed out at some 350 a day. (Joseph, 5/12)

In related news about the spread of covid —

NBC News: Covid-19 Narrows Long-Standing Latino Mortality Advantage, Study Finds
Latinos have long had lower mortality rates compared to non-Hispanic whites, living more than three years longer in what many refer to as the Latino mortality paradox. That ended with the Covid-19 pandemic. Having killed more than 1 million people in the U.S., the coronavirus reshaped the nation's mortality patterns and the long-standing Latino mortality advantage, particularly among older Latinos, according to new research published Thursday by the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at Syracuse University. (Acevedo, 5/12)

CIDRAP: COVID-Related Inflammation Tied To Increased Death Within 1 Year
The stronger the inflammation during the initial COVID-19 hospitalization, the greater the probability that the patient will die within a year of hospital discharge, but prescription steroids after discharge appear to lower the risk, according to a study today in Frontiers in Medicine. (5/12)

Fox News: COVID-19 Counterfeit Diagnostic At-Home Tests Threaten Public Health: FDA 
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) wants the public to be aware of counterfeit at-home over-the-counter (OTC) COVID-19 diagnostic tests circulating in the United States, according to a recent press release. "Counterfeit COVID-19 tests are tests that are not authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA for distribution or use in the United States, but are made to look like authorized tests so the users will think they are the real, FDA-authorized test," the administration said. "The performance of these counterfeit tests has not been adequately established and the FDA is concerned about the risk of false results when people use these unauthorized tests." (Sudhakar, 5/12)

AP: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox Tests Positive For COVID, 'Feels Fine' 
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced Thursday. The governor took a test after developing a scratchy throat late Wednesday night, officials said in a statement. He plans to isolate for five days and wear a mask for 10 days. Cox said he’s been vaccinated and boosted. “So far, I feel fine,” he said in a statement. (5/12)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: Health Systems Navigate The Risks Of IV Contrast Shortage
Hospitals and imaging centers are monitoring patient safety concerns as they manage a global shortage of IV contrast fluids, a crisis some experts think might have been mitigated with earlier notice. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday reported deficits of iohexol and iodixanol, intravenous contrast media products made by GE Healthcare and used in computed tomography imaging. GE Healthcare, one of two major suppliers of contrast media in the U.S., first said it was rationing orders for iohexol products in an April letter to customers after a COVID-19 outbreak shut down its production facility in Shanghai for several weeks. Now, the company said doctors should expect an 80% reduction in supplies through June. (Devereaux, 5/12)

ABC News: Hospital Chaplain Finds Unique Strategy To Combat COVID Fatigue
The stress has been enormous for health care workers. The Rev. Hannah Rhiza at Cedars-Sinai Marina del Ray Hospital, south of Los Angeles, is trying to bring some comfort to an exhausted staff. Rhiza is the chaplain at Cedars-Sinai. ... The reverend and her team came up with the idea of the spiritual care cart. It is a rolling cart full of items to help staff relax. She wheels relaxation to them wherever they are in the hospital. “I kind of go by what season it is,” she said as she showed her cart to ABC News. “This is the spring cart right now.” (Stone, 5/13)

The CT Mirror: Retraction: Sema4 Did Not Breach Contract To Provide COVID Testing
A story published on May 11 about Sema4 and its COVID-19 testing contract with the state of Connecticut contained a number of errors. Sema4 was one of several contractors that responded to a request for proposals for COVID-19 testing that the state issued in June 2021. The master contract stated that testing could be needed through June 30, 2022. But the state Department of Public Health’s agreements for COVID-19 testing with Sema4 — as defined in “statements of work,” or “SOWs,” that were separate from the master contract — were set to expire at the end of December 2021, not in June 2022, as the CT Mirror incorrectly reported. (Hamilton, 5/11)

CNBC: U.S. Licenses Key Covid Vaccine Technology To WHO So Other Countries Can Develop Shots
President Joe Biden on Thursday said the U.S. has licensed a key technology used in the current Covid-19 vaccines to the World Health Organization, which would allow manufacturers around the world to work with the global health agency to develop their own shots against the virus. The National Institutes of Health has licensed its stabilized spike protein technology to the WHO and United Nations’ Medicines Patent Pool, Biden said. (Kimball, 5/12)

Stat: NIH Licenses Nearly A Dozen Covid-19 Technologies To A WHO Program
In a notable bid to widen global access to Covid-19 medical products, the National Institutes of Health agreed to license nearly a dozen technologies to a World Health Organization program created to share information for developing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. The licenses will be provided to the Covid-19 Technology Access Pool, or C-TAP, which the WHO launched two years ago as the pandemic erupted. The goal of the program is to collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that can eventually be used to provide medical products to low and middle-income countries. (Silverman, 5/12)

More on the vaccine rollout —

CNBC: Novavax Confident Covid Vaccine Will Receive FDA Authorization In June After Delays
Novavax is confident its Covid-19 vaccine will receive the endorsement of the Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee early this summer, executives said this week. The FDA committee is scheduled to meet on June 7 to review Novavax’s submission. An endorsement from the committee, which is made up of independent experts, would mean the drug regulator is almost certain to quickly authorize the two-dose vaccine for use in the U.S. (Kimball, 5/13)

CIDRAP: Moderna Vaccine Up To 88% Effective Against COVID In Kids 6 To 11 Years
Estimated effectiveness of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine against infection in children 6 to 11 years old was 88% at least 14 days after the first dose amid the Delta variant surge, before the emergence of Omicron, finds an interim analysis from a phase 2/3 clinical trial. (5/12)

American Homefront Project: Military Vaccine Challenges Could Hurt Other Religious Freedom Cases 
Petty Officer First Class Juwairiya Webb joined the Navy after Sept. 11, 2001. She’s Muslim, but commanders told her at boot camp that she could not cover her hair with a traditional hijab. “I felt naked,” Webb said. “I felt like everyone was looking at me. I felt uncomfortable, but it took time for me to get used to it.” She still covered her hair when she was out of uniform. And as her faith deepened, she decided to challenge the Navy's decision. With the help of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, she sought an accommodation under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Walsh, 5/13)

New Hampshire Bulletin: N.H. Lawmakers Seek To Loosen Vaccine Registry Rules 
Currently, the state will remove a person’s immunization records from its new vaccine registry only if their former or current health care provider signs a withdrawal form. The House and Senate have passed legislation making that process easier, but have rejected efforts to eliminate the signature requirement. As introduced, House Bill 1487 would have required only that a person ask the Department of Health and Human Services in writing to withdraw their information. “Under no circumstances shall the request for withdrawal require the signature of the individual’s current or former health care provider,” the bill said. The House and Senate amended it to allow a signature from either a physician or notary, an option not currently in state law. (Timmins, 5/12)

USA Today: Hospital Stays Led To Harm For 1 In 4 Medicare Patients, Report Finds
One in 4 older Americans covered by Medicare had some type of temporary or lasting harm during hospital stays before the COVID-19 pandemic, government investigators said in an oversight report published Thursday. The report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General said 12% of patients had “adverse events” that mainly led to longer hospital stays but also permanent harm, death, or required life-saving intervention. Another 13% had temporary issues that could have caused further complications had hospital staff not acted. (Alltucker, 5/12)

In other Medicare news —

Roll Call: New Senior-Focused Ads From Democrats Hit Scott’s Plans For Medicare, Social Security 
Democrats are launching an ad campaign targeting seniors to highlight Republican Sen. Rick Scott's push to have Congress to reauthorize legislation every five years. The proposal in the 11-point plan from Scott, a Florida Republican and chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is the focus of Facebook ads funded by the Democratic National Committee aimed at seniors in Senate battleground states. The ads feature questions from a Fox News Channel anchor about whether Scott's plan would "sunset" Social Security and Medicare, or require Congress to vote periodically to keep the programs running. (Lesniewski, 5/12)

Modern Healthcare: The Wonky Medicare Proposal Worrying Safety-Net Hospitals
Hospitals in some states that haven't expanded Medicaid coverage worry a proposed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services policy could deprive them of hundreds of millions of dollars in disproportionate share hospital payments. In its most recent hospital payment rule, CMS proposed excluding certain uncompensated care pool days from the Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital calculation. This seemingly technical adjustment raised alarms at hospitals in a handful of states, including Texas, Florida and Tennessee, that believe the change could take away Medicare reimbursements they earn by caring for needy patients. (Goldman, 5/12)

Yahoo Finance: Social Security Phone System Delays Could Give You More Time To Enroll In Medicare — Learn How
Seniors who haven’t been able to enroll in Medicare in 2022 because of phone system delays at the Social Security Administration can now ask for additional time to sign up, even if their enrollment periods have passed. As AARP reported this week, you can sign up for this special “equitable relief” by visiting a Social Security office or calling 800-772-1213. You also can contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program center. In all cases, you’ll just have to tell staff about the problems you’ve had getting through to someone on the phone. (Cariaga, 5/13)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare ACOs Need Financial Support To Promote Home Care, Study Finds
One-quarter of accountable care organizations provide home-based care programs, but financial risks are holding others back, according to a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care Thursday. Surveys of ACOs participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program reveal that 25% have home care programs, another 25% provide some home visits and 17% are working to incorporate home care into their offerings. High-need, high-cost patients' healthcare costs are nearly four times greater than the average adult's and make up a large share of "potentially preventable" Medicare spending, the study says. These are the 5% of people who account for half of the nation's healthcare spending, which is expected to exceed $4 trillion this year. (Berryman, 5/12)

AARP: Medicare Spending On Rxs Outpaces Development Costs
A new AARP analysis finds that the billions of dollars Medicare Part D spent over five years for just 10 top brand name prescription drugs more than made up for the money drugmakers say it costs to research and develop new medications. AARP's Public Policy Institute looked at total Medicare spending between 2016 and 2020 on the 10 brand name drugs that the program spent the most on in 2020. This research found that, for example, Medicare spent $27.2 billion during that period to pay for Eliquis, a blood thinner used to treat atrial fibrillation (Afib), a condition that causes an irregular heartbeat. That's more than 10 times what the pharmaceutical industry says is the average cost to develop a new drug: $2.6 billion. (Bunis, 5/11)

Bloomberg Law: Medicaid Regains Power To Deduct From Home Health Workers’ Pay
State Medicaid programs will regain the authority they lost in the Trump era to withhold union dues and deductions for benefits from home health workers’ payments. The Biden administration final rule, published Thursday, is the latest move in a back-and-forth disagreement between Democratic and Republican administrations over how Medicaid programs should interact with home health workers and their unions. (Brown, 5/12)

Modern Healthcare: States Can Again Directly Pay For Home Health Aides' Insurance
The policy is not mandatory for states, but removes federal barriers for states wishing to use the system, said Dan Tsai, deputy CMS administrator and director of the Center for Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Services. Home health is becoming more and more popular with patients, but access problems persist because of a grave worker shortage. Home health jobs often pay little, come with few benefits and offer little access to training, CMS states in the regulation. The median annual wage for home health aides was $29,430 last year, and more than 40% of these workers relied on some type of public benefit program, according to a 2021 report by consulting group PHI. (Goldman, 5/12)

MarketWatch: The Amount Of People Who Have Medical Debt Has Declined During The Pandemic, But It Could Bounce Back Soon, Researchers Warn
Although the COVID-19 pandemic has sent more than 4.6 million people to the hospital, the share of Americans with medical debt declined last year, new research shows. However, that trend could reverse soon, researchers warned. The share of adults with medical debt, problems paying medical bills, and medical debt in collections fell in 2021 compared to 2018, an Urban Institute study published Wednesday found. The Urban Institute is a left-leaning nonprofit think tank that conducts research regarding economic and social policies. ... The authors of the paper, Michael Karpman, Kassandra Martinchek, and Breno Braga, suggested that the drop in consumers with medical debt was likely due to fewer people seeking health care because of a fear of coronavirus exposure, as well as help from temporary government financial relief and increasing enrollment in Medicaid. (Han, 5/13)

In other health industry news —

AP: Nurses To Protest Sentencing In Tennessee Patient-Death Case
Nurses were traveling from around the country to protest on Friday outside the courtroom where a former Tennessee nurse was scheduled to be sentenced for causing the death of a patient. RaDonda Vaught was found guilty in March of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult after she accidentally administered the wrong medication. She faces up to eight years in prison, although such a long sentence is unlikely given she had no prior offenses. A presentencing report rated her risk of reoffending as “low.” (5/13)

Wyoming Public Radio: Labor And Child Delivery Services Ending In Rawlins Hospital 
The Rawlins hospital will be ending its labor and child delivery services on June 15. This is a result of the pandemic putting the hospital in a financial crunch. Memorial Hospital of Carbon County is an essential service for the county and surrounding areas. The hospital is roughly 100 miles away in every direction from another facility. Stephanie Hinkle, the hospital's marketing and communicating director, said the rural nature of the facility always poses challenges when it comes to staffing but the pandemic has worsened it. (Kudelska, 5/12)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Medical Center Hopes New Baltimore Cancer Center Will Advance Treatment, Care 
What if in the next few years patients with cancer in their lungs or blood could sit in a chair, get an infusion of their own modified cells to wipe out their cancer and go home? Cancer researchers and doctors around the country are working on it — not only replacing rounds of toxic chemotherapy with the most advanced immunotherapies but also making the cutting edge treatments more readily accessible and even comfortable. A big piece of the effort locally starts coming together Friday when the University of Maryland Medical Center breaks ground on a new $219 million cancer center. (Cohn, 5/13)

Crain's Chicago Business: Healthcare Startup PatientIQ Raises $20 Million
A Chicago health tech startup building software to monitor patient feedback has closed on $20 million from investors. PatientIQ, founded in 2016, makes enterprise software for healthcare providers that quantifies patient outcomes by collecting personal feedback from patients, said co-founder and CEO Matthew Gitelis. The software integrates into electronic health records, and logs feedback directly from patients via surveys before and after treatments, surgeries and other procedures. Capturing data before and after treatments allows providers to gain insight into how effective their treatments are for patients, Gitelis says. (Davis, 5/12)

AP: WVa Higher Ed Board OKs Nursing Programs At 2 Universities 
A West Virginia higher education governing board approved nursing degree programs at two universities Thursday. The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission gave the nod to bachelor of science in nursing programs at Concord and Glenville State. (5/12)

Houston Chronicle: UTHealth Grad, 80, Is First In Nation To Earn Doctorate In Health Informatics
Joe Bridges has always been a problem solver. As a mechanical engineer, he spent his career fixing what was broken and improving what could be done better. That mindset made it even more difficult for Bridges to watch his sister struggle for more than a decade with a medical condition that doctors couldn’t identify. When they finally diagnosed her with acquired angioedema, a rare immune system disorder, he wanted to help other families avoid the same frustration. (MacDonald, 5/13)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Authorizes Underwear To Protect Against S.T.I.S During Oral Sex 
This is a story about infections, sex and underwear. More specifically, it’s about sexually-transmitted infections, oral sex and ultrathin, super-stretchy, vanilla-flavored panties. The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the panties to be considered protection against infections that can be transmitted from the vagina or anus during oral sex. It is a first for underwear. (Belluck, 5/12)

In other pharmaceutical and research news —

Stat: 3 Burning Questions About The Future Of Prescribing Drugs Online
Online companies prescribing and dispensing medications like Adderall are garnering increasing scrutiny from clinicians and regulators who question whether doctors and nurses can really glean enough about patients over video chat to safely recommend controlled substances. The problem, experts say, is a dearth of clear data. While a spate of new telehealth and digital pharmacy companies have moved into the space in recent years, and more health systems have started prescribing virtually, there still is little insight into whether doctors and nurses tend to write more prescriptions for patients they’ve only met virtually compared with patients they’ve seen in-person, whether the patients obtaining online prescriptions are really at higher risk of misusing them, or whether virtual prescriptions present more opportunities to divert drugs. (Ravindranath, 5/13)

Stat: Caribou CAR-T Therapy Shows Blood-Cancer Remissions In First Data Reveal
Caribou Biosciences said Thursday that its CRISPR-edited T-cell therapy induced complete remissions in four of five patients with advanced B-cell lymphoma — the first clinical trial data to emerge from the biotech company co-founded by Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna. The study results are preliminary but establish Caribou’s presence among a group of drugmakers leveraging genome-editing technologies to engineer different types of immune cells into off-the-shelf, cancer-killing treatments. (Feuerstein, 5/12)

Stat: Pioneer Of Human Cell Atlas Explains Why It's A Milestone 
Just under your skin lie whole aqueous worlds, where trillions of cells spark and beat and wriggle and secrete, doing all the complicated tasks of keeping you alive. They all share the same genetic code. But what they do with it is the difference between a neuron and a twitching muscle fiber. Starting about a decade ago, a group of scientists began conducting a cellular census of every tissue in the human body to find out what cells actually live there, using a powerful new technology called single-cell RNA sequencing. It illuminates which parts of the genome a cell uses to conduct its unique task. The international collaborative effort, called the Human Cell Atlas, has since grown to include more than 2,000 researchers from 83 countries. And on Thursday, they reported a major feat: the creation of detailed maps of more than a million cells across 33 organs. (Molteni, 5/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Suicides Of 125 Georgia Inmates Point To Another Crisis For State Prisons
On an April evening two years ago, an ex-Marine who served in Afghanistan attached a bed sheet to the latticework on the window in his cell at Rutledge State Prison and wrapped it around his neck. By the time guards became aware of what Andrew Campbell had done, he was dead.Campbell, 28, had come back from his deployment with the demons plaguing many veterans — Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, an addiction to painkillers and other drugs — all of which should have been known to the Georgia Department of Corrections. So, what, if anything, was being done to help him? Wasn’t someone supposed to be checking on him? And why was he alone in a cell in the first place? (Robbins and Peebles, 5/13)

ABC News: Crisis Lines And Helplines Are Not The Same, But Experts Say We Need Both
The past few years have seen a growing mental health crisis, prompting an increasing number of Americans to seek help through confidential telephone support lines. But no two support lines are exactly the same. Crisis lines are intended for those undergoing an urgent mental health crisis and in imminent danger, like someone considering suicide. Helplines are designed for non-urgent needs, such as those seeking support and resources for depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. (Smalls-Mantey, 5/13)

Axios: Mayors Tackle Mental Health
New programs in cities like New York, Chicago and London aim to combat the rising loneliness, anxiety and unhappiness that COVID-19 has caused. Pandemic-related emotional problems have been linked to everything from higher crime to a rising teen suicide rate. While it's not clear how much a municipal mental health program can move the needle, a growing number of mayors — flush with pandemic relief funds — are willing to try. (Kingson, 5/13)

Singer Naomi Judd's death was a suicide, daughter says —

The New York Times: Naomi Judd Died Of A Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound, Her Daughter Says 
When Naomi Judd, the Grammy-winning country music singer, died last month, her daughter Ashley Judd said that she had lost her mother to the “disease of mental illness.” On Thursday, Ms. Judd was more candid, saying in a television interview that her mother had died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her home in Tennessee, and encouraging people who are distressed to seek help. Ms. Judd, an actress, told Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America” that she was speaking out about her mother’s death because her family wanted to share the information before it became “public without our control.” (Holpuch, 5/12)

The Mercury News: Ashley Judd Reveals 'Lie' Naomi Judd Believed Before Suicide
In confirming that Naomi Judd died by suicide Thursday, her daughter Ashley Judd explained that her mother’s profound mental illness locked her into a “lie” commonly believed by people in deep despair — that everything is hopeless, the pain won’t end or that they are worthless, unloved and shouldn’t go on living. The Judd family matriarch died on April 30 at age 76, the day before she and her older daughter Wynonna, who made up the beloved country music duo The Judds, were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. (Ross, 5/12)

In other public health news —

The Wall Street Journal: AI Hiring Tools Can Violate Disability Protections, Government Warns 
Employers that use artificial intelligence to assess workers and job seekers need to be careful to comply with laws protecting disabled people, two U.S. federal agencies said, expressing skepticism about a technology that many businesses have tapped amid widespread labor shortages. Companies whose AI or machine-learning technology leads to discrimination could face legal repercussions, the U.S. Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Thursday. (Vanderford, 5/12)

CIDRAP: Public Health Funding Linked To Better Foodborne Illness Detection 
A study today in Emerging Infectious Diseases shows that states with bigger investments in public health tracked more foodborne disease outbreaks between 2009 and 2018, suggesting that those with lower investments may miss critical outbreaks. A related study in the same journal, meanwhile, illustrates how responding quickly to food illness outbreaks not only saves lives but significant money. (Soucheray, 5/12)

Houston Chronicle: Gun Violence Is Killing Kids At Alarming Rates. These Houston Pediatricians Hope To Change That
As a gun violence researcher in Texas, Dr. Sandra McKay is careful how she approaches her subjects, who are often firearm retailers. She is not out to infringe upon gun owners’ rights, she explains, adding that she owns a gun and regularly shoots with family members at a Houston-area range. “I make it very clear,” she says. “This is not about the Second Amendment. This is about safety.” (Gill, 5/12)

NPR: Good Samaritans Save A Driver Having A Medical Issue At A Busy Intersection
A driver experienced a medical episode while crossing a busy intersection in Boynton Beach, Fla. To her relief, a group of good Samaritans leaped into action, aiding the driver and saving everyone on the road from a potentially life-threatening crash. Video of the incident on May 5 went viral on Twitter after the Boynton Beach Police Department released traffic footage in an effort to thank those involved. "It was the kindness of complete strangers," Stephanie Slater, the public information officer for the Boynton Beach Police Department, told NPR. "It was restoring your faith in humanity. It was ... it's beautiful." (Kilpatrick, 5/12)

KCUR: Bill Requiring Missouri Schools To Cut Lead In Drinking Water Heading To Governor 
Legislation on its way to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk could drastically cut down on the amount of lead allowed in school drinking water in an effort to protect children from the toxic metal. Across the U.S., millions of homes and schools are still served by decades-old lead water lines, which can leach the dangerous neurotoxin into drinking water under the right conditions. The state currently doesn’t require schools to test their water, and only a few have taken advantage of grants to do so voluntarily. But on Thursday, the Missouri House approved legislation that would require administrators to test and take action under standards more protective than federal regulations. (Kite, 5/12)

In other news about toxic chemicals —

Public Health Watch: States Move To Regulate Toxic Chemicals; Federal Government Still Far Behind 
Janine Walsh, owner of Walker’s Gymnastics and Dance of Lowell, Massachusetts, was unaware that foam cubes in her gymnastics pits contained harmful chemicals. So, in 2018, Walsh was both surprised and grateful when a staff member at the state-sponsored Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI) at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, a 10-minute drive away, asked if she would consider replacing them. The cubes, used to cushion gymnasts’ falls, often contain flame retardants that can cause thyroid problems, fertility issues and cancers, but many aren’t aware of the threat. Walsh applied for a small-business grant through the institute to help her buy new ones. She was mindful of the hundreds of children, ages 1 to 18, who’ve been coming to the gym and dance studio every week for 44 years. (Berryman, 5/10)

The Washington Post: Bald And Golden Eagles Suffer From Lead Poisoning, Study Finds 
Nearly half of bald and golden eagles in the United States, and in the D.C. region, have chronic lead poisoning. ... Lead, a highly toxic metal, is considered extremely dangerous to animals and people. Eagles and other scavengers ingest it when they feed on the remains of animals that have been killed with lead ammunition. They can also be exposed through mining, power plant emissions, aviation fuel, industrial paints and improperly discarded lead acid batteries. (Hedgpeth, 5/12)

More health news from across the U.S. —

AP: California Lawmakers Raise Awards For Malpractice Lawsuits 
The California Legislature on Thursday agreed to increase how much money people can win in medical malpractice lawsuits, resolving one of the thorniest disputes in state politics by raising a cap on damages for the first time in 47 years. Since 1975, the most money that Californians could win for pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits was $250,000. Starting Jan. 1, that cap will increase to $350,000 for people who were injured and $500,000 for the relatives of people who died. (Beam, 5/13)

AP: WA Childhood Immunization Rates Decline During Pandemic 
A new report shows routine childhood immunization rates have decreased during the pandemic, dropping by 13% in 2021 when compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to Washington state health officials. The Washington State Department of Health said Thursday that in response, the Department of Health, health care providers and other agencies are working with people to catch up and remain current on routine immunizations. (5/12)

AP: Maine Children Getting Access To Virtual Dental Services 
Maine is now home to a network of virtual dental services that supporters said would make dental care more readily available to children. The practices are “virtual dental homes” in which children become patients with a dental practice but receive care in school and primary care settings, said Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree, a supporter of the method, on Wednesday. Services are delivered using telehealth technology, she said. (5/13)

Billings Gazette: State Urges Medicaid Recipients To Update Contact Information
The state health department is urging people and families covered by Montana Medicaid, which includes Medicaid expansion, and Healthy Montana Kids to make sure their contact information with the state is up to date. That's because when the federal public health emergency is expected to end later this summer, the eligibility process for those programs will change and the Department of Public Health and Human Services will need to get in touch with people to verify their qualification status. If their contact information is not correct, some could lose coverage they're qualified to receive. (Michels, 5/12)

Health News Florida: Same-Sex Spouse Blocked From Receiving Settlement In Tobacco Death 
A state appeals court Wednesday said a man could not collect millions of dollars from tobacco companies in the death of his husband because they were not married when a smoking-related illness began in the 1990s — a time when Florida law prevented them from being married. A panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected a Broward County jury’s decision to award $9 million to Bryan Rintoul for loss of consortium and pain and suffering in the death of Edward Caprio. That was part of a broader ruling by the panel to reject a $157 million judgment against Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and order a new trial. (Saunders, 5/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Ambitious S.F. Plan To Shelter All Unhoused Homeless People Hits Resistance
A plan to require San Francisco to offer enough shelter for all of its homeless residents who currently sleep outside is being reworked after advocates for unhoused people pushed back against the effort. Opponents felt the plan would encourage encampment sweeps that clear the streets of tents without advancing longer-term solutions to homelessness. Following debate in a Board of Supervisors committee meeting Thursday, officials amended the proposed legislation to also direct the city to figure out how much permanent supportive housing is necessary to meet the needs of its entire unsheltered population. (Morris, 5/12)

The New York Times: North Korea Reports 6 Covid Deaths And Explosive Spread 
The coronavirus has been spreading across North Korea “explosively” since late last month, killing six people and leaving 187,800 people in quarantine, the country’s state media reported on Friday. Health officials made the rare admission of an emerging public health crisis after the country reported its first outbreak of the virus — after long insisting it had no infections and refusing outside humanitarian aid to fight any spread. The announcement of fatalities came as the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was visiting the national disease-control headquarters on Thursday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. (Sang-Hun, 5/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Seoul To Offer Vaccines To Help North Korea Tackle Covid Outbreak 
South Korea said it would offer vaccines to help with a nationwide outbreak of Covid-19 in unvaccinated North Korea, the first major outreach to Pyongyang by President Yoon Suk-yeol since taking office this week. (Yoon, 5/13)

Yahoo Finance: U.S. Says Has No Current Plans To Share COVID-19 Vaccines With North Korea
The United States has no current plans to share vaccines with North Korea, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said on Thursday, after Pyongyang reported its first COVID-19 outbreak. The spokesperson said North Korea had repeatedly refused vaccine donations from the COVAX global vaccine sharing project. (5/12)

The New York Times: Africa’s First Covid-19 Vaccine Factory Has Not Received A Single Order
The first factory in Africa licensed to produce Covid-19 vaccines for the African market has not received a single order and may shut down that production line within weeks if the situation doesn’t change, according to executives of the company, Aspen Pharmacare. The factory, in the coastal South African city of Gqeberha, formerly known as Port Elizabeth, was celebrated as a solution to the continent’s unequal access to vaccines when it announced a deal to start manufacturing Covid vaccines in November of 2021. (Chutel, 5/13)

Fox News: WHO Reports COVID Cases Down Everywhere But Africa, Americas
The World Health Organization (WHO) said the number of new global COVID-19 cases has continued to decline across the world except for the Americas and Africa. The WHO's pandemic dashboard reports 675,952 new cases worldwide over the last 24 hours. In the U.S., the WHO said there have been more than 156,200 new daily cases. The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reports 163,335 new cases and 949 new deaths, as omicron sub-variants continue to spread across the nation. (Musto, 5/12)

In other global developments —

AP: Thousands Rally In Croatia After Woman Denied Abortion 
Thousands rallied across Croatia Thursday in solidarity with a woman who was denied an abortion despite her fetus having serious health problems, and whose weeks-long ordeal has sparked public outrage. Protests demanding a better public health system and respect of women’s right to choice were held in several cities and towns throughout the predominantly conservative and strongly Catholic nation. (5/12)

AP: Spain Debates If Menstrual Leave Policy Will Help Or Hurt
A government proposal that could make Spain the first country in Europe to allow workers to take menstrual leave has sparked debate over whether the policy would help or hinder women in the workplace. A leaked draft of new legislation that the Spanish Cabinet is expected to discuss Tuesday proposed giving workers experiencing period pain three days of optional leave a month, with two additional days permitted in exceptional cases. (Kassam and Wilson, 5/12)

Politico: The Religious Right And The Abortion Myth
On the face of it, Samuel Alito’s draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, published by POLITICO last week, represents a vindication for the Religious Right, the culmination of nearly five decades of working to outlaw abortion. “I don’t know if this report is true,” said evangelist Franklin Graham of the draft opinion overturning abortion rights, “but if it is, it is an answer to many years of prayer.” The history of that movement, however, is more complicated. White evangelicals in the 1970s did not mobilize against Roe v. Wade, which they considered a Catholic issue. They organized instead to defend racial segregation in evangelical institutions, including Bob Jones University. (Balmer, 5/10)

Politico: The Sex Ed Wars Will Never End
In 1980, New Jersey became the first state to require sex education in all its public schools. That caught the attention of the Moral Majority, a political organization founded the previous year by fundamentalist minister Jerry Falwell to infuse Christian values into public policy. Converging on a hearing of the state board of education, members of the group denounced sex education for placing “godless ethics” over Biblical absolutes. They especially bridled at the curriculum’s “normalization” of homosexuality, which they called a sin before God, and even claimed sex education would encourage “public acceptance of pedophilia.” (Zimmerman, 5/11)

AP: The Tiniest Babies: Shifting The Boundary Of Life Earlier 
Michelle Butler was just over halfway through her pregnancy when her water broke and contractions wracked her body. She couldn’t escape a terrifying truth: Her twins were coming much too soon. ... Until recently, trying to save babies born this early would have been futile. Butler was in the fifth month of her pregnancy, one day past 21 weeks gestation. (5/11)

The New York Times: A Comprehensive Guide to Birth Control
Over the past few decades, the number of birth control methods available in the United States has grown sharply. Women today are faced with a dizzying array of new pills, implants, gels and patches. (Blum and Stock, 5/9)

The New York Times: How Ben Got His Penis: Phalloplasty Remains A Controversial Procedure
Phalloplasty, or surgery to construct a penis, is one of medicine’s most complex procedures. Though it technically refers to one step in a long process — the construction of a phallus from a flap of one’s own skin — the term is used more generally to describe a suite of modular surgeries, each attending to a different penile function. ... The penis procreates, urinates and transmits pleasure. It reacts to temperature, emotion and touch — a complex assemblage of tubes, tissue and nerve, configured in the awkward crook of space between the legs. (Keiles, 5/10)

The Washington Post: How Parents Pass On Body Issues To Their Kids 
Gisela Sandoval was on a shopping trip with her mother and 10-year-old daughter, watching as her daughter tried on a dress and struck a pose. Then her mother spoke up: “Please suck your belly in.” Sandoval panicked. In a flash, “I saw 40 years of my life go through my head,” she says. Her mother’s constant admonishments to hide her belly as a child left a deep groove on her psyche. “I have huge issues with my belly,” says Sandoval, a mother of three who lives in Palo Alto, Calif. “I always think I have one, no matter what weight I am.” (Chang, 5/9)

AP: Breast Cancer Survivor And Lingerie Designer Shatters Taboos 
When Dana Donofree had a bilateral mastectomy and implant reconstruction after her breast cancer diagnosis in 2010, the then 28-year-old fashion designer discovered only medical and uncomfortable bras catering to women with the disease. Such frustrations led Donofree to launch her lingerie company called AnaOno in 2014, aimed primarily for women who had breast cancer and had undergone some type of surgery. The Philadelphia company now offers a variety of wireless bras for women who had breast reconstruction, a mastectomy or lumpectomy because Donofree says every surgery yields different results. The collection also includes post-surgery loungewear. (D'innocenzio, 5/9)

The Washington Post: Waist Trainers: A Waste Of Money And Potentially Harmful
After Kim Kardashian shared the details of the extreme three-week 16-pound weight-loss regimen she undertook to squeeze into an iconic Marilyn Monroe gown for this month’s Met Gala, the result was hardly the admiration she likely expected. The reality TV star was excoriated on social media not only for publicizing her potentially harmful crash diet, but also for advocating unhealthy slimming strategies in the past — including endorsing and selling a popular shapewear product that persists against the best medical advice: the waist trainer. (Haupt, 5/10)

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The Washington Post: Inside The Opioid Sales Machine Of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals 
The largest manufacturer of opioids in the United States once cultivated a reliable stable of hundreds of doctors it could count on to write a steady stream of prescriptions for pain pills. But one left the United States for Pakistan months before he was indicted on federal drug conspiracy and money laundering charges. Another was barred from practicing medicine after several of his patients died of drug overdoses. Another tried to leave the country in the face of charges that he was operating illegal pill dispensing operations, or pill mills, in two states. He was arrested and sent to prison for eight years. (Kornfield, Higham and Rich, 5/10)

The New York Times: Teens In Distress Are Swamping Pediatricians 
One crisp Monday morning in January, Dr. Melissa Dennison sat in a small, windowless exam room with a 14-year-old girl and her mother. Omicron was ripping through Kentucky, and the girl was among three dozen young patients — two of them positive for the coronavirus — that the pediatrician would see that day. But this girl was part of a different epidemic, one that has gripped the community and nation since long before Covid: She and her mother had come to discuss the girl’s declining mental health. (Richtel, 5/10)

The New York Times: Sizing Up The Decisions Of Older Adults 
During a recent Zoom conference call, four Adult Protective Services workers from California, using a tool called the Interview for Decisional Abilities, or IDA, were trying to figure out whether something fishy was going on with an 82-year-old woman they knew as Ms. K. Adult Protective Services agencies in every state receive reports of possible neglect, self-neglect, abuse or exploitation of older people and other vulnerable adults. But agency workers consistently face a bedeviling question: Does the adult in question have the capacity to make a decision about their medical care, living conditions or finances — even if it’s not the decision that the family, doctor or financial adviser thinks should be made? (Span, 5/9)

The Washington Post: A War With Russia Led Florence Nightingale To Revolutionize Nursing
When Florence Nightingale arrived at the Scutari military hospital in Turkey in 1854, conditions there were almost as bad as on the battlefield. ... The young English nurse saw soldiers festering in filth, many of them lying on the bare floor among the rats. Dirty bandages covered rotting wounds, and the neglected soldiers had to contend with lice, fleas and the stench of disease in the unventilated ward. There was about one bathtub per 150 soldiers, though that hardly helped: A dead horse had been left to rot in the water supply. (McHugh, 5/8)

AP: Bracing For Her Future: Human Medicine Rescues Giraffe 
Over the past three decades Ara Mirzaian has fitted braces for everyone from Paralympians to children with scoliosis. But Msituni was a patient like none other — a newborn giraffe. The calf was born Feb. 1 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, north of San Diego, with her front limb bending the wrong way. Safari park staff feared she could die if they didn’t immediately correct the condition, which could prevent her from nursing and walking around the habitat. (Watson, 5/12)

Los Angeles Times: What If You Have A Miscarriage In A State That Bans Abortion? 
We’re getting a clearer picture every day of the devastating effect of Texas’ near-total abortion ban. Many people are traveling out of state to get abortion services, and some have come to San Francisco, where I work. With the Supreme Court now poised to overturn the constitutional right to abortion in a matter of weeks, the national impact will be enormous as many more states ban abortion care. One consequence we haven’t fully reckoned with is how these antiabortion laws will affect the training of healthcare workers. (Jody Steinauer, 5/13)

Chicago Tribune: A Looming Battle Over Abortion Pills Threatens Cherished Freedoms 
Following the leak of a draft majority opinion, expectations run high that the U.S. Supreme Court soon will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision affirming the constitutional right of women to abortion, and we have an idea of what abortion foes will target thereafter: pills. In recent years, a two-drug combination approved by the Food and Drug Administration has become a common method for ending pregnancies in the first trimester. (5/12)

The Star Tribune: Attack On Abortion Rights Threatens All Sexual Freedoms 
The leaked Supreme Court opinion by Justice Samuel Alito, which would overturn Roe v. Wade, marks a devastating setback for reproductive justice in the United States. It also highlights how bound up the right to abortion is with other fundamental sexual freedoms and civil rights. Whatever happens in the wake of this likely decision, we are already witnessing the undoing of more than a century of successful efforts to expand and protect individual rights to sexual and gender self-expression. (Rebecca L. Davis, 5/12)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Out-Of-State Abortion Ban Likely Unconstitutional 
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade appearing ever more likely and in fact imminent, the battle lines of the abortion wars in the country are shifting rapidly. One major confrontation will likely be over the extent to which anti-abortion states can restrict the right of citizens to travel to pro-choice states for an abortion. Missouri has already begun preparing such a law, S.B. 603. I believe such laws would violate the U.S. Constitution. Fifteen years ago, I worked on a law review article in the St Louis University Law Journal authored by my brother, Alan Howard, a constitutional law professor at the law school, addressing the question of the constitutionality of such an anti-travel, anti-abortion law. The article argued that there are two provisions of the U.S. Constitution that courts might and should construe to bar such a law, both in Section 1 of the 14th Amendment. (Bruce Howard, 5/13)

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Bloomberg: US Covid Death Toll Hits 1 Million And Americans Are Still Confused 
Approximately a million people have died from Covid-19 in the US. The country now faces a new surge in BA.2 and BA.2.12.1; other variants are likely to follow. Yet Americans are now packing into restaurants, parties and exercise classes as if it’s 2019. It’s easy to blame Covid fatigue, but that may not be the problem. People are confused, badly informed, and cynical for good reason — the public health establishment has let us down many times, underplaying the risk early, making rules that were geared as much for show as for our protection, and blaming us for their failures. (Faye Flam, 5/12)

Chicago Tribune: COVID-19 Cases Among TSA Officers Shows Effects Of End To Federal Mask Mandate 
On April 18, a federal court judge ended the federal transportation face mask mandate, deeming it an overstep of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority. Almost immediately, airlines responded by making face masks on flights optional. The White House continues to urge travelers on all modes of transportation (air, rail and public transit) to continue to wear face masks to reduce virus transmission, particularly for those most vulnerable to developing a serious case of COVID-19. (Sheldon Jacobson, 5/12)

The Washington Post: Stop Dismissing The Risk Of Long Covid 
The covid-19 pandemic is over. That is what most Americans seem to believe as they cram together for Formula One in Miami, sell out basketball stadiums and fill restaurants without masks. This conventional wisdom is gravely wrong. I will continue to wear my N95 mask, limit my air and train travel, and avoid eating at indoor restaurants. When I teach, I will run a HEPA filter and require all my students to wear N95 masks, too. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 5/12)

USA Today: After COVID Ends, Antimicrobial-Resistant Bugs Pose A New Challenge
Data by Johns Hopkins University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that COVID-19 deaths approached the 1 million mark Thursday. To mark the "tragic milestone," President Joe Biden directed flags on government buildings to be flown at half-staff for five days. COVID-19 reminded us of what the world looked like without the right diagnostics, treatments or vaccines for just one virus. Now, imagine if most of the medicines we rely on today for the most common illnesses – strep throat, sinus infections or urinary tract infections – became ineffective. (Dr. Jerome Adams, 5/12)

NBC News: Baby Formula Shortage Leaves Mothers Wrongly Shamed For Not Breastfeeding
The infant formula shortage is an ongoing nightmare for American families with young babies as parents find themselves without the basic food and fluids to keep their infants alive and healthy. As a pediatrician and mother, it’s horrifying to see that, rather than unifying the country in a concerted effort to address this emergency, the shortage is being used by many people to further the stigma against infant formula — and the shaming of parents who use it and the babies who need it. (Dr. Rebekah Diamond, 5/12)

The New York Times: Russia’s Attacks On Ukraine Health Centers Show A Vicious Pattern 
On Feb. 24, the first day of the war in Ukraine, a Russian attack on a hospital in the eastern city of Vuhledar killed four people and wounded 10 others. The next day, elsewhere in Ukraine, a cancer center and a children’s hospital were hit. And the attacks on the nation’s health care infrastructure kept coming, at a rate of at least two a day, by some counts — hospitals, clinics, maternity wards, a nursing home, an addiction treatment facility, a blood bank. (Lucy King and Jonah M. Kessel, 5/13)

Newsweek: Record Numbers Of Americans Are Dying Of Overdoses. Instead Of Justice, We Get Theater 
The Guggenheim Museum in New York City announced this week that it would be removing the Sackler's nameplate off of their arts center in response to pressure from activists. "The Guggenheim and the Mortimer D. Sackler family have agreed to rename the arts education center," a museum spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. The Guggenheim was not alone; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also removed the Sackler name from a gallery, as did the National Gallery in London this week. (Peter Pischke, 5/12)

Los Angeles Daily News: A Bankrupt Argument For Single-Payer Health Care 
Are Americans going bankrupt because of medical debt? Leading progressives seem to think so. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently called for all medical debt to be canceled. “‘Medical debt’ and ‘Medical bankruptcy’ are two phrases that should not exist in the United States of America,” he said after the major credit bureaus recently announced they’d remove paid-off medical debt previously sent to collections from credit reports. (Sally C. Pipes, 5/11)

Columbus Dispatch: 1 In 4 Nursing Home Residents Suffer Or Witness Abuse. Camera Law Will Help
In March, a new law went into effect in Ohio allowing families to install cameras in nursing home rooms to monitor their loved one’s well-being. This legal change allowing cameras in nursing homes is an added layer of protection for Ohio’s most vulnerable patient population. Lawmakers passed the legislation after a decade of advocacy by one Ohio man, Steve Piskor, on behalf of his mother, Esther. Legislators named the law in honor of her: “Esther’s Law.” (Michael Brevda, 5/12)