The New York Times: California School Shooting Is Another Nightmare Made Real
Frantic parents texted with teenagers barricaded in classrooms. Others offered shelter to students fleeing their high school in this sleepy suburb north of Los Angeles on Thursday. It was the latest example of a wrenching sequence that has become a recurring nightmare for families in America. This time it was a little after 7:30 a.m. when a young man opened fire at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif., killing two students and wounding three others before turning the gun on himself, authorities said. (Cowan, Harmon and Bogel-Burroughs, 11/14)

The Associated Press: LA Suburb Mourns Student Victims After School Shooting
The gunfire began around 7:30 a.m. at Saugus High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita. Authorities estimated that the suspect took just 16 seconds to pull out the weapon, shoot five classmates and turn the gun on himself. At the time, students were “milling around” and greeting each other in an outdoor quad area, sheriff’s homicide Capt. Kent Wegener said. Surveillance video showed the shooter standing still while “everyone is active around him.” (Dazio and Weber, 11/14)

The Washington Post: Santa Clarita Shooting: Two Dead, At Least 4 Injured At Saugus High School
Television footage showed a familiar scene: a campus swarmed with ambulances and police cars, students evacuating school buildings while wounded classmates were wheeled out on gurneys, and worried parents clustered around the school’s perimeter. The shooting is at least the seventh to take place on U.S. school grounds since the start of the academic year, according to a Washington Post analysis, and the first fatal shooting on a campus since students arrived back at school. More than 233,000 schoolchildren have been exposed to gun violence at their own schools since the shooting at Columbine High in 1999. (Monnier, Duan, Balingit and Mattler, 11/14)

Los Angeles Times: Santa Clarita Shooting: 2 Saugus High Students Are Killed, 3 Injured
Some students remained locked in classrooms for more than an hour amid the massive police presence. Eventually, they were led off the school grounds by deputies. Some were in tears. As they walked, one student asked aloud a question on the minds of many others: “What kind of a world is this?” (Fry, Gerber, Queally, Mejia, Winton and Parvini, 11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: School Shooting Leaves Two Dead In Southern California
A 16-year-old female student and 14-year-old male student died after being transported to a nearby hospital, the sheriff said. The three surviving victims were in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office, and one has been released. Sheriff Villanueva declined to elaborate on the suspect’s motivations but said authorities didn’t believe he worked with anyone else. The suspect used a .45 caliber semiautomatic handgun, Capt. Wegener said. (Elinson, Ansari and Caldwell, 11/14)

Los Angeles Times: Santa Clarita Shooting: Students Heard Shots And Ran. ‘When I Go Home, I’m Going To Cry’
The message flashed across the screen on Joy Songcuan’s phone just after 8 a.m., prompting confusion, and then fear. “I’m OK,” the text from his son read, “don’t worry.” At first, Songcuan didn’t know what his son, Karl, a freshman at Saugus High School, was talking about. Then another text came through. “There’s a shooting.” (Gerber, Queally, Vives, Miller and Mejia, 11/14)

CBS News: California School Shooting: Deadly Shooting At Saugus High School In Santa Clarita Today
First on the scene was a detective from the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station Detective Bureau who had just dropped a family member off at the school, Villanueva said. The detective was driving away when he saw students fleeing the gunshots. Two officers also entered the school "within seconds" of the shooting, followed "within a minute" by on-duty responders from the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station, he added. The trio "did not hesitate" to tend to all six of the wounded students, including the suspect, Villanueva said. "Their actions definitely saved lives," he added. (Sundby, Baldwin and Albert, 11/14)

Los Angeles Times: ‘How Do We Recover?’: Experts Weigh In On How To Talk To Your Kids About Shootings
The first thing adults should do is make sure their child or adolescent knows they are willing and available to talk with them, said Stephen Brock, a professor of school psychology at Cal State Sacramento. “Help them process whatever they want,” Brock said. “At the same time, especially in the immediate aftermath of an incident like this, [it’s important] not to force the issue. You simply acknowledge the event.” Ask them if they have questions, he said, and let their questions be your guide. (Agrawal, 11/14)

CalMatters: How California Got Tough On Guns
The modern American gun debate began on May 2, 1967, when 30 protesting members of the Black Panther Party marched into the California Capitol with loaded handguns, shotguns and rifles. As photos of gun-toting radicals from Oakland hit front pages across the country, many Americans were shocked to see who was embracing the Second Amendment. In California, as in most states at the time, there were few restrictions on carrying loaded weapons in public. (Christopher, 11/14)

USA Today: There Have Already Been At Least 30 Shooting Attacks At Schools Resulting In Death Or Injury In 2019
At least 30 shooting attacks on school grounds have occurred in 2019 resulting in deaths or injuries, according to gun safety group Everytown. The count includes a shooting Thursday at Saugus High School in Los Angeles County that left two people dead and four others injured, including the suspect. At least 12 people have died in fatal shooting attacks this year, according to Everytown's research. (Miller, 11/14)

CNN: GOP Senator Blocks Dem's Effort To Push Gun Bill Amid California Shooting
An impromptu effort to pass a gun background check bill in the Senate unanimously was quickly nixed by a Republican senator who said it would infringe on Second Amendment rights, as news of a mass shooting at a California high school came rolling in Thursday morning. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut requested that the universal background check bill, H.R. 8, be passed by unanimous consent -- a procedural move that allows a bill to skip several steps, including debate, to pass unanimously, without senators casting an individual vote. (Stracqualursi, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Florida Student Gun Activists Rally Amid California School Shooting
Dozens of students from across Florida descended on their state Capitol demanding action on gun control Thursday, a day when a deadly school shooting in California prompted panic, helplessness and determination. Two students were killed and three others were wounded when a fellow student opened fire at a Santa Clarita, California, high school. (11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Deval Patrick’s Ties To Health-Care Industry Could Be A Liability
Deval Patrick's ties to health-care and drug companies could make him a punching bag for Democratic candidates who support single-payer health care and criticize the pharmaceutical industry. Since leaving the governorship of Massachusetts in 2015, Patrick has served on the boards of American Well Corp., a telemedicine company, and Global Blood Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical firm. Patrick plans to leave both boards. American Well, which is private, has received significant investment from health insurance giants, including a $59.2 million investment from Allianz. It has signed partnerships with others including Anthem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (Rubin, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Michigan Moderates Sense Jitters On Medicare For All
The Democratic Party’s internal dispute over Medicare for All has reached this battleground state, and so far, supporters of a single-payer health care system are finding a tough audience. Union members in this labor stronghold state have expressed unease with Medicare for All, fearing they would lose health benefits that were hard-won over years of negotiations. A survey of 600 likely voters commissioned by the Detroit Regional Chamber this summer found that a majority opposed a Medicare for All proposal that would eliminate private health insurance, as proposed by Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. (Armour and Jamerson, 11/14)

The Hill: 2020 Dems Put Focus On Stemming Veteran Suicides 
Top Democrats running for president in 2020 are vowing to reduce veteran suicide rates by improving access to mental health care and making improvements to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The issue has received newfound attention on the campaign trail with former Vice President Joe Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), as well as South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg all releasing plans in recent weeks to address the issue. (Hellmann, 11/14)

Los Angeles Times: Sen. Kamala Harris Introduces Bill To Boost Towns' Wildfire Preparedness
California Sen. Kamala Harris introduced a bill Thursday that would set aside $1 billion each year to pay for better infrastructure, land-use and evacuation route planning in fire-prone communities. The proposed legislation would benefit cities and towns throughout the country, but especially those in California, where many communities are vulnerable and residents are struggling to adapt to longer and more intense fire seasons. (Phillips, 11/14)

The Associated Press: US Panel Backs Wider Use Of Fish Oil To Prevent Heart Attack
Government health experts on Thursday recommended broader use of a prescription-strength fish oil drug to help many more patients at risk for heart attack, stroke and related health problems. Currently the drug, Vascepa, is approved for a relatively narrow group of patients with extremely high levels of triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood linked to heart disease. (Perrone, 11/14)

The Washington Post: FDA Panel Endorses Wider Use Of Fish-Oil Drug To Protect Against Heart Problems
The 16-0 endorsement of the FDA advisory committee puts Dublin-based Amarin Corp. one step closer to widespread distribution of Vascepa, a drug the company has said could be worth billions of dollars annually. The FDA, which usually follows such guidance, could make a long-awaited final decision next month. “There’s a definite need for additional therapeutic approaches,” said Kenneth D. Burman, chief of the endocrine section at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, who chaired the panel. Despite some side effects, he said, “this seems a very useful new agent for addition to the armamentarium for the treatment of these patients.” (Bernstein, 11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Panel Backs Expanding Use Of Fish-Oil Derived Drug
Sales of Vascepa could surpass $3 billion if the FDA approves a wider label, according to analysts. Last year’s sales of the drug totaled nearly $230 million. Vascepa was approved in 2012 to treat adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia, or very high levels of triglycerides, which are fats that circulate in the blood. High triglyceride levels can signal the presence of metabolic abnormalities that can damage the heart and blood vessels. About four million Americans have severe hypertriglyceridemia, according to Amarin, and 70 million have elevated triglyceride levels. (Hopkins and McKay, 11/14)

Bloomberg: FDA Approves First Chinese Cancer Drug For U.S. Patient Use 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted approval to a blood cancer drug from Beijing-based BeiGene Ltd., paving the way for American patients to access a Chinese cancer therapy for the first time. The accelerated approval -- ahead of even China’s own national drug regulator -- marks a breakthrough for the growing legion of Chinese biotech companies determined to take on the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies in medical innovation and scientific research. (11/14)

Stat: A Drug Maker Courted Controversy When It Shut Out A Family-Run Rival. Now Some Patients Say The Medicine Isn’t Working
In late 2018, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (CPRX) was granted exclusive marketing rights to sell its new drug, called Firdapse, after the Food and Drug Administration approved the medicine. The move precludes any competition for seven years. ...Over the past few months, about 30 people who suffer from Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, or LEMS, have switched back to the older treatment, known as Ruzurgi. For more than two decades, a small, family-run company called Jacobus Pharmaceuticals made its drug available on a compassionate use basis to a few hundred people while pursuing formal FDA approval. (Silverman, 11/15)

Reuters: Generic Drug Group Sues Over California Law Combating 'Pay-For-Delay' Deals
A trade group for generic drugmakers has filed a lawsuit challenging California’s recently-enacted law that bars manufacturers of brand name drugs from paying other companies to delay releasing generic drugs to resolve patent litigation. The Association for Accessible Medicines (AAM) in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Sacramento, California, on Tuesday argued that the nation’s first-of-its-kind law to combat so-called “pay-for-delay” settlements is unconstitutional. (Raymond, 11/14)

New Hampshire Union Leader: NH Joins Multi-State Lawsuit Against Drug Companies 
The attorney general’s office announced Wednesday that New Hampshire has joined a multi-state lawsuit against 20 drug companies, alleging that they conspired to fix prices on generic prescription drugs. The amended complaint alleges that Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of its competitors were involved in a broad conspiracy to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition and unreasonably restrain trade for more than 100 different generic drugs. The drugs at issue account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States. (11/13)

Stat: FDA Slams Dollar Tree For Purchasing Drugs From Suppliers With Checkered Safety Records
Amid growing concerns over the pharmaceutical supply chain, regulators sternly warned the Dollar Tree (DLTR), which runs a vast network of stores serving mostly low-income communities, for selling over-the-counter medicines made by companies that failed to ensure the drugs were safely manufactured and tested. In a Nov. 6 warning letter, the Food and Drug Administration noted the retailer purchased medicines from foreign companies that failed to follow manufacturing standards and displayed a pattern of serious violations. (Silverman, 11/14)

CNN: FDA Issues Warning To Dollar Tree About Selling 'Potentially Unsafe Drugs'
The letter outlines "multiple violations" of manufacturing practices at those contract manufacturers used to produce Dollar Tree's Assured Brand over-the-counter drugs as well as other drug products sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. Now, in its warning letter to Dollar Tree, the FDA is requesting that the company implement a system to ensure that it does not import adulterated drugs. (Howard, 11/14)

CNBC: FDA Flags Dollar Tree For Selling OTC Drugs Made By Companies With 'Serious Violations'
The FDA analyzed import data and found Dollar Tree bought and received products from foreign companies that had received warning letters and had been placed on import alert for manufacturing issues. The agency also alleges that Greenbrier, operating as Dollar Tree, has used contract manufacturers and suppliers with “significant” violations for its private-label Assured Brand drugs. (LaVito, 11/14)

USA Today: FDA Sends Dollar Tree Warning Letter For Selling 'Potentially Unsafe Drugs' From Chinese Suppliers
“Americans expect and deserve drugs that are safe, effective and that meet our standards for quality,” Donald D. Ashley, director of the Office of Compliance in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in the release. “In this case, Dollar Tree has the ultimate responsibility to ensure that it does not sell potentially unsafe drugs and other FDA-regulated products to Americans.” In the Nov. 6 letter to Dollar Tree CEO Gary Philbin, the FDA identifies Chinese manufacturers that failed to test products and cited an example where “rodent feces (were) found throughout the manufacturing facility.” (Tyko, 11/15)

The Associated Press: Court Rules Trump EPA Unlawfully Ignored Dangerous Chemicals
The Trump administration unlawfully excluded millions of tons of some of the most dangerous materials in public use from a safety review, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must consider dangers posed by asbestos, lead and other toxins regardless of whether they’re still being manufactured. (Brown, 11/14)

Meanwhile, in Louisiana —

ProPublica/The Times-Picayune/The Advocate: New EPA Rules Aim To Reduce Toxic Emissions. But Many “Cancer Alley” Chemical Plants Won’t Have To Change.
Environmental groups had been waiting nearly three years for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to comply with a federal judge’s orders to update Clean Air Act rules governing emissions of various toxic chemicals. The agency finally proposed those new rules last week, saying they would reduce emissions of ethylene oxide, a carcinogen that the EPA recently determined is more dangerous than the agency once believed. (Schleifstein, 11/14)

CBS News: Border Apprehensions Down: Officials Say 'Consequences' Causing Major Drop In Number Of Migrant Families And Kids At Border
For the first time in more than a year, the U.S. is apprehending fewer migrant children and families than adults along the southern border, a major demographic shift that Trump administration officials attribute to "consequences" they are applying to deter U.S.-bound migrants. U.S. border officials in October apprehended more than 35,000 migrants — including nearly 10,000 families and 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children — along the U.S.-Mexico border, marking the fifth consecutive monthly decline in arrests there, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials said Thursday.  (Montoya-Galvez, 11/14)

FOX6Now.Com: Migrant Arrests Down For 5th Consecutive Month; Officials Credit MPP Program And Mexican Army
Fewer Central American families and unaccompanied minors are making it across the U.S.-Mexico border, something that Border Patrol officials attribute to Mexico deploying soldiers to stop migrants at the Guatemala border and to word filtering down in Central America that migrants no longer are being allowed to stay in the United States while their case plays out in federal immigration court. (11/14)

PBS NewsHour/The Associated Press: Inside A Shelter Holding Detained Migrant Kids
Under President Donald Trump, the mass detention of migrant children has climbed to record numbers. Tonight, a joint investigation from FRONTLINE and The Associated Press called Kids Caught in the Crackdown examines the growing network of federally-funded shelter programs — and the lasting impact on children held in U.S. government custody. “We know from the American Academy of Pediatrics that there’s no amount of time that it’s safe for children to be detained,” Neha Desai, an attorney who helps monitor the conditions for migrant kids inside detention facilities, says in the above excerpt. “We know definitively that detention harms children; that every single day they’re there, those impacts compound.” (Taddonio, 11/12)

Vice: Privacy Rights Group Sues DHS Over ‘Coercive’ DNA Tests At The Border 
Privacy advocates are suing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to get answers about how the agency is using new technology to collect DNA from migrant families at the border. In its lawsuit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked for information about how DHS has deployed its Rapid DNA technology, including "the number of individuals whose DNA had been collected, the accuracy of DNA matches, and the exact gene processing used to identify parent-child relationships." (Ongweso, 11/14)

The New York Times: Apple’s Reach Reshapes Medical Research
In 1976, the Harvard School of Public Health and two other major medical institutions started a study on nurses that has become one of the largest and longest research efforts ever conducted on women’s health. They have so far enrolled more than 275,000 participants. On Thursday, the Harvard school announced an even more ambitious women’s health study, one that aims to enroll a million women over a decade. The new ingredients allowing the huge scale: Apple’s iPhones, apps and money. (Singer, 11/14)

Reuters: Apple Launches App To Let Users Enroll In Health Studies
People who download the research app would be able to enroll in studies including Apple Women's Health Study, Apple Heart and Movement Study and Apple Hearing Study, the company said in a study. After enrolling, participants using Apple Watch and iPhone can contribute useful data around movement, heart rate and noise levels, captured during everyday activities, from taking a walk to attending a concert. (11/14)

Stat: In A ‘Wild West’ Environment, Hospitals Differ Sharply In What Patient Data They Give Google
In deals struck across the U.S., hospital systems appear to be adopting starkly different protocols for sharing personal health information with Google (GOOGL), fueling broad concerns about the ability of patients to control the use of their data. In a controversial collaboration with the hospital chain Ascension, Google gained access to millions of patient records, including names and birth dates, so it could use its artificial intelligence tools to analyze the information. The arrangement has triggered a fact-finding review by federal regulators. (Ross, 11/15)

Modern Healthcare: Ascension, Google Blowback Hints At Providers' Next Tech Hurdle
A partnership between Ascension and Google has sparked public pushback and a federal probe into whether the companies followed federal privacy laws before releasing patient data. But healthcare experts say the reaction to the deal likely has less to do with Ascension sharing patient data, and more to do with the partner they chose. "The truth of the matter is patient data gets used by the healthcare institutions that they have visited—often," said Michael Abrams, managing partner at healthcare consultancy Numerof & Associates. (Cohen, 11/14)

Politico Pro: Lawmakers Call For HIPAA Updates Following Google's Data Deal
Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) introduced legislation to stop the sale of health data from consumer wearable devices Thursday as Congress responded to outrage over a data-sharing deal that gave Google access to millions of patients' detailed records. The arrangement, which Google and the Ascension health system maintained is legal, has irked patient and privacy advocates who find it unacceptable that neither patients nor clinicians gave consent to share their data with the tech giant. (Ravindranath, 11/14)

The Washington Post: Ohio Lawmakers Propose Bill That Would Totally Ban Abortion, Give Fetuses The Rights Of People
A new bill sponsored by two Republican Ohio lawmakers would completely end the practice of abortion in the state — a sweeping measure one local abortion rights advocate said “would strip every person who can get pregnant of their bodily autonomy.” State Reps. Ron Hood and Candice Keller are the lead sponsors of House Bill 413, which, among other provisions, seeks to legally recognize unborn fetuses as people, according to a news release from the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio dated Thursday and obtained by The Washington Post. Anyone who performs an abortion, according to the release, would be “subject to already existing murder statutes.” (Brice-Saddler and Knowles, 11/14)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio State Lawmakers Propose Total Abortion Ban
A new bill, sponsored by state Reps. Candice Keller and Ron Hood, both Republicans, also would declare unborn fetuses as people entitled to full legal protection. This would mean that any doctors who perform abortions in Ohio would be charged with murder, according to a Thursday news release from the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio. The group is a not affiliated with Ohio Right to Life, the state’s most prominent anti-abortion group. (Tobias, 11/14)

Meanwhile, in other news on women's health and abortion —

Reuters: U.S. Raps Global Health Summit Over Abortion, Sex Education
Ten countries - including the United States, Brazil and Egypt - criticized a global conference on sexual and reproductive health on Thursday, saying it promoted abortion and sex education. Heads of state, financial institutions and donors were among the 9,500 delegates in Nairobi this week to address maternal mortality, violence against women and voluntary family planning. But 10 of the United Nation’s 192 member states said they did not support the International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) use of the term “sexual and reproductive health and rights” as it could be used to promote abortion. (Bhalla, 11/14)

Kansas City Star: Parson Under Fire As Congress Reviews Abortion Restrictions
The chief medical officer of Missouri’s only abortion clinic described for members of Congress Thursday the trauma patients experienced when the state sought to require all women seeking abortions to undergo a pelvic exam. (Lowry and Thomas, 11/14)

Miami Herald: Medicaid Non-Expansion Causes Preventable Deaths, Study Says
A report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released last week said states that expanded Medicaid showed significant reductions in death rates for older adults who fell into the income brackets that allowed them to gain the coverage. The report cited research estimating that, between 2014 and 2017, some 19,200 people who gained access in expansion states would have otherwise died. (Conark and Koh, 11/14)

Wyoming Public Radio: Legislative Committee Endorses Medicaid Expansion Bill
The Wyoming Legislature will take another crack at Medicaid expansion. The legislature's Joint Revenue Committee approved a proposed bill that will ask Gov. Mark Gordon to explore options for Wyoming's participation in expansion and determine whether it's financially viable for the state. Eventually lawmakers would need to approve a Wyoming plan. (Beck, 11/14)

And in news from CMS —

Modern Healthcare: Congress To Delay DSH Cuts, But Won't Reform Program This Year
Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Thursday that Congress won't reform the Medicaid disproportionate-share formula this year as anticipated, but they will likely temporarily delay cuts to the program. Grassley said he expects the delay of $4 billion in DSH cuts for fiscal 2020 to be extended in an end-of-year appropriations fight. Congress has not yet passed a patch to avert a government shutdown on Nov. 22, but they are expected to punt a funding fight to December. (Cohrs, 11/14)

Modern Healthcare: CMS' Star Quality Ratings Might Not Serve Patient Interests, Experts Warn
The CMS is considering several changes to the methodology it uses to determine hospital star ratings, but some healthcare experts are concerned that the proposed changes don't really account for patient needs. While hospitals and policymakers debate the CMS' proposed changes to the star quality rating methodology, the needs of patients have been cast aside, according to members of the CMS Advisory Panel on Outreach and Education during their meeting on Thursday. (Bady, 11/14)

Reuters: U.S. Vaping-Related Deaths Rise To 42, Cases Of Illness To 2,172
U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 2,172 confirmed and probable cases and 3 more deaths from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, taking the death toll to 42, so far this year. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,051 confirmed and probable U.S. lung injury cases and 39 deaths associated with use of e-cigarettes, or vaping products. (11/14)

NBC News: Vaping Illness Cases Rise Again, To 2,172, CDC Says
California and Illinois are the states that have reported the largest number of EVALI deaths so far, with four each. Last week, the CDC said it had found evidence of a synthetic form of vitamin E oil in lung fluid samples from patients. Of 29 samples tested, all 29 had extremely high levels of the oil. While it's a solid clue in the investigation into what is making people sick, it's not likely to be the only cause. (Edwards, 11/14)

NH Times Union: New Hampshire Has Highest Rate Of Teen Vaping 
New Hampshire high school students vape more than teens anywhere else in the country, according to a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four percent of high school students in New Hampshire vape at least once a day, according to the most recent available Youth Risk Behavior Survey, from 2017 — higher than the national rate of 2.4%. (Albertson-Grove, 11/14)

The Oregonian: Oregon Bans On Both Flavored Nicotine And Cannabis Vaping Products Now On Hold
Gov. Kate Brown’s six-month ban on both flavored nicotine and cannabis vape products is on hold with new rulings Thursday by the Oregon Court of Appeals. “We’re very happy,” said Andrew DeWeese, the attorney representing Herban Industries, which sued over the cannabis vape oil portion of the ban. “It’s a win for the cannabis industry and it is, frankly, a win for the Oregon consumer.” (Zarkhin, 11/14)

CBS Baltimore: ‘Alarming’ Similarity Found Between Vaping Patients And 9/11 First Responders, Maryland Doctor Treating Lung Disease Says
The vaping crisis is sweeping the country, killing at least 42 people and sickening thousands in nearly every state, including Maryland. The number of people with vaping-related illness is rapidly increasing with almost 50 cases reported in Maryland alone. (Baker, 11/14)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health’: Spending Bill Slowdown
The fiscal year started a month and a half ago, but Congress has still not agreed on an annual spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services – or any of the other annual spending bills that fund the government. Meanwhile, Congress IS moving on efforts to further restrict tobacco and vaping products, particularly to limit their marketing to underage users. The Trump administration has been vowing to use its own authority to crack down on a youth vaping epidemic, but so far has not acted. (11/14)

The Hill: Adult Cigarette Smoking Rates Hit All-Time Low In U.S. 
Cigarette smoking among adults has hit an all-time low, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 13.7 percent of adults, or 34.2 million people, smoked cigarettes in 2018, slightly down from the previous year, according to the report. (Hellmann, 11/14)

CBS News: Porn And America's Kids: 'Their Sexuality Has Been Hijacked'
Ryan, a senior in high school, recalls his early sexual encounters as attempts to replicate an idea of sex he says was shaped by pornography. "Me getting on top of her, and holding her down, and doing all this stuff that I had seen and was just trying to implement and just trying to replicate ... as a man who had only experienced porn, that's what I perceived to be the only way that you could do it." The internet brought with it a boom in access to free pornography, and although many sites warn that the content is for adults 18 and over, there is very little standing in the way of accessibility. (Sherman, 11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: One Problem With Flu Shot? Not Enough People Get It
Each year, influenza sickens millions of people. But typically, too few Americans get the flu shot to shield everyone from the contagious disease. For maximum protection, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that 70% of Americans should get the shot. In the last decade, fewer than 50% were vaccinated annually, and sometimes, the level dipped as low as 42%. (McGinty, 11/15)

The New York Times: Infants And Toddlers Eat Too Much Sugar, Researchers Say
Nearly all American toddlers and about two-thirds of infants consume added sugar, despite nutritionists’ recommendations that children avoid the sweetener, according to a government study released this week. Researchers, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that from 2011 to 2016, 98 percent of toddlers ages 12 to 23 months consumed added sugar in fruit drinks, baked goods, candy and ready-to-eat cereals. Black toddlers ate the most added sugar — about eight teaspoons a day — while toddlers of Asian descent consumed the least, about 3.7 teaspoons a day. (Holson, 11/14)

The New York Times: Hibernation Works For Bears. Could It Work For Us, Too?
There are three major seasons in the life of a bear: the active season, beginning in May; a period of intense eating, in late September, and hibernation, from January into spring. Physiologically, the hibernation period is the strangest, and the most compelling, to researchers. When a bear hibernates, its metabolic rate and heart rate drop significantly. It does not defecate or urinate. The amount of nitrogen in its blood rises sharply, without damaging the kidneys or liver. The animal becomes resistant to insulin but doesn’t suffer from fluctuations in its blood sugar levels. (Lockwood, 11/15)

Bloomberg: The Unspoken Pandemic 
The stigma against mental illness is a persistent problem that the law isn’t currently built to solve. Congress has tried, by requiring insurers to cover mental health care and expanding the Americans With Disabilities Act to cover some conditions. But, as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, 80% of sufferers still don’t seek help because they’re ashamed or embarrassed. Not only a human tragedy, this unspoken pandemic is a drag on the economy. Depression alone costs America $210 billion a year, half of which is borne by employers as lost productivity. (11/14)

Boston Globe: Why Good Employers Want You To Put Down The Phone And Get More Sleep
Companies, aware that sleep deprivation costs the US economy more than $400 billion each year in lost productivity, are trying to change that, says Debra Wein, CEO and founder of Wellness Workdays, a Hingham company whose offerings include sleep quality assessment programs. She says her company, which has worked with Columbia Construction and Cape Cod Healthcare, has seen a jump in requests for sleep-related seminars and workshops in the last two years. (Keene, 11/14)

Stat: Exercise Helps Astronauts Cope In Space. Could It Help Cancer Patients Too?
Astronauts go through a lot of training in preparation for spaceflights, including intensive exercise routines to stay fit and stave off the harmful effects of space travel. Researchers writing in a commentary published Thursday in Cell say fitness programs could also have an application in cancer patients, who go through physiological changes that are similar to astronauts. (Chakradhar, 11/14)

The New York Times: Germany Mandates Measles Vaccine
Parents in Germany must vaccinate their children against measles or face fines of several thousand euros under a law passed on Thursday that aims to stop the spread of a disease that has returned in recent years after decades of decline. The law, which is to take effect from March next year, will require all children seeking to attend preschool to prove that they have been immunized or risk losing their placement. (Eddy, 11/14)

Kaiser Health News: Surgeon General’s Marijuana Warning Omits Crucial Context
Speaking about a recent federal advisory on marijuana, Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, put a new spin on long-standing admonitions about the drug. “Marijuana has a unique impact on the developing brain. It can prime your brain for addiction to other substances,” Adams said at a Washington, D.C., substance abuse conference held late in August and sponsored by Oxford House, a recovery center network. (Luthra, 11/15)

Stateline: With Safe Injection Sites, ‘Somebody Has To Go First.’ It Could Be Philadelphia.
A preliminary decision by a federal judge last month could put Philadelphia on a path to becoming the first U.S. city to host a so-called safe injection facility, where users can come in off the street and consume their illicit drugs under the watchful eyes of medical professionals who will rescue them if they overdose. Politicians and harm-reduction advocates in Boston, Denver, New York, San Francisco and Seattle have tried to open similar facilities but have been stalled by red tape and state and local opposition, as well as federal lawsuit threats. (Vestal, 11/15)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Unveils New Programs To Reduce Opioid Deaths, Infections
The state of Michigan on Thursday announced it will begin providing medication-assisted treatment for prisoners with addiction and support more needle exchange programs in an effort to combat the nationwide opioid epidemic. “We are losing more than five people every single day to opioid overdoses,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a prepared statement, announcing the initiatives. “This epidemic touches all areas of our state and is one of the greatest health crises of our lifetimes. My No. 1 priority is protecting our families and our overall public health, and these efforts will help bring us closer to ending this epidemic.” (Kovanis, 11/14)

The New York Times: New York To Use 18,000 City Workers To Identify And Help Homeless
New York City will direct more than 18,000 of its municipal workers to use 311 to give social service workers real-time information to help them steer the almost 4,000 people who live on the streets into shelters. The effort, known as Outreach NYC, is the latest attempt from Mayor Bill de Blasio to tackle perhaps the most intractable problem his administration has faced: street homelessness. The problem was highlighted in October when a homeless man, Randy Santos, allegedly bludgeoned four other homeless men to death in Chinatown. (Mays, 11/14)

The Baltimore Sun: Court Orders Kennedy Krieger To Pay Woman Harmed In 1990s-Era Lead Paint Study 
A lead paint study that has dogged the Kennedy Krieger Institute since the 1990s when it was conducted has resulted in the first judgment against the renowned East Baltimore children’s treatment center. Ashley Partlow was almost 5 in 1994 and too old to be enrolled. She lived with her sister, who was a participant in the study, which aimed to test whether less expensive remedies could prevent harm to children from lead paint widely used in homes before it was banned in 1978. (Cohn, 11/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: Hotline Helping Seniors Get Uber, Lyft Rides Challenged By California Regulators
All Justin Boogaard wanted was to help his grandmother order an Uber ride. Like many older adults, she doesn’t have a smartphone.That led to Boogaard’s creation four years ago of San Francisco startup GoGoGrandparent, which provides a toll-free number that people nationwide and in Canada can call to request Uber and Lyft rides. ...But then California regulators issued GoGo a $10,000 fine in February, saying it needed to apply for a permit as a for-hire transportation company, just like Uber and Lyft. (Said, 11/14)

Boston Globe: As Gig Economy Expands Into Temporary Staffing, Worker Protections Retreat
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has reached what her office is hailing as a landmark settlement with a Boston gig economy company: As of Jan. 1, health care workers who use the digital platform Stynt to find shifts will become employees instead of independent contractors — an agreement Healey believes could serve as a model as gig opportunities expand in a more professional direction.But it could also stifle some of this flexibility — and potentially drive employers out of business, gig economy advocates say. (Johnston , 11/14)

The Star Tribune: HealthPartners Cutting 75 Jobs On Diminished Medicare Revenue 
HealthPartners is eliminating about 75 jobs as the Bloomington-based health insurer and hospital operator adjusts to diminished revenue with the elimination this year of Medicare Cost health plans across much of Minnesota. Federal law called for Medicare Cost plans to be phased out starting in 2019 in counties where there is significant competition from insurers that sell Medicare Advantage health insurance plans. HealthPartners was one of three carriers in the state that sold Medicare Cost plans statewide, but it now offers the coverage in just a minority of counties. (Snowbeck, 11/14)

Kansas City Star: KC Council Votes To Ban Conversion Therapy For LGBTQ Youth
Kansas City on Thursday became the second city in Missouri to ban controversial conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth. Columbia passed a similar ban last month. (Kite, 11/14)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans Man Posed As Handicapped To Obtain Home Health Care For Sexual Purposes, Police Say
A New Orleans man who told investigators he enjoyed being treated as an infant pretended to have mental and physical disabilities in order to obtain a babysitter who unwittingly changed his diaper on several occasions over the course of more than a year, Louisiana State Police said. Rutledge Deas IV, 29, told investigators that he had suffered severe childhood trauma and being cared for like a baby brought him “back to a time and place where he was at peace,” according to court records. (Vargas and Sledge, 11/14)

NH Times Union: Seacoast Hospitals Plan Effort To Gain Public Support For Partnership With Mass. General
Exeter Health Resources, the parent company of Exeter Hospital, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover are planning a campaign aimed at winning public support for their proposed partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital after the state Attorney General’s office recently opposed the deal. The hospitals announced the public engagement effort Thursday in a joint statement touting what they insist is an affiliation that will benefit the communities they serve. (Schreiber, 11/14)

Health News Florida: What’s In A Name? Health Panel Seeks Clarity On Health Care Providers
The House Health Quality Subcommittee approved a bill (HB 309) that would make clear non-physicians are not allowed to identify themselves as physicians, surgeons, medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, cardiologists, dermatologists, endocrinologists and many other doctor monikers. The bill was filed to blunt a unanimous decision by the Florida Board of Nursing to allow John McDonough, an advanced practice registered nurse, to identify himself as a “nurse anesthesiologist” without facing repercussions. (Sexton, 11/14)

Health News Florida: Update: Pulse Responder Alison Clarke Avoids Firing While Awaiting PTSD Pension Decision
Officer Alison Clark, a Pulse first responder who is trying to get a disability pension for post-traumatic stress disorder, has avoided being fired from the Orlando Police Department – for now. WMFE reported last week that Clarke was scheduled to be fired on Friday. In addition to being a Pulse first responder, she was also on scene when Lt. Debra Clayton was shot to death. (Aboraya, 11/14)

NH Times Union: Concord Hospital Doctors Reprimanded, Fined After Teen Treated For Migraine Dies Of Tumor 
Three Concord Hospital physicians have been sanctioned for professional misconduct involving the treatment of a teenage girl who showed up at the hospital emergency room and later died of an undiagnosed brain tumor, the New Hampshire Board of Medicine announced Thursday. The physicians treated the unnamed patient for what they believed was a migraine headache and eventually admitted her to the hospital, but they did not order an emergency CT scan, which would have discovered the tumor, according to the settlement agreements the three reached with the board. (Hayward, 11/14)

Los Angeles Times: Poll: Homelessness Is L.A.'s Biggest Problem
As people living in tents, RVs and makeshift shelters become a fact of life in neighborhoods far and wide, homelessness is now an all-consuming issue in Los Angeles County, with 95% of voters calling it a serious or very serious problem, according to a new poll conducted for the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Business Council Institute. (Oreskes, Smith and Lauter, 11/14)

Sacramento Bee: Sutter Health Settles Kickback Lawsuit For $30 Million
Sutter Health has agreed to pay more than $30 million to the federal government after an executive at the Sacramento-based health care giant accused Sutter of paying out millions of dollars in kickbacks to doctors in exchange for patient referrals, one of the lawyers in the case said Thursday. (Stanton and Anderson, 11/14)

The CT Mirror: First Two Flu-Related Deaths Of The Season Reported In Connecticut
Two Connecticut residents over the age of 65 died of flu-related complications last week, the first deaths of the season, health officials reported Thursday. One person lived in Litchfield County and the other was from Fairfield County. (Carlesso, 11/14)

Health News Florida: Pharmacists Could Get Power To Treat Flu, Strep
In an attempt to increase access to health care, a House panel on Wednesday approved a proposal that would authorize pharmacists to test patients for --- and treat --- the flu and strep throat. ....But physicians who oppose the bill warned that increased access to care doesn’t mean patients will receive top-notch care. (Sexton, 11/14)

Nashville Tennessean: Nashville's Overflow Shelter Needs To Take Trauma Seriously
It’s only the beginning of winter and outreach workers like us are already exhausted. It’s not the never-ending days or late nights that are wearing on us, however. What’s wearing on us is always having to fight for what should be basic human rights in our city—rights like dignified housing and shelter for all. (Lindsey Krinks, 11/14)

Kaiser Health News: Nursing Home Safety Violations Put Residents At Risk, Report Finds
As huge swaths of California burned last fall, federal health officials descended on 20 California nursing homes to determine whether they were prepared to protect their vulnerable residents from fires, earthquakes and other disasters. The results of their surprise inspections, which took place from September to December of 2018, were disturbing: Inspectors found hundreds of potentially life-threatening violations of safety and emergency requirements, including blocked emergency exit doors, unsafe use of power strips and extension cords, and inadequate fuel for emergency generators, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. (Ostrov, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Feds: South Dakota Doc Made Millions On Unneeded Surgeries
A South Dakota neurosurgeon made millions of dollars by performing unnecessary and dangerous surgeries, including one that left a patient partially paralyzed, federal prosecutors contend in a lawsuit against the doctor. Dr. Wilson Asfora enriched himself by using medical devices he invented during surgeries and receiving kickbacks from companies whose devices he used without disclosing the arrangements, the Department of Justice alleges in the lawsuit filed Wednesday. (11/14)

The Associated Press: Doctor Of Incapacitated Woman Who Gave Birth Cedes License
The longtime doctor of an incapacitated woman who was raped and later gave birth at a Phoenix care facility is surrendering his medical license, according to state medical board records. Dr. Phillip Gear agreed to a consent order to voluntarily give up his license and not contest the matter in court. (11/14)

Arizona Republic: Hacienda Healthcare's Dr. Phillip Gear Surrenders Medical License
The board voted in September to suspend Gear's license and scheduled an administrative hearing for Nov. 4. Board documents say Gear decided to retire from medicine and not contest the actions of the board. He agreed to sign an order for a surrender of his license. "I decided to retire rather than to go through several rounds of legal proceedings, in view of my own age," Gear, 67, said in a statement to The Arizona Republic through his lawyers. (Innes, 11/14)

Health News Florida: Red Tide And Human Health: Researchers Study 'Chronic Exposure'
Toxic red tide algae is starting to bloom along Florida’s west coast again. State wildlife officials say elevated levels have been detected recently from Pinellas to Collier counties, and people in Sarasota County have also been experiencing respiratory irritations. Now, new research is looking into longterm health effects of the toxins, including neurological issues. (Meszaros, 11/14)

The Atlantic: Abortion Is An Unwinnable Argument
In 1956, two American physicians, J. A. Presley and W. E. Brown, colleagues at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine, decided that four recent admissions to their hospital were significant enough to warrant a published report. “Lysol-Induced Criminal Abortion” appeared in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. It describes four women who were admitted to the hospital in extreme distress, all of them having had “criminal abortions” with what the doctors believed to be an unusual agent: Lysol. The powerful cleaner had been pumped into their wombs. Three of them survived, and one of them died. (Flanagan, 11/14)

Wired: Pinterest Has A New Plan To Address Self-Harm
In an age when so much of the internet feels bad, Pinterest has carved out a niche as the place you come to feel good. So when the company noticed Pinterest users searching for content related to “self-harm”—not a ton, but enough to catch someone’s attention—it decided first to filter out what would show up on the site. Pinterest had already done this kind of moderation work on terms like “anti-vaccination,” using a combination of humans and machine learning to clean up the search results. Now, after training its algorithms to recognize content that promotes self-harm, the company says reports of those pins are down 88 percent. (Pardes, 11/14)

Politico: I Thought Being A Health Care Reporter Would Make Cancer Easier. I Was Wrong.
The other night, like most nights, I wake up several times, drenched in sweat. I get up. I pee and peel off all my clothes and change into new ones. I drink whatever is in the glass on my nightstand I am so dehydrated. I go to the bathroom sink and splash water on my face to try to cool down before dealing with my soaking-wet sheets. I am 32 years old and I am going through menopause. It’s temporary, and I chose to endure it when I got a life-threatening breast cancer diagnosis a year ago. But it’s a lot worse than I expected. (Glorioso, 11/10)

The Atlantic: How Menopause Could Lead To Alzheimer’s
I’ve been keeping a Google Doc of all the words my 53-year-old brain hasn’t been able to remember. The list has grown long. It might have grown twice as long, but often I forget the word I’ve forgotten between forgetting it and rushing to the computer to write it down. Next to the missing word in question, I note the description I used instead, such as “the thing that blows” (wind) and “the kind of shirt that’s soft and plaid” (flannel). Some of these Jeopardy-ready descriptions are surprisingly––if accidentally––poetic, such as the time bugs kept smashing against my car’s windshield and I called my partner on the phone to say, “There are so many dead bugs on the … on the … on the piece of glass between me and the world.” (Copaken, 11/8)

The New York Times: I Watched Friends Die In Afghanistan. The Guilt Has Nearly Killed Me.
When my grandfather Michael Linehan Jr. arrived in North Africa in December 1943 to begin his tour of duty with the 15th Air Force, the average life expectancy of an Allied heavy-bomber crewman was roughly six combat missions, less than a fourth of what he was required to fly. As the 25-year-old pilot of a B-24 Liberator, my grandfather flew in some of the most decisive engagements of the war, including the Battle of Anzio and the second Ploesti oil-field raids. Upon completing his tour, he was transferred to the Eighth Air Force just in time to fly bombing runs on D-Day. (Linehan, 11/11)

Los Angeles Times: 'Medicare For All' Won't Fix Soaring Healthcare Costs
The idea of “Medicare for all” advanced another step with the recent release of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s more detailed health proposal. It is expansive and bold, and has brought some excitement to the progressive core of the Democratic Party. While policy mavens can delight in the details, the enormity of the proposal is a sign that this debate has clearly gone off the rails. (Kevin Schulman, 11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare For All Preview
Americans who want a preview of coming attractions under Medicare for All should take a look at the annual “winter crisis” at Britain’s National Health Service that is starting early this year. Data released Thursday showed the worst waiting times in 15 years in English emergency rooms. Hang onto your warm winter hats. (11/14)

The Washington Post: What Does Your Insurance Cover For A Hospital Stay?
When you have a health crisis, even if you have insurance, you still worry — and for good reason — that the bill will make you sick. My daughter recently had a major health crisis. Her right lung collapsed and she spent nine days in the hospital. She had excellent care and is recovering now. (Michelle Singletary, 11/14)

The Hill: Steering Toward A Government Health Care Off-Ramp
My friend David was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passed in 2010. The next time the union contract was up, his health insurance premiums, deductibles and copays shot up so much that he and his wife elected to go with Medicare and a supplement, even though he was eligible for the union-negotiated company benefits. He considered himself lucky, he told me. One of his neighbors, a widow, couldn’t afford insurance on the ACA marketplace, and went without until she became eligible for Medicare herself. Another neighbor, a small business owner, complied with the ACA’s mandate to purchase coverage, but because of the astronomical deductible, he never used his insurance. (David Balat, 11/14)

Sacramento Bee: Immigrant Families Threatened By Trump’s ‘Public Charge’ Rule
Nationwide, our immigrant neighbors grow the food we eat, serve as doctors and home health workers to those of us in need, and create businesses that employ eight million people. And immigrants are still building the roads and infrastructure that connect every state in the union. We call on local governments to join our coalition and reject the cruelty perpetrated by the Trump administration against our neighbors. (Dennis Herrera and Jill Habig, 11/14)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Mothers Deserve More Than A Pilot Program
TennCare officials recently proposed a pilot program to extend coverage for new mothers from 60 days to a full year postpartum. This proposal was made in response to a report finding that 52 Tennessee women died in 2017 within a year of giving birth. (Kinika Young, 11/14)

Stat: Vaccination Saves Lives. Why Do So Few Adults Get Vaccinated?
For many adults — especially those who are older, those with other significant medical conditions, or those who are pregnant — vaccination should be a cornerstone of preventive health care. Yet adult immunization rates in the U.S. are low: Under half of adults receive most vaccines recommended for them, and rates have been relatively steady since 2010. (Sangini S. Sheth, 11/15)

Los Angeles Times: Santa Clarita Shooting: There Are Five Types Of Mass Killers
On Thursday morning in Santa Clarita, the details about America’s latest mass shooting emerged quickly: Two victims, a teenage girl and boy, were dead; three others were wounded; and a 16-year-old male suspect, a student at Saugus High School, was in custody in grave condition, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Andrei Mojica, who’d been in his AP government class when the shooting started, described a now familiar drill — building a barricade with desks and chairs against the classroom door, grabbing a fire extinguisher for protection and hunkering down, straining to hear what was going on. (Jillian Peterson and James Densley, 11/14)

The Hill: Better Regulations, Not Bans, Are Needed To Curb The THC Vaping Crisis
Representatives with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have for the first time identified a specific contaminant as a “very strong culprit of concern” in EVALI (e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury) — the e-liquid vaping illness that is associated with over 2,000 cases nationwide and 39 fatalities.Agency representatives last week highlighted the likely role of vitamin E acetate (oil) as a primary contributor to the lung illness. To those following the EVALI outbreak closely, the CDC’s focus on the contaminant hardly comes as a surprise. (Paul Armentano, 11/14)

Stat: Today's Insulin Is Safer And More Effective Than It Once Was 
Here’s the kind of headline that has been appearing a lot recently, but it is more jarring — and worrisome — when it appears in the New England Journal of Medicine: “The U.S. Insulin Crisis — Rationing a Lifesaving Medication Discovered in the 1920s.”The sentiment that Americans are now paying dearly for the insulin pioneered nearly a century ago have helped fuel attacks against the biopharmaceutical industry, enabling politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to depict companies as being “very, very greedy and corrupt” as he led people with diabetes and their family members on a high-profile bus trip to Canada to buy this medication. (John Lamattina, 11/14)

The Hill: Can Ending The HIV Epidemic Be Achieved Without Nurses?
When the Trump administration announced its nearly $300 million proposal to end the HIV epidemic back in February, many people were shocked. Why would this administration, which has sought to roll back worker protections for LGBTQ individuals and barred transgender individuals from serving in the military, put such great effort into ending an epidemic that disproportionately affects minority populations, including gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men and those in poverty? Many experts agreed the plan, which includes connecting people to testing, increasing the distribution of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medication and using data to target high-risk hotspots, is strong. But the larger issues of stigma and social factors driving the HIV epidemic remain unaddressed. (Jacqueline Nikpour and Michael Relf, 11/14)

Boston Globe: Though Ubiquitous, Toilets Aren’t Available To Everyone, And That Should Change
Lyft and Uber drivers are not the only ones who may find themselves in trouble when they feel the urge. A dearth of public restrooms also harms children, pregnant women, the elderly, people with digestive ailments, and especially homeless people, who in addition to suffering the indignity of having no proper toilets are also blamed for leaving feces on city sidewalks. (Amy Crawford, 11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Patent Trolls
Drug manufacturers are often extorted by patent trolls and trial lawyers, but now they also have to worry about frivolous infringement lawsuits by the Trump Administration. The Justice Department last week sued Gilead Sciences for violating four government patents related to a “pre-exposure prophylaxis” (PrEP) drug regimen to prevent HIV. The complaint says Gilead is seeking “to unfairly gain from the government’s research without paying reasonable royalties.” It’s really the other way around. (11/14)

CalMatters: Our Laws Protect Criminal Cops
When the state of California licenses professionals, it is telling Californians that they can depend on licensees to perform their services competently, that miscreants will be disciplined and that in serious cases, their licenses will be lifted. For instance, the state bar, which oversees attorneys, publishes all of its disciplinary actions, along with the underlying information that justifies its censures. (Dan Walters, 11/14)

The Washington Post: Labor And Disability Rights Groups Are Split About Closing Institutions.
Earlier this year, Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services announced it would close the Polk State Center, one of its largest institutions for people with developmental disabilities, within three years. People with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and other conditions are often housed at places like the Polk Center, and often involuntarily. The Arc of Greater Pittsburgh, which advocates for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, hailed the news, because research shows that people with disabilities are better served living in communities, with support services delivered at home. (Sara Luterman, 11/14)