Politico: Liberals Take Over Wisconsin Supreme Court — With Major Implications For Abortion 
Liberals flipped the ideological makeup of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. Janet Protasiewicz’s win in a high-stakes race for an open court seat means the new 4-3 majority is much more likely to strike down a controversial 19th century abortion ban there. Protasiewicz, a liberal judge from Milwaukee County, won her race, 56.9% to 43.1%, when the Associated Press called the race at 9:53 pm. She defeated conservative former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly. The court is technically nonpartisan, but now has a 4-3 liberal majority through at least 2025. (Montellaro, 4/4)

USA Today: Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Takeaways: Abortion, 2024 And More
A pre-Civil War law criminalizes abortion even in cases of rape or incest and only allows it if the mother's life is in danger. Republican lawmakers tried to add exceptions in 2022, but Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made clear he would veto any measure that upheld the overall ban. With a divided state government that puts the issue in the Wisconsin Supreme Court's hands. A ruling will likely be issued around a lawsuit brought by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul to block the law later this year. (Bailey, 4/4)

How the fall of Roe v. Wade has changed elections —

The New York Times: Wisconsin Supreme Court Election: Protasiewicz Wins With Abortion Message
The contest, which featured over $40 million in spending, was the most expensive judicial election in American history. ... Judge Protasiewicz, 60, shattered long-held notions of how judicial candidates should conduct themselves by making her political priorities central to her campaign. She made explicit her support for abortion rights and called the maps, which gave Republicans near-supermajority control of the Legislature, “rigged” and “unfair.” (Epstein, 4/4)

The New York Times: This Wisconsin Court Race Is Highly Partisan. It Wasn’t Always That Way
While many candidates during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s had discernible ideological leanings, there was almost no relationship between electoral support for judicial candidates and presidential candidates of the corresponding political party. (Igielnik, 4/4)

NPR: Washington Officials Say They Have 30,000 Doses Of Mifepristone Ready To Go
Washington state officials have stocked up on a key abortion drug in preparation for the possibility that it could become much more difficult to access nationwide, pending the outcome of a federal lawsuit brought by anti-abortion-rights groups. Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, says he ordered the Washington Department of Corrections to use its pharmacy license to buy 30,000 doses of mifepristone, an estimated three-year supply for patients in Washington state. The pills were received on March 31. (McCammon, 4/4)

Abortion updates from Kansas and Texas —

AP: Kansas OKs Bill That Penalizes Doctors For Some Abortions 
Doctors accused of not providing enough care to infants delivered alive during certain kinds of abortion procedures in Kansas could face lawsuits and criminal charges under a bill that won final approval Tuesday in the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature. The legislation faces an uncertain fate in a legal and political climate that’s made Kansas an outlier on abortion policy among states with GOP-led legislatures. The bill applies not only to “botched” or “unsuccessful” abortions but also when doctors induce labor to deliver a fetus that is expected to die within minutes or even seconds outside the womb, which often occurs because of a severe medical issue. (Hanna, 4/4)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Senate OKs Bill To Crack Down On Prosecutors Avoiding Abortion Laws
A bill intended to rein in district attorneys who decline to pursue certain cases preliminarily passed in the Senate on Tuesday. The bill, a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is part of a larger effort to limit the power of elected prosecutors, especially in Texas’ largest, left-leaning counties. Some district and county attorneys in Texas have said they will not prosecute people accused of violating the state’s near-total abortion bans. There’s also conflict over whether prosecutors will pursue allegations of election fraud, as well as cases involving first-time drug offenders or low-level theft. (Klibanoff, 4/4)

From Maine and Indiana —

AP: Maine Lawmakers To Consider Bills To Expand Abortion Access 
Maine lawmakers are preparing to take up several proposals in the coming weeks to expand abortion access, including one by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to allow women in Maine to get abortions later in pregnancy if deemed necessary by a medical provider. Current state law bans abortions after a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at roughly 24 weeks. The governor’s bill would allow later abortions with a doctor’s approval. (4/4)

New York Magazine: The Pro-Abortion-Rights Professor Under Attack At Notre Dame
Tamara Kay has endured a vicious harassment campaign since she briefly hung a poster on her office door offering to share health care information with students, and she says Notre Dame won’t take adequate security measures to help curb the threats. (Gonzalez-Ramirez, 4/3)

KHN: Listen To The Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’ 
The KHN Health Minute this week looks at doctors offering vouchers to bring down the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables, and how new abortion restrictions are complicating efforts to reduce preterm births. (4/4)

FiercePharma: J&J Opens Its Wallet With Whopping $8.9B Talc Settlement Offer
Johnson & Johnson's talc saga may finally be nearing an end. The drugmaker on Tuesday said it’s offering $8.9 billion over 25 years to resolve all lawsuits claiming that the company’s talc-containing baby powders caused cancer. The deal proposal comes after years of litigation and a high profile, $2 billion verdict which J&J unsuccessfully appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. This settlement proposal could end what would otherwise take decades of legal proceedings, J&J’s vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, said in a statement Tuesday. It would also compensate the claimants “in a timely manner” while allowing J&J to focus on its business, Haas added. (Liu and Sagonowsky, 4/4)

Quartz: J&J Quadrupled Its Initial Offer To Settle Cancer Lawsuits Over Its Talc-Based Baby Powder
Attorney Mikal Watts of Watts Guerra, a law firm that has been in negotiations with J&J since January, said the new settlement would be the “largest products liability settlement ever realized after a bankruptcy filing.” (Bhattacharya, 4/5)

The Washington Post: Johnson & Johnson Offers $8.9B To Settle Talc Baby Powder Lawsuits 
Johnson & Johnson said that the settlement and bankruptcy filing did not mean it “has changed its longstanding position that its talcum powder products are safe.” The company has long denied claims that its products containing talc — a mineral used to absorb moisture — cause cancer. The company said the settlement is intended to “resolve all the current and future talc claims.” But for the settlement to come to fruition, the bankruptcy filing must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. (Pietsch, 4/5)

Reuters: J&J Unit Files For Second Bankruptcy To Pursue $8.9 Billion Talc Settlement
The J&J subsidiary, LTL Management, filed for bankruptcy protection late Tuesday for a second time with the intent to present a reorganization plan containing the proposed settlement to a judge as soon as May 14, the subsidiary said in a court filing. J&J said in a statement that about 60,000 talc claimants had agreed to the proposal. (Knauth andSpector, 4/4)

CNN: US Health Officials Aim To 'Transform' Alzheimer's Disease Research With $300 Million Data Platform
The US National Institute on Aging is moving forward with efforts to build a real-world Alzheimer’s disease database as part of its aim to improve, support and conduct more dementia research. Last month, the agency, part of the National Institutes of Health, posted a notice of the grant for the six-year database project, setting its earliest start date as April 2024. (Howard, 4/4)

AP: Lauder Family Pledges $200M To Its Alzheimer's Research Work 
The sons of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder, along with her four grandchildren, pledged $200 million Tuesday to the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, a nonprofit the family founded to support research into finding a cure for the disease. Leonard and Ronald Lauder founded the organization in 1998 in honor of their mother, who had Alzheimer’s as did other members of her family, said Mark Roithmayr, the CEO of ADDF. (Beaty, 4/4)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Becker's Hospital Review: Cuban's Pharmacy Picks Up J&J Brand-Name Drugs
Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Co. now sells more brand-name drugs. After breaking into the brand-name market in March — over a year since launching its online wholesaler company — Cost Plus Drugs offers three brand-name products made by Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson business. Cost Plus Drugs sells about 1,000 generics and four brand-name drugs. The three products are Invokana (canagliflozin), Invokamet (canagliflozin-metformin HCl) and Invokamet XR (canagliflozin-metformin HCl), according to a Cost Plus Drugs tweet. (Twenter, 4/4)

Bloomberg: Cheaper Insulin From Lilly And Sanofi Risks Raising Costs Later
After years of complaints about runaway drug costs, pharmaceutical companies are finally reducing the price of insulin. On March 1, Eli Lilly & Co. slashed some versions by 70%. Two weeks later, Novo Nordisk A/S and Sanofi SA responded with similar cuts. Just as important for diabetics, who often pay hundreds of dollars monthly for the vital medication, Lilly and Sanofi instituted new policies aimed at capping copays—what patients must shell out at the pharmacy counter—to $35 per month for many versions. (Peng, 4/4)

Bloomberg: Illumina Ordered By FTC To Unwind $7 Billion Grail Deal From 2021
Illumina Inc. was ordered to unwind its $7 billion acquisition of cancer startup Grail by the Federal Trade Commission, an uncommon move by antitrust regulators who said the deal raises competition concerns for cancer testing. The FTC’s 4-0 decision announced Monday overturned an earlier ruling by its in-house judge who found last year that the tie-up wouldn’t harm innovation in the market for early-stage cancer detection. (Nylen and Birnbaum, 4/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Longevity Seekers Rethink Their Use Of Metformin To Fight Aging 
Spurred by a selection of research that has suggested metformin could improve longevity, a growing community of self-described biohackers latched onto it, taking it even though they don’t have diabetes. A tech-heavy crowd seeking to engineer improvements in their health through gadgets, data analysis and medications, they trade tips in forums on sites like Facebook, Reddit and chat app Discord.  ... However, the science behind its effectiveness as a longevity improver in healthy people is mixed, and some recent studies have been discouraging, giving some advocates pause. (Janin, 4/4)

The Atlantic: Ozempic Is About To Be Old News
Made by the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, semaglutide dominates the U.S. weight-loss market right now, but its reign might be short-lived. The colossal demand for these drugs has spurred a competition in the pharmaceutical industry to develop even more potent and powerful medications. The first of them could become available as soon as this summer. For all its hype, semaglutide is the stepping stone and not the final destination of a new class of obesity drugs. Just how good they get, and how quickly, will go a long way in determining whether this pharmaceutical revolution actually meets its full promise. (Tayag, 4/4)

Also —

Reuters: World Making 'Huge Mistake' Not Funding New TB Vaccines - Gates 
A lack of funding could delay late-stage trials of the first new vaccine against tuberculosis for more than a century, warned Bill Gates, whose foundation is backing the development of the shot. The Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist said there were a raft of promising innovations in the fight against TB, the world’s biggest infectious disease killer, but that more funding was essential. (Rigby, 4/4)

Idaho Capital Sun: Another Idaho Hospital Announces It Can No Longer Deliver Babies 
A critical access hospital that serves a rural community northwest of Boise will no longer deliver babies after June 1. Valor Health’s decision to stop offering labor and delivery care in Emmett comes on the heels of a North Idaho hospital shuttering its maternity services. It also comes as the Idaho Legislature is on track to defund research into preventing maternal deaths; as state lawmakers have banned nearly all abortions; and as Idaho chooses not extend its postpartum Medicaid coverage. (Dutton, 3/30)

In nursing home news —

Modern Healthcare: CMS Proposes Nursing Homes, Psychiatric Facilities Payment Bump
Skilled nursing facilities would get a 3.7% Medicare reimbursement increase in fiscal 2024 under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Tuesday. CMS also pledged that a long-awaited and controversial regulation establishing minimum staffing ratios at nursing homes will debut this spring. President Joe Biden announced that policy, along with other nursing home industry initiatives, during his State of the Union address in 2022, but CMS has yet to take action to implement it. The nursing home industry strongly opposes federal staffing ratios. (Turner and Berryman, 4/4)

NBC News: Fast Closures Of Nursing Homes In Massachusetts Raise Alarms And Worry Over Patients
Hundreds of elderly residents and people with disabilities from four nursing homes in western Massachusetts are quickly being displaced as the company that owns them appears to be accelerating the pace in which such centers stand to close down. (Acevedo, 4/4)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Deadly, Fast-Spreading Fungal Infection Reaches Ohio Hospital, Nursing Home Patients
Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungal infection that spreads easily in hospitals and nursing homes, and can lead to death, is on the rise in Ohio. Cases of Candida auris tripled from 2019 to 2021, and treatment-resistant cases also are rising, according to national surveillance data. (Washington, 4/4)

More health care industry developments —

Modern Healthcare: Joint Commission Data Show Hospital Falls Up In 2022
Healthcare organizations and patients reported more than 1,400 serious adverse events to the Joint Commission in 2022, an increase from recent years, according to data released Tuesday. Falls, delayed care and wrong-site surgeries continued to be the biggest contributors to severe patient harm and death, the Joint Commission concluded. (Devereaux, 4/4)

Modern Healthcare: Digital Health Funding In Q1 Buoyed By 6 Deals
A report from Rock Health, a research and digital health venture firm, showed funding for the first three months of 2023 totaled $3.4 billion across 132 total deals. Six mega deals with more than $100 million in funding accounted for 40% of this total. The six deals were from Monogram Health ($375M), ShiftKey ($300M), Paradigm ($203M), ShiftMed ($200M), Gravie ($179M) and Vytalize Health ($100M). (Turner, 4/4)

NPR: Doctors Are Drowning In Paperwork. Some Companies Claim AI Can Help
When Dereck Paul was training as a doctor at the University of California San Francisco, he couldn't believe how outdated the hospital's records-keeping was. The computer systems looked like they'd time-traveled from the 1990s, and many of the medical records were still kept on paper. "I was just totally shocked by how analog things were," Paul recalls. (Brumfiel, 4/5)

The Boston Globe: Former CDC Adviser Appointed Head Of Department Of Public Health 
Dr. Robbie Goldstein, a senior policy adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been appointed as the new commissioner for the state’s Department of Public Health. (Bartlett and Lazar, 4/4)

Also —

The Boston Globe: How The Hip Replacement Became The Hot Gen-X Surgery
Not her. Beth Laliberty was only 54. A skier, a soccer player — a kid. Sure, she’d been limping for years. And yeah, when she caught sight of her reflection in a window at Market Basket in Haverhill she was shocked by the hunched figure leaning on the cart for support. “Who’s that 85-year-old woman?” she wondered. But even so, when a surgeon suggested a hip replacement, Laliberty recoiled. “That’s for old people,” she thought. (Teitell, 4/4)

Military.com: Air Force Will Allow More Body Fat For Recruits As Service Struggles To Find New Airmen 
The Air Force will allow recruits to have a greater percentage of body fat in an effort to reach more Americans as the service expects to fall short of its recruiting goals this year. Male recruits are now allowed to have up to 26% body fat, and women are allowed 36%, Air Force Recruiting Service spokesperson Leslie Brown confirmed to Military.com on Tuesday. That's up from the previous requirement of 20% for men and 28% for women. (Kheel, 4/4)

In other military news —

Military Times: Lawmakers Move To Block VA’s Plans To Resume Health Records Rollout
Plans from Veterans Affairs leadership to restart their embattled electronic health records program this summer could be upended by lawmakers concerned over the long-term safety and reliability of the program. Capitol Hill staff said members in both chambers are discussing how to move ahead on new requirements for the program after a flurry of new legislation aimed at ensuring the new records system doesn’t move ahead until major fixes are made. If a compromise is reached, it could significantly set back plans from VA officials to expand the software to new medical centers in June. (Shane III, 4/4)

In other health and wellness news —

ABC News: Flu Cases Are Ticking Up, What You Need To Know About Influenza B
As fears of a "tripledemic" die down, health officials say they are seeing an uptick of a particular strain of the flu: influenza B. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of tests that are positive for influenza B has increased from 0.12% the week ending Jan. 7 to 0.36% the week ending March 25. (Kekatos, 4/5)

Stat: A Common Prenatal Infection Kickstarts Newborn Screening Debate
On a spring day in the late 1980s, pediatrician Mark Schleiss was confronted with a difficult case: a months-old infant who had developed pneumonia. While many infants with pneumonia recover, this particular baby had grown so sick he was admitted to the ICU, where he died. The autopsy showed he had disseminated cytomegalovirus, which had caused his pneumonia and then his death. “There’s nothing that makes an impression on you as a young physician quite like going to the autopsy of one of your own patients,” said Mark Schleiss, who cared for the child. He already knew he would train in infectious diseases, including HIV. But the diagnosis of CMV drew his interest. (Chen, 4/5)

The Washington Post: Prebiotic Sodas Claim To Boost Your Health. Experts Are Skeptical
Can soda ever be a health food? A growing number of beverage companies are betting it can, and have introduced a variety of “prebiotic” sodas that they claim are good for your gut, brain and immune health. Sales of these carbonated drinks have boomed because of a marketing blitz on TikTok, where videos about gut health get millions of views and influencers are routinely paid to promote prebiotic sodas and their health claims. (Amenabar and O'Connor, 4/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Just How Much Of A Workout Do You Get From Carrying Your Own Golf Clubs? Probably Not As Much As You Think
Carrying a bag of golf clubs over 18 holes of golf may sound like grueling exercise, but it may not be as good of a workout as many golfers might think. That’s according to a new study that found that the calories burned from carrying a golf bag, with 14 clubs, weighing 15 pounds, wasn’t significantly different than manually pulling a golf bag on wheels or using an electric trolley, which requires no additional effort and is very similar to using a golf caddie since the trolley can automatically follow golfers around the course. (Ward, 4/4)

The New York Times: When To Try Physical Therapy Before Surgery
“Once you’ve figured out that a condition isn’t serious and in immediate need of attention, your first line of action should be P.T.,” said Dr. David M. Matusz, a spinal surgeon at NY Orthopedics in Manhattan. “It’s going to work for most cases.” Deciding to start with physical therapy or with surgery requires an informed approach, and patients must be armed with the right facts to make the best choice. Here’s what to consider if you’re facing this predicament. (Loudin, 4/4)

Reuters: US Rule To Allow Some Inmates To Stay Home After COVID Emergency Lifts 
Federal inmates who were allowed to serve their prison terms at home during the COVID-19 pandemic will be able to remain there after the Biden administration lifts the public health emergency, under new rules unveiled by the U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday. The regulations are expected to provide some relief to inmates, who feared they could potentially be hauled back into prison when the public health emergency expires on May 11. (Lynch, 4/4)

Fox News: Prisoners In Home Confinement Due To COVID Measures Can Stay There Even After Emergency Ends, Says DOJ
The Justice Department noted that more than 52,000 inmates were placed under home confinement during COVID, and that most of them have completed their sentences from home. As of late January, there were 3,434 inmates still serving out a sentence at home. (Kasperowicz, 4/4)

On boosters and covid treatments —

San Francisco Chronicle: Feds Flip-Flop On More COVID Boosters, Will Authorize Them For Some
Federal regulators are prepared to approve a second COVID-19 vaccine booster shot tailored to combat the omicron variant for people over the age of 65 or those with weakened immune systems. The move is an attempt to offer extra protection to high-risk individuals. (Vaziri, 4/4)

Reuters: Arbutus Files Patent Lawsuit Against Pfizer/BioNTech Over COVID Vaccines
Arbutus Biopharma on Tuesday sued U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and its German partner BioNTech SE in a New Jersey district court, claiming their mRNA COVID-19 vaccines infringe five of Arbutus' patents. Arbutus, along with its licensee Genevant Sciences, is seeking damages, including reasonable royalties, over the use of lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology in Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to carry and transfer genetic material into the body. (4/4)

Reuters: Gilead Details Promising Early COVID Antiviral Data, Setting Up Larger Studies 
Gilead Sciences Inc on Tuesday unveiled data from the first human study of its experimental oral COVID-19 antiviral, saying the results in healthy volunteers cleared the way for two large Phase III trials of the drug that have begun enrolling patients. The drug, obeldesivir and previously known as GS-5245, is designed to keep the coronavirus that causes COVID from replicating in the body and overwhelming a patient's immune system. (Beasley, 4/4)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Medically Assisted Death Bill Heads To Senate Vote
A bill to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with prescription medicine is headed to a vote in the state Senate, after a committee approved the legislation on Tuesday. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee approved the bill on a vote of 3-2, with Republican Senators Robin Titus, R-Wellington, and Jeff Stone, R-Henderson, voting against the amended bill’s passage. Titus is a physician. (Avery, 4/4)

On income and how it affects health care —

The CT Mirror: A CT Medicaid Program May See Its Strict Income Limits Increase
For Brenda Moore, Kimberly Roberts is more than a personal care aide. She’s a lifeline. Moore lives with vascular disease, heart problems and arthritis in her hips and knee, making it difficult for her to move around on her own. (Golvala, 4/5)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowans Weigh In On Proposed Changes To Food Assistance, Medicaid
Iowans weighed in at a Statehouse public hearing Tuesday on a bill that would change eligibility requirements for public assistance programs. The House of Representatives held the hearing on a Senate bill that would limit households seeking food assistance to a maximum of $15,000 in liquid assets and personal property. A primary home, a first car of any value, and a second car valued up to $10,000 would not be included in the asset test. (Sostaric, 4/4)

The Washington Post: Prince George's County Council Approves Universal Income Pilot 
An effort to combat generational poverty and to foster economic mobility for residents living at or below the poverty line is coming to Prince George’s County. In an 8-0 vote, the self-styled “People’s Council” on Tuesday approved a $4 million pilot project that would guarantee basic income to qualifying participants, modeled after a Stockton, Calif., program that gave randomly chosen residents $500 a month over 24 months — with no strings attached. (Beachum, 4/4)

On the gun violence epidemic —

Politico: Move By Tennessee Republicans To Oust 3 Dem Lawmakers Startles State 
The dustup began last week, when hundreds of protestors gathered at the capitol in Nashville to urge lawmakers to pass gun safety measures in the aftermath of a shooting at a local school that left three adults and three children dead. Amid the protests that leaked into the building, Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson led chants on the House floor in which they called on their colleagues to pass new gun laws. The lawmakers were aided by a bullhorn. Their stunt enraged Republicans, who promptly introduced resolutions calling for their removal, sparking further chaos on the House floor. (Crampton, 4/4)

On the housing crisis —

Los Angeles Times: Classical Music Is Driving Unhoused People Out Of An L.A. Metro Station 
The music in the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro is not being played at fancy-cheese-shop levels: It clocks in at an average of 83 decibels on a handheld decibel meter, although during some string flourishes it peaks at 90 dB (depending on where in the station you’re standing, and your proximity to the speakers). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website puts decibel levels between 80 and 85 on par with gas-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers, and notes that damage to hearing is possible after two hours of exposure. (Gelt, 4/4)

The Oregonian: Supportive Housing Complex With Resources For Black, Disabled Portlanders Opens In North Portland
Charles Coleman was living out of his car and paying for a membership at an inexpensive gym to simply access a shower before he was approved for a place at the new Hattie Redmond Apartments in North Portland. He was among the first residents who moved in when the new 60-unit supportive housing complex opened March 1. In all, 25 residents have begun living in the apartments, which serve people with disabilities exiting homelessness with a focus on helping members of the Black community. (Hayden, 4/4)

Bloomberg: State Lawmakers Are Pushing Anti-Trans Legislation At Record Rates
So far in 2023, barely a day has passed without state lawmakers across the country introducing a new anti-LGBTQ bill. Many of those bills are advancing, and in some cases, being enshrined into law. (Ceron and Butler, 4/5)

New York Magazine: Anti-Trans And Anti-Abortion Activists Use The Same Playbook
Groups that have made abortion almost impossible in swaths of the country are now trying to ban trans health care. (Carmon, 4/4)

Updates from Indiana, Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma —

AP: Indiana Trans Health Care Ban 'Clear As Mud,' Governor Says 
Whether a ban all gender-affirming care for minors will become law in Indiana remains unclear after the state’s Republican governor said Tuesday that the bill on his desk is “clear as mud.” The bill Republican state lawmakers advanced last week would prohibit transgender youth under 18 from accessing hormone therapies, puberty blockers and surgeries in the state. (Rodgers and Davies, 4/4)

AP: Kansas Passes Trans Bathroom Bill; Arkansas OKs Own Version
A Kansas bill to impose some of the nation’s broadest bathroom restrictions and ban transgender people from changing the name or gender on their driver’s licenses cleared the Legislature by margins Tuesday that suggest backers could override the Democratic governor’s expected veto. Kansas Senate voted 28-12 with one vote more than a two-thirds majority needed to overturn any veto, giving final passage to an earlier House-passed version and sending it to Gov. Laura Kelly. Both chambers have Republican supermajorities. (Hanna and DeMillo, 4/4)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Senate Passes Ban On Medical Treatments For Transgender Youth
The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to ban certain medical treatments for transgender youth. The legislation now heads to the House for further debate. (McGaughy, 4/4)

Oklahoman: Oklahoma Rules On School Books, Trans Students Should Be Void, AG Says
Controversial new rules affecting school library books and transgender students should be null and void under a binding opinion from the state attorney general. The Oklahoma State Board of Education approved new rules last month without the Legislature giving the board the authority to do so, the attorney general's office said. (Martinez-Keel, 4/4)

Axios: Opioid Addiction Treatment In EDs Not A Guarantee
The overdose crisis is prompting more hospitals to initiate opioid addiction treatment in emergency rooms — a change welcomed by many behavioral health experts. Yes, but: It's resurfacing tension among providers over who's really responsible for addressing the underlying problem of opioid misuse. (Moreno and Dreher, 4/5)

The Washington Post: D.C. Vending Machines To Dispense Narcan, Fentanyl Test Strips 
The opioid antidote Narcan, fentanyl test strips, coronavirus test kits and male and female condoms are among the items that soon will be available at six free vending machines throughout the District, with the aim of reducing drug overdoses. The District joins Las Vegas, Chicago, Cincinnati and Puerto Rico in deploying harm reduction vending machines to provide around-the-clock access to people who are homeless, vulnerable to opioid abuse or wary of contacting community services. In Europe, Denmark opened the first community-based harm reduction vending machines in 1987, followed by Norway. Today there are hundreds of such machines in at least seven countries on the continent. (Portnoy, 4/4)

USA Today: Overdose Deaths And Xylazine: Narcan Doesn't Work On Animal Tranq
Harm-reduction experts said it's important to carry naloxone because the vast majority of overdoses involve opioids such as illicit fentanyl or heroin. More than 107,000 people died from overdoses during the 12 months through August 2023, and two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids. Still, doctors warn naloxone doesn't work on xylazine, which is increasingly found in illicit fentanyl and heroin. (Alltucker, 4/4)

KHN: ‘Hard To Get Sober Young’: Inside One Of The Country’s Few Recovery High Schools 
Every weekday at 5280 High School in Denver starts the same way. Students in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction gather on the steps of the school’s indoor auditorium to discuss a topic chosen by staff members. One recent morning, they talked about mental health and sobriety. A teenage boy dressed in tan corduroys, a black hoodie, and sneakers went first. “I didn’t want to have, like, any emotion,” he said. “So I thought, like, the best way to, like, put it down would be to do more and more and more drugs.” (Daniel, 4/5)

Also —

The Guardian: Mexican President Bemoans ‘Rude’ US Fentanyl Pressure In Plea To Xi Jinping 
Mexico’s president has written to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, urging him to help control shipments of fentanyl, while also complaining of “rude” US pressure to curb the drug trade. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has previously said that fentanyl is the US’s problem and is caused by “a lack of hugs” in US families. On Tuesday he read out the letter to Xi dated 22 March in which he defended efforts to curb supply of the deadly drug, while rounding on US critics. (4/4)

CIDRAP: Antibiotic Use Breeds 'Two-Way' Resistance In Humans And Animals
In a study billed as the first of its kind, an international team of researchers report that the association between antibiotic consumption and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans and animals is a "two-way street." The modeling study, published yesterday in the Lancet Planetary Health, used global data on drug-resistant pathogens and human and animal antibiotic consumption to show that in both humans and food-producing animals, unsurprisingly, increased antibiotic use is associated with increased AMR. But the model also estimated that increased antibiotic use by food-producing animals is associated with increased resistance in the bacterial pathogens that infect humans, while increased antibiotic use in humans is linked to increased animal AMR rates. (Dall, 4/4)

ScienceDaily: Antibiotic Consumption And Resistance 'Two-Way Street' Between Animals And Humans 
Scientists have demonstrated that, globally, the association between antibiotic consumption and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) between human and animals goes both ways. (London School of Hygience and Tropical Medicine, 4/4)

CIDRAP: Monoclonal Antibodies May Slash Risk Of Severe COVID-19 Outcomes 
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) given within 2 days of a COVID-19 diagnosis lowered the risk of hospitalization or death by 39%, estimates a hypothetical randomized study using observational data published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (Van Buesekom, 4/4)

Reuters: Pardes Biosciences To Suspend COVID-19 Drug Development After Mid-Stage Trial Fails 
Pardes Biosciences Inc said on Monday it will suspend further clinical development of its experimental antiviral treatment pomotrelvir, after the drug failed a mid-stage trial for treating COVID-19, and will explore strategic alternatives which may include a sale of the company. (4/3)

FiercePharma: FDA Authorizes InflaRx's Anti-Inflammation Drug For Severe COVID
A statistical shortfall didn’t dissuade the FDA from authorizing an anti-inflammatory therapy for treating COVID-19. The FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for InflaRx’s vilobelimab to treat critically ill COVID patients, the German company said in a press release Monday. (Liu, 4/4)

FiercePharma: Sanofi Begins Construction Of Another Flu Vaccine Plant
Sanofi and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) are expanding their capacity to manufacture flu shots. They are breaking ground on a two-story formulation and filling facility at the company’s sprawling campus in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania. (Dunleavy, 4/4)

FiercePharma: Camber Recalls Pneumonia Drug, Citing Possible Microbial Contamination
Camber Pharmaceuticals issued a voluntary recall of one lot of atovaquone oral suspension used to treat a form of pneumonia. The recall is due to the potential of microbial contamination of Bacillus cereus. (Keenan, 4/4)

ScienceDaily: Study To Decode Microbe-Gut Signaling Suggests Potential New Treatment For IBD
Fresh insights into how our bodies interact with the microbes living in our guts suggest that a two-drug combination may offer a new way to treat inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 4/4)

Newsweek: What You Need To Know Before Taking Ozempic 
Ozempic is a brand name for the drug Semaglutide. Wegovy and Rybelsus are also semaglutide drugs on the market. What differentiates them is the means of taking it (pill versus injection), and dosage. Ozempic and Rybelsus are Type 2 diabetes drugs being prescribed off label for weight loss, but Wegovy was FDA approved for weight loss as an "anti-obesity drug" in 2021. (Jillian Michaels, 3/30)

USA Today: Fentanyl Killed My Son: US Needs More Than Narcan To Fight Opioids
As a Navy admiral, I helped lead one of the most powerful militaries in the world. Today, our nation is fighting an urgent battle here at home – an overdose epidemic in which illicit fentanyl is killing 70,000 Americans a year. That’s more people than we lost in combat during the Vietnam War and since. (James "Sandy'' Winnefeld, 4/5)

Los Angeles Times: The Comstock Act Is A Relic, And Should Not Be A Weapon Against Medication Abortion Pills 
The most commonly used form of abortion is medication pills. They are relatively easy to get and the Food and Drug Administration has recently made them easier to get by allowing telehealth medical appointments for abortion and also allowing pharmacies to get certified to sell — and mail — abortion pills. (4/3)

The Boston Globe: How Powerful Corporations Are Contributing To Childhood Obesity And Asthma 
With 1 in 5 children in the United States now qualifying as obese, recently released recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics highlight the enormous downstream consequences for these children, including increased risks for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and mental health concerns. (Heather Coleman and Katherine Gergen Barnett, 4/3)

The Washington Post: How Health Systems Can Fight Climate Change By Not Using Desflurane 
Physicians, nurses and other front-line providers know firsthand the health impacts of climate change. Air pollution exacerbates asthma and emphysema; extreme heat worsens heart and kidney conditions; and rising temperatures increase the occurrence of a wide range of illnesses, including mosquito-borne infections and depression. (Leana S. Wen, 4/5)

The Tennessean: Air Pollution Is A Global Problem With Local Solutions
According to the World Health Organization, over 90% of the world’s children breath toxic air every day. Children are more affected by air pollution than adults because they spend more time outside, breathe more rapidly and exercise more, thus increasing their exposure. (Kelsey Barter, 3/31)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Hospital Slowly Fades Away In Rural Pennsylvania
The emergency room was dark, the doors locked for months now, and a young woman stood outside in the rain, clutching her stomach and sobbing. No one was coming out to help. (Jason Nark, 4/5)