State Highlights: 20 Democratic Attorneys General Join Brief Challenging Abortion Restrictions In Missouri; Nurses Strike Closes Seattle Emergency Rooms

The Hill: Twenty Attorneys General File Amicus Brief Against Missouri Abortion Restrictions
Twenty Democratic state attorneys general on Tuesday joined a multistate amicus brief in a challenge to abortion restrictions in Missouri. “Nearly 50 years ago, the courts ruled that women across the country have the right to control their own bodies, but nearly every day since, anti-choice legislators have tried to impose their personal beliefs on the wills of millions of women nationwide,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. (Budryk, 1/28)

The Associated Press: Strike By Seattle Nurses, Staff Closes Emergency Rooms
Thousands of nurses and other employees at a Seattle hospital system began a three-day strike over staffing levels, wages and other issues Tuesday, forcing administrators to close two emergency departments and spend millions to bring in replacement workers from around the country. The picketers took to the sidewalks in front of Swedish Medical Center campuses wearing clear plastic ponchos against a heavy morning rain and carrying purple signs that read “Patients Before Profits” and “United For Our Patients.” (1/28)

ProPublica/Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting: How These Jail Officials Profit From Selling E-Cigarettes To Inmates
A Kentucky river city once rich in tobacco was grappling with growing concerns about the health risks of electronic cigarettes. The former governor had already banned e-cigarettes in some state buildings, and lawmakers had prohibited selling them to anyone younger than 18. So, in May 2017, city leaders in Henderson decided to add vaping to a more than decade-old ban on smoking in local government buildings and other public places. (Dunlop, 1/29)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Lawmakers Hear Reaction To Child Advocate Report On Restraint And Seclusion
Lawmakers heard reaction on Tuesday to a recent report from the Office of Child Advocate that found widespread use of restraints and seclusion on children in behavioral health facilities in New Hampshire. The report released earlier this month found that restraints and seclusion, while declining overall, remain widespread in New Hampshire, with more than 20,000 incidents reported between 2014 and 2018. (Moon, 1/28)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Sale Of East Jefferson Hospital To LCMC Might Close In Summer; Here Are The Next Steps
The sale of East Jefferson General Hospital to LCMC Health could close as soon as late summer, an official said Tuesday. A summer close is contingent upon the deal clearing several hurdles in rapid succession: It must be approved by the Parish Council, the state’s Bond Commission, the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office and the voters of the east bank of Jefferson Parish. (Roberts, 1/28)

The Washington Post: Maryland Aid-In-Dying Bill: Another Push This Year
Medically assisted suicide failed by a single vote in the Maryland General Assembly last year. Now, advocates who want to make it legal for doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of medication to terminally ill patients seeking to end their lives are launching another push to get the legislation approved, hoping that growing public acceptance of aid-in-dying laws will win over at least one more lawmaker. (Wiggins, 1/28)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Legislators Say Kemp’s Health Budget Cuts ‘Painful,’ Vow Changes
Proposed cuts would affect money to keep doctors from leaving rural Georgia; testing kits to stem the spread of hepatitis C; and a new staff position to handle complaints about problem doctors more quickly. Reductions would also include a slice of the funding for the state’s poison control center, and part of the money that funds county health departments. (Hart, 1/28)

North Carolina Health News: Feds Ask For Input On NC Maternal Health
Health care administrators traveled from the nation’s capital to the state capital this week as part of a listening tour on how the federal government could help North Carolina address some of its thornier maternal health issues. They got plenty of feedback from the dozens of North Carolina caregivers, patients, administrators and health care advocates gathered at the state Division of Public Health offices on Monday. (Blythe, 1/29)

Kansas City Star: Lung Association: Missouri Gets F For Anti-Smoking Efforts
The American Lung Association has given both Missouri and Kansas failing grades for their efforts to get people to stop using tobacco products. The association is worried about the growing popularity of vaping. (Gutierrez, 1/29)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Gets Bad Grades On Smoking Prevention, Cessation
Georgia gets failing grades for reducing cigarette smoking and for preventing young people from picking up the deadly habit in a report released Wednesday. The “State of Tobacco Control” report by the American Lung Association gives Georgia F’s for state tobacco prevention programs, access to services to quit smoking and the state’s level of taxation for cigarettes. (Oliviero, 1/29)

WBUR: ‘I Wanted To Go Home’: Sobbing, Justina Pelletier Describes Boston Children’s Psych Ward
Like every day for the past week, Justina Pelletier’s family rolled her into court Monday morning in a wheelchair. Her nails had a fresh coat of lavender polish, and a fuzzy gray blanket lay over her legs. Now 21 years old, Pelletier took the stand in the malpractice suit she and her family are bringing against Boston Children’s Hospital and the doctors who treated her there. (Chen, 1/28)

Houston Chronicle: State Fines Nursing Homes Over Falls
Two west-central Illinois nursing homes were among those fined by the Illinois Department of Public Health after one resident was injured and another died, according to the department’s quarterly report released Tuesday. Aperion Care Jacksonville, a 113-bed skilled care facility at 1021 N. Church St., was fined $25,000 for failure to provide supervision and implement intervention for a resident to prevent multiple falls, according to the state. (Bauer, 1/29)

Austin American-Statesman: UT Will Require New Students To Show Proof Of Measles Vaccinations Starting This Fall
The University of Texas will require all incoming students to show proof of a measles vaccination starting in fall 2020, according to University Health Services. The new requirement, first reported by The Daily Texan, comes after a case of the measles was reported in Travis County in December — the first such case since 1999. (Korte, 1/28)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Begins Testing Backlog Of More Than 7,000 Rape Kits
Roughly 100 of Missouri’s 7,019 untested rape kits have been sent out of state to a private forensic lab for testing. The state completed a full inventory of those untested kits last fall. Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office is now moving forward with testing the kits to help prosecute rapists and provide justice for victims. (Driscoll, 1/28)

Sacramento Bee: Health Care Workers’ Tentative Deal Ends Prolonged UC Dispute
The bargaining team for roughly 17,000 patient care technical workers reached a tentative contract agreement with the University of California, ending one of the institution’s longest-running contract disputes, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Local 3299 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. (Anderson, 1/28)

Chicago Sun Times: Legionnaires’ Disease Found In 2 Residents Of Lakewood Nursing Home & Rehab In Plainfield
Public health officials are investigating two cases of Legionnaires’ disease possibly contracted at a senior home in southwest suburban Plainfield. Officials with the Will County Health Department say they haven’t found an outside source for the two cases of the disease found at Lakewood Nursing Home & Rehab, 14716 S. Eastern Ave., the health department said in a statement released Monday. (Struett, 1/28)

Houston Chronicle: Commissioners Approve Funding Portion For PACE Center
The Huron County Board of Commissioners approved long-awaited funding for a future Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly wellness center in Bad Axe. The commissioners had put off appropriating $750,000 in funding for the center for the past few meetings because the original plan was for all the funding to come from the Older Citizens Fund, which did not have enough money in it. (Creenan, 1/29)

The Hill: California Officials Say Seized Illegal Vapes Tainted With Undisclosed Additives
Illegal marijuana vape pens in California were found to be tainted with potentially dangerous additives, state officials said Monday. A random sampling of more than 10,000 seized devices from unlicensed cannabis retailers in Los Angeles last month found the products contained undisclosed additives and significantly lower amounts of THC than indicated on the label, according to California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control. (Klar, 1/28)

Boston Globe: Lawmakers Hear Testimony On Bills To Ban Pot Billboards, Expand Medical Marijuana Access For Veterans
Flanked by his service dog, Army veteran Stephen Mandile urged lawmakers Tuesday to expand medical marijuana access through a bill that he crafted to protect other disabled veterans from suffering as he has. Mandile, who was injured in Iraq in 2005, was prescribed opioids for pain and became addicted, leading him to withdraw from his family and nearly take his own life. (Martin, 1/28)