State Highlights: Michigan Governor Proposes $37.5M To Strengthen Health Care For At-Risk Moms, Infants; Georgia Raises Red Flags About New Liver Transplant Process

Detroit Free Press: Millions Pegged For Whitmer’s Healthy Moms, Babies’ Programs
In the 2021 proposed budget she’ll present Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will propose a multimillion dollar investment to enhance health programs for pregnant women, new moms and their children. The $37.5 million proposal, dubbed Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies, is designed to reduce infant mortality rates and address the racial disparity that exists in care provided to expectant mothers and their babies. (Gray, 2/6)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Set To Get Fewer Transplant Livers As New System Takes Effect
The federal government on Tuesday changed its system for distributing livers to transplant patients, likely meaning fewer livers and lower quality livers for patients in Georgia and some Midwestern states. Now more livers are likely to go to patients in more populous states, such as New York. (Hart, 2/5)

Modern Healthcare: HCA Beats Facility-Fee Lawsuit In Federal Court
A Florida federal judge Monday dismissed a proposed class action against three HCA Healthcare hospitals alleging they improperly billed patients undisclosed surcharges for emergency department care. U.S. District Judge Roy Altman ruled that two of the three individual plaintiffs did not have legal standing to bring the lawsuit, saying the hospitals had not pursued collection action against them and therefore they suffered no harm. (Meyer, 2/5)

The Associated Press: 1 Dead, 2 Sick From Legionnaires’ At Illinois Senior Center
An outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at a senior living center in suburban Chicago has left one resident dead and two others sickened, health officials said Wednesday. The Lake County Health Department said in a news release that it has confirmed three cases of the disease, a type of severe pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria, at Brookdale Senior Living in Vernon Hills. (2/5)

The Associated Press: Suit: Failed Nursing Homes’ Operators Stole From Employees
The former operators of a failed multi-state nursing home chain stole more than $2 million from employees’ paychecks that was supposed to pay for their health insurance, according to a lawsuit. The suit filed last week in U.S. District Court names Joseph Schwartz and wife Rosie Schwartz and their company, Skyline Health Care, which operated more than 100 nursing homes under numerous subsidiary companies. Dozens of those facilities have been taken over by states in the last two years after the company was unable to pay vendors. (2/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Grants Boost Peer-Based Suicide Prevention In Wisconsin Schools
Hundreds of Wisconsin students can soon be trained to recognize warning signs of suicide in their peers and get help, Gov. Tony Evers said Tuesday at Milton High School as he signed a bill providing the funding. Beginning next school year, schools can apply for $1,000 grants for peer-to-peer suicide prevention programs, with a total funding pool of $250,000. (Linnane, 2/5)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Lead Free Kids Coalition Releases State Plan, Recommends Action In 9 Areas
A statewide coalition of public health, healthcare and educational organizations today released a plan to eliminate childhood lead exposure in Ohio homes by 2030. The Ohio Lead Free Kids Coalition is pushing the state to invest more in preventing poisoning instead of reacting once blood tests show a child has already been poisoned. (Zeltner and Dissell, 2/5)

Charlotte Observer: Record Number Of People Killed While Walking In Charlotte
Pedestrians are still dying in record numbers on Charlotte’s streets, new data shows, two years into a city initiative to reduce traffic fatalities. Twenty-eight pedestrians died in 2019, marking the third straight year in which fatalities set or matched record highs, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police data. (Henderson, 2/5)

The Washington Post: Federal Officials Sweep Franklin Square While Targeting Homeless Encampments
Mike Adams slept Wednesday morning on a bench in Franklin Square. When he awoke, he headed to a nearby church for a shower. By the time he returned to the block-long park along K Street NW, between 13th and 14th streets, two trash bags holding his possessions were gone. (Hermann, 2/5)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sexual Assault Victims Blast Wisconsin GOP Over Rape Kit Legislation
Victims of sexual assault and prosecutors of the crime accused Republican lawmakers Wednesday of purposefully blocking legislation that would stop rapists. Assembly Republicans are moving forward a proposal that would make sure sexual assault evidence is processed. But it’s different from a bill the state Senate already passed, doesn’t have support from the state Department of Justice tasked with overseeing the testing and includes provisions that are well known to divide lawmakers. (Beck, 2/5)

Texas Tribune: Six Texas Oil Refineries Spewing Cancer-Causing Pollutant Above Threshold
Eight years ago, two environmental nonprofits sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency was a decade overdue in updating limits on how much hazardous air pollution the country’s oil refineries could emit; the groups hoped a lawsuit would force it to act. The result was a regulation that required more than 100 refineries to monitor — and report — levels of cancer-causing benzene along the perimeters of their facilities and to make fixes when concentrations exceed a certain threshold. (Collier, 2/6)

North Carolina Health News: Under-Sink Water Filters Best At Removing Pollutants
Not all types of in-home filters are completely effective at removing “forever chemicals” from drinking water, and a few could do more harm than good if not properly maintained, according to a new study released Wednesday by North Carolina researchers. Water filters in refrigerators, pitcher-style filters, under the sink reverse osmosis systems and whole-house filtration systems can function differently and have vastly different price tags, according to the study, headed by the researchers from Duke University and N.C. State University. (Barnes, 2/6)

The Hill: DC Considering Proposal To Decriminalize Hallucinogenic Mushrooms
Local officials in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday will hear presentations on a proposed ballot measure that would decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, also known as magic mushrooms. For a measure to appear on a ballot in the District, several hoops must be jumped through, the biggest being the D.C. Board of Elections. An independent government body, the board is solely responsible for determining whether initiatives can advance to a city-wide vote. (Johnson, 2/5)

WBUR: ‘Endless Need’: Boston Seeks More Regional Cooperation To Help Adults Who Are Homeless
The percentage of people coming from out of town when homeless is significantly higher in Boston than in some other big cities. In last year’s homeless census in San Francisco, 30% of respondents reported living in another county or state when they became homeless. In Seattle’s King County, only 16% of people who were homeless during the 2019 homeless census lived in another county or state when they lost their home. (Joliocoeur, 2/6)

Pioneer Press: Cash Advance, Lay-Offs, Fundraisers Keep Open Cities Health Center In St. Paul Open — For Now – Twin Cities
Two months after sounding alarm over their finances, Open Cities, a community health center that serves low-income families throughout St. Paul’s Summit-University, Frogtown, North End and Payne-Phalen neighborhoods has managed to keep its doors open. Relief came in part by laying off more than a fifth of its staff and securing a financial advance on a federal grant. (Melo, 2/5)