First Edition: April 10, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide In Long-Term Care
When Larry Anders moved into the Bay at Burlington nursing home in late 2017, he wasn’t supposed to be there long. At 77, the stoic Wisconsin machinist had just endured the death of his wife of 51 years and a grim new diagnosis: throat cancer, stage 4. His son and daughter expected him to stay two weeks, tops, before going home to begin chemotherapy. From the start, they were alarmed by the lack of care at the center, where, they said, staff seemed indifferent, if not incompetent — failing to check on him promptly, handing pills to a man who couldn’t swallow. (Bailey and Aleccia, 4/9)
Kaiser Health News:
Senate Hearing On Drug Pricing A Lesson In What PBMs Do
It was back-to-school day at the Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday morning. In the third of a series of hearings on rising drug prices, the senators seemed focused on getting an answer to one central question: What the heck is a pharmacy benefit manager? Pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, are the go-between companies that negotiate with drugmakers on which medicines will make insurance plans’ lists of covered drugs and how much insurers’ plans will pay for them. (Bluth, 4/9)
California Healthline:
How To Fight ‘Scary’ Superbugs? Cooperation — And A Special Soap
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are testing a surprisingly simple strategy against the dangerous, antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each year: washing patients with a special soap. The efforts — funded with roughly $8 million from the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are taking place at 50 facilities in those two states. (Gorman, 4/9)
Kaiser Health News:
Economic Ripples: Hospital Closure Hurts A Town’s Ability To Attract Retirees
When a rural community loses its hospital, health care becomes harder to come by in an instant. But a hospital closure also shocks a small town’s economy. It shuts down one of its largest employers. It scares off heavy industry that needs an emergency room nearby. And in one Tennessee town, a lost hospital means lost hope of attracting more retirees. Seniors, and their retirement accounts, have been viewed as potential saviors for many rural economies trying to make up for lost jobs. (Farmer, 4/10)
Stat:
PBMs Sidestep The Senate’s Tough Questions — But Lawmakers Hint At Legislation
The much-maligned pharmacy middlemen escaped largely unscathed during a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday — but the powerful bipartisan duo behind the hearing now appears intent on legislating, and it looks like increasing transparency will be their primary goal. Executives for the country’s five largest pharmacy benefit managers, the middlemen that negotiate with drug makers over the price of their drugs, were expected to face hard questions about their role in the ever rising price of prescription drugs from members of the Senate Finance Committee. But the PBM executives largely parried the senators’ questions, none of which shone too harsh a spotlight on the industry’s practices. (Forko, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Heated Debate Over High Drug Costs Returns To Capitol Hill
Critics see PBMs as middlemen who add costs to an already expensive system for prescription drugs. Drugmakers point to the rebates as part of the problem. They say they have to offer them to land some of their products on a PBM’s list of covered drugs or a less-expensive tier, and this contributes to higher list prices. High list prices hurt patients who have to pay a big deductible when they fill a prescription. (Murphy, 4/9)
The Hill:
Senators Press Drug Industry 'Middlemen' Over High Prices
During a hearing Tuesday, members of the Senate Finance Committee sought to shine a light on the work of PBMs, the drug middlemen, who handle claims for big insurers and help negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. Drug companies have long painted PBMs and insurers as the villains in the pricing debate, and the industry has few backers. “More transparency is needed,” said committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who has long criticized PBMs for what what he says are secretive industry pricing practices. "The current system is so opaque that it’s easy to see why there are many questions about PBMs’ motives and practices." (Weixel, 4/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Revive Efforts To Preserve Health-Law Provisions
A group of Senate Republicans is reviving legislation aimed at guaranteeing protections for people with pre-existing conditions, as the GOP attempts to blunt the political advantage Democrats may have on health care before the 2020 election. The bill, which Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) and roughly a dozen other Senate Republicans plan to introduce Wednesday, would preserve key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which the Trump administration has moved to strike down in court. The proposal, an expanded version of a similar Senate Republican bill introduced last year, prohibits insurers from charging higher premiums to patients with pre-existing conditions and bars them from excluding coverage of treatments for those individuals. (Duehren, 4/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
Attorney General Defends White House Attempt To Dismantle Affordable Care Act
Attorney General William Barr defended the Trump administration’s renewed attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. He hinted, though, that he initially expressed doubts about the Justice Department’s recent shift taking a tougher stance against the Obama-era health law. Mr. Barr told lawmakers Tuesday he ultimately didn’t object to the move to oppose the law in total late last month. (Gurman and Kendall, 4/9)
Politico:
House Democrats Demand Trump Administration Disclose Obamacare Legal Strategy
House Democrats are demanding the Trump administration turn over documents related to its refusal to defend Obamacare in court, in an escalation of the political battle over a case that has put health care at risk for millions. The chairmen of five House committees sent letters to the White House, Justice Department and top Trump health officials seeking information on the administration's recent decision to support the health care law's full elimination in court. They called it a “sudden and significant reversal” that violates the federal government’s longstanding precedent of defending its own laws. (Cancryn, 4/9)
The New York Times:
Would ‘Medicare For All’ Save Billions Or Cost Billions?
How much would a “Medicare for all” plan, like the kind being introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, change health spending in the United States? Some advocates have said costs would actually be lower because of gains in efficiency and scale, while critics have predicted huge increases. We asked a handful of economists and think tanks with a range of perspectives to estimate total American health care expenditures in 2019 under such a plan. (Katz, Quealy and Sanger-Katz, 4/10)
The New York Times:
No Longer An Outsider, Sanders Is Using The Senate As His Launching Pad
When Bernie Sanders steps to the lectern Wednesday to reintroduce his Medicare for All Act, he will do so as a senator, just as he did when he introduced a resolution to end American military involvement in the Yemen war or when he shepherded legislation to improve veterans’ health care. But behind it are the unmistakable politics of 2020 and his campaign for president, a campaign that never really ended with the election of Donald J. Trump. And Democratic efforts to pull Mr. Sanders into the fold with a newly minted leadership post have only bolstered his platform to seek the presidency. (Stolberg, 4/10)
The Associated Press:
Bernie Sanders Relaunches ‘Medicare For All’ Amid 2020 Glare
Four of Sanders’ fellow senators and rivals for the Democratic nomination are set to sign onto the updated single-payer health care proposal. The bill’s reintroduction promises to shine a bright light on Democratic presidential candidates’ disparate visions for the long-term future of American health care. Under fire from President Donald Trump and Republicans for the astronomical price tag of Medicare for All, some candidates who support the plan tout it as one of several ways to achieve more affordable coverage and lower the number of uninsured. And others who don’t back it are instead focusing on safeguarding popular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, such as the one that protects coverage of pre-existing conditions. (Schor and Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/10)
The Hill:
McConnell Fiercely Attacks 'Medicare For All' In Visit To Hospital Group
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) launched a fierce attack on "Medicare for all" on Tuesday in a speech to the American Hospital Association conference, urging the hospital officials to go to Capitol Hill and oppose the idea. “This radical scheme would be serious bad news for America's hospital industry,” McConnell told the conference. “You should not be the guinea pigs in some far-left social experiment.” (Sullivan, 4/9)
The New York Times:
Measles Outbreak: New York Declares Health Emergency, Requiring Vaccinations In Parts Of Brooklyn
For months, New York City officials have been fighting a measles outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, knowing that the solution — the measles vaccine — was not reaching its target audience. They tried education and outreach, working with rabbis and distributing thousands of fliers to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. They also tried harsher measures, like a ban on unvaccinated students from going to school. But with measles cases still on the rise and an anti-vaccination movement spreading, city health officials on Tuesday took a more drastic step to stem one of the largest measles outbreaks in decades. (Pager and Mays, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
Measles Outbreak NY: Yeshiva Ordered To Exclude Unvaccinated Students From School
"This outbreak is being fueled by a small group of anti-vaxxers in these neighborhoods. They have been spreading dangerous misinformation based on fake science,” Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot, a pediatrician, said in the statement. “We stand with the majority of people in this community who have worked hard to protect their children and those at risk. We’ve seen a large increase in the number of people vaccinated in these neighborhoods, but as Passover approaches, we need to do all we can to ensure more people get the vaccine.” (Bever, 4/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Measles Outbreak: New York City Orders Mandatory Vaccinations In Parts Of Brooklyn
The county said Tuesday that it had appealed the order and is working on a plan to require exposed but unvaccinated people to remain home for an incubation period, which is typically 21 days. Violators would face fines of up to $2,000, they said. “How high must our case count be before you consider it an emergency?” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. “This outbreak is an imminent threat to our public health. Doing nothing is absolutely not an option.” (West, Abbott and McKay, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
New York City Measles Public Health Emergency: Mayor Orders Vaccines In Brooklyn
New York’s action comes as health officials scramble to blunt the spread of measles, especially with the approach of Passover, a holiday associated with travel and big family gatherings. “We cannot allow this dangerous disease to make a comeback here in New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Tuesday. “We have to stop it now.” (Sun, Horton and Paluch, 4/9)
The New York Times:
New York City Is Requiring Vaccinations Against Measles. Can Officials Do That?
Faced with an expanding measles outbreak, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York declared a public health emergency on Tuesday and ordered a program of mandatory vaccination in parts of Brooklyn. Such a health order is rare but not unheard-of in American history, medical experts said. It has occurred several times. The Supreme Court ruled more than a century ago that mandatory vaccination was legal, although the court drew a distinction between punishing citizens for refusing and actually vaccinating them by force. (McNeil, 4/9)
The New York Times:
‘Monkey, Rat And Pig DNA’: How Misinformation Is Driving The Measles Outbreak Among Ultra-Orthodox Jews
“The Vaccine Safety Handbook” appears innocuous, a slick magazine for parents who want to raise healthy children. But tucked inside its 40 pages are false warnings that vaccines cause autism and contain cells from aborted human fetuses. “It is our belief that there is no greater threat to public health than vaccines,” the publication concludes, contradicting the scientific consensus that vaccines are generally safe and highly effective. (Pager, 4/9)
The Hill:
New York Officials Warn Parents To Stop Holding 'Measles Parties' Amid Latest Outbreak
New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot on Tuesday warned parents in the city not to hold so-called "measles parties" as officials work to counter an outbreak of the disease. Barbot warned that some parents have had "measles parties" to have their children infected with the disease in an effort to immunize them naturally, rather than through a vaccination, according to BuzzFeed News. (Burke, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
Measles Outbreak: What To Know About How It Spreads And The Vaccine
Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about measles, which can cause serious complications among all age groups, especially young children. (Sun, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Inside 12 Days Of Turmoil That Shook Homeland Security
President Donald Trump had had it. The flow of migrants at the southern border was surging. Another caravan appeared to be forming. And his government had run out of holding space, forcing the release of tens of thousands of families apprehended at the border. During a meeting with senior aides on the last Thursday in March, Trump demanded drastic action to make good on the threat he’d tweeted that morning: Shut the southern border. Curbing illegal immigration was his signature issue, he railed. Why couldn’t he deliver? (Colvin and Long, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
Inside The Trump White House’s Growing Panic To Contain The Border Crisis
Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior over the past 12 days — since he first threatened to seal the border in a series of tweets on March 29 — has alarmed top Republicans, business officials and foreign leaders who fear that his emotional response might exacerbate problems at the border, harm the U.S. economy and degrade national security. The stretch also has revealed that a president who has routinely blamed spiking immigration numbers on others — past presidents, congressional Democrats, Mexican authorities, federal judges, human smugglers — is now coming to the realization that the problems are closer to home. Though his aides have taken the fall, and it is unlikely that Trump will blame himself, the president is facing an existential political crisis ahead of his 2020 reelection bid over the prospect of failure on his top domestic priority. (Nakamura, Dawsey and Kim, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Trump Suggests Family Separation Policy Deters Migrants
Facing bipartisan pushback to his immigration shake-up, President Donald Trump said he’s not looking to revive the much-criticized practice of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. At the same time, he suggested the policy had worked to deter migrants from coming into the U.S., although he offered no evidence to support his position. Last summer the administration separated more than 2,500 children from their families before international outrage forced Trump to halt the practice and a judge ordered them reunited. (Long and Colvin, 4/10)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Considers Revised Version Of Family Separation Tactic
Administration officials said Tuesday that while a return to the previous family separation tactic, known as “zero tolerance,” is not in the works, the White House is considering a “binary choice” policy, which would give parents the option of remaining in detention with their children or allowing their children to be separated and placed with another caregiver. (Miroff, Dawsey and Bade, 4/9)
The Associated Press Fact Check:
Trump Mocks Migrants, Retreats On Health Care
Playing migrants for laughs in a speech to lobbyists and donors, President Donald Trump characterized people trying to get into the U.S. as a horde of beefy men who fake hard-luck stories so softies in the immigration system will let them in. His shtick caused plenty of amusement at the Republican Jewish Coalition event Saturday but it was a far cry from the reality of the masses at the border. (Woodward and Yen, 4/9)
The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Trump Digs In On False Claim That He Stopped Obama’s Family Separation Policy
The Obama administration rejected a plan for family separations, according to Cecilia Muñoz, Obama’s top adviser for immigration. The Trump administration operated a pilot program for family separations in the El Paso area beginning in mid-2017. In April 2018, the pilot took off. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions rolled out a “zero tolerance” policy of prosecuting all adults caught crossing the border illegally. The next month, the Department of Homeland Security began to refer all illegal-crossing cases to federal prosecutors. (Rizzo, 4/10)
The Associated Press:
Autopsy: Migrant Detainee Died From AIDS Complications
A Honduran transgender migrant, whose 2018 death while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sparked protests and calls for an investigation, died of a rare disorder that developed quickly due to AIDS, according to an autopsy released Tuesday. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator released its findings on the death of Roxsana Hernandez , 33, saying the disorder — known as multicentric Castleman disease — can progress rapidly in people with weakened immune systems and lead to death within weeks. (Contreras, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
Medicare Drug Prices: Trump Could Delay Hikes On Part D Premiums Until After 2020
The Trump administration is taking steps that could delay premium spikes for Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries until after President Trump’s 2020 reelection bid. The moves could alleviate a looming problem for Trump in key states. Individual premiums for Medicare prescription drug insurance could jump 19 percent next year under the president’s plan to purge Medicare of the rebates that drug manufacturers pay to firms that manage pharmacy insurance. (Rowland, 4/9)
The Hill:
Pelosi: 'We Must Hold The President To His Campaign Promises' To Lower Drug Prices
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday said President Trump should fulfill a campaign promise by signing a bill that would let Medicare negotiate drug prices. “Together we must hold the president to his campaign promises to ensure that he signs this legislation when it reaches his desk,” Pelosi said in a speech to the American Hospital Association conference. “Every time I speak to him he says, ‘Yes, yes we've got to lower the cost of prescription drugs.’ We want to enable him to do that.” (Sullivan, 4/9)
Politico:
Disaster Aid Talks Collapse As Congress Heads For Recess
Senate negotiations over a disaster relief package have broken down, all but ensuring that Puerto Rico and states stricken by storms, wildfires and flooding will be left waiting for emergency aid until after Congress returns from a two-week recess. Democrats have rejected the latest offer made by Republican appropriators over funding for Puerto Rico, according to three sources familiar with the talks. (Emma and Levine, 4/9)
Reuters:
Special Report: As Baby Powder Concerns Mounted, J&J Focused Marketing On Minority, Overweight Women
Pressure was mounting on Johnson & Johnson and its signature Baby Powder. In 2006, an arm of the World Health Organization began classifying cosmetic talc such as Baby Powder as “possibly carcinogenic” when women used it as a genital antiperspirant and deodorant, as many had been doing for years. Talc supplier Luzenac America Inc started including that information on its shipments to J&J and other customers. J&J, meanwhile, looked for ways to sell more Baby Powder to two key groups of longtime users: African-American and overweight women. The “right place” to focus, according to a 2006 internal J&J marketing presentation, was “under developed geographical areas with hot weather, and higher AA population,” the “AA” referring to African-Americans. (4/9)
Stat:
After Three Years Of Controversy, CDC Clarifies Its Opioid Prescribing Guidelines
After protracted debate over federal guidelines for prescribing opioids, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has clarified its position, stating that its three-year-old recommendations were not intended to deny clinically appropriate treatment to patients who suffer acute or chronic pain from conditions such as cancer and sickle cell disease. Those guidelines, which focus on chronic pain except for cancer and end-of-life care, target primary care physicians because family doctors write the vast majority of prescriptions for painkillers. (Silverman, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
US Warns Docs Not To Abruptly Halt Opioid Pain Treatment
U.S. health officials Tuesday warned doctors not to abruptly stop prescribing opioid painkillers to patients who are taking them for chronic pain ailments, such as backaches. The Food and Drug Administration said it will add advice to labels on how to taper opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin, Vicodin and dozens of generic pills. Federal and state officials have been fighting a nationwide opioid epidemic, which includes not only legal painkillers, but also illicit drugs like heroin and fentanyl. (Perrone, 4/9)
Reuters:
U.S. Indicts Indivior Over Suboxone Opioid Treatment Marketing
The U.S. Justice Department announced on Tuesday the indictment of Indivior Plc and a subsidiary on charges they engaged in an illegal scheme to boost prescriptions of the film version of its opioid addiction treatment Suboxone. An indictment filed in federal court in Abingdon, Virginia, alleged Indivior made billions of dollars by deceiving doctors and healthcare benefit programs into believing the film version of Suboxone was safer and less susceptible to abuse than similar drugs. (Raymond, 4/10)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Charges Drug Maker Indivior With Organizing Multibillion-Dollar Fraud
The company said it worked with the Justice Department for years as part of its investigation and “made numerous attempts to reach a settlement that went far beyond what we believe the facts of this case support.” “Indivior’s top priority has always been the treatment of patients struggling with opioid addiction,” the company said. “Indivior does not make pain pills in the U.S. and is not a contributor to the opioid crisis.” (Armental, 4/9)
The New York Times:
Most Osteoporosis Drugs Don’t Build Bone. This One Does.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved an osteoporosis drug that represents the first new treatment approach in nearly two decades — a strategy based on a rare gene mutation in people with bones so dense that they never break. About 10 million people in the United States have osteoporosis. Worldwide, about 200 million people have brittle bones; one in three women, and one in five men, will suffer a fracture because of osteoporosis, often of the hip or spine. For many, the break leads to a downward spiral of disability. (Kolata, 4/9)
The Washington Post:
The Pregnancy-Tracking App Ovia Lets Women Record Their Most Sensitive Data For Themselves — And Their Boss
Like millions of women, Diana Diller was a devoted user of the pregnancy-tracking app Ovia, logging in every night to record new details on a screen asking about her bodily functions, sex drive, medications and mood. When she gave birth last spring, she used the app to chart her baby’s first online medical data — including her name, her location and whether there had been any complications — before leaving the hospital’s recovery room. But someone else was regularly checking in, too: her employer, which paid to gain access to the intimate details of its workers’ personal lives, from their trying-to-conceive months to early motherhood. (Harwell, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Gun-Maker To Ask Supreme Court To Hear Sandy Hook Appeal
Facing a newly revived wrongful death lawsuit in Connecticut over the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gun-maker Remington is going to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue it can’t be sued because of a much-debated federal law that shields firearms manufacturers from liability in most cases. The Connecticut Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling last month saying the Madison, North Carolina-based company can be sued under state law for how it marketed the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle used to kill 20 first-graders and six educators at the Newtown school in 2012. (Collins, 4/9)
The New York Times:
Texas Tech Medical School, Under Pressure From Education Dept., Will Stop Using Race In Admissions
A prominent Texas medical school will stop considering race or ethnicity in deciding whether to admit applicants, as part of an agreement with the Education Department’s civil rights office. The president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center signed the agreement in February, 14 years after the department began investigating a complaint filed by an anti-affirmative action group. The agreement is the first of its kind for the Education Department under Secretary Betsy DeVos, and comes as the Trump administration continues its hard turn against the use of race in admissions. (Hartocollis, 4/9)
Reuters:
Texas Medical School Agrees To Stop Using Race In Admissions
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a series of cases that universities may use affirmative action to increase minority enrollment on their campuses. Conservatives have argued such programs can hurt whites and Asian-Americans and argue that other factors including socioeconomic status should be considered in efforts to achieve diversity. A federal judge is weighing a lawsuit accusing Harvard University of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. Legal experts believe the case could end up in U.S. Supreme Court and have wide implications regarding affirmative action. (4/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Requires Texas Tech Med School To End Use Of Race In Admissions Decisions
The Texas Tech agreement marks the first time the Trump administration has asked a school to curtail its affirmative-action practices, and signals the administration’s desire to limit the extent to which universities can factor race into admissions. In the agreement, the administration suggested the medical school consider race-neutral factors to achieve its diversity goals, such as recruiting students from low-income areas and favoring bilingual or first-generation college students. (Hackman, 4/9)
Politico:
Texas Tech Medical School Will End Use Of Race In Admissions
The Trump administration is separately investigating whether Harvard and Yale are discriminating against Asian-American applicants in their use of race in admissions. The Justice Department has also backed a lawsuit targeting Harvard's use of race in admissions. And in July, the administration scrapped Obama-era guidance calling on school superintendents and colleges to consider race when trying to diversify their campuses. (Wermund, 4/9)
The New York Times:
Sitting For More Than 13 Hours A Day May Sabotage The Benefits Of Exercise
Sitting for most of the day could make us resistant to the usual metabolic benefits of exercise, according to a small but worrying new study. The findings, in the Journal of Applied Physiology, suggest that inactivity may alter our bodies in ways that are not just unhealthy on their own but also blunt the healthfulness of exercise. We know, of course, that physical activity is good for us and being sedentary, for the most part, is not. (Reynolds, 4/10)
NPR:
Wound Healing Might Be Improved With Staples Modeled On Porcupine Quills
At first, the idea of using porcupine quills to patch up wounds sounds torturous. But, taking inspiration from the spiky rodent, researchers have begun to work on a new type of surgical staple that may be less damaging — and less painful — than current staples. Worldwide, surgeons perform more than 4 million operations annually, usually using sutures and staples to close wounds. Yet these traditional tools designed to aid healing can create their own problems. (Cassidy and Shields, 4/9)
The New York Times:
24 Charged In $1.2 Billion Medicare Scheme, U.S. Says
Federal officials said Tuesday that they had dismantled a $1.2 billion Medicare scheme that spanned continents and ensnared hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting elderly and disabled patients. Under the scheme, which the authorities described as one of the largest health care frauds in United States history, doctors prescribed back, shoulder, wrist and knee braces that were not needed, prosecutors said. Twenty-four people were charged, according to the Justice Department. (Chokshi and Jacobs, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Fetal Heartbeat Bill Stalls In Tennessee Senate Committee
Legislation banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected stalled in Tennessee on Tuesday amid concerns that passing the measure would result in the state losing costly court battles. Instead, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed to review the issue further over the summer and take it up next year after members spent nearly two hours rehashing past key abortion court battles, discussing pregnancy viability with medical officials and criticizing the history of Planned Parenthood. (Kruesi, 4/9)
Reuters:
In New York, Confusion Reigns In The Emerging CBD Edibles Business
New York state officials told food growers and processors in mid-December that they had the state's blessing to produce and sell tea and chocolates laced with CBD, the cannabis derivative reputed to ease anxiety and other ills without marijuana's high. But since then, New York City health inspectors have seized thousands of dollars worth of CBD-infused food and drinks at the Fat Cat Kitchen and other local cafes and restaurants, and warned owners to stop selling them or face penalties. The crackdown came just weeks after federal law explicitly made CBD legal across the country. (4/9)
The Washington Post:
Pediatric Medical Center Supported By United Arab Emirates To Open At Former Walter Reed Site
A pediatric medical research facility funded by a financial gift from the United Arab Emirates will open next year at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center site in the District, officials announced Tuesday. The facility, which will be affiliated with Children’s National Health System, will open in 2020 on about 12 acres in Northwest Washington. The new Children’s National Research and Innovation Campus will research rare childhood illnesses and host an outpatient clinic. (Moyer, 4/9)