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The Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a ban on gender transition surgeries, cross-sex hormones and other gender-affirming care for minors. (Fentem, 1/13)

New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of state attorneys general sued the federal government Tuesday, claiming a new Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy illegally pressures states to discriminate against transgender people or risk losing critical funding. (Sorace, 1/13)

The justices heard arguments on whether bans in two states on trans athletes competing in women’s sports violate the Constitution’s equal protection clause. (Mark, 1/13)

Health care workers in the Twin Cities report that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are entering hospitals with detained individuals, sometimes with warrants and sometimes without, and they are frequently present during patient care. (Zurek, 1/14)

Louisiana pushed Tuesday to extradite a California doctor accused of mailing abortion pills, setting up a likely test of laws designed to protect telehealth providers who ship abortion pills nationwide. This is the second time Louisiana has pursued an out-of-state doctor under its abortion restrictions, with Republican Gov. Jeff Landry saying on social media that he wants to bring the abortion provider “to justice.” The two criminal cases pit Louisiana, which has some of the strictest abortion laws in the country, against jurisdictions that have enacted what are known as shield laws for providers who facilitate abortions from afar in states with bans. (Cline, 1/13)

The lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Manhattan, claims that state officials use solitary confinement for minor misbehavior and as a way to mitigate low staffing. (Meko, 1/13)

An investigation by the Connecticut Office of the Inspector General released Monday found that “significant medical errors” were made when prescribing methadone to Ronald Johnson and Tyler Cole, two young men who died from the combined effects of methadone and other prescribed medications while incarcerated at Garner Correctional Institution. (Otte, 1/13)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: States Race To Launch Rural Health Transformation Plans

Imagine starting the new year with the promise of at least a $147 million payout from the federal government. But there are strings attached. In late December, President Donald Trump’s administration announced how much all 50 states would get under its new Rural Health Transformation Program, assigning them to use the money to fix systemic problems that leave rural Americans without access to good health care. Now, the clock is ticking. (Tribble, Zionts and Rosenfeld, 1/14)