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Transgender rights take center stage in North Carolina again Wednesday as GOP supermajorities in the General Assembly attempt to override the governor’s vetoes of legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors and limiting transgender participation in school sports. The state House will hold the first of two votes Wednesday afternoon in a bid to enact the bills over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s opposition. If House Republicans quickly muster the votes needed, the Senate might aim to complete the override with a decisive final vote Wednesday evening, the Senate leader’s office said. (Schoenbaum, 8/16)

Medical experts pushed back against Texas lawmakers’ assertions that puberty blockers and hormone therapies are experimental and put young transgender patients at risk as they testified Tuesday in a hearing that seeks to block a new law banning such medical treatment for kids. Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, a doctor who treats adolescents and has been providing gender-affirming care for 17 years, said the body of medical research demonstrates these treatments have a high success rate in improving mental health outcomes of trans youth. But in her clinical work, the evidence is more obvious. (Melhado, 8/15)

The state filed a revised lawsuit Monday adding to allegations that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not properly provided records about Florida’s attempt to get approval for a program to import prescription drugs from Canada. The filing expanded a lawsuit the state filed in April alleging the federal agency violated the Freedom of Information Act. The revised lawsuit includes allegations that the FDA did not properly respond to a records request submitted in May. (8/15)

Attorney General Andrea Campbell Tuesday announced $1.5 million in grants to 11 organizations that provide maternal care in Massachusetts as part of her office’s efforts to combat rising maternal health inequities in the state. “The goal was to reach organizations doing the real work and reach patients in real time,” Campbell said at an event hosted by the Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury, one of the grant recipients. “As much as we’re making progress, when it comes to racial disparities we still have work to do.” (Mohammed, 8/15)

Two Missouri counties have won the right to defend state health regulations struck down by a Cole County judge in 2021. In a unanimous ruling issued Tuesday, six judges on the state Supreme Court wrote that St. Louis and Jackson counties were harmed by the failure of then-Attorney General Eric Schmitt to appeal the ruling from Judge Daniel Green. The regulations, some of which had been around since the 1940s, had formed the basis for COVID-19 public health orders. Tuesday’s ruling did not decide the validity of the regulations – just that the counties could defend them in court. (Lippmann, 8/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: North Carolina Hospitals Have Sued Thousands Of Their Patients, A New Report Finds 

North Carolina hospitals — led by the state’s largest public medical system — have sued thousands of their patients since 2017, according to a new analysis that sheds additional light on the aggressive tactics U.S. hospitals routinely use to collect from people who fall behind on their bills. The report, produced by the state treasurer and Duke University School of Law researchers, and related patient interviews offer harrowing accounts of people pursued for tens of thousands of dollars and often surprised by liens that hospitals placed on family homes. (Levey, 8/16)

There's a leadership void in the Chicago Department of Public Health. Mayor Brandon Johnson fired health commissioner Allison Arwady on Friday, a day after the Chicago Board of Health urged him to keep her in the post. After leading the city through the pandemic, Arwady became Chicago's best-known health chief in recent memory. (Eng, 8/15)

In Pueblo, Colorado, teenager Noah had smoked marijuana before. But most of his friends were using an extra-strong version, known as dabs. Thinking it might help with the insomnia that plagued him in his senior year of high school, Noah picked up a small torch, grabbed the glass smoking device known as a dab rig and heated a yellow, waxy substance into a vapor that he slowly inhaled. (Kary, 8/16)

Jamie Park, who lives here, deals with chronic pain. The house, just south of downtown Wichita, has been in her family for generations — and for generations, she said, her family has struggled with hoarding. “It’s kind of crazy growing up in this environment,” she said. “I couldn’t see the floor growing up.” Park and her family are among thousands of Kansans who deal with hoarding. It’s a problem that’s frequently depicted in the media, but mental health experts say it’s often misunderstood. And they worry hoarding is on the rise in Kansas due to the state’s demographic makeup and a scarcity of support for those who struggle with it. (Conlon, 8/16)