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Phillip Merritt’s dementia is so advanced he’s lost the ability to speak. But with the help of his cellmates at Western Illinois Correctional Center, the 71-year-old still manages to get on the phone with his brother every few weeks. ... Merritt’s deteriorating condition makes him a prime candidate to get out of prison under the Joe Coleman Medical Release Act, a pivotal criminal justice reform bill touted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois Democrats as an effective way to alleviate the state’s decrepit prison health care system, reduce the “staggering” costs of caring for ailing people in prison, and reunite families with frail loved ones. ... But a year-and-a-half since the Coleman Act went into effect, an investigation by Injustice Watch and WBEZ found far fewer prisoners have been released under the law than expected, as the medical release process has become mired in the charged politics of criminal justice reform in the post-George Floyd era. (Ballesteros, Heffernan and Qin, 9/3)

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker defended the number of dying and disabled prisoners released under a landmark law that went into effect early last year at a news conference Thursday. “The Coleman Act is, in fact, being carried out as it should be,” Pritzker told reporters in response to an Injustice Watch and WBEZ investigation, which found only 52 prisoners had been granted release under the law — far below the hundreds of terminally ill and incapacitated prisoners advocates say could have been released by now. (Ballesteros, 9/4)

For nearly 30 years, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have approved millions of taxpayer dollars for an anti-abortion program. Now the state’s new governor plans to end the contract as the organization that distributes those funds and other groups like it gain attention since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Pennsylvania plans to end on Dec. 31 its longstanding contract with the nonprofit Real Alternatives, the first organization in the nation to secure significant state and federal subsidies to support anti-abortion counseling centers. Under the program, Real Alternatives distributed the state and federal funds to dozens of Pennsylvania centers, including Catholic Charities, anti-abortion counseling centers and maternity homes, which provide support and housing for pregnant women. (Schultz and Kruesi, 9/1)

An effort to guarantee access to abortion rights in Ohio, a November ballot measure, is already fueling misleading claims about how it could influence abortion care, gender-related health care and parental consent in the state. The proposed constitutional amendment would give Ohioans the right to make their own reproductive decisions. Backers say that since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year by the U.S. Supreme Court, the proposal would restore a commonsense abortion protection that most Ohio voters can support. (Swenson and Fernando, 9/2)

A federal judge on Friday refused to block a new Florida law making it more difficult for transgender adults to access hormone therapy and surgeries. But U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle said he could issue a narrowly tailored injunction to ensure care for individual plaintiffs if they provide detailed medical records. (Kam, 9/4)

Montana’s Medicaid providers are still waiting to see the fruits of an historic investment that legislators voted into law earlier this year. Lawmakers directed more than $330 million in state and federal funds to boost Medicaid reimbursement rates during the 2023 session. But, an unprecedented, month-long delay in transmitting the state budget bill to the governor for final authorization in May has culminated in a two-month lag in distributing the new funds. (Schabacker, 9/3)

Nearly 40 years ago, Victoria McMullen and her husband traveled from St. Louis to Sikeston to adopt a six-year-old boy with severe developmental disabilities named Ron. Now 44, Ron has cerebral palsy, autism and intellectual disabilities. He’s unable to live independently and for the last 23 years his parents have relied on a state service to help pay for in-home caregivers to provide the intensive assistance he needs. (Bates, 9/3)

A federal judge has struck down a Texas law requiring age verification and health warnings to view pornographic websites and blocked the state attorney general’s office from enforcing it. In a ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge David Ezra agreed with claims that House Bill 1181, which was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June, violates free speech rights and is overbroad and vague. (Miller, 9/1)

The only homeless shelter in rural Somerset County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore closed with little warning over the summer after an audit identified improper spending, including covid relief dollars spent on an employee’s Jeep Compass — leaving the state’s poorest county without a shelter as homelessness spikes. The nonprofit Somerset Committee for the Homeless Inc. shuttered the Princess Anne, Md., facility one day after receiving news that its state contracts would not be renewed, following the previously unreported audit by the county health department and the state housing agency. Twenty-three people who were staying in the Lower Shore Shelter had to move to hotel rooms temporarily, and just three landed in permanent housing, Danielle Weber, a health officer at the Somerset County Health Department, told The Washington Post. The rest moved to other shelters in neighboring counties, with 10 remaining homeless after the hotel stays ended. (Shepherd, 9/4)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: How Far Will Montana’s Push To Remove Lead From School Drinking Water Go?

Montana’s legislature designated $3.7 million this spring to remove lead from school drinking-water supplies, then the state received $565,000 more on Aug. 1 from the $50 billion federal infrastructure package aiming to improve water systems nationally. But even with these two new pools of money intended to last two years, the state’s schools may struggle to remove all but the most dangerous sources of lead, considering about half the schools that tested their water between July 2020 and February 2022 found high lead levels. Medical experts say no amount of lead is safe to ingest. (Larson, 8/31)