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The Texas economy, long driven by manufacturing and oil, is now being fueled by something much more stable — the booming health care industry, a Texas Workforce Commission official said Wednesday in Live Oak. (Hendricks, 8/10)

A needle exchange program currently confined to the city of Wilmington is going statewide. Legislation being signed into law Thursday by Gov. Jack Markell authorizes the statewide expansion of the needle exchange program, which is aimed at reducing the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other diseases. Lawmakers approved the bill earlier this summer on the final night of this year’s legislative session. (8/11)

Cuyahoga County would lose about $20 million a year under a federally mandated change to the way Medicaid managed care companies are taxed, county executive Armond Budish said. Ohio, though, is looking for a way around the sales tax losses, which would hit counties and transit authorities across the state -- and elsewhere across the country. The state has until the end of its next regular legislative session – June 30, 2017 – to alter its taxing structure for those managed care companies, said John Charlton, director of communications for the Ohio Office of Budget and Management. (Farkas, 8/10)

Hundreds of Minnesotans with mental health problems are languishing in hospital psychiatric units for weeks, even months, because they have nowhere to go for less intensive care, according to a comprehensive study to be released this week. As a result, private hospitals are absorbing millions of dollars in unreimbursed costs, while patients who are well enough to be released are being deprived more appropriate care at a fraction of the cost. (Serres, 8/10)

The six-decade-old Russell Home for Atypical Children, facing closure by the state two months ago, has worked out a deal that should allow all current residents to stay — thanks to an outpouring of support from local residents and political representatives...The complicated deal — hammered out after an anonymous complaint was filed last October — requires the nonprofit to split its property into two addresses, modify its already-in-progress $1.8 million construction project and buy a portable classroom for its day program. (Santich, 8/10)

Seven months after Pennsylvania officials settled an ACLU lawsuit over treatment delays for mentally ill people awaiting trial, the Philadelphia courts have moved a first handful of defendants from prison to medical care. Seven people in the custody of the Philadelphia prisons were ordered transferred Wednesday to one of three new mental health facilities in the city, according to Gregg Blender, a lawyer in the mental health unit of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. (Slobodzian, 8/11)

As part of National Health Center Week, Franklin Mayor Ken Moore invited health care workers and community leaders from across the region to Williamson County on Wednesday to brainstorm on how to make the state a healthier place to live. Although Moore, a retired surgeon, and other health care professionals addressed the group, the mayor said the primary focus of the meeting would be the round table discussions that would follow. (Buie, 8/10)

School district officials have created an advisory committee to address concerns about its health insurance plan and are now recruiting members from other town boards and unions to participate. The move follows repeated requests by the town’s teachers’ union, the New Fairfield Education Association, to switch to the state’s health insurance plan. The union says the state plan would save its members and the district money. (Rigg, 8/10)

Five dead birds and one sentinel chicken in separate communities tested positive for West Nile virus, the Contra Costa County Mosquito and Vector Control District reported Wednesday. The birds were found in Concord, Alamo, Orinda, Brentwood and Antioch. The chicken is from Holland Tract, near Knightsen. County officials currently do not plan to fog for mosquitoes. If they bite humans, infected mosquitoes can pass along the virus, which in some cases can be fatal. (Cameron, 8/10)

The Cleveland area leads the state in the number of deaths and serious health problems caused by air pollution, and ranks ninth worst in the country, according to a new report released today. The Health of the Air report, compiled by the American Thoracic Society and New York University's Marron Institute of Urban Management, found that air pollution causes as many as 9,320 deaths each year in metropolitan areas in the U.S. The number of air pollution-related deaths are comparable to the 9,967 alcohol-related traffic deaths that occurred in the U.S. in 2014. (McCarty, 8/10)

A proposal to lift the seven-year ban on diet sodas in Colorado’s high schools would feed a variety of health problems among the state’s school kids, including obesity and tooth decay, health advocates say. Several groups, including the Colorado PTA, have lined up against the idea, saying it would open school doors to bad health habits and soda companies offering corporate sponsorships to cash-starved school districts. (Whaley, 8/10)

Cindy Martinez, a former Marine, and husband David, a Gwinnett County police officer, say Northeast Georgia Physicians Group — Urgent Care and Dr. Minkailu Sesay missed signs of a serious infection and sepsis last summer. In the months that followed, the story captured widespread attention as the wife had numerous surgeries from the unexplained ailment and the community rallied around the family to lend support and funds. The Martinez family was unrelentingly positive throughout the ordeal, calling the wife’s survival a “miracle” due of praise to God. (Sharpe, 8/9)