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After months of eerie silence from the tobacco industry, Altria and R.J. Reynolds reported nearly $17 million in contributions Friday to oppose Proposition 56, which would increase tobacco taxes by $2 a pack in California. Altria contributed $10.8 million through its subsidiary companies: Marlboro-maker Philip Morris, cigar brand John Middleton Co. and e-cigarette brand NuMark. R.J. Reynolds, which makes Camel cigarettes and other brands, gave an additional $6.2 million. The companies organized and funded the campaign to highlight the “many problems with Prop. 56,” said Beth Miller, a spokeswoman for the campaign, in a statement. (Luna, 7/18)

The Obama administration is committing $9 million to rural health officials in three states that are testing the waters of telemedicine as they try to stem the rising tide of overdose deaths. The latest set of federal grants, which was announced at a meeting of the National Governors Association, will go to Oklahoma, Colorado and Pennsylvania over the next three years. (Ferris, 7/18)

The politically powerful state health care workers union is planning to back Republicans in their battle to retain control of the state Senate this year, a reversal from the 2014 elections when the union threw its support behind Democrats, according to a person close to the organization. The union, 1199 SEIU, made a $100,000 donation on July 11 to the Senate Republicans' campaign arm. The union also has a potent voter turnout operation, though the degree to which it will commit resources to help the GOP maintain its narrow working majority was not yet clear. (Bragg, 7/18)

A Des Moines mental health agency is set to lose a $2.4 million contract to aid people in crisis. Polk County supervisors are scheduled to vote Tuesday on their staff’s proposal to shift the programs from Eyerly Ball Community Health Services to Broadlawns Medical Center on Aug. 1. Eyerly Ball helped create the programs, which include a long-standing Mobile Crisis Response Team. (Leys, 7/18)

California’s largest public pension fund made a return of less than 1% in its most recent fiscal year, the fund’s worst performance since 2009. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said Monday that its rate of return for the year ended June 30 was just 0.61%. What’s more, Ted Eliopoulos, the pension fund’s chief investment officer, said the poor year has pushed CalPERS’ long-term returns below expected levels. (Koren, 7/18)

[John] Tapscott has been a vocal proponent of physician-assisted suicide, and even testified on its behalf in January at the state Capitol where he spent so much of his time in the 1960s and '70s. Yet he's stymied by what has become his own discombobulated timeline at the end of life. He already has outlived one terminal diagnosis. Last year, he staged his own premature funeral, a wake on July Fourth that drew 400 people. (Munson, 7/18)

Two nursing homes in the Metro East have been fined by the state after investigations found potentially preventable deaths of two residents. The Illinois Department of Public Health fined Willowcreek Rehab and Nursing facility in Belleville $25,000 after a woman died in March when staff members mistakenly stopped cardiopulmonary resuscitation. (Bernhard, 7/18)

At one point recently she was waiting on Medicaid coverage approval for 17 residents — which means Sharon Lane [Health Services] was providing free care for almost one-fourth of its clients. Nursing homes got an increase in their reimbursements through a "bed tax" this year, but Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican legislators also approved a 4 percent cut in those reimbursements. That made the increase less than expected and made the eligibility problems even harder to absorb. (Marso, 7/18)

A Stillwater-based medical-technology startup is tapping medical know-how at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota to accelerate the development of a phone-connected diabetes-testing device. Pops! Diabetics Care in January demonstrated a blood-sugar testing kit that fits onto the back of a smartphone and sends its results to the handset. The medical gadget was then in prototype form, and remains so today. (Ojeda-Zapata, 7/18)

Federal officials say the settlement will improve air quality for people and the environment because the installed equipment will reduce pollutants, including an estimated 47,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. Leaks, flares and excess emissions from the refineries emit dangerous air pollutants known or suspected to cause cancer, birth defects, and seriously harm the environment, the officials said. (Le, 7/18)

A state investigation into Morton Hospital’s release of Arthur J. DaRosa, a seemingly suicidal man who went on to kill two people, found that staff who evaluated him were “thorough and comprehensive’’ and followed appropriate procedures. A licensed social worker with more than 30 years of experience spoke with DaRosa for 2½ hours and concluded he did not need to be admitted to the hospital. A Morton emergency room physician agreed and signed off on DaRosa’s release, with recommendations for outpatient therapy, according to a state report. (Kowalczyk, 7/19)

Three people are suing the Johnson County jail, saying it failed to provide adequate medical treatment to inmates, two of whom died, according to the plaintiffs. The lawsuits, the latest of which was filed last month in federal court in Dallas, allege the jail has a pattern of ignoring medical requests to save money, providing inmates only with Tylenol or other pain medication until their conditions worsened and required hospitalization. (Downs, 7/18)