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A state mental health task force has issued nine recommendations aimed at relieving the bottlenecks that delay Minnesotans from getting care. The panel, appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton, focused on closing well-known pinch points that make it difficult to get timely mental health treatment or leave people languishing in hospitals and jail cells. (Benson, 11/17)

Backed by a state tax credit, the Sacramento region is in the running for 1,500 back-office jobs with a major health insurance company, including about 1,000 information technology jobs. With Sacramento bidding against Arizona, Texas and Illinois, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development on Thursday approved a $7 million tax credit for Centene Corp., a St. Louis-area company that runs Medicaid programs for states. (Kasler, 11/17)

An east Phoenix abortion clinic has filed a lawsuit against the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, asking a judge to block investigators from inspecting names and unredacted records of "patients who have had abortions and donated fetal tissue." The suit, filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court, says the AG’s Office has issued a "civil investigative demand" requiring Camelback Family Planning to produce information regarding fetal-tissue procurement and disposal. (Cassidy, 11/17)

As Illinois steers thousands of low-income adults with disabilities into private group homes, a Tribune investigation found Powers was but one of many casualties in a botched strategy to save money and give some of the state's poorest and most vulnerable residents a better life. In the first comprehensive accounting of mistreatment inside Illinois' taxpayer-funded group homes and their day programs, the Tribune uncovered a system where caregivers often failed to provide basic care while regulators cloaked harm and death with secrecy and silence. The Tribune identified 1,311 cases of documented harm since July 2011 — hundreds more cases than publicly reported by the Illinois Department of Human Services. (Berens and Callahan, 11/17)

Anxiety was high Thursday at an assisting living center across from Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, where dozens of elderly residents were notified this week they might have to move before Christmas. The owners of Walden Point Assisted Living gave the state 90 days’ notice that it was no longer going to be licensed as an assisted living complex, instead becoming an independent living facility, because their primary contractor, Brightstar Care of Ankeny, abruptly ended services. Residents who feel they need a higher level of care in assisted living will have to move from the facility at 1200 Fourth St. by Dec. 16. In the interim, services are being provided by a temporary contractor. (Rood, 11/17)

Water testing in the Cleveland Municipal School District has uncovered dangerously high levels of lead in samples taken from drinking fountains, sinks and other water sources in 60 older school buildings, the district reported today. The school district voluntarily tested more than 5,000 water samples in 69 schools, starting over the summer, and found 582 were above the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standards. These included 79 drinking fountains and 40 faucets in common areas. (Zeltner, 11/18)

Georgia programs that provide child welfare services for kids who are under state supervision say they’ve been underpaid for years. A memo from a state official agrees with them. (Miller, 11/17)