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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing a second doctor for allegedly violating state law and providing gender-affirming medical care to minors. Dr. Hector Granados is an El Paso pediatric endocrinologist. Paxton accuses him in the lawsuit of prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapy to more than 20 minors to treat gender dysphoria, or the distress someone can feel when their gender identity doesn’t match their physical appearance. (Klibanoff, 10/30)

A House subcommittee has referred former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York to the Justice Department for potential prosecution, accusing him of lying to Congress about his involvement in a state Covid report on nursing home deaths. Mr. Cuomo was accused of engaging in a “conscious, calculated effort” to avoid accountability for his handling of nursing homes where thousands of people died of Covid, according to the referral from the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. (Ashford and Oreskes, 10/30)

Florida’s First Coast has seen a marked increase in an already-high infant mortality rate. A report released Tuesday by the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition shows infant deaths rising almost 19% over the past five years. That’s despite a decline in deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. (Corum, 10/30)

Over the past year, Palm Beach County's only needle exchange program served over 250 clients and reduced the overall syringe count by nearly 7,800. It’s part of the ongoing effort to reduce opioid drug abuse, said Austin Wright, director of Syringe & Harm Reduction Services at Rebel Recovery Florida. (Brutus, 10/30)

Like many people and business owners in western North Carolina left to pick up the scattered pieces after the remnants of Hurricane Helene pummeled the region, dentists have had to pivot to tend to their patients’ needs. Safe drinking water is critical to that care. And with key components of Asheville’s municipal water system blown to bits and its feeder reservoirs suffering from tenacious turbidity, the North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners issued an emergency order on Oct. 14 waiving some facility requirements related to piped water and functioning toilets to allow oral health care providers more flexibility. (Blythe, 10/31)

���ϳԹ��� News: In Montana, Conservative Groups See Chance To Kill Medicaid Expansion

Conservative groups are working to undermine support for Montana’s Medicaid expansion in hopes the state will abandon the program. The rollback would be the first in the decade since the Affordable Care Act began allowing states to cover more people with low incomes. Montana’s expansion, which insures roughly 78,800 people, is set to expire next year unless the legislature and governor opt to renew it. Opponents see a rare opportunity to eliminate Medicaid expansion in one of the 40 states that have approved it. (Houghton, 10/31)

Public health officials have reported two more locally acquired cases of the mosquito borne illness dengue in Los Angeles County, bringing the total to 11 cases in recent weeks. One of the cases was reported in Baldwin Park, where health officials are currently investigating a cluster of cases. It's now the seventh discovered in the area. (Fioresi, 10/30)

Santa Cruz County will prohibit the sale of filtered cigars and cigarettes, an effort to slash waste from cigarette butts which proponents said litter the coastal county’s beaches and harm marine life. The ordinance, passed by the county’s board of supervisors Tuesday, is the first county-level filtered cigarette ban in the country, according to Supervisor Justin Cummings, who introduced the measure. The ban will apply to the county’s unincorporated areas, where more than half of the county’s roughly 270,000 residents live, according to the county’s website. (Ellis, 10/30)

San Francisco balloon artist Korene Tom had not been to the dentist in more than 20 years — a gap she made up for with vigorous brushing, which was all the dental care she could afford after she lost her job as an office administrator. But that changed this week when the free Clinic by the Bay moved into the historic Alemany Emergency Hospital building, newly renovated after sitting vacant for nearly half a century in the Excelsior District. The nonprofit clinic, which has served uninsured, low-income patients for 14 years in the city, now offers extended hours and expanded services — including dental care. (Whiting, 10/30)

���ϳԹ��� News: Can A $10 Billion Climate Bond Address California’s Water Contamination Problem?

When Cynthia Ruiz turns on her kitchen faucet, she hears a slight squeak before cloudy fluid bursts out of the spout. The water in her Central Valley town of East Orosi is clean enough most of the time to wash dishes, flush toilets, and take showers, but it’s not safe to swallow. Drinking water is trucked in twice a month. “There are times where the water is so bad you can’t even wash dishes,” said Ruiz, who is advised not to drink the tap water, which is laden with nitrates — runoff from orange and nectarine fields surrounding the town of roughly 400. (Sánchez, 10/31)