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A bill to shore up abortion rights in New Mexico by repealing a dormant ban on most abortion procedures won Senate approval on Thursday, clearing a crucial hurdle in a 25-17 vote. Female senators took the lead in presenting the Democratic-sponsored bill that would repeal a 1969 statute. Left in place, the state abortion ban might go into effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion ruling. “I am supporting this bill because we need to leave individual health care decisions to a woman and her doctor,” said Democratic Sen. Carrie Hamblen of Las Cruces. (Lee, 2/11)

Following a vote by the Maryland House of Delegates, the state now has all the pieces in place to proceed with plans for a so-called ‘Prescription Drug Affordability Board,’ a controversial tactic for controlling the rising cost of medicines. (Silverman, 2/11)

In a presentation to Kanawha County’s HIV task force Thursday, representatives from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention referred to the continuing spread of HIV in the county as “the most concerning [HIV outbreak] in the United States.” Thursday’s presentation came as the Charleston City Council debates the merits of a needs-based syringe service program operating in the city, which the CDC recommends to be a necessary tool in battling increased spread of diseases tied to intravenous drug use. Since 2018, the number of HIV cases tied to intravenous drug use in Kanawha County has continued to rise: There were two in 2018, 15 in 2019; and at least 35 recorded in 2020, according to Shannon McBee, the top epidemiologist with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources. (Coyne, 2/11)

Gregory Ulrich, the man accused of the shooting rampage that killed one person and seriously injured four at the Allina Medical Clinic in Buffalo, Minnesota, made his first court appearance Thursday. (Yamada and Fies, 2/12)

Melvin Anthony had been homeless for more than 15 years when someone shot him during an attempted robbery last fall. With a wound in his thigh and COVID-19 running rampant, Anthony was afraid to stay on the streets. “I saw nothing but death for me because things were really that bad, you know, pretty much drinking water out my hand and eating out of garbage cans, that type of bad,” Anthony said. (Antlfinger, 2/11)

Ohio’s Health Department is restructuring its infectious disease division following the discovery of as many as 4,000 unreported COVID-19 deaths and will investigate how the error happened, the state health director said Thursday. The Health Department said that “process issues affecting the reconciliation and reporting of these deaths” began in October, with most occurring in November and December. The department identified the problem during a routine employee training. (Welsh-Huggins and Amiri, 2/11)

A 1981 lawsuit addressing mental health patients’ rights to humane conditions and therapeutic treatment has been dismissed in West Virginia. A Kanawha County circuit judge dismissed the case after 40 years of litigation and negotiations, the state Department of Health and Human Resources said Thursday. Under the dismissal order, the DHHR will continue funding community-based mental health services and independent patient advocates at two hospitals. (2/12)

KHN: As Drug Prices Keep Rising, State Lawmakers Propose Tough New Bills To Curb Them

Fed up with a lack of federal action to lower prescription drug costs, state legislators around the country are pushing bills to penalize drugmakers for unjustified price hikes and to cap payment at much-lower Canadian levels. These bills, sponsored by both Republicans and Democrats in a half-dozen states, are a response to consumers’ intensified demand for action on drug prices as prospects for solutions from Congress remain highly uncertain. (Meyer, 2/12)