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Medical staff at Donovan state prison in San Diego have been asking inmates who decline COVID-19 testing to waive the prison of any liability for their illness or death — a move a medical expert viewed as unethical and a law professor said may be unconstitutional. A copy of the waiver form, obtained by inewsource, describes the risks of refusing COVID-19 testing and says the corrections department is “free of any responsibility” for complications resulting from the virus. Inmates who decline testing can sign their name alongside the name of a witness. (Plummer and Castellano, 5/18)

In a well-kept west Atlanta yard Saturday, two women held up small pieces of a rock-like material they had spotted on the ground. It wasn’t rock, the two agreed: It was slag. Rosario Hernandez and Eri Saikawa know plenty about west Atlanta’s deposits of slag. The stuff is a byproduct of smelting, and many years ago people used it to fill in low-lying areas in the neighborhood. In this west Atlanta community of high unemployment and child poverty, the slag typically is evidence of lead — a powerful neurotoxin that’s especially harmful to children. (Miller, 5/18)

Last year, for the first time since 1948, Marlene Silva’s father, 92, wasn’t able to vote in a presidential election... One element was the COVID-protective banishment of family members from long-term care facilities starting in March of 2020. Adding to that a felony-level state penalty for staff who help residents vote, and the diminished role of county-appointed teams designed for the same purpose, yet another casualty of the pandemic. (Goldsmith, 5/19)

West Virginia women and children who participate in a nutrition program will receive a temporary benefit boost this summer for the purchase of additional fruits and vegetables, state health officials said. The Women, Infants and Children program will increase the benefit amount to $35 per month for each eligible participant from July through September. The current benefit is $9 per child, $11 for pregnant or postpartum women and $16.50 for mothers who breastfeed, the Bureau for Public Health’s office of nutrition services said in a statement. (5/19)

On Monday afternoon, Enchanted Forest announced on social media that it would finally be reopening to the public, after the coronavirus pandemic, financial woes and an ice storm all devastated the beloved Oregon amusement park over the last year. But as word of their reopening plans got out, some fans responded with threats and angry comments, and owners walked back the reopening plan Tuesday morning. (Hale, 5/18)

A Virginia obstetrician and gynecologist was sentenced Tuesday to 59 years in prison after being convicted on federal charges of performing medically unnecessary surgeries including hysterectomies and improper sterilizations on scores of patients over nearly a decade, prosecutors said. In November 2020, a federal jury also convicted the doctor, Javaid Perwaiz, of Chesapeake, of 52 counts of health care fraud and false statements for procedures he performed from 2010 through 2019, according to the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. (Paybarah, 5/18)