Why can't people get health benefits politicians get? - Asheville Citizen-Times

In 2005 about 18 percent of Buncombe County residents, more than 153,000 people, lacked health insurance, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

And national studies suggest that a large share of the population with insurance have inadequate coverage that burdens families with large out-of-pocket expenses and swamp them in medical debt.

Although many average citizens live without insurance, there is one group that enjoys great coverage: elected officials.

In Buncombe County, sitting commissioners pay only $30.44 per month for health insurance. After serving three terms, county commissioners are given free health care for life.

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Sheriff candidate regrets interrogation Manchester (NH) Union Leader

DOVER - Strafford County Sheriff candidate Tim Brown so harshly interrogated a mentally ill female arson suspect while he was a Rochester detective in 2000 that her confession could not be used in court.

Brown, a Farmington Democrat who is challenging incumbent Sheriff Wayne Estes, was investigating a string of arsons around Rochester in January 2000 when a local woman named Linda Ragas was spotted by fellow officers in the vicinity of a burning baby carriage on Signal Street and immediately became a suspect in a much more serious fire that occurred on Summer Street and injured three people, including two children.

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Insanity verdict reached in bike dragging -Myrtle Beach (SC) Sun News

A man who injured a biker with his car then dragged the man's motorcycle for miles under the car was found not guilty by reason of insanity in circuit court this week.

Larry Jacobs, 69, was charged with assault and battery with intent to kill after his car, in 2006, struck the motorcycle of Makino Robinson, a U.S. serviceman who had served in Iraq, during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

Jacobs was evaluated by separate psychiatrists selected by the state and the defense, said Fran Humphries, deputy solicitor for the 15th Judicial Circuit. Both examinations determined Jacobs could not be held criminally responsible due to a mental illness.

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China mother spared over mercy killingof daughter - Reuters

BEIJING, Oct 31 (Reuters) - A mother has been spared jail after admitting poisoning and smothering her 20-year-old mentally disabled daughter, a case that throws the spotlight on the plight of the mentally ill in China.

Li Daohong, 47, told a Beijing court she had spent all her money over 20 years taking her daughter, Xiao Fei, who could not even go to the toilet by herself, across the country for treatment for "brain paralysis", Xinhua news agency said.

In despair, she took her Xiao Fei to a Beijing hotel where she fed her more than 200 sleeping pills and smothered her with towels and a quilt once she was asleep.

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Police shoot mentally ill relative after family calls them for help

HOUSTON -- Standing in his driveway, Shadrach Green is still trying to cope with the death of his only brother, who was killed earlier this week by police

Kenneth Green, 45, was shot and killed in his bedroom after his family called police for help. They said he was mentally ill and had not taken his medicine in three days.

“This can not happen again. If you’re dealing with someone with a mental problem, you just can't kill them,” said Green.

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Accused Rapist's Father Says Son is Mentally Ill -Memphis ABC24

Memphis, TN- The father of a man accused of raping a daycare worker says his son is mentally ill and didn't get proper treatment to keep something like this from happening.

Tarius Johnson was arrested October 20, 2008. Police say he raped a woman at a Whitehaven daycare center and stole a computer.

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Claims of human rights violation - Australia, The Age

DOZENS of mentally ill Victorians have been locked up in psychiatric facilities for years in what has been condemned by the Office of the Public Advocate as a breach of the state's human rights charter.

The office's 2007-08 Community Visitors annual report has highlighted the plight of 99 "long-stay" mental health patients, most of whom are ready to be discharged and moved to community-based facilities but have nowhere suitable to go.

This included eight people aged in their late 30s to 50s who were consigned to remain at the Brain Disorder Unit at The Austin hospital despite being ready for discharge for almost three years.

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Police must reach out to mentally ill -Toronto (Canada) Globe & Mail

Last Tuesday, just after midnight, a client walked into Pro Gym, a 24-hour fitness club in Montreal's east end.

The 33-year-old man was acting strangely, muttering to himself, swearing out loud, and when he got on the treadmill to run he was wearing a bulletproof vest and sporting his police service revolver.

The club's manager called police - the facility is located across the street from station 23 - and they intervened.

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Mental health levy deserves to be renewed -Zanesville (OH) Times-Recorder

With one "yes" vote, Muskingum County can correct two mistakes made during the March election.

A slim 51 percent majority of voters rejected a replacement levy for the Muskingum County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. The levy would have helped close the gap caused by cuts in state in federal funding for county residents struggling with addictions and mental illnesses.

Though it did so with the best of intentions, the board erred in seeking a replacement levy and labeling it as "not a new tax." So it's back with the real deal - a five-year, 1 mill renewal levy that won't change your taxes one penny.

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Judge lets Terrace care facility stay open longer -Cincinnati Enquirer

EAST PRICE HILL - Abe Fischer, the embattled nursing home and residential care facility owner, won a round Wednesday in his legal battle to keep his business open a little longer.

The Terrace at Westside on Grand Avenue was set to close Nov. 20, but a judge allowed Fischer to keep the residential-care facility open until a final decision of his appeal is heard and decided. The case is now scheduled for Nov. 25.

Fischer filed an appeal earlier this month after the city health department revoked his license because of problems at the facility. The city maintains that while Fischer has corrected the problems, there is concern he will not be able to keep the facility up to standards.

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Intervention court brilliant idea that would benefit all - Freemont (OH) News-Messenger

An individual's mental illness is not a private matter but a community issue.

Confronting those problems head-on is necessary to make communities healthier and safer.

That is the basis for an intervention court program under way in Ottawa County. The program grew out of concerns voiced by Municipal Court Judge Frederick when dealing with domestic cases where mental illnesses ended up being a factor

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Richmond (IN) PallaiEmotions run high at triple murder sentencing hearing -Richmond (IN) Palladium-Item

CONNERSVILLE, Ind. — Family members of the victims of a 2005 triple murder poured out their pain at a sentencing hearing today in Fayette Circuit Court.

Fayette Superior Judge Ron Urdal on Friday will sentence defendant Jason Trane Caldwell, 37.

A jury last month found him guilty but mentally ill on three counts of murder in the deaths of his wife, Thelma, and his aunt and uncle, Judy Caldwell Flanigan and Bill Flanigan Sr., on Dec. 18, 2005.

Caldwell was diagnosed a decade ago as a paranoid schizophrenic and was under treatment by the Dunn Center when the murders occurred.

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State told to keep mental health programs -Kennebec (ME) Journal & morning Sentinel

AUGUSTA -- The state must continue to fund programs for some people with severe and persistent mental illness, despite funding problems, a court master says.

Daniel Wathen, court master who administers the state's compliance with a 1990 consent decree that settled a class action lawsuit against the state, issued his recommendation on Wednesday.

Wathen's recommendation presents a "significant challenge," said Brenda Harvey, commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Equal Coverage for Mental-Health Care -U.S. News & Report

Access to mental-health care should soon be cheaper and easier for millions of Americans, thanks to a "mental-health parity" law signed by President Bush this month.

After a 10-year battle by mental-health advocates, depression and bipolar disorder, for example, will reach equal footing with heart disease or cancer on Jan. 1, 2010.

The new law doesn't cover everyone; most notably, employees of companies with 50 or fewer workers are excluded, as well as people who buy their own policies. But it comes as a great relief to those who will benefit. "It's really going to affect me when I go out into the workforce," says Marley Prunty-Lara, a 23-year-old graduate student in Minneapolis. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 15.

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Elgin Mental Health Center patient dies -Arlington Heights (IL) Daily Herald

State police are investigating the death of an Elgin Mental Health Center patient who went into anaphylactic shock after workers fed him fish despite warnings of his severe allergy, officials said Thursday.

On Wednesday a Kane County Coroner's jury ruled the 58-year-old's death on June 20 a homicide caused by negligence.

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Combined Therapy Is Reported to Ease Anxiety in Children - New York Times

Children and adolescents with disabling anxiety are most likely to recover when treated with a combination of talk therapy and an antidepressant medicine, according to the largest study to date of anxiety disorders in this age group.

The government-financed study, which tracked nearly 500 patients, found that 8 in 10 children who received the combined therapy improved significantly, compared with less than 6 in 10 who had either the drug or the talk therapy (known as cognitive behavior therapy) on its own.

The study, released online Thursday by The New England Journal of Medicine, clarifies the treatment picture for these young patients and should increase interest in combined therapy, experts said. Up to half of children and adolescents struggling with chronic anxiety do not seem to improve much in treatment, psychiatrists estimate.

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Oireachtas rushes through mental health law- Dublin (Ireland) Irish Times

Emergency legislation has been rushed through the Dáil and Seanad this evening in relation to the law governing the detention of people in mental hospitals.

The House was debating the Mental Health Bill 2008, which the Government said was required to close a loophole in the law on how people are detained in psychiatric hospitals against their will.

It comes in advance of a High Court judgment due tomorrow in the case of a woman challenging her detention in a psychiatric hospital in Dublin.

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Voting for Mental Health - Fort Collins (CO) Now

Even now, 20 years later, Carol McNamee, gets a little choked up when she thinks about how lucky her son was to find himself in a progressive treatment program. For years her son self-medicated an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. He eventually ended up in prison and was committed to a treatment program in New York state that ultimately changed his life.

As a mother, it isn’t easy to see a child struggle. McNamee said her son served his time for the crime he committed, but because of the treatment program, he was able to get back on track.

Having this personal experience is what motivates McNamee, a Fort Collins resident, to be a passionate supporter of Issue 1A. Issue 1A would levy a .25 percent sales tax—25 cents on a $100 purchase—and raise $11 million the first year to build and staff a treatment and detox facility for mental health and substance abuse.

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City Council Grants $1.2 Million Bailout Loan for Housing Project - Santa Barbara (CA) Noozhawk

The Santa Barbara City Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to grant a $1.2 million bailout loan to a nonprofit organization to help complete a nearly finished apartment complex on Garden Street for low-income and mental-health tenants.

Amid a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances, the cost for the $25 million project has swelled nearly 10 percent, or $2.2 million.

Spearheaded by the local nonprofit Mental Health Association, the project at the corner of Cota Street will provide affordable-housing rental units for 12 low-income downtown workers and 38 people diagnosed with a mental-health disability.

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This story of mental illness -- and recovery -- is still being told -

OLYMPIA -- Stephanie Lane saw the man arrive out of the corner of her eye, and despite the warmth in the room, she felt a fleeting shiver, the familiar bone chill of recognition.

The man had a sleeping bag tucked under one arm, a couple of hard days' worth of stubble on his street-ruddy face, a vaguely hunted look. He appeared in search of something -- a shower, a hot meal and something else -- something less tangible. Something that resembled a chance.

Lane, a program director with the state's mental health division, had arrived a few minutes earlier at the Capital Clubhouse -- a drop-in center and job-training program for people with mental illness. Chic in black, with a toss of strawberry blond hair and sea foam-green eyes, Lane is funny and smart, articulate and engaging. She was perched at a lunch table in the common area discussing grant proposals when the man walked in.

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Man who led cops on chase sentenced to jail - Elwood City (PA) Ledger

BEAVER - Relatives of Mark Baumbach described a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality change in the weeks leading to two desperate police chases this year that landed him in jail and, ultimately, a mental hospital.

The Baumbach that appeared before Beaver County Judge John P. Dohanich on Wednesday was the alter ego of the raving lunatic featured on television news seven months ago, railing at cops and proclaiming himself an "unstoppable killing machine."

This Baumbach - a product of anti-depressant and mood-stabilizing drugs and hours of mental health and drug and alcohol counseling - was more like the old Baumbach before his death-daring swing through Beaver County in a full-sized Dodge pickup, relatives said.

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Embattled facility stays open, for now -Cincinatti Enquirer

EAST PRICE HILL – Abe Fischer, the embattled nursing home and residential care facility owner, won a round Wednesday in his legal battle to keep his business open a little longer.

The Terrace at Westside on Grand Avenue was set to close Nov. 20, but a judge allowed Fischer to keep the residential care facility open until a final decision of his appeal is heard and decided. The case is now scheduled for Nov. 25.

Fischer filed an appeal earlier this month after the city health department revoked his license because of problems at the facility.

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States forced to cut health coverage =for poor - USA Today

Economic troubles are forcing states to scale back safety-net health-coverage programs — even as they brace for more residents who will need help paying for care.

Many cuts affect Medicaid, which pays for health coverage for 50 million low-income adults and children nationwide, including nearly half of all nursing home care. The joint federal-state program is a target because it consumes an average 17% of state budgets — the second-biggest chunk of spending in most states, right behind education.

"Medicaid programs across the U.S. are going to be severely damaged," says Kenneth Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association. He expects some hospitals nationwide may drop services and some hospitals and nursing homes may lay off employees.

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Mental hospital will lose up to $10M in federal funding - Raleigh (NC) WRAL-TV

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Department of Health and Human Services must reallocate $8 million to $10 million in its budget to cover expenses associated with treating some patients at one of the state's four psychiatric hospitals.

Dr. Michael Lancaster, co-director of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, said Wednesday the state is expected to pay an estimated $800,000 a month over the next year as Cherry Hospital works to regain its certification to be reimbursed for treating any new patients on federal insurance programs.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last month revoked the Goldsboro facility's certification following the death of a patient who died after choking on medication and being left sitting in a chair unsupervised for nearly 24 hours.

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Longer wait times for psychiatric treatment: Study -CanWest News Service

CALGARY - Canadians seeking psychiatric treatment are waiting longer this year than in 2007, a new report says.

"Wait times are a symptom of a much greater problem, a dysfunctional health-care system," said Nadeem Esmail, who authored the report for the right-wing Fraser Institute think-tank.

The median time patients have been waiting between referral from a general practitioner and starting treatment with a psychiatric specialist in 2008 has increased to 18.6 weeks from 18.5, said the report.

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Homeless plans separate mayoral candidates -Vancouver (Canada) Courier

Ask city outreach worker Judy Graves about the homeless on our streets and she'll tell you that even if she had a person begging her for a spot to come in out of the cold, there is no place to put them.

And it's getting worse. The 2008 spring homeless count for Vancouver found that the total increase in street homeless numbers jumped 32 per cent in three years. Not one new homeless shelter bed has been created in that time.

No small wonder that homelessness is a major plank in the election platforms of the two major competing candidates for mayor, the Non Partisan Association's Peter Ladner and Vision Vancouver's Gregor Robertson. Nonetheless, while they share that concern, their approaches are significantly different.

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Mental health reforms are on the way -Waynesville (NC) Mountaineer

It’s been seven years since state leaders decided mental health services needed to be “reformed” in North Carolina.

The unsuccessful journey has now made a full circle, and the system will basically be returned to the way it was.

During a work session last week, Haywood County commissioners met with representatives from the Smoky Mountain Center to learn more about the coming changes.

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Army and Agency Will Study Rising Suicide Rate Among Soldiers - New York Times

Conceding it needed outside help in figuring out why the suicide rate among service members was rising, the Army announced plans on Wednesday to collaborate with the National Institute of Mental Health in an ambitious five-year project to identify the causes and risk factors of suicide.

The Army will make thousands of soldiers available to researchers for interviews and will provide access to its many databases, including those with medical, personnel, criminal and deployment histories. Researchers will draw from a cross section of the Army and will include soldiers who have just joined the service or are training for war and those who have returned from war.

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Man found not criminally responsible for killing woman , 60 - Toronto (CA) Star

round 2004, Altaf Ibrahim started believing that his university friends had raped his mother and he used a metal detector to swipe himself for surveillance devices.

His delusions were part of Ibrahim's deteriorating mental health before he shot Jean Springer in the head after she welcomed him into her home on New Year's Day 2007.

Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer today found Ibrahim, 28, not criminally responsible for ending the life of a much-admired and loved mother and wife. She was 60.

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Dan Moran: An advocate for all disabled people -Detroit Free Press

Once among the anonymous faces in the state mental health care system, Dan Moran overcame incredible adversity to achieve an independent lifestyle and become an active advocate for disabled people.

Mr. Moran, a clerical assistant with the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority's Office of Rights and Advocacy, died of a heart attack Friday while attending a conference at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn.

The Clarkston resident was 44.

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Superior's 'Rain Man' Comments Not Evidence of Disability Bias - Employment Litigation Reporter

A supervisor who repeatedly called a subordinate "Rain Man" cannot be held liable for disability discrimination or harassment because he did not know the employee has a form of autism, a California appeals court has ruled.

The 6th District Court of Appeal said that simply because the supervisor thought plaintiff Thomas Mangano was "quirky" and resembled the autistic character in the "Rain Man" movie did not prove that he perceived Mangano as disabled.
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"Disabled means much more than just socially awkward or [having] eccentric or unique personality characteristics," the court said.

"To rise to the level of a mental disability, a mental condition must limit or 'make difficult' a major life activity" like working, it added.

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Daughter pleads guilty to murder -Kalamazoo Gazette

KALAMAZOO -- A Portage woman accused of killing her mother last year pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder but mentally ill.

Diane Diamante, 57, waived her right to a trial in accepting the plea in the August 2007 death of her mother, Margaret Diamante, 87. She is to be sentenced Nov. 24.

Separate psychiatric examinations done for the prosecution and defense found Diamante suffered from mental illness at the time she beat her mother, Kalamazoo County Circuit Judge Gary C. Giguere Jr. said when accepting her plea. She was diagnosed with major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, among other illnesses.

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Police: Man Beat Autistic Boy -Scottsdale (AZ) KPHO-TV

PHOENIX -- Mesa police arrested a man who they said beat a mentally disabled teen Friday morning, authorities said.

According to police reports, Brian Salvador Arredondo, 18, beat the 13-year-old, who police described as autistic, bipolar and mentally disabled, with a closed fist. Arredondo was baby-sitting the boy at the time.

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Bids for patient care now accepted -Atlanta Journal Constitution

The agency running Georgia’s problem-riddled mental health system says it will begin soliciting bids Friday from for-profit companies to take over some psychiatric hospital services.

The request for proposals will focus on the state’s forensic patients —- criminal defendants who have mental illness. A recent state plan called for moving these hospital patients to a new facility in Milledgeville that would be run under a state contract, according to public documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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Son not guilty in dad's beating death -Associated Press

HARTFORD — A three judge panel has found that an Enfield man is not guilty of murder in the beating death of his father because he is mentally ill.

Brian Pagnam had been arrested in 2006 and told police that the CIA ordered him to do it.

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Stipe again declared incompetent -Associated Press

After lashing out at a federal prosecutor, a federal judge on Tuesday ruled for a second time that former state Sen. Gene Stipe is mentally incompetent for a probation revocation hearing.

“It would be an understatement to describe this case as unusual,” U.S. District Judge Ronald White said.

White had initially found Stipe mentally incompetent last November after prison neuropsychologist Robert Denney determined that Stipe has severe dementia. While looking at Stipe on Tuesday, White said he agreed to reopen the case because of “the possibility that the sly old fox, no offense, was faking it.”

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Red tape has doc eyeing U.S. -Calgary (Canada) Sun

Against the backdrop of an acute doctor shortage, a South African-born emergency physician in Calgary is considering job offers in the U.S. after his application for permanent residency in Canada was rejected because one of his daughters is severely handicapped.

Dr. Stanley Muwanguzi is frustrated with being in limbo while Citizenship and Immigration Canada officials review his application, which was denied in June 2006 on the grounds his cerebral palsy-stricken daughter would constitute a burden on the health-care system.

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Financial crisis hits home for local charity -

A lack of specific brain receptors has been linked with schizophrenia in new research by scientists at Newcastle University.

In work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team has found that NMDA receptors are essential in modifying brain oscillations – electrical wave patterns – which are altered in patients with schizophrenia.

They now want to investigate whether optimising the function of the receptors, which are already know to be involved in making memories, could lead to a new way of treating the mental illness.

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Community-based resources, support help mentalhealth sufferers - Canadia Press

CORNER BROOK, N.L. - When Herman Wilkins was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18, there were hardly any community-based resources he and his family could turn to for help.

That was about 50 years ago.

These days, the mental illness -- caused by a genetic chemical imbalance in his brain -- still follows Wilkins around, but medications, support groups and maintaining a positive attitude have allowed him to lead a productive life.

Upon being diagnosed as a teenager, Wilkins was given some now-outdated medications which were only designed as a temporary fix while he was in the hospital.

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Creative solutions can save money in corrections system - Fort Meyers (FL) News Press

The state of the economy is forcing local, state and federal governments to get creative on solutions to social issues. But watching our spending and demanding creative solutions is a very smart way for counties to move forward in these difficult times.

One creative concept - an enhanced program to reduce recidivism in our local jails - has already been successful in Oregon, in a state economy that already has been suffering for many years.

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Values Attached to “Health” Vary in North Carolina Study - Health Behavior News Service

I wish I could walk like other people…I used to but I can’t. My health won’t let me now.”

“When you’re taking care of your body, you’re pleasing God.”

“If you are responsible, you’re not going to do things that jeopardize your health, like alcohol and drugs.”

These are a few ways that North Carolinians participating in a recent study described the values that they attach to the notion of “health.” Yet, whether good health is seen as a manifestation of God’s will, a personal responsibility or the key to staying happy and independent, the participants all agreed that “health” can affect all aspects of life.

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Help These Victims - Winston-Salem (NC) Journal

It's becoming a painful rite. A few of the many people sterilized by the state travel to Raleigh and tell their intensely personal stories to a group of strangers, in hopes that they'll finally get some measure of compensation for all the hurt they've suffered. The victims spoke again last week to a panel of state legislators. Let's hope that this time, the politicians will hear them loud and clear and finally fulfill North Carolina's responsibility to help them.

"Because of this surgery, I'm not who I'm supposed to be," Mary English told the House Select Committee on Compensation for Victims of the Eugenics Sterilization Program.

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Pastor testifies at church-death trial -Philadelphia Inquirer

The Rev. Gregory Shreaves had a romantic stalker in his congregation, a member of the flock turned she-wolf.

Mary Jane Fonder left him endless phone messages until he put a block on her calls.

She dropped unwanted bags of food by the back door of the parsonage at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. She once sneaked inside while Shreaves was away and put food into his fridge.

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Defense lawyer gains permission to see client in supersecret Guantanamo lockup - Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The attorney for a man accused of helping plot 9-11 has been granted permission to visit a mysterious prison-within-a-prison at Guantanamo Bay for men previously held in secret CIA sites overseas, the lawyer said Tuesday.

The lawyer, Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, said a judge granted permission to visit "Camp 7" to see whether conditions are contributing to mental problems of her client, Ramzi Binalshibh.

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19 crimes tied to mental health patients-Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette

State officials last week opened an investigation into the latest case of an Allegheny County mental health patient connected to a violent crime.

The state Department of Public Welfare doesn't comment on the details of such investigations, but the newest one coincides with the death of 39-year-old Dawn McGuire, whose decomposing body was found Thursday in the Shadyside apartment of David Wayne Alexander.

Police have charged Mr. Alexander, 40, with homicide. He told police that he strangled Ms. McGuire, according to a criminal complaint. The pair had lived together for several months.

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Defense Claims Mental Illness -Fort Smith (AR) Times Record

GREENWOOD — There is no disagreement: 85-year-old Autry Thrift Basham brutally killed his wife in their Mansfield home just more than a year ago.

However, Sebastian County Prosecutor Gunner DeLay and Fayetteville attorney Kent McLemore, Basham’s attorney, disagree on whether Basham was mentally ill at the time he killed his wife.

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Mental health reform fails to empower -Cherokee (NC) Scout

This is the first of a three-part series examining the mental health system in western North Carolina.

It all sounded so promising seven years ago when North Carolina elected to scrap its existing mental health system.

Reform, to hear proponents tell it, would empower people with choices. No longer would patients be shut out and shut up when it came time to decide on treatments. Now they would get to pick from a virtual smorgasbord of choices, all conveniently located in their hometown or county. This, taxpayers were told, would save money – lots and lots of money. Millions, in fact, because more people would be treated in their own communities instead of being admitted to one of the state’s four psychiatric hospitals.

Who could argue with empowerment and saving money? Actually, a few people did, but not effectively enough for anyone in power to heed their warnings.

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Rutland Psychiatric Center Plans MovingFast -WCAX-TV Vermont

Mental health officials say negotiations for a new inpatient psychiatric center in Rutland are moving faster than expected.

The state is looking to transform Vermont's system of care for the mentally ill. Part of that plan includes decentralizing secure, inpatient care -- now all located at the aging Vermont State Hospital in Waterbury. The state wants to have beds in Waterbury, Burlington and Rutland.

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Jail Conditions 'Improved' During Nichols' Stay - Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) -- Prosecutors in the Brian Nichols courthouse shooting trial began calling rebuttal witnesses Tuesday morning to refute the defense claim that poor jail conditions may have contributed to Nichols' alleged mental illness and possibly helped trigger his March 11, 2005 fatal shooting spree.

First on the stand was John Gibson who ran the Fulton County Jail as a federally appointed "monitor" from July of 2004 to January of 2005. Nichols was housed in the jail beginning in August of 2004 after his arrest for allegedly raping an ex-girlfriend.

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Disability advocates laud proposed constitutional change on Nov. 4 ballot - Waerly (IA) Democrat

The Waverly mom became an advocate for “people first" language when her son Nathan, 24, was born with a disability.

That's why she supports a proposed change to the state constitution that will appear on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The measure would modernize language in the document that refers to people who have mental disabilities or illnesses.

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Increased pay sought for mental healthworkers - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Fayette County needs to offer higher salaries if it wants to attract care managers and registered nurses to work in its mental health programs, according to the administrator of the county's Mental Health/Mental Retardation department.

Lisa Ferris-Kusniar asked county commissioners on Tuesday to consider granting 3.5-percent raises to nonunion employees, effective Jan. 1. In addition, she is seeking 3-percent longevity raises for some 14 nonunion workers.

Ferris-Kusniar said funding is available for the 3.5-percent raises in her $58 million budget, which is almost entirely funded by state and federal money. As for the longevity increases, she said unionized employees already received theirs in July.

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Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses - Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their addresses.

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Teens talk about struggles with mood disorders -Kalamazoo (MI) Gazette

KALAMAZOO -- Kayla McQuesten has been hospitalized, she's been medicated and she's been counseled by professionals. She has lapsed into anorexia, and she has cut herself to relieve emotional pain.

McQuesten, 18, of Hart, shared both her trials and her triumphs with about three dozen young people, parents and teachers gathered at Bronson Methodist Hospital's Gilmore Center on Oct. 16.

She was one of three teenagers on a panel discussing teen depression and mood disorders. All three are clients of Laurie Assadi, a local psychotherapist and author of a new book, "Waking from the Nightmare: Giving our Children Optimism." Assadi organized the event and led the discussion.

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Father says murder victim was a fighter -Philadelphia Intelligencer

In the same church where his daughter Rhonda was shot to death three weeks prior, Francis Smith stood in the back of a dining room after services in February and accepted condolences from Mary Jane Fonder.

Smith, 73, didn't know Fonder very well. And he wasn't aware that police suspected her of Rhonda Smith's murder.

“She grabs my hand,” Smith told a jury in Bucks County court in Doylestown Monday. “We were standing very close. "You know Mr. Smith', she says, "I still see her face in front of me.' ”

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County closing homeless 'bank' -Las Vegas Review Journal

Charles Jones knew he wouldn't be able to kick his drug habit and get off the streets if he continued receiving his $802 Social Security check in a single monthly sum.

It was just too tempting to spend the money on drugs.
So when the 57-year-old disabled man got out of rehab earlier this year, he asked Clark County to take control of his finances, making sure his rent and other bills were paid and giving him a $50 weekly allowance for groceries.

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Watt concerned VA going ahead with Salisbury changes - Salisbury (NC) Post

Congressman Mel Watt has raised concerns that the Hefner VA Medical Center is moving forward with eliminating emergency, surgery and inpatient services despite the Veterans Affairs secretary's promise to have his staff review concerns raised about the plan.

In a letter e-mailed to Veterans Affairs Secretary James B. Peake on Friday, Watt wrote that his office had received telephone calls from constituents complaining that the Hefner VA is referring patients to private health-care facilities for procedures previously performed in-house.

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D.C. to Close City-run Mental Health Centers -Washington D.C. ABC-7

WASHINGTON - D.C. officials plan to close the District's five city-operated outpatient mental health centers and instead contract with private clinics to provide services, according to employees of one clinic.

At the Northwest Community Mental Health Center on Spring Road, employees say they've been told that this clinic and four others run by the city will be closed within nine months.

The patients will be shifted to private clinics, like Community Connections, a not-for-profit mental health center in D.C.

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Calif. prison case to test state sovereignty -Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The Schwarzenegger administration and a federal court receiver are heading toward a showdown over state's rights in the escalating fight over inmate health care.

The receiver in charge of California's prison medical system wants $8 billion to reform it and $250 million immediately as a down payment. The state says the court cannot unilaterally take that money from its treasury and must instead negotiate with lawmakers.

In a Monday hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson said he will proceed with a contempt hearing against the administration. He said it will raise significant constitutional issues about state sovereignty.

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Nichols’ defense rests - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Nichols’ defense rests
Jury expected to begin deliberating next week

Brian Nichols rested his insanity defense Monday without taking the witness stand to convince jurors in his murder trial that he is not in his right mind.

His mother testified for two days about what she described as signs that her son had become deranged from the spring of 2004 to March 11, 2005, when he went on shooting rampage at the Fulton County Courthouse where he was on trial for rape.

Lead prosecuting attorney Kellie Hill told Superior Court Judge James Bodiford that the state would spend three days calling witness to rebut a psychologist’s claim that Nichols suffers from a delusional disorder that made him think he was leading a “slave rebellion” against the justice system. The jury is expected to start deliberating next week after about six weeks of trial.

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Drugs Delayed in U.S. as Regulators Struggle With New Duties - Bloomberg

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Food and Drug Administration is missing target dates to act on new drug applications because the agency doesn't have enough staff to handle them after getting new duties from Congress a year ago, an FDA official said.

The U.S. regulators failed to meet their own timetables for decisions on at least 15 drugs so far this year, according to data compiled by Corey Davis, an analyst with Natixis Bleichroeder in New York. Prasugrel, a blood thinner from Eli Lilly & Co. and Daiichi Sankyo Co., and Schering-Plough Corp.'s asenapine for schizophrenia are among the medicines delayed.

Missing the dates leaves companies and investors ``hanging,'' and ``ambiguity breeds weakness'' in drugmakers' stock prices, Davis said. The FDA sets non-binding timelines for action on new medicines under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act, known as PDUFA, the law under which pharmaceutical companies help pay the agency to handle their applications.

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Proudly bipolar: A mother's journey to find strength with bipolar disorder - Santa Cruz (CA) Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ -- A mother of two, Dyane Harwood is proudly bipolar.

Aiming to crush the general stigma that haunts the condition, Harwood is starting a peer support group for mothers with bipolar disorder in Santa Cruz County and a nonprofit to benefit women with mental illnesses.

Harwood was diagnosed last year with bipolar disorder. After the birth of her second daughter, sleep deprivation triggered postpartum mania, hypergraphia and bipolar disorder, Harwood said.

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Man's battle with bipolar disorder easier -Canadian Press

CORNER BROOK, N.L. - When Herman Wilkins was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of 18, there were hardly any community-based resources he and his family could turn to for help.

That was about 50 years ago.

These days, the mental illness - caused by a genetic chemical imbalance in his brain - still follows Wilkins around, but medications, support groups and maintaining a positive attitude have allowed him to lead a productive life.

Upon being diagnosed as a teenager, Wilkins was given some now-outdated medications which were only designed as a temporary fix while he was in the hospital.

"I was actually in St. John's taking a course to become a drafting technician when I first took sick and had to be hospitalized for a couple of months," recalled the Corner Brook, N.L., native, who still resides in the west coast city.

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Roanoke County social services are stretched thin -Roanoke Times

While the county spends millions elsewhere, workers struggle to meet increased demand in cramped offices.In 2000, Roanoke County's Department of Social Services had 47 children in foster care.

This year, it has 147.

In 2003, the county had 4,467 Medicaid recipients.

Today, it has 6,912.

Although not every program administered by the county department has grown as dramatically as those two, many have.

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Hawai‘i receives federal funds to prevent suicide - Hawaii Garden Island

The Hawai‘i State Department of Health announced this week it has been awarded $1.5 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, for youth suicide prevention and early intervention projects for the next three years.

“These federal funds build on and strengthen our existing suicide prevention efforts,” Director of Health Dr. Chiyome Fukino said Wednesday. “With this funding, the Department of Health will be able to increase training for adult gatekeepers in key agencies to recognize and respond to youth who are at risk for suicide.”

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EDITORIAL: Beware of heedless insults in the words we choose - Northwestern New York Press Republican

Over the years, a lot of time has been spent debating terms for groups of people and whether changing traditional terms would be prudent or simply "politically correct." ("Politically correct," itself, has taken quite a pasting since its entry into the debate.)

Locally, Saranac Lake Central School changed its nickname from Redskins to Red Storm because Native Americans were offended at the former implications.

Ken Wibecan of Peru has argued that the term "minority" is not only unspecific when applied to nationalities, it's offensive in that it hints at exclusion of the group as somehow less valuable.

Arguments have arisen over whether "black" or "African American" is more appropriate. Not all blacks have Africa in their genealogies.

Bonnie Black of Behavioral Health Services North wrote in a Letter to the Editor Oct. 17 that extreme terms sometimes associated with Halloween, such as "insane asylum" in reference to whimsical haunted houses cast an unwarranted shadow over the mentally ill.

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'Housing first' programs put roofs over Sacramento's homeless -Sacramento Bee

On a gritty stretch of road in south Sacramento, construction workers are putting the finishing touches on a key part of Sacramento's ambitious plan for ending chronic homelessness.

It is called Martin Luther King Jr. Village, and it soon will offer permanent housing to people who have lived on the streets for a year or more. Residents will not be required to get mental health, drug or alcohol treatment, although such services will be available and encouraged. Tenants will have to pay for part of their housing costs if they have income. They also will have to follow certain rules of behavior. But they will not be banned from drinking in their homes.

The "housing first" strategy is a departure from traditional approaches, which require homeless people to be "clean and sober" to retain housing. In Sacramento and across the country, the strategy has proved effective in keeping formerly chronically homeless people off the streets and out of jails and emergency rooms.

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Candidates have differing ways to get health care to children - New Bern (NC) Sun Journal

RALEIGH - Democrat Bev Perdue has a goal of having health insurance for all kids who don't already have insurance.

Republican Pat McCrory wants to give more incentives to businesses to provide health insurance for employees.

Perdue, the state's lieutenant governor, and McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, are vying for the governor's post in North Carolina. Voters will elect North Carolina's next governor on Nov. 4.

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Snohomish County sheriff may be down 15 deputies - Everett (WA) Herald

Two deputies who patrol traffic and fight crime in Snohomish County could lose their jobs as part of an effort to trim 9 percent from the Sheriff's Office budget.

Sheriff John Lovick said Friday he's already decided not to hire anyone to fill 13 deputy positions that are currently vacant. He's also scrutinizing how every dollar is spent.

Even those cuts may not be enough when facing a budget crisis that is the worst county government has seen in decades.

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News Updates Delayed

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Church to offer mental health fair -Greensboro (NC) News Record

The credit crunch, war, natural disasters ...

"I have elderly worried about their life savings and the stock market, there are folks being evicted from their rental homes because their landlord is being foreclosed, and there are folks who haven't been able to afford the gas to get to work," said parish nurse Lois Bazhaw. "Stress, anxiety and depression increase in this type of emotional climate."

In an effort to help the community better know where to turn in hard times, Bazhaw is organizing a Mental Health and Substance Abuse Health Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 8 at Faith Presbyterian Church. The fair is free, and registration is not required.

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SAD season is almost upon us -Raleigh (NC) News & Observer

A week from today, the "depression" begins.

No, I'm not speaking of the economic doldrums -- which are already upon us -- but of the end of daylight saving time.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, the end of daylight saving time marks the onset of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) season for six out of every 100 Americans. I always suffer the ailment to a mild degree.

The human psyche leans toward light and away from darkness. One of my favorite lines in The Good Book is "Let there be light!"

In James Weldon Johnson's marvelous "God's Trombones," he notes that darkness "blacker than a hundred midnights" once covered the world:

Then God smiled

And the light broke

And the darkness rolled up on one side

And the light stood shining on the other,

And God said: That's good!

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For Some, Housing Crisis Stress Is Unbearable -National Public Radio

Morning Edition, October 27, 2008 · It's only natural to worry as the value of homes and investments falls. But the financial crisis is hitting some people harder than others. In California, the housing meltdown started early. Over the past three months, a record number of Californians lost their homes to foreclosure.

And some of those financial losses are turning into human tragedies, as reports of suicide and other desperate behavior emerge.

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Mental health tax levy needed to combat state cuts, officials say - Youngstown (OH) Vindicator

By William K. Alcorn

YOUNGSTOWN — Renewal of the Mahoning County Mental Health Board’s five-year, 0.85-mill property tax levy is essential to avoid cuts in programs for mentally ill residents, county mental health officials say.

It is not a new or an additional tax, and is desperately needed, especially in the face of cuts in state and federal funding, they add.

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Most favor smoking ban -Butte (MT) Standard

While most readers favor a smoking ban at Warm Springs, most comments are dead-set against the idea. Read on:

# While they need to have designated areas for smoking, it is proven people with mental health issues generally need to have caffeine and tobacco. It helps to level them out, so taking this away would cause them so much added stress, and, also, would cause more relapse, which, with every relapse the brain deteriorates (also proven). Mentally ill people are often ostracized in our society and do not have much for a social life and oftentimes tobacco and caffeine are literally their best friends. So this ban would have a very negative affect on them and those around them.

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White House program for chronically homeless paying off - McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — On a cold January morning in 2001, Mel Martinez, who was then the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was headed to his office in his limo when he saw some homeless people huddled on the vents of the steam tunnels that heat federal buildings.

"Somebody ought to do something for them," Martinez said he told himself. "And it dawned on me at that moment that it was me."

So began the Bush administration's radical, liberal — and successful — national campaign against chronic homelessness.

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Cortez case expected to blend PTSDand sanity - Greely (CO) Tribune

It has been more than a year since Nikki Fix-Cortez was gunned down by a shotgun blast that killed her and her unborn child.

Fix-Cortez's friend, Sam Jantz, survived the attack, but not without sustaining a gunshot wound himself that put him in the hospital.

This Thursday, Ricardo Cortez, 25, will stand trial for the murder of his estranged wife, Fix-Cortez, and argue that he is not guilty by reason of insanity at the time of the shooting.

According to court documents, Cortez has asserted he suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which prevented the formation of the required culpable mental state necessary to be charged with first-degree murder.

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Author to speak tonight about her schizophrenia - Louisville (KY) Post Courier

California law professor Elyn Saks said she had some reservations about publishing a personal account of her lifelong struggle with schizophrenia last year.
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But Saks said she did it to show that people with severe mental illness can succeed with proper medication and psychiatric treatment.

Saks, 53, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, will speak at the University of Louisville's Strickler Hall at 7:30 tonight.

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Rockland mental health professionals from Chappaqua write book about schizophrenia

ORANGEBURG - Irene and Jerome Levine have written many scholarly books and papers during their decades as mental health professionals.

But it wasn't until they started their latest endeavor that people laughed at their work.

"Schizophrenia for Dummies," was released last week, and the Levines hope that the book provides easy-to-understand information for patients and families as well as eliminates some of the stigma associated with the illness.

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Murder suspect committed to state prison -Sandpoint (ID) Bonner County Daily Bee

SANDPOINT - Murder suspect Keith Brown has been committed to the Idaho Department of Correction for mental health reasons, most of which remain shrouded in secrecy.
Brown was being held at the Bonner County Jail until this week, when he was transported to the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna.

The move comes two months after District Judge Fred Gibler issued an order committing Brown to the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare. Gibler found there was good cause to doubt Brown's capacity to assist in his own defense or make informed treatment decisions due to mental defect or illness.

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Report released for health facility -Stockton (CA) Record

STOCKTON - A federal receiver put in charge of reforming the state's prison health care system released a detailed report Friday on a proposal to build a health care facility for approximately 1,700 inmates on the outskirts of Stockton.

The new facility would have significant impact on traffic, air quality, wildlife and agricultural resources, according to the environmental impact report. It includes measures to lessen adverse impacts that would come with the new facility.

Part of an $8 billion plan to build up to seven such facilities across the state, the Stockton-area facility has drawn opposition from local officials who contend, among other things, the massive new health care facility would draw already scarce health care workers from local jobs.

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Mentally ill patient may be transferred to clinic - Associated Press

WILLIAMSBURG -- A mentally ill patient who has been held in seclusion at a state psychiatric hospital for 15 years could be moved to a community-based treatment center, state officials told an oversight committee yesterday.

Commissioner James Reinhard said the state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services is working to find a place to transfer Cesar Chumil, a 58-year-old Hispanic man who has been locked in a room at Western State Hospital in Staunton since 1993. He said Chumil likely would not be placed in another state hospital.

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Our View: Address jail issues, don’t appeal ruling -Phoenix East Valley Tribune

Being in jail should be an uncomfortable experience involving the deprivation of liberties that those inside should conclude is something not worth repeating. But the vast majority of those held in Maricopa County’s jails haven’t been found guilty of anything; they are awaiting trial.

While they mark time before their days in court, jailers may not create or allow conditions that endanger their safety and health, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake determined Wednesday that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and correctional health officials were providing, as the Tribune’s Mary K. Reinhart reported, “inadequate medical and mental health care, unsanitary conditions, unhealthy food, minimal supervision and disciplinary practices that cause mentally ill inmates 'needless suffering and deterioration’.”

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Crossroads getting funds to help more at-risk kids -Mount Airy (NC) News

ELKIN — Breaking the cycle of drugs, alcohol and crime among young people is the goal of Crossroads Behavioral Healthcare, and now with a grant of $270,000, it will be able to help more teens, more often.

Crossroads Behavioral Healthcare serves the citizens of Surry, Iredell and Yadkin counties who need professional help for mental health, developmental disabilities or substance abuse treatment. According to its Web site, it also operates a 24-hour call center, seven days a week to respond to those needs.

David Swann, Crossroads’ chief executive officer, said $90,000 of the grant money comes directly to Crossroads Behavioral Healthcare.

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Western State Hospital Patient Hearing -Associated Press

A state oversight committee will hear a plan to transfer a mentally ill patient who has been held in seclusion for 15 years to another facility.

The state Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services must present its plan to the State Human Rights Committee to transfer 58-year-old Cesar Chumil from Western State Hospital.

The committee, which meets Friday in Williamsburg, has recommended Chumil be moved because the Hispanic man had not received mental health treatment in his native language of Spanish and has been held in a three-room seclusion suite for 15 years, among other reasons.

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Pennsylvania Governor Signs Tighter Gun Law -Philadelphia Inquirer

Surrounded by the relatives of recently slain Philadelphia police officers, Gov. Rendell yesterday signed into law tougher gun penalties, including a mandatory 20-year sentence for anyone convicted of shooting - or shooting at - law enforcement officers.

House Bill 1845 also increases penalties for other gun-related crimes and closes a loophole that allowed some mentally ill individuals to buy guns.

But the General Assembly failed to support a provision that would have required the

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It’s time to get sick and tired -Lebanon (OH) Daily News

Now that mental-health coverage has been declared equal under insurance law to physical health care (it was earmarked to the $700,000,000,000 bailout that both major presidential candidates voted for), we, the people, ought to feel better off than we were only two weeks ago, especially when it comes to our paranoia and depression concerning the value of our IRAs, 401(k)s and other retirement savings.

A popular definition states that to continue repeating the same absurd activity over and over again while hoping for a different outcome is to be mentally ill. Well, despite all of their rhetoric, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama are for maintaining the status quo when it comes to health care in America, and why not? They certainly owe something to their financial backers.

Meanwhile, it’s morning once again in these United States, and unless you’re a corporate head, a politician or a professional athlete good luck with your health-care plan, if you have one.

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Killer claims antidepressant may have caused him to kill -Carson City (NV) Appeal

axil withdrawal may have caused a Carson City man in 2000 to shoot his estranged wife's suspected lover to death, and the defense attorney's failure to explore that as a theory should be enough to garner a new trial, an attorney for Anthony Echols argued before the First Judicial District Court on Thursday.

Defense Attorney Richard Cornell offered three witnesses to support the theory that Echols, now 46, was suffering from mental symptoms related to quitting the brand-name antidepressant "cold turkey" when he went to the home of Rick Albrecht on Aug. 5, 2000, and shot the Carson City contractor twice in the head.

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Driver In Fatal Crash Says "Demon" Chased Him -Assoociated Press

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) -- A lawyer for the driver charged in a high-speed crash that killed a 10-year-old girl in New Milford said his client thought a red-eyed "demonic figure" was chasing him.

"He is not only a danger to himself but also to others at this time," defense attorney Arthur Carmano told Superior Court Judge Harry G. Carroll in Hackensack, in requesting protective custody for his client.

It was the first court appearance for Harold Saenz of Bergenfield, who Carmano said is schizophrenic and has a known history of three attempted suicides in the last two years.

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Settlement in suit over Delco jail death -Philadelphia Inquirer

The family of an Aston woman who died after five weeks at the Delaware County jail has reached a settlement with operators of the jail after nearly two weeks of trial in federal court.

Cassandra "Sandy" Morgan, 38, died in 2006 of complications from a thyroid condition for which she did not receive medication while incarcerated. Morgan, who had schizophrenia, had been declared incompetent to stand trial on a shoplifting charge. She died before the court could rule on the psychiatrist's competency evaluation.

Neither the Morgan family nor its lawyers would disclose terms of the settlement, citing a confidentiality agreement. James Mundy, a lawyer for the family, said only, "Everybody is satisfied."

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Man who posed as deliveryman pleads guilty to burglary resulting in bodily injury - Indianaopolis Star

A man who posed as a DHL delivery person and attacked a Fishers woman pleaded guilty Thursday to burglary resulting in bodily injury.

Former business executive Lawrence L. Carl, 42, Cicero, entered a plea agreement in Hamilton Superior Court 3. By pleading guilty to the burglary charge, Carl ensured the state would dismiss other charges against

He now awaits his sentencing, which will probably be in late December or January, said Deputy Prosecutor Doug Swift.

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Group aims to help in Pontiac -Detroit Free Press

Common Ground, a nonprofit that assists people in need throughout Oakland County, is looking to expand in Pontiac.

But city officials declined the request, organization officials say, because Pontiac is already filled with groups serving poor people, drug addicts and mentally ill people. The crisis assistance center, headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, wants to move most of its daily operations to Pontiac. It says the move would bring in up to 80 jobs.

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Benefit disparity drove up all costs -Nashville Tennessean

Fifteen years ago, I entered treatment for alcohol dependency as the result of an unsuccessful and dangerous attempt to self-medicate the overwhelming symptoms of bipolar depression.

I had an excellent, employer-based health plan that covered nearly $7,000 of the charges — roughly half of the total bill. That year, a close friend suffered a severe head injury requiring surgery. Interestingly, his total bill was roughly the same as mine. His portion of the charges amounted to about $2,500, or about 20 percent of the tab. Two hospitalizations to treat the same part of the body, the brain, and two very different price tags.
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Approximately 11 out of 100,000 people die by suicide in the U.S. annually. More than 90 percent have a diagnosable mental disorder, most commonly a depressive or a substance-abuse disorder

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New law welcome, but more needed -Nashville Tennessean

Mental illness is a medical illness. A new federal law recognizes that fact and takes a long step toward ending discrimination for millions of Americans.

One in four Americans experience mental-health problems at some point in their lives. One in 17 live with severe mental illnesses like major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or severe anxiety disorders. Treatment works — if a person can get it. With early treatment, adults and children with even the most serious mental illnesses can recover.
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Earlier this month, Congress decided that group health insurance plans should provide the same coverage for mental illness as for heart disease and diabetes.

Finally, the law is catching up with science, which, over the past 40 years has come to understand that mental illnesses are diseases of the brain — a physical organ.

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Woman earns honor for helping others -Hendesonville (NC) Times-News

Jacque Combs is the executive director of the Sixth Avenue West Clubhouse.

Combs is being recognized as today’s Woman of the Day by the Hendersonville Business and Professional Women. The organization is honoring a different career woman each day of the week in its observance of National Business Women’s Week Oct. 20-24. BPW Woman of the Day honors go to women who have contributed to the advancement of working women through their careers or through their contributions to improve the workplace for women.

Combs recently celebrated her 25th anniversary as executive director of the clubhouse.

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Oregon says no more 'Cuckoo's Nest' tours - Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Tourists interested in exploring the mental hospital made famous in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" will have to settle for a virtual visit.

Public interest in visiting the 125-year-old J Building at the Oregon State Hospital soared after the state Department of Human Services sponsored a series of guided tours on Sept 13. State employees led about 200 people through vacated, decaying sections of the building and the sprawling tunnels under it, where some patients had to live.

Publicity from that day led another 1,100 to express interest in visiting the place where the Oscar-winning film starring Jack Nicholson was shot.

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Flagler to study alternatives to jail -Flagler (FL) News Journal

BUNNELL -- When you're caught breaking the law, you go to jail. Some might say that's the way it should be.

But things aren't always that black and white, said Dee Krogh, a caseworker in Flagler County's human services department.

"We can't afford to go on building jails," Krogh said. Especially when they're regularly filling up with people who really belong elsewhere, such as in a treatment center or a psychiatrist's office.

Krogh plans to spend the next several months working on a study, funded by a federal grant, to determine where Flagler County is lacking in helping individuals with substance abuse and mental health problems.ing room but left the hospital at some stage during the night.

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Tours to be offered of new Behavioral Health Unit -Haywood County (NC) News

CLYDE - The public is invited to a tour of the new Behavioral Health Unit at Haywood Regional Medical Center beginning with a dedication ceremony at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

The presentation and refreshments will be offered in the hospital cafeteria on the second floor. Tours of the unit will be conducted in small groups for Haywood Regional employees 2-3 p.m. and for the community from 4:30 to 6 p.m., beginning from the cafeteria.

The Smoky Mountain Center, which will manage the Behavioral Health Unit on the sixth floor west at Haywood Regional, was one of four local management entities for mental health services in the state awarded $1.2 million in funding from the N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services for the pilot project.

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Survivor of suicide attempts knows help can heal -Portland Oregonian

Each of the three times she tried to kill herself, Susan, a 55-year-old Portland resident, took an overdose of prescription pills in her home.

Suffering from bipolar disorder, she already felt depressed, but there was always something -- harsh criticism, frustration or immense guilt -- that sent her into a spiral.

"You reach a point, and you don't think anything is ever going to get better," she said Thursday. "The anxiety is so great you want to get rid of it."

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Portland suicides spike - Portland Oregonian

by Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Thursday October 23, 2008, 8:44 PM

Nearly twice as many people have died by or attempted suicide in Portland's downtown and west side this year, alarming police who are banding together with county mental health experts to figure out why, and how to get immediate care to those in crisis.

Caseworkers suspect that the bleak economy and reports of an upheaval in the local mental health system have intensified people's sense of despondency, but they don't know for sure.

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Upstate man gets death for double murder - Associated Press

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- A man was sentenced to death Thursday for killing a couple by beating them with a hammer in what prosecutors said was an act of revenge after a fight with the victims' son.

The Spartanburg County jury deliberated about an hour before deciding the fate of Antonio "Tony" Torres, 27. The same jury convicted him of murder and rape last Sunday.

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Attorney says man charged in crash that killed Fair Lawn girl is mentally ill - New Jersey Star-Ledger

Harold Saenz left his Bergenfield apartment last week, a distressed young man in need of a walk. He had been off his medication for months and said he was disturbed by odors that didn't exist, his attorney said yesterday.

In the minutes that followed, Saenz, 22, diagnosed with schizophrenia and who had attempted suicide at least three times in the past two years, allegedly stole a Mercedes-Benz with its keys in the ignition. He sped off, as the car's owner followed in a second vehicle, and plowed the Mercedes into another car, killing a 10-year-old girl, authorities said.

His lawyer said that Saenz described his pursuer as a red-eyed demon.

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Lacrosse party dancer still claims assault -Raleigh (NC) News & Observer

From Staff Reports Comment on this story
DURHAM - The escort service dancer who claimed she was raped by members of the Duke University lacrosse team described herself today as wrongly maligned and insisted that she had wanted only justice.

Crystal Gail Mangum appeared at a news conference to promote a book about her life. She continued to say that she was assaulted in March 2006 at a lacrosse team party where she had been hired to dance.

"I am still claiming that a sexual assault happened," she said. But she declined to go into detail, and she brushed aside a question about what she would say to the players.

"I have no comments about the details of the case," she said, adding later, "There's no point in going into that, because the trial will never happen. So what's the point? I just don't see the point."

Joe Cheshire, one of the defense lawyers for the players, said this afternoon that Mangun is being used by the people who helped her create the book.

"Her press conference and her continued assertion that an assault happened is really pathetic," Cheshire said.

"She says she's writing this book to help other people, and what she's continuing to do by lying is continuing to hurt people, including women who really are victims of sexual assault. She's clearly doing this to make money. By continuing to lie, she makes everything in the book, everything she says, a lie."

State Attorney General Roy Cooper dismissed charges against three players last year, declaring them innocent. Cooper said at the time that Mangum "may actually believe the many different stories that she has been telling."

Mangum, 30, who graduated from N.C. Central University, said she hopes to get a PhD from the University of Georgia and open a group home for troubled girls. She appeared today in a neat gray suit and stylishly-cut hair, far different from her stumbling image in photos taken at the team party.

Mangum, who has suffered from alcohol abuse and mental problems, said she wrote the book for closure and to help others.

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Cicero man pleads guilty in assault -Indianapolis Star

A man who posed as a DHL delivery person and attacked a Fishers woman pleaded guilty today to burglary resulting in bodily injury.

Former business executive Lawrence L. Carl, 42, Cicero, entered a plea agreement in Hamilton Superior Court 3. By pleading guilty to the burglary charge, Carl ensured the state would dismiss other charges against him: criminal confinement, strangulation and battery resulting in bodily injury.

The plea agreement made no recommendations for sentencing, which could occur as soon as late December. The maximum sentence for the charge is 20 to 50 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000, according to the plea agreement.

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Sandwich mother's conviction reduced -Cape Cod (MA) Times

In a rare move, the state's highest court has reduced the conviction of a Sandwich mother for the suffocation death of her toddler shortly before Christmas seven years ago.

Erin J. Colleran, now 34, was convicted in Barnstable Superior Court of first-degree murder with deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty for killing her daughter, Skyler Morse. The 2½-year-old girl was killed on the couch of the family's rental house Dec. 18, 2001.

After reviewing the case, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that there was no premeditation involved in the killing and the act resulted from Colleran's suffering a profound, possibly psychotic, depression.

The high court's decision reduces the verdict to murder in the second degree, which carries a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

"She was mentally ill, so the second-degree (verdict) is more consonant with justice," said attorney Janet H. Pumphrey of Lenox, who represented Colleran in the appeal. "It's just more fair."

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Students' well-being tracked to improve lives -San Francisco Chronicle

Fewer kids in Napa County visit the dentist regularly than kids in other California counties. More San Francisco children teeter on the brink of depression than other children do. And for some reason, fewer parents in Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties are reading to their very young children than parents living elsewhere.

These are among hundreds of illuminating and sometimes heart-wrenching facts revealed in a new county-by-county study of the well-being of California's youngest residents, published Wednesday by Children Now, a national nonprofit advocacy group based in Oakland.

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10 Myths About Autism - ABC News

As the number of Americans diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders climbs, so, too, does the number of questions surrounding this disorder. Namely, what is autism, and what is causing a rise in autism diagnoses among adults and children nationwide?

Dr. Tim Johnson sorts fact from fiction about the complex disorder.

Amid these questions, television shows and magazines feature a barrage of stories and imagery -- families rallying for and against vaccines, debates between medical experts pointing to both genetic and environmental causes, and images of individuals diagnosed with autism who struggle to speak and function independently, while others can interact with others and are able to hold jobs. For many, these competing messages may make this already complex condition even more confusing.

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Driver cleared in death of killer -Pueblo (CO) Chieftan

Witness statements have exonerated a Pueblo man in the Christmas Day traffic death of a killer who spent 25 years at the Colorado Mental Health Institute.

Travis Olguin, 25, had been charged with careless driving resulting in the death of Randy Riggs, 42.

Riggs was committed to the state hospital in 1982, after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the slaying of a Larimer County teacher and subsequent rape of her corpse in 1981. He was released from CMHIP in 2006. He was returned after he breached conditions of his release, then was permanently freed later the same year. At the time of his death, Riggs was still monitored on an ankle bracelet.

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Bones are those of missing woman -Cincinnati Enquirer

SOUTH FAIRMOUNT - Off her medications and off any sort of program that would keep her clean, Tina McDonald walked away from home in April.
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"She said, 'I'll be right back,' " McDonald's mother, Nancy Goodrich, said.

McDonald never returned. She never called.

"That was it," Goodrich said.

Goodrich told police she thought her daughter, who had bipolar disorder and was off her medications, was heading toward the city for drugs after many unsuccessful attempts at drug rehab.

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Bristol-Myers Squibb profit triples -The Associated Press

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said today its third-quarter profit tripled, mainly because of a big gain from selling its high-tech wound care business.

In a bright spot for a pharmaceutical industry wrestling with slumping sales, the maker of blood thinner Plavix posted a double-digit sales jump, sharply boosted its profit forecast and paid off its debt.

The New York-based company said net income for the July-September quarter tripled to $2.58 billion, or $1.29 per share, up from $858 million, or 43 cents per share.

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Insanity claim a sham - Staten Island (NY) Advance

The woman who was barreling along Forest Avenue at 86 mph with the lights cut when she slammed into pedestrian Larry Simon -- severing his legs and catapulting the body 300 feet -- has been faking insanity, jailhouse tapes show.

Taliyah Taylor was caught telling friends she could fool psychiatrists into thinking she was crazy.

Defense attorney Christopher Renfroe called the bombshell tapes "strategically fatal" and rested his case yesterday without calling any witnesses after Ms. Taylor spurned a prosecution offer to plead guilty to attempted murder in exchange for 15 years in prison.

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Witnesses Tell Jury Torres Is Mentally Ill -Greenville (SC) FOX Carolina

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- He beat Ray and Ann Emery to death with a hammer last May, and now Antonio Andres Torres faces the death penalty.

The jury saw pictures of Torres as a little boy Wednesday. Witnesses told the jury Torres started taking medicine for mental problems at 19 months old.

It took jurors two and a half hours Monday to find Torres guilty in the killing of his friend’s parents inside their Drayton home, convicting him on seven charges which included two counts of murder and armed robbery as well as criminal sexual conduct, attempt to burn and burglary.


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Army to look into murder pattern -Colorado

U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., thinks Fort Carson could do more to prevent soldiers returning from Iraq from committing murders in Colorado Springs. Following a handful of high-profile slayings by soldiers, including the recent rape and murder of 19-year-old Judilianna Lawrence, Salazar contacted the Army with his concerns.

"Those who committed these violent crimes should be brought to justice," Salazar said in a communication shared with media. "But these tragedies also raise a number of questions from the backgrounds and service records of these soldiers, to whether they received waivers to enter the service, to the adequacy of mental health screening and treatment within the Army. The Army leadership should immediately investigate these cases and do what it can to prevent tragedies like these from taking place in the future."

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Worcester’s gentle giant was a champion of the mentally ill - Worcester (MA) Telegram

The asylum idea was a big improvement over the cells and chains of the previous decades.

Dr. Samuel Woodward (1787-1850) was one hunk of a man. Standing 6 feet 6 inches tall, tipping the scales at 260 pounds, he could have been a linebacker for the Pats, if the Pats had been around in 1832.

Although he must have seemed a formidable figure, he was a gentle giant. In 1832 he was named superintendent of the brand new Worcester State Lunatic Asylum on Summer Street with the idea that he was going to reform the way the mentally ill were treated. Even before Dorothea Dix began her crusade to improve the ghastly conditions in the almshouses, workhouses and prisons of Massachusetts, people knew that something had to be done. The asylum was the answer. Dr. Woodward and his colleagues could not have dreamed how the asylum would turn out over the next 100 years — as a vast warehouse for persons of all descriptions who did not fit into the usual patterns of society.

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Bristol and Lilly top analyst - Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. drug makers Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) posted better-than-expected third-quarter profits on double-digit sales gains, although results were marred by special charges related to either government probes or soured investments.

Both drug makers also gave improved forecasts for the rest of the year, and their shares rose.

Drug makers have largely surpassed expectations this quarter, despite some setbacks, proving their potential value as defensive investments during the economic turmoil.

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Salisbury City Council opposes changes at VA Medical Center - Salisbury (NC) Post

Salisbury City Council passed a resolution Tuesday that calls on the Hefner VA Medical Center to keep its emergency, inpatient and surgical services.

In recent weeks, the VA Medical Center has announced plans to restructure its services and focus the institution on mental health and long-term care, while still providing some outpatient services.

The city resolution says it's critical for the medical center to maintain its inpatient, emergency and surgical services "to provide the highest quality medical care for the veterans who served honorably and gallantly and deserve exceptional, accessible medical care they have rightfully earned."

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Social Services receives mixed report card -Durham (NC) Herald Sun

DURHAM -- Durham County's Board of Social Services received a mixed report Wednesday morning on foster children.

Fewer than half of the youngsters who enter the foster-care system leave it in a year by way of adoption, parental reunification or placement in the custody or guardianship of an adult, said Jovetta Whitfield, the county's program manager for foster care and adoptive services.

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Judge: County’s jails jeopardize inmates' health -Metro Phoenix East Valley Hournal

Inmates awaiting trial in Maricopa County jails are housed in conditions that jeopardize their health and safety in violation of their constitutional rights, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Neil Wake said Sheriff Joe Arpaio and correctional health officials provide inadequate medical and mental health care, unsanitary conditions, unhealthy food, minimal supervision and disciplinary practices that cause mentally ill inmates “needless suffering and deterioration.”

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Group makes mental illness funny - British Columbia (Canada) The Progress

Michael Warren’s battle with mental illness once immersed him in the gloom of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

These days, it’s immersing him in the laughter of the stage.

Warren is a member of Stand Up For Mental Health (SMH), a program that teaches stand-up comedy to people with mental illness.
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Mental health agency shifts focus -Muskegon Chronicle

OTTAWA COUNTY -- Ottawa County's Community Mental Health agency may contract for traditional outpatient therapy programs for clients with less severe forms of mental illness to focus its resources on caring for the most severe cases.

Facing a projected $400,000 budget deficit for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, CMH Executive Director Michael Brashears on Monday night outlined recommendations for reorganizing the department.

The recommendations come after an analysis that found only 40 percent of the more than 3,000 clients CMH provided services to in the last year were Medicaid patients, yet Medicaid paid for 80 percent of the agency's revenues.

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Judge Approves Settlement of Suit Against Aetna Over Coverage for Eating Disorders - New Jersey Law Journal

A federal judge gave final approval Tuesday to a class action settlement that requires Aetna Insurance Co. to provide about $300,000 in back payments to 119 insureds whose benefits for eating disorders were limited.

The company also promised to treat future claims more liberally and make internal reforms to resolve disputes over benefits for eating disorders.

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Disabled workers could lose jobs - Massachusetts WWLP-TV

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - One hundred disabled workers could lose their jobs because of the state budget cuts.

People who work at two Riverbend Furniture plants and a cleaning business, as part of a program to help the mentally ill, could be laid off.

The plant's Director of Operations said the news was devastating to the employees who literally rely on their job to help them function each day.

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Nothing to Hide? - Columbia (SC) Free Times

We did our job and did it well.

In short, that is the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s position on DHEC’s responsibilities related to the troubled C.M. Tucker Jr. Nursing Care Center in Columbia.

Some observers and critics of DHEC might disagree.

Hanging in the balance of who is right is nothing less than the safety, well being and indeed the lives of some of the most vulnerable and afflicted elderly people.

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Forensic Psychologist: Nichols Writings Show Seeds of Delusion - Atlanta FOX-TV

ATLANTA (MyFOX Atlanta) -- A forensic psychologist said there were hints of Brian Nichols’ mental illness as early as college. The expert witness said Nichols was delusional at time of the courthouse shootings three years ago.

Forensic psychologist Mark Cunninham said Nichols knew murder was illegal under Georgia law and that he was following "a larger rule of war."


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Bad economy means foregone health care, but also fewer crashes - Scripps News Service

Millions of Americans are skimping on medical visits, prescription drugs and diagnostic tests, even if they have health insurance coverage, because they can't afford to pay even part of the cost.

Hard times are expanding a trend that affected many even before real estate and stocks declined -- some experts calculate that 1 in 7 families are one major illness away from medical bankruptcy.

A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation released this week found 47 percent of adults surveyed said someone in their family had skipped pills, or postponed or cut back on needed medical care in the past year due to cost concerns.

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Deputy's killer sent to prison today - Fresno (CA) Bee

The schizophrenic man sentenced earlier this week to life in prison for the murder of sheriff's deputy Erik Telen was transported this morning from Fresno County Jail to Wasco State Prison, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims announced today.

Ramadan Abdullah, 27, was among 40 other inmates transported by bus to the prison north of Bakersfield. The inmates arrived at 9 a.m.

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Oregon Pays $331,000 to Settle Panty Thief Family's Lawsuit - Oregon KTVL-TV

The state has agreed to pay $331,000 to settle a lawsuit over a police search of the family home of a young man convicted of stealing thousands of pairs of women's underwear from college campuses.

At the time, Sung Koo Kim was considered a suspect in the 2004 abduction of Brooke Wilberger from a Corvallis apartment complex.

Kim's mother, Dong, said the violent search traumatized her family. She also criticized police for portraying her son as a monster when it was clear he was suffering from mental illness and had nothing to do with the Wilberger case.

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Volunteers scrambling to help as winter sets in - Brookings (OR) Curry Coastal Pilot

Members of the Curry County Homeless Coalition are scrambling to find ways to meet the needs of the homeless in the community as the cold weather approaches.

Unfortunately, according to Curry County Economic and Community Development Director Susan Brown, the Gold Beach and Port Orford contingents have been virtually non-existent and Homeless Coalition meetings will not be held in that part of the county until teams can be formed.

Coalition members will be holding an Emergency Cold Weather Supplies Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Nov. 1 and 2, with team members on duty at Grocery Outlet in Harbor and the U.S. Post Office and Ray's Food Place in Brookings.

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McCoy sentenced for deaths from car chase - Southern Maryland Recorder

The courtroom fell silent except for a police cruiser's siren blaring from the television screen and holding everyone captive as they watched the cruiser's dashboard camera video that caught a high-speed chase weaving through traffic on Route 4 from Prince Frederick to Dunkirk.

The video, filmed Nov. 23, 2007, was part of Assistant State's Attorney Andrew Rappaport's evidence at the sentencing hearing on Oct. 17 of Darren D. McCoy of Bladensburg, who entered an Alford plea to first-degree assault and two counts of negligent manslaughter on May 12 in the Calvert County Circuit Court. An Alford plea does not admit guilt, but admits that state could prove the charges.

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