The Archbishop is the archnemesis of birth control.

​In a letter made public yesterday, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, including Archbishop John Nienstedt, voiced opposition to the new federal health care mandate requiring insurance companies to cover birth control free of charge.

"While we support providing access to those services which can truly prevent disease or disability for women, such as pap smears and mammograms," the letter reads, "we join other persons of good will who strenuously object to mandatory coverage for contraceptives and sterilization procedures."

This is further evidence that all decisions about women's reproductive health should be made by old celibate men.

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Our cover story, Achilles Heel, documented Johnson & Johnson's efforts to prove its drug was safe

​A federal jury in Minneapolis has decided that the risks of a blockbuster drug made by Johnson & Johnson were well-established, directly contradicting a verdict another jury reached last fall.

Calvin Christensen, 84, claimed that taking the drug Levaquin caused his Achilles tendon to rupture. But the drug maker successfully argued that Christensen's doctor knew the risks and prescribed it anyway. Score: Johnson & Johnson, 1; the People, 1.

Next up: a tiebreaker trial in November.

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​Last week in our cover story, Achilles Heel, we wrote about a man whose Achilles tendon ruptured after he took the antibiotic Levaquin.

Now, the drug makers are on trial in Minneapolis in federal court.

The central issue in the trial, which began this morning, is whether drug maker Johnson & Johnson adequately warned doctors of the risks of taking the medication. Last fall, John "Bob" Schedin, won $700,000 in compensatory damages and $1.1 million in punitive damages when the jury agreed that the drug company hid risks.

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Max Reid's treatment for autism was initially uncovered by his insurance.

​We first told you about the fight over Intensive Early Intervention Behavioral therapy for kids with autism in our January feature.

More recently, the issue got prominent treatment in a two-part series on the cover of the Star Tribune.

Then, on Monday, the Ramsey County judge presiding over a lawsuit on the subject, smacking down the Department of Human Services for its seemingly unequal treatment of autistic children.

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Matt Visionquest

Bravepaw tweets his feelings on Obamacare.

​Tim Pawlenty just excitedly tweeted that we should all check out his statement on the "1 yr anniversary of Obamacare."

For such a momentous twitterduction, the statement is decidely brief--just about three tweets worth of text. In it, Pawlenty calls Obama's healthcare reforms "one of the most flawed and misguided laws in modern history."

Really? The most flawed and misguided law in modern history? Let's put that to the test in the jump.
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Photo by Whatsername?

​Perhaps this study is full of "findings" we all knew before the University of Minnesota managed to publish it, but apparently it's still big news. Baking under tanning lights increases your risk of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, big time. Just don't do it.

A University of Minnesota study published today puts a big black eye on the indoor tanning industry. Researchers found that frequent users of tanning beds are up to three times more likely to develop melanoma. It doesn't matter how old they were when they started either.

But the tanning industry has another theory: The U of M study is worthless because they focused on Minnesotans, made up of "northern European stock." And you know how freaking pale-white we all are. Translucent even! We should have known we were bound to get skin cancer anyway.

Quick question: Isn't indoor tanning targeting pale-white ladies who crave that sun-bronzed look others have naturally? Interesting.

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​Planned Parenthood's Highland Park clinic in St. Paul, the frequent scene of anti-abortion protests -- and, more recently, counter-protests favoring reproductive rights -- is closing up shop.

But the services it offers aren't going away. Instead, the women's reproductive health organization is moving across St. Paul to a brand new $16 million, 46,000 square foot, three story headquarters at Charles and Vandalia streets in December 2011.

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​Good news: The total number of reportable sexually transmitted diseases in Minnesota -- chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and chancroid -- took a 5 percent drop to 16,702 in 2009 from 17,649 cases in 2008 the Minnesota Department of Health said today.

Way to keep it clean, folks. But there's a cautionary note:

"Chlamydia was Minnesota's number one reported STD this past year with 14,186 cases," said MDH's Peter Carr. "This is almost identical to last year's totals where we saw 14,350 chlamydia cases reported."

MDH data show that about 70 percent of STD cases around the state occurred in teens and young adults aged 15 to 24.

Photo: alvi2047/Flickr

​According to new figures released by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America's Health, Minnesota ranked 41st out of 50 states in the amount of federal funding it received from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- $16.50 per person -- to support disease and injury prevention programs last year.

Midwest states in general also received the least federal funding support for disease prevention -- $16.50 per person, according to the study. That's $3.30 less per person than the Northeastern states' $19.80 per person. Western states get $19.22 per person, and Southern states get$19.75 per person.

Alaska topped the list with $58.65 per person, while Virginia was bottom of the list, with $13.33 per person. The national average was $19.23 per person.

2009. According to Shortchanging America's Health: A State-By-State Look at Public Health Funding in the United States, Minnesota received $16.50 per person - a total of $86,876,902 - which is above average for the Midwestern region.

Trust for America's Health bills itself as a non-partisan outfit dedicated to disease prevention. It's led by former Connecticut congressman and governor Lowell Weicker, a Republican. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the largest philanthropy in the country devoted to health care issues.

T-Paw is running hard, and he's so proud of this recent Fox appearance that he tweeted it.