(AP) — Sitting at a table in a downtown Lafayette coffee shop, four mothers, all experienced in home births, talked about what they consider a long-overdue law — House Bill 1135 — concerning midwife-assisted home births. The law, once it takes effect and new regulations are written, will allow certified professional midwives, or CPMs, to conduct home births, provided they meet yet-to-be designated license requirements. According to the women at the table, for two reasons. [...] it sets a standard of care. [...] it opens the possibility of home births to an entire class of midwives who have been locked out of the market in Indiana. [...] passage of the law, the only class that could legally perform home births was certified nurse midwives, or CNMs. Many women who preferred to have home births have gone underground to find a midwife willing to assist. "Because of the circles and the friends, we have found the professionals to allow us to have the home births, but it'd be great to be able to come to town and look in the telephone book now," she said. The Committee on Obstetric Practice of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a statement in February in the wake of a new wave of support for home births. The statement read, "Although the Committee on Obstetric Practice believes that hospitals and birthing centers are the safest setting for birth, it respects the right of a woman to make a medically informed decision about delivery." In April, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a similar statement, echoing the concerns of home births and newborn safety.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Patients at Kenya's only psychiatric hospital are often confined and immobilized using drugs that put them in a comatose-like state, factors that may have led to the recent escape of 40 male patients, an advocacy group said Friday. Edah Maina, the chief executive officer, of the Kenya Society For the Mentally Handicapped said the Mathari psychiatric hospital is violating its patients' rights under Kenya's constitution. Patients at Mathari are recognized as people with psychosocial disabilities under the new constitution, which means they should be in a rehabilitation program that does not isolate them from their families, she said. University of Nairobi Professor David Ndetei, in an article in the African Mental Health Foundation, says many people in Kenya do not know when they have mental disorders except when "they are grossly disturbed and friends and relatives have to go seeking for hardly available services."

Terre Haute girl back home after heart transplant (AP) — After nearly five months, 8-year-old Katelyn Newell finally returned home Thursday evening — with a new heart. Katelyn and her mom had been at the Ronald McDonald House since May 4 — although both did get to spend Mother's Day at their Terre Haute home. Prior to the transplant, Katelyn was really fussy a lot and whining all the time. [...] as Newell looks back at pictures taken before the transplant, she recognizes how sick her daughter was.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A look at legislation passed in Turkey's parliament early Friday that would ban all alcohol advertising and tighten restrictions on the sale of such beverages, and how such a law could affect tourists and liquor companies in the mainly Muslim but secular country. Tempers flared and scuffles broke out during an all-night legislative session that passed a bill proposed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party to ban all forms of advertising of alcohol — including the promotion of brands and logos — and the sale of alcoholic drinks in shops between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Booze ads already are banned on television in Turkey, but the new law would force TV stations to blur the images of drinks shown anywhere on the screen, even during movies and soap operas. All liquor bottles would display warning signs about the harms of alcohol, and there would be stricter penalties on drunken driving. The government says the measure would shield Turkey's youth from the harms of booze, but secular opponents charge it's another example of the governing party's encroachment on personal freedoms. In a statement released Thursday, Diageo said it is seeking talks with government officials for "fair, balanced and responsible" regulation, and that it bought the Turkish company believing it was investing in a country that encouraged foreign investments. What other legal changes have alarmed secularists? Since coming to power in 2002, Erdogan's party has imposed high taxes on alcoholic beverages, banned all alcohol ads on TV, and barred alcohol consumption in parks and university campuses. The government also has repealed strict bans on the wearing of Islamic headscarves, lifted restrictions on religious schools and Quran courses, and said it aims to build "a generation" of devout Muslims. In the United Arab Emirates, many resorts and hotels serve alcohol, and it is widely promoted in airport duty free shops and at public events.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — A Zimbabwean human rights activist says he wants the nation's highest court to order prison authorities to ensure suspects in jail can receive their life-prolonging HIV/AIDS medications. Douglas Muzanenhamo said in court documents Friday he was denied anti-retroviral drugs when detained for a month in 2011 on treason charges.

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois officials agreed Thursday to temporarily halt the movement of residents out of an institution for the developmentally disabled in the southern Illinois city of Centralia. At the request of U.S. Northern District Court Judge Ruben Castillo, the state agreed to stop the transfer of all but one resident out of Murray Developmental Center until a hearing next week on a temporary restraining order requested by residents' families. Gov. Quinn is committed to rebalancing the state's system of caring for people with developmental disabilities so they can live more independent, fulfilling lives in the community.

(AP) — An 11-year study of the incidence of brain cancer at jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney in the state ended Thursday with university researchers saying they found no statistically significant elevations in the rate of cancer among workers. William Gerrish, a spokesman for the state agency, called it a "comprehensive study that has met its goals," and the project's principal researcher said the results were positive. Workers and the union expressed concerns about several workers who died of brain cancer within a few years of each other and the study became too large, "losing sight" of individuals, he said. Paul Dickes, chief health and safety representative at the Machinists union, which represents Pratt & Whitney workers, said he's reassured that the study determined it's safe to work at the two remaining Connecticut plants. Workers and their families, joined by the Machinists union, pushed for the study after widows and union officials said they were concerned with what appeared to be numerous and similar deaths at Pratt & Whitney plants.

(AP) — Gov. Bobby Jindal's top budget architect said Thursday the state will have enough money to cover the costs of privatizing nearly all of the LSU-run hospitals next year without shrinking services to the poor and uninsured. A recent presentation by the Legislative Fiscal Office said 94 percent of the dollars set aside by the Jindal administration for the deals had been used up with the first three privatization contracts signed. Despite the increase in cost, Nichols said the state will net $100 million in savings next year because of lease payments the private hospital operators will make annually to take over the facilities. [...] that will be offset next year at least partially by one-time costs for termination pay and unemployment for laid off LSU hospital workers, who can reapply for their jobs with the new hospital operators. In Lake Charles, W.O. Moss Regional Medical Center would become an outpatient facility, with the inpatient beds and emergency room closed and those services picked up by the community hospital that would take over Moss management.

(AP) — Connecticut lawmakers on Thursday began building on a package of reforms the General Assembly passed in April that addressed the Newtown school shooting, requiring annual firearms safety training for armed security in local schools and improvements in mental health services for children. Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, R-Fairfield, whose district includes Newtown, said the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School helped bring to light gaps and shortcomings in the state's mental health system affecting young people. Among other things, the bill requires DCF and a new Office of Early Childhood to provide professional development training to pediatricians and child care workers to help them identify mental, emotional and behavioral health issues.

(AP) — A new 2 cent monthly tax on cellphones aimed at helping provide services for people with hearing impairment won the support Thursday of the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee. Tax dollars provide hearing aids, sign language interpretation, captioning and telecommunications services for hearing-impaired indigent and elderly. Supporters have argued the bill isn't a tax hike because it would bring the tax revenue up to the levels previously collected before cellphones caused a drop in landline phone use.