State highlights: Mass. compounding pharmacy agrees to $100M victim settlement over meningitis outbreak; Texas grand jury clears late-term abortion provider

The Wall Street Journal: Massachusetts Pharmacy In Settlement Over Tainted Injections
The Massachusetts pharmacy whose tainted steroid injections were blamed for a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis has agreed to pay more than $100 million to victims and their families, according to lawyers involved in a tentative settlement. The tentative deal is part of an effort to compensate victims and their families for injuries they suffered after receiving the injections for back pain (Rockoff, 12/23).

The New York Times: Texas: Grand Jury Clears Abortion Provider 
A grand jury in Harris County found no evidence of criminal behavior by a Houston doctor who performs late-term abortions and was accused by anti-abortion groups of killing live-born babies (Eckholm, 12/23).

The Star Tribune: Fast-Growing Health Insurer Ucare Moves Into New Markets
CEO Nancy Feldman still slides on the tiara when there's a milestone to celebrate at UCare, the health insurance company she has run since 1995. The tradition began not long after Feldman arrived, when she donned the crown and handed out 40,000 M&Ms to employees, with each chocolate morsel representing one of the enrollees in the still-young insurer's health plans. But the biggest tiara party could come in the year ahead. UCare expects to see enrollment expand beyond the 400,000 mark, extending an unrivaled growth spurt that sets it apart from its peers among the Star Tribune's 100 largest nonprofit companies, where it ranks No. 7 on our list (Crosby and Kennedy, 12/23).