Today's Globe: Kennedy upbeat, healthcare and Obama, Mass. health costs, Cape Cod changes, epilepsy drug warnings, salmonella probe

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, past the midway point in a six-week course of radiation and chemotherapy treatments for a malignant brain tumor, remains upbeat and has been sailing daily following his trips to Boston for treatment.

The news last week that Democratic senators, led by an ailing but determined Ted Kennedy, are already laying the groundwork for a major revamping of the national health system may or may not be welcome news to Barack Obama.

A long-awaited report concludes that 12 cents of every $1 paid for health insurance in Massachusetts goes toward 26 state-mandated benefits, from maternity and mental healthcare to infertility and diabetes services.

Dr. Richard F. Salluzzo, the new chief executive of Cape Cod Healthcare, is already putting his mark on the ailing system, which includes Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis and Falmouth Hospital. He has named Michael Lauf, a longtime executive from his former company, Wellmont Health System of Kingsport, Tenn., chief operating officer of the Cape system, replacing Margy Hanson, who will be "leaving the system," according to a spokesman.

Makers of epilepsy medicines, led by Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline PLC, may be required to add the Food and Drug Administration's strictest warning about an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior to their products.

The Food and Drug Administration is broadening its testing of food beyond tomatoes, including looking at imported products, to find the source of a salmonella outbreak in the United States, a spokesman said (sixth item).