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At least 72 people across the United States have died from weather-related causes after more than a week of frigid winter storms and brutally cold temperatures, according to reports from state officials, police departments, medical examiners and news outlets. The number is likely to grow as the authorities scramble to assess the death toll from the bitter chill, frozen roads and high winds, especially in parts of the country unused to extended bouts of a deep freeze. (Fortin and Edmonds, 1/21)

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced proposals this month that transgender advocates say could block access to gender-affirming care provided by independent clinics and general practitioners, leaving thousands of adults scrambling for treatment and facing health risks. Ashton Colby, 31, fears the clinic where he gets the testosterone he has taken since age 19 would no longer offer it. The transgender Columbus man believes he could eventually be treated by another provider that would meet the new requirements. But even a few months’ wait could leave Colby experiencing a menstrual cycle for the first time in many years. (Mulvihill, 1/20)

Willow Neal was 17-years-old and seven months pregnant when she was sent to an isolation cell in the Adair Youth Development Center in Columbia, Ky., in November 2022, a new lawsuit alleges. She rarely left. Neal was only let out of her cell five times to take a walk, and received just 12 showers during her month-long detention, isolation that went against the advice of her medical providers, according to the lawsuit. In the cell next to Neal’s, 17-year-old Jamiahia Kennedy resorted to washing her body with her bra after being denied showers, according to the lawsuit. For two months, Kennedy was allegedly moved to a soiled padded cell without a bed or a working toilet. (Wu, 1/21)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Rising Suicide Rate Among Hispanics Worries Community Leaders

A group from teens to seniors gathered in an office inside a grocery store, where Spanish-language food signs cater to the large Hispanic population in this northwestern Georgia city dominated by the carpet industry. The conversation, moderated by community leader America Gruner, focused on mental health and suicide. The Tuesday night meetings draw about a dozen people, who sit on makeshift furniture and tell their often emotional stories. Gruner formed the support group in 2019 after three Latinos ages 17 to 22 died by suicide here over a two-week period. (Miller and Castle Work, 1/22)

Students in Pennsylvania may soon be allowed to take "mental health days." The Pennsylvania House of Representatives Education Committee voted on Thursday to send the bill that would provide students in Pennsylvania with those days to the cull chamber. Introduced by Rep. Napoleon Nelson of Montgomery County in eastern Pennsylvania, he said in a memo to the House, that challenges, specifically those exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, make this legislation necessary. (Damp, 1/20)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Montana’s Effort To Expand Religious Exemptions To Vaccines Prompts Political Standoff 

Montana lawmakers are in a standoff with the state’s health department over a package of sweeping changes to child care licensing rules that includes a disputed provision to allow religious exemptions to routine vaccinations for children and workers. Both Republican and Democratic legislators on the Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee voted Jan. 18 to renew their informal objection to the proposed child care licensing rules, which the committee has blocked since November. The vote prevents the state’s Department of Public Health and Human Services from adopting the rules until at least March, when committee members say they will debate a formal objection that could delay the rules’ adoption until spring 2025. (Volz, 1/19)

Maurice Bostic was in a vicious cycle of using alcohol to deal with pain, which only led to more pain — struggles with relationships, money and drugs. When his 6-year-old granddaughter was accidentally shot seven years ago in her home, Bostic drank even more. “If I had kept her with me, it wouldn’t have happened,” said Bostic, 55. “I drank so much that I was going to kill myself.” Bostic finished a 90-day inpatient treatment program, but addiction continued to haunt him. What finally worked was a monthly injection of Vivitrol, a medication that blocks the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids. (Munz, 1/20)

Attorney General Ashley Moody is warning Floridians about a rise in deaths from a dangerous designer drug often referred to as “fake Xanax.” “There’s been a rapid and drastic increase in toxology cases involving bromazolam. It’s a potent benzodiazepine,” Moody said in a video alert. “It’s imperative that Floridians understand how dangerous this street drug really is, especially when mixed with illicit fentanyl, which is the No. 1 killer of Americans age 18 to 45.” (Jordan, 1/19)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Federal Lawmakers Take First Steps Toward Oversight Of $50 Billion In Opioid Settlements 

Some members of Congress are demanding federal oversight of billions of dollars in opioid settlements, which state and local governments began spending over the past two years — with some using it to plug budget holes rather than fight the addiction crisis. This month, Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) introduced legislation that would write into law approved uses for the funds so they reach people most affected by the crisis. (Pattani, 1/22)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Journalist Talks Distribution Of Opioid Funds — And The Companies Angling For A Piece 

�鶹Ů�� Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani discussed how business interests are positioning themselves and their wares to get a piece of the opioid settlement funds on “Marketplace” on Jan. 15. Pattani also discussed how state and local governments across the country are using settlement money on Illinois Public Media’s “The 21st Show” on Jan. 11. (1/20)