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Languishing in a tiny hotel room, their three young children buzzed around them on two beds pushed together. A pile of donated toys sat on the floor near a baby stroller that doubles as a cart to fetch groceries. Cockroaches lurked on the inside of an open cabinet near a mini refrigerator. “We’re not complaining about it. It’s a place to live,” said Skyla M. Thomas, 20. “But at the same time, it’s disgusting.” (Lamothe, 10/13)

KHN: As Californians Get Older And Less Mobile, Fires Get Hotter And Faster

Late on the night of Sept. 27, a bumper-to-bumper caravan of fleeing cars, horse trailers, RVs and overstuffed pickup trucks snaked east on Highway 12, the flames of the Glass Fire glowing orange in their rearview mirrors. With her cat, Bodhi, in his carrier in the back seat, 80-year-old Diana Dimas, who doesn’t see well at night, kept her eyes glued to the rear lights of her neighbor’s Toyota. She and Magdalena Mulay had met a few years before at a bingo night in their sprawling retirement community on the outskirts of Santa Rosa. Both Libras, each with two marriages behind her, the two women soon became the sort of friends who finish each other’s sentences. (Scheier, 10/14)

New Mexico plans to renew several coronavirus restrictions on Friday, and officials warned of more to come if COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the state. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced the new rules, which will include restricting indoor dining and limiting mass gatherings, on Tuesday, saying that the virus is “booming” in the state. (Coleman, 10/13)

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday blamed South Dakota’s recent surge in coronavirus cases on an increase in testing, even as the state saw a new high in the number of people hospitalized by the virus. There are currently no open general-care hospital beds in the southeastern part of the state, which contains the two largest hospitals, according to the Department of Health. Hospitals are dealing with both an increase in COVID-19 patients and people needing other medical care. The hospitals in Sioux Falls do have about 41% of their Intensive Care Units available. (10/13)

As COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations increase in North Carolina, the state’s top health official and representatives from hospitality and retail industries pushed for renewed efforts to slow the spread of the virus. COVID-19 hospitalizations have topped more than 1,000 patients since Oct. 6, and new daily cases this month have reached levels not seen since a July peak. (Bonner, Sessoms and Jackson, 10/13)

The good news: Ohio has avoided a spike in COVID-19 cases that could have overwhelmed hospitals. Those hospitals now have plans in place to address a surge in patients. The bad news: Ohio's fight against the novel coronavirus is likely just halfway done. Residents can expect mask requirements and social distancing to continue for months. (Balmert and Borchardt, 10/13)

Vermont locked itself down early and reopened gradually. Washington state paid workers who couldn't do their jobs while quarantined. And Louisiana zeroed in on students who were most at-risk of falling behind and prioritized help for them first. When President Donald Trump decided to delegate the pandemic response to the states, he gave them a chance to call their own shots. Some states acted aggressively to contain COVID-19, others far less so. We wondered with all those decisions put in states’ hands, which ones have done the best job so far? (Doherty, Guida, Quilantan and Wanneh, 10/14)