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In 2023, dirty mine water gushed out of the ground behind James Christian’s home, flooding his yard in Wyoming County, West Virginia. ... Residents have blamed the mine for contaminating their creek and making some of their neighbors sick. Since then, a lawsuit by state regulators sparked a court battle between three coal companies over the incident. Now, the state is responsible for cleaning up the mine and the damage it caused through a program that has historically been underfunded. Meanwhile, state regulators have also approved a new mine expansion over the objections of local residents. (Elbeshbishi, 9/12)

In his 35 years working underground as a coal miner, it was typical for David Bounds to work ten hours a day and six days a week, only taking off Sunday. Bounds, who lives in Oak Hill, West Virginia, is one of thousands in the state who need oxygen and nebulizer treatments just to get through the day. The CDC estimates that about one in five miners in Appalachia is impacted by the disease. (Saunders, 9/9)

On July 21, Tracy Ciccone got a call from the warden at Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown. Her son, 32-year-old Tyler Cole, was being held in the facility awaiting trial. She said she expected the call to be about some kind of “little ruckus” that her son had caused at the facility. Instead, the warden told her that, hours earlier, Cole had been found dead. She said she barely remembers what happened after that. “I must have yelled or something, because I remember [my husband] Jason running down the hall and picking me up off the ground,” she said. Cole is one of 15 people who have died from overdoses while in custody of the Department of Correction since 2023, according to information from the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (Otte, 9/14)

Jamestown resident Ashley Robinson’s third child arrived three months early. A micro-preemie, Milo weighed just 1 pound, 2.7 ounces, smaller than an average woman’s shoe. At 3 weeks old, he had his first surgery. Since then, he’s had at least seven others, including for repairs to his intestines and for glaucoma, a condition where the optic nerve is damaged, usually by pressure in the eye. (Fernandez, 9/15)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?

For a while, walking the dog felt hazardous. Earl Vickers was accustomed to taking Molly, his shepherd-boxer-something-else mix, for strolls on the beach or around his neighborhood in Seaside, California. A few years ago, though, he started to experience problems staying upright. (Span, 9/15)