Â鶹ŮÓÅ

Virginia saw an unprecedented increase in babies born with exposure to dangerous drugs in 2016, state health officials told a panel of lawmakers Thursday morning. The number of children exposed to drugs in utero increased 21 percent to 1,334 in fiscal year 2016, said Carl Ayers, director of the Division of Family Services in the Department of Social Services. (Kleiner and Demeria, 1/12)

New Hampshire lawmakers are close to approving a federal grant to help the state Medical Examiners Office deal with a backlog of autopsies, mostly due to drug overdose deaths. The Attorney General's office says annual drug deaths have increased in New Hampshire from 40 to approximately 500 over the last nine years. Those deaths have overwhelmed the two pathologists who perform autopsies for the state and sometimes testify during prosecutions. (Rodolico, 1/12)

The man responsible for more than two dozen heroin overdoses — which all occurred in one day in a state deemed the ground zero for the opioid epidemic — faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Bruce Lamar Griggs, 22, pleaded guilty on Monday to distribution of heroin, about six months after 26 people overdosed in Huntington, a city in the southwest corner of West Virginia. The 911 calls came within hours of one another, the majority of which concerned overdoses in and around one apartment complex. (Guerra, 1/12)