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D.C. opioid deaths are down significantly for the first time since fentanyl overwhelmed the drug supply in 2018, recent data shows, but officials are wary of declaring victory against the crisis. There have been about a quarter fewer opioid-related fatalities in the first half of this year compared with the same period last year, according to a report this month from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. (Portnoy, 9/29)

Leaders at D.C.’s 911 agency say a recent recruitment push to offset seemingly chronic understaffing has paid off and the city is on track to have a fully staffed call center next year. Between a 31-member training class soon to graduate and planned job offers, officials with the Office of Unified Communications said, the agency is set to see its call-taker vacancies drop to about 11 next month, a sea change from the 57 call-taker vacancies when Heather McGaffin became director in February 2023. (Gathright, 9/29)

Veronica is 17. She has two more years of high school, then she can graduate and leave. Hers is not just the usual adolescent wanderlust. This Iowa town has turned out to be a punishing place to be a transgender teenager. Her mom, Emily, has fought to change her name in the high school’s system. There's no good option for which bathroom to use at school. Emily says neighbors and classmates have made cruel comments. (Simmons-Duffin, 9/27)

Rhyker Earl’s family says he had been living with seizures for more than seven years. They happened so often that family members developed a routine to care for him after an episode: They’d help him get comfortable, offer him water or Gatorade and, in some cases, they’d call 911. On September 8, after Earl had multiple seizures, his grandmother says she did just that, requesting assistance for a medical emergency at his home near DeMotte, Indiana. But what began as a routine encounter with Jasper County Sheriff’s deputies and EMTs from nearby Keener Township that evening ended in tragedy. (Bailey, 9/30)

Microscopic pollution spewed from airplanes taking off and landing at Logan International Airport poses a risk to public health, including asthma, heart problems, and other severe medical conditions, experts said at a meeting in East Boston Thursday night. The dangerous pollutants, known as Ultrafine particles (UFPs) are smaller than the width of a human hair, but can do a lot of damage, Douglas Brugge, a public health professor at the University of Connecticut, told those gathered in the auditorium at Mario Umana Academy. (Alanez and Shankman, 9/27)