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[John] Pestian, a professor in the divisions of Biomedical Informatics and psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, has spent nearly a decade immersed in the language of suicide in an effort to try and keep kids alive. What he has found is there are indicators in spoken language that can help school counselors and medical professionals identify when kids are at risk for suicide or when they may be suffering from a mental illness but are not at risk for suicide. (Graves, 11/20)

Yolanda Solar has battled a life-threatening disease for more than three decades. The disease nearly killed her last summer, and Solar, a 73-year-old grandmother, was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. When Solar was discharged one week later, she received bad news: She would have to wait until March to see a doctor. (Szabo, 11/22)

A state mental health task force last week issued nine recommendations aimed at relieving the bottlenecks that delay Minnesotans from getting care. Emily Johnson Piper, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the task force chair, talked about what they found, and what happens next. (Weber, 11/21)