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President Joe Biden’s White House sharply criticized an effort in Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature to limit discussions of gender and sexual identity in schools, saying the bill threatens to exacerbate high rates of mental health struggles among gay and transgender children. The bill, which passed the state Senate’s education committee in a 6-3 vote Tuesday, tells school districts they can’t “encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels” or in a way that is not deemed “age-appropriate.” (Levin and Epstein, 2/8)

Local governments will soon have access to federal funding for testing public water supplies for "forever chemicals." Gov. Tony Evers announced late Tuesday $600,000 in funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for sampling drinking water supplies for PFAS. Sampling will be voluntary, according to the statement, but communities who take the opportunity to test their water systems "will have data to know they are providing safe water to their residents." (Schulte, 2/8)

A Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate committee on Monday held what was billed as the first of a series of hearings on the potential legalization of recreational marijuana use for adults. During the two-hour Law and Justice Committee hearing in Harrisburg, lawmakers and panelists wrestled with questions about whether legalization would stamp out the black market, make marijuana safer from deadly contaminants, or do anything to prevent users from dipping joints in embalming fluid to get an extra high. Among the main concerns was also how police will enforce laws against driving under the influence. (Brubaker, 2/8)

In September 2018, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) made it onto a list they probably would have preferred to avoid. The Office of National Drug Control Policy identified the Qualla Boundary, the Eastern Band’s 56,000-acre homeland just south of Smoky Mountains National Park, as one of 10 “high intensity drug trafficking areas” in the country. Following a two-year undercover investigation targeting drug traffickers, federal, state and local law enforcement authorities raided the Boundary, arrested 132 people and seized an array of illegal drugs valued at $1.8 million, including heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine, oxycodone and marijuana. The operation was touted as a huge success and a possible turning point in the scourge that had plagued the community. (Newsome, 2/9)

A Coast Guard petty officer was sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for the death of her 5-month-old daughter at a small island outpost in Alaska, in a case that centered on the young mother’s mental health and postpartum depression. Katie Richard, 25, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last week after a trial lasting nearly a month at a Coast Guard facility here. The eight-person jury determined there was insufficient evidence to substantiate first-degree murder charges or alleged obstruction of justice tied to the suspected deletion of phone records during the criminal investigation. (Seck, 2/8)

In late summer 2017, Olivia Gant cheerfully sang Hakuna Matata from “The Lion King” as she was wheeled into hospice care in Denver wearing purple pajamas. “It means no worries for the rest of your days,” she sang. The 7-year-old died less than a month later. The video put out by her mother Kelly Turner is one of many clips highlighting the little girl’s battle with disease and death, which authorities say was used by her mother to dupe doctors and call for favors and donations to help ease her daughter’s pain. Authorities say Turner spent years fabricating her daughter’s illness, gaining sympathy from television news stories and charitable foundations like Make-A-Wish, which even threw a “bat princess” costume party for Olivia at a hotel that cost $11,000. (Nieberg, 2/9)