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The heat wave that’s been gripping California and other parts of the West for 10 days and counting is the most severe ever recorded in September, weather experts have said — confirming what California’s governor is calling the “hottest and longest on record” for the month. ... And it’s not yet over — while the region’s heat wave peaked on Tuesday, it’s expected to continue until Saturday, ending after a total of 12 days. (Samenow, 9/9)

Heat waves like the one California has been experiencing for the past week are the single most deadly natural disasters the nation faces each year, killing more people than hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards or extreme cold. "We never think of heat waves as mass casualty events, but they are," said Kristie Ebi, a University of Washington epidemiologist who studies global health and extreme heat events. (Weise, 9/8)

KHN: Children In Northern California Learn To Cope With Wildfire Trauma

Maia and Mia Bravo stepped outside their house on a bright summer day and sensed danger. A hint of smoke from burning wood wafted through their dirt-and-grass yard anchored by native trees. Maia, 17, searched for the source as Mia, 14, reached for the garden hose, then turned on the spigot and doused the perimeter of the property with water. (de Marco, 9/9)

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called patient abuses at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in rural Anna “awful” and “deeply concerning,” and he said the future of the facility depends on correcting poor conditions. Pritzker’s comments at a news conference on Tuesday came on the heels of articles published Friday by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises and ProPublica outlining a history of egregious patient abuses and other employee misconduct at Choate. (Hundsdorfer, Parker and Moore, 9/6)

As Blaine Reichard rose from a breakfast table at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois, a worker ordered him to pull up his sagging pants. A 24-year-old man with developmental disabilities, Reichard was accustomed to workers at the state-run residential facility telling him what to do. But this time he didn’t obey. “I’m a gangsta! This is how we do it where I am from!” responded Reichard, who, despite his street-tough defiance, still slept with a teddy bear. Investigators who later came to the scene of the 2014 incident heard various versions of what happened next. (Hundsdorfer and Parker, 9/2)

Over a year ago, the security chief at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois sent an email to the head of the state agency that operates the facility, warning her of dangerous conditions inside. “What I am presently seeing occur at Choate and hearing occur at other facilities concerns me more than it has my entire career,” Barry Smoot, a decades-long IDHS employee, wrote to Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace Hou on May 26, 2021. Among the recommendations he wanted to make: that cameras be installed inside the facility. Hou responded that same day, agreeing to meet. But no meeting took place. (Parker and Hundsdorfer, 9/2)

Avalon Trace apartments used to represent one of Greensboro's worst asthma hazards. The 176-unit complex accounted for 20% of the asthma-related emergency room visits from the surrounding Cottage Grove neighborhood. However, the complex’s identity as a health hazard, and its subsequent transformation, stands as a model for addressing health through housing. (Shelbourne, 9/8)

WSSC Water is advising people who use its T. Howard Duckett Reservoir in Laurel for fishing and boating to not touch the water or eat some parts of fish caught there because of a toxic blue-green algae that can cause serious health problems. The reservoir remains open for recreational use, the utility said. The Triadelphia Reservoir, also along the Patuxent River, has been under a similar health advisory since mid-July. (Shaver, 9/8)

The Free Press interviewed more than 70 experts, family members, recipient rights officers and others for its investigation, and examined thousands of pages of documents, including lawsuits, state and local investigative reports and state licensing reports. It found: The state's 46 community mental health agencies investigate themselves and the caregivers they hire. (Dixon, 9/9)

Hundreds of officers in Texas have signed up for a new state program that aims to reduce police suicide and self-harm rates by confidentially pairing law enforcement officers in need with peers trained to address mental-health problems, local and state officials announced Thursday. (Smith, 9/8)