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Every day, thousands of people who are consumed by the nation’s opioid epidemic connect on the popular discussion website Reddit. They swap advice on getting high and offer encouragement to those who have managed to stay clean or are teetering between recovery and relapse. Addicts lament the deaths of fellow users who have suddenly stopped posting. And until last week, buyers and sellers could easily find each other, relying on coded messages that communicated their intent. (Zapler and Harris, 7/20)

When 10-year-old Alton Banks left the community swimming pool on the last day of his life, he walked past the elementary school where he had just finished fifth grade. He passed a cheery banner that defined a beaten-down inner-city neighborhood trying to will itself into up-and-comingness: “Experience Overtown. Eat, Live, Work, Play.” He walked past a fancy new apartment building under construction, then a long row of ragged homes and chickens clucking freely on sidewalks littered with crushed tall-boy beer cans in brown paper bags. (Sullivan, 7/20)

Overdose cases have deluged St. Elizabeth emergency departments this year, escalating to more than double the number the six hospitals had seen by this time last year. The hospital system released the second quarter heroin-overdose reversal numbers on Thursday. (DeMio, 7/20)