Opioid-related deaths continue to rise, health officials report
LANSING (AP) — State officials say opioid deaths jumped by about nine percent last year in Michigan.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced recently that 1,941 of the 2,729 overdose deaths in 2017 were opioid-related. There were 1,786 opioid-related deaths in 2016.
The state notes a steady increase in overdose deaths during the last three years.
Opioids include heroin, prescription opioids, and nonpharmaceutical fentanyl. The state now includes opium and unspecified narcotics in its definition.
Efforts to combat the epidemic include providing online resources for patients as well as an automated prescription system aimed at improving assessments of a patient's substance abuse risk.
Lawsuit: Police used stun gun on woman shot by husband
SOUTHGATE (AP) — A woman says police in suburban Detroit used a stun gun on her after she was shot three times by her husband in the parking lot of a motel.
The Detroit Free Press reports a lawsuit on behalf of Rebecca Sevilla of Britton says her husband drove her to the motel in Southgate before shooting her and killing himself.
The lawsuit says police had determined her husband killed himself when they saw Sevilla “sitting upright, bleeding from gunshot wounds to her body and head.” She
alleges she wasn’t able to respond to officer commands because of her injuries and one officer shocked her with a stun gun.
The lawsuit seeks at least $1 million.
Women cite damage to children in seeking stricter gun laws
CHICAGO (AP) — Three Chicago women have filed a lawsuit calling for tighter regulation of gun sales in Illinois, including the video-recording of transactions and background checks on all gun store and gun show employees.
The women contend gun violence inflicts physical, mental and emotional damage on children that "substantially limits" their ability to succeed in life.
Attorney Thomas Geoghegan, who filed the lawsuit, says guns are flooding Chicago and are not only killing its children but also destroying survivors emotionally and psychologically.
One of the women filing the suit is Tywanna Patrick, who said she left the trial of the person accused of killing her son in 2014 to speak about the lawsuit. She says her 11-year-old granddaughter still struggles with her uncle's death.
Tipsy birds flying into windows, cars in northern Minnesota
GILBERT, Minn. (AP) — Police in a small northern Minnesota community have been taking some strange calls about birds that seem to be intoxicated.
Citizens in Gilbert on the state's Iron Range have reported the birds flying into windows, cars and acting confused.
In a cheeky Facebook message, police said there's an easy explanation: The birds are ingesting berries that have fermented earlier than usual because of an early frost.
A National Parks Service ranger told KMSP-TV that robins and waxwings feast on fruit such as crabapples, and that the sugar in those fruits can turn into alcohol as they lose moisture. Stiteler says "drunk birds are totally a thing."
The police department says there's no need to panic, the birds will eventually sober up.
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