From USA TODAY Network and wire reports
Alabama
Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey announced Wednesday that she’s running for reelection, citing Alabama’s “bucket load of common sense” in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Ivey, 76, made the announcement in a video message released by her campaign. The Republican emphasized her administration’s investment in infrastructure, job creation, Alabama’s pandemic recovery and its low unemployment rate. “Alabama is working again, and the best is yet to come,” Ivey said in her distinct Southern drawl. Ivey faced both praise and criticism for her handling of the pandemic. Unlike some Southern governors, she issued a statewide mask order, a move that was criticized by some conservatives but won her praise from health officials and others for following scientific recommendations. That mask order has ended. She has often embraced GOP priorities during her four years in office, including signing the nation’s most stringent aborti
Children’s Hospital Colorado officials on Tuesday declared “a pediatric mental health state of emergency,” saying their entire system is taxed and experiencing an unprecedented overload of children as young as 8 needing immediate treatment, largely for suicidal thoughts and attempts.
“We’re overrun with kids attempting suicide and suffering from other forms of major mental health illness,” Jena Hausmann, president and CEO of Children’s Hospital Colorado, said Tuesday in a virtual roundtable discussion. “There are so many organizations equally overwhelmed; the sheer magnitude of this situation warrants a different level of support.”
Hausmann issued a “call to action” to Gov. Jared Polis, state lawmakers and agencies to prioritize children’s mental health services, release more funding for suicide prevention and resiliency-building programs, recruit more providers, increase flexibility in the system and reduce bureaucracy in enabling children to access service
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