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Mississippi is implementing a new approach to treating mental illness by providing care at home and in clinics instead of relying on hospitals and jails. The state has struggled to keep up with the demand for mental health services, resulting in many individuals being repeatedly committed to psychiatric institutions. While progress has been slow, Mississippi has established outreach teams and crisis centers to provide community-based care. However, there are still challenges in reaching everyone who needs help, and some individuals are kept in jails while waiting for admission to a psychiatric hospital. The state is working to improve its mental health system, but there is still much work to be done. [Extracted from the article]

A new report from the Hawaii attorney general's office reveals that a downed power line from Hawaiian Electric played a role in the deadly Lahaina wildfire that destroyed the historic Maui town and killed at least 101 people. The report includes transcripts of communications between emergency responders and Hawaiian Electric about the fire's origin and whether the power lines had been de-energized. While the report does not assign blame, it provides a comprehensive account of the deadliest U.S. wildfire in a century. The report also highlights the challenges faced by firefighters, including a lack of water and resources. [Extracted from the article]

Homicides in American cities, including New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, are decreasing at a rapid pace, bringing them close to pre-pandemic levels. Nationwide, homicides dropped around 20% in 133 cities from the beginning of the year through the end of March compared to the same period in 2023. This decline follows a trend that began last year, and if it continues, the U.S. could see homicide rates similar to those in 2014, which were the lowest since the 1960s. However, researchers and authorities caution that crime trends can be inconsistent, and future rates are difficult to predict. [Extracted from the article]

A preliminary investigation has found that Yvonne "Missy" Woods, a DNA analyst with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, intentionally manipulated evidence in over 650 criminal cases throughout her nearly three-decade career. The report states that Woods altered DNA testing results, omitted material facts in records, and violated lab policies. While the investigation did not find evidence of falsified DNA matches or fabricated profiles, state officials are retesting approximately 3,000 DNA samples handled by Woods. Prosecutors are reviewing cases she worked on, and defense lawyers are considering appeals. The scandal is considered one of the largest in the history of forensic DNA testing. [Extracted from the article]

Yvonne "Missy" Woods, a star forensic scientist in Colorado, is at the center of a scandal that could potentially affect thousands of criminal cases. Woods abruptly resigned in November after anomalies were discovered in her work during an internal review by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The state is now reviewing and retesting approximately 3,000 DNA samples that Woods handled, and public defenders estimate that thousands of cases could be affected. Prosecutors are preparing for legal challenges, and state lawmakers have allocated funds for possible retrials and case reviews. The investigation is ongoing, and it is unclear whether criminal charges will be filed against Woods. [Extracted from the article]

Derek Hamm, a con man in Tyler, Texas, posed as a war hero and oilman to swindle investors out of millions of dollars. He claimed to be the nephew of fracking tycoon Harold Hamm and used his supposed military service and connections to gain trust and secure investments for drilling ventures that never materialized. Hamm pleaded guilty to fraud charges and violating the Stolen Valor Act. His sentencing marked the largest penalty ever imposed in a fraud scheme involving the Stolen Valor Act. [Extracted from the article]

CASPER, Wyo. -- When Marie Scott, a child-care worker turned stay-at-home mother, found out she was pregnant again last year, she knew she wanted a traditional birth. The cesarean section [...]

LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- On the edge of this parched southern New Mexico city, Phillip Arnold surveyed his rows of neatly pruned pecan trees with a satisfied smile. ''There was [...]

CARLSBAD, N.M. -- For 15 years, workers from this dusty New Mexico town have made the 26-mile drive down a series of worn two-lane highways until reaching a strange complex [...]

Byline: DAN FROSCH CHURCH ROCK, N.M. -- In this dusty corner of the Navajo reservation, where seven generations of families have been raised among the arroyos and mesas, Bertha Nez [...]

CHURCH ROCK, N.M. -- In this dusty corner of the Navajo reservation, where seven generations of families have been raised among the arroyos and mesas, Bertha Nez is facing the [...]

LAMY, N.M. -- For 18 years, Maryalice Garrigan has been taking the train from this wisp of a town near Santa Fe to visit her family in Albany, spending four [...]

DENVER -- The federal coal leasing program run by the Bureau of Land Management operates without sufficient oversight or a consistent means of ensuring that fair prices are paid for [...]

DENVER -- Several prominent Native American groups on Monday called for the Justice Department to investigate the treatment of Indian children in public child-welfare systems and private adoptions. In a [...]

Lawyers for a Missouri inmate said Monday that they would appeal a decision not to grant a delay in his execution, arguing that the drug to be used was likely [...]

Byline: DAN FROSCH DENVER -- Just a few miles from the midday bustle of this city's hip downtown, a pen of black-hided yearlings trotted into a dusty arena, as a [...]

DENVER -- Just a few miles from the midday bustle of this city's hip downtown, a pen of black-hided yearlings trotted into a dusty arena, as a crowd of burly [...]

DENVER -- Ervin Chavez remembers hearing talk around the Navajo reservation when he was young of money owed to American Indian families by the federal government for land debts. Now [...]

DENVER -- Hundreds of abandoned drilling wells dot eastern Wyoming like sagebrush, vestiges of a natural gas boom that has been drying up in recent years as prices have plummeted. [...]

ROSWELL, N.M. -- On a recent night in this southeastern New Mexico town, Hanna Skandera, the state's education secretary-designate, told a crowd gathered in a school auditorium about her encounter [...]

DENVER -- As the Obama administration seeks to clear a path for more renewable energy projects, it has increasingly found itself caught between two staunch allies: the wind energy industry [...]

An avionics technician was charged Friday morning with plotting to detonate a car bomb at Mid-Continent Airport, in Wichita, Kan., federal authorities said. The technician, Terry Lee Loewen, 58, of [...]

Byline: DAN FROSCH PRICE, Utah -- For generations, coal has been the lifeblood of this mineral-rich stretch of eastern Utah. Mining families proudly recall all the years they toiled underground. [...]

PRICE, Utah -- For generations, coal has been the lifeblood of this mineral-rich stretch of eastern Utah. Mining families proudly recall all the years they toiled underground. Supply companies line [...]

DENVER -- Utah's embattled attorney general, John Swallow, resigned Thursday amid persistent questions about whether he had committed widespread ethics violations, saying the legal fight had become too costly. ''This [...]

Byline: DAN FROSCH DENVER -- Two months ago, nobody thought the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs would be on a collision course toward a midseason showdown with sole [...]

DENVER -- Federal mine safety inspectors on Monday were trying to determine the cause of an accident that killed two miners and injured 20 others near the mountain town of […]

HYDE PARK, Utah -- When a convenience store chain approached city officials here last year about selling beer, people knew a fight was coming. After all, this quiet town near [...]

DENVER -- Two months ago, nobody thought the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs would be on a collision course toward a midseason showdown with sole possession of the [...]

DENVER -- Marijuana proponents scored significant victories on Tuesday as voters around the country passed ballot measures decriminalizing marijuana possession and approved regulatory taxes on the drug. In Colorado, voters [...]

DENVER -- For several days last month, Steven Jensen smelled the oil, wafting up over his rolling wheat farm near Tioga. But in that part of northwestern North Dakota, where [...]

DENVER -- The Tierra Blanca Ranch billed itself as a place where the hearts of troubled youth could be healed, a cattle ranch in rugged southern New Mexico that could [...]

CROW AGENCY, Mont. -- Worlds away from Washington, Audrey Costa wondered aloud about keeping her family warm. A mother of three, she relies on lease payments from the Bureau of [...]

DENVER -- In the end, just as had been the case all week, it was never a question of whether the undefeated Denver Broncos would beat the winless Jacksonville Jaguars [...]

DENVER -- What started as a carefree family hike along a rustic mountain trail ended in tragedy on Monday, as two popular Colorado high school coaches, their daughter and two [...]

DENVER -- When Terrance Roberts, a barrel-chested former leader of the Bloods street gang, campaigned against street violence here, his words carried weight. As a Blood, Mr. Roberts was once [...]

JAMESTOWN, Colo. -- In the Colorado mountains, the floodwaters struck Jamestown like an invading army. Houses tumbled into the churning Little James Creek. A torrent of rocks and mud crushed [...]

DENVER -- The San Rafael Swell, with its miles of twisting sandstone spires and towering mesas, has long been a draw for hiking and canyoneering, and has even been considered [...]

SANTA FE, N.M. -- For weeks now, New Mexico has been in the midst of a sweeping criminal investigation into 15 of its largest mental health providers, suspected of defrauding [...]

LONGMONT, Colo. -- ''Get up!'' Abe Mares was jolted awake. It was 2:30 a.m., a swollen river was pouring into his home in the mountains of Colorado's Front Range, and [...]

BOULDER, Colo. -- Walls of water cascading down hillsides caused flash floods across Colorado on Thursday, killing at least three people. The flooding cut off major highways, isolated mountain towns [...]

DENVER -- When Colorado passed a series of tough gun restrictions last winter, Democrats and gun control advocates hailed it as a sign of changing attitudes in a Western swing [...]

As some Montanans see it, when it comes to the thousands of animal carcasses that litter the state's roads and highways each year, there is only one logical thing to [...]

DENVER -- It has been nearly two months since the Supreme Court ruled that an American Indian child should not have been taken from her white adoptive parents in 2011 [...]

MARSHALL, Mich. -- As the Obama administration inches closer to a decision on whether to approve construction of the much-debated Keystone XL pipeline, costly cleanup efforts in two communities stricken [...]

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. -- The 19 firefighters were mourned slowly, as if those who knew them wanted to relive each memory before it, too, was gone for good. Over the [...]

PRESCOTT, Ariz. -- The 19 firefighters killed Sunday in Arizona when a vicious wildfire swept over them died from burns, smoke inhalation or a combination of both, according to the [...]

ALBUQUERQUE -- During his eight years in the Air Force, Staff Sgt. Justin Lahl grew adept at keeping his sexual orientation a secret -- wincing inwardly when fellow airmen made [...]