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Parts of Santa Cruz County are set to prohibit the sale of filtered cigarettes and cigars in what officials said was the first ban of its kind in the United States. The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted last year to ban the sale of filtered cigarettes and cigars in unincorporated areas on Jan. 1, 2027 — if two cities in the county passed similar laws, officials said. This year, the cities of Santa Cruz and Capitola approved similar bans on June 24 and Sept. 11, respectively. (Flores, 9/23)

Connecticut officials have agreed to a $2.25 million settlement of a lawsuit over a sex offender’s killing of visiting nurse Joyce Grayson at a halfway house in 2023 — a case that reignited calls for better protections for home health care workers across the country. A state judge in Hartford approved the settlement on Thursday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Grayson’s husband. Meanwhile, settlement talks with other defendants in the lawsuit, including Grayson’s employer, are continuing, said Kelly Reardon, a lawyer for Grayson’s family. (Collins, 9/23)

Exactly one month after 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, was fatally stabbed while riding the Charlotte light rail on Aug. 22 — a crime that garnered statewide and national attention — Republican state lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill dubbed “Iryna’s Law” that they say will make North Carolina safer. The legislation sailed through both chambers of the General Assembly over two days and was sent to Gov. Josh Stein Tuesday. (Crumpler, 9/24)

Billionaire Phil Anschutz and his family have given so much money to the University of Colorado over the years — roughly $300 million and counting — that the university’s medical campus in Aurora bears the family’s name. On Tuesday, the school announced a new contribution from The Anschutz Foundation: $50 million to help create a collaborative initiative to improve mental health care across the state. The money is being called a “challenge grant” because it is the first donation to seed an overall $200 million fundraising campaign for what will be known as the CU Anschutz Campus Mental Health Collaborative. (Ingold, 9/24)

���ϳԹ��� News: Amid Confusion Over US Vaccine Recommendations, States Try To ‘Restore Trust’ 

When the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met last week, confusion filled the room. Members admitted they didn’t know what they were voting on, first rejecting a combined measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox vaccine for young toddlers, then voting to keep it funded minutes later. The next day, they reversed themselves on the funding. Now Jim O’Neill, the deputy health and human services secretary and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s acting director (a lawyer, not a doctor), must sign off. (Gounder, 9/24)

At L. Gilbert Carroll Middle School in Robeson County, Principal Zach Jones watches the lunch line carefully, ensuring every student gets a tray. Many arrive hungry; breakfast and lunch at school may be the only meals they can count on. “Every morning, every student comes through and gets a plate for breakfast. Even if they don’t eat it, they can share it. The same goes for lunch. That way our students who we know may have some food insecurities, are getting fed,” he said. (Cotto, 9/22)

The bounty that the seas and network of small farms produce masks an omnipresent reality in Jefferson County — food insecurity. Nearly 4,960 county residents lack consistent access to nutritious food each day—just under 15 percent —a rate similar to the state average, according to an Associated Press analysis of U.S. Census Bureau and Feeding America data. (France, 9/22)

Small-town grocery store owners feel a strong sense of responsibility to their communities, but the threat of closure often looms. (Arola, 9/23)