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Connecticut Democrats flexed their majority muscles on Thursday evening, giving final passage to a fiercely debated vaccine bill with over a week still left to go in the legislative session. (Golvala, 4/23)

To watch Zach Wegner work is like taking a trip back in time. When he powers up his laptop and opens software used to enroll thousands of Dakota County, Minnesota, residents for food assistance, there is a reminder on screen of how long it's been since there was an upgrade: "Copyright 1994." But the program MAXIS is even older than that, first launching in 1989, only a few years after the "Oregon Trail" game was widely available. (Cummings, 4/23)

Morgan Styke, 24, and a senior at Minnesota State University, Mankato is looking through boxes of apples, cantaloupes, carrots and potatoes and loading up her shopping cart with the fresh produce at the free farmers market held on campus. As a full-time student with a seven year old son at home, and with grocery prices continuing to rise, Styke said she must increasingly rely on the university-run campus food pantry and this free farmers market to help stock up her fridge and put food on her table. (Yang, 4/24)

A former funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies faces sentencing Friday for corpse abuse in a case that forced Colorado officials to clamp down on an industry plagued by repeated scandal and notoriously lax oversight. A plea agreement calls for Carie Hallford to receive from 25 to 35 years in prison during her appearance before District Judge Eric Bentley in Colorado Springs. Her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, received a 40-year sentence on corpse abuse charges at a February hearing in which he was called a “monster” by family members of those whose bodies were left to rot. (Brown and Slevin, 4/24)

A Baltimore County dental assistant and her family members were convicted and sentenced for illegally distributing oxycodone prescription drugs to a licensed dentist, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown announced on Wednesday. Samantha Cook, a part-time dental assistant for Dr. Andrew Fried at Perry Hall Family Dental, was given three years of supervised probation, 100 hours of community service, and is prohibited from serving as a provider in any state or federal health care programs. (Thompson, 4/23)

A Hanover man filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, claiming she tricked him into providing a sperm sample by falsely claiming she had miscarried his quadruplets — then used that sample later to have children without his consent. (Trovato, 4/24)

Smoke from wildfires burning along the Florida-Georgia line is now impacting air quality in metro Atlanta, raising health concerns as people report seeing haze and smelling smoke across the city. The Georgia Forestry Commission reports that the continuing drought and high winds have kept the fires spitting out smoke as crews attempt to get them under control. (Wilkerson, 4/23)

Daylight hadn’t yet slipped from the sky above Port Arthur when the residents felt the ground shake. They quickly moved inside, shut windows and closed doors, sheltering in place until they got word that the explosion at the Valero Port Arthur Refinery was under control. The ensuing fire, which polluted the community in a black chemical plume in late March, burned for nearly 10 hours and released chemicals into the air for over 10 days. (Bruess, 4/23)

Though river monitoring shows bacteria levels have declined, scientists and environmentalists said a full recovery isn’t yet assured. (Dance, 4/23)

Eleven more marine mammals have been tested and confirmed to have H5N1 avian flu in an outbreak that spans four counties in California. The outbreak total now stands at 58 mammals, including 57sea lions and one otter. All but seven are from San Mateo County. The outbreak started in February and marked the first H5N1 detection in marine mammals in California. Seals at the state park were observed with abnormal respirations, tremors, and neurologic symptoms. (Soucheray, 4/23)