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Wildfires near cities have become commonplace in the Western United States, but this year the reach and intensity of the dangerous air pollution they produce has been the worst on record. Many Americans in populous, urban areas endured smoke for longer than previous years. Some places experienced very unhealthy or hazardous air from wildfires for the first time ever recorded. (Carlsen, McMinn and Eng, 9/23)

Kaiser Health News: As Fires And Floods Wreak Havoc On Health, New Climate Center Seeks Solutions 
For the past month, record-breaking wildfires have torched millions of acres from the Mexican border well into Canada, their smoke producing air so toxic that millions of people remained indoors for days on end while many visited hospitals because of respiratory distress. Last week, Hurricane Sally left a trail of watery devastation in Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, even as more storms brewed offshore. All of that on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 1 million people worldwide. (Wolfson, 9/24)

Should we exercise outside when the air is smoky? With smoke and ash from major wildfires still blanketing portions of California and the Northwest and murky plumes wafting across the nation, that issue is top of the mind for many of us and likely to remain a concern well into the future. To learn more about exercise and smoke, I talked with pulmonologists, physiologists, biostatisticians and other scientists. What follows are their expert opinions about whether it might be better to stroll or streak through smoke; which masks help; when to move workouts indoors; and if we should bring our dogs along to exercise in the haze. (Reynolds, 9/23)

In other public health news —

A Massachusetts construction worker’s love of black licorice wound up costing him his life. Eating a bag and a half every day for a few weeks threw his nutrients out of whack and caused the 54-year-old man’s heart to stop, doctors reported Wednesday. “Even a small amount of licorice you eat can increase your blood pressure a little bit,” said Dr. Neel Butala, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital who described the case in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Marchione, 9/23)

Pretend you're pregnant. You're careful about every morsel you put into your mouth, exquisitely conscious about the potential impact on your growing baby's development. But there is a catch: No matter how careful you may be, the food you eat and the beverages you drink likely contain one or more of some 10,000 chemicals allowed to be added to foods -- some of which are known endocrine (hormone) disruptors linked to developmental, cognitive and other health problems in babies and adults. (LaMotte, 9/23)

A pair of formerly conjoined twins have spent the last several weeks getting to know their new normal after surgeons in Michigan successfully separated the pair in an 11-hour operation. Sarabeth and Amelia Irwin were born connected from the chest to the belly button and shared one liver, but each had their own arms, legs, hearts and digestive tracts. Phil and Alyson Irwin, of Petersburg, Mich., said they didn’t know something was amiss with their twins until the 20-week ultrasound, which they assumed was to discover the gender of their older daughter’s new siblings. (Hein, 9/23)

Also —

Timothy Kavanagh, 36, a recovering heroin addict and addictions counselor, was in his second year of sobriety when his brother was killed in a drunk-driving accident. “I went into an overwhelming state of depression,” he said. “Finding recovery memes helped me get through it.” In 2015, he started to make memes about the process of recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, creating the account @dankrecovery on Facebook and Instagram. (Knight, 9/23)

Emory Healthcare and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation announced Wednesday their joint effort ― the Addiction Alliance of Georgia ― will begin offering clinical services next year and explore opening a detox and residential treatment center in Atlanta. Aiming to halt addiction, improve recovery rates and save lives, Emory and Hazelden confirmed they have secured about $1 million in donations and commitments toward a $10 million goal for clinical programs, education and research. (Redmon, 9/23)

San Francisco, like many other cities, is in the grip of a deadly drug epidemic. Last year, 441 people died of overdoses, a 70% increase from 2018, according to city data. And officials expect this year to be worse, because the pandemic has exacerbated the danger of drug use, disrupted services and opened a $1.5 billion budget deficit for leaders working on big plans to reform the city’s approach to mental illness and drug use. (Thadani, 9/23)