Rural

The American Royal Association announced that it will move out of Kansas City, Mo., where it has been since its beginning, to Wyandotte County.  Although its lease with Kansas City, Mo., is not up until 2045, FOX 4 first reported in May that a board member for the American Royal revealed they were leaning toward leaving Kansas City and the location at Kemper Arena, and moving their headquarters to Kansas City, Kan.  The city of Kansas City, Mo., has been looking at proposals to repurpose Kemper, which would make it unsuitable for the American Royals' needs. [node:read-more:link]

One day this June, Wilkes County Sheriff Chris Shew found 22 patients with mental health and substance abuse problems crowding the local hospital’s emergency department, waiting for treatment, transportation or other help.  For Shew, the pileup required his department to provide a deputy around the clock due to the presence of people under voluntary or involuntary commitment at the Wilkes Regional Medical Center. All too often, patients in need of psychiatric services end up in local hospital emergency departments, because there’s no where else to get services. [node:read-more:link]

An acute need for more and easier access to mental health treatment and improvements in communications technology have set off a boom in remote therapy, but strict licensing rules and varying state laws are hampering its growth.  Like telehealth in general, using videoconferencing, smartphones and other technology to treat mental illness has long been recognized as an invaluable tool for getting care to people in rural areas, where shortages of psychiatrists, psychologists and other providers are even more acute than in the rest of the nation. [node:read-more:link]

More than two thirds of the world's wildlife could be gone by the end of the decade if action isn't taken soon, a new report from the World Wildlife Fund revealed.Since 1970, there has already been a 58% overall decline in the numbers of fish, mammals, birds and reptiles worldwide, according to the WWF's latest bi-annual Living Planet Index.If accurate, that means wildlife across the globe is vanishing at a rate of 2% a year. "This is definitely human impact, we're in the sixth mass extinction. [node:read-more:link]

Police in Hope, Ind., found the woman unconscious from an overdose Saturday. She was sprawled behind the steering wheel of her car, head tilted back, sunglasses over blonde curls pulled into a ponytail.  Needle still in hand. Her 10-month old son crying in the back seat. This child, the local town marshal said, is the face of the most helpless victims of Indiana's drug crisis. [node:read-more:link]

Signaling a cutback in water supplies for farming and cities, California regulators on Wednesday issued a new scientific analysis that proposes overhauling the management of the Sacramento River and devoting more water to Northern California’s dwindling fish populations.  The State Water Resources Control Board, in a widely anticipated report crafted by its staff, said it’s considering allowing much more of the flow from the Sacramento River and its tributaries to wash out into the ocean. The board avoided issuing a specific recommendation on how much additional water should go to fish. [node:read-more:link]

Haller, a 65-year-old widow with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who uses an oxygen generator, was rushed to the emergency room several times this year because of breathing problems her doctors said were exacerbated by the mold. She badly needed help, but couldn’t afford the repairs.  Last month, the Harpswell Aging at Home team came to Haller’s rescue. [node:read-more:link]

The court recently remanded a 2015 civil suit over an injured dog back to Toledo Municipal Court for a hearing on damages awarded in the case by determining “substantial justice was not done” by the trial court in awarding the plaintiff only $400 — or the dog’s market value — in December.  “We agree with and acknowledge that pets do not have the same characteristics as other forms of personal property, such as a table or sofa which is disposable and replaceable at our convenience,” the three-judge panel wrote in the decision.  The original lawsuit filed in municipal court in April, 2015, sh [node:read-more:link]

On the surface, things seemed to be looking up for the entire Mexican wolf population. In 1998, after Mexican wolves were poisoned and shot out of existence here, the Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced 11 wolves, with the initial goal of growing their numbers to 100. After years of struggle, the population crossed that threshold for the first time in 2015. Biologists counted 110 animals, a 25 percent increase over the previous year. M1296 was among 97 wolves counted in this year’s census.  Yet trouble lurks even in these historic numbers. [node:read-more:link]

The insurer Cigna will no longer require  pre-authorization for prescriptions to treat opioid addiction under the terms of a national settlement announced late Thursday by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.  Doctors and patients complain that while it may be common to require doctors to get prior approval for other prescriptions, a delay in getting medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for heroin addiction can be deadly, as addicts can easily relapse and overdose. While pre-authorizations should just take hours, it can often take days if there are problems with the paperwork. [node:read-more:link]