First, the good news: Fatal drug overdoses in Louisiana appeared to level off in 2018 after years of steady increases fueled by the nationwide opioid epidemic. Now, the bad news. Even though the number of overdoses stabilized, it plateaued at a historically high number. And it would take many years of steep reductions to bring the rate back to where it was before the opioid crisis began.
- PUB DATE: 4/2/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Baton Rouge Advocate

A West Haven firefighter/paramedic who was seriously injured only two days on the job 20 years ago has passed away. James Woodman was injured in October of 1999 when an ambulance he was riding in outside Yale-New Haven Hospital collided with a car. It was his last day on the job. Here is what the West Haven Fire Department Historical Library had to say about the firefighter's passing on its website: "It is with great sadness that we must share the news of James Woodman's passing.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: West Haven Patch

VIDEO: Two EMTs are out of their jobs after a controversial life-saving device indicated the pair didn't adequately deliver CPR during an emergency run in January that ended with a death. Michael Morgan and partner Julian Holts were terminated by Detroit's fire administration last month after using a Zoll monitor-defibrillator, a device designed to detect and evaluate cardiac rhythm problems and heart attacks — and it reports out CPR feedback, which the union contends was used against the men in their dismissals.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Detroit News

The design plans for a new fire station and a new state law that could fund its construction were the focus of the Pueblo West Metro District board meeting Tuesday. Because the fire department was unsuccessful in obtaining a $100,000 Colorado Department of Local Affairs grant that would have helped fund design and engineering costs for the fire district’s station two, Pueblo West Fire Chief Brian Caserta requested the board allow the use of up to $90,000 of the excise tax funds from marijuana sales tax to help fund an $180,000 design plan.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Pueblo Chieftain

Adair County’s rural firefighters are hoping a ballot measure to create a fire protection district will give them more reliable and fairly distributed funding, but a group of citizens advocating against the proposal believe the additional taxation is too much to ask. Sarah Crawford is the founder of “Axe the Tax Adair County” and organized the group to advocate against the proposal, which would create a fire protection district funded by property taxes rather than the current membership dues.
- PUB DATE: 4/1/2019 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Kirksville Daily Express