Ohio county logs opioid-death drop
CINCINNATI — A hard-hit Ohio county that expanded availability of naloxone during the opioid epidemic has been seeing a decline in its overdose death toll.
Hamilton County’s program of increasing overdose antidote availability and quick response to requests for addiction treatment started last fall, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Public health officials increased distribution of the overdose-reversing Narcan nasal spray by 375 percent over a seven-month period.
The newspaper reported that Hamilton County coroner’s reports show a 34 percent drop in overdose deaths in the first five months of 2018 compared with the same period last year.
There’s been a 33 percent drop in medic runs for overdoses in the past six months compared with the previous six, and a 36 percent decrease in overdose visits to emergency rooms, according to Hamilton County Public Health surveillance data.
“We have plummeting mortality rates, increased treatment,” says BritView Treatment Centers founder and Hamilton County Heroin Coalition member Dr. Shawn Ryan.
Agency’s nominee stirs Pelosi doubt
WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is questioning President Donald Trump’s pick to head the government’s consumer watchdog agency.
The California Democrat said she believes Kathy Kraninger, currently an associate director at the Office of Management and Budget, lacks the required experience to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, especially given the Trump administration’s “hostility to consumer protection.”
The White House said Saturday that Trump would nominate Kraninger to replace Mick Mulvaney, who has been filling in as the bureau’s acting director, along with running the budget office, since late November.
Criticizing Mulvaney as having protected special interests, Pelosi said she lacked confidence that Kraninger would have the qualifications to ensure the bureau is “a champion for consumers and not the financial industry.”
The Senate must confirm Kraninger’s nomination.
Armed bystander
shoots gunman
TUMWATER, Wash. — A gunman wounded two people before being fatally shot by a bystander at a Walmart store in Washington state Sunday evening.
The incident happened about 5 p.m. in Tumwater.
KOMO-TV reported that a witness said people were in line when they heard gunfire in the store. The station reported that as people fled the store, the gunman followed and shots were heard outside.
Police told the station that the gunman then attempted to carjack someone and was shot by a bystander.
One shooting victim was flown by helicopter to a hospital, while another was being treated for an injury that was not considered life threatening.
Police are investigating four scenes connected with the shooting.
Tumwater is in Thurston County and near Olympia.