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A rapid increase in recent anti-trans and anti-gay rhetoric and protests set up violence like the overnight murders at Colorado Springs’ Club Q, political scientists and activists trying to keep their communities safe say. (Booth, Breunlin and Krause, 11/20)

The tragic shooting at Club Q, an LGBTQ club in Colorado, is the latest event to transpire in a year marked with a jump in anti-LGBTQ legislation and sentiment, according to LGBTQ advocates. The shooting, the deadliest attack on LGBTQ people in the U.S. since the Pulse shooting in 2016, occurred on the eve of this year's Transgender Day of Remembrance. Just days earlier, the National Center for Transgender Equality released a report finding that at least 47 transgender people were killed in the past year. (Heyward, 11/21)

Parker Grey stopped going to the LGBTQ nightclub Club Q about a year and half ago “because of the growing hatred for our community that started in” Colorado Springs, Colorado. (Griffith and Yurcaba, 11/21)

Even though city officials have taken steps to remove lead hazards — including a recent plan to spend more than $20 million in federal pandemic relief on the effort — more than 1,000 children tested last year had elevated lead levels in their blood. Now, researchers are finding new ways to help those children. (Shelbourne, 11/18)

Lauren Davis has tried for four months to find a therapist for her 7-year-old daughter.She called 10 local therapists trying to get an appointment. Half of them told her they were not taking any new patients and that their waiting lists were full. The other half said they would put her name on a list but could not say when her turn might arrive. It could take several months — or longer. (Sultan, 11/20)

In February 2021, as New Mexico lawmakers considered landmark legislation to loosen restrictions on alcohol sales, the state’s alcohol epidemiologist Annaliese Mayette set out to assess the bill. Excessive drinking kills people in New Mexico at a faster clip than anywhere else in the country, and the proposal would make it easier for restaurants to serve liquor and allow residents to order alcohol delivered directly to their homes. The intention was to buoy hospitality businesses hard-hit by pandemic-era shutdowns. (Alcorn, 11/19)

Allen Thomas, 57, recalls when Columbus first responders saved his life in June from a drug overdose in a hotel — and then again days later. “If it wasn’t for them, I’d be dead,” Thomas said. “And it’s a shame because there’s people out there now, passing away from this epidemic.” (Behrens, 11/21)

KHN: After Election Win, California’s AG Turns To Investigating Hospital Algorithms For Racial Bias

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sailed to victory in the Nov. 8 election, riding his progressive record on reproductive rights, gun control, and social justice reform. As he charts a course for his next four years, the 50-year-old Democrat wants to target racial discrimination in health care, including through an investigation of software programs and decision-making tools used by hospitals to treat patients. Bonta, the first Filipino American to serve as the state’s top prosecutor, asked 30 hospital CEOs in August for a list of the commercial software programs their facilities use to support clinical decisions, schedule operating rooms, and guide billing practices. In exchange, he offered them confidentiality. His goal, Bonta told KHN, is to identify algorithms that may direct more attention and resources to white patients than to minorities, widening racial disparities in health care access, quality, and outcomes. (Kreidler, 11/21)