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Psychologists in Colorado will be allowed to write prescriptions if they’re willing to obtain an additional two-year degree, under a new law signed Friday by Gov. Jared Polis. The measure is intended to increase access to mental health care in Colorado, which has a severe shortage of mental health professionals. Psychiatrists, who are medical doctors, fought the legislation. (Brown, 3/3)

A federal judge said this week that she will begin fining California potentially tens of thousands of dollars daily after more than 200 prison inmates killed themselves during eight years in which state corrections officials failed to complete court-ordered suicide prevention measures. (Thompson, 3/4)

California lawmakers want to make it easier for children over 12 to access mental health treatment without a parent's permission. They also want to let 16- and 17-year-olds get treatment for opioid addiction. (Bollag, 3/3)

As state and local officials voice growing concern about the fentanyl crisis — and the U.S. attorney general says the Justice Department is focusing “enormous urgency” on the deadly drug — high schools in nearly a dozen Bay Area districts are still not prepared to save an overdosing student, according to a survey by the Bay Area News Group. (Nickerson and Prodis Sulek, 3/5)

In December, Spider Davila pleaded with a Los Angeles County employee for help. “Can you let them know that we are out of condoms,” wrote Davila, who works for Community Health Project LA, which provides condoms and other health supplies on the streets. The group had turned to a county program that provides free condoms to be handed out by businesses and community groups, but its emails were going unanswered. (Alpert Reyes, 3/3)

Where’s the most stressful place to work? Houston is at the top of the list, according to new report. The report, by LLC.org, listed the top 10 Most Stressful Cities for Workers (2023), and five cities in Texas make the list, three of which are in the top five. LLC.org helps people navigate hurdles to start companies across the country. (Holmes-Brown, 3/3)

In Evangeline Parish, a Cajun community in rural south central Louisiana, 1 in 4 people live in poverty. They are oil workers, timbermen and factory hands. Of the 32,000 who call the Acadiana territory home, more than 8,000 have disabilities and 3,000 subsist on less than half of the federal poverty level. (Hartnett, 3/5)