Visits to the emergency room related to mental health among young adults, teenagers, and children spiked between 2011 and 2020, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The annual number rose form 4.8 million to 7.5 million over that period, and much of the uptick was driven by a five-fold rise in suicide-related visits.
Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region, and in parts of the central and eastern United States.
Using chainsaws, heavy machinery and controlled burns, the Biden administration is trying to turn the tide on worsening wildfires in the U.S. West through a multi-billion dollar cleanup of forests choked with dead trees and undergrowth.
