In December 2016, the Department of Homeland Security published a new guide to assist in the protection of first responders in the event of improvised nuclear device (IND) explosion. The intent of the guide is to help ensure the immediate health and safety of first responders for the first 24-72 hours following a blast.

Ohio is now the 35th state in the nation to have cancer presumption legislation for the state's firefighters.

Gov. John Kasich signed the bill into law today (Wednesday) just after noon.

There are limitations to the law, but for those diagnosed with specific cancer linked to their hazardous duty, they can now receive worker's compensation benefits and medical treatment paid.

Following the signing, Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden released this statement:

In one week last month, paramedics responded to 494 suspected drug overdoses in Greater Vancouver, including 271 in the Downtown Eastside and 81 in Surrey. These numbers are not just alarming, but becoming alarmingly routine.

That was just one week in an ongoing opioid epidemic that has killed unknown thousands across North America this year. Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control can’t offer a national estimate for 2015 or 2016; it says “Opioids were involved in 28,647 deaths in 2014 and opioid overdoses have quadrupled since 2000.”