LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Lisa Dansby Williams loves connecting students in need with mental health resources.

"It's just been hard for many of the students and their families to navigate some of the resulting issues of the pandemic, whether that be domestic violence within the family, homelessness, maybe mom, dad lost a job," she said.

As the need rises, services are stretched thin.

"We do have a limited pool of mental health professionals to employ. Some of the main issues are that they are moving to different platforms to provide services. Some have been burnt out themselves by the pandemic and some of the increase of need for services and so that's been a major issue as well," Dansby said.

The national recommendation for school counselors is 1 for every 250 students. According to the National Association of School Counselors, only 17.8% of school districts met that requirement. Only 4.2% of urban school districts met it, according to pre-pandemic numbers.

"We are definitely seeing an increase in the number of students, families, and staff, and even administrators that are referring students and families to us," said Alma Lopez, who is a school counselor at a California middle school.

"It's been a challenge, you know, we're putting in some full days and then some and so definitely the need to have more mental health professionals in the school building is an essential need right now," she said.

What's been helping, Lopez said, is the waning stigma around mental health and the increased awareness from lawmakers. However, she believes more needs to be done, including help for counselors.

"More people need to actually understand the role of the school counselor and of mental health professionals right in the school building," she said.

For mental health workers, no matter what assistance comes, they're going to show up for the students, and be their much-needed rock, even if everything is so uncertain

"Right now there's a greater need to help family, so if I can make it happen, that's what I try to do," Williams said.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Questions continue to swirl about the end of Title 42, the controversial public health measure President Joe Biden wants to end on Monday.

A ruling from a federal judge in the coming days could, however, keep it in place.

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

Title 42 is the pandemic public health policy that immediately expelled over a million asylum-seeking migrants during the pandemic.

Former President Donald Trump initially put the policy in place and it has continued into the Biden presidency.

Data has shown the migrants turned away over the last several years were primarily from Mexico, although they also came from other places in Central America, like Guatemala and Honduras.

Individuals from Caribbean nations like Haiti were also reportedly turned away as were some from European countries like Belarus.

Human rights groups believe the U.S. should be accommodating to those seeking persecution from other countries.

U.S. law requires the United States to accept refugees who have "well-founded" fears of persecution.

Opponents are arguing this is going to create a mass migration mess at the border and that the country is not prepared to handle the influx of migrants.

WAITING ON COURT RULING

The country is waiting on District Court Judge Robert Summerhays to rule on whether the Biden administration can end the policy.

It's possible Summerhays rules in favor of Republican attorneys general who brought the lawsuit. Summerhays has previously ruled in favor of conservatives on consequential issues.

No matter what the Trump appointee decides, an appeal is likely.

ARE WE READY?

If the judge allows Biden to end Title 42, the logical question is whether the U.S. is prepared for what could happen at the border.

Republicans and some Democrats believe there needs to be a better plan.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as Border Patrol, has told reporters they are prepared.

"The Secretary and I have had the opportunity to meet with our front line officers, agents and our workforce to ensure that we are prepared for May 23^rd and beyond," U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said Tuesday during a border event with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

DHS has worked to mobilize staff and volunteers to the border in anticipation of a surge of asylum-seeking migrants when Title 42 ends.

Temporary facilities have been promised to be built as well.

Currently, around 8,000 people a day show up at America's borders. The Department of Homeland Security has said that it is preparing for the possibility of 18,000 each day once the measure is lifted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s 988 hotline, intended to help anyone experiencing a mental health emergency, was back up and running Friday after a daylong outage.

The call service, which was launched in July, was restored shortly before midnight on Thursday. People experiencing a mental health crisis were still able to reach a mental health counselor by texting 988 or by visiting 988lifeline.org to start a chat.

The federal government is investigating the hotline's outage, Health and Human Services spokeswoman Sarah Lovenheim said in a tweet late Thursday night.

“While HHS and VA immediately acted to provide support to 988 callers via text, chat, and alternate numbers, the disruption of phone service was unacceptable, and HHS continues to investigate the root cause of the outage,” she tweeted, referencing the acronym for Veterans Affairs.

The 988 hotline is a national helpline staffed with mental health counselors around the country that’s designed to be as easy to remember as the emergency line, 911. Since its launch, the hotline has fielded roughly 8,000 phone calls a day from those seeking mental health help.

The telecommunications company Intrado, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest U.S. provider of e911 services and provides the backend plumbing for emergency communication services like the 988 helpline. The company did not return repeated requests for comment.

In a statement on Intrado's website on Thursday, the company said it was “working as quickly as possible to resume full service.” The outage also impacted the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Distress Helpline.

Telecoms analyst Roger Entner, of Recon Analytics, said he didn't think there was "anything malicious” in the outage.

“Stuff like this almost always happens when an upgrade goes wrong,” Entner said. Normally, these outages occur when “they try to improve or fix something small and they break something big. That’s the most likely answer here.”

The Russian military initiated a temporary cease-fire in two areas of Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate, Russian state media reported Saturday, the first breakthrough in allowing people to escape the war.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement it had agreed on evacuation routes with Ukrainian forces for the strategic port of Mariupol in the southeast and the eastern city of Volnovakha. The vaguely worded statement did not make clear how long the routes would remain open.

Here's the latest on the Ukraine-Russia conflict as of 5 a.m. (Eastern):

• The office of President Emmanuel Macron says France will soon propose concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of Ukraine’s five main nuclear sites.
• The U.N. Security Council will hold an open meeting Monday on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine as the Russian offensive intensifies.
• The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine is calling Russia's attack on a nuclear plant a war crime. Russian troops seized the plant Friday in an attack that set it on fire and briefly raised fears of a nuclear disaster. The blaze was extinguished and no radiation was released.
• The White House announced Friday that U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Poland and Romania next week to meet with officials to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and impact the war is having on the region.

Mariupol had become the scene of growing misery amid days of shelling that knocked out most phone service and raised the prospect of food and water shortages.

Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Donetsk military-civil administration that includes Mariupol, said the humanitarian corridor would extend from the city to Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles away.

The head of Ukraine’s security council, Oleksiy Danilov, had urged Russia to create humanitarian corridors to allow children, women and the older adults to flee the fighting, calling them “question No. 1.”

As Russian forces batter strategic locations elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has lashed out at NATO for refusing to impose a no-fly zone over his country, warning that “all the people who die from this day forward will also die because of you.”

NATO said a no-fly zone could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear-armed Russia. But as the United States and other NATO members send weapons for Kyiv and more than 1 million refugees spill through the continent, the conflict is already drawing in countries far beyond Ukraine’s borders.

Russia continues to crack down on independent media reporting on the war, also blocking Facebook and Twitter, and more outlets say they are pausing their work inside the country.

And in a warning of a hunger crisis yet to come, the U.N. World Food Program says millions of people inside Ukraine, a major global wheat supplier, will need food aid “immediately.”

Ukraine’s president was set to brief U.S. senators Saturday by video conference as Congress considers a request for $10 billion in emergency funding for humanitarian aid and security needs.

Video: Photos show Ukrainians fleeing as Russia presses on

In a bitter and emotional speech late Friday, Zelenskyy criticized NATO over the lack of a no-fly zone, warning that “the history of Europe will remember this forever.”

A no-fly zone would bar all unauthorized aircraft from flying over Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier in the day ruled out that possibility. “The only way to implement a no-fly zone is to send NATO fighter planes into Ukrainian airspace, and then impose that no-fly zone by shooting down Russian planes,” he said. “We understand the desperation, but we also believe that if we did that, we would end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe.”

In a separate video message to antiwar protesters in several European cities, Zelenskyy appealed for help. “If we fall, you will fall,” he said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an open meeting for Monday on the worsening humanitarian situation. The United Nations estimates that 12 million people in Ukraine and 4 million fleeing to neighboring countries in the coming months will need humanitarian aid.

Russia's attack on Friday on Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant, in Zaporizhzhia, caused global alarm, but Russian forces did not make significant progress in their offensive to sever Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, which would deal a severe blow to the country's economy.

A vast Russian armored column threatening Ukraine’s capital remained stalled outside Kyiv, but Russia's military has launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites across the country.

Video: Pentagon calls Russian nuclear plant attack reckless

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said battles involving airstrikes and artillery continued northwest of Kyiv, and the northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Okhtyrka came under heavy fire. He said Ukrainian forces held the northern city of Chernihiv and the southern city of Mykolaiv and had defended the biggest port city, Odesa, from Russian ships.

As homes in Chernihiv burned from what locals described as Russian shelling, one resident accused Europe of merely looking on. “We wanted to join NATO and the EU and this is the price we are paying, and NATO cannot protect us," she said.

More than 840 children have been wounded in the invasion, and 28 have been killed, according to Ukraine’s government. At least 331 civilians have been confirmed killed, but the true number is probably much higher, the U.N. human rights office said.

Kyiv’s central train station remained crowded with people desperate to join the more than 1.2 million who have fled Ukraine. “People just want to live,” one woman, Ksenia, said.

Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by Russian shelling, as Russian forces seized control of the site and pressed their campaign to cripple the country despite global condemnation.

Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the Zaporizhzhia plant came under attack, and no casualties have been reported. But it caused worldwide concern — and evoked memories of the world's worst nuclear disaster, at Ukraine's Chernobyl.

The shelling of the plant came as the Russian military advanced on a strategic city on the Dnieper River near where the facility is located, and gained ground in their bid to cut the country off from the sea. That move would deal a severe blow to Ukraine's economy and could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation.

Here's the latest on the Ukraine-Russia conflict as of 5 a.m. (Eastern):

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants a no-fly zone to be imposed over his country in the wake of Russian shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
• The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter that it's been informed by Ukraine’s nuclear regulator that "there has been no change reported in radiation levels" at the nuclear power station that was hit.
• Ukraine and Russia are planning for a third round of talks for early next week.
• The Department of Homeland Security will grant temporary legal status to Ukrainians living in the U.S., extending Temporary Protected Status for 18 months.

The head of the United Nations’ atomic agency says that it was a training center at a Ukrainian nuclear plant that was hit by a Russian “projectile.”

Earlier reports conflicted over what part of the plant was affected by fire that broke out after shelling. Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television overnight that shells fell directly on the facility, and set fire to reactor that is not operating and to an administrative training building.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said Friday that the building hit was a training center and “not part of the reactor.”

He said that the Ukrainians are still in control of the reactor and that only one reactor at the plant is operating, at about 60%.

The nuclear regulator said staff are studying the site to check for other damage.

With the invasion in its second week, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid to the country, overturned by a war that has sent more than 1 million fleeing over the border and countless others sheltering underground night after night. A handful cities are without heat and at least one is struggling to get food and water.

Video: Ukraine President defiant amid Russia war gains

The confusion itself underscored the dangers of active fighting near a nuclear power plant. It was the second time since the invasion began just over a week ago that concerns about a nuclear accident or a release of radiation materialized, following a battle at Chernobyl.

The regulator noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than 1986 Chernobyl disaster or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling.

Leading nuclear authorities were worried but not panicked. The assault led to phone calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders. The U.S. Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.

The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said that measurements taken at 7 a.m. Friday showed radiation levels in the region “remain unchanged and do not endanger the lives and health of the population.” Nuclear officials from Sweden to China also said no radiation spikes have been reported.

“The fire at the (nuclear plant) has indeed been extinguished,” Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov announced on his Telegram channel Friday morning. His office told The Associated Press that the information came from firefighters who were allowed onto the site overnight.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council in “coming hours” to raise the issue of Russia’s attack on the plant, according to a statement from his office.

In an emotional speech in the middle of the night, Zelenskyy said he feared an explosion that would be “the end for everyone. The end for Europe. The evacuation of Europe.”

But most experts saw nothing to indicate an impending disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the fire had not affected essential equipment and that Ukraine’s nuclear regulator reported no change in radiation levels.

“The real threat to Ukrainian lives continues to be the violent invasion and bombing of their country,” the American Nuclear Society said in a statement.

Orlov, the mayor of Enerhodar, said Russian shelling stopped a few hours before dawn, and residents of the city of more than 50,000 who had stayed in shelters overnight could return home. The city awoke with no heat, however, because the shelling damaged the city’s heating supply, he said.

Loud shots and rocket fire were heard late Thursday around the plant. Later, a livestreamed security camera linked from the homepage of the plant showed what appeared to be armored vehicles rolling into the facility’s parking lot and shining spotlights on the building where the camera was mounted.

Then there were what appeared to be muzzle flashes from vehicles, followed by nearly simultaneous explosions in surrounding buildings. Smoke rose into the frame and drifted away.

Video: Worried volunteers prepare bomb shelters in Lviv

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces have brought their superior firepower to bear over the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains in the south.

The Russians announced the capture of the southern city of Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 280,000, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed the takeover of the government headquarters there, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.

Troops, meanwhile, advanced on Zaporizhzhia, a strategic city near the plant of the same name. A Russian airstrike on Thursday destroyed the power plant in Okhtyrka, leaving the northeastern city without heat or electricity, the head of the region said on Telegram.

“We are trying to figure out how to get people out of the city urgently because in a day the apartment buildings will turn into a cold stone trap without water, light or electricity,” Dmytro Zhyvytskyy said.

Heavy fighting continued on the outskirts of another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea. The battles have knocked out the city’s electricity, heat and water systems, as well as most phone service, officials said. Food deliveries to the city were also cut.

Associated Press video from the port city showed the assault lighting up the darkening sky above deserted streets and medical teams treating civilians, including a 16-year-old boy inside a clinic who could not be saved. The child was playing soccer when he was wounded in the shelling, according to his father, who cradled the boy’s head on the gurney and cried.

Ukraine’s defense minister said Friday that the flagship of its navy has been scuttled at the shipyard where it was undergoing repairs in order to keep it from being seized by Russian forces. Oleksii Reznikov said on Facebook that the commander of the frigate Hetman Sahaidachny decided to flood the ship.

“It is hard to imagine a more difficult decision for a courageous soldier and crew,” Reznikov said.

Overall, the outnumbered, outgunned Ukrainians have put up stiff resistance, staving off the swift victory that Russia appeared to have expected. But Russia's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 gives it a logistical advantage now in the country's south, with shorter supply lines that smoothed the offensive there, said a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ukrainian leaders called on the people to defend their homeland by cutting down trees, erecting barricades in the cities and attacking enemy columns from the rear. In recent days, authorities have issued weapons to civilians and taught them how to make Molotov cocktails.

“Total resistance. ... This is our Ukrainian trump card, and this is what we can do best in the world,” Oleksiy Arestovich, an aide to Zelenskyy, said in a video message, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during World War II.

Video: UNHCR: One million flee Ukraine in under a week

At the second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations Thursday, Putin warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s demand for its “demilitarization” and declare itself neutral, renouncing its bid to join NATO.

The two sides said that they tentatively agreed to allow cease-fires in areas designated safe corridors, and that they would seek to work out the necessary details quickly. A Zelenskyy adviser also said a third round of talks will be held early next week.

The Pentagon set up a direct communication link to Russia’s Ministry of Defense earlier this week to avoid the possibility of a miscalculation sparking conflict between Moscow and Washington, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the link had not been announced.

UNITED NATIONS — The United States says it is expelling 12 Russian diplomats at the United Nations for engaging in activities not in accordance with their responsibilities and obligations as diplomats.

U.S. deputy ambassador Richard Mills confirmed the expulsions after Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council on Monday afternoon that he had just been informed of “yet another hostile step undertaken by the host country" against the Russian Mission.

Nebenzia called the U.S. expulsions a “gross violation” of the U.N. agreement with the United States as the host of the United Nations and of the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic relations.

MOSCOW —

“Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.”

That’s how a top Russian diplomat brushed off speculation in the West that Russia could invade neighboring Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, Feb. 16.

As the U.S. and other NATO members warn of the potential for a devastating war, Russia is not countering with bombs or olive branches — but with sarcasm.

It’s a tool that officials in Moscow have long used to belittle their rivals and to deflect attention from actions seen as threatening to the West or Russia’s neighbors. Laconic quips dovetail with the Kremlin’s domestic agenda by making Russia and its all-powerful president look more cool-headed and clever than countries in the panicky, democratic West.

As worries mushroomed that Wednesday could be the day President Vladimir Putin launches an invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials ridiculed them.

In a Facebook post, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova asked the “mass media of disinformation” in the West “to reveal the schedule of our ‘invasions’ for the upcoming year. I’d like to plan my vacations.”

“To the regret of many Western media, the war again failed to start,” Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday. “Fighting has erupted on their pages, but it has no relation to reality.”

Ukrainians, meanwhile, have been living amid signs of a possible invasion for several weeks, with an estimated 150,000 Russian troops surrounding much of their country for military exercises. Russia said this week it was starting to pull back some troops, but Western military officials say there's no evidence of a serious withdrawal.

Russia’s ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, accused Westerners of “slander” for alleging an invasion was afoot. He insisted in an interview with German daily newspaper Welt that “there won’t be an attack this Wednesday.”

Then Chizhov added: “Wars in Europe rarely start on a Wednesday.’”

The statement seemed more flippant than historically significant. World War I started on a Tuesday and World War II started in Europe on a Friday, but Europe's history of war over centuries includes conflicts that kicked off throughout the week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also took the West's growing fears lightly. Asked Wednesday whether Russia's presidential administration operated differently overnight, he told reporters that everyone slept calmly and resumed work in the morning as usual.

“Western hysteria is still far from its culmination,” Peskov said. "We need to have patience, as the remission will not come quickly.”

The master of Russian diplomatic snark is Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He is known worldwide for his quips – often said in English — over 18 years as the Kremlin’s top diplomat.

On Wednesday, Lavrov mocked the West as sadly "lacking basic upbringing” for trying to dictate or predict Russia’s plans.

Beneath the sarcasm, Russia has narrated the current Ukraine crisis from the outset: first by moving troops toward Ukraine, then by periodically holding out the possibility of a diplomatic solution, keeping foreign officials and global markets on constant edge.

While Putin offered more talks this week, his intentions in Ukraine remain unclear. Western intelligence suggests an invasion of some kind could still happen – on a future Wednesday or any day of the week.

As people enter into a second holiday season in the COVID-19 pandemic, so many are dealing with the loss of a loved one.

Dr. Ruth Benca, a psychiatrist with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist in North Carolina, said she's seen significantly higher rates of depression, anxiety, stress-related illnesses and trouble sleeping over the course of the pandemic. Now, she and other mental health professionals are anticipating the holidays will only add to those issues.

"There are probably many layers of guilt, particularly with these losses," Benca said. "They think, 'I shouldn't be having a happy time right now because I'm here.' That's survivor's guilt. So I think it's really important to face that, but not do that to yourself. Not beat yourself up. It's important to be accepting of yourself and also be accepting about what you do feel able to do or not over the holidays."

Benca said self-checks and self-care are critically important over these next few weeks. She recommends prioritizing sleep and taking time for yourself to work out or just get outside to absorb some sunshine.

The doctor also said, when checking in with friends and family, to attempt some kind of face-to-face contact. She said phone calls are helpful, but the most effective way to connect would be over FaceTime or in-person.

The holidays also bring up a lot of traditions with loved ones. For many, COVID-19 meant the sudden loss of that person you had a tradition with or the inability to visit them. Benca said you have two options: either continue doing those traditions in honor and memory of them OR find a new tradition that will bring you joy. She reminds patients they can always come back to those previous traditions in a few years when they feel more manageable.

Benca said if the feelings are overwhelming to a point of a crisis, to see professional help. You can also always call the National Helpline at 1-800-273-8255.

A federal judge overseeing litigation related to the nation's opioid epidemic ruled Tuesday that lawsuits targeting Purdue Pharma and other drug companies can move to trial even as the OxyContin maker tries to reach a settlement.

The ruling was one of several issued by U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster, who is preparing for a trial scheduled for Oct. 21 over claims from the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga and Summit.

It would be the first federal trial seeking to hold drug companies, distributors and pharmacies accountable for an overdose and addiction crisis that has killed more than 400,000 Americans since 2000. More than 2,000 local governments have sued the industry, with most of the cases gathered in multidistrict litigation under Polster. The first trial is partly intended to answer legal questions that could arise in others that would follow if a settlement can't be reached.

Polster issued six rulings Tuesday denying motions for summary judgment from various groups of defendants, who had hoped to have at least some claims against them tossed out. While it's not a surprise that Polster denied the requests, the decisions strengthen the plaintiffs' positions with the initial trial less than two months away.

He ruled that civil conspiracy claims against the companies that make, distribute and sell opioids can remain in the case. In his opinion, Polster wrote that it's for a jury to decide whether there is enough evidence to show the companies' actions meet the criteria of a conspiracy claim.

Some of the defendants also sought to have claims tossed out because of conflicts between the underlying state and federal laws; Polster denied those, as well.

Polster also made rulings specific to certain defendants or groups of them. He found that claims should not be dropped against Mallinckrodt, Teva and Actavis, three makers of generic drugs.

They argued that there was no proof they had marketed their generic opioids during certain time periods, but plaintiffs in the case responded that the companies had indeed done marketing. They pointed to their sponsorship of patient advocacy groups that called for more access to pain treatment.

The judge also ruled against a group of smaller drug distributors. They had argued that lawsuits against them should be tossed out because their involvement in the opioids industry was too small to make a difference.

In recent weeks, Polster has ruled against several efforts to keep expert witnesses from testifying on behalf of the local governments.

It's not clear just which defendants might be included when the trial begins. Last month, drugmakers Endo and Allergan settled claims with the two Ohio counties, and more settlements could come in the weeks ahead.

Purdue, a company strongly associated with the opioid epidemic through its OxyContin drug, has proposed settlement terms that would have the Stamford, Connecticut-based company file for a structured bankruptcy and pay $10 billion to $12 billion to settle all claims against it. The Sackler family, which owns Purdue, would pay $3 billion under the proposal and contribute an estimated $1.5 billion more from the sale of another company they own, Mundipharma.

Since details of the deal became public last week, some local officials and state attorneys general have pushed back, saying the amount of money offered is too small. Others have said they want people affected by the opioid epidemic to have a chance to address company executives in court.

Last month, a state judge in Oklahoma ruled that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries must pay $572 million in the first state-court verdict on the opioid crisis. Purdue and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries settled with the state before the trial began.

Meanwhile, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has sued to stop the trials involving the Ohio local governments' claims, saying the state's lawsuit should go first.

A little art can spark a lot of emotion.

Artists are capturing the coronavirus crisis while turning boarded-up buildings into outdoor art shows that attract the eye and inspire the soul.

“It makes me feel like there’s hope and that we’re going to get back to normal soon,” one woman said of Project Plywood, a project where artists spray paint inspirational murals on plywood covering businesses shut down due to the coronavirus crisis.

The artist painting this pandemic is Weso Knarly,

@wesoknarly

on Instagram, who moved from Dallas to Denver to open an art gallery.

COVID-19 concerns caused Knarly to temporarily close his business, but his creativity opened his mind and his wallet.

“We like to have an element of us giving,” he said. “I myself am kind of a loner and like to paint by myself. So, this is a good opportunity to get out of my hole.”

At first, Knarly covered the cost of paint for Project Plywood murals while he and other artists supplied the talent and technique.

“Depending on the caliber of artist the whole mural might range you anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000,” he said.

With lockdowns lasting longer and more businesses closing down, more of Knarly’s murals are going on display

“We’ve done 12 to 15 different places and growing,” he said.

People are now donating to have Knarly spray paint plywood covering their businesses.

It’s enough to break even financially but emotionally its priceless.

“Creativity is the antidote for these hard times,” Knarly said. “Shakespeare created MacBeth during a pandemic.”

Knarly knows this beautification of businesses closed for quarantine won’t cure the coronavirus but he’s happy to help bring color to his community and inspire a growing outdoor audience.

“It gives me encouragement to get out and live life,” one passerby said. “And not let this whole thing get us all down.”

DENVER, Colo. – With the world stuck inside for weeks, some people are now stepping out and cheering on in a fight against an invisible killer – COVID-19.

“We’re all getting together and we’re all going to whoop it up a little bit and cheer them on,” said a Denver man from the balcony of his high-rise apartment.

The “them” the man is referring to are first responders, heroes he says are worth celebrating.

At Brooks Tower, downtown Denver’s oldest high rise, Kim Dozier is leading her neighbors as they cheer from their balconies for medical workers on the frontlines.

“Pass the love,” Dozier said. “There’s nothing else that matters right now.”

Acts like this are happening across the country

Whether praying from a hospital parking lot in Nashville, Tennessee or dancing in their driveways in Buffalo, New York – people caught in this pandemic are escaping from self-quarantine for a few minutes each night by gathering from a safe distance and howling as the coronavirus takes control of our lives.

Our news team obtained cell phone video from New York City’s Lower East Side, a hot spot for deaths linked to the virus.

The video shows proud New Yorkers hooting and hollering from their rooftops and balconies.

The excitement might make some forget the make-shift morgues now lining the city streets.

COVID-19 is has already killed thousands of people across the world – with health experts predicting many more deaths to pile up before this global pandemic ends.

But whether in New York or the oldest high rise in Denver, Colorado, Americans are making social distancing seem not that far away while making the world feel a little closer during this crisis.

There is an urgent need for more healthcare workers nationwide.

Recruiting firm NuWest Group is working to find 200 nurses before the end of this week. Specifically, they want intensive care unit (ICU) nurses who will travel to the hardest hit areas, like New York City.

“What all these facilities are gearing up for is this middle of April timeline, so the big rush to get these nurses to where they need to be before the peak hits,” said Mona Veiseh, President of NuWest Group’s Healthcare Division.

NuWest Group says it wants to speed-up nurses becoming licensed to work in other states. They did this in Washington state. New York is already willing to look at any licensure across the country.

Nurses are being paid more incentives to work where the greatest need is.

Mona Yeiseh says the pay rates for ICU nurses and registered respiratory technicians are the highest she's seen in her 14 years in the business. She's also seeing many nurses already answering the call to go where there is need.

“I have seen entire units lend groups of ICU nurses to other units across the country trying to get the nurses to where the outbreaks are the most significant,” said Yeiseh.

Another unprecedented measure – nurses and medical students are being fast tracked to work in hospitals earlier.

Some nurses in New Jersey are working in field hospitals for their final semester instead of going to school. Students at New York University’s school of medicine will start their internships at hospitals in the city three-months early.

NuWest Group has

information on its website

for any nurses willing to travel to respond to coronavirus needs.