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Democrats in the Colorado legislature are pursuing an expansion of the state’s red flag law this year and are also trying to impose new rules on the sale of gun barrels. (Woods, 1/28)

Doug Fuller sits at his dining room table in the middle of his nearly 1,000-acre corn and soybean farm. He holds up a plaster mold of a cat’s paw engraved with the name “Ellie.” “I had a pet cat here, and it was just my pet cat and I for most of the time,” 69-year-old Fuller said. “And I had to put this cat to sleep. And that was so hard for me.” (Kelley, 1/29)

During a rain storm that rolled into Kerr County one night last week, Austin Dickson, who lives near Kerrville, began receiving calls from concerned neighbors that water was rising downtown. They feared the conditions could become a repeat of the July 4 floods. Dickson, who is also the CEO of the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, said his community is suffering from anxiety and PTSD, which mental health experts say are expected to surge this year. (Simpson, 1/29)

Cellphones could soon become a rarer sight in classrooms, thanks to the Mississippi Legislature. The House Education Committee passed a bill during its Wednesday meeting that would require local school boards to enact policies that restrict or prohibit the use of cellphones during the school day. The Senate Education Committee greenlit a similar bill during its meeting last week, which bodes well for the legislative success of the policy. (Bose, 1/29)

A Florida House panel Thursday backed a wide-ranging plan that seeks to trim health care regulations and carry out federal changes in programs such as food assistance and Medicaid. (Saunders, 1/30)

In a ruling handed down today, the high court ruled that police must find marijuana in a condition that’s ready to be smoked if they are going to charge a driver with an open container violation. (Duara, 1/29)

The San Francisco Department of Public Health is investigating an active outbreak of tuberculosis at Archbishop Riordan High School that has sickened at least three individuals. (Mohney, 1/29)

Shirley Raines, a beloved advocate for the homeless who used social media to amplify her message of respect and dignity for people on Los Angeles’s Skid Row and beyond, died Tuesday. She was 58. Her death was confirmed by the Clark County Coroner’s Office in Nevada, which said information on the cause of death was pending. Ms. Raines had lived in Las Vegas in recent years, broadening her advocacy efforts far beyond the Skid Row section of downtown L.A. where she started. (Rozsa and Hernandez, 1/28)