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Dr. Randy Marriott clicked open the daily report he gets on drug overdoses in the county. Only one in the last 24 hours — stunningly low compared to the long lists he used to scroll through last year in a grim morning routine.

The package of bills being pushed by Ohio Rep. Jim Butler, R-Oakwood, to address an “outside-the-box” approach to the opioid crisis is broken into four areas. Butler, who is up for re-election this fall, says he intends to introduce a series of bills that would touch on various aspects of the crisis that has crippled the state.

Three Southwest Ohio counties have collectively received $2.1 million in grant funding to in their mission to prevent and treat those addicted to opioids. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Site-based Program awarded Comprehensive Addiction & Recovery Act grants to Butler, Hamilton and Warren counties, which will support the development of partnerships between first responders and treatment providers who respond to overdoses.

Google is coming to Ohio with what could be a revolutionary way to treat mental health and drug addiction issues. Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. is bringing one of its subsidiaries — Verily — to the Dayton region, sources close to the deal confirm. Verily, formerly known as Google Life Sciences, is part of a multi-organization partnership for a future mental behavioral health and drug addiction treatment offering.

Kratom, a plant-based supplement that consumers say alleviates chronic pain and opioid addiction, could soon be banned in Ohio. The Ohio Board of Pharmacy voted Monday to classify kratom a Schedule I controlled substance alongside heroin, LSD and other dangerous illegal drugs. The board concluded kratom has a high potential for abuse, has no accepted medical use, isn’t safe to use in medical treatment and poses a public health risk.

Over 13 people died a day on average in Ohio due to drug overdoses last year, a new high as the state battles the opioid epidemic. Gov. John Kasich, who will leave office in January, played defense during a Thursday afternoon news conference where the death tally was announced, emphasizing the work he's accomplished to make some progress in the battle against the drugs - such as heroin and prescription opioid-related overdose deaths decreasing.

The death rate of Ohioans from opioid use is more than twice the national average and the blame for the state's snowballing crisis has become central to the open-seat race for governor. In the past five years of the most recent statistics available, the number of Ohio residents who have died from opioids has ballooned by a third, to 3,495 in 2016. Mike DeWine, the Republican nominee for governor, has presided as the state's attorney general for the last eight years, leaving him vulnerable to the critique that he's failed to stem the epidemic as it's worsened.

Ohio officials on Wednesday announced the winners of the second phase of an $8 million competition for projects tackling the state’s opioid abuse crisis. The 12 winning ideas, which each received $200,000, include an online platform that can monitor opioid use, a website that helps addicts find recovery service providers and an application to prevent relapse of opioid use.