VOA CONNECT: More than 40,000 Americans die from opioid overdoses each year. When the opioid epidemic hit Nash County in North Carolina, Police Chief Thomas Bashore decided to stop jailing people who are addicted to opioids, and instead started a program to help save them. Every day, 24-hours a day, people can walk into his police department to ask for the help they need.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On July 6, 1976, US Naval Academy admits women for the first time in its history with the induction of 81 female midshipmen. Four years later, Elizabeth Anne Rowe will be the first woman member of the class to graduate. Four years after that, Kristine Holderied (pictured with President Ronald Reagan in 1984) will be the first female midshipman to graduate at the top of her class.

For the millions of first-generation immigrants in the United States, staying in touch with the local news and culture back home can be challenging. Every Wednesday night, Boubacar Ba hosts a call-in radio show from New York that’s aimed at serving Malian natives. He’s one of 7,000 broadcasters across 150 countries who offer diaspora communities the opportunity to stay connected with their homelands in their native languages. The programming is designed to offer a respite from day-to-day hardships immigrants can face.

‘Mothers of their country.’ Last month, former first lady Laura Bush penned an editorial criticizing the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from parents who crossed the southern border illegally. Bush wasn’t alone in condemning the separation of children from their parents, but her voice as a former first lady carried special weight. First ladies often enact change not because of a legal mandate, but by using their platform to lead without authority.

World Cup soccer jerseys are big business. Suggested retail prices start at $90 for adult sizes, but lower prices can be found online as teams get knocked out of competition in Russia. But even after a team is out of the running, its signature team shirt can remain a winner. That’s exactly what’s happening with this year’s runaway hit jersey, which is sold out all over the world.

The year 1968 was a time of great social and political upheaval in America. Both Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, and the war in Vietnam raged on. That was also the year that the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington opened to the public. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the museum is presenting a time capsule of that important period, which the museum’s director believes has many similarities to America today.