Colorado now has extra resources to combat one of the highest suicide rates in the nation.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed into law Friday a bill creating a model suicide prevention program.
It teams state agencies with health care providers, first responders, advocacy groups and others to better identify those at risk of suicide.
The bill signing was an emotional one. Two of the bill's sponsors, Sen. Linda Newell and Rep. Brittany Pettersen, lost brothers to suicide. They and others shed tears as the governor signed the bill.
Newell says Colorado has the seventh-highest suicide rate in the U.S.
Pettersen says the law is about saving not only lives but "saving families from going through this tragedy."
