California
Traveling to die: The latest form of medical tourism
This story first appeared on KFF Health News. In the 18 months after Francine Milano was diagnosed with a recurrence of the ovarian cancer she thought she’d beaten 20 years ago, she traveled twice from her home in Pennsylvania to Vermont. She went not to ski, hike or leaf-peep, but to arrange to die. “I […]
Governments often struggle with massive new IT projects
Idaho’s state government was facing a problem. In 2018, its 86 state agencies were operating with a mix of outdated, mismatched business systems that ran internal processes like payroll and human resources. Some of the programs dated back to the 1980s, and many were written in programming languages they don’t teach in engineering schools anymore. […]
Dark highways, fast cars, few sidewalks — and more pedestrian deaths
BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M. — Bianca Quintana was just taking a walk in the early morning dark near her mother’s house on South Coors Boulevard. There, the city streets of Albuquerque give way to feed stores and irrigation ditches, and the sounds of chickens and crickets mingle with high-speed traffic noise. Quintana, a 31-year-old mother of […]
Voters will decide minimum wage ballot measures in several states
Grace McGovern, a 24-year-old bartender and server at a downtown Boston brewery, recalls one recent customer vividly. He was very rude. It was a slow night, and she only had one table, a large group led by a man who “kept touching my lower back and my leg and making jokes,” she told Stateline. It […]
Facing natural disasters, more lawmakers look to make oil companies pay for the damage
Vermont is the first state trying a new approach to climate policy: charging fossil fuel companies money to cover the damages caused by natural disasters worsened by climate change. Other states could be close behind. New York lawmakers passed their own measure in June, though it’s unclear if Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul will sign the […]
Landlords cry foul as more states seal eviction records
When pandemic-era tenant protections expired, rents immediately soared, and eviction filings surged last year more than 50% over pre-pandemic levels in some U.S. cities. These filings can cast long shadows. Simply being named in an eviction complaint, regardless of the outcome, can severely limit future housing options and prolong housing insecurity, according to a recent University […]
Despite recent water supply improvement, more cuts expected for Colorado River, feds say
This story first appeared in the Nevada Current. Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. After Lake Mead hit an all-time low two years ago, the Colorado River’s water supply is in a much better position this summer, but it hasn’t improved enough to prevent […]
New bans on panhandling in medians spark debate over free speech rights
Despite court rulings that soliciting money is protected as free speech, some cities and at least one state are considering new restrictions on panhandling in traffic medians, arguing it’s a safety hazard. New Mexico’s Democratic governor this year and an Arizona Republican lawmaker last year proposed statewide bans on asking for money on street medians, […]
Conservatives push to declare fetuses as people, with far-reaching consequences
When Missourians head to the polls in November, they may get to vote on whether to overturn their state’s near-total abortion ban and legalize abortions up to the point of fetal viability. But one lawmaker says the results of that vote may not matter if his colleagues approve his bill declaring that fetuses are people. […]
Wanted: Poll workers. Must love democracy.
This week, a coalition of election officials, businesses, and civic engagement, religious and veterans groups will make a national push to encourage hundreds of thousands of Americans to serve as poll workers in November’s presidential election. Poll worker demand is high. With concerns over the harassment and threats election officials face, and with the traditional bench […]
Data privacy after Dobbs: Is period tracking safe?
After the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in 2022 and abortion was banned in the state of Tennessee, Dr. Danielle Kelvas quit using an app that tracked her menstrual cycle. “It frightened me. … I actually got frightened because it tracked me for, like, a week,” Kelvas said of the Oura Ring […]
Law school grads could earn license through work rather than bar exam in some states
PORTLAND, Ore. — Before Bailey McQueeny-Rose attended law school at the University of Oregon, she worked in reproductive health care, first as a medical assistant and then as a trainer, teaching others to do the same job. The work opened her eyes to how access to health care differed based on the laws in the […]