Texas
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 […]
Federal judge pauses program that grants protections for some noncitizen spouses
WASHINGTON — A Texas federal judge late Monday sided with 16-Republican led states to temporarily block a Biden administration program that grants deportation protections and a potential pathway to citizenship for some noncitizen spouses of U.S. citizens. The ruling by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, […]
GOP states aim to halt Biden program protecting some noncitizen spouses from deportation
WASHINGTON — Texas and 15 states Friday filed a suit in federal court to block the Biden administration’s program that protects some people in the country without authorization who are married to U.S. citizens from deportation and grants them a pathway to citizenship. States in the suit, which was filed in United States District Court […]
Helping a minor travel for an abortion? Some states have made it a crime.
Read more Stateline coverage on how states are either protecting or curbing access to abortions. Helping a pregnant minor travel to get a legal abortion without parental consent is now a crime in at least two Republican-led states, prompting legal action by abortion-rights advocates and copycat legislation from conservative lawmakers in a handful of other […]
New Planned Parenthood clinic expands abortion access for patients in and outside Kansas
This story first appeared in the Kansas Reflector. Read more Stateline coverage of how states are protecting and curbing access to abortion. PITTSBURG, Kan. — A new Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Kansas will be the closest abortion access point for many people in the South and will provide easier access to reproductive health care for southeast Kansans […]
With lifted spirits, Black Michiganders took their souls to the polls
SAGINAW, Mich. — Ann and Kenneth Patrick were in high spirits. The couple had just gotten out of a two-hour Sunday service earlier this month at Prince of Peace Baptist Church and had taken a 10-minute drive to vote early with fellow parishioners and members of their tight-knit community in central Michigan. Gospel music rang […]
State lawmakers eye promise, pitfalls of AI ahead of November elections
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Inside a white-walled conference room, a speaker surveyed hundreds of state lawmakers and policy influencers, asking whether artificial intelligence poses a threat to the elections in their states. The results were unambiguous: 80% of those who answered a live poll said yes. In a follow-up question, nearly 90% said their state laws […]
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. […]
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 […]
In the 10 states that didn’t expand Medicaid, 1.6M can’t afford health insurance
Nearly 1 of every 5 uninsured working-age adults across the 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act are, according to a new analysis, stuck in a health care limbo known as a “coverage gap.” That means they earn too much money to receive Medicaid but not enough to qualify for […]
Red-state cities and suburbs are becoming more diverse
Growth in Asian, Black and Hispanic communities is transforming cities and suburban counties, especially in red states such as Florida, Indiana and Texas, according to a new Stateline analysis. The presidential swing states of Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania also were among the fastest-changing states. Nationally, the share of the non-white population grew in 47 states […]
‘Compounded’ weight-loss drugs are a growing problem for state regulators
Anna Wysock’s “aha” moment arrived in an Ohio amusement park, as she got ready to ride a roller coaster with her 7-year-old son: The safety bar across her lap would only click into place once. The attendant told her it had to click twice, or she couldn’t ride. She was mortified. “I had to do […]