TX: Appeals court sends case challenging DACA back to lower court in Texas
The ruling keeps Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, in place while a lower court in Texas analyzes the latest rule the Biden administration implemented to save the program protecting immigrants without legal status brought into the United States as children. New applications are barred, however.
FL: Hurricane Ian caused gas and chemical spills, records show
A national hotline is starting to record reports of spills and environmental problems in Florida that occurred during and after Hurricane Ian.
VA: IT issues stall voter-records processing for 107K in Virginia
Local registrars across Virginia began scrambling to process about 107,000 voter records dumped on them overnight by the state after computer network failures left applications in limbo for months.
ME: Nearly all of Maine’s county jails are understaffed
Almost all of Maine’s 15 county jails say they’re understaffed, and some are missing more than half of the employees they say they need to fully operate.
CO: Cyberattack takes down Colorado’s main website
Colorado state government’s homepage, Colorado.gov, was taken down by a cyberattack. A group known for targeting state governments claimed credit.
CA: California offers to reduce imports of Colorado River water
Facing demands from the federal government, California water agencies offered to cut back the amount of water they import from the Colorado River starting in 2023.
WA: Washington offers K bonuses to combat homeless-service worker crisis
Washington’s homeless-services sector struggles with low pay, burnout and turnover. The state legislature earmarked million for two rounds of ,000 stipends to people doing direct homeless assistance.
CT: Connecticut employee unions to seek arbitration over pandemic pay
Fifteen unions representing more than 40,000 state employees in Connecticut announced that they plan to seek arbitration to secure special pay for workers who faced considerable health risk during the worst of the pandemic.
MO: Missouri governor approves income tax cut for residents, starting in January
Missouri Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed an income tax cut, heralding the phased-in reduction as a “fiscally conservative” move that will put money back in taxpayers’ pockets.
LA: Less than half of Louisiana schools have campus security officers
Only 47% of Louisiana’s 1,300 public schools employ at least one school resource officer, typically a police officer who is the first line of defense against an intruder.
AR: Arkansas group announces opposition to marijuana legalization
A conservative political organization announced plans for a statewide campaign opposing marijuana legalization in Arkansas that will include holding meetings in 25 cities and towns across the state.
MN: Minnesota legislators create secular caucus to counter Christian nationalism
A group of Minnesota Democratic state legislators announced the creation of the Secular Government Caucus to counter the rise in Christian nationalism and politicians imposing their personal religious beliefs on others.
OK: Oklahoma governor says raising teacher pay is ‘easy cop-out’
With a political opponent seeking to raise teacher salaries by ,000, Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt said such a move is “an easy cop-out” with no guarantee of improving student academics.
AZ: Arizona to weigh in-state tuition for some non-citizens
This November, Arizona voters will decide whether to allow students regardless of their immigration status to obtain financial aid and cheaper in-state tuition at state universities and community colleges.
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