Society
In scrapping its LGBTQ-related travel ban, California pivots to ‘hearts and minds’
In September, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom officially repealed California’s 2016 ban on state-funded travel to states with laws targeting LGBTQ+ people. The idea behind the ban — which applied to bureaucrats, lawmakers, academics and even college athletes — was to use California’s economic heft to dissuade other states from enacting such laws. By that metric, […]
Congress takes aim at state animal welfare laws
Earlier this year, Oregon Democrats pushed through state legislation that allows local governments to require setbacks between neighbors and factory farming operations. The law prohibits farms from drawing unlimited amounts of free groundwater and requires farmers to apply for a permit before applying manure to their fields. It’s the kind of state regulation at risk […]
It’s hazing season on college campuses. State safeguards are uneven.
Max Gruver spent the early morning hours of Sept. 14, 2017, heavily intoxicated and passed out on a couch inside the Phi Delta Theta chapter house at Louisiana State University. He had been forced to repeatedly chug 190-proof Diesel liquor in a hazing ritual called “Bible Study,” during which pledges are quizzed on fraternity facts. […]
Incarcerated people partner with state officials to encourage voter turnout in Maine prisons
This story first appeared in the Maine Morning Star. In Maine, people in prison retain their right to vote, making the state one of just two in the nation — along with Vermont — where that is the case. Emphasizing the importance of being able to vote while incarcerated, advocates inside and outside prisons have […]
Amid rising evictions and rents, states grapple with protections in tenant-landlord laws
At 90 years old, Hilda Chavera has found a new purpose in life: tenant organizing. A Minneapolis resident for 50 years, Chavera said she has seen her city change, with many of her neighbors struggling to stay in their homes. “People can’t afford their rent. They are getting kicked out of their homes. They feel […]
As child poverty doubles, states launch or expand their own tax credits
The federal pandemic-era child tax credit expansion lifted millions of children out of poverty in the second half of 2021. But Congress allowed it to expire at the end of that year, and new U.S. census data shows the child poverty rate more than doubled in 2022, erasing the record gains that were made. “It […]
States and cities eye stronger protections for gig economy workers
Joshua Wood remembers days during the COVID-19 lockdown when New York City’s streets were practically empty, save for workers like him. That experience convinced the 25-year-old Brooklynite — who makes deliveries for both Uber Eats and a package delivery service — that the gig economy needed some urgent changes. Roughly 1 in 6 American adults […]
States sweeten their offers to chipmakers in competition for jobs
HILLSBORO, Ore. — “Oregon’s been at this for decades,” the governor’s office assures potential investors in its so-called Silicon Forest. The Lone Star State’s governor calls it a “race that Texas must win for our state, our workforce, our national security, and our future.” And New York’s governor boasts on the state’s YouTube channel that […]
‘It’s an emergency.’ Midwest towns scramble as drought threatens drinking water.
SEDAN, Kan. — James Rainbolt typically can tackle most problems at his rural water plant with some extra time or money. But he can’t fix this. “I just can’t make it rain,” he said. Like others across Southeast Kansas, Rainbolt remains helpless as he watches a persistent drought dry up the local water supply. He […]
States see influx of migrants from India, Venezuela and China
NEW YORK — A late-pandemic surge of new arrivals from India, Venezuela and China, reflecting people with legal visas and those fleeing across the United States’ southern border seeking asylum, helped bring more than 900,000 new immigrants to the U.S. between 2021 and 2022, according to a Stateline analysis of new census data to be released Thursday. Florida […]
Drug decriminalization stumbled in Oregon. Other states are taking note.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Just before Portland’s city council approved a ban on public drug use last week, Mayor Ted Wheeler described what he’d observed on his way to work that afternoon: “The last time I saw somebody consuming what I believe to be fentanyl publicly on our streets was less than five minutes ago, three […]
An Eastern Oregon effort to join Idaho reflects the growing American divide
ENTERPRISE, Ore. — This small ranching town, surrounded by towering tree-topped mountains and a valley of rolling grass fields, sits tucked into the northeast corner of the state — both out of the way and right in the middle of a contentious debate. At a meeting late last month, 25 people packed into a stuffy […]