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As states hunt for new voters, Massachusetts adds thousands via Medicaid applications
Massachusetts saw a more-than-fivefold jump in voter registration applications through social service agencies in the last election cycle, new federal data shows. The striking increase comes after the state implemented an automatic voter registration system that includes Medicaid applicants. Any eligible voter in the state who applies for Medicaid is automatically added to the rolls, […]
Top State Stories 3/14
FL: Florida House panel backs undoing post-Parkland age limit to buy long guns newsserviceflorida.com A Florida House panel approved a bill that would lower the minimum age from 21 to 18 to buy rifles and other long guns in the state. The bill would reverse part of a 2018 law that set the minimum age […]
Top State Stories 2/27
TX: Texas abortion funds likely safe from prosecution, federal judge rules texastribune.org A federal judge issued a favorable ruling for Texas abortion funds, indicating they likely cannot be criminally charged for helping people travel out of state to terminate their pregnancies. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the nonprofit groups stopped paying for Texans to […]
Top State Stories 2/23
OH: Ohio Senate to hold hearings on train derailment dispatch.com Ohio’s state lawmakers plan to start hearings on what happened when a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine and whether they need to make any changes to state law. CA: California boosts state water allocation again, as heavy snow returns to the mountains sacbee.com […]
Top State Stories 2/22
US: Democratic governors form alliance on abortion rights apnews.com Democratic governors in 20 states are launching a network intended to strengthen abortion access in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Organizers, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, described the Reproductive Freedom Alliance as a way for governors and their staffs […]
Egged on by Grocery Prices, Cities Welcome Backyard Chickens
For five years, a woman known as the Chicken Lady of South Jersey urged local officials in Haddon Township, New Jersey, to allow her and other residents to keep chickens in their backyards. She eventually won them over — but that was just the beginning. The woman, Gwenne Baile, became a traveling chicken guru for […]
Top State Stories 1/12
MI: New Democratic majority in Michigan kicks off session with bills axing Right to Work, 1931 abortion ban michiganadvance.com Now wielding power in the Michigan House and Senate for the first time in decades, Democrats used the first day of the 102nd Legislature to announce a flurry of bills to advance labor, LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights. […]
Motley Marijuana Laws Drive Consumers — and Revenue — Across State Lines
SOUTH BELOIT, Ill. — Less than half a mile south of the Wisconsin border in Illinois, the Sunnyside Cannabis Dispensary bustles with activity. Cars with license plates from Wisconsin, Minnesota and other pot-banning states slide in and out of the shop’s expansive parking lot. The bright and airy retail store is an easy hop off […]
Top State Stories 1/10
CA: Biden issues emergency declaration for California following storms sacbee.com President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for California to help people and local officials coping with the storms that have battered the state, an action that will speed federal help. CO: Colorado now second state to have a majority of women in the statehouse as […]
Top State Stories12/5
CA: High gas prices prompt California lawmakers to consider penalties on oil profits latimes.com A new class of California lawmakers will be sworn in and thrust into the middle of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political fight with oil companies, testing the clout of an industry that spends heavily to influence the legislature and potentially affecting […]
Funeral Aid Is Available — But Untapped — in Many States
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the spelling of Molly Gorny. Many states offer payments to families to help them cover the cost of funerals, and some of the amounts are on the rise. The funds are only available to people with low incomes, and sometimes the amount isn’t enough to cover the […]
Top State Stories 11/18
MD: Maryland AG finds history of rampant sexual abuse in Baltimore Catholic diocese baltimoresun.com Catholic priests and officials assigned to the Archdiocese of Baltimore sexually abused and tortured more than 600 people over the past 80 years, and the church helped to cover most of it up, a report from the Maryland attorney general’s office […]