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Top State Stories 11/8
NC: Feds to monitor elections in 5 North Carolina counties for possible violations newsobserver.com The U.S. Justice Department will be monitoring elections in five North Carolina counties Tuesday for possible violations of federal voting law, even as state election officials announced they are investigating more than a dozen disturbances at polling sites. WI: Wisconsin court decides not […]
Top State Stories 8/26
TX: Federal judge says Texas can’t ban 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying handguns texastribune.org A federal court struck down a Texas law that bars most 18- to 20-year-olds in the state from obtaining a license to carry a handgun or carrying a handgun for self-defense outside their homes. Two plaintiffs and the Firearms Policy Coalition Inc. […]
Top State Stories 8/11
WY: Abortion in Wyoming will continue after court ruling cowboystatedaily.com After pausing Wyoming’s abortion ban in late July for two weeks, a district court judge now has placed a preliminary injunction on the law that could last months or years while the case against it wages on. MA: Massachusetts governor signs sports betting bill into […]
Top State Stories 7/12
AZ: Federal judge blocks Arizona law granting human rights to fetuses azcentral.com Acknowledging that the law on abortion in Arizona is “murky,” a federal judge issued an order halting enforcement of a 2021 statute that grants human rights to fetuses. TX: Texas bitcoin miners shut down as electricity grid nears brink bloomberg.com Nearly all industrial-scale […]
After Leaked Roe Ruling, GOP Weighs Stricter Abortion Bans
If, as expected, the U.S. Supreme Court decides as early as next month to overturn Roe v. Wade, just how quickly Republican-dominated legislatures will act to restrict abortion and how far they will go to eliminate the procedure is uncertain. But recent rhetoric from state officials and events in state capitols offer some clues. GOP […]
Federal Judge Tosses Oregon Ban on Real Estate ‘Love Letters’
An Oregon judge has thrown out a state law that banned real estate “love letters” written by prospective homebuyers to sellers in an attempt to close a deal on a home. U.S. District Judge Marco Hernández issued a consent decree that invalidated the law on free speech grounds. In the decree, he said the law […]
Top State Stories 5/2
TN: Tennessee enacts ‘acquired immunity’ COVID law apnews.com Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee declined to sign legislation requiring governments and businesses to treat immunity from a previous COVID-19 infection as equal to getting vaccinated. The bill, which requires a letter from a licensed physician or certain lab test results as proof of “acquired immunity,” became law without […]
Southern, Western States See Highest Inflation Spikes in November
Consumer prices reached a 39-year high in November, up 6.8% from the same month a year ago, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. The last time inflation reached 6.8% was in 1982, the BLS reported. States in the South and Mountain West experienced the highest spikes, while the Mid-Atlantic region had the lowest […]
No Permit, No Problem: More States Allow Residents to Carry a Hidden Gun
Six more states no longer require residents to hold a permit to carry a concealed firearm. Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Utah this year enacted what gun rights advocates often refer to as “constitutional carry” measures. A legislative priority for groups such as the National Rifle Association, 21 states now have such measures in […]
Top State Stories 7/29
US: New CDC guidelines set off rush to reimpose mask mandates apnews.com New guidance from the federal government set off a cascade of mask rules across the nation as cities, states, schools and businesses raced to restore mandates and others pushed back against the guidelines at a time when Americans are exhausted and confused over […]
Top State Stories 5/19
AK: Alaska Senate passes bill that would pay for essential, laid-off workers to attend college alaskapublic.org The Alaska Senate passed a bill that would pay university tuition for Alaskans who were employed as essential workers or were laid off when the federal COVID-19 emergency began. The bill would provide up to $10 million through the end […]
U.S. COVID-19 Testing Has Dropped Dramatically
As more U.S. residents receive their COVID-19 vaccinations, testing for the virus has plummeted, dropping by a third in two months. This is a positive development wrapped in a potentially worrisome one, public health experts say. They say the decline reflects diminishing COVID-19 caseloads and suggests fewer Americans are fearful that they have contracted or […]