West Virginia
Why Republican-led states keep leaving a group that verifies voter rolls
Eight Republican-led states this year left an interstate cooperative that seeks to maintain accurate voter registration rolls, and three more may join them — a move that election security experts say is fueled by conspiracy theories. Earlier this month, Virginia’s top election official said the state would become the latest to stop participating in the […]
Feds Push Local Election Officials to Boost Security Ahead of 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Some of the nation’s top cybersecurity leaders are warning state and local election officials of ongoing foreign and domestic national security threats to election systems, urging them to upgrade their defenses ahead of next year’s presidential election. At separate conferences this month, federal officials warned gatherings of the National Association of Secretaries […]
These Hyperlocal Weather Networks Can Help States Face Climate Threats
To prepare for climate change, states are getting into the weather business. Thirty-eight states are operating or building networks of weather monitoring stations to provide more precise data than they receive from the National Weather Service. They’re using that information to help spot flash floods, assess wildfire risk, inform farming practices and choose locations for […]
California’s New Child Privacy Law Could Become National Standard
A new California privacy law might fundamentally change how kids and teens use the internet — not only in California but also across the country. The first-in-the-nation legislation, which goes into effect in 2024, imposes sweeping restrictions on internet companies that serve minors, requiring that they design their platforms with children’s “well-being” in mind and […]
More States Extend Postpartum Medicaid Since Roe’s Demise
Read more Stateline coverage on how states are either protecting or curbing access to abortions. Restrictions on abortion likely will result in more unwanted pregnancies being carried to term. Experts predict that will worsen the nation’s already high rate of maternal deaths — unless states spend a lot more on health care and social and economic supports […]
Geothermal Bubbles Up as Another Way to Fight Climate Change
Geothermal power currently provides only a tiny fraction of the nation’s electricity. But as states ramp up their transitions to renewable electricity, some leaders see a big role for geothermal as a stable, renewable power source. Used in the United States since 1960, geothermal plants pipe steam or hot water from deep wells to power […]
Climate Change is Shifting State Views on Nuclear Power
In many of the states with the nation’s most aggressive climate goals, officials are investing millions of dollars to save the power source that was long the No. 1 target of many environmental activists: nuclear plants. “We are moving expeditiously toward a clean energy mix, but that is going to take a while,” said Joe […]
Pay Transparency Laws Raise Women’s Salaries (And Slightly Lower Men’s)
The bestselling 2016 book “Hidden Figures,” later adapted into a popular film, told the story of Black female mathematicians who played an essential role in the U.S. space program in the 1950s and 1960s, but who faced racial discrimination and were paid less than their male counterparts. The gender pay gap existed before the era […]
Parents Say Mask-Optional Policies Leave Out High-Risk Students
Read more Stateline coverage of how schools are affected by and responding to COVID-19. Editor’s Note: The story has been updated to correct Amanda McDougald Scott’s name. After South Carolina banned schools last spring from mandating masks, Amanda McDougald Scott removed her immunocompromised 5-year-old son from the Greenville County School District and enrolled him in a private […]
COVID Underscores Lack of Whistleblower Protections
FORT WORTH, Texas — Inside a partially completed Amazon warehouse here, workers last summer walked on conveyor belts four stories high without safety harnesses, welders used plasma torches while surrounded by flammable cardboard boxes, and laborers raised metal racks alongside a moving forklift, putting their feet in danger of being crushed. Contractors and subcontractors who […]
Pandemic Prompts Officials to Relax Rules on Home Businesses
It took 16 years, a local election and a global pandemic for Jonathan Holtfreter to secure his right to teach tuba in peace. The retired music teacher, a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, had for decades supplemented his public school salary by teaching private lessons at a nearby music store or in his home’s soundproofed […]
Texas Governor Signs Transgender Youth Sports Ban
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott this week became the latest governor to sign a bill to bar transgender youth from competing on high school sports team that don’t align with their biological gender at birth. The legislation, which failed to pass at least five times during the regular legislative session, advanced at a state Senate […]