Policy
This coverage will look at how public leaders establish new policies in a range of crucial areas of government – health, education, public safety, for example – and how these policies impact people’s lives through better services, effective regulations and new programs. This will include stories examining how state and local government approaches policymaking around emerging areas, including artificial intelligence.
Inmates and families say costly per-minute fees and limited services under a widely adopted system have turned a communication tool into a financial burden.
Just over 10,000 residents signed up as federal subsidy cuts and rising premiums reshape the state’s insurance marketplace.
State investments lifted scores overall, but stark gaps remain between affluent and struggling districts.
The English-only requirement follows decades of debate in a region where many households speak Spanish and multilingual voting remains protected.
At least eight states now require insurers to cover alternatives without higher co-pays or extra hurdles.
State officials pitched robotic ultrasounds to help rural areas with no OB-GYNs, but clinicians say technology can’t replace trained providers.
A proposed bill would clarify when conversations outside public meetings violate the state’s open government law.
By ending state-paid insurance support, the DeSantis administration risks cutting off lifesaving medication for as many as 12,000 residents.
Operation Metro Surge, the largest federal enforcement effort in state history, will transition to routine operations under border czar Tom Homan’s oversight.
Intensive instruction and test retakes helped thousands of students improve and move on to fourth grade.
Temporary pandemic-era changes helped a lot. Continuing revival requires systems calibrated to rural scale rather than to urban norms.
Federal subsidies helped 13 million more Americans access health insurance through Affordable Care Act marketplaces. Millions are expected to lose coverage now that subsidies have expired.
It’s the most significant step yet in a state program set to launch next school year.
As federal safeguards erode, state lawmakers are laying the groundwork for restoring and protecting wetlands left vulnerable by Clean Water Act rollbacks.
States that had historically high immunization coverage are seeing rising exemption rates and declining vaccine uptake, posing new public health challenges for legislators.
Laws targeting the practice have been a mess. It benefits both businesses and consumers, and pricing decisions should be left to market forces.
A dramatic drop in paroles reflects 2024 changes that tightened eligibility and eliminated discretionary release for many incarcerated people.
State officials intentionally timed new limits on soda and candy purchases to begin on Ash Wednesday as part of a health-focused push.
Alabama’s central data repository enables coordinated action across health, law enforcement and governmental agencies.
Across the U.S., lawmakers are introducing a wave of bills that would either restrict or support federal immigration enforcement.
Nebraska becomes the 12th state to bar diversion of federal survivor benefits toward foster-care costs.
Chatbots with inadequate safeguards are harming our children, rewiring their brains in ways that lead to anxiety, depression and self-harm. State lawmakers should take swift action to protect them.
State legislators introduce hundreds of K-12 proposals each year, but less than 10 percent reach the governor’s desk.
Parents say inconsistent and confusing local attendance policies undermine efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism and erode confidence in districts’ accountability.
Rising use of force by federal agents is testing the limits of state authority and civil rights protections.
A statewide strike aims to halt normal economic activity in response to recent enforcement actions and a fatal shooting.
Small schools with minimal staff face hundreds of hours of work to satisfy the Education Department’s new reporting requirement tied to post-affirmative-action scrutiny.
With about 86 percent of its transportation fuel imported from California and refinery closures looming, state leaders launched a Fuel Resiliency Committee to address supply vulnerabilities.
For-profit programs proliferated as oversight lagged and exam pass rates sank.
A national repository of personal information the federal government is seeking poses serious dangers. Americans should be free to speak out without fear that their data will be used to target them for retaliation.
This isn’t the first time the president has threatened to invoke the act giving him broad power to deploy the military on U.S. soil.
