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.
A narrow majority of justices found that by regulating abortion, legislators had "impliedly repealed" the state's near-total ban on the procedure. Dissenters called the ruling pure policymaking.
Universities were already facing a grim future due to demographic changes. Then along came Trump.
States should remove barriers to building, siting and competition to unleash electricity.
States are spending 15 percent of their home-generated revenue on the program, seeing their largest cost increases in 20 years.
Better data and messaging would help. So would improved education.
School choice programs provide state money to help families who want to educate their kids outside of public school. After launching programs targeted at disadvantaged students, many states are opening the programs up to everyone.
The incinerated town of Lahaina has barely begun to recover. Policymakers have scrambled to ease inflexible laws and regulations but rebuilding would be happening much more quickly if that had happened before the fires.
With classroom behavior notably worse than it was prior to the pandemic, a number of states are increasing penalties to address aggression and disruption.
Oregon has enacted a law that's the first of its kind, protecting doctors from corporate interference over medical decision-making.
The state will spend $75 million moving more people with mental illness from jails to treatment facilities. “You’re not coming out better after three years at our jail,” said one sheriff.
The alleged shooter’s ability to pose as a police officer in Saturday’s killing of a state legislator has sparked fears about copycats.
The Trump administration concedes it ended too many Department of Education contracts but critics say it hasn’t restored enough congressionally approved programs.
Millions are likely to lose health insurance, and there is no credible data that imposing such rules would save money. They would hurt rural communities and red states as much as blue ones.
A proposal under the state budget would end the need for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities to qualify annually. Instead, they would be considered permanently eligible unless their circumstances or conditions change.
The proposal would shake up the finances of hundreds of institutions that use race as a factor in admissions, scholarships or other ways.
States are taking a look at tax credits, cost-sharing, regulation reductions and more as they look to support families and their economies.
The state is devoting $50 million to a research consortium looking into the effects of ibogaine, an illegal drug being touted by surprising psychedelics champion Rick Perry, a former governor.
Rather than pulling special education kids out for separate instruction, it’s putting special ed teachers in classrooms with the general student population. Test scores are improving.
Work requirements through welfare have helped recipients find meaningful jobs. America has a vast workforce network at the ready to provide job placement services.
Local governments must review their risks and detection strategies and be better prepared for attacks. A state bill was prompted by a wave of cyber attacks against local agencies.
Texas offered the benefit for 24 years. The move came in response to a federal lawsuit, but state leaders hailed it as a win.
Florida reopened schools earlier than some states but faces the same challenges of large shares of students missing a lot of school.
Currently, as part of their training, students work for free for a year as teachers or classroom aides. That creates an economic hardship that discourages some potential recruits.
The one-time grant funding let cities and counties demonstrate new ideas and expand existing efforts to curb gun violence. When the ARPA sunsets, some efforts may scale down, but local governments have been planning to maintain the bulk of the work.
Older, sick prisoners cost far more to incarcerate. Since they pose little or no risk to public safety, states should ease the path to medical parole.
Hundreds of Alabama church leaders are being certified as substance use support specialists, gaining insight into the nature of these disorders and connections with professionals who treat them.
A new cost-cutting law will move the system toward managed care, likely over a period of about four years.
In recent years, conservatives have championed family-friendly workplace policies as “pro-life” measures.
Funding for a half-dozen tech hubs has been canceled in a setback for promising industrial policies. Local and regional actors must continue the work these valuable projects have begun.
No sector stands to lose more from trade wars than agriculture. With the economies of rural communities at stake, states should call for trade policy that supports long-term growth.
President Donald Trump has terminated funding for programs ranging from broadband access to digital literacy. Public officials need to step up to help Americans still trapped on the wrong side of the digital divide.
