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.
The governor’s plan will require expansion beneficiaries to work 80 hours a month or be enrolled in school half time to retain coverage.
The consequences of sanctuary policies extend far beyond the ideological debate surrounding immigration enforcement. These policies enable criminal networks to make communities more dangerous.
As Iowa's math scores decline, the state should use public funds to provide private tutoring for families in need and give students extra support without switching schools.
The school district is one of a growing number across the country to pump money into creating a building tailor-made for pre-kindergarteners.
Abbott is in Washington this week to lobby Congress for $11 billion to compensate Texas for money spent on immigration enforcement.
The proposed measures include a bill allowing incarcerated individuals to register and another that would require ID verification.
Republicans are exploring cuts to Medicaid in an effort to pay for the president’s priorities. But public opinion, a divided Senate, and state governors worried about the impact to their budgets could dash those efforts.
It’s a battle of state vs. state and calls for the federal government to restrict Democratic state policies.
State lawmakers have introduced bills to limit SNAP benefits, change vaccine policies and ban fluoride in public water.
We should hold students to higher expectations and give them the support they need, and we need to give teachers the resources to do their job well. Two state lawmakers who started out as teachers have some insights.
Local officials should go on the offense to protect important initiatives that have benefited all of us. In particular, they can enlist businesses that see the benefits of their own diversity initiatives.
The lawsuit was filed by 22 states known for being powerhouses of biomedical research, including Massachusetts, California, Maryland and New York.
Most red states are looking to reduce property tax burdens, which have increased along with home values. Finding ways of replacing lost revenues for locals remains a challenge.
Demand for their services is expected to rise, but local clinics worry about the potential impact of Medicaid cuts at the federal level that could cause people to lose access to health care.
Five states allow firing squads but Idaho could become the first to use it as the primary method of execution.
At stake in a case from Oklahoma is whether the court will expand the boundaries of government aid to faith-based institutions. It would be a sea change in education law.
GOP state Rep. Rachelle Smit, a former local clerk, continues to spout false claims about the 2020 election. She’s now the chair of the Michigan House’s newly renamed Election Integrity Committee.
A reentry program near Waco, Texas, has proven successful. Not only does every participant come out with a job, but their recidivism rate is 73 percent lower than incarcerated women throughout the state as a whole.
It’s an opportunity for state lawmakers. The public hates these surprise charges, and they put businesses that price their services transparently at a disadvantage.
“The removal of critical health information from governmental public health sites is chilling and puts the health of the public at risk,” said Richard Besser, a former acting director of the CDC.
By empowering them to bargain and providing other protections, policymakers can address frustration over flat wages and inflation, while strengthening local economies.
Red states are in sync with the Trump administration’s efforts, but some Democratic governors are reminding districts to protect immigrants’ legal rights.
State and local public health departments rely on federal funding to operate. With those dollars at risk amid the Trump administration’s federal funding freezes, they’re bracing for the future.
For years, states strictly limited the amount of time people could be institutionalized. With homelessness rising, some policymakers want to do more.
Last year, legislators approved funding to fill a coverage gap. The law, however, was overridden by a ballot measure involving pay increases for doctors.
Pregnant women who are incarcerated will move into the facility next week. For now, only women with 18 months or less to serve can participate but the program may expand over time.
Gloria Sachdev has spent years taking on the health-care establishment in Indiana, working to pull down high hospital prices and make information public to patients. Now, in a newly created position in the governor’s Cabinet, she’s no longer fighting from the outside.
The Department of Education denied an application from a cyber charter school that would have been part of a multistate network. Classes would have been led by AI tutors with humans serving as “guides.”
The education committees in both the House and Senate approved a $450 million bill, a top priority for Gov. Bill Lee. Legislators are expected to pass it quickly during a special session this week.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a bill overturning the state’s work requirements, which had previously been blocked in court. The bill passed in December while Democrats still controlled the Legislature, with Republicans complaining it sent the wrong message to recipients.
The White House ordered a pause on all federal grants, partly intending to target diversity, equity and inclusion and other "woke" programs. A third of states' budgets comes from federal grants.
