Columbus, OH

Maryland State

Route Fifty

This story was originally published by ProPublica. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently signed the Gift Card Scams Prevention Act of 2024, creating the country’s first law aimed at curbing a rising form of gift card fraud called card draining. Card draining is a scheme in which thieves remove gift...

The nation’s first law protecting against gift card draining has passed. Will it work?

Louisiana State

Baton Rouge, LA

This article was originally co-published by ProPublica and Verite News. Four years before a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, prompting nationwide demonstrations, hundreds of people marched in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to protest officers’ killing of Alton Sterling in front of a convenience store. Law enforcement responded in force: Officers armed with rifles, body armor and gas masks pushed protesters back and forcibly arrested about 200 people. Some were injured.

New Louisiana law serves as a warning to bystanders who film police: Stay away or face arrest

Earlier this year, the federal government eased restrictions regarding how methadone—one of the three federally approved medications used to treat opioid use disorders—can be administered to patients. The new guidelines from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration allow patients to take home methadone prescriptions after a month of treatment, down from two years, and removes the requirement for individuals to receive counseling before receiving the drug.

Stigma is hindering treatment of opioid addictions. States can change that.

Texas State

New anti-immigration laws in Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas that make it a state crime to be in the country illegally have all been put on hold. But their real purpose might be to get the U.S. Supreme Court to give states more power to handle immigration-related policies, a new report says.

New anti-immigration laws' real focus is the U.S. Supreme Court, report says

COVID-era unemployment insurance fraud is estimated to have cost state governments up to $135 billion, the Government Accountability Office reported last year. While some states have moved to prevent future waste, fraud and abuse by modernizing their unemployment systems, often taking advantage of federal grants along the way, many state systems still lag behind and remain vulnerable. And although the pandemic and the government aid that accompanied it has ended, multiplying threats from bad actors make benefits fraud an ongoing issue for everyone.

Unemployment insurance fraud during the pandemic cost states $135B—and counting

Kentucky State

Pike County, KY

This story was produced through a collaboration between the Daily Yonder, which covers rural America, and Climate Central, a nonadvocacy science and news group. On the day he would become homeless, Wesley Bryant was awoken by his wife, Alexis. “Get up,” she told him. “There’s a flood outside.”...

The rural Americans too poor for federal flood protections

Arizona State

Phoenix, AZ

This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. PHOENIX—In the middle of summer in the nation’s hottest city, water experts from local governments, tribal nations, universities and...

White House looks to safeguard groundwater supplies as aquifers decline nationwide

Montana State

This story is republished from KFF Health News original article. Montana is poised to become the latest state to increase scrutiny of how its nonprofit hospitals deliver community benefits in exchange for their tax-exempt status. Under proposed rules, the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services plans to collect...

Montana looks to become latest state to boost nonprofit hospital oversight

Orange County, CA

Saint Louis County, MO

When St. Louis County, Missouri, kicked off its redistricting process after the 2010 Census, local officials used colored pencils on transparent paper to redraw their legislative boundaries and reflect population shifts. Ten years later, following the 2020 Census, officials in Missouri’s most populous county had traded in their pencils and...

How mapping tech is revolutionizing election administration

Coping with future public health threats means more state and local agencies—many of which rely on aging infrastructure and still collect data by faxes and manual entry—must modernize their data systems, experts say. To do that, a new $255 million federal program will support state, local and tribal...

New $255M federal grant will help state, local public health agencies modernize data systems

Thomson, GA

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Daily Coffee Press

A Georgia city mayor has been arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation following an investigation and a grand jury indictment. According to GBI officials, the Thomson Police Department requested the agency to investigate an allegation that Thomson City Mayor, 52-year-old Benjamin Cary Cranford, provided alcohol to an inmate on work detail within the city limits on June 4, 2024.

Georgia City Mayor Arrested for Allegedly Giving Alcohol to an Inmate on Work Det

South Carolina State

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Los Angeles County, CA

Herbie J Pilato

In 1981, pop-music sensation Andy Gibb was at the top of the charts. The younger brother of Barry, Robin, and Maurice, a.k.a. The Bee Gees, commenced a tumultuous romance with actress Victoria Principle, who played Pam Ewing on Dallas, TV's then-Number 1 prime-time series. But after the relationship ended, Andy's life, already challenged by substance abuse, did as well. This is their tragic story.

The Tragic Death of Pop Star Andy Gibb & His Traumatic Romance with 'Dallas' Star Victoria Principle

Jacksonville, FL

Jacksonville Today

A historic marker could be erected to honor the victims of the racist mass shooting at the Dollar General store in Jacksonville’s New Town neighborhood nearly a year ago. If approved by the Jacksonville City Council, a marker would be installed at Kings Road and Canal Street on Aug. 25, a day before the first anniversary of the shooting, when a white gunman took the lives of three Black people.

Memorial considered to honor Dollar General victims

Ohio State

The Lantern

On Tuesday, licensed Ohio dispensaries began legally selling non-medical marijuana to consumers; however, the drug’s possession, growth and/or usage are still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus. Credit: Jefferee Woo/Tampa Bay Times/TNS [Original caption: Four citizen-led petitions with proposals to update Dallas’ charter hit the 20,000 valid signature threshold to make it on the Nov. 5 election ballot, including one that would ban police officers from arresting or citing people carrying less than four ounces of marijuana.] As of Tuesday, students 21 and older can now legally purchase marijuana in Ohio.

Dispensary sales of recreational marijuana began Tuesday; possession and usage still prohibited on Ohio State’s campus

Massachusetts State

Camilo Díaz

(MA) Meet Jack Jewel, a teeny tiny Miniature Poodle mix boy who is ready to completely take over every aspect of your life. For unspecified reasons, this 4-and-a-half-month-old puppy was placed in Great Dog Rescue New England's care. He is now living safely with a foster family where he is being spoiled. While he is okay with waiting in foster care for the time being, he hopes you will come bring him to YOUR house soon!

Tiny 4-Pound Miniature Poodle Is Searching For A Home

Colleton County, SC

Explore Beaufort SC

Some beachgoers were in for a surprise this week when a bizarre looking prehistoric fish washed ashore in Colleton County along Edisto Beach at Edisto Beach State Park. It turned out to be an atlantic sturgeon.

Rare Atlantic sturgeon washes ashore on South Carolina beach

Colorado State

David Heitz

A bill quietly introduced this spring in the Colorado legislature to decriminalize the possession of drug paraphernalia obtained by harm reductionists has become law. As low-key as the legislation was introduced, the bill was signed into law without fanfare June 6. It garnered little to no media attention.

Colorado legalizes needles, pipes for meth and crack if obtained by harm reduction group

A relic of horse-and-buggy days in state constitutions is still causing havoc, hampering disaster relief efforts, inviting political chicanery and possibly even affecting Vice President Kamala Harris’ choice of a running mate in the upcoming presidential election. Quinn Yeargain, a Michigan State University law professor who studies state constitutions,...

Rules for out-of-town governors could cause headaches for potential VP pick

This story is republished from The Daily Yonder original article. When Penelope Gomez arrived at her new home in Lincoln Center, Kansas, a crew of a dozen townspeople was there to meet her. “There were men and women and children all there to help me unload the moving truck,” Gomez...

Small towns are paying remote workers to move in

New Jersey State

Washington, DC

This story was originally published by The Conversation. Summer 2024’s record heat is creating problems for transportation infrastructure, from roads to rails. New York’s Third Avenue Bridge, which swings open for ship traffic on the Harlem River, was stuck for hours after its metal expanded in the heat and it couldn’t close. Roads have buckled on hot days in several states, including Washington and Wisconsin. Amtrak warned passengers to prepare for heat-related problems hours before a daylong outage between New York and New Jersey; the risks to power lines and rails during high temperatures are a growing source of delays for the train system.

Stuck bridges, buckling roads—extreme heat is wreaking havoc on America’s aging infrastructure

NewsBreak

The results of the biggest study on guaranteed income programs are finally in

This story was originally published by The 19th. For eight years, researchers have been quietly putting together the largest, most comprehensive study on programs that give...

The results of the biggest study on guaranteed income programs are finally in

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