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Editor’s Picks From Around the Web
CA: California felons regain voting rights
California has restored voting rights to tens of thousands of felons who have left prison and are serving sentences under supervision in communities.
KS: Kansas ends $25 cap on cash welfare benefits at ATMs
Kansas has eliminated its controversial -a-day limit on ATM withdrawals with cash assistance cards. The state did so after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the limit appeared to prevent poor families from having adequate access to their benefits.
US: Toxic algae bloom extends along entire West Coast
A vast bloom of toxic algae is up to 40 miles wide and 650 feet deep in places and stretches from California to Alaska, carrying consequences for the Pacific seafood industry, state tourism and marine ecosystems.
AZ: Arizona governor’s Medicaid plan to call for lifetime limits, copays
Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s plan to modernize Arizona’s Medicaid program will require the estimated 350,000 able-bodied adults on Medicaid in Arizona to take more responsibility for their health coverage through copays and incentives to find work.
OK: Oklahoma governor cites ‘direct correlation’ between quakes and disposal wells
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin acknowledged a link between Oklahoma’s rash of earthquakes and wastewater disposal wells used by the energy industry, as state regulators told energy companies to reduce underground disposal in some areas of the state.
NM: New Mexico changes teacher evaluations
New Mexico’s Public Education Department will no longer require school districts to use test scores and other data to evaluate roughly 1,000 teachers who teach subjects that don’t use standardized testing—removing one of the most controversial components of the evaluation system.
AR: Arkansas governor suspends Medicaid terminations for 2 weeks
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson says Arkansas is suspending a push to terminate coverage for thousands on Medicaid as the state addresses a backlog of responses from recipients trying to verify their incomes. The state has already terminated coverage for more than 35,000 people.
TX: Texas grand jury selection to become more random
Texas is on the verge of overhauling the way it selects grand jurors, shifting from an antiquated process that critics say creates the potential for conflicts of interest. The new process, which goes into effect Sept. 1, ends the state’s controversial “pick-a-pal” system in which judges appoint commissioners, sometimes friends, who then tap jurors to be summoned.
SD: South Dakota payday ballot group alleges rival group out to confuse voters
A South Dakota group that is sponsoring a ballot measure to cap interest rates at 36 percent in the state has filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office, alleging signatures are illegally being collected for a rival ballot measure that hasn’t been approved and is meant to confuse voters.
FL: Florida lawmakers likely to revisit guns on college campuses
Two lawmakers have filed proposals that would allow people with concealed-weapons licenses to carry guns on Florida’s college and university campuses, setting the stage for a renewed debate about the controversial issue when the legislature reconvenes in January.
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