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Editor’s Picks From Around the Web
AK: Alaska Legislature to sue governor to try to stop Medicaid expansion
The Alaska Legislature said it will sue Independent Gov. Bill Walker in an effort to block his move to expand Medicaid to cover more Alaskans and approved spending up to $450,000 to do it. Walker is using his executive powers to expand the health care program for the poor because the legislature refused to.
FL: Planned Parenthood to resume abortions in Florida
Three of Planned Parenthood’s Florida clinics will resume first-trimester abortions while the state continues investigating the organization. Florida officials say some clinics were performing unlicensed second-trimester abortions, but clinics dispute that.
WA: Washington governor seeks emergency status to fight deadly wildfires
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee asked President Barack Obama to declare a federal emergency in Washington to fight fires that killed three firefighters and injured at least three others. More than 100 large blazes have spread across the western states of Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington and California.
AR: Arkansas governor willing to continue Medicaid expansion — with changes
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he is open to continuing to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid to cover more Arkansans if the federal government grants the state increased flexibility in shaping its health care program for the poor. Arkansas has used federal Medicaid money to buy private insurance for more than 200,000 low-income individuals.
OH: FDA warns Ohio not to import death penalty drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Ohio that its attempts to import sodium thiopental for state executions would violate federal law, if successful. The FDA hasn’t approved the drug for use in executions.
WI: Troubled Wisconsin state jobs agency vows tighter controls
Following revelations that the state’s jobs agency awarded millions of dollars in taxpayer money to companies with serious issues in their past, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. said it is tightening checks on recipients’ legal history and finances.
TX: Texas advocates of higher minimum wages go local
After years of failed proposals in the Texas Legislature to raise the minimum wage, advocates for higher hourly wages are going local. Leaders in two major cities and two large counties will vote soon on raising minimum wages for public employees and, in some cases, for employees of private companies that contract with local governments.
MI: Michigan approves health insurance rate hikes
Some Michiganders who buy health insurance on the individual market will face double-digit rate hikes next year under rate changes approved by state regulators. Citing the high costs of specialty drugs and pent-up demand among the newly insured, the state’s largest insurer—Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan—received permission to raise its premium rates 11 percent for individual policies in 2016.
UT: Term-limits group sues Utah over rejected petition drive
A term-limits group sued Republican Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox seeking to overturn his rejection of a proposed ballot petition that could limit length of service for gubernatorial appointees to hundreds of state boards.
KS: Kansas state employee alleges she was fired for lack of religious fervor
A former state employee filed a federal wrongful termination lawsuit targeting Kansas’ assistant secretary of state, alleging she was fired because she didn’t go to church.
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