What We're Reading: Top State Stories 9/17
TX: Texas women work to regain political clout
This year, 105 Texas women are in the final sprint for elected office. If successful, they could reclaim their largest share of political power since 2008, when 50 elected women served in state government and Congress.
CT: Connecticut doctors slow to adopt medication-assisted therapy for opioid treatment
Research shows that medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction is effective because it eliminates drug cravings, but its use in Connecticut is not keeping up with the epidemic. Connecticut ranks in the top 10 of states with the highest rates of fatal opioid overdoses.
NJ: New Jersey could become top sports-betting market in U.S.
New Jersey’s sports-betting market will surpass Nevada’s by 2021, an expert projected. While Nevada has the more mature market, New Jersey’s population will drive volume in the next four years.
WI: Wisconsin officials prepare for potential election hackers
Top cybersecurity experts from the United States, Canada and Russia said that some practices and hardware components could make voting in Wisconsin open to a few types of malicious attacks, and that Russian actors have a record of these specific actions.
MI: Most Michigan communities don't want medical marijuana, survey says
Three out of four Michigan communities don't want medical marijuana businesses, according to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan. Michigan voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and over at the polls Nov. 6.
IN: Indiana lawmakers consider crackdown on unsolicited calls
Indiana lawmakers are looking into toughening the state’s regulations for telephone solicitation to combat unwanted, and often illegal, sales calls.
NC: Will Hurricane Florence damage trigger assessments against all North Carolina property owners?
For the past decade, North Carolina has faced the grim prospect of a hurricane so enormous and destructive that residents in every county of the state would be on the hook financially for the recovery. But triggering the emergency payment mechanism would take an extraordinary sequence of catastrophes, possibly two back-to-back monster storms.
CA: California will launch satellite to track climate pollutants
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said the California Air Resources Board would be developing technology capable of detecting the “point source” of carbon dioxide emissions and other climate pollutants that linger in the atmosphere, trapping in heat and warming the Earth’s surface. California plans to make the data public.
MT: Meth still a plague in Montana
Opioid abuse may dominate the national news, but throughout Montana, methamphetamine continues to wreak havoc.
MD: Marylanders in ‘Obamacare’ individual market poised for rate drop
Thousands of Marylanders covered by “Obamacare” plans purchased on the individual market are likely to see hefty decreases in their 2019 premiums, thanks to legislation the General Assembly adopted this year with bipartisan support.
VA: Court won't immediately take over Virginia redistricting, but sets contingency plan in motion
A federal judge did not immediately move Virginia’s redistricting process to the courts, but set in motion a contingency plan in which a court-appointed expert would draw new boundaries in case legislators miss an Oct. 30 deadline to do so.
MO: St. Louis, Missouri, struggles to keep up with abandoned buildings
As is the case in most older, industrial cities in the United States, abandoned properties in St. Louis, Missouri, have festered for decades, a symptom of postwar population loss, suburbanization, flat regional population growth, older housing stock and a history of racial bias. The city of 300,000 people counts about 25,000 abandoned properties.
