Month: December 2020
Top State Stories 12/23
US: States and cities impose their most severe lockdowns since the spring wsj.com States and major cities across the country have imposed the most extensive restrictions on business and social gatherings since widespread lockdowns during the spring, in hopes of preventing another wave of COVID-19 cases over the winter holidays. FL: Florida to vaccinate seniors […]
Landmark Climate Policy Faces Growing Claims of Environmental Racism
When California passed its landmark cap-and-trade law in 2006, supporters were hopeful that the program would provide the template for other states—and eventually the federal government—to solve the climate crisis. Now, many environmental groups are increasingly saying the program has done little to curb climate change. Worse, they say, it is harming the lower-income areas […]
Top State Stories 12/22
CA: California once quelled COVID-19 with a stay-at-home order, but the latest one isn’t working as well latimes.com It has been two weeks since a second stay-at-home order was issued in California, but the infection rate has not leveled off. This may be because the newest restrictions are looser than those in the spring, and because […]
Eviction Looms for Millions, Despite New Federal Aid Package
Read Stateline coverage of the latest state action on coronavirus. Julie Ray lives in a mobile home in Pearl River, Louisiana, with her two teenage daughters, Jerilynn and Jasmine. Her mother, Barbara, used to live there too, but she had a stroke before the pandemic hit and had to move to a nursing home. In May, she […]
Top State Stories 12/21
US: Voting was made easier in 2020; states ponder keeping the changes wsj.com More voting by mail, expanded early in-person voting and other changes states adopted for the pandemic helped a record number of Americans cast ballots in the 2020 general election. The nation is now debating what changes will stick and how voting might differ. VA: […]
Quarantines Leave Schools Scrambling for Substitute Teachers
Josephine Brewington has been a substitute teacher in suburban Beech Grove, Indiana, for a decade, but her job has grown in importance as her school district scrambles to supervise pupils whose teachers are sick, quarantining or caring for others. “We’d have teachers from the high school come over and help teach fourth graders because we […]
Top State Stories 12/18
US: CDC tells states they’re getting fewer vaccines than expected, some governors say thehill.com The move has sparked confusion in states, which need to alert hospitals and nursing homes how many doses to expect. The news has also raised questions about communications between the federal government and states, and whether the Trump administration can meet its goal […]
COVID-19 Eased Drug Treatment Rules—And That Saved Lives.
When the pandemic hit in March, people in treatment for substance use disorder worried they would lose access to the medications and counseling they rely on. In most places, that hasn’t happened. In fact, for many in recovery, access to treatment has gotten a lot easier. Since March, some patients have been allowed to take […]
Top State Stories 12/17
OR: Judge rules Oregon correctional officials not shielded from liability for the coronavirus spread in state prisons oregonlive.com A federal judge has ruled that a suit against Oregon’s governor and state correctional officials, alleging they’ve failed to protect prison inmates from the spread of the coronavirus, can proceed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman found that […]
Suspended Road Tests Give Teens Easier Route to Licenses
Teens across the country waiting anxiously to get their driver’s licenses were disappointed when most state motor vehicle departments suspended road testing for weeks—and sometimes for months—after the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March. While many states have since returned to road testing, several others have opted to waive that requirement and allow teens to get […]
Top State Stories 12/16
NV: Court stops Nevada from imposing capacity limits on churches thenevadaindependent.com A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of a Nevada church that argued Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak’s pandemic restrictions were a violation of the First Amendment, reversing a lower court’s ruling and prohibiting Sisolak from imposing further restrictions […]
Roadkill Moose Fed Alaska Families for Years. Then Came COVID-19.
It always broke Laurie Speakman’s heart to hear that another moose was struck and killed on the rural highway near her home in Soldotna, Alaska, on the western end of the Kenai Peninsula. But it also warmed her to know that several local families were about to get fed. For the past eight years, Speakman, […]