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Govs Push Different Directions on Guns If anyone thought another murderous rampage would bring America’s two major political parties together to work on a solution to the nation’s mass shooting epidemic, think again. In the wake of two...

SCOTUS Blocks TX Social Media Censorship Law The U.S. Supreme Court blocked a Texas law ( HB 20 ) that would have prohibited online platforms like Facebook and Twitter from censoring content because of that content’s viewpoint. The law was passed...

Resident Physicians Unionizing in CA, Other States Resident physicians pushed to the brink during the coronavirus pandemic along with nurses and other healthcare workers, have been unionizing in California and other states to demand better wages, benefits...

Govs Take Opposing Sides on Abortion In the wake of a leaked memo indicating the Supreme Court of the United States will soon strike down Roe. V. Wade , red and blue state governors have quickly acted to further solidify their states’ positions...

Cities, States Easing Off Facial Recognition Bans In the last few years, roughly a couple of dozen state and local governments have imposed bans on the use of facial recognition technology due to concerns about it being racially biased. But with recent...

Tide Turns for Traveling Nurses During the pandemic traveling nurses earned double, even triple what staff nurses did. But with state and federal coronavirus relief now drying up, travel nurse contracts are disappearing, and hospitals across the nation...

More GOP Govs Sign Transgender Sports Measures Two more Republican governors, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed measures last week intended to prevent transgender girls or women from participating in sports that align with their...

Twitter Accepts Buyout Offer from Elon Musk Twitter announced last week that its board had accepted the offer from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to buy the company for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion. If the deal receives shareholder and regulatory approval...

Medical Mall Makeovers on Rise The decline of the American shopping mall over the past decade or so has been a boon for big-city healthcare systems. Healthcare providers now occupy at least some part of 32 enclosed malls across the country, according...

TX Growers Irate at Gov Over Massive Truck Backlog Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is drawing intense criticism from Lone Star State agricultural interests over an ongoing backlog of commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border caused by his order that each...

Elon Musk Makes $43M Offer for Twitter Last Thursday (4/14), a little over a week after it was reported that Elon Musk held a 9.1 percent stake in Twitter, he offered to buy the company for about $43 billion and take it private. Musk said he invested...

States Mandating Healthcare Facility Visitor Access At least nine states – most recently Florida, on April 6 – have passed laws allowing visitors to healthcare facilities even during a pandemic. Some of the laws, including those passed last...

GOP Govs Split on Transgender Sports Ban A quartet of GOP governors has taken decidedly different tacks of late in addressing bills that bar transgender athletes from competing in school sports teams that align with their gender identity. In late...

Comcast, Telecoms Disrupting Broadband Development in WA Washington’s Public Works Board, one of three bodies in the state that award broadband grants, is considering changing its objection process to require objectors to provide more evidence...

Expanded Role for Pharmacists in Many States Even before the coronavirus pandemic, states were expanding pharmacists’ role in providing healthcare. Over a dozen states allow pharmacists to test and treat people for the flu, strep throat, urinary...

CA Gov Signs Bill Restoring UC Enrollment California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a measure ( SB 118 ) last week that removes public college enrollment as a separate consideration under the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA. The...

Cybersecurity Big Concern for State Lawmakers in 2021 With high-profile cyberattacks like the one on Colonial Pipeline last May that caused fuel shortages in Eastern states and the targeting of public infrastructure in every state by hackers over the...

MO Weighs Fix for Physician Shortage A bill introduced this year in the Missouri House ( HB 2296 ) would allow assistant physicians - medical school graduates who haven’t completed their residency - to become fully licensed as doctors after practicing...

Govs Push Russian Sanctions The outrage from world leaders at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has filtered down to state governors as well. According to Stateline , a publication of the Pew Charitable Trusts, governors in at least 12 states have...

UT On Verge of Passing Consumer Data Privacy Law Utah appears likely to become the fourth state to pass a comprehensive consumer data privacy law. Last month, the state’s Senate unanimously passed the Utah Consumer Privacy Act ( SB 227 ), which...

States, Purdue Pharma Agree to New Opioid Settlement The attorneys general for all 50 states have reached a new settlement with Purdue Pharma over its role in the opioid crisis. An earlier settlement had been appealed by eight states: California, Connecticut...

IA Gov Makes New Effort for Private School Scholarships Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) is making another push to allow students to use public school funds to pay for private school scholarships. Reynolds first proposed sending the entire state per-pupil...

Major Home Insurer Pulls Out of FL United Property and Casualty Insurance Co. - one of the top 10 homeowners insurers in Florida, with over 180,000 policyholders - has stopped writing new policies in the state this year, joining the other home and property...

Controversy Over Alzheimer’s Drug Deepens The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision last June to grant accelerated approval for Aduhelm , Biogen’s new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, sparked considerable controversy...

NM Lawmakers Kill Gov’s Clean Hydrogen Bill : The New Mexico House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted to table Gov. Michell Lujan Grisham’s (D) proposal to make the state a hub of hydrogen production by offering tax...