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Jennifer Conway, left, is sworn in as a member of the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles by Cam War, director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles on Wednesday, July, 1, 2026. (Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles) Gov. Kay Ivey Wednesday appointed Jennifer Conway to fill the lone vacancy on the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles. Conway succeeds former board member Darryl Littleton, who stepped down from the board in January to serve as the deputy director of administration and law enforcement services for the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles. Conway, a special agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), began her career in the agency in 2001 and began work in Alabama in 2003, where she investigated gang-related trafficking and criminal enterprises. She was promoted to resident agent in 2016, overseeing special agents and task force offices in the U.S. Middle District of Alabama. “I cannot think of a more qualified person to sit o...

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in December. CMS last month released guidance on how states should implement new Medicaid work requirements. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) State Medicaid agencies are concerned that many sick and disabled enrollees will lose their coverage because the Trump administration is narrowing the definition of who is “medically frail” enough to get an exemption from new work requirements. Under the tax and spending law President Donald Trump signed a year ago, states that have expanded Medicaid to cover more adults under the Affordable Care Act — 40 states plus the District of Columbia — must mandate that those adults work, go to school or volunteer for at least 80 hours a month. The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act exempts Medicaid recipients who are “medically frail,” with serious illnesses or disabilities. However, on ...

A University of Miami pediatrician chats with a 13-year-old patient while administering the HPV vaccine, which research has shown is highly effective against cervical cancer. An Iowa law taking effect July 1 prohibits Iowans under age 18 from consenting to vaccinations related to sexually transmitted diseases and infections such as HPV. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Several laws restricting access to medications that can be used to terminate a pregnancy and others placing limits on minors’ access to sexual and reproductive healthcare — including the HPV vaccine — take effect today in Iowa, Mississippi and Tennessee. Many bills were considered in state legislatures earlier this year that would have added legal restrictions to mifepristone and misoprostol, but only a few made it into law. The 13 states that have near-total abortion bans already have restrictions in place, but some have proposed more in the wake of new methods of obtaining the medications online or by telehealth. ...

There were few crowds as attendees explored different exhibits at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2026. (Photo by Sam Gauntt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The Great American State Fair on the National Mall has all the trappings of a classic state fair: food vendors, merchandise, a Ferris wheel and scores of activities.  But on Tuesday, just days before the nation’s 250th anniversary, one thing was, for the most part, notably absent. The crowds.  Early in the afternoon, few of the exhibits representing every state had lines to enter. Most were small rooms with a few tables showcasing artwork or cultural items, with a trickle of guests politely making their way through. Concessions areas were plenty and unfilled.  The Great American State Fair on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 2026. (Photo by Sam Gauntt/States Newsroom) Some attendees said the heat might have hurt attendance. The Washington...

White House budget director Russell Vought speaks with reporters inside the U.S. Capitol on July 15, 2025. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — White House budget director Russ Vought testified before a U.S. House panel Tuesday that his agency needs lawmakers to increase its annual budget, even though he hasn’t spent much of the $100 million Republicans approved in their “big, beautiful” law. That earlier funding, he said, is intended to help the agency keep track of fraud throughout the federal government and to oversee a substantial increase to the annual defense budget should Congress agree to provide the $1.5 trillion requested.  “That would be one of those portfolios that we feel like we have nowhere near the number of (full-time employees) to be able to provide accountability for,” Vought said of the proposed defense budget. “And we are trying to invest in tools that would allow us to use technology to do OMB’s work better.” The Office of Management and...

A detainee stands silhouetted in a window of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, N.J., on May 28, 2026. Many federal judges are freeing immigrants held under a mandatory detention policy. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor) Gilberto Pacheco was driving to work for a construction job in California when he was pulled over in what court papers called a “traffic stop” in January. He was not accused of any crime, not even a traffic infraction, but he was imprisoned without bond for months because he arrived illegally in the United States more than 30 years ago from Mexico. Cases like that of Pacheco, who has applied for legal status through three U.S. citizen children, are what the Supreme Court has to consider when it rules next year on the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy.  Justices are expected to hear the case as soon as October after the U.S. solicitor general requested the court to resolve conflicting rulings on the matter from appeals courts....