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Alabama spared for now as nationwide measles outbreaks outpace 2025 cases

Alabama State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris speaking at the State Committee on Public Health meeting on April 9, 2025, in the RSA Regions tower in Montgomery, Alabama. Alabama recorded one case of measles in 2025 despite nationwide outbreaks and low vaccination rates. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Alabama to this point has largely managed to avoid the measles outbreak that broke out nationwide in the United States last year. The state’s top health official said Thursday that credit is due to the work behind the scenes at the Alabama Department of Public Health. “I assure you, if you haven’t been to many of these meetings, there are things that you have no idea that are in here, that are working behind the scenes in public health,” said Dr. Scott Harris at the State Committee on Public Health meeting. “Nobody knows about us until something goes wrong, because they’re generally working in the background, trying to keep people safe.” The state recorded one measles case in no...
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Rep. Eric Swalwell to quit Congress as 3 more US House members may face expulsion votes

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday, April 15, 2024. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell announced Monday evening that he plans to resign from Congress, just one day after he suspended his campaign for governor over allegations of sexual assault.  “I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members,” he wrote in a statement on X. “Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it’s also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress.” Debate about whether to expel four House members, which would require the support of two-thirds of the chamber, resurfaced this weekend when Swalwell  dropped out of the gubernatorial election.  New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, wrote in a statement that the ...
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Anti-abortion lawmakers seek to redefine ‘abortion’ to exclude medical treatment

South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden prepared to sign three anti-abortion bills into law last month in Sioux Falls. One of the laws redefines “abortion” so abortion ban penalties would not apply in cases where the death of an “unborn child” is the result of medical care provided to the pregnant woman. (Photo by Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight) Some anti-abortion state lawmakers are pushing to revise the definition of “abortion” so abortion bans don’t apply to cases in which the death of an “unborn child” is the result of medical care provided to the pregnant woman. In the four years since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion, stories continue to emerge of women with doomed pregnancies who developed life-threatening infections , had to travel to another state , or even died because doctors were afraid to provide what was once considered standard pregnancy-loss care. Thirteen states have abortion bans, and all of them include a medical excepti...
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The terrible lows (and handful of peaks) in the 2026 Alabama Legislature

(Left to right) Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainville; Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and Alabama Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, preside over a joint session of the Alabama Legislature honoring veterans on March 19, 2026 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) The Alabama Legislature has seemed discombobulated in recent years. It’s not just what happened on Thursday . The last day of a session is always frantic. Bills die without warning as a host of priorities try to squeeze through the closing door. But look at a controversial bill to require party registration to participate in Alabama primaries. This wasn’t one of those “controversial because it hurts Alabamians” bills. No, HB 541 divided the GOP. The state party wanted it. Many elected Republicans did not . Managing that sort of legislation — whether you’re trying to pass it or kill it — takes a careful, coordinated strategy. As best as I can ...
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Immigration-related bills stall in Alabama Legislature’s 2026 session

The Hernandez Family stands in solidarity with other non violent protesters against anti immigration bills in Congress in Birmingham, Alabama, on Saturday February 22, 2025. At least five bills targeting immigrants were introduced in the 2026 regular session of the Alabama Legislature, but none passed. (Andi Rice for Alabama Reflector) Immigration consumed the Alabama Legislature in 2025. Not this year. Lawmakers considered a total of seven bills that would have affected immigrants in several ways, from immigration enforcement to their eligibility to seek elected office. But unlike 2025, when the Legislature passed two immigration-related bills, none of this year’s immigration legislation passed by the time the session concluded Thursday. For immigrants’ rights groups, that was a relief. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “We were concerned with any bills that seemed to want to increase penalties, fines and punishments based on someone’s status,” said Carlos E. Alemán...
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A new gold rush: States stockpile bars, encourage gold-backed debit cards

Gold bars are photographed at the Texas Bullion Depository, the nation’s first state-run depository for precious metals. More states are eying legislation on gold to hedge against inflation. (Photo courtesy of Texas Comptroller’s Office) More states are piling up gold bars, or encouraging residents to use gold-backed debit cards, to hedge against inflation. Several states, including Western ones with rich mining histories, have been stockpiling gold as part of their broader state savings. And more states are looking to follow the lead of Texas and Florida by passing so-called transactional gold laws that would invite consumers to save and spend gold through their own accounts. Critics question the need for these bills and some have panned them as potentially market-disrupting measures that could ultimately provide tax havens for the wealthy. But proponents say they can help bring gold to the masses and provide ordinary consumers an important protection against the creep of infla...
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Virginia secures birth control access as other Southern states eye abortion pill manufacturers

A giant inflatable intrauterine device is displayed outside of the Virginia Capitol in Richmond on Feb. 7, 2025. Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed legislation Wednesday that secures the right to birth control in the state and requires insurers to cover contraception. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury) Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed a bill Wednesday that ensures the right to contraception in the commonwealth — legislation that cleared the General Assembly in previous sessions only to be rejected by her predecessor. “After championing this legislation during my years in the Senate and watching it vetoed by Glenn Youngkin, I am pleased to see the legislation signed and codified into law,” Democratic Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi  said on social media.  Spanberger also  endorsed the Contraception Equity Act, a  bill that requires health insurers to cover prescription and over-the-counter birth control without any...
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