Nwexx

A cannabis flower rests on a rolling tray, surrounded by a pack of rolling papers, a grinder and a lighter. Lawmakers in a handful of states this year have introduced legislation to impose stricter THC limits on certain cannabis products. (Amanda Watford/Stateline) When her son was a teenager, Connecticut mom Amy Wadsworth said, he was the type of kid parents rarely worry about. He played sports, cared about his health and stayed away from drugs. In 2018, when he left West Hartford to start his freshman year at American University in Washington, D.C., she expected his biggest challenge would be adjusting to college life. Instead, she said, he began using cannabis to cope with social anxiety and as a sleep aid. Within months, Wadsworth’s son was calling home in the middle of the night, terrified and disoriented. Over the next several years, his behavior became increasingly erratic, he had psychotic episodes and he was eventually diagnosed with severe cannabis use disorder. That’s wh...

U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican, participates in a forum hosted by the Sutherland Institute at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics on Oct. 14, 2024. (Katie McKellar/Utah News Dispatch) WASHINGTON — The Pentagon changed course Monday after its removal of dozens of religious denominations from a list of recognized faiths drew intense criticism over the weekend from Utah Republicans incensed by the failure to classify the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a Christian denomination. U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, a member of the church widely known as the Mormon church, said the policy for military chaplains announced Friday was “offensive” and demanded the Pentagon reverse course, which the department did Monday afternoon. “It’s also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations,” Lee, a Utah Republican, said ...

Kaelah Oberdorf, 24, had a medication abortion in 2023 when she discovered she was pregnant while still recovering from the debilitating postpartum depression she had after giving birth to her daughter. Oberdorf said she was in an emotionally abusive relationship and didn't want her daughter or herself to be tied to that partner for life. (Courtesy of Kaelah Oberdorf) Carrie Frail was in the process of leaving an abusive relationship when she discovered she was pregnant. Her partner told her he could hit her in the stomach until she had a miscarriage, and it would save some money. “I firmly believe he would have killed me at some point, whether accidentally or intentionally,” Frail said. She had a medication abortion at a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2008 while serving in the U.S. Air Force. She was relieved to have the option of using medication instead of a procedure, and it let her take less time off work. It wasn’t an easy decision, she said, but she k...

The U.S. Supreme Court. The court on Tuesday allowed Alabama to use a congressional map previously deemed racially discriminatory. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom) Here’s the word in the Supreme Court’s Allen v. Milligan decision that got me mad. Interposed . Don’t get me wrong. The whole ruling on Alabama’s congressional districts is infuriating. The use of definite articles is the only thing the court did right. If you care about popular will and representation, well, the nation’s high court doesn’t. Particularly when Black Americans vote in ways six conservative justices don’t like. But look at “interposed” in its full context, in the unsigned order: “Here, the District Court interposed itself into Alabama’s ongoing efforts to conduct its imminent 2026 congressional elections under maps that its elected representatives selected . . . While federal courts should not impose changes close to an election, states are free to decide for themselves whether...

Ty and Allisha Setty pose with the two-bedroom house in suburban Cincinnati they bought in May for $170,000. Unlike many new homebuyers, the couple didn't need family help with the purchase. (Photo courtesy of Ty and Allisha Setty) The idea started with a sermon Micah Longmire heard at his Presbyterian church in Ogden, Utah, about the importance of grandparents in a child’s life. Longmire, now 31, exchanged a look with his mother-in-law. “We were like, ‘I’d be OK living with you after that sermon,’ and the ball rolled downhill from there,” Longmire said. Both families are now living in a house they bought together in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after a two-year nationwide search. Their partnership is an example of the lengths first-time homebuyers have gone to this year amid stubbornly high home prices and interest rates. “I make $200,000 and I wouldn’t have been able to buy a house by myself. That’s ridiculous,” Longmire said. His wife’s parents contributed $200,000 from selling th...

President Donald Trump speaks during a "Beautiful, Clean Coal" event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 4, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Behind him, left to right, are Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) The federal government will spend $700 million on building or refurbishing coal power infrastructure across the country in a boost to “clean, beautiful coal,” President Donald Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office. Trump said he was invoking the Cold War-era Defense Production Act, which gives the president authority over domestic industry, to save 13 existing power plants and build two new ones. He said the move would save 14,000 coal jobs and lower energy costs, though the spending will not lower the price of gasoline or diesel fuel, which has spiked since Trump launched a war with Iran in February. Trump criticized subsidies for wind power championed by Democrats, inc...