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As national death rate dips, some states did better than others

A person walks into University Hospital in Newark, N.J. New Jersey has had one of the largest drops in deaths rates since 2015, according to a Stateline analysis. (Photo by Terrence McDonald/New Jersey Monitor) The nation’s death rate may have fallen to a historic low last year as many of the killers of young people such as drug overdoses, gun homicides and traffic accidents continued receding in 2025, according to new federal statistics.   States have not shared equally in the success, though, according to a Stateline analysis of provisional data by state. And the low ebb may reflect the effects of past health care expansion efforts that are threatened by today’s Trump administration moves to curtail Medicaid expansion and cut funding for rural hospitals.  Some states in the Northeast have seen death rates drop by the most between 2015 and 2025 — led by New Jersey (down 8.3%), Rhode Island (down 8%), New York (down 7.9%), Massachusetts (down 7.4%) and the District of Columbia (down...
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US Senate Dems press Mullin to ensure all immigration agents have body cameras

A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer watches a crowd of protesters at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey, on May 25, 2026. (Photo by Ben Ackman/New Jersey Monitor) WASHINGTON — A supermajority of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus has asked Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to deploy body cameras to all federal immigration officers, following deadly shootings of immigrants in Texas and Maine. In  a July 19 letter addressed to Mullin, 38 Senate Democrats and Maine’s Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, requested information about the shootings this month in Houston of 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and in Biddeford, Maine, of 25-year-old Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.  Neither man was the initial enforcement target when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers stopped their vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security has said. “The unnecessary loss of life in these incidents demands immediate, thorough, independent, and transpar...
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Onetime acting FEMA chief fired by Trump now on track to be confirmed to head agency

FEMA nominee Cameron Hamilton testifies before the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 17, 2026. (Screenshot from committee webcast) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday moved one step closer to confirming the first administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency since President Donald Trump took office last year.  The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-4 to send Cameron Hamilton’s nomination to the floor, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the full Senate would vote before it breaks for its August recess. Hamilton led FEMA in an acting role at the beginning of 2025 but was  fired that May after testifying before Congress that he personally did “not believe it is in the best interest of the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Trump has said repeatedly during his second administration he would like to reduce the size and scope of the federal government’s disaster...
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Gov. Kay Ivey signs executive order creating commission to study screen-based learning

Gov. Kay Ivey delivers the State of the State Address at the Alabama State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Montgomery, Ala. On Wednesday, Ivey signed an executive order that created a commission to study screen-based instruction in K-12 classrooms across the state.(Estela Muñoz for Alabama Reflector) Gov. Kay Ivey Wednesday afternoon signed an executive order creating a commission dedicated to studying screen-based instruction. The Commission on Screen-Based Instruction will study the risks, usage and benefits of screen-based instruction in K-12 classrooms across the state. “Responsible use of classroom screen time is a top priority of my administration, and while we are already making a difference by passing two signature laws to address it, we can still do more,” Ivey said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Children’s overexposure to screens is a barrier to classroom learning and the acquisition of critical emotional and social skills. We must continue exploring the proper...
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Alabama Department of Public Health holds hearing on marijuana rescheduling

Mock medical cannabis tinctures in a display case at Callie's Apothecary in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 14, 2026. The Alabama Department of Public Health Wednesday heard from members of the public for rescheduling marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) A group of conservative activists Wednesday registered objections to the federal rescheduling of marijuana with the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH). The ADPH held a public hearing following the April decision by the Trump administration to move marijuana from a Schedule I drug, meaning it has the greatest potential for abuse and least legitimate use, to a Schedule III drug with substances considered to have a low to moderate potential for physical and psychological dependence. Former President Joe Biden planned to have rescheduling occur in 2024, but hearings on the matter were canceled in early 2025 . In May , the governing body of ADPH voted to object to the federal rescheduling ...
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ICE arrests reach new high

Investigators work near the Houston location of a fatal ICE shooting July 7. Statistics released July 20 show a record number of immigration arrests in June and an even higher rate in early July. (Photo by Jon Shapley/The Texas Tribune) Immigration arrests reached 1,593 per day in early July in a new push to detain and deport immigrants that has led to deaths in traffic stops. There were more than 43,000 arrests in June, the highest recorded by the Trump administration, according to statistics released Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reflecting new bookings into detention facilities.  The June monthly total surpassed the 42,000 arrests in December, which included Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. If the rate for the first 11 days of July continues for a month it could be even higher, about 49,000 arrests. Following fatal shootings, ICE officers ordered to wear body cameras at traffic stops Arrest numbers reached as high as 2,000 per day over a five-day peri...
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Private investment in youth sports draws state, federal scrutiny

David Faulk played soccer for his high school, shown here, as well as for club teams before transitioning to football. His family paid thousands each year for his sports, a cost that approached $20,000 during his final years of high school. The money that families pour into youth sports has made it increasingly attractive to private investors, including private equity firms. (Photo courtesy of Tiffany Whitlow) Courtney Hamby and her husband spend close to $6,000 per year for their daughter Ellie’s cheer and tumbling classes, competition fees and uniforms. That doesn’t include their travel expenses for multiple out-of-town competitions, including hotel rooms, gas, meals, and sometimes even flights. “This should be something that everyone gets to play, and it shouldn’t be only the people who can afford it,” said Hamby, who lives in Madison, Alabama. “But if you don’t have money, you’re not doing competitive cheer.” Youth sports is now a $40 billion industry. It’s a sprawling, commerc...
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