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What’s a professional graduate degree? Loan confusion reigns amid legal battle.

Graduate-level programs such as nursing are, for now, considered “professional” degrees by the U.S. Department of Education after a court order in late June halted the agency’s new “professional” definition while a legal challenge unfolds. (Photo by Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Students pursuing several advanced degree programs can now access higher loan caps, but the temporary relief has ushered in a wave of uncertainty amid an  ongoing legal battle .   Graduate-level programs such as nursing, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology are, for now, considered “professional” degrees by the U.S. Department of Education after a court order in late June halted the agency’s new “professional” definition while a legal challenge unfolds. That definition had limited the number of advanced degrees eligible for higher annual and lifetime loan limits to just 11 fields, while excluding several programs, such as nursing. In response to U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell’s interim ruling, ...
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Republicans in Congress struggle with internal squabbles as time runs out on 2026

Republicans in Congress are quarreling on social media and rebelling on the House floor as they try to pass legislation prior to the November midterm elections and keep their majority. In this photo,  Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left,  and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., appear at a news conference on the Upper West Terrace of U.S. Capitol Building on Oct. 1, 2025. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Republicans are campaigning to keep control of Congress for another two years, but their message about being the “grown-ups” in the room keeps getting overshadowed by public feuds that have sidetracked work on major legislation.  After enacting large swaths of their agenda during the last year and a half, GOP lawmakers can’t seem to agree on what comes next, with senators openly debating each other on social media and a group of far-right House lawmakers blocking work on the floor, forcing the speaker to send them home early for the Fourth...
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Gun homicides declined in 2024 as firearm suicides hit record high, data shows

Firearms for sale are displayed at the Centennial Gun Club in Centennial, Colo., in June 2026. Nearly 45,000 people died from firearm-related injuries in 2024, down about 5% from the previous year, according to a new analysis of CDC mortality data. (Photo by Sara Wilson/Colorado Newsline) Firearm homicides in the United States fell sharply in 2024, but gun suicides reached a record high, according to a new analysis of federal mortality data by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. The report, based on newly released data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that 44,447 people died from firearm-related injuries in 2024, down about 5% from the previous year. The decline was driven largely by a nearly 16% drop in firearm homicides, which fell to 15,364 deaths. At the same time, firearm suicides rose to a record 27,593 deaths, accounting for about 62% of all firearm deaths in 2024. The report’s authors also found that firearm...
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Red and blue states pass laws to protect contraception access

Various birth control pills available at a Planned Parenthood in Austin, Texas. Several states, including Republican-led ones, have protected or expanded access to contraception in recent months. (Photo by Todd Wiseman/The Texas Tribune) The Trump administration has rolled back teen pregnancy prevention grants and repurposed a program designed to reduce unintended pregnancies so that it promotes childbearing. But several states, including Republican-led ones, have protected or expanded access to contraception in recent months. Georgia Republican state Rep. Beth Camp sponsored a bill to expand contraceptive access in her state after her daughter faced a two-month delay renewing her birth control prescription. The new law, passed in April and signed in May by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, allows pharmacists to prescribe contraception methods such as birth control pills and shots directly to patients without a doctor’s signature. Current Georgia law requires patients to receive a birth...
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Obamacare premiums likely to surge again next year

A man gets a checkup at a mobile health clinic in Parlier, Calif. A new report details preliminary Obamacare insurer premium rate increases. (Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local) Health insurance premiums are likely to grow more expensive next year for those who buy Marketplace plans, after increases this year. Affordable Care Act Marketplace insurers are proposing a median premium increase of 14% for 2027, which would be a double-digit hike for the second year in a row, according to a new analysis of preliminary rate filings. Insurers must submit their requested premium changes to state regulators by July 15, per Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services deadlines. Rates should be finalized later this summer. Released Wednesday by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and healthcare research group KFF, the analysis looked at proposed rate changes among 77 Marketplace insurers across 16 states and Washington, D.C., that have made proposed rates publicly available. Th...
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To promote more housing, cities and states target parking minimums

Cars in a parking lot at an apartment complex in Washington, D.C. In recent years, housing shortages have prompted more cities and states to scale back or even eliminate minimum parking requirements. (Photo by Scott S. Greenberger/Stateline) In 1923, the city of Columbus, Ohio, enacted the first known off-street parking requirement for new apartment buildings. The city’s rules got stricter over time. In 1954, a Columbus apartment building with 100 one-bedroom units had to have at least 100 parking spaces; by 2022, the minimum was 150. For a 2,500-square-foot restaurant, the mandate grew from nine parking spaces to 34. But in recent years, housing shortages have prompted Columbus and other cities and states to scale back or even eliminate minimum parking requirements. The need to provide parking makes projects more expensive, raising costs for developers that they often pass on to residents. In some cases, the rules prevent projects from ever being built. Since 2019, at least 14 stat...
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States will shape America’s future as nation confronts a pivotal choice

(Illustration by Alex Cochran for Stateline) A quarter millennium after its founding, the United States faces a stark choice that will define its future. In the years ahead, the country can continue to follow the path blazed by President Donald Trump, who is attempting to bring states under the authority of a more powerful federal government led by him. Or it can move in a different direction, one where states become a heavier counterweight to an aggressive White House and rebalance the relationship between the states and the federal government. The United States’ foundations are undergoing a significant stress test, experts say, raising questions about whether a radical reconception of the nation lies ahead. The federalism that has helped bind the states — and therefore, the nation — together is fraying, pulled apart by a president who demonstrates little regard for many of the nation’s core principles. “I wonder if we will come to a breaking point in which the institutions of gov...
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