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Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, speaks at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., in December. A federal judge on Thursday struck down the Trump administration’s new guidance on who can qualify for a “medically frail” exception to new Medicaid work requirements. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston grants a partial victory to the 25 Democratic-led states that sued the Trump administration in June, arguing that its new “medically frail” designation was too narrow and would make it too difficult for ill and disabled people to remain on Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for people with low incomes. However, the dec...

People vote in the Halifax Volunteer Fire Department in Allen County, Kentucky, on Election. Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) As the Trump administration waged a public legal fight with California over the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in mid-October, behind the scenes a federal grand jury in Santa Ana issued a series of subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County at federal prosecutors’ urging. The subpoenas demanded a host of information, from how officials responded to warnings that the Trump administration had identified 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters to how they screen for unlawful voting. Among the demands: any records suggesting “someone has aided and/or abetted an alien voting in a federal election.” As President Donald Trump’s administration  loses round after  round in federal court in his quest for authority over state-run elections, the U.S. Department of Justice is turning to criminal investigations as a way ...

The “ballot drop” box at the Polk County Election Office in Des Moines, Iowa, on the first day of early voting, Oct. 14, 2026. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to combat noncitizen voting and assert authority over elections came under intense scrutiny in courtrooms across the country on Thursday, as Democrats and voting rights groups alleged federal election interference. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to either reveal by midday Friday all states where it has demanded election officials pull aside or not count ballots — or else promise it won’t direct election officials to refuse ballots from some voters. On the West Coast, an appeals court  appeared skeptical of a Trump administration request to allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to resume election-related field operations that could sweep up U.S. citizens. In California, the Justice Department vowed to keep fighti...

Mock medical cannabis tinctures in a display case at Callie's Apothecary in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 14, 2026. Two more dispensaries are expected to open next week, state officials announced Thursday, bringing the total so far to five. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Two medical cannabis dispensaries are expected to open next week, bringing the total to five statewide, state officials announced Thursday. Justin Aday, general counsel for the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission, said one of the dispensaries will open in Bessemer and will be the third location of Callie’s Apothecary, the first medical cannabis dispensary to open in the state. It has operating locations in Montgomery and Talladega.  Aday said the other dispensary is expected to open in Birmingham next week, the second location of Bama Bloom . It has an operating location in Athens and a third planned in Etowah County. “Altogether we have those two dispensary licensees that are operating. We have five cultivator...

President Donald Trump speaks during an Oct. 19, 2026, rally at the Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City, Kansas. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s rally in Salina, Kansas, on Saturday is canceled, the Kansas Republican Party confirmed to States Newsroom. The cancellation came just five days ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3, when Trump’s GOP is vying to maintain its razor-thin majority in the  U.S. House and control of the Senate.  Meanwhile, election forecasters say Democrats remain heavily favored to win the majority in the House, and  Senate races have also moved in the direction of Democrats. Trump is up against  dismal approval ratings amid the war in Iran and its effect on gas and diesel prices.  Trump “will continue connecting directly with Americans nationwide through more than 20 telerallies before Election Day,” according to a White House official, speaking on background.  The official added...

President Donald Trump’s administration is attempting to assert authority over state-run elections in the final days before voting ends in the midterm elections. (Photo by Simone Hogan/Getty Images) A federal judge on Wednesday denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days. In a scathing decision, Judge David Carter ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration was seeking to coerce California to abandon its constitutional elections procedures and “bend to the will of the Executive Branch” — a situation the veteran judge called unprecedented. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, denounced the Justice Department’s lawsuit in strong terms as a threat to the ability of more than 20,000 Cali...