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An unloaded Glock 19X handgun sits next to a magazine and 9 mm ammunition at a gun range. Several states have enacted laws that allow judges to temporarily remove guns from people in crisis, but a growing number of states are banning the measures. (Photo by Amanda Watford/Stateline) This story was originally published by The Trace , a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. On May 18, 2018, a teenager at Santa Fe High School in Texas walked into the school armed with his father’s guns and opened fire, killing eight students and two teachers. Evidence later showed the teen had been experiencing a severe and spiraling mental health crisis leading up to the attack. But Texas had no mechanism that would have allowed law enforcement or anyone else to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms from the home. Last year, the state made sure it never would: Lawmakers banned extreme risk protection orders, which allow police and families to ask judges to temporarily r...

An election worker hands out “I Voted” stickers in Salt Lake City on Election Day in 2024. More than 30 initiatives on ballots across the country this year focus on democracy, including questions on voting rights, election processes, redistricting and similar issues. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) More than a third of state ballot measures that voters will be asked to consider this year relate to democracy, with questions on voting rights, election processes, redistricting and similar issues. “It’s the redistricting fights that are really getting heated after the Trump administration began pressuring Republican-led states to shore up the GOP majority in Congress in preparation for the midterm election,” said Quentin Savwoir, director of programs and strategy at the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a progressive policy organization that tracks ballot initiatives. For example, next week Virginians will be asked whether they want to temporarily allow the state to...

U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., speaks at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Feb. 11, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s legal team is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a ruling that allows the former Navy captain to keep his retirement rank and pay while his First Amendment case against the Pentagon moves forward.  Benjamin C. Mizer, partner at Arnold & Porter, wrote in  a brief filed April 15 that the Defense Department violated Kelly’s constitutional rights when it tried to punish him for appearing alongside other Democrats in the “Don’t Give Up The Ship” video.  The Trump administration’s appeal of  the district court’s ruling , he wrote, doesn’t cite “a single case” that has expanded the limited speech rights of active-duty military members to “retirees like Senator Kelly.” The legal precedent the Trump administration did reference, Parker v. Levy, “involved an...

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, speaking at a Future Farmers of America event Aug. 18, 2025, at the Tennessee State Fair. (Photo by John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout) Democrats on a U.S. House spending panel slammed President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to farm and nutrition programs Thursday, as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pledged to collaborate with members of both parties to address their concerns. The president’s budget request would make deep cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, gutting programs to help feed hungry people and support farmers in need — even as the rising costs of groceries, gas and other necessities made those programs even more essential, Democrats on the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee told Rollins. “It’ll be hard for our constituents to believe that USDA serves America’s farmers and rural communities when USDA is taking away their services,” the panel’s ranking Democrat, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, said. The propos...

Massachusetts Democratic U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley speaks at a press conference April 15, 2026, outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. From left to right just in back of her are House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, New York Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, GOP Rep. Mike Lawler and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The U.S. House on Thursday passed a measure that would extend Temporary Protected Status for Haiti for three years, in a rare rebuke by the GOP-led Congress to President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. Ten Republicans defected, including Reps. Maria Salazar, Mario Díaz-Balart and Carlos Giménez of Florida, Rich McCormick of Georgia, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Mike Lawler and Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Mike Turner and Mike Carey of Ohio and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.  Rep. Kevin Kiley, a California independent who caucuses with the GOP, also voted for the bill.  T...

California Democratic Rep. Linda T. Sánchez at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing on April 16, 2026, shows a poster of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drinking milk in a hot tub with Kid Rock. Also pictured, from left, are Illinois Democratic Rep. Danny K. Davis, Alabama Democratic Rep. Terri A. Sewell and Washington Democratic Rep. Suzan K. DelBene. (Screenshot from committee webcast) WASHINGTON — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testified before Congress on Thursday that he’s not pleased with how spending cuts to programs that help lower-income Americans afford food will affect his efforts to bolster healthy eating habits.  “Am I happy about the cuts? No, I’m not happy about the cuts,” Kennedy said during a lengthy hearing in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of several congressional panels he’ll testify before in the days ahead.  Kennedy added that President Donald Trump and White House budget d...