Nwexx

A construction worker balances atop a roof. States and cities are loosening building code requirements in an effort to lower construction costs and boost affordable housing. (Photo by Robbie Sequeira/Stateline) States and cities are loosening building code requirements in an effort to lower construction costs and boost affordable housing. Some of these changes include allowing low-rise apartment buildings to have just one stairway, reducing how often building codes are updated and rolling back specific electrical or fire safety standards. But critics have raised safety concerns, noting that existing rules were shaped by past tragedies and aim to prevent future harm. For example, having only one staircase could allow a developer to add another unit or expand the size of units, said Nicolle Aube, principal and founder of Civex, a planning and civil engineering consulting firm, and an American Planning Association board member. “But then there’s this flip side, that by removing these ...

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville gives an acceptance speech after he wins the Republican nomination for Alabama's governor at his primary election victory tailgate at the Vulcan Park in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 19, 2026. Tuberville on Monday filed a motion to dismiss a Montgomery County lawsuit that questions his qualifications for governor over his residency. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector) Key points U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville filed a motion to dismiss the most recent lawsuit that alleges he is not eligible to be governor. It also sought to quash discovery to prevent the Democratic nominee from using what could be found against him. Another court refused to step in after another candidate, Ken McFeeters, tried to challenge Tuberville’s candidacy. Alabama Republican gubernatorial nominee and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville Monday afternoon filed a motion to dismiss a Montgomery County lawsuit that questioned his eligibility to run for gov...

The U.S. Education Department will temporarily lower interest rates for student loan borrowers who use the auto pay feature. (Photo illustration via Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Education will temporarily reduce interest rates for federal student loan borrowers enrolled in auto pay starting July 1, the agency  announced Thursday.  Borrowers who enroll in  auto pay — the optional feature that allows a borrower to have their monthly loan payment automatically deducted from their checking or savings account — will see a reduction in their interest rate by one full percentage point from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028.  The change means a 6% interest rate would drop to 5%, for instance.  Federal student loan borrowers currently enrolled in auto pay already receive an interest rate reduction of 0.25 percentage points from their servicer. Those borrowers do not need to take any additional action and will automatically receive an extra interest rate reduction of...

Maine's Graham Platner is the Democratic candidate for what's considered one of the nation's most competitive battles for the U.S. Senate. Platner, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, is shown at a rally at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland on April 18, 2026. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star) Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings.  But they still need nearly everything to break their way against a map that put them at a starting disadvantage, analysts and campaign officials say. At the outset of this election cycle, Republicans appeared highly likely to hold their majority. Democrats would need to flip four seats, and competitive races this year are in states that are more Republican than average.  (Getty Photos) But as election watchers increasingly expect a blue tint to the November midterms, the question is...

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, pictured in December 2019. (Photo: Screenshot of ICE courtesy video) WASHINGTON — When the overhead lights turn off at the Farmville Detention Center in Virginia, it not only means that night has arrived for Aliaksei Scharbachenia, but that panic attacks will soon follow. The attacks, which started after his detention began last August, he said, have only grown worse, stemming from the fear that he will be returned to his country of Belarus and face persecution due to his opposition to the authoritarian government. “With the panic attacks, I was able to take care of myself before,” he said in Russian. “But now it’s kind of getting worse, so I really need some medication, which will help me.” States Newsroom interviewed Scharbachenia by video with the help of an interpreter. As the Trump administration increases the scale of its immigrant detention program, now up to 68,000 immigrants in cust...

City officials from Lansing, Mich., raise a Pride flag over the Lansing City Council at the beginning of this month. Some Republican governors are relabeling June, widely recognized as Pride Month, with conservative-friendly monikers such as “Nuclear Family Month.” (Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance) A half dozen Republican governors are pushing alternative labels for June, which is widely recognized in the United States as Pride Month. Without explicitly tying their efforts to a replacement of Pride Month — which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community — GOP governors in states including Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Utah have labeled June with conservative-friendly monikers that celebrate one type of family unit: a man and woman who are married with children. The proclamations don’t carry the weight of law, but they are public statements about the kind of families that leadership in those states want to promote. In Tennessee , GOP state lawmakers passed a ...