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Birth centers are linked to better health outcomes, research shows

Sarah Simmons, a midwife and co-owner of Maple Street Birth Center in rural Okanogan County, Wash., holds a newborn. Washington state has among the highest number of birth centers in the country, but a new report identifies 10 states that have none amid a spate of closures over the past three years and reported difficulties with state regulations and costs. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Simmons) Birth centers are an option for those with low-risk pregnancies and are correlated with more positive health outcomes, but 10 states do not have any birth centers at all, and more could be built with certain state policy solutions and different models of care, a new report suggests. Birth centers can be an attractive option for pregnant patients seeking fewer medical interventions and a more “home-like” childbirth experience that is still attended by professionals. Centers are often chosen by Black, Indigenous and Hispanic patients, who experience negative maternal and infant health outcomes at di...
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Dems sue Trump, alleging election interference, as DOJ battles with California

A ballot drop box sits outside the library at Virginia Avenue Park in Santa Monica, California on July 14, 2026. (Photo by Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator) National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections. The lawsuit,  filed late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., comes as the Trump administration mounts a highly public offensive against voter fraud in California just two weeks before Election Day and as federal agents face allegations they are questioning people at their homes about their voter status. The Department of Justice  has sued state and local officials, demanding they not count the ballots of roughly 20,000 California voters that the DOJ alleges are noncitizens and suggesting they will face prosecution if they do. The Trump administration is currently scrutinizing an additional 17,000 California voters, according to a...
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City, state employees are proud of their work but face burnout, harassment

Justin Hubly, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, leads a news conference in December 2023 in Lincoln. New national research found high levels of job satisfaction among public employees, but high levels of burnout and harassment at work. (Photo by Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner) State and local government employees report high levels of job satisfaction across the country, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment. That’s according to a new national survey of nearly 5,000 public servants across all 50 states released today by The People Lab at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Researchers say the survey, which includes respondents from hundreds of local governments, provides the nation’s most comprehensive analysis of workplace conditions in local governments. Most employees reported high levels of job satisfaction: 82% said they were at least somewhat satisfied with their job, while 60% said they were satisfied or very satis...
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New home completions are stuck at 2020 levels

Instructor Jeff Karnes teaches plumbing construction techniques at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas, in September 2026. A shortage of skilled workers is one reason housing construction is down. (Photo courtesy of St. Philip’s College) Single-family home completions remain stuck at early pandemic levels as of September as costs, labor supply shortages and high interest take a toll on home builders, especially in the Northeast and South.  Apartment building was a more mixed picture, down nationally but up sharply in the Midwest (53%) and West (18%).  New single–family homes dropped to an annual rate of 840,000, the lowest since May 2020, according to new U.S. Census Bureau survey results released Oct. 20.  Single-family home completions fell in every region, especially in the Northeast (-17%) and South (-15%).   Builders of single-family homes are stymied by rising mortgage rates, costs for energy and materials, and worsening labor supply, according to an October survey...
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How Nebraska helped turn 2026 into the year of the independent US Senate candidate

Dan Osborn, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, sits at a conference room in Hyannis, Nebraska, on Oct. 15, 2026. Osborn met with three voters, including a local rancher who supports President Donald Trump. (Photo by Jonathan Shorman/States Newsroom) HYANNIS, Neb. — With 19 days until Election Day, Dan Osborn sat across from three skeptical voters in a conference room in this blink-and-you-miss-it rural Nebraska town.  Osborn, a bearded former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the first independent U.S. senator from Nebraska since World War II by defeating Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. The state’s top Democrats are backing Osborn’s bid rather than fielding a candidate. But this is Trump country. President Donald Trump has never received less than 58% of the vote in Nebraska.  In Grant County, where Hyannis is the county seat, 96% of voters backed Trump in 2024. The county, one of the least populous in the state, had a population of 611 in the 2020 census...
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Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees approves board to replace faculty senate

A sign at Jacksonville State University as seen on October 19, 2026. The JSU Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve the Presidential Faculty Academic Roundtable, an alternate to the dissolved faculty senate. (Andrea Tinker/Alabama Reflector) The Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to approve the Presidential Faculty Academic Roundtable, a replacement for its now-abolished faculty senate. In a statement released by JSU Tuesday afternoon, JSU President Don Killingsworth said “faculty have always played an important role in shaping the direction of Jacksonville State University, and that will continue.” “We made a commitment that faculty would continue to have a meaningful voice in university decisions, and the President’s Faculty Academic Roundtable is an important part of fulfilling that commitment,” the statement said. “I look forward to working directly with these representatives, hearing their perspectives and ensuring that faculty input rem...
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Gov. Kay Ivey commutes death sentence of Toforest Johnson

Toforest Johnson is seen in this undated photo. Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday commuted Johnson's death sentence to life without parole. Major questions have been raised about the credibility of a witness whose testimony led to Johnson's conviction for the 1995 murder of off-duty Jefferson County Sheriff's Deputy William Hardy. (Alabama Department of Corrections) Gov. Kay Ivey Tuesday commuted the death sentence of Toforest Johnson, whose conviction for the murder of an off-duty Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy in 1995 has faced years of questions over the conduct of prosecutors and the reliability of a key witness. Ivey said in a statement Tuesday that she had concerns that “there was not enough direct evidence to carry out the most serious punishment, death.” “My decision is not a determination of innocence, but a recognition that the circumstances of this case justify commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment, without possibility of parole,” the statem...
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