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A California Highway Patrol officer talks to a driver during a traffic stop in October. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants access to state driver’s license data as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The Trump administration wants access to state driver’s license data on millions of U.S. residents as it builds a powerful citizenship verification program amid its clampdown on voter fraud and illegal immigration. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seeks access to an obscure computer network used by law enforcement agencies, according to a federal notice, potentially allowing officials to bypass negotiating with states for the records. The information would then be plugged into a Homeland Security program known as SAVE that Trump officials have deployed to search for rare instances of alleged noncitizen voters and to verify citizenship. The plan comes as the Trump administration demands states share copies of...

The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured in November 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — A coalition suing to block President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education expanded its lawsuit Tuesday to include objections to recent interagency agreements to shift the department’s responsibilities to other Cabinet-level agencies. The alliance of unions and school districts also added a major disability rights advocacy group to its ranks in the amended complaint that detailed how the department’s Nov. 18  announcement of six interagency agreements could harm students. The agreements to transfer several Education responsibilities to four other departments drew swift backlash from Democratic officials, labor unions and advocacy groups, who questioned the legality of the transfers and expressed concerns over the harms that would be imposed on students, families and schools as a result.  “Scattering ...

In early November, the South Carolina Department of Public Health opened a pop-up mobile vaccine clinic in a library parking lot in Boiling Springs. Dozens of people in South Carolina’s Upstate region have been diagnosed with measles this fall. (Photo by Lauren Sausser/KFF Health News) This article first appeared on KFF Health News . BOILING SPRINGS, S.C. — Near the back corner of the local library’s parking lot, largely out of view from the main road, the South Carolina Department of Public Health opened a pop-up clinic in early November, offering free measles vaccines to adults and children. Spartanburg County, in South Carolina’s Upstate region, has been fighting a measles outbreak since early October, with more than 50 cases identified. Health officials have encouraged people who are unvaccinated to get a shot by visiting its mobile vaccine clinic at any of its several stops throughout the county. But on a Monday afternoon in Boiling Springs, only one person showed up. “It’s...

FBI Director Kash Patel, left, at a press conference on Nov. 27, 2025, looks at photos of the two West Virginia National Guard soldiers shot in Washington, D.C., the previous day. They were identified as Andrew Wolfe, 24, and Sarah Beckstrom, 20.  (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — West Virginia National Guard member U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the victims of a shooting near the White House, died Thursday, President Donald Trump said. “She’s just passed away,” Trump said. “She’s no longer with us. She’s looking down at us.” Trump, who was speaking with members of the military via video, said she was “magnificent in every way.” A White House official said Trump spoke with Beckstrom’s parents on Thursday night. U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of Summersville, W.Va. , died on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025, after she was shot while on mission as a member of the West Virginia National Guard in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy of Joint Task Force...

Attendees raise a glass to celebrate the Southern Environmental Law Center's 15th anniversary in Alabama on Nov. 13, 2025. (Ralph Chapoco/Alabama Reflector) A Georgia nonprofit has become more active in environmental battles around the state, from battles over access to air and water to challenging permissive utility regulations that contribute to high energy costs. Since opening an office in Birmingham 15 years ago, the Southern Environmental Law Center has partnered with other nonprofits and organizations in legal battles in the public and private sectors. D.J. Gerken, the president and executive director of SELC, said in an interview that climate change was one motivator for their work. “We are at the beginning of a climate crisis, and the South has a big hand in causing it,” he said. “Right now, we are paying more for electricity because we are subsidizing fossil fuels. We think that is terrible for families. We know it is terrible for the environment, so we have got a lot...

Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, speaks in the Alabama Senate on April 9, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Coleman-Madison pre-filed a bill for the 2026 legislative session that would streamline the process for those convicted of felonies to register to vote. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama lawmaker pre-filed a bill that would streamline the process for formerly incarcerated Alabamians to get their voting rights restored. SB 24 , sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, requires the Board of Pardons and Paroles to inform those who have lost their right to vote how to register to vote. Messages seeking comment from Coleman-Madison were left Tuesday.  Under current law, certain people who have lost the right to vote due to a conviction can re-register once they serve their sentence and pay any fines related to the conviction. Current law does not require the Board of Pardons and Paroles to educate those people on how to get ...

Members of the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies respond to a shooting near the White House on Nov. 26, 2025. At least two National Guard members were shot, officials confirmed. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Two National Guard members from West Virginia were shot and killed Wednesday afternoon near the White House in Washington, D.C., according to that state’s governor. “It is with great sorrow that we can confirm both members of the West Virginia National Guard who were shot earlier today in Washington, DC have passed away from their injuries,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey wrote in a social media post. “These brave West Virginians lost their lives in the service of their country. We are in ongoing contact with federal officials as the investigation continues.” “Our entire state grieves with their families, their loved ones, and the Guard community,” Morrisey added. “West Virginia will never forget their service or their sacrifice, and we will d...

Children are pictured at an Autism Speaks Light it Up Blue Autism Awareness Celebration at Chicago Children's Museum in April 2017. State Medicaid agencies are struggling to pay for applied behavior analysis, an intensive therapy for children with autism. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Autism Speaks) State Medicaid agencies are struggling to pay for an intensive therapy for children with autism — and looming federal Medicaid cuts are likely to make the problem worse. Parents of children and young adults who receive applied behavior analysis , or ABA, worry states’ cost-saving measures will make it harder for them to get vital services. About 5% of children ages 3 to 17 on public insurance have autism spectrum disorder, compared with 2% who have private insurance, according to a CDC survey. Many families and autism therapists say ABA can help improve communication and social skills, sharpen memory and focus, and replace challenging behaviors with positive ones. ABA...

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., speaks to reporters at the U.S. Capitol on Oct. 9, 2023. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s upcoming resignation from Congress set off a series of questions and misinformation about what health care and pension benefits lawmakers receive once they leave public service.  The system is a bit complex and determined by when a lawmaker entered Congress as well as how long they stayed. Members must serve at least five years, putting Greene just over the eligibility line  when she officially steps aside in January.  Members of Congress elected after 1984 are covered under the Federal Employees’ Retirement System. The four House lawmakers and one senator elected before then may be under the Civil Service Retirement System, so their benefit may be calculated differently than that of their colleagues.   The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service exp...

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., rehearses the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4, 2025 in Wyandotte, Michigan. (Photo by Paul Sancya – Pool/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Democratic members of Congress who released a video in mid-November telling members of the military that they are not required to follow illegal orders announced Tuesday the Federal Bureau of Investigation has asked to speak with them about the matter.  Four House members, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin wrote the inquiry will not deter them from publicly stating their concerns about the Trump administration.  “Last night, the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division appeared to open an inquiry into me in response to a video President Trump did not like,” Slotkin wrote in a statement published on social media.  “The President directing the FBI to target us is exactly why we made this video in the first place,” Slotkin added. “H...

A farm employee works near Coachella, Calif., in 2024. A California union has sued to stop new, lower-wage guidelines for foreign worker visas. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) A California union and a group of farmworkers from around the country are suing to stop new, lower-wage federal guidelines that save money for farmers but cut pay for temporary foreign agriculture workers — hurting local laborers as a result, the suit alleges.  In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court, the United Farm Workers and 18 individual workers sued the U.S. Department of Labor over the October guidelines for laborers who are in the United States under temporary, H-2A visas. The new guidelines set lower wages — differentiating them by state — including pay cuts to account for the value of free housing provided by law to foreign workers.  “Farm workers, and the rural communities across America they sustain, need and deserve fair wages and job security, not a race to the bottom with an ...