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A vacant hallway at Vaughan Regional Medical Center in Selma, AL, Tuesday, Sep. 3, 2024 in Selma, Ala.Alabama hospitals say that Medicare's wage reimbursement index isn't keeping up with their needs. The League of Women Voters Greater Montgomery Chapter held a post-election meeting where participants discussed the link between politics, government and personal health during the nation's transition. (Will McLelland for Alabama Reflector) The League of Women Voters Greater Montgomery Chapter discussed health care in a post-election outlook meeting last week. Aretha Dix, a retired Air Force health care administrator and a rural health care strategist with wellness consulting firm Lebleu Fields, pointed to the importance of understanding the intersection of politics, government and personal health as the nation transitions into a new administration. “Health equity isn’t just a medical issue—it’s tied to social determinants like education, income, and geography,” Dix said. ...

Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, speaks to a colleague on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on April 18, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. DuBose has filed a bill that would allow homeschool students to participate in career tech programs. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) An Alabama state representative has filed a bill that would allow homeschool students to participate in career and technical education programs in traditional schools. HB 61, sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would also allow the related expenses to be covered by the CHOOSE Act. DuBose said the bill came from a constituent of hers whose son wanted to learn a trade. She said the local option did not allow homeschool students to participate in career technical education. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE “ So I called around and sure enough the individual schools could opt in and allow students to do it but districts were not required to have a program that allowe...

Senators work in the chamber of the Alabama Senate on Feb. 20, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama Legislature will begin its 2025 regular session in February. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) It’s hard to keep a sense of hope as a political journalist. It’s even harder when you ply your trade in Alabama. But this is the holiday season, a time of expectation and warm feelings. And waiting for all of us is the Alabama Legislature, which begins its 2025 regular session in less than six weeks. The return of our lawmakers may not inspire warm feelings in you. Nor should it lead to high expectations. The last several sessions have been marked by performative cruelty against transgender youth and educators. I don’t see anything changing that dynamic in the current year. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE But that doesn’t mean we should give up. Public officials are there to serve the public. And we can and should expect them to address real issues. So here’s my Christmas ...

A firefighting helicopter flies near as a home burns from the Mountain Fire on Nov. 6 in Camarillo, Calif. Researchers have found areas exposed to high wildfire hazard will double between 2020 and 2070. (David McNew/Getty Images) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News , a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here . Counties across the southern half of the U.S., especially those with large and socially vulnerable populations, will be much more exposed to wildfire, drought and extreme heat than other parts of the country as the region’s climate warms in the coming decades, according to new research from the U.S. Forest Service and Resources for the Future. The report , “Changing Hazards, Exposure, and Vulnerability in the Conterminous United States, 2020–2070,” builds on the Forest Service’s 2020 Resources Planning Act Assessment, which makes 50-year projections on the conditions of re...

Donald Trump, then the GOP candidate for president, gave a keynote speech on the third day of the Bitcoin 2024 conference at Music City Center on July 27, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. He had previously dismissed cryptocurrency as a “scam” but embraced it in his latest bid for a second term in the White House.(Jon Cherry/Getty Images) President-elect Donald Trump’s recent appointments and cabinet nominees are pointing to a four-year stint of deregulation in the tech industry, and lots of potential for competitive growth within the industry and globally, tech executives predict. Trump has made a handful of recent selections, both to existing positions, like chair of the Federal Trade Commission and chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he has created new positions for his term, like the “AI and crypto czar.” “There appears to be much more cohesion and support from within his camp to support a range of geopolitical, technology and innovation issues that were relegated ...

U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to members of the press at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 20, 2024 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The U.S. House finally approved a stopgap spending bill Friday night that will keep the government open for a few more months, after a raucous 48 hours that served as a preview of what President-elect Donald Trump’s second term in office might look like. The short-term spending package, the third version of a bill to be released this week, will give Congress until mid-March to negotiate agreement on the dozen full-year government funding measures and provide about $100 billion in natural disaster assistance. It passed following a 366-34 vote with one Democrat voting “present.” The bill now goes to the Senate, where leadership will likely try to pass it before a midnight funding deadline, though that will take the agreement of all 100 lawmakers, or at least the ones still around Capitol Hill w...

President-elect Donald Trump will face significant hurdles to enacting his campaign pledge to ban transgender youth from participating in school sports that align with their gender identity. (Photo by Getty Images) WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly said during the campaign that, if elected back to the White House, he would pursue a ban on transgender youth participating in school sports that align with their gender identity. As he prepares to take office in January, experts and LGBTQ+ advocates told States Newsroom the effort would face significant delays and challenges as legal pushback from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups can be expected every step of the way. Trump’s  repeated vow to “keep men out of women’s sports” reflects his  broader anti-trans agenda . Administration efforts would come as an increasing number of states have passed laws banning trans students from participating in sports that align with their gender identity. The Trump-Vance transition t...