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Bishop William Barber, of Repairers of the Breach, spoke alongside voting rights advocates from Common Cause, the ACLU, Indivisible, State Voices and others, at a press conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — The No Kings movement that has brought millions to the streets across the United States three times since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term is staging its next event at the polls. Organizers across hundreds of advocacy groups will pull together thousands of events nationwide Saturday to encourage early voting in this year’s midterm elections. Voting is already underway in dozens of states, and roughly 5.1 million ballots – both in-person and mail – have been cast, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. Saturday’s “No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action” events include marches and walks to the polls where early voting is already underway and open o...

The main gate at Fort Hood on South Fort Hood Street in Killeen, Texas. (Photo credit: U.S. Army) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump Thursday announced that the execution of a man convicted of the Fort Hood shooting will not be livestreamed, a reversal after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said last week that Nidal Hasan’s death by firing squad would be public.  “I think streaming the execution for all to see might have been a strong deterrent for the World to witness how America deals with Terrorists and SCUM like Hasan but, many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die, through streaming, or through any other visual device,” Trump  wrote on his social media site, Truth Social . “He will die, as scheduled, by firing squad, but this event will not be streamed.” Last week, Hegseth’s decision to make Hasan’s execution public  garnered bipartisan backlash, and members of Congress urged the Trump administration to recons...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., looks on during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Democrats are touting an ambitious legislative agenda centered on affordability and accountability if they take back the U.S. House or Senate — or both — in November.  A slew of pressing policy debates are on tap for Democrats, including healthcare, immigration, voting rights, the war in Iran, oversight, education and beyond, as they aim to reverse many of President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ actions since January 2025.  Some issues, while surging to the forefront, likely will provoke internal divisions, such as “Medicare for All,” a movement popular among progressives to extend single-payer national health care to all Americans.  “Healthcare costs have consistently been at or above other concerns on the public...

A courtroom at the Placer County Superior Court in Roseville, California, earlier this year. In California and other states, the rosters of public defenders have been shrinking at an alarming rate, often leaving defendants in jail for days, weeks or months without access to an attorney. (Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./ CalMatters) AUSTIN, Texas — It was a good day for the defense. Standing in front of a judge in Austin’s Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, attorney Matthew Shrum secured a ruling that spared his client from serious punishment on a shoplifting charge. In the hallway immediately afterward, the defendant thanked Shrum with an appreciative hug. “She walked out of there a free lady,” Shrum observed later. “It was Christmas in October.” The 49-year-old Austin lawyer has spent most of his 20-year legal career as a defense attorney, and since 2023, he has been affiliated with the nonprofit Capital Area Private Defender Service, one of two entities in Travis County cha...

A sign outside a hospital’s maternal-fetal medicine department sets aside parking for patients. A new study suggests that giving “labor guides” to pregnant women helps combat misinformation that an increasing number of patients are getting from social media or artificial intelligence. (Photo by Kelcie Moseley-Morris/Stateline) Providing “labor guides” to pregnant women helps combat misinformation that an increasing number of patients are getting from social media or artificial intelligence, according to a recent study. Dr. Samuel Melville, a resident-physician in obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University and the lead author of the study , said he frequently hears patients quoting social media or AI when resisting medical interventions, such as inducing the pregnancy with medication to encourage stalled labor. The study, published in the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s journal Pregnancy, found that in a group of about 200 patients, those who received th...

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones talked about his education policy plan and other topics during a town hall in Montgomery on Oct. 13, 2026. (Andrea Tinker/Alabama Reflector) Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones Tuesday fielded questions about education and other topics at a town hall in Montgomery Speaking to a crowd of at least 100 people, Jones talked about giving teachers and retirees a cost of living adjustment and said he wanted to “phase out the CHOOSE Act,” the state’s effective school voucher program. Income caps on eligibility for the program will end on Jan. 1. “It’s (the CHOOSE Act) going to ultimately, if it doesn’t kill public schools, it’s going to just cripple and such that we do the public, and then we are seeing that in the numbers of kids that are in public schools this year,” Jones said. “The first year of the CHOOSE Act, 5,000 to 6,000 folks dropped fewer kids. The next year it was 12,000. Why do you think it’s going to be ...

A woman scratches a measles rash. An international traveller tested positive for measles in early October, the Alabama Department of Public Health said Tuesday. (Getty Images) An international traveler who spent time in Huntsville in early October tested positive for measles, the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) said Tuesday afternoon. The individual visited the Subway at 7900 Bailey Cove Road in Huntsville on Oct. 3, 4 and 5 between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and visited the Publix at 12796 Bailey Cove Road Southeast on Oct. 4 between 1 and 4 p.m., according to a press release. The statement did not list the individual’s vaccination status. “In the United States, measles cases often originate from international travel,” a statement from ADPH said. “With many people traveling within the United States and to other parts of the world, ADPH emphasizes that the best way to protect yourself from measles is to get the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.” ...