Sabrina Donnellan of Girdwood, Alaska, sits with her 13-month-old, Blakely, on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and talks with Candace Winkler, ZERO TO THREE’s chief development and strategy officer, at the eighth annual “Strolling Thunder,” a child and family issues advocacy event on April 30, 2024, organized by the nonprofit ZERO TO THREE. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom) WASHINGTON — Families gathered outside the U.S. Capitol Tuesday to “make a fuss for babies,” who they believe are being left behind by lawmakers who direct only a fraction of U.S. resources to young childre ..read more

Mark Lyons/Getty Images If there’s one thing Michigan lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have mostly agreed on over decades, it’s handing out billions of dollars of tax breaks, cash and other incentives to businesses promising to create jobs. But now there’s growing bipartisan support for reigning in those incentives, which some lawmakers say are not producing an adequate return on taxpayers’ money. Democratic and Republican lawmakers are taking aim at the massive Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund. SOAR was created in 2021, largely to support electric vehicle productio ..read more

Workers sort packages at the Amazon AGS5 facility on October 27, 2022, in Appling, Georgia. Two U.S. Senate Democrats plan to introduce a bill to address quota systems they say lead to injuries for warehouse workers. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images) WASHINGTON  — Two Democratic U.S. senators announced Thursday they plan to introduce a piece of legislation that would require large companies to disclose quota practices to workers and prevent those quotas from interfering with a worker’s health. “The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would put an end to the most dangerous quotas that plague wa ..read more

March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples in Grand Rapids, Michigan on May 3, 2024. (Photo: Anna Liz Nichols) Violence faced by Indigenous people is not simply a decades-long problem; it is a 500-year problem that continues to pervade every Indigenous family, said Melissa Pope, chief judge of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribal Court. She spoke Friday during a Grand Rapids event to create awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous people. Native populations are vulnerable to heightened victimization of violent crimes such as rape and murder compared to national ave ..read more

The Au Sable River in Oscoda County, Michigan. | Kyle Davidson The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is urging anglers and paddlers to decontaminate their wader, watercraft and gear after didymo cells were detected in algae samples taken from the Au Sable River.  Didymo, also known as rock snot. | Michigan Department of Natural Resources In late April, Michigan Trout Unlimited, a conservation organization focused on protecting coldwater fisheries, found several didymo cells in a sample taken at the Parmalee Canoe Launch in Oscoda County, and one cell in a sample taken down ..read more

Dr. Samuel Cook, a resident at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on May 2, 2024, about the need for more support for HBCU schools of medicine. (Screenshot from U.S. Senate webcast) WASHINGTON — Doctors on Thursday urged Congress to pass legislation addressing the disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality throughout the country and to lower barriers that have hindered people of color from becoming medical professionals. During a hearing in the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and ..read more

Whitney Gravelle speaks at "Enbridge eviction" celebration, Conkling Park, Mackinaw City | Laina G. Stebbins On Thursday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced two appointments to the Lake Superior State University Board of Trustees, including a tribal leader who’s a well-known anti-Line 5 activist. “I am proud to appoint Whitney Gravelle and Kevin Cooper to the LSSU Board,” said Whitmer. “They are both dedicated members of the community and bring years of diverse experience to their new roles. I am confident they will serve the students, faculty, and staff well and continue making higher education ..read more

Protesters supporting DACA outside the U.S. Supreme Court, Nov. 12, 2019 | Robin Bravender The Biden administration will publish a final rule Friday that will allow about 100,000 uninsured people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to enroll in state-run or private health insurance plans provided under the Affordable Care Act, administration officials said. The new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services could provide an opportunity for those uninsured DACA recipients to enroll in health coverage through a Health Insurance Marketplace plan or a state-run B ..read more

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) gives a thumbs down during President Joe Biden's State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol on February 07, 2023 in Washington, DC. The speech marks Biden's first address to the new Republican-controlled House. | Win McNamee/Getty Images We are a divided country these days, so much so that certain people have taken to mad mutterings about a “national divorce,” secession or even civil war. But fear not, fellow Americans, for a time of healing and reunion may be upon us. If you have doubts, I get ..read more

AES Indiana’s Petersburg Generating Station in Petersburg, Indiana, has been burning coal since the 1960s but will shutter all of its coal-firing units over the next few years. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. (Robert Zullo/States Newsroom) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday released a sweeping set of rules aimed at cutting air, water and land pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Environmental and clean energy groups celebrated&nb ..read more