Several major corporations, from Amazon to Walmart, are promising to pay travel expenses for employees and family members who must leave their home states to receive a legal abortion. But experts who advise those companies say their well-intentioned pr…
Losing a home for unpaid taxes often means losing your equity, too
Last year, Massachusetts Democratic state Reps. Tommy Vitolo and Jeff Roy saw a newspaper story about two brothers in their state who had almost lost their home due to unpaid property taxes. That was followed by another article this year featuring a Ne…
‘Shocking’ rise in STIs during COVID alarms health workers
In 2019, Columbus, Ohio, had seven reported cases of congenital syphilis, or cases in which a newborn child was infected during pregnancy. Two years later, that number rose to 20. And now? “Year to date, we’ve already seen 28 cases,” said Dr. Mysheika …
States take on PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ with bans, lawsuits
“Forever chemicals” are everywhere. The thousands of chemicals in the group known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in cookware, packaging, cosmetics, clothing, carpet, electronics, firefighting foam and many other pr…
No simple solution to helping voters in jail cast ballots
Each election cycle, thousands of eligible voters are effectively disenfranchised because they sit in a jail cell. Americans detained before trials are allowed to vote, a status affirmed by a 1974 Supreme Court case. As a matter of law, pretrial detain…
Court victories deliver cautious hope for voters with disabilities
Paralyzed from the neck down, downtown Milwaukee resident Martha Chambers has difficulty voting. She can use a mouth stick to mark her ballot and sign her name on an absentee ballot, but she has no way of folding the ballot, slipping it back in the env…
Geothermal bubbles up as another way to fight climate change
Geothermal power currently provides only a tiny fraction of the nation’s electricity. But as states ramp up their transitions to renewable electricity, some leaders see a big role for geothermal as a stable, renewable power source. Used in the United S…