Join me, my @statesnewsroom.com colleagues and @kff.org experts for a virtual discussion about #Medicaid spending cuts, work requirements and what's next for states, providers and families. It's Thursday at noon ET and it's free: kff-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Medicaid and the Road Ahead: Spending Cuts, Work Requirements and What's Next for States, Providers and Families. After registering, you will receive a conf...

This event is scheduled from Noon to 1 PM Eastern. There will be time for audience questions.

kff-org.zoom.us

Today is runoff day for the Alabama primaries and I'm mostly excited because this means I'll stop getting texts from Lee Greenwood (that one 🇺🇸) about who to vote for.

Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi: @elishabrown.bsky.social is connecting the dots on midwifery care across the South, the policies that block access to it, and the midwives fighting back: stateline.org/2026/06/02/b... for @stateline.org

Black midwives are suing Southern states, claiming regulations make it harder to help patients • Stateline

Black midwives in the South, a region rife with racial disparities in maternal health access and maternal mortality, are leading lawsuits over state regulations that they say limit their ability to pr...

stateline.org

Via Andrea Tinker: Most Alabamians voted in the Republican primary on May 19. But the share of the GOP vote fell from 78% to 57% amid a surge of Democratic enthusiasm, particularly in Madison, Mobile and Tuscaloosa counties. https://ow.ly/AV0g50Z4V0W

Today's fun headline award goes to... the FDA? www.fda.gov/drugs/medica...

Some of the nation’s biggest megachurches are getting into the college business, prioritizing job training and church culture over traditional liberal arts. A franchise-style model from a Christian university in Florida has made it easier than ever for them to launch, reports @acvollers.bsky.social.

More megachurches want to be your alma mater

westvirginiawatch.com

Polling place parking lots getting crazy. Y’all be safe out there 🥴

Redistricting efforts are changing elections in real time. Here's a rundown on where things currently stand, underpinned by excellent statehouse coverage from our @statesnewsroom.com outlets stateline.org/2026/05/15/t... for @stateline.org

The redistricting frenzy is scrambling the midterm elections. Here’s where things stand now. • Stateline

In the past two years, a dozen states have either approved new U.S. House maps or are moving toward doing so — a highly unusual mid-decade revamp prompted by President Donald Trump and a U.S. Supreme ...

stateline.org

insanely smug English majors are the only ones who haven’t rotted their brains too much to do investment banking. our time

Albert Pinto@70sbachchan.bsky.social · 3mo ago

now thats an anecdote with a punch, from Gillian Tett www.ft.com/content/c0ae...

I bet your Congressional map redistricting session wasn't as exciting as ours

Alabama Reflector@alabamareflector.com · 3mo ago

Via Anna Barrett and Andrea Tinker: The Alabama Legislature on Wednesday passed legislation that could set new primary dates for the state amid protests within the Statehouse and flooding that led the Alabama Senate to quickly pass its bill before a mass evacuation of the building.

This is a peculiar case. Disability protections have historically been bipartisan, but a group of state AGs are trying — through shifting legal maneuvers — to gut federal rules around services for disabled people. How we got here: stateline.org/2026/05/06/h... for @stateline.org @statesnewsroom.com

How a legal challenge over gender dysphoria became a fight for disability rights • Stateline

A group of Republican-led states is pushing forward with a lawsuit that could weaken a key federal disability rights protection under a part of law known as Section 504, even after the original disput...

stateline.org

As we’re all talking about Congressional redistricting, don’t sleep on the looming potential for redistricting state legislatures, and even city and county districts. share.google/0iphluSQETvG...

Supreme Court voting rights ruling set to reshape local power from statehouses to school boards • Stateline

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new decision gutting a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act clears the way for state officials to drastically reshape not only Congress but also state legislatures, ...

share.google

Not yet reported is the effect that the Supreme Court's voting rights decision will have on down-ballot races — from statehouses to city councils to school boards. Stateline's Anna Claire Vollers is on it. from @acvollers.bsky.social and @stateline.org stateline.org/2026/05/04/s...

Supreme Court voting rights ruling set to reshape local power from statehouses to school boards • Stateline

The U.S. Supreme Court’s new decision gutting a key provision of the federal Voting Rights Act clears the way for state officials to drastically reshape not only Congress but also state legislatures, ...

stateline.org

From @acvollers.bsky.social: Republican lawmakers and candidates have escalated their anti-Islam rhetoric, a strategy aimed at energizing voters by claiming without evidence that Muslim culture and religious tenets threaten American political values. stateline.org/2026/04/28/g...

GOP candidates revive anti-Islam attacks as midterms approach • Stateline

Republican lawmakers and candidates across the country have escalated their anti-Islam rhetoric in recent months, warning their constituents that Islamic law could gain a foothold in the United States...

stateline.org

Don't miss this from my @stateline.org colleague @nhassanein.bsky.social. Would love, love, love to see units like this in Alabama & other states with huge maternal care deserts stateline.org/2026/04/03/i...

‘It's a safe space’: Mobile midwifery clinics meet patients where they are • Stateline

One mobile clinic takes midwifery care to majority-Black and Latino neighborhoods in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, offering free, culturally centered care and referrals.

stateline.org

Proud to be part of this reporting series. The amount of taxpayer dollars being funneled to these centers is astounding. And many of them do good work within their scope. But this public largesse hasn’t been accompanied by robust oversight. Read more:

Stateline@stateline.org · 5mo ago

@statesnewsroom.com conducted a 50-state investigation examining state and federal budgets, as well as the tax records of hundreds of crisis pregnancy centers around the country, finding that while the magnitude of public funding for them is growing, oversight is not. stateline.org/2026/03/04/r...

Have you or someone you know had SNAP (food stamps) benefits stolen? I'd love to talk with you for a story I'm working on, about what states are doing to address SNAP fraud. You can reach me at avollers@stateline.org

Some folks worry that ICE’s use of Medicaid data will cause widespread fear among immigrant families, keeping them from seeking the health care that states have said they’re eligible to receive. My latest:

Stateline@stateline.org · 7mo ago

A recent court ruling has cleared the way for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to resume using states’ Medicaid data to find people who are in the country illegally, Anna Claire Vollers reports. https://stateline.org/2026/01/20/ice-is-using-medicaid-data-to-find-out-where-immigrants-live/

Behold: the first-ever list of news outlets that have banned generative AI in their reporting. As of today, this is literally information that you cannot find on Google. My goal is to fill the starter pack, so please send over suggestions with supporting evidence! go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT

Via Anna Claire Vollers and Stateline: A Medicare pilot program will allow private companies to use artificial intelligence to review older Americans’ requests for certain medical care — and will reward the companies when they deny it. https://ow.ly/P4GV50XBPak

(1/4) ICE detention has become a black box. Oversight has been gutted. Families are being separated. Pregnant and postpartum women report starving in custody, freezing cells, invasive procedures, miscarriages, and their pleas for help going unanswered.

Miscarriages, infections, neglect: The pregnant women detained by ICE

Until last year, Congress required reports on the pregnant, postpartum or nursing women in ICE custody, including ‘detailed justification’ for their detention. This requirement no longer exists, Kelly...

independent.co.uk

Call for sources: I'm looking to interview folks who've sought health care at crisis pregnancy centers, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and want to talk about their experience. The center can be located anywhere. If you or someone you know might be interested, please email or send me a DM.

My latest, in which patients’ robots fight insurers’ robots over whether human care is covered 🙃

Stateline@stateline.org · 9mo ago

Health care is becoming a battle of the bots: As insurers use algorithms to cut costs, patients are using AI to push back against denied claims and soaring medical bills, Anna Claire Vollers reports. https://stateline.org/2025/11/20/patients-deploy-bots-to-battle-health-insurers-that-deny-care/

Via Anna Claire Vollers & Stateline: The Trump administration wants states to police their own education of students with disabilities, a move many teachers and parents fear will strip crucial federal oversight and deny vulnerable children services guaranteed under law. https://ow.ly/Kuok50XmsUI

I don't live anywhere near Idaho but I'll read anything @pfannyyy.bsky.social writes. This is a great look at how state and federal policies converge in a one-two-three-four punch to a state's entire health care system.

Idaho Capital Sun@idahocapitalsun.com · 9mo ago

Hospital, nursing home and Medicaid advocates say the cuts will create a ripple effect that strains the state’s health care system — predicting more people will become uninsured, providers may close, and private insurance rates will rise as hospitals offset the costs of caring for uninsured people.

I love this: Every senior at an Alabama high school applied for college through a new program. The result: A record $31.7 million in scholarships at a school that's traditionally had a low rate of kids going to college. Via the must-read @trishcrain.bsky.social aldailynews.com/i-got-in-dir...

'I got in!' Direct Admission gives high school seniors a new kind of hope

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – At B.C. Rain High School in Mobile, the news didn’t come all at once. Students trickled into the counselors’ office to say the words counselors Niki Dailey and Demetria Smith will n...

aldailynews.com

Really good piece here from @acvollers.bsky.social. Medicaid is foundational to health care in Alabama, particularly for children. When it’s limited or restrained, it’s usually children who suffer.

Alabama Reflector@alabamareflector.com · 10mo ago

Via Anna Claire Vollers: Most state Medicaid programs pay dentists far less than private insurers do. As a result, many dentists are unwilling to take Medicaid patients, leaving low-income families in Alabama and many other states with limited options and longer wait times. https://ow.ly/xg0650Xh247

My latest:

Stateline@stateline.org · 10mo ago

From @acvollers.bsky.social: In northwest Alabama, pediatric dentist Carson Cruise is one of the few in his area taking Medicaid patients, even though it may mean losing money. Low reimbursement rates and other policy choices have created dental deserts in most states. stateline.org/2025/10/23/i...