On Colorado's ballot on Tuesday, there's a pair of statewide ballot measures that are meant to sustain the state's free school meals program, PBS explains.
PBS News
What to expect in Colorado on Election Day
Colorado’s new free school meals program will face a key test when voters decide two statewide ballot measures that would put the program on soun...
A Washington state program that directed outreach workers to spend weeks building relationships with homeless people living under highways brought about 1,200 people inside. Seattle mayoral candidate Katie Wilson sees it as a model for the city.
Bolts
In Seattle Mayoral Race, Tensions Between Crackdown and Compassion on Homelessness - Bolts
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has ramped up sweeps of homeless encampments in his first term. In his reelection bid, he faces a progressive challenge...
The charge of “felony murder” allows defendants to be charged with the death of an accomplice, even when the killing was committed by someone else. Between 2009 and 2017, 83 percent of people charged with felony murder in Alabama were Black.
Bolts
A Friend's Death to Mourn, and to Serve Time for - Bolts
An Alabama teen was shot alongside his friend, then prosecuted for his killing. His case highlights a particularly harsh doctrine in American crimi...
Missouri organizers have a lot on their plate: They’ve already launched a ballot campaign to preserve direct democracy, and they’re also preparing for a so-called veto referendum to block the GOP’s middecade gerrymander.
Bolts
Under this GOP Measure, All of Missouri’s Recent Popular Initiatives Would Have Failed - Bolts
Republicans have dominated Missouri’s legislature for over two decades, but they haven’t entirely controlled state lawmaking, in large part bec...
Virginia is currently the only state to strip people of their voting rights for life for any felony. A constitutional amendment would change that, but hinges on November’s legislative races.
Bolts
Virginia Democrats Advance a Measure to End Lifetime Voting Ban. Now It Gets Complicated. - Bolts
Alonzo Bland Jr., of Richmond, did everything the state asked of him following his felony conviction: He served time in state prison, completed a t...
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders campaigned in 2022 on putting more people behind bars. After taking office, she spearheaded a bill limiting parole and bail. Her announcement of a new state prison has sparked fierce opposition in one rural county.
Bolts
The Prison Next Door - Bolts
How Arkansas’ secretive plan for a new state lockup angered residents in a deep red corner of rural America—and changed how some see incarcerat...
After over 500 hearings, lawyer Douglas Jennings quit representing clients before the South Carolina Parole Board, citing the board's consistent rejections. "I just couldn’t justify taking somebody’s money," he told Bolts.
Bolts
Parole Plunges in South Carolina as Governor-Appointed Board Issues Denial After Denial - Bolts
People familiar with South Carolina’s parole process describe a secretive panel that downplays rehabilitative efforts and ignores applicants’ a...
Maine’s Question 1 comes as President Trump has called to eliminate mail voting and many red states have restricted access to mail voting. If the practice is banned, he said, “you’re not gonna have many Democrats get elected.”
Bolts
A Ballot Measure Targets Mail Voting in Maine - Bolts
Question 1, on the November ballot, would set up a barrage of new restrictions on absentee ballots that would considerably affect older voters and ...
A ballot measure in Maine that would add new restrictions on mail voting would have an outsize effect in this state, where the average age is the highest of any state in the country and there is a high incidence of disability.
Bolts
A Ballot Measure Targets Mail Voting in Maine - Bolts
Question 1, on the November ballot, would set up a barrage of new restrictions on absentee ballots that would considerably affect older voters and ...
Connecticut lawmaker Josh Elliott was “horrified” to learn that a local company supplied chemicals for federal executions. His office was flooded with calls urging action, and this year he is pushing to ban execution drug sales for good.
Bolts
Connecticut Could Ban Its Businesses from Helping Carry Out Executions Elsewhere - Bolts
Connecticut lawmakers are considering legislation to make it illegal to participate in the death penalty, following news that a local company helpe...