State Affairs

Hi LinkedIn community 👋 We’d like to reintroduce ourselves in case you recently followed our page (or learning about us for the first time!) State Affairs is a political news company working to provide weekly commentary and investigative reporting that holds state governments accountable. We believe the U.S. urgently needs deep dives into these local power centers that shape the laws that affect our lives. Our goal is to inform and empower communities and the people who live in them through truthful, well-reported, non-partisan, investigative coverage that explains how issues happening now impact how you live your life and the decisions your family makes. We believe deeply in diversity — in all its forms — and strive to represent all voices in our coverage, no matter what side of the political aisle they sit. As an editorially independent news organization, we want to be your trusted source of state capital news. Head to stateaffairs.com to signup for our free newsletter or gift a one-year subscription to yourself or a loved one. And if you’re already signed up, thank you! #StateGovernment #Politics #Journalism #Democracy #PoliticalNews

President Joe Biden honored two Civil War privates today. You history buffs may have heard of the Great Locomotive Chase of 1862. Where is the train now? Kennesaw, Ga. Thanks for sharing, Andy Sher, State Affairs TN. #gapol #tnpol #ohpol https://lnkd.in/evtRUbXM

HOLTON — Sen. Dennis Pyle, in the midst of a contested Republican primary, joined Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly Tuesday to celebrate the passage of a tax cut package during June’s special session. The pair, colleagues in the Legislature before Kelly’s rise to the governor’s office in 2019, made two stops in Pyle’s Senate district: Holton and Hiawatha. https://bit.ly/4by65LM

Indiana’s regional technology hub will receive about $51 million from a program created by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, state officials said Tuesday. In October, Indiana’s Heartland BioWorks was named a regional technology and innovation hub by the federal government, allowing it to compete against other hubs across the country for millions in implementation grants. https://bit.ly/4csRuCI

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has put on hold a Nashville judge’s ruling that Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett and State Election Coordinator Mark Goins ran afoul of federal law by not informing thousands of convicted felons that they may still be eligible to vote. The 2020 lawsuit was brought by the Tennessee chapter of the NAACP, the Campaign Legal Center, Brave Hearts and the Nashville-based Baker Donelson law firm. The three-judge panel said it would not be heard at the appellate level before the election. https://bit.ly/3XLU9Tm

The Department of Commerce on Monday launched a campaign aimed at boosting Kansas’ population “by inviting past residents to choose the Sunflower State as their future home.” The national marketing initiative “Love, Kansas” seeks to highlight the state as “an exceptional place to live, work and raise a family,” the department said in a news release. https://bit.ly/3W4UNu3

Indiana Medicaid officials halted Monday’s planned resumption of charging premiums to those enrolled in the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan. That announcement followed a ruling last week by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that struck down the Trump administration’s 2020 approval of a 10-year waiver from some Medicaid regulations for the Indiana program. https://bit.ly/45Lnpfb

Last fall, the state’s top technology officer had a question for a classroom of Richmond County high school students: “You know there’s over 21,000 jobs today in North Carolina alone available for cybersecurity?” Jim Weaver, the state’s Department of Information Technology secretary and state chief information officer, had just dropped off a carload of school supplies and equipment to the computer science students in one of North Carolina’s more rural counties. https://bit.ly/4eCQIo6

A newly minted high school graduation requirement could be on the brink of elimination. The Kansas State Board of Education in May greenlit an overhaul of the state’s minimum high school graduation requirements, marking the first time in two decades the state has approved such changes. But one of the items contained in the package — a provision that students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid— could be repealed prior to it taking effect this fall. https://bit.ly/45J0Qb3

Increased federal and assessment fee revenues offset some of the state’s Medicaid expenditures, financial data released last week shows. According to a monthly Medicaid report published by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, the state’s fiscal year Medicaid expenditures totaled $16.65 billion through April, the latest month financial data was available. The expenditures were $189 million above what the December Medicaid forecast predicted, a decrease over the month of more than $110 million. https://bit.ly/3W0FySM