newsletter
News From The States

This Week In Commentary

The best opinion pieces of the week: a wide range of perspectives and ideas from across the States Newsroom network.

Subscribe to Our weekday newsletter

Latest

As other states attack LGBTQ+ kids, Michigan emerges as a safe haven

Commentary on the LGBTQ community in Michigan, political fixations on the LGBTQ community in New Jersey, child-theft in Tennessee, the history of Hanover County public schools in Virginia, child care in Kentucky, sex abuse survivors in Kansas, abortion bans in Alabama, and sterilizing history in Florida.

Kansas legislators’ war on the poor opens worrisome new front: School vouchers and tax avoidance

Commentary on school vouchers and tax avoidance in Kansas, GOP principles in Iowa, political favoritism in Ohio, anti-abortion centers in Colorado, policing mental health in New Jersey, and fabulist ideologies in Tennessee.

Demands by protesters and Breonna Taylor’s family helped expose the rot in Louisville policing

Commentary on Louisville policing in Kentucky, lawmakers in Kansas, the corruption trial in Ohio, the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin, parental rights in Iowa, birth control access in Indiana.

Republican lawmakers are taking Kentucky back to education’s bad old days

Commentary on the state of education in Kentucky, Republicans' minority rule in Arizona, the culture wars in Florida, an anti-transgender bill in Kansas, labor trafficking in Wisconsin, and gun extremists in Colorado.

Given a chance to apologize for the theft of a Black man’s heart, House Republicans declined.

Commentary on Black laborer Bruce Tucker in Virginia, civil rights activist Arthur Madison in Alabama, pronoun preferences in Kentucky, the experiences of a transgender woman in New Jersey, Mark Brnovich's ties to Fox News in Arizona, and the status of Republicans in Colorado.

Black people live every day with hurdles that former health chief tried to diminish

Commentary on black maternal health in Virginia, the death penalty in Pennsylvania, LGBTQ education policy in Iowa, 2020 election probe indictments in Georgia, public school funding in Wisconsin, and the bribery trial in Ohio.

Alabama Reflector: Covering the pain and promise of our home

Commentary on the history of Alabama, GOP lawmakers in Iowa, police brutality toward the Black community in Tennessee, abortion bans in Idaho, radical bills in Kansas, and reactions to Biden's State of the Union address in Wisconsin.

Once a dead end, a Richmond cemetery earns new respect

Commentary on a cemetery in Virginia, student pronouns in New Jersey, the justice system in Kansas, Black history in Florida, COVID-19 in Louisiana, and policing in Colorado.

Fear and loathing in the Arizona legislature

Commentary on GOP legislation in Arizona, gun violence in Pennsylvania, the 1849 abortion ban in Wisconsin, expanding school choice in both North Carolina and Indiana, and International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Arizona.

LGBTQ kids need protection from bullies and violence, not adults targeting and bullying them too

Commentary on discrimination against LGBTQ children in Ohio, Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy in Louisiana, government control over bodies in Kansas, the six-week ban in Georgia, violence against reproductive rights organizations in Montana, and the challenges of governor-elect Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania.

The ‘education governor’ and the threat to public schools

Commentary on education reform in Arkansas, education funding in Virginia, public education in Florida, a man who was wrongfully convicted in Missouri, Republicans in Kansas, and voter suppression in Wisconsin. 

Disorder is all Republicans have to offer

Commentary on the status of Republicans in America, the anniversary of the Rosewood attack in Florida, the model for US House Speakers in Pennsylvania, Brian Kemp's agenda in Georgia, former US Senator Rob Portman in Ohio, and affordable housing in Kentucky.