Tag Archives: Arkansas

Yet another effort to kill the Voting Rights Act

Posted on November 22, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Just a reminder that the Fifth Circuit isn’the only home for terrible appellate judges. A divided federal appellate panel took a pipe to the knees of the Voting Rights Act Monday, handing down an eyebrow-raising decision that would severely curtail … Continue reading →

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Anti-porn law blocked

Posted on September 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

We’re three for three in good legal news for the weekend. A federal judge has struck down a Texas law requiring age verification and health warnings to view pornographic websites and blocked the state attorney general’s office from enforcing it. … Continue reading →

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The lawsuit over the gender affirming care ban had its hearing

Posted on August 18, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Hoping for a quick ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. Medical experts pushed back against Texas lawmakers’ assertions that puberty blockers and hormone therapies are experimental and put young transgender patients at risk as they testified Tuesday in a hearing … Continue reading →

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Federal judge temporarily blocks Arkansas book censorship law

Posted on August 1, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Hopefully a good omen. On Saturday, a federal judge in Arkansas temporarily blocked a new law that would have allowed local prosecutors to file felony charges against school and public librarians who loaned out material considered considered “harmful to minors.” The law—which also … Continue reading →

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Lawsuit filed against anti-trans gender affirming care law

Posted on July 14, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

No time wasted on this one. Several families with transgender children are asking a judge to block a new Texas law that would stop minors from accessing many types of transition-related health care, including puberty blockers and hormone therapies. The … Continue reading →

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Arkansas law banning gender affirming care ruled unconstitutional

Posted on June 22, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This is a big deal. A federal judge struck down Arkansas’ first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for children as unconstitutional Tuesday, the first ruling to overturn such a prohibition as a growing number of Republican-led states adopt similar restrictions. U.S. … Continue reading →

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House passes bill to ban gender affirming care for minors

Posted on May 14, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Friday was a bad day. Texas has taken a major step toward banning transgender minors from getting puberty blockers and hormone therapy — care that medical groups say is vital to their mental health — after the state House gave Senate Bill 14 initial approval Friday. Trans Texans and LGBTQ advocates consider … Continue reading →

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Winter storm 2023

Posted on February 3, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

I don’t know if this one will get a name, but I can imagine what a lot of folks are calling it. Thousands of frustrated Texans shivered in their homes Thursday after more than a day without power, including many … Continue reading →

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Biden employer vaccine mandate back on

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

For now, at least. A federal appeals court panel on Friday allowed President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for larger private employers to move ahead, reversing a previous decision on a requirement that could affect some 84 million U.S workers. … Continue reading →

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Vaccine mandate for health care workers blocked

Posted on December 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

I’d say this is getting ridiculous, but we’re well past that point. A federal judge on Monday blocked President Joe Biden’s administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states that had brought … Continue reading →

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If in Texas you can’t get justice…

Posted on October 7, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

…Try somewhere else. An abortion provider in Texas took the unusual step Tuesday of asking a federal judge in another state to declare unconstitutional the six-week-ban on the procedure that took effect last month in Texas. Lawyers for Dr. Alan Braid, … Continue reading →

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Feds officially investigating Texas mask mandate ban

Posted on September 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Good. The U.S. Department of Education on Tuesday launched a civil rights investigation into Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates in schools, making Texas the sixth state to face a federal inquiry over mask rules. The investigation will focus … Continue reading →

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Feds take first steps in the mask mandate fight

Posted on September 2, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Coming attractions. The U.S. Department of Education is opening civil rights investigations to determine whether five states that have banned schools from requiring masks are discriminating against students with disabilities, the agency said on Monday. The department is targeting Iowa, … Continue reading →

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It’s not vaccinated people that are dying

Posted on July 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Numbers don’t lie. It’s the unvaccinated that die. Of the 8,787 people who have died in Texas due to COVID-19 since early February, at least 43 were fully vaccinated, the Texas Department of State Health Services said. That means 99.5% … Continue reading →

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Federal judge halts Arkansas law against gender affirming care for trans kids

Posted on July 22, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Of interest. In an in-person hearing in Little Rock on Wednesday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to block an Arkansas law that criminalizes gender-affirming care for transgender kids. U.S. District Judge James M. Moody Jr.’s bench ruling was … Continue reading →

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Where the outbreaks are the worst

Posted on July 16, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

We talk a lot about the vaccination rate in Texas, but that number by itself is misleading. Some parts of the state are very well vaccinated. Others, very much not so. That matters, because the Delta variant is just ripping … Continue reading →

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The risk of being unvaccinated

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

The numbers don’t lie. Nearly all COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. now are in people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to under … Continue reading →

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NCAA warns Texas about anti-transgender bills

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not just the voter suppression bills that will do great harm to the state of Texas and its people if the Republicans ram them through. Amid all the talk of boycotts and corporate criticism of election bills going through … Continue reading →

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Paxton goes after DACA

Posted on July 1, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

I have no words. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and officials from nine other states on Thursday urged the Trump administration to end an Obama-era program that’s allowed hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to live and work in the … Continue reading →

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Medicaid expansion: Still a good idea

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I know, right? Fewer low-income residents of Kentucky and Arkansas, two poor states that expanded Medicaid in 2014, reported problems paying medical bills after the coverage expansions, especially compared with residents of Texas, which has rejected the health law. And hospitals … Continue reading →

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Two anti-gay bills advance

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Look out. Gay rights advocates began sounding the alarm Wednesday after two anti-LGBT bills cleared House committees and another received a favorable hearing. Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, said if LGBT groups and their corporate allies don’t … Continue reading →

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Let Indiana be our guide

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Chron business columnist Chris Tomlinson has a warning for us. Watching Indiana Gov. Mike Pence call for a revision to a week-old religious freedom law this morning should be required viewing for every Houston politician and business person. After refusing … Continue reading →

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It’s still not Medicaid expansion

Posted on December 3, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The Legislature may do something that could sort of be called “Medicaid expansion”, if only for lack of a better term, but we would all do well to remain deeply skeptical of what they might consider. The once taboo subject … Continue reading →

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The Texarkana experience

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

The city of Texarcana literally sits on the border between Texas and Arkansas, partly in one state and partly in the other. That means that some of its residents may be eligible for a health insurance subsidy under Arkansas’ Medicaid … Continue reading →

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Two wins against voter ID

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Good news from Wisconsin. Trying to crack down on in-person voter fraud isn’t a strong enough justification for Wisconsin’s voter ID law, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, because voter impersonation virtually never occurs now and is unlikely to become a … Continue reading →

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Arkansas will expand Medicaid

Posted on October 12, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

If they can do it… [Friday], the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services notified state officials in Arkansas that it has approved the states’ Medicaid expansion plan. And this is not any old expansion plan: Arkansas will be the only … Continue reading →

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I do not expect another Ardmore

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The AusChron tries to get out the Democrats’ strategy for Special Session 2. When the Texas House convened last last month to pass, on third reading and onto the Senate for final passage, Senate Bill 5, the omnibus abortion regulations … Continue reading →

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The limits of the Arkansas option

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I’ve mentioned the Arkansas option for expanding Medicaid several times, under which the state uses Medicaid money to buy private health insurance for those who would be eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It’s not my preferred solution, … Continue reading →

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Straus wants someone to do something on Medicaid

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Don’t we all, Joe. Don’t we all. Seeking to light a fire under fellow Republicans to provide health care to more uninsured Texans, House Speaker Joe Straus said Wednesday that it is time to “get our heads out of the … Continue reading →

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House Republicans reject Medicaid expansion

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

But that’s not quite the end of the story. House Republicans on Monday agreed not to expand Medicaid as called for under the federal Affordable Care Act — but left the door open to doing so if the Obama administration … Continue reading →

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The Arkansas way

Posted on March 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

The state of Arkansas will move forward with a plan to expand Medicaid, except that it’s not really Medicaid even though it will cover all of the Medicaid-eligible population. Here’s the explanation. Gov. Mike Beebe met with about twenty lawmakers … Continue reading →

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