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The number of abortions performed each month is about the same as before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the nationwide right to abortion more than a year and a half ago, a new report finds. The latest edition of the #WeCount...

Lower-income families with school-age kids can get help from the federal government paying for groceries this summer, unless they live in one of the 14 states that have said no to joining the program this year. The reasons for the rejections, all...

Some state governments and federal regulators were already moving to keep individuals' reproductive health information private when a U.S. senator's report last week offered a new jolt, describing how cellphone location data was used to send...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' attorney general is telling public schools they're required to tell parents their children are transgender or nonbinary even if they're not out at home, though Kansas is not among the states with a law that explicitly says...

Lawmakers in more than a half-dozen U.S. states are pushing laws to define antisemitism, triggering debates about free speech and bringing complicated world politics into statehouses. Supporters say it's increasingly important to add a definition...

Fuzzy dice finally will be free to dangle in Illinois. Starting Monday, police there no longer will be allowed to pull over motorists solely because they have something hanging from the rearview mirror of the windshield. That means air fresheners,...

When the U.S. Supreme Court undid the nationwide right to abortion last year, it did not remove the issue from the courts. Instead, it opened a new frontier of litigation, with states passing their own restrictions and opponents challenging them in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The agreement by the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of lawsuits over the harm done by opioids could help combat the overdose epidemic that the painkiller helped spark. But that does not mean all the victims are satisfied. I...

As transgender people have increasingly gained acceptance and visibility, conservative lawmakers have zeroed in on restricting their rights: keeping transgender children off girls' sports teams and out of certain bathrooms, and blocking them from...

The U.S. has named a veterinary tranquilizer as an "emerging threat" when it's mixed with the powerful opioid fentanyl, clearing the way for more efforts to stop the spread of xylazine. The Office of National Drug Control Policy announced the...

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Though the Insight Women's Center sits at the epicenter of a reinvigorated battle in the nation's culture wars, the only hint of its faith-based mission to dissuade people from getting abortions is the jazzy, piano rendition of...

Now that Roe v. Wade has been toppled, abortion opponents are taking a multifaceted approach in their quest to end abortions nationwide, targeting their strategies to the dynamics of each state as they attempt to create new laws and defend bans in...

Native American tribes have reached settlements over the toll of opioids totaling $590 million with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and the country's three largest drug distribution companies, according to a court filing made Tuesday. The filing in U.S....

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Soaring tax revenue and billions in pandemic aid from the federal government have left many states with an unusual problem — too much money. The result is one of the most broad-based movements in recent memory toward giving cons...

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge should reject a sweeping settlement to thousands of lawsuits against OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, a group of states said at a hearing Tuesday, arguing that the protections it extends to members of the Sackler family...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — More than two dozen Republican-led states filed lawsuits Friday challenging President Joe Biden's vaccine requirement for private companies, setting up a high-stakes legal showdown pitting federal authority against s...

Safety standards developed by film studios and labor unions are the primary protection for actors and film crews when a scene calls for using prop guns. The industry-wide guidance is clear: "Blanks can kill. Treat all firearms as if they are...

A federal bankruptcy judge gave conditional approval Wednesday to a sweeping settlement that will remove the Sackler family from ownership of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and devote potentially $10 billion to fighting the opioid crisis that has kill...

When Congress sent states billions of dollars early in the coronavirus pandemic to help make schools safe, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee saw an opportunity. He used part of the windfall to further his goal of offering school choice options for parents,...

The yearslong effort by state and local governments in the U.S. to force the pharmaceutical industry to help pay to fix a nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis took a major step forward Tuesday when lawyers for local governments announced t...

Mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado that left at least 18 people dead since last week are reigniting calls from gun control advocates for tighter restrictions on buying firearms and ammunition. But with Democrats in control of the federal governme...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democrats' nearly $2 trillion coronavirus relief package includes a big financial incentive for the states that have opted against expanding Medicaid to provide health coverage for more low-income Americans. It's proving to b...

Some state attorneys general and opioid addiction activists pushed back Tuesday against a settlement offer from OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, saying it didn't include enough money and goes too far in protecting the company and family members who...

A bipartisan congressional investigation released Wednesday found that key players in the nation's opioid industry have spent $65 million since 1997 funding nonprofits that advocate treating pain with medications, a strategy intended to boost the...

With more shutdowns looming and a vaccine months away from wide distribution, governors across the U.S. are pleading for more help from Washington ahead of what is shaping up to be a bleak winter. Renewed restrictions on indoor businesses,...