Clik here to view.
Adoption centers: the latest battleground for religious freedom
Reading Time: 12 minutes Aimee Maddonna, 34, a South Carolina mother of three, was turned away by a state-funded foster care agency because she is Catholic. Maddonna went to Miracle Hill Ministries in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Women’s rights fighters take a page from the anti-abortion playbook
Reading Time: 10 minutes In the raging legislative battle over women’s reproductive rights, anti-abortion state lawmakers and their allies have been on a roll. The inventory of recent victories is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
For anti-abortion activists, success of ‘heartbeat’ bills was 10 years in the...
Reading Time: 8 minutes In spring 2019, a seemingly new legislative phenomenon caught national attention as it stormed through statehouses across the country. Bills that imposed new restrictions...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The network behind state bills ‘countering’ Sharia law and terrorism
Reading Time: 15 minutes A lawmaker in Idaho introduces legislation to prevent traditional Islamic law from infiltrating U.S. courts. This story also appeared in USA TODAY In Florida, a legislator...
View ArticleThey copied bills from corporations. These lawmakers say that’s OK.
Reading Time: 3 minutes When state legislators introduce laws, it’s often not their work. The USA TODAY Network identified 10,000 times when lawmakers introduced a copycat bill handed to them by a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Catholic Church and Boy Scouts are lobbying against child abuse statutes....
Reading Time: 13 minutes Pennsylvania state Rep. Tom Murt slid into a pew at his childhood church, seeking a break from politics and the stress of work. This story also appeared in USA TODAY Instead,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why you should care about ‘model legislation’
Reading Time: < 1 minute Americans elect their state lawmakers to … make laws. But sometimes, a lawmaker introduces a bill in his or her own name that isn’t born of thoughtful deliberation or...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Puppies, phones and porn: How ‘model legislation’ affects consumers’ lives
Reading Time: 5 minutes Muhammad Hoshur, 23, loved iPhones — until he learned how to fix them. This story also appeared in USA TODAY Big industry forces “want small guys like me to go out of business...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Center for Public Integrity a Goldsmith Prize finalist
Reading Time: < 1 minute The Center for Public Integrity’s “Copy, Paste, Legislate” series, which revealed how special interests and lobbyists introduce “copycat legislation” across all 50 states,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Center for Public Integrity, USA TODAY & Arizona Republic win 2020 Goldsmith...
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Center for Public Integrity’s “Copy, Paste, Legislate” series, which revealed how special interest groups and lobbyists introduce “copycat legislation” across all 50 states,...
View Article