A summer of food recalls and more news from the states

Happy Monday! Thanks for joining us this morning. 

In case you missed it, Washington Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson was met with a state worker protest at a construction ceremony. 

The demonstration was organized by the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents 54,000 state government, higher education and public service workers. The group is organizing walkouts today to demonstrate its frustration with the state’s proposals regarding a collective bargaining agreement. 

Following an intense wildfire season, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom backed off his proposal to reduce costs for electrical utilities after their equipment sparks wildfires, agreeing instead to a narrower deal after homeowners, insurers and fire survivors argued his original plan would have shifted those costs onto them.

Tomorrow, Massachusetts is holding its state primary elections. Later this week, the Missouri Supreme Court will hear arguments in the appeals of two ballot measure cases, including a referendum on the state’s gerrymandered congressional map. And in North Dakota, lawmakers will gather for another special session to restrict kratom, fix a funding mess of a museum project and deliberate other topics.

Ohio: More than 40 Haitians in Springfield have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after President Donald Trump revoked their legal status earlier this summer. 

Texas: A 25-year-old man who was deported to Mexico despite insisting he was an American citizen returned to the country after the federal government reached an agreement with his lawyers in light of new evidence they provided about his citizenship, his attorneys said.

Louisiana: The state’s proposed work requirements for Medicaid enrollment largely adhere to the new guidelines Congress and Trump laid out last year. The regulations are expected to go into effect for Medicaid recipients in January.

Kentucky: The Cabinet for Health and Family Services has started implementing a 2024 law to help families who step in to raise a minor relative, known as kinship care families. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed the law to provide financial relief to grandparents and others who are raising children who otherwise would be in state care.

Pennsylvania: State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are introducing legislation to curtail the use of Flock Safety’s automatic license plate readers across the commonwealth. Bills introduced recently range from an outright ban on fixed cameras to stiffened penalties for unauthorized data access. 

Rhode Island: An ordinance that would limit city investments when they are tied to foreign countries “conducting severe violations of human rights such as ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal military occupation, or genocide” will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. Israel is not named, but the country’s actions against Palestinians are at the crux of the campaign for the ordinance’s passage.

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Jalapenos. Frozen berries. Beef. Alfalfa sprouts. A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness, Stateline reports.

The recalls have focused attention on the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding and staff at several public health agencies, and prompted questions about whether those changes have made consumers more vulnerable.

In fact, this year’s tally of food recalls is roughly in line with the numbers in recent years. About 48 million people each year get sick from a foodborne illness. But experts worry that the scope, severity and scale of outbreaks and their associated food recalls are growing.

While the United States sees some cyclosporiasis cases every year, this year’s outbreak has crushed records: Since May, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 17,000 cases, with another nearly 12,000 reported cases still under investigation. The outbreak has resulted in at least 922 hospitalizations and two deaths.

Federal officials have blamed this year’s multistate outbreak on processed iceberg lettuce from central Mexico. The lettuce was brought to the U.S. by Taylor Farms, a distributor that supplies foods to thousands of restaurants and grocery stores, including Target, Taco Bell, Whole Foods, Kroger, Walmart, Costco and Jack in the Box.

A University of Iowa researcher is helping to unearth the geological secrets of Earth’s planetary neighbor, with recent findings of a necessary mineral to create certain precious gemstones and future study into the largest canyon in the solar system identified so far, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports.

Valerie Payré, an assistant professor in the university’s School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, said striving to learn about the history and geological makeup of Mars’ surface can help in better understanding Earth’s own history.

Based on previous study of the surface of Mars, Payré said she expected the Mars Perseverance rover to show her “silica-rich rocks” like kinds of granite. What she wasn’t expecting to see were white-colored pebbles that held corundum — a mineral from which rubies and sapphires are made.

A NASA research team composed of Payré and other scientists published a research letter detailing their findings this month, based on the data gathered by the SuperCam instrument on Perseverance. Payré served as co-investigator on the Perseverance team.

The geologist said researchers have yet to figure out if the corundum on Mars has actually formed precious gems rather than a different form of the mineral. But if and when the pebbles’ origin is found, Payré said her team and others involved with the Perseverance rover will be using all of the instruments at their disposal to learn all they can.