After emergency intervention, Tennessee to pause executions and more news from the states

Good evening. The governor of Tennessee today paused state executions through the end of year and ordered a third-party review after the state was forced to halt the execution of Christa Pike after two failed rounds of its lethal injection protocol. 

In Minnesota, the family of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by a federal agent in January, has filed a pair of lawsuits against the federal government and top Trump administration officials. In Pennsylvania, state health officials announced a fifth measles death, as the state remains a hot spot for outbreaks of the virus. 

A Gen Z canvasser in Maine is part of a widespread effort to move the generation to the polls, in a state where the outcome could be consequential for the nation. President Donald Trump is heading the campaign trail, swinging through Republican states in the final weeks leading up to the November midterms. 

Tennessee ​Gov. Bill Lee has ordered a third-party review of the halted execution of Christa Pike and put a hold on state executions for the rest of the year, Tennessee Lookout reports.

“Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State’s most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective,” said Lee in a statement. 

On Wednesday, Tennessee was forced to halt the execution of Pike after two failed rounds of its lethal injection protocol. The botched execution took more than two hours, with media witnesses told to leave the building when Pike could still be heard audibly “snoring.” Pike was then taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment after her federal public defenders filed an emergency appeal to end the execution.

Before Wednesday’s last-minute pause, the nation’s highest court and Lee, a Republican, had declined to intervene to stop Pike’s execution.

In May, Lee called off the execution of Tony Von Carruthers after a physician tried for more than an hour to insert intravenous lines.

The family of Renee Good filed a pair of lawsuits against the federal government and top Trump administration officials Thursday morning, seeking compensation and a trial to determine the liability of several federal officials in Good’s killing, Minnesota Reformer reports. 

Good was shot and killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 as she and her wife, Becca Good, protested the agents’ presence in their south Minneapolis neighborhood. 

Ross has not been charged with a crime in Good’s killing, though local and federal law enforcement officials say they are still investigating the shooting. 

Attorneys for Good’s family called the lawsuits “historic” and framed it as an opportunity to hold the Trump administration accountable for abuses committed during Operation Metro Surge and beyond.

Related coverage: 

Pennsylvania: Health officials announced a fifth measles death, as the state remains one of the nation’s hot spots for outbreaks of the virus.

West Virginia: Child victims in a gruesome abuse case have been awarded $4.4 million in a settlement with the state Department of Human Services due to Child Protective Services failures in the case.  

Georgia: For the second time, a federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from U.S. Department of Justice officials seeking access to sensitive state voter data.

Maine: More than a thousand immigrants in the state — and many more nationwide — will lose their health insurance starting Oct. 1, due to Medicaid eligibility changes passed by Republicans in Congress. 

Missouri: The Department of Social Services will require residents applying to receive or renew their eligibility for SNAP food benefits to provide documents verifying their housing, utility and dependent care costs, as well as financial resources, including money in bank accounts. 

Nevada: The state needs to increase oversight of informal foster living arrangements, which are formed when child welfare agencies place children with relatives without taking legal custody, advocates say. 

North Carolina: A housing advocacy and nonprofit groups asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from withholding funds for housing counseling programs, part of the presidential “pocket rescission” of nearly $1 billion in congressionally approved funding.

Arizona: A federal appeals court ruled the state’s law that forces disclosure of anonymous campaign spending is constitutional, rejecting the claims of a conservative group that argued that the law violated the First Amendment rights of people who want to secretly influence voters.

Alaska: President Donald Trump claimed he secured a $54-billion deal with the Republic of Korea for a long-desired natural gas pipeline project, though Korean leaders immediately denied that an agreement had been reached. 

Oregon: A $1.5 million state-funded effort by computer chip company Nvidia to train “AI ambassadors” on college campuses and get foundational AI concepts taught in schools has so far gone largely unmet by the company. 

Indiana: Denouncing political activity by the state’s top elections officer, secretary of state candidate Greg Ballard, who is running under the Lincoln Party banner, is calling for a ban on partisan actions by whoever holds the office.

Maryland: Police will no longer be able to wear masks, hospitals will not be able to deny emergency abortions and retailers will be prohibited from surveillance pricing, under new state laws that took effect Thursday.

Maya Brooks, 24, checks the remaining houses on her list to door-knock in Windham, Maine, on Sept. 22. (Photo by Emma Davis/Maine Morning Star)

As Brooks canvassed for the state’s largest progressive community action organization, she thought about one of her first interactions knocking doors this cycle. A woman — not much older than herself — told her she probably wouldn’t vote. Whoever she voted for, whatever their party affiliation, she felt it would not make a difference, Brooks recalled.

“I don’t blame her,” she said. While a registered Democrat, Brooks would rather do away with the two-party system altogether. “Politicians aren’t delivering.”

Generation Z, now roughly 14 to 29 years old, is a growing portion of the electorate with about 50 million eligible voters in the upcoming midterm elections. But these young voters have soured on both parties.

Mainers frequently cross party lines while voting and the state consistently ranks among the highest for voter turnout. That’s led Maine to be viewed as the top state where young voters could sway U.S. Senate outcomes in 2026.

Issues are what Brooks starts with when she speaks to voters. She asks what matters most to them before sharing what she likes about particular candidates, starting with a local race and not mentioning political affiliations. Mostly what she does is listen. 

“People don’t want to be talked at,” Brooks said. That’s also her message for how the party could improve its chances of courting her generation: “I wish they would just ask.”

This story is part of Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. Read more from Maine Morning Star.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to kick off a month-long blitz of campaign stops with a Thursday rally in deep-red Oklahoma before heading to other states with strong Republican leanings, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

The first events in the closing stretch of the midterm election campaign suggest his strength with swing voters is limited, as even some Republican candidates seek distance, political analysts said. 

Trump’s low approval ratings amid growing consumer costs, spiraling gas prices and an unpopular war in Iran have put U.S. Senate races in typically GOP-leaning states like Alaska and Iowa in play.

After the Oklahoma rally, the president will travel to Alabama and Ohio through the weekend. On Monday, he will be in Nebraska.

He has vowed he would make another stop in Texas soon as part of 32 days of travel before the Nov. 3 elections that will determine control of Congress. 

Before the U.S. Senate left town late Wednesday for its weeks-long campaign break, the chamber voted to confirm Keith Sonderling as secretary of Labor, the D.C. Bureau reports. The vote marked one of the few Trump administration picks to get through the upper chamber recently after a North Dakota senator put a hold on “any and all” nominees. 

Dozens of Trump nominees remain held up amid Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer’s outrage over a Biden-era rule dealing with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wetland easements that Cramer says harm his state’s property owners.

Senators have a slew of unfinished business to address once they return from their recess for the lame-duck session.

More from the D.C. Bureau: Judge blocks federal prosecutors from refiling charges in Reflecting Pool case

At least 30 states have opted into a federal program allowing individuals to receive tax credits for donations to scholarship organizations that might offer tuition help for private schools or extra tutoring, Stateline reports. 

Created through President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending law in 2025, the Education Freedom Tax Credit program allows individuals to claim a dollar-for-dollar federal tax credit of up to $1,700 for donations to certain scholarship-granting organizations (known as SGOs) and taxpayers can contribute to an eligible organization regardless of where that taxpayer lives.  

Under the program, scholarships may be given to students whose household income is up to 300% of an area’s median income. During a press call, U.S. Treasury officials said approximately 95% of American children live in households meeting that threshold, while Department of Education officials said about 28 million children in the 30 participating states would be eligible. 

Nearly 100 community-based organizations have lost their federal HIV-prevention grants this week as the Trump administration redirects dollars to state and local health departments, Stateline reports.

The funding change represents a departure from the decades-old national HIV prevention strategy favored by most public health organizations.

Instead of granting money directly to community-based organizations, the Trump administration is offering one-time grants to state and local health departments. It is encouraging the jurisdictions with the most HIV diagnoses to funnel at least 25% of the money to community groups, but there is no requirement that they do so. Health departments in areas with fewer diagnoses are being encouraged to send 10% of their money to community groups.

More from Stateline: 

Ohio state lawmakers approved a 90-day gas tax holiday, and cobbled together the two-thirds supermajority necessary for an emergency clause which ensures the measure takes effect immediately, Ohio Capital Journal reports. 

The move comes as the rising cost of gas and diesel threaten Republicans’ chances at the polls this November. The bill now heads to Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, who has said he intends to sign it.

Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton proposed the tax break first, and Republican state leaders quickly co-opted the idea. What followed was a hastily arranged effort to call lawmakers back to Columbus to fast track legislation.

Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy joined Republican House Speaker Matt Huffman and his running mate Republican Senate President Rob McColley to announce the plan just a week ago. 

Ohio state Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney, a Democrat, dismissed the savings Republicans touted and suggested that lawmakers should do more to address affordability concerns. 

“We’re talking about $3 a week,” she said. “And if the options are nothing or $3 a week, if that’s all this body can do, then yes, I will vote for it. But I don’t think anybody should be proud of that.”