Creating child care where there was none and more news from the states

Good evening. Across the country, childcare availability issues have been a consistent concern for working families. Tonight we feature two stories of parents — in West Virginia and New Hampshire — building programs from the ground-up when they couldn’t find care else-wise. 

In Arkansas, state leaders responded to a federal audit that found widespread mishandling of child abuse and neglect cases. Across the country, urban and rural hospitals are shuttering at similar rates, according to a new study. 

Gulf states are preparing for landfall of Hurricane Isaias, while another political fight over disaster funding unfolds in Wisconsin. 

Elsewhere on the political front, tariffs are becoming a mainstream issue for voters and members of Generation Z are expressing frustration over feeling excluded from U.S. politics, even as both Republicans and Democrats court their attention and votes. 

Read to the end to learn about the rather unusual question on the ballot for Idaho voters.

Clay County, West Virginia, now has its only childcare center after parents worked together to get a facility certified and opened. The rural county lost its previous only childcare center four months ago, leaving families with no local options and forcing some parents to quit their jobs, West Virginia Watch reports. 

“It was really devastating to find out that our county wasn’t going to have a licensed daycare anymore, and we were kind of just scrambling. So, a bunch of parents came together to start Trailblazer Learning Academy,” said Allie Vaughan, who serves on the board for the center and had expected to send her infant son to the county’s previous provider before its closure.

Trailblazer Learning Academy opened earlier this month and can serve 27 children. Those spots filled up quickly, and there is already a waitlist. 

More than 28,000 children in West Virginia currently lack access to care because providers don’t have enough available slots. Rural counties across the state sometimes have just two providers.

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce has linked the state’s lack of child care availability to the state’s abysmal workforce participation rate.

“Not having a childcare facility has really stunted where Clay County could go. It really sent us back,” Vaughan said. 

Related: New Hampshire needs more childcare. New programs face hurdles in filling the void.

A federal audit found Arkansas mishandled thousands of reports of child abuse and neglect, including allegations of rape and video surveillance in children’s bedrooms, Arkansas Advocate reports. 

The report from the Office of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concluded that tens of thousands of cases did not comply with Arkansas’ child abuse screening, assessment or investigation requirements, and that the state incorrectly rejected reports of children being watched by video while undressing and failed to contact law enforcement about findings of sexual abuse and life-threatening harm to children. 

The report was prompted in part by a child abuse case that became public last year. The state determined 29 allegations of abuse against a teenager were unsubstantiated, and the child was abused for years before the mother and stepfather were sentenced to more than 40 years in prison earlier this year. 

In response to the audit, state officials said they had “undertaken significant work to strengthen investigative practice, policy, training, supervision and technology,” and many of the changes are a direct response to the audit. 

Kansas state Rep. Angel Roeser, 25, decided not to run for reelection this year because of frustrations felt by many members of Generation Z who feel excluded from U.S. politics, Kansas Reflector reports as part of our series, Gen Z at the Ballot Box, a collaboration between States Newsroom and The 19th. 

After Roeser defied her fellow Republicans and voted against their plan to ask voters to change the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected, members of her own party shared a graphic calling her and three other dissenters “obstructionists.”

With the inside of the Capitol dome colored blood red and the representatives’ faces plastered beneath it in black and white, the words and visuals are akin to a tabloid mug shot. Roeser said she’s not sure her likeness in the post is even real — it’s likely a composite image generated by artificial intelligence.

“I was called the darling of the Republican Party,” she said. “I was called a new face of Gen Z Republicans in Kansas. I was labeled before I even had a chance to legislate. And when I did not live up to the hype, my own party turned on me.”

Roeser’s experience exemplifies broader frustrations among members of Generation Z who feel excluded from U.S. politics, even as both Republicans and Democrats court their attention and votes.

Alabama: Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for gulf communities in the projected path of Hurricane Isaias, which is gaining strength and is expected to make landfall Friday.

Pennsylvania: At their first and only gubernatorial debate, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro called for abolishing the death penalty, while Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity said she supports “the law that’s on the books.”

Iowa: U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson and Iowa Rep. Josh Turek met for their first U.S. Senate debate. The race, and several House races in the state, is considered by political forecasters to be among the most competitive in the country and could play a pivotal role determining control of Congress.

Wisconsin: In another political fight over disaster funding, President Donald Trump said he would provide nearly $18 million in relief for July tornado damage after speaking to Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor.

Missouri: Amendment 3 on November ballots would reinstate a state abortion ban, but some anti-abortion activists are focusing on provisions to limit gender-affirming healthcare as they court voters. 

Virginia: A question on voters’ November ballot would overturn the state’s 2006 ban on same-sex marriage and enshrine protections in the constitution. 

Maryland: A majority of voters are opposed to building data centers in the state and have a dim view of artificial intelligence, a new poll shows.

West Virginia: As lawmakers consider how to rein in artificial intelligence-driven police surveillance technology, they gave Flock Safety a deadline to answer a series of questions — or they may use subpoenas or compel witnesses to answer them. 

Michigan: Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an antitrust lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, alleging that the company has eliminated competition for health insurance services to large employers like the state.

A perfect storm of harsh immigration enforcement, aging journeymen and a building boom for data centers is wreaking havoc on the nation’s supply of skilled trade workers. 

Automakers and construction contractors say they need more access to workers through accelerated training, steady immigration and a cultural shift to encourage young people to do the hard, dirty work of skilled trades. They’re looking for plumbers, electricians, carpenters, machinists and technicians — specializations increasingly in short supply. 

Worker shortages are the top reason for construction project delays, a September survey by the Association of General Contractors of America found. Applicants are there, but half of the contractors who were surveyed said too many job candidates are unqualified and need more training. 

Read more from Stateline.

A growing number of voters are taking their anger about affordability to the polls this midterm election and blaming President Donald Trump’s tariffs as a culprit for rising expenses, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

“...For maybe the first time ever, tariffs are a salient issue at the ballot box,” said Scott Lincicome of the libertarian Cato Institute. “You know, normally trade is a boring issue that nobody really thinks about or cares about.”

An Associated Press/NORC nationwide poll of just more than 2,100 voters from Sept. 24-28 found that 68% of respondents disapprove of Trump’s trade negotiations with other countries, and 64% think the tariffs have gone too far.

In a state-by-state breakdown of tariffs, the conservative National Taxpayers Union Foundation and Trade Partnership Worldwide found the top 10 states most affected by Trump’s tariffs — in the tens of billions of dollars — are California, Texas, Michigan, Georgia, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee. 

Nearly all are in the midst of fierce battles for U.S. Senate or House seats as tariffs emerge as what critics predict will be a major factor in the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

More from the D.C. Bureau: 

Urban hospitals are closing at roughly the same rate as rural ones, and the shuttered hospitals are more likely to have served communities with high poverty rates and fewer transportation options, Stateline reports. 

In a new study published Thursday in the journal JAMA, researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed hospital closures and openings that occurred between 2010 and last year. They found that closures increased by 4% year over year, while new hospital openings decreased 3% year over year.

Public attention has mostly focused on struggling rural hospitals, but the Harvard researchers found that urban hospitals also have been vulnerable: The closure rate was 9.1% for urban hospitals and 8.3% for rural hospitals. Across both rural and urban areas, hospitals that were for-profit, small or safety-net, or served the most vulnerable counties — such as those with higher poverty rates or less access to transportation — were most likely to close.

More from Stateline: Feds unlikely to change abortion pill policy before next year

This year, Idaho voters have a lot to decide on their ballots: Who will be the state’s next governor or U.S. senator? Should two constitutional amendments pass? Should voters pass their own law to repeal the state’s abortion ban?

But also in the mix, Idaho Capital Sun reports, is a poll the Legislature called for: What should be the state’s official gun?

Idaho, a Republican supermajority-controlled state, has strong protections for gun ownership — such as not requiring permits for concealed carry in city limits. The state Legislature considered a bill this year to allow members of the public to carry concealed guns inside parts of courthouses that aren’t meant for court, like offices for county commissioners and clerks. 

The advisory question on the ballot this year asks voters to weigh in on the Legislature’s possible decision to declare a firearm — out of a mix of well-known Western and American guns — as Idaho’s official state gun. 

If Idaho declared a state gun, the recognition would grow the list of officially declared state symbols, like the state flower, the syringa; the state gem, the star garnet; or the state amphibian, the Idaho giant salamander. Ten other states have declared state guns, according to the National Rifle Association.

A lawmaker behind the push for the ballot question said he hoped it might drum up voter turnout in a non-presidential election year.