Fighting fire with fire and more news from the states

Good morning. And thanks for joining us.

Measles cases continue to rise, and several states are scrambling to contain the spread. In Maryland, three counties with relatively lower vaccination coverage recently announced measles outbreaks.

In utility news, PJM, the regional grid operator for most of the East Coast, is asking federal regulators to approve a rule requiring new large-load customers, namely data centers, to bring their own power supply to the grid, our Virginia newsroom reports.

And in case you missed it, Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, agreed to pay 47 states, the District of Columbia and a handful of U.S. territories up to $17.1 billion in penalties over claims that its social media platforms are addictive and a danger to children, Stateline reports.

Keep reading for more news on abortion access, immigration enforcement, childhood vaccinations and much more. And visit our website to learn more about the rest of the free newsletters States Newsroom has to offer. See you back here tomorrow.

Idaho: A federal judge has narrowed a previous ruling that had allowed abortions to protect a mother’s health or from self-harm to only apply to the Boise doctor who challenged the law. 

Minnesota: A truth council assembled by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz heard testimony for the first time from people who say they were harmed by the thousands of federal immigration agents sent to the state this winter. Walz established the Minnesota Truth Council via executive order in March.

Florida: U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the Trump administration’s stances on childhood vaccinations, questioning the accuracy of a report that two unvaccinated Pennsylvania residents have died amid a global measles outbreak.

Indiana: A growing prison population and shrinking support for local alternatives to incarceration could leave the state paying more to hold people in state prisons and county jails, criminal justice officials warned lawmakers.

Nebraska: The Nebraska Working People Party and America First Party will become official parties in the state after the Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously affirmed a Lancaster District Court judge’s decision dismissing objections from the state’s two major parties.

Kentucky: A law enacted last year limits who can sue in state courts over planning and zoning decisions to people who live in the same zone as the challenged project. Now, that law is now being wielded by a hyperscale data center developer looking to build a new campus.

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.

As wildfires torch millions of acres, some communities are fighting fire with fire. Leaders nationwide, and especially in the West, want to empower more residents to conduct prescribed burns on the private forests that could ignite or be destroyed by devastating wildfires.

To see these fire-prevention efforts first hand, Stateline reporter Alex Brown went through the burn manager training course in Washington state.

In a three-part series, he examines the state’s effort to train and certify more residents to lead their own burns, with scenes from his time in the classroom and a training burn; joins a burn in the small town of Roslyn, a community that has embraced prescribed burning in the wake of a wildfire that nearly wiped it off the map; and illustrates those burns in a photo essay.

Read more from Stateline.

NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch was honored with the Order of the Tar Heel, the highest award bestowed by the North Carolina Commissioner of Labor, NC Newsline reports. 

Koch, a North Carolina native and North Carolina State University graduate, became the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit, and with her crew broke the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.

The award recognizes Koch’s work with NASA as well as her ongoing advocacy for science, technology, engineering and mathematics education.

Koch said her mission would not have been possible without countless workers, all willing to contribute their unique talents to make the mission a success. 

“I like to think we are a partnership because in NASA, so many jobs, high-skilled manufacturing and technical jobs, are created by a love of wanting to explore,” Koch said.

Developing a strong STEM workforce starts with engaging students in science and math at a very young age. As part of Wednesday’s special event, Koch also took questions from two dozen enthusiastic elementary school students.