Housing costs and more news from the states

Good morning. Thanks for joining us for our Thursday edition of Daybreak. To start, we're looking at how two states are handling capital punishment cases.

Later today in Alabama, the state plans to execute a death row inmate amid clemency efforts by death penalty opponents, who cite a jury’s initial recommendation that he be sentenced to life without parole, a recommendation later overruled by a judge.

Jeffery Lee was originally scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas, but a federal court in June imposed an injunction on the state’s protocol for the execution method following a lawsuit from Lee and a trial.

And in Georgia, convicted murderer Stacey Humphreys was not executed after the state Supreme Court upheld a Cobb County judge’s order temporarily halting the execution. The pause is for Humphreys to receive a hearing under the Georgia Survivor Justice Act, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law last year.

Read more of our coverage of court procedures and criminal justice here. Thanks again for stopping by.

National: Concerned about conditions in federal immigrant detention facilities but often barred from entering them, some Democratic-led states are fighting to enforce their own health and safety standards at the sites.

Wisconsin: The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two cases challenging the constitutionality of the state’s congressional maps. One challenge is based on the claim that the maps unfairly benefit Republicans and the other is on the grounds that the maps were drawn to protect incumbents. 

Colorado: As the clock winds down on a historically dry year in the Colorado River Basin, state water officials said they’re willing to launch a new state-run conservation program to help address systemwide shortages — but not without more certainty from the federal government, and possibly the state Legislature, about how it would work.

Maine: As industries face an uncertain future amid the Trump administration’s trade war with Canada, state officials aim to coordinate with their Canadian counterparts to de-escalate the situation. Members of the Maine-Canadian Legislative Advisory Commission met to discuss the latest developments in the trade war.

National: Republican members of the Senate Agriculture Committee voted to advance a farm bill, though Democrats on the committee voted against the package due to continued disagreements on a nutrition section of the bill.

Kentucky: Former Republican Gov. Matt Bevin will be immediately released from a 60-day jail sentence while the state Court of Appeals decides whether his incarceration was the proper punishment for his contempt of court charges, the Appeals Court ruled.

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.

Developers say that having to navigate the “complex web” of federal, state and local regulations contributes to the rising cost of housing and rent, which winds up pricing more and more Marylanders out of housing options, Maryland Matters reports.

Lori Graf, CEO of Maryland Building Industry Association, told the House Economic Matters Committee that, at a national level, the costs it takes to comply with health, environment and other government regulations account for 26.4% of the final cost of a new housing unit.

She added that each bump in housing costs knocks thousands of Maryland families from the dream of homeownership. It’s why she and other members of the building industry have urged Maryland lawmakers to cut back on the red tape that slows down the approval process for new development in the state.

Her comments followed a presentation by the Department of Housing and Community Development for the committee outlining the many factors contributing not only to Maryland’s housing shortage of some 100,000 units, but also the state’s skyrocketing housing costs — some of the highest in the nation.

This year, Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s administration pushed legislation that will grant housing developers “vesting rights” to ensure that projects are not delayed by having to incorporate new local policy changes created in the middle of the build. The law aims to avoid delays in construction timeline for new builds, which delays completion of new housing and adds to cost of development for that project.

Anyone who’s longed for a closer look at a zoo animal and its habitat in South Carolina will get that chance with a series of videos created through the state’s public broadcasting network, South Carolina Daily Gazette reports.

Starting Friday, South Carolina Educational Television will release educational and immersive videos featuring animals and habitats at Columbia’s Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens. The goal of the series, titled “Zoo Minutes,” is to find a new way to get children interested in conservation, according to the state-funded broadcaster.

Each installment will include a short video about the animal, a 360-degree video allowing people to explore a habitat, an interactive video with information to click on and discover, and quizzes to test what people learned. SCETV will also release behind-the-scenes videos showing how teams filmed footage of habitats and creatures.

The first two installments will focus on the zoo’s penguins, fishing cat and radiated tortoises, according to a news release. Later episodes will include poison dart frogs, jellyfish and squirrel monkeys.