Pennsylvania reports more measles deaths and more news from the states

Good evening. Tonight we begin in Pennsylvania, where health officials are again working to educate the public about the safety of measles vaccines, after two more residents died after exposure to the highly contagious virus. 

A group of scientists announced they would take over publication of the Arctic Report Card, after it was canceled by the Trump administration, while former U.S. Department of Education leaders and current employees slammed the administration's ongoing efforts to dismantle the agency.

Also in D.C., FBI director Kash Patel dodged questions about election interference at a rambunctious U.S. Senate hearing. 

Read to the end to learn more about an elusive wolverine sighting in Idaho.

Two more Pennsylvanians have died after becoming infected with measles, health officials said, bringing the number of deaths in the commonwealth attributed to the virus to four, Pennsylvania Capital-Star reports. 

State Department of Health officials said the 18-year-old and 40-year-old residents were unvaccinated against the highly contagious virus. Last month, the state announced the deaths of two infants in Lancaster County. 

The Mifflin County Coroner’s Office said the teenager, who was not otherwise identified, died of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, a rare and severe neurological complication of measles.

In a news release, state officials stressed that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is the best protection against measles. Two doses of the vaccine provides lifetime protection at a 97% immunity rate.

“We remain committed to working with our partners across Pennsylvania to stem this outbreak and prevent more deaths. That means ensuring people have the facts about measles and access to the MMR vaccine – which kept measles outbreaks at bay for decades,” Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen said.

The Arctic Report Card, the annual peer-reviewed analysis of climate in the circumpolar region, will continue even without federal government support, Alaska Beacon reports. 

The American Geophysical Union, an organization representing tens of thousands of Earth and space scientists, announced last week that it has taken over as manager of the report card after the Trump administration pulled support last month.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was, until this summer, the agency that coordinated and published the annual report since the inaugural edition in 2006. But the Trump administration has slashed funding for climate science work at NOAA and other federal agencies, and Trump himself has repeatedly referred to climate change as a “hoax.”

The report provides status updates for permafrost thaw, sea ice extent, air temperatures, wildlife patterns, tundra vegetation and other subjects. It places a heavy emphasis on Alaska.

Minnesota: The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the state led to more than 2,300 immigrants leaving the country, according to new data. 

Ohio: Anxiety among Haitian communities has been growing as the federal government started flying people who lost protected status back to the troubled Caribbean country.

Arizona: A political action committee founded by the head of one of the state’s largest charter school networks is facing a criminal investigation for allegedly violating campaign finance law.

Arkansas: The state will provide additional support to children with disabilities who have been waiting for services in response to growing demands from families for a special legislative session to address the issue. 

Nevada: A newly required report by the Clark County School District Police Department showed force was overwhelmingly used against Black people, raising more questions about school police practices that prompted the report’s requirement in the first place.

West Virginia: Local governments gave the highest percentage — about 23.8% — of their opioid settlement funds to law enforcement in the 2025 fiscal year. About 17.6% was used for treatment and recovery services. 

Kentucky: Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is directing $2.5 million in state funding meant for housing to a national nonprofit with plans to forgive outstanding medical debt for tens of thousands of low-income Kentuckians. 

New Jersey: Lawmakers advanced a bill to add a cost-of-living adjustment to monthly payments to nursing home residents with Medicaid. The residents say much more is needed. 

Indiana: The state continues to reimburse local governments from the State Highway Fund for losses incurred during the ongoing gas tax suspension. The total tax loss could reach $1 billion if the tax remains suspended until early December.  

Washington: The state needs to spend another $1.3 billion over the next two years to address skyrocketing lawsuit payouts due to state government misconduct.

Missouri: The State Board of Education declined to seek the roughly $300 million increase needed to fully fund the state’s public school funding formula next year, opting instead for level funding.

Virginia: Federal lawmakers will consider a proposal to reduce congestion around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, one of the busiest aviation hubs in the nation.

Kansas Rep. Brooklynne Mosley, a Democrat, celebrates a first-place win in the Kansas Legislative Showmanship event at the State Fair on Sept. 12. She learned how to show the heifer from 4-H members Genayla Warnken, left, and Makenzie Fishburn. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

Mosley and four other Kansas legislators were participants in the annual Legislative Showmanship competition. 

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to cattle in my whole life,” Mosley said. “I was really looking forward to doing this as something different. I had great teachers, Makenzie and then Genayla. They were really patient, and they taught me everything that I know. Literally.”

Monte Ball, a third-generation rancher, and Rylee Hayes, of Jacam Catalyst, judged the event. They examined how well the legislators handled the cows and asked questions about general beef animal knowledge. 

“We need our legislators to understand what the beef industry means to us and what it means to Kansas,” he said.

While legislators walked the heifers around the arena, Ball spoke about the event, which he said gives Kansas leaders a chance to learn about the field. 

“We need to eat, and the best way for us to have a secure food source is to raise our own,” he said. “We have to do a better job in the U.S. of taking care of our farmers and ranchers because they’re the ones that are going to feed us in the future.”

Read more from Kansas Reflector.

Three former U.S. Education Department secretaries and the union representing agency workers on Tuesday urged the department’s top watchdog to investigate the cost and impact of mass firings last year, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports. 

Former U.S. Education Secretaries Arne Duncan and John B. King Jr., who led the department during the Obama administration, Miguel Cardona of the Biden administration and Rachel Gittleman, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, sent a letter including a formal request to Mark Priebe, acting inspector general of the Education Department. 

“We need a full picture of the fraud, waste and abuse carried out by this administration as they continue to play politics rather than doing their jobs to serve the American people,” Gittleman said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol.

Democratic members of Congress and other labor leaders also spoke at the press conference, blasting President Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to dismantle the 46-year-old Department of Education. The mass firings have marked a major part of that effort, which Trump tapped Education Secretary Linda McMahon to spearhead. 

FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped questions about FBI agents at polling places in the midterm elections at a U.S. Senate hearing Tuesday, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

With the November midterm elections fast approaching and the parties jockeying for control of Congress, several Democratic senators wanted assurance from Patel, under oath, that the FBI would not send agents into polling places.

“Do you pledge that you will not, in any way, interfere in the will of the American people when they go to the polls in November?” Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, asked.

“I pledge unequivocally that I will not participate in your charade of lies,” Patel told Welch.

Patel also faced questions during the five-hour hearing about changes to the agency’s hiring requirements, an ongoing probe into 2020 election ballots seized in Georgia, and how the FBI plans to handle crimes committed by AI agents. 

The cost of U.S. military operations in Iran has exceeded $40 billion and the war will continue to cost taxpayers between $2 billion and $3 billion per month, the bureau reports. 

The ongoing bombing campaign, which President Donald Trump launched alongside the Israeli government in February, has also significantly reduced American military weapons stockpiles, according to an analysis released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 

More from the D.C. Bureau: Attorney general defends Trump blast at US Supreme Court over vote-by-mail ruling

Declining birth rates mean fewer students. And that means more districts grappling with whether to close or merge schools, Stateline reports. 

“The big shrink” is how Marguerite Roza, director of Georgetown University’s Edunomics Lab, described what is happening nationally. 

Driven largely by declining birth rates but worsened by several other factors, district and school board decisions to close and consolidate schools can draw anger and anxiety from parents and students. Many states are stopping short of forcing mergers, but taking a variety of steps to encourage them. 

Related: With demographic dip in sight, Utah universities prepare for budget impacts

Four in 10 pediatricians surveyed by researchers at the American Academy of Pediatrics report immigrant families retreating from healthcare for their kids amid President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, Stateline reports. 

More than 1,600 pediatricians responded between April and June to the survey. 

More from Stateline: Census data shows US poverty rate drops to lowest on record, but experts are cautious

An outdoor recreationist recently captured video of a rare wolverine in Idaho’s central mountains, Idaho Capital Sun reports. 

The sighting occurred at a high altitude lake in the Pioneer Mountains, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Southwest Regional Wildlife Biologist Jamie Utz said.

Fish and Game officials posted a video of the wolverine on social media, saying that sighting was significant because wolverines are such rare and elusive carnivores. 

Due to excessive hunting, trapping and poisoning at the turn of the 20th century, there are only an estimated 318 wolverines remaining in the continental United States, Fish and Game officials said.

Since 2021, Fish and Game officials said they have logged 35 “reliable” wolverine sightings in Idaho in their database of self-reported observations from people on the ground.