By Leann Ray | Editor-in-chief
Happy Sunday! Here's a roundup of this week's stories in case you missed them.
NEWS
Along the Shenandoah River in Jefferson County, West Virginia, a roadside sign delivers a pointed message about the proposed Valley North transmission line, which has become the focus of a growing grassroots opposition movement. (Photo by Mike Chalmers for West Virginia Watch)
COMMENTARY
The author holds a basket cranberries foraged in Tucker County, West Virginia. (Photo courtesy of Paula Kaufman)
Stories From The States
Volunteers pass boxes full of signed ballot initiative petitions through the Idaho Capitol on July 2, 2026. The proposed Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act would restore abortion access “without government interference” until fetal viability, and would protect fertility treatments and other reproductive care such as contraception. (Photo by Kelcie Moseley-Morris/Stateline)
In some states, ballot measures are expected to be the main force driving voters to the polls in November. Across the country, voters will decide 145 questions during the midterms.
Reproductive rights are on the ballot in four states. In California, residents will decide on a “billionaire’s tax,” among other issues. Elsewhere, ballot questions could determine who has the power to initiate future questions and whether lawmakers have the power to overturn them. There’s a lot on the line.
In Episode 52, States Newsroom journalists discuss the questions before some voters and how interest in the issues might affect state-level races.
Joining the conversation are Rudi Keller, deputy editor of the Missouri Independent; Kelcie Moseley-Morris, a national reproductive rights reporter at Stateline; and Anna Claire Vollers, a staff writer at Stateline.
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