Southern pushback against the abortion pill

Mississippi

We won’t be bullied. That’s the message Attorney General Lynn Fitch sent to abortion providers jockeying to flood states with chemical mail-order options post-Roe. GenBioPro (GBP), the first manufacturer to offer a generic, FDA-approved abortion pill, had argued a federal policy for access to chemical abortion preempted Mississippi law restricting the pills. But GBP decided to drop the case after Fitch fought back. In her filing, Fitch stressed that no uniform national policy keeps states from banning chemical abortion. “If anything, federal law adopts the opposite policy from what GBP claims. Federal law ­criminalizes the use of the mails to distribute abortion-­inducing drugs.” The win comes despite U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s June statement regarding mifepristone, an abortion drug he said states would not be able to block. Since December, an estimated 115,000 lives have been saved in the 11 states with near total bans on abortion. —Kim Henderson

New York

The city of New York may have a solution to reduce traffic on its busy streets: a congestion toll for passenger vehicles entering Manhattan. If implemented, the plan could charge certain drivers between $9 and $23 during peak hours. The resulting revenue, projected at $15 billion within five years, will fund subway projects and zero-emission buses. Critics worry about the effects on low-income drivers and out-of-state commuters. State lawmakers approved the current plan in 2019, but it awaits federal approval and amendments by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Since MTA board members are nominated by the state’s governor, final implementation may depend on the results of the upcoming governor’s ­election. —Elizabeth Russell

Virginia

A new draft of the state Department of Education’s social studies curriculum has deleted references to George Washington as the “father of the country” and James Madison as the “father of the Constitution.” Also gone: Christopher Columbus. Virginia Board of Education members called the omissions to the 400-page standards of learning “inadvertent.” Still, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has urged the board to delay meeting until it makes changes, while a group of Democratic state senators say it’s best to “adopt these standards immediately.” The board said it would spend time addressing corrections before holding public hearings and voting on a first draft, although it wasn’t clear what revisions would be made, if any. —Juliana Chan Erikson

Wisconsin

In Wales, the Kettle Moraine School Board approved a policy in August prohibiting teachers and staff from displaying gay and transgender flags along with other messages deemed political or religious, such as “Black Lives Matter” or “Make America Great Again.” Staff members are also barred from including their preferred pronouns in emails under the board’s new interpretation of a decade-old code of conduct forbidding staffers from using their positions to promote ­“partisan politics, sectarian religious views, or selfish propaganda.” The Aug. 16 vote stirred passionate debate, with one board member opposing the ban. An attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin said the policy—and a similar one a nearby Wisconsin school district approved last year—unfairly targets LGBTQ communities and students of color. “We’re in a world where politics are highlighted, and it puts people in uncomfortable positions,” Superintendent Stephen Plum told the board at a July board meeting where the code of conduct was first announced. —Mary Jackson

Ohio

Three Columbus residents filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the carmakers Kia and Hyundai for allegedly selling defective vehicles that are too easy to steal. The suit comes as vehicle thefts in Columbus and elsewhere are increasing: More than 40 percent of stolen vehicles in Columbus were either Kia or Hyundai models, up from 10 percent last year. The lawsuit cites all Kia models from 2011 to 2021 and all Hyundai models from 2015 to 2021, which it says were made without engine immobilizers, a feature that prevents a car’s ignition system from starting without a key. Columbus police say teenagers have taken to stealing the easy-to-start vehicles. The plaintiffs—Taylor Slovak; her husband, Daniel Newman; and Erin Davies—seek to force the carmakers to fix or replace the defective vehicles. At least five other class-action lawsuits are pending against Kia and Hyundai, according to Slovak’s attorney. —Mary Jackson

Florida

Deadly overdoses in the mainly rural county of Gadsden are prompting a new drug-fighting proposal on the federal level. The tight-knit Florida community known for its historical Southern buildings and sprawling vegetable and livestock farms was stunned by nine deadly overdoses over the July Fourth weekend. The deaths were believed to be caused by fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that can be 50 to 100 times more powerful than heroin. “It’s shaken the entire community,” County Sheriff Morris Young said. Gadsden is one of a growing number of U.S. counties ravaged by the drug. In response to the crisis, Florida Sen. Rick Scott (R) introduced the Stop Fentanyl Package Act in the U.S. Senate on Aug. 16. The bill directs federal agencies to help local governments train officers to identify overdoses and track their frequency. It would also provide liability protections for administering overdose reversal drugs and make the Office of National Drug Control Policy director a White House Cabinet member. —Addie Offereins