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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Monday defended and doubled down on his signature Medicaid program — the only one in the nation with a work requirement — further dimming chances the state could adopt a broader expansion of the taxpayer-funded low-income health plan without a work mandate any time soon. Georgia Pathways requires all recipients to show that they performed at least 80 hours of work, volunteer activity, schooling or vocational rehabilitation in a month to qualify. It launched in July 2023, but has so far signed up a tiny fraction of eligible state residents. (Thanawala, 8/19)

This school year, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools. Legislation that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law this month bans physical punishment in private schools while reiterating a prohibition on the practice in public schools implemented 30 years ago. (O'Connor, 8/20)

The parents of a gunman who was 17 when he killed eight students and two teachers at his high school in Santa Fe, Texas, in 2018 are not financially liable for his heinous actions, a jury found on Monday. The verdict, reached after a day of deliberations, followed an emotional three-week trial that was among the first attempts to hold parents accountable in civil court for the actions of their child in a school shooting. But instead of finding that the parents bore responsibility for the shooting, the jury decided that blame rested with the gunman and with the company that sold him ammunition used in the shooting. (Goodman, 8/19)

HISD vowed Monday to repair the 170 automated external defibrillators that aren't working and to inspect all 1,038 of the life-saving machines located on campuses, following last week's death of a Marshall Middle School student. The district noted that about 85% of AEDs are functional and that every campus has an operating machine, according to a news release Monday. (Partain, 8/19)

D.C. police are investigating the cause of a 911 technology failure earlier this month that left dispatchers and other first responders operating without access to key location-tracking software for hours, officials confirmed Monday. The police investigation, first reported by NBC Washington, will look into whether a botched software update that caused the computer outage was criminally negligent, City Administrator Kevin Donahue told reporters Monday. (Gathright, 8/19)

Nearly 200 water faucets in Oakland public schools had levels of lead that exceeded district standards, sparking outrage among staff who criticized district officials this week for failing to immediately notify school communities about results found earlier this summer and spring. It’s unclear how long students were exposed to the tainted taps. (Tucker, 8/19)

An adult with tuberculosis spent time in a Manchester daycare center while infectious. State health officials said there have been no other confirmed cases related to this one. Families have been notified of the potential exposure, which occurred from March 1 to August 6, and the individual is no longer in the daycare center. (McFadden, 8/19)