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Statehouse leaders have finally announced a budget deal, which will fund the state and also allow for Medicaid expansion to go into effect in coming months. For weeks, leaders in the Senate and the House of Representatives tussled over the issue of adding legalization of casinos into the $30 billion state budget. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) was all in on the casino proposal, which would have won one of the four proposed casinos for his home in Rockingham County. (Baxley and Hoban, 9/20)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: How Will Rural Americans Fare During Medicaid Unwinding? Experts Fear They’re On Their Own

Abby Madore covers a lot of ground each day at work. A staffer at a community health center in Carson City, Nevada, Madore spends her days helping low-income residents understand their health insurance options, including Medicaid. Her phone is always ringing, she said, as she fields calls from clients who dial in from the state’s remote reaches seeking help. It’s a big job, especially this year as states work to sort through their Medicaid rolls after the end of a pandemic-era freeze that prohibited disenrollment. (Rodriguez, 9/20)

The nursing shortage and lawsuits are prompting a growing number of states to pay family members to provide skilled nursing care at home to medically fragile children. New Jersey and Florida are the latest states to pass laws that allow a family member to get free training as a certified nursing assistant and get paid by Medicaid to provide up to 40 hours a week of home-based care to a child with significant medical needs such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy or severe autism who needs 24/7 care. (Eastabrook, 9/19)

State education officials on Tuesday unanimously approved revised sex ed curriculum guidelines for the first time since 1999, incorporating more inclusive language and updating recommendations to schools for K-12 instruction in physical, mental, emotional, and sexual health. The new framework emphasizes skills like healthy decision-making and problem solving, social awareness, media literacy, and communication and relationship skills, as well as topics like the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and sexual health. (Griswold, 9/19)

Sacramento’s top prosecutor is suing the city’s leaders over failure to cleanup homeless encampments, escalating a monthslong dispute with leaders in California’s capital city. County District Attorney Thien Ho announced the lawsuit Tuesday during a news conference in Sacramento, saying the city is seeing a “collapse into chaos” that he said reflects the “erosion of everyday life.” A group of residents and business owners also filed a companion lawsuit against the city. (Nguyen, 9/19)

For millions of disabled Texans, accessible parking is vital to navigating daily life. A lasting impact of the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990, the blue signage and crosshatches between spots have become more common than ever. They make it possible for people with a range of disabilities — some visible, some not — to access everything from hospitals and clinics to movie theaters and amusement parks. (Bohra, 9/20)