By Janelle Stecklein | Editor
“I want to be as independent as I can because I live here on my own. I want to reach a level of speaking English that I would be able to run my life on my own without needing help of translation or someone else to help me.” - Parwana Nazari of an Oklahoma program that allows people ages 21 to 30 an alternative to obtain a high school diploma
Misty Kline, language and culture services coordinator at Epic Charter School, right, and Behroz Bashari, the school's Pashto and Persian language liaison, left, are pictured at Epic's headquarters in 50 Penn Place in Oklahoma City on Aug. 3. Kline and Bashari helped launch Epic's Pathways program, which helps Oklahoma students age 21 to 30 complete a high school diploma. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
By Nuria Martinez-Keel
Parwana Nazari once lived as a “very open and free girl back home” in the Jowzjan province of Afghanistan.
She was studying Uzbek literature at a university when the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021.
Nazari, who used to go to work and school by herself, suddenly was prohibited from leaving her house unaccompanied by male relatives. She became one of millions of girls and women in Afghanistan barred from attending secondary school and higher education.
The Oklahoma state flag flies outside of the Oklahoma City Federal Building on June 24, 2025, in midtown Oklahoma City. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
By Barbara Hoberock
Gov. Kevin Stitt has ordered flags flown at half-staff until sunset Friday to honor a federal wildlife officer who died Saturday.
Vegetables and lettuces at a grocery store in Michigan. A summer of food recalls, including the record-shattering cyclosporiasis outbreak tied to iceberg lettuce that has sickened thousands, has raised many Americans’ fears of contracting a foodborne illness. (Photo by Jon King/Michigan Advance)
By Anna Claire Vollers
A summer of food recalls have focused attention on the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding and staff at several public health agencies, and prompted questions about whether those changes have made consumers more vulnerable.
Three cases are pending in federal courts that could change access to one of two drugs commonly used to terminate a pregnancy and treat miscarriages. If the lawsuit out of Texas is successful, it would revoke access to the drug entirely in all states. A federal judge in Texas paused the case until at least Dec. 1, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration continues its safety review. (Photo by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)
By Kelcie Moseley-Morris
A federal judge in Texas on Sunday paused a lawsuit seeking to revoke nationwide approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, saying the case won’t be heard until at least Dec. 1 and granting the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s request for a stay to continue its safety review of the drug.
Demonstrators gathered at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, marking the 63rd anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where the late civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
By Ashley Murray
Just over two months from midterm elections and four months removed from a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gutted Voting Rights Act protections for majority Black U.S. House districts, and 63 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech there, thousands gathered again at the Lincoln Memorial Friday.
ICYMI
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