News from around the nation.

Tennessee halts executions after a second botched execution in a year, and folks in Colorado will face higher health insurance prices in 2027; a spike in pregnancy deaths fuels calls to expand Pennsylvania reproductive care access.

Transcript

The Public News Service Thursday afternoon update.

I'm Mike Clifford.

Tennessee's GOP Governor Bill Lee has ordered a review of the state's lethal injection process after the state, for the second time in a year, botched in execution.

According to a lawyer, 50-year-old Krista Pike was alive and snoring loudly after being given two doses of phenobarbital.

She was scheduled for execution Wednesday for a killing she committed at the age of 18.

Prison authorities say she's been transferred to a local hospital she would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years.

Meantime, the cost of health insurance is going up again in Colorado, but a report due by year's end on launching statewide Medicare for all coverage could offer price relief down the road.

Coloradans who don't get coverage through their jobs are expected to pay 10% more when they select plans during this fall's open enrollment period.

That's on top of last year's 23% increase.

United Health Care's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Rhonda Randall says monthly premium is just one of the overall costs to consider.

You want to ask yourself, what am I going to be responsible for paying beyond that monthly premium?

And I'm talking about out-of-pocket costs like co-pays, co-insurance, deductibles.

Make sure that you're considering and understanding what all of those numbers mean.

All plans are not created equal, and Randall says it's important to anticipate your family's medical needs.

If you've been diagnosed with a new condition, if you're planning to grow your family or if you need a procedure.

She recommends asking questions like, are my prescription drugs covered?

And is my doctor in the network?

I'm Eric Galatas.

Pennsylvania's health advocates are urging lawmakers to expand access to sexual and reproductive health care after a new analysis found a sharp increase in deaths connected to ectopic pregnancies.

A new ProPublica analysis of federal data found that almost 200 women died following an atopic pregnancy nationwide From 2020 through 2025, Signe Espinosa with Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates says the data reveals rising complications in pregnancy and a troubling increase in hemorrhaging during delivery and postpartum care.

The data is pretty stark that we're seeing this a lot more in early pregnancy, which tells us one thing, right, is that folks are not able to access health care early enough.

Whether or not women want to continue pregnancies, they deserve access to timely health care.

Danielle Smith reporting.

Next, food pantries across Oregon say rising food costs coupled with cuts to SNAP and other programs have left them struggling to keep up with growing demand.

Philanthropy manager Lee Hall says clients are mostly rural and many are seniors on fixed incomes.

The food banks are doing the best we can, but we were not designed to be a grocery store. were designed as an emergency system.

According to the Oregon Food Bank, visits to their sites have increased by more than 50%.

This is Public News Service.

As the midterm elections draw near, anti-corruption groups are calling attention to the actions of the Trump administration.

The kick-out corruption tour will stop in Baltimore today, where Maryland Governor Wes Moore will discuss how corruption impacts the cost of living for Marylanders.

Christina Harvey with Stand Up America says the president's budget known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, or H.R. 1, is a prime example of corruption.

She argues cutting social programs like supplemental food assistance, health insurance subsidies, and low-income health care is a service to massively wealthy individuals and corporations.

So at the end of that budget process, ultra-wealthy people got a tax break so they could buy another yacht, and kids ended up without out-school lunches and families unable to afford their health care premiums.

The tour comes as Marylanders reel from high gas prices, spurred by the war in Iran.

Gas prices in the state are averaging more than $4.30 a gallon, up from a little more than $3 a year ago.

Republicans in some districts are trying to change the narrative around cuts from H.R. 1 ahead of the midterms.

Some are running ads on health care and emphasizing their attempts to fight fraud as a pro-consumer move.

I'm Zamone Perez.

And looming cuts to Medicaid programs are threatening rural Iowa maternity wards.

And some clinics have already closed in anticipation.

One in five Iowans relies on Medicaid as their only source of health insurance.

That's more than 600,000 people, according to KFF Health, and about half of them are children.

Iowa ACE's 360 Advocacy Network director, Mary Neltreve, says that changes will hit rural hospitals especially hard. and that while the state can't make up the spending shortfall, lawmakers should focus on making sure those areas have the health care workforce they need, especially when it comes to making the state family friendly.

Maternity care access is a pretty good measure of whether a community is going to be a place where families want to come and are able to come and stay and raise and grow their families.

I'm Mark Moran.

Finally, supporters of Washington's parent education programs are urging state leaders to restore funding and prevent permanent closures.

The programs partner with colleges to offer preschool while parents work in the school and take classes on parenting and child development.

Parent educator Tanya Hino of North Seattle College says it's time for Governor Ferguson to step in.

Why can't we make it real that parenting is valuable and important and gives us plenty of skill, And it should not be a void in our resume.

It should be part of our resume.

I believe our governor can step up and make this happen.

The closures came after the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges adopted a new funding model prioritizing workforce credentials.

I'm Isobel Charle.

This is Mike Clifford for Public News Service.

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