The Ohio House and Senate worked to pass a pay raise for themselves and other state and local government officials before the end of the year by attaching the measure to a bill, SB296, that would increase benefits for families of first responders who died on the job.

The Ohio House has passed a bill 62 to 27 that bans a surgical procedure commonly used in abortions. The second abortion related bill to pass in this lame duck session, following the six-week abortion ban called the “Heartbeat Bill”.

Kayden is an energetic five year old—though he’ll tell you he’s actually five-and-a-half. He lives in Russellville with his sister, Kaleigh, their grandmother, and her husband.

Kayden and Kaleigh are just two of the estimated 96,000 Kentucky kids living with a non-parental relative or a close-family friend--known as “fictive kin”--in the last three years. The KIDS COUNT Data Center estimates nine percent of Kentucky children has been under kinship or fictive care since 2016.

The two went to live with their grandmother, Kim Guffy, four years ago after an emergency protective order violation.

As state lawmakers race toward the end of this lame duck legislative session, they’ve been considering two bills that Gov. John Kasich opposes: the six-week “Heartbeat Bill” abortion ban and the “Stand Your Ground” self-defense bill. 

Fentanyl is now the drug most frequently involved in overdose deaths in the U.S., according to a National Vital Statistics System report published Wednesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report sheds a bright light on the changing nature of America's drug landscape — and the devastating number of overdose deaths that have occurred in the U.S. in recent years.