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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 29

In the past three years, 26 states have enacted laws to better align reading instruction with scientific research.

We updated our map to include Missouri.

More: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

A map of the United States shows states that have enacted laws in the past three years. They are colored three shades of blue to represent the year of the legislation.

A window into America’s high schools slams shut

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 29

Trump put an end to that effort as part of his quest to dissolve the Department of Education.

Story by @carmela.bsky.social:

For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so research...

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 29

For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so researchers could draw connections between them.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 27

But most of the Institute of Education Science’s work has been stopped. Seventy-eight contracts haven’t come back.

A treemap identifies terminated contracts. They are sized by dollar value and shaded colors based on whether they have been reinstated.

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 27

Its lawyers said it was evaluating 16 other contracts to possibly be reinstated, potentially after adjusting the scope and seeking bids from additional vendors.

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 27

Beginning in February, Trump cut at least 106 contracts that funded education research, federal program evaluations, data collection and related priorities. In response to a lawsuit, the administration reinstated 12 contracts, including the experiment on the early warning system for reading.

Lawsuit saves massive reading experiment

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 27

The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administration agreed to finish the research only after it was sued.

The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administ...

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 26

Episode 14: The Cuts

Listen at soldastory.org.

When wildfires compromise drinking water, utilities lean on this professor’s advice

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 26

Into that regulatory void has stepped Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University who has made it his personal mission to help water utilities recover after devastating fires.

Story by @jenpenned.bsky.social: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals which federally mandated testing is not designed...

‘At what point does it break?’ Nation’s Report Card at risk, researchers say

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 26

In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals that federally mandated testing is not designed to catch.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 25

The board canceled more than a dozen tests when it revised the NAEP schedule in April. This annotated version of the previous schedule, adopted in 2023, shows which tests were canceled. Topics annotated with a red star are no longer scheduled for revision.

A screenshot from a document showed scheduled NAEP tests. With red Xes and slash lines, canceled tests have been noted.

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 25

The tests regularly measure what students across the country know in reading, math and other subjects. They allow the government to track how well America’s students are learning. Researchers can also combine the national data with the results of tests administered by states to draw comparisons.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 25

Among staff cast aside by DOGE were those who worked on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The assessment is a series of tests administered nearly every year to a national sample of more than 10,000 students in grades 4, 8 and 12.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 25

NAEP is one of the few education initiatives Trump has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed staff responsible for keeping tests up to date. And the board overseeing the assessment has eliminated more than a dozen tests, citing “cost efficiencies.”

www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

The National Assessment of Educational Progress is one of the few federal education initiatives that the Trump Administration has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed the staff respon...

Overdose deaths disproportionately impact older Black men. Few programs in Minnesota exist to support them

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 21

New episode of Sold a Story.

𝟭𝟰: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘀
The Trump administration is slashing government funding for science and dismantling the Dept of Ed. We look at what the cuts mean for the science of reading — and the effort to get that science into schools.

Listen: www.apmreports.org/episode/2025...

An illustration depicts workers leaving the Department of Education after losing their jobs.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 18

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades.

Read: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades. One Ramsey County nonprofit is working to fill the gap.

Four Minneapolis officers were accused of excessive force — and now train other police

APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 8

Four Minneapolis police trainers were accused of using excessive force in civil lawsuits the city settled before they received their current assignments, according to a review of federal court documents.

Story: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

The Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot Amir Locke and until recently led MPD’s use-of-force training is not the only trainer whose record has raised concerns over the department’s commitment ...

Bethel Police say 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off schedules work. Some community members disagree

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 7

Explore the database of nursing homes in the story. For each one, see:

• Percent of residents with a serious mental illness
• Number of abuse-related citations
• Nurse staffing rating

www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

A map of the continental United States with colored dots representing nursing home locations.

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 7

Every two weeks for the past three years, a police officer has boarded a plane near his home in Sydney, Australia, to commute to work – in Bethel, Alaska.

A story with @sgsmly.bsky.social at KYUK.

www.kyuk.org/public-safet...

In the past decade, Bethel has increasingly relied on a policing system where officers work for two weeks, then take two weeks off. This lets some officers commute from thousands of miles away. And wh...

www.kyuk.org

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Aug 7

Nursing homes are designed to care for patients with physical infirmities. But nationwide, 1 in 5 residents has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness — conditions few of the facilities are equipped to handle.

By @egawthrop.bsky.social: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

‘We did not want to take this guy’: Abuse rates higher at nursing homes with more mental illness

Nursing homes are designed to care for patients with physical infirmities. But nationwide, 1 in 5 residents has been diagnosed with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia or psychosis — condi...

Success for All gets kids reading. Why don’t more schools use it?

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Jul 24

The school reform program Success for All, first developed in the 1980s, has been declining in popularity for the past two decades — even though a mountain of research shows it gets great results, especially when it comes to elementary reading skills.

Read why: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

The school reform program, first developed in the 1980s, has been declining in popularity for the past two decades — even though a mountain of research shows it gets great results, especially when it ...

After quitting antidepressants, some people suffer surprising, lingering symptoms

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Jul 16

Here's @katereports.bsky.social on the impact of her reporting on Illinois hospitals.

Full story: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

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APM Reports @apmreports.org · Jul 9

Some people say antidepressants left them with debilitating symptoms for years — even decades — after going off the medications. Their ranks are growing online as they push for recognition and research. www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...

Some people say antidepressants left them with debilitating symptoms for years — even decades — after going off the medications. Their ranks are growing online as they push for recognition and researc...