As early as 2026, sexual assault survivors, health care facilities, law enforcement agencies, forensic science laboratories and attorneys’ offices in Kansas will be able to track the status of a sexual assault evidence kit, also known as a rape kit, through an online system. Kansas is among the last states in the country to adopt such a system.
In a historic and bipartisan move, the State of Texas has approved $50 million in state funding for drug development trials for ibogaine, a powerful, naturally occurring medicine showing extraordinary promise as a breakthrough treatment for substance use disorder, trauma-related conditions, and traumatic brain injury. With the passage of House Bill 3717, Texas now leads the country—and the world—in psychedelic research investment.
Currently, it takes 554 days for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to process DNA evidence kits from sexual assaults, leaving 1,369 cases in limbo as victims and investigators wait for results. The new law, now officially signed by Gov. Polis, requires increased oversight of CBI and creates a 60-day turnaround goal per DNA evidence kit, three times faster than the state’s current 180-day guidance. Sexual assault victims will be entitled to updates on their pending evidence kits every 90 days under the new law.
Right-to-repair bills allow consumers to fix broken products and replace missing parts, boosting consumer rights, affordability, and waste reduction. In May, Washington Gov. Ferguson signed two bills, covering consumer electronics, appliances, and wheelchairs. Then, the Oregon and Nevada legislatures passed their own wheelchair bills, while Texas and Connecticut passed consumer electronics measures. 2025 is now already the most productive year ever for Right to Repair.
Though native to California, after 1924, a gray wolf was not documented in California until 2011, when a wolf known as OR-7 famously crossed the state line from Oregon. Since then, wolves have steadily reclaimed a presence in the state. In 2015, wildlife officials documented the first pack in California in nearly 100 years. Now, three new packs have been discovered in a remote region where the Sierra Nevada meets the Cascades.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed SB 219 into law, effectively legalizing psilocybin-assisted therapy for qualifying patients across the state. The new law establishes a tightly regulated framework allowing for the medical use of psilocybin in treating conditions like treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, substance use disorders, and end-of-life anxiety. Under the program, therapy will consist of preparation, guided psilocybin therapy, and follow-up integration sessions. However, for everyone outside the program, possession and use of mushrooms is still a crime.
The Prairie Land Potawatomi Nation has reclaimed land in Illinois that was promised to the tribe’s leader 175 years ago but stolen by the federal government 20 years later. A law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last week transferred Shabbona Lake State Recreation Area, 1,500 acres in north-central Illinois. “We are proud to once again call this land home,” said Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, chairman of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation based in Mayetta, Kansas.
In 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom set a goal for the world’s fifth-largest economy to deploy 6 million heat pump units by 2030. Last week, the California Heat Pump Partnership announced the nation’s first statewide blueprint to achieve the state’s ambitious goals for deploying heat pumps, a critical tech for decarbonizing buildings and improving public health. Looking beyond the 2030 target, the Golden State ultimately needs to deploy an estimated 23 million heat pumps to decarbonize its residential and commercial sectors by 2045.
California has steadily amassed its EV charging network with both public and private charging ports over the last few years. In 2024, California boasted 178,500 total EV ports compared to around 120,000 estimated gas nozzles, according to the California Energy Commission. The number of accessible chargers across California has nearly doubled since 2022. Since August, the last time these figures were publicly updated, the state has recorded roughly 26,000 additional publicly accessible EV chargers.
After 23 days of protests, Indigenous groups and teachers in the Brazilian state of Pará have successfully pressured Governor Helder Barbalho to revoke a controversial education law that favored online learning in remote communities and slashed benefits for teachers. According to Indigenous leaders and the local teachers’ union, the law eliminated the existing education framework, cut teachers’ incomes, including a transportation allowance for teachers to reach remote communities.
