Politico: “Florida abortion rights advocates, who have seen access to the procedure erode in the state and nationally in recent years, reached a major milestone that could shape abortion access throughout the south. Groups seeking a constitutional amendment protecting abortion on Friday secured enough state-certified signatures by the Feb. 1 deadline to put a referendum on the…

TX Tribune: “The Southern Baptist Convention and others have reached a confidential settlement in a high-profile lawsuit that accused a former leader of sexual assault, ending a six-year legal drama that helped prompt a broader reckoning over child sexual abuse in evangelical churches, expanded victims’ rights in Texas and showed that a prominent conservative activist…

The Austin Chronicle: “Wednesday, Texas’ 3rd Court of Appeals denied Attorney General Ken Paxton’s request for a stay of a Travis County judge’s ruling ordering depositions in the ongoing whistleblower lawsuit that led to his impeachment earlier this year. The judge is seeking Paxton and his staff to appear for depositions; Paxton must now respond by Jan. 3. The whistleblowers’ 2020 lawsuit…

Lexington Herald Leader: “Like many states across the country, Kentucky has enacted laws restricting abortion access and gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. Both over the past year have brought lawsuits by Kentuckians who call them unconstitutional. … Since the trigger law and six-week ban took effect last summer, abortion has remained illegal. Health care…

The New Republic: “Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is an increasingly rare phenomenon: a Democrat able to win a deep-red state not once but twice. Beshear’s November reelection victory over Republican Daniel Cameron has raised his profile, leaving political observers to wonder whether a Democrat who won a statewide race in Kentucky—which supported Trump by a…

Political Wire: “A federal judge upheld Georgia’s new political districts that preserve Republican power, ruling Thursday that state legislators ‘fully complied’ with his order to create more districts with a majority of Black voters,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. “The decision leaves in place political maps safeguarding the Republican Party’s 9-5 advantage in Georgia’s U.S. House delegation…

Political Wire: “Nikki Haley declined to say that slavery was a cause of the Civil War on Wednesday evening, placing the blame, instead, on the role of government,” Politico reports. “The former UN Ambassador and South Carolina governor, who has seen her star rise in the first-in-the-nation primary state, was appearing at a town hall event in…

Democracy Now!: “The Senate on Tuesday confirmed nearly a dozen nominations for senior military positions, putting an end to Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s blockade of Pentagon promotions. Tuberville had unsuccessfully sought to force a change on the military’s policy of paying for abortion-related travel for employees.”

Political Wire: “Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) is still running for president, despite not qualifying for the last few debates, Politico reports. “His candidacy is testing the limits of just how long a dignified, accomplished conservative — the kind who brought a southern state’s Republican Party into relevance — can withstand rejection from his own party’s…

NY Times: “But the Tennessee legislature proved more hostile than the Covenant parents imagined. And when Ms. Joyce heard just one more gun rights supporter dismiss the parents’ concerns after days of restraint, her patience snapped. The shooter at Covenant “hunted our children with a high-capacity rifle,” Ms. Joyce cried out, her voice cracking, as…