Matt Oster

Author Articles

State Strategies to Address Opioid Abuse

By
Matt Oster
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Friday, August 17, 2018 at 11:12 AM

The opioid crisis has devastated families and communities across the nation. As a result, the federal government has begun drafting potential policy solutions that could help mitigate the effects of widespread opioid use. While Congress debates their options, they would do well to look to the states for guidance on the matter.

Several states have adopted innovative strategies that have allowed them to expand access to medication-assisted treatment, or MAT. MAT combines Food and Drug Administration-approved medication—...

State Outlooks on Public School Takeovers

By
Matt Oster
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Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 09:08 AM

When public schools fail to achieve minimum requirements on educational targets for long periods of time, policymakers are often called into action. Several states have proposed amendments to their state’s constitution allowing the state to step in and oversee underperforming schools and districts. While this step seems logical, the results have not reinforced the notion that state takeovers are the best possible solution.

New Jersey became the first state to take control of a school district in 1989. Currently, there are...

Cybersecurity Strategies Across States

By
Matt Oster
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Thursday, June 14, 2018 at 09:01 AM

Cybersecurity has become a central issue for many state officials across the nation. In the past six months, Colorado, Connecticut and North Carolina have all been victims of cybercrime. In today’s world, where so many aspects of daily life depend on data sharing devices that communicate via the internet, state officials are trying to mitigate the damage that can be done by hackers. There is little uniformity among state cybersecurity strategies. However, three states have positioned themselves as...

Western States Look to Combat Homelessness Trend

By
Matt Oster
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Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 01:25 PM

For the first time since the Great Recession, the population of American citizens experiencing homelessness has increased.[1] Extreme levels of poverty, coupled with the steadily rising cost of housing in major cities, has made finding and maintaining housing for some virtually impossible. Homelessness in America is more prevalent among the youth population with an estimated number of at least 700,000 youth age 13-17 and 3.5 million kids aged 18-25...

Grow Your Own Doctors | California’s Attempt to Extend Healthcare Access

By
Matt Oster
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Tuesday, April 3, 2018 at 12:25 PM

Riverside County, California has some of the lowest per capita rates of primary care physicians in the country. For every 100,000 people there are only 34 primary physicians[1]. The shortage of care providers has forced many rural residents to travel to receive medical treatment or forego treatment all together because of the inconvenience.

To address this issue and extend medical care services into these underserved regions, the University of California at...

New Reports Give Insight on Best States for Child Well-Being

By
Matt Oster
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Wednesday, February 28, 2018 at 10:24 AM

Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont each appear in the top five in two recent publications by Wallethub and KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Much can be learned from the select group of states highly ranked in both reports about providing children with the highest quality of life possible.

Organizations have routinely tried to...

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