“Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) and GOP members of the Oklahoma Legislature want to prevent the State Health Department from issuing gender neutral birth certificates after the agency issued this month the state’s first nonbinary birth marker,” the Oklahoman reports.

Said Stitt: “I believe that people are created by God to be male or female. Period. There is no such thing as non-binary sex.”

Meanwhile, Insider reports Oklahoma State Rep. Mauree Turner (D), who is nonbinary, said it was difficult to work with people who “adamantly oppose your existence” after the Stitt made his comments.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) “called for a special legislative session to block the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates, taking the most aggressive action yet in his ongoing fight with the White House over Covid restrictions,” Politico reports.

“Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo (D) wants a new investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women, including state employees,” Bloomberg reports.

“As the rest of the U.S. begins to refer to the second ‘summer surge’ of the coronavirus pandemic in the past tense, Montana has for weeks stood out as one of the nation’s hotspots, with no sign of a slowdown as statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations set a new record this week,” the Billings Gazette reports.

“Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) defended his administration’s policies toward the pandemic, which have included signing into law the nation’s only prohibition on private businesses requiring vaccines in the workplace, and several measures that limited the power of local health departments to implement measures to curb the virus’ spread.”

The Nevada Independent reports that 9 of 16 Republican state Assembly members have either announced or are mulling not returning running for re-election.

The new Texas abortion law has essentially made it impossible for many teenage girls to terminate a pregnancy, the AP reports.

That’s because children under 18 have to get permission from a judge to get an abortion without parental consent, but the new six-week timeline is usually too short for someone to go through that court process in time.

The Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would bar transgender students from playing on school sports teams based on their gender identity, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reports.

Alaska state Sen. Lora Reinbold (R), who was banned from flying on Alaska Airlines for refusing to wear a mask, and therefore unable to travel to and from the state capital, has now tested positive for the coronavirus, the Washington Post reports.

Said Reinbold, in a Facebook post: “It’s my turn to battle Covid head on… game on! Who do you think is going to win? When I defeat it, I will tell you my recipe.”

Anchorage Daily News: “Reached by text message, Reinbold said she is resting and improving quickly using a variety of products, including vitamins, a Vicks steamer and the antiparasitic medication ivermectin.”

“A county in southern Oregon says it is so overwhelmed by an increase in the number and size of illegal marijuana farms that it declared a state of emergency Wednesday, appealing to the governor and the Legislature’s leaders for help,” the Seattle Times reports.

About 10 weeks after former Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards (D) died, his widow had him dug up from a Baton Rouge cemetery so she could have him cremated, the Baton Rouge Advocate reports.

“The glaring errors became clear soon after a former Wisconsin judge issued subpoenas earlier this month in a Republican review of the state’s 2020 presidential election. Some of the requests referred to the wrong city. At least one was sent to an official who doesn’t oversee elections. A Latin phrase included in the demands for records and testimony was misspelled,” the Washington Post reports.

“Michael Gableman, the former judge leading the review, admitted days later that he does not have ‘a comprehensive understanding or even any understanding of how elections work.’ He then backed off some of his subpoena demands before reversing course again, telling a local radio host that officials would still be required to testify.”

“The latest round of reversals and blunders is intensifying calls to end the probe.”

Michigan state Rep. Daire Rendon (R) wore a button to an election “audit” rally “that featured an American flag with a gold ‘Q’ on it, a letter that has become a symbol for a right-wing conspiracy theory movement,” the Detroit News reports.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued an executive order on Monday banning “any entity” in the state from enforcing a Covid-19 vaccine mandate, CBS News reports.

“California became the first state in the nation Saturday to adopt a law requiring large retail stores to provide gender neutral toy sections under a bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

“California became the first state to make stealthing, the act of removing a condom without consent during intercourse, illegal after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law on Thursday,” the New York Times reports.

“The bill amends the state’s civil definition of sexual battery, making stealthing a civil offense and giving victims the grounds to sue their assailants for damages.”