In the winter of 2021, a crushing storm took down Texas’s power grid. Millions of people were plunged into darkness, left without heat or water. More than 150 Texans died, most from hypothermia. Texas is the only state in the United States where the power grid is not under federal oversight....

Under Florida law, domestic violence victims can lose their children if the state thinks they didn’t do enough to prevent the kids from witnessing the abuse. The state calls it “failure to protect.” “I called for help. I wanted out, and I still got punished,” says Lena Hale, who lost custody of...