Arkansas has been granted $17M by the US Department of Health and Human Services to further improve the health of pregnant women, new mothers, and babies.

Dr. Rachel Levine is the highest ranking, out transgender person ever to serve in the federal government. Her tenure at HHS ran concurrent with an explosion in state legislation targeting transgender people.

Arkansas has been awarded a $17 million grant, the Transforming Maternal Health (TMaH) Model, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid

She's pictured in a conference room at HHS headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Maansi Srivastava for NPR) This story originally appeared on NPR. In 2021, the country had one state with a ban on gender-affirming care for youth on the books — Arkansas.

Last season, Hulbert’s Noah Clark walked into the State Championship Powerlifting Meet for the first time and walked away as a State Champion.