Chalkbeat now has a new look — and a public health sister site

Three logos, one blue, red and pink on a white background.
Chalkbeat, Votebeat and Healthbeat logos (Civic News Company)

Welcome to the new Chalkbeat!

If you’re a regular reader, you might notice that things look a little different here today. Nothing about our stories or the functionality of our site is changing, but we have a new look that we hope you enjoy: simple, modern, and with the work you know and love front and center.

Why? It’s always nice to feel fresh at the start of a school year. But more importantly, the change comes as we launch a new sibling site. Meet Healthbeat, which is officially launching today to cover public health.

Healthbeat reporters will be digging into issues that shape our collective well-being, from infectious diseases to air and water quality and food safety. And they will be bringing the Chalkbeat (and Votebeat) model of national and local reporting to bear on public health at a time when it’s badly needed. Healthbeat will start with bureaus in New York City and Atlanta as well as national reporting in partnership with the great folks over at KFF Health News.

I hope you will check them out, starting with editor in chief Charlene Pacenti’s introduction to Healthbeat’s work. You can also sign up for Healthbeat’s newsletters here.

— Sarah Darville, Chalkbeat editor in chief

The Latest

Tennessee isn’t asking where the participants were enrolled before, so it won’t know how many vouchers are going to existing private school students.

Federal officials say California must delete mentions of gender identity and trans people from federally funded sex ed materials that reach about 13,000 students, or else lose $6 million.

The Community College of Aurora is part of a growing trend of colleges and universities giving students microgrants to help with life emergencies.

The Trump administration is withholding nearly $7 billion for education that has been approved by Congress and was supposed to go out starting July 1.

Mamdani’s plan would represent a fundamental shift in school governance at a time when the system faces many pressing issues, from declining enrollment to chronic absenteeism.

Democratic AGs are challenging the Trump administration’s cuts to $1 billion in federal funding for school mental health services created in response to school shootings.