By Amanda Watford, Stateline.org

When Yraida Faneite was on trial for drug-related charges, the judge had to halt proceedings at one point because her period was so heavy that blood was running down her legs.

The same struggle followed her into a federal prison in Florida after she was convicted. For about a decade, officials allowed her only a small ration of menstrual products, and she couldn’t afford extra pads from the commissary. She bartered with other women. On her worst days, she tore up her own T-shirts and used them as makeshift pads.

When she told officers she needed to see a doctor and couldn’t safely continue a mandatory kitchen shift, she said, she was placed in solitary confinement. She eventually found out that her heavy bleeding was caused by cysts.

“I didn’t have enough napkins to use during my period. … No matter what you say, they don’t care,” recalled Faneite, who was released from prison in 2006 and went on to found the prison reentry nonprofit YG Institute.

Her experience echoes what researchers, advocates and formerly incarcerated people describe across prisons and jails nationwide: Even where menstrual products are available, limited supplies, low-quality products, strict disciplinary rules and delays in medical care can result in incarcerated people facing potentially avoidable health issues or disciplinary write-ups.

Access to menstrual products also has been a persistent issue in immigration detention centers, with recent reports and lawsuits alleging that women in some facilities have been unable to obtain or outright denied feminine hygiene products despite federal standards and law requiring sufficient and timely access.

A new report from the Prison Policy Initiative, a research and advocacy organization, says that menstruation is still regularly treated as a disciplinary matter — through contraband rules, work violations and sanitation write-ups — even in prisons and jails that provide free products.

These disciplinary actions can affect everything from parole eligibility to access to programming and services.

Women make up a growing share of the state prison population, which rose about 5% nationwide from 2022 to 2023, according to the latest data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In recent years, more states have begun taking steps to improve access to menstrual products in jails and prisons, and to address the overall conditions that shape incarcerated women’s experiences.

The Ohio legislature last month passed legislation to strengthen access to period products for incarcerated people in jails and prisons. The bill is awaiting the governor’s signature. And Wisconsin lawmakers introduced a bill on the issue this month.

At least 24 states and Washington, D.C., require that people in state prisons or local jails have free access to menstrual products, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Federal correctional facilities have provided free products since 2017.

More than a dozen states have passed versions of the Dignity of Incarcerated Women Act, which includes provisions to improve basic conditions, such as access to and the quality of period products and pregnancy care.

Still, in most of the country, access depends on a patchwork of laws and corrections department policies. Nearly every state has a rule on the books about providing menstrual products, but the specifics, implementation and enforcement vary widely. Advocates say that leaves many incarcerated people without the consistent access they need.

“In the system that we have where there’s very little oversight, accountability, transparency, you have no easy way of enforcement,” said Miriam Vishniac, the founder and director of the Prison Flow Project, a database tracking access to menstrual products in U.S. jails and prisons.

In Alabama, the state Department of Corrections says it provides menstrual products — pads and tampons — free of charge. People can choose a monthly allotment of 30 pads, 30 tampons or a mix of both. Housing unit staff keep small supplemental supplies on hand and can issue additional products as needed, according to Rand Champion, the agency’s chief of communications.

In Colorado, corrections officials said staff are prohibited from using access to menstrual products as a behavior-management tool, and facilities are required to keep products stocked and available regardless of an individual’s financial status.

Maryland’s policy requires correctional facilities to provide menstrual products at no cost during admission or transfer, on a monthly basis and upon request. The state says it offers tampons, winged pads, and both light- and heavy-flow pads. The products must be provided in quantities appropriate to each person’s health needs. Corrections officials told Stateline there have been no recent challenges with implementation.

In the months after a Maryland law requiring correctional facilities to provide free menstrual products and maintain a sufficient supply took effect in 2018, advocates said women at the Correctional Institution for Women were still paying for tampons and relying on flimsy pads handed out each month. State officials acknowledged the policy was not being implemented consistently systemwide.

Rules and restrictions

The new report from the Prison Policy Initiative outlines several ways that prison and jail rules can indirectly penalize people who menstruate.

Some facilities classify having more pads or tampons than the allowed number as contraband, which can lead to confiscation or formal disciplinary actions. Rules on property and hygiene mean that leaking through uniforms or bedding may be treated as a violation.

Asking for additional menstrual products can sometimes be interpreted as abusing medical rules or “feigning illness.” And trading or sharing products with other incarcerated people may also be prohibited under unauthorized exchange rules, the report said.

“It’s just another reminder that they have no autonomy over themselves, over their bodies, over their lives,” said Alycia Welch, the associate director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.

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Access is further complicated by shower schedules and clothing allocations, which can make it difficult to change products regularly. Items available for purchase at the commissary — including pads, tampons and pain relief — are often costly.

Transgender men, nonbinary people and older women who menstruate or experience irregular cycles may face additional scrutiny or confusion from staff when requesting menstrual products, creating further barriers, according to prison policy experts.

Disciplinary actions can include fines, loss of commissary privileges, restrictions on phone or visitation access or placement in segregation units.

Many advocates and formerly incarcerated people say that even in facilities that provide free menstrual products, the supplies are often of poor quality, with thin pads and low-absorbency tampons.

“We can’t just stop at creating these rules that mandate that people have access to these products,” Vishniac, of the Prison Flow Project, said. “There needs to be some kind of way of ensuring that it’s actually happening.”

Strengthening access in Ohio

The bill Ohio lawmakers unanimously passed would require that all incarcerated women in state or local correctional facilities have free access to feminine hygiene products. It also would mandate that facilities allow incarcerated women to shower once per day while menstruating.

The bill also would require safe, designated disposal containers for used menstrual products and prohibit denial of products based on race, sex, income, charge, disability or other protected traits and identities.

In 2022, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction adopted a new policy requiring state prisons (but not jails) to provide free menstrual products; advocates, however, say there’s no mechanism to hold staff or facilities accountable.

While the bill does not lay out an explicit oversight mechanism, its language would give incarcerated women a clear legal standard they can reference if access is denied, said Kayelin Tiggs, an advocate who helped author the bill’s language. Tiggs created the Ohio Coalition for Menstrual Equity.

“The fact that we were able to pass it here with that anti-discrimination language is a good sign,” Tiggs said. “I feel like we could take this nationally.”

Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Minnesota Frost won the PWHL’s first two Walter Cups as champions of the the nascent league that has drawn the best women’s hockey players in the world. So, it’s no surprise the 2026 Olympic team is full of its players.

Six Frost players, including five of the team’s nine forwards, will play for the U.S. including Minnesotans Taylor Heise, Kelly Pannek and Grace Zumwinkle. They’re joined by Frost forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield and Britta Curl-Salemme, and blue liner Lee Stecklein.

Gophers graduate student Abbey Murphy also made the U.S. team, and senior defender Nelli Laitinen will represent Finland in the Olympics for the second time.

This is the first Olympics appearance for Heise, the former Gophers star who won the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as a senior and was named the top forward of the 2022 IIHF World Championships after leading all players with 18 points.

In all, there are 16 PWHL players representing five of the league’s eight teams representing the U.S. The Olympics are scheduled to run Feb. 6-22 in Milan and Cortina, Italy, during which the PWHL will take a hiatus.

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By MARGARET GILES of Morningstar

529 education savings plans are powerful tools to help pay for the mounting costs of an education. Yet some people hesitate to use them.

One common concern is oversaving. You can only use 529 funds can only cover qualified education expenses without incurring a tax penalty, but it can be hard to pinpoint how much money you actually need.

Many parents open 529s for their children at birth, when there’s no way to know whether their kids will earn a scholarship or go to college at all. Fortunately, parents with multiple children can change the beneficiary of a 529 plan.

But what do you do if you still have money left over after covering education expenses?

Thanks to Secure 2.0 Act, you can now roll over unused 529 fund to a Roth IRA. But the 529 rollover isn’t a loophole to save extra for retirement; rules limit the conversions.

Here’s what you should consider when converting 529 funds to a Roth IRA.

What are the rules for converting a 529 plan to a Roth IRA?

The Roth IRA receiving the funds must be in the name of the 529 plan beneficiary.

The 529 plan must be open for at least 15 years.

You cannot convert 529 contributions made within the past five years (or the earnings on those contributions).

The 529 funds you roll over count toward your IRA annual contribution limit.

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You can move a maximum of $35,000 from a 529 plan to a Roth IRA during your lifetime.

529 funds must be converted by paying the amount directly to a Roth IRA—you can’t pay yourself and then deposit the money into the Roth IRA later.

You can contribute to a Roth IRA only if you have earnings from a job, so the 529 beneficiary must have eligible earnings when the 529-to-IRA conversions occur.

Roth IRA income limits do not apply to 529 rollovers.

While avoiding the Roth IRA income limits is a retirement-saving perk for those with higher income, the remaining rules around rolling over excess 529 funds are designed to ensure that people use 529 plans for education as intended. The annual contribution limits and the lifetime cap on conversions mean that you can’t double up on your retirement funding.

So, what’s the bottom line?

The ability to convert unused 529 funds to a Roth IRA can ease potential concerns about oversaving for education. Still, don’t count on your 529 as a means to save for retirement. Instead, consider funding your Roth IRA separately.

529 rollovers into ABLE accounts

Families with a child with disabilities can roll their 529 account over into an ABLE account, a tax-favored way to save for the needs of a person with a disability while maintaining eligibility for government assistance. It uses the same legal framework as 529 plans, and it works similarly. Contributions are made with aftertax dollars to a plan with a set menu of investment choices. Earnings compound tax-free, and withdrawals to pay for qualified expenses are tax-free, too.

You can transfer funds from a 529 plan to an ABLE account, up to the ABLE annual contribution limit of $19,000, without incurring tax penalties. The ABLE account must have the same designated beneficiary as the 529.

ABLE account eligibility is limited to individuals with significant disabilities, the onset of which occurred before they turned 46. ABLE accounts have a broader set of qualified expenses including education, housing, health care, employment training and support, and legal fees.

Individuals’ needs and circumstances change throughout their lifetimes, often in ways we can’t anticipate. The ABLE account rollover provides families with additional flexibility if a 529 account beneficiary is diagnosed with a disability or becomes disabled because of accident or injury.

This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.

Margaret Giles is a senior editor of content development for Morningstar.

By JAMEY KEATEN, STEFANIE DAZIO and JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) — Swiss investigators believe sparkling flares atop Champagne bottles started a fire in a bar at an Alpine ski resort that left 40 people dead and another 119 injured during a New Year’s celebration.

Most injuries, many of them serious, occurred when the blaze swept through the crowded bar in southwestern Switzerland in the early hours of Thursday.

The Crans-Montana resort is best known as an international ski and golf venue. Overnight, the Le Constellation bar morphed from a scene of revelry into the site of one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies.

The interior building where a fire broke out leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Police Cantonale Valaisanne via AP)

Here’s what we know:

A frantic attempt to escape

The blaze broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday during a holiday celebration inside the Le Constellation bar.

Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female colleague on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

Police officers inspect the area where a fire broke out at the Le Constellation bar and lounge leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone via AP)

People tried to escape from a nightclub area in the basement, up a flight of stairs and through a narrow door, causing a crowd surge, one of the women said.

A young man at the scene said people smashed windows to escape the fire, reported BFMTV. He said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames.

Gianni Campolo, a Swiss 19-year-old who was in Crans-Montana on vacation, rushed to help first responders after receiving a call from a friend who escaped the inferno. He described a scene of people trapped on the ground, severely injured and burned.

“I have seen horror and I don’t know what else would be worse than this,” Campolo told TF1.

Blaze triggered flashover

Swiss officials described the blaze as a likely flashover, meaning that it triggered the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently.

The injured suffered from serious burns and smoke inhalation. Some were flown to specialist hospitals across the country.

Authorities urged people to show caution in the coming days to avoid any incidents that could require the already overwhelmed medical resources.

Italian and French nationals among the missing

The severity of the burns has made it very difficult to identify bodies, bringing fresh agony for families who now must hand over DNA samples to authorities. In some cases, wallets and any ID documents inside turned to ash in the flames.

Rescuers in the area where a fire broke out leaving people dead and injured, during New Year’s celebration, in Crans-Montana, Swiss Alps, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Police Cantonale Valaisanne via AP)

Emanuele Galeppini, a promising 17-year-old Italian golfer who competed internationally, is officially listed as one of Italy’s missing nationals. His uncle Sebastiano Galeppini told Italian news agency ANSA that their family is awaiting the DNA checks, though the Italian Golf Federation on its website announced that he had died.

Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said that 13 Italian citizens were injured and six remained missing by midday Friday. Galeppini’s name was on the missing persons list.

France’s foreign ministry said eight French people are missing and another nine are among the injured. Top-flight French soccer team FC Metz said one of its trainee players, 19-year-old Tahirys Dos Santos, was badly burned and has been transferred by plane to Germany for treatment.

On Instagram, an account filled up with photos of people who remained unaccounted for, with their friends and relatives begging for tips about the whereabouts of the missing.

The injured include 71 Swiss nationals, 14 French and 11 Italians, along with citizens of Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Belgium, Portugal and Poland, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said Friday. The nationalities of 14 people remain unclear.

Nearby hospital quickly reached capacity

The nearby regional hospital in Sion took in a flood of victims from the fire. Its general director, Eric Bonvin, recounted how staff scrambled to determine the extent of people’s injuries.

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The hospital — in the heart of the Alps and no stranger to winter sports accidents — was well staffed for the end of the year, when crowds flock to the mountains. On top of that, many colleagues who had not been scheduled to work rushed in to lend a hand.

Still the hospital, which is about 6 miles from the resort by air, quickly hit full capacity, authorities said, taking in about 80 seriously injured people in just three hours.

As of Friday, the hospital still had about 30 seriously injured patients in its care.

A top venue for the world’s best athletes

With high-altitude ski runs rising nearly 9,850 feet in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit.

The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan Cortina Olympics in February.

The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club, down the street from the bar, stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Sion, Switzerland. Geir Moulson in Berlin, Graham Dunbar in Geneva and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.