Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate
ReporterTess Vrbin is a reporter for the nonprofit news organization Arkansas Advocate. She previously worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette where she reported on low-income housing and tenants' rights, and won awards for her coverage of 2021 flooding and tornado damage in rural Arkansas. She previously covered local government for The Commercial Dispatch in Mississippi and state government for the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri. A Midwesterner by birth, she graduated from the University of Missouri's journalism school in 2019.
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit supported by grants and a coalition of donors and readers. The Advocate retains full editorial independence.
Email: tvrbin@arkansasadvocate.com
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Federal Medicaid cuts and uncertain future of Medicaid expansion put labor and delivery services in rural Arkansas even more at risk, advocates warn -
The state needs time to create and implement a new program in place of ARHOME, DHS Secretary Janet Mann wrote to federal officials -
Petitioners cite a 2025 law that says the secretary of state cannot determine signatures are insufficient because of a “failure of form” -
As of July 1, there were 2,268 Arkansans waiting for supportive living services to be covered by Medicaid under the state’s managed care system -
Arkansas was first Southern state to expand Medicaid under Obamacare -
Three of the defendant drug companies faced a previous lawsuit alleging they conspired with drug middlemen to raise insulin prices -
Both platforms issued statements disputing the lawsuit’s allegations -
The Arkansas Advocate's Tess Vrbin spoke to Little Rock Public Radio about the new rules proposed by the state board. -
Families look at states with laws protecting gender-affirming medical care after Arkansas ban reinstated -
Advocates urge state policy changes that focus on child health and education in the face of federal cuts to benefit programs
