OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A group of Oklahoma medical organizations filed suit Thursday seeking to stop Gov. Kevin Stitt from privatizing much of the state’s Medicaid program.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The board of directors of a city-owned utility in Florida has pulled the plug on a privatization plan, even though the process has cost taxpayers $10 million.

PHOENIX (AP) — A court-appointed expert in a lawsuit challenging the quality of health care in Arizona's prisons says understaffing, inadequate funding and privatization of health care services...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An insurance company that pulled out of the Iowa Medicaid program nearly two years ago still has unpaid bills of as much as $1.4 million owed to Iowa hospitals, nursing...

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A group formed by the legislature to study the feasibility of privatizing foster care says Kentucky should focus on strengthening the system it already has.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Legislators in Honduras have struck down laws that could have privatized some health and education services, after protests left some government offices burned and...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A labor union is suing the Alaska governor's administration to halt the privatization of the state's main psychiatric hospital, officials said.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two Democratic senators have proposed a bill that would return thousands of Iowans living with severe, complex and permanent disabilities back to a state-managed Medicaid program and make other changes to the program privatized three years ago.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina legislature is weighing anew whether changing how liquor sales have been regulated for decades is worth boosting the number of retail outlets selling spirits with what critics call the risks of increased alcohol consumption.

CALUMET PARK, Ill. (AP) — Calumet Park officials have hired a private firm to provide fire and ambulance services to spare a tight budget, in a move the village attorney says could become the norm in Chicago's south suburbs.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa officials running the state's Medicaid program have changed the way hospitals are paid for emergency room care which allows insurance companies to deny or reduce payment for hundreds of symptoms causing hospitals to absorb millions of dollars in unpaid bills.

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Dozens of U.S. postal workers and union members in Reno joined demonstrators nationally in a Columbus Day protest of proposals to privatize U.S. mail delivery.

Leslie Maxwell-Burton was among the Reno protesters who waved signs Monday at the federal building just south of the downtown casino district. She told KOLO-TV she fears privatization would cost her her job.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An outspoken critic of Iowa's Medicaid privatization process says he has been removed as a chairman of a state council that monitors the state's shift to private management of its $5 billion Medicaid program.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's government reached a deal Monday night with a bondholder group to restructure more than a third of the debt owed by its troubled power company as the utility moves toward privatization.

A federal control board overseeing the U.S. territory's finances called it an "important milestone" and promised the deal would not hit Puerto Ricans with rate increases to cover debt service if there was a drop in power usage.

CHESTERTON, Ind. (AP) — A years-long effort to redevelop a historic pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park faces another hurdle after National Park Service officials said "problematic" design changes will require them to conduct another review of the privatization project.

National parks officials said in a July 12 letter that updates to the plans made last August appear to improperly reduce public access throughout the building.

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — A special prosecutor will investigate allegations that a developer moved forward with a construction project at Indiana Dunes State Park without a permit.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Owners of the newly-privatized port of Thessaloniki, in Greece's second-largest city, say they will need to spend an additional 27 million euros ($33.4 million) on unforeseen equipment repairs and upgrades, arguing that facilities were in far worse condition than described by the previous, state-appointed management.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's state privatization agency says it has launched a tender to sell a five percent stake in the country's dominant OTE telecom company.

The agency said Tuesday that investors must submit their offers by March 15.

Under its international bailout agreements, Greece is committed to sell off swathes of state-owned companies and real estate.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder plans to end privatization of prison food service, return to using state workers.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa's shift to privately-managed Medicaid will save the state 80 percent less money this year than originally predicted, according to a new state estimate.

A quarterly report prepared by Iowa Department of Human Services staff members says the state now stands to save $47.1 million this fiscal year by having private companies manage the $4 billion program, the Des Moines Register reported Saturday.

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil auctioned off the rights to develop deep water oilfields on Friday after the eagerly anticipated bidding was nearly called off by a judicial decision.

The auction marks the first time Brazil will give private and foreign companies the chance to operate pre-salt reserves themselves, part of President Michel Temer's push to increase privatization and attract more international investment. Previously, state-run Petrobras needed to have at least a 30 percent stake.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Activists opposed to the privatization of a pavilion at Indiana Dunes State Park want officials to review a developer's renovation plans, arguing they would improperly alter the historic building.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Dunes Action made the joint request in a complaint filed Thursday. It was sent to state and federal historic preservation officials and is just the latest in a long series of attempts to stymie the project.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The head of Kansas' state employees union and a local lawmaker say a push by Gov. Sam Brownback's administration to privatize state office space left employees vulnerable during a shooting this week at a Department of Revenue office in Wichita.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate Beth Harwell says she won't privatize services at Tennessee state parks if she is elected governor.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that Harwell's position is at odds with term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam's longtime pursuit of outsourcing more functions at the parks.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A private company that has bid to rebuild and run the troubled Osawatomie State Hospital is proposing a replacement facility with 210 beds that would cost between $100 million and $175 million, the secretary of the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services said Wednesday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A shooting that killed an off-duty police officer in Kansas City's Westport bar and entertainment district has renewed the push among business owners to privatize stretches of two streets.