Stateline

Recent Articles

• Early Voting in Ohio Reinstated
• Oct 9, 2012
• Ohio counties can keep polls open for early voting the three days before Election Day, a federal appeals court ruled, handing Democrats another victory in their battle to undo new restrictions on voting passed by Republican-led state legislatures.

• Affirmative Action on Trial in U.S. Supreme Court
• Oct 8, 2012
• The outcome could spell the end to affirmative action programs across the country that provide some advantage to applicants from underrepresented minorities.
• 3 Comments

• States Struggle to Pay Unemployment Trust Fund Debt
• Oct 8, 2012
• The more than $26 billion in lingering debt has gained little notice, but forced states to scale back unemployment benefits, raise taxes, tap general funds and even turn to the private bond market.

• States Defend Counterterrorism 'Fusion Centers' After Harsh Senate Report
• Oct 5, 2012
• State homeland security leaders and the local law enforcement community are disputing a Senate subcommittee’s charges that a network of 77 anti-terrorism centers, set up after 9/11 to share information, has “not produced useful intelligence to support federal counterterrorism efforts.”
• 2 Comments

• Arizona Conservatives Face Triple Threat in November
• Sep 27, 2012
• New legislative district maps are expected to help Democrats pick up seats; Arizona is voting on a ballot initiative to install a top-two primary system intended to help elect more moderates; and even if conservatives remain in charge, another ballot initiative could force the legislature to spend more on education than it otherwise would.

• New Health-Care Initiative Has an Unlikely Partner
• Sep 25, 2012
• Arkansas Gov. Beebe's plan sounds like other cost-saving alternatives to fee-for-service, but there's one big difference: It teams private insurers with Medicaid.

• Christie Vetoes Anti-Fracking Bill in New Jersey
• Sep 24, 2012
• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have banned the disposal of hydraulic fracturing waste in New Jersey.

• Right-to-Die Debate Comes to Massachusetts
• Sep 12, 2012
• Whether voters make it the third state to approve physician-assisted suicide could have national implications.
• 1 Comments

• Puerto Rico Gets Romney's OK to Become 51st State
• Aug 30, 2012
• Luis Fortuno, the island commonwealth’s Republican governor, said Mitt Romney assured him of his support for Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state.

• Performance Pay Comes to College Campuses
• Aug 27, 2012
• While it’s unclear how many public universities use a similar system, a survey this year by executive compensation consultants Yaffe & Company suggests that just over one-third of presidents at private universities have some of their pay tied to performance.
• 1 Comments

• ACT Shows 60% of High School Seniors Not College-ready
• Aug 22, 2012
• Only one in four high school seniors met college readiness benchmarks in English, reading, math and science this year.
• 1 Comments

• Calif. Climate Change Website Challenges Skeptics
• Aug 15, 2012
• As conservative legislators in some states are fighting efforts to address climate change, California Gov. Jerry Brown has unveiled a new website that attacks skeptics head-on.
• 4 Comments

• Fracking, Farmers and Scarce Water Supplies
• Aug 10, 2012
• As drought plagues more than half of the nation, concerns about hydraulic fracturing's effect on available water are increasing.
• 7 Comments

• Report: Juvenile Justice Reforms Emphasize Rehabilitation
• Aug 10, 2012
• For a variety of reasons, including cutting costs, state legislatures are moving away from the punishment-focused policies for young offenders and moving towards rehabilitation, according to a report by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

• NRC Freezes Licensing for Nuclear Plants
• Aug 8, 2012
• The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t approve licenses for new or existing nuclear power plants until it figures out what to do with hazardous waste that's been piling up at storage sites across the country.