• We’re just completely opening up the whole state to alcohol -- every family, every home, every block.
• Source: Stateline   |   Alabama   |   May 21, 2013
• Alabama state Rep. Arthur Payne, during a lengthy debate over a bill that made it the 49th state to allow residents to brew beer in their homes. Mississippi legalized home brewing shortly after.

• I've seen Third World countries with parks better than this.
• Source: Governing   |   Miami   |   May 20, 2013
• A Miami resident said referring to a new "park," which consists of a couple of springy playground rides and some patches of poorly sodded grass, that was redefined as such to force sex offenders to move out of the area.

• It’s getting almost to the point that you need a government permit in order to die in this state.
• Source: Governing   |   Oklahoma   |   May 17, 2013
• University of Tulsa law professor Marguerite Chapman, on new end-of-life care legislation in Oklahoma that says patients who are disabled, elderly or terminally ill cannot be denied life-preserving treatments if they or their health proxies want it.

• This recommendation criminalizes behavior that is completely responsible.
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 16, 2013
• American Beverage Institute Managing Director Sarah Longwell, on why the organization opposes the National Transportation Safety Board's new recommendation to lower the legal limit for drunk driving .08 to 0.05 percent.

• They are a cancer on the otherwise healthy right-to-know law.
• Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer   |   Pennsylvania   |   May 15, 2013
• Executive Director Terry Mutchler of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records, telling a Senate committee that charter schools in the state routinely ignore public records requests despite receiving $1 billion in public funds each year.

• I am sure that there are people in this caucus who would have a hard time voting for both [gay marriage and gun control].
• Source: The Minneapolis Star-Tribune   |   May 14, 2013
• Minnesota state representative Michael Paymar, explaining how shelving his controversial gun-control bill may have made it easier for rural area Democrats in the legislature to vote for a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Yesterday the senate passed same-sex marriage and Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill into law today.

• Just as we see the states as a laboratory for democracy, we think the developing nations are a laboratory for the future of health-care systems.
• Source: Governing   |   May 13, 2013
• Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, talking about the future of the health-care industry in America. His company is testing new health-care models in China because there are fewer economic and political barriers to reform efforts.

• The expectation that public life occurs in front of the council dais is a dying concept.
• Source: Governing   |   May 10, 2013
• Anne Ambrose, director of public safety and community relations for Palmdale, Calif., talking about the importance of government engaging citizens in new ways. Read more about how Generation X is helping to make that happen.

• We shouldn’t be profiting from our students who are drowning in debt while we’re giving great deals to big banks.
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 9, 2013
• U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who's proposed a bill that would provide relief to college students by allowing them to borrow at interest rates equivalent to those the Federal Reserve offers to big banks.
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• A terrorist, someone who’s mentally ill, a spousal abuser, a felon can essentially open a gun factory in their garage.
• Source: The New York Observer   |   Nation   |   May 8, 2013
• New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, explaining why he proposed the Undetectable Firearms Modernization Act, which would ban 3-D printed guns. Last week, the first fully functional handgun was created using 3-D printing.

• Jail food may get a bad rap ... but jail employee food is off the chain.
• Source: The Washington Post   |   Nation   |   May 7, 2013
• A quote from a Yelp review of a prison. Lawyers, inmates and their family members have turned to the site to report mediocre food and allegations of serious abuse.

• I did not file this bill so that concealed handgun license [holders] can be heroes.
• Source: Texas Tribune   |   Texas   |   May 6, 2013
• Texas state Rep. Allen Fletcher, defending a bill he introduced in the legislature to allow colleges and universities to let concealed handgun license holders carry weapons on campuses -- something 24 states currently allow.

• School boards are an aberration, an anachronism, an education sinkhole.
• Source: Governing   |   May 3, 2013
• Chester Finn, president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a former assistant education secretary, who's among those pushing to eliminate school boards, which have become increasingly politicized.
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• Bullshit. That’s what that is...Here’s why they’re really concerned: They don’t want their view blocked.
• Source: Newark Star-Ledger   |   New Jersey   |   May 2, 2013
• New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, calling out property owners who are refusing to give the federal government access to their property so that a system of sand dunes can be built to minimize future flooding.

• And what a message to send around the country. What you say to every city is mayors count. Cities count.
• Source: Governing   |   Nation   |   May 1, 2013
• Outgoing Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, praising President Obama's choice of Charlotte, N.C, Mayor Anthony Foxx to succeed him in the post.