Governors running for president will have some uncomfortable moments in the year ahead.

State and local spending for health care is rising significantly. Medicaid accounts for the bulk of those expenditures, especially as the costs of long-term care continue to rise. But according to a recent study published in Health Affairs policy journal, fallout from Medicare Part D, the federal government's prescription drug program, is also contributing to the increase.

Hospital emergency departments are finding a good reason to charge ahead with electronic medical systems: They save money.

Starting this summer, New York State meetings must be webcast for the public if they fall under the state's open meetings law. As one of his first official actions as governor, Eliot Spitzer signed an executive order requiring state agencies and public authorities to come up with plans to broadcast all such meetings on the Internet.

Some municipal bond underwriters are peddling the idea that public agencies should sell bonds now to "pre-fund" their promised retiree medical-benefit-plan liabilities.