Tougher lobby laws are being discussed all over the country. A few states have enacted them. Whether they will work remains to be seen.

Unions are playing offense for the first time in quite a while.

During the 1980s, Iowa was one of the earliest states to approve of casino gambling. And it pioneered a new idea for how to control the games: It required that its casinos be water-borne. In Iowa's case, they had to be actual riverboats offering no fewer than 100 excursion tours per year.

The school reform movement learns to ignore bad results.

Not many know how many cybersecurity breaches occur in state and local governments.