Features

• Reformer in Power
• By: Alan Greenblatt

• People said Joe Hackney was too squeaky clean to run the North Carolina House. Then a scandal gave him his chance. He's made the most of it.

• Issues to Watch
• By: Josh Goodman

• Ten topics that will shape debate in state legislatures in 2009

• Death and Life in the Pressroom
• By: Rob Gurwitt

• Newspapers have lost interest in covering legislatures. Can Web sites replace them? We don't know yet.

• The Fix-IT Man
• By: Ellen Perlman

• Colorado's 30-year-old deputy CIO is the point man in the state's effort to consolidate information technology.

• Second Spin
• By: Will Wilson

• Who will replace all those retiring baby boomers? How about more boomers.

• One Crowded Capital
• By: Christopher Swope

• Who will replace all those retiring baby boomers? How about more boomers.

Up Front

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• By: Christopher Swope

• Obama and the States
• By: Peter Harkness
• President Bush promised governors a close relationship and didn't deliver. Can states trust the reassuring words of his successor?

The Business of Government

• The Texas Ten-Step
• By: Ellen Perlman
• When a state tries to merge data centers from all its agencies, it's in for a bumpy ride -- and a very long one.

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• By: Ellen Perlman

• Revenue Revisions
• By: John E. Petersen
• States and localities should use the current fiscal trauma to adjust and amend the ways they raise money.

• The Lure of the Layoff
• By: Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene
• There are plenty of costly mistakes to make when you try to balance a budget through personnel freezes, cuts or early retirements.

Training Opportunities

• Health Care Reform After the Decision
• In this Mercer Report, you’ll learn how different organizations plan to tackle the new requirements of ACA and discover where most employer concerns are focused, who expects to be hardest hit, and how different health plans and Medicaid may impact overall costs.
• Crime Prediction and Prevention


• Accelerating Economic Growth and Vitality