On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Harkin, the retiring chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, released a new 1,150-page bill to update No Child Left Behind Act.
Source: Sedgwick County Post | Kansas |
June 5, 2013
Gov. Sam Brownback signed legislation Friday to restrict the use of state tax dollars to promote or oppose gun control policies, a measure championed by gun-rights supporters but seen by critics as endangering free-speech rights.
Source: Hartford Courant | Connecticut |
June 5, 2013
The state Senate and House, after short debates, voted overwhelmingly early Wednesday to approve a bill blocking public disclosure of photos of homicide victims and some other records in reaction to the Newtown school massacre.
Transportation stakeholders have become increasingly vocal in recent years over the disconnect between the president's lofty rhetoric about the need to invest and his lack of serious policy proposals on the matter.
Bridges localities own are more than twice as likely to be considered structurally deficient as those on state roads. View detailed bridge inspection data for your state.
Despite the still uncertain long-term fate of the wind energy tax credit, the industry has plans to develop more turbines in states like Iowa and Nebraska.
Stronger-than-expected tax collections have left the state with an extra $300 million which the state will use to fully replenish its reserves and pay down money it still owes local school districts.
EMTs and paramedics are governed by a haphazard patchwork of rules that vary widely by city and state and in tough economic times, emergency services often are on the chopping block.
Source: Los Angeles Times | California |
June 4, 2013
Monday's ruling protected California's right to collect DNA during arrests, but civil libertarians said they would continue to challenge the California program as overly broad. Challenges of the California program are pending in the California Supreme Court and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Fitch Ratings further lowered Illinois' worst-in-the-nation credit rating following lawmakers' inability to agree on money-saving reforms to the public employee pension system.
Nationally, six straight years of revenue declines have put enormous pressure on state and local governments, nevertheless, some are thriving. Standard & Poor's, the credit-rating agency, reports that it issued more bond upgrades than downgrades in 2012.
The Medicaid expansion and the Affordable Care Act are in full swing. With the influx of people who will be applying for benefits and the ACA requirement for online enrollment, it is more important than ever to verify the identities of those accessing benefits up front.