Gov. Mark Sanford used his own cash and connections to pay for secret trips to see his Argentine mistress, according to a State Law Enforcement Division review of travel records. The review found no criminal wrongdoing or evidence to suggest that the governor misused public funds, SLED Director Reggie Lloyd said.

Gov. Charlie Crist ran afoul of the state constitution when he refused to fill an appeals-court seat because all of the potential picks submitted to him were white, the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously. The court said Crist must make the selection from the list of six names that he was given by the judicial nominating commission.

State and local-government police and firefighter unions filed twin class-action lawsuits against the state, arguing that a new law designed to curb pension abuse illegally strips them of benefits guaranteed by the state constitution and federal law. Public-safety employees have been rushing to retire before the new rules took effect.

Gov. Mark Sanford left the governor’s mansion without a security escort 38 times in 2008 and 39 times in the first six months of this year, according to security logs provided to The State under open-records laws. Only on a few of those occasions was the governor accompanied by a guest. The frequency with which Sanford shed his security detail has fallen under scrutiny after last month's secret trip to Argentina.

A California financial company agreed to repay $2 million to New York State's giant public pension fund after one of the company's former partners was implicated in paying a kickback to secure investment deals from the fund. Pacific Corporate Group Holdings agreed to make the payment under a settlement deal reached with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Nearly every school system in Florida has eviscerated or eliminated summer school this year, and officials are reporting sweeping cuts in states from North Carolina and Delaware to California and Washington. The federal stimulus law is channeling $100 billion to public education, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan has repeatedly urged states and districts to spend part it to keep schools open this summer.

Six of 27 members of the Senate Republican Caucus called on Gov. Mark Sanford to resign and Attorney General Henry McMaster called for a state investigation of the Republican governor’s travel. The developments came after Sanford said he had had more romantic meetings with his Argentinian lover than he had previously admitted. Sanford’s spokesman reiterated that the governor will not step down.

Dozens of wind turbines could sprout within sight of Massachusetts' Atlantic shoreline under a first-of-its-kind state blueprint with the promise of generating both electricity and controversy. The draft plan would allow a series of small wind farms of up to 10 turbines each in coastal waters that stretch three miles from shore.

The federal government is carving out public land in six Western states for fast-tracked development of 13 commercial solar power plants, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. A total of 670,000 acres in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah are being divided into 24 "Solar Energy Study Areas."

A federal judge weighing a lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 said that he was not likely to suspend the voter-approved gay-marriage ban without a trial. Judge Vaughn Walker said blocking the law before a trial might "inject still further uncertainty in an important area of concern and interest to the state and its citizens."