• Audit Shows Detroit Fire Dept. Violated Drug Policies
• Source: Detroit Free Press   |   Detroit   |   May 9, 2013
• Four employees who tested positive for cocaine or high blood-alcohol levels — but faced no disciplinary actions — were among a handful of incidents described in an auditor general’s report.

• Voucher Funding Unconstitutional, Rules Louisiana Supreme Court
• Source: New Orleans Times Picayune   |   Louisiana   |   May 8, 2013
• Act 2, part of Gov. Bobby Jindal's 2012 package of education reforms, diverts money from each student's per-pupil allocation to cover the cost of private or parochial school tuition.

• Marijuana Driving Limits Pass Colorado Legislature After Several Attempts
• Source: Denver Post   |   Colorado   |   May 8, 2013
• The bill approved was the sixth try in the past three years to pass a stoned-driving limit, which supporters say will give prosecutors a tool to combat an increase in stoned-driving cases.

• Obama's Cigarette Tax to Fund Preschool Up in Smoke
• Source: Politico   |   Nation   |   May 8, 2013
• Presidential budgets are all about theater. But this year’s was more theatrical than most: Its biggest single new proposal — the sin tax to generate $78 billion to fund a preschool education program — vanished almost as soon as Obama announced it four weeks ago.

• Indiana Gov. Pence Signs School Resource Officer Bill
• Source: Indianapolis Star   |   Indiana   |   May 8, 2013
• The bill sets aside $10 million in state money to allow public schools to apply for matching grants to hire police officers for schools that don’t already have them.

• Public Hearing in New York Held Without the Public
• Source: New York Times   |   New York   |   May 8, 2013
• Something was missing at a public hearing held by the State Senate to examine New York City’s campaign finance system: the public.

• Baltimore Schools Chief Resigns
• Source: Baltimore Sun   |   Baltimore   |   May 8, 2013
• Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso tearfully announced his resignation, ending a six-year tenure marked by bold yet often divisive reforms and casting uncertainty on the future of the long-troubled school system.

• California Supreme Court: Cities Can Ban Pot Dispensaries
• BY: McClatchy News   |   California   |   May 7, 2013
• The California Supreme Court gave local governments the power Monday to zone medical marijuana dispensaries out of existence, a decision that upholds bans in about 200 cities but does little to solve Los Angeles' struggle to regulate hundreds of storefront pot outlets.

• Phoenix Police to Destroy Guns Before New Law Takes Effect
• Source: Arizona Republic   |   Arizona   |   May 7, 2013
• Three months before a new state law goes into effect requiring police to sell any weapon they receive, Phoenix officials plan to destroy as many guns as residents bring them.
• 2 Comments

• Michigan Teachers Opt to Work for Rest of Year -- Even Without Pay
• Source: Detroit Free Press   |   Saginaw, Mich.   |   May 7, 2013
• The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) recently decided to freeze the district’s April, May and June state aid payments after state officials discovered the district had received $580,000 in state aid for a program for incarcerated youths that the district no longer ran.

• Freedom of '3 Strikes' Law Prisoners Varies by County in California
• Source: AP/Sacramento Bee   |   California   |   May 7, 2013
• Majorities in every California county voted last fall to scale back the state's Three Strikes law so thousands of inmates serving life sentences for relatively minor third offenses would have the chance to be set free. Five months later, there is no such unanimity among counties when it comes to carrying out the voters' wishes.

• Georgia Doled Out Economic Incentives Despite Red Flags
• Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution   |   Georgia   |   May 7, 2013
• State officials who awarded hundreds of millions of dollars to lure jobs here sometimes missed critical red flags in vetting the grant recipients.

• SEC Charges Harrisburg with Securities Fraud
• BY: Liz Farmer   |   Harrisburg, Pa.   |   May 6, 2013
• Pennsylvania's capital, which is under receivership after nearly going bankrupt, is the second municipality or state to get charged with securities fraud this year.
• 1 Comments

• New Jersey Seizes Affordable Housing Funds from Municipalities
• Source: Philadelphia Inquirer   |   New Jersey   |   May 6, 2013
• Amid objections from municipal officials and housing activists, the Christie administration has begun the process of seizing $150 million or more in subsidized housing money from municipalities around the state and is keeping a tight lid on its policy objectives.

• Prisons Test Crisis Intervention for Dealing with Mentally Ill
• Source: Raleigh News & Observer   |   North Carolina   |   May 6, 2013
• Over the past 25 years, crisis intervention team training has spread among law enforcement agencies across the country. Now it is being tested in the nation’s prisons, which have become the largest repositories for people with mental health problems.

Most Viewed

This Section    |    Whole Site

• Los Angeles Mayor's Race: Garcetti Wins, Greuel Concedes
• Air Service in Steep Decline at Small and Mid-Sized City Airports
• Water Fluoridation Debate Divides Portland, Oregon
• Harrisburg Mayor Denied 2nd Term
• Chicago OKs Massive School Closings

• Kardashian Pulls T-Shirt from Shelves After Gov. Cuomo Threatened Lawsuit
• Massachusetts Lt. Gov. to Resign
• A Third Way for Public Pensions: Adjustable Pension Plans
• Success of Gun Buyback in Phoenix May Backfire
• Creating the Courts Americans Want

Comments

• Water Fluoridation Debate Divides Portland, Oregon
  
  "Portland only advocates for rich white people things, like bike lanes...."
• Berkeley Accidentally Discloses City Employees' SSNs
  
  "Why did it take them over 2 weeks to realize the error? Why didn't BANG the group who..."
• Los Angeles Discovers $42.6 Million Lost Through Accounting Error
  
  "What an extreme assertion. No government entity at any level is doing a good job of accounting,..."
• California School Suspensions Seen as Caused by 'Defiance'
  
  "I find it interesting that if a person makes too much noise, or is disruptive in a movie..."
• L.A. City Council Votes to Accelerate Move Away from Coal Power
  
  "So glad the DWP and City Council have the time and energy to spend more ratepayer money..."