Archive
Gov. Jerry Brown's avoidance of a roaring national debate about gun control is in contrast to a flurry of pro-gun control activity around him at the Capitol.
Virginia’s General Assembly appears poised to put an openly gay judge on the bench Tuesday, reversing itself on one of the most contentious issues of last year’s session.
The grandson of one former president and nephew of another raised more than $1.3 million in barely eight weeks since announcing he will run for office in Texas -- even though exactly what post he will seek remains unclear.
D.C. schools budget watchdog Mary Levy estimates that the 20 proposed closings would save about $10.4 million in staffing costs, but those savings, according to Levy’s analysis, would be nearly erased by the cost of the closures themselves ($10.2 million).
Gov. John Kitzhaber told state lawmakers in his State of the State speech that he's ready to work with them on what he acknowledged will be a tough agenda tackling the escalating costs of health care, prisons and public employee pensions.
A panel of state judges ruled that funding of Kansas schools doesn’t pass constitutional muster, suggesting a price tag that could approach $500 million more for the state.
States neighboring Colorado and Washington vow to arrest and prosecute marijuana possessors even if the product is purchased legally across state lines.
In her fifth State of the State speech, Gov. Jan Brewer detailed how she opposed what's been dubbed "Obamacare,'' but she said the reality is that it's not going away.
The National Core Indicators project helps states target human services spending to practices that work.
Read the full speech and view which words were uttered most.
Read the full speech and see which words were uttered the most.
To connect mobile health units in the hills of rural New England with broadband access, policymakers are looking up -- all the way to space.
Governments argue that no longer hiring smokers would free up some much-needed funds.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has announced his legislative agenda for gun control includes a ban the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
A new study puts North Carolina in the bottom five of states for school-based dental sealant treatment programs, considered the most effective way to give at-risk children a shot at growing up with healthy teeth.
More than half of the states don't take part in a federal database that tracks mentally ill people who are legally barred from buying guns.
Some Virginia leaders are pushing to enroll new state employees to a 401k-style retirement plan as that state’s pension costs have soared and the pension’s funding has decreased.
State lawmakers will consider changes to the state’s juvenile justice system, which costs $300 million a year but has had a poor success rate in keeping Georgia’s wayward teenagers from committing repeat offenses.
The state now has an outlook known as "rating watch negative," which could make it more expensive for the state to borrow money. Only California is below Illinois among states on this rating firm's list.
Republican governors are introducing bold proposals that would abolish income taxes, business taxes and other unpopular levies and often offset those cuts by boosting sales taxes.
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will seek to institute some of the nation’s strictest gun-licensing requirements, ban assault weapons and restrict visitor access to schools in one of the most expansive government responses sought to last month’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Nearly a dozen states haven't passed laws to conform their state code with the federal law's health insurance reforms.
See charts showing numbers of gun background checks requested in each state.
View FY 2010 expenditures for state mental health agencies.
View state population estimates, including births, deaths and net migration totals.
The proposal by the U.S. Justice Department demands the state stop slicing in-home nursing services for frail youngsters, stop ignoring the requests of family doctors who treat disabled children and stop sending hundreds of children to geriatric nursing homes.
Local officials began weighing whether the city can still make money from a Super Bowl after stomaching a new list of financial demands from the NFL.
Fast-changing technology has created gray areas in tax laws across the country. Businesses and lawmakers are sparring over whether commercial use of remote computer software and servers should be taxed.
An Essex County lawmaker introduced a bill to install silent panic alarms in New Jersey public schools that would immediately alert authorities to emergencies.
Tennessee lawmakers have become known for producing volumes of legislation. They filed more than 5,000 bills and resolutions in the past two years alone, much of which failed to advance out of committee.
Advocates for people with developmental disabilities are hailing a decision by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to prevent the state Department of Developmental Services from automatically denying eligibility to people scoring above 70 on IQ tests.
Mayor Cory Booker, an outspoken advocate for gay and lesbian equality, was once far less tolerant of others, he conceded in an opinion column he wrote for his college newspaper while at Stanford.
Optimistic predictions by RAND in 2005 helped drive explosive growth in the electronic records industry and encouraged the federal government to give billions of dollars in financial incentives to hospitals and doctors that put the systems in place.
In what was his most substantive and wide-ranging State of the State address ever, Gov. John Hickenlooper took on the issues of gun control, Medicaid, tuition for illegal immigrants, child welfare and constitutional reform, among other topics.
Gov. Jerry Brown declared that California's budget deficit has vanished thanks to new tax hikes and past spending cuts, marking the first time since the recession that state leaders haven't faced a deep fiscal chasm in January.
FBI Background checks for firearms jumped last month as calls for gun control intensified. View totals for each state.
One of the nation's busiest airports is using sustainable practices and a lot of worms to start making money on all the waste it produces.
Only a handful of states require background checks on all firearm sales at gun shows, but some legislators are trying to change that this year.
The nation’s top business advocate said Thursday it was time for the federal government to “quit fooling around” with funding the transportation trust that fuels many state and local infrastructure projects and called for an increase in the gas tax.
Last year's elections demonstrated how teamwork between governments and the technology sector can make voting information more accessible, save taxpayer dollars and improve the efficiency of the voting process.
Making the vast stores of information that governments collect open to all will have a profound effect on business and on our quality of life.
Lawmakers underwent a half-day of ethics training in the wake of a series of high-profile lapses involving Idaho officials, a first-time event that Capitol leaders hope will head off rare instances when lawmakers' behavior risks damaging the public's confidence in government.
State Rep. Sannie Overly was elected majority caucus chairman by her Democratic colleagues.
Gov. Bob McDonnell is urging fellow Republicans to support something they've long resisted: automatic restoration of voting privileges and other rights to non-violent offenders who lost them due to felony convictions. He also stumped for legislation giving the state authority to take over failing schools.
Patrick’s proposal would consolidate public housing management — including budgeting, planning, and administrative functions — into six central offices, while leaving a corps of managers and maintenance workers at local housing authorities. Local boards would be cut, eliminating the need for more than 1,000 politically appointed commissioners.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who spent his first two years in office establishing himself as a fiscal conservative, turned left in his third annual address to the Legislature, and sought to reclaim the state’s progressive mantle.
The city has 700 confirmed cases of flu so and four flu-related deaths. Last year Boston had only 70 confirmed cases.
New York State is nearing agreement on a proposal to put what would be some of the nation’s strictest gun-control laws into effect, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's recommended ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and new measures to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and mentally ill people.
For the fifth year in a row, Maryland posts the nation's highest overall grade. The United States as a whole gained a half-point from last year, bringing the national grade up to a C-plus, from a C.
Reality TV reveals the problems with government services, but how do we fix them?
Some analysts warn that states should start making contingency plans so they can continue dependably issuing transportation funding bonds.
Only 13 states issue driver’s licenses that comply with the federal Real ID law, but states that do not will have at least six months to bring their licenses up to those standards.
The proposal comes after outgoing Gov. Chris Gregoire set a goal of no tuition increases for the next two years, but her budget included no additional money for the five universities and one four-year college.
The system has lost more than $1 billion in state funding since the 2009 fiscal year.
Gov. Jerry Brown said the state has solved its overcrowding problem and asked for control of inmate health care back. Experts see a legal war ahead.
Texas officials asked the U.S. Supreme Court to force New Mexico to abide by an agreement about sharing water from the Rio Grande. But New Mexico officials said the move is "tantamount to extortion."
Proponents of overturning Maryland's death penalty appear to be within one or two votes of gaining enough political clout to push repeal through the state Senate, where previous efforts have failed.
But the Republican governor — who is also building his re-election campaign — introduced no new initiatives for the final year of his term.
The federal government will allow Maine to make limited cuts to its Medicaid program, but not to the extent Gov. Paul LePage ’s administration sought last year as it looked to close a $20 million budget hole.
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell proposed an ambitious overhaul of how Virginia pays for roads, rail and transit, including eliminating the gas tax and replacing it with an increase in the sales tax.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, pushing New York to become the first state to enact major new gun laws in the wake of the massacre in Newtown, Conn., plans to propose one of the country’s most restrictive bans on assault weapons.
A former Obama administration official whose nomination to a powerful health care post was derailed by Senate Republicans said that he is strongly considering a run for governor in 2014.
After failing by just two votes in 2007, legislation to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants passed the Illinois House by a vote of 65-46 Tuesday and has been sent to Gov. Pat Quinn, who said he will sign it.
Before we invest in expansion, we should get serious about maintaining our existing systems.
Municipal bond issuers could be forced to call as much as a collective $150 billion in debt if a plan to limit tax deductions on that bond interest goes forward.
One former state transportation director thinks so. The revenue would provide a steady stream of funding for public transit and bike path improvements.
An index ranks metro areas by how well authority is consolidated or shared among municipalities.
As part of a re-examination of Maryland state laws on firearms and the mentally ill, a task force has recommended that the state should require mental health professionals to contact police if an individual seems dangerous. The policy, if it becomes law, could lead to new gun seizures.
A federal court sided with Virginia in a debate over Clean Water Act powers.
Voters in five Michigan cities passed referendums to reduce penalties for possession of the drug and, in a few cases, make it easier to obtain or grow.
From one perspective, those figures suggest more guns mean less violence. Others who study crime in California and America say the trends are more nuanced.
The new campaign finance structure has state-based and national outside groups considering pouring millions of dollars into these key off-presidential year races.
Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter proposed eliminating Idaho's personal property tax, a move that would cost $141 million in tax revenue but provide a boost to business leaders who say the tax is a drag on the economy.
The United States spent nearly $18 billion on immigration enforcement in fiscal 2012, about 24 percent more than it spent collectively on the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Secret Service and all other criminal law enforcement agencies, according to a report.
StudentsFirst ranks states based on how closely they follow the group’s platform, looking at policies related not only to tenure and evaluations but also to pensions and the governance of school districts.
IT investments bring their own direct productivity improvements, but the big payoff is in the much larger productivity boost that digital tools can give to government services.
Plus: government's ongoing war against “the bad guys” and more management news
After meeting with U.S. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Florida governor sounded decidedly unswayed as he continues to weigh how much of the Affordable Care Act his state will implement.
Plus: the expansion of Boston's hotline app and more
The rules, drafted with an eye toward strict standards in some states, enable the implementation of a bill President Barack Obama signed two years ago in response to deadly food-borne illness outbreaks.
Florida healthcare regulators are challenging a federal judge's order that the state provide a costly -- but potentially life-changing -- treatment to children with autism.
Los Angeles voters will get a chance to choose whether to keep pot shops open in the city when they go to the polls in May.
For the last six years, New Mexico’s largest jail has been administering methadone to inmates with drug addictions -- one of a small number of jails and prisons around the country that do so. In November, however, the jail’s warden said he wanted to stop treating inmates with methadone.
A state representative is reviving a push to change a unique Utah rule that requires lawmakers to vote on bills even when they have a conflict of interest.
An Austin school district's new truancy program uses GPS trackers to help prompt students to go to class more often.
McCrory enters office in a strong position – riding high in the public opinion polls, with a political mandate after a landslide victory in November, and with a Republican-controlled legislature that would like for him to succeed.
Immigration reform has a long history of being sidetracked by other issues.
The White House is weighing a far broader and more comprehensive approach to curbing the nation’s gun violence than simply reinstating an expired ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, according to multiple people involved in the administration’s discussions.
The sheriff acknowledged that by adding school resource officers, the county hopes not to be forced by state lawmakers to otherwise arm teachers or principals.
The $9.7 billion bill will provide a short-term increase in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s borrowing authority for the flood insurance program. The NFIP was expected to run out of money by Monday without the authorization, FEMA warned.
Two federal laws -- and state implementation of their provisions -- are overhauling insurance coverage for the mentally ill.
The trend suggests fiercely partisan legislatures, but the reality may be more nuanced.
Under last week’s fiscal cliff deal, states that depend on wind as part of their energy portfolio got the production tax credit renewed for another year.
The measure is sure to be controversial in cities such as Sacramento, which has battled for years over "tent cities" for homeless people, and San Francisco, where voters passed an ordinance barring sitting or lying on sidewalks.
New Hampshire needs to work together to move forward, said newly inaugurated Gov. Maggie Hassan as she pledged to do her part to accomplish that goal through bipartisanship, hard work and transparency.
Rhode Island's capital city is addressing the fiscally crippling problems with its retirement system. Can Illinois find the political will to do the same?
For the second straight year, the commonwealth's casinos are on pace to generate more gambling revenue than every other state but one -- Nevada.
The bulk of Detroit's killings are the result of gun violence.
Nearly a third of all District firefighters, who also staff ambulances, called in sick on New Year’s Eve, leaving the city short-staffed in emergency care on one of the busiest nights of the year.
The Illinois Senate left the State Capitol without voting on measures to legalize gay marriage and outlaw assault weapons, leaving the fate of those controversial issues in doubt.
The legalization of use and possession of small amounts of marijuana for those 21 and older in Colorado and Washington will provide researchers worldwide with the best chance ever to study the interplay of alcohol use and marijuana use.
Connecticut is one of six states without a law that allows court-ordered treatment, under certain circumstances, for people with mental illness who are not hospitalized.
Researchers who've studied the effect of the laws have found that states with a stand your ground law have more homicides than states without such laws.
Tax-exempt groups that spent hundreds of millions on the 2012 elections without disclosing their donors have stirred no response from federal regulators but have drawn the ire of state officials who are moving aggressively to restrict them.
Some 160,000 adults with low incomes could become eligible for public health care assistance under a plan announced by Gov. John Hickenlooper. to expand Medicaid coverage under the federal health care law.
States each year dole out billions in incentives and tax breaks for businesses, but those that spend the most aren't necessarily winning the end game, some experts say.
Scheduled automatic spending cuts, while delayed, still mean uncertainty for some key programs.
Camden's plan to lay off all of its uniformed police officers has been approved by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, setting the stage for replacing the Police Department with a new county-run force.
The widely used, visually-oriented platform is helping social media-savvy law enforcement agencies drive up arrest rates.
Borrowing an idea being promoted by Republican governors in Texas and Florida, a GOP assemblyman has introduced a bill that would create a pilot program in California for what he's billing as a $10,000 bachelor's degree.
The White House and a divided Congress can now move on to the next fiscal crisis after a last-minute deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" laid the foundation for more combustible struggles over taxes, spending and debt in the next few months.
A federal court found the treatment of mentally ill prisoners in segregation units at Indiana prisons violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.
In the wake of last month’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six teachers were killed, Marlboro became the first district in New Jersey to staff public schools with armed officers.
The REAL ID program, adopted by Congress in part to prevent foreign terrorists from boarding commercial airliners, will begin in Iowa on Jan. 15.
The outcry over the cancellation of a vote on a $60.4 billion federal aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and top Republican and Democratic congressional leaders forced House Majority Leader John Boehner to offer quick action for Friday on a portion of the badly needed funding.
Six months after Georgia enacted a law meant to attract more startups by allowing the state’s pension plans to invest in them, few plans have actually taken advantage, according to an Atlanta Journal Constitution report.
Lost among the tax and spending debate, the fiscal cliff bill passed by the House and Senate this week also averted a significant pay cut for doctors who treat Medicare patients, the Washington Post reports.
Following the shootings at a Connecticut elementary school, Texas lawmakers are considering making firearms more available to teachers and other school personnel.
Advisers say the governor's proposals will amount to the most extensive changes in decades in the relationship between school districts and state government.
A coalition of gay marriage advocates plans to release a letter this week signed by top Illinois executives and companies endorsing same-sex marriage as an economic imperative, giving a powerful push to a bill that state lawmakers could take up as early as Thursday.
States have frequently criticized the laborious process for getting a Medicaid waiver approved by CMS. Here are five awaiting a federal stamp in the new year.
The Indiana Department of Education plans to appeal a court ruling in which it was found to have improperly counted students.
Gov. Scott Walker's lack of action stands in stark contrast to his predecessor.
Women won the state’s two Congressional seats. Women already held the state’s two Senate seats. When they are all sworn into office, New Hampshire will become the first state in the nation’s history to send an all-female delegation to Washington.
Gov. Corbett is expected to file a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the NCAA over what he contends are illegal sanctions that the organization imposed on Pennsylvania State University following the Jerry Sandusky child sex-abuse scandal.
The state's first recreational pot den where customers could buy coffee, T-shirts and other items and then go to a private building next door where they could smoke free samples of marijuana, has already closed its doors, after a dispute with its landlord.
House Republicans abruptly pulled the plug Tuesday night on their promise to take up this week an emergency supplemental disaster aid bill for Northeast states damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The Senate bill will die with this Congress on Thursday at noon.
With a rare late-night vote on New Year’s Day, the House passed a bipartisan compromise -- which President Barack Obama has vowed to sign -- to extend the majority of Bush-era tax cuts, delay automatic spending reductions for two months and fix a number of expiring tax and spending provisions.
Legislators in a number of states are taking a second look at bullet tax proposals in the wake of the Newtown shooting.
The percent of physicians e-prescribing using an EHR has increased in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia, according to a new brief released by the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
New York City faces an $811 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2014 and lowered revenue projections in part because of Superstorm Sandy, the city's Independent Budget Office said on Thursday.
The number of law enforcement officers who died performing their duties in the U.S. declined by about 20 percent in 2012 after rising the two previous years, a non-profit organization reported Thursday.
More than 150 Utah teachers and school workers took time off from their winter breaks Thursday to attend a free class on how to carry concealed weapons and respond to mass violence such as the recent shooting in a Connecticut school.
There will be something new in many Philadelphia high schools when students return to class next week - free condoms.
Methamphetamine lab seizures are on the rise in the nation's cities and suburbs, raising new concerns about a lethal drug that has long been the scourge of rural America.
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed into law on Thursday a bill that gives options to cities and school districts for dealing with severe financial problems, including bankruptcy.
In the Federalist Papers, the Founders articulated their goals for a new system of government. Today's local governments need something similar to be ready to deal with the challenges they face.
As municipalities are trying to find ways to pay for vital infrastructure projects while their budgets remain tight, more are turning to Tax-Increment-Financing (TIF), experts say.
Despite bipartisan support the Marketplace Fairness Act, as the online tax legislation is known, is unlikely to pass as part of any fiscal cliff deal.
The expiring Bush tax cuts aren’t the only laws worth watching for investors as the year ends. A number of new rules are kicking in next year that will allow workers to stash away more money in their 401(k)s and individual retirement accounts.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a road map for making electronic health records and other health IT safer for patients.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) on Wednesday selected Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created by last week’s death of veteran lawmaker Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to block the Obama administration's contraception mandate from taking effect.
The dockworkers are flexing their muscles again, threatening a strike beginning Sunday that would shut seaports from Massachusetts to Texas.
Police traded gift cards for guns in Los Angeles on Wednesday, in a buyback program Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced as a crime-fighting response to the deadly shooting rampage in Newtown, Connecticut.
The ex-con turned sniper who killed two firefighters wanted to make sure his goodbye note was legible, typing out his desire to "do what I like doing best, killing people" before setting the house where he lived with his sister ablaze, police said.
Missouri’s Board of Education is moving forward with increased standards for the profession. The state recently adopted evaluations that will assess some teachers, in part, on how well students fare on state exams.
Three cities, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Johns Creek, are adopting ordinances that assess fines for false alarms, a measure they say could save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars and the lives of first responders.
Hawaii Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Wednesday is expected to name a successor to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing hard to overhaul California's convoluted school funding system. His plan has two major objectives: Give K-12 districts greater control over how they spend money, and send more dollars to impoverished students and English learners.
