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PG&E Corp. stock dived more than 20% Monday morning on reports that the California utility could face at least $30 billion in liability related to fires and has considered filing for bankruptcy protection.
The District’s Department of Public Works has dispatched extra workers to pick up the federal government’s garbage. And for the most part, the city’s federal properties are pretty clean.
As the partial government shutdown extends into its third week, the Department of Agriculture won't say how long it can keep paying out food stamp benefits for the nearly 39 million people who depend on the program each month.
Cyntoia Brown, now 30, will have her life sentence commuted. She will be released to parole supervision on Aug. 7 after serving 15 years in prison.
Metro area and county statistics on numbers of pedestrian deaths in dark, daylight and other lighting conditions.
Within an hour of being elected California's 40th governor, Gavin Newsom cast the occasion as not just a win, but also a watershed.
The Florida Senate paid $900,000 to settle a complaint filed by a high-ranking staffer who alleged she was retaliated against for accusing a former senator of sexual harassment, according to documents released by the Senate President Thursday. As part of the agreement, the aide, Rachel Perrin Rogers, is resigning.
Alabama’s employee pension fund, with nearly 360,000 members and some $44 billion in managed assets, has become sole owner of one of the largest chains of local U.S. newspapers, the company said Thursday.
A stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu will remain closed until Monday as crews continue to clean up mud and debris from the highway after a winter storm moved through the area, triggering a mudslide and prompting flash flood warnings overnight in burn areas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
Change is coming to men's restrooms in New York -- and it's going to be a big help to fathers all over the state.
On her third day as governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that New Mexico will drop the oft-maligned PARCC exam after the current school year -- if not sooner.
Buried within the multitude of volumes that encompass Pennsylvania laws is a 176-year-old statute that is rarely used.
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review highly partisan election maps drawn by Republicans in North Carolina and Democrats in Maryland, and decide whether such political gerrymandering violates voters' rights to a fair election.
Over the past few years, statehouses around the country have tried to rein in cities deemed too friendly to undocumented immigrants. But Georgia is the only state that’s created an independent board with one specific mission: Punishing cities that aren’t doing enough to crack down on illegal immigration.
On Jan. 1, California joined the majority of states that have laws requiring drivers with drunken-driving convictions to install breathalyzers in vehicles they own or operate.
The L-pocalypse is officially cancelled.
Two South Carolina deputies who drove two women through Hurricane Florence floodwaters on the way to a mental health facility will face charges in their deaths.
Longtime Ald. Edward Burke, one of Chicago's most powerful figures and a vestige of the city's old Democratic machine, has often been considered too clever and sophisticated to be caught blatantly using his public office to enrich himself.
A Manhattan Federal judge ruled Thursday that Airbnb does not have to turn over data on its hosts to New York City authorities.
Former presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said he won't be running for president again in 2020, but he knows who he wants to see at the top of the Democratic ticket: Beto O'Rourke.
Obamacare was struck down by a federal judge in Texas last month, and now a nationwide coalition of attorneys general, including Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, want to appeal that decision.
About 800,000 federal employees are working without pay or will be furloughed. As the shutdown drags on, the number is expected to rise.
A vision for results-driven government isn't enough. The way business is conducted needs to change.
The idea is gaining popularity as a way to get around federal laws that ban banks from handling cannabis businesses' money. But a new report pans the idea.
A Manhattan federal court jury on Wednesday delivered a split verdict in a closely watched NYPD corruption case, acquitting former Deputy Inspector James Grant on bribe-taking charges, but convicting businessman Jeremy Reichberg of two conspiracies and obstruction of justice.
On his second day in office, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell fired the veteran assistant prosecutor Kathi Alizadeh, who was primarily responsible for presenting evidence to the grand jury that declined to indict a Ferguson police officer in the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown.
Before releasing the name of the suspect in the death of Newman Police Officer Ronil Singh, authorities released his legal status.
The Justice Department has decided not to ask the Supreme Court to block the appointment of a special prosecutor to fight former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s effort to erase the guilty verdict a judge returned against him on contempt of court charges last year.
Bernie Sanders’ surprise performance against Hillary Clinton in 2016 was fueled by his dominance in a slate of states that voted by caucus, a format that allowed the Vermont senator to capitalize on his smaller but more fervent base of supporters.
mmigrant parents in Maryland concerned about being deported may now designate someone to care for their children under an expansion of emergency guardianship measures that take effect Tuesday.
The private sector has long blended measurement and workforce management. Too often in government, that's not the way it works.
When Californians voted in 2016 to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, advocates of the move envisioned thousands of pot shops and cannabis farms obtaining state licenses, making the drug easily available to all adults within a short drive.
California rang in the new year by becoming the first state to ban pet stores from selling commercially bred dogs, cats and rabbits.
What if a meteor were hurtling toward the Earth, about to kill millions and reshape life on the planet as we know it?
For decades, cities and states have tried to create jobs and boost their economies by luring out-of-state employers. Now some areas are trying to attract workers — one worker at a time.
For a decade, Barbara Underwood was an apolitical force in New York, quietly serving as solicitor general before getting an unexpected promotion to become the state's first female attorney general.
A new year brought the swearing-in of newly elected officials in Harris County, Texas, and among them were 17 black female judges.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo was hit by a car on New Year’s Day while riding his bicycle in the city, and he remained in the hospital Tuesday night, according to a statement from his office.
Montana will join Wyoming, Idaho and the federal government in appealing a federal court ruling that put the Greater Yellowstone grizzly bear population back on the Endangered Species List.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced pardons on Monday for 22 immigrants who were at risk of deportation because of criminal records, taking a swipe at President Trump in the process.
The federal judge in Texas who ruled the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional said today that the law can stand while his judgment is under appeal.
For one tribe of Chippewa Indians in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the government shutdown comes with a price tag: about $100,000, every day, of federal money that does not arrive to keep health clinics staffed, food pantry shelves full and employees paid.
Looking at modernizing all aspects of your entire workforce is impractical. A more sensible approach is to look at best practices and identify two or three to adopt for your organization.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Changing the way Americans open their car doors can help prevent cyclist injuries and fatalities.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
A rural Alabama police force believes two gun deaths in its small community are the result of its residents' rejection of God.
Twenty-five days before leaving office, Gov. John Kasich suddenly barred discrimination in state employment based on gender identity -- a change of heart from when he took office nearly eight years ago.
On the eve of the announcement, de Blasio's administration issued a 71-page report by the Mayor's Task Force on Cannabis Legalization, making the case for marijuana legalization and the possibility for home delivery, but calling for smoking pot in public to remain illegal.
Tech giants Facebook and Google will pay Washington state more than $450,000 to settle twin lawsuits filed by Attorney General Bob Ferguson accusing the companies of failure to abide by state laws on political advertising transparency.
Michigan Republicans voted Thursday to give themselves a power to intervene in court cases that now is reserved for the state attorney general, the latest measure pushed through a lame-duck session that critics said would weaken the power of Democrats or voters.
North Carolina voters will be asked to show photo identification when they go to the polls next year, barring intervention by a court.
The South Carolina Republican Party could decide next summer to pass on holding the party's 2020 primary election -- a move that is not unprecedented -- to help President Donald Trump's re-election bid.
Despite its reputation for sterling progressivism, New York has some of the most restrictive election laws in the nation.
This year will see the largest class yet of millennials entering legislatures. How will they shape politics and policies?
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Photos and musings from photographer David Kidd.
Despite going into special session, lawmakers still don't have a solution for the least-funded pension system in the nation.
While the Trump administration mulls over the domestic "gag rule" and state requests to defund Planned Parenthood, abortion bills are making their way through legislatures and courts.
The release of the rule comes on the same day President Donald Trump is expected to sign the farm bill into law — and the timing is no accident.
Edgewood’s chronic problems signify Texas’ long record of neglecting schools that educate mostly students of color — racial integration and school funding increases have generally come when the courts forced the state’s hand.
In October, London Breed and other family members sent letters to the governor, asking him to consider an early release date for her older brother, Napoleon Brown, who has served nearly two decades of a 44-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter and armed robbery.
A state panel created in response to drinking-water crises in the City of Newburgh and other places in New York has recommended the state set strict contamination limits for three chemicals that include the type that polluted Newburgh's primary water source.
The party switching comes after a nationwide surge of Democratic voters in suburban areas. The surge helped defeat Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Yoder, and some state lawmakers are now aligning themselves with this new political reality.
Lawyers for Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in suburban Denver, are suing to try to stop the state from taking action against him over the new discrimination allegation.
The attorney general for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, to gain access to the names, “likes,” and other personal data about tens of millions of the social site’s users without their permission.
Montana was one of four red states with Medicaid expansion on the ballot, and the only one where it failed. And the reason why, many close observers both inside and outside of the state agree, almost certainly came down to a tactical decision to link expansion to an increase in the state’s tobacco tax.
A scathing report from Attorney General Lisa Madigan finds the number of Catholic priests accused of sexual abuse against children in Illinois is much higher than previously acknowledged.
Most of them led to a resignation or election loss.
A new survey reveals how little the public knows about their state government. Media coverage is partly to blame.
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, a Republican, said the more he’s learning about the Division of Elections, the more he thinks it has done a “pretty good job.”
Sen. Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn) quickly apologized on Twitter and the exchange with Candice Giove, a spokeswoman for the Senate's Republican conference, was deleted.
A federal judge knocked down a New York state law banning nunchucks that dated to the 1970s, when martial arts star Bruce Lee popularized them in his movies by whipping around the twin sticks linked by a chain.
The University of Texas completed its investigation on Tuesday into whether State Sen. Charles Schwertner sent sexually explicit messages -- including photos of his genitals -- to a student, issuing a report that neither fully incriminates nor clears the Georgetown Republican of wrongdoing.
The pact is being endorsed by Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and D.C., but those participants hope to get more onboard.
U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom dismissed a suit filed by 15 students who claimed they were traumatized by the crisis in February.
The appointments of Democrats Rochelle Thuy Nguyen and Beatrice “Bea” Angela Duran to two Las Vegas-area legislative seats give women 51 percent of the 63 seats in the Legislature.
A federal commission led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made the proposal Tuesday along with a recommendation to "seriously consider partnering with local law enforcement in the training and arming of school personnel."
The attorney general's office had sued the Trump Foundation, claiming the president and his family had used it as a vehicle for his presidential campaign.
Staunchly Republican rural counties voted for progressive policies at the ballot box this year, including minimum wage hikes and Medicaid expansion.
New York is set to become the third state Medicaid program to cover pregnancy and birth coaches for low-income women as a way of lowering the maternal mortality rate.
Observers thought the federal law would stifle the sale of municipal bonds -- and in effect infrastructure projects. But it hasn't been that bad.
Republican Robin Vos, who engineered the lame-duck bills to strip power from the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general, maintains that the maneuver was a nonpartisan attempt to restore balance between the branches.
The Google expansion will ripple through the Long Island economy, tech and economic development, experts said.
A federal judge says Idaho must provide gender confirmation surgery to a transgender inmate who has been living as a woman for years but who has continuously been housed in a men’s prison.
Voter ID has been a years-long goal for Republicans. A 2013 law that included a photo ID requirement to vote was overturned by federal courts in 2016. The GOP moved to add photo ID to the state constitution this year, and the amendment passed with 55 percent of the vote.
The North Carolina Republican Party called on the state board of elections to certify Republican Mark Harris as the winner of the House race from the 9th District if the board can’t provide evidence that alleged voting irregularities changed the outcome of the contest.
Ron DeSantis said the amendment, which would restore voting rights for most ex-felons who have served their sentences, should take effect after state lawmakers pass "implementing language" in a bill that is then sent to him for his signature.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday called for legalizing recreational marijuana as part of a 2019 legislative agenda that reflected a more leftward course now that Democrats control every lever of New York state government.
With the three states added to the list, 36 states plus Washington, D.C., have now approved Medicaid expansion, likely adding pressure on the remaining states to do so.
California and 15 other states asked a federal judge on Monday to protect current health care coverage for millions of Americans while courts sort out the implications of his ruling that the Affordable Care Act was invalid in its entirety.
If cities don't find a way soon, they risk homelessness, crime and drug abuse spreading beyond a single neighborhood.
Congress should use new money to prod states and cities into addressing the growing expenses of public employees.
Once used only to manage infrastructure, GIS now deals with all kinds of data.
Doing good pays dividends for both corporations and governments. Just ask Philadelphia.
Behavioral economics is a powerful tool to encourage people to make certain decisions, but governments need to use it with caution.
Most of the students using Arizona’s vouchers are already in top-performing schools.
Incoming Gov. Mike Dunleavy is the sixth person to win the office in as many elections. The constant turnover has made it difficult for the state to solve its biggest problems.
Advocates say higher incomes help low-wage employees, but one new report suggests the reality is more complicated.
“Putting somebody out there on the street who has very little training is not fair to the community and it’s not fair to the officer, but it happens all the time.”
Photos and musings from our photographer.
18 of the policies and proposals that will dominate state legislatures this year.
California is the first state to require physicians to inform patients about their history of sexual misconduct, overprescribing medications, criminal convictions or substance abuse. Will others follow?
Maryland’s Mike Miller has been in charge for more than 30 years.
In practically every state, one party now holds all the legislative power. And once they get it, they’re keeping it.
The decennial count is plagued by uncertainties and fears of undercounting immigrants, minorities and low-income people.
Critics argue that the revenue raised isn't worth weakening the incentives to buy more environmentally friendly vehicles.
Gov. Rick Snyder signed bills Friday to water down voter-initiated increases to the state minimum wage and employer-paid sick time, pleasing the business community but dashing hopes among many Michiganders that he would veto the lame-duck bills.
Pete Buttigieg is ending his tenure as the city's mayor, announcing today that he will not seek a third term in office but not yet revealing his future political plans -- including a possible run for president.
Starting in 2019, Texas A&M University will be the first university in the nation to train all of its health science students to administer the drug naloxone, which reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
Where data is stored is important because it helps determine who can access it. Digital law and privacy experts say storing data outside the United States increases the chances that other countries will access the data, either through their intelligence channels or by coercing companies into handing it over.
The March for Public Education, organized by United Teachers Los Angeles, was meant to be a show of force to Supt. Austin Beutner, who has said Los Angeles Unified School District does not have the funds to meet the union's demands and ensure the district's financial solvency in future years.
The legislation, also known as “Nosey’s Law,” is named after a 36-year-old African elephant with arthritis that was forced to travel across the country, including New Jersey, for traveling circus acts while also suffering abuse, the governor’s office said in a press release.
Scott Walker, who has faced national scrutiny and calls from Democrats and some Republicans to reject the legislative package entirely, said during the bill signing he was approving the three bills in full, without line-item vetoes.
Governor Charlie Baker last month accepted $2,500 from the firm of a registered lobbyist and longtime ally of Vice President Mike Pence toward his inaugural celebration in January, violating a self-imposed cap intended to limit lobbyists to a fraction of that amount.
About four hours after the initial post, the company said they “identified three participants in this abhorrent event and their employment has been terminated.”
The enfeebled state party — still reeling after a devastating midterm election where Republicans lost three congressional seats and whiffed gubernatorial and Senate races by double digits — is tangled in a power struggle messy enough to capture the attention of the White House.
Judge Reed C. O’Connor struck down the law, siding with a group of 18 Republican state attorneys general and two GOP governors who brought the case. O’Connor said the tax bill passed by Congress last December effectively rendered the entire health law unconstitutional.
Police departments have been sending their leaders to Israel to learn about the country's counterterrorism strategies since the 1990s. But growing opposition is pushing some to rethink these exchange programs.
A California state lawmaker admitted Wednesday that he "spanked [his daughter's] bottom" following his arrest on suspicion of child cruelty.
The state's Democrats sought to shift redistricting in their own favor, contradicting their national party's stance against gerrymandering.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin posted a series of tweets attacking both news organizations and recorded a three-minute video on social media detailing his disdain for both outlets, which he characterized as biased.
The justices ruled 5-2 that the program giving tax credits of up to $150 for donations to organizations that give scholarships to private-school students amounts to indirect aid to schools controlled by churches.
Advocates were poised to submit more than 25,000 signatures needed to again ask voters next spring to require employers to pay a higher base wage to tipped workers. Voters approved that measure — known as Initiative 77 — in June, but a majority of the D.C. Council overturned it several months later.
Local school officials say the Kentucky Supreme Court's decision to strike down pension reform legislation may prove anticlimactic since the Republican-controlled General Assembly that passed it earlier this year could do so again once in session early next month.
The commission investigating Florida’s Parkland shooting recommended Wednesday that trained and willing educators be allowed to carry guns in schools, reigniting a debate about an idea President Donald Trump had embraced earlier this year.
California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye has quietly given up her Republican registration and re-registered as a no-party-preference voter, saying Thursday she had become increasingly uncomfortable with the GOP’s direction nationally and in the state.
Though Austin will land the biggest part of the Silicon Valley giant's expansion, the Cupertino company also announced plans Thursday to open additional offices in Culver City, San Diego and Seattle -- bringing headcounts to 1,000 in each over the next three years.
The ruling only applies to the five states that filed a joint lawsuit against the rules last year: California, Delaware, Maryland, New York and Virginia.
With just days left to enroll, fewer people are signing up for the Affordable Care Act, even though premiums are stable, more plans are available and millions of uninsured people can still get financial help.
The Alabama Attorney General's Office is taking over the case of the Thanksgiving shooting death of Emantic Fitzgerald "EJ" Bradford Jr. and the wounding of two other people inside the Riverchase Galleria .
Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox was indicted Wednesday on 44 charges in an FBI corruption investigation that became a key issue in Democrat Andrew Gillum's campaign for Florida governor.
By many measures, the anti-vaccination movement is thriving. But not in California, which removed nonmedical exemptions after measles spread throughout the state.
A drinking water project that was first conceived decades ago is paying off as New Mexico’s largest metro area has slashed its reliance on groundwater by almost 70 percent despite the arid state’s struggles with drought.
The bulk of the funding boosts are going toward education and rainy day savings.
The Minneapolis City Council voted last Friday to get rid of the category and instead allow residential structures with up to three dwelling units — like duplexes and triplexes — in every neighborhood. Minneapolis is believed to be the first major city in the United States to approve such a change citywide.
The work that government does makes a difference in people's lives. Government leaders can inspire others by their actions.
Alain Kaloyeros, the ex-SUNY official who engineered an economic rebirth in Albany, was sentenced to 42 months in prison Tuesday in Manhattan federal court for bid-rigging that awarded nearly $1 billion in economic development funds to two major donors to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Castro has been getting ready for a potential run for nearly two years, traveling the country to support midterm candidates and doling out contributions through his Opportunity First PAC.
The legal battle over making the disciplinary records public has been raging for years, even before the death of Eric Garner in police custody in 2014 made the issue of transparency more urgent.
As of Tuesday afternoon, a day after Google announced the number of users whose personal information was exposed, the Rhode Island pension fund owned 37,000 shares in Google, now traded as Alphabet shares, worth about $40 million, said Evan England, a spokesman for Magaziner.
The U.S. Justice Department sued Washington state Monday alleging that a law approved by the Legislature to make it easier for ill Hanford workers to get compensation discriminates against the federal government and its Energy Department contractors.
A Florida state panel reviewing the Parkland shooting unveiled a draft report Wednesday chronicling lapses by Broward County agencies and calling for a statewide overhaul of school security measures.
Cities that have been through a disaster learn one important lesson: “Nature wins.”
Urban heat islands threaten public health. Dallas is turning to a smart growth strategy -- and lots of trees -- to deal with the problem.
In the states holding post-election, pre-inauguration sessions this year, Republican legislators are passing sweeping bills on a wide range of issues -- some that weaken laws just approved by voters.
In her resignation letter, the Philadelphia Democrat highlighted the words of the judge who last month sentenced her to 23-months of probation, noting that he had expressed serious concerns about the undercover sting investigation that led to her political downfall.
A judge on Monday granted a request from downtown business owners to stop a city-run homeless camp from moving forward — but only after the camp opened and dozens moved in.
