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The idea was unveiled early this year but was finalized as legal groups argue in federal court against the Trump administration’s ban on asylum for anyone who illegally crosses the U.S.-Mexico border.
On Feb. 14, Jan Jordan, the Parkland district commander, initially took charge of the scene after former student Nikolas Cruz attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School with a high-powered rifle. She arrived within seven minutes of Cruz firing his first shots.
Louisiana in July became the first state to make digital licenses available to anyone who wants them, and at least 14 other states either have developed a program, run a pilot or are studying the possibility, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is defending the state's tax incentives for an Amazon HQ2 site in Queens after much criticism.
The crude exchange played out hundreds of times on L.A.'s skid row during the 2016 election cycle and again this year, prosecutors said Tuesday as they announced criminal charges against nine people accused in a fraud scheme.
The Mississippi Gestational Age Act, HB1510, enacted in March, prohibits physicians from performing abortions after 15 weeks in gestation except in a medical emergency or in cases of severe fetal abnormality.
Federal health officials announced Tuesday night that they had, for a second time, approved Kentucky’s plan to impose “community engagement” requirements as part of Medicaid, saying they could start in April, nine months after they originally were to have taken effect.
While state lawmakers have been locked in a stalemate on the issue, the city has implemented new rules and programs that have helped it achieve the lowest incarceration rate of any big U.S. city.
Seven states had never elected an openly gay or transgender legislator before this year. Three of them just did in an election that substantially increased the number of LGBT lawmakers overall.
This is the first holiday season since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to tax online shopping.
Texas' Board of Education voted Friday to change the way its students learn about the Civil War. Beginning in the 2019-2020 school year, students will be taught that slavery played a "central role" in the war.
The House has passed both items by margins wide enough votes to override a Kasich veto. The Senate has yet to act on either bill, but is expected to soon.
A North Carolina grade school with one of the state's highest anti-vaccination rates has become ground zero for an outbreak of the disease, which causes rashy, itchy skin and leads to death in rare cases.
Counties must certify election results by Nov. 27, after which the Secretary of State’s Office would direct a recount for races that qualify.
Lance Mason was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the death of his estranged wife, Aisha Fraser Mason, at her home on Chagrin Boulevard near Normandy Road, the sources said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced late Friday that she has added the companies to a state-court lawsuit filed last spring against Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and several opioid distributors.
With new federal rules allowing short-term plans that last up to three years, agents said, some consumers are opting for these more risky policies. Adding to the appeal is the elimination of a federal tax penalty for those without comprehensive insurance, effective next year.
From deep on the Gulf Coast to Denver, Chicago and Philadelphia, voters in recent years have been turning to a new wave of district attorneys pushing a boldly liberal agenda.
For one, don’t assume the last governor’s appointees want to leave.
The Trump administration has shifted away from overseeing police in favor of tackling violent crime.
While Gov. Roy Cooper's office dismissed the move as a political stunt, the lawmakers were praised by an environmental activist group that has fought the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and has been frustrated by Cooper's silence.
“Racial and discriminative language have no place in our society, and most especially when spoken by someone holding a public office,” Gov. Colyer said in a statement.
Nycha’s strategy often worked. The Health Department backed down in 158 of 211 cases in public housing after the authority challenged its finding, the data shows.
The tax break, created under the tax law President Donald Trump signed last year, could be a game changer for towns in rural areas such as Montrose. The zones are expected to attract billions of dollars from people eager to reduce their tax bill on money they’ve made selling stocks, bonds or property.
President Trump made a rare visit to smoke-choked California on Saturday, joining Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom to tour what he called the "really, really bad" devastation of the Camp Fire and pledging to help with the still-unfolding disaster.
Brenda Snipes announced Sunday she will resign following a string of controversies plaguing her office before and since Election Day.
Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum, for the second time, conceded the race for Florida governor to Republican Ron DeSantis on Saturday.
Stacey Abrams halted her run for Georgia governor Friday, but the Democrat said she would not concede the contest to Republican Brian Kemp and planned to launch a voting rights group to file "major" litigation challenging election policies.
Our modern-day well-being is built on both private- and public-sector institutions. We need them to be cost-effective, not inexpensive.
State and local officials devoted thousands of hours, and put other projects on hold, to lure the company.
Tennessee's safety assessment of its schools identified surveillance, as well as vehicle and access control to buildings as areas for improvement.
With less federal funding for outreach and advertising, and no more tax penalty for being uninsured, it's harder to convince people to sign up for health care.
State officials, who are seeking new contractors to oversee the system, say an overhaul is needed to improve mobile-crisis response, incorporate local mental health services that already exist and, more broadly, put separate people in charge of financial and clinical decisions.
The ruling issued by the state Supreme Court’s second appellate division was based on the case of Susai Francis, an immigrant from India who was arrested on Long Island in June 2017 for driving drunk.
The Secretary of State's Elections Division opened an investigation after it received a complaint from Tim Scott, director of the Multnomah County Elections Division.
Provisional ballots are a proven fail-safe for voters across the country, but their role in the political dramas playing out this week illustrates how the little-understood tool can fall prey to political manipulation.
A new report points to a troubling lack of quality data about missing and murdered indigenous women.
The Trump administration Tuesday allowed states to provide more inpatient treatment for people with serious mental illness by tapping Medicaid, a potentially far-reaching move to address issues from homelessness to violence.
A New York City program is showing striking success at keeping young offenders from returning to jail.
Budget directors are still figuring out how much of the tax law's impact on state revenues was a one-time boost.
Ceasefire Oregon has called on the state House of Representatives to investigate Rep. Bill Post, R-Keizer, for putting online the phone numbers and home addresses of the chief petitioners of a ballot measure to ban assault weapons.
A new study points to evidence that luring a large corporation isn’t the best way to spur job growth.
The Louisiana Department of Health may have spent anywhere from $61.6 to $85.5 million more than it should have on Medicaid recipients who are ineligible for the program, according to an audit released Tuesday (Nov. 13).
State Sen. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, said she was standing with her constituents when officers led her out of the Capitol rotunda and placed plastic restraints on her wrists.
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the city's agreement to bring in an independent monitor to oversee public housing, saying the deal doesn't have enough teeth to trigger actual reform for NYCHA's long-suffering tenants.
In an interview with conservative radio talk show host Leland Conway, Bevin said that the "culture of death" in America makes mass shooting more likely.
Reported in 39 states and Washington, D.C., acute flaccid myelitis, known as AFM, causes muscle weakness and in some cases paralysis in the arms or legs, terrifying parents and puzzling medical researchers.
Florida’s historic recount was thrown once more into uncertainty Thursday when a federal judge ruled that at least 4,000 voters whose mail-in and provisional ballots were rejected because of issues with their signatures may be given two days to resolve the problem and have their votes counted.
In its order list released Tuesday morning, the Supreme Court said it would take up an appeal from the House GOP and asked the parties to file briefings on whether Republican leaders have standing to challenge the lower court’s ruling.
Lawyers in Philadelphia think so. They want the city, which is suffering from an eviction crisis, to spend more on helping people fight landlords in court.
The 1978 federal pregnancy discrimination law hasn’t kept up with changes in the workplace, and efforts to reform it have failed.
It’s an increasingly divisive question. If the goal is to affect change -- from gun control to climate change -- some argue that to divest is the best, while others believe pensions would have more power keeping their financial stake.
Cities are eliminating requirements for new buildings to have parking.
It wouldn't be the first time lawmakers have attempted to strip a new governor of some power. But it is rare.
Springfield, Mass., is in the best shape it’s been in a generation.
Whether governments are leveraging technology to streamline services or engaging their employees in meaningful ways, state and local leaders are embracing a strategic approach to attract and retain the talent they need.
Of all the new governors, few will change the culture of their states as much as him.
"This is something that school districts are just going to have to plan for," says an education official in Washington state, which is proactively helping these students succeed and secure housing.
Some cities are closing recycling plants. Others are ending curbside pickup. For recycling to be sustainable, consumers must learn to sort their trash better.
More than 15 percent of students are missing almost a month of school. Districts don't know how to address the issue.
The White House has learned that there’s more than one way to attack a liberal-leaning federal government.
It’s a massive shift in the dynamic between outlying communities and urban cores.
As Maryland has learned, it’s crucial to know the costs of proposed legislation.
Fiscal incentives can encourage local governments to consolidate redundant operations.
There’s still plenty of coverage of governors and legislatures. But the void of newspaper reporters has been filled with partisan-slanted bloggers.
State Epidemiologist and State Health Officer Dr. Katrina Hedberg said the guidelines are part of a much larger strategy the state has been using since 2016 to curb the abuse of opioids, such as oxycodone or hydrocodone.
Her remarks Tuesday came during her first news conference since the Nov. 6 election, when a reporter asked about the thoughts on the increased controversy surrounding King.
Sgt. Marc Dennis was in charge of calibrating the devices, and authorities have alleged that he skipped a required step in the calibration process. Dennis has denied any wrongdoing and has pleaded not guilty to records tampering and other charges.
Officials with the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision say that even one such case is unacceptable, but that only around 0.02% of the total prison population of nearly 50,000 are referenced in the reports.
Some of those who escaped from the massive Camp Fire last week questioned why Butte County leaders did not do more to warn residents of Paradise and neighboring mountain communities as a fire whipped with fearsome speed through the mountainous region north of Sacramento.
Citing a lack of evidence pointing to any wrongdoing, the judge stopped short of granting the Scott campaign’s request for an injunction to impound the machines.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh filed a motion Tuesday in federal court challenging President Donald Trump's appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting U.S. attorney general after the ouster last week of Jeff Sessions.
The winning packages, disclosed by Amazon on Tuesday, paled next to Washington state's historic $8.7 billion giveaway to Boeing five years ago.
Small schools and high poverty schools are putting their students at the biggest disadvantage, according to a new report.
Georgia Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden instructed county election officials Monday to count absentee ballots even if they lack a voter's date of birth, as long as the voter's identity can be verified.
The VA is working with states and cities to use the innovative financing approach to help veterans with PTSD find gainful employment. If it's successful, the payoff for investors is big.
Today, 47 states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing localities to set up assisted outpatient treatment, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center, a nonprofit group that strongly supports assisted outpatient treatment.
Lancaster County District Judge Kevin McManaman said nowhere in the state law defining eligibility for the Bridge to Independence (B2I) Program is there "any expression, positive or otherwise," to justify the conclusion the Legislature intended for them to be eligible for enrollment in the program.
Twenty-eight states and territories regulate their own workplaces rather than defer to the feds. While some of these programs are effective, others are in trouble for not adequately protecting workers.
A photo of the Baraboo High School class of 2019 surfaced late Sunday, showing a group of about 50 boys standing on the steps of the Sauk County Courthouse with their arms outstretched above their heads, laughing and smiling.
Two Navajo men, Willie Grayeyes and Kenneth Maryboy, won their county commission seats, giving Native Americans a 2-1 advantage on the local governing body for the first time in San Juan County.
Democrats claimed victory Monday in two state Senate races, giving them back the two-thirds supermajority they lost in June when Orange County Democrat Josh Newman was recalled after he voted in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown's gas tax increase.
The number of international students entering U.S. colleges and universities has fallen for the second year in a row, a nonprofit group said on Tuesday, amid efforts by the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on foreigners studying in the United States.
As vote counts in several states increased Democrats' midterm election gains, and further undercut President Donald Trump's claims to victory, the president on Monday led some Republicans in alleging vote fraud, especially in Florida, without evidence.
Supporters of additional funding for transportation have plenty of reasons to smile after last week’s elections, but that doesn’t mean they can stop worrying.
These honorees didn’t just set goals; they set ambitious, attention-grabbing goals that they're accomplishing.
Creating a culture to explore big questions and relationships through a lens of privilege and inclusion and develop reflective practitioners.
Florida counties began the laborious and time-sensitive recount of votes cast last week to resolve the state's three close statewide races.
Under the rule, approved by Department of Revenue Executive Director Michael Hartman, residents will have the choice starting Nov. 30 to use the letter "X" to identify a non-binary gender in favor of "M" for male and "F" for female.
The order, first put in place by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius in 2007, prohibited harassment, firing or discrimination against state workers based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The 17 Democratic candidates were elected under a campaign they called "Black Girl Magic Texas," hoping to be the largest number of black women elected judges in Harris County.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Justice Allen Loughry’s resignation Saturday evening, a day after he called a special session for Tuesday to start a new impeachment process against the former chief justice.
It's been four days since voters cast their ballots in the race but despite Brian Kemp claiming victory, no one has called the race for either candidate.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi leaned on state police to open an investigation into Gov. Rick Scott's claims of voter fraud in his U.S. Senate race, even though police and elections officials say they have found no evidence of fraud.
President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to withhold federal payments to California, saying "There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires" and calling its forest management "so poor."
As of Sunday morning, the Camp Fire had killed 23 people and burned through roughly 109,000 acres -- about 164 square miles -- in Butte County, according to Cal Fire.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib made headlines for their congressional wins. But a number of Democratic Socialists also won state-level races this election.
The state auditor examined how Utah’s public education system sanctions educators found guilty of misconduct and handed down four findings:
The ranked-choice voting process is different than normal elections. Voters rank candidates from first to last. A candidate who earns more than half the vote wins. If no one passes the threshold, an instant runoff kicks in and the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated.
The historic number of Texas candidates who ran for offices from governor down to city council positions joined a record-shattering rank of more than 400 LGBTQ individuals on national midterm ballots this year.
Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, was accused of assaulting four past romantic partners and using his office to threaten or harass the women. Among the allegations was a claim Schneiderman slapped a woman in 2016 at a home in the Hamptons.
The bill signing, before an audience of anti-gun activists in Trenton, had been scheduled before a mass shooting Wednesday night at a Thousand Oaks, California, bar that left at least a dozen people dead.
One possibility is an expansion of California's gun violence restraining order law, which allows police and family members to seek the temporary removal of firearms from someone they believe is a danger to themselves or others.
The race for Florida governor is likely heading to a recount after Democrat-heavy counties tallied more ballots that allowed Andrew Gillum to narrow the margins against Republican Ron DeSantis by less than half a percentage point.
In a major last-minute act, Mr. Sessions signed a memorandum on Wednesday before President Trump fired him sharply curtailing the use of so-called consent decrees, court-approved deals between the Justice Department and local governments that create a road map of changes for law enforcement and other institutions.
The state's new approach to the workplace goes far beyond traditional telecommuting. It's not only making employees and managers happier, it's saving the state millions of dollars.
Republican Brian Kemp on Thursday resigned as Georgia's secretary of state, saying he needs to start the work of transitioning to the state's top office after earning a "clear and convincing victory" at the ballot box.
Moderate-to liberal candidates won in five states, while conservatives were successful in two.
Despite all the teacher strikes and walkouts, voters largely stuck to partisan lines at the ballot box.
The Senate remains in Republican control, but the House flipped to the Democrats. The last time there was only one divided state legislature was over 100 years ago in 1914.
Looking over the aftermath of Tuesday night’s bloodbath for the New Jersey GOP, Assembly Republican leader Jon Bramnick thinks he has a fix.
The number of people sent to Arkansas' prisons for violating their terms of probation or parole fell more than 41 percent in 2017, as a new law went into effect that was aimed at stemming the surge in population.
On Wednesday evening -- with nearly all 3.9 million votes counted and Abrams trailing Kemp by fewer than 63,000 votes -- the Abrams campaign said that it was 25,700 votes shy of triggering a runoff and 23,800 votes from a recount and that she would not concede until it was clear every last vote was tallied.
The new totals show that DeSantis is ahead of Democrat Andrew Gillum by 0.57 percent of the vote or 46,722 votes. The state will conduct an automatic recount if the margin falls to 0.5 percent.
We need to know more about what governments are doing -- and how well their efforts are working. A couple of recent studies point the way.
The defeats are the latest signal of the difficulty of winning broad support for environmental measures, even on the heels of a particularly alarming round of reports from climate scientists in recent weeks warning of catastrophic consequences and calling for immediate action to address climate change.
Amid record-breaking numbers in early voting this midterm season, there have been some irregularities reported at polling stations in several states on Election Day.
With Democrats taking over the U.S. House, Congress may grind to a halt. Red and blue states, meanwhile, will go their separate ways on abortion, taxes, education, health and voting rights.
An unprecedented number of female candidates ran for state or local office this year.
On the heels of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s controversial confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, these results raise questions about how alleged misconduct factors into voters’ decisions.
The party now has 14 "trifectas," compared to the Republicans' 22.
The trajectory of health policy -- from Medicaid to abortion to soda taxes -- is set for change in some states.
Efforts to raise state taxes largely failed. That wasn't the case at the local level.
Their victories mirrored their numerical gains in the governors' races.
If they ultimately flip the four seats where they have the lead, the party would take the majority of attorney general seats nationwide.
Most red states will stay red, and the blue states will remain the minority. But voters did reject several more ideological candidates in favor of politicians who presented themselves as more pragmatic.
In Georgia, Democrat Stacey Abrams refuses to concede.
Gov. Paul LePage said Monday that he plans to move to Florida for tax reasons and teach at a university there regardless of who Mainers elect to succeed him.
Four Tennessee death row inmates challenging the constitutionality of capital punishment in their state are asking a federal judge to allow them to bypass lethal injections or the electric chair in favor of another method: death by firing squad.
The mailer sent to 4,000 voters includes a genuine photo of Gov. Brad Henry and LaVelle Compton together. Next to the photo is a made-up Henry quote describing Compton as "an exceptional young man who will be an asset to our Legislature."
The New York Times and other outlets are reporting that Amazon decided to use the two locations to house 50,000 employees, ending speculation and serenades over the past year by politicians in major cities.
The robocall, audio of which was posted on social media, features a man attempting to impersonate former talk show host Oprah Winfrey, who campaigned for Democrat Stacey Abrams in Georgia last week.
Recent financial disclosures show that Kris Kobach, a driving force behind dozens of proposals across the US designed to suppress minority voting and immigrant rights, has accepted thousands of dollars from white nationalists.
Twenty years ago, Oregon became the first state in the nation to conduct all statewide elections entirely by mail.
"Voting rights are constitutional rights, and they're part of what it means to be an American," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
The state's GOP-controlled legislature hoped voters would approve measures to give them more say over judicial and ethics appointments, but both were defeated soundly.
Local governments in nearly all states reported slight increases in staffing for accounting, budgeting and other areas of public finance.
The likely outcome of six races has changed in the last couple weeks, with three becoming tossups. But one thing is still clear: Democrats are set to gain ground.
As yet another University System of Maryland leader lost his post Thursday, consequences of the turmoil that followed the death of football player Jordan McNair began to materialize: The flagship institution's main accreditation under scrutiny. Academic officials condemning a breakdown in integrity. A major donor withholding support.
City testing of Chicago homes with water meters found nearly 1 in 5 sampled had brain-damaging lead in their tap water, but Mayor Rahm Emanuel's water commissioner acknowledged Thursday that the city continued installing new meters after learning about the alarming results in June.
The Department of Defense identified the U.S. servicemember killed in Afghanistan in an insider attack Saturday as Maj. Brent Taylor, a member of the Utah National Guard and the mayor of North Ogden, Utah.
The problem was first discovered about Oct. 15, when some voters who received the letter called to say they had received it in error, Democratic Director Eric Fey said Thursday night.
More than $284 million has been raised for the Illinois governor’s race, more than the nearly $280 million spent in the record-setting 2010 California gubernatorial race.
Greenhouse gases and corporate profits don’t remain within state lines. Neither has money donated to both sides of this year's ballot measures.
A federal judge ordered Georgia election officials to end the "severe burden" facing some new U.S. citizens trying to vote for the first time, deciding Friday that they must be allowed to cast regular ballots if they show proof of citizenship at the polls.
The move to publicly disclose the probe appeared to break with tradition in the office, which oversees voting integrity, as it differed from how Kemp's team handled an earlier cyber breach at Kennesaw State University.
But the races in Phoenix and Little Rock, Ark., are headed for runoffs.
