Archive
fedgazette, the bimonthly newspaper of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, may not be part of your regular reading routine, but I can recommend it ...
Here's the big-urban school performance report that's getting so much press today. (Look here for city-by-city results in reading; here for math).
The news overall ...
The mayor of a village called Justice, Illinois gets indicted? No way.
Way.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell stopped by the 13th floor last week.
He was in town to talk about some clean energy initiatives he's been promoting. ...
The Washington Post noted on Sunday that the GOP has to defend 22 of the 36 governorships that are up next November. Republicans also currently hold seven ...
San Diego's fall from grace has been well documented on the 13th Floor and in a November Governing story.
So the news today that San ...
A&E is going to air a Ted Danson movie tonight called "Knights of the South Bronx," about a man who teaches ...
Who are those Aussies who are going around building, buying and investing in U.S. highways? The Wall Street Journal today (paid subscription) profiles Macquarie ...
What do you do when you throw a demolition party, but the building to be imploded refuses to cooperate?
Sioux Falls, South Dakota has this ...
First it was liberals who bandied the names of actor Warren Beatty and director Rob Reiner as '06 Arnold alternatives.
Now it's conservatives who are ...
New Mexico state officials are going to announce next week a deal that could have tourists zooming into space in just a couple years, according ...
Have you ever seen a more uncomfortable photo than this one?
"Hey, remember when I overthrew your administration? Good times."
Governing's January issue will discuss whether term limits have dulled institutional memory in state legislatures and shifted power to governors and agency heads. That got ...
Twenty police officers in San Francisco have been suspended for their roles in making videos that are openly racist, sexist and homophobic. It's a nightmare ...
As we mentioned yesterday, 20 members of the San Francisco police force were suspended this week for their part in the production of home videos that ...
Wait: Is that a tree on steroids or a cell phone tower? It's usually not hard to tell the difference. As these pictures show, communications ...
Several states are quietly altering the way Medicare's new prescription drug benefit operates. The changes mean that when the program begins on January 1, it will ...
People often complain that cities issue traffic tickets or set up red-light cameras for revenue rather than public safety. Many officials deny that is the ...
I've just returned from the National League of Cities meeting in Charlotte, where the highlight was a panel with New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin on ...
Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed recently announced that the Web site of former governor Mike Lowry, who served from 1993-1997, would be maintained in ...
Indianapolis has long been considered one of the nation's prime examples of a successful city-county merger. But the 35-year-old "Uni-Gov" merger between Indianapolis ...
One of the most interesting developments at the National League of Cities meeting last week in Charlotte was the announcement of an NLC task force ...
Claims by some conservatives that liberals are waging a "War on Christmas" have gotten a lot of attention lately. Some groups have criticized ...
Just read a Washington Post editorial about a casualty in the HHS appropriations bill: ER One. In Congress's efforts to rid the bill of earmarks, ...
How much would you pay to live in a prison? A developer in Minnesota is hoping the answer for some people will be more than $1 ...
Remember that spaceport in New Mexico? It won't come cheap.
Governor Bill Richardson has proposed [ABQ Journal, subs. required] spending $100 million in state dollars to ...
If you get thrown in the drunk tank in the Jackson County, Iowa, jail, relax! You're not hallucinating---the room really is pink. And the ...
I never know what the reaction is going to be to my Assessments column in Governing when it is published each month. Some months there ...
Stories on patronage hiring at Chicago's City Hall, payola in city contracting decisions, and corruption in the city's Hired Truck program have made news headlines ...
My mother used to tell us children to use the phone book instead of automatically, lazily, dialing 411 for directory assistance. One cost money, the other ...
Mitt Romney's announcement that he won't stand for a second term as governor of Massachusetts--presumably liking the idea of running for president better--makes me recall ...
I'm lucky enough to live near one of the few remaining revival movies houses, so the other night was able to see on the big ...
Do sprawling residential and commercial developments cause air pollution? Officials in California's San Joaquin Valley think so. Last week they passed what they believe to ...
Perhaps inspired by the 13th Floor's earlier roundup of governor's holiday wishes on their websites, Stateline takes a look at the guvs' seasonal greeting cards.
Robert H. Nelson, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland, published a useful article in Sunday's Washington Post outlining the current state of ...
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to be severing some ties with his hometown of Graz, Austria.
Officials in Graz have been threatening to rename Arnold ...
Michael Aguirre, the city attorney of San Diego, has been slapped with a $9,000 fine by the city's ethics commission for campaign finance violations. What makes ...
A few days ago the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill designed to crack down on illegal immigration, but not before business ...
Yesterday's New York Times has a story about Google Earth, a relatively new satellite image program that allows anyone with a computer to access--free of ...
The Albuquerque Journal ran a story the other day that won't help Bill Richardson's presidential aspirations any. The story gives what must be the fullest ...
Who says hurricanes are all bad? Florida's coffers are stuffed with $800 million in sales tax revenue related to hurricane reconstruction. (That's the 2004 hurricanes). Even more ...
For a preview of the 2006 governors elections that I'm writing for the February issue of Governing, I've spoken with the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato ...
Stephen Malanga of the Manhattan Institute wants New York to rip a page from the Gipper's playbook. Fire the striking transit workers, he says today ...
After sorting through thousands of "What exit?" jokes and lines from the Sopranos, my home state's hapless search for a new slogan is ...
Augustine, an island volcano off the coast of Alaska, is rumbling. The photo here is from December 12. Scientists say the chances of an eruption triggering ...
Fans of bureaucratic disasters won't want to miss today's Washington Post story about the founding of the federal Department of Homeland Security.
The Bush Administration ...
With a new 50-state poll of governors' approval ratings out, I decided to check an argument I made last month: that female executives are as ...
My Christmas tree has been up for a couple of weeks and is starting to shed some of its needles. But that's nothing compared with ...
Virginia Gov. Mark Warner just pardoned two more men who it appears were possibly innocent. Newly discovered DNA evidence in old files helped to exonerate ...
Of all the Christmas gifts my mom received, surely one that I gave her stood out as unique. It wasn't a sweater or a book ...
What makes a great public square? The people at the Project for Public Spaces, who Rob Gurwitt profiled in Governing in April, spend a lot ...
The backlash against the Supreme Court's affirmation of eminent domain has grown so intense that a key state redevelopment official now says "we would ...
The NYC transit workers' union got in 60 hours of right hooks, then went up against the ropes. And the New York Times today declares that ...
New Jersey's taken a lot of heat for its search for a new slogan. But based on this list of current state catch phrases, it ...
If I were to say, "Holland," what is the first thing that comes to mind? "Drug-addled populace?" "Crime run rampant?&...
If you're still trying to come up with a New Year's resolution, do me a favor. Promise to only use the word "statehouse" ...
The new Medicare prescription drug benefit begins to kick in on Sunday. Given the confusion swirling around "Part D," Baltimore is treating the ...
Folks who wish state government more closely resembled the lifestyles of the rich and famous will want to read this Sacramento Bee story about Arnold ...
Say it loud: "DOORS CLOSING!" Say it dorky: "Doooors Cloooooosing!" Say it sultry, say it breathy, say it Iraqi, but however ...
On hearing that 750 homes and businesses in Napa, California, were flooded by last weekend's storms, I immediately thought of the story Governing ran in the ...
How did Tennessee taxpayers wind up in the drink on a bunch of Jack Nicklaus-designed golf courses? The Tennessean has this great story showing how ...
Jerry Sanders, the new mayor of San Diego, wants resignation letters from all of his middle- and top-managers this week.
Going out with a bang? ...
This didn't take long. Voters in California and Ohio defeated redistricting initiatives in November, but because the issue has become so potent for political reformers, ...
EarthCam, which bills itself as the "recognized authority on the Internet camera industry" (um, okay!), just came out with its seventh annual list ...
Football players are well known for starting to celebrate a touchdown before they actually cross the goal line. Occasionally, they get tripped up, lose the ...
How much slack should bloggers get? Will blogs remain a depository of fuzzy sourcing and anonymous slurs, or will the medium be held to standards ...
Because there's never a wrong time to show a photo* of a governor in embarrassing hunting gear.
"Mitt Under Fire for Hunt" [Boston ...
As Political Wire notes, one Texas House of Representatives campaign is sure to get personal. That's because the candidates in the Democratic primary are incumbent ...
I don't imagine students at high-priced law schools, who have lofty dreams about public service, think about the possibility they might be hearing a case ...
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman (alas, no relation) is contemplating a bid for U.S. Senate. If C-SPAN had a little more entrepreneurial savvy and ...
One of the primary reasons for adopting term limits is to get fresh faces into government. However, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported recently, it ...
Yesterday on the 13th floor, the water cooler talk was about the water cooler itself. I'm not sure which Governing staffer was the first to ...
Is fat fit? How else do we explain this? * Men's Fitness magazine ranks Baltimore the #1 fittest city in the U.S.
* Men's Health magazine ranks ...
The good news is Arnold and his 12-year old son are OK after crashing their Harley yesterday. The bad news is that the Governator has ...
Okay. Not that kind of French kiss. Or that one.
The real kind, the kind where you greet someone with a peck on both cheeks. ...
Figuring out which statehouse blogs are worth reading is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Blogs pop up, gain fans, and then disappear as soon as ...
posted Josh Goodman
There is new momentum against the death penalty in state government. Death sentences are declining, the New Jersey legislature passed a death ...
Smoking bans aren't big news any more. Actually, what I find more interesting than a city or state passing a new ban is seeing which ...
Norfolk, Virginia has been declared "TsunamiReady." Norfolk joins Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, as the only East Coast localities to meet the government's preparedness ...
According to today's Washington Post, Washington, DC, city council member (and former mayor) Marion Barry tested positive for cocaine in a court-ordered drug test last ...
High-occupancy vehicle laws are intended to help cut down on traffic congestion by getting people to carpool. A woman in Arizona, however, tried to beat ...
Apparently the Governator didn't have the appropriate motorcycle license when he crashed his Harley into an SUV on Sunday. Staff says he won't ride again ...
When it comes to stadiums and arenas, the argument we hear again and again in favor of them is that they'll spur economic development in ...
The District of Columbia is a political jurisdiction like no other. Its unique status and demographics often skew the statistics in 50-state comparisons. So when ...
Yesterday's Hotline Blogometer cites what it says is ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey's first public writing since resigning office in August 2004. McGreevey collaborates on a Huffington ...
Acting-Guv Codey was pulling for "New Jersey: Love at First Sight." I was pulling for "New Jersey: The Real Deal."
...
A national movement is afoot to crack down on dangerous dogs, from San Francisco, to Colorado to Virginia. Now counties across the country have a ...
Less than five months into Hawaii's experiment with a gas cap, Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle wants to repeal the price-setting measure.
The cap was put ...
Watch out Oprah. Lewis Billings, the mayor of Provo, Utah, is getting his own television talk show.
Billings claims "Inside Provo with Lewis K. ...
It's tough to be homeless anywhere. But some cities are tougher on homeless people than others.
The National Coalition for the Homeless this week published ...
posted by Zach Patton
"Vote for Pedro." Ligers. Tina the Llama. Nunchuck skills.
If these words don't make any sense to you, you ...
The U.S. Supreme Court punted today on the issue of abortion. The Court was considering the constitutionality of a New Hampshire law requiring parental ...
I've been doing a lot of hunting for blogs lately. I'm looking for blogs that are both tightly focused on state government news, politics or ...
Maryland's legislature continued its pro-labor tear this week by voting to raise the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour. I'll leave aside for now the ...
Occasionally, the 13th Floor has taken note of the hiring scandal bedeviling Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher (pictured left). An investigation by state Attorney General Greg ...
For every smoking ban that passes in a city or state, there seem to be some eyebrow-raising loopholes. Those exemptions can be questionable, and even ...
Sometimes a word is worth a thousand words.
That's certainly been true during the latest round of governors' State of the State addresses. You can ...
Memo to gubernatorial hopefuls: When filing to run for office, don't bounce the check.
There's a friendly battle going on in the comments section over my last post on indexing the minimum wage. Just to stoke the fire a ...
New Mexico's planned spac ep ort is already attracting some new people to the Land of Enchantment.
The New York-based Rocket Racing League has announced ...
SurveyUSA's newest approval rating polls reveal the secret to being a popular governor: Don't be a former member of Congress.
Ten (Correction) Nine current governors ...
Here's one argument I missed in my current cover story on term limits: elected officials' support, or lack thereof, for the legalization of marijuana.
A (...
If you've spent any time talking to officials with the National Association of Counties in recent years, you've certainly heard something about the methamphetamine epidemic. ...
While I was reporting a story on mental health parity laws for the upcoming issue of Governing, one source asked me a trivia question: "...
Don't try to accuse newly-inaugurated Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine of patronage hiring.
He announced (second item) last week that he was hiring Mary Kilgore -- ...
There's still a lot of opposition to banning smoking at bars. Just ask any member of the puffing masses standing outside pubs in a growing ...
We've kept close tabs here on the 13th Floor on laws designed to bar sex offenders from living within 1000 or 2000 feet of schools and other ...
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is meeting in Washington this week, a convenient two blocks from our perch on the 13th floor. I popped ...
Wandering around Denver International Airport during a 2 1/2 hour layover, I came across an interesting exhibit in the corridors of Concourse A: a photo gallery of ...
posted by Zach Patton
Students in West Virginia, which has one of the nation's worst obesity problems, are getting a whole new way to shed ...
The last time many people felt passionately about the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, other hot topics included Prohibition and women's suffrage. But ...
The latest poll numbers from Survey USA show once again that many Republican governors are thriving in blue states while Democratic governors remain popular in ...
No, this isn't about Jack Abramoff. It's about a listing on eBay.
Someone is currently selling a vintage chair from the Illinois House of Reps. ...
When I read the story about the Virginia legislator who fired his handgun in his legislative office -- right into the bulletproof vest hanging on ...
Having written a story for Governing's February issue on coalition politics in Colorado -- and having touted Colorado all year as a state that offers ...
Growing up in Minnesota, I was shopping at Target stores long before the rest of the country had heard of the discount retailer. It's even ...
The State of the Union address is as much about measuring the standing of the president as it is about the country as a whole. ...
Normally when neighboring cities talk about merging services, trust between leaders -- or a lack of it -- becomes a big problem. That's apparently not ...
Ever since I wrote a short article in Governing about a lottery scandal surrounding North Carolina's Democratic House Speaker Jim Black (pictured), I have been ...
On the campaign trail last year, Tim Kaine never hesitated to mention Virginia's top-shelf grade in Governing's last management scorecard. So I wasn't too surprised ...
Boston's city council is headed to Spanish class. According to the Boston Globe, Council President Michael Flaherty hired a Spanish tutor to come by City ...
John Lesch, a second term state representative from St. Paul, Minnesota, is spending three weeks in Iraq and compiling a blog about his trip.
He ...
Two of the candidates in May's Republican primary for a West Virginia House of Delegates seat share more than just a love of tax reform.
...
The mayor of Hagerstown, Maryland, abruptly resigned this week with no explanation and after only nine months in office. Okay, fine. Resign if you need ...
Even after reading hundreds of articles about goods being produced more cheaply overseas, I was still stunned to read that Del Monte is getting out ...
Here's an intriguing idea: A blind student at San Francisco State, my beloved alma mater, convinced university officials to install a half-dozen chimes to help ...
Virginia is embroiled in a state song controversy, but for all the wrong reasons. The ordeal began in 1997 when, due to patently offensive lyrics, "...
In Governing's February issue, I wrote (2nd item) that despite all the hand-wringing in Washington over whether Samuel Alito and the Supremes would repeal Roe ...
My father was a librarian, so our summer vacations inevitably revolved around the city in which the American Library Association was holding its annual meeting: ...
While working on an article for Governing's March issue on financing sports stadiums, one question I've asked a couple of sources is whether last year's ...
If you live on the East Coast, as we on the 13th Floor do, it is hard to miss the ongoing debate surrounding Venezuelan President ...
Okay, this isn't a blog written from beyond the grave. But it's pretty close.
The county coroner for Lake County, Illinois, has started a blog (!). ...
Only one African-American, Virginia's Doug Wilder, has ever been elected governor of a U.S. state. As a result of developments over the past two ...
Fort Myers, Florida, seemingly did everything right to redevelop its historic downtown -- tax incentives, preservation tax credits. The city even hired a New Urbanist ...
The first time I saw Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that anyone can add to or modify, my very first thought was--like everyone else's--this is pretty ...
Did NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg go overboard when he sacked one of his employees in Albany for playing solitaire on the job?
"I expect ...
Here on the 13th Floor, we're fond of spouting off about the idea that states lead and Washington follows, with policy decisions being hashed out ...
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't ever been a very convincing Republican. He only joined the GOP a few months before running for office ...
Initiatives to take redistricting out of the grubby hands of legislators failed in both California and Ohio this past November, but because redistricting is seen ...
Chicago is seeing an unexpected economic boon from its ban on using handheld cell phones while driving, which went into effect 8 months ago. While the ...
Having a hard time keeping track of Chicago's corruption scandals?
Try this "game" of Clue--called "Clout"--by the Chicago Tribune.
Did ...
Sad news for Connecticut voters who like government corruption: former Governor John Rowland, who served prison time for accepting gifts from state contractors in exchange ...
Rhode Island doesn't have a lot going for it. It's about 1/429th the size of Alaska. It's not actually an island. And, it was one ...
Hey, remember that time the Vice President shot a guy?
No, not that one. The other one. From 1804. When VP Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton ...
We hear big business saying it again and again: Washington, save us from the states! It's tough enough being regulated by one government in D....
Yesterday, I attended a symposium at the Brookings Institution that accompanied the release of a ground-breaking report on America's "first suburbs." Researchers with ...
One thing that strikes me about SurveyUSA's newest batch of polling on governors' approval ratings is that people like their governors a lot more in ...
