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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Wednesday announced that she had signed an executive order prohibiting the city's jail from accepting new detainees of the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
There are 239 immigrant children separated from their parents and now in the custody of a social service organization in East Harlem that is placing them in foster homes, Mayor de Blasio said Wednesday -- and the youngest is just 9 months old.
A federal investigation initiated when West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry brought his concerns about Supreme Court spending to federal investigators has culminated with Loughry himself being indicted on 22 federal charges alleging fraud, witness tampering and lying to investigators.
His executive order, signed on Wednesday, comes after days of governors and mayors escalating their words of opposition into actions attempting to block the immigration policy announced in April.
Oklahoma will become the first state in the nation to oversee coal ash disposal within its borders, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday, a decision that pleased utility companies and worried environmentalists.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will sue the federal government over its policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the southern border, as more than 70 of those children have wound up in facilities in New York State _ with a federal source telling the New York Daily News the number of separated children here is even higher, 311.
Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order on Tuesday that will bar any state resources from being used to help federal authorities separate children and their parents who are seeking to enter the U.S.
D.C. voters backed Initiative 77 Tuesday, raising the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, up from the current level of $12.50, and phasing out the $3.33 an hour minimum wage for tipped workers.
California would lead the U.S. in significantly changing the standard for when police can fire their weapons under legislation that cleared its first hurdle Tuesday after an emotionally charged debate over deadly shootings that have roiled the country.
In a high-stakes and fast-moving legal dispute, Gov. Paul LePage on Monday filed a second appeal of a lower court ruling requiring the administration to move forward with an expansion of Medicaid approved by Maine voters in 2017.
The New York Police Department will spare many people who smoke marijuana in public from getting arrested and will give them a ticket instead.
A bipartisan group of seven governors rejected President Donald Trump's request to send their states' National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border because they object to the administration's policy of separating minor children from asylum-seeking adults.
Lawsuits are costing governments millions, and, in some cases, forcing them to shut down departments.
The decision is unlikely to have widespread impact but represents a rebuke to the White House.
Gov. Charlie Baker is reversing a decision to send a Massachusetts National Guard helicopter to the country’s southern border, citing the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents.
Lawmakers have already tried -- and failed -- to reach a consensus on taxes in a regular session in 2017 and two previous special sessions this year.
The intensified hostility between the governor and state Legislature pushes New Jersey closer to the possibility of a second state government shutdown in two years.
Rendell said he had begun having symptoms including a slight tremor three and a half years ago, and sought medical attention at the urging of his family.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle called the fiscal gap "difficult and challenging."
A federal judge has struck down a Kansas voter citizenship law that Secretary of State Kris Kobach had personally defended.
Her candidacy may not loom as a major threat on its own, but it just might attract enough votes in concert with other left-leaning opponents to present a big time problem for the incumbent Democrat.
Most New Yorkers caught smoking marijuana will face criminal summonses instead of being arrested, under a new city policy announced by the NYPD and Mayor Bill de Blasio Tuesday.
In cities and counties across the country — including Little Rock, Ark.; Phoenix, Ariz.; southeast Michigan; central Utah; and in Tennessee — the Koch brothers are fueling a fight against public transit, an offshoot of their longstanding national crusade for lower taxes and smaller government.
Under fire for child detention centers in Texas, the Trump administration has also reopened a Florida facility that once housed children who entered the country illegally and alone.
For now, it's the Republicans. Seven GOP-held AG seats, compared to three for the Democrats, are being hotly contested.
The Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped a decision on when partisan gerrymandering goes too far, ruling against the challengers of a Republican-drawn map in Wisconsin, and a Democratic redistricting in Maryland.
The state is the only one nationwide that bans municipal police officers from using radar to enforce speed limits. For the last 57 years, Pennsylvania has reserved that technology for state troopers.
The unprecedented outpouring of activism from students after the shooting at Marjorie Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Fla., in February is the genesis for a bill introduced in the Legislature last week that would change the voting age in Michigan to 16.
After a bruising, month-long fight in which Amazon and other businesses squelched a new corporate head tax to fund homeless services, Seattle is struggling to find a path forward to deal with a crisis that's exploded in recent years.
They are a torment for motorists and a costly headache for transportation departments. Every winter and spring, potholes plague city streets and rural roads, causing drivers to curse and public works officials to shudder.
Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra fought to reinstate the law in recent weeks with a court appeal. He celebrated the court's most recent action Friday.
Law enforcement leaders in Houston and elsewhere joined in Sunday on condemning President Donald Trump's 'zero-tolerance' immigration policy, which is leading to the separation of thousands of young children from their parents in recent weeks.
Days after a tent city went up near El Paso, demonstrators near the facility took aim at the Trump administration's policy of separating immigrant children from parents who were seeking asylum.
So-called sanctuary jurisdictions that decline to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement could be held liable for failing to detain people in the U.S. illegally for deportation proceedings, under draft legislation proposed Thursday by House Republican leaders.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle bought a condo in downtown Atlanta a decade ago from a well-connected energy lobbyist who owned the unit next door.
The federal government doesn’t have to pay health insurers money they claim they’re owed from an Obamacare program, a federal appellate court ruled Thursday morning in a case with billions of dollars at stake.
The Trump administration’s decision in January to give states the power to impose work requirements on Medicaid enrollees faces a federal court hearing Friday.
Missouri has refused to pay two attorneys hired to help Eric Greitens stave off possible impeachment, leaving the bill up to the former governor himself.
A fast-moving brush fire destroyed eight homes in the Utah tourist town of Moab, while more than 3,000 people in Colorado and Wyoming fled multiple wildfires scorching the drought-stricken U.S. West on Wednesday. The blaze in Moab, known for its dramatic red rocks, started in a wooded area Tuesday night and quickly spread to homes over less than a square mile, Police Chief Jim Winder said. Crews were extinguishing embers Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a Minnesota law that prohibits people from wearing political clothing or buttons at polling places, calling the ban overly broad but leaving room for the state to impose narrower restrictions.
The president promised to give states more flexibility on health care. His administration has -- but with some restrictions.
Thanks in large part to a steady economy, states are finishing 2018 better than they expected.
The Trump family's claims of good will were built on a bad foundation.
The Denver and Thornton mayors have joined a new coalition of U.S. city leaders that will lobby Congress and the Trump administration to increase local control over marijuana policy.
Autonomous 16-passenger vehicles would zip back and forth at speeds exceeding 100 mph in tunnels between the Loop and O'Hare International Airport under a high-speed transit proposal being negotiated between Mayor Rahm Emanuel's City Hall and billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's The Boring Co., city and company officials have confirmed.
A tiny Alabama town is trying to ban the media and out-of-towners from its council meetings.
A federal judge's ruling Tuesday means that medication abortions in Missouri will still be unavailable at Planned Parenthood locations in Columbia and Springfield.
State Attorney General Maura Healey announced Tuesday that Massachusetts is suing Purdue Pharma on behalf of 670 Massachusetts residents who were prescribed OxyContin, became addicted to opioids, overdosed and died.
With frustration mounting over lawmakers' inaction on gun control, the American Medical Association on Tuesday pressed for a ban on assault weapons and came out against arming teachers as a way to fight what it calls a public health crisis.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed six new gun control measures into law Wednesday, at once fulfilling a central campaign promise and forging ahead with his project to make New Jersey a national leader in tightening firearm standards.
Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has asked for a commutation of his sentence, according to a public Facebook post and records from the Justice Department.
As Seattle works to significantly and quickly boost affordable housing, it's finding better ways to engage residents in the process.
There's a growing movement to eliminate the so-called tip credit for bartenders and servers. Washington, D.C., could be next to outlaw the practice.
Valerie Ervin is dropping out of the Democratic race for governor and is offering her support to the campaign of Rushern L. Baker III.
New Jersey hospital CEOs just received a worrisome statement from state Health Commissioner Shereef Elnahal alerting them that money they count on to pay the tab for uninsured patients and educating new doctors will be late, NJ Advance Media has learned.
California's 168-year run as a single entity, hugging the continent's edge for hundreds of miles and sprawling east across mountains and desert, could come to an end next year _ as a controversial plan to split the Golden State into three new jurisdictions qualified Tuesday for the Nov. 6 ballot.
In a stunning reversal without parallel in Seattle's recent political history, the City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to repeal a controversial head tax on large employers like Amazon.
State Rep. James Smith claimed the Democratic Party's nomination for governor in a landslide Tuesday as he and his party try to reclaim the S.C. Governor's Mansion for the first time in 20 years.
Democrats in Northern Wisconsin declared victory in a state Senate special election on Tuesday, the party's 43rd red-to-blue state legislative flip since President Donald Trump stepped into the White House last year.
A Democrat fighting for gun background check enforcement and a Republican who wants to keep California’s sanctuary immigration policies out of Nevada are facing off in November to replace term-limited Gov. Brian Sandoval.
Pimp Dennis Hof, the owner of half a dozen legal brothels in Nevada and star of the HBO adult reality series "Cathouse," won a Republican primary for the state Legislature on Tuesday, ousting a three-term lawmaker.
On Tuesday, the state became the first to use ranked-choice voting, a system that could prevent “spoiler” candidates from causing havoc in crowded races.
State unemployment insurance trust funds were decimated during the last recession. A decade later, many still don't have the funds to weather the next downturn.
Fraternity members at Louisiana State University adhere to age-old rituals, shrouded in secrecy, that dictate how they gather, greet each other and initiate their young pledges.
While she is still in the lead, Supervisor London Breed didn't make much progress in her quest to become San Francisco's next mayor. The latest batch of election results released Monday show her leading Mark Leno by 1,601 votes, or 50.38 to 49.62 percent. That's an increase of just 21 votes over Sunday's total.
Gov. Murphy on Monday signed into law the state's sports-betting bill, ending a short delay that drew criticism from many state politicians and making history after the state's six-year battle to legalize sports wagering.
The San Juan National Forest in southwestern Colorado will shut down for the first time in its 113-year history as the drought-driven 416 fire has climbed to 22,131 acres.
Illinois' Republican congressional delegation signed a letter Monday asking President Donald Trump to leave Democrat Rod Blagojevich's prison sentence intact, saying any clemency for the imprisoned former governor would "set a detrimental precedent" and damage efforts to combat public corruption.
The U.S. Department of Justice went on the attack against the University of Michigan's free speech code Monday, saying universities and colleges haven't done a good job of creating true freedom of speech on their campuses.
New York City will likely pay $2 billion to settle claims that the nation's largest public housing agency has too often left tenants to contend with lead paint, malfunctioning elevators and rats.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson is backing off plans to triple the minimum rent paid by some of the country's poorest households, citing Congress' move to defy the administration and boost his agency's budget.
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday voted 5-4 to uphold Ohio's method for removing ineligible voters from its rolls, saying it does not violate the Failure-to-Vote Clause or any other part of the National Voter Registration Act.
The money collected will go to a “dedicated testing evidence account” controlled by the state comptroller. The Governor's Criminal Justice Division will then distribute the funds to qualifying crime labs and agencies on an application basis.
The effort comes on heels of a Michigan law that now requires districts to have plans in place to cut back on the number of students being suspended or expelled, or risk losing some state funding.
A University of Cincinnati study found no evidence of groundwater contamination from recent oil and natural gas drilling in several Appalachian counties in eastern Ohio.
The group is meeting this week in Chicago to vote on it. Although medically assisted death has gained ground in this country -- with six states and the District of Columbia legalizing the practice -- it remains a divisive issue among health-care providers.
Polls show support for the law increasing as it becomes more imperiled, and the result has been a political sea change. Now Democrats see it as a winning prescription -- even in red states.
A federal judge in Indianapolis has blocked state election officials' plans to purge voters before the November election because they may be registered in another state.
With a June 30 deadline looming, the points of contention -- Gov. Phil Murphy's proposed tax increases, how to equitably fund schools -- haven't changed much.
Today marks the official end of the government’s net neutrality rules, a change that comes as a judge is expected to rule Tuesday on whether AT&T can buy Time Warner. The two developments could lead to further consolidation of wireless, cable and content giants, public interest advocates say.
The U.S. Justice Department said late Friday it agrees the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program should be terminated. That court filing came after Texas and six other states filed a lawsuit last month to end the 2012 program.
President Donald Trump said he likely will support a congressional effort to end the federal ban on marijuana, a major step that would reshape the pot industry and end the threat of a Justice Department crackdown.
New traffic signals in Detroit are designed to help pedestrians, cyclists and ambulances get through intersections, while helping traffic planners test safety improvements quickly.
In a short, unanimous ruling, the Washington Supreme Court Thursday brought an end to the yearslong school-funding saga known as the McCleary decision.
The Arizona Court of Appeals affirmed Thursday that a Phoenix law protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination is constitutional and that local wedding vendors must serve same-sex couples.
Nina Tramble isn't ready to be forced out of a home in a neighborhood where she and her children feel safe.
As mayors flock from around the country into Boston on Thursday for a new international climate summit, Mayor Marty Walsh is using the opportunity to push for a new renewable energy initiative.
Sometimes, a kiss is more than just a kiss.
The Trump administration won't defend central provisions of the Affordable Care Act, saying in a legal filing Thursday night that key parts of the Affordable Care Act should be invalidated and that the individual mandate is unconstitutional.
Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday set a new benchmark for vetoes in a year as he rejected a measure that would have provided medical marijuana access for people with autism spectrum disorder, saying he could not ignore "overwhelming concerns from the medical community."
Texans can now store their precious metals in a publicly backed secure vault close to home, as the United States’ first state-run gold depository opens for business in Austin.
Idaho will take over regulating pollution discharge into the state’s lakes and rivers from the federal government under an agreement signed Tuesday by the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
OCEANPORT, N.J. — Monmouth Park Racetrack bet its future against long odds, and it's about to cash in on what it hopes will be a jackpot.
It’s not an Oscar-worthy performance, but Jennifer Lawrence is certainly believable as a concerned citizen in a new video urging Maine voters to approve Question 1.
A decade ago, most sought two or three ratings before selling their bonds. Not anymore.
"Your mayor, city council and city manager has just as much of an impact on your health as your doctor," say the authors of a new report.
Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is undergoing treatment for the disease, he announced Wednesday.
The funding approach has a lot of potential for taking the first steps toward overhauling pretrial detention.
Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday he has vetoed the state budget proposal passed by the legislature.
Federal officials will not block insurance companies from again using a workaround to cushion a steep rise in health premiums caused by President Donald Trump’s cancellation of a program established under the Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced Wednesday.
A federal judge has ruled for Philadelphia in its highly contentious "sanctuary city" case against the Trump administration, saying the city's refusal to help enforce immigration laws is based on policies that are reasonable, rational, and equitable.
School nurses in Colorado now can administer nonsmokable medical marijuana to students whose parents have given permission.
Gov. David Ige has signed a second emergency proclamation, focusing on housing needs and beefing up violations of emergency rules to criminal penalties during the ongoing Kilauea eruption.
The state’s top election official has agreed to remove a series of hurdles now in the path of those who want to register to vote.
Democrats claimed victory in a Missouri state Senate seat Tuesday in their 42nd red-to-blue flip since President Donald Trump took office.
Libraries across the country are training their staff to administer the drug that can reverse an overdose.
Some are changing their applications. Others are instituting "tryouts."
The Trump administration Monday released a Medicaid “scorecard” intended to show how the nation’s largest health program is performing. But the nation’s top Medicaid official didn’t want to draw any conclusions.
Voters appeared to approve the recall of a Southern California state senator Tuesday, with significant support for removing Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) from office in all of the counties in his district.
Former state Sen. Mark Leno pulled into first place in the race for San Francisco mayor early Wednesday, as ranked-choice redistribution of losing candidates’ votes enabled him to overcome Supervisor London Breed’s early advantage.
As more than a million Americans face losing food stamps under President Trump's vision for reauthorizing the farm bill, his vow to wean families off dependence doesn't apply to thousands of others who have been relying much of their adult lives on payments from the government's sprawling agriculture program.
Imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich filed official paperwork Tuesday asking President Donald Trump to commute his 14-year prison sentence on sweeping corruption charges.
The California judge who prompted a national outcry after handing former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner a six-month sentence for sexual assault has been recalled by voters in Santa Clara County.
The federal school safety commission set up after the deadly shooting at a Florida high school will not examine the role of guns in school violence, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday. "That is not part of the commission's charge per se," DeVos told a Senate subcommittee overseeing education spending.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday vetoed a bill that would have allowed licensed marijuana "tasting rooms" in Colorado -- legislation that was the first of its kind in the nation -- citing health and safety concerns.
Veteran state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, resigned from office Monday, pleaded guilty to one count of willful misconduct in office and agreed to cooperate with an ongoing investigation into public corruption at the S.C. State House.
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison filed Tuesday to run in the DFL primary for attorney general, leaving his congressional seat open and further upending the DFL field of candidates in a high-stakes election year.
Ed Rendell, a diehard Eagles fan and former Pennsylvania governor, called Trump's decision to disinvite the Eagles from the White House "bordering on idiotic."
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued Facebook and Google on Monday, alleging the tech giants have failed to comply with state law on political advertising transparency.
Siding with the Trump administration Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated a lower court's order that allowed a teenage immigrant to have an abortion in October while she was being detained in Texas after illegally crossing the border with Mexico.
The whiff of rivalry arrived almost as soon as Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa ascended to lead California's two most famed cities.
A Superior Court judge ruled Monday that the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the LePage administration must follow the voter-approved Medicaid expansion law and submit a state plan amendment next week that sets the health coverage in motion for thousands of low-income Mainers.
Bill Hall sat in a beauty salon near Portland and ordered the full work-up: beard cover, foundation, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick in a bold pink. And for the final touch, a short auburn wig coaxed over his own graying brown hair.
A few months ago, Rhode Island state Rep. Brian Kennedy had a mild sinus infection, for which he was prescribed an antibiotic.
On a bright Thursday in April, in Alief Independent School District’s Mata Intermediate School, sixth-grade teacher Justin Williams walked to his classroom door from the hallway and crooked a finger, beckoning a gangly 13-year-old to come outside.
The tweet came from the official, verified account of the Kansas Division of Emergency Management. It was directed at Secretary of State Kris Kobach, in reference to his controversial appearance at a parade with a large replica machine gun.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday signed into law a $38.5 billion spending plan for state government, approving a full budget on time for the first time since he took office in 2015.
Hot takes and analysis from around the web on the Supreme Court's decision.
The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday for a Christian baker who refused to make a same-sex wedding cake, deciding that he was a victim of religious bias on the part of the state's civil rights commission.
State Rep. Emilia Sykes was walking to work in the Ohio Statehouse last year with a fellow lawmaker when she was stopped by security. Officers needed to search her bag, she was told.
Rejecting an appeal from state officials, the Texas Supreme Court on Friday let stand a lower-court ruling requiring Texas to identify the pharmacy that supplied its execution drugs as part of a 2014 legal challenge.
Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed a bill into law that would require that residents be notified by a company or other organization of a data breach within 30 days after it has been discovered.
At a "Gavin for Governor" fundraiser last summer hosted by Republican donors in Newport Beach, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom accepted a $1,000 donation from a controversial Soviet émigré with an extensive history of misrepresenting his business dealings to investors and the U.S. Justice Department.
California-funded travel to Oklahoma has been banned, starting June 22, because of a new Oklahoma law that allows adoption agencies to deny placement services to same-sex parents, state officials announced Friday.
Nearly a dozen people are stranded in an area cut off by lava following "vigorous eruptions" from the Kilauea volcano, Hawaii authorities announced Sunday.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a ban Thursday on so-called bump stocks -- the devices used last year by a shooter in Las Vegas who killed nearly 60 people and wounded hundreds more at an outdoor concert.
Kris Kobach made his way through a parade in Johnson County Saturday morning, waving from an American flag colored jeep with a large gun mounted in back.
Voter ID battles and cybersecurity concerns have intensified and elevated these races. Republicans have more seats -- and the most to lose.
The push to form new governments is heating up in places from Georgia to California.
Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Thursday for Marion and Polk counties, opening the door for national guard troops to truck in fresh water for residents grappling with the discovery of low-level toxins in Salem's tap water.
Former state Sen. Jim Barnett made what could be an unprecedented selection in Kansas political history Thursday by choosing his wife as running mate in the Republican Party's primary campaign for governor.
Hundreds of thousands of public employees and retirees stand to benefit fr
If you and your laptop are considering moving to Vermont, the state wants to sweeten the deal.
Illinois lawmakers approved a spending plan on Thursday, putting the state on track to have a full budget in place ahead of the new financial year for the first time since Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner took office in 2015.
Police launched a dramatic house-to-house evacuation of the Vacationland and Kapoho Beach Lots subdivisions in Puna early Wednesday morning as fast-moving lava threatened the last route out for residents of those communities, but the flow slowed later in the day without blocking the coastal highway.
Democratic governors are threatening to sue the Trump administration over a proposed rule that would force Planned Parenthood to give up its federal grants or keep family-planning and abortion-related services under different roofs.
Gov. Kim Reynolds made good Wednesday on one of her first pledges as governor, signing legislation to enact the largest state income tax reduction in Iowa history.
President Trump's announcement on Thursday that he is giving a full pardon to conservative provocateur Dinesh D'Souza and considering clemency for Martha Stewart and imprisoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has underscored the relish he takes in that power -- in ways that break norms dating to the nation's founding.
The IRS wants to thwart state efforts to avoid the new cap on state and local tax deductions. It's unclear whether that would be legal -- or effective.
More than a dozen states either have or are still considering the idea of letting people buy Medicaid -- regardless of how much money they make.
