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In President Donald Trump’s former life as a casino owner, he might have cheered Monday’s ruling from the Supreme Court that struck down a federal law that barred every state but Nevada from allowing betting on most sporting events.
Prosecutors dismissed a criminal charge against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens after a judge ruled Monday that his lawyers could potentially call Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as a witness.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday proposed reinstating the death penalty in Illinois for mass killers and people who slay law enforcement officers, injecting the idea into his re-election campaign by rewriting a gun control bill and sending it back to lawmakers.
Since the fatal shooting of 17 people at a South Florida high school, five states -- Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Rhode Island and Vermont -- have passed laws that allow authorities to temporarily take away guns from a person who has shown a pattern of violence.
Scott Maclay, the leader of the Rattlesnakes Motorcycle Club who has spent years accusing Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich of cover-ups and corruption, has taken a drastic step to show just how badly he wants Knezovich out of office.
Our Revolution, a national organization created by Sen. Bernie Sanders, on Monday endorsed Cynthia Nixon in her Democratic primary challenge to Gov. Cuomo.
Expressing sympathy for her plight, a federal judge nevertheless turned down a request by the National Rifle Association to keep the identity of a 19-year-old Alachua County woman secret in a challenge to a state law that raised from 18 to 21 the minimum age to purchase rifles and other long guns.
The Supreme Court outlawed a federal ban on sports betting on Monday, and some states are poised to capitalize.
In March, former Minnesota state Rep. Tony Cornish made a surprise visit to the state Capitol, where he attended committee hearings and talked to former colleagues.
Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Lupe Valdez and Andrew White pounded each other over immigration and abortion Friday.
The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point was among the victims of a computer hacker who was arrested in California on Thursday.
Last year’s race for state delegate in Newport News went down in Virginia history for its razor-thin margin. Republican David E. Yancey won on Election Day by 10 votes; Democrat Shelly Simonds beat him by a single vote in a recount. Then, a judicial panel declared a tie, so officials picked a name out of a bowl to determine a winner, and it was Yancey.
The elections supervisor in Florida’s second-most populous county broke state and federal law by unlawfully destroying ballots cast in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s 2016 Democratic primary, a judge ruled Friday in a case brought by the congresswoman’s challenger who wanted to check for voting irregularities.
The futuristic possibilities associated with autonomous, commercial drone activity _ think food and package delivery, medical supply transport or enhanced border security _ will be realized in San Diego, and soon.
A proposed equal rights amendment to the Delaware Constitution was defeated in the state Senate on Wednesday even though several lawmakers who voted against the bill said they support the legislation.
HILO, Hawaii _ Kilauea's continued eruptions _ possibly a long windup to a major explosion at the summit _ forced more evacuations Sunday as yet another fissure opened and spattered lava along the volcano's eastern flank .
Congress passed drastic child welfare reforms that aim to reduce the removal of kids from their homes. But some worry they will cost states and harm children.
Delaware has become the first state to ban child marriage.
Seattle “soda tax” revenue is exceeding projections, as city officials say the new tax has brought in more than $4 million in the first quarter of 2018.
At the start of the term at Charlotte Anderson Elementary School in Arlington, Tex., last year, Stacy Bailey, an art teacher, introduced herself to her new fourth grade students with a slide show of her life.
A lot is on the line for California on Friday in the White House, where top auto company executives will be meeting with President Trump.
An Oklahoma voter identification law approved by state voters in 2010 meets constitutional requirements, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
State taxes on legal marijuana sales in California are coming in far short of projections -- $34 million in the first quarter of 2018, about a third of the revenue that officials anticipated, according to data released Wednesday by the Legislative Analyst's Office.
The value of Alabama's teacher salaries has been eroding for many years and is now worth less than it was a decade ago, an AL.com analysis shows.
A debate has raged in Kansas for years over KanCare, the privatized Medicaid plan enacted by Sam Brownback in 2013.
Local leaders are trying to figure out how to respond to the growing number of SUV-related fatalities while more Americans are choosing bigger cars.
There's always going to be resistance to change. Behavioral science can help overcome it.
County jail populations are booming, even as state prison populations decline. It's forcing some places to turn to the taxpayers for help.
From a community compost exchange to mayors funds, here are a few innovative ideas that city officials just might want to steal for themselves.
The number of jail inmates in California taking psychotropic drugs has jumped about 25 percent in five years, and they now account for about a fifth of the county jail population across the state, according to a new analysis of state data.
The state's top two lawmakers said Monday they had good news: North Carolina has more than $600 million extra to divvy out.
All four Nebraska Indian Nations now have sued drug manufacturers and distributors of opioid painkillers, seeking repayment as sovereign governments for financial losses in connection with the national epidemic.
“I never dreamt we’d get the Pack Unit air-conditioned,” the federal judge said at a Houston hearing.
Ohioans overwhelmingly voted to revamp the process for drawing congressional districts, holding the promise that the next map will feature less gerrymandering by politicians and more fairness for voters.
The California Energy Commission voted 5-0 Wednesday, May 9, to adopt new energy building standards requiring solar panels for virtually all new homes built in the state starting in 2020.
A conservative challenger to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has qualified for the September primary election.
The two new leaders of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a Democrat and a Republican, have crafted a bipartisan strategy that they hope will help them wield more influence in Washington.
A year and a half of struggle between the Trump administration and immigrant-friendly states and cities has led to a stalemate: So-called sanctuary cities and states are reducing deportations, but raids aimed at stirring fears are having their intended effect, according to a new yearlong study by the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
There's a reason why people are seriously considering having Miami teachers live at school.
While gerrymandering disputes from other states have landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, Ohio voters took the historic step Tuesday of passing a bipartisan proposal aimed at creating fairer and more logical congressional districts.
For the first time, the federal government has approved a work requirement for able-bodied adults in New Hampshire's expanded Medicaid program -- a key condition for state lawmakers who recently voted to extend the program for another five years.
On Tuesday night, the state lawmaker behind attempts to redraw judicial districts lost his primary election by nearly 1,000 votes.
Voters decided state Rep. Duane Hall, a Democrat facing sexual harassment allegations and calls to resign, should not have the chance to return to the legislature next year.
There may be no politics more local than a campaign for sheriff, but the charged national issue of immigration has become suddenly salient. The defeat of two prominent sheriffs in North Carolina may set a template for progressive challenges nationwide.
Democrat Richard Cordray won the Democratic nomination for governor of Ohio Tuesday night, setting up a November race against Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine.
It's about much more than low salaries.
Domestic abuse is a different problem from financial corruption, but New York's political system seems to promote scandals of all kinds.
Land use experts question whether vacant property taxes are the right way to spur development.
Several states promised to pass their own mandates. Only one has. What happened?
But should cities and counties be paying for lawyers to help undocumented immigrants facing deportation?
Several rural Illinois counties have taken a stand for gun rights by co-opting a word that conservatives associate with a liberal policy to skirt the law: sanctuary.
Dioxin has affected a key Houston waterway, poisoning residents nearby. So far, officials have done nothing.
A bill that ensures faith-based adoption agencies can turn away gay and lesbian couples based on religious beliefs will be signed into law by Gov. Jeff Colyer.
Three civil rights groups are suing Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson for his agency's suspension of a fair housing rule that required state and local governments to review segregated housing patterns, the Washington Post first reported and Axios has confirmed.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Monday night that he will resign amid allegations that he slapped and choked four women.
The city's new mayor has vowed to start working on a new transit proposal, just days after voters rejected a $5.4 billion plan by a 2-1 margin.
Washington, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Utah were among those with particularly strong GDP gains.
The number of people caught trying to illegally cross the Mexican border ticked up in April, and is now more than triple what it was last year.
Smith County, which encompasses Tyler and is home to more than 225,000 residents, has the highest suicide rate among the state’s 25 most populous counties.
The Missouri General Assembly has taken the historic step of calling itself back into special session to decide whether to impeach Gov. Eric Greitens.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has announced he intends to make Connecticut the first state to participate in a national database aimed at identifying racial bias in policing.
Declaring "all innocent life is precious and sacred," Gov. Kim Reynolds on Friday afternoon signed legislation that is described as the nation's most restrictive abortion law.
The flow of lava intensified Sunday from ongoing eruptions at Hawaii Island's Kilauea volcano, and molten rock is pouring from fissures that opened overnight, farther from the original eruptions.
Five months after a sex and blackmail scandal broke, Gov. Eric Greitens will resign facing potential criminal charges. His replacement, a conservative with good lawmaker relations, is likely to achieve what Greitens could not.
Hawaii lawmakers passed a bill Tuesday that would prohibit the sale of over-the-counter sunscreens containing chemicals they say are contributing to the destruction of the state's coral reefs and other ocean life.
Maine lawmakers overrode Gov. Paul LePage’s veto of an adult-use marijuana regulatory bill Wednesday, putting the state on track to regulate a retail market that has been in limbo since voters legalized recreational marijuana use in 2016.
Boulder — a city where a local bank once handed out rifles to customers — is about to pass a law far less friendly to firearms.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Wednesday cleared election officials to enforce the state's controversial voter-ID law in this month's primary and judicial elections.
Educators long complained that the state shorted public schools, but a booming economy is helping Gov. Nathan Deal and lawmakers keep that from happening again in the upcoming year.
Hawaii's famed Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting continuously since 1983 and has long been a destination for tourists, underwent a new eruption Thursday that threatened neighborhoods with red lava on the eastern edge of Hawaii Island, prompting evacuations.
Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., sued the Trump administration to prevent it from weakening Obama-era auto emissions standards.
Mayor Bill de Blasio is championing a plan that would make New York City a pioneer in creating supervised injection sites for illegal drug users, part of a novel but contentious strategy to combat the epidemic of fatal overdoses caused by the use of heroin and other opioids.
Progress comes two ways to cities: in inches or in great leaps. Both are needed, but they follow different paths.
Arizona lawmakers pulled an all-nighter to enact a budget Thursday that provides big raises for many of the state's striking teachers, and Gov. Doug Ducey signed the teacher funding part while the House continued debating the rest of the state's $10.4 billion budget plan.
The fired executive director of the Oklahoma Police Pension and Retirement System was charged Tuesday with seven felony counts stemming from allegations he disguised personal vacations as business trips.
Nebraska's prisons director doesn't want to talk publicly about his department's lethal injection protocol — how he developed it or where he got the drugs to carry out the death penalty intended, so far, for two condemned prisoners.
The Motor City still has massive debt and pension obligations. Remaining independent will involve a precarious balancing act.
A federal judge forcefully slapped down North Dakota’s efforts to fight his ruling that loosened the state’s voter identification law Monday.
Political candidates have long appeared with guns in campaign ads — holding guns, firing guns, and even assembling guns blindfolded. Earlier this month, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Hunter Hill aired an ad showing him loading an assault rifle. The video title? “Liberals won’t like this.”
Gov. Eric Greitens ran an off-the-books political campaign as early as 2014, took a charity donor list to raise campaign funds and ultimately lied about that list in a signed statement to the state's ethics commission, according to documents and testimony from six of his former employees.
Arizona's historic #RedForEd teacher walkout will stretch to a sixth school day, as Arizona Educators United organizers urged teachers to return to the Capitol Thursday amid unresolved budget discussions.
Garcetti, who won reelection as mayor of Los Angeles last year, has made no secret of his presidential ambitions. In an interview, he suggested a mayor would be more pragmatic and "decent" than President Trump.
In an attempt to lower health-care costs, Massachusetts is seeking to exclude certain drugs from its Medicaid program. It's a bold step, experts say, that will not only invite imitation but also lawsuits.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown signed two bills supporting immigrants living in Oregon at the annual May Day rally Tuesday.
The city emerged from state oversight Monday in a historic milestone that ends the last vestige of Detroit’s bankruptcy and marks the first time in four decades that the city has full control of government operations.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has signed a $28.9 billion state budget into law.
Nashvillians resoundingly defeated a controversial plan that would have raised four taxes to fund a transit system anchored by light trail, voting against the historic referendum by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted most of southeast Wisconsin from the latest federal limits on lung-damaging smog pollution, delivering a political victory to Gov. Scott Walker as he makes a new Foxconn Technology Group factory the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.
Leading a seven-state coalition, Texas will sue the federal government to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects unauthorized immigrants who came to the country as children, Attorney General Ken Paxton's office announced Tuesday.
In their first year, dockless bike-share services helped double the number of shared bikes on the street. But those bikes are barely used, compared to station-based cycles.
Republicans can take some comfort that their state legislative dominance is unlikely to evaporate in a single election cycle.
The ransom hackers' demand is typically much smaller than what it costs governments to respond.
Less than a week after a conservative think tank sued Austin over the city's paid sick leave ordinance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has thrown the state's support behind the suit, calling the ordinance "unlawful."
Add Minnesota to the growing list of states that will no longer tolerate pet owners trying to pass off their furry or feathered friends as service animals when they have never received any such training
Missouri is among the 20 worst states for drug overdose deaths, but it was the only state left without a statewide prescription drug monitoring program.
The thousands of educators convened at the state Capitol on Monday for the third day of the #RedForEd walkout had a message for lawmakers: They're digging in.
A special Missouri House panel shot back at Gov. Eric Greitens on Monday, saying it still believes a woman he had an affair with is a credible witness.
In a ruling that could change the workplace status of people across the state, the California Supreme Court made it harder Monday for employers to classify their workers as independent contractors.
The New Hampshire House approved a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty Thursday, 223-116, sending the measure to the governor despite his vow to veto it.
Pennsylvania, a state of 12.7 million, continues to have a chronically low annual reporting rate of hate crimes to the FBI.
The Connecticut House of Representatives gave final passage Wednesday night to legislation that opens financial aid in the state to “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought here as children, only to find themselves priced out of higher education as they come of age.
Ohio's four major Democratic gubernatorial candidates all want more restrictions on guns, but disagree sharply over how far to go.
State officials announced Thursday that $2.4 billion from increases in the gas tax and vehicle fees will be spent on dozens of transit projects, including work to prepare Southern California for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Critics in Chicago are joining a nationwide chorus questioning the value and fairness of these massive lists of gang members, saying they are often inaccurate, outdated and racially skewed.
The expectation for government HR managers to do more with less isn’t a temporary adjustment. It is the new normal.
The state has given Travis County nearly $2 million to reform its indigent defense system. But a handful of Austin-area lawyers are still taking on far more cases than experts believe anyone could handle.
Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would give everyone, regardless of age, easier access to the lifesaving, overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed three new gun regulations into law Tuesday, including a ban on so-called “bump stocks.”
A 2015 regulation requiring teachers to pass a three-credit college course on “family engagement” could undo some of the state's progress and force teachers out of classrooms next year.
Despite an urban real estate boom, the home-values gap for traditionally African-American neighborhoods is actually getting worse.
Chief data officers are not only working to solve their own cities' problems. They're working together to share their approaches among their peers.
Previous federal programs to incentivize investment in low-income areas haven't worked. Some are betting this will.
States where teachers are protesting have among the largest pay discrepancies when compared with similarly educated private-sector workers.
With just under three weeks left until the primary, the Republican candidates for governor slipped into their Wednesday night debate criticisms not only of one another but also of the Democratic governor they all hope to challenge in November.
A new study released as a prelude to Sen. Patty Murray's legislative effort to contain the opioid epidemic estimates the financial impacts of overdose deaths alone have cost Washington state $34 billion over the four years ending in 2016.
Gov. Cuomo said Wednesday the state will not let federal immigration agents onto state property without a judicial warrant or order.
More than half a dozen governors — most of them Democrats from the Northeast — announced plans Wednesday to launch an “unprecedented” multistate consortium that will study gun violence as a public health issue.
A New Jersey Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday found the use of taxpayer dollars to restore historic churches unconstitutional — and preservationists in North Jersey say the decision could strike a blow in communities where historic churches exist.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson on Wednesday unveiled a major overhaul of the rental-housing system, proposing to increase the share of rent that low-income households must pay before receiving assistance and allow public housing authorities to impose work requirements.
A wave of red-clad teachers will crash upon the Arizona state Capitol on Thursday for an unprecedented job action that will close schools for a majority of the state's public school students, part of an educator uprising that's also bubbled up in Colorado.
The Democratic Party has made its 40th gain in a state legislative race since the inauguration of President Trump, picking up a Long Island-based seat in the New York State Assembly.
If a bureaucracy can't function when the boss is gone, something is wrong.
Florida has emerged as a battleground in the fight over the 6 million people, in and out of jail, who can't vote because they were convicted of a felony.
In the midst of a harrowing psychotic episode in summer 2009, Annie broke into her ex-husband’s house and used a hammer and scissors to lay waste to plates, knickknacks, clothing, “and honestly, I don’t know what else.”
13 semi truck drivers became heroes Tuesday morning as they helped Michigan State Police coax a man off a busy highway overpass.
Maine towns will be able to ban sex offenders from any state or municipal park, athletic field or recreational facility serving children.
Maryland’s largest jurisdiction is poised to create a new policy mandating that all its actions be weighed against how they might affect equity — racial and otherwise — among its roughly 1 million residents.
Two Republican state lawmakers have introduced a bill seeking to prohibit Colorado teachers from striking and make it so they would face firing, fines or even jail time if they do so anyway.
Lawyers for Texas and a broad coalition of African-American and Latino rights groups clashed Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court in a protracted redistricting dispute alleging that the state's Republican lawmakers intentionally drew their latest political maps to marginalize minority voters.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called for an emergency special election on June 30 to replace former Congressman Blake Farenthold, a Republican who resigned this month in the face of an ethics probe into past allegations of sexual harassment.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Trump had offered no legal justification for canceling DACA protections for nearly 700,000 young undocumented immigrants, in a ruling that -- for the first time -- would require the administration to accept new applicants to the program.
The former Microsoft CEO wants Americans to have a clear picture of how government collects and spends their money -- and what they get in return.
New legislation would make voting with a conflict of interest a felony punishable by up to 4 years in prison
Appearing on "Real Time with Bill Maher," Jay Inslee gave one of the most glowing reviews from a governor of the marijuana industry.
Across the U.S., many cities have debated whether the huge public subsidies offered to Amazon for its second headquarters would be worth the cost.
US climate hawks have not had much to celebrate lately, with the Trump administration lurching backward and states finding it more difficult than expected to move forward on their own.
A week after seven inmates died in a prison riot, Gov. Henry McMaster on Monday gave the state's prison system approval to spend more money to hire and retain prison guards.
Kansas lawmakers will soon decide whether to give you a tax cut. Supporters say that would put money back in your pocket. Opponents say that could lead to budget problems as the state pays for a large school funding increase.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a district court ruling striking down a Pence-era abortion law.
Ohio, a state where 4,329 people died of drug overdoses in 2016, a death rate second only to neighboring West Virginia, is taking the fight against the opioid epidemic into the classroom.
To the extent election law prevents or delays the recovery of Texas' coastal areas in the long aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Gov. Greg Abbott can suspend that law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday.
House Republicans have proposed a massive expansion of an obscure job training program as a way to get millions of people off of food stamps — notching a welfare reform win as part of the farm bill.
The justices will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a case over the state's legislative and congressional maps, which have been accused of discriminating against black and Latino voters.
Rosalynn Bliss says social work keeps her grounded as a politician. That, and meditation.
Technological innovation on a piece-by-piece basis isn't enough. More fundamental change is needed.
Photos and musings from our photographer David Kidd.
As transit systems grow antiquated, cities should try nimbler options.
Most places were never going to land the company’s next headquarters. But there are still some key takeaways for them.
