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Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation into law Monday that puts a limit on opioid prescriptions and provides $65 million to fight the epidemic statewide. He signed the bill at the "ground zero" of the opioid crisis -- Manatee County.
It's time to raise the federal gas tax to help fix Michigan's ravaged roads, Gov. Rick Snyder said Tuesday.
The Mississippi governor's appointment of Cindy Hyde-Smith to the Senate next month marks a milestone: She will be the state's first woman in Congress.
Like many people with autism, Greg Demer is bright but has difficulty communicating. He has a passion for the history of military aircraft, but he can’t quite keep up a conversation with new people. When he meets someone, he’ll quote from movies or ask them about their favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
Washington will attempt to add more voices to "the chorus of democracy" with a series of laws that will make it easier to register to vote, encourage teens to pre-register and provide more information on campaign contributions from non-profit groups.
One day after federal courts declined to block the new congressional map from taking effect, a Republican state representative introduced resolutions to impeach the four Democrats on Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court who ruled to impose the map in time for the May 15 primary.
Neither Gov. Bruce Rauner nor his Democratic opponent, J.B. Pritzker, are keen on talking about a topic both wealthy men purportedly know a lot about: money. At least not as it relates to the state's perennial budget problems.
Billionaire J.B. Pritzker cruised to victory Tuesday night in the Illinois Democratic governor primary, his record-setting $70 million campaign allowing him to build a formidable operation his underfunded rivals could not overcome.
San Francisco supervisors voted unanimously to ban the sale of fur, further burnishing the city's animal-loving credentials as it becomes the largest U.S. city to approve the prohibition.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner narrowly defeated state Rep. Jeanne Ives on Tuesday night, escaping a primary challenge from a conservative lawmaker he'd once dismissed as a "fringe" candidate.
Some coastal states opposed to President Donald Trump’s plan to allow oil and gas drilling off most of the nation’s coastline are fighting back with proposed state laws designed to thwart the proposal.
ust 18 hours after Gov. Phil Bryant signed the nation’s toughest abortion ban into law, a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order, saying the law is likely to be found unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court sounded ready Tuesday to strike down a California disclosure law that requires pregnancy centers _ including those that are faith-based _ to notify women that the state offers subsidies for abortion.
A new report ranks states' economic reliance on firearms, taking into account jobs, sales and political contributions.
The issue that led West Virginia teachers to walk out may be boiling over elsewhere as states neglect workers' benefits, sometimes causing financial and medical hardship for public servants.
Roanoke, Va., is betting big on beer.
Florida's failure to ban assault weapons has angered some local officials, but they have few options for recourse. Some are taking the issue to voters, while others are challenging a state law that bans cities from passing gun laws.
The regulations that took effect this year let governments decide what's worth reporting, leading many to not report anything at all.
Saturdays at Mercy Medical Center used to be perversely lucrative. The dialysis clinic across the street was closed on weekends.
Florida’s governor has ordered a statue of a Confederate general at the U.S. Capitol to be removed and replaced with one of an African-American woman.
In what appears to be the first pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car, an Uber vehicle operating in autonomous mode Sunday night struck a Tempe, Ariz., woman, who later died of her injuries at a local hospital.
With about 12,000 residents spread across a few miles of suburban Southern California, Los Alamitos is better known for its good schools and small-town charms than political activism.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday required Arizona to continue to issue driver’s licenses to the young adult immigrants known as Dreamers, refusing to hear the state’s challenge to an Obama-era program that protects hundreds of thousands of people brought into the country illegally as children.
After dropping hints for days and huddling with powerful political consultants, actress Cynthia Nixon announced Monday that she will run for governor, all but guaranteeing a spirited election season for New Yorkers.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider an Arizona case that could have spelled the end of capital punishment in that state and the rest of the nation.
Just one day before congressional candidates had to file nominating petitions, the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington and the federal District Court here both declined on Monday to grant requests from Republicans to block the new Pennsylvania congressional district map from going into effect for the May 15 primary.
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide another case testing the Trump administration's power to arrest and jail immigrants facing deportation, including longtime lawful residents who committed minor offenses years ago.
The Brazos River as it flows past Glen Rose on Aug. 2, 2013. Drought conditions have led to a significant decrease in water levels in the river. Use of the river by cattle farmers along its route is another factor leading to a decrease in water quality and shore erosion is.
Gov. John Kasich called our office on Thursday to apologize.
The West Virginia Supreme Court has ruled it is a violation of the First Amendment to completely restrict a person's access to the internet as a condition of their parole from prison.
Congress sent states hundreds of millions of dollars to fight an opioid crisis claiming more than 100 lives a day — money they've largely been unable to spend after a year.
Gov. Doug Ducey has signed legislation barring Arizona cities and counties from joining a growing national trend of taxing sugary drinks.
The campaign for tighter gun laws that inspired unprecedented student walkouts across the country faces an uphill climb in a majority of states, an Associated Press review of gun legislation found.
The Arizona Supreme Court in a ruling Friday spared tens of thousands of homeowners who lease rooftop solar panels from paying property taxes to the state on that equipment.
Cracking in the concrete, tension cables, stress tests -- no conclusion has been made whether any of them caused the pedestrian bridge at Florida International University to collapse, killing six motorists under an avalanche of concrete and metal.
CHAMBLEE, Ga. — This Atlanta suburb is a lot like other metropolitan suburbs around the country. A manufacturing economy is giving way to new apartments and tech enterprises built around a quick commute to Atlanta.
After a teenage gunman killed 17 people at a Parkland, Florida, high school last month, schools across the country were hit by a wave of copycat threats.
Kansas lawmakers rejected a series of gun control measures one by one on Thursday, the day after students nationwide walked out of class to protest school shootings.
A judge on Thursday extended for three years a restraining order obtained by a state legislator who has accused Rep. Nick Miccarelli (R., Delaware) of physical and mental abuse while the two were dating in 2012 and of stalking her in the state Capitol later.
The unfinished pedestrian overpass that toppled onto the Tamiami Trail on Thursday was being built under a relatively novel approach called accelerated bridge construction -- a fast, tested method that carries some risks if not rigorously carried out.
The Trump administration on Thursday announced sanctions against 19 Russian individuals and five organizations for meddling in the 2016 election and for other "destructive cyber-attacks" still targeting the U.S. electrical grid and water systems.
The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday appointed the first undocumented resident to a statewide post, according to Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León's office.
In his State of the Union speech two months ago, President Trump vowed to end welfare as he defined it, heralding a plan to force recipients off federal housing vouchers, food assistance and Medicaid if they were not willing to do “a hard day’s work.”
President Trump will announce new plans for fighting the opioid crisis on Monday. Meanwhile, several states are exploring their own new policy: tax drug companies for the opioids they produce.
A new online platform aims not only to take some of the risk out of municipal procurement but to make the process smarter as well.
The governing bodies of nine towns and two counties in West Virginia have filed lawsuits alleging drug manufacturers and distributors failed to follow state and federal law to prevent the distribution and abuse of prescription pain medication thorough the Mountain State.
As students across the country walked out of classrooms on Wednesday to protest gun violence, Democrats who control the Illinois Senate continued to push firearm restrictions, including bills to limit assault weapon purchases.
Ohio's new Down syndrome abortion ban is on hold after a federal judge in Cincinnati sided with abortion providers who claimed the ban was unconstitutional.
To get the most out of evidence-based governing, they need training. More and more, it's becoming available.
The General Assembly advanced four gun control bills Wednesday, just hours after students walked out of schools across Delaware in protest of gun violence.
Engaging their employees could improve productivity and save governments a lot of money. But the public sector is largely ignoring the opportunity.
The weakest link in any local voting system is that one county clerk who’s been on the job for three days and opens up an email file that could take down the whole system.
The development of more-sophisticated software packages is a boon for forensic investigators.
Leading Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker was called a "liar" and a "fraud" by two rivals as the billionaire businessman's ties to secret offshore shell companies became the focus of the final forum of the campaign Wednesday night.
Oklahoma plans to start carrying out executions with nitrogen gas, a method that has never been used in the U.S. but that some states have already approved amid difficulties with lethal injections.
Of the cities studied, only in New Orleans did white students travel farther than their black peers.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler and several other city leaders discuss their experience at this year's South by Southwest conference.
The White House indicated that it may sue other states with policies similar to California's. Does it have a case anywhere else?
The president doesn't want the federal government to help fund public radio and TV stations anymore. Such cuts could exacerbate the already sharp decline in coverage of state capitols and city halls.
The first major bipartisan banking bill since Dodd-Frank has some potential pluses and minuses for states and localities.
It's about to happen on a large scale along our coasts, and governments need to be working to make the most of it.
With the U.S. Supreme Court weeks away from hearing arguments in a landmark case on online sales taxes, several states are readying laws that would allow them to begin collecting millions of dollars almost immediately if the court rules in their favor.
Fort Lauderdale has elected its first openly gay mayor.
Low-spending school districts in Wisconsin will be allowed to increase property taxes without voter approval under a measure signed into law Monday by Gov. Scott Walker.
Republican Shane Reeves has won a special election to fill a vacant seat in the Tennessee Senate.
On average, female doctors made $105,000 less than male doctors last year, and the gender pay gap actually increased.
In a turnaround that caught many by surprise, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday signed a bill creating a public financing program for local campaigns — and said she would fund it in her upcoming budget.
President Trump saw just what he wanted to see on his first visit to California as president on Tuesday -- physical evidence of the "big, beautiful wall" separating the United States and Mexico that was the central promise of his campaign -- yet steered clear of the resistance to his presidency that has come to define the state.
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that most of Texas' "sanctuary cities" law can remain in effect while the legal battle continues in a lower district court, a major victory for the state.
Washington state won’t be enacting the nation’s first tax on greenhouse gas emissions this year. But the idea has grown more popular in the states since President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's one-time top adviser, Joseph Percoco, has been convicted of corruption charges by a Manhattan federal court jury on its eighth day of deliberations.
The San Francisco Sheriff's Department allowed federal immigration officers into one of its jails to interview an inmate, a violation of jail policy and California sanctuary law, department officials said Monday.
After Gov. John Kasich disputed Ohio job-creation numbers reported by The Dispatch last week, a state official said Monday that the data originally provided to the newspaper by the Kasich administration were incorrect.
Wednesday morning, at 10 o'clock, students at schools across the country will walk out of their classrooms. The plan is for them to leave school — or at least gather in the hallway — for 17 minutes. That's one minute for each of the victims in last month's school shooting in Parkland, Fla.
Gov. Jim Justice announced Monday night that he had fired Education and the Arts Secretary Gayle Manchin, wife of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after she sent out a news release in which she offered to "resign to remove any political pressure."
The brothel owner walked through the double doors of the casino ballroom with Paris and Destiny _ two sex workers in slinky black dresses _ gliding next to him like pilot fish.
Majority Senate Republicans vowed to have a new floor general by Wednesday to finish out a legislative session they hope will produce major state tax cuts, a responsible state budget plan and other conservative priorites that were moving before Bill Dix abruptly resigned as GOP leader Monday.
A federal judge on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Massachusetts’ attorney general challenging new rules by President Donald Trump’s administration that make it easier for employers to avoid providing insurance that covers women’s birth control.
On the eve of President Trump's first visit to California since he took office, a state lawmaker says he wants to deny state tax breaks to companies that contract or subcontract to build the proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The city leaders gathered in Austin engaged in workshops and exercises designed to help them think longer-term.
As an African-American Democrat, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas isn't like a lot of other anti-drug advocates.
When the governor signs what will be the nation's strictest abortion ban, lawsuits are expected. Some say that was the point.
When Pennsylvania sued Uber last week for waiting more than a year to alert drivers and customers that their personal information had been hacked, the state’s attorney general argued that the ride-hailing company had violated a state law mandating that companies notify people affected by a data breach “without unreasonable delay.”
The National Rifle Association has dramatically increased its funding to schools in recent years amid a national debate over guns and school violence, an Associated Press analysis of tax records has found. But few say they plan to give up the money in the aftermath of the latest mass shooting.
California's relatively new system in which 16- and 17-year-olds can preregister to vote has been used by 88,700 teenagers during its first months in existence, with most of them declining to identify as Republicans or Democrats.
The federal government has sued Ozaukee County, claiming it violated the civil rights of a worker at a county-owned nursing home when her employers made her get a flu shot in violation of her religious beliefs to continue working there.
That’s what federal officials told Idaho regulators and the state’s governor late Thursday regarding the state’s plan to allow insurers to sell health plans that fall short of the Affordable Care Act’s requirements.
The White House said Sunday that the federal government will help provide "rigorous firearms training" for qualified volunteer school personnel as part of a package of policy changes he will proposal after the mass shootings in Parkland, Fla.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law sweeping changes to school safety and gun access Friday _ a measure crafted in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
A new tech startup allows cities to chart drug usage down to the neighborhood level.
Most mayors said people of color experienced worse treatment by police and the courts and had worse access to education, housing and health care.
Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson of Gary, Ind., and Mayor Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento spoke on a special SXSW preview episode of Governing's newest podcast, Go Public.
As homelessness rises nationwide, Las Vegas is taking a gamble on a new way of helping the homeless. But some say it's money that could be better spent.
OAKLAND, Calif. — Gerardo Alejandrez used to punch classmates, throw chairs and curse at his teachers, conduct that forced him to switch from school to school. “I had a lot of anger issues,” the 16-year-old said recently.
A judge in Mercer County on Thursday ordered two affluent New Jersey towns to plan for more low- and middle-income housing within their boundaries, a long-anticipated ruling some say might force municipalities statewide to build more affordable housing.
Almost seven months after Charlottesville became synonymous with resurgent white supremacy and political violence, the Virginia General Assembly has rejected virtually every legislative proposal stemming from the deadly rally that shook the city last summer.
State Rep. Angel Arce, under mounting pressure to resign following revelations that a series of text messages went from his Facebook account to a 16-year-old girl, announced Wednesday that he would step down from his legislative seat.
For years, Oklahoma teachers have rallied at the Capitol, run for state office and campaigned for a statewide sales tax increase, all in the hopes of reversing the state's status as the lowest paying for public school teachers.
It may be years before the courts decide the Trump administration's lawsuit that seeks to overturn California's sanctuary laws, but the political impact will be felt in just months. And it likely won't help Republicans.
The California Senate has reprimanded Sen. Bob Hertzberg and told him to stop initiating his trademark hugs after an investigation determined that his behavior made two female legislators and a male sergeant-at-arms uncomfortable.
The Trump administration sent a letter to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter on Thursday turning thumbs-down on his proposal to allow the sale of health insurance plans in Idaho that don't comply with the Affordable Care Act.
"There’s an important principle here that affects not just Gateway but every major project in the country," says the head of the project that advocates call one of the nation's most crucial.
Florida is closest to ending the clock-changing practice, but other states have flirted with the idea.
As city leaders from around the country meet at South by Southwest in Austin, they'll discuss the forces that will shape urbanism for decades to come.
Portland city commissioners made permanent on Wednesday a program that requires landlords to pay renters' moving costs if they are evicted without cause or are forced to move because of a rent increase of 10 percent or more.
A wave of Texas women candidates won or made it to runoffs in more than 50 primary races statewide amid a surge of interest in running for office among women around the country.
For the second time in less than a week, a storm rolled into the Northeast with wet, heavy snow Wednesday, grounding flights, closing schools and bringing another round of power outages to a corner of the country still recovering from the previous blast of winter.
A long-simmering battle between the Trump administration and California over immigration boiled over Wednesday, with Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions deriding the state's "irrational, unfair and unconstitutional policies" and Gov. Jerry Brown accusing the federal government of launching "a reign of terror."
California's three new "sanctuary" laws, challenged in court this week by the Trump administration, face different hurdles and have varying vulnerabilities, legal experts said Wednesday.
A bill prohibiting domestic abusers and people under restraining orders from owning firearms became America’s first new gun control law since the Feb. 14 Florida high school massacre.
It can be tough politically, but it's critical to reinventing how we govern.
In a fundraising letter that calls him "a truly remarkable man of God," gubernatorial candidate Bill O'Neill is staking out his position as an anti-abortion candidate in the Democratic primary.
Florida's bill to arm some school workers, raise the age to buy a gun and take guns from people who pose a threat now rests in Gov. Rick Scott's hands.
The success of the statewide walkout, which ended on Wednesday, could spur similar movements across the country at a time when the fate of unions is in the Supreme Court's hands.
In the GOP civil war between populists and centrists, populists gained ground in Tuesday's elections that kicked off the year's primary season.
President Trump's "Buy American" policies are expected to cause the most harm to states such as Florida, Michigan and Texas.
When an agency head leaves, some states take years to find a permanent replacement. What takes so long?
By engaging residents on issues of climate and weather, it demonstrates how program design can be improved and strengthened.
TAMPA, Fla. — In an opioid epidemic that is killing more than a hundred Americans every day, many families of overdose victims feel helpless when it comes to convincing their loved ones to seek treatment.
As polls opened in the Texas primaries on Tuesday, The Texas Tribune laid out seven key questions for election night. Now that the smoke is clearing, here are the answers:
We won't Uber our way out of traffic congestion. What's needed is a system to integrate all transportation options.
With more than 100 orange-clad gun control advocates in the Capitol demanding action, Gov. Jay Inslee on Tuesday signed a bill banning a device that can make a semi-automatic rifle fire so fast it mimics a machine gun.
Incumbent Miro Weinberger will be mayor of Burlington for the next three years, as he handily won a third term in an election that saw high turnout and two challengers from his left who criticized his administration's transparency and willingness to listen to the people.
A House committee rejected by a 7-4 margin a bill that would create a restraining order that could restrict access to guns for people at risk of shooting themselves or others.
The Trump administration, seeking to force a defiant California to cooperate with its agenda of stepped-up immigrant deportations, went to federal court Tuesday to invalidate three state laws -- the administration's most direct challenge yet to the state's policies.
Gov. Jim Justice signed into law a 5 percent pay raise for public school teachers and school service personnel Tuesday that appears to mark the end of the nine-school-day statewide strike.
Only a small number of regions employ many steel and aluminum workers, and economically depressed areas the proposal aims to benefit could experience hardship in other industries.
Nashville Mayor Megan Barry resigned Tuesday after pleading guilty to felony theft charges.
One state's plan to require people kicked off Medicaid to take a course on personal finance addresses a problem that doesn't exist.
Washington became the first state in the nation to require internet service be "net neutral" as Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bipartisan bill Monday afternoon.
State Rep. Isela Blanc was arrested Monday during a protest for undocumented immigrants on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced his school safety committee members on Monday, but the 16-member group is lacking a Democrat.
As his supporters brawled with protesters outside, Richard Spencer stood inside a Michigan State University building, blaming the violence on his skin color.
The Trump administration on Monday approved Arkansas’ request for a Medicaid work requirement but deferred a decision on the state’s request to roll back its Medicaid expansion that has added 300,000 adults to the program.
This tiny truck-stop town, 90 miles southeast of Denver and home to fewer than 2,000 people, is flanked on all sides by endless, undulating hills. Limon’s busiest areas are its two interstate exits, where truckers and road-trippers pull over to grab gas or fast food.
Most classroom teachers would be unable to carry firearms under the bill passed Monday by the Florida Senate in response to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
The Trump administration will not immediately have to award California a grant being withheld over concerns the state is a sanctuary for people in the country illegally, a federal judge said Monday.
The NRA has "in essence become a terrorist organization," said Gov. Dannel Malloy, who is considering cutting it out of the state's gun permitting process. It's not the only state, however, that directs funds toward the group.
Governing was in Austin as several mayors from around the country arrived to take part in the annual South by Southwest event. Our coverage of the conference includes stories, podcasts and video interviews.
Steven Long returned from his job cleaning up CenturyLink Field after a Seattle Sounders' game when he discovered that home was gone.
When Mayor Kenney signed an executive order in August to post online civilian complaints against Philadelphia police officers, he touted it as a "commonsense reform" that would build trust between the Police Department and the communities it serves.
A powerful winter storm that pummeled the Northeast, killing at least nine and leaving 2 million homes and businesses without power, unleashed heavy rain and snow but inflicted its deadliest damage with fierce winds.
The graduate student workers' strike at University of Illinois will continue into a second week after a weekend mediation session failed to produce a contract agreement, union and university leaders said Sunday night.
Maple syrup gumming up the gun belt isn’t normally a hazard of police work. But it is a common problem for Cpl. Pamela Revels when students have been eating pancakes at the school breakfast.
A bill designed to rein in "step therapy," the insurance company practice of requiring patients to try a less expensive medication before using a costlier option, will become law in New Mexico.
It may be hard to remember, but there was a time when the National Rifle Association was a bipartisan organization.
A state education union leader said Sunday that union leaders are “exploring all avenues” — which could include legal action — after the state Senate mistakenly passed the wrong public employee pay raise bill Saturday.
Gov. Jay Inslee couldn’t get the votes in time to pass one of his top priorities: a tax on carbon dioxide pollution. It would have been the first tax of its kind in the country.
Predictive technologies promise to let police fight crime before it happens. But do they work?
Gov. Nathan Deal signed legislation to lower state income tax rates Friday, giving quiet approval to a measure that caused a national uproar after Georgia lawmakers punished Delta Air Lines for rescinding discounts for National Rifle Association members.
