Archive
Connecticut, New York and New Jersey say that GOP tax policies unduly punish their populations. Some doubt whether their claims would stand up in court.
“I grew up believing that’s what you do, that when a problem arises it’s your civic duty to step in and fashion a solution for your community."
In a report released last week, the "Fix NYC" transportation task force, appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last fall, recommended charging drivers a fee to enter Manhattan's central business district — and using the revenue to improve the public transit system.
Four months after Hurricane Irma buzz-sawed its way across South Florida, the state’s busiest national park is understandably still recovering. But the shoddy conditions date way before the latest storm
In an ironic twist, the Trump administration's embrace of work requirements for low-income people on Medicaid is prompting lawmakers in some conservative states to resurrect plans to expand health care for the poor.
Republican lawmakers typically tout the benefits of local control. But in states across the country, they have taken action to rein in cities that want to enact progressive measures such as gun control laws and minimum wage hikes. Now plastic bags have become an unlikely flashpoint in the conflict between blue cities and their red state legislatures.
In response to a deadly school shooting in western Kentucky this week, some state lawmakers are pushing to pass a bill that would allow school districts to appoint campus staff members to become armed guards.
When families on welfare failed work requirements in Kansas, they fell into deep poverty. Could the same thing happen with Medicaid?
Homicide rates are at an all-time high in the city, and its police department has been mired in turmoil. The state is stepping in.
The meals served to prisoners have been a catalyst for riots throughout history. Prison advocates and workers say outsourcing the kitchens to companies only makes them worse.
Mayors gathered in Washington last week worried that the White House’s plan would drain their resources. But they were hopeful that the new money could come directly to cities, instead of through the states.
Flu diagnoses and hospitalizations in New York have climbed to their highest levels on record prompting the governor to issue an executive order to contain what has been declared an epidemic.
The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut this morning said they are teaming up to challenge new federal tax overhaul law in court.
At the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting this week, a panel of female mayors gathered to discuss the movement's impact on them and the way they lead their communities.
Concerned about soaring health care costs, Idaho on Wednesday revealed a plan that will allow insurance companies to sell cheap policies that ditch key provisions of the Affordable Care Act.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday informed the U.S. Supreme Court that if the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program still exists in June, his office would consider filing suit to eliminate the program.
The candidates who hope to be California's next governor clashed Thursday about immigration, health care and how they made their fortunes at a boisterous debate in front of a packed hall with a predominantly Latino audience.
Before moving on to the next vote-counting drama, let's reflect on what went right in Virginia and what policymakers and election administrators elsewhere can learn.
There has been plenty of pomp and circumstance, and even more long-windedness, as governors from coast to coast stepped to rostrums this month to deliver their annual State of the State addresses.
In the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, lawmakers in Lansing called Thursday for legislation to ensure that sexual abuse complaints are never ignored again and two legislators sent a subpoena to MSU demanding records of complaints filed against Nassar over a three-year period.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it was withdrawing a provision of the Clean Air Act that requires a major source of pollution like a power plant to always be treated as a major source, even if it makes changes to reduce emissions.
The U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Early Warning System director announced today that the preliminary phase of its rollout will begin this year in California, Oregon and Washington.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has less than a week left in office before he resigns to take a job in President Donald Trump's administration.
The state joins a small but growing movement to curb the practice of incarcerating low-risk offenders who can't afford bail.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday issued an executive order intended to strengthen net neutrality in New York by prohibiting state government contracts with internet companies that do not honor the rules that were unraveled last month by the Federal Communications Commission.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
California and environmental and tribal groups sued the Trump administration in San Francisco federal court Wednesday seeking to enforce Obama administration regulations of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, for oil and gas wells on hundreds of millions of acres of federally managed lands.
The office of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and her own appointment calendar, dispute Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor's assertion that she has not talked to the governor in more than a year.
Gov. Paul LePage imposed a moratorium on new wind energy projects in western and coastal Maine on Wednesday while establishing a secretive commission to study how wind turbines impact the state's tourism economy.
Mayors across the country are counting on voters to act on their frustration with Washington and state capitals — by electing them instead.
Oregon's Medicaid program survived intact Tuesday, after voters approved hundreds of millions of dollars in health care taxes in a special election.
Senate Minority Leader Ray Jones called Wednesday for an armed guard in every Kentucky public school following a deadly shooting Tuesday at Marshall County High School.
Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, one of the most unpopular governors in the country, barely survived a vote to confirm his bid for a big Trump administration job on Wednesday, as Vice President Mike Pence broke two ties that kept his nomination alive.
After outraising every Democrat in the race, independent Greg Orman officially launched his bid for Kansas governor Wednesday.
Architecture students transformed an old bank into a library for Newbern, Ala.
Fiscal equalization offers three lessons in local tax policy and regional prosperity.
The organization some refer to as "the Peace Corps for geeks" has launched a major effort to improve the way people apply for benefits.
There are a lot of big issues facing officials in 2018. The biggest is funding.
Online shopping and the automation of jobs are going to transform cities.
Efforts to bring back passenger trains are happening all over. We need them.
It's difficult to put a price tag on global warming, but the effort can help manage risks.
That’s what many Iowans, home to the state with the fewest mental health beds, are asking candidates for governor.
Obamacare isn’t the reason they’re going up. It’s state policies.
The first lawsuit fighting the Trump-approved policy was filed this week. If a court sides with opponents, work requirements could be dead before they even begin.
Can Alabama’s capital honor both civil rights and the Confederacy? It thinks so.
The state rolled back criminal justice reforms it had adopted only a year earlier. Other parts of the country are also reconsidering similar changes.
Most leaders and some members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, including at least one Republican, backed out of a planned infrastructure meeting with the president on Wednesday.
Hannes Zacharias helped his Kansas county win national recognition for a variety of programs. The county commissioners had nothing but praise for him. Then they fired him.
The disease has claimed 13 veterans’ lives since 2015 and may effect the governor’s reelection chances this year.
Even though the project will cost $2.8 billion more than planned, Gov. Jerry Brown still thinks it's worth it: "It'll last for 100 years, after all you guys are gone."
They largely serve minority students, but supporters say that’s not a problem -- it’s actually the point.
Expenses in different regions are diverging more now than in the recent past.
The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday evening approved a bill that would end special elections for the state's two U.S. Senate seats when vacancies occur.
Twenty-three cities and states are facing subpoenas if they do not prove they are complying with federal immigration laws regarding sanctuary cities in a "timely manner," the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The firings follow a long and ongoing saga between independent agencies and the GOP-controlled legislature.
Billionaire investor J.B. Pritzker and state Sen. Daniel Biss tried to change the dynamics of the Illinois Democratic governor's race Tuesday night, attacking each other during the first televised debate and relegating businessman Chris Kennedy largely to the sidelines.
Gov. Paul LePage has nominated a Nestle Waters' executive to the body that oversees environmental protection in Maine, drawing the ire of the company's critics.
After a year in which overdoses outstripped the murder rate by 4-1, librarians ran outside to save people from overdosing, and makeshift heroin camps sprawled under bridges and on street corners, Philadelphia city officials Tuesday took their most radical step yet against the opioid crisis.
San Francisco has a new interim mayor: moderate Supervisor Mark Farrell.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to remove Christopher Columbus' name from his commemorative day in October, and instead honor the indigenous people living in California long before it was discovered by European explorers.
In his Democratic race for Maryland governor, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker’s latest endorsement comes from his neighboring county’s executive.
A second woman has accused Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray of sexual misconduct. Theresa Sullivan Twiford said that nearly 30 years ago, when she was 18 years old and babysitting for the Murray family, Ed Murray forcibly kissed her in front of his house.
For the first time in seven years, Flint's local officials are in control of the city's daily finances and government decisions.
The South and the West continued to outpace the rest of the country as overall job growth slowed in 2017.
The Jackman Select Board voted unanimously on Tuesday morning to fire the town manager, whose support of racial segregation and condemnation of Islam put the town in what most locals saw as an unflattering light.
A drug wholesaler flooded Kentucky counties with millions of prescription painkillers even as overdose deaths were on the rise, state Attorney General Andy Beshear charged in a lawsuit filed Monday in Franklin Circuit Court.
President Donald Trump's now disbanded voter fraud commission sought voter records from Texas state officials that flagged Hispanic voters, The Washington Post reported Monday.
With New Jersey's announcement that it will rejoin a multistate compact to limit carbon emissions, 2018 could be a banner year for cap and trade in the states -- even if the idea is dead in Washington.
Some say South Florida's Brightline can serve as a model for infrastructure development. But first, it has to be completed and prove it can make money.
The president's "America First" message and his new trade barriers have caused anxiety in states where the economy depends on investment from abroad. It's pushing governors to hone their diplomatic skills.
Public-sector unions are becoming more altruistic. They may need to be.
It's a big election year, and legislative agendas won’t be focused on raising revenue.
California utility regulators on Friday finally approved a statewide map, years in development, designed to help prevent power lines from starting wildfires.
Rebeca Gonzalez grew up eating artichokes from her grandmother’s farm in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala. But for years after emigrating to the U.S., she did not feed them to her own kids because the spiky, fibrous vegetables were too expensive on this side of the border.
Akron Public Schools board member John Otterman, who overdosed last week and was administered four doses of an opiate overdose reversal drug, resigned Monday after a long-documented history with illicit drugs.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló says he is moving to sell off the U.S. territory's public power company, as nearly a third of the island's electric customers remain without power four months after Hurricane Maria struck the island on Sept. 20.
The Supreme Court put partygoers on notice Monday that they may be lawfully arrested if they show up at a loud and wild party where they do not know the host.
Gov. David Ige told reporters today that part of the delay in notifying the public that the Jan. 13 ballistic missile alert was a false alarm was that he did not know his Twitter account password.
In a move certain to upend state politics and the critical 2018 elections, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state's congressional map "clearly, plainly, and palpably" violates the state constitution and blocked its use in the May primaries.
For the first time, a U.S. state has legalized marijuana with the stroke of a pen, not a vote at the ballot box.
(And the tenacity of a guy named mark! Lopez)
More states may legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. But even where it is allowed, some doctors still refuse to offer it.
At a time when many state transportation officials are clamoring for more financial help from Washington, an outline of the president’s infrastructure plan depends heavily on an influx of state and private funds.
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of federal civilian employees work outside the D.C. metro area.
On Monday, Montana became the first to reinstate some of the rules the FCC repealed. The question of whether states have the right to do that, however, will likely end up in court.
From his office’s second-story window in Lower Manhattan, Stephen A. Briganti could see dozens of tourists “milling about” over the weekend, trying to understand why they could not travel to the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island.
Florida is still under consideration for offshore oil drilling, a top Interior Department official said Friday, contradicting an announcement last week from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that energy exploration off the coast of Florida was "off the table."
CNN reported late Friday that the FBI is looking into Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens, but the governor's personal attorney has called on the cable network to retract the report.
West Virginia's drug czar resigned Thursday, after a little more than four months on the job.
The hearsay rule is a bedrock principle of American jurisprudence: Anything offered as evidence that doesn't come from a witness testifying in court is hearsay and cannot be considered by jurors.
Arkansans have no right to file a lawsuit against their state government, even where the Legislature has given them permission to, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in a split decision Thursday that overturned two decades of case law.
The Florida Senate, where incidences of a hostile work environment have spawned formal and informal complaints of sexual harassment and led to the resignation of a powerful state senator last month, on Thursday decided it was time to crack down.
In its annual count of the city’s homeless population, New York in 2015 listed how many people fit into 10 different groups: nearly 4,000 chronically homeless, more than 8,000 severely mentally ill, 1,500 veterans, and so on. But when the list got to victims of domestic violence, the annual federally mandated count showed one striking number: zero.
Boston's CIO has worked to transform traditional bureaucratic procedures to speed the rollout of the latest mobile broadband infrastructure.
A first-of-its-kind report shows that many of the nonprofits delivering social services are underpaid by governments and fail to manage their budgets wisely.
President Trump signed a short-term spending bill on Monday evening that ends the government shutdown and reauthorizes CHIP for six years.
Gov. Paul LePage announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has denied him on a second try in his long-standing battle to ban soft drink and candy purchases with federal food stamp benefits.
The state Supreme Court has overturned a Superior Court judge's controversial ruling that would have upended the state's educational-funding scheme and mandated a vast overhaul of teacher evaluations, educational standards and special-education services.
South Dakota lawmakers underwent training Wednesday aimed at helping them understand and prevent sexual harassment in the Statehouse.
Women in Nebraska prisons will get easier access to feminine hygiene products under a policy change announced Wednesday by the state Department of Correctional Services.
North Carolina lawmakers will not have to draw new congressional election districts by next week, and voters across the state could go to the polls in the coming year to elect its 13 members of Congress from districts that three judges have found to be unconstitutional.
State officials on Thursday blasted the Trump administration over reports of an imminent immigration enforcement sweep of Northern California and said new state laws will make such action more difficult.
A government shutdown appeared likely after Congress deadlocked over a proposed four-week stopgap spending bill to keep federal offices open past Friday's deadline.
Some Chattanooga rental hosts and local officials say an agreement allowing Airbnb to collect state and local sales taxes on short-term rentals in Tennessee is a good thing, but it doesn't go far enough.
Connie Pillich, the sole Democratic woman running for Ohio governor, has picked Marion Mayor Scott Schertzer as her running mate.
Amazon on Thursday narrowed the field in its search for a second headquarters city, plucking 20 finalists from among the 238 proposals the retail giant received in October.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Giving public employees the power to make prudent interpretations would render government more effective and better regarded.
After a week of foreshadowing, Dennis Kucinich made it official today: He's joining the field of four Democrats already seeking the Ohio governorship.
In an effort to help stop a "public health nightmare," the City of Philadelphia on Wednesday sued several regional pharmaceutical companies, claiming that their marketing methods have been so misleading, they have fueled the city's opioid crisis.
Gov. Phil Murphy began his first full day in office Wednesday by signing an executive order tightening rules on gift disclosures.
As a movie and a mayoral speech demonstrate, destructive policies of the past had a lot to do with the city's decline. What's needed is inclusive economic competitiveness.
For four years, a tucked-away monitoring system in a certain visitation room at the Anchorage jail recorded conversations between attorneys and their clients -- defendants in criminal court -- without anyone knowing.
Online shoppers get ready. Louisiana is beefing up its efforts to collect taxes on purchases made from out-of-state internet retailers.
For years, hospital executives have expressed frustration when essential drugs like heart medicines have become scarce, or when prices have skyrocketed because investors manipulated the market.
After learning about this information exchange last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a vocal critic of Trump's immigration policies, quickly restricted it.
The number of children packed into overcrowded homes remains high and comes at a tremendous social cost.
Gov. Matt Bevin says he will end Kentucky's expanded Medicaid program that provides health coverage for more than 400,000 low-income people if a court blocks the work requirements, premiums or other changes that he wants to impose later this year.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos approved 11 state ESSA plans on Tuesday.
Getting a government job, or even an interview, takes a notoriously long time. Denver cut the process practically in half.
In 2009, Louis Jacobson ranked the states with the worst leadership and policy challenges. Almost a decade later, what's changed?
A judge has ordered Illinois officials to add intractable pain as a qualifying condition for medical marijuana, a ruling that could greatly expand access to the drug.
Republicans inside the capital city on Tuesday debated whether Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens should resign after revelations of his extramarital affair and related allegations of possible blackmail surfaced last week.
The graphic is called the "Geographic Spread of Influenza as Assessed by State and Territorial Epidemiologists." And it's a doozy.
A group of 22 Democratic state attorneys general, including those from California and New York, filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the Federal Communications Commission's repeal of tough net neutrality rules for online traffic.
On Monday, a group proposing to split California into two states read its Declaration of Independence.The group, called New California, has been behind splitting the state up for several years and has proposed several different versions. The most recent map and previous maps are shown below.
The Trump administration’s watershed decision Thursday to allow states to test a work requirement for adult Medicaid enrollees sparked widespread criticism from doctors, advocates for the poor, and minority and disability rights groups.
Assembly representatives will have to take mandatory sexual harassment training under a measure passed by lawmakers Tuesday.
Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday flipped a state Senate seat in a GOP-leaning district, prompting excitement among local party officials.
The Washington State Department of Licensing will no longer release personal information to federal immigration authorities without a court order unless required by law, the agency announced Monday.
Illinois election officials have told state lawmakers that voter data won't be sent as scheduled to a controversial system aimed at flagging duplicate voter registrations across state lines.
From sweetening the pension of a South Jersey political ally to regulating drones, Republican Gov. Chris Christie on Monday signed more than 100 bills of varying consequence into law.
Disability advocates hailed the U.S. Department of Education's finding that Texas for years put roadblocks in the path of children who potentially qualified for special education--a clear violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
A statewide tour to promote a Trump-style overhaul of Missouri's tax system has fallen victim to the scandal enveloping Gov. Eric Greitens.
President Donald Trump's frequent visits to South Florida make the area a high-risk target for terrorism, one that justifies more money from the federal government, Palm Beach County's top law enforcement agency says.
El Cajon police officers arrested about a dozen people for feeding the homeless at a city park Sunday afternoon.
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission issued a stinging rebuke Sunday to Hawaii's emergency management as ripples from Saturday's nuclear scare spread far and wide.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether states will be allowed to collect what could amount to billions of dollars in taxes from online retail sales.
With elections looming, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Friday that it will review two lower-court rulings that ordered Texas to redraw 11 political districts found to be discriminatory.
The idea of charging drivers for the miles they drive instead of the gas they burn is not new. But states are still sorting out how it might work.
Charitable giving is expected to drop, and nonprofits that operate social services for the government will likely take the biggest hit.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew White called Thursday for Texas to abolish the death penalty, saying if elected governor he will work to erase the hallmark law that has fueled the nation's busiest death chamber in past decades.
Gov. Rick Scott distanced himself Thursday from President Donald Trump’s undisputed comments calling Haiti and some African nations “shithole” countries — remarks that Democrats say could cost him if he runs for U.S. Senate.
The prosecutor for the city of St. Louis will investigate blackmail allegations against Gov. Eric Greitens that threaten to end his political career.
Two New York City councilmen were among the 18 people arrested at a demonstration for an immigrant rights leader detained by federal authorities.
President Donald Trump has promoted a tough-on-crime agenda at the White House. But he says the nation needs to find ways to help inmates eventually re-enter society.
After a study showed that watching nature videos can have positive benefits for inmates, some prisons are adding them to their lineup.
States have requested to enact several other unprecedented policies. Kentucky on Friday reportedly became the first to get its waiver approved.
Massachusetts' legal marijuana industry is already taking a hit after U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling promised a hard-line approach to businesses that cultivate and sell the drug, which is illegal under federal law.
