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Russian hackers obtained classified information about National Security Agency cybersecurity programs after breaching a personal computer used by an agency contractor in 2015, according to a person familiar with the matter.
In a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump's expanded deportation orders, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed landmark "sanctuary state" legislation Thursday, vastly limiting who state and local law enforcement agencies can hold, question and transfer at the request of federal immigration authorities.
Saying he simply doesn't have the "passion" to go to Washington, Republican Gov. Bill Haslam announced Thursday he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat of retiring Sen. Bob Corker.
Seattle mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan notched the endorsement Wednesday of Gov. Jay Inslee, while opponent Cary Moon named four members of a transition team.
Attorney General Ken Paxton won't face trial on a trio of criminal felony charges until next year, possibly right after the primary election, a Harris County district judge ruled Wednesday.
A Travis County judge has blocked state officials from turning over Texas voting records to President Donald Trump's commission on voter fraud.
Congressional Republicans are considering keeping the state and local tax deduction in some form as part of the party's tax overhaul to avoid losing votes of lawmakers from California and other states that have large numbers of residents who use the break.
The Trump administration was ordered by a federal judge Wednesday to immediately enforce new restrictions on the release of potent methane emissions at oil and gas drilling operations on public land.
A late-night party that turned a vacant Washington home into a busy strip club was at the center of a Supreme Court argument Wednesday, prompting the justices to discuss strippers, marijuana and a party host named "Peaches."
Federal officials and major drugmakers are scrambling to prevent national shortages of critical drugs for treating cancer, diabetes and heart disease, as well as medical devices and supplies, that are manufactured at 80 plants in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
The judge called criminal contempt “an offense against the United States,” and she remarked that former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will “escape punishment for his willful violation” of a court order.
When destroyed by disaster, public housing has historically taken years to be replaced -- if at all. What happens to low-income residents in the meantime?
Gov. Sam Brownback defended his decision to rescind protections for gay and transgender state workers before a U.S. Senate panel considering his nomination as ambassador for international religious freedom.
The state agency charged with providing homesteads for Native Hawaiians produced no new housing units during the year that ended June 30, and closed out the fiscal year with $30 million in unspent federal housing funds.
Duane Buck -- wearing handcuffs, leg irons and the yellow jail uniform of a high-profile inmate -- doubled over in his courtroom chair and sobbed.
The Salt Lake City Council has designated Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October — also known as Columbus Day.
One of Iowa's new abortion laws cleared a judicial hurdle on Monday after a Polk County district judge upheld a three-day waiting period that is now required before obtaining the medical procedure.
A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general on Monday called on Congress to allow Medicaid funding to flow to larger drug treatment centers, potentially expanding the number of addicts who can get help as the nation grapples with an overdose crisis.
Pledging that Florida will do "everything we can to help Puerto Rico," Gov. Rick Scott on Monday declared a state of emergency that he said will make it easier to accommodate an expected wave of people fleeing the island in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Voters in 11 swing states in last year's presidential race, including Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, received more fake, junk and hyper-partisan information over Twitter than reliable, professionally produced news in the 10 days before the election, according to a British study of the social media platform's potential impact.
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struggled for the second time over how to resolve whether immigrants detained by the U.S. government for more than six months should be able to seek their release while deportation proceedings unfold.
Aiming to build an efficient, sustainable and multi-modal transportation system, Tempe, Ariz., is taking a particularly comprehensive approach.
States are starting to require it. Ironically, police advocates and groups like Black Lives Matter agree that the new laws are problematic.
They both had bleak financial outlooks even before the hurricanes hit.
At issue is how to decide when legislative voting maps are illegally partisan. At Tuesday's hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts expressed concerns about how the case could impact the "status" and "integrity" of the Supreme Court itself.
The state has one of the lowest resident-to-physician ratios in the country, which puts it in a uniquely vulnerable position to respond to large-scale emergencies.
Public-sector unions are already preparing for a potential exodus of members and a loss of revenue. Can they survive without charging mandatory fees?
It could be months, if not years, before southeast Texans and scores of counties and cities receive federal funds to pay for the long-term rebuilding and recovery of homes and communities battered by Hurricane Harvey’s epic rains.
Immigrants who are being held while seeking the right to remain in the United States, and who would pose no threat if released, are entitled to have bail set in an amount that considers how much they can afford to pay and whether they can be safely monitored without bail, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
O.J. Simpson's attorney blasted Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday, calling her a "stupid b--."
Puerto Ricans have long felt like second-class U.S. citizens.
The National Rifle Association has delayed a week's worth of television advertising in Virginia's 2017 elections.
When the chief White House spokeswoman again brought up Chicago having a high level of violence despite its having the "strictest gun laws in the country," U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly and others were quick to respond.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state's new school finance system is unconstitutional, striking a definitive blow to the Legislature's latest effort.
A few areas of state government appear to be shrinking nationwide.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota's treatment system for sex offenders, another setback to a long-standing series of efforts to reform the program.
Nevada's recent politics suggest just how difficult it can be for states to enact gun control measures -- even when a majority of citizens favor them.
As the practice spreads to more states, Census data suggest it could benefit both parties.
Mayor Sylvester Turner on Friday said he would withdraw a proposed property tax rate hike after Gov. Greg Abbott handed him a check for $50 million to help fund the city's recovery from Hurricane Harvey.
Citing deep cuts to higher education, sharp reductions in aid to needy communities, and unsound deferrals of pension payments, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Thursday made good on his pledge to veto the budget that cleared the legislature earlier this month.
Two senators leading bipartisan talks on health insurance are hoping to have a proposal ready by the end of next week that would stabilize Obamacare's individual insurance markets for the next two years.
It seemed to be the most anti-O.J. Simpson of moments.
The organization dedicated to electing Republican attorneys general is expanding in preparation for a huge slate of 2018 elections for the influential state positions.
President Donald Trump on Sunday morning assailed "politically motivated ingrates" for criticizing the speed and scope of the federal recovery effort in the wake of Hurricane Maria, while praising first responders, the military, Puerto Rico's governor and federal workers.
Declaring that he might not "be able to support" the Republican Party "if the party can't be fixed," Ohio Gov. John Kasich dropped the broadest hint yet he might run as an independent candidate in the future.
More than 50 people were killed and at least 200 others injured after a gunman opened fire Sunday night at a country music festival opposite the Mandalay Bay hotel and resort on the Las Vegas Strip, authorities said.
Surrounded by a crowd of Democratic mayors and legislators Friday morning, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a wide-ranging package of 15 bills designed to bring some relief to the statewide housing crisis.
Cities shouldn't just work for their neediest citizens. They also should work with them.
Some states are already preparing to freeze enrollment or cut off children's health insurance as they face the near possibility of running out of money for the program.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes on Thursday filed separate lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, including OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, accusing them of fueling the state's ongoing opioid epidemic.
Ohioans lost the right Friday to appeal disputed tax decisions directly to the state’s high court, a scarcely debated policy change that critics say will have sweeping consequences for businesses, individuals and governments.
Maryland is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, demanding it address air pollution that blows in from upwind states.
Regional representatives from the Department of Health and Human Services will not be participating in open enrollment events in the states as they have in years past,
A somber Gov. Bruce Rauner on Thursday signed into law a controversial measure to expand taxpayer-subsidized abortions, drawing unusually sharp criticism from fellow Republicans who accused him of breaking his promise to veto the bill.
Immigration officials on Thursday announced hundreds of arrests in an operation targeting communities where police and elected officials have refused to fully cooperate on enforcing federal immigration laws.
Black Lives Matter is a social movement, like the tea party or the civil rights movement, and therefore can't be sued, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
If the past is any indicator, public schools are about to have a big teachable moment about the First Amendment, sparked by a burst of tension between President Donald Trump and professional athletes.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case originally brought by Gov. Bruce Rauner that challenges whether government employee unions should be able to collect fees from nonmembers, a critical question for organized labor nationwide that the court deadlocked over last year.
Jane Swift, former governor of Massachusetts, believes having public-sector experience is the quickest way to get ahead in the private sector -- especially for women.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello on Thursday thanked the Trump administration for helping the island cope with the devastation of Hurricane Maria after the president agreed to waive a federal law restricting foreign ships from transporting cargo to the U.S. territory.
Particularly when it comes to spending, there's nothing like a natural disaster to demonstrate the interdependence of the public and private sectors.
Arizona public schools soon will get 200 new teachers as part of a new scholarship program that promises recipients free tuition at one of the state's three public universities for every year they teach in the state.
For the first time in its 20-year history, Charlotte's Citizens Review Board ruled against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Tuesday with a 7-1 vote.
Nibbling on dwindling food stocks, lacking crucial medications, sweltering in half-wrecked homes with only tainted water for washing and barely any for drinking: For many in Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria's aftermath has been even more harrowing than the mighty storm itself.
Hillary Clinton is set to return to the electoral fray next week.
A Kentucky federal judge struck down an anti-abortion law that required women to receive an ultrasound before they can legally have an abortion.
Backing an effort for California to claim a bigger share of the attention from presidential candidates, Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a bill moving the state's primary elections to early March.
In a special Florida Senate election where President Donald Trump was a drag, a Republican state House member who was once a contestant on "The Apprentice" lost to Democrat Annette Taddeo.
When you drive through the city, you can’t miss its slogan. That wasn’t always the case.
Local income taxes were once blamed for causing businesses to flee to the suburbs. Not anymore.
The public sector has been notoriously slow to embrace technology. Is that finally changing?
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
They're the most vulnerable to disasters, but they don't have to be.
Colorado landfills have been illegally burying low-level radioactive waste from the oil and gas industry that they are not approved to handle, state health officials revealed this week.
In an ominous development, Standard & Poor's has knocked down Hartford's bond rating for the second time in two weeks, declaring that "a default, a distressed exchange, or redemption appears to be a virtual certainty.''
As Governing celebrates its 30th anniversary, here's a few predictions for the next three decades.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday strongly rejected suggestions from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and other city officials that they could avoid raising local property taxes to pay for damage from Hurricane Harvey if the state would immediately tap its reserve funds.
President Trump told lawmakers Tuesday that he was abandoning a key element of his planned $1 trillion infrastructure package, complaining that certain partnerships between the private sector and federal government simply don’t work.
The federal Department of Homeland Security reversed itself Tuesday and told Wisconsin officials that the Russian government had not tried to hack the state's voter registration system last year.
The U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execution for a black man scheduled to die on Tuesday in Georgia after his lawyers argued that his conviction was tainted by a juror with racist views.
Members of Congress searched for a way forward on health care legislation Tuesday, but as they did, the wreckage of the latest Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act continued to threaten to block the way for bipartisan progress.
Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, overcoming an incumbent with the strong backing of President Donald Trump and a major fundraising advantage.
When high levels of lead were discovered in the public water system in Flint, Mich., in 2015, Medicaid stepped in to help thousands of children get tested for poisoning and receive care.
Business leaders in Tucson have tried to mail Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, a 21-foot cactus. The largest conference room in the Tulsa, Okla., mayor’s office has been converted to a war room, with 50 volunteers poring over videos of Mr. Bezos.
Research shows long hours and off-duty work can negatively impact officers’ performance and even worsen their racial biases. But most departments don’t place any limits on officers' hours.
City revival has ceased to be a radical idea, and that’s a good thing.
For one, what’s the objective -- to improve service, save money or both?
At 24, Atlanta’s new sustainability director has already spent a lifetime in the field. He attributes that to cartoons and his famous family.
The medical field has been reluctant to adopt technology. There are reasons to believe that’s changing.
Ed Murray’s resignation represents a trend: Unlike most big cities, mayors there tend to last one term -- or less.
Over a generation, there’s been a sea change in the way cities, states and the feds deal with each other.
They can have a big impact on economic fortunes and social cohesion, which explains the controversy that often surrounds them.
It's an issue that's playing out right now in St. Louis County.
Ken Paxton is the state’s latest official to seemingly survive a political scandal.
Most states have outdated laws. In New Hampshire, a rule about which businesses can use red, white and blue paint has spurred a backlash against such red tape.
Art Martinez de Vara created the first "defensive city." Today, there are a string of them.
Irregular hours and unpredictable schedules have redefined work for many low-income Americans. States and cities are just beginning to regulate them.
The Trump administration's latest reversal of Obama policing strategies instead puts an emphasis on tough-on-crime policies. But the shift will undermine efforts to rebuild relations between communities and police, say many law enforcement officials and experts.
The unique anti-tax tool has defined spending in the state, and it may spread to more states.
Jails are filled with low-risk offenders awaiting court dates. There's bipartisan support to change that, so why is it still hard to get anything done?
Things are looking up right now in the city. Well, at least part of it. That inequality will impact the city’s upcoming election and be the biggest issue facing its next leader.
We first published in 1987, a year when states and cities seemed poised for innovation.
A Manhattan federal appeals court on Tuesday overturned the corruption conviction of former Senate leader Dean Skelos, knocking down a second pillar of former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's clean-up Albany campaign on the same grounds it reversed former Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver's conviction a few months ago.
The highly anticipated rules might spur lenders to lobby states to loosen their own laws.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said that a lack of immediate state funding for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts is forcing him to push for a property tax hike in this storm-battered city still reeling from the worst rainfall event in U.S. history.
As parents and students start writing checks for the first in-state tuition hike in seven years at the University of California, they hope the extra money will buy a better education.
Gov. Kate Brown plans to seek reelection in 2018, her campaign said on Monday morning.
Gov. Ricardo A. Rosselló of Puerto Rico said on Monday that the island was on the brink of a “humanitarian crisis” nearly a week after Hurricane Maria knocked out its power and most of its water, and left residents waiting in excruciating lines for fuel. He called on Congress to prevent a deepening disaster.
The Supreme Court's decision Monday to postpone arguments over the legality of President Donald Trump's travel ban is likely to send the controversy back to lower courts to consider his revised order, released Sunday.
Violent crime climbed in California and around the country in 2016, the second straight year of increases that have been driven by spikes in big cities like Chicago and have reversed longer-term trends toward safer cities and towns, the FBI reported Monday.
Even a partial report from the Congressional Budget Office was enough to apparently tip the scales against the latest Republican effort to overhaul the Affordable Care Act and prompted a crucial senator to announce she cannot support the bill, seemingly sinking its chances.
A federal judge permanently struck down provisions of an Indiana law passed last year that would have banned abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities and required that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated.
Both propose cutting the food stamps program by at least $150 billion over 10 years.
Voicemails left on Florida Gov. Rick Scott's cellphone by employees of the Hollywood, Fla., nursing home where 11 died in the post-Hurricane Irma heat have been deleted, according to the governor's office.
Local police across Texas will have to honor federal detainers for people who are in the country illegally, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in allowing some parts of Texas' controversial new "show me your papers" law to temporarily take effect.
The state passed the nation's most comprehensive law to make drug prices more transparent. It has also inspired other states to take on the pharmaceutical companies in November.
Patients who visit freestanding emergency rooms in Texas should now have a better idea of whether their health insurance will cover the bill.
The University of California will chip in at least $300,000 to help UC Berkeley pay security costs for controversial speakers, an unprecedented step as criticism mounts over the financial toll the events are taking on the campus.
Arizona does not have to reveal who provides its execution drugs, a judge ruled Thursday in a lawsuit arguing that the information would help the public determine whether the death penalty is carried out humanely and promote confidence in the criminal justice system.
The Trump administration plans to shut down the federal health insurance exchange for 12 hours during all but one Sunday in the upcoming open enrollment season.
Tennessee Promise students are outperforming their peers at community colleges in their persistence, completion rates and other success measures, an official told the Tennessee Board of Regents today.
Hawaii has ratcheted up its planning for a possible -- but still very unlikely -- North Korean nuclear attack on the isles to 100 kiloton yield from 15 kiloton as the threat from the rogue nation seems to escalate by the week.
Senate Republicans have updated their last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill in an effort to win over skeptical party members ahead of a key deadline this week, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO on Sunday night.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday rescinded controversial Obama-era guidelines that had prodded colleges and universities to more aggressively _ critics said too aggressively _ investigate campus sexual assaults.
Minnesota was one of 21 states whose election systems were targeted by Russian-affiliated hackers before last year's elections, the federal government revealed Friday.
But even if courts block the Trump administration from defunding cities sympathetic to immigrants, Congress could still carry out the White House's wishes.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., dealt a critical blow to Republicans' last-ditch attempt to roll back the Affordable Care Act on Friday, announcing he will not vote for sweeping repeal legislation that GOP leaders plan to bring to the Senate floor for a vote next week.
Debt-affordability studies are a powerful tool for prudent borrowing. Some states are making good use of them.
The city of Flint saw fewer pregnancies, and a higher number of fetal deaths, during the period women and their fetuses were exposed to high levels of lead in their drinking water, according to a new research study that reviewed health records from Flint and the state.
For the sliver of people still eligible to renew their benefits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, San Francisco city officials are offering help with paperwork -- and money -- this weekend.
By the fall of 1985, the Reagan administration had had enough of the East St. Louis Housing Authority.
Left to fend for themselves a day after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico and forced them into a primitive existence, San Juaneros took to the streets Thursday to do what they say Caribbean people do best: Inventar. Figure it out.
The National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD) warned Republicans on Thursday that the Senate's latest ObamaCare repeal bill would place a massive burden on states.
Gov. Susana Martinez has waded into the debate on the latest Republican-backed Obamacare repeal plan -- and she's not sold on the bill's merits.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo will travel to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria on Friday at the request of the governor of the storm-ravaged island where many New Yorkers have both roots and relatives.
The tax system isn't set up to help low-income people as much if they don't have children. There's a push in Congress and the states to change that.
The latest Republican bid to roll back the Affordable Care Act would likely leave millions of currently insured Americans without health coverage in the coming decades, and strip benefits and protections from millions more, a growing number of independent studies suggest.
A St. Cloud couple will not be able to refuse wedding videography services for same-sex couples after a federal judge on Wednesday dismissed their lawsuit challenging Minnesota's human rights laws.
Less than six hours after it hit his desk, Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation that will immediately allow candidates to raise unlimited amounts of cash for super PACs.
Opening a new front in its broad legal battle against policies of President Trump, California filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging that the administration has overstepped its powers in expediting construction of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Illinois residents aren't the only ones throwing up their hands at the gridlock and increasingly polarized politics that have defined state government in recent years. More and more, fed-up and frustrated Illinois legislators are heading for the exits.
Most of the states that first endorsed the Common Core academic standards are still using them in some form, despite continued debate over whether they are improving student performance in reading and math.
Members of the Utah Legislature’s Judiciary Interim Committee voted unanimously on Wednesday to draft a bill that will clarify when police may — and may not — draw blood without a driver’s consent.
The first time Dani Pellett tackled the bathroom question was years before the issue of transgender access to restrooms would become a matter of political debate — and more than a decade before Pellett would enter the political realm herself.
All St. Louis police officers could be wearing body cameras within 90 days after a contentious and chaotic vote of the St. Louis Board of Estimate and Apportionment Wednesday.
S&P Global Ratings downgraded Pennsylvania's credit rating Wednesday, citing a history of late budgets.
Sleepless Puerto Ricans awoke Wednesday knowing to expect a thrashing from the most ferocious storm to strike the island in at least 85 years.
Stricter rules and penalties for protesting are being considered in nearly half the states.
San Francisco's groundbreaking effort to curb soda consumption by requiring health warnings in display ads hit a judicial wall Tuesday when a federal appeals court barred enforcement, saying the messages were one-sided and would violate advertisers' freedom of speech.
