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Pennsylvania's governor is using that logic to persuade lawmakers to adopt the nation's highest minimum wage. Not everyone is convinced.
As a college student in the 1960s, Christine Durham saw cultural and legal changes taking place in the country, especially in the area of civil rights.
California prohibits its government agencies from selling or displaying the Confederate flag. But in a settlement of a lawsuit by an artist, who had to wait a year before his Civil War painting that included the Stars and Bars could be shown at a state-sponsored fair, the state has agreed that the ban doesn't apply to private citizens on state property.
Three days after he killed an unarmed 15-year-old boy, a Balch Springs police officer was fired.
The Department of Justice will not bring federal civil rights charges against two police officers involved in the death of Alton Sterling, the 37-year-old black man whose shooting by police last summer set off days of protest in Baton Rouge, La.
Three Texas abortion facilities have reopened or are about to reopen, reversing a trend of clinic closures caused by strict abortion regulations that the Legislature adopted in 2013 but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last summer.
While the rest of the workforce has seen wage increases, low-income employees haven't been as fortunate. There's also a divide among the states.
A new study confirms a long-held assumption but also reveals a potentially big problem for the future.
A federal judge in Madison has declared Wisconsin's so-called cocaine mom statute -- meant to provide protection for developing fetuses -- unconstitutional in a civil rights lawsuit by a woman who was jailed 18 days while pregnant for refusing to live at a treatment center.
Gov. Nathan Deal went to a social services office in Atlanta on Monday to sign next year's state budget, highlighting the 19 percent raises it includes for child welfare workers and increases in payments to families who care for foster children.
A hiring freeze has taken effect in Wyoming for all state agencies.
A utility's novel attempt to force farmers to curb pollution in rivers failed. Now the utility is on the hook for millions of dollars to protect the region's drinking water.
Airbnb and HomeAway settled a lawsuit against San Francisco on Monday by agreeing to help the city ensure that all local hosts are registered. The agreement caps a multiyear struggle by Airbnb's hometown to rein in burgeoning vacation rentals, which critics say divert precious housing stock into the lucrative travel market.
Gov. Paul LePage sued Attorney General Janet Mills on Monday, accusing her of abusing her power by refusing to represent him in federal lawsuits.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday vetoed a bill that would have required President Donald Trump to release his tax returns in order to appear on the New Jersey ballot in 2020, blasting the legislation as "a transparent political stunt."
The U.S. Supreme Court bolstered the nation's housing-discrimination laws Monday, allowing cities to sue banks for racially biased home-loan practices -- but only if they can show that those practices are causing financial harm to city governments.
Protesters shattered business windows, set bonfires in the streets and vandalized a police car Monday afternoon in downtown Portland as a May Day protest devolved into a short-lived but chaotic riot.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said Monday that he would roll back part of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s healthy eating initiative: stricter nutritional standards for school lunches.
A federal judge in Houston Friday issued a scathing denouncement of Harris County's cash bail system, saying it is fundamentally unfair to detain indigent people arrested for low-level offenses simply because they can't afford to pay bail.
The governor is headed for a showdown with state lawmakers over felon voting rights.
Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett began to sob in a federal courtroom Friday as she struggled to explain where "the tipping point" was that led her down a path of corruption.
Four years ago, Oklahoma's oil patch was booming, unemployment was falling and state lawmakers were debating what to do with $200 million in surplus revenue.
The Trump administration appears to have scrapped one of the key tools the Obama administration used to encourage states to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
About half of the 675 immigrants picked up in roundups across the United States in the days after President Trump took office either had no criminal convictions or had committed traffic offenses, mostly drunken driving, as their most serious crimes, according to data obtained by The Washington Post.
Liberal sanctuary cities in California and elsewhere may well win their legal battle against President Donald Trump thanks to Supreme Court rulings once heralded by conservatives, including a 2012 opinion that shielded red states from President Barack Obama's plans to expand Medicaid coverage for low-income Americans.
The federal government will not let Rainforest Farms pay its taxes.
An employer can pay a woman less than a man for the same work if the man was paid more at his previous job and if the employer had a reasonable policy to justify reliance on past salaries, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.
President Donald Trump on Friday is expected to sign an executive order that could open large parts of the Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic oceans to new oil and gas drilling, a prospect that elicited a fierce backlash in California and elsewhere even before details of the order were clear.
Purdue University’s acquisition of Kaplan University is an unexpected tectonic shift in American higher education, revealing both the changing roles of public universities and the dwindling fortunes of for-profit colleges.
Local health officials are bracing for the potential impact of a Trump administration policy that would stop federal funding to jurisdictions that don’t enforce federal immigration laws.
The seven largest organizations that represent state and local governments — including the National Governors Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the U.S. Conference of Mayors — say they strongly oppose President Donald Trump’s plan to eliminate the federal income tax deduction for state and local taxes.
The idea will likely attract more attention if the Trump administration agrees to fund it.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
In Georgia, one in 16 adults is on probation. That’s almost four times the national average. And offenders there spend more than twice as long on probation as in the rest of the country, sometimes as long as 20 years or life. Meanwhile, probation officers juggle as many as 400 cases at a time.
President Trump on Wednesday ordered U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to study how the federal government has supported “top-down mandates” that rob autonomy from state and local education authorities, taking aim at Obama-era regulations that Republicans have long sought to eliminate.
Suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore said Wednesday said he will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, sounding themes of social conservatism and originalism he has struck for years.
The governor has signed a bill into law that would allow victims of sex trafficking to clear a prostitution conviction even if they’ve committed other crimes as a result of being trafficked.
Gov. Paul LePage joined President Trump in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday as he signed an executive order to review national monuments that are part of the National Park Service system.
Special districts are all over, and according to one of the first nationwide reports on them, most aren't revealing even basic information online about how they're spending public money.
Arizona consumers could get some limited relief from surprise medical bills that exceed $1,000 under legislation approved by the state Legislature.
Oscoda area residents whose wells are affected by groundwater contamination from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base have been urged by state and local public health officials to seek an alternative water supply. And a new Michigan law that took effect in January would make the U.S. Air Force responsible for covering the cost of those alternative water supplies.
The state attracted national attention for its failure to prevent and address child abuse and neglect. Since then, massive changes have led to massive improvements.
Gov. Jim Justice came to WVU on Tuesday to ceremonially sign into law HB 2815. The bill gives the four-year educational institutions more flexibility and exempts WVU, Marshall and the School of Osteopathic Medicine from Higher Education Policy Commission approval for certain policies and procedures.
For most of his life, Carl Goulden had near-perfect health. He and his wife, Wanda, say that changed 10 years ago. Carl remembered feeling “a lot of pain in the back, tired, fatigue, yellow eyes — a lot of jaundice.”
Contractors would have to choose between building a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico and doing business with California under a legislative proposal that advanced in the Senate Tuesday.
President Trump can't coerce sanctuary cities like San Francisco to cooperate with immigration officers by threatening to withdraw crucial funding, a federal judge said Tuesday in a ruling that bars enforcement of Trump's order nationwide.
Whether and how Congress passes a budget this week could indicate what's to come when negotiations start for the next year, which will be the first full budget under President Trump.
Confronting an opioid overdose epidemic that is killing at least 90 people every day, two federal agencies this month gave more than 700 nurse practitioners and physician assistants the authority to write prescriptions for the anti-addiction medication buprenorphine.
Wells Fargo's board is on the hot seat ahead of Tuesday's annual shareholder meeting as some large investors, including North Carolina's treasurer, say they will vote against the re-election of directors who oversaw the bank during its sales scandal.
In a move that could open Missouri to thousands of jobs for Uber and Lyft drivers while pounding another nail in the tire of traditional taxi services, Gov. Eric Greitens on Monday signed legislation paving the way for the new transportation companies to more easily operate statewide, effectively superseding local fees and regulations.
Donald Trump's stunning victory was not so much a sign of a political or social upheaval in America but one that shows the decline of a nation that has lost its moral compass, John Kasich says in his new book.
A UC Berkeley student group filed a federal lawsuit Monday accusing the university of unconstitutionally censoring conservative speech, days after administrators said they could not safely accommodate right-wing commentator Ann Coulter on campus this week.
In the nation's first double execution since 2000, Arkansas delivered heart-stopping doses of lethal drugs Monday night to death-row inmates Jack Jones Jr., 52, and Marcel Williams, 46.
Politicians and health-care leaders were asked what they learned while carrying out one of the industry's biggest overhauls.
Collie Thomas sat in the courtyard outside the Johns Hopkins Hospital and marveled at her luck. She works as an orderly in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country. She was promoted about a year ago. She just moved into a snug new row house.
Just months before his resignation Friday, Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles unseated Democrat Dwight Bullard with an aggressive $1 million campaign in a district that favored Democrats.
With time running out to set insurance prices and still no sign of whether the Trump administration will continue funding cost-sharing subsidies for low-income Americans, several states are giving health insurers a little more wiggle room to file 2018 rates.
Longtime environmentalist and entrepreneur Robert K. Massie has jumped into the Democratic gubernatorial primary, saying his résumé makes him uniquely qualified to take on Republican Governor Charlie Baker next year.
California cities are mobilizing to fight the Trump administration's effort to strip federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities, which do not enforce federal immigration policy.
It's been nearly 152 years since the Confederate Army surrendered to Union forces, ending the American Civil War.
Critics say suburban headquarters for companies like Apple and Google contribute to traffic and sprawl. The solution may lie in better connections to transit.
The U.S. Justice Department has escalated its approach to so-called "sanctuary cities," writing at least eight jurisdictions Friday to put them on notice they could be failing to cooperate with immigration authorities.
Women have mobilized in large numbers to run for office before. Women-in-politics advocates want to make sure it's sustainable this time.
Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles resigned from the Florida Legislature on Friday, consumed by a scandal that erupted three days earlier over a diatribe of insults the Miami Republican unleashed against two lawmakers at a Tallahassee bar.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders told a cheering crowd in Omaha on Thursday that he thinks mayoral candidate Heath Mello is part of the Democratic Party of the future.
All those snaps can take a lot of time out of an elected official's busy schedule.
Almost two years after Texas tried to import an execution drug from overseas, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled Thursday that the drug can’t be admitted into the United States.
The speculative list of possible candidates for governor in 2020 includes another surprise name: incumbent Gov. Gary Herbert, who during last year's re-election campaign said his current third term would be his last.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is under fire today for comments about Hawaii and the federal judge who halted President Trump's travel ban.
Regulators in Maryland have eased restrictions on the amount of marijuana prospective police officers may have smoked before being hired in the state _ a move Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis championed to boost his department's hiring efforts.
In the face of stepped-up deportation efforts, many unauthorized immigrants worry that state and local programs that are designed to help them could instead be used by federal agents to identify and expel them from the country.
Convicted murdered Ledell Lee was put to death after a flurry of last-minute court rulings Thursday that had left the latest of eight planned Arkansas executions in limbo. Defense lawyers battled on myriad fronts to save Lee, who claimed innocence, from a controversial lethal injection.
It's cutting costs and freeing up public workers to do things humans do best.
Progress on priority issues like health care and retirement security requires coordinated strategies.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Contrary to popular belief, most federal employees actually work outside of the D.C. metro area. See where and how vulnerable regional economies might be to reductions.
A federal judge kept on Wednesday his promise to block two state laws in Missouri that have kept clinics outside of the Planned Parenthood in St. Louis from performing abortions.
Saying he was there to show basic compassion, Gov. Jim Justice signed into law the bill that makes West Virginia the 29th state to legalize medical marijuana.
People who are freed from prison when their convictions are reversed deserve a refund of what they paid in fees, court costs and restitution, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.
Las Vegas is preparing to be the first city in the nation with vending machines dispensing clean needles in an effort to help combat the spread of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV, while also possibly leading some drug users into treatment.
Liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices alike sounded sympathetic Wednesday to a Missouri church that says it was unfairly denied a state grant for playground improvements.
Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles dropped the n-word to a pair of African-American colleagues in private conversation Monday night -- after calling one of them a "fucking asshole," a "bitch" and a "girl," the two senators said.
Gov. Larry Hogan signed a series of new laws Tuesday designed to make it easier to prosecute rape cases.
The Circular Economy, Part 2/4: The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) recently analyzed the social component of a city’s resilience strategy in the face of a natural disaster. Food banks support food-insecure neighborhoods and limit the stress food waste can have on businesses, but not all food qualifies for donation. Here's how turning food waste into energy can reduce the waste stream while taking a circular approach to critical infrastructure in times of crisis.
The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction plans to integrate Native American culture and history into classroom instruction as part of a project that compiled interviews of Native American elders in the state. In addition, culturally relevant lesson plans and other curriculum were developed for teachers to use.
Lawyers on both sides of a Missouri church-and-state case were set to argue Wednesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, despite debate about whether Gov. Eric Greitens' announcement that religious organizations should be allowed to apply for state resources had rendered the case moot.
North Carolina will again host NCAA tournament games following last month's replacement of House Bill 2.
At least three people were arrested and at least one was left bloodied after dueling demonstrations outside Auburn University's James E. Foy Hall turned raucous before Richard Spencer spoke there Tuesday night.
Tainted by former Massachusetts chemist Annie Dookhan, thousands of drug cases are set to be dismissed.
Public service students appear to be shying away from working in government, possibly worsening the sector's longtime hiring struggle.
Gov. Kay Ivey has moved the special election date for Jeff Sessions' former U.S. Senate seat.
State lawmakers introduced a resolution this week urging the state Department of Defense to update disaster preparation plans for Hawaii in the event of a nuclear attack amid escalating political tensions between the United States and North Korea.
Congress could overturn a rule that allows states to create private-sector retirement programs. But it only has a limited time to do it.
The Colorado Supreme Court has upheld the state’s drunken driving statutes in three cases that had warrantless blood draw evidence thrown out by lower courts, including a case in which a suspect had five times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream.
Starting next year, Washington college students who take out student loans will get an email or letter from their school telling them how much they owe and how much their monthly loan payments will be after graduation.
With Seattle politics reeling in the wake of the sexual abuse allegations facing Mayor Ed Murray, the opponent he unseated in the city's 2013 election, Mike McGinn, tossed his helmet into the mayor's race Monday.
In an effort to reinforce that “Blue Lives Matter,” the Arizona Legislature and Gov. Doug Ducey have created tougher penalties for assaulting a police officer — even if the officer is off duty.
A federal magistrate judge has ordered Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach to disclose documents outlining a strategic plan he presented to President Donald Trump in November, a decision that could have ramifications from Topeka to Washington.
The man behind a campaign to have California secede from the nation asked the state Monday to withdraw the ballot measure from signature-gathering after he decided to seek permanent residency in Russia.
An Arkansas inmate set to die by lethal injection Monday remains alive after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against lifting a stay of execution.
Upset that people with schizophrenia and other mental disorders have been put to death after murder convictions, lawmakers in a handful of states want to bar the use of the death penalty for people with a serious mental illness.
Maternal mortality rates have been increasing throughout the nation. But if Texas was a country, it would have the highest in the developed world.
Students from abroad have become a rich revenue source for many state colleges and their towns. What happens if the Trump administration's anti-immigration sentiment and policies drive them away?
Economists, sociologists and political scientists have recently identified single-family zoning as a major obstacle to building more of it. Could that change soon?
Their discontent with the status quo and attraction to a big challenge has led to some unexpected moves from city to city.
Many municipalities are forming public-private partnerships to bring high-speed Internet to long-neglected places. Their approaches, however, vary widely.
Trump wants to eliminate the program. But advocates argue it just needs to be reformed.
Chicago police interrogated Arnold Day for several hours before he confessed to two homicides.
California lawmakers this month will consider legislation that would impose a tax on prescription opioids such as OxyContin and Norco to raise money for addiction treatment and prevention programs.
After a flurry of last-minute legal challenges, a pair of judges have issued temporary injunctions effectively blocking Arkansas from executing six men it planned to put to death this month.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday signed sweeping legislation that will reform the state’s civil-asset forfeiture policies, expanding oversight on spending and ratcheting up the burden of proof required for police to seize property.
Colorado lawmakers on Thursday backed off plans to become the first U.S. state to regulate marijuana clubs, saying approval of Amsterdam-style pot clubs could invite a federal crackdown.
Trump Administration Drops Transgender Bathroom Lawsuit Against North Carolina, But Boycotts Persist
The Trump administration on Friday dropped a federal lawsuit that challenged North Carolina's House Bill 2, citing the repeal last month of the controversial law as its impetus.
The decline of malls in America can mean lost jobs and lower tax revenues for states and municipalities -- but not always.
One state legislator's legal battle showcases how outdated laws can hamper citizen engagement -- and get officials in trouble.
Smither Park celebrates folk art -- but only if it's recycled or reused.
It's hard to say, though, whether this is a temporary adjustment or a long-term trend.
Debates about how to address housing shortages in already dense cities raise important points about managing chaos.
It served our ‘maker’ cities well for a long time. Now it holds them back.
After a natural disaster hits the California city, the environmental department is among the first on the ground.
Every state but one has a tracking system to combat the opioid epidemic. They have long been criticized as difficult to use, but upgrades are on their way.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on racial gerrymandering Monday, but judges still can't agree on what partisan gerrymandering looks like. Social scientists may be able to help.
His policy choices will challenge places from Manhattan to Mobile, Ala.
Some want to save the fiscally challenged city in New York by effectively abolishing it.
Mike Pence tried first. Now Gov. Eric Holcomb is attempting to make the superintendent a gubernatorial appointment, leaving voters with little say over schools.
Facing bankruptcy, Grant County, Ky., invested in the park hoping for a new revenue source. But cash has yet to start flooding in.
In Portland, Ore., people were being locked up for the offense often -- African-Americans disproportionately so.
The recent feud between the governor and the state's House speaker began over a tourism ad. But it goes much deeper than that.
Forget spreadsheets. Visualization is what residents need to be able to drive action on issues.
Nashville and Memphis received great fanfare last fall from criminal justice advocates for passing local ordinances that gave police the power to reduce penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Gov. Jim Justice vetoed the budget bill Thursday afternoon. That was no great surprise.
Two pharmaceutical companies asked a federal judge Thursday to prevent Arkansas from using their drugs to execute seven inmates by the end of the month, saying they object to their products being used for capital punishment.
The United Airlines passenger dragged from a plane Sunday will require reconstructive surgery and both United and the city of Chicago are responsible for Dr. David Dao's injuries, his attorney said Thursday.
Ending months of speculation, an emotional Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Thursday that he would not run for reelection.
President Donald Trump signed a law Thursday that allows states to deny certain federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
Legislation that would prohibit politicians from using their campaign finance funds for personal use was signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant Tuesday in his state Capitol office.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Mayor Miro Weinberger is prohibiting official travel by Burlington employees to North Carolina unless essential until further notice, despite a change to that state's controversial bathroom bill.
Ohio on Wednesday drew attention to the fact that it has joined 47 other states in mandating that private health insurers cover screening, diagnosis, and treatment of autism disorders.
Although the GOP-controlled Congress is pledging its continued interest — despite stalls and snags — to dismantle Obamacare, some “red state” legislatures are changing course and showing a newfound interest in embracing the health law’s Medicaid expansion.
Manufacturers creating new jobs in Maryland could receive tax breaks under a bill Gov. Larry Hogan signed into law Tuesday, the product of a hard-won compromise that came together in the final hours of this year's legislative session.
The Lansing City Council backed out of its decision to declare itself a sanctuary city Wednesday evening, holding a vote to rescind the barely week-old resolution.
A highly respected judge -- and the first black woman and the first Muslim to serve on New York State's highest court -- was found dead Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.
President Trump and congressional Republicans want to strip federal funding from clinics that provide abortions. But not every GOP governor will help.
With help from President Trump and other high-profile Republicans, State Treasurer Ron Estes held off a surprisingly strong challenge by Democratic political newcomer James Thompson on Tuesday to win a seat in Congress. Observers in the state say the race was close because of Gov. Sam Brownback’s unpopularity.
Frederick B. Lacey won convictions against mayors, other public officials and Mafia members before becoming a judge whose cases included the French Connection trial.
King County, Wash., Councilmember Dave Upthegrove has put the brakes on a proposed 0.1 percent county-sales-tax increase intended to boost arts, science and culture programs.
