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Attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia on Sunday condemned President Donald Trump’s executive action banning Muslim immigration from select countries, calling it “unconstitutional, un-American and unlawful.”
States and cities will find it easier to turn away even those refugees the Trump administration admits to the U.S. under the executive order issued Friday.
Some states are seeking to fill funding holes and potholes with toll money. But it's an uphill battle.
Local governments and school districts in many places have incurred substantial reductions in intergovernmental revenues in recent years.
A new knowledge-exchange platform aims to bring collaboration to bear on efforts to improve the use of data.
View average commute times for driving, buses, subways and other modes of transportation.
The mayor of Miami-Dade county on Thursday ordered county jails to comply with federal detention requests, citing President Donald Trump's executive orders concerning "sanctuary jurisdictions" for illegal immigrants.
Arkansas joined a half-dozen other states that have enacted restrictions on a common procedure for second-trimester abortions, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson signing the legislation hours after the Senate passed it Thursday.
A federal magistrate judge on Thursday blocked Ohio's plan to resume carrying out executions next month using a new three-drug process that, he said, could subject the condemned to cruel and unusual punishment.
Online retail giant Amazon will begin collecting sales tax in Missouri next month, as it does in dozens of other states.
A district judge has ordered the state Public Employees' Retirement System to release the names and other personal data of the more than 57,000 recipients of pension benefits.
A Washington state senator resigned Tuesday to take a job with President Donald Trump's administration, leaving the state Senate temporarily split 24-24 between Republicans and Democrats.
The state Legislature on Thursday overwhelmingly approved $326 million to be distributed among Minnesotans faced with hefty health insurance premium increases this year, sending the bill to Gov. Mark Dayton, who signed it.
The states and cities expanding early education have wrestled with the question of what qualifies as "universal."
As dozens of cities try to emulate Sweden's success, they're learning what works and what doesn't.
In much of the country, states are offering localities less financial help than they were before the recession. That won't change anytime soon.
The Spring Street Salt Shed has been lauded as one of the city's best public sculptures.
If transit systems want to attract more riders, they need to find ways to speed up the journey to work. See how the times compare in your metro area.
With a new online marketplace, Copenhagen is trying to enable an 'access economy'
The president's war on progressive policies presents a dilemma for almost every big-city mayor in America. But attacking urban areas also carries big risks for the president.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Against the backdrop of a sharply divided and dysfunctional state government, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered his midterm State of the State address Wednesday saying he and other politicians have a "moral obligation" to fix Illinois.
Gov. Gary Herbert first took office as Utah was climbing out of the Great Recession. He says its economy and high-tech businesses are now creating jobs so fast that the state doesn't have enough qualified people to fill them.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday said he would work to oust Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez if she doesn't fully cooperate with federal immigration officials' requests to hand over jail inmates thought to be undocumented immigrants.
California has banned state-funded travel to Kansas after determining that the Sunflower State is one of four in the nation with laws that it views as discriminatory toward gay people.
It's still going to be "a great day in South Carolina" when state employees answer the phones.
An innovative program to improve infant mortality rates and allow new parents and their babies to get some much-needed sleep will soon launch in New Jersey.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed federal assistance to help stem the city's violence but rejected the idea of the National Guard patrolling Chicago as "antithetical" to the trust he's trying to build in law enforcement.
From New York and Boston to Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco, officials representing the country's largest so-called "sanctuary cities" denounced President Donald Trump's "crackdown" on communities that shield undocumented immigrants from deportation.
President Donald Trump directed federal workers Wednesday to start building a border wall and begin punishing so-called sanctuary cities.
Several state legislators recently resigned, saying they want to spend more time with their families -- and they seem to mean it.
Almost every time localities attempt to regulate the oil industry, courts or legislatures stop them.
Visual illustrations can give meaning to overwhelming emissions numbers.
The research is exhaustive and yet simultaneously scarce. In some cases, it's even contradictory.
Republicans in one state are already gearing up for an NFL star to run for governor.
Few governments have succession plans in place. The ones that do are seeing some positive results.
Rep. Chris Corley, indicted on criminal domestic violence charges for beating his wife, resigned from his seat Tuesday as a resolution that called for his expulsion was about to hit the floor.
President Donald Trump’s administration made explicit this weekend its commitment to an old GOP strategy for managing Medicaid, the federal-state insurance plan that covers low-income people — turning control of the program to states and capping what the federal government spends on it each year.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced in his State of the Commonwealth address Tuesday night that he will be looking to the Springfield schools as a model for how to assist struggling schools around the state.
By the time his brief but blustery State of the State speech ended on Tuesday, it was clear that California Gov. Jerry Brown had offered his most sweeping rebuke to date of President Donald Trump and the new leadership of Congress.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night about Chicago's violence, saying he will "send in the Feds!" if the city "doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on."
The Trump administration has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to stop issuing grants and contracts, throwing agency programs into a state of uncertainty as budgets and priorities are reviewed.
New Mexico has a unique program that combines behavioral economics and predictive analytics.
Staff and budget shortages are mostly to blame.
Much of what the new administration wants to change was built by Lyndon B. Johnson.
Instead of building expensive roads, we should be building housing that limits how far people have to drive in the first place.
All but nine states added jobs but at a slower pace than the year before.
For centuries, commerce and fresh air went together. They’re starting to again.
After another round of heavy rains soaked parts of California, Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency late Monday for several counties dealing with an estimated tens of million dollars in damage from flooding, erosion and mud flows.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
In addition to new tax breaks, some states are also considering raising gas and sin taxes.
But as prices climbed, housing inventories have shrunk, making the market less attractive to homebuyers. See how your metro area compares.
Two longtime Republican state legislators from Washington state have been tapped by President Trump to help reshape the Environmental Protection Agency.
Two Republican senators on Monday unveiled the outlines of an ObamaCare replacement plan that they hope would be able to attract some Democratic support.
On President Barack Obama's last full day in office, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it would conduct a sweeping review of Maryland's transportation policies to determine whether they violate federal civil rights rules.
Philadelphia is the first city in the nation that prohibits employers from asking about a job applicant's prior earnings.
Gov. David Ige touted his achievements during his first two years as governor in his State-of-the-State speech to lawmakers today, but warned the state economy has slowed, and "adjustments" will be required in his proposed two-year $28.5 billion budget.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton slurred his words and appeared to faint near the end of a 45-minute State of the State speech Monday night at the Capitol. Those nearby, including Lt. Gov. Tina Smith, caught him as he lurched forward, struck his forehead on the lectern and then sank toward the floor in the House chambers in St. Paul.
It's back to the drawing board for the Alabama Legislature.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up Texas’ effort salvage its strict voter identification law, handing at least a temporary victory to civil rights advocates who have successfully argued that the law discriminates against minorities.
Each evening during the recent cold spell, homeless people by the dozens filed through the doors of the city's main government office building.
Newly-elected Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez on Friday made good on her most controversial campaign promise, announcing that her department would reduce its cooperation with federal immigration authorities when they request an inmate be flagged for possible deportation.
Amazon says it will collect sales tax on items sold to customers in Vermont starting next month.
At least 19 people have died over the last 48 hours due to tornadoes, as a violent system of storms made its way across the South from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle and parts of Alabama and Georgia.
Lawmakers in Sacramento have halted a first-in-the-nation effort by California to expand access to health coverage for immigrants living in the state without legal documents.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Saturday a series of actions to secure reproductive health services in New York State.
New analytical tools are allowing policymakers to focus on community wellness, not just on treating sickness.
The link between corruption and debt is particularly prominent for private projects, such as stadiums.
Some roads in Montpelier, Vermont, have gotten a bit rumbly.
Pennsylvania's elected leaders bought a little more time as they work to bring state driver's license into compliance with national ID standards.
The City of Detroit is weighing in on a high-profile literacy lawsuit that accuses state officials of denying Detroit students access to literacy.
Ronna Romney McDaniel -- who as state Republican chair helped deliver Michigan to a Republican presidential nominee for the first time since 1988, and had to navigate some thorny family politics to do so -- became the Republicans' national party chair Thursday, with President-elect Donald Trump's backing.
A 23-year-old a legislative aide in Annapolis has been fired after The New York Times revealed he was the owner and operator of an infamous fake political news.
A federal judge Thursday issued a temporary injunction, blocking the state from ousting Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program for at least a month.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
It’s become a rare, bipartisan issue. But if the president's campaign rhetoric is any indication, the window of opportunity for change may have closed.
About a month after being sworn in, Corpus Christi Mayor Dan McQueen announced his resignation in a Facebook post Wednesday afternoon, asserting that he could "no longer deal with such differing views and divisiveness," according to the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
In a decision that could reshape hundreds of communities, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that municipalities must allow the development of affordable housing for poor and middle-class families whose needs were ignored for more than 16 years.
Hours before heading to Washington to witness Donald Trump become president, Miami-Dade's Republican mayor offered a blunt message to skeptics of climate change and the crisis it presents the coast.
Congressional Republicans are making an aggressive push to gut the District’s progressive policies, introducing bills in recent days to repeal the heavily Democratic city’s gun-control measures, undo its new law allowing physician-assisted suicide and ban the District from using local tax dollars to provide abortions for poor women.
Donald Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency cast doubt on whether California should continue to have power to impose its own emission rules for cars and trucks, an authority the state has enjoyed for decades that is also the cornerstone of its efforts to fight global warming.
Maine's Republican Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday that the NAACP should apologize to white America, making the comment just hours after he weighed in on the president-elect's Twitter beef with a black civil rights icon.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker made a renewed call for state budget reforms to a new Legislature in his annual State of the State speech Wednesday night, telling lawmakers that "denial doesn't make the problem go away."
As a new study shows, cities are moving rapidly to harness it and put it to work to make better decisions.
In planning their finances for the year, governors are counting on health care to remain the same. But if it doesn't, states could suddenly be on the hook for billions of dollars.
See payroll expenses and numbers of government workers for each state.
Gov. Phil Bryant in his sixth State-of-the-State Address vowed that “blue lives matter” and taxpayers “are sovereign” and said continued improvements to the state’s troubled foster-care system “will be my top priority.”
Gov. Brian Sandoval delivered his fourth and final State of the State address Tuesday in Carson City, proposing a two-year $8.1 billion budget to fund workforce development, education, infrastructure and health care.
Against the backdrop of tight financial times, Missouri’s new governor delivered his first State of the State address Tuesday night, a rundown of GOP-led reforms he says will bring more jobs and business to the Show-Me state.
A day after recordings were released purporting to be Warren Mayor Jim Fouts denigrating black people and older women, a groundswell of calls for him to resign poured in from Warren residents at a protest outside Warren city hall, politicians who represent the city in county, state and federal government and regional leaders at an annual event in Detroit.
After Donald Trump won the presidential election, Texas Republicans suggested hopefully that their years-long practice of suing the federal government would finally be over.
Gov. Susana Martinez opened the last 60-day legislative session of her tenure on Tuesday by asking New Mexico lawmakers to embrace bipartisan solutions -- as they have in the past, she said -- to shore up the state's flagging budget and promote economic growth.
Indiana Gov. Eric J. Holcomb recommended a tax hike to fund roads and bridges, one of his new administration's five pillars he presented during his first State of the State speech Tuesday.
Things are good in Michigan, at least in the eyes of the Ottawa County legislative delegation.
Gov. Gina Raimondo called for new focus on manufacturing jobs Tuesday night in a State of the State address that centered on expanding opportunities for the state's middle class through job creation and job training.
In front of a small group of recovering addicts, Gov. Chris Christie signed an executive order on Tuesday declaring the opioid addiction problem in New Jersey a public health crisis.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy is making an offer to Democrats he hopes they won't refuse: If their states like Obamacare, they can keep it.
Even as the election outcome intensifies America's abortion debate, a comprehensive new survey finds the annual number of abortions in the U.S has dropped to well under 1 million, the lowest level since 1974.
Our analysis shows the agencies and states that have suffered the largest payroll cuts.
The report comes at a time when some federal policymakers want to end the program and while states and localities are launching similar initiatives of their own.
Democrats are preparing to fight the new administration's policies like Trump's pick to lead the EPA fought Obama's: with lawsuit after lawsuit. But can Democratic AGs make a difference with their diminished numbers?
Credit rating agency Moody's has reached a settlement with attorneys general in 20 states, including Connecticut, and the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations it misled investors when it issued positive ratings for shaky mortgage-backed securities in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis.
As the private sector has shown, it's a way to produce effective management and efficiency across a complex enterprise.
Gov. Eric Greitens cut $146 million from the state budget Monday in response to a lingering slowdown in state revenue.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation into law Monday requiring schools and day cares to test for lead in drinking water sources, though several local schools have already conducted testing in recent years and might be compliant under the new rules.
Airbnb has reached a tax agreement with the Kansas Department of Revenue to begin collecting taxes on its home-sharing bookings in the state.
If “repeal and replace” of the Affordable Care Act is Republicans’ job one, defunding Planned Parenthood is a close second.
With fewer than 10 months to Election Day, and no credible challenger having emerged, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s path to re-election in New York City would seem fairly assured, buoyed by the benefits of incumbency: name recognition and fund-raising strength.
On a sunny late September day, a trio of tourists gathered on Moscow’s Red Square.
As Gov. Nikki Haley heads off to work in the Trump administration, South Carolina could see some real political change.
Marion Hammer’s phone rang as news bulletins reported that five tourists were shot to death at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
A week of powerful storms in Northern California has significantly eased the state's water shortage, with a large swath of the state emerging from drought conditions, officials said Thursday.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno has filed paperwork to run for governor, a spokesman for the state's election law regulator said Thursday.
On his first day in office, Indiana’s new Republican governor, Eric Holcomb, signed an executive order creating a new state-level position to coordinate anti-drug efforts, a move at least two other states made last year to turn back the rising tide of opioid addiction.
Gov. John Hickenlooper likely had to rewrite the State of the State speech he delivered Thursday, or at least rethink it. He surely thought he would be addressing a Legislature controlled by Democrats working in concert with a Clinton administration in Washington. Things didn’t turn out that way.
Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts maintains that the state can address its’ revenue shortfalls in the current and future state budgets, and still cut taxes.
Outgoing Anthony Foxx says the industry needs to work more cooperatively to plan for the future.
The Obamacare debate puts them in a tough spot and for many, up against their Republican counterparts in Congress.
The city of Baltimore and the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday signed a historic agreement that, if approved in federal court, will mandate a range of costly police reforms in coming years, from how officers stop residents on the street to how they are trained, supervised and disciplined.
When a malicious hacker locked out 1,800 staff and teachers from their computers at Los Angeles Valley College this week, college administrators faced an agonizing choice: pay a ransom or leave 20,000 students in the lurch.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
They are an important part of the infrastructure toolkit, but they can't replace tax-exempt debt.
The success of an intergovernmental, cross-jurisdictional effort to reduce -- and end -- homelessness among veterans shows the way.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's State of the State address Wednesday morning focused on two statewide issues -- education and the military -- that have a tremendous impact on Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley.
Nikki Haley reviewed her six years as South Carolina's governor during her final State of the State address Wednesday, touting bringing jobs to the Palmetto State, rebranding the state's image and spending more on schools.
Gov. Matt Mead told lawmakers Wednesday that it’s not fair to continue socking away money when the state has suffered over $300 million in cuts since March.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced 10 proposals for preventing corruption in state government during his sixth of six "State of the State" addresses held this week statewide.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe opened the 2017 General Assembly session Wednesday night with an ode to bipartisanship over the past three years of divided government and a renewed plea for cooperation in the year ahead.
California's first-in-the-nation law requiring prosecutors, rather than secret grand juries, to decide whether a police officer who kills someone should be charged with a crime has been struck down by a state appeals court.
Politicians and members of the media are increasingly bemoaning the rise of "fake news," though rarely is there agreement on how to define it. But can this new phenomenon be legislated away?
Networked alternatives for getting around are about to redefine our cities as much as the horseless carriage did a century ago.
A federal judge Tuesday ended 40 years of court supervision of the District’s care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, concluding what city leaders called the longest-standing U.S. class-action lawsuit of its kind.
On his first full day in office, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens put a temporary freeze on new government regulations, which he said Tuesday will help businesses.
Former Opa-locka Commissioner Luis Santiago admitted Tuesday that he plotted with other top officials and employees to pocket up to $40,000 in bribes in a scheme that shook down several local business owners and corrupted nearly every level of the city’s financially troubled government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to launch a two-year pilot program this summer with seven retailers to allow food stamp recipients the ability to purchase their groceries online.
New governors can learn a thing or two from presidential transitions.
Governments and nonprofits are increasingly looking to neighborhood barbers and hairdressers to help with problems at home and narrow gaps in education and health care.
Lagging revenues have put the state's financial outlook on shaky ground, and Gov. Jerry Brown warned Tuesday that California could face a $1.6 billion deficit -- the first shortfall since 2012 -- if spending is not tempered.
Even with financial shortfalls looming, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback tried to strike an optimistic tone during his State of the State speech Tuesday.
With state lawmakers split about how deeply to cut taxes, Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Tuesday called on them to support the creation of a blue-ribbon legislative task force to recommend a comprehensive plan to reduce Arkansas' individual income tax rates.
Gov. Terry Branstad used his final Condition of the State speech Tuesday to urge the GOP-run Legislature to "seize the opportunities" to reshape government in ways that "challenge the status quo" to improve education, public safety, health care and water quality.
Gov. Scott Walker said during his seventh State of the State address Tuesday he will cut in-state tuition at all University of Wisconsin campuses in his upcoming budget proposal.
Forcefully declaring "our neighbors are dying," Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday used his seventh annual State of the State address to promise he will fight drug addiction during his remaining time in office.
Adding more fuel to the debate over so-called "sanctuary cities," the State College Borough Council has passed a resolution vowing to protect immigrants, less than a week after Pennsylvania State University's president declared that college would not become a sanctuary campus.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed Tuesday a local-government efficiency program that would require county executives to bring together local officials to develop a cost-savings plan that would be put to the voters on this November's ballot.
Although it did not come online until 2013, the State of Michigan used an error-prone computer system that has wrongly accused tens of thousands of people of unemployment insurance fraud to assess jobless claims dating to 2007, officials confirmed Monday.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold a lower court's ruling requiring North Carolina to immediately redraw state legislative districts found to have been be mapped out in a way that crammed black voters into a limited number of them to dilute their electoral clout.
Jini Kim’s relationship with Medicaid is business and personal.
