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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Weinholtz said Tuesday that he would support a small income tax increase in order to bolster Utah's public education funding — which drew a quick condemnation from Gov. Gary Herbert as an "Eastern, liberal mentality."
Both major party candidates competing to become West Virginia’s next governor agree that the state’s teachers are underpaid, that roads need to be fixed, that higher education cuts are a problem and that the state’s internet service needs improved.
Philadelphia police get nearly 300 calls a day related to domestic violence. In a year, that is a 100,000 calls.
On the eve of Tuesday's vice presidential debate, Gov. Mike Pence's efforts to keep Syrian refugees out of Indiana suffered a series of devastating blows, with his preferred successor running away from the idea and a second court deciding that his attempt to block resettlement aid was discriminatory.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a bill passed by the state Legislature to restrict abortion is unconstitutional.
As the news media were scrutinizing lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo decided that the Port Authority should issue a report in an effort to "put an end" to questions about September traffic jams in Fort Lee, N.J., according to testimony Tuesday in federal court here.
Delays in getting $1.1 billion to combat Zika meant some drug companies gave up working with the federal government on developing vaccines and states won't see their share of money until early 2017, a health panel said Monday.
The state, which has more English-language learners than any other, restricted bilingual education in the '90s. Voters are bringing it back.
Our latest handicapping shows four states will likely determine which candidate wins.
Public employers offer to help workers with nearly every aspect of their lives -- whether it's related to their finances or their marriage.
Dozens of protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline project caused fireworks briefly during a gubernatorial debate in downtown Bismarck Monday with a coordinated outburst expressing opposition to the multi-billion dollar project.
How do you improve a state economy that’s already nearing peak employment?
Citing Wells Fargo's "predatory and illegal" practices, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said the bank would no longer be broker-dealer for about $30 billion of state investment funds annually, a suspension he said will cost the institution "millions" of dollars in fees -- a figure the company disputed.
The New York attorney general has ordered the Donald J. Trump Foundation, headed by the Republican presidential candidate, to immediately "cease and desist from soliciting contributions in New York."
A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit that alleged police used excessive force against Ferguson protesters and violated their civil rights.
Southern Californians learn to live with the risk of earthquakes.
It's official. President Barack Obama's immigration plan is dead.
Roy Moore said he offered advice to probate judges. Prosecutors said he hurled defiance at federal law.
When the Arkansas insurance commissioner weighed the merits of a hospital’s billing complaint against United Healthcare, her interactions with one of the nation’s largest health insurers extended far beyond her department’s hearing room.
In a surprise announcement Friday afternoon, Gov. Christie and legislative leaders said they had reached a deal to raise New Jersey's gasoline tax by 23 cents a gallon.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sue Minter wants to expand the cap-and-trade program to gasoline, a move that added 11 cents to the price of a gallon of gas in California.
Burlington County's new ban against hiring "double dippers" may be the first of its kind in New Jersey, according to county officials, who say the purpose is to cut out pension abuse.
Even before one of its trains crashed in Hoboken Terminal on Thursday morning, killing one woman and injuring more than 100 others, New Jersey Transit was an agency in distress.
Texas ended its participation in the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program on Friday because of Gov. Greg Abbott's concerns that the federal government couldn't adequately guarantee that none of the newcomers would pose a security threat.
Nearly 7 million workers for California companies will be automatically enrolled in a new state-run retirement program under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown.
As Wisconsin and Arizona are demonstrating, fiscally sustainable retirement systems aren't an impossible dream.
The Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state’s education savings account law, ruling that while the premise of using taxpayer money for private education was constitutional, the method used to fund the ESA program was not.
California will overhaul its election system beginning in 2018 so that voters have more options on when and where to cast their ballots in future elections, under a bill Gov. Jerry Brown signed Thursday.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has decided that Act 13, the state Legislature's 2012 attempt to accommodate the shale gas industry is an unconstitutional "special law" that benefits specific groups or industries.
She called police because her brother was "not acting like himself."
The mundane rituals of the daily commute exploded into a chaotic scene of ripped metal, tumbling steel beams and screaming riders early Thursday as an NJ Transit train from Bergen County plowed through a barrier at the Hoboken train station, killing a Hoboken woman, injuring more than 100 and sparking a federal investigation that will try to answer why the train failed to stop.
The nation’s largest health insurer and the University of California Health system are joining forces to create a new health plan option for employers and expand research into patient data.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
An evenly divided court could decide the fate of many cases watched closely by state and local officials.
Californians were the only to agree to raise the price of tobacco. Will it impact smoking rates?
Another shoe has dropped on the West Virginia economy, as another of the "big three" credit rating agencies downgraded the state's bond rating Wednesday.
Like Donald Trump, the candidates for Missouri governor are making it difficult to determine how much they earned and paid in taxes last year.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday soundly struck down New Hampshire's ban on ballot selfies concluding it restricted innocent, political speech in the pursuit of what the judges called an "unsubstantiated and hypothetical danger" of vote-buying.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Wednesday that eliminates the 10-year statute of limitations on rape -- a concern that emerged last year as dozens of women stepped forward to accuse actor Bill Cosby of rape but were unable to pursue criminal charges.
Gov. Christie returned to his drug recovery message Tuesday as he announced expanded efforts by the state to tackle opioid addiction.
The answer is apparently not blowing in the wind. At least not in Wyoming. At least not for the state's Republican-led Legislature, which has spent months looking for ways to close a multimillion-dollar gap in the state budget.
For African-American boys, the presumption of guilt starts before they have entered a kindergarten classroom, new research shows.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld Alabama's ban on transfers between political action committees, saying it didn't affect a political group's ability to make independent expenditures.
The most important election news and political dynamics at the state and local levels.
A federal judge Tuesday blocked Election Day voter registration at polling places in Illinois, declaring a state law allowing the practice unconstitutional because it created one set of rules for cities and another for rural areas.
Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and Republican challenger Bill Bryant sketched starkly different pictures on Monday night of how Washington has fared over the past four years.
Rick Perry did not survive to dance another day.
State officials have warned social service workers they could face disciplinary action "up to and including dismissal" for talking to the news media without permission.
Fifty-plus investment managers with more than $2.1 trillion under management are calling for a full repeal of North Carolina's House Bill 2, the controversial law that limits protections for LGBT individuals.
As pressure mounted for answers to what was causing traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, top Port Authority officials were revealing details of their scheme to close the lanes but only to a circle of high-ranking officials that included Gov. Chris Christie, the admitted mastermind of the plot said in federal court Tuesday.
House Republicans late Tuesday acquiesced to Democrats' demands for aid to address the Flint, Mich., water contamination crisis, when the Rules Committee voted to allow an amendment to a water resources measure that would authorize $170 million in assistance to the city.
Police officers across the country misuse confidential law enforcement databases to get information on romantic partners, business associates, neighbors, journalists and others for reasons that have nothing to do with daily police work, an Associated Press investigation has found.
One of the goals of President Obama's signature health reform is to focus more on population health, but the programs are off to a slow start.
It was once practically impossible to get a building inspected in the city. Now it’s easier than ever.
In just over a decade, officials want to cover a quarter of the city in shade.
Voters generally agreed to raise the age limits -- but not do away with them altogether.
Rarely do politicians quarrel as openly as Kentucky’s governor and attorney general. Family ties may have something to do with it.
Mayor Sylvester Turner is garnering praise for his proposal's comprehensiveness and balance.
It’s also one of the oldest tourist destinations.
But there's a major difference between today’s efforts and the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s.
A new approach asks recipients to look past short-term work and instead focus on making choices that will improve the rest of their lives.
Judges are starting to strike down the laws, calling them racist. But their survival depends on the outcome of the November election.
As states consider following Tennessee’s footsteps, they’ll be closely watching its experience.
These are some of the nation’s most surprising, unique and out-of-the-way spots where people cast their ballots.
Several governors are using nonprofits to get themselves elected and promote their agendas once in office -- without ever having to disclose where the money came from.
The laws are meant to make it easier for ex-felons to get hired. But they're having the opposite impact on some people who don't even have a criminal history.
Four contests are competitive, giving Republicans a chance to flip three seats.
Gov. Paul LePage said he has been keeping a binder of photos to prove that most of the drug dealers arrested in Maine are blacks or Hispanics, but people of those races account for only 40 percent of the photos in the binder.
It's easy for politicians to set goals for their cities. It's far, far harder to achieve them.
Chicago Public Schools' financial reputation took another hit from a major Wall Street credit ratings agency on Monday.
One morning in September 2014, when Jahnira Jones had just started seventh grade at Richard Allen Prep Charter School, her after-school plans weighed on her mind.
Gov. Sam Brownback’s advisory council pulled the plug on a quarterly report developed to assure timely analysis of the administration’s economic policies.
A Cincinnati appeals court Friday ruled that the process used by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted to flag inactive voters for possible purging from the registration rolls violates the National Voting Rights Act.
'Overlapping' is often ignored, resulting in misleading assumptions about government liabilities.
The White House just released a report on the future of artificial intelligence. Some governments are already using A.I., but it could have a far wider impact.
Whether it's prisons in Idaho or pensions in Michigan, several states are moving their outsourced services back in-house.
There are many questions that need to be answered before reducing Americans' beloved car space.
As the first governor on the job in almost half a century, either one of them will present new opportunities for the White House.
The stadiums that cities invest in often end up losing money. There’s another, more profitable option: music festivals.
The federal government told states to take a backseat. While some will likely listen, others may push their plans full speed ahead anyway.
Portland commissioners will designate 600 city bathrooms as "all-user" on Friday. They will replace "male" and "female" signs on single-occupancy restrooms with signs that show a toilet.
The Missouri Supreme Court issued this week a set of minimum standards for municipal courts, a long-awaited response to charges that municipal courts in the St. Louis area are unconstitutional debtors' prisons that routinely violate the rights of the poor.
A key member of the Michigan Attorney General's team that has been tasked with investigating the Flint water crisis has resigned from his role after he was arrested Saturday night in Wayne County on suspicion of drunken driving, according to a news release from the Attorney General's Office.
Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Scott will sell his share of DuBois Construction if he is elected governor, he said on Saturday.
Can states save money on increasingly expensive prescriptions for Medicaid patients by setting prices based not on drugmakers’ wishes, but on how well the medicines control, contain or cure disease?
Many people take for granted the addition of fluoride into public drinking water systems that aims to prevent tooth decay.
The Obama administration Monday is calling on cities and counties to rethink their zoning laws, saying that antiquated rules on construction, housing and land use are contributing to high rents and income inequality, and dragging down the U.S. economy as a whole.
It doesn't help win elections, but confronting the big public challenges requires a sustained effort over many years.
Legislation it passed a decade ago has produced significant gains without wrecking the state's economy. A new law holds promise for accelerating those gains.
A constitutional tweak became embroiled in talk of impeachment, misuse of funds and an alleged affair by Gov. Robert Bentley.
Pennsylvania has joined a majority of states in filing a lawsuit against three drug manufacturers, claiming they have illegally profited off the opioid addiction and overdose crisis sweeping America.
Republican gubernatorial nominee Phil Scott stuck to his message of making the economy the state's first priority at Thursday's forum on women's issues, while Democratic candidate Sue Minter said her experiences as a working mother gave her insight into what the state's women need.
The two nominees for New Hampshire governor differed over raising the minimum wage and making Medicaid expansion permanent, but found areas of agreement during their first showdown Wednesday afternoon.
Since 2007, the city of Indianapolis has raised income taxes twice in order to hire new police officers.
Tulsa prosecutors charged the cop who fatally shot 40-year-old Terence Crutcher with first-degree manslaughter, saying the officer "reacted unreasonably by escalating the situation" and "becoming emotionally involved to the point that she overreacted."
Presiding over a city in the national glare for a yearlong failure to control sharp spikes in gang shootings and gun deaths, Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered a speech Thursday night aimed at convincing Chicagoans he's getting a grip on the problem.
People should stop talking so much about racism and policing, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trump's running mate, said Thursday.
A tiny river town in Adams County has no mayor, no clerk and, apparently, no financial records. The state auditor's office has ruled the Village of Rome "unauditable" and is warning that legal action may follow.
Protesters gathered in Charlotte for a third straight night Thursday, as National Guard troops patrolled the streets and the city instituted a midnight curfew in hopes of heading off the violence that erupted after a black man was fatally shot by police.
North Dakota will offer an affidavit to voters who don't bring an identification to the polls, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
The Kentucky Supreme Court dealt a decisive blow to Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's executive power Thursday, finding that he exceeded his statutory authority by cutting state universities' budgets by 2 percent this spring, after the General Assembly had already appropriated their funding.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Republican gubernatorial challenger Bill Bryant on Wednesday sought to turn festering problems at a state psychiatric hospital into a central campaign issue, calling Gov. Jay Inslee's record one of "mounting incompetence."
Answering the call of automakers who don’t want to tangle with a patchwork of state regulations, the U.S. Department of Transportation has issued its first policy for putting self-driving cars on America’s roadways.
The state’s highest court, tossing out a Boston man’s gun conviction, ordered judges Tuesday to consider whether a black person who walks away from a police officer is attempting to avoid the “recurring indignity of being racially profiled” — and not because the person is guilty of a crime.
Wyoming's chief information officer is resigning this week to take a job with Google.
After years of insisting Chicago police could make do without adding officers, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration acknowledged Wednesday that the department needs hundreds more to combat the violence plaguing the city, announcing a plan to hire nearly 1,000 beat officers, detectives and supervisors over the next two years.
Protests turned violent for a second night in Charlotte after Tuesday's fatal police shooting of a black man. Late Wednesday, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for the city and deployed the National Guard and State Highway Patrol troopers to assist local police.
Many lawmakers up for re-election are distancing themselves from their unpopular executive leader. But that may not be enough to win.
Illinois and New Jersey are joining the growing number of states that restrict how transportation money can be spent.
Efficiently transporting people with limited mobility is a challenge. Some promising new approaches are being tried.
Real GDP increased in most regions last year, but many have experienced little to no growth since 2007.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence has declined to rule on a historic pardon request involving the wrongful conviction of an Illinois man.
Only a day after approval in the West Virginia Senate, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin on Tuesday signed into law a flood relief bill that provides $85 million for recovery from the late-June floods, an amount he said will ensure the state meets its obligation to cover 25 percent of the cost of repairs.
State Rep. Leslie Acosta vowed Tuesday to remain in office and to continue her reelection campaign even as leaders of her party -- including Gov. Wolf -- called for her to resign over the revelation last week that she secretly had pleaded guilty to federal felony charges earlier this year.
The police shooting of a man in Charlotte, N.C., sparked overnight protests and unrest, temporarily shutting down a major interstate in the area.
38 Studios founder Curt Schilling, other executives from his failed video-game company and their insurer have agreed to pay a $2.5-million settlement to the state to resolve their part in the four-year legal battle against the architects of the state's failed $75-million loan deal.
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has issued an executing order prohibiting price gouging in the wake of a leak at an Alabama pipeline that has sent prices up and supplies down.
The nation's second-largest school system on Tuesday moved away from its brief experiment with an earlier school start, edging back closer to the traditional day-after-Labor Day schedule.
Texas is playing the leading role in a double-barreled legal challenge issued by state officials and business groups against the White House's effort to make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay.
In Karen Thoreson's world, few things are ruled out as a possibility for improving public services.
These are the districts in each competitive state that could decide November's presidential election.
By targeting so-called super pollutants, California set an ambitious new course Monday in its fight against climate change that will have far-reaching impacts on some of the state's bedrock industries, from freight shipping to dairy farming.
In the wake of an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision striking down part of that state's workers' compensation law, Texas is now the only state that lets private companies opt out of a state-run system and draw up their own plans to compensate injured workers.
Tulsa Police have released graphic video of the death of Terence Crutcher, a 40-year-old man who was shot and killed by police on Sept. 16, reports Tulsa World.
Maryland's attorney general believes Gov. Larry Hogan may have exceeded his authority when he issued an executive order this month requiring all public schools to start after Labor Day and finish by June 15.
A federal prosecutor told jurors Monday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knew about the September 2013 lane closures at the George Washington Bridge while they were underway, and suggested Christie and others not charged in the case could have done more to stop the scheme.
The makers of prescription painkillers have adopted a 50-state strategy that includes hundreds of lobbyists and millions in campaign contributions to help kill or weaken measures aimed at stemming the tide of prescription opioids, the drugs at the heart of a crisis that has cost 165,000 Americans their lives and pushed countless more to crippling addiction.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared Monday morning during a visit to Wynwood that the artsy Miami neighborhood is Zika-free _ urging visitors to return to the struggling entertainment district even as federal health officials continued to advise that pregnant women and their partners consider postponing "nonessential travel" to all parts of Miami-Dade County.
More than 80 percent of voters approved amendments on the ballot in both states.
Despite Bernie Sanders' campaigning, Colorado voters overwhelmingly rejected plans to make their state the first in America to create a universal health-care system.
Days after Flint Mayor Karen Weaver served notice that her city might file a lawsuit against the State of Michigan over the Flint drinking water crisis, the state removed Flint's ability to sue.
The Supreme Court of Virginia shot down GOP push Thursday to hold Gov. Terry McAuliffe in contempt of court over felon voting rights restorations.
When Gov. Maggie Hassan announced last fall she would be leaving the corner office after two terms to run for the U.S. Senate, the assumption among most party leaders was this would turn into a battle at the Executive Council table.
A series of seemingly random, mostly amateurish attacks in New York and Minnesota caused mostly minor injuries over the weekend, but may have added new strains to the country's political fabric.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich flatly ruled out voting for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election but also said he was "no closer" to voting for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
When a new North Carolina law limiting protections for LGBT people drew fire last spring from critics who described it as an unnecessary “bathroom bill” that violates the rights of transgender people, the state sued the federal government.
It enables more efficient and effective government. The obstacles are often more rooted in folklore than in law.
We ask it to deal with a lot of problems for which it is ill-equipped. We need to narrow its focus and scale up other institutions.
Providence has dug itself into a deep hole. Can it find the resolve to dig itself out?
Tablets for free web browsing are being shut off at city-sponsored internet kiosks after complaints that some users were hogging the terminals and viewing pornography in public.
Oregon and software giant Oracle have ended their bitter legal fight.
A Columbus, Ohio, police officer shot and killed a 13-year-old boy who pulled a BB gun from his waistband following a report of an armed robbery on Wednesday night, according to authorities. The gun was "practically identical" to the weapons police use, Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs said.
An offering of no good choices roused the crowd. City Hall became a cacophony of angry voices. Civic leaders were shouted down. Public health docs, with their unwelcome assessments, were interrupted by clamorous chants. "No more spraying. No more spraying. No more spraying."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich's wish to spend more time in the Oval Office will be granted Friday. But this time, he'll go to support an embattled trade pact that President Barack Obama wants passed.
Arizona has announced an end to its practice of requiring police officers to demand the papers of people suspected of being in the country illegally _ a move that pulls the last set of teeth from what was once the nation's most fearsome immigration law.
With the Obama administration poised to welcome thousands more Syrian refugees into the country, Gov. Bill Haslam said Thursday he has confidence in the vetting process for those making a new home in Tennessee after fleeing a war zone.
As he sat in a food pantry here, a 32-year-old Syrian refugee's eyes widened when he heard that Republican Gov. Chris Christie had declared last year that he didn't want any people fleeing the war-torn country to come to New Jersey.
It's a win for the porn industry and the state of California, which stood to lose millions of dollars if the measure passed.
