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A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Republicans used their legislative muscle Wednesday to loosen state gun laws and require people to present photo identification when they head to the polls.
Gov. Christie, surprising skeptics, on Wednesday approved a bill that will allow people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to use medical marijuana when conventional treatments fail.
Executive Councilor Chris Sununu of Newfields has won the Republican nomination for governor, having edged out conservative newcomer Frank Edelblut of Wilton by a razor-thin margin of about 800 votes out of more than 63,000.
A federal jury has found that Miami city officials defrauded bond investors in 2009 by playing shell games with public money, making the municipality the only one in the country to have been caught twice committing securities violations.
A Dane County judge on Monday ruled a state commission violated the open records law last year when it refused to quickly turn over information about a union election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's trip to Flint was billed as a visit to learn about the Flint water crisis in a community that has been suffering through more than two years of using bottled water for the most basic of needs.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has pulled this year's football title game from Charlotte amid the ongoing firestorm over North Carolina's House Bill 2, the latest sports-related blow stemming from the controversial law.
D.C. police will be required to confirm to dispatchers that they have turned on their body cameras when they respond to a call or interact with citizens, a change ordered Wednesday after a fatal police shooting in which a camera was not activated until after the incident, city officials said.
The most important election news and political dynamics at the state and local levels.
New Census data shows some cities have a lot of residents who consume more public services than they contribute in taxes. That can cause fiscal problems down the road.
Gov. Jay Inslee enters the final months of his re-election bid with a campaign-cash pile dwarfing that of GOP challenger Bill Bryant.
Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed bills Tuesday that would have repealed the sales tax on diapers and tampons, saying that they would cost the state budget too much money. Now the two legislators who authored the legislation have an idea they say will make that argument irrelevant: Tax candy instead.
For the first time in 36 years and just the third time in Tennessee's 220-year history, members of the General Assembly on Tuesday ousted a lawmaker from their midst as unfit to serve.
An unexpectedly strong showing throughout the state had first-term state Rep. Frank Edelblut running neck-and-neck with Executive Councilor Chris Sununu in a tight race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination that saw Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas finish third.
Promising to take New Hampshire on its "next step forward," Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern accepted his party's nomination at the Millyard Museum in Manchester Tuesday night.
State Sen. Colin Bonini brushed off a challenge from political newcomer Lacey Lafferty in the Republican primary for governor Tuesday, setting the stage to challenge Democrats' dominance of statewide offices in the November general election.
Gloucester police Chief Leonard Campanello, who rose to national prominence for spearheading a treatment-based approach to handling the city's opioid crisis, was placed on paid leave yesterday amid an unspecified investigation, the city's mayor said.
Democratic candidates for federal office in Kentucky criticized Gov. Matt Bevin on Tuesday for suggesting last weekend that blood might someday need to be shed if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election, going so far as to suggest impeachment.
In a pair of court decisions that could help Donald Trump, Ohioans' voting rights were pared back Tuesday for the 2016 presidential election.
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said Tuesday he has opened an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation "to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."
State and local governments are trying unconventional ways to fund their pension liabilities, such as offering lump-sum cash payments to employees.
The rates range from 2.8 percent to 17.1 percent.
Poor criminal defendants rarely get an attorney who has time to adequately defend them. Some states, spurred by lawsuits, are starting to address the issue.
After a spate of legal troubles in recent years related to his personal injury law practice in Houston – lawsuits resulting in multiple costly settlements, criminal convictions and the suspension of his law license — state Rep. Ron Reynolds has filed for bankruptcy.
Rep. Peter Pettalia, R-Presque Isle, was killed in a motorcycle accident Monday evening, according to legislative leaders.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed historic legislation Monday that would gradually add hundreds of thousands of California farmworkers to the ranks of those who are paid overtime after eight hours on the job or 40 hours in a single week, closing out one of the year's most intense political battles in Sacramento.
It isn’t news that in rural parts of the country, people have a harder time accessing good health care. But new evidence suggests opposition to a key part of the 2010 health overhaul could be adding to the gap.
March Madness won't be coming to North Carolina this season.
David Chiverton, a popular Opa-locka manager who once promised to help rescue the city from insolvency, pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to using his office to pocket thousands in cash bribes from local business owners in one of the largest corruption cases in South Florida in decades.
Extending summer break may be good for the economy, but there are unintended consequences.
Proponents like Maine Gov. Paul LePage argue so-called asset tests save states money and shrink welfare rolls. New research suggests otherwise.
Federal regulators have smacked down Ohio's proposal to charge new fees to Medicaid beneficiaries and impose penalties on those who miss payments.
A federal appeals court ruling late Friday blocked Georgia and two other states from requiring proof of citizenship when residents registered to vote using federal forms, a victory for voting rights group that had little immediate effect in Georgia since the state had not been enforcing the requirement.
Unhappy with the results of their past elections, Mainers have opted for ranked-choice voting. It could lead to more civilized politics but lower voter turnout.
Mike Weinholtz, the Democratic candidate for governor, says he loves teachers, loves public schools and wants to raise taxes on high-income earners to give them a boost. But there's a segment of the education system he's not a fan of — charter schools.
A federal appeals court has determined that some people convicted of comparatively minor state crimes should get a chance to legally own guns, issuing a divided decision that reshapes longstanding rules.
When Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb belatedly jumped into Indiana’s tumultuous race for governor, he faced a big fundraising disadvantage.
Uber’s decision to bring self-driving taxis to the streets of Pittsburgh this week is raising alarms among a swath of safety experts who say that the technology is not nearly ready for prime time.
Federal authorities said Friday they will temporarily halt construction of a controversial oil pipeline near a lake regarded as sacred by the Standing Rock Sioux, heading off an immediate confrontation in a tense standoff in North Dakota that has drawn hundreds of tribes from across the country.
The White House on Thursday notified Gov. John Bel Edwards that the state of Louisiana has met its threshold to qualify for an increased match rate from the federal government for recovery efforts from the catastrophic flooding that swept the state last month.
Vermont sued Volkswagen and its affiliates Thursday, saying the automaker's diesel emissions-rigging scheme violated the state's consumer and environmental laws.
When riots erupted two years ago in Ferguson, Missouri, some of the tension in the black community was blamed on the city's use of court fines and fees that burdened many low-income people with debts they could not pay.
The straight-party voting option will still be available in Michigan in the Nov. 8 general election after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected a last-ditch appeal on the issue from Attorney General Bill Schuette.
It's hard to find candidates of any party this year openly supporting free trade -- even if they've touted its benefits in the past.
A nationwide prison strike planned Friday has Florida's jails and state prisons on high alert through the weekend, bracing for possible upheavals by inmates protesting what they say is inhumane and violent treatment.
One by one, the convicted principals pleaded for mercy, insisting they lived for their students and had suffered enough already.
New Jersey is joining a growing number of states that allow people in emergency situations to send a text message to 911, officials announced on Wednesday. anywhere in N.J.
Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman on Wednesday took a large step toward making New York one of several states to allow late-term abortions in cases where the mother’s health is in jeopardy or the fetus suffers a fatal complication, relying on Supreme Court rulings he said overrode existing law.
The governor of North Dakota has activated the state's National Guard ahead of a U.S. District judge's decision Friday morning that could inflame protesters who have been gathered here for weeks in an effort to block a pipeline project.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday it won't bring a new trial against Bob McDonnell, ending its pursuit of the former governor and his wife after more than three years.
California will become a petri dish for international efforts to slow global warming under legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday, forcing one of the world's largest economies to squeeze into a dramatically smaller carbon footprint.
Everything you need to know about the issues voters decided on Tuesday.
Fiorello La Guardia, New York's legendary mayor, ran every aspect of the city from his desk. That's nothing to emulate.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Three Democratic gubernatorial candidates took to the stage during a televised debate Tuesday night, looking to convince a majority of party voters they are the most qualified.
A federal appeals court dealt a severe blow Wednesday to an attempt by 385,000 drivers for the ride-hailing company Uber in California and Massachusetts to sue for employment status.
Presiding Justice P. Harris Hines, of Marietta, will become chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia on Jan. 6.
The federal government is accusing Texas of circulating “inaccurate or misleading information” to poll workers and would-be voters about relaxed identification requirements for the November elections.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Tuesday he has launched an antitrust investigation into the skyrocketing cost of the epinephrine auto-injector called EpiPen.
A superior court judge has ruled that the state’s cap on adequacy grants to public schools is unconstitutional.
Declaring that "Connecticut is defaulting on its constitutional duty" to fairly educate its poorest children, a Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered the state to come up with a new funding formula for public schools.
The most important election news and political dynamics at the state and local levels.
Schools in New York state will be required to test their drinking water for lead contamination under a new measure signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
A new Illinois law aims to help drivers answer the timely question of what to do if stopped by police.
After a primary election season that featured the Republican candidate for Missouri governor shooting guns and blowing things up, the National Rifle Association on Tuesday endorsed his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Chris Koster.
With Atlantic City in financial crisis because of casino closures, the state's voters aren't willing to take any more gambles.
St. Louis County joined on Tuesday 190 other U.S. communities that have chosen to ban the sale of tobacco products and electronic nicotine delivery systems to anyone under the age of 21.
Miami-Dade expects to spend almost $10 million fighting Zika through the summer, a growing tab that's already complicating efforts to boost county funding for affordable housing and other last-minute budget sweeteners.
The mayor of an eastern Pennsylvania borough has resigned five months after he was charged with stealing $8,000 from a fire company social club.
With shootings spiking on Labor Day, Chicago officially surpassed the homicide toll for all of last year, marking another alarming milestone for a city that has seen violence at its worst in two decades with still almost four months to go this year.
A police officer who wasn’t charged in the shooting death of an unarmed South Carolina teen more than a year ago is now being fired from the force.
Arizona's private elementary, middle and high schools can allow guns on campus, according to a new Arizona Attorney General's Office opinion.
Back from a seven-week break, the U.S. Senate failed for the third time Tuesday to pass a bill that would provide funding for Zika research and prevention.
As insurers exit Obamacare marketplaces across the country, critics of the Affordable Care Act have redoubled claims that the health law isn’t working.
Qualified -- and willing -- applicants have become increasingly hard for police departments to find.
State legislators’ support for public television is strengthening after nearly a decade of deep spending cuts and sharp ideological opposition from some lawmakers to the very idea of taxpayer-supported TV.
Texas will no longer help low-income families pay their electric bills. Lite-Up Texas, a program that offered discounts to hundreds of thousands of poor Texas families over the years, has run out of money and the discounts ended on Aug. 31, the Public Utility Commission confirmed.
Since turning 3, Marco Tapie has never gone more than a few days without a seizure; savage, sustained, unceasing seizures that sometimes left him bruised and bloodied.
Fifteen miles outside of Baton Rouge, on a road washed out by the flooding that submerged a nearby highway, Robert Formeller is rebuilding his property, or trying to.
When the defendants enter the courtroom this month for the start of the Bridgegate trial, the odds will be stacked against them.
Donald Trump on Monday dismissed questions about his failure to disclose an improper $25,000 contribution in 2013 to a political group connected to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was at the time considering whether to open a fraud investigation against Trump University.
The sector added more jobs in recent months, but it still hasn't recovered from cuts during the recession.
South Dakota's ballot measure, which failed, would have actually reduced the minimum wage for some.
It's not a simple issue, but there are some guiding principles to keep in mind.
Los Angeles wants to use antipoverty funds for development around a private arena. Is that any way to help the poor?
More than 30 percent of the country, up from 4 percent last year, could have just one carrier to choose from this fall.
Teen pregnancy is way down. And a study suggests that the reason is increased, and increasingly effective, use of contraceptives.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration on Thursday sent layoff notices to 29 workers at the Illinois Department of Transportation who held controversial patronage positions, a move the governor's office said is aimed at ridding the agency of political hires made under Democratic predecessors.
The Democrat seeking to become Missouri's next governor has nearly three times the amount of cash in his campaign account than his Republican rival.
Alaska's gray market marijuana social clubs may have just gone up in smoke.
Michael Dickerson was breathing a little easier in his elections office Wednesday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown's public image has never been better. He is at the height of his national popularity, even making a cameo in a newly released music video.
CVS Pharmacy will begin tipping Attorney General Maura Healey to doctors and other prescribers it suspects of over-prescribing powerful opiates and painkillers to patients, according to a settlement her office inked with the national pharmacy chain.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Diverting low-level, nonviolent offenders into treatment saves millions of dollars and makes our streets safer.
New Mexico voters may have energized a national movement to reform the criminal justice policies that keep lower-income Americans locked up.
Kansas is carefully monitoring cyberthreats and partnering with federal agencies to ensure the security of its voter database, the state's director of elections says, as the FBI investigates security breaches of voter databases in Illinois and Arizona.
Gun purchases are off limits in the U.S. to anyone who uses medical marijuana or holds a state-approved medicinal marijuana card, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, accepting the government's view that illegal-drug users are prone to violence.
In their first televised debate, the four Republican candidates for governor erupted Wednesday night into charges and countercharges over local and state leadership to battle the opioid crisis.
A New Jersey appeals court on Wednesday ruled that government agencies may "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of records in response to requests for information by the public, delivering a blow to citizens and news organizations wary of more secretive government.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned away an emergency appeal from North Carolina's Republican leaders, who were hoping to reinstate new voting rules that were struck down in July as racially biased.
The most important election news and political dynamics at the state and local levels.
Younger companies are crucial to creating jobs and promoting innovation in local economies.
Only one state's voters rejected easing access to the drug.
Tropical Storm Hermine will bring heavy rain and gusty winds to Central Florida through Friday as the storm continues to strengthen and shift to the northeast.
State attorney candidate Kenny Leigh is withdrawing from the November general election, he told The Florida Times-Union on Wednesday, assuring Melissa Nelson will be Jacksonville's new elected prosecutor.
Today, on International Overdose Awareness Day, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is announcing $53 million in funding to 44 states, four tribes and Washington, D.C., to improve access to treatment for opioid use disorders, reduce opioid related deaths and strengthen drug misuse prevention efforts.
The National Labor Relations Board decided in two separate cases last week that — as far as federal labor law is concerned — charter schools are not public schools but private corporations.
Agencies are broadening a few conventional tactics to prevent cyberattacks.
The people who decide criminals’ freedom are often ill-equipped to make informed decisions. That’s where risk assessment tools come in, but they aren't always used.
Cities are experimenting with ways to meet the goals of affordable housing while still reaping the benefits of the sharing economy.
The state Senate made a rare summer return to the Capitol Tuesday, voting to confirm a former top state prosecutor to replace the convicted Kathleen G. Kane as attorney general.
The Iowa Utilities Board has given MidAmerican Energy the green light for the utility's plans for a $3.6 billion wind energy investment, the largest renewable energy project in the state.
When the Republican presidential ticket pivoted to focus on illegal immigration this summer, Donald Trump pointed to the man who has come to embody the muscular enforcement approach of the 2000s _ massive immigration raids, unremitting warnings about the dangers posed by illegal immigrants and bold public pronouncements about enforcing the rule of law.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have nearly doubled New Jersey's minimum wage to $15 an hour in five years, calling the proposal a "radical increase" that would hurt businesses and consumers.
One of the biggest investments held by the $14.9 billion Kentucky Retirement Systems is a hedge fund that's also one of its worst performers -- and yet the financially troubled agency is doubling down.
One way or another, the legality of Waller County's courthouse gun ban is heading to court.
After the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers in June, Mayor Mike Rawlings and his police chief criticized the state's open-carry law, which was recently expanded to allow people to visibly carry handguns in a hip or shoulder holster.
The city demonstrates how to leverage foreign partnerships.
To thrive in today’s world, they need to connect with immigrants.
It's making a comeback in public schools. But to really make voters more informed, the curriculum could use an overhaul.
Exempting certain types of workers from raises is becoming a thing of the past.
The plan to achieve statehood easily won voters' support on Tuesday. But will it win the support of Congress?
Even if Greg Abbott spurs a national constitutional convention, there are many unanswered questions surrounding such an event.
The controversy surrounding Trump University showcases some of the sticky political situations that many attorneys general have been getting themselves in.
Several Republican governors have actively campaigned against lawmakers in their own party this year -- in most cases, only to see their efforts backfire.
Community paramedicine, which can drastically reduce unnecessary ER visits, could be the future of emergency care.
Vermont, one of the nation’s most solar-friendly states, is about to find out.
Gov. Paul LePage took a step Tuesday toward atoning for his recent actions, but he also sent sharply conflicting signals about how he plans to respond to mounting pressure from Democrats and members of his own party.
We bet Taylor Swift was over the moon when she got her jury duty summons in the mail.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's is taking the Texas two-step to Dancing with the Stars, according to ET Online.
A former top executive of RightNow Technologies, the Bozeman company founded by Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte, said her pick for governor is incumbent Democrat, Steve Bullock.
The city of Washington, D.C. is fighting Donald Trump's legal drive to cut his tax bills for the luxury hotel he's set to open in the Old Post Office Building next month.
Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday used his veto powers on several bills aimed at increasing help for the state's most vulnerable, rejecting measures that would increase wages for workers who care for people with developmental disabilities and expand a child care program for low-income families.
John Bills, the central figure in a massive corruption scheme at City Hall, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for taking up to $2 million in bribes and gifts in return for steering tens of millions of dollars in red light camera contracts to an Arizona company.
As Donald Trump’s running mate, Gov. Mike Pence is campaigning for a man who has promised to penalize companies that ship jobs overseas.
The FBI is warning state elections officials in Maryland and around the country to be on their guard against hackers after the breach of a voter information database in Illinois and an attempted attack in Arizona.
It’s the most littered item in the U.S. -- but it might not be if more places adopted this approach.
Some say police officers are increasingly reluctant to intervene in dangerous situations, fueling a crime wave in cities throughout the nation. Others say that's just not true.
The retailers are deploying a ‘dark store’ strategy that’s hurting cities and counties around the country.
The ambitious public management crusade of the 1990s has made a mark on governments everywhere. But it’s fallen short of some of its goals.
As states increasingly try to tax services like Netflix and yoga, Missouri voters have decided to keep that from ever happening. How that will impact consumers is unclear.
People in remote areas have long lacked access to mental health services. The movement to fix that is showing signs of life.
Every 20 years, the United Nations has a conference to discuss the future of cities. So far, it appears almost no mayors from America will attend.
The water crisis in Michigan highlighted major problems with not just federal regulations but the way localities enforce them. That's all likely to change soon.
Some arrive on their own, worried about what was really in that bag of heroin. Some are carried in, slumped between two friends.
More than a year ago, civil rights and fair housing activists cheered when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit over housing segregation in Texas to go forward.
