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Chicago Public Schools on Monday unveiled school spending plans that rely on a half-billion dollars more than the district has on hand -- an approach the head of the city's principals association compared to writing a bad check.
As a budget impasse between Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and the Republican-controlled Legislature stretches on, everyone in the state Capitol is asking this question: When will the Legislature run out of money?
A state measure would allow work permits for farm workers who are in the state illegally.
Legislation Obama has proposed to require companies without retirement plans to automatically enroll workers in IRAs has gone nowhere in Congress. So he bypassed Congress.
Soon, only two companies will make the cards that people get government benefits with. Here's why that matters.
The Wisconsin governor signed off on the $72.7 billion spending plan, after using his powerful veto pen to alter 104 items -- nearly twice as many as he has previously. This budget includes a $250 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System.
Maryland required insurers to cover in vitro fertilization, but it was generally difficult for same-sex couples to get coverage for such treatment.
Gov. Jay Nixon on Thursday signed a broad municipal court reform bill that will cap court revenue and impose new requirements in an attempt to end what the bill's sponsor called predatory practices aimed at the poor.
Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday vetoed the Republican-crafted bill that eliminates guaranteed public pensions for new school and state employees.
An appeals court on Friday upheld the corruption conviction of former Gov. Bob McDonnell in a decision that one analyst said makes it "highly likely" he will go to prison.
Joseph Mat Windsor grew up in Surry County but was in graduate school in Australia in November 2012 when he sought an absentee ballot so he could vote in the presidential election.
Reynaldo Rodriguez was 19 with a young son, a good job and no criminal record when he shot and killed a man.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he is running for the Republican presidential nomination in a video shared by his campaign on Monday, touting his experience as a conservative governor in a blue state against his GOP rivals in Washington, D.C.
Knowing your organization's story and why it's important can go a long way toward helping workers cope with change.
In this year's survey, the Center for Digital Government recognizes 54 counties as adaptive IT leaders, collaborators and arbiters of the public trust.
State lawmakers are getting more involved in the workings of colleges and universities — from establishing how accusations of sexual assault are handled to allowing concealed weapons to be carried on campus.
The proposals--put forth by conservative policy organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute--generally would allow more flexibility in the type of health plans that can be sold. But the proposals are examples of the inescapable problems in health care reform.
Across Puerto Rico, populations dropped in 68 of the 78 municipalities, including San Juan, from July 2010 to July 2013. San Juan's population dropped 5 percent in that period.
Latino plurality in California points toward changes to come. Overall, Latinos have lower incomes, education and job skills than the average white Californian.
The controversial banner was lowered for the last time Friday in front of the Confederate Soldier Monument by an honor guard of seven South Carolina Highway Patrol officers.
A new company has been chosen to develop the assessments for New York State students in third through eighth grades, a contentious group of tests that spawned a backlash in recent years.
Backers of a bill that would have allowed terminally ill Californians to get lethal prescriptions to end their lives shelved the legislation Tuesday morning because they lacked the votes to move it out of a key committee.
It had all the makings of a latter-day water war, pitting a Ventura County water district against actor Tom Selleck.
The Florida Supreme Court took a wrecking ball to Florida's political landscape Thursday, throwing out the state's carefully-crafted congressional districts drawn by the GOP-led Legislature and ordered a new map within 100 days.
Vowing to free Maryland businesses from what he called "nonsensical, out-of-control" regulations, Gov. Larry Hogan launched a commission Thursday charged with reviewing every rule on the state's books with an eye to streamlining or eliminating them.
Uber drivers prefer the flexibility of being independent contractors, Uber said in a sharply worded response to a lawsuit from drivers seeking reclassification as employees.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Gov. Paul LePage had more than 10 days to veto 19 bills sent to him by the Legislature in late June. Though he was outspoken in his opposition to the bills, he didn't get around to vetoing them and they will all take effect as law. But LePage on Wednesday said his administration just won't enforce them.
Lawmakers who locked horns on the Assembly floor over the contentious two-year budget shared laughs and engaged in spirited debate at The Coopers Tavern, a bar across the street.
A Federal Aviation Administration official presented Ellington Airport and city officials with the launch license establishing the airport as the nation's 10th federally designated commercial spaceport.
Highway agencies are increasingly using humor and wit to try to get people to drive safer.
Gov. Chris Christie ordered the review; its goal is to improve, not redo, standards, officials say.
Between 2012 and 2014, 47 states passed 261 laws creating or expanding pretrial programs that would supervise low-level offenders in lieu of holding them in jails.
A former Republican majority leader was the driving force.
Milwaukee, Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans and St. Louis have all seen their murder rates increase in 2015.
With 1 million Puerto Ricans in Florida, candidates will feel pressure to voice support for the territory.
Milfred Ellis hopes his posters will rally Washington's black homeowners amid an influx of younger, white residents.
The New York governor signed an executive order designating the state attorney general as a special prosecutor for certain police-related civilian deaths. The families of many victims say the order is too limited.
A yearlong investigation found that John Dewey High School's Kathleen Elvin allowed students at risk of not graduating to make up credits in classes where they received no substantial instruction.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake acted to replace Commissioner Anthony W. Batts after the police union accused him of taking a passive approach during the riots following Freddie Gray’s death.
After hours of emotional debate, the final House vote was 94 to 20, meaning that the Confederate battle flag at the State House in Columbia could be lowered by the weekend.
The coverage under Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid, is expected to result in more preventive care and better long-term health for an estimated 170,000 children who have long relied on safety-net clinics and emergency rooms. Now advocates are calling on the state to cover adults, too.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Joe Straus, Democrats in the House and Senate asked for the creation of a task force to consider whether the numerous Confederate monuments, markers and statutes on the Capitol grounds are “historically accurate, whether they are appropriately located on the Capitol grounds, and whether any changes are needed.”
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller discussed new initiatives in consumer protection and his fight against what he considers "federal overreach."
Numbers of long-term unemployed remain high in most states.
States are not the only ones to lack the data they need to make good government.
Jim Gilmore Gilmore served one term as Virginia's governor, from 1998 to 2002.
California’s marijuana industry is taking a toll on the state’s scarce water resources and the environment, with growers sometimes illegally siphoning off entire streams to produce the nation’s largest supply of pot.
Confederate sympathizers have nothing on the "Northwest Front."
Martin O’Malley racked up $339,200 in loans putting two kids through college. He wants to lighten the load for others.
The state Supreme Court said the monument on statehouse grounds violates the state constitution. Gov. Mary Fallin said “the court got it wrong.”
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback issues an order to bar the state from acting against any individual clergy or religious leader who declines to participate in a same-sex ceremony.
State lawmakers have been circulating drafts of dozens of amendments that could jeopardize a bill that calls for the state to remove the flag and send it to the nearby Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.
Will Bill de Balsio ally himself publicly with a Bloomberg administration initiative that has been deemed an illegal giveaway of parkland in order to promote development, and affordable housing, in Queens?
In the fourth year of drought, recipes and realities are changing in kitchens and restaurants.
Dale Cox, the acting district attorney in Caddo Parish, La., has secured more than a third of Louisiana’s death sentences over the past five years.
Users can see the latest criminal and emergency activity on a map as it is filtered through the Oakland Police Department’s 911-dispatch system.
After race riots in 2001, Cincinnati's path to police reform required years of dedication and patience. The hardest part was not turning police into scapegoats.
About two dozen states took up right-to-work bills or bills to repeal prevailing wage laws this year.
At a time when Obamacare remains deeply unpopular among Republicans, the Indiana plan, in which the poor pay a little for coverage, is attracting new interest as GOP governors seek ways to put a conservative stamp on expanding coverage.
The U.S. Senator is holding hearings across the state about the issues that are important to his campaign for governor. And all of it's on the federal dime.
A striking number of current and former state AGs are facing criminal charges or investigations.
The man known to San Francisco law enforcement as Francisco Sanchez has been thrust into a national debate on immigration policy.
Unlike U.S. states, Puerto Rico's public entities, including municipalities, are not covered by U.S. Chapter 9 bankruptcy laws.
The new overhaul proposals renew debate over national standards and states’ rights.
Gunfire began just after 10 p.m. on Saturday.
Even amid the state's epic drought, the Palm Springs area has had some of the highest water use in the state,
Donald Trump’s latest construction project in the heart of Washington D.C. is being built by laborers — some of whom have reportedly admitted to crossing the U.S. border illegally. Trump broke ground on the Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave. in 2014
The man behind a subway platform pop-up booth in which he engages strangers in conversation during a board game.
Two years in, Citi Bike’s inroads in New York City have been decidedly uneven, with men far outnumbering women in using the bike-sharing system.
Senate members voted 37-3 on Monday to remove the flag. The issue goes to the state house next.
African-Americans hold only about 5 percent of the offices, according to the Women Donors Network.
Eight states increased gasoline taxes this year to pay for roads and bridges.
California has more than 500 alternative high schools, designed to help students who are considered at-risk of not graduating at the normal pace. Their actual effectiveness is unclear, however.
States are beginning to limit what patients pay out of pocket for expensive specialty drugs that treat serious, chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.
In a scathing audit, state tax officials slammed nonprofit health insurer Blue Shield of California for stockpiling "extraordinarily high surpluses" — more than $4 billion — and for failing to offer more affordable coverage or other public benefits.
The city is struggling to balance its desire to provide health care to all residents against its desire for people to sign up for the health care exchanges.
The flag’s removal from the grounds of the Capitol would bring a swift end to a debate that has been waged within South Carolina since the flag was raised above the State House dome during the civil-rights era. A vote could come Thursday.
When he announces for president next week, Scott Walker plans to run as the heartland’s favorite son. The problem is that he sometimes seems a little too regional.
The GOP race in the key state is unlike any in recent memory, but the Clinton-Sanders duel is utterly familiar.
For many, the drought has meant inconvenience. But in two rural valleys, it’s serious and personal.
Slavery’s role in the march to war remains a politically charged issue in Southern history classrooms.
The state's effort against teenage pregnancies is a startling success.
Arguing poor birth outcomes matter too much to let people go uninsured, the state is letting them sign up for insurance outside of enrollment periods -- and others could follow.
The latest reform effort wouldn't solve the problem, but it at least would help keep it from getting worse.
Can requiring a permit in order to purchase a handgun reduce firearm homicide rates?
Census statistics for Hispanics, whites, blacks and Asians for each state.
Hawaii recently became the first state to raise the legal age for buying cigarettes to 21.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
The city couldn't collect its money in 2013-14 because poor bookkeeping made it impossible to track how much money had been spent and how much was owed,
Puerto Rico’s economic problems stem in some part, some economists say, from how the U.S. commonwealth has to operate under the same minimum-wage rules as the more prosperous 50 states
Some 57 percent said it’s a symbol of Southern pride. Only 33 percent called it more a symbol of racism.
A train derailment and fire in eastern Tennessee's Blount County results in an evacuation of the surrounding area.
One unfortunate fact of American politics is that election districts are becoming more and more misshapen.
Illinois law separates Chicago teacher pensions from the fund for educators in the rest of the state.
To hold his position in the state before the first Republican nominating contest the Wisconsin governor has become more conservative on marriage and immigration.
The state's Democrats join Mayor Bill de Blasio in a chorus of dissent against the Democratic governor.
After the feds sent millions to drought-stricken California, the Interior Department warned earlier funds had been wasted.
The former mayor announced Wednesday on her Facebook page she's planning to challenge Stephanie Rawlings-Blake in the city's 2016 mayoral race.
Massachusetts finds career training programs vastly improve a person’s chances of staying clean and sober.
What's happening in the state is perceived as a bellwether for public universities across the country.
After years of neglect, state officials estimate it will cost $59 billion to fix the state's crumbling roads and freeways.
The court will decide whether or not the Constitution forbids mandatory collective-bargaining contributions.
JetBlue installed a 4,046-square-foot park at Terminal 5, which opens to passengers Wednesday.
The borders of congressional districts still remain in flux for 2016 in three important, large battleground states: Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.
Jeff Amyx, who owns Amyx Hardware & Roofing Supplies in Grainger County, Tenn., about an hour outside of Knoxville, added the sign because he says gay and lesbian couples are against his religion.
Chris Christie will host a series of town hall meetings in hopes of gaining ground on former Florida governor Jeb Bush, whose business-friendly politics overlap with his own and whose backing from the establishment has lifted him at this early juncture.
This will put the city’s minimum wage among the highest in the country.
California has wildfires every year. But with the drought, the fires started earlier this year.
American investors’ desire to avoid taxes, combined with the mutual fund industry’s practice of competing on the basis of yield and complacency about the practice of long-term borrowing to plug holes in budgets combined to make Puerto Rico insolvent.
A strong local economy, combined with high demand and not enough listings, pushed the average sales price up 11 percent.
Bill de Blasio said the governor had acted vindictively toward the city, citing cuts in state financing for public housing and what he called an abrupt ramp-up of state inspections of city homeless shelters.
State agencies routinely are told to meet energy-saving targets. Whether they do is often hard to determine.
Budget gridlock has been building since Bruce Rauner was elected governor in November. He campaigned on a pledge to cut spending, reform government and cut or hold the line on taxes. If he can't reach an agreement with the legislature, the government may shut down.
The tax limitation in Clark County has cost $119 million in lost revenue since 2009. That, combined with the recession meant it had to fire 1,500 municipal workers. It still can't afford to cover the daily cost of each inmate held in county jail.
In the fall, the justices will hear a direct challenge to the fees brought on behalf of Rebecca Friedrichs, a public school teacher in Orange County who objects to supporting the California Teachers Association.
The California governor signed legislation to require more children who enter school, or day care, to be vaccinated against diseases including measles and whooping cough.
Same-sex couples who want to marry may not get the warmest greeting in Minnehaha County.
A new report assesses disparities across neighborhoods within each region. See how different areas compare.
The city's revised 2024 Olympics bid was criticized as incomplete, particularly because it lacked some important financial details.
Florida legislators voted not to extend the depleted state film-and-entertainment tax incentive that has run out of funds with a requested $10-$20 million.
The city considers itself "water independent," and officials have balked at an order from the state to cut back water use by 28 percent.
The U.S. senator argues that the decision only applies to Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky.
South Carolina state Sen. Paul Thurmond (R) is the youngest son of the U.S. senator known for his opposition to desegregation.
Gov. Alejandro García Padilla wants to restructure Puerto Rico’s $73-billion debt under the U.S. bankruptcy code.
The Supreme Court refused on June 29 to allow Texas to enforce restrictions that would force 10 abortion clinics to close.
If the court sided with the plaintiff in the case and did away with racial preferences in higher education, that would reduce the number of black and Latino students at nearly selective colleges and graduate schools.
The New York Police Department will adopt language from a City Council bill aimed at criminalizing police use of the maneuver. The department, however, is still opposed to the actual bill.
The New York City Rent Guidelines Board voted on Monday night for a freeze on one-year leases on rent-stabilized apartments, an unprecedented move in its 46-year history.
A coalition of states including Texas has defeated the Environmental Protection Agency in a battle over major regulations on mercury, acid gases and other toxic metals emissions that spew from power plants.
Faculty at the state's universities, backed by national higher-education groups, say the Wisconsin governor is risking the quality and prestige of one of the country's leading state universities to fuel his presidential ambitions.
In small towns, suburbs and rural corners of the country, the homeless are often hidden, out of sight and mind, hard to reach and hard to help, say people who work with the homeless.
Most states have laws to protect bikers from cars, but they're hard to enforce. One city is testing a new device that makes it easier.
The divorced New York governor slipped a measure into the session-end bill package to allow himself to solemnize weddings.
The state pushes into renewable energy, but sudden swings in output pose special challenges.
The New Jersey governor’s bit is far less ambitious than anyone could have predicted a year ago. That also makes him an unpredictable force in the GOP presidential primary.
State Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that county clerks, judges and justices of peace could deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples for religious reasons,
Nikki Haley first ran for governor as a state lawmaker waving the tea party banner, but she was also subjected to ethnic slurs from her own GOP.
The implications are serious for Americans outside Puerto Rico largely because many hold island bonds in mutual funds.
New York City’s Rent Guidelines Board, which voted for its lowest-ever rent increases last year, is considering freezing rents for the next year. The board has never before voted for no increases.
While recreational marijuana use is legal in Washington State, Colorado and elsewhere, federal prohibitions remain rigid.
Teachers who score the third through eighth grade standardized state exams have been required in recent years to sign confidentiality agreements barring them from discussing test questions, answers or other materials. As part of a sprawling bill approved at the end of the legislative session last week, legislators took a step toward loosening the restriction.
Paul LePage was elected to a second term in November, but his style and actions have generated bipartisan opposition in the Legislature.
Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Nairobi and Mexico City are preparing to launch the "GovCombinator."
Firefighters don't actually fight that many fires these days. It's time to re-think how we deliver costly emergency services.
Oklahoma Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Virginia and West Virginia require hospitals to train a designated family caregiver to tend to the medical needs of a released patient.
States and localities spent nearly $20 billion for uncompensated care in the United States in 2013.
The state-run marketplace is embarking on an ambitious effort to collect insurance company data on prescriptions, doctor visits and hospital stays for every Obamacare patient.
Homeownership rates have declined in nearly every metro area.
