Archive
ne month after being named Florida's "superintendent of the year" by her peers in December, MaryEllen Elia was booted from her job in a 4-3 vote that stirred debate there and nationally as education reformers rallied to her defense.
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear a case that centers on how Texas draws its political districts, a longtime point of dispute between the state and voting rights advocates.
As the sun came up Tuesday, just hours after an overnight torrent that flooded highways and inundated neighborhoods, greater Houston faced yet one more painful recovery brought on by its occasionally lethal mix of climate and topography.
The Obama administration suffered another immigration setback Tuesday, as a divided federal appeals court declined to lift a injunction imposed by a Texas-based trial judge.
Missouri legislators -- led by recipients of Smithfield Foods' political donations -- pushed through a controversial, last-minute measure to allow up to 1 percent of Missouri's agricultural land to come under foreign ownership. Now Shuanghui International of Hong Kong legally own the company's Missouri land. How did that happen?
Physician-assisted suicide is only legal in five states. But it still happens in the other 45 states.
After a month of discussion over whether to attach a bill requiring public universities and colleges to allow concealed handguns on their campuses to another piece of gun legislation — an effort to squeeze the controversial measure through — House lawmakers opted to consider the bill, Senate Bill 11, on its own.
Electricity production at some hydropower plants is expected to be less than 20 percent of normal because of low water levels.
Critics say Nestle shouldn't be allowed to profit from a natural resource as drought spreads across the state.
Freddie Gray's neighborhood needs financial help, but who will pay?
On a day that brought a new round of fierce thunderstorms and torrential rains, authorities continued a grim search Monday for 12 people still missing after being swept from riverfront homes, and property owners returned to dramatic scenes of destruction.
Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan's effort to ask voters to approve a measure to impose higher income taxes on millionaires failed in the House on Thursday, but provides the powerful Southwest Side politician ammunition to attack Republicans in next year's legislative campaigns.
When Gov. Peter Shumlin signed physician-assisted suicide into law in 2013, he had no idea a member of a family he has known most of his life would be one of the first Vermonters to use the option.
Gov. Larry Hogan took out his veto pen Friday, rejecting a bill that would allow felons to vote as soon as they leave prison rather than waiting to finish parole or probation.
With the number of new diagnoses of HIV in Scott County tapering off, Gov. Mike Pence will not renew an executive public health emergency order to help address the situation when the order expires Sunday, state health officials said Thursday.
The Justice Department and Cleveland officials have agreed to settle a case alleging widespread misconduct by the city's police, the first such agreement reached under the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, who took office last month.
When California officials struck an unprecedented conservation deal Friday with a group of farmers who have the strongest claims on the state's dwindling water supply, it showed no one was immune from the fallout of the drought.
Los Angeles is leading the way with a dashboard that shows the public how the city is doing.
As government pensions become less generous for new hires, automatic enrollment in supplemental savings plans can make a big difference.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed the state's education budget Thursday, setting up a special session of the Legislature in the coming weeks.
The House, Senate and Gov. Rick Snyder have agreed to inject $400 million into the states's crumbling roads in the 2015-16 budget year.
The Alabama Legislature's email was hacked Thursday morning by an outside entity, causing lawmakers to briefly avoid using their accounts while the issue was addressed.
The federal judge who struck down Alabama's laws banning same-sex marriage reaffirmed her decision Thursday evening, but delayed its implementation.
A Baltimore grand jury returned indictments against the six officers charged earlier this month in the in-custody death of Freddie Gray, State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby announced Thursday.
Former Del. Joe Morrissey promised Thursday to marry the mother of his latest child, which would cement a relationship that got him tossed into the jail cell that served as his nightly home during the last legislative session.
In education and immigration, Jeb Bush is an outlier in the Republican presidential field — a moderate who raises concerns about the ideological direction of the party. But on another flash-point issue, health care, Bush is a proven conservative, having put into action ideas that some GOP rivals can only talk about.
Gov. Jay Inslee has failed so far to convince state legislators to go along with his proposal to meet official state greenhouse-gas-reduction targets through a new charge on carbon emissions.
Philadelphia's principals are sacrificing a lot, but they should be thinking like the professionals they are.
While other GOP presidential contenders will be touting their conservative policies, Ohio Gov. John Kasich would have to defend his.
Gov. John Hickenlooper signed two bills Wednesday morning that will reduce the time Colorado students spend taking standardized tests by an estimated 30 hours between kindergarten and graduation.
The death penalty may be holding on by its last thread in Nebraska.
Plains Pipeline, the large Texas-based company responsible for the pipe that ruptured in Santa Barbara County, has accumulated 175 safety and maintenance infractions since 2006, according to federal records.
The California Medical Association has become the first state medical association in the nation to drop opposition to what has long been known as "physician-assisted suicide," it said, acknowledging a shift in doctor and patient attitudes about end-of-life and aid-in-dying options.
Some legislators are considering the possibility of eliminating the state’s earned income tax credit in exchange for expanding its Medicaid program.
A Wake County judge on Wednesday barred the state commission that regulates fracking from issuing drilling permits, pending the outcome of a lawsuit between the governor and legislative leaders.
In the least suspenseful contest of the night, Attorney General Jack Conway secured the Kentucky Democratic Party's gubernatorial nomination Tuesday.
Republican James Comer asked Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes late Wednesday for "a full and complete check and recanvass" of Tuesday's vote in the GOP primary election for governor.
Plus, view data and estimates for dozens of jurisdictions.
An estimated 2 million adults with serious mental illnesses are jailed each year.
The former Texas governor has set June 4 in Dallas for an announcement about his intentions to run. But unlike the more than a dozen other Republicans who are either in the presidential race already or on the verge, he is under indictment on charges of abuse of power.
Many LGBT groups are angry over Pittsburgh Pride headliner Iggy Azalea because of because of tweets from the singer that they consider to be homophobic and racist.
It started with a few local experiments 30 years ago, worked well in pilot programs, and went national in 2009 as part of the federal economic stimulus package. Now used in every state, rapid rehousing is considered to be particularly effective for homeless families because it provides stability for children.
A generation after the Americans with Disabilities Act, states are facing federal demands to rethink their approach to helping disabled people find work. But could the policy shift worsen their prospects?
As the economy shifts from one that relies on goods to one that relies on services, states are finding it hard to capture revenue from constantly evolving technologies like cloud computing.
The progressive governor has the business acumen to lure companies and jobs to the state, but can he win over an increasingly conservative legislature?
Billionaire Rex Sinquefield's crusade to control Missouri politics sheds light on the power and limits of money in contemporary American politics.
The White House finalized a rule last week to strengthen the Clean Water Act. But it doesn't resolve the fights going on between urban and rural interests in Iowa and elsewhere over how to clean up.
In localities badly hurting for revenue, public employment may never return to pre-recession levels.
Phoenix is building a research and technology campus in an effort to transform itself into a center for waste innovation.
A congressional bill that aims to encourage drug breakthroughs leaves unanswered the question of who will foot the bill for medical miracles.
The Cannabis Corner is the only (but probably not the last) place where public workers are paid to sell pot.
The role of attorney general in states has evolved from policy enforcer to policy creator.
After Los Angeles banned the expansion of fast-food places in some parts, obesity actually increased.
U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said Bruce Rauner lacked standing to challenge public unions, in his case seeking to prevent non-union public employees from paying a share of collective bargaining costs, because he had "no personal interest at stake."
A roundup of public-sector management news you need to know.
Lenny Curry, the energetic Jacksonville businessman-turned chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, defeated Mayor Alvin Brown Tuesday, only the second time in recent history a sitting mayor has lost re-election.
Saying Texas needs to avoid a “patchwork of local regulations” that threaten oil and gas production, Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday signed legislation that would pre-empt local efforts to regulate a wide variety of drilling-related activities.
The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday backed a plan to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour, joining a trend sweeping cities across the country as elected leaders seek to boost stagnating pay for workers on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal issued an order that protects people who believe that gays shouldn’t marry, plunging the state into the debate weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on whether banning same-sex weddings is constitutional.
Voters in Colorado Springs have elected former state Attorney General John Suthers in the city’s runoff mayoral election.
Gov. Mike Pence is putting aside, for now, any dreams of national office, and will announce next month he is running in 2016 for a second four-year term as Indiana's chief executive.
The U.S. House voted to keep federal money flowing for highways and mass-transit programs for two more months, through the end of July.
But only one of these three modernization methods of revenue raising has a chance.
New CIOs need to learn the importance of marketing technology to leadership.
And without proof of its value, cash-strapped states are increasingly cutting training budgets.
Some critics told the panel Monday that a proposal to allow concealed handgun license holders to openly carry the firearms would have made the Waco shooting worse. But the panel approved the bill and sent it to the full Senate, where it is likely to have enough votes to pass.
It's unclear if Gov. Sam Brownback's e-mails might be subject to the open records act.
The New Jersey governor staked out the most hawkish position of all the would-be candidates for the presidency in a speech he made in New Hampshire.
Paul LePage is proposing a bill to require any applicant to the TANF program -- regardless of whether they have any kind of criminal record related to drugs -- to undergo a written, 93-question screening test and then, depending on the results, a urine test.
The court deemed Maryland's local tax on out-of-state income unconstitutional, meaning municipalities will have to pay millions in tax refunds.
Most states ran fewer firearm background checks last year, but that's only part of the story.
Camden's recently formed police force has made headway in cutting crime and gaining the trust of the community, but still has a way to go and cannot do the job of lifting up the struggling city all by itself, President Obama said Monday.
The New Hampshire Supreme Court Friday unanimously struck down a 2012 state law that required voters be state residents, not just domiciled here, in order to vote.
Gov. Rick Scott, citing "some hesitation," signed legislation Friday requiring Florida to create an online voter registration system by 2017.
In a move that could brighten retirement prospects for millions of Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employers have a duty to keep watch over 401(k) plans to guard against high management fees that can erode retirement savings.
Ten months after striking down the District’s long-standing ban on carrying firearms in public as unconstitutional, a federal judge Monday ordered the city to halt enforcing a key provision of the new gun-permitting system it adapted in response.
Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy dealt a speedy setback Monday to conservative advocacy groups that had sought to shield the names of their major donors in California.
President Barack Obama on Monday ordered the federal government to stop distributing a limited inventory of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies across the country because, he said, it makes police seem like an "occupying force" instead of public servants.
We travel much quicker than we used to and are still pushing to increase the speed. But that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Most of them actually live in the suburbs.
A primary challenge this week sent a message to politicians nationwide about how much freedom they have to step outside party lines.
A recent incident involving Double Stuf Oreos highlights the debate about how much supervision of children is too much.
After advising municipalities on how to construct roads for years, Charles Marohn now believes America needs to stop building new highways. Will his new way of thinking catch on?
Texas has the highest percentage of one-and two-star facilities in the country: 51 percent of its nursing homes are rated “below average,” or “much below average.” Louisiana is close behind at 49 percent, with Oklahoma, Georgia and West Virginia tying for third at 46 percent.
Even as it has received praise for reducing violent crime, the New Jersey police department has struggled to retain officers since it was formed two years ago.
Gov. Rick Scott issued dire warnings of a "government shutdown" Thursday as he ordered state agencies to draw up lists of critical services that must continue if the Florida Legislature cannot pass a budget by July 1.
Pat Dougherty, a former legislator who lobbies for social welfare issues for Catholic Charities of St. Louis, left the Missouri Capitol five hours before the legislative session ended Friday.
There’s a reason why the Jacksonville mayoral race is drawing the attention of outsiders like former President Bill Clinton, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and it’s about more than who wins on Tuesday.
Many environmentalists see Duke Energy's guilty plea and sentencing here last week as a potential turning point in their battle against coal ash, a turning point that could have implications well beyond North Carolina's borders.
Washington has a statewide drought emergency that will likely lead some farmers to go without water for their crops and some small water districts to look at reductions for their customers.
Baltimore's Penn Station will be buzzing this morning and later tonight as Amtrak's Northeast Corridor reopens for full service -- enabling travelers on the nation's busiest section of commuter rail to move from New York to Washington, D.C., for the first time since a deadly crash in Philadelphia last week.
A pilot program that brought efficiency to restaurant inspections has broad potential for public health and safety.
To achieve real breakthroughs in public management, we need governments capable of continuously adapting to changing technology.
California will be the first U.S. state where pharmacists can prescribe birth control. Will others follow?
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Two New York City manicurists on Thursday filed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming four nail salons routinely violated minimum wage and overtime laws, days after a New York Times investigation revealed rampant wage theft and hazardous conditions in the industry.
Although the majority of children are vaccinated, at some schools, rates are well below the 92 percent needed to maintain the group immunity required to protect those who cannot be vaccinated or who have weak immune systems. Under a bill passed Thursday, California parents who do not vaccinate their children would have to home-school them.
The auto company says the money will lead to about 2,600 new white-collar jobs at the Warren Tech Center.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is placing a portion of its U.S. timber holdings up for sale in the latest sign of a larger strategic re-evaluation inside the nation’s largest pension fund.
For seven years, industry and lawmakers sparred over costs, deadlines.
Gov. Larry Hogan announced Thursday that he will withhold $68 million in funding for high-cost school systems and use at least part of the withheld money to fund public-employee pensions, which the administration has named as one of its top priorities.
The system has resumed an old strategy to prevent more smoke incidents in tunnels.
Mayor Bill de Blasio's top educational priorities — the expansion of prekindergarten and the creation of so-called community schools — are being paid for entirely with taxpayer dollars. Credit
As part of the governor's $115.3 billion budget plan, tuition is capped for California residents over the next two years, while out-of-state tuition could increase by as much as 8 percent in each of the next two years and 5 percent in the third year.
After tens of millions of dollars, the New York governor's plan has created fewer than 100 jobs.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner refuses to collect “fair share” fees from public employees because he expects them to be found unconstitutional.
According to a Governing analysis, two-thirds of states' fuel taxes have failed to keep up with inflation, forcing lawmakers to revisit the politically fraught issue of raising taxes.
States are plagued by a number of problems in hiring and retaining IT staff— especially cybercrime experts.
The current estimate for a ticket, $86 from Los Angeles to San Francisco , would result in one of the world's cheapest high-speed rail trips on a per-mile basis.
Jeremy Trentelman builds "a completely awesome box castle" in his front yard and gets a $125 fine from the city. Then the Internet trolls got involved.
House Speaker John Diehl issued a statement Wednesday apologizing and seeking forgiveness for exchanging sexually charged messages with a college freshman who worked as an intern in the state Capitol.
A majority of the Legislature's Taxation Committee voted Wednesday to reject Gov. Paul LePage's plan to eliminate Maine's income tax, citing a projected $1.8 billion loss in state revenue and no plan to offset it.
Though the state’s health exchange soon will consider boosting insurance assessments, Access Health CT officials said Tuesday Connecticut’s program is on sound financial footing — unlike many other state exchanges.
Chicago's beleaguered public school system faces a likely increase in borrowing costs, tough bank negotiations and even calls for emergency state oversight after a major rating agency on Wednesday lowered the school district's debt rating to junk status.
As the Obama administration prepares to change the way it enforces immigration laws, top officials have been conducting weeks of shuttle diplomacy, touring the country to try to re-enlist police chiefs and mayors in the cause of deporting people convicted of crimes.
An electronic train-control system designed to prevent the kind of accident that killed at least seven people Tuesday was not in place where Amtrak Train 188 crashed, as it was entering one of the sharpest curves on the Northeast Corridor.
State Rep. Byron Cook, chairman of the House State Affairs Committee, said the legislation, Senate Bill 19, attempted to address problems that don’t exist without fixing the ones that do.
His war against Florida fast trains shows his governing style.
The National Fair Housing Alliance and 19 local fair housing organizations filed a complaint alleging the institution maintained and marketed its foreclosed houses in white areas--including in the Baltimore region--better than in minority areas.
It’s hard to imagine a worse idea than counting on casino revenue to prop up an underfunded system.
Critics say the president’s new program to help young black men unfairly excludes black girls who, by many measures, experience the same problems.
At an Anchorage press conference Gov. Bill Walker warned that budget inaction threatens to cause a damaging government shutdown.
Passed in February, the law, which goes into effect Wednesday, requires employers in the city with 10 or more workers to offer paid sick time.
Congress is looking into legislation that would make state and local data more accessible.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Tuesday that Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny won't face criminal charges in a fatal shooting that sparked protests in Madison and drew national attention as the country grapples with police shootings of unarmed black men.
Something a bit strange is happening Tuesday in heavily Republican Utah.
Gov. Larry Hogan signed a body camera bill Tuesday that supporters say would pave the way for equipping cops across the state with video equipment.
Government pensions in California have withstood another fierce challenge in bankruptcy court.
Chicago took yet another hit Tuesday when a major credit rating agency downgraded much of the city's debt to junk status, making it more difficult for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to fix the financial mess without a major tax increase.
At least five people were killed and more than 50 were injured when a northbound Amtrak train derailed Tuesday night in Port Richmond.
5 states are considering bills that would have state pension systems sell coal and oil stocks. Some 20 universities and 30 cities have already divested.
Courts struck down pension cuts twice in the last two weeks, setting the stage for potentially more drastic measures.
Sociologists liken the mental health effects of a riot to those of a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a hurricane, but with the added twist of being inflicted by other humans rather than happenstance.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting sea levels will rise as much as 2 feet by 2050 and by as much as 6.6 feet by 2100, Florida is way behind when it comes to recognizing the threat and launching efforts to combat it.
For rural communities that have watched their economic fortunes tumble and now struggle to pay for basic services including law enforcement, roads and schools, public lands look like a way out of economic problems.
If the candidates are hewing to the views of Republican voters on the question of legalization, they are running against the tide of opinion in the country overall, a conundrum the party faces on a host of social issues, including same-sex marriage.
The Legislature opposes public health benefits, including Medicaid, but a vast majority of members have government-subsidized state plans among the most generous in the nation.
The New Jersey governor vetoed a bill that would have required the state to put most of its money from a pollution settlement with Exxon Mobil Corp. toward environmental cleanups.
Hillary Clinton's top campaign lawyer and others are challenging Ohio voting laws enacted by the Republican-dominated legislature and Gov. John Kasich, claiming in a lengthy federal lawsuit the measures were designed to suppress the votes of such traditional Democratic constituencies as blacks, Latinos and the young.
Citing the state's economic competitiveness, Gov. Maggie Hassan vetoed a bill that would prohibit the Department of Education or the state Board of Education from implementing Common Core standards in any school in the state.
Striving to put back together a fractured Republican conference, GOP senators Monday quickly galvanized support to make Suffolk County's Sen. John Flanagan their new majority leader and a member of Albany's exclusive three-men-in-a-room system of government.
The same day Gov. Rick Scott created a health care commission to probe the bottom line at Florida hospitals, his political committee collected $100,000 in contributions from one of the state's biggest hospital chains.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday signed a bill requiring background checks on private gun sales, marking the first time in more than 14 years that the state has significantly tightened its firearms laws.
How did Los Angeles spend more than $1 billion to buy an iPad for every student and instead end up losing its leader and being investigated by the FBI and SEC?
Republicans' anti-immigration rhetoric is turning off Hispanic voters, yet they're better than Democrats at finding Hispanic candidates to climb the political ladder.
State Sen. Vigil Smith is a suspect in a domestic dispute outside his Detroit home earlier Sunday in which shots were fired at a woman's vehicle, two police sources told the Free Press.
