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One Ohio county is rolling in so much extra revenue that it's offering other counties low-interest loans for infrastructure projects.
The head of the White House Office of Governmental Affairs talks about his plans for the job and what to expect on the domestic front during Obama’s remaining time in office.
Minority students became the majority this year, but most teachers are still white. Policymakers are seeking for ways to get and keep more minority teachers.
The use of the once-popular traffic devices has been in decline since 2013.
North Carolina is trying to recruit girls for careers in engineering not only to fill anticipated vacancies but also because hiring more women could make the roads safer.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday allowed a bill barring Arkansas cities and counties from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to become law without his signature.
Alaska's minimum wage will rise Tuesday to $8.75, a $1-per-hour increase that will affect thousands of workers' paychecks, according to the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Even though Kansas’ budget and credit have suffered since enacting massive tax cuts, governors in Maine and Ohio are still pushing similar plans.
The Charlotte City Council tightened its ethics rules for elected officials Monday, requiring council members to tell the public more about their business dealings and forbidding many gifts.
An Ohio Supreme Court justice lamented last week that "the oil and gas industry has gotten its way" in a decision that says local governments can't regulate drilling.
Chicago voters head to the polls Tuesday and will decide whether Mayor Rahm Emanuel collects a majority and quickly wins a second term or faces six more weeks of campaigning and a politically risky runoff election.
Darren Hodges, a Tea Party Republican and councilman in the windy West Texas city of Fort Stockton, is a fierce defender of his town’s decision to ban plastic bags. It was a local solution to a local problem and one, he says, city officials had a “God-given right” to make.
Ringing in the eve of marijuana legalization in Alaska, Wasilla’s city council on Monday banned making pot brownies at home.
A New Jersey judge ruled Monday that Gov. Christie violated public-sector unions' contractual rights when he cut the state's payment to the pension system for public workers in June, and she ordered him to work with the Legislature to find a solution.
The Obama administration is seeking to block a federal judge's ruling last week that halted programs intended to grant deportation waivers to up to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Maryland is offering state workers $15,000 to leave their jobs, part of a cost-saving plan to shrink the government workforce and save millions.
A bill requiring Tennessee's State Board of Education to drop Common Core education standards and develop new requirements has a math problem: It's projected to cost $4.14 million over a three-year period.
This plan might take a smoker's breath away: The price to use electronic cigarettes could almost triple under a tax proposed by Gov. John Kasich.
Late Wednesday night, after the Philadelphia School Reform Commission approved five of 39 charter applications, KIPP Philadelphia CEO Marc Mannella gave his assessment of the decisions.
City officials announced the resignation and retirement of longtime Greensburg Fire Chief Scott Chasteen Friday, three days after criminal charges were filed against his wife, the former Greensburg Chief of Police.
Less snow in Anchorage is bad for skiing, but a boon for the city's maintenance budget.
While political leaders in Tennessee agree on the growing need to bolster funding for road building and maintenance, there is little consensus about how go about doing it.
After saying in his re-election bid that he wouldn't push so-called right-to-work legislation, Gov. Scott Walker committed Friday to signing it, acting after GOP leaders fast-tracked the proposal for a Senate vote next week.
It was a memorable political ad: Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin spoke directly into the camera in a 30-second spot last fall and called abortion an “agonizing” decision.
The Supreme Court this June could cut off millions of Americans from affordable Obamacare coverage
On the nights when she has just seven hours between shifts at a Taco Bell in Tampa, Fla., Shetara Brown drops off her three young children with her mother.
Public attitudes are shifting in favor of government action. What's playing out in Salt Lake City is worth watching.
With private-sector wage growth outpacing the public sector's, it's more of a challenge than ever to attract and keep talented employees.
Virginia former first lady gets a prison term for corruption.
People who face penalties for not having coverage get another chance, while those who had it are encouraged to wait to file their taxes.
With tens of millions of dollars less to spend than highly-populated states like California, Florida signed more people up for health insurance on the exchanges than any other state.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Colorado already is being sued by two neighboring states for legalizing marijuana. Now, the state faces groundbreaking lawsuits from its own residents, who are asking a federal judge to order the new recreational industry to close.
Scott Walker was definitive when asked about his position on illegal immigration earlier this month: “We need to secure the border. I think we need to enforce the legal system. I’m not for amnesty,” he told ABC News. “I’m not an advocate of the plans that have been pushed here in Washington.”
House lawmakers scrapped a bill Wednesday aimed at making North Dakota the 24th state to legalize medical marijuana, saying it was premature and carried too many risks that outweighed the potential benefits.
The University of Massachusetts, under pressure for a policy that barred Iranian nationals from seeking admission to certain graduate science courses, reversed itself on Wednesday and announced it will now accept the students.
A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted Sheldon Silver, the powerful former leader of New York's state assembly, on charges that the legislator used his position and state funds to earn millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks for himself.
He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world.
The region's transit system is crippled by more than terrible weather. It's suffering from decades of irresponsible financial decisions.
Bruce Rauner's new budget has cuts his opponents call "reckless."
Many states adding dental coverage are struggling to meet the high demand for services.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson proposed spending $33 million over the next two years to add more beds and expand alternative sentencing programs.
Bill Walker's proposal was his last chance to tweak his budget before the state Legislature begins reviewing and adjusting it.
Unions that backed the Wisconsin governor are faring better than others in the state.
Sheila Irani was served with a lawsuit in the middle of a debate.
Kate Brown's deputy, Robert Taylor, took over as Oregon's acting secretary of state when Brown was sworn in as governor Wednesday.
Kate Brown made history in more ways than one Wednesday, when she was sworn in as Oregon's new governor while her mother and husband stood proudly by.
The state would stay the course and turn down federal money to expand Wisconsin's health programs for the needy, under Gov. Scott Walker's budget proposal.
Rep. Janice Hahn, D-Calif., will forgo a congressional re-election campaign next year and instead run for an open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, where her populist father, the late Kenneth Hahn, served for four decades.
If all politics is truly local, the big sleeper in Washington’s fight over the Homeland Security budget could be the city and county agencies that depend on the same bill to help finance their emergency response teams.
Amid fear that new technology is handing police unprecedented power, an unlikely coalition of liberals and tea party conservatives in Virginia is trying to curtail the use of drones, license plate readers and wiretapping devices.
Usually bitter adversaries, Koch Industries and the Center for American Progress have found at least one thing they can agree on: The nation’s criminal justice system is broken.
Most local governments expect to hire some workers, but more will not only continue to leave vacancies unfilled but also anticipate an uptick in layoffs.
While most favor increasing transparency in tax incentives, some of the biggest players in state and local government have spoken out against the latest proposal.
Most governors are planning their budgets with the assumption that Congress will renew CHIP funding. But if it doesn't, states will scramble to make up for the loss.
The state's Housing First program tries a novel approach: just give chronically homeless people a place to live, on a permanent basis, without making them pass any tests or attend any programs or fill out any forms.
A roundup of public-sector management news you need to know.
The state’s teen birthrate dropped 40 percent between 2009 and 2013, driven largely by a public health initiative that gives low-income young women long-acting contraceptives.
There's an awkward political dance that's being performed nationwide as more Republican governors push for Medicaid expansion, despite tepid support from GOP state lawmakers and a continuing assault on the health care law by Republicans in Congress.
Gov. Greg Abbott says Texas should reorder its fiscal priorities to do more for education, roads and border security -- and hand out $4.5 billion in tax cuts -- even as it clamps down on spending for many programs.
Read and watch the governor's annual address.
There’s not much red states and blue states agree on these days. But lawmakers across the political spectrum are talking about boosting the middle class this year, touting tax cuts to do it.
President Barack Obama will designate the plot of land in western Oahu that was the site of the World War II Honouliuli camp as a national monument.
How one fed-up California artists fixed an awful highway sign himself, and why the state left his work up for eight years.
Sacramento’s effort to bring streetcars back to downtown got a major boost Tuesday night when property owners near the proposed line voted to kick in $30 million in construction funds.
A Travis County judge ruled Tuesday that the Texas ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional, but there was no rush to the altar after county officials _ scrambling to assess the effect of the judge's 3 p.m. order _ declined to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, at least for now.
In the wake of polarizing grand jury decisions in the police-related deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, New York's top judge wants judges to oversee the grand jury process in cases involving deadly and near-deadly incidents involving police and civilians.
Approximately 11.4 million people have signed up for health coverage through the Affordable Care Act this year, President Barack Obama announced Tuesday, signaling a strong conclusion to the federal health law's second enrollment period.
The Obama administration promised Tuesday to fight against opposition from both the courts and Congress to keep in place its expansive new programs to shield millions of immigrants from deportation, a key piece of the president's effort to shape his legacy in his final years in office.
After succeeding embattled Gov. John Kitzhaber Wednesday, Democratic Secretary of State Kate Brown is expected to pursue policies in line with her predecessors.
Another state considers allowing terminally ill people to try drugs not approved by the FDA.
Gov. Bill Haslam is seeking to end a benefit under which state workers get pay for years of service.
Tom Wolf will likely have a hard time getting acting State Police Commissioner Marcus Brown.confirmed.
The blizzard-battered commuter rail and subway will not be back to normal for "at least" another 30 days, the transit authority's embattled general manager admitted yesterday, forecasting a bleak month of long, expensive slogs for hundreds of thousands of commuters -- as another storm looms.
Calling heroin a crisis that crosses state boundaries, Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh said Thursday that his office will join counterparts in the Northeast to share information and jointly prosecute drug traffickers.
The derailments this week of two trains carrying crude oil have raised new questions about the adequacy of federal efforts to improve the safety of moving oil on tank cars from new North American wells to distant refineries.
Starting immediately, the federal government is making it harder for nursing homes to get top grades on a public report card, in part by increasing scrutiny of their use of anti-psychotic drugs and raising the bar on an array of quality measures.
Speculation is brewing over who will succeed Kate Brown as Oregon's next secretary of state when she becomes governor next week, replacing John Kitzhaber.
A federal judge in south Texas issued an injunction Monday temporarily blocking a program President Obama announced in November that would defer deportation for about 5 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
The investment tool is catching on as a better, safer way to invest scarce public resources.
We don't know how technology and other forces are going to transform government. But that's no reason not to think about the changes that are coming.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, ending a storied 37-year career in politics, relinquished his office Friday after a week of escalating pressure.
State appropriations committees approved the cuts recently proposed by Gov. Rick Snyder.
As many as 25,000 Tennessee high school graduates could benefit.
Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove revoked Pat Kelly bond, saying he posed a flight risk.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Facing high costs but smaller budgets, states like Hawaii and Rhode Island are struggling to find financially and politically sustainable ways to keep their health exchanges running.
Mayor Nutter signed mandatory paid sick leave into law Thursday, the same day City Council passed the legislation before a crowd of cheering workers.
A Republican-led effort in the state Senate to assert parents' authority to dictate what their minor children learn in school and determine health care they receive won preliminary approval Wednesday after a spirited debate.
In a temporary victory for opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline, a Nebraska state judge sided with landowners seeking to stop Canadian energy firm TransCanada from taking land from dozens of properties in the northern half of the state.
Looking for a greater voice for his state — and an advantage for his own likely campaign — Sen. Rand Paul is asking the Republican Party of Kentucky to create a presidential caucus in 2016 that would go earlier than its May primary.
The Southwest, including California, along with the Great Plains states, will endure long-lasting “megadroughts” in the second half of this century, worse by far than anything seen in the past 1,000 years, a team of climate experts said Thursday.
The governor of Oregon ordered his secretary of state, Kate Brown, to come back to Oregon, but then didn't resign and asked her why she returned early.
Lawmakers in both states have reignited a century-old feud over the well-accepted claim that the Wright brothers were the "first in flight."
Moments after a federal judge ruled Thursday that gay marriage licenses must be issued, Robert Povilat and his husband-to-be, Milton Persinger, were proudly the first in line at the Mobile County Probate Court and started filling out their paperwork.
The city edged out Columbus, Ohio, and New York City.
Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber, who's now resigning, is just the latest politician in a controversy involving his significant other -- a phenomenon some say will grow in the era of dual-career households.
An order by Illinois' new governor threatens the delicate balance between the interests of workers and taxpayers.
The lieutenant governor and former San Francisco mayor will open a campaign account in preparation for the governor's race in 2018.
Gov. Doug Ducey says abortion opponents need to get involved with the have 16,900 children that wards of the state.
Gov. Tom Wolfe has visited the offices of about 50 lawmakers and plans to continue his rounds as well as invite all lawmakers to the governor's mansion a mile from the Capitol.
Legislators unveiled a 30-year plan Tuesday that they said could be covered by borrowing money through general obligation bonds, avoiding tolls or tax increases.
A nonprofit founded by mayors is helping seven cities finance and organize community service projects to revitalize low-income urban neighborhoods.
The education community scored a victory Wednesday when state lawmakers in the House killed a measure that would have eliminated the Common Core math and English standards used to guide teaching.
Gov. Tom Wolf toured an elementary school on Wednesday morning where students were writing about love for Valentine's Day. Then the new governor proposed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for education with a 5 percent natural gas extraction tax that has not earned him much affection from the drilling industry.
A rookie cop who shot and killed an unarmed man in a Brooklyn housing project stairwell was indicted Tuesday on criminal charges stemming from the case, which fueled protests over policing tactics.
Gov. John Kitzhaber decided to resign Tuesday but then changed his mind, insisting Wednesday afternoon that he's staying, The Oregonian/OregonLive has learned.
MBTA General Manager Beverly Scott jetted off at taxpayer expense nearly every month during her two-plus-year tenure -- sometimes several times a month -- to conferences and meetings around the country, even as the troubled transit system was collapsing around her, a Herald review shows.
As Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker showed on Wednesday, the theory of evolution continues to trip up presidential aspirants. Over the past few election cycles, Democratic candidates often voiced their unabashed support of Darwin's scientific breakthrough, while Republicans offered up views ranging from outright denial to complex hedging to less than full-throated support.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, a possible presidential contender, wants more states to adopt a new measurement tool called "net present value plus."
L.A. city and county officials formed a task force formed last fall after President Barack Obama announced the expansion of his deferred action program.
Employed white Southerners are most likely to lose coverage if the court rules against the Obama administration.
Jails across the country have become vast warehouses made up primarily of people too poor to post bail or too ill with mental health or drug problems to adequately care for themselves, according to a report issued Wednesday.
Two of Gov. Bill Walker’s departments are proposing cuts to programs aimed at fighting federal government plans and initiatives just a few weeks after Walker and state legislators loudly criticized federal initiatives to limit oil and gas development in Alaska and offshore.
Saying he wanted a change in a “broken” child welfare system, Gov. Doug Ducey on Tuesday fired Charles Flanagan as head of the year-old Department of Child Safety.
In a move that shocked progressive advocates in Kansas, the state's Republican governor on Tuesday issued an executive order to remove discrimination protections for gay, lesbian and transgender state employees.
The succession of mega-snowstorms that have buried Boston's streets have also obliterated the city's snow removal budget by more than $11 million and now wiped out two holidays for Boston school kids, City Hall announced yesterday.
Illinois' new Republican governor wants the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the constitutionality of public-sector unions' funding sources.
Gov. Bill Haslam pitches about $500 million in new state spending in his State of the State address.
Read and watch the speech here
Wireless-connected devices offer financial benefits for local governments, but they come at a price.
The state House is considering a proposal to create a new state office, to ensure the governor wouldn't automatically be replaced by the secretary of state if he dies, quits or is forcibly removed from office.
Despite Emanuel's criticism of Daley's impact on Chicago finances, he got his predecessor's endorsement.
Maine lawmaker Thomas Longstaff wants to dying patients the right to try experimental drugs.
The Arkansas governor wants to find funds for additional prison space. His proposed budget includes more money for drug treatment courts, including veterans’ drug treatment courts; new programs to help people re-enter society; and raising the reimbursement rate to county jails housing state prisoners.
Beyond "repeal and replace," people at the National Health Policy Conference pitched improvements to the Affordable Care Act.
With about 400,000 untested rape kits nationwide, officials at the federal, state and local levels are devoting new attention and money to reducing the backlog.
Moving beyond rhetoric, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday issued an executive order that aims at absolving state workers who don't want to join a union from paying fees that support collective bargaining.
An Auburn lawmaker is proposing a bill to eliminate Maine’s cash bail system and replace it with a risk assessment model that would allow low-risk individuals to be released until their criminal charges are resolved.
The D.C. Council abandoned plans to hold a hearing on how to tax and regulate marijuana Monday after the District’s new attorney general warned that it could subject city lawmakers and their staff members to fines and even jail time.
For legal commentators both for and against same-sex marriage -- and, apparently, for two of the Supreme Court's most conservative justices -- the court's refusal Monday to block same-sex marriages in Alabama foreshadowed a likely ruling within months to extend marriage rights to gays and lesbians nationwide.
Medicaid expansion was once again rejected by the Wyoming Legislature on Friday.
Gov. Wolf on Monday said he is dismantling his predecessor's alternative to Medicaid expansion and will move forward with the transition to traditional Medicaid insurance coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Pennsylvanians.
Fueled by low gas prices and deteriorating roads, at least a dozen states -- Democrat and Republican -- are considering increasing gas taxes this year.
Opponents of the latest bill argue that there’s little evidence that recipients of welfare use their cash assistance to purchase drugs, and that drug testing won't help families in need.
His career as a city, state, and federal prosecutor pitted him against New York mobsters and politicians such as former Pennsylvania State Sen. Henry J. "Buddy" Cianfrani.
Using "prior learning assessment," it's Pennsylvania's first effort to standardize the process of giving credit for life, and comes as other states are looking at their systems.
Some municipalities have made 21 the legal age, but Rhode Island would be the first state.
A problem with a contract in 2013 deprived the stores of scratch tickets and cost $6 million in lost gambling revenue last year.
Laura Zeilinger talks about why homelessness is on the rise in the district and what the Bowser administration is doing about it.
A legislative panel has defeated a measure to require South Dakota businesses to offer workers paid sick leave.
Kansas is the latest state moving to reduce its prison population and cut costs, but parallel legislation stiffening penalties for some crimes may nullify the effort.
Arkansas' first-in-the-nation program using federal funds to buy private health insurance for the poor will survive another year after the Legislature reauthorized the program Thursday, despite an influx of new Republican lawmakers elected on a vow to kill the hybrid Medicaid expansion.
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore late Sunday distributed a ruling intended to bar the state's probate judges from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Monday.
Expedia, the leader in U.S. online-travel bookings, is fighting an outstanding hotel-room tab of more than $800 million.
In a new challenge to police practices in Ferguson, Mo., a group of civil rights lawyers is suing the city over the way people are jailed when they fail to pay fines for traffic tickets and other minor offenses.
Collins was taken off life support and died today, city officials say.
State law typically reigns, but schools often have some emergency powers.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
