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A proposal to ease rules on gaining tribal status is raising fears of casino development in California's Napa Valley.
Could desalination solve the state's water problem?
With the increase of Republican governors and legislative chambers after midterms, some states that have already expanded Medicaid now face the possibility of repeal.
See demographic data illustrating cities' longstanding local ties
Just hours after Denton residents voted to ban hydraulic fracturing, the Texas General Land Office and the state’s biggest petroleum group fired off separate legal challenges to the new rule.
California’s credit rating was raised by Standard & Poor’s one day after voters in the most indebted U.S. state agreed to bolster a rainy-day fund for fiscal emergencies.
Alaska independent Bill Walker maintained a slim lead in the governor's race over incumbent Republican Sean Parnell on Wednesday, while Democratic Sen. Mark Begich trailed Republican challenger Dan Sullivan after a fierce campaign in which Begich sought to distance himself from President Obama.
Another shake-up is underway in what’s become one of the most crucial jobs in state government: the top information technology officer.
Denying Missouri's gay couples the opportunity to marry is unconstitutional, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Larry Hogan won his race for governor not just because Marylanders of both parties turned out to support his call for lower taxes, but because tens of thousands of Democrats in key jurisdictions stayed home.
Saira Blair is probably the only candidate who had to head to class the morning after winning an election.
The results in several contested races could provide a small amount of solace to Democrats.
The Republicans will end up increasing the number of state chambers they control by nine.
Residents of Oregon, Alaska, and the U.S. capital voted to legalize marijuana on Tuesday, in key victories that could fuel the legalization movement as cannabis usage is increasingly recognized by the American mainstream.
After a fight led by liquor stores, the state will keep decisions about whether or not to sell alcohol at the county level.
Voters in Washington state approved universal background checks, the only gun control measure on a state ballot this year.
Three states rejected ballot measures that either would have made voting easier or harder.
Ballot measures that would have defined a fetus as a person lost in North Dakota and Colorado. But voters paved the way for new abortion restrictions in Tennessee Tuesday.
Constitutional protections for transportation money passed with overwhelming margins in Maryland and Wisconsin, but a bid to create an infrastructure bank in Louisiana failed again.
The state is the nation's only that effectively bans chain stores from owning pharmacies, and voters want it to stay that way.
Democrats hoped to have the upper hand when it came to races for governor. Instead, Republicans pulled off some unexpected victories.
No state's voters have ever approved GMO labeling at the ballot box. But the issue is bound to resurface in statehouses in 2015.
Republicans racked up victories in contests for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and school superintendent.
The party was able to flip open seats in Arkansas and Nevada and now leads Democrats in attorney general offices nationally.
Republicans not only defended their most vulnerable governors, they flipped several blue states.
Voters in a number of cities chose new mayors and supported ballot measures that were either green or worker-friendly.
The state that once pioneered get-tough approaches on crime with its “three strikes” law is now headed in the opposite direction.
One of the biggest criticisms of the gas tax in most places is that it doesn’t keep up with inflation. Massachusetts voters decided they like it that way.
Environmental groups spent nearly twice as much money as their opponents to set aside some oil revenue for protecting the land, but the ballot measure lost by a landslide.
The state, often a policy trendsetter, approved a ballot measure to institutionalize savings habits and harness the state’s notoriously wild revenue swings.
Oregon would have been the first state to set up an ongoing investment trust fund for higher education.
If Arizona successfully opts out of enforcing a federal law like Obamacare, some see other states following suit.
Floridians defeated a proposed constitutional change that would have let governors name a new judge once the retirement date of the outgoing judge is known.
Voters approved a constitutional amendment to increase transportation spending.
The bond referendum provides money for more space, better security and new high-tech gadgets.
The cap makes the state more competitive with its tax-friendlier neighbors, but states that have enacted similar restrictions on taxes encountered financial problems later.
Most states have at least considered banning foreign laws in their courts in recent years. Opponents say the controversial bans target Islam and are based on stereotypes.
The Ocean State is one of more than a dozen that periodically asks voters whether they want to hold another constitutional convention.
Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved a measure that allows terminally ill patients to obtain experimental drugs that haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
A ballot measure that would have made Florida the first Southern state to legalize medical marijuana failed by a 2 percent margin.
With backing by the NRA, making hunting a constitutionally protected right has become increasingly popular in the past decade.
Californians voted against giving the state's insurance commissioner the power that most have to reject excessive health premium increases.
Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment that affirms the right to bear arms is a "fundamental right" and any regulation of that right is subject to the highest level of judicial review.
Plus more public-sector management news you need to know.
Voters rejected a ballot measure that would have made California the first state to drug test doctors and raised the cap on some medical malpractice damages for the first time since the 1970s.
A new survey provides a detailed portrait of how local governments use business incentives, finding many lack basic accountability measures.
Californians approved a ballot initiative prohibiting farmers from confining hens in cramped cages. Six states are challenging California’s restrictions.
Oregon voters rejected a ballot measure that would have issued government ID cards to those without citizenship or legal presence.
It's now the third state to require businesses to pay workers when they have to take sick days.
The ballot measures follow a wave of mostly Democratic states lifting wages for low-income workers after federal inaction.
Arkansas voters approved a ballot measure that combined popular ethics reforms with an extension of term limits for state lawmakers.
Almost 300 cities and counties, plus the states of California, Colorado and Connecticut have refused to cooperate with federal immigration actions.
Former state Sen. Rod Wright turned himself in to Los Angeles County jail authorities Friday night to begin a 90-day sentence for his perjury and fraud conviction, but was released before ever seeing the inside of a cell.
Police and aviation officials denied a report Sunday that they ordered a no-fly zone over Ferguson, Mo., this summer in order to keep news helicopters away from the protests that formed after a police officer killed an unarmed man.
While no voter fraud charges were ever filed, a highly critical report released on Thursday by the Rutgers School of Law in Newark concludes that emergency measures intended to allow people to vote in the days immediately after Hurricane Sandy violated state law.
A day before voters decide whether to give him another term, Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday unveiled a $26.8 billion state budget proposal for the next fiscal year that includes about $200 million in rebates to taxpayers.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won't be on the ballot Tuesday, but he'll face the first major test of his national electoral might as voters head to the polls in nearly a dozen competitive governors' races.
An analysis by the Governors Highway Safety Association that called attention to an increase in cyclist deaths caused an uproar among bike advocates.
Spending on state judicial elections—which increased tenfold between 2002 and 2012—might be affecting verdicts in criminal cases. Judges were seven percent more likely to side in a defendant's favor before Citizens United than after.
A host of private-sector companies are offering unlimited vacation time to employees, but public-sector CIOs aren't sure the practice is feasible for technologists in government.
Though overshadowed by the gubernatorial and state legislative races, the contests for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and state school superintendent can be high-stakes battles.
The state is now home to groundbreaking research that allows scientists to dissect the power of hurricanes.
They're annoying to tourist-dependent spots from San Francisco to San Diego, where officials complain their gritty edge and sometimes violent tendencies intimidate locals and turn visitors off.
Pennsylvania's Tom Wolf is sure to become the governor, but he's unlikely to get his way once he's in office.
Republican Sean Parnell expected to be easily re-elected, but the joined forces of Democrats and Independents and his slow response to recent challenges have put him in jeopardy.
Last week, a statewide official in Georgia accused Democratic Senate candidate Michelle Nunn of cashing in on her father's reserve of political goodwill during her campaign. This is true, but she's definitely not alone.
New York officials announced on Thursday that they would offer employee protection and financial guarantees for health care workers joining the fight against the Ebola outbreak in three West African nations.
The San Antonio City Council on Thursday unanimously voted in front of a packed chamber to approve a controversial pipeline that would bring in groundwater from 142 miles away. The $3.4 billion project would pipe in 16 billion gallons of water each year from Central Texas' Burleson County.
Reversing what it called “incorrect and harmful” earlier rulings, the Washington Supreme Court said Thursday the state cannot put the burden on rape defendants to prove that an alleged victim consented — a decision critics said will make it harder to punish dangerous sex offenders.
President Barack Obama came to Maine on Thursday to tell a loud crowd of 3,000 in Portland that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mike Michaud is the kind of politician that runs for office for the right reasons.
Under a settlement agreement announced Friday by the Justice Department, federal officials will appoint an independent monitor to oversee the Albuquerque Police Department as it implements sweeping reforms to change how its officers use force.
Legislatures will consider an interstate compact next year that could make it easier for doctors to get licenses in other states, which could be a boon to rural areas that don't have enough medical care.
A roundup of money (and other) news governments can use.
Countering the public's cynicism and mistrust starts with honest, open communication.
There's a better way to forecast investment returns for public retirement systems, but adopting it would put some pensions even further into the hole.
It's the biggest effort yet to make government tax subsidies more transparent.
The longtime mayor of Boston was an unconventional politician, and that's why he was one of the most successful urban leaders of his generation.
Voters will decide whether to add language in the state constitution intended to give higher legal protections to gun rights.
National Guard troops are deployed as lava approaches the small town of Pahoa.
Physicians learn to work on their delivery when faced with parents who refuse to inoculate their children.
A nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone but has tested negative for the virus went for a bike ride, defying Maine's order that she be quarantined in her home and setting up a legal collision with Governor Paul LePage.
Some residents have been performing rhymes, singing songs or telling jokes on Halloween since the 1930s. It may even be closer to the roots of Halloween than the rest of the country’s habit of handing out candy free.
He has broken the mold by allowing his quirky personality to shine through.
New Hampshire's Republican Senate candidate flubs a response in a debate that caused opponents to wonder about the former Massachusetts senator's grasp of his new state's geography.
Despite a massive manhunt, survivalist Eric Frein evaded being captured for more than six weeks.
Driven by Lone Star ambition, the attorney general's path to power may take him beyond his home state.
The trend toward one-party control of statehouses has made the states a testing ground for party policies in an era of gridlock in Washington.
In the country’s unhealthiest state, the disaster of the Affordable Care Act is a group effort.
It's the only state that effectively bans chain stores from owning pharmacies. Voters could change that this week.
More than two years after it entered, the California city emerged from bankruptcy Thursday with its retirees and employees allowed to keep their pension benefits.
Even though most Americans support raising the minimum wage, most Republican-run states so far haven't done so.
He left office earlier this year after an unprecedented two decades leading the city.
Our final pre-election handicapping of the gubernatorial, attorney general and legislative contests.
Opponents say the plan amounts to irresponsible spending while supporters call it a solution to overcrowded schools.
Polices about whether employees should delete or save email vary considerably. Many open government advocates say states need to do a better job preserving electronic communications to be transparent and accountable to citizens.
Democrats see the growing base of Latino voters as a key to winning many tight races Tuesday, including the one between Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican Bob Beauprez as well as a suburban Denver congressional race.
The outlook for states' pot legalization measures goes from solid to shaky.
In this video, Governing staff pick their favorite political movies and TV shows.
Clayton County's vote on the transit system's expansion could reverberate across the whole region.
Texas regulators on Tuesday tightened rules for wells that dispose of oilfield waste, a response to the spate of earthquakes that have rattled North Texas.
Now, the soda industry is going to war in a pair of election battles in San Francisco and Berkeley, two of the most liberal cities in the U.S.
Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King announced Wednesday that he has switched his endorsement in this year's gubernatorial election from independent Eliot Cutler to Democrat Mike Michaud.
Medicaid chiefs from red and blue states are urging Congress to stem the cost of revolutionary new drugs for hepatitis C, cancer, and other diseases.
Uber executive David Plouffe, former campaign manager and White House adviser to President Obama, said Wednesday new ride-share legislation in Washington was a model for Philadelphia and other cities.
View broadband adoption rates and provider data for U.S. counties.
Last week the tribe's high court struck a candidate from the ballot because he wasn't fluent in Navajo. Many say the requirement penalizes younger non-fluent Navajos for doing what their tribe encourages them to do: Get an education in the outside world.
The governor of California has occasionally frustrated union leaders with budget cuts and intransigence at the negotiating table. But he has also delivered on many of their biggest priorities, prompting his Republican opponent to paint him as a tool of labor.
More than 500 paid foot soldiers work in key election states for Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit group, funded in part by the Koch brothers, that advocates for limited government.
, conservative groups build up a ground game
Westminster would become the first community in the state, and perhaps the nation, to ban all tobacco sales in town.
The typically obscure agency will draw more notice if political scions becomes responsible for butting heads with some of the state's most powerful and politically influential interests.
It's likely that more incumbents will lose next week than at any time since 1990.
Our editorial team gives you the election coverage that you won’t get anywhere else -- the state and local perspective.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration will not refund $7.7 million in red light camera tickets it collected after quietly lowering the yellow light standard, the city's transportation chief said Tuesday.
The reason is simple: climate change isn't a top concern for most voters.
But unlike the lobbying rules covering other elected officials, there are few revolving-door restrictions or disclosure requirements governing state attorneys general.
The North Dakota Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a state law that limits the use of drugs to perform abortions, a move abortion-rights supporters say will end the use of medications to perform the procedure.
Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson said late Tuesday that he has no plans to resign, despite a CNN report to the contrary.
The federal initiative intended to help companies with 50 or fewer workers negotiate better deals for employee health coverage was, to a large extent, a casualty of last year’s rocky Obamacare rollout.
See monthly crime statistics for murder, rape, robbery, property crimes and other incident types.
After more than 50 years in the accounting world, the Association of Government Accountants' CEO retires.
In this video, Governing writers discuss surprises in the governors races and ballot measures that could steer the national conversation on paid sick leave and budgeting.
Residents of the Nevada city find that it can take two months to get a doctor’s appointment at a local community health center, or an all-day wait.
States backtrack on radio frequency chips for student monitoring after breaches of government and commercial computer databases.
In 2007 the agency tried to plant software in the computer of a suspect in a series of bomb threats to Timberline High School.
A ballot measure is asking voters to approve a plan to divert 5 percent of future oil revenue to fund clean-water projects, wildlife preservation and parks.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidelines on dealing with travelers from Ebola-stricken regions Monday, but its lack of firm rules left a patchwork of state-by-state strategies that include mandatory quarantines for some travelers.
Federal education officials have blocked a Kansas plan to let high-schoolers skip state mathematics and English tests and instead focus on college entrance exams and career-oriented tests.
Homeowners in Baltimore can lose their houses for as little as $250 in unpaid taxes — a threshold far lower than in other cities — according to a new Abell Foundation report that urges a change in the practice.
Federal authorities have accused New York City officials of a five-year effort to defraud Medicaid, working with a contractor to exploit loopholes in Medicaid’s computerized billing system to collect reimbursements that amounted to tens of millions of dollars.
The historic hearings on whether Detroit will exit the nation's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy came to a quick end Monday after closing arguments, which were abbreviated by settlements with major creditors.
As fire departments’ costs have increased in recent years, their volunteers have drastically dropped.
In 2012, 722 cyclists were killed nationwide. See data and per capita rates by state.
Everyone from Hollywood to state and local governments want in on the action.
Some governments are going back to measuring employees' quantity of output instead of quality.
Dedicated innovation offices are popping up at every level of government. A new report looks at where they are and what they're doing.
Going into the fourth year of drought, farmers in Stratford, Calif., have pumped so much water that the water table below the town fell 100 feet in two years. Land in some spots in the Central Valley has dropped a foot a year.
The group hit hardest by the economic downturn was “multiple-partner fertility” families, or families in which a woman has conceived children by more than one man.
If not for government assistance, millions more would be impoverished, according to the latest data.
In this video, Governing writers discuss ballot measures on medical marijuana, gun rights, income taxes and more.
Most of the fatalities in the past three years happened in a handful of states and were adult men, according to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Voters in Louisiana, Maryland and Wisconsin will all weigh in on proposals that, supporters say, will make existing transportation resources go further.
Of all the abortion-related laws passed in the U.S. last year, California's Assembly Bill 154 was the only one that increased the number of abortion providers.
The race between Gov. Rick Scott and former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has been one of the year's most negative, dominated by personal attacks and enormous advertising budgets.
As a security detail blocked off Marysville-Pilchuck High School, where police on Saturday were investigating the state's latest deadly school shooting, Washington voters were weighing the merits of two opposing gun measures on the November ballot.
During an interview for ABC News' This Week, George P. Bush, the Republican nominee for land commissioner, said it was "more than likely" that his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, will make a 2016 run for the White House.
Three more states have banned Trinity Industries’ ET-Plus guardrail system, suspected of malfunctioning in crashes and slicing through vehicles.
Daly agreed to pay nearly $3,900 in fines and fees. The result: Despite testing at 75 percent above the legal limit for his second arrest, he didn't miss a day behind the wheel.
The fate of the Christie administration's long-awaited guidelines for how many affordable homes New Jersey needs is suddenly uncertain.
Top Obama administration officials publicly warned Sunday that mandatory quarantines in the U.S. of doctors, nurses and other health care workers who have traveled to Africa to help Ebola patients risked worsening the epidemic.
How the Indiana city that was the center of the auto industry collapse became an unlikely poster child for long-term fiscal sustainability.
