Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that would block local governments from enacting mandatory paid-sick-time measures, such as the one pending in Orange County.
West Texas cotton farmer Charlie Smith, who plans to sell some of the groundwater beneath his fields to drillers, because it isn’t enough to irrigate his lands. His fields were declared to be in a drought disaster area this year by the USDA.
As data dragnets and information breaches dominate the news, states are scrambling to cash in on a rapidly expanding business sector by offering tax incentives to firms that protect sensitive information from outside attacks.
Gov. Rick Perry has signed a bill that will subject Texans applying for unemployment benefits to a drug test if their responses to a screening questionnaire indicate possible drug use.
California assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, on a bill passed by the legislature that asks voters to lower the voter-approval threshold necessary for a local government to incur bonded indebtedness for certain public improvements.
California's monthly report on jobs and unemployment includes a county-by-county breakdown that shows a sharp east-west economic split with cities along the coast recovering well from the recession while inland cities remain mired in deficits and high unemployment.
The state legislature has delayed debate on an amendment banning gay marriage in the state while it waits to see the outcome of the pending Supreme Court ruling. But barring a sweeping decision by the court, both sides expect the fight over the proposed change to the state constitution to continue.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has tried to curb soda consumption, ban smoking in parks and encourage bike riding, is taking on a new cause: requiring New Yorkers to separate their food scraps for composting.
