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Zach Patton

Executive Editor

Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism for his GOVERNING story on economic cutbacks in Colorado Springs. He has served as an editor since 2010, and as Executive Editor since 2012.

Fifty times stronger than heroin, fentanyl is showing up in more places, leaving state and local health and law enforcement officials scrambling to stanch the death toll.
Legislators signed off on changes that proponents say will better protect defendants’ right to immunity from prosecution in such cases — but gun-safety advocates argue it perpetuates a culture of 'shoot first, ask questions later.'
The law grants new authorities to police and blocks localities from passing local measures related to questioning a detained person's immigration status.
Democratic critics complain the state energy office is “being held hostage.”
Supporters and opponents of removing New Orleans' Confederate monuments met Sunday afternoon in a tense and angry confrontation.
GOP governors at odds in repsonses to House health-care bill.
As Gov. Nikki Haley heads off to work in the Trump administration, South Carolina could see some real political change.
The Justice Department has sued several municipalities for blocking mosques and Islamic schools from being built. But the future of those lawsuits under a Trump administration is unclear.
The latest charges bring the total to 13.
The benefits are among the most generous in the nation.