Wisconsin lawmakers plan to restructure the state's economic development efforts, after a sweeping state audit found substantial mismanagement among those programs.

A city arms its police with cell phones

The Bush administration is pushing health providers to get up to speed on information technology, and it wants states to help. President Bush issued an executive order in August directing federal agencies to demand that health vendors step up their use of IT to make quality and price information more transparent, and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt has been lobbying governors to do likewise.

Kentucky is launching an electronic medical record program that will create a database of health records on newborn infants. Public health departments will be able to update the records throughout the patient's life with information such as when vaccines were received.

This has been a rebuilding year for states. As the economic recovery that began two years ago continues, states have been able to shore up their fiscal safety nets