News

With every municipal bankruptcy, there usually comes the chorus of warnings that more cities will join.

Bear-human conflicts turn serious in Central Florida community

Airport officials tell lawmakers they need permission to levy higher fees on passengers in order to fund much-needed upgrades.

Number of inmates in California prisons in excess of the population cap set by federal courts. The state now has two additional months, until April 18, to cut the population.

Chaz Stevens, a Fort Lauderdale man who drove 450 miles to put a Festivus pole made out of empty beer cans in Florida's capitol to protest the nativity scene also in the building. Festivus is a fictional holiday celebrated by the Costanza family on "Seinfeld."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday plans to start a 24-hour fast to show support for immigration reform efforts in Washington, D.C.

A panel of federal judges on Wednesday extended California's deadline to cut its prison population until April 18, while ordering that negotiations continue over how best to reduce inmate crowding.

A controversial initiative requiring women to buy additional insurance if they want abortion coverage in their health insurance plans passed the Legislature Wednesday afternoon and will take effect 90 days after lawmakers adjourn for the year.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety detective resigned Monday after federal and local authorities determined she was living in the country illegally, officials said Wednesday.

A year later, the impact of the law remains up for debate.

More than two years in the making, a package of bills to strengthen the state's child-protection laws was approved by legislators Wednesday and sent to the governor.

Rather than trying to regulate what private-sector contractors pay their executives, governments should be looking for the best deal for the taxpayers.

500 lawmakers from 49 States are urging congress to increase federal funding for early childhood education.

Nationally, only a small fraction of people walk to work. But some cities' policy and planning efforts are making walking an everyday means of commuting. View data and maps for dozens of U.S. cities.

Despite the president's recommendations, nearly half the states, including some of the staunchest supporters of Obamacare, have refused to allow insurers to reissue canceled health plans.

Several states have online gambling. Now many Indian tribes are looking to get involved.

Arkansas Nuclear One plant shuts down unit after transformer fire.

A pilot program in California is using "reference pricing" to cap health-care costs. Can the strategy be used by others?

A report finds many cities are receiving more requests for food and housing assistance, but expect fewer resources to meet the demand.

Total number of people who signed up for health insurance on either the federal or state-run exchanges in two months.

Lollipop Goldstein, on Washington, D.C.'s longstanding inability to deal with any amount of snowfall.

Enrollment dramatically increased on both the federal and state-based online insurance marketplaces, but the state-based sites are still far outpacing the federal one.

Eric Kearney withdraws as ED FitzGerald's running mate.

If passed, the two-year budget deal would shift planned spending cuts and alleviate some of the funding uncertainties that have plagued state and local governments.

Los Angeles County social workers will return to work and resume contract negotiations Wednesday after a six-day strike, union officials announced Tuesday evening.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Tuesday revised the outlook on Illinois' A-minus credit rating to developing from negative due to the state's passage of long-awaited pension reform last week. The credit ratings agency said the revision to developing, an unusual outlook designation for a state, indicates that Illinois' rating could be raised or lowered during a two-year horizon. “Although we view the consensus achieved by Illinois on this difficult issue as positive from a credit standpoint, the developing outlook reflects the implementation risk - legal and budgetary - associated with various provisions of the pension reform as well as the overall structural budget challenges facing the state,” S&P analyst Robin Prunty said in a statement. Illinois' sweeping reforms to its public retirement system, which were signed into law by Governor Pat Quinn on Thursday, are aimed at easing a $100 billion unfunded pension liability that has been squeezing out funding for core state services.

In the 12 months since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., almost every state has enacted at least one new gun law.

Farm bill negotiators conceded Tuesday that they will not finish their work before Congress goes home for the year, but insisted that they are close to a final deal and working toward floor action in early January.

Supreme Court justices seemed inclined Tuesday to resurrect Environmental Protection Agency rules targeting air pollution that drifts across state borders, one of the Obama administration’s major environmental targets.

If the state accepts the terms of the agreement, it would become the second to be allowed to use federal dollars to finance the purchase of private health insurance for the newly Medicaid eligible. Arkansas was earlier granted that permission by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).