Blogs

Earlier this year, Teva, a drug-maker in Israel, disclosed to both the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice that an on-going internal probe has revealed possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ...

Editor: Rich Ehisen Associate Editor: Korey Clark Editorial Advisor: Lou Cannon Contributing Editor: Mary Peck , David Giusti Correspondents: Cathy Santsche, Felicia Carrillo Graphic Design: Vanessa Perez Design

We’ve all seen road signs warning us to slow down, pay attention or just knock off whatever stupid thing we might be doing behind the wheel. Or better said we’ve ignored them. But now Utah officials are taking a new approach. As Governing...

States Allowed to Require Employee Retirement Savings President Barack Obama announces the U.S. Department of Labor will develop new rules that allow states to require some employers to offer a retirement savings plan or automatically enroll workers...

Rebuffed by lawmakers in his effort to expand Medicaid in the Last Frontier, Gov. Bill Walker (I) on Thursday announced he would do so without them. At a press conference last Thursday, Walker told reporters he had sent a letter to the state Legislative...

The Florida Supreme Court threw the state’s political landscape into chaos this month when it threw out the congressional district map drawn by the Republican-led Legislature in 2010, as well as a revised map drawn by the Legislature last year,...

According to Kansas’ Department of Revenue, in 2013 the state granted $622 million in income and privilege tax credits, allowing taxpayers to deduct various qualifying expenses from their taxes. But the state actually spent more than that amount...

Only 14 states have formal statewide plans in place for dealing with climate change, according to the Georgetown Climate Center. Of those states, California is the furthest along in implementing its plan, having completed 48 of that plan’s 345 stated...

Prodded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and led by California and Hawaii, states are tackling climate change and promoting renewable energy. But the fossil fuel industry and skeptical Republicans are pushing back. Hawaii last month...

When times get tough, everyone has to just suck it up, tighten their belt and make due with less. Or so numerous state agencies in Oklahoma were told during this year’s epic effort to close a $611 million budget gap. But when Gov. Mary Fallin recently...

The consumer world just experienced its first ever “Prime Day,” so named because Amazon® Prime members enjoyed the equivalent of that post-turkey dinner retail extravaganza known as Black Friday. Did the event live up to the hype? Determined...

The ongoing battle of wills between Maine lawmakers and Gov. Paul LePage (R) took another strange twist last week as the two sides reached an impasse over 71 bills awaiting gubernatorial action. Lawmakers contend that the 10-day period for LePage to act...

Speaking of Oklahoma, The state GOP is still picking bits of its giant foot from between its own teeth after likening food stamp recipients to animals last week. As News 9 also reports, the state GOP took to Facebook to compare an announcement that the...

A federal trial opened last week in North Carolina that will decide whether sweeping election law changes made by the state’s Republican-dominated Legislature in 2013 - after the U.S. Supreme Court ended the requirement that North Carolina and eight...

The Republican-led U.S. House passed a bill last week that would prevent a looming suspension of federal highway funding to states. The bill would provide an $8 billion infusion to the federal Highway Trust Fund, enough to keep money flowing for state...

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) issued Executive Order No. 76 last week, which will create a multi-agency task force aimed at finding better ways to treat people with mental health or substance abuse issues. The North Carolina Mental Health and Substance...

MO Signs Reform Bill MISSOURI Gov. Jay Nixon (D) signed a broad municipal court reform bill aimed at ending what the bill’s sponsor has called predatory practices targeted at the poor. Among other things, the bill limits fines and bans jail sentences...

Yay, Ku Klux Klan! Wait, what? Yes, you read that right. As the Nashville Tennessean reports, while many in the South are trying to figure out how to respectfully manage their Confederate history, the Volunteer State recently marked another “Nathan...

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced the launch of a new commission to determine which state regulations are making it hard to do business in the state. “For years, over-burdensome and out-of-control regulations were making it impossible...

Democrats who control the ILLINOIS General Assembly failed to completely override Gov. Bruce Rauner's (R) vetoes of a new state budget last week. The state has been without a budget since the start of the new fiscal year on July 1 (CHICAGO TRIBUNE...

Investigation Into Planned Parenthood At least four Republican governors have ordered state health officials to investigate the operations of Planned Parenthood clinics in their states after a video surreptitiously captured by an anti-abortion group...

OR Signs HB 2002 Gov. Kate Brown (D) signs HB 2002, which creates a system for citizens to report incidents of possible police profiling and requires law enforcement agencies to pass formal profiling bans by Jan. 1 of next year (PORTLAND OREGONIAN...

CA Approves SB 200 The CALIFORNIA Assembly unanimously approves SB 200, which would allow the children of live-in working parents to attend school in the district where those parents work. It moves to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) for consideration (LEXISNEXIS...

CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1, which bars local governments from fining residents who let their lawns die or go brown during the state’s historic drought (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).

NC Approves HB 766 The NORTH CAROLINA House gives final approval to HB 766, a bill that would allow the use of cannabis oil in treating children who suffer from seizure disorders like epilepsy. It moves to Gov. Pat McCrory (R), who is expected to sign...