Reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the nation had the predictable outcome of public joy and outrage. In the former column, many people on social media chose to show their support by overlaying their profile...
A measure bound for Denver, Colorado’s Nov. 3 ballot would raise the city’s sales tax to help local college students cover the rising cost of their tuition. Supporters of Measure 2A - who include Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (D) and former...
One might think that being old enough to vote would be a minimum prerequisite to serve as governor, but that’s not actually true in every state. Case in point comes this week in Kansas, where 16-year-old high school junior Jack Bergerson has launched...
Which is exactly what happened recently in the tiny burg of McIntire, Iowa. As the AP reports , not a single one of the town’s 70 registered voters bothered to vote in the election which was to determine whether terms for the mayor and city council...
Rhode Island Approves SB 555 The RHODE ISLAND Senate approves SB 555 , which would require parents to take an online driving course ahead of their children obtaining a driver’s license. It moves to the House, which passed a similar bill last...
KY Teacher Pension Liability Tops $24B: KENTUCKY’s ailing Teachers’ Retirement System announced an unfunded liability of $24.4 billion for 2015. That sum is a nearly $3-billion increase from the $21.5 billion unfunded liability for 2014...
Environment in CA The U.S. Department of Interior agrees to stop approving oil and gas permits for drilling that uses hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, off the coast of CALIFORNIA until further study determines the practice is safe. The agreement...
A year ago Louisiana lawmakers, faced with worsening budget troubles, decided to cap the amount of solar tax credits the state issues each year through that program’s 2017 sunset date. Making matters worse for some solar-adopting residents, the...
Speaking of the president, things may be getting more personal than they already are in his ongoing battle with those who oppose his immigrant ban. As Politico reports , California state Sen. Nancy Skinner last week called on the White House to release...
Health & Science in MD The MARYLAND Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issues an order authorizing pharmacists to dispense the anti-overdose drug naloxone to thousands of individuals who have been trained and certified through the state’s...
NH HOUSE FAILS TO PASS BUDGET NEW HAMPSHIRE’s Republican-controlled House failed to pass the budget proposed by the chamber’s Finance Committee for the first time since the 1960s, due to limited Democratic support and a “large faction”...
Health In California CALIFORNIA Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D) announces he would shelve SB 562 - a Senate-approved bill that would implement a statewide single-payer health care system in the Golden State – for the year without a vote in...
Stretching the facts to fit your narrative is nothing new to politics. One could even argue it is as normal as the sun rising in the east. But few can stretch further or with a straighter face than former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. These days Perry is the...
DC Superior Court Blocks A WASHINGTON D.C . Superior Court blocks an effort to force a new referendum on a law that would overhaul how servers, bartenders and other tipped workers are paid. District voters approved the original measure, Initiative...
Overcoming claims that he no longer has the political clout to sway lawmakers, CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) earned a huge victory last week as Golden State lawmakers endorsed his proposal to raise the state gasoline and vehicle licensing taxes to raise...
Utah Approves HB 11 The UTAH Senate approves HB 11, a bill that authorizes the use of a firing squad to carry out executions in the Beehive State if the drug cocktail necessary for lethal injection is not available at least 30 days before a scheduled...
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has a reputation as a “Ready, fire, aim!” kind of guy. The gov did nothing to ease that view recently when he publicly called out horror author Stephen King for moving away from the Pine Tree State to avoid paying state...
Thanks in part to the relative looseness of its gun laws, Texas is already known as a gun-friendly state. But Republican lawmakers who control both chambers of the Legislature are pushing for additional freedoms, including “campus carry” and...
With just a few months to go before the November presidential election, states are finding their election systems in the crosshairs of hackers. In June the Federal Bureau of Investigation informed Arizona officials that Russian hackers had initiated an...
Happy Obama Day? A bill filed by a Chicago representative would make President Barack Obama’s birthday Illinois’s 13th paid state holiday. Rep. Andre Thapedi (D) filed the measure Feb. 2, and is awaiting approval from the Illinois House...
Back in Trump’s favorite country it is now illegal to distribute a popular Internet image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in what has become widely known as the “gay clown” meme. As CNN reports , doing so could get you 15 days in...
California Approves AB 260 The CALIFORNIA Senate approves AB 260 , which adds hotels, motels, and bed and breakfasts to the list of businesses already required to post a notice with information on human trafficking resources, including national and...
As changes implemented by the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) roll out in 2013 and 2014, employers must get a handle on their workplaces. LexisNexis assembled three experts on March 6, 2013, to lead a Webinar focusing on challenges. Read on for...
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced last month that he was recusing himself from a court case concerning the state’s judicial system, and he called on the state’s Supreme Court justices to do the same in another related case. ...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said he is in favor of keeping his state’s “private option” Medicaid enrollment – which served as a model for similar expansions in Iowa and Indiana among other states – but only with some...