Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) joined forces with other prominent Republicans last week in filing briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court urging justices to rule that extreme political gerrymandering —...
CHRISTIE PROPOSES NEW NJ OPIOID RULE NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced a new rule prohibiting prescribers of opioid medications from accepting meals and uncapped compensation for speaking engagements, consulting work, and other services...
Democratic attorneys general from the District of Columbia and 15 states - Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Washington - filed...
Most election officials and lawmakers agree that the cyberattacks targeting America’s voting systems last year are an ongoing threat. But resources aren’t being allocated for updating voting equipment, strengthening voter databases, training...
BACKERS OF NONPARTISAN REDISTRICTING MEASURE HAVE TIES TO DEMS Seven of the 10 board members of a petition committee pushing to create an independent citizen redistricting commission in MICHIGAN have supported Democratic candidates in previous elections...
Last year, after Blue Cross announced it was pulling out of Minnesota’s individual health insurance market and the state’s Commerce Department revealed that the remaining insurers were planning to increase their premiums by 50 percent or more...
In January of last year Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) significantly raised fees - by hundreds of dollars in many cases and more than doubling them in some - for a range of services the Department of Agriculture provides, maintaining that...
TRUMP SIDES WITH DEMS ON DEBT-CEILING EXTENSION President Trump aligned with Democratic U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) and U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) on a plan to raise the federal debt ceiling...
Early last year SNCJ reported that while the development of autonomous, or self-driving, car technologies by Google, Uber, Tesla Motors and others was “progressing rapidly,” state efforts to regulate the testing and operation of such vehicles...
Take my salmon...please! Yes, it’s a bad play on an old Rodney Dangerfield line, but the overabundance of salmon in the waters around Washington’s San Juan Islands is no joke. As the Seattle Times reports , a broken pen at a private fish farming...
Republicans in California may be an emasculated bunch these days, but that doesn’t stop them from acting tough when the opportunity arises. Sadly, that often comes in the form of eating their own. Case in point comes in the form of Assembly Minority...
It’s no secret that known hate groups like the KKK and others have been vocal in their support of President Donald Trump, or that they have been emboldened by his seeming support in return. The results have been, in a word, lethal . With similar...
Speaking of unpopular presidents, let’s take a moment to digest this infonugget: French President Emmanuel Macron apparently has spent $30,000 in just three months in office on makeup! As the Washington Post (via the French magazine Le Point) reports...
Business In Arizona An ARIZONA judge rules that a Grand Canyon State law barring local municipalities from requiring employers to provide additional employee benefits is unconstitutional. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joshua Rogers said the...
Illinois Signs SB 1991 Responding to a significant shortage, ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs SB 1991 , a bill that will create a task force to formulate methods to recruit and retain agriculture teachers (THEXRADIO.COM [EFFINGHAM]).
Health In Florida FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott (R) extends for 60 days an earlier executive order declaring the opioid crisis to be a state of emergency. The extension is the second since Scott issued his original order on May 3 (ORLANDO SENTINEL).
Illinois Signs SB 31 ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs SB 31 , a bill that prohibits police from searching, arresting or detaining someone solely because of immigration status, or because of so-called federal immigration detainers. The law does...
South Carolina Issues Executive Order 2017-15 SOUTH CAROLINA Gov. Henry McMaster (R) issues Executive Order 2017-15 , which directs Palmetto State government agencies to cease providing state or local money – through grants, contracts, state...
After weeks of negotiations, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) reached a deal with lawmakers last week on a trio of bills intended to ease the Golden State’s acute shortage of affordable housing. The bills are expected to spur significant new construction...
In an interview with the Casper Star-Tribune last week, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) said he regretted his state’s decision to not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act before current efforts at health care reform got under way. “The...
With Congress preparing to hold hearings to weigh reforming the Affordable Care Act, a small bipartisan group of governors has put together its own list of suggestions for lawmakers to consider. Led by Ohio Gov. John Kasich a Republican, and Democratic...
HOGAN PROPOSES MD SENTENCING LEGISLATION Responding to what he called “out of control” violent crime in Baltimore, MARYLAND , Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said he plans to introduce a major package of anti-crime legislation when lawmakers reconvene...
The hope that public financing of elections might eventually get big private money out of politics ended with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , eliminating limits on political spending by...
Kansas election officials threw out 13,717 ballots cast in the state in the 2016 presidential election. That total is at least triple the number of ballots rejected last year in any similarly sized state and is even higher than the 13,461 ballots disqualified...
JUSTICE ALITO STAYS TX CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT REDRAW U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito temporarily stayed a lower-court ruling requiring two TEXAS congressional districts to be redrawn because they discriminated against minority voters, “pending...