New Jersey governor and 2016 Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie has vetoed election reform legislation passed by his state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature that would have expanded early voting, allowed online voter registration, and...
MI Straight-Ticket Voting Ban Fast-tracked legislation moving through the MICHIGAN Legislature would eliminate voters’ ability to cast straight-ticket ballots for candidates of a single party. Supporters of SB 13, which was approved by committee...
Calling it an issue of “basic fairness and basic justice,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) unilaterally ordered pay for Empire State public workers raised to $15 an hour. The pay hike will impact approximately 10,000 state employees and be...
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) recently issued an executive order stripping Attorney General Luther Strange (R) of the primary responsibility for enforcing the Heart of Dixie’s anti-gambling laws. Executive Order 13 gives that power instead to...
Using Veterans Day ceremonies as a backdrop, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) announced last week that the Old Dominion has become the first state to meet the federal definition of effectively ending homelessness among military veterans. Under that guideline...
Bentley Weighing Medicaid Expansion ALABAMA Gov. Robert Bentley (R) said his administration is pondering expanding Medicaid eligibility. Bentley, who is a doctor, said he was concerned about the health care access for the state’s working poor...
Business In New Jersey NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs AB 3580, which bans the sale, possession and distribution of powdered or crystalline alcohol in the Garden State (NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). Also in NEW JERSEY , Gov. Christie...
Crime In CA Prison officials in CALIFORNIA unveil a new lethal injection method that for the first time in state history calls for the use of only one drug to execute condemned inmates. The new method must still undergo a public comment period and...
MI Signs SB 103 MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs SB 103, which requires school districts to set in place performance evaluation systems for all teachers and administrators that take into account student growth and assessment data (MICHIGAN GOVERNOR’S...
Health & Science In NJ NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs AB 4587, legislation that allows parents or educators to administer edible medical marijuana products to sick and disabled children on school grounds without fear of arrest [JURIST...
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down President Barack Obama’s executive order allowing up to 5 million unauthorized immigrants to live and work in America without threat of deportation. The panel ruled 2-1 that...
WISCONSIN Gov. Scott Walker (R) signs AB 308, which protects a person from civil liability if they break into a vehicle to remove a person or domestic animal they reasonably believe is suffering or would suffer imminent bodily harm if they did not forcibly...
It took 20 years, but California is finally implementing a regulatory framework for its billion dollar medical marijuana industry. Now all it needs is someone to run herd on the new agency being created to devise and implement those regulations. As the...
It’s no secret that some folks believe the answer to reforming America’s immigration system – the only answer - begins with building a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Back in 2011, Arizona lawmakers passed legislation authorizing...
In 2013 California endorsed legislation allowing unauthorized immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Since the law went into effect last January hundreds of thousands of newly-eligible folks have applied. And at least one California lawmaker believes...
Most women endure “mansplaining” with the grace and tolerance said mansplainers rarely exhibit on their own. But United States Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri has about had enough. In a recent video clip for “The Late Show with Stephen...
When it comes to finding your way around the regulatory landscape, the overabundant use of acronyms may make you feel like you need a translator by your side. FCPA, OAFC, BSA, PEP and others … keeping all of them straight could be a full-time job—if...
The Petrobras bribery and corruption scandal feels more like a telenovela—the dramatic Latin American version of a soap opera. Honestly, as investigators uncover new stones, the wild twists and turns of the scandal offer more melodrama than a series...
It’s embarrassing to admit it, but some media bias—and perhaps, the public's—is showing. On Thursday, Beirut was the site of two suicide bombings that killed 43 people and injured at least 239 more. On Friday, nine terrorists fanned...
Massachusetts had the lowest percentage of residents without health insurance last year, 3.3 percent, according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Texas had the highest percentage of such residents, at 19.1 percent. All five of the states...
In January, nearly every Oklahoma taxpayer earning more than $9,000 a year will receive a break on their state income taxes, thanks to a tax cut “trigger” the state instituted two years ago. Unfortunately, due largely to plummeting oil prices...
All too often state budgets are passed in the final days of legislative sessions - or sometimes even later, in special sessions - with lawmakers rushing to meet deadlines. But South Dakota lawmakers may put an end to that practice in their 2016 session...
This past summer Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) quietly engineered a major tax break for General Electric, in an effort to keep the company’s headquarters in Fairfield. The break will allow any company with at least $6 billion in carried...
SC Expecting Big Budget Surplus SOUTH CAROLINA budget forecasters say the state will have an extra $1.2 billion to spend in the 2016-17 budget year. About $380 million of that sum will come from the state’s growing economy, with the rest coming...
This month Airbnb defeated a ballot measure in its hometown of San Francisco (Proposition F) that would have limited its operations there and possibly encouraged similar efforts in other cities. The company spent more than $6 million on a sophisticated...