Access to information has never been more freely available. The development of the open internet and the creation of search engines to sort information for users means that anyone can get their hands on any information. What does all this mean for the...
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, has entered a new enrollment season with advocates singing its praises. This is understandable. In five and a half years of existence, the landmark law has survived two narrow Supreme Court...
If being sworn into office is fun, why not do it twice? That’s what new Massachusetts state Sen. Michael Brady did a few weeks ago. As Statehouse News reports, Brady believed he was to be sworn in at 1:00pm on the 10 th . Alas, Gov. Charlie Baker...
Business In MA The MASSACHUSETTS Senate approves SB 2054, which would bar employers and schools from requiring employees, students and job applicants to share their social media passwords or provide the employer or a school official access to those...
In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that claimed 129 lives and left hundreds more critically injured, a majority of America’s governors now vigorously oppose allowing refugees escaping Syria’s civil war to relocate in...
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...
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...
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...
We’re still in election silly season, which means we are elbows deep in candidates spewing the kind of stuff that usually exits the southbound end of a northbound bull. In that regard the venerable New York Times recently investigated a claim from...
Crime In OH The OHIO Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of requiring sex offenders to register their addresses with authorities (DAYTON DAILY NEWS). Crime In MA The MASSACHUSETTS House and Senate give final approval to HB 1641, which...
Calling it “a much needed systemic reform of DCF policies and practices,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced last Tuesday he is doing away with a Department of Children and Families policy that requires the triaging of child welfare...
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...
It’s just too dad gummed easy to get a shootin’ iron in Texas, according to state Rep. Tony Dale. Now Dale is no namby pamby gun-control lovin’ peacenik. He’s a red-blooded gun lover with a 100 percent rating from the NRA, ooooh...
Brown in Paris CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said he is still planning to attend a United Nations climate change summit in Paris next month. The summit is scheduled to go on in spite of the wave of terrorist attacks carried out in the City of Light...
The Oklahoma Democratic Party announced last week - on the 108th anniversary of Oklahoma statehood - that it will open its primary elections to independent voters, who have long been disenfranchised during primaries. Republican voters slightly outnumber...
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...
Education in WV The WEST VIRGINIA Board of Education endorses a repeal of the Common Core-based K-12 math and English language arts standards and replacement of them with standards developed by state education officials. The proposal is now in a 30...
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...
Energy in MA The MASSACHUSETTS House and Senate fail to reach agreement on legislation to raise the cap on the amount of net solar metering credits allowed in a particular utility’s system. Each chamber passed legislation of its own (HB 3857...
High Court to Hear TX Abortion Case The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a legal challenge to the abortion restrictions passed in TEXAS in 2013 as part of HB 2. Those provisions require abortion facilities to meet hospital-like ambulatory surgery...
Environment in MI MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs a trio of bills addressing poaching: SBs 244, 245 and 246, which collectively increase fines and jail time for killing certain game and protected species (MICHIGAN GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
Health In MI MICHIGAN Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signs SB 152, which requires amateur mixed martial arts fighters to undergo pre-fight medical exams similar to those used with professional fighters, including testing for blood-borne diseases and drugs and...
The OKLAHOMA Supreme Court rules that a non-biological parent in a same-sex relationship who has acted as a parent has the same rights as the biological parent. The ruling came in the case of a same-sex couple who split after 10 years of co-parenting...
The OHIO House approves HB 48, which would allow people to carry a handgun in a school safety zone if the person has a license and leaves the weapon inside a locked motor vehicle. The measure, which would also allow universities to adopt policies permitting...
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...