Virginia Del. Steve Landes (R), a banker, sponsored a bill enacted in March aimed at recruiting successful entrepreneurs, willing to donate their time for up to a year out of a sense of civic duty, to help state agencies stimulate business and job growth...
Clowns abound and they are scaring the living holy heck out of everyone. No, I am not speaking of the impending presidential election but of the spate of actual humans dressed up in clown garb who have been terrorizing folks across the country for the...
Oh what a difference a single number can make. Some holders of electronic benefits transfer (EBT) cards in Maine discovered just how much of a difference last month when, as the Bangor Daily News reports , a man calling the help number listed on the back...
New Jersey legislative leaders announced this month that they’ve agreed on a new plan to generate revenue for the state’s Transportation Trust Fund, which is expected to run out of money this month. The plan calls for a 23-cent increase in...
5th Circuit Court of Appeals Rules The 5 th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the U.S. Department of Education was within its rights to withhold $33.3 million in grant funding from TEXAS after the Lone Star State in 2012 reduced state spending...
Supreme Court Declines The Supreme Court of the United States declines to hear a case challenging a lower court’s ruling that upheld the power of the Federal Communications Commission to implement net neutrality rules in 2016. A group of Internet...
Any time oil prices take a tumble like they did last week, states with oil-reliant economies take a financial hit. Oklahoma is particularly vulnerable to such dips because it’s one of just two of the country’s oil producing states (the other...
US Supreme Court Rejects The U.S. Supreme Court rejects a plea to hear an appeal of rulings in two CALIFORNIA cases that require former makers of lead paint to pay $400 million or more to clean up old homes (LOS ANGELES TIMES). MI Governor Signs...
UNION MEASURE HELPS DRIVE HIGH VOTER TURNOUT FOR MO PRIMARY MISSOURI’s Proposition A, a referendum on a law passed last year prohibiting mandatory union fees ( SB 19 ), helped drive turnout for the state’s Aug. 7 primary election to its...
Cybersecurity has local election officials across the country caught between a rock and a hard place, according to those gathered at the annual DEF CON hacker conference in Las Vegas this month. They said they don’t have the knowledge or the resources...
Or so recent Oklahoma House candidate LaVelle Compton has learned. Compton was thrilled recently include a lengthy endorsement from popular former Sooner State gov Brad Henry in a mailer he sent out as part of his campaign to unseat House Majority Leader...
MI Senate Approves SB 796 The MICHIGAN Senate approves SB 796 , a bill that would ban paid “release time” contract provisions that allow public school employees to conduct union business during their work day. The measure moves now to the...
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of a New Hampshire law prohibiting voters from taking “selfies” with their ballots on Election Day. The state passed the ban in 2014 out of concern that such photos could open the door...
A bill ( SB 267 ) introduced in Colorado last month would allocate $300 million for road projects in rural counties, $400 million for rural school districts and millions of dollars for rural hospitals that serve large numbers of Medicaid participants...
SPORTS BETTING OFF TO GOOD START IN MS Gamblers bet $9.8 million dollars on sporting events at state-regulated gambling halls in MISSISSIPPI in the first 34 days of legalized sports wagering in the state. Mississippi is one of four states - the others...
CA PASSES LAW TO BAN CERTAIN TYPES OF HEALTH INSURANCE CALIFORNIA lawmakers pass and send to Gov. Jerry Brown (D) legislation that bans certain types of health insurance policies known as “short-term” plans, or “junk insurance”...
The fastest way to a man’s heart, we’re told, is through his stomach. The same can often be said of lawmakers, so with the session winding down to its last hours and her bill to ensure employees stuck with working on Thanksgiving are paid...
In a bid to become the nation’s 51st state, the District of Columbia convened a constitutional convention last month. It was the first such meeting of the 21st century - with the last having come when Hawaii sought statehood 66 years ago - and a...
New Jersey Gov. Christie is not the only governor with an interest in the NFL. As the Associated Press reports, Maine Gov. Paul LePage makes no bones about his belief that the New England Patriots are flat out cheaters. For those living in a cave of late...
HICKENLOOPER SIGNS WILDFIRE-RELATED BILLS: Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) signed a trio of bills last week aimed at helping the Centennial State fight wildfires, including a measure that allows the state to spend $20 million to purchase or contract...
America has a huge problem, notably that too many of us are downright huge. With obesity rates and the ensuing ills that come with them through the roof, Texas officials decided 10 years ago to bar school cafeterias from cooking with deep fryers and to...
With the state’s economy continuing to improve, California lawmakers were expecting a budget surplus this year of about $2 billion. But last week Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D) announced that the projected surplus had surged by as much as $8 billion...
RAIMONDO ISSUES RI SCHOOL GUN BAN RHODE ISLAND Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) issued an executive order last month barring anyone except police officers from carrying firearms at public schools and grounds in the Ocean State. The order closes a loophole in...
In November Connecticut voters will consider the Connecticut Transportation Revenue Lockbox Amendment, which would bar lawmakers from using the state’s transportation fund for non-transportation-related purposes. If the ballot measure is approved...
WALKER DECLARES NATIVE LANGUAGE EMERGENCY Saying the government must support the “revitalization” of native languages, ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued Administrative Order 300 last week calling for indigenous place names to be shown...