OR Health Authority Announces The OREGON Health Authority announces new opioid prescribing guidelines that encourage doctors to seek out alternative pain relief therapies before prescribing opioids for their patients. The guidelines also ask physicians...
If you want to collect back taxes you ought to ask nicely. That’s the lesson from Syracuse, New York, where city officials recently tried using the personal touch in their efforts to get tax scofflaws to pony up the dough they owed. As the AP reports...
The ultra-far right has had a pretty festive last 18 months, what with feeling like they have a true friend now in the White House. But as the Washington Post reports , the hopes and dreams of a plethora of young white supremacists were dashed last week...
Hours after Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox (R) announced his intention to hold a special legislative session to consider a GOP plan with some Democratic support to address a federal court ruling that 11 House districts drawn by the Republican majority...
BROWN MOVES DAYLIGHT SAVINGS BILL TO CA BALLOT CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed AB 807 , a measure that will allow Golden State voters to decide if they want to stay on daylight saving time year-round. If voters approve, the measure would still...
MA Attorney General Approves Extension In a ruling with statewide implications, MASSACHUSETTS Attorney General Maura Healey (D) approves an extension of a temporary moratorium on legal cannabis shops and other marijuana businesses through June 2019...
This month Oklahoma and West Virginia became the first two states to reach legal settlements with drug companies over their role in the opioid crisis. Together the states will receive almost $300 million as a result of those agreements. With hundreds...
Aiming to grow its appeal to tourists and businesses, Rhode Island recently implemented a $5 million marketing campaign, including the hiring of a famous designer to come up with the new state logo and slogan. What could possibly go wrong? As noted in...
With many male-dominated legislatures passing strict abortion restriction measures, one South Carolina lawmaker has decided it’s time the men see how it feels. As the Hilton Head Island Packet reports , Rep. Mia McLeod introduced legislation last...
Markell Announces DE Technology Effort Saying “Our aim has always been, under corporate law, to harness the benefits of new technologies while limiting the risk for businesses,” DELAWARE Gov. Jack Markell (D) announced a state initiative...
In a busy wrap to the judicial session (see SNCJ Spotlight in this issue), the Supreme Court unanimously overturned former Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell’s 2014 corruption conviction, saying federal prosecutors had used an overly broad interpretation...
In the wake of a string of recent prison deaths and suicides, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) has ordered a review of inmate safety policies at Last Frontier State prisons. Walker named Dean Williams, who serves as a special assistant to the governor, and...
SCOTUS LARGELY UPHOLDS CONTESTED TX POLITICAL DISTRICTS In a 5-4 decision last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all but one of the handful of TEXAS legislative districts and both of the congressional districts that a three-judge panel said...
The latest court battle in the ongoing power struggle between North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and Republicans who control both chambers of the state’s General Assembly appears to be over. The legal skirmish began in late June when the legislature...
OH Senate Approves HB 329 The OHIO Senate approves HB 329, which would ensure that pyramid schemes are illegal in the Buckeye State. It heads to Gov. John Kasich (R) for consideration (DAYTON DAILY NEWS).
ID Federal Appeals Court Rules A federal appeals court rules that a 2014 IDAHO law barring the secret filming of activities at farms, dairies and slaughterhouses is unconstitutional. The 9 TH U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law suffered from...
Last month Alabama officials certified Democrat Doug Jones as the winner of the state’s Dec. 12 U.S. Senate election over Republican Roy Moore, a former chief justice for the state’s Supreme Court. Moore, a conservative firebrand who was removed...
The release of a report revealing the details of blackmail accusations levied against Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens (R) have sparked calls from his fellow Republicans for him to resign or face impeachment. Greitens is already facing a criminal trial...
As noted in this space before, there is a reckoning afoot for politicos spewing hateful nonsense on social media. The latest comes from Maine, where a local mayor is facing recall after cracking on a school shooting survivor. As the Bangor Daily News...
Two new studies, one by the Urban Institute and another by the National Academies of Science , indicate that first-generation immigrants to the United States cost state and local governments more than native-born Americans, $3,000 more per adult on average...
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) issued an executive order last week extending rules designed to boost opportunities for state contracts among woman- and minority-owned businesses to also include businesses owned by veterans, the disabled and members...
This session the Democrats who control Illinois’ General Assembly have proposed over a dozen tax hikes, on everything from sugary drinks and satellite television to corporations and the wealthy. The motivation for the slew of tax proposals is Illinois...
Anyone who pays attention to the Supreme Court of the United States – a.k.a. the SCOTUS – keeps a close eye on SCOTUSblog, the outstanding blog that chronicles the goings on at the nation’s highest court. And then there are those other...
MN Lawmaker Targets Corporate Tax Havens MINNESOTA Sen. John Marty (DFL) has introduced a bill ( SF 3318 ) to make corporations headquartered in one of 46 tax havens around the world - including the Cayman Islands, Liberia, Luxembourg, Panama and the...
HB 4173 Signed in MA MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) signs HB 4173 , which lifts the cap on private solar power projects eligible for net metering credits from 4 percent to 7 percent of peak electrical usage, and from 5 percent to 8 percent on...