All eyes are on Rio as athletes from around the world converge for the Summer Games, but these days, rather than touting the backstories of Olympic hopefuls, many headlines decry allegations of corruption—whether it’s bribery related to site...
With the start of the games in Rio this week, predictions have begun rolling in—from the number of medals a country will win to whether Rio will prove as successful for brands as the London games in 2012. We have our own prediction to make: print...
The daily fantasy sports industry had a few wins this spring in its first full year of pushing to make its games explicitly legal across the country. And while the question of whether the games are legal remains unclear in much of the nation, and their...
Seven states - Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia - have passed laws this year aimed specifically at legalizing daily fantasy sports (DFS) games on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel. In addition, Kansas enacted...
Thirty-four states have passed laws regulating transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, according to Bloomberg BNA . The laws, which Bloomberg said are generally aimed at bringing TNCs into “competitive parity” with the...
Part of a $1.3 billion budget bailout passed by Pennsylvania lawmakers and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf (D) last month was an extension of the state’s 6-percent sales tax to include digital downloads and streaming services. Nicknamed the “Netflix...
A year ago Louisiana lawmakers, faced with worsening budget troubles, decided to cap the amount of solar tax credits the state issues each year through that program’s 2017 sunset date. Making matters worse for some solar-adopting residents, the...
OR Pension Costs Going Up Public employers across OREGON will have to pay $885 million more than expected in the next biennium to support the state's public pension system. The 10-percent increase over the previous forecast and 44-percent jump...
Local and federal courts struck down Republican-backed voter restrictions in three states in a single day last month. A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a North Carolina law restricting the number of acceptable forms...
Last month Republican attorneys general of 15 states sent a letter to U.S. House and Senate majority and minority leaders Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), Nancy Pelosi (D-California), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Harry Reid (D-Nevada) expressing their concern...
Missouri state employees are the lowest paid in the nation, according to a report from the office of Gov. Jay Nixon (D). The report revealed that the base salary for 37,906 Missouri prison guards, social service employees and other state workers is more...
Special Session in TN to Remove Lawmakers Up In Air Petitions to convene an extraordinary legislative session in TENNESSEE on Aug. 15 to expel state Reps. Jeremy Durham (R), accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with 22 women, and Joe...
Citing concerns that sex offenders could use the Pokémon Go craze to lure children, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) ordered state corrections and parole officials to take steps to restrict the state’s 3,000 registered offenders under community...
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) ordered Sunshine State health officials to provide free Zika testing for all pregnant women. Scott directed county health departments statewide to conduct the test, and also said the state would provide additional lab services...
Saying “we only have so much dollars, and we’re trying to manage that as best as we can,” Hawaii Gov. David Ige (D) said he has indefinitely deferred virtually all highway projects to expand capacity and reduce congestion clogging Aloha...
Cuomo Enlists Subway to Fight Zika NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said subway workers in New York City will help the state fight the spread of the Zika virus by dropping mosquito-killing larvicide tablets into puddles of stagnant water between rail...
The MASSACHUSETTS House and Senate endorse HB 4570 , legislation that would establish a 20-cent-per-ride surcharge on ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The measure, which also requires the companies to perform background checks on drivers they...
The DELAWARE Supreme Court rules that the First State’s death penalty law is unconstitutional because it allows judges, and not juries, the final say on whether to impose a death sentence. Legislation to bar capital punishment passed the Senate...
The MASSACHUSETTS Legislature overrides Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) veto of HB 4491 , a bill that requires Bay State health insurers to cover the cost of long-term antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease (BOSTON GLOBE). ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R...
A federal court dismisses a lawsuit brought forth by ALABAMA officials seeking to block Syrian refugees from being relocated in the Heart of Dixie. The court said the suit was too vague and “fails to state a claim for which relief may be granted”...
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs HB 6021 , which allows state employees who retired prior to June 2011, and are in either the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, State Universities Retirement System or Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, to establish...
Okay, picking just one of Donald Trump’s gaffes to make light of is akin to eating a single potato chip: how do you stop at just one? But for the sake of brevity, let’s take a short trip back down memory lane. Really short - as in just a few...
Speaking of verbal boo boos...let’s give a nice golf clap to Nevada state Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald. During the state roll call at the July RNC in Cleveland, McDonald referred to Las Vegas as being “the most entertaining capital...
The Pokémon Go craze is about to make us all crazy. Stories abound of people hurting themselves, of players annoying the bejeebers out of everyone around them and other such nonsense. But a trio of lawmakers on Capitol Hill drew a line in the sand...
Public defenders everywhere know the job comes with burdens and challenges rarely seen by their private sector brethren. Number one on that list is the funding to pay for what they do. Nobody knows this better than Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri...