California Senate pro Tem Kevin de León has often talked about the role his Guatemala-born mother played in his becoming a powerful voice for the Golden State’s Latino population. Even so, his father played a part as well. Although de León...
Iowa state Sen. Mark Chelgren is a wealth of ideas, most of them really bad. His most notable of late is a bill that would force Hawkeye State colleges to hire only Republican professors until the number of registered Republicans and Democrats on university...
Business In Missouri The MISSOURI Supreme Court rules that the city of St. Louis may legally raise its minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2018. Business interests had sued to block the ordinance, saying it violated a 2015 state law that sets the minimum...
Virginia Approves SB 1091 The VIRGINIA Assembly and Senate approve SB 1091 , which would abolish an Old Dominion law that mandates a person automatically lose their driver’s license for six months for a minor marijuana conviction. The measure...
Montana Approves HB 376 The MONTANA House approves HB 376 , which would authorize the creation of charter schools in the Treasure State. It is now in the Senate (MISSOULIAN, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). Virginia Signs HB 2432 VIRGINIA Gov. Terry McAuliffe...
Health In Florida The 11 TH U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that a 2011 FLORIDA law limiting the ability of doctors to ask their patients about their gun ownership is unconstitutional. The court left intact a portion of the law that bars doctors...
Social Policy in Arkansas The ARKANSAS Supreme Court rules that a Fayetteville ordinance banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity violates a Razorback State law barring local municipalities from enacting...
Arizona Rejects SB 1243 The ARIZONA Senate rejects SB 1243 , which would have allowed Grand Canyon State residents to carry guns into most public buildings (U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT). Washington Approves SB 5008 The WASHINGTON Senate approves...
Saying “We need to treat this crisis the exact same way we treat any other state emergency,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) declared a state of emergency last week over the state’s growing number of opioid overdose deaths. Hogan also...
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) revealed details of his proposal to overhaul how the Prairie State provides health care to its poorest residents through Medicaid. Tenets would include increasing the number of Medicaid recipients covered under managed care...
Wolf Pitches Job Protection Plan PENNSYLVANIA Gov. Tom Wolf (D) said new businesses that accept state grants to start their companies must be held accountable for the jobs they say they will create. Wolf’s budget proposal includes a three-point...
In January, a bill was introduced in Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate aimed at expanding the state’s racketeering laws to include rioting and, thereby, allowing law enforcement to prosecute and seize the assets of anyone who plans or...
The office of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a news release last month stating that a recent review of the Statewide Registered Voter Database identified 385 non-citizens registered to vote in the state, 82 of whom voted in at least one recent...
The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped its longstanding claim that the Texas Legislature intentionally discriminated against minority voters when it passed the strictest voter ID law in the nation in 2011, while maintaining that the law had a “discriminatory...
Democrats Hold DE Senate After Special Election Democrats maintained control of the DELAWARE Senate after Democrat Stephanie Hansen defeated Republican John Marino 58-42 in a special election in the state’s 10th Senate District last month. Hansen’s...
Kansas’ Republican-controlled Senate followed the lead of the state’s Republican-led House last month and approved a major income tax increase, completing a reversal of course from the big tax cuts the GOP-controlled Legislature passed in...
In the wake of damage to the main and emergency spillways of California’s Oroville Dam, which prompted the evacuation of 188,000 nearby residents from their homes last month, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has proposed a $437 million flood protection plan...
Last year, when Philadelphia became the second U.S. city to approve a tax on sodas and other sugared beverages (two years after Berkeley, California became the first), the city’s Department of Revenue estimated the levy would generate $2.3 million...
Tax Collections From Wealthy Down in CT Estimated quarterly tax payments in January were down 9 percent from last year in CONNECTICUT , with 90 percent of that decline due to lower collections from the state’s wealthiest taxpayers, according...
Fifteen states offer school voucher programs allowing parents of school-age children to use part or all of the public funding allocated for their children’s education to send them to private school, according to EdChoice, a nonpartisan, nonprofit...
Those seeking a broader menu of taxpayer-funded schooling options – ranging from more public charter schools to increasing vouchers for private and religious schools – have never had a stronger ally in the nation’s top education job...
While many companies have embraced cloud computing—to deliver enterprise-wide software-as-a-service (SAAS) or to back-up and store critical data—highly-regulated industries tend to keep their feet on the ground—or at least in the private...
The amount of money donated to universities in the United States by individuals, companies and organisations increased last year, according to a new report from the Council for Aid to Education. As universities accept increasingly large gifts, they must...
When the Academy Awards ceremony takes place, millions tune into the pageantry and excitement of the big night. Of course, as a PR professional, you have your own perspective of Hollywood's celebration of itself. There are plenty of lessons and useful...
Below is a guest post from LexisNexis's Thomas Stoeckle, who heads up the Small Data Forum podcast -- a podcast that makes big data less intimidating, more actionable and thus more valuable. Episode 6 of the Small Data Forum podcast continues the...