Baker Starts MA Justice Selection Process MASSACHUSETTS Gov. Charlie Baker (R) announced last Tuesday that the 12-member state Supreme Judicial Court Nominating Commission will start screening applicants to replace soon-retiring Justices Margot Botsford...
Effort to Reverse Gun Control Laws Fails in CA An effort to qualify referendums for the November 2018 ballot on six gun control laws passed in CALIFORNIA this year has failed. Organizers only managed to collect an average of about 166,000 signatures...
Changes Coming to NC Lottery Lottery officials and state lawmakers in NORTH CAROLINA said last week they are considering changes including making reselling tickets a crime. The news comes after an investigation by The Charlotte Observer revealed that...
And finally...I’ve met a lot of political animals over the last two decades, from Congress to statehouses all the country. Without question my favorite of them all is a dog: California Gov. Jerry Brown’s Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Sutter. Originally...
Social Policy in Arizona The ARIZONA Court of Appeals rules that the same-sex spouse of a gay woman who has given birth is entitled to the same parental presumptions and rights as if she were a man. Justices rejected the arguments by the biological...
Around the same time that Pokémon Go players started pursuing Pikachus and tracking Tentacruels across the AR world, LexisNexis was augmenting its Web News collection with 3,700 website and blog sources covering Asia and the Middle East to help...
"I'll leave it to chance," said no PR professional ever. But, do all PR professionals have a fast and effective way to stay atop of media buzz? Last September, we brought together three media intelligence experts to share best practices...
Politicians are often accused of turning a blind eye to the needs of their constituents. But not so for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert. As the Deseret News reports , Herbert attended an event last week to celebrate the merger of the State Office of Rehabilitation...
Business In Minnesota A federal judge rules that federal laws do not pre-empt MINNESOTA’s law that diesel sold at the pump contain at least 10 percent biofuel. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim rejected a suit from trucking, automotive and oil...
California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) recently finished addressing the last of the 1,059 bills lawmakers sent to him this year. Brown vetoed 159 of those measures, roughly 15 percent, a figure almost double the 8 percent overall figure he has accumulated during...
As the Cap J reported last week President Obama’s homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco said last month that it would be difficult for hackers to actually change the outcome of a national election because U.S. election systems generally aren’t...
The North Carolina Education Lottery took in a record $2.4 billion last year. But it’s not the state’s only big lottery winner. According to lottery records Ricky Vanzant of Lexington purchased 46 winning scratch-off tickets between 2008 and...
As of 2010, the state with the highest Facebook penetration rate - and conceivably one of the most social media-friendly populations, given Facebook’s status then and now as the nation’s most popular social networking site - was Washington...
Like it or not, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Periscope and Snapchat have become an indispensable part of political campaigns and the vast majority of lawmakers’ offices. And with numerous studies showing the overwhelming connection...
Tesla Motors is understandably proud of the advancements they have pioneered in electric car technology. But some California regulators and consumer advocates say the company is playing a bit fast and loose with the name it has given its new self-driving...
New Mexico Approves HB 5 The NEW MEXICO House approves HB 5 , which would double the number of crimes covered under the state’s three strikes law. It is now in the Senate (SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN). Crime In New Jersey NEW JERSEY Attorney General...
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) announced he is creating a seven-member advisory council on gambling to try to resolve ongoing disagreements with lawmakers over electronic bingo and other issues. The governor said the Alabama Advisory Council on Gaming...
A federal judge has ordered the state of Wisconsin to investigate reports that employees of the Department of Motor Vehicles have been misleading people trying to obtain state-issued identification to vote. U.S. Western District Judge James Peterson issued...
I admit I have never seen a single episode of ‘Gilmore Girls,’ the popular TV show that went off the air several years ago. But since everything old becomes new again – at least in Hollywood – the show is coming back soon, and...
U.S. Supreme Court On Immigration The U.S. Supreme Court declines to rehear a challenge to a proposal from President Barack Obama that would have protected approximately 4 million unauthorized immigrants from being deported. The Court earlier this...
LePage Wants Local Schools to Fund Themselves Saying that schools spend too much money on superintendents, MAINE Gov. Paul LePage (R) said on his weekly radio show that he will push to have Pine Tree State school districts consolidate administrations...
Federal Appeals Court Blocks KS Voter Registration Requirement The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has upheld an order blocking KANSAS Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) from requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering...
A task force appointed by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) in June to review the state’s revenue forecasting process has recommended ending the practice of issuing monthly reports comparing revenue estimates with actual collections. The task force...
For the last three decades, Washington has allowed Oregonians to spend their money in the state without paying its 8.89 percent combined state and local sales tax rate, the fifth-highest in the nation. But an initiative on Washington’s November...
Financial services, energy, construction, pharmaceutical and biomedicine—these highly-regulated industries must undertake robust due diligence and risk monitoring. Did you just breathe a sigh of relief because the company you represent doesn’t...