A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ordered Alabama, Georgia and Kansas to stop requiring residents to provide proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a birth certificate or naturalization papers, when they register...
A win by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Election Day could result in a U.S. economy that is $1 trillion smaller in 2021 than it would be if Democrat Hillary Clinton were elected, according to analysis by Oxford Economics, an economic...
Environment In California The U.S. Department of the Interior releases a final blueprint for opening up large sections of the CALIFORNIA desert to wind and solar farms. Under the plan, 606 miles of land deemed not to be ecologically sensitive would...
MO Lawmakers Override Gov’s Veto of Photo ID Bill MISSOURI’s Republican-controlled General Assembly voted last week to override Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s veto of HB 1631 , a bill requiring voters to show a government-issued photo...
Suspicious Tax Credits in OR An independent audit of renewable-energy projects that received Business Energy Tax Credits in OREGON uncovered enough circumstantial evidence to refer 79 of the projects - one in four, representing $340 million of the...
Health In Michigan The MICHIGAN House and Senate approve a package of bills to regulate the medical marijuana industry: HB 4209 , which would impose a 3 percent tax on dispensaries as well as creating a licensing system for growers, dispensaries, patients...
When the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation announced that it would cut off funding for breast cancer screens to Planned Parenthood, the backlash was swift—and came from all sides. The organization’s top public health official, Mollie...
Immigration In Arizona ARIZONA officials announce a settlement in a lawsuit challenging tenets of the Grand Canyon State’s 2010 SB 1070 immigration law. Under terms of the deal, officials have agreed to end to its practice of requiring police...
California Signs AB 2819 CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 2819 , which extends the time in which the names of people involved in eviction lawsuits must be kept private. Under current law, records in eviction lawsuits are kept sealed for only...
California Signs AB 1570 CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1570 , which expands a Golden State law requiring sports memorabilia dealers to provide certificates of authenticity for any autographed collectibles they sell to include sellers of...
This post was guest written by Courtney Resnicky, a senior at Wright State University. Millennials—those born between 1981 and 1998—have now surpassed Baby Boomers by half a million , according to PEW research. While this may not seem like...
October 3rd will mark six months since the release of the Panama Papers, a trove of 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leak highlights how complex corporate structures, often set up in ‘offshore’ jurisdictions...
The last days of any legislative session can be chaotic and mind numbing. Such was the case recently when, as the California Legislature was relentlessly wading through the mountain of bills it always leaves to the final moments, Bloomberg BNA reporter...
Business In Missouri A MISSOURI court rules that electric automaker Tesla cannot bypass having dealerships to sell its cars directly to consumers. Cole County Judge Daniel Green ruled that Show Me State officials erred by allowing Tesla to sell cars...
A quartet of former Kansas governors have waded into a bitter fight in Kansas over whether voters will opt to retain or remove four justices on the Sunflower State Supreme Court. Former Govs. Michael Hayden and Bill Graves, both Republicans, joining with...
A proposed constitutional amendment has been submitted to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (R) that would classify any abortion performed in the state as murder. The ballot issue would define an “unborn human” as “an individual...
Lottery sales have slumped in many states in recent years , but last fiscal year the Maine Lottery hit the jackpot, setting records for ticket sales, winner payouts, retailer commissions and contributions to the state’s General Fund. A $1.6 billion...
New voting restrictions, including strict voter ID requirements and scaled back early voting periods, are set to be in effect for the first time in a presidential election this year in 15 states. In another five states restrictions will be in effect for...
New voting restrictions will be in effect in 15 states for the first time in a presidential election this year. But courts have blocked or loosened such restrictions in a few states. And legislative activity aimed at expanding voter access is outpacing...
As bad ideas go this would seem to have been an obvious one. As Reuters reports , the West African nation of Burkina Faso recently barred an annual beauty contest that judged women strictly on the size of their behinds. Government officials stepped in...
Crime In Arizona ARIZONA Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) issues a legal opinion that allows people with concealed-carry permits to bring their guns into Grand Canyon State public and private K-12 schools (ARIZONA REPUBLIC [PHOENIX]).
With efforts to call a special session to consider impeaching Gov. Paul LePage (R) going nowhere, a handful of Maine lawmakers asked Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap (D) to invoke a never-before-used constitutional clause to report to the state Supreme...
Minnesota’s highest court has thwarted an effort to allow Minneapolis voters to decide whether that city should raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. Backers of the proposal, who see it as a way to combat poverty and racial disparity in the city...
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said this month that the catastrophic flooding in the state last month caused over $8.7 billion in damage. More than 6,000 businesses were flooded and over 55,000 homes, more than 80 percent of which were uninsured...
Speaking of chaotic, this nugget from the ongoing carnival act known as the 2016 presidential campaigns. As the Columbus Dispatch reports , Green Party candidate Jill Stein recently flew into Cincinnati to speak at a campaign rally for her longshot candidacy...