And then there is this: former Texas Gov. Rick “Oops” Perry will be one of the contestants on the upcoming season of “Dancing with the Stars.” Yes, the man who once famously forgot which federal agencies he was planning to get...
In a 4-4 decision last month a still shorthanded U.S. Supreme Court refused to suspend a lower court ruling in July striking down several parts of an election law passed by North Carolina’s GOP-controlled Legislature in 2013 on the grounds that...
Nearly a decade ago, a stalled construction industry was one of the main byproducts of the Great Recession. Now that industry is helping drive the economies of many states. Adjusted for inflation, the construction industry’s contribution to...
California Signs SB 1279 CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs SB 1279 , legislation that bars future state funding for any new project that would allow coal to be shipped or exported through the Golden State (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
California Approves AB 1668 The CALIFORNIA Legislature approves AB 1668 , so-called “right-to-try” legislation that would allow terminally ill patients to access medications not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The...
California Approves SB 1234 The CALIFORNIA Senate gives final approval to SB 1234 , which would create a state-sponsored retirement plan for workers employed by companies that don’t offer a retirement savings plan of their own. Employers would...
TX DPS Wants $1B for Border Security The TEXAS Department of Public Safety is seeking an additional $320 million in the state’s next two-year budget - on top of its current funding base of $750 million - to beef up border security. (DALLAS MORNING...
California Allows AB 2863 The CALIFORNIA Legislature opts to allow AB 2863 , a bill that would have legalized Internet poker in the Golden State, to die without a vote (LOS ANGELES TIMES). California Signs SB 1062 Also in CALIFORNIA, Gov. Jerry...
With Labor Day just around the corner, we took a look at the dark side—forced labor. Three years ago, the UN General Assembly introduced World Day against Trafficking in Persons in conjunction with its Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking...
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—when you boil SWOT analysis down to the individual components, it sounds simple. Yet as anyone who has conducted a SWOT analysis knows, gathering the business intelligence you need represents one...
August 26 th is a big day in women’s history—that day in 1920 that Congress certified the Nineteenth Amendment, giving women the right to vote. When Congress passed the joint resolution 51 years later to commemorate the event with an annual...
The Rio 2016 Olympic Games came to a close with a spectacular ceremony last weekend, and the Paralympics will begin next month. The historic achievements of Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps have grabbed most of the headlines over the last month. But alongside...
Do you have a fact-checking obsession? In today’s hyperbolic media landscape, it seems, fact-checking is de rigueur. That’s good news, according to the Poynter Institute —an organization dedicated to “the elevation of journalism...
“Americans are embracing philanthropy at a higher level than ever before,” said Giving USA Foundation Chair W. Keith Curtis in a statement accompanying the release of the Giving USA 2016: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2015...
There are always lessons to be taken from which people, places and events are getting the most media coverage. A major sporting event such as the Olympic Games provides a great chance to focus in on the athletes, countries and companies involved. The...
Earlier this year, Pew Research announced, “Millennials, who already have surpassed Baby Boomers as the United States’ largest living generation, now have caught up to the Boomers when it comes to their share of the American electorate.”...
If you are looking for the most unnecessary piece of legislation going, we have a nominee for you. As the Los Angeles Times reports , the California Senate last week approved AB 1687 , a bill that would bar employment sites for actors from disclosing...
New Jersey Signs SB 1923 NEW JERSEY Gov. Chris Christie (R) signs SB 1923 , legislation that bars the state’s public worker pension fund from investing in companies that refuse to do business with Israel. The Garden State becomes the third state...
California’s efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions will undoubtedly continue for the foreseeable future. But whether the Golden State’s cap-and-trade program survives past 2020 is far more in question. Last Monday, Brown quietly proposed...
More than 100 prominent Republicans have signed an open letter to Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, urging him to divert all the money currently going to presidential candidate Donald Trump to vulnerable GOP Congressional...
In the four years since Wyoming became the first and only state to tax wind power, it has taken in a little under $15 million from that revenue source. That’s not nearly enough to offset the hit the state’s budget has taken from the simultaneous...
Investment returns for large public pension plans in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015 were significantly lower than the plans’ assumed rates of return, according to money management news source Pensions & Investments . The one-year return...
Trend-setting California has issued national wakeup calls about the shaky state of public pensions and the soaring costs of health insurance for those covered under the Affordable Care Act. CalPERS, the nation’s largest pension fund for state...
California state Sen. Bob Hertzberg is fond of dropping Yiddish words and phrases into his public discourse. Recent examples include referring to the “shpilkes” – or restlessness – that local officials have felt since the state...
California Approves SB 443 The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves SB 443 , which would shield people arrested for but not convicted of crimes from having police seize less than $40,000 of their cash assets. The bill returns to the Senate (SACRAMENTO BEE...