And speaking of Gov. Justice, let’s just say he knows how to make an impression. When lawmakers sent the gov a budget he didn’t like, he decided it was the perfect time to go big or go home. As the McClatchy News Service reports , Justice...
Texas Approves HB 100 The TEXAS House approves HB 100 , which would establish a statewide framework for regulating ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft. The measure, which would also override local regulations already in place, would establish...
Crime In Colorado The United States Supreme Court rules that people freed from prison when their convictions are reversed deserve a refund of what they paid in fees, court costs and restitution. The ruling also orders COLORADO to refund several thousand...
Oklahoma Approves HB 1693 The OKLAHOMA Senate approves HB 1693 , which would overhaul the Sooner State’s public school accountability system to give equal weight to student performance in English language arts and mathematics as well as student...
Oregon Approves HB 3158 The OREGON House approves HB 3158 , which would award “preference points” to Beaver State hunters who provide law enforcement with detailed information that can help prosecute poachers. The points could be applied...
Health In Texas And Arizona The U.S. Food and Drug Administration rules that states may not import drugs used for lethal injection. The agency said the drugs states like TEXAS and ARIZONA were seeking to bring in were unapproved and misbranded (TEXAS...
Social Policy In Missouri A federal judge issues a ruling that blocks two MISSOURI laws that require clinics which perform abortions to meet standards for surgical centers and for their doctors to have hospital privileges. U.S. District Judge Howard...
Alabama Approves HB 315 The ALABAMA House approves HB 315 , which would allow midwifes to legally practice in the Heart of Dixie. It moves to the Senate (BIRMINGHAM NEWS). -- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) filed legislation last week that criminalizes so-called “revenge porn,” the posting of sexually explicit photos or videos of someone online without that person’s approval. “We here in...
AK Lawmakers Dodge Walker Call for Action On Appointments Saying it was “time to bring [them] to a close,” ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued a proclamation last week calling for a joint session of the Last Frontier Legislature to force...
Last month Republicans who control North Carolina’s General Assembly overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to enact a bill ( HB 239 ) reducing the size of the state’s intermediate appellate court, the Court of Appeals, from 15 judges...
Jon Ossoff, a Democrat and first-time political candidate, narrowly missed winning a crowded special election last month to fill the U.S. House seat in Georgia’s heavily conservative Sixth District vacated by President Donald Trump’s appointment...
AL SENATE VOTES TO LET CHURCH CREATE OWN POLICE FORCE The ALABAMA Senate passed a bill ( SB 193 ) that would allow the Briarwood Presbyterian Church, located in the suburbs of Birmingham, to establish its own police force. The measure on behalf of...
Facing a $3 billion budget shortfall through next summer, Pennsylvania, the nation’s second biggest commercial casino state after Nevada, is considering a host of gambling expansion ideas, including becoming the first state to take both its casino...
Last month, New Mexico’s Democrat-controlled Legislature approved a $6.1 billion budget slightly boosting spending and increasing several taxes to bolster faltering revenues tied to a downturn in the energy industry and the state’s high unemployment...
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled Senate has proposed a tax cut plan ( SB 325 ) that would increase the state’s standard income tax deduction and reduce the individual tax rate from 5.499 percent to 5.35 percent, as well as reduce the...
AK HOUSE PASSES INCOME TAX ALASKA’s House, run by a coalition of 17 Democrats, three Republicans and two independents, passed a bill ( HB 115 ) that would institute an income tax on the state’s highest earners as part of a plan to address...
Legislation prohibiting or otherwise opposing local government adoption of policies restricting cooperation with federal immigration authorities has been introduced in at least 22 mostly Republican-controlled state legislatures this session. Three of...
To anyone who has watched the national political culture split into two poles over the last decade or so, it should be little surprise that the country is moving in opposite directions on so-called sanctuary cities, those which bar local officials from...
Living in a “Post-Truth” World The era of “post-truth” is on the rise. An adjective meaning “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to...
Over the next five years the global Entertainment and Media industry is projected to grow by 4.4 percent annually, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2016-2020 . This expected surge is due to the increasing diversification...
Crisis management is the kind of PR skill where companies learn more from bad examples than good ones. Your department or agency should, therefore, be taking notes concerning United Airlines and the way it handled the forcible removal of a passenger from...
If you darned people aren’t going to cast enough votes then by golly we’ll just decide this election with the flip of a coin! That is the message clearly being sent by the tiny hamlet of Colp, Illinois to residents after two candidates for...
Folks who hate paying their taxes are rarely shy about letting everyone and anyone within earshot hear all about it. But one Montana man may have found a way around his annual tax bill: putting something obnoxious on his check! Yes, as the Billings Gazette...
There is clearly no issue on which Maine Gov. Paul LePage won’t weigh in. This week’s example involves a Husky mix named Dakota that twice in the last year has got out of her yard and attacked a neighbor’s dogs, killing one and injuring...