But now we have the gubernatorial seal of approval! Yes, as the State House News Service reports, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker took the ongoing Ice Bucket Challenge – a charity thing in which people raise money for ALS research by getting a...
Which is advice Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser might do well to heed. As the Detroit Free Press reports, Courser recently announced he is on a mission to root out “political shenanigans” by the establishment statehouse “mafia”...
As a young man, California resident Scott Kirchner was admittedly not concerned with saving money for retirement. “Until I was probably 31, the idea of saving any money for anything was foreign to me,” he says. Now, at age 56 and...
At least 25 states have either passed or considered legislation aimed at bringing the efficiencies of public retirement systems to new pension plans for workers in the private sector, according to the Pension Rights Center. Illinois, Oregon and Washington...
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) and legislative leaders have finally agreed to spend $21.74 billion this fiscal year. The state has been operating without a budget - running on continuing resolutions instead - since the new fiscal year began on July...
Last September the Washington Supreme Court held the state’s Legislature in contempt for failing to obey the court’s order in 2012 ( McCleary v. Washington ) to adequately fund K-12 education. Last week the court handed down the punishment...
As part of his plan for fixing what he believes is ailing his state,” Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) wants to allow municipalities to file for bankruptcy. And a state lawmaker has introduced legislation to do just that. A dozen states already...
Just six weeks into the new fiscal year, LOUISIANA lawmakers have already been forced to make $4.6 million in budget cuts. While that amount is only a fraction of the state’s $25 billion budget, the cuts are likely a sign of things to come, given...
Virginia lawmakers’ plan to oust Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) interim appointee to the state Supreme Court (see VA LAWMAKERS REJECT GOV’S JUDICIAL APPOINTMENT in Aug. 8 issue of SNCJ ) hit a snag last week. The Republicans who control...
In a guest viewpoint appearing in The Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon last week, retired teacher and counselor Gary Crum advocates for the adoption of a proper impeachment process in the state “to address serious transgressions by state officials...
NY Signs SB 1757 NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs SB 1757, legislation that bans the sale of powdered or crystalline alcohol in the Empire State. New York becomes the 25 th state to ban the product, which has yet to actually reach consumers in...
Alaska lawmakers voted last week to sue Gov. Bill Walker (I) over his plans to go around the Legislature to expand Medicaid eligibility in the Last Frontier. The joint House and Senate Legislative Council voted 10-1 last Tuesday to spend as much as $450...
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said he is in favor of keeping his state’s “private option” Medicaid enrollment – which served as a model for similar expansions in Iowa and Indiana among other states – but only with some...
Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) is exploring the possibility of outsourcing a wide breadth of facilities management jobs to a private sector company. If they come to fruition, those changes would impact workers at state-run prisons, universities, state...
Blagojevich's Rehearing Rejected The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected former ILLINOIS Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s (D) request to rehear the appeal of his corruption convictions. A three-judge panel of the court had previously...
OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) signs SB 844, which allows someone convicted of a marijuana crime to seek expunction for an act that, if committed by an adult, would constitute criminal possession of marijuana (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
OREGON Gov. Kate Brown (D) signs SB 932, a bill that allows qualifying unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors to receive state financial aid for college (EASTERN OREGONIAN [PENDELTON]).
National Drug Control Policy to Focus on Heroin Epidemic The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy announces it will hire public safety and public health coordinators for five areas in the northeast hit the hardest by a growing epidemic of heroin...
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs legislation that will create a task force to develop rules for the use and regulation of drone aircraft. The task force is required to submit recommendations to the governor by July 1, 2016 (ASSOCIATED PRESS). ...
For those people constantly threatening to move to Canada if [Fill in the blank] is elected, not so fast. Allow me to introduce Canadian Parliament candidate Wyatt Scott, who has made the goofball political commercial into an art form. As the curious...
In theory, inside a voting booth is one place where what you do is absolutely between you and your maker. But, as the Union Leader reports, that just ain’t so in New Hampshire. A federal judge recently struck down a Granite State law that barred...
Every sport has its own lingo, the tossing around of which identifies the user as that most treasured of things – the insider. Politics is no different, and in fact has a whole language unto itself spoken under every Capitol dome. The Sacramento...
One of the many things that sound just riotously funny when you’re stoned is to have a sign or some other public marker that uses the numbers “420.” For the uninitiated, 420 is yet another slang term for marijuana, aka “weed,”...
Competitor analysis is imperative to any business looking to stay a step ahead in a competitive environment. By exploiting the right kinds of information, you can gain insight into rival activity and improve your products and services based on market...
After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the U.S. began leveraging economic sanctions against Iran , expanding them to include companies dealing with the Iranian government in 1995. In 2006, the UN Security Council piled on in an attempt to influence the...