Crime In AZ The ARIZONA Supreme Court rules that the smell of marijuana is sufficient probable cause for police to search a person’s home or car, even though medical marijuana use is legal in the Grand Canyon State (REUTERS). AK Gov Signs...
Immigrants, legal and otherwise, are having a difficult year. In Europe, swarms of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war have overwhelmed the resources of many nations and fueled the rise of populist, nationalist political parties. In Britain, immigration...
With little advance notice, a Kansas state board approved a temporary regulation last week that will block an estimated 17,000 Kansans from voting in state or local elections and only allow them to vote in federal ones. The action by the Kansas Rules...
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has had more than his share of confrontations with lawmakers during his time in office. Perhaps none has been greater than the kerfuffle last year over whether he had allowed 65 bills he intended to veto to instead become law without...
Education In IL The ILLINOIS State Board of Education announces the Prairie State will stop using the controversial Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers in reading and math, exams based on the Common Core curriculum designed...
For the next nine months, 5,000 California drivers will be voluntarily reporting their mileage to the state and getting “charged” for every mile they drive. The state’s gas tax, which hasn’t been increased since 1994, hasn’t...
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) announced he is creating a bipartisan, 25-person commission to create a new formula for distributing state money to local school districts. The current system, in place for the last two decades, has been widely criticized...
Medical Pot Initiative Qualifies for AR Ballot An initiative to legalize medical marijuana has received enough valid signatures to qualify for ARKANSAS’ Nov. 8 general election ballot. But the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act will have to overcome...
Special Session on Budget Coming to ND NORTH DAKOTA Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) has called for a special session to address a projected budget shortfall for the 2015-17 biennium of over $300 million. The session will begin on Aug. 2 and probably last at...
OH Gov Signs HB 158 OHIO Gov. John Kasich (R) signs HB 158 , which strikes the term “mental retardation” from the state’s Revised Code and replaces it with the term “intellectual disability.” The law also specifies that...
Forty six governors signed a compact last week pledging to increase their collective efforts to combat the rising tide of opioid abuse in their states. Those efforts will include taking new steps to keep doctors from over-prescribing opioid medications...
It just never gets better for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Although he pretty much surrendered his dignity to become Donald Trump’s vacant-eyed errand boy, he could at least hold on to the belief that his newfound loyalty to “The Donald”...
Social Policy In MD & AL The MARYLAND Court of Appeals unanimously rules that non-biological parents who live with and help raise children also have parental rights. The court’s decision allows family-court judges to consider whether a person...
UT Approves HB 3003 The UTAH House and Senate approve HB 3003 , which makes it a misdemeanor for someone to use a drone aircraft to interfere with a firefighting effort. Violators would face jail time and fines. The bill, which would also allow police...
Technology has changed how we see the world. Take volcanos, for example. You can go to an interactive map that shows the current activity level of volcanos—and even click through to see live video feeds of the activity. If only it were that easy...
Everywhere you look—in print, on websites and across social media—negative news abounds. Those stories make for interesting reading unless, of course, the focus of the article is your own organization or individuals associated with it. Recently...
What’s the most debated topic of this year’s U.S. presidential campaign? According to a recent Washington Post article , it’s not the border wall, terrorism or emails: It’s the media’s coverage of Donald Trump. More specifically...
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is a hands-on kind of guy, Meaning he does things us peons take for granted, like dialing the phone himself when he wants to make a call. Sadly, that doesn’t jibe with the culture around the statehouse in Harrisburg, where...
Business In CT The CONNECTICUT Supreme Court rules that state regulators can limit what tow truck operators charge motorists when police summon them to clear highway accidents. The ruling came in two cases where tow operators claimed the state could...
When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) introduced his “Start-Up New York” jobs initiative in 2013, he promised it would “supercharge” the Empire State Economy and create 4,100 new jobs by 2020. But in spite of the state spending tens...
Last month a full panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled 7-4 in Peruta v. San Diego that “the right to keep and bear arms” granted by the Second Amendment doesn’t extend to concealed weapons. The case originated...
In 1991 Illinois went 18 days without a state budget. Then-Gov. Jim Edgar (R) said at the time that the state had never experienced a budget delay like it. That delay doesn’t seem quite so shocking now that the state has just become the first...
Three of the eight states where the deadliest mass shootings since 1984 have occurred - California, Connecticut and New York - are among those with the strictest gun laws, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. None of those shootings took...
The economy has improved a lot in recent years, but that doesn’t mean everything is just rosy for everyone. Take Maine Gov. Paul LePage, for instance. LePage is the lowest paid governor in the country, and the nickels just aren’t going as...
The killing of 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 12 by a man armed with a military-style assault rifle and a handgun hasn’t produced any more substantive action on gun control in Congress than other recent mass shootings. But...