California’s raging fire season is totally because we don’t have enough water out here to fight fires because we wasted it by sending it out to the Pacific Ocean. At least that’s what a certain tweet-mad president opined on the social...
BILL BLOCKING BIRTH DATES FROM VOTER LISTS ADVANCES IN RI A bill ( HB 5925 ) approved by RHODE ISLAND’s House Judiciary Committee would enshrine into law Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea’s (D) current policy of excluding full birth dates...
The U.S. Supreme Court has suspended two lower court rulings requiring new congressional district maps to be drawn in Michigan and Ohio, pending a decision by the justices on the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. Lower courts had ruled...
Uber-patriotic national holidays are a golden opportunity for minor league baseball teams in deep red locales to fill the stadium. Such was the case in May when the Pacific Coast League’s Fresno Grizzlies marked the Memorial Day holiday with a video...
You want to drop $700 on food at a Michelin-rated eatery where it took months to get a reservation? Go for it. The rest of us will just scoop up some venison off the road and have us a time. As CalMatters reports , a bill ( SB 395 ) is working its way...
Last month Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed SB 181, giving cities and towns more control over the regulation of oil and gas drilling. Local governments have wasted little time exercising their new power. Hours after the governor signed the bill...
Left to their own devices, humans are pretty good at wiping out native animal species. Such has definitely been the case for the so-called “prairie chicken” – known elsewhere as a grouse - of northwest Kansas. Long considered a nuisance...
OH Governor Signs HB 425 OHIO Gov. John Kasich (R) signs HB 425 , which codifies that police body camera video is public record unless it is a confidential investigatory record. The law does not, however, require police agencies to use body cameras...
CA Governor Vetoes SB 174 CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) vetoes SB 174 , which would have allowed unauthorized immigrants to serve on public boards and commissions (CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE). CA Governor Vetoes SB 349 CALIFORNIA Gov...
Last week Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg struck down an Alaska law barring independent candidates from running in the state’s partisan primary elections. The state’s Democratic Party had challenged the law, contending it restricted...
After a string of recent Democratic special election upsets , including in deep red states, Republicans fended off a Democratic challenge in a congressional race in Arizona last month. Former state senator Debbie Lesko’s victory over emergency room...
A federal judge extends until March her order blocking ARKANSAS from enforcing a law that limits how the so-called abortion pill mifepristone is administered. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker blocks enforcement of the law, which requires...
The CALIFORNIA Assembly approves AB 1730 , which would create a pilot program to provide temporary housing and other services for sexually exploited children. It moves to the Senate (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET). -- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
Public pensions are relying more than ever on high-risk investments like real estate and hedge funds to boost their returns. But that approach doesn’t appear to be working. In 2007 alternative investments comprised 9 percent of state and local...
AL House and Senate Endorse SB 73 The ALABAMA House and Senate endorse SB 73 , a measure that would prohibit pharmacy benefit managers from employing contractual “gag clauses” to forbid pharmacists from telling customers if they can save...
Saying it would guarantee “a better auto insurance system for everyone,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed SB 1 , a sweeping overhaul of the Wolverine State’s auto insurance laws. One of the most significant changes contained...
The U.S. Department of Energy is looking into whether 10,000 gallons of wastewater at a Cold War nuclear weapon production site in South Carolina can be reclassified from high-level waste to low-level waste and moved to low-level waste disposal sites...
And right now, there might not be anybody being more awful than California Assembly members Brian Dahle and Kevin Kiley, who are facing off in a nasty race to fill a vacant seat in the state Senate. The two men – both Republicans - have gone after...
California Gov. Jerry Brown gave his 16 th and final – we think – State of the State address last month. Although he can still speechify with the best of them, the 79-year-old Brown is these days a far more humble version of himself than the...
SISOLAK SIGNS SWEEPING HEALTH MEASURES NEVADA Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed two significant health care measures last week: AB 170 , which codifies into Silver State law a prohibition on health insurers from denying patient coverage due to pre-existing...
CA Governor Signs AB 1985 Following a state audit that found significant underreporting of hate crimes, CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1985 , which sets minimum standards for how local law enforcement agencies investigate and report those...
After being short-handed for over a year, due to the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a full-strength U.S. Supreme Court began its fall term last week with a docket full of major cases. They include: Gill v. Whitford , No. 16-1161, in which the court...
In 1912 Montana passed a law prohibiting all corporate spending in the state’s elections. The law remained in place for 100 years, until the U.S. Supreme Court declared it to be in conflict with the court’s ruling in Citizens United v. FEC...
VT House and Senate Approve HB 511 The VERMONT House and Senate give final approval to HB 511 , which allows people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana and to grow up to two plants to maturity. It moves now to Gov. Phil Scott (R), who...
With baby boomer retirements diminishing the ranks of California teachers, nearly one in three educators in the state leaving the job within the first seven years, and modest starting salaries doing little to attract people to the fill those positions...