Corrected Federal Data Crops Picture of Lost Lands
Valuable forests and agricultural land slipped under the wheels of the nations sprawling commercial and residential juggernaut at a rapid rate over the last decade but not quite at as quickly as first...
View ArticleState Tobacco Payment Dip Exaggerated, Experts Say
When reports surfaced last week that tobacco settlement payments for 16 states had been cut by nearly $200 million collectively, it appeared to be big news. But payments have been going up and down...
View ArticleMore States Complaining Of Economic Pinch
Signs of a slowing U.S. economy are cropping up in more and more states. Among the latest to feel the pinch are Maine, Massachusetts, Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana, Virginia and Mississippi.
View ArticleEducation Remains Top Item For State Legislators
Improving US public education was a top priority for state governments last year, and is again in 2001. The issue was a major focus of nearly every governor's state of the state address just as it is...
View ArticleNew Welfare Study May Ease Worries About Harm To Kids
Welfare reform has been credited with dramatically reducing dependency on public assistance and increasing work among single women, but a crucial unanswered question is whether the changes help or harm...
View ArticleGovernors' Paychecks Vary Widely
In his new job as President of the United States, George W. Bush will earn $400,000 per annum -- a pay raise of more than 300 percent. As Texas governor, Bush got $116,545 per year, the 18th highest...
View ArticleLegislative Pay: Good Wage For Some, Others' Pin Money
In the second installment of a two-part story, Stateline.org takes a look at legislative pay in the 50 states. California, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois -- the same states that pay...
View ArticleState Budgets Battered By Substance Abuse, Study Shows
Governors and state legislators looking for ways to save money on social programs at a time when many states face projected revenue shortfalls may want to invest more in drug prevention and treatment,...
View ArticleBush's Education Plan Brings Hope, Worry to States
States should expect to be held more accountable for student performance if President George W. Bush gets his way. In the first week of his presidency, Bush outlined his education agenda, which gives...
View ArticleStates Benefit From New Technology, Study Shows
Alabama, which was found to be the worst managed state in the country two years ago, has measurably improved its performance since, according to a joint project of Maxwell School of Citizenship and...
View ArticleWestern Governors Meet on Electric Deregulation Crisis
A meeting in Portland, Oregon last week could help shape a state policy response to the nation's latest energy headache -- the electric deregulation crisis. Although the crisis is rooted in...
View ArticleStates See Revenue Surge in FY 2000
State tax revenue grew by a record-setting 8.7 percent last year and would have grown by 9.4 percent if there had been no changes in tax rates, tax bases and acceleration of tax payments, a new study...
View ArticleStates Unhappy With Final SCHIP Registration
When Congress established the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 1997, lawmakers hoped it would cover millions of children across the country. To reach that goal, federal officials...
View ArticleStates Rethinking Drug War Strategy
After years of helping to fight the national war on drugs championed by the Reagan, Bush and Clinton administrations, a growing number of governors and state lawmakers are considering the merits of...
View ArticleWelfare Leavers Find Jobs But Not Benefits, Study Finds
Since the launch of welfare reform, critics have complained that the sole focus of the program is to decrease the number of people on public assistance, but that no one has been tracking what happens...
View ArticleGovernors Upbeat, Wordy in Setting Quality Of Life Agendas
It's an annual mid-winter ritual. As state legislatures open for business, governors of most states report on their political stewardship and lay out their agendas for the year. In most state capitals,...
View ArticleUS Education Secretary Urges Administrators to Lead
U.S. Education Secretary Roderick Paige, speaking at the 133rd annual National Conference on Education in Orlando, Florida, urged leaders of the nation's school systems to rise to the challenge of...
View ArticleUrban America Lags in Birth-Related Statistics, Studies Say
America's large cities showed improvements on some birth-related measures during the prosperous 1990s, according to two new reports released today. With a specific focus on factors like the percentage...
View ArticleStates Lag on Federal Education Mandate
States are hungry for education money from the federal government even though it covers only seven percent of the overall cost of running the nations schools. But a memo from the US Department of...
View ArticleWebsite Offers Maps of Environmentally-Linked Cancer Deaths
Want to know whether there's a link in your state between environmental hazards and diseases like cancer? A new online mapping system released February 26 offers the public, for the first time, easy...
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