State Budget Picture Shows Modest Improvement
Is the glass half-full or half-empty for state budgets? Thirty-two states expect to end fiscal 2004 with a modest surplus, but 33 states project budget gaps for fiscal 2005. The new data released April...
View ArticleElderly Drivers Pose Policy-Making Challenge
As the oldest of the baby boomers, now 58, approach their golden years, they eventually will be asking themselves whether it's time to hand over the car keys. Elderly drivers' fatal accident rates -...
View ArticleSoaring Health Care Costs Squeeze States
The nations governors warn in a new report that the recent signs of a national recovery wont make it any easier for states to balance their budgets this year and that rising health care costs are a...
View ArticleIntegrity of Electronic Voting Questioned
May 3 - A pitched debate over the accuracy and security of new high-tech electronic voting machines may have voters longing for the days of butterfly ballots and hanging chads when they go to the polls...
View ArticleCourts Referee School Finance Disputes
Courts in half the country are taking on the tasks of state budget writers in public education, forcing legislatures to pump more money into elementary and high schools and deciding how much more money...
View ArticleStates Struggle to Control Prescription Prices
States are experimenting with innovative tactics to rein in prescription drug prices for state workers and people on Medicaid, in an effort to hold down health care costs. The three most prevalent...
View ArticleStates Wage Offensive to Keep Military Bases Open
With a year to go before the Pentagon launches a new round of military base closings, states are competing to keep their hometown installations off the target list. States are engaged in a serious...
View ArticleTax Foe Renews Attack on National Governors Association
As many states enter the final budget planning stages for fiscal 2005, a conservative anti-tax group is once again prodding governors to take what it calls a cost-saving measure: drop out of the...
View ArticleGoing Once, Going Twice, Gone Online
Attention, online shoppers. At least 16 states are using eBay - that nationwide yard sale on the Internet - to unload accumulated junk in government warehouses and turn handsome profits for state...
View ArticleMoney Mattering More in Judicial Elections
Big-money politics, expensive television advertising and special interest pressure are creeping into state judicial elections. A new report documents record amounts of money flowing into campaigns for...
View ArticleMarital Bliss or Legal Chaos Facing Gay Newlyweds?
History is being made as Massachusetts becomes the first state in the nation to legalize marriage between two individuals of the same sex. But once the wedding is over, gay couples face a barrage of...
View ArticleCommission Calls for Foster Care Reforms
A panel of child welfare experts today called for a bevy of changes to fix flaws in the countrys foster care system that have allowed children to get stuck in foster care limbo for too long, suffer...
View ArticleStates Turn to Gambling to Fix Budget Woes
States are betting on slots and casinos to keep their finances in the black. The question of whether to bring in or expand gambling is dividing statehouses across the country. At least 24 states had...
View ArticleStatehouse Lobbying Hits $890 Million
Nearly 42,000 lobbyists wined, dined and jawboned state lawmakers to the tune of $890 million in trying to influence legislation in 2003, a watchdog group said in a new report released May 19. In eight...
View ArticlePanel Calls for Sweeping Foster Care Fixes
The countrys ailing foster care system lets children languish too long in temporary rather than permanent homes and is in need of a two-tiered overhaul targeting federal financing and court oversight,...
View ArticleDean Looking to Sway Statehouse Races
Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean is credited with attracting and energizing a massive grass-roots base of supporters through the Internet and raising millions of dollars in precious...
View ArticleSouthern Schools Lead to Divided Society, Report Says
Southern public schools have started to dramatically re-segregate and are failing to provide equitable public education, according to a new report.
View ArticleE-Government Use Up 50 Percent, Survey Finds
Surfing the net for government information? Youre not alone. Some 97 million Americans went online to state, local or federal government Web sites in 2003 to get information, ask a question or express...
View ArticleWestern States Struggle to Meet Wildfire Threats
Despite dire warnings that catastrophic wildfires are fast becoming the norm in the West, observers say that budget shortfalls, National Guard deployments and cuts to federal fire programs have left...
View ArticleGas Prices Hit State Fleets, Consumer Wallets
Memorial Day, meant to honor soldiers' sacrifices, this year will mean consumers' wallets get pinched as they hit the road for the ceremonial start of summer. Soaring gas prices are also affecting...
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