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Archive of Home on Thursday July 02, 2009
Stimulus eases community college troubles
States are digging into their federal stimulus money to help finance community colleges, where rising tuition, soaring enrollment and budget cuts threaten to shut students out of the system. Read More
Weekly wrap: Report questions states' use of stimulus road funds
States are spending too much stimulus money on new road construction and not enough on public transit projects, a national advocacy group claims in a report issued Monday (June 29). Meanwhile, Michigan and California consider teaming up to solve their prison problems and North Carolina and Rhode Island face off with Amazon.com over taxes. Read More
Financial crisis torments states
(Updated 5:25 p.m. EDT, July 1, 2009) California may begin issuing IOUs this week because of the state’s unresolved budget crisis. But government disruptions were averted at least temporarily in five other states that missed a July 1 deadline for closing billion-dollar budget gaps. Read More
CA: State IOUs loom as foes' battle lines harden
After trying for weeks to fix a state budget gone out of control, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers stood frozen in conflict Wednesday with the state at the brink of a meltdown. Read More
DE: Budget is done, but sniping isn't
A bleary-eyed Gov. Jack Markell signed a package of tax increases, spending reductions and an employee furlough plan into law just before sunrise Wednesday, but not before blasting Republicans for what he called their lack of "bipartisan cooperation" in helping resolve the historic revenue shortfall. Read More
SC: 39 trips for Sanford with no security in '09
Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor's Mansion without a security escort 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security 39 times. Read More
US: Facing deficits, some states cut summer school
COCOA, Fla. — Nearly every school system in Florida has eviscerated or eliminated summer school this year, and officials are reporting sweeping cuts in states from North Carolina and Delaware to California and Washington. Read More
US: States, districts in delicate dance on stimulus
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is clear: States are on the hook for advancing education improvement goals spelled out in the law as a condition for receiving up to $100 million in economic-stimulus aid to education. Read More
US: Coming to 25 states -- higher taxes
More than half of US states are responding to budget challenges with an answer that's often unpopular with their residents: tax hikes. Read More
US: Mississippi tops obesity rankings; Colorado is leanest state
WASHINGTON -- Mississippi remains at the top of the list in this year's national annual obesity rankings, with Alabama coming in second. Outside of fairly lean Colorado, there's little good news. Read More
WI: Wisconsin to recognize domestic partnerships
With the budget signed Monday by Gov. Jim Doyle, Wisconsin has become the first state with a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and civil unions to put in place domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. Read More
AZ: Stakes will be high at Monday's special state budget session
Hours after lawmakers adjourned their 171-day regular session, Gov. Jan Brewer called them back to work on the 2010 budget, as well as on a temporary tax increase that would pay for K-12 schools, social services and public safety. Read More
WV: W.Va. Turnpike board OKs toll increase
Drivers will start paying higher tolls on the West Virginia Turnpike next month of $2 for passenger vehicles and $6.75 for five-axle commercial trucks under a motion approved Wednesday by state turnpike officials. Read More
TX: Texas applies for stimulus funds with minutes to spare
There are deadlines for submitting job applications. Deadlines for filing reports. And then there are deadlines for applying for $3.97 billion. The state of Texas cut that last deadline really close. Read More
NY: Senate deadlock hits New York schools
New York City officials scrambled Wednesday to re-create a system of school governance that hasn't existed in seven years after a deadlocked state Senate failed to renew the mayor's control over public schools before a Tuesday deadline. Read More
MA: 30 failing schools may face takeover
The Patrick administration, in a sharp deviation from previous state policy, will seek legislative approval to take over about 30 of the state's worst schools and dramatically weaken their teacher contracts, as part of the governor's effort to overhaul public education. Read More
RI: 2 more Web retailers cancel R.I. ties
More online retailers have joined Amazon.com's boycott of Rhode Island as the companies try to stamp out efforts to tax Internet sales. Read More
VT: Vt. begins taxing digital downloads
Did you pay to download a song, book or movie this week? You may have to pay sales tax on it. Read More
MT: Abortion foes seek to amend state constitution
The Montana Pro Life Coalition on Wednesday submitted three proposed constitutional initiatives for the 2010 ballot defining embryos and fetuses as persons with rights, measures that if passed and upheld in courts would effectively ban abortion in Montana. Read More
AL: 123,046 in Alabama still waiting for tax refunds
The longest U.S. recession since World War II has caused Alabama's tax collections to plummet so badly that more than 120,000 taxpayers are having to wait for their state income tax refunds. Read More
Furloughs cut into state services
With states facing a $121 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, a growing number of them have turned to squeezing their workforce for savings, and effects both great and small will be felt. Read More
Tracking the recession: Budget deadline looms
Unlike the federal government, states have to balance their budgets. But several states still have not completed spending plans for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Read More
Weekly wrap: Feds release long-awaited stimulus job guidelines
The Obama administration tells state officials to take "a simple headcount" of jobs saved or created by the stimulus program. Meanwhile, the demand for some special jobs is soaring. Officials also warn states not to shortchange education when balancing budgets. Read More
Ga. hotline aims to cut mental health costs
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Tracking the recession: States target jobs
Though unemployment is rising in nearly every state, aggressive efforts to create jobs are paying off — modestly — in many states. Read More
Reports: State income levels plunge
States racing to cobble together new budgets for their July 1 deadline could find themselves sinking back into red ink sooner than they think, as Americans’ income and the taxes they pay on it shrink, new data show. Read More
Weekly wrap: Sales tax fight splits GOP in Arizona
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) sues her own party over the budget. The U.S. labor department releases May unemployment data, and Illinois says it can’t afford to pay for indigent burials. For a quick update on the top recession news in the states, read Stateline.org's "Weekly wrap." Read More
New courts tailored to war veterans
Twenty years after local officials in Miami opened the nation's first drug court — a specialized "treatment court" aimed at rehabilitating low-level drug offenders instead of locking them up — state lawmakers in Illinois and Nevada are applying the same idea to a different population: war veterans who have had run-ins with the law. Read More
Gay marriage legal in six states
With the exception of Rhode Island, same-sex marriage is now legal throughout New England, and neighboring New York could be next. On June 3, New Hampshire became the sixth state, including Iowa, to legalize gay nuptials. But despite these gains by the gay rights movement, the United States is still a nation divided over whether to redefine marriage. Read More |
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