Week in review: Election date set; PA colleges face transparency
By PA Independent Staff HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s primary election date is expected to remain on April 24, but the state is no closer to having new state House and Senate districts this week. Senate...
View ArticleIL seeks to ban drivers from using hand-held cell phones
By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Illinois wants to go a step further in addressing the causes of distracted driving in the age of ubiquitous mobile phone use. State Rep....
View ArticleCompeting KS tax plans share higher income taxes
By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter TOPEKA — Those tax cuts Kansas leaders keep promising voters hit a snag. New calculations released by the Kansas Legislative Research Department on Friday show a new...
View ArticleHouse GOP wants spending limits in IA Constitution
By Lynn Campbell | IowaPolitics.com DES MOINES — House Republicans are moving forward this week with two proposed amendments to the Iowa Constitution aimed at limiting state spending and making it...
View ArticleCounty election officials doubt need to tighten VA voter ID requirements
By Hannah Hess | Virginia Statehouse News RICHMOND — Tightening voter ID requirements would combat “voter fraud” in Virginia, but county election officials say the proposals would create an unnecessary...
View ArticleSecretary of Ed: Administration open to discussing district consolidation
Lawmakers divided over how much it could help struggling districts By Eric Boehm | PA Independent HARRISBURG — Ron Tomalis is fond of saying that the state's 500 school districts are not a magic...
View ArticleCorman to Corbett: Universities already paid ‘fair share’ of state budget cuts
Tomalis: State still making a substantial investment in higher education By Eric Boehm | PA Independent HARRISBURG — The top Republican on the Senate’s budget panel is prepared to battle Republican...
View ArticleWisconsin free speech on the hot seat
By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter MADISON — Wisconsinites don’t seem to have much of a problem speaking freely, if the protests, counter-protests and recalls are any indication. “One could argue...
View ArticleKS execs: End 40-year license break for senior sportsmen
By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter TOPEKA — Hunters and fishermen in Kansas so far are reacting stoically to a 40-year-old state government perk that may be targeted in state budget cuts. Kansas’...
View ArticleBehold the power of the political pledge
By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter MADISON — George H.W. Bush stood before that raucous Republican crowd and uttered those famous words: "Read my lips: No new taxes." He could barely finish the line...
View ArticleVA House bill to make school discipline stats public
By Carten Cordell | Virginia Statehouse News ALEXANDRIA — A bipartisan bill on its way to Gov. Bob McDonnell could provide parents with greater access to discipline data from public schools, but...
View ArticleVA seeks to streamline serious juvenile crime cases
By Carten Cordell | Virginia Statehouse News ALEXANDRIA — Repeat juvenile offenders as young as 14 could find themselves in adult prisons, but many argue simplifying the judicial process could be...
View ArticleGloves come off in battle to not cut PA higher ed funds
PA State System schools face 20 percent cut By Stacy Brown | PA Independent HARRISBURG — For one university president, the proposed cuts in state aid to higher education could place the nation in...
View ArticleDPW Secretary: PA needs new direction on welfare spending
Democrats say ideology is driving Corbett administration’s reductions in cash assistance By Eric Boehm | PA Independent HARRISBURG — With 5.8 million residents in the workforce and 2.8 million...
View ArticleIA applies for waiver from No Child Left Behind
By Lynn Campbell | IowaPolitics.com DES MOINES — Iowa on Tuesday joined three-fourths of the nation in applying for a waiver from the 2001 No Child Left Behind federal education accountability law....
View ArticlePA AG candidate’s email raises concerns of political agenda
Murphy’s campaign says he will fight for the rights of Pennsylvanians By Eric Boehm | PA Independent HARRISBURG — In a pair of emails to supporters, Patrick Murphy, candidate for state’s attorney...
View ArticleKS seeks faster, better litmus test for economy
By Gene Meyer | Kansas Reporter TOPEKA — Kansans have their own ways of telling whether the economy is doing well, and most of those ways are easier to explain than a new set of economic indicators...
View ArticleDiffering revenue projections may be life or death of IL services
By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Competing estimates for how much money Illinois must spend in the next fiscal year could be the difference between open doors or shuttered...
View ArticleSchools struggle to meet funding needs as IL aid falls
By Anthony Brino | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Illinois hasn’t met its end of the bargain in funding the school districts this year — and it probably won’t next year, state education...
View ArticleIL may add fourth year of math to graduate high school
By Stephanie Fryer | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers want to see high-schoolers add another year of math, without subtracting from students planning to hit the workforce...
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