New Year, New Laws
As partygoers count down the seconds toward New Year’s Day, not everyone will be celebrating. At least 31 states will start to enforce new laws, and some of them can seem pretty tough, ranging from where you can smoke in Illinois to how much it costs to enter a strip club in Texas.
Greetings from Your Governor!
Stateline has collected this year’s set of gubernatorial holiday greetings including a cowboy poem, original artwork, lots of family photos, several pets and even a few mentions of a Merry Christmas.
With Feds Stuck, States Tackle Immigration
State lawmakers have taken widely divergent approaches to dealing with an influx of immigrants; some are rolling out welcome mats while others are slamming shut their doors.
States Take Lead in Housing Crisis
From establishing foreclosure hotlines to temporarily freezing sub-prime interest rates, states are at the forefront of policymaking to minimize damage from the mortgage meltdown.
Tobacco Case Could Limit State Powers
Forty state laws regulating internet tobacco sales — and many other laws governing dangerous products — are at stake in a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
States Clammed Up After 9/11
The 2001 terrorist attacks led every state but South Dakota to restrict access to all sorts of information deemed critical to homeland security.
Election ’07: Lessons Learned
Tuesday’s elections proved once again that all politics is local as voters in three states soundly rejected governors’ pet projects and others put big-ticket spending items on the state’s credit card while providing possible clues to the voters’ mood for ’08. Also a graphic look at the before and after in three states where the entire legislatures were up for grabs.
Election ’07: Tuesday’s Winners and Losers
A roundup of state legislature and gubernatorial race outcomes and a look at the fate of high profile ballot initiatives across the states.
State-level Republican Candidates Stress Immigration
Candidates in several states are capitalizing on voter anger over illegal immigration after Congress failed for the second year in a row to pass major immigration reforms.
The Precarious State of Statehouse Budgets
A slumping housing market and skimpier sales tax collections are busting budgets from California to Florida with national job growth sluggish and consumer confidence near a two-year low.
