Special Reports
Columnists
Falling Bridges
As aging infrastructure becomes harder to ignore, governments look for new ways to finance solutions.
The Id in Office
Do powerful people gradually lose the ability to approach their personal moral lives in the way most ordinary people are required to?
The West
Eight States Block Nuclear Waste from Italy
Salt Lake Tribune
Eight Western states derailed a Salt Lake City company's plans to import nuclear-cleanup waste from Italy and bury some of it at the company's Utah landfill. The Northwest Compact on Low-level Radioactive Waste voted unanimously to tighten the compact's contract with EnergySolutions to make clear that foreign waste is banned.
New York State
A.G.: Hundreds of Lawyers Getting Illegal State Pensions
New York Times
Hundreds of lawyers across the state have been illegally granted state pension benefits by school districts, towns and other governmental entities, according to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. Many of the cases involve politically connected lawyers who work as independent contractors for regional school districts but are classified by the regional officials as public employees.
Vermont
Court Upholds DNA Sampling
Rutland Herald
The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld a 2005 law that allows the state to collect genetic samples from nonviolent felons. Since 1993, the state has been collecting DNA samples from offenders convicted of certain felonies, but the 2005 law expanded the program to all felons. In a 3-2 decision, justices upheld that law, saying felons, by virtue of their conviction, give up certain privacy rights.
Former Vermont Supreme Court Justice Dies Rutland Herald
Former Vermont Supreme Court Justice Louis Peck, who once tested the Vermont Constitution by refusing to step down from the bench at the age of 70, died at age 89. Known for his expertise in Vermont law and his colorful use of language in his dissents, Peck was a longtime attorney with the state attorney general's office, and spent 10 years on the Supreme Court bench, beginning in 1981.
The Nation
Facebook Agrees to Block Sexual Predators
Philadelphia Inquirer
Facebook, the second-largest social-networking Web site, has reached an agreement with attorneys general in 49 states and the District of Columbia aimed at protecting children from sexual predators. The agreement, similar to one reached in January with the largest social-networking site, MySpace, would ban convicted sex offenders from the site and limit older users' ability to search for underage subscribers.
Posted Thursday, May 8
Michigan
Court Prohibits Benefits for Gay Public Employees’ Partners
Detroit Free Press
Public employers are barred from providing health care benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees, a divided Michigan Supreme Court ruled, finding that an amendment to the state constitution approved by voters in 2004 to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman also applied to employee benefits.
North Carolina
A.G.: Close Public Colleges to Illegal Immigrants
Raleigh News & Observer
Public colleges in North Carolina should not admit illegal immigrants as students, Attorney General Roy Cooper's Office advised state community-college officials. If followed, the advice would reverse policies at the state's 58 community colleges and 16 four-year institutions. It also would set back a movement to grant in-state tuition to illegal-immigrant teenagers who have attended North Carolina high schools.
Washington State
Tree-Farm Purchase to Conserve 1,000 Acres
Seattle Times
Almost 1,000 acres of Snohomish County forest land will be preserved from development under a purchase agreement approved by the state Board of Natural Resources. The $4.15 million acquisition of a working tree farm is the largest in a program created by the 2007 legislature to buy up to $70 million of forest land facing conversion to housing or other nonforest uses.
Massachusetts
UBS To Return $37 Million to Cities, Turnpike
Boston Globe
A major Wall Street firm agreed to return $37 million to 17 Massachusetts cities and towns and the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority after it allegedly misled them into buying investments they thought were as safe as cash. UBS Financial Services reached an agreement with Attorney General Martha Coakley after she found that the brokerage had not fully disclosed the risks of the auction-rate securities.
Posted Wednesday, May 7
Washington State
‘Flawed’ Child-Welfare Agency Closes
Seattle Times
The Office of African-American Children's Services—once considered a national model in the way it tried to address the high number of black kids in the child-welfare system—has officially closed. The state office shut down in March after a federal civil-rights investigation deemed it "deeply flawed."
Georgia
Execution Ends Lethal-Injection Moratorium
Atlanta Journal-Constitutions
Almost 20 years after murdering his ex-girlfriend, William Earl Lynd became the first person in the United States to die by lethal injection since an unofficial moratorium was placed on executions while the U.S. Supreme Court decided the constitutionality of the procedure. Lynd's execution is expected to be followed soon by several in Georgia and other states.
California
$227 Million in Stem Cell Grants to Be Awarded
Los Angeles Times
California's voter-created stem cell institute is expected to award $227 million in grants today to seed a building spree at a dozen universities and research centers. New labs are needed to house the growing number of researchers funded by 2004's Proposition 71, officials at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine say.
Posted Tuesday, May 6
Florida
University to Lay Off Faculty, Cut Enrollment
St. Petersburg Times
Faced with a nearly $50 million loss in state dollars for the looming budget year, the University of Florida will lay off 138 faculty and staff members, cut undergraduate enrollment by 4,000 students, slash research spending, and eliminate some degree programs and academic departments. Administrators already have frozen freshman enrollment and left faculty and staff positions vacant.
California Health Providers Sue to Block Cuts Sacramento Bee
California doctors, hospitals and other health-care providers filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to block the state from cutting payments to them for treating the poor.
Ohio
A.G. May Face Impeachment in Sex Scandal
Akron Beacon Journal
With Attorney General Marc Dann refusing demands from fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual-harassment scandal and an extramarital affair with a subordinate, Gov. Ted Strickland said Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Dann. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said his chamber, which takes the first step in any impeachment, was already reviewing the process.
Posted Monday, May 5
Minnesota
State Footed Bills for Game Wardens’ Conference
Minneapolis Star Tribune
When game wardens from across North America were invited to a conference in St. Paul last year, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' enforcement division spent $196,000 in state funds and an estimated $187,000 in staff salaries to make the annual conference a success. The enforcement division is now strapped for cash, and DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said an auditor will review the spending.
Michigan
New Tax Incentives Reeling in Film Projects
Detroit Free Press
The first 13 deals have been signed under a new state law offering lucrative tax incentives—considered the most generous in the nation—to filmmakers to bring their projects to Michigan, state officials said. Total Michigan production costs from the projects are estimated at more than $100 million, with state government rebating about $39 million if the work is completed.
Arizona
Uranium-Mining Claims Skyrocket Near Canyon
Los Angeles Times
Thanks to renewed interest in nuclear power, the United States is on the verge of a uranium mining boom, and nowhere is the hurry to stake claims more pronounced than in the districts flanking the Grand Canyon. On public lands within five miles of Grand Canyon National Park, there are now more than 1,100 uranium claims, compared with just 10 in January 2003, according to the Department of the Interior.