Author
Greg McDonald
State Attorney Generals Issue Privacy Guidelines
By: Greg McDonald - March 16, 2001
Responding to increased public concerns about privacy issues, the National Association of Attorneys General released a set of fairly strong guidelines Friday (3/16) urging the adoption of laws that would force commercial interests to actively seek permission from people before selling or trading their personal information. Although the chief law enforcement officers stopped short of […]
Perks Plentiful For Virginia Lawmakers, Students Find
By: Greg McDonald - March 12, 2001
Gift giving and taking is alive and well in the Virginia General Assembly, despite various ethics rules and other guidelines designed to prevent political conflicts of interest, a study conducted by undergraduate journalism students at Virginia Commonwealth University has found. The Richmond-based Philip Morris Corporation was the biggest donor, giving lawmakers nearly $26,000 in gifts, […]
States Tackle Privacy Loopholes Created By Congress
By: Greg McDonald - February 15, 2001
When Congress voted two years ago to tear down Depression-era barriers that had long kept banks, investment firms, insurance companies and other elements of the financial services industry from merging , Wisconsin State Representative Marlin Schneider had just one comment: “They’re nuts,” he said of the federal lawmakers. Since then, a growing number of state […]
State Officials Meet on Election Reform
By: Greg McDonald - February 2, 2001
Hoping to head off congressional interference in elections, the nation’s secretaries of state unveiled their own recommendations on election reform Monday (2/5), calling on Washington, D.C. to steer clear of state affairs and allow local officials to correct outdated and error-prone voting systems on their own. The only thing the secretaries want of the federal […]
States Benefit From New Technology, Study Shows
By: Greg McDonald - January 30, 2001
Alabama, which was found to be the worst managed state in the country two years ago, has measurably improved its performance since, according to a joint project of Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and Governing magazine, which periodically grades state governments on how they serve their citizens. If the project’s […]