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Editor’s Picks From Around The Web
US: Google’s states of play The Internet giant quietly has planted its political roots in places far beyond the Beltway — in state legislatures and city councils that have become hotbeds for tech policy fights. NJ: Christie’s pension maneuver would cost nearly twice as much in five years Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s plan to cut […]
States Push Annual Park Passes to Raise Revenue
© AP Mt. Hood National Forest, 40 miles east of Portland, Ore. State parks are growing more reliant on park-generated fees. The Idaho legislature whacked state park funding by 80 percent at the height of the recession, leaving the Department of Parks and Recreation with little choice but to think outside the box. Parks officials decided […]
Eight States Cut Funding to State Colleges in Last Year
The recession is over. So why are some states still cutting funding to higher education? Adjusted for inflation, 48 states are still spending less per student than they did before the Great Recession. (Alaska and North Dakota are the outliers.) Most of those states have begun to reverse the spending trend, but eight states reduced […]
Balancing Privacy, Jobs in Drone Debate
University of North Dakota aviation student Logan Lass lifts a lightweight drone used in training at the school’s unmanned aircraft program. North Dakota has no laws governing drones; other states are trying to regulate them. (AP) Most states are wrestling with how to restrict the nascent domestic drone industry. North Dakota is embracing it. North […]
Millionaire Households by State
Income inequality is one of the Obama administration’s buzz phrases for 2014, echoing a theme from 50 years ago when Lyndon Johnson declared his War on Poverty. Yet the yawning divide between the haves and have-nots is underscored by a new report on millionaires in the United States. The Phoenix Global Wealth Monitor ranks states […]
Taxing Social Security Benefits
The 14 states that tax Social Security benefits collect almost $1 billion a year from seniors. A new study released Tuesday by AARP shows the federal government collected $45.9 billion in taxes on Social Security income in 2011. Only a handful of states tax those retirement benefits, and AARP estimated the state take at $948 […]
How the Federal Shutdown Will Affect States
School children visit the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia on Monday. Independence National Historic Park is just one of the hundreds of federal parks and monuments that will close in a federal government shutdown. (AP) The civilian federal workforce of 1.85 million people scattered across all 50 states will feel the fallout of the government shutdown immediately. Governors […]