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1 week ago | 
governing.com | Alan Greenblatt |Zina Hutton
That was apparently the method used by the assailant who knocked on the doors of two state legislators early Saturday, then killed House Democratic Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and seriously injured Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette. Police said the suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter,was wearing a convincing police disguise, including a Taser, badge and black body armor.
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1 week ago | 
governing.com | Alan Greenblatt |Zina Hutton
Under a forthcoming amendment to Senate Bill 1177 — still a placeholder bill for some mechanism to fund wildfire prevention and response work in the state — Democratic state Sen. Jeff Golden proposes the Legislature move $1 billion of the expected $1.64 billion state tax rebate to an interest-bearing wildfire account.
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1 week ago | 
governing.com | Alan Greenblatt |Zina Hutton
McMahon told a U.S. House committee last month she rehired 74 employees out of the roughly 2,000 who were laid off or agreed to separation packages. A court filing earlier this month says the agency will revive about a fifth of research and statistics contracts killed earlier this year, at least for now, though that doesn’t mean the work will look exactly as it did before.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Carl Smith |Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
Violent tornado outbreaks, like the storms that tore through parts of St. Louis and London, Ky., on May 16, have made 2025 seem like an especially active, deadly and destructive year for tornadoes. The U.S. has had more reported tornadoes than normal — more than 1,000 as of May 27, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary count.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Carl Smith |Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
Those are among the hundreds of proposals California lawmakers swiftly rejected Friday under the banner of cost savings, as they cited the state’s $12 billion budget deficit — a worsening figure due to the threat of unprecedented federal funding cuts and California’s ballooning spending on health care for low-income residents.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Carl Smith |Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
When it comes to artificial intelligence regulation, however, the answer is easy: The economic and national security implications of AI development place it squarely in the domain of the federal government pursuant to the commerce clause. That’s precisely why Congress has the authority to move forward with a proposed moratorium on state regulation of AI. A bill working its way through the House includes a prohibition on states enforcing a broad range of AI regulations for 10 years.
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1 month ago | 
governing.com | Girard Miller |Zina Hutton
Abbott is poised to sign legislation that creates a voucher-style program for families to use public money to attend private schools. Conservatives have pushed for such a plan for more than a quarter century, and last year Abbott went to war with members of his own party to make it happen. O’Rourke, who lost to Abbott in the 2022 governor’s race, said he was repulsed by Abbott taking $12 million in campaign donations from Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass to help push his voucher agenda.
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2 months ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Zina Hutton
The Trump administration has recently revoked the visas of nearly 1,500 foreign college students — detaining some — and launched immigration enforcement actions on college campuses across the country. This has raised concerns among the more than 1.1 million international students studying at U.S. universities.
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2 months ago | 
governing.com | Jared Brey |Alan Greenblatt |Zina Hutton
Critics of the new push to ban soda and candy purchases under SNAP say it unfairly targets lower income families, limits consumer choice and won't result in better health outcomes.
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2 months ago | 
governing.com | Zina Hutton
The wind swept through El Paso one day in March, lifting a fine layer of dust that settled onto windshields, clothes and skin. The air was thick with haze from a dust storm. This border city, perched on the edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, receives on average less than 9 inches of rain each year. Water in the city of 679,000 people is a challenge.
