state news

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Protests over George Floyd's killing at the hands of Minneapolis police were raging across the country last June when a Democratic lawmaker took to the floor of the Pennsylvania Senate to argue for greater protections against... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — Critics of Georgia's new Republican-backed election law issued fresh calls Monday to boycott some of the state's largest businesses for not speaking out more forcefully against the law, a day after advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in... Read More

Title 13 of the United States Code requires the secretary of commerce to provide governors and the officials responsible for redistricting in each state with the census results. As a general rule, legislative and congressional redistricting must be completed before... Read More

WASHINGTON — New Census Bureau estimates show 16 states saw population declines last year as the nation experienced its slowest overall growth since the Great Depression, a new Pew Charitable Trusts analysis shows. According to the analysis, which first appeared... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. - A Virginia General Assembly bill introduced last week to abolish the death penalty has the added backing of the governor in a state that has led the nation in the number of convicts given capital punishment. At... Read More

The rapid expansion of COVID-19 vaccinations to senior citizens across the U.S. has led to bottlenecks, system crashes and hard feelings in many states because of overwhelming demand for the shots. Mississippi's Health Department stopped taking new appointments the same... Read More

ATLANTA (AP) — In 2008, when Barack Obama was under fire for a sermon his former pastor delivered years earlier, the aspiring president distanced himself from the preacher’s fiery words that channeled Black Americans’ anger over racism. The Rev. Raphael... Read More

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The federal government granted Florida’s request for wider authority over wetland development, a move announced Thursday that came under immediate fire by environmentalist who worry that the country's largest network of wetlands could be at risk... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — Polls had only been closed in Florida for a few hours last month when elections offices started closing up shop for the night, too. Almost all the votes were counted and reported, and there just wasn't much left to do at... Read More

ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday called on President Donald Trump to drop unproven allegations of voting fraud in the state. At a news conference at the Georgia Capitol, Raffensperger decried Trump's continued insistence that voter fraud cost him the election in Georgia and elsewhere.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to extend the Election Day deadline for mail ballots in Wisconsin, rejecting appeals from Democrats who said the Postal Service may not be able handle the flood of election mail by Nov. 3. The justices by a 5-3 vote left in place a... Read More

WASHINGTON — The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis released eight weekly reports from the White House Coronavirus Task Force this summer that showed concerns about the coronavirus’s spread, the same time period when the administration prematurely declared victory... Read More

SALEM, Ore. - Starting this week, those who are unemployed in the state of Oregon can apply for a one-time $500 stimulus check on a first-come-first-served basis at select financial institutions. As many as 77,000 Oregon residents will be eligible... Read More

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia agreed to work collaboratively on hastening the switch to all-electric fleet vehicles in an effort to suppress toxic air pollution Tuesday. Their goal, according to a joint memorandum signed by the states’ governors,... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — There was a time when the election was supposed to be the big story of 2020. With all that attention and energy, voter registration numbers would go through the roof. Parties, campaigns and advocacy groups planned to knock... Read More

The United States has reached another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of confirmed infections surging past 3 million on Wednesday. The official tally, compiled by Johns Hopkins University, is almost twice as high as the second... Read More

PHILADELPHIA — A month into planning what fall might look like for the 2,700 students in his Gloucester County school district, Jim Lavender tore through 104 pages of guidance from the New Jersey Department of Education. By Wednesday, Lavender had... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — Gleaming new tent hospitals sit empty on two suburban New York college campuses, never having treated a single coronavirus patient. Convention centers that were turned into temporary hospitals in other cities went mostly unused. And a... Read More

Coronavirus is testing election systems like never before. Voting has traditionally been a private, yet social affair, with citizens turning out to public polling places to make their voices heard and show the receipt of their civic duty with the... Read More

WASHINGTON — Since 2014, Congress has protected patients and cannabis programs from federal marijuana prosecutions in states that allow it for medical use. Medical marijuana’s unique legal status involves a little-known provision called the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment that Congress renews every... Read More

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia state Delegate Jay Jones has to see the statue of a Confederate soldier every day on his way to his law office in Norfolk. “Every time I drive past it … my heart breaks a little... Read More

WASHINGTON - The virtue of absentee ballots has no doubt been argued everywhere from Shelly's Back Room in Washington, D.C., where the give-and-take was accompanied by cigars and whiskey, to the crowded dining room of the Red Arrow 24 Diner... Read More

WASHINGTON - Four states are appealing a federal judge’s September dismissal of their lawsuit challenging federal authority to limit state and local tax deductions. In a filing before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, attorneys for the states argue... Read More

WASHINGTON — The new congressional maps passed by North Carolina state lawmakers last month can stand for the 2020 election, a three-judge panel ruled Monday. The previous maps gave Republicans a 10-3 advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives. Under... Read More

WASHINGTON - A House Panel that deals with water resource and environmental issues will travel to South Florida this weekend for a roundtable on infrastructure projects to be considered for inclusion in the next Water Resources Development Act. Rep. Grace... Read More

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy cut $444 million from the state’s operating budget  last week, a move he said was critical to moving closer to a balanced budget without raising taxes or reducing the annual Permanent Fund dividend paid to every... Read More