State Politics & News
Coverage of state politics, elections, and conservative policy battles across all 50 states shaping America’s future.
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opinion
A Big Win for Voter ID Laws in Texas
The Texas voter ID law, which was effective in November 2013 statewide constitutional elections, will be in place for the Nov. 4 mid-term election, representing a big win for voters and election integrity in Texas. On Saturday, the Supreme Court rejected an emergency petition filed by the NAACP and refused to overrule the Fifth Circuit… -
news
On the Campaign Trail: ‘Ground Zero’ in North Carolina and the GOP Chase for College Kids
RALEIGH, N.C.–For Republicans, “ground zero” is the state where the party’s fortunes in the Senate could be won or lost. And for a Republican Party that has traditionally struggled to match the Democrats’ ground game, “ground zero” is also the volunteer-driven campaign offices dotted throughout that same state. “This is ground zero in America,” said… -
news
From California to D.C., These Cowboys Rode in Protest of Government Land Grab
A group of horseback riders and grassroots activists rode into Washington, D.C., last week after traveling nearly 2,800 miles from the California coast to raise awareness about the Bureau of Land Management’s decision to revoke their grazing rights and the federal government’s extensive ownership of land and natural resources in the West. The group, which calls… -
opinion
Wisconsin State Prosecutors Lose Another Round in Their Outrageous Attempt to Silence Conservatives
Fortunately for the interests of American democracy, the First Amendment and citizen advocacy, state prosecutors in Wisconsin have just lost another round in their outrageous attempt to criminalize political speech and silence the voices of conservatives in Wisconsin. On Oct. 14, federal district court Judge Rudolph Randa issued a temporary injunction prohibiting the Wisconsin Government… -
news
California Politician Claims Obamacare Contracts Went to Agency Director’s Cronies
California’s beleaguered Obamacare exchange is once again in the crosshairs of a state senator who is demanding answers following reports that millions in contracts never went out to bid and instead were awarded to friends of the agency’s director. Sen. Ted Gaines, who also is the GOP candidate for state insurance commissioner on the November… -
news
Big Texas Health Care Provider Can Handle Only 6 Cases of Ebola
One of the largest health care providers in Texas can handle only about six Ebola cases at any given time using current medical protocols. "What if, God forbid, we saw 8,000, as in West Africa? They had no answer," says @SenTedCruz. The startling figure was revealed by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in a Texas Tribune… -
news
Not Just Kansas Anymore: Why Voter ID Laws in These States Are Tangled Up in Courts
In the run-up to the Nov. 4 midterm elections, the courts have weighed in on voting rules, both supporting and rebuking efforts by Republican state governments to prevent fraud. The Supreme Court last week upheld a North Carolina voting law that bars same-day registration and doesn’t allow the counting of votes cast in the wrong… -
news
Hawaii Students Get Gift Cards for Participating in Controversial Sex-Ed Program
HONOLULU – Middle school students who participated in a controversial sex education program in Hawaii were rewarded with gift cards from the University of Hawaii Center on Disability Studies. The gift cards, valued at between $10 and $20 each, were issued to 11-, 12- and 13-year-olds who participate in Pono Choices. About $52,200 of a… -
opinion
Supreme Court Blocks Part of Texas Abortion Law. But That Doesn’t Mean the Court Would Strike Down Law Itself.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an application to block parts of H.B. 2, Texas’s abortion law made famous by State Sen. Wendy Davis’ 11-hour filibuster from going into effect while the case is pending. In Whole Women’s Health v. Lakey, a federal district court struck down as unconstitutional H.B. 2’s requirements that doctors… -
news
Watch Louisiana Senate Hopefuls Score Job Performance of Obama, Jindal in the Same Sentence
President Obama and Gov. Bobby Jindal took a beating last night from Louisiana’s three leading U.S. Senate candidates. At their first debate, incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu, Republican challenger Rep. Bill Cassidy and Rob Maness, a retired Air Force veteran also running as a Republican, squared off over health care, Social Security and climate change. The… -
news
Tennessee Woman Jailed for Overgrown Yard
A Tennessee woman has been jailed because of her overgrown yard. Karen Holloway was cited by Lenoir City during the summer when she started to struggle to keep up with her yard work because of what she called “personal, family issues.” “With my husband going to school and working full time, me with my job,… -
opinion
Environmentalists Halt Obama Administration Plan to Cut Trees in Alaska
A family-owned timber firm that operates the last significant sawmill in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest has won a momentous U.S. Forest Service contract: the Big Thorne Project, which will allow the harvest of nearly 150 million board feet of wood. The Obama administration's decision marks the transition away from old-growth timber and toward a sustainable… -
news
Second US Ebola Patient Identified as Young Texas Nurse
A 26-year-old nurse named Nina Pham is the health care worker at a Dallas hospital who tested positive for the Ebola virus after helping to treat a man who later died of the disease, her family told a Dallas radio station. WFAA reported that Pham, a 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University’s nursing program, is the first person known to contract the… -
news
Drive for Uber, Go to Jail in One Alabama City
CULLMAN, Ala.—Tuscaloosa residents who offer rides to others through the ridesharing service Uber soon could find themselves in handcuffs. A Tuscaloosa city spokeswoman confirmed this week the city will follow through on an ultimatum issued last week and put drivers behind bars for violating Tuscaloosa’s vehicle-for-hire ordinance, a misdemeanor. “The city has decided to step up… -
opinion
Scientists May Disagree on the Causes of the California Drought, but Policymakers with Agendas Don’t
California’s recent drought has many people, including policymakers, looking to point the finger at global warming. The authors of several recent scientific papers aren’t so sure. A report by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society compiled the work of 20 research groups studying extreme weather events from 2013. The report concluded “that natural variability… -
news
State’s Welfare Recipients Withdraw Money in Far-Off Places (Hawaii, Las Vegas and Even Virgin Islands)
Taxpayers are apparently buying welfare recipients booze and cigarettes for the road—at times a quite exotic road. An analysis of a Colorado Department of Human Services welfare ATM withdrawals database shows that $3.8 million was withdrawn by Colorado welfare recipients outside the state in the past two years. There were withdrawals at out-of-state liquor stores… -
opinion
New York City Follows Obama Playbook on Immigration
The federal government is about to get kicked off Rikers Island. Taking a page from the Obama immigration playbook, the New York City Council this week is deciding which immigration laws it wants to enforce and which ones it does not. Under the proposed legislation that will very likely pass the Democrat-controlled council, the New… -
news
Michelle Obama Packs Her Bags for Iowa, Michigan
Michelle Obama is heading to the heartland Friday to lend Iowa Democrats a helping hand in one of the closest U.S. Senate races in the country. Earlier in the day, the first lady will visit Michigan, home to another key Senate contest. Notably missing from the travel arrangements so far: her husband, Barack Obama. Iowa’s… -
news
Why One State Legislature Is Using Your Tax Dollars to Operate Its Own News Service
LINCOLN, Neb.—In addition to the gaggle of TV, radio, online and newspaper reporters who regularly cover the Nebraska Legislature, a handful of lesser-known reporters who write about the legislature also work for it. The Unicameral Information Office employs three public information officers who earn an average of $47,442 per year not only to do public… -
news
Hawaii Will Go Bust By 2016, Senate Minority Leader Says
HONOLULU — Hawaii Senate Minority Leader Sam Slom is warning fellow lawmakers he has serious concerns about the state’s economic future. Slom, the only Republican in the 25-member Senate, cites the Council on Revenues’ recent downgraded economic forecast indicating Hawaii is in much worse financial position than anticipated. “Hawaii is set to go bust in 2016…