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By Stateline.org Staff
TODAY’S TAKE: If and when President Obama signs legislation revamping the nation’s health care system, several Republican-led states appear likely to fight a key provision of the new law in court. Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter on Wednesday (March 17) became the first governor to sign a bill setting up a legal showdown, while Virginia’s attorney general vowed to do the same.
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By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer
State prisons have been a dynamic growth industry over the past four decades, with the number of inmates exploding by more than 700 percent. No longer. A survey released Wednesday (March 17) by the Pew Center on the States, the parent organization of Stateline.org, finds that the total number of prisoners in state custody declined last year for the first time since 1972.
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AL: Gag order issued in UAH shooter case
By The Associated Press, Montgomery Advertiser
The judge set to preside over accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop's upcoming preliminary hearing Tuesday on capital murder and attempted murder charges issued a gag order in the case today.
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AR: U.S. to inspect 2 state-run units
By Amy Upshaw, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
The U.S. Department of Justice will inspect two residential facilities for the developmentally disabled next week, marking the first major step in the agency's investigation of state-run human-development centers in Arkansas.
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AR: Ark. lottery hit with trademark suit over name
By Chuck Bartels, The Associated Press, The Log Cabin Democrat (Conway)
A Little Rock businessman filed suit Thursday against the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery, arguing that the lottery should be ordered to stop using terms for which he secured the trademark years ago — including the phrase "Arkansas Lottery."
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AZ: New marijuana ballot measure set for November
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff)
What happened to a Wal-Mart worker in Michigan who was fired for testing positive for marijuana probably could not happen in Arizona if voters approve a ballot measure in November.
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AZ: Records in Arizona sweat lodge case offer details
By Felicia Fonseca, Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff)
Documents released Thursday in the case of a motivational speaker charged with manslaughter expand on the already wide range of experiences participants reported having during an Arizona sweat lodge ceremony.
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AZ: Budget base shaky
By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff)
The budget that Gov. Jan Brewer signed on Thursday is built on a series of assumptions about what voters -- and courts -- will do.
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CA: UC could oversee prison health
By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times
The Schwarzenegger administration wants to put the University of California in charge of state prison inmates' medical needs in an overhaul of the troubled corrections healthcare system that could save $12 billion over a decade, officials say.
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CA: Schwarzenegger appoints paralyzed lawyer Sara Granda to legal post
By Kevin Yamamura, The Sacramento Bee
Sara Granda, the UC Davis law school graduate who is paralyzed and drew national attention last year when State Bar officials nearly prevented her from taking the exam, has been named by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to a legal position in the state Department of Health Care Services.
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CA: Group seeks documents from Anthem Blue Cross inquiry
By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times
consumer group Thursday called on California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to release all documents related to his investigation of proposed double-digit rate increases by Anthem Blue Cross for customers who buy individual policies.
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DE: Delaware bill seeks longer protective orders
By J.L. Miller, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
Legislation to strengthen Delaware's system for protecting victims of domestic violence from further abuse was unveiled Thursday by Gov. Jack Markell and Attorney General Beau Biden.
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FL: New rules assure public can see court records
By The Associated Press, The Miami Herald
Noting that the courts are moving ``inevitably into the electronic age,'' the Florida Supreme Court adopted new rules Thursday intended to assure public access to court records. The rules include guidelines for sealing and unsealing a limited range of confidential files.
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GA: Bill to allow time served for juveniles advances
By Nancy Badertscher, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Georgia House passed legislation Thursday allowing juvenile offenders to receive credit for time served. Only adult prisoners are currently given credit for the time they serve waiting for their case to go through court, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver.
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GA: Senate moves to close same-sex loophole in incest law
By Ernie Suggs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On Thursday, the Senate voted 42-0 to provide gender neutrality in incest cases. What does that mean? That if a man rapes his son, or a woman rapes her daughter, that person would also be charged with incest, along with rape or sodomy.
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HI: Softball players claim bias
By Curtis Lum, The Honolulu Advertiser
U.S. District Judge David Ezra today will hear a motion for a temporary restraining order after three members of Baldwin High School's girls softball team filed a federal lawsuit against the state and Maui County yesterday alleging they are being discriminated against because of their gender.
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IA: State aims to hire debt collector
By Rod Boshart, Sioux City Journal
Iowa lawmakers are looking to hire a debt coordinator to oversee a process of trying to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars owed to the state for unpaid court charges, back taxes or other delinquent payments.
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ID: Idaho Senate backs dumping limit on DNA testing
By The Associated Press, The Times-News (Twin Falls)
Inmates who want to file a petition for DNA or fingerprint analysis would no longer be subject to a one-year limitation to request such a test, under a measure that cleared the Senate on Thursday.
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IL: Sexting bill passes Illinois Senate
By Michelle Manchir, Chicago Tribune
Students under 18 who use computers or cell phones to share nude photos of their peers would earn little more than a scolding under a measure the Illinois Senate approved Thursday to address the "sexting" phenomenon.
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IL: NIU probes motives, response to 2008 shootings
By Jodi S. Cohen, Chicago Tribune
Steven Kazmierczak wanted infamy. He wanted video game-style bloodshed. And perhaps most of all, he wanted to punish Northern Illinois University, the "surrogate family" that had kept his demons at bay but that he felt ultimately abandoned him.
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IN: Workplace gun law 'appropriate'
By Staff Reports, Gary Post-Tribune
PORTAGE, Ind. -- A new law allowing people to carry guns into parking lots on business property won't cause more work place violence, Northwest Indiana officials say.
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KY: Supreme Court ruling favors state in Internet gambling case
By Beth Musgrave, Lexington Herald-Leader
In a censorship case with international repercussions, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that owners of gambling Web sites must appear in court to defend themselves against Kentucky's attempts to seize their domain names and stop illegal Internet gambling.
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KY: Kentucky Human Rights agency marks 50 years
By Joseph Gerth, The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Back when Kentucky formed the South's first state human rights commission in 1960, Gov. Steve Beshear noted that African Americans could be kicked out of swimming pools, movie theaters, hospitals and restaurants. Yesterday, he and the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights celebrated Kentucky's strides in human rights and called for more progress in the future.
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KY: 'Sexting' bill clears Senate panel
By Stephanie Steitzer, The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
A measure that would give law enforcement a new option for dealing with teens caught "sexting" — sending sexually explicit photos through cell phones — cleared a Senate committee Thursday.
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MA: Bullying bill OK'd in House, 148 to 0
By David Abel, The Boston Globe
The Massachusetts House, after an emotional debate, unanimously approved a bill yesterday that seeks to curtail bullying in schools and in cyberspace, mirroring similar legislation passed last week by the Senate.
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MI: U.S. Supreme Court may rule on Asian carp case
By Nathan Hurst, The Detroit News
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court could decide as early as today if it will consider a lawsuit filed by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox seeking immediate closure of the locks near Chicago to keep the invasive Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.
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MS: Board approves agency furloughs
By LaRaye Brown, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson)
More than 5,000 state employees could be sent home without pay as agencies grapple with continually shrinking budgets. The state Personnel Board on Thursday approved furloughs up to six days for employees of the Department of Public Safety, said Lynn Fitch, the board's executive director. The state Tax Commission and Department of Agriculture and Commerce were each approved for personnel furloughs of four to 12 day
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MS: Legislative highlights
By Staff Reports, The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson)
Criminals convicted of a felony may have to reimburse the investigating agency under a new law.
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NC: School suspensions lead to legal challenge
By Erik Eckholm, The New York Times
CHOCOWINITY, N.C. — As school let out one day in January 2008, students from rival towns faced off. Two girls flailed away for several seconds and clusters of boys pummeled each other until teachers pulled them apart.
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NC: Poole faces more counts
By Benjamin Niolet, The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A federal grand jury added tax evasion and other charges Thursday to the corruption case against Ruffin Poole, a key aide to former Gov. Mike Easley. The new charges add dozens of years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to the potential penalties hanging over Poole's head.
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NE: Complaint against AG Bruning won't be investigated
By Catharine Huddle, Lincoln Journal Star
The Counsel for Discipline of the Nebraska Supreme Court has declined to pursue a complaint that Attorney General Jon Bruning violated rules of professional conduct. That doesn't mean Counsel for Discipline Dennis Carlson approved of or defended what Bruning said during a January radio interview.
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NH: Court workers okay furloughs
By Annmarie Timmins, Concord Monitor
The 363 judicial branch employees in the State Employees' Association will join judges and other court staff in taking unpaid furloughs to meet a $3.1 million budget shortfall. The measure passed yesterday 149-4, with 80 percent of the eligible members voting.
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NY: Paterson claims he was article's source
By Danny Hakim and Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times
In a radio town hall appearance this morning in New York City, Gov. David A. Paterson claimed that he was the one who first told the news media that he had talked to a woman involved in a domestic violence complaint against one of his top aides.
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NY: Cuomo probes pension 'spiking'
By Gina Chon, The Wall Street Journal
New York became the latest state to shine a light on the practice of pension "spiking"—big increases in a government worker's salary just before retirement to boost the lifelong pension payout.
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NY: A flurry of calls after a Paterson aide's domestic dispute
By Danny Hakim and William K. Rashbaum, The New York Times
The dispute had ended, and his companion had called 911, saying she had been a victim of domestic violence. Sometime before 10 p.m. on Oct. 31, David W. Johnson left the Bronx apartment he shared with the woman and began making a series of phone calls.
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NY: Bid to thwart Medicaid fraud
By Carl Campanile, New York Post
State Senate Republicans yesterday proposed restoring extensive background checks to deter fraud in New York's $52 billion Medicaid program.
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NY: Tell-all offensive offering defense
By The Associated Press, Times Union (Albany)
Gov. David Paterson said Thursday that he was the first to reveal a conversation he had with a woman at the center of a domestic violence scandal, the second consecutive day the once-silent governor defended his actions.
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NY: Sweet exit kiss?
By Rick Karlin, Times Union (Albany)
Saratoga County has come under Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's pension microscope, with the state's top lawyer including it on a list of 28 government entities that appear to have unusually high pension costs.
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OH: Halfway houses put on notice by state
By Alan Johnson, The Columbus Dispatch
The state is pulling funding from three halfway houses and putting six community-based corrections facilities, including one in Newark, on probation because of poor performance.
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OK: Oklahoma medical examiners struggle, official says
By Nolan Clay, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)
The state medical examiner's office has a backlog of more than 1,100 uncompleted cases, its chief administrative officer revealed Thursday. The backlog will continue to increase until more doctors are hired, Tom Jordan told the Board of Medicolegal Investigations, which oversees office operations.
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OK: Oklahoma lawmaker to seek law change
By Michael McNutt, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)
The flap over releasing security camera footage to determine who moved the president's portrait in the House of Representatives is an illustration why legislators should fall under the same laws as everyone else, a lawmaker said Thursday.
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RI: Carcieri against move to decriminalize marijuana
By Katherine Gregg, The Providence Journal
Governor Carcieri opposes the move to decriminalize marijuana, according to spokeswoman Amy Kempe. Stopping short of saying he would veto any such proposal, Kempe said: "The governor opposes any legislation that weakens the drug laws, and has vetoed every piece of legislation that weakens those laws that has been sent to him."
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RI: NAACP's Monteiro notes Thompson's elevation as a historic step
By Katie Mulvaney, The Providence Journal
The Providence branch of the NAACP praised Superior Court Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson's elevation to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a historic step in black history and for women. Thompson, 58, of Cranston, became the first black person and the second woman to serve on the Boston-based federal appeals court with her confirmation by the Senate Wednesday.
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SC: Sanford to pay $140,000, admits no wrongdoing
By John O'Connor, The State (Columbia)
Gov. Mark Sanford has settled charges that he broke state ethics laws, admitting no guilt but agreeing to pay $74,000 in fines. The governor also agreed to pay $66,223 to reimburse the cost of the state investigation into his travel and to pay for his use of state aircraft, pricey airline tickets and misspent campaign money.
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SC: Gov. Sanford accepts fine in ethics case
By Robbie Brown, The New York Times
Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina agreed Thursday to pay $74,000 to settle charges that his personal travel and campaign spending violated state ethics laws, but he continued to deny wrongdoing.
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SC: Judge finalizes SC Gov. Mark Sanford's divorce
By Bruce Smith, The State (Columbia)
After the governor's mysterious disappearance, his tearful, public admission of an affair, and a revealing memoir by his wife, the 20-year marriage of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and his wife Jenny is over.
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TX: The secret pardon
By Brandi Grissom, The Texas Tribune
Every couple of minutes, attorney Rob Owen glances nervously at the calendar in his office. Barring the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court, a reprieve from the secretive Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is the last hope for his client, Hank Skinner, to avoid the poison-filled syringe that awaits him on Wednesday.
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US: GOP plots strategies to nullify health bill
By Naftali Bendavid, The Wall Street Journal
WASHINGTON—Republicans are looking beyond Sunday's expected vote on the Democrats' health-care overhaul to focus on strategies for striking back should it pass, ranging from challenges to the measure by individual states to a national repeal campaign.
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VA: Cuccinelli renews threat to challenge health-care reform
By Jim Nolan, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli took to the national airwaves yesterday to discuss his letter to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and threatened legal action if the House employs the "deem and pass" method of voting on President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul.
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VA: Convicted killer, rapist executed in Va.
By The Associated Press, The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk)
JARRATT, Va. -- A man who killed a teen girl and then bragged about it to prosecutors once he thought he could not face the death penalty was executed Thursday.
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VA: Virginia executes man in 1999 murder of woman, rape of her sister
By Josh White, The Washington Post
Kristie Reed was on the basement floor, her throat and wrists slashed. Her older sister, Stacie, was upstairs, dead from a stab wound to the heart. When police reached Kristie, who was then 14 years old, an officer leaned in and asked who had done this to her. Kristie mouthed two words: "Paul Powell."
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WI: Wis. group stops using Citizens United name
By Ryan J. Foley, Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)
A Wisconsin group protesting a landmark U.S. Supreme Court campaign finance ruling will stop using the name "Citizens United" in a petition protesting the decision after being asked by that group not to.
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The empire strikes out
By Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org Staff Writer
 New York Governor David Paterson replaced a governor caught up in a scandal. Now Paterson is accused of wrongdoing himself and has declined to run for election. Facing a myriad of challenges, including a $9 billion budget shortfall, Paterson is finding it difficult to be effective in his final months in office.
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Non-profit Ill. hospital must pay property tax
By Stateline.org Staff
TODAY'S TAKE: In a closely watched case, Illinois’ highest court Thursday determined that a not-for-profit hospital had to pay property taxes, because it didn’t offer enough charity care to qualify for a tax exemption.
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