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By Monica Davey, The New York Times
LINCOLN, Neb. — In an unusual pushback against President Obama's expansion of federal financing of human embryonic stem cell research, the University of Nebraska is considering restricting its stem cell experiments to cell lines approved by President George W. Bush.
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By Joseph Spector, Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester)
In a case that mirrors a Rochester-area decision, the state's top court on Thursday upheld the rights of Westchester County and the state to legally extend benefits to same-sex couples married in other states.
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AR: Fight health bill, ex-Clinton adviser urges
By L. Lamor Williams, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
The health-care overhaul bill being considered in the U.S. Senate is "the most serious threat to our lives and our liberties we Americans have faced since World War II," former Clinton adviser Dick Morris told about 250 Arkansans who rallied against the legislation. The group gathered Thursday on the Capitol steps in front of a "Hands Off Our Healthcare" tour bus.
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AR: Swine flu death toll 20 in state
By Staff Reports, Arkansas News Bureau
Two more Arkansans have died from swine flu, pushing the death toll from the H1N1 virus to 20 in the state, the state Health Department said today.
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AR: Board OKs beer, wine sales at Fayetteville Walmart stores
By John Lyon, Arkansas News Bureau
The state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Thursday approved beer and small-farm wine permits for a Walmart Neighborhood Market and a Walmart Supercenter in Fayetteville, the first grocery stores in the city to be approved for alcohol sales.
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AZ: FACTS fees to remain the same
By Staff Reports, Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff)
Fees for a locally run low-cost child care program -- with art, drumming, snacks and homework help -- are not proposed to increase after all, following a decision from the state not to implement a large licensing fee hike.
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AZ: Special-needs scholarship struggles for donations
By Emily Gersema, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
A new scholarship fund for Arizona special-needs and foster children to attend private schools is falling flat, forcing some parents to send their children to other schools or to home-school, and prompting some small private schools to close their doors.
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AZ: Budget agreement fails in Senate
By Mary Jo Pitzl and Matthew Benson, The Arizona Republic (Phoenix)
Efforts to trim a few hundred million dollars from the state budget fell apart Thursday when the state Senate came up one vote shy of the needed majority.
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CA: Utility shut-offs soar for poor PG&E customers
By David R. Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
The number of low-income households cut off by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. after they fell behind on their utility bills jumped 75 percent this year, according to a state report released Thursday.
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CA: California's poverty rate 13.3 percent - maybe
By Dan Walters, The Sacramento Bee
California's poverty rate is almost exactly that of the nation as a whole, the Census Bureau says in its latest massive data release, while its median household income of $57,988 is higher than all but a dozen states.
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CT: Lawmaker stopped again for using cell phone in car
By The Associated Press, The Hartford Courant
NEWTOWN, Conn. -- A Connecticut lawmaker says he's paid more than $390 in fines and his driver's license has been reinstated after he was pulled over by police a second time for illegally using a cell phone while driving.
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CT: Schools shift strategy on swine flu, staying open more
By Grace E. Merritt, The Hartford Courant
Despite a handful of school closings last month when a second wave of swine flu hit the state — including one decision to close schools in a district where only 6 percent of the students were out sick — superintendents overall now seem to be showing more restraint when deciding whether to close.
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DE: Correction Department alerts Delaware to crowding crisis
By James Merriweather, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
Crowding at Baylor Women's Correctional Institution near New Castle, the state's only women's prison, could become a crisis even if there's a relatively small spike in crime, Corrections Commissioner Carl C. Danberg told state budget writers Thursday.
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DE: Delaware asked to invest in wind company
By Aaron Nathans, The News Journal (New Castle-Wilmington)
A startup company whose management includes former Lt. Gov. John Carney is seeking a state investment of $350,000 to establish an operation in Wilmington to manufacture support towers for wind turbines.
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FL: Need a job? Senate going to pay budget expert up to $170K a year
By Dara Kam, The Palm Beach Post
Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander is setting up a new office to help him figure out if the state is spending money wisely.
Alexander and his House counterparts have grappled with the state's plummeting revenues and are facing a $2.7 billion projected spending gap in next year's budget.
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FL: Miami-Dade leaders to fight wage theft
By The Associated Press, Tallahassee Democrat
MIAMI -- Miami-Dade Commissioner Natasha Seijas announced a plan to combat the problem of wage theft -- an effort that could serve as a model for cities nationwide.
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FL: Broward grand jury recommend pain clinic reforms
By Scott Hiaasen, The Miami Herald
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Broward County grand jury issued a damning report Thursday bemoaning the explosion of illegal painkillers sold through Broward pain clinics -- and warning that reforms passed by the Legislature may not be enough.
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GA: No new patients being admitted to Central State Hospital
By Travis Fain, The Macon Telegraph
Georgia's state-run psychiatric hospitals continue to have serious problems, and a recent Department of Justice visit to the largest facility — Central State Hospital in Milledgeville — led the hospital to stop taking new patients indefinitely.
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HI: School board approves bus fare increase
By Loren Moreno, The Honolulu Advertiser
Public school parents will pay more for their kids to ride the school bus come next year after the state Board of Education voted 8-2 tonight to raise one-way fares from 35 cents to 75 cents.
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IA: New Postville packer gets state assistance
By Donnelle Eller, The Des Moines Register
The new owners of the former Agriprocessors in Postville received $600,000 in state assistance Thursday for a $15 million proposal to expand and modernize the kosher beef and poultry packing plant.
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IA: Iowa City stem cell company gets state grant
By Staff and Wire Reports, The Des Moines Register
Cellular Engineering Technologies of Iowa City received $50,000 from the state Thursday to develop a more efficient technology platform to make adult stem cells for use in medical research, drug development and clinical therapy.
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IN: Indiana regulators approve heating assistance
By The Associated Press, Evansville Courier and Press
Consumer advocates say they're encouraged by state regulators' decision to allow Indiana utilities to reinstate heating assistance programs for the needy, but the next step is up to the utilities.
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LA: Strain -- State still waiting for funds
By Sarah Chacko, The Advocate (Baton Rouge)
The state agriculture department should have nearly all of $44.5 million in disaster recovery grants and loans in farmers' hands by Christmas, the head of the agency told legislators Thursday.
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LA: In New Orleans, elation over Katrina liability ruling
By Campbell Robertson, The New York Times
NEW ORLEANS — Since the first days after Hurricane Katrina, when the streets were still under water, many residents of New Orleans and its surroundings have maintained that the flood that wrecked their lives was the government's fault, and that the government should pay for it.
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MA: Shrewsbury opposes medical waste facility
By The Associated Press, Boston Herald
SSHREWSBURY, Mass. — Shrewsbury residents are mobilizing against a proposal to build a 21,000-square-foot medical waste disposal facility near a residential neighborhood in town.
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MD: State slashes budget by $362M
By Liam Farrell, The Capital (Annapolis)
The latest round of state budget cuts imposed yesterday will limit student financial aid, slice Medicaid payments to hospitals and even reduce commuter bus trips for state employees when the legislature is not in session.
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ME: No probe for city's TABOR fliers
By Susan M. Cover, Kennebec Journal
The state ethics commission decided Thursday against an investigation into whether South Portland should be required to file campaign finance reports because of a flier it sent regarding the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
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ME: Foes of gay vows face probe
By Susan M. Cover, Kennebec Journal
State ethics commission staff will soon begin an investigation into the fundraising practices of a group that contributed at least $1.6 million to defeat gay marriage in Maine.
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ME: Flu vaccine slow getting to Maine
By Meg Haskell, Bangor Daily News
Fewer than two-thirds of the very highest-priority Mainers — children and pregnant women — have been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu, largely due to the national shortage of vaccine, according to Maine's top public health official.
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MI: Bills aim to force pay cuts
By Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press
Calling it "another option to consider" in addressing the financial crisis gripping Michigan's public schools, an Oakland County lawmaker wants to empower the state schools superintendent to make unilateral cuts to the pay and benefits for school employees under some circumstances.
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MN: In new role, Minnesota to aid other states
By Devin Henry, St. Paul Pioneer Press
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes the New Madrid seismic zone on the Kentucky-Missouri border. Communications go offline, highways are severely damaged, and there is not enough shelter space to house those displaced by the quake.
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NC: N.C. Sen. Boseman says she won't run again
By The Associated Press, The Winston-Salem Journal
State Sen. Julia Boseman, the first openly gay person elected to the General Assembly, said yesterday that she won't run for a fourth term in the Senate next year, citing family responsibilities.
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NC: .C. Sen. Boseman says she won't run again
By The Associated Press, The Winston-Salem Journal
State Sen. Julia Boseman, the first openly gay person elected to the General Assembly, said yesterday that she won't run for a fourth term in the Senate next year, citing family responsibilities.
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NC: Doctor is brusque. Patient complains. Doctor fires back.
By Sarah Avery, The Charlotte Observer
Dr. Earl Sunderhaus, an Asheville eye doctor, has what might charitably be described as a brusque bedside manner. That much is not in dispute. But the N.C. Medical Board may decide Sunderhaus overstepped the bounds of decency when he recently told a patient she was irresponsible for being unemployed, on Medicaid, and relying on taxpayers to cover another pregnancy after giving birth less than a year earlier.
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NC: Prisoners allege sex abuse
By Mandy Locke, The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Four female inmates have filed a federal class-action lawsuit accusing North Carolina prison officials of subjecting female prisoners to extensive sexual violence and harassment amounting to cruel and unusual punishment.
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ND: Dakotas deal with vaccine shortages
By Wayne Ortman, The Associated Press, The Bismarck Tribune
The uncertainty over weekly allotments of a limited supply of H1N1 vaccine has complicated efforts to organize immunization clinics and distribute it to hundreds of providers in North Dakota and South Dakota.
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NE: McGill named head of Urban Affairs Committee
By JoAnne Young, Lincoln Journal Star
Lincoln Sen. Amanda McGill was elected Thursday to chair the Legislature's Urban Affairs Committee.
She will succeed Omaha Sen. Mike Friend, who resigned this summer to become the first director of the state's Office of Violence Prevention.
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NJ: Colleges spot chance to fight sexual assault
By Staff Reports, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
On college campuses across the state, students mix in dormitories and mingle at parties, but experts say they remain dangerously shy about confronting the warning signs of sexual assault.
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NJ: Essex Democrat is on track as next Assembly speaker
By Chris Megerian and Josh Margolin, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver now has a clear path to become speaker of the lower house, after her only remaining competition for the post, Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, dropped out of contention yesterday.
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NJ: Dem leader -- Economy trumps gay marriage
By Staff Reports, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
Following a dust-up over gay marriage in which he said he was taken out of context, Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney said it would be irresponsible for Democrats to bring a bill to vote if they are not sure it will pass.
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NJ: Christie lays down his law for state
By Staff Reports, The Star-Ledger (Newark)
In his first major speech since Election Day, Gov.-elect Chris Christie told local officials yesterday they better step up and become part of the solution, or he would become their problem.
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NM: State mulls reducing Medicaid coverage
By Barry Massey, The Associated Press, Santa Fe New Mexican
Gov. Bill Richardson's administration is proposing to overhaul Medicaid and scale back health care services to some lower-income New Mexicans to cope with a projected budget shortfall of $300 million next year in the state's largest health care program.
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NV: The Strip -- License approved for Aria
By, Las Vegas Review-Journal
There was never any doubt Thursday whether Nevada gaming regulators would approve a casino license for the centerpiece resort inside the $8.5 billion CityCenter development.
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NY: Governor -- 'There is no deal'
By Casey Seiler, Times Union (Albany)
The work goes on, but the legislators are gone. Members of the state Senate and Assembly left the Capitol on Thursday with plans to return on Monday -- if, that is, their leaders manage to hammer out a package to close the state's estimated $3.2 billion budget deficit.
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OH: Casino issue won big with absentee voters
By Mark Niquette, The Columbus Dispatch
Voters who cast an absentee ballot in the Nov. 3 election generally were much more likely to support the statewide issue authorizing casinos than those who went to the polls Election Day, final unofficial results show.
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OH: Slot-like machines in a legal muddle
By James Nash, The Columbus Dispatch
Attorney General Richard Cordray's office insists that it cannot decide whether slot-like Sweepstakes machines are legal in Ohio because courts haven't ruled on the devices.
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OH: Strickland vows to punish domestic abusers
By Mike Wagner, The Columbus Dispatch
In response to a Dispatch investigation that showed Ohio's tolerance of and indifference toward domestic violence, Strickland called for a sweeping examination of, and reforms to, Ohio's approach to the crime.
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OR: Tax measures represent next economic crossroads
By Peter Wong, Statesman Journal (Salem)
With Oregon's economy and tax collections apparently stabilizing, the next development affecting state services and aid to public schools will hinge on how Oregon voters decide the Legislature's budget-balancing tax measures Jan. 26.
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PA: State taking heat for 'chaotic' flu shots
By Steve Twedt, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the last several weeks, as the H1N1 flu has swept through the nation and health officials scrambled to find scarce vaccine, questions have been raised about how Pennsylvania chose to handle the process of distributing the limited doses available.
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PA: Rendell revises gaming claim
By Brad Bumsted, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Gov. Ed Rendell on Thursday backed off his claim the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office investigated the state gambling board's award of slot licenses in 2006 and found nothing.
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SC: Candidate for governor raises Confederate flag issue
By Gina Smith, The State (Columbia)
The Confederate flag must be removed from the State House grounds if South Carolina is to attract jobs, according to one Democrat running for governor. Thursday, Mullins McLeod, a Charleston attorney, released a plan to create jobs and reopened an old S.C. wound about whether it's appropriate to fly the flag on Capitol grounds.
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SC: Role of black colleges in higher education touted
By Wayne Washington, The State (Columbia)
The presidents of six colleges and universities in South Carolina met Thursday morning with the chief executive officer of a private foundation that has given at least $2 million to a pair of historically black colleges and universities in this state.
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SD: Pricey fight over ban expected
By Peter Harriman, Argus Leader (Sioux Falls)
Backers of a statewide smoking ban say they expect to be outspent by opponents in what's expected to be a hard-fought campaign after deciding Thursday not to appeal a judge's ruling.
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TN: UK goes smoke-free
By Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press, The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky's flagship public university gave the official heave-ho to tobacco on Thursday, touting the health benefits of a smoke-free policy covering all of its sprawling campus in the heart of burley tobacco country.
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TX: Who's got the swine flu vaccine?
By Tony Plohetski and Nathan Adkisson, The Austin American-Statesman
State health officials said Thursday that they have funneled most doses — about 147,000 in Travis County — to private physicians, urgent care clinics and hospitals, where workers must decide whether patients meet the criteria to receive the scarce immunizations.
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US: Great American Smokeout 2009 -- Which states have most smokers?
By Tracey D. Samuelson, The Christian Science Monitor
Those promoting Thursday's Great American Smokeout 2009 have their work cut out for them. That's because cigarette use among Americans, after declining for decades, has remained virtually unchanged for five straight years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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UT: Abortion bill approved by Utah legislative committee
By James Thalman, The Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City)
A bill that would make seeking an illegal abortion a second-degree felony as well as remove any immunity for Utah women seeking illegal abortions was approved by a legislative committee Wednesday morning.
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VT: Vermont smokers seek help quitting
By Nancy Remsen, Burlington Free Press
Vermont is likely to fall short of reducing the number of adult smokers to 11 percent of the population -- the target set in 2000 for 2010. Still more smokers are seeking help, especially from the state's online Web site -- Vermont Quit Network.
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VT: Feds hit farms looking for illegal immigrants
By Sam Hemingway, Burlington Free Press
Federal immigration officials served subpoenas on at least four Vermont dairy farms Thursday as part of a national crackdown on businesses suspected of using immigrant workers who have entered the country illegally.
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WA: Ranks of uninsured swell in state
By John Stucke, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane)
Washington state is on pace to reach a dangerous milestone within 14 months, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler said Thursday: 1 million uninsured residents.
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WA: State budget gap widens
By Brad Shannon, The Olympian
An additional $760 million in hoped-for state revenue evaporated in the latest economic forecast, and lawmakers began talking up the pros and cons of tax increases to help plug a budget shortfall now estimated at $2.7 billion.
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WA: Governor opposes delay in WASL math and science testing
By The Associated Press, The Olympian
SEATTLE -- Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday she opposes state schools chief Randy Dorn's proposal to delay the requirement for students to pass math and science tests to graduate, because the state's economy depends on Washington students leaving high school well trained in both subjects.
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WI: Troubled mortgages at record level in state
By Thomas Content, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
One of every nine homeowners in Wisconsin was behind on mortgage payments or in foreclosure at the end of September - a record level that industry observers said Thursday is likely to rise.
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WV: Foster-care agencies seek higher payments
By Alison Knezevich, Charleston Gazette
Private foster-care agencies in West Virginia hope state lawmakers will boost their daily payments, saying it will help them retain good foster parents and social workers who care for abused and neglected children.
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