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Tenn. child support collections set record
By The Associated Press, The Tennessean (Nashville)
State Department of Human Services Commissioner Gina Lodge says the federal government's economic stimulus package has been a big boost for Tennessee children owed child support payments.
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Tennessee to help build biofuel plant
By Theo Emery, The Tennessean (Nashville)
A pilot project of the University of Tennessee and a private company to create ethanol from switchgrass could begin producing biofuel by next year, a fledgling effort that leaders hope will make the state a leader in alternative fuel production.
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Budget gaps triple for '09
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
The drumbeat of bad fiscal news from statehouses is intensifying. States collectively faced deficits of $40.3 billion in writing their current budgets — triple the $13 billion shortfall states weathered the previous year, a new report released July 23 shows.
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Social issues crowd state ballots
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Besides electing a president on Nov. 4, voters in some key battleground states also will face divisive social policy choices, including whether to ban gay marriage in Florida and restrict affirmative action and abortion in Colorado.
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Minimum wage boost's effects debated
By Pam Sohn, Chattanooga Times Free Press (registration)
The federal minimum wage increases 70 cents an hour today, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, but local employment officials say almost no workers in the region will be affected immediately because local employers already pay more.
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VW sees early jobs surge
By Mike Pare, Chattanooga Times Free Press (registration)
Volkswagen plant job-seekers flooded the company with 623 resumes for the first 50 open slots in the initial days after the automaker started placing help-wanted ads, officials said Wednesday.
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Peterson: "fine" with no further ethics action
By Theo Emery, The Tennessean (Nashville)
University of Tennessee President John Peterson said Wednesday that he's "fine" with a decision from the Tennessee Ethics Commission not to punish him further for his failure to fully disclose his financial interests.
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TVA defends pollution record
By Anne Paine, The Tennessean (Nashville)
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- TVA has created about a third more electricity while releasing almost the same amount of air pollution as privately-owned coal burning plants in North Carolina, the giant utility's first witness testified in U.S. District Court here Wednesday.
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Chattanooga: VW incentives largest in state
By Dave Flessner and Andy Sher, Chattanooga Times Free Press (registration)
Tennessee offered its richest incentive package -- and perhaps the most government assistance and tax breaks ever for an American automobile plant -- to lure Volkswagen to Chattanooga.
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TVA names head of transmission unit
From Staff Reports, Chattanooga Times Free Press (registration)
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced today that Rob Manning, vice president of field operations in Duke Energy's Power Delivery business, will head TVA's transmission organization.
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Tennessee gets a new school chief
By Jaime Sarrio, The Tennessean (Nashville)
Tim Webb will be sworn in Thursday as Tennessee's new Commissioner of Education after serving since February as the interim.
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Economy pinches large developments
By Cliff Hightower, Chattanooga Times Free Press (registration)
Home sales have slowed and new building has been almost nonexistent at large developments in Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia, builders and developers said.
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Early voting slow, election officials say
By Theo Emery, The Tennessean (Nashville)
Early voting for the August primaries has had a slow start, with 37,127 people casting ballots statewide in the first four days, according to the state Division of Elections.
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UT, DuPont form joint biorefinery/ethanol project
By Joan Garrett, The Tennessean (Nashville)
The University of Tennessee Research Foundation announced today it will be partnering with DuPont to built a pilot biorefinery and research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol in Vonore, Tenn.
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Fedex founder Smith named delegate to GOP convention
By Bartholomew Sullivan, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) (registration)
WASHINGTON - FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith will be an at-large delegate at the Republican National Convention in September and Memphian John Ryder will serve on the convention's Rules Committee, the Tennessee Republican Party announced Tuesday.
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Democrats in long shot bid for District 7
By Zack McMillin, The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) (registration)
Because Tennessee's 7th Congressional District is considered staunchly Republican, very little attention has been paid to the two Democrats on the ballot for the Aug. 7 primary.
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AMBER Alerts continue decline
By Wendy Koch, USA Today
The number of AMBER Alerts, public announcements of a child's abduction, is falling as police use them only for kids in the most danger.
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Gas conservation threatens road funding
By Christopher Conkey, The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
WASHINGTON -- The House passed legislation that would steer $8 billion to highway projects next year, in a prelude to a broader debate over how much to invest in roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.
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States slammed by tax shortfalls
By Conor Dougherty, Amy Merrick and Anton Troianovski, The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
The stumbling U.S. economy is forcing states to slash spending and cut jobs in order to close a projected $40 billion shortfall in the current fiscal year.
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Prisoners' time spent on death row doubles
By Kevin Johnson, USA Today
The time prisoners spend on death row has nearly doubled during the past two decades. Legal experts predict it will rise further as states review execution procedures and prisoners pursue lengthy appeals.
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Minimum-wage hike a lift for seniors, too
By Cheryl Corley, National Public Radio (Audio)
The federal minimum wage increases by 70 cents on Thursday to $6.55 an hour. About one quarter of the people who work for a minimum wage are teenagers, but most are adults like 63-year-old Shirley Golliday.
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Huge housing bill set to become law
By Lori Montgomery, The Washington Post (registration)
The House yesterday easily approved legislation that seeks to slow the steepest slide in house prices in a generation, rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners at risk of foreclosure and reassure global markets that mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not be allowed to fail.
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Housing bill will extend federal role in markets
By Damian Paletta and James R. Hagerty, The Wall Street Journal (subscription)
WASHINGTON -- A sprawling bill that reaches deep into the U.S. housing industry is close to becoming law, in what will likely stand as the federal government's most expansive effort to stabilize the mortgage and financial markets.
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States worry about dwindling road funds
By Stephen C. Fehr, Stateline.org Staff Writer
(Updated 12:30 p.m. EDT, July 24, 2008)
Drivers are buying less gasoline, draining the federal Highway Trust Fund and jeopardizing thousands of major road and transit projects around the country.
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NCSL Conference focuses on floods, energy
By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Staff Writer
As state lawmakers gather in New Orleans this week for a policy conference, they’ll be reminded often of what can happen if public works are allowed to deteriorate.
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States' hottest laws take on new threats
By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Staff Writer
The mosaic of laws passed by state legislatures this year reveals a country grappling with threats, from a faltering economy and record-high gasoline prices to global warming and lead-tainted toys from China.
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States avoid slashing higher ed money
By Pauline Vu, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Despite a tough economic year, several states are attempting to hold the line on college tuition — or at least not let increases get out of control — by avoiding deep cuts to higher education, an area that states have been quick to slash in past years when funds were low.
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States move to regulate senior guardians
By Christine Vestal, Stateline.org Staff Writer
As the U.S. population ages and families scatter across the country, the frail elderly increasingly end up relying on court-appointed guardians when they can no longer take care of their personal affairs. California just joined six other states in watching over these professionals charged with protecting society’s most vulnerable adults.
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Govs turn to fixing infrastructure
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA — Improving the nation’s crumbling bridges, roads and sewage systems is a $1.6 trillion problem that governors intend to explore in the next year.
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Govs celebrate past, look to '09
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org Staff Writer
While 70 current and former governors hobnob and reminisce in Philadelphia July 11-14 during the National Governors Association's 100th anniversary celebration, the sitting governors also plan to strategize on how to influence the next president on policies ranging from energy to health care.
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Govs find their popularity might not transfer
By Louis Jacobson, Stateline.org Columnist
At a time when the presidential candidates are feverishly trying to flip red and blue states, a group of governors is finding that switching a state’s partisan leaning is no easy matter.
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Sour economy limits states' options in '08
By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline.org Staff Writer
(Updated 5:38 p.m. EDT, July 17, 2008) For many states, 2008 will be remembered for record numbers of home foreclosures, $4-a-gallon gasoline and the beginning of a slide into new fiscal woes after two years of overflowing coffers. Stateline.org’s annual state-by-state look at legislative accomplishments, covering 39 states so far, discerns the trends and precedents emerging from state capitals this year.
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2008 state-by-state summary
By The Stateline.org Staff
(Updated 2:26 p.m. EDT, July 18, 2008)
Here’s Stateline.org's state-by-state rundown of significant legislative action in 2008.
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State by state, it's still a tight race
By Louis Jacobson, Stateline.org Columnist
Finally, the last primary votes have been cast, and Barack Obama and John McCain are jousting with each other. But even as Obama opens up double-digit leads in two national polls, the election is still poised to be decided in a half-dozen toss-up states.
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Jobs are at risk if Congress doesn't fix the Highway Fund
By John Horsley, AASHTO Executive Director
State budgets and nearly 400,000 jobs are at risk if Congress fails to replenish the Highway Trust Fund, John Horsley, executive director of the American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials, writes in a commentary for Stateline.org.
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Calif. gay marriage ruling sparks new debate
By Christine Vestal, Stateline.org Staff Writer
(Updated 5 p.m EDT, June 12, 2008)
The California Supreme Court reignited a political wildfire with its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in the most populous state in the union, but the issue already has burned out in more than half the states.
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Will Obama have coattails in the South?
By Louis Jacobson, Stateline.org Columnist
High turnout among African-Americans and younger voters could reshape the Southern political landscape this fall. But Democrats may find gains in statewide contests thwarted by bad timing and a potential conservative backlash.
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