Nation
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 | ...Jackson, MS, USA. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood hires lots of outside lawyers. They make a great deal of money for the state, and for themselves. Not everyone is happy with that situation.
As Mississippi’s attorney general, Jim Hood rarely shies away from litigation, especially when victory could put millions of dollars into the state treasury.
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02-04-12
Word count: 1336
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 | ...Savannah, GA, USA. As the Panama Canal expands to allow larger cargo ships to pass through, states along the Eastern Seaboard are maneuvering to make their ports compatible with the bigger and more lucrative vessels.
But there is no guarantee the expensive bets will pay off.
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02-03-12
Word count: 1395
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 | ...Juneau, AK, USA. High oil prices are a boon for Alaska, whose credit rating recently went up to the coveted triple-A level. But waning oil production, unpredictable prices and looming pension costs remain challenges.
As oil prices go, so goes the fate of Alaska. With prices averaging over $110 a barrel, Alaska is experiencing a revenue boom unlike any other state, allowing it to recover from the recession as “a rock of stability,” as Governor Sean Parnell puts it.
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02-01-12
Word count: 1538
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 | ...Columbia, MO, USA. A study of recent political blogs indicates politics are getting nastier due to digital media, which are segmenting people into polarized interest groups, a barrier to civility in the political discourse at the heart of democracy.
However, the authors of a new paper can only recommend a balanced approach to finding information, based on the assumption that citizens are looking for a full and fair political discussion.
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01-31-12
Word count: 929
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 | ...San Diego, CA, USA. Republicans and Democrats are less divided in their attitudes than popularly believed, say analysts who reviewed voter data compiled over the past 40 years.
However, it is the perception of polarization that help drive political engagement, the researchers say.
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01-30-12
Word count: 1006
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 | ...St. Paul, MN, USA. Job creation once again is dominating talk in statehouses as governors propose sweeping plans to jumpstart state economies. The proposals often illustrate the philosophical differences between the two parties.
With unemployment stuck at stubbornly high rates in many states, it’s no surprise that governors in 2012 are talking a lot about the need to create jobs.
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01-30-12
Word count: 1906
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 | ...Denver, CO, USA. A number of states have tried to make redistricting less partisan by taking the job away from state legislators and giving it to independent commissions. The process is different, but the politics often look the same.
“Anybody that does redistricting in any process, it’s always a contentious endeavor,” says Kim Brace, a redistricting consultant. “You’re dealing with peoples’ livelihood. You’re making the decisions of does this person live or die, politically.”
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01-28-12
Word count: 1973
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 | ...Topeka, KS, USA. Republican Sam Brownback is pushing what may be the boldest agenda of any governor this year. In the process, he is setting up a showdown with moderates in his own party.
For 14 years, Sam Brownback represented Kansas in the United States Senate, a chamber known for its slow and plodding pace. Now governor, Brownback is in no mood to wait.
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01-26-12
Word count: 2181
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 | ...Lincoln, NE, USA. A new study suggests there are biological truths at the bottom of broad political generalizations cast back and forth between conservatives and liberals.
Conservatives paint self-indulgent liberals as insufferably absent on urgent national issues, while liberals say fear-mongering conservatives are fixated on exaggerated dangers to the country.
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01-24-12
Word count: 1101
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 | ...Indianapolis, IN, USA. Is it fair to require workers to pay union fees? That’s the polarizing issue this winter at the state Capitol in Indianapolis.
Republicans believe, based on the input of site selection experts, that a quarter to a half of those companies looking for a place to move or expand their operations rule out states without right-to-work laws. But many Democrats doubt the credibility of those statistics.
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01-23-12
Word count: 1854
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 | ...Waco, TX, USA. Passersby who stopped to answer surveys taken next to churches in the Netherlands and England reported themselves as more politically conservative and more negative toward non-Christians than did people questioned within sight of government buildings — a finding that may be significant when it comes to voting.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence that religious priming can influence both religious and nonreligious people.
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01-22-12
Word count: 955
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. As state lawmakers gather for their 2012 legislative sessions, taxes are emerging as a key issue, with at least half a dozen Republican governors pressing for sweeping tax cuts and just as many Democrats pushing for tax increases.
One of the biggest tax battles will be in New Jersey, where Governor Chris Christie is calling for an across-the-board 10 percent cut in the state income tax.
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01-21-12
Word count: 1462
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. Less than a year from now, states will have to prove to Washington that they are capable of running a health insurance exchange on their own, or the federal government will create one for them.
The way it looks now, only a handful of states are likely to make that deadline.
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01-20-12
Word count: 1570
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 | ...Montgomery, AL, USA. Weeks before Alabama’s legislative session is scheduled to begin, Governor Robert Bentley has sparked debate among legislators about a proposal to use money earmarked for education to fill other holes in the budget.
The Republican governor, entering his second year in office, plans to ask the legislature to approve a constitutional amendment to combine the state’s Education Trust Fund, drawn from income and sales taxes, with the separate General Fund, which pays for oth... |
01-17-12
Word count: 873
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. After four years of epic budget woes, states are ready for an improved 2012. Some are even poised to add dollars back to programs they wish they never had to cut.
During the depths of the Great Recession, states had to do many unsavory things to balance their budgets.
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01-14-12
Word count: 2501
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 | ...Baltimore, MD, USA. A new study finds that the number of guns that were subsequently linked to crime sold by Badger Guns & Ammo, a Milwaukee-area gun shop, increased dramatically after Congress adopted measures likely to reduce the risks gun dealers face if they divert guns to criminals.
The study is the first to examine the impact of these amendments on the diversion of guns to criminals.
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01-13-12
Word count: 1055
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. The most controversial state issue of 2011 — the fight over collective bargaining and other rights for public-sector employees — isn’t going away in 2012.
It took nearly a year for Dale Kleinert to negotiate his first teachers’ contract. When Kleinert started his job as schools superintendent in Moscow, Idaho, the talks were already underway. Then, discussions reached an impasse.
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01-13-12
Word count: 2084
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. In health care history, 2012 will be remembered for the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on the Obama administration’s health overhaul.
But in the states, 2012 will likely be remembered less as an historic turning point than as a gradual continuation of their longstanding struggles to get Medicaid costs under control.
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01-12-12
Word count: 2865
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA.
Every state knows it is about to get less financial help from the federal government. What none of them knows is just how much less.
A long siege of deadlock and dysfunction in Washington has left states frustratingly unclear what to expect from the federal government in the coming year. About the only thing they know for sure is that it is not going to be a year of generosity.
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01-11-12
Word count: 1752
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 | ...Washington, DC, USA. With the 2012 election drawing near, Republican leaders in much of the country are sounding less combative on the legislative front than they did in 2011.
From the moment he took office last year, Florida Governor Rick Scott made clear that a new and unabashedly conservative administration had taken power in Tallahassee — just as it had in state capitals around the country following an historic election haul for Republicans in 2010.
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01-10-12
Word count: 2248
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The TS-Si News Service
and the TS-Si Research Service are collaborations of TS-Si officials, staff, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The contents do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si or its owners, participants, partners, or affiliates.