State legislature

February 22, 2019 - 1:01 pm

Virginia Republicans invite Fairfax's accusers to testify

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia House Republicans have announced plans to hold a public hearing where Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and the two women who have recently accused him of sexual assault can testify, a move that will likely inflame a partisan battle over the General Assembly's role in...
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February 22, 2019 - 12:40 pm

Judge dismisses charges over boy's death on water slide

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has dismissed criminal charges against a Kansas water park owner and the designer of a 17-story slide on which a 10-year-old boy was decapitated in 2016. The Kansas City Star reports that Wyandotte County Judge Robert Burns found Friday that state prosecutors showed...
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February 22, 2019 - 11:30 am

NY Gov. Cuomo deems losing 2nd Amazon HQ 'greatest tragedy'

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Amazon's backing out of a deal to put one of its second headquarters in New York City is the "greatest tragedy" he has seen since he's been in government. Cuomo said Friday on public radio station WAMC that losing the Amazon deal makes him sick to his...
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Nathan Dalley, center, receives a hug after speaking during a news conference at the Utah State Capitol Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in Salt Lake City. Two Republican lawmakers proposed a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors in conservative Utah on Thursday, a plan that's been hailed as a milestone by advocates and won't be opposed by the influential Mormon church. Those who have been through conversion therapy, like 19-year-old Dalley, say it leaves them depressed and can lead to suicide attempts. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
February 21, 2019 - 5:47 pm

GOP lawmakers push to ban LGBT conversion therapy in Utah

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two Republican lawmakers proposed a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors in conservative Utah on Thursday, a plan that's been hailed as a milestone by advocates and won't be opposed by the influential Mormon church. Republican Rep. Dan McCay acknowledged he isn't a typical...
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Mark Harris, Republican candidate in North Carolina's 9th Congressional race, prepares to testify during the fourth day of a public evidentiary hearing on the 9th Congressional District voting irregularities investigation Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, at the North Carolina State Bar in Raleigh, N.C. (Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP, Pool)
February 21, 2019 - 4:40 pm

New election ordered in disputed North Carolina House race

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's elections board Thursday ordered a new election in the nation's last undecided congressional race after the Republican candidate conceded his lead was tainted by evidence of ballot-tampering by political operatives working for him. The State Board of Elections...
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February 21, 2019 - 12:41 pm

State lawmakers place their bets on sports gambling

States are moving rapidly to legalize sports gambling even as lawmakers grapple with questions over how to implement it. How it will be regulated and taxed, whether betting should be allowed on college sports and how the state should spend the revenue are among the issues being debated in...
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers his budget address to a joint session of the General Assembly Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 at the Capitol in Springfield, Ill. (Rich Saal/The State Journal-Register via AP)
February 20, 2019 - 3:29 pm

Pritzker's $39B budget relies on taxing marijuana, betting

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — New Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker proposed a budget Wednesday that relies partly on tax revenues from two industries that currently aren't even legal in the state, which is saddled with billions of dollars in pension obligations and other debts. Pritzker's $39 billion...
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FILE - In this July 16, 2014 file photo, what was once a marina sits high and dry due to Lake Mead receding in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Arizona. Arizona won't have all the pieces of a Colorado River drought plan wrapped up by a March 4 deadline set by the federal government, state water officials said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. It's the latest hurdle threatening the seven-state plan to take less water from the drought-starved Colorado River, which provides water for 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
February 19, 2019 - 4:31 pm

Officials: Arizona will miss US deadline for key water plan

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona won't have all the pieces of a Colorado River drought plan finished by the federal government's deadline to finalize protections for water used by millions across the U.S. West, state water officials said Tuesday. It's the latest hurdle threatening the plan between seven...
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American Federation of Teachers West Virginia Treasurer Fred Albert, fist raised, and other union leaders of the WVEA, AFT-WV and WVSSPA call for a statewide strike beginning tomorrow during a news conference outside of the Senate chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)
February 18, 2019 - 8:47 pm

W.Va. teachers' unions call for strike over education bill

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia teachers' unions on Monday called a statewide strike over an education bill that they view as lacking their input and as retaliation for a walkout last year. The strike is scheduled to start Tuesday, leaders of three unions for teachers and school service...
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A woman places flowers at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting in Aurora. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
February 17, 2019 - 10:25 pm

Aurora shooter's permit was revoked but gun wasn't seized

AURORA, Ill. (AP) — An initial background check failed to detect a felony conviction that should have barred the man who killed five co-workers and wounded six other people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing plant from buying the gun. Months later, a second background check of Gary Martin found...
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