State and Local

Factbox: What happens in a U.S. government shutdown?

By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker and Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker, Reuters

In shutdowns, nonessential government employees are furloughed, or placed on temporary unpaid leave. Workers deemed essential, including those dealing with public safety and national security, keep...
Delaware Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors Over Epidemic

By Nate Raymond, Reuters

(Reuters) - Delaware on Friday became the latest state to file a lawsuit accusing corporations of helping fuel the national opioid epidemic, suing a wide range of companies involved in making,...
Trump Tries to Sell Tax Reform to Democrats

By David Morgan, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump intensified his efforts to sell Democrats on his tax reform plan on Wednesday even as Senate Republicans edged closer to passing a budget measure that...
Trump's drug czar nominee withdraws from consideration

By Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. lawmaker who was President Donald Trump's pick for drug czar withdrew on Tuesday after a report he spearheaded a bill that hurt the government's ability to crack down...
Senate Republicans Gain Crucial Support for Budget Vital to Tax Reform

By David Morgan, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday gained crucial support for a vote on a budget resolution that is vital to President Donald Trump's hopes of signing sweeping tax reform...

U.S. consumer finance agency expected to punish Equifax: lawyers

By Reuters and Patrick Rucker

By Lisa Lambert and Patrick Rucker WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. consumer finance watchdog agency is expected to punish Equifax for its cyber breach with the wide-ranging powers it has used with...
U.S. incomes, poverty rate bounce back to pre-recession levels in 2016

By Reuters

By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. poverty rate fell for the second straight year in 2016 while median income rose to an all-time high of $59,000 as the economy made up ground lost...
Congress sends Trump disaster aid, debt limit increase

By Richard Cowan and Amanda Becker, Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill to provide disaster aid, extend the debt ceiling and fund the federal government for three months on Friday, delivering on...
Should Gold Be Legal Tender? Behind the Push to Revive an Ancient Standard

By Marsha Mercer, Stateline

By the end of the year, Texas plans to open the nation’s first state-supervised gold and silver depository, allowing ordinary Texans, as well as businesses, banks and others, to store their precious...
The Solar Eclipse Could Cause Traffic Jams All Over America

By Jenni Bergal, Stateline

The moon will block out the sun, and day will plunge into night. Birds will stop singing, crickets will start chirping, and many people will gasp, weep, or even howl when they see the sun’s corona...

The One Place Where Lawmakers Actually Listen to the Public

By Michael A. Neblo, The Conversation

Our civics textbook version of American democracy has traditionally depended on an engaged and vocal citizenry to operate. Yet in today’s increasingly partisan and polarized atmosphere, many citizens...
The Life-Saving Drug That Almost No State Can Afford

By Eric Pianin and Brianna Ehley

Early last year Illinois health officials were rocked by a budget crisis: Scores of the state’s Medicaid patients suffering from the potentially lethal Hepatitis C virus were bombarding them with...
Jeb Bush Denies He Has Clinton-Like Email Problem

By Ed O'Keefe, The Washington Post

Jeb Bush used his private email account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a...
Why the Military Wants to Restore Your Online Privacy

By Patrick Tucker, Defense One

The average, technologically connected American worker produces some 5,000 megabytes of digital data a day, enough to fill nine CD-ROMs. Only a small fraction of it is stored permanently or is...
The U.S. Still Won’t Invest In 21st Century Infrastructure

By Eric Pianin

President Obama has long bemoaned the fact that China and other trade rivals have left the U.S. in the dust when it comes to building their highways, bridges and other infrastructure –investments...

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