Few Big Changes—But Lots of Newcomers—In State Legislative Elections
Voters elected roughly 1,500 new state lawmakers in last week's election, but only one state legislature flipped party control.
Most States Aren’t Ready to Distribute the Leading COVID-19 Vaccine
A review of state distribution plans reveals that officials don’t know how they’ll deal with the difficult storage and transport requirements of Pfizer’s vaccine, especially in the rural areas currently seeing a spike in infections.
States Go After Small Businesses on Amazon—and Sometimes Amazon—for Millions in Back Sales Taxes
The Supreme Court in 2018 gave states the power to make new rules for collecting sales taxes online. But back taxes on products sold by small businesses on Amazon’s marketplace are still a major point of dispute.
Report: State Election Officials Find No Evidence of Fraud
STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Oregon sex workers and strippers can apply for grants to help them through the pandemic … CDC says masks protect wearers from others … Texas rolls out mobile pollution monitoring.
The Worst Day of the Pandemic Since May
Covid-19 hospitalizations are now at an all-time high.
Georgia to Hand Recount All 4.9 Million Votes in Presidential Race
The state’s Republican secretary of state says the recount is not being driven by requests from the Trump campaign, but rather the narrow outcome in the contest. The current count shows Democrat President-elect Joe Biden leading.
We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Server: Preparing Network Infrastructure for Future Elections
COMMENTARY | Elections are times of both predictable and unpredictable surges in IT infrastructure strain. Adequately preparing for this reality ahead of time is imperative for state IT leaders.
One Republican Governor Reversed Course on a Mask Mandate. Others Are Still Resisting.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert declared an indefinite statewide mask mandate on Sunday as coronavirus cases continue to spike around the country, but other governors—including those in states hit hardest by the virus—haven't budged.
Masks, Plexiglass on Tap for Upcoming Legislative Sessions
One state even considered an NBA-style bubble.
What to Know as ACA Heads to Supreme Court—Again
Republican state officials and the Trump administration argue that the justices should overturn the entire law. At issue in the case is Congress’ decision to reduce to zero the penalty for not having health coverage.
QAnon Is Winning
Conspiracy thinking in America had a huge night on Tuesday.
Local Health Departments Find New Ways to Provide Flu Vaccines
Agencies are holding drive-thru flu shot events and merging Covid-19 testing and flu vaccine sites, while officials stress that people need to get their shots.
Invasive Weed Found in Michigan Grows Six Inches a Day
The mile-a-minute weed, discovered at a nature center in Albion, can persist in the soil for up to six years.
Mississippi Abolishes Jim Crow-Era State Voting System
The relic from the state’s 1890 constitution, one of several provisions designed to dilute the power of Black voters, was abolished through a ballot initiative that won by a blowout margin.
California Voters Approve Carveout for Lyft and Uber Drivers from State Labor Law
Tech companies spent heavily on a campaign for the measure, which labor groups say is flawed. Supporters say it provides a template for “gig worker” regulations in other states.
Republicans Maintain Advantage in Control of State Legislative Chambers
Democrats failed to make major inroads in state legislative races, in many places leaving them at a disadvantage in the upcoming redistricting process.
Oregon Decriminalizes Hard Drug Possession, While Five States Pass Marijuana Ballot Measures
Measures to decriminalize drugs like magic mushrooms also racked up big wins on election night.
Republicans Win in Montana, Missouri Governors' Races
Elsewhere, there were few surprises on election night with governors' contests. Eight incumbents were reelected, five of them Republicans. And a favored GOP candidate won in Utah.
Jobs Recovery Slows for States and Remains Uneven
An analysis by Fitch Ratings found that job growth had slowed for most states as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations surge across the country.
11 Governors' Races Are On the Ballot. Here Are the Ones to Watch.
Only a couple of the races are considered highly contested this year, with a toss-up in Montana and a competitive race in Missouri between a GOP incumbent and a Democratic challenger.
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies
Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link
If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.
Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.
Cookie List
A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:
Strictly Necessary Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Functional Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Performance Cookies
We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.
Sale of Personal Data
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Social Media Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.
Targeting Cookies
We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.