State News articles from June 2005

State News archives from June 2005

Making work personal.(inside story)
June 1, 2005... When politicians take their work personally, it can mean good things for their constituents. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, for example, has used his own battle with weight to raise the awareness of health dangers posed by obesity. As...

Tools to preserve farmland in the age of asphalt.(toolbox)
June 1, 2005... "Active farmland, with its open landscape and deep soil, is as attractive to a backhoe as it is to a tractor," according to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's Smart Growth Plan. The plan is designed to ensure the continued viability of...

Guiding principles of sex offender management.(toolbox)
June 1, 2005... In the wake of the Jessica Lunsford tragedy, lawmakers across the country are looking for new ways to track and monitor sexual predators. Several states are looking at GPS tracking and an Ohio representative is proposing pink license plates for...

The taxman 'drummeth'.(toolbox)
June 1, 2005... In America, people who owe taxes have their names published in the newspaper, are prosecuted for tax evasion or have their wages garnished. In India, the government sends drummers. Recently, the southern Indian city of Rajmundary was owed...

Oh, say can you breathe.(state sources)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... According to the American Lung Association's annual report, State of the Air 2005, air pollution levels improved in much of the country between 2001 and 2003, but millions of Americans still live with dangerous levels of air pollution. ...

State police key in terrorism prevention.(state sources)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Not long ago, it would have been commonplace to regard state police as perhaps the last bastion of old-style, traditional law enforcement. According to a recent study by The Council of State Governments and Eastern Kentucky University, those...

Americans prefer nonpartisan press.(state sources)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... In an effort to provide a comprehensive look at the state of American journalism, the Project for Excellence in Journalism recently released its 2005 State of the News Media report. The 2004 inaugural report concluded that journalism is in the...

States react slowly to obesity crisis.(state sources)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... According to the University of Baltimore's Obesity Report Card, state governments are failing to address the growing obesity epidemic. UB's report graded every state based on efforts to pass legislation to control obesity. To date, eight types...

Women in state legislatures.(state snapshots)(Illustration)
June 1, 2005... Women in State Legislatures Senate State Democrats Republicans % Women Alabama 2 1 8.6% Alaska ...

Childhood obesity: epidemic spurs state action: will kids live shorter lives than their parents?
June 1, 2005... If the rapid rise in childhood obesity is left unchecked, kids alive today may be the first generation in 200 years to have shorter life expectancies than their parents. And on the way to their earlier graves, this generation of children will...

Finding refuge: states help thousands of international war victims find peace in their communities.(Cover Story)
June 1, 2005... Between 2000 and 2001, 113 young men from Sudan arrived in Kentucky, the final step in a long, harrowing journey that took them from their war-ravaged homeland, through dusty camps in East Africa and finally to the Bluegrass, where they arrived...

Supreme Court decision focuses State attention on sentencing regimes: after Blakely v. Washington, states seek to protect or revise their sentencing structures.
June 1, 2005... The United States Supreme Court created turmoil in the criminal justice world in June 2004 by declaring that certain long-accepted practices for sentencing criminal defendants violated the Constitution. In Blakely v. Washington, the Supreme...

Increasing educational opportunities: improving state policy to offer higher education to all.
June 1, 2005... In 1989, a woman from the southern part of Virginia addressed the state's Commission on the University of the 21st Century. She spoke of the wealth that surrounded her and of the bleak future of her own community, full of what she called...

CSG's Eastern Regional Conference launches first Leadership Academy for Eastern State officials.(csg spotlight)(Council of State Governments)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The Council of State Governments' Eastern Regional Conference is excited to announce the inaugural Eastern Leadership Academy (ELA) to take place Sept. 11-15, 2005. Forty state officials from the 15 Eastern region member jurisdictions will...

A decade of excellence.(csg spotlight)(Annual National Institute for Public Finance )(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... The National Association of State Treasurers (NAST) is sponsoring the 10th Annual National Institute for Public Finance Aug. 7-11, 2005, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Over the past decade, state treasurers and other key...

MLC Annual Meeting to discuss school funding, rural economic development.(csg spotlight)(Midwestern Legislative Conference)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... State and provincial lawmakers can still register for the Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting, which will be held in a Canadian province for the first time in the event's 60-year history. The meeting will take place July...

CSG-WEST accepting applications for 2005 Western Legislative Academy.(csg spotlight)
June 1, 2005... The Council of State Governments-WEST is now accepting applications for the Western Legislative Academy, a prestigious training program for Western legislators in their first four years of service. The Academy will convene Nov. 15-18, 2005, at...

Immigration spurs lively discussion at 10th Legislative Border Conference.(csg spotlight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... U.S.-Mexico border state legislators convened in San Diego, California, on April 8-9 for the Tenth Border Legislative Conference (BLC). The Border Legislative Conference is a joint project between CSG-WEST and the Southern Legislative...

CSG-WEST Water Committee responds to Sen. Domenici's "Call for Proposals".(csg spotlight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Arizona Rep. Tom O'Halleran, chair of the CSG-WEST Western Water and Environment Committee, responded to U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici's "call for proposals" to address the challenge of meeting the nation's increasing demand for water. In a letter...

Southern Legislative Conference's 59th Annual Meeting: July 30-Aug. 3, 2005.(csg spotlight)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... Elaine Chao, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, will headline this year's SLC Annual Meeting in Mobile, Alabama, with a keynote address at the opening plenary session on Monday, August 1. Also scheduled to speak are Dr. Keith...

Midwestern lawmakers receive fellowships for regional leadership institute.(csg spotlight)(Bowhay Institute)(Brief Article)
June 1, 2005... On July 8-12, 37 legislators from the 11 member states and three Canadian provincial affiliate members of the Midwestern Legislative Conference will gather in Madison, Wisconsin, to take part in the 11th annual Bowhay Institute for Legislative...

Conference calendar.(Calendar)
June 1, 2005... This calendar lists meetings as designated by CSG's Annual Meeting Committee. For details of a meeting, call the number listed. "CSG/" denotes affiliate organizations of CSG. Visit www.csg.org for updates and more extensive listings. Other...

Timeline.
June 1, 2005... Although the federal government tends to get more attention, state officials are often on the front lines of cutting-edge trends and issues. On the other hand, sometimes in the community of state governments, the more things change, the more...