State News articles from October 2004

State News archives from October 2004

State election news in print and on the Web.(inside story)
October 1, 2004... Most of the attention on the Nov. 2 elections has focused on the presidential race, with televised convention coverage and the national media covering every nuance of the two major party campaigns. However, to paraphrase the late U.S....

The end of education as usual?(tool box)
October 1, 2004... Declaring that high school education has not changed fundamentally in the last 100 years despite enormous technological and economic changes, Virginia Gov. Mark Warner recently announced a new National Governors Association initiative that...

Courting the high-tech criminal.(tool box)(the California based court management consulting firm Justice Seved ranks the best Web sites)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Justice Served, a California-based court management consulting firm, recently released its ranking of the top 10 court Web sites for 2004. The sites were chosen from a pool of more than 2,400 judicial Web sites. They were ranked on various...

Commissioner wants prisoners to pay up.(tool box)
October 1, 2004... New Jersey Department of Corrections Commissioner Devon Brown doesn't like having to foot the bill for well-heeled prisoners. He thinks that inmates housed in state-run facilities should have to pay room and board if they can afford to. "Those...

State employees feel fiscal crunch.(state sources)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Civil engineers who work for state governments make an average of $51,742 a year, compared to $65,015 for those in the private sector. For licensed practical nurses, the average annual salary in both sectors is $33,158. Private-sector social...

Students better prepared, but college is less accessible.(state sources)
October 1, 2004... Another area where the effects of the states' fiscal crunch are becoming more apparent is in higher education. In September, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education released its annual report, Measuring Up 2004: The National...

Southern governors take the lead on rural education.(state sources)
October 1, 2004... Bigger isn't necessarily better, according to a new report by the Rural School and Community Trust. Beating the Odds: High Performing High Schools in the South documents how five small schools in poverty-stricken rural areas are outperforming...

Cap-and-trade success story.(state sources)(the NOx Budget Trading Program brings results)
October 1, 2004... Since 1970, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has tracked emissions of six major types of air pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds. While most of these...

New CSG south report reviews public pension plans.(state sources)
October 1, 2004... Financial planners often recommend the "three-legged stool" concept in planning for retirement, where the three legs are income from Social Security, personal savings and pension systems. Unfortunately, a close review of national financial and...

Drug prevention efforts pay off.(state sources)
October 1, 2004... Although the level of overall illicit drug use did not change significantly from 2002 to 2003, use of certain drugs declined noticeably--especially among teenagers, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services....

Voting statistics for gubernatorial elections by region.(state snapshots)
October 1, 2004... Voting Statistics for Gubernatorial Elections by Region Date of last State election Republican Percent U.S. Total 39,867,828 48.4 Eastern...

Implementing No Child Left Behind: states make progress, but law remains controversial.(education)
October 1, 2004... Since the passage of No Child Left Behind three years ago, state officials and the federal government have at times clashed over its various provisions and funding levels. In recent months, steps taken by both federal and state education...

E-pollution: wading through mounds of data.(perspective)(syndication has tremendous potential )
October 1, 2004... Does absolutely everyone know how to find me? Between handheld devices that fuse voice and text communications, broadband Internet access that promises no waiting, and wireless technologies that promise no boundaries, I am flooded with new...

Identifying a need: Midwestern legislators examine the future of animal ID in the United States and Canada.(agriculture)
October 1, 2004... Nearly a year after a Holstein cow in Washington tested positive for mad cow disease, South Dakota Sen. H. Paul Dennert still thinks about two of the troubling questions he began asking himself and others soon after the incident. What if...

Educating immigrants and their children.(trends alert)
October 1, 2004... As the level of immigration continues to rise, so does the number of children who need to be educated by the American educational system. According to a November 2003 article in The New York Times, American schools now educate approximately 11...

Red states, blue states: despite divisions, pollster says most Americans agree on some issues.(politics)
October 1, 2004... "Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things.... We are all republicans-we are all...

Election year 2004: expect significant state-by-state shake-ups in party control, but the nation's overall partisan composition likely will not tilt much.(elections)(Cover Story)
October 1, 2004... Few Americans can ignore the approaching roar of the November 2 elections. While voters will choose a president and other congressional figures, more than 20 states may also see changes in legislative party control in one or more chambers--an...

Tackling the health insurance affordability crisis.(state trends)
October 1, 2004... The number of uninsured people in the United States is staggering. According to a Families USA analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, roughly 81.8 million people under age 65, or one out of three, were without insurance for some or all of 2002...

States' role in fighting terrorism: 9-11 Commission report has implications for states.(homeland security)
October 1, 2004... September 11, 2001, was a day of unprecedented shock and suffering in the history of the United States," said Thomas H. Kean. A former New Jersey governor, Kean was chair of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States,...

Environmental trends and state responses.(trends alert)
October 1, 2004... Earlier this year, CSG's Environmental Policy Group surveyed state environmental officials about the top issues in their states. Officials from 40 states responded; about half of them were environmental agency commissioners and the rest were...

Eastern leaders gather for annual meeting in Massachusetts.(CSG spotlight)
October 1, 2004... High-ranking state government officials from across the Northeast met to discuss regional priorities on a wide range of issues, including education, job creation and outsourcing, transportation, health care and rural policy. The sessions were...

NASPE holds annual meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi.(CSG spotlight)(National Association of State Personnel Executives)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The National Association of State Personnel Executives held its 2004 Annual Meeting in Biloxi, Miss. July 31-August 4. More than 150 attendees enjoyed the conference theme, "HR Capital: How Do You Get It and How Do You Keep It?" The...

CSG and CDC partner to promote public health.(CSG spotlight)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded The Council of State Governments a three-year, $3.6 million grant to educate state legislators about priority public health issues. CSG, along with the National Black Caucus...

Northwest lawmakers tackle river governance.(CSG spotlight)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Lawmakers from the Northwest convened in Boise, Idaho on August 16-17 to review state legislative prerogatives over rivers and natural resources in the Columbia River Basin. The Legislative Council on River Governance is organized under the...

Regional meetings explore rural economic development.(CSG spotlight)
October 1, 2004... Rural communities that support entrepreneurs and offer a quality business environment will survive and even thrive, according to rural entrepreneurship and business specialists at the Midwestern Legislative Conference Annual Meeting in July....

National mutual aid a key to Florida's response to hurricanes.(CSG spotlight)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The one-two punch of Hurricanes Charley and Frances has left the state of Florida reeling. Despite being one of the states best prepared for the threat of hurricanes, no one could have predicted two direct hits within the span of three weeks....

CSG receives grant for Rural Health Research.(CSG spotlight)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The Council of State Governments was recently awarded a Rural Health Services Research grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The $150,000 grant will be used to conduct...

Conference calendar.(Illustration)(Calendar)
October 1, 2004... 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...

Time line.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... "There's a consensus on punishment: longer sentences, no parole for violent offenders," said pollster Bill McInturff. Guns, gangs and welfare reform were also key issues that year. Managing Editor Elaine Smart reported that "For the first...