The Pew Charitable Trusts

Despite public cries for election reform, lawmakers in Florida and California have soured on the idea of making wholesale changes to antiquated voting systems for lack of funds, careful study, or both. more

Californians who have thus far avoided the sting of rising electricity costs in the midst of the state's power crisis should brace themselves for the trip to the mailbox when this month's natural gas bill arrives. But it's not just Californians who will feel the pinch. With supply tight, demand increasing and prices soaring, natural gas bills nationwide for this December could be twice as high as last year's winter bills. more

If California's lingering power crisis left any doubt about the future of the state's attempts at utility deregulation, state energy officials have dispelled it. "We are voting the epitaph for deregulation in California today. Deregulation is dead," said Public Utilities Commissioner Carl Wood last Thursday, when the board approved a 90-day emergency rate hike to bail out failing utilities. more

The historic movement of Americans away from the northeastern states to the west and southwest continued over the last decade, the Census Bureau reported Thursday, and as of 2003, the make-up of the U.S. House of Representatives will be adjusted to reflect the population shift. more

"I'm sorry I ever invented the Electoral College."--Al Gore. Springing up on my e-mail screen hours after the Supreme Court lowered the boom on Florida recounts, the apocryphal quote from our Veep does more than fit the week. It reminds us the problem isn't really Gore nor George W. Bush -- who's surprised if politicos fish for the last vote, or would like to expunge the other guy's? more