The Pew Charitable Trusts

On a variety of issues, President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney are pushing competing proposals that would profoundly affect states. more

Law enforcement agencies and state officials defended regional information-sharing offices known as “fusion centers” as a key part of the nation’s homeland security network. A Senate report questioned the value of the fusion centers, which they found had “not produced useful intelligence.” more

This week’s extraordinary journalism about state government, tagged to #StateReads on Twitter. more

A recent poll by USA Today and Suffolk University specifically targeting unregistered and unlikely voters found that more than one-quarter of respondents do not register to vote because they are too busy or don’t have the time. Additionally, while the majority of respondents thought the process to register to vote was easy, 16 percent said it takes too much time or is too complicated.

There is still time for Congress to avoid the “fiscal cliff” that would force billions of dollars in spending cuts and tax increases at the start of next year. But whatever happens, the states run the risk of being big losers. more