The Pew Charitable Trusts

One definition of crazy is to keep doing diligently the same thing over and over when it's not working. By that definition America's presidential primary system is seriously loony, for with respect to developing a democratic process to nominate candidates for president, we have been doing the same thing over and over again for more than 60 years and it's not working.

States are in the forefront of policymaking to minimize damage from the mortgage meltdown. Although President George W. Bush on Thursday (Dec. 6) announced a groundbreaking agreement with major lenders to temporarily freeze sub-prime interest rates that are set to rise, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got there first: He unveiled a similar deal last month.

RICHMOND, Va. - In what could be a swing state in the 2008 presidential elections, Virginia Democrats have a shot at winning control of at least one house in the General Assembly on Election Day, Nov. 6.

Iowa senators are caught playing computer games while their colleagues speak. YouTube spreads a Montana Republican's barrage against Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D). And budget suggestions bury an Ohio lawmaker's office in paper. In case you missed those stories this week, "Worth Noting" fills you in.

In a sci-fi approach to providing clean energy, a consortium of Iowa power companies is planning to fill a big underground hole with pressurized air that would then be released to generate electricity.