The Pew Charitable Trusts

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

New York led all states in lottery sales in fiscal year 2011. Massachusetts residents spent more per capita than residents of any other state. more

This report answers major questions about who borrowers are demographically; how people borrow; how much they spend; why they use payday loans; what other options they have; and whether state regulations reduce borrowing or simply drive borrowers online.

A lack of government transparency and a focus on federal budget woes have masked state budget crisis, leaving them largely unaddressed, according to a report released Wednesday. Without major change, the report warns, soaring costs of Medicaid and shrinking tax collections will only worsen the problem. more

A recent draft paper by David Kimball, University of Missouri-Saint Louis, and Brady Baybeck, Wayne State University, found that, in the 2008 presidential election, large jurisdictions—those serving more than 50,000 voters—accounted for approximately two-thirds of the nation’s voters.