COLUMBUS, Ohio - On the campaign trail and in his first State of the State address, Gov. Mike DeWine promised to invest in services to help Ohio's most vulnerable children. The budget he is to present today to state lawmakers is expected to do just that. DeWine wants to almost double the funding fo ...Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The West Virginia Legislature has passed a 40 percent cut in thermal coal severance taxes, despite Revenue Department predictions that it would do little to change steam coal's steady decline. The long-term outlook is no better, said Carey King, a research scientist and assistan ...Read More

OLYMPIA, Wash. - Farmworkers will be in Olympia next week to discuss workplace conditions. For the sixth year, laborers from across the state of Washington will deliver testimonies to tribunal judges in culturally appropriate ways - through stories and in the language they feel comfortable speaking ...Read More

BOSTON - The Massachusetts Legislature next week is to consider more than a dozen education-related bills. A higher-education advocacy day is Thursday, with a Friday public hearing on 16 bills in the Joint Committee on Education. The Fund Our Future campaign, a coalition of educators and parents, s ...Read More

SPRUCE PINE, N.C. - Nurses and nurse practitioners would play a bigger role in North Carolina's health-care system under some new legislation. A bipartisan bill that has the support of more than 60 state lawmakers would make access to basic health-care services easier by cutting red tape for advanc ...Read More

PORTLAND, Maine - There's a severe shortage of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households across the United States, and according to a new report, Maine is no exception. The National Low-Income Housing Coalition defines "extremely low" incomes as those at or below the poverty lev ...Read More

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Raising the minimum wage will help all Pennsylvanians, economists and social scientists are telling state lawmakers. Gov. Tom Wolf has called for raising the state minimum wage to $12 an hour immediately, increasing to $15 an hour by 2025. A letter to the General Assembly signed b ...Read More

BALTIMORE - Maryland soon could become the first state to ban Styrofoam food containers and cups. A bill passed this week by the House of Delegates prohibits restaurants, supermarkets, vending trucks, movie theaters and schools from providing polystyrene food containers. Even egg cartons would have ...Read More