A New York-based green energy company plans to appeal a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio ruling that ended its ability to do business in the state.
A PUCO investigation said RPA Energy, also know as Green Choice Energy, forged Ohio customer signatures and altered recorded sales calls. The commission ruled Wednesday the company can no longer do business in the state and faces a $1.44 million fine for 159 violations.
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Leading a group of 23 attorneys general, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares filed an amicus brief on Wednesday on behalf of the plaintiffs in Mahmoud v. McKnight, a lawsuit involving Maryland parents and the Montgomery County School Board.
Along with over 30 other states, Maryland law includes an opt-out provision that allows parents to excuse their children from sex education courses or lectures. About half the states require parents to be notified when their children will receive sex education, including Maryland.
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Less than three weeks before Election Day a new poll shows Ohio voters favor constitutional amendments on enshrining abortion rights and legalizing recreational marijuana.
The Baldwin Wallace University poll of 850 registered voters, with 750 identified as likely voters, showed 58% favor Issue 1, which says every individual has a right to make and carry out their reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility, treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.
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The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday about whether the government can use drones to surveil private property without a warrant and use that evidence in court for zoning disputes.
For two years, Long Lake Township zoning officials flew a drone over Todd and Heather Maxon’s property in northern Michigan near Traverse City, taking photographs and videos as part of a zoning dispute that he was running an illegal junkyard.
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Attorney General Jason Miyares has enlisted the help of the commonwealth’s 123 sheriff’s departments by asking for expired or surplus gear that can be donated to the Israeli military.
“I am shocked and grieved by the senseless terrorist attacks on Israel by the Hamas terrorist organization. The loss of innocent life and disregard for human rights is painfully tragic to see,” Miyares wrote in the letter.
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The primary election will happen April 23, despite several legislative attempts to move up the date and capitalize on Pennsylvania’s swing state status.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said the upper chamber would not consider an amended bill that would reschedule the election for April 16 – even though it included property tax reform the chamber supported.
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U.S. House Judiciary Chair Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told reporters Thursday afternoon that he would in fact keep running for speaker and hold another floor vote, despite reports that he was considering postponing his effort.
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Ohio lawmakers pushing to increase penalties for fentanyl trafficking point to a recent drug seizure as proof new laws are needed.
House Bill 230, which has had three committee meetings since being introduced earlier this month, would increase trafficking charges for cocaine, fentanyl-related compounds, heroin and methamphetamine. It would also raise the charges for human trafficking to a first-degree felony and expand the definition of human trafficking.
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About 3,700 casino workers in Detroit walked out on strike at noon Tuesday after failing to reach a new contract.
The strike affects operations at the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Hollywood Casino at Greektown and workers including dealers, cleaning staff, food and beverage workers, valets, engineers, and more.
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A group of Democratic senators are calling on President Joe Biden to provide more funding for fuel assistance with winter approaching.
In a letter to Biden administration officials, Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, led by nearly 30 other Democrats, urged the White House Office of Management and Budget and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to “take additional steps” to reduce energy costs for Americans through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
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The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission published an October study that shows Virginia’s self-sufficiency programs largely aren’t producing the desired results and existing child care programs aren’t meeting the needs of many Virginians in more ways than one.
“Self-sufficiency,” as it pertains to the studied programs, is defined as achieving a standard of living for which basic living expenses are provided.
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Sexually explicit books in school libraries make many parents uncomfortable, but some educators say policies that limit access for students are ineffective, at best.
Still, local officials want guidance from the state about how to allay concerns over books available to children, some as young as sixth grade, that depict or describe graphic sexual acts, incest and pedophilia.
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Few at the Wisconsin capital is happy about the University of Wisconsin’s decision to end in-person classes at two regional campuses, though they are not shocked.
University president Jay Rothman announced the university will end face-to-face classes at UW-Milwaukee Washington County and UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac.
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Arizona House Republicans are calling on Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to investigate a city of Phoenix ordinance that permitted the donation of firearms to Ukraine.
The city ordinance was found to violate state law by Attorney General Kris Mayes, which led to the city’s decision to scrap the ordinance last month. It permitted 599 unclaimed firearms to be given to the National Police of Ukraine as they fight in a war with Russia.
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Tennessee was $7.4 million shy of reaching its budgeted estimate for tax and fee collections in September, putting the state $46.9 million below its budget for the first two months of the fiscal year.
The $2.2 billion in overall September collections were $29.4 million more than September 2022 collections.
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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ announcement he will give $170 million to child care providers in the state is not going over well with the Republican leader of the Wisconsin Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu accused the governor of misleading families across the state.
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Three Michigan lawmakers introduced a bipartisan plan to heighten sentencing recommendations for various narcotic drug crimes.
Reps. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, Ann Bollin R-Brighton Township, and Angela Witwer, D-Delta Township, introduced a bipartisan plan to increase drug sentencing recommendations for heroin and fentanyl dealers.
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While Georgia state lawmakers are looking for solutions to what they say is a commercial truck driver shortage, an industry trade group says the concern is with turnover, not shortages.
The head of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association tells The Center Square that “the biggest problem that occurs in trucking is driver turnover,” saying 400,000 new commercial driver’s licenses are issued annually.
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The U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security has released additional findings from its ongoing oversight investigation into the consequences of border policies implemented by President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
In its third interim report, it addresses the impact of these policies on American citizens, communities, and law enforcement officers, citing numerous reports and investigations laid out in 82 pages with nearly 500 footnotes.
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Tennessee was $7.4 million shy of reaching its budgeted estimate for tax and fee collections in September, putting the state $46.9 million below its budget for the first two months of the fiscal year.
The $2.2 billion in overall September collections were $29.4 million more than September 2022 collections.
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A nearly $1 billion federal investment of taxpayer dollars in the Appalachian region has business leaders in Ohio excited about the potential for clean energy.
The Appalachian Hydrogen Hub, part of a larger $7 billion announcement late last week from the Biden administration, plans Ohio nodes in Ashtabula, Canton and Hopedale, all linked to nodes in West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
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The state House revived plans for an impact study on cryptocurrency mining and potential reporting mandates for companies at work in the industry.
The House Environmental Resources and Energy committee voted Monday to remove a two-year moratorium on new operations from House Bill 1476, though it still faced Republican opposition.
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Within two days of announcing Florida would arrange transportation for Americans stranded in Israel and bring them to Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis welcomed home nearly 300 Sunday night.
At the Tampa International Airport, DeSantis posted a video, stating, “We are having our first flight of people being rescued from Israel. [The plane] has landed, over 260 people that wanted to get back to the United States and couldn’t do it, there was a void of leadership. So, we stepped up and led. We’re happy to be able to deliver and ready to welcome them back to the United States of America.”
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The Biden administration cut a $7 billion check on Friday to launch its vision for a hydrogen-fueled future.
The money augments $40 billion in private investment to build seven hydrogen hubs across the nation that will decarbonize transportation and industrial manufacturing, slashing 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
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After Hamas attacked Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the state would be advancing greater sanctions against Iran. He also declared a state of emergency and issued an executive order to activate the national and state guard and other agencies to help bring Americans home who are stranded in Israel.
According to some news reports, there are roughly 20,000 Americans, including many, who are stranded in Israel. They are unable to get out because of commercial flight cancellations and other travel and logistics disruptions due to the ongoing war with Hamas.
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Crime rates per capita in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, including Northern Virginia and Maryland, have increased 9% in 2022 to a rate of 18.3 crimes per 1,000 residents, according to an annual crime report released Wednesday, with 83,000 more calls for service to primary agency participants in the study.
Russell Hamill, police chiefs committee chair for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, shared the findings of the council’s annual Report on Crime and Crime Control at a meeting with the board. The report reflects data from 17 cities, counties, or entities in Maryland and 18 in Virginia, as well as from law enforcement in the district.
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Arizona is on track for a $400 million deficit in June at the end of fiscal year 2024, according to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee.
However, the shortfall is not expected to last long, as the committee estimates that things will turn “positive” by fiscal year 2027. They anticipate there will be a $450 million then will get smaller in fiscal year 2026.
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The metro Atlanta area has some of the highest inflation rates of any city in the country.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, compared 23 major Metropolitan Statistical Areas using two key Consumer Price Index-related metrics.
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Memphis accepted $350 million in state taxpayer funds for upgrades at its sports facilities and plans to ask Tennessee taxpayers for more.
The set of Memphis sports facility asks previously included funding for $684 million in renovations to the FedexForum, home of the Memphis Grizzlies, along with renovations to Liberty Stadium, AutoZone Park and a new soccer stadium for new soccer club 901 FC.
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Universal license recognition became law in Virginia on July 1 for 85 different occupations, but some legislators believe ULR should be expanded to apply to more professions in the commonwealth.
ULR helps licensed professionals in approved occupations who are moving to Virginia or live near the border and want to pursue work in the commonwealth. Now, barbers, estheticians and home inspectors, for example, who have held their license for at least three years and are in good standing can easily find work in Virginia without becoming relicensed and potentially going without work for the duration of that process.
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Florida homeowners’ policies are becoming more expensive, but officials say improvements are in the offing as more companies enter the market.
On Tuesday, the Florida Senate’s Committee on Banking and Insurance heard an update from the state’s insurance commissioner and the state’s property insurer of last resort.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. unveiled “You Can in Michigan” — a new talent attraction marketing campaign launching nationally.
The campaign follows reports of population loss and an estimated more than 270,000 more people will leave the state by 2050. Michigan has lost more than 40,000 residents since 2020.
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Suburban Philadelphia legislators and law enforcement officials lambasted the city’s crime policies, blaming District Attorney Larry Krasner for not prosecuting criminals.
“My district has seen an increase in crime in our area — a majority of which is not even committed by Bensalem residents but by individuals crossing over the border from Philadelphia,” Rep. Kathleen C. Tomlinson, R-Bensalem, said during a House GOP Policy Committee hearing on crime.
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The Ohio Ballot Board on Thursday approved a citizen-led effort to once again change how the state draws legislative districts.
Now, the group pushing for a constitutional amendment that would create a 15-member citizen redistricting commission to draw district lines must collect enough signatures to get on the 2024 ballot.
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Pennsylvania’s investment in film tax credits hasn’t delivered the economic returns policymakers had anticipated, according to a recent analysis.
In its five-year review, the Independent Fiscal Office said the program’s $8.5 million net tax revenue does accomplish its legislative intent, even if tens of thousands of dollars in potential profit seep out of the state in the meantime.
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A new bill has been filed that would ban the practice of citizen’s arrest in Florida, but will likely find resistance in a Republican-dominated Legislature.
House Bill 27 is sponsored by Rep. Christopher Benjamin, D-Miami Gardens, and would prohibit citizen’s arrests while specifying exceptions. In the bill’s text, it states that a private person who is not in law enforcement is unable to arrest another citizen for any perceived violations of state law.
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Disregarding age restrictions for pornography and creating sexual “deepfakes” may soon trigger criminal charges in Ohio.
A proposal offered in the state legislature makes distributing sexually explicit material without verifying a customer’s age a third-degree felony. Likewise, minors caught lying about their identity to access porn would face a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
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As state spending will reach a record $82 billion, a Michigan lawmaker wants to create a new government agency.
Sen. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, introduced Senate Bill 519 to create a new government agency to help people who lose their jobs as Michigan transitions from fossil fuels to clean energy.
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Consumer prices rose significantly in September, newly released federal inflation data shows, further undoing a trend of slowing inflation that had begun earlier this year.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday released its Consumer Price Index, a key marker of inflation that tracks the cost of a range of consumer goods and services. That index rose 0.4% in September alone, a notable increase that is higher than months earlier this year.
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Within days of Hamas attacking Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state plans to increase sanctions against the Iranian regime. The new sanctions include expanding the industries on Florida’s scrutinized companies list and strengthening Florida’s position against states that sponsor terror.
DeSantis said that as the federal government has eased sanctions on Iran and funded state-sponsored terrorism by sending billions of U.S. taxpayer money to Iran and restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians that was previously halted by the Trump administration, Florida is taking the opposite approach.
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Though many celebrated expanded Amtrak service for Pittsburgh, critics cry foul, pointing to long-term trends that work against train travel in western Pennsylvania.
The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy warned the $200 million state investment announced in September to bring twice-daily service from Pittsburgh to New York City was a misuse of taxpayer dollars, benefiting Norfolk Southern and Amtrak more than residents.
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Nearly 60% of students in Wisconsin’s Public Schools continue to be unable to read, write or do math at grade level.
The State’s Department of Public Instruction released the latest standardized test scores Tuesday, and they show 39.2% of public school students are proficient or better in reading, while 41.1% are proficient or better in math.
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Members of the American Sheriff Alliance are calling for immediate action due to heightened terrorist threats they fear exist because of U.S. border policies.
Their call comes as a record number of known, suspected terrorist (KSTs) were apprehended by federal Customs and Border Patrol agents in fiscal 2023, the largest number in recorded history.
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A federal judge has found the owner of the Edenville Dam responsible for widespread flooding in May 2020, that together with heavy rain, forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from 3,500 homes in mid-Michigan.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney granted Attorney General Dana Nessel a summary judgment against Boyce Hydro. Nessel had filed the motion on behalf of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Department of Natural Resources.
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Pennsylvania’s alternative fuel rebate paid $15.7 million to residents over the last 12 years, according to state data.
Since 2018, the Department of Environmental Protection provided rebates for 5,060 full-battery electric vehicles, 1,714 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and 42 electric motorcycles.
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Business owners continued to believe inflation is their biggest problem, according to a new survey released Tuesday by the National Federal of Independent Business Ohio.
The NFIB’s monthly business optimism index also fell by half a point in September, marking the 21st consecutive month the index fell below the 49-year average of 98. It stands at 90.8.
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Twenty-seven attorneys general, led by Florida’s Ashley Moody, are demanding Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “fix the problem you created” and close the catch-and-release loophole DHS is “currently exploiting to implement its mass release policy at the Southwest Border.”
The coalition filed a Petition for Rulemaking demanding that Mayorkas amend DHS’s catch-and-release policies. In their 6-page letter, they point to how “DHS is releasing aliens at a rate of over one million per year, and that does not include the aliens being released on parole under § 1182(d)(5).”
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Connecticut’s consumer advocates are pushing back against natural gas rate increases sought by one of the state’s largest utilities, which comes as the company fights state regulators’ rejection of an electric rate hike in court.
In filings to the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, Southern Connecticut Natural Gas and Connecticut Natural Gas request approval to increase their average gas distribution rates by 5-9% during the winter season.
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The showdown over Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and the state’s redistricting process continues after Protasiewicz announced she would not recuse herself from two challenges to Wisconsin’s electoral maps.
“I will set aside my opinions and decide cases based on the law. There will surely be many cases in which I reach results that I personally dislike. That is what it means to be a judge,” she said in a statement.
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The Florida Supreme Court is pondering the definition of a riot related to a law passed in 2021 designed to prevent violent protests like those seen in 2020 after the death of George Floyd.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, Jacksonville/Duval County Sheriff Mike Williams, and Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony were named as defendants in the 2021 lawsuit filed by Dream Defenders and other social justice groups including Black Lives Matter.
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