TRANSITION WATCH: Fewer state-level Democrats are becoming Republicans than in 1994, new Speakers of the House are elected in Montana and Tennessee and other news of the historic shift in power in the states
Although Maine paid, or exceeded, its full annual pension contribution from 2005 to 2010, the system was 70 percent funded in fiscal year 2010 and faced a $4 billion funding gap.
A May 2011 report, Measuring Transportation Investments: The Road to Results, found considerable differences among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Governor-elect Paul LePage campaigned on doing away with Maine's first-in-the-nation attempt at creating universal health coverage. With Republicans in charge of the state Legislature, too, there's a good chance he'll get his way.
Concerns over in-person and online stalking have led lawmakers to create new orders of protection. But enforcement is often up to the victims and most don’t pursue it.
Maine meets six of eight policy benchmarks aimed at addressing children’s dental health needs, one more than it met in 2010. The state surpassed the benchmark for the percentage of Medicaid-enrolled children receiving dental services.
Where borrowing was on the ballot Tuesday, voters usually said yes. Meanwhile, Colorado affirmed its ability to issue debt.
Louisiana gave advocates of charter schools, vouchers and other publicly funded education alternatives everything they could have asked for, but opposition remained fierce elsewhere.
Governor Paul LePage thinks letting young people ages 16 and over work longer hours is a good idea. Critics accuse him of seeking to undo labor regulations that have been widely accepted for decades.
