Editor’s Picks From Around the Web

AZ: Arizona first to establish lifetime limit on cash assistance program

azcentral.com

Arizona will become the first and only state to impose a one-year lifetime limit for impoverished households receiving federal benefits from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program—a move that will cut payments to about 1,600 families in July.

CT, NY: Bans on assault weapons in Connecticut and New York are upheld

nytimes.com

A federal appeals court upheld strict statewide bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines that were passed in New York and Connecticut after the 2012 mass murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School, finding that the states had acted “based on substantial evidence” and had “tailored the legislation at issue to address these particularly hazardous weapons.”

CA: Labor panel to file injunction in California charter school unionization push

latimes.com

California’s labor oversight board said it intends to file for an injunction to prohibit one of the state’s largest charter organizations from interfering with efforts to unionize teachers.

LA: Federal judge blocks Louisiana governor’s Planned Parenthood defunding

nola.com

A federal judge ruled that Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration unlawfully canceled Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Medicaid contracts, potentially disrupting the health care of 5,200 Louisiana patients.

FL: Florida Senate removes Confederate flag from its official seal

tampabay.com

Senators weren’t expected to take up the issue until January, but Senate President Andy Gardiner, a Republican, said he wanted to get it out of the way during a special session on redistricting in Florida so that staff could begin transitioning to a new emblem as soon as possible.

OH: Ohio delays executions until 2017

cleveland.com

Ohio’s prisons agency said it won’t resume executions until 2017 because of continuing troubles finding lethal-injection drugs, which European pharmaceutical companies have stopped selling on moral and legal grounds.

TX: Texas kicks Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid program

texastribune.org

Texas health officials say they are kicking Planned Parenthood out of the state Medicaid program over what they called “acts of misconduct” revealed in undercover videos filmed earlier this year. The decision applies even to Planned Parenthood clinics that only provide women’s health services such as cancer screenings, pregnancy tests and birth control.

KS: Kansas governor wants to use inmate mentoring concept to tackle poverty

cjonline.com

Republican Gov. Sam Brownback touted a mentoring program for criminal offenders and said he wants to create a similar program to help combat poverty In Kansas. About 20.7 percent of the offender population reoffends in the first year out of prison, but the rate drops to 8.7 percent for the 6,400 offenders in the program.

MT: Counties to work with Montana tribal governments on voting access

billingsgazette.com

Montana’s secretary of state is directing all counties with American Indian reservations to work with tribal governments to establish satellite election offices if they are required under the Federal Voting Rights Act, and if the tribal governments request them.

ID: Idaho lawmakers split on urban renewal

idahostatesman.com

Lawmakers tasked with scrutinizing urban renewal laws remain torn on what, if any, changes should be made to improve oversight on boards that helped lure major companies to Idaho. Critics argue the agencies operate with little accountability and take tax dollars away from local government.

WV: New law to elect West Virginia judges also shortens campaigns for the bench

herald-dispatch.com

Next spring’s primary election will be the first and only chance for West Virginia voters to elect judges at all levels of government, and a new law leaves candidates with less than seven months to build name recognition and communicate their message.