In the News

Tennesseans favor bringing Arizona’s controversial immigration measure to the state by a 4-to-1 margin, a poll conducted by The Tennessean and other media outlets found.

Seventy-two percent of voters in the state say they would support enacting a law that would require people stopped by police to prove they are in the country legally. Such legislation would be modeled after an Arizona immigration statute scheduled to go into effect Thursday that lets police charge people who cannot prove their citizenship status under the state’s criminal trespassing laws.

Missouri ranks 31st nationwide in the 2010 Kids Count databook, a report released today that rates the status of children in each state based on statistics from 10 key areas.

Missouri improved in four categories, with its most significant improvement in the high school dropout rate. The other areas in which Missouri improved were child and teen death rates and teen birth rates. Conditions worsened in the areas of children in poverty, low birth weights and infant mortality.

Law firms in New Jersey that employ municipal court judges are banned from making political contributions, the state’s highest court ruled today.

To eliminate questions about the source of the money, attorneys can make political donations from their personal funds, but contributions cannot come from the firm’s business account, the state Supreme Court said in its unanimous decision.

National health care reform is expected to save Maryland $829 million over the next decade and provide coverage to nearly 350,000 people — reducing the number of uninsured in the state by half, according to a report released by state officials Monday.

Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday marked a health care milestone, announcing that more than 100,000 children have been added to state health coverage rolls since he took office.

But Ritter, a Democrat who isn't seeking re-election, did not rule out cuts to state health programs when his administration draws up the 2011-12 budget this fall. The state is facing what could be a $1 billion shortfall in that budget year, which begins in July 2011.

"In a downturn, everything is on the table," Ritter said.