Arizona
State Mandates Renewable Energy
Arizona corporation commissioners voted 4-1 to require regulated electric utilities to generate 15 percent of their energy from renewable resources by 2025. The decision, three years in the making, opens the door for the use of new power-generation technologies, but also means higher bills for customers of the utilities.
MORE: Arizona Republic

Washington State
State’s Glaciers Shrinking
Scientists are finding that many of the glaciers in Washington are shrinking, with some on the verge of disappearing, and say global warming is at least partly to blame. It could mean less water powering some of the region's hydroelectric dams, filling some drinking-water reservoirs, irrigating farm fields and ushering spawning salmon upstream.
MORE: Seattle Times

California
Unions Sue to Block Inmate Transfers
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to ship more than 2,000 inmates to private, out-of-state prisons ran into a roadblock when two major public employee unions filed a lawsuit to stop the transfers, saying they violate the state's civil service rules and that Schwarzenegger overstepped his authority by declaring the emergency that set the move into motion.
MORE: Sacramento Bee

New Jersey
Governor Blocks State Bear Hunt
Gov. Jon Corzine officially moved to block this year's scheduled bear hunt, angering supporters of a hunt who want to challenge it in court. Corzine directed state Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson to review the effectiveness of the state's bear management plan.
MORE: Newark Star-Ledger

New York State
Governments Bet on High-Tech Hub
A sprawling IBM factory 70 miles north of Manhattan is an important part of an ambitious effort to create a thriving industrial cluster in upstate New York based on microelectronics and nanotechnology. State and local governments are betting big on this high-tech vision, with grants, tax breaks and other subsidies of more than $1 billion, mainly in the last five years.
MORE: New York Times
Saying California lags other states in government policies that promote high-speed Internet access, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs an executive order to set up a task force to streamline permitting and speed up the construction of broadband networks.
MORE: San Jose Mercury News

Illinois
Governor’s Ally Pleads Guilty
Stuart Levine, a Republican fundraiser reappointed to state boards by Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pleaded guilty to scheming to squeeze millions of dollars from firms seeking state business, and authorities alleged in the clearest detail yet that he had the help of top Blagojevich campaign supporters.
MORE: Chicago Tribune
New York Gov. George E. Pataki appoints a former federal prosecutor to determine whether the ethics case against Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi is strong enough to seek his removal from office by the state Senate.
MORE: New York Times