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A slim majority of Puerto Ricans sought to change their ties with the United States and become the 51st U.S. state in a non-binding referendum that would require final approval from Congress.

Massachusetts tops perennial efficiency king California on the strength of a robust program to get utilities to make improvements.

Since June, gasoline prices have climbed more or less steadily and are now 35 cents per gallon higher than they were a year ago. According to AAA’s daily fuel gauge report, which measures gas prices around the country, gas prices have hit daily record highs at least once in each of the past six weeks. In Michigan and Ohio, prices rose by 50 cents per gallon in the past year. As of Oct. 1, there were seven states with gas prices above $4 per gallon.

Some states are considering a domestic worker bill of rights, providing overtime pay, for instance, to nannies.

Unemployment rates rose in 44 U.S. states in July, the most states to show a monthly increase in more than three years and a reflection of weak hiring nationwide. The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates fell in only two states and were unchanged in four.

The European meltdown is weighing heavily on the U.S. economy, with states that rely heavily on exports most at risk from the deepening crisis overseas. An analysis by Wells Fargo estimates that Utah and West Virginia economies face the biggest risk from the problems in the eurozone, while many Western states including Wyoming and Colorado are unlikely to see much impact.

As slow as the recovery in jobs has been, a few states are doing quite well. Seven have more jobs now than before the recession. Some - Texas, North Dakota and Alaska - are benefiting from an oil boom... The other states that have regained all their lost jobs are: New York, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and South Dakota. New York has seen broad-based gains in education and health care, financial services,and other professional services such as legal services and accounting.

"You are still paying for that coverage expansion but not getting the benefit of it," said Herb Kuhn, president of the Missouri Hospital Association. "So you as a state are exporting your dollars to another state. If you have some adjoining state that accepts (the Medicaid expansion) then you are basically sending your dollars to your neighbor."

Health-care reform. Same-sex marriage. Illegal immigration. The social safety net. When it comes to some of the top issues facing the states, it might seem that the partisan divide among the country’s governors is as wide as it has ever been.

While some income inequality is generally considered necessary in a free market economy, extreme inequality is not. In the United States, there are far more poor people than wealthy ones -- and the gap between the rich and poor is growing.