Columbia, SC, USA. A war among giant retailers that animated South Carolina politics the past few months has tipped in the direction of one of the most aggressive competitors: Amazon.com.

Despite determined opposition from big retail chains and most of the state’s business establishment, a huge tax exemption for the on-line company is moving forward.

Washington, DC, USA. State leaders love to make promises about healing a sick economy. Often, though, economic success depends on factors far beyond their influence.

California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas elected five very different governors last fall, but they all agreed on one thing: their capacity to solve their states’ problems.

Tallahassee, FL, USA.Florida is banking on an expected influx of retiring baby boomers to buy up the state's glut of empty housing and get an old formula for the state's fiscal health working again.

When you count all the foreclosed homes in Florida, and add in those that were built before the recession but never sold, what you find can be hard to believe: One in five houses in Florida is sitting empty.

Springfield, IL, USA. The nation’s fifth-largest state has to face up to the budgetary mess it created. Its leaders finally seem willing to get started. They can’t take forever.

The Illinois General Assembly has given itself five years to fix the state’s dismal fiscal situation. It will be a painful five years. The countdown is timed to new personal and corporate income taxes approved by lawmakers this January.

Albany, NY, USA. Governor Andrew Cuomo not only got New York's legislature to pass its budget on time but also changed spending assumptions in ways that nudge the budget closer to long-term structural balance.

Populist outrage at the big bonuses paid by Wall Street firms has mostly melted away since the peak of the financial crisis. But New York State will be feeling the effects of the bonus backlash for a long, long time.