Washington, DC, USA. Terry Branstad, Jerry Brown and John Kitzhaber have all returned to the gubernatorial chair after a long period out of office. Experience, they are discovering, can take them only so far.

The 2010 elections brought a sea of fresh faces to governor’s offices around the country, from Democrat Dan Malloy, who is pushing broad liberal changes in Connecticut, to Republican Nikki Haley, the South Carolina conservative who, at 39, is the youngest state chief executive in the nation.

Washington, DC, USA. Many of this year’s state revenue forecasts underestimated the amount of money coming in. Budget writers wonder if that was a blip or a sign of better times ahead.

New York lawmakers ushered in a new era of austerity this spring, curtailing their state Medicaid program and slashing funds for schools. The state’s leaders said they had little choice: New York lacked the money to meet its old commitments.