Eye on Congress:The Big Story

As President Barack Obama heads to Japan for a summit of leaders of the Group of Seven, the world's biggest economic powers, CQ Roll Call's foreign policy reporter Rachel Oswald and Managing Editor Adriel Bettelheim dissect the significance of the visit, the president's stop in Hiroshima and why Japan worries more about Trump than China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Watching Consumers’ Online habits to Set Insurance Rates   State lawmakers across the country are growing concerned about a new practice by the insurance industry:  setting prices based on their customers’ retail shopping habits and Internet search histories. CQ’s Clyde McGrady reports that con­sumer groups have pushed legislators and regulators to stop insurers from figuring out the highest amount they can charge policyholders before a customer will switch companies — based on person­al data insurers buy from online snooping services.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

She’s from Nevada, via Brooklyn, N.Y., carries two pistols at all times, supports gay rights, Ted Cruz for President and helped negotiate the end of a deadly standoff over federal land in Oregon. And she’s running for Congress in one of the most heavily contested House races in the nation, where, apropos of a Las Vegas-based district, it’s anyone’s guess who has the edge. She’s Nevada assemblywoman Michele Fiore, one of CQ Roll Call’s 25 Most Influential Women in State Government.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Champions of clean energy often look to California and other blue states for leadership on  green issues, but lately the state that is the king of wind power is a decidedly red one in the heart of Middle America. To be sure, Iowa’s success with wind was helped in no small part by its geography. Iowa’s flat topography enables better and more frequent wind gusts. But Iowa also adopted some of the nation’s first policies to promote renewable energy. Now, the Energy Information Administration says  Iowa gets almost a third of its electricity from wind, more than any other state. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Three congressional oversight hearings and at least four visits by lawmakers to Flint, Mich., have provided little traction for legislation to address the water crisis there. And, as CQ Roll Call reporters Stephanie Akin and Jeremy Dillon explain in a CQ State Report podcast, folks in the struggling city are growing weary of politicians and bureaucrats pointing fingers of blame at each other.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The handful of red state governors and lawmakers who have been willing to expand Medicaid under the 2010 health care law have tried to put their own spin on the program – and one of their favorites has been pushing recipients to find jobs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s good news and bad news for state treasuries – and a surprise about what can happen when states raise taxes on high-income households whose earnings are impacted by the ups and downs of Wall Street.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A controversial federal program that over the years has sent billions of dollars to state and local police was halted in December after Congress raided the fund associated with it -- and cops are now crying foul. The payouts came from a Justice Department fund created via civil asset forfeiture -- a practice that allows law enforcement to take money and property from people who may not even be charged with a crime. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a movement by states to prohibit mental health professionals from providing so-called gay conversion therapy. In just the last two years California, New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon and Washington D.C. have banned the treatment. At least 13 states are considering legislation banning conversion therapy for minors, according to CQ StateTrack data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Democratic Governor, John Bel Edwards, and the Republican Legislature are going to have to work together to clean up a mess that even some Republicans in the state say was created by Edwards predecessor, Republican Bobby Jindal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices