Meanwhile, Colorado can collect sales tax on medical marijuana, Attorney General John Suthers said Monday, according the Denver Post. Gov. Bill Ritter said his administration would immediately direct medical-marijuana dispensaries to start paying sales tax and obtain retail licenses. Some view the ruling as a boon for the state’s moribund budget.

In Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour wants to close three public universities to save money, according to the Jackson Clarion Ledger. Barbour has proposed combining historically black universities Mississippi Valley State and Alcorn State into Jackson State, also an historically black university. He also called for merging Mississippi University for Women into Mississippi State, the paper reported. There’s no mention of Barbour thinking about consolidating the state’s larger non-historically black universities.

And in Alabama, some legislators argue that that state should raise the income thresholds at which people start paying state income taxes, levels that are at or near the lowest in the nation, reports the Birmingham News. A two-parent family of four starts paying state income taxes in Alabama when it earns more than $12,600, according to a report by Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. For comparison’s sake, a two-parent family of four in New Mexico doesn’t pay state income taxes until earnings reach $37,400.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is requiring state employees to get high-level approval for out-of-state trips, to carpool on in-state travel and to stay at cheap hotels to save money, reports the Tallahassee Democrat.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats are struggling to win the war for public opinion on health care reform, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But it’s not all bad news for the president and his allies. A majority of those polled think the GOP is mainly criticizing the Democrats’ efforts without offering alternatives, the poll found.