Most Americans have more daily contact with their state and local governments than with the federal government. Police departments, libraries, and schools — not to mention driver's licenses and parking tickets — usually fall under the oversight of state and local governments. Each state has its own written constitution, and these documents are often far more elaborate than their federal counterpart. Under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, all powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states and the people. All state governments are modeled after the federal government and consist of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The U.S. Constitution mandates that all states uphold a "republican form" of government, although the three-branch structure is not required. State governments get less media coverage than the national or local governments because they are not as polarizing as the national and local governments, although they have more money and power than ever before. Yet, the media pretty much ignore this gigantic force. Somewhere along the way, the media, especially TV, decided that state and local politics are boring and of little interest to their readers or viewers. Coverage of state government in particular is in steep decline, concludes the Project on the State of the American Newspaper, which is affiliated with the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the University Of Maryland College Of Journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

References:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/our-government/state-and-local-government