Advocates for a law to prohibit bullying and provide school districts with the tools to address the problem were dealt a stinging rebuke Wednesday morning in the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate. The GOP pushed through an amended bill, SB 137, which does nothing advocates have pushed for — including reporting requirements and enumeration, or listing, of…
Category: State Government
Florida’s welfare drug testing halted by federal judge
Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the measure into law on May 31, touted it as a way to ensure taxpayer money isn’t “wasted” on those who use drugs. “Hopefully more people will focus on not using illegal drugs,” he said then. But, in her order, Scriven issued a scathing assessment of the state’s argument in…
South Carolina Voter ID Law: Yep, Pretty Discriminating
Under South Carolina’s new law, passed in August, prospective voters must present either a valid driver’s license or ID card, military ID, or passport. Absent of any of those, people may still cast absentee or provisional ballots. But, under the state’s new law, these ballot-casters must eventually produce a valid ID. And though…
Record Rains Don’t Ease Texas Drought, State Braces for Multi-Year Dust Bowl
Texas finally received rain over the first weekend in October. But as the Drought Monitor shows, while the portion of the state under exceptional drought has dropped a little, 99% of the state is still under severe drought, just as it was last week. The L.A. Times reported: Texas has finally received…
The 53% Myth: Working Poor Pay More Of Their Income In State And Local Taxes Than The Rich In 49 States
But the founding principles of the tumblr and the “53 percent” meme itself is flawed. It is true that 47 percent of Americans did not pay net federal income taxes in 2009 — the number is unusually high because of the depression in incomes following the recession — but it is completely false that only…
Poll: Support For Death Penalty At 39-Year Low
A Gallup poll released today found support for the death penalty in the United States is at a 39-year low. As Gallup reports, “this is the lowest level of support since 1972, the year the Supreme Court voided all existing state death penalty laws in Furman v. Georgia.” via Poll: Support For Death…
Alabama Immigration Law: Protesters Stage Work Stoppages, Shut Down Businesses
At least a half-dozen poultry plants shut down or scaled back operations Wednesday and many other businesses closed as Hispanics in Alabama skipped work to protest the state’s toughest-in-the-nation immigration law. The work stoppage was aimed at demonstrating the economic contribution of Alabama’s Hispanic immigrants. It was unclear exactly how widespread the protests…
Flood-Gate: Perry Officials Try to Hide Sea Level Rise from Texans with “Clear-Cut Unadulterated Censorship”
In one of the most flagrant recent instances of scientific censorship, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) refused to publish a report chapter unless all mention of climate change and its impact on sea level rise were eliminated. The author — Rice University oceanographer John Anderson, a leading expert on sea level…
US asks court to halt Ala. immigration law
The federal government asked an appeals court Friday to halt the Alabama immigration law considered by many the toughest in the U.S., saying it could have dire diplomatic consequences abroad, invites discrimination and merely forces illegal immigrants into neighboring states. The motion, filed in the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, claimed Alabama’s new law…
Calif. pot dispensaries told to shut down
Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state’s 15-year-old medical marijuana law. In an escalation of the ongoing conflict between the…
AP: Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin Wins WV-GOV Special Election
Democrats have held on in the Republican-trending rural state of West Virginia, with Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin winning Tuesday’s special election. With 81% of precincts reporting, Tomblin leads Republican businessman Bill Maloney at 49%-47%, and Tomblin has been projected as the winner by the Associated Press. via AP: Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin Wins…
11 of 12 Pennsylvania GOP Members of Congress Rebel Against Gov. Corbett’s Election Rigging Plan
Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) proposed rigging the 2012 presidential election for the Republican candidate by effectively giving away as many as a dozen of the blue state’s electoral votes to that candidate. Under Corbett’s scheme, each of the state’s 18 congressional districts will allocate one electoral vote during the…
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer Will Seek Health Care Law Waiver To Establish Single Payer In His State
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) made history earlier this year when he signed into law legislation that would make his state the first state to lay the groundwork for a single payer health care system. In order to enact this system, the state needs a waiver from the federal health care law, which…
Restrictions Could Keep Five Million Traditionally Democratic Voters From The Polls In 2012
Restrictive voting laws in states across the country could affect up to five million voters from traditionally Democratic demographics in 2012, according to a new report by the Brennan Center. That’s a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections. The new restrictions, the study found, “fall most…
Have a license for medical pot? You can’t have a gun, U.S. says
Michigan’s medical-marijuana users can’t catch a break. Three major state appeals court decisions have gone against them in the last month. Now, federal authorities have issued an order that licensed medical-marijuana users nationwide can’t possess a gun. That means no hunting, no target shooting, no gun collecting and no guns for personal protection —…
August Unemployment Rates Fall in All of Michigan’s Regional Labor Markets
From August 2010 to August 2011, unemployment rates fell in all of the state’s 17 regions. Rate drops ranged from a half percentage point to 1.8 percentage points and were significant in a number of regions over the year. The median reduction since August 2010 was 1.2 percentage points. The largest declines over this period were posted in…
Badly-needed water funding dries up for Texas
On paper, at least, Texas is well-prepared to meet the water needs of its rapidly expanding population — even when Mother Nature lays down a harsh and lengthy drought. The price tag on the plan: $53 billion. State money allocated: $1.4 billion. If there were funds, Texas would be able to build the dams, reservoirs,…
Poverty an invisible issue in GOP race
When the U.S. Census Bureau reported last week that a record number of people were living in poverty, Republicans were quick to attach the figures to President Barack Obama, desperately trying to lay them at his feet. But anyone with common sense knows that someone doesn’t just fall into poverty overnight. The deplorable…
EMU joins other Michigan universities in banning medical pot on campus
Eastern Michigan University became the latest university to formally ban medical marijuana on its campus. Despite state laws allowing those with medical marijuana cards to smoke the drug, federal law still lists it as illegal. That makes it necessary for universities to ban it as well, university officials said, because EMU and other higher education…
Union reps lawsuit seeks to remove Detroit schools emergency manager
Union employee Robert Davis filed a lawsuit Monday in an effort to remove Roy Roberts, the emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools, because he did not take the oath of office before he started working in the position.While the lawsuit is asking the removal of the leader of the state’s largest school district…