On Friday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed a new law that will give more rural counties the option of avoiding prison-based gerrymandering, helping to ensure fairer representation for incarcerated Virginians. The law, HB13, passed both Houses unanimously. It was sponsored by Delegate Riley Ingram (R-Chesterfield, Henrico, Prince George, City of Hopewell).
A Shell Oil facility in Singapore If President Obama is responsible for the high gas prices here in the States, is he also responsible for the high prices across the globe?
The most common critique of Citizens United is that it allows corporations to wield ever greater influence in our democracy -- on top of the considerable power business already had before the Supreme Court decision in 2010. More recently, during the Republican primary, critics of Citizens United have spotlighted how the ruling gives outsized influence to wealthy individuals -- allowing a handful of billionaires like Sheldon Adelson to decide which candidates live or die on the campaign trail.
Three days of oral arguments on President Obama's Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court got underway this morning -- just a few days after the law's second anniversary. And while the Supreme Court's decision is not expected until June, the fight, not just over the constitutionality of the health-care law but the fundamental role of government, will again take center stage.
State attorneys general are directly elected by voters in nearly every state and if politics made sense, the 26 AGs that have filed suit against Obamacare would be booted out by voters. Why? Because these AGs represent states that stand to disproportionately benefit from the law. Meanwhile, many AGs from states that won't see big benefits -- but will foot much of the bill for the law -- are sitting on the sidelines.
State attorneys general are directly elected by voters in nearly every state and if politics made sense, the 26 AGs that have filed suit against Obamacare would be booted out by voters. Why? Because these AGs represent states that stand to disproportionately benefit from the law. Meanwhile, many AGs from states that won't see big benefits -- but will foot much of the bill for the law -- are sitting on the sidelines.
NEW YORK - Yesterday, civil rights legend John Payton passed away suddenly, stunning the civil rights and voting rights community. Demos issued the following statement to honor his historic work and the legacy he leaves behind:
Few trends in human history have been more environmentally destructive than the rise of America's car culture starting in the 20th century. Americans drive their cars more than people in any other country and drive less fuel-efficient cars. There are 808 cars in the United States for every 1000 people, a rate 50 percent higher than most European countries.
The Federal Reserve Board of Dallas released a report from its chief researcher, Harvey Rosenblum, which has caused quite a stir. The report cites Fed statistics showing that the five largest US banks hold a remarkable 52% of all bank assets:
Today is the second anniversary of Obama’s healthcare reform being signed into law, but he’s not commenting on it. He may be afraid of touching this new third rail of politics that the right has created, but there are some reasons young Americans should be celebrating today.
As the Supreme Court takes up the Affordable Care Act and its most controversial provision, the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, legal analysts are busily debating how the ruling might go -- looking back decades for precedents.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the first ever survey of green jobs today with some very promising numbers. In 2010, 3.1 million jobs were Green Goods and Services jobs (GGS) with 2.3 million in the private sector and 860,300 in the public sector. These numbers are even higher than the Brookings Institution estimates released last fall. Brookings estimated that 2.7 million people were employed in the green economy.
State governments are in for a rough year, according to a recent report from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "For fiscal year 2013, the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2012, 29 states have projected or have addressed shortfalls totaling $47 billion."
TheWall Street Journal ran a disingenuous and misleading opinion piece on Sunday evening titled "The Corporate Disclosure Assault," arguing that “[u]nions and liberal activists are using proxy rules to attack business political speech.” The piece—exactly like the undisclosed corporate money it’s pandering to—doesn’t even have an author listed.
Sounding the alarm about climate change has long been an uphill battle because its effects can seem remote or too far in the future. Even if the planet is warming, skeptics say, how do we know that human activity is the cause and why should we care?
Every year, though, comes more concrete evidence of why we should care as the very real costs of climate change start to kick in.