In The News

Madison, WI — An unlikely duo of a conservative group and a liberal organization together have brought a lawsuit to block a new state rule regulating political issue ads and messages that took effect Sunday.

Wisconsin Club for Growth and One Wisconsin Now said in a lawsuit filed in federal court in Madison that the state agency behind the rule overstepped its authority and violated their constitutional right to free speech.read more >>

CHICAGO — In all the fuss over the Senate seat that President Obama left behind here, and whether it was offered up in a nefarious trade, some people demanded a clean start. Let the voters of Illinois elect someone to fill the vacancy.

The simple idea has been granted.

But as only Illinois, and its topsy-turvy politics, might execute such things, the new election has been set for Nov. 2 — almost two years after Mr. Obama left the seat and on the very day that voters will also choose his permanent successor. read more >>

WASHINGTON, DC — At the core of some of the major policy fights in Washington these days is a ferocious competition between Republicans and Democrats over which party is the champion of America’s small businesses — a mantle that each side views as crucial to shaping economic policy and winning the November elections. read more >>

PHOENIX, AZ — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect, a ruling that at least temporarily squashed a state policy that had inflamed the national debate over immigration. read more >>

AUGUSTA, ME -- Despite expressing support for similar measures in the past, Maine's two Republican senators voted with their party colleagues Tuesday to oppose beginning debate on a campaign finance reform measure, stopping it in its tracks.

U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins both said the legislation, known as the Disclose Act, treats large politically active groups, such as unions and corporations, with two different sets of rules.read more >>

CORPUS CHRISTI — State lawmakers charged with redrawing political boundaries said they got the message from dozens of area residents and officeholders Wednesday — the Coastal Bend doesn’t want to share its lawmakers with the Rio Grande Valley.read more >>

Free speech implies responsibility. The Supreme Court said earlier this year that corporations and unions have the First Amendment right to spend whatever they want on independent political ads, but many businesses don’t want the responsibility that comes with that new right. They want to make their unlimited donations anonymously so the public will not know who is flooding the airwaves. On Tuesday, the Republicans in the Senate voted to let them get away with it. read more >>

It's not every day that you get the chance to perform a civic duty, receive some free ice cream AND maybe win cold hard cash.

That's what the group ColorOfChange.org is offering Tuesday afternoon in the Shaw neighborhood of the District, in a final push to entice residents to be counted in the 2010 Census. A truck loaded with ice cream and fresh fruit will roam Shaw's streets, starting at about 3:30 p.m. and continuing until it runs out of goodies.read more >>

With the Senate debating legislation on Tuesday that would require corporations, unions and other special interests to disclose the donors that bankroll their political advertisements, the Obama administration issued a statement formally endorsing the measure, which is expected to be defeated.

The House approved the bill, known as the Disclose Act, an acronym for Democracy Is Strengthened by Casting Light On Spending in Elections. But Senate Republicans oppose it, saying it violates free speech, and Democrats do not have the votes to surmount a filibuster.read more >>

The counting part of the appropriately ballyhooed and advertised Census 2010 is nearly over. Census 2010 often criticized and belittled has, by its own accounting, been a success. The mail-back response rate at the end of April was 72 percent (at the same time in 2000 it was 69 percent); Illinois is trending better than the national average with a 75 percent return rate.read more >>