Montana lawmaker seeks to overturn abortion ruling
The Montana legislature is considering a proposal that would interpret the state’s constitutional right to privacy to mean that it does not protect the right to an abortion, a move that would echo others in several states to severely restrict or ban abortion. Sen. Keith Regier, the proposal's sponsor, argued during a committee hearing Tuesday that the phrase “individual privacy” in the state Constitution should also refer to unborn babies that are individuals who have rights that should not be infringed upon. State efforts to regulate abortion became more urgent after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June — in the Dobbs v. Jackson case — to leave abortion rights up to the states.
news.yahoo.comWisconsin Senate OKs welfare vote, nixes Evers' abortion ask
Republican Wisconsin lawmakers on Tuesday rejected calls from Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats to ask voters whether the state should continue to ban abortions, opting instead to advance a ballot question on welfare eligibility. The advisory referendum on welfare proposed by top Republicans is nonbinding, meaning it wouldn't change state law, but supporters said they want the public's feedback on the issue. Democrats argued that Republicans were just trying to increase GOP turnout for a pivotal state Supreme Court race that will determine the ideological balance of the court and is also on the April ballot.
news.yahoo.comViolence looms over New Mexico Legislature as work begins
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling for new gun control laws and greater accountability for firearm manufacturers while denouncing recent drive-by shootings against politicians in Albuquerque and what she called a national scourge of violence.
New Arizona governor wants to undo school voucher expansion
Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs wants to undo a massive expansion of a school voucher program championed last year by her GOP predecessor and other Republicans that lets students apply to use public money for private-school tuition and other education costs. In releasing its budget proposals Friday, the governor’s office said the expansion is siphoning money from underfunded public schools and would cost $1.5 billion dollars over the next decade. Hobbs staffers estimated the move would save the state $135 million next fiscal year.
news.yahoo.comNew documents detail Sen. Ron Johnson asking about electors
Newly released documents from the House Jan. 6 committee show that the former Wisconsin Republican Party chairman testified that U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors.
New documents detail Sen. Ron Johnson asking about electors
The former chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party said Republican Sen. Ron Johnson spoke to him weeks before Joe Biden assumed the presidency about having the state’s GOP-controlled Legislature, rather than voters, choose Wisconsin’s presidential electors, according to newly released documents from closed-door testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee. Johnson, in a statement Tuesday, said he had no recollection of the conversation with Andrew Hitt and accused the committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection of attempting to “smear" him by selectively releasing text messages. Hitt, who resigned as state party chairman in July 2021, testified before the Jan. 6 committee on Feb. 22.
news.yahoo.comNew law forces Florida officials to choose: Keep their government jobs or be a lobbyist
An upheaval affecting the intersecting worlds of Florida government, politics and lobbying is forcing officials to choose: They could hold onto their positions in elected or appointed offices. Or they can keep their careers, or future career plans, as paid lobbyists.
sun-sentinel.comPlaintiffs Challenging Kansas’ Congressional District Boundaries File Appeal To U.S. Supreme Court
The petition—which asks SCOTUS to hear the case— challenges the Kansas Supreme Court’s May 2022 decision upholding that state’s congressional redistricting plan. On June 21, 2022, the Kansas Supreme Court overturned a state district court’s decision that had found that the state’s congressional district boundaries were unconstitutional. Klapper ruled on a case that resulted from the consolidation of three lawsuits challenging congressional district boundaries that were enacted when the legislature overrode Gov. DREW ANGERER/BALLOTPEDIAOn April 25, 2022, Wyandotte County District Court Judge Bill Klapper struck down Kansas’ enacted congressional map. “Therefore, the judgment of the district court is reversed, and the permanent injunction ordered by the district court is lifted,” Stegall said in the order.
thewestsidegazette.comWisconsin Republican leaders unified in opposition to train
The Republican leader of the Wisconsin Senate said Thursday that he opposes spending any state money to help Madison bring a passenger rail line that would connect the capital city to Milwaukee, joining the state's other top GOP legislative leader in opposition to the project. Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu told The Associated Press that he opposes state funding for the project but had not been briefed by Madison city leaders on what they were attempting. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos was blunt last week when asked about it, saying only “No state funding.”
news.yahoo.comJudge refuses to block Florida’s petition gathering law
A federal judge on Thursday refused to issue a preliminary injunction to block a 2019 law that bans workers gathering petitions for ballot initiatives from being paid based on the number of signatures they collect, saying plaintiffs waited too long to ask for the law to be put on hold.
sun-sentinel.comElection officials brace for confrontational poll watchers
The situation with the poll watcher had gotten so bad that Anne Risku, the election director in North Carolina's Wayne County, had to intervene via speakerphone. “You need to back off!” Risku recalled hollering after the woman wedged herself between a voter and the machine where the voter was trying to cast his ballot at a precinct about 60 miles southeast of Raleigh. The man eventually was able to vote, but the incident was one of several Risku cited from the May primary that made her worry about a wave of newly aggressive poll watchers.
news.yahoo.comJackson's water system at the mercy of spending rhetoric
Years before people in Jackson were recently left without running water for several days, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves claimed to have helped block money to fund water system repairs in the capital city. The city’s latest water troubles are far from its first, and they have stemmed from decaying infrastructure beyond one water treatment plant. As Reeves climbed Mississippi's political ladder, he cited his opposition to financially helping the capital as evidence of his fiscal conservatism.
news.yahoo.comWisconsin Republicans reject Evers call for abortion vote
Wisconsin Republicans on Wednesday rejected Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' call to allow voters to get a chance to repeal the state's 1849 abortion ban. Evers called Wednesday for a special session of the GOP-controlled Legislature to pass a measure creating a way for voters to repeal the 173-year-old law. It’s the latest move by Evers to put pressure on Republicans over abortion and keep the issue in the spotlight ahead of the election.
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