IN MOURNING: A Newtown, Conn., resident shows her support in a sign. (AP photo)

WI: Is the media an accomplice in mass shootings?

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MADISON – Within a few hours after the first shots rang out at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., ABC News revved up its marketing machine.

ELECTORAL COLLEGE: Instead of being a "blue state" or a "red state," Pennsylvania would be a "purple state" under Pileggi's proposal.

PA: Monday’s unanimous Electoral College vote could be PA’s last

Pennsylvania  |  4:11 pm

By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s 20 presidential electors unanimously backed President Obama on Monday during the 57th meeting of the state’s Electoral College.
But it might be the last time the highly ceremonial yet official process for electing a president is done in such a uniform way.
A Republican-penned proposal already making waves weeks before [...]

LET'S PROTEST: Velma Cornelius of Detroit shouts slogans outside the Breslin Center on Saturday in East Lansing, Mich., where Mich. Gov. Rick Snyder was speaking on Saturday, Dec. 15, 2012 in East Lansing. Snyder's speech at Michigan State University's commencement ceremonies has generated some backlash following a whirlwind week in state government. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside as the Republican governor spoke. The Republican-controlled Michigan Legislature used a marathon session that ended Friday morning to send dozens of bills to Snyder's desk, capping a busy week in which Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state. Snyder, a University of Michigan graduate, steered clear of politics in his speech. He was greeted with some boos inside but also applause.(AP photo)

MI: ‘This is what democracy looks like’ after union rout

Michigan

EAST LANSING, MICH. — On the Michigan State University campus here Saturday, they hooted and hollered, but these faithful union activists could never grab the attention of the object of their ire.
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

Planted firmly outside the MSU Breslin Center, these loyal union backers cast their furious scorn at the governor.

“Hey hey, ho ho, right-to-work has got to go,” they chanted.

U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye has died.

Hawaii’s Inouye dies

Hawaii  |  5:49 pm

By Malia Zimmerman | Hawaii Reporter
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye is dead.
Inouye, died at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. after suffering respiratory complications. He was 88.
Inouye, who headed the Senate Appropriations Committee, was one of the nation’s most powerful politicians. The nine-term senator was third in line for the presidency after [...]

Audit finds thousands of cases of double-dipping among Wisconsin's public sector.

Audit finds public double dipping a plenty in Wisconsin

Wisconsin

MADISON — Thousands of Wisconsin public employees have padded their wallets by retiring, collecting pension payments and then coming back to work for the government.

CORPORATE REVOLVER: When health carriers needed a voice in reform talks, they sent in Elizabeth Fowler.

MT: Revolving door will haunt Baucus re-election bid

Montana  |  5:21 pm

By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org
HELENA – The average Montanan probably doesn’t know Elizabeth Folwer.
Hers is not exactly a household name, but why should it be?
But Fowler, along with her resume, could serve as a potent weapon as political operatives look to take down Democratic U.S. Sen. Max Baucus in 2014.
Fowler serves at Johnson and Johnson, a [...]

SILENT PROTEST: Protesters taped their mouths shut Wednesday in Lansing, Mich., in response to the new right-to-work law. (AP photo)

Unions have broad appeal in PA, staunching right-to-work efforts

Pennsylvania

HARRISBURG — On the surface, Pennsylvania looks like it could be the next front in the ongoing battle between Republicans and big labor that flared up in Michigan this week lawmakers there approved so-called “right-to-work” legislation.

WAITING AND WAITING: Hundreds of votes in Miami-Dade County, and elsewhere in Florida, stood in line for hours Nov. 6 to cast ballots. (AP photo)

FL: Miami officials rethink voting flaws at election summit

Florida  |  3:17 pm

MIAMI— In the wake of the voting problems that plagued thousands of south Floridians on Election Day, Miami-Dade officials want shorter ballots and more voting days, but they won’t overhaul the process of sending and collecting absentee ballots.

Virginia is looking at regulate purchases made with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits, more commonly known as Welfare, by possibly tracking them on EBT cards. (Photo by USDA)

VA: New bill aims to take alcohol, smokes, strip clubs out of welfare

Virginia

ALEXANDRIA — A bill headed for the 2013 Virginia General Assembly will place new restrictions on what welfare benefits can buy, namely alcohol, tobacco and porn.

Video: A poetic look at Wisconsin’s empty governor’s mansion

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Wisconsin’s governor rarely spends the night in his $3.9 million dollar lakefront mansion in Madison. But taxpayers are still on the hook for the home. Watchdog.org takes a poetic look at the costs.

Video: Union members ransack pro-RTW tent in Michigan

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Watchdog.org had cameras rolling as union protesters tore down a tent owned by Americans for Prosperity during the right to work protests in Michigan. Chris McCoy has a firsthand account.

Video: How reporters got Michigan’s right to work story wrong

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There were a lot of reporters in Michigan for the right to work protests, but not all of them got the story right.

MORE VIDEOS

 |  Michigan

What is right to work in Michigan really about? As Watchdog.org tells us, it’s a lot simpler than you think.

Video: Right to Work 101

It was a mob scene outside the Michigan capitol, as lawmakers passed that state’s right to work law. Here are some videos of the craziness.
This member of the “peace team” did not do his job.
Unions shove and fight with pro-RTW protesters.
More fighting.
The police move in to stop the pushing and shoving.
In an act of pure [...]

Video: More sights and sounds from right to work in Michigan

 |  Oklahoma

Capitol Beat OK’s Pat McGuigan was back on News 9 over the weekend to break down Oklahoma Governor’s Mary Fallin’s meeting with President Obama, and to talk about the fiscal cliff.

Video: OK’s McGuigan talks Obama, Fallin, and the fiscal cliff

RIGHT-TO-WORK

 |  Michigan

By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org
LANSING, Mich. — Lend an ear to union disciples for a few moments and you might come to believe that this week’s right-to-work tangle came out of thin air, a broadside attack on the working class.
“On Thursday, the bill just came out of nowhere,” Susan Seitz, a 56-year-old retired auto worker and [...]

MI: Unions feign surprise when the right fights back

 |  Missouri

By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS — Missouri may try to pass right-to-work legislation in 2013, but moving the bill through the General Assembly looks to be an uphill climb.
Right-to-work bans requirements that workers pay union dues as a condition of employment in certain sectors. The Missouri Legislature in the past two years has considered [...]

MO: Right-to-work may be tough sell in Missouri

 |  Michigan

 
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org
LANSING, Michigan — Ending the battle as easily as it began, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed into law “right-to-work” measures that will allow employees to freely choose whether to belong to a union.
The bill was signed just hours after it was passed by both the  House and Senate, unprovoked by [...]

MI becomes 24th ‘right-to-work’ state

 |  Michigan

 
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org
LANSING — Overcoming the large crowds that have descended upon the capital, Michigan House members approved legislation allowing workers to freely decide whether they wish to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
Fights have broken out in front of the Capitol, and at least one warming tent has been torn down.
 
Watchdog.org’s [...]

Michigan lawmakers pass ‘right-to-work’ law

SPECIAL REPORT

OTHER NEWS

ColoradoTweet

 
By Tori Richards | Watchdog.org
GOLDEN, Colo. – Hidden in the mountains outside Denver, the secret National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is already hard to find. Now officials at the federal green-energy lab say they’ve got another layer of protection: they’re not subject to public oversight because they’re not — technically — federal.
“NREL staff are not federal employees,” NREL’s spokesman George [...]

Gov. Terry Branstad reverses course and opts for a state and federal combination health exchange.

By Sheena Dooley | Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad reversed course Friday with the announcement the state will partner with the federal government in setting up a healthcare exchange.
The exchanges, which go into effect next fall, are required under President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms and provide small businesses and individuals compare and [...]

Walker-at-WMC

By Ryan Ekvall and M.D. Kittle| Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – Several Democratic lawmakers this week took to Twitter to bash Gov. Scott Walker and tie his policies to Wisconsin’s pitiful ranking in Forbes Magazine Best States for Business list.
What they failed to mention is the ranking knocks Wisconsin for many of the very policies Democrats support.
Wisconsin ranked 42nd, [...]

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