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A report commissioned by the Federal Communications Commission underscores that, while most libraries and schools have some sort of Internet connection, many are not at a level that meet their needs. About 80 percent of the libraries and schools that receive funding through “e-rate” programs said...
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As states confront collective shortfalls amounting to almost $140 billion in the coming year, progressive leaders face an enormous challenge in building support for necessary investments, even as the general public has grown skeptical of the ability of government to deliver on its promises. To...
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On the heels of December’s tax-breaks-for-unemployment-insurance hostage crisis and news of record levels of profit-making failing to result in job creation, conservatives are planning a slew of attacks on workers’ rights and labor standards in 2011. This exploitation of anger about unemployment...
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The US Senate’s failure last year to pass comprehensive clean energy reform means that state legislation is our only chance to create sustainable, green jobs that remain in the United States. For the 2011 legislative session, progressive state legislators can incentivize the demand for...
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With the failure of the DREAM Act in the US Senate in December 2010, it is likely that any and all developments in immigration policy will occur at the state level. As anti-immigrant efforts in the states become more and more extremist, an increasing number of members of state legislatures are...
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The current crusade against “voter fraud” in the states is just a thinly-veiled right-wing excuse to suppress the votes of low-income, elderly, and minority constituencies. Voter registration modernization would prevent actual fraud more effectively than Voter ID bills, and would also...
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At the end of 2010, the Federal Communications Commission approved rules intended to preserve open access to the Internet. The order provoked criticism from consumer groups and advocacy organizations who argued that the rules did not go far enough. With this discontent at the federal level,...
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This week, New York Governor David Paterson signed the Wage Theft Protection Act into law, ending a long grassroots and legislative campaign to address the myriad ways workers are routinely cheated out of a fair day's pay by their employers, all in direct conflict with federal and state wage and...
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The precarious economic and fiscal circumstances states confront merit a more detailed and scrupulous review of spending on economic development subsidies. Near double-digit unemployment, massive revenue shortfalls, and a slow recovery continue to batter state budgets and dim growth prospects. ...
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Thanks to a bill introduced by State Representative Mike Foley, Ohio will go ahead with a popular program that supports renewable and advanced energy projects. The program, the Advanced Energy Fund, was set to expire by the end of this year but was extended for an additional three years. The Fund...
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This week, U.S. District Court Judge Henry Hudson in Virginia became the first judge in any courtroom to issue a ruling declaring part of the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. Despite being preceded by two rulings in similar lawsuits that fully rejected the plaintiffs’ arguments and declared...
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As new leadership prepares to take control of the House of Representatives in January, families who are still suffering through the effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression will get the chance to see whether conservatives are serious about creating jobs, or whether they...
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