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From the Dispatch

  Several elected officials across the states have approached budget shortfalls with extremely short-sighted and economically damaging proposals, including lavish tax breaks for corporations, slashing unemployment benefits, heinous cuts to programs that primarily benefit middle class and...
  Not content that parents with jobs have had to work increasingly long hours over the last thirty years, some conservative lawmakers would like to send their children to work, too.  
In early March, New Mexico progressives achieved a notable victory after the state legislature approved SB47, a bill to develop an annual tax expenditure budget, to accurately assess how much the state spends on tax breaks for various industries and companies. The bill's movement is complimented...
Corporate-backed legislators and governors are sacrificing their future political prospects as they ram through increasingly unpopular bills attacking the middle class and economic security. While the greatest attention has focused on the dramatic story that is still unfolding in Wisconsin, equally...
In recent weeks, public workers have been targeted in states across the nation by a corporate-funded, national right wing movement seeking to capitalize on the effects of the economic downturn on state budgets by stripping workers of many hard-won rights, including the right to collectively...
One year ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law – and the focus of attention immediately turned to the states. Now, one year later, as millions of women, seniors, children, and small businesses are seeing benefits from...
Last week, Governor Rick Scott and the other members of the Florida Board of Executive Clemency voted unanimously to roll back rules that had made it easier for nonviolent felons to regain their voting and other civil rights upon completion of their sentences. Under the new requirements - which are...
As the one-year anniversary of the signing of the Affordable Care Act approaches, the political rhetoric against the health law remains as heated as ever. But as more and more Americans experience the benefits of the law on their everyday lives, a growing number of stakeholders in the states -...
The steady drumbeat of states recognizing  the error of enforcement-only anti-immigrant legislation continues. This week, Iowa and Kansas join the list of nine states to date (including Virginia, Kentucky, Nebraska, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado, and Washington) that have defeated their...
  The right wing may be grabbing headlines for its audacious assault on organized labor and reproductive rights, but less well-reported have been their equally destructive attacks against another familiar target: young voters.  
  In recent weeks, a bipartisan approach to immigration policy in Utah has gained widespread national attention as a collaborative, pragmatic effort with the active involvement of many different stakeholders and communities. But late last week, months of hard work on the...
  Following up on Illinois lawmakers' successful effort to raise personal and corporate income taxes earlier this year, other states are considering sound proposals to generate revenue even as the right wing continues to advocate irresponsible slash-and-burn fiscal...