Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is pushing a pension reform plan written, and supported by, Illinois’ public sector unions.

Pennsylvania leaders are sounding the alarm of a pension squeeze.

“America’s governor” Scott Walker stumps with Wisconsin Republicans at the Wisconsin GOP Convention.

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has released a map showing the new 70 mile per hour speed zones.

By William Patrick | Florida Watchdog
TALLAHASSEE – Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, went after a state budget watchdog on Thursday over a report that lists 107 questionable spending projects worth $106.8 million.
As it does every year prior to the Governor signing the state budget, Florida Tax Watch issued its Turkey Report listing items that [...]

HARRISBURG – Glenn Greenwald’s analysis of the newest details in the unfolding U.S. Department of Justice “war on journalists” scandal is a must-read.
Seriously, just read it.  There’s nothing I can add to this:
New revelations emerged yesterday in the Washington Post that are perhaps the most extreme yet when it comes to the DOJ’s attacks on press [...]

By Bre Payton│ Watchdog.org, Virginia Bureau
ALEXANDRIA – If you don’t live in the Old Dominion, you’re not guaranteed access to Virginia’s public documents through the state’s Freedom of Information Act. However, you can legally holster a gun in 25 states with a Virginia concealed-carry permit.
In 2009, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who was a state senator [...]

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor in Virginia, has an Internet problem.
Ask former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum how much fun that can be.
Last week, McAuliffe launched Women for Terry, a political subgroup designed to bolster his credentials with female voters in Virginia. Unfortunately for the Democratic hopeful,  his campaign forgot to tie up the [...]

ALEXANDRIA—The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that Virginia can deny public records access to non-residents may not be the final say.
Members of the Freedom Information Advisory Council, which makes recommendations on bills related to Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act, is looking for some sort of compromise between allowing access to all U.S. citizens and restricting FOIA rights to [...]

By Audrey Spalding | Michigan Capitol Confidential
Though the Highland Park School District spent $19,634 per pupil in 2010-11, the highest in the state, district schools were so mismanaged that they had rodents in the classrooms, holes in the ceilings and walls, and horrendous filth in the bathrooms.
“I [saw] it in the media center,” DeCarlos, a junior at Highland Park Community High [...]

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve
A Charleston-based  pharmaceutical company led by South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell filed official paperwork with the state in April to dissolve, then reversed that decision this month for unexplained reasons, according to records obtained Monday by The Nerve.
The Charleston Republican signed the “articles of revocation of dissolution” for Palmetto State [...]

By Warren Duffy | Cal Watchdog
What is going on with the California-based Ivanpah solar plant?
In April 2011, Brightsource Energy received a loan guarantee of $1.6 billion from the Department of Energy for the Ivanpah project. It’s located along I-15 at the California-Nevada border, 29 miles northeast of Barstow. The loan amount was three times that given by the DOE to the [...]

By Grant Bosse | New Hampshire Watchdog
A bill giving New Hampshire auto dealers the ability to tear up their existing contracts with the factory could land the state back in court.
SB 126 would not only strengthen the current Auto Dealers Bill of Rights to let local dealers ignore terms of their franchise agreements, but expand [...]

Real estate property owners unhappy with their assessments are still often waiting too long on their appeals to the Maryland Tax Court, auditors found, a problem that has persisted since an audit three years ago. But taxpayers can look forward to shorter waiting times to hear their appeals, despite a 25 percent reduction in staff [...]

By Tom Gantert | Michigan Capitol Confidential
The Internal Revenue Service is in the news because of a growing scandal where it admitted targeting conservative non-profit groups and generally making their lives difficult.
That led me to think about my own experiences trying to start a conservative non-profit in which the IRS delayed approving my application. I was dismayed because I had [...]

By Grant Bosse | New Hampshire Watchdog
The left’s simmering disdain for free speech went public this week. The Obama Administration’s abuse of power finally turned much of the left-leaning press corps against this increasingly Nixonian White House.
The final straw was the revelation that the Justice Department secretly seized two months of phone records from 20 [...]

By Nic Horton | The Arkansas Project
Upon rereading David Ramsey’s piece on the genesis of the “private option,” it’s hard not to notice the flood of admiring compliments he bestows on the intellect of its creators. They are “clever,” “smart,” “open-minded,” and “pragmatic.” As they work in tandem with Governor Mike Beebe, they are “thoughtful and nuanced.”
In particular, Senator Jonathan [...]

By Katy Grimes | Cal Watchdog
As if plucked right out of the silly book, “There Oughta Be A Law,” San Francisco Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has been pushing a bill through the Legislature which has the potential of turning all schools into beta test sites for social experiments.
AB 1266 would require a student to be permitted to [...]