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via Shannon Young, The Huffington Post After years of failed attempts to repeal the death penalty, Connecticut lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have passed legislation that abolishes the punishment for all future cases. As expected, members of the House voted 86-62 in favor of the bill after a floor debate that lasted … Continue reading
via Dave Jamieson, The Huffington Post In a victory for privacy hawks and worker advocates, Maryland legislators passed a bill Wednesday that would ban employers from asking job candidates or current employees for their passwords to social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter. If the bill is signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and becomes law, … Continue reading
via Dominic Holden, The New York Times It was January of 1998 when a friend and I drove to a basement in South Seattle to set up a pot garden. We were terrified. If a police officer pulled us over, how would we explain these bags of rapid-bloom fertilizer — in winter? Still, we had … Continue reading
via David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement “Gay marriage” is so 2011. Remember last week when we reported that some conservatives believe America’s third party will focus only on defeating same-sex marriage across the nation? Well, it appears they have their own Super PAC now, and it’s called the No Special Rights PAC. The … Continue reading
via Max J. Rosenthal, The Huffington Post After a marathon session of debate, the Connecticut Senate passed a bill early on Thursday morning abolishing the death penalty, making the state all but certain to end capital punishment within weeks. Connecticut would be the 17th state to repeal the death penalty and the first since Illinois … Continue reading
via Amanda Terkel, The Huffington Post A Wisconsin law that made it easier for victims of wage discrimination to have their day in court was repealed on Thursday, after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) quietly signed the bill. The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by … Continue reading
via AP, The Huffington Post A federal judge in San Francisco says the denial of insurance benefits to same-sex spouses is discriminatory. The ruling Tuesday involves 38-year-old federal court law clerk Christopher Nathan and 39-year-old Thomas Alexander, who were married in 2008 when same-sex marriages were legal in California. Voters later approved Proposition 8, overturning … Continue reading
via Andrew Belonsky, Towleroad A little update on a story out of Ohio: a federal judge yesterday ruled that high school student Maverick Couch can continue wearing his “Jesus is not a homophobe” t-shirt as the court decides a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal against the Waynesville School District. Couch says he originally took off … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) found himself in hot water over the weekend for a controversial comment he made regarding Democrat Tammy Duckworth’s military service, and attempted Monday to explain his words, though didn’t offer an apology for them. The congressman stirred up controversy on Thursday by seeming to belittle the service … Continue reading
via Jessica Pieklo, Care2 Causes Last week Missouri picked up where Arizona left off, tackling two abortion bills, including one that would allow employers to deny coverage for birth control pills unless employees provide proof the pills are used for a “medical need”. Missouri Republicans strongly believe that employers should be the ones left in … Continue reading
via Jessica Pieklo, Care2 Causes Arizona Republicans lost an effort to force women to explain to their employers why they need and use birth control so that their employer could chose whether or not to allow insurance coverage for that contraception. The final bill was defeated on a 17-13 vote but not without causing significant … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post A recall election was officially ordered Friday against embattled first-term Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker after more than 900,000 signatures were collected on petitions to force a vote. The Government Accountability Board voted 5-0 to order the recall, a move that has been expected for weeks given the high number of signatures … Continue reading
via Gail Collins, The New York Times The debate over the shooting death of Trayvon Martin seems to be devolving into an argument about the right to wear hoodies, but it really does not appear to be a promising development. Congress, which never draws any serious conclusions from terrible tragedies involving gunplay, did have time … Continue reading
via Lylah M. Alphonse, Yahoo! Shine In Wisconsin — yes, the same state where lawmakers have introduced a bill penalizing single mothers for being unmarried — a Republican state representative has come out against divorce for any reason — even domestic abuse. Instead of leaving an abusive situation, women should try to remember the things … Continue reading
via Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune New Hampshire House Bill 1659 is titled the “Women’s Right to Know Act,” but a more accurate title would be the “Activists’ Right to Lie to Women Act.” The measure, now moving through the Granite State Legislature, requires that at least 24 hours before undergoing a medical abortion, a woman … Continue reading
via Norma Love, The Huffington Post New Hampshire lawmakers on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have made their state legislature the first one to repeal a gay marriage law, handing gay-rights supporters a key victory in the Northeast, where same-sex marriage is prevalent. The state House voted 211-116 to kill the measure, ending a … Continue reading
[Editress’ Note: Today marks the 40th anniversary of the day Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, which guarantees equal protection under the law regardless of sex, but today it is still not included in our Constitution. Today we are facing a War on Women. We must fight back. The ERA must be ratified … Continue reading
via Kristen Mack, WGN Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth won the Democratic primary last night in the 8th Congressional District. Duckworth had 66 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Raja Krishnamoorthi, a former deputy state treasurer with about 60 percent of the vote in. A Krishnamoorthi spokesman said the candidate conceded defeat. Duckworth … Continue reading
via Andrea Kelly, Arizona Public Media The state House education committee passed a bill Monday that would prohibit school districts and charter schools from promoting abortion as a better alternative to childbirth and adoption. SB 1009 would require schools to talk about adoption as the preferred alternative to abortion when the issue comes up in … Continue reading
via Laura Bassett, The Huffington Post As a member of a heavily male- and GOP-dominated state Senate since 2008, Ohio legislator Nina Turner says she has cringed watching her colleagues pass bill after bill to regulate women’s reproductive health. Now, the Democrat has become the latest in a series of female state legislators to give … Continue reading
via Erin Gloria Ryan, Jezebel A proposed new law in Arizona would give employers the power to request that women being prescribed birth control pills provide proof that they’re using it for non-sexual reasons. And because Arizona’s an at-will employment state, that means that bosses critical of their female employees’ sex lives could fire them … Continue reading
via Pam Belluck, The New York Times Leticia Parra, a mother of five scraping by on income from her husband’s sporadic construction jobs, relied on the Planned Parenthood clinic in San Carlos, an impoverished town in South Texas, for breast cancer screenings, free birth control pills and pap smears for cervical cancer. But the clinic … Continue reading
via Christi Parsons, Chicago Tribune President Obama is moving one of two major world summits from Chicago to the presidential retreat near Washington, with an aide saying the president has decided he wants a more “intimate” setting than his hometown for the May gathering. The Group of Eight meeting will be moved to Camp David, according … Continue reading
via The Huffington Post A judge in northwestern Illinois made an announcement Friday that could forever change the way the media covers criminal trials in the state. In January, the Illinois Supreme Court approved heightened media access to criminal proceedings, including video recording, on an experimental basis. The justices believed that allowing the public to … Continue reading
via Anita Kumar, The Washington Post The Virginia Senate voted Tuesday for a scaled-back version of a contentious proposal that would require women to undergo external ultrasounds before abortions, but not the transvaginal ones. The 21-19 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate — mostly along party lines — came after Gov. Robert F. McDonnell asked legislators … Continue reading
The Brandt Standard 