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More than a dozen members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to President Obama and to the Inspector General of the U.S. State Department requesting an investigation of the approval process for the Keystone XL pipeline.

A new report from the National Employment Law Project shows that many states, faced with serious budget problems, have passed laws limiting access to unemployment insurance benefits — including Michigan, of course. State lawmakers enacted a range of policies in 2011 to amend their unemployment insurance (UI) programs, most of them motivated by insolvent state trust funds. Most notably, six states passed unprecedented cuts in the duration of benefits, for the first time reducing benefit weeks to less than the decades-long accepted standard of 26 weeks.

Noah Shachtman at Danger Room has an alarming post about Tara O’Toole, the Obama administration’s pick to become Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Science

A few days after the Drug Enforcement Administration ruled that marijuana has no medicinal use, and a month or so after a prestigious international commission concluded the drug war was a colossal failure , The Denver Post documented the ongoing drug war with a story about Mexican tour bus operators busted for bringing tens of millions of dollars of pot to Denver.

Business leaders, Democrats and LGBT groups are unified in one aspect of their opposition to a Republican Senate bill that would but a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on the ballot in 2012: Gay marriage is a distraction from Minnesota’s economic needs.

DES MOINES — U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) warned guests of an event organized Iowans for Tax Relief Friday night that America is “under attack” by a “thundercloud of debt weighing upon ” “What I’m believing is, I think, the truth of where we are in the country,” Bachmann said.

In a press release sent out today, environmental law firm Earthjustice alleges that Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, is “shutting out the public” and “refusing to invite” clean water advocates to his upcoming hearing on water pollution standards in Florida. According to the release, only representatives from the sewage, agriculture and fertilizer industries have been invited to testify

Michael Steele’s chances of holding his current position as Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman for a second term are growing dimmer by the day. One of

Inside the U.S. Capitol (Pic by ThatMakesThree, via Flickr) An anti-abortion rights campaign called “Voices From the Womb” will perform live ultrasounds on pregnant women on Capitol Hill as part of the launch of a national campaign in October

Hundreds of Occupy Des Moines demonstrators will march on Terrace Hill on Saturday, part of an international “Robin Hood Tax” day of action.

A group of nine recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, including Bishop Tutu of South Africa and the Dalai Lama of Tibet, have written a letter to President Obama urging him to reject the application to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The letter reads, in part: The night you were nominated for president, you told the world that under your leadership—and working together—the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal. You spoke of creating a clean energy economy.

Fox News’ morning show Fox & Friends on Wednesday oversimplified and misrepresented an ongoing news story about a former Democratic congressman, an

For the past eight months, a group of volunteer Iowa activists have been contributing to these Power Rankings and attempting to answer what GOP candidate is positioned to capture caucus gold if the event was tonight. The panelists have watched as candidates entered the race, surged to the top and then were found to be lacking the necessities that lead to a caucus win: consistent messaging, grassroots organization and activist energy and loyalty. The panel, which is comprised of our staff, academics, political consultants, GOP activists, local party officials and other state political reporters, is well positioned to gauge the strength of the campaigns in Iowa.

Source: MyEyesSees, Flickr A Florida-based group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled an anti-gay hate group is taking aim at Minnesota-based Target for advertising during a Teen Nick show, Degrassi, that contains gay characters.

The Department of Health and Human Services included a provision in its recent decision to make birth control a preventative service that would allow religious groups to refuse to cover contraceptive services. # The federal agency today announced it would be following the Institute of Medicine’s recommendation to include birth control and contraceptive services on a list of preventative care as the Affordable Care Act is implemented

IOWA CITY — Nearly every public policy issue that can be named has a direct impact on the very foundation of American society, according to former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty , which is a traditional marriage consisting of one man and one woman. Pawlenty, who told reporters before his public remarks on Monday that he is definitely “leaning toward” at 2012 presidential run, spoke on a litany of issues ranging from the economy to freedom of religion to education to health care, bringing each one back to his primary focus on the family.

More fallout from the Martha Coakley debacle comes, via Emily Cadei, in the form of the NRCC targeting two House seats in Massachusetts -- in a state that has

After a jurisdictional mix-up caused the House to re-start the $600 million border security bill this morning, it looked like the bill might be delayed until

Automotive News reports that if GM is forced to declare bankruptcy, the federal government could be forced to take on the burden of paying for the pensions

As the President considers whether to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, a Republican bill in the U.S. House of Representatives would prohibit

LANSING — Thousands of Michiganders gathered on the East lawn of the Michigan Capitol Wednesday to protest Republican legislative proposals that, in their view, undermine labor rights and budget proposals that balance the state’s budget on the backs of seniors and the poor. “I am here because the Blue Green Alliance is an important player in mobilizing the environmental and labor communities to develop the clean energy agenda,” said former Congressman Mark Schauer, who now runs the Blue Green Alliance. “Those jobs will help us compete in the global competition for jobs — and it is global

According to a recent Brookings Institute report, three big metro areas in Florida — Lakeland, Palm Bay and Miami — are among the 20 weakest-performing cities in the country in the struggle to recover from the recession. The study (.pdf) attributed Florida’s struggles to the housing crisis in the state. Florida, in particular, experienced a housing price boom that was followed by a bust that the state has yet to fully recover from

As Congress weighs its plans for tackling the nation’s enduring jobs crisis, the National Employment Law Project today laid out the stakes of inaction: Nearly