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The Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board will vote Tuesday to update its rules governing disclosure during a ballot campaign. Open government advocates are concerned the ruling could open loopholes just as the state nears the 2012 vote to constitutionally ban gay marriage, a campaign that is expected to draw millions of dollars in outside spending to the state. The campaign board is proposing changes to its recently released guidance documents.

Last week it was Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) who blocked legislation to hike the oil industry’s liability for economic damages following spills. Today, it

Republican lawmakers this session have been steadily hammering on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s onshore oil and gas drilling reforms that were first announced in January of last year and finally implemented in May .

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, appearing today before the congressional bailout oversight panel, repeatedly emphasized the importance of transparency to the

In the week after his arrest in New Orleans, James O’Keefe had to pull out of a speech on journalism in San Francisco. But it seems like the worst is behind him

Following a meeting yesterday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said he will continue efforts to investigate the

Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) told the audience gathered at CPAC this morning to be more like Tiger Woods’ wife, Elin. We should take a page out of her

Though Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa,) made it clear he opposed a truth commission along the lines of what Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) has proposed, at a Senate

I’ve been keeping an eye on an idea that seemed to be gaining traction a week ago: suspending the payroll tax to stimulate the economy. The latest entries, from

Well, we knew things were bad for newspapers these days, but this is a really sad sign: The Philadelphia Inquirer has hired John Yoo -- the notorious former

Last-ditch efforts to provide more protection for women in the six abortion-restriction bills discussed today during House floor action failed yesterday. # About a dozen amendments were introduced by Democratic representatives yesterday.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) took to the Senate floor on Thursday and talked about the implications of Congress’ cave to the banks on his mortgage cramdown

One of my friends in the small community of Obama birther-debunkers passes on quite the discovery: a 1964 certified copy of registration of birth from

Sen. John McCain, as everyone knows, loves to say that he has never once, in his whole career, requested nor received a single earmark or pork-barrel project

Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris said last night that 90 percent of the local citizens believe that he is the “angel of common sense” though he acknowledged that no poll has been taken. Earlier this month Harris used new powers granted under Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager law — to remove all decision making power from Benton Harbor’s elected officials.

Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam (Pic via Facebook) Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam told state citrus industry leaders Monday that Florida GOP elected officials should be credited for not passing the “mistaken” state immigration laws now in place in Georgia and Alabama. The Ledger reports that Putnam spoke at the 78th annual meeting of Citrus World Inc

As workers around the world participate in May Day celebrations of the labor movement’s past achievements, Paul Demko of TWI’s sister site, The Minnesota

Scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism teamed with researched at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Maryland to analyze a sample of suicide deaths among U.S. military personnel on active duty between 2002 and 2008.