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As the Senate Judiciary Committee readies for today’s vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, conservative judicial activists are taking stock of the battle that demanded so much of their energy for more than two months.

A bill that would drastically alter the allocation of funds made from Florida’s “Choose Life” plates cleared the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday, in an 11-4 vote.

An obscure branch of the federal government responsible for distributing millions of tax dollars to religious organizations is drawing criticism for poor oversight over how federal grant money is spent and an overall lack of transparency. Good-government advocates warn that without rigorous transparency, the likelihood for corruption, ethics violations and unconstitutional spending of tax dollars is high.

An article in Mother Jones examines South Dakota’s House Bill 1171, which seeks to redefine the limits of what the law terms “justifiable homicide”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was scheduled to give a speech at Chicago’s Union League Club Thursday morning, but a few unexpected guests in attendance had their own message to deliver.

There’s only one guy in the country who thinks that, in the wake of the Blagojevich scandal, it’s still business as usual in Springfield, Ill., and that’s Gov.

Though Florida’s 2011 legislative session only recently came to a close, a program that emerged as one of its key successes has fallen behind schedule. # Contracting delays have thrown the implementation of a prescription drug database intended to aid the state’s crackdown on pill mills database off schedule by least two weeks

To paraphrase Gus Haynes, you never really want to call another reporter a rip-off artist. At a wire service, it can be hard to credit someone who broke a story

Responding to a letter from state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, imploring Florida medical associations to encourage doctors to use the state’s new prescription drug monitoring database, Florida Osteopathic Medical Association Executive Director Stephen Winn says that the Association “agrees that we should encourage all physicians to check the database before prescribing.” According to Winn’s letter, the Association will “continue to encourage all physicians to check the database prior to writing a prescription.” As part of the state’s plan to curb the illicit distribution of prescription drugs, E-FORCSE allows state health care professionals to query the database for any indication that a patient is engaging in the practice of “doctor shopping” in order to accumulate prescription drugs.

<p>In earlier posts I’ve argued that, as immigration reform continues to stall in Congress, state and local jurisdictions will fill the vacuum by passing

The number of people living with HIV/AIDS that are on Florida’s AIDS Drug Assistance Program waiting list has dropped slightly through the month of June. # The Drug Assistance Program supplies life-saving drugs to patients who are uninsured and unable to afford their HIV/AIDS medications.

Last week, the North Carolina Independent News reported on the state’s Racial Justice Act -- which allows death row inmates to appeal their sentences if they

Though he is now out of prison, the legal trouble for former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick got a bit worse this week when his former fundraiser pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against him in the upcoming federal corruption trial. The Detroit News reports : Kwame Kilpatrick’s longtime fundraiser, Emma Bell, pleaded guilty to two counts of tax evasion Monday and has agreed to testify against the former mayor in the City Hall corruption case in hopes of getting a shorter prison term.

MSNBC is reporting that President Obama has just landed in Baghdad, where he is scheduled to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Jalal

Unemployment rate continues to rise. Detroit morgues fill up as recession continues. JumpStart works with subprime lender CompuCredit. Texas judge

Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., a co-sponsor of the FRAC Act with Colorado Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette and Jared Polis, on Sunday called for a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) probe of the natural gas industry after a New York Times article brought up allegations of an “Enron-style Ponzi scheme.” Rep.

Sen. Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) letter requesting that the IRS investigate a number of Section 501 nonprofit organizations -- accused of abusing their tax-exempt

Obama urges House Dems to campaign on health care reform. U.S. troops ship out to Haiti. Cheech and Chong want to smoke up with Palin. National