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• New York AG Announces Probe of Life Insurance Industry
• Source: USA Today   |   New York State   |   July 30, 2010
• New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that his office had opened a fraud investigation into the life insurance industry, serving subpoenas on Prudential Financial, Inc. and MetLife, Inc. as part of its inquiry.
• 1 Comments

• House Passes Bill to Boost Commuter Airline Safety
• Source: USA Today   |   The Nation   |   July 30, 2010
• Far-reaching aviation safety legislation developed in response to a deadly commuter airline crash in western New York last year was approved by the House of Representatives.

• 1,200 Homes Evacuated in Los Angeles County as Fire Spreads
• Source: USA Today   |   Los Angeles County, Calif.   |   July 30, 2010
• A brush fire swept over more than 7 square miles, prompted evacuations and burned structures in rural Los Angeles County as water-dropping helicopters and crews scrambled to get ahead of the blaze.

• Suit Over Proposition Abolishing Party Primaries
• Source: San Francisco Chronicle   |   California   |   July 30, 2010
• California's voter-approved law abolishing party primary elections was hit with its first lawsuit, a challenge to provisions that discard write-in votes in runoffs and limit candidates' right to list their party preference on the ballot.

• NASCIO Releases State-by-State Report on Health IT Projects
• Source: Government Technology   |   The Nation   |   July 30, 2010
• The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) released a report with a state-by-state look at health IT programs and leadership.

• Immigration Law's Effect on State's Primary Elections
• Source: Arizona Republic   |   Arizona   |   July 30, 2010
• Portions of Senate Bill 1070 went into effect on the same day early voting began in Arizona's primary elections. Will the heightened attention paid to the new immigration law affect the outcome of the primaries? Political observers say it probably won't, but that turnout for the primary that ends at the polls Aug. 24 could be higher than expected.

• Senator: Deny Immigrants' US-Born Children Citizenship
• Source: The Columbia State   |   The Nation   |   July 30, 2010
• Sen. Lindsey Graham said he’s talked with other senators about crafting a constitutional amendment that would deny American citizenship to illegal immigrants’ children born in the United States. Graham is weighing this constitutional amendment in response to a federal judge’s ruling that he said “gutted” Arizona’s controversial law directing police to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency from anyone detained or arrested.
• 9 Comments

• Status of the Michigan Oil Spill
• Source: Detroit Free Press   |   Michigan   |   July 30, 2010
• Cleanup crews said they had stopped the westward spread of an oil spill heading down the Kalamazoo River, but officials from various agencies offered conflicting accounts of how far the slick had spread and whether oil continues to leak from the source. Containment equipment was visible in the river at the entrance to Morrow Lake near Kalamazoo, an important backstop for cleanup efforts. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and local officials said the oil had already reached the lake.

• San Francisco Testing Electric Scooters for Cops
• Source: San Francisco Chronicle   |   San Francisco   |   July 30, 2010
• The San Francisco Police Department is giving electic, stand-up scooters (not Segways) a two-week trial. The scooters run approximately six to eight hours on 44 cents, as opposed to the typical $62 a day spent on police cruisers, according to program coordinator and SFPD Officer Richard Lee. Lee says the vehicles are already used in airports and police departments in Southern California.

• Outside Groups Raising Big Money in Governor's Race
• Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   |   Wisconsin   |   July 30, 2010
• By funneling contributions to outside groups, donors have been able to make far greater contributions than they would under Wisconsin's campaign finance laws for donations to candidates. For example, federal tax records show that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - a union that represents 1.6 million government workers around the country - provided $250,000 this year to the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund. That amounts to half the money the political fund has spent so far on ads critical of the two Republicans in the race, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann.

• Republicans Block Bill to Aid Small Business
• Source: New York Times   |   The Nation   |   July 30, 2010
• Senate Republicans rejected a bill to aid small businesses with expanded loan programs and tax breaks, in a procedural blockade that underscored how fiercely determined the party’s leaders are to deny Democrats any further legislative accomplishments ahead of November’s midterm elections. The measure had the backing of some of the Republican Party’s most reliable business allies, including the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business. But Republican leaders filibustered after fighting for days with Democrats over the number of amendments they would be able to offer.
• 2 Comments

• Obama Signs War Spending Bill
• Source: USA Today   |   The Nation   |   July 30, 2010
• President Obama signed legislation to fund his troop surge in Afghanistan, even though it was stripped of money for domestic stimulus programs. With the new war spending, the total amount of money that Congress has allotted for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan surpasses $1 trillion.

• Boston Teachers Warned of Possible Shake-Up
• Source: Boston Globe   |   Boston   |   July 30, 2010
• The Boston Teachers Union has alerted teachers at five underperforming schools that Superintendent Carol R. Johnson intends to ask them to reapply for their jobs, setting off a wave of anxiety among teachers and a war of words between the union and district administrators. Teachers could be asked to reapply as soon as the end of next week, which union officials say could cause disruption in the weeks leading up to the start of the school year as teachers await news about their employment status.

• Massachusetts Governor, in Shift, Offers a Slots Deal
• Source: Boston Globe   |   Massachusetts   |   July 30, 2010
• In a significant shift in his public position, Governor Deval Patrick said he would accept creation of one slot parlor as part of the expanded gambling bill, if legislators agreed to break a logjam that has halted other major business on Beacon Hill. Patrick has consistently opposed slot parlors, and he reiterated that they would not provide enough economic benefit to Massachusetts to offset their potential social costs.

• Illinois Governor Signs New Nursing Home Safety Bill
• Source: Chicago Tribune   |   Illinois   |   July 30, 2010
• Gov. Pat Quinn signed landmark nursing home safety reforms into law. Work already has begun on hiring dozens of additional nursing home inspectors, as well as writing rules that will increase licensing fees and nursing staff levels in the homes. The law will beef up existing criminal background checks and psychological screenings of incoming nursing home residents and place the relatively small number of dangerous patients into separate, secure therapeutic wards.