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In February 2015, Edwin Gomes became the first candidate running solely on the Working Families Party (WFP) line to win a seat in a state legislature. Gomes beat out four other candidates in a special election to represent Connecticut’s 23rd senate district. On May 5, 2015, the WFP won another special election – this one to fill a vacant seat in New York’s legislature. Diana Richardson now represents the General Assembly's 43rd district, covering Crown Heights and Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. Th

NATIONAL -- There is no doubt that there are some IVN readers who support some form of proportional representation, often seen as a voting scheme that maximizes representation and makes every vote count. But the real question is, what would be the avenue to implement proportional representation nationwide? What are the roadblocks and potential legal challenges? To answer these questions, we have to examine the history of how we got to our current two-party voting system. History of Current V

The Obama administration opened a three-day summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) at the White House on Wednesday, inviting local, federal, and international leaders to discuss methods of combating domestic and international extremism. The goals and outline of the summit mirror President Obama's 2011 strategy paper, titled Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States -- America's first attempt to address ideologically-inspired violence. Addressing CVE on

As of February 6, there have been 121 reported cases of the measles in 17 states and Washington, D.C., in 2015 alone. If the measles outbreak continues at this pace, the number of reported cases in 2015 will surpass 2014's record-setting numbers. Measles cases: Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, 2015. There are 121 cases reported in Washington, DC and 17 states (California, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, N

Money and power go hand in hand in the current discussion over the state of politics in America. A 2014 study by the California Public Interest Research Group, CALPIRG, found a relatively small number of large donors made up over half of spending in California's 2014 nonpartisan, top-two open primary election. According to CALPIRG, 67 percent of all campaign contributions in the 2014 California primaries came from large donors -- those who contributed more than $1,000. Just 864 individuals spen

The main talk of the 2014 election has been which political party will control the Senate after the votes have been counted. Democrats have been on defense throughout most of the country as President Obama's approval rating remains low. So with just a week to go before Election Day, how will the numbers fall? Here are my predictions. In this election cycle, Democrats have 38 seats that are safe or not up for re-election while Republicans have 42. So that is where my numbers start.Democrats are

Editor's note: The initial published draft of this article said Western Sky Financial was owned by members of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. It has come to our attention that this is inaccurate. The article has been corrected and IVN apologizes for the misrepresentation. Just when you thought it was okay to admit you like the Washington Redskins again, it's now becoming common knowledge that American Indian tribes are knee deep in payday loan centers. Let's get something straight here, the pl

The 2014 midterm elections are less than a month away and the GOP is poised to seize a majority in the Senate, though that would require winning some close races. Some are expected to come down to just a proportionally small amount of votes. RealClearPolitics rates 10 Senate races as “toss-ups” and 7 of them involve Democratic incumbents. The difference between victory and defeat will come down to voter turnout, which in turn depends on voter access laws, which state governments have been keen

1. The Columbian says Washington state's top-two primary system is on the "cutting edge." "Washington is blessed to have a top two primary, meaning that two candidates in each race will advance, regardless of party. It also means that voters can cross party lines in the primary, a system that is much preferable to that found in many parts of the country. Most states have party primaries, and the result in modern times has been that party members often support the more extreme adherents to their

Chronic pain is a serious problem for veterans. Research shows that half of all veterans have some kind of chronic pain problem after returning from combat and managing that pain can be challenging. But those challenges are compounded when the VA lacks many of the options available in a civilian environment -- or fails to offer them to patients -- and are left with NSAIDs and narcotics. Because of this, they are creating a new problem: drug addiction. The VA has previously acknowledged the prob