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The partisan battles in North Carolina are extending their reach into the court system. Over the past year, the Republican controlled legislature, aided by a Republican governor, Pat McCrory, enacted a host of controversial legislation that banned gay marriage and put in place new abortion restrictions. Then last week, they passed new voting laws which MSNBC called "a truly abominable piece of anti-democratic legislation." The bill was purportedly to prevent fraud, although fraud has not been a

Source: California Environmental Protection Agency According to an August 2013 report by the California Environmental Protection Agency titled “Indicators of Climate Change in California,” regional climate change has profoundly impacted the state’s natural physical and biological systems. Annual average air temperatures in California have increased by approximately 1.5 degrees since 1895. As a result of an increasing presence of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous ox

Can legislation on technology ever reflect the fast-paced nature of the digital frontier? Credit: readwrite.com In a push toward increased privacy in the social media realm, Washington became the most recent state to enact a law banning employers from asking for the website or password of an employee's personal social media profile. "We're trying to assure people's privacy in this space, that we (have) vigilance and the ability to move on a moment's notice when people's privacy has been violat

Rule number one in effective communication is to establish the relevancy of the topic to the audience. Why should they care? How does it affect their quality of life? Truthful accounting might do just that. For one measure of the states’ quality of life, we turn to the recent work done by Ballotpedia, a “collaborative encyclopedia designed to connect people to politics.” The site focuses on providing a comprehensive and non-partisan analysis of numerous candidates and political efforts. The Lu

Credit: Wikimedia Commons The United States Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Defense of Marriage Act (Windsor v. United States) and California's Proposition 8 (Hollingsworth v. Perry) in the next few days. There is a good possibility the decision on these two cases will be reserved for last. The Washington Post offers an easy to follow graphic on the potential rulings and what the implications would be for each decision. It also provides status for marriage rights in each state. Check

According to recent research mapping sentiment on Twitter, Napa - located in the heart of California's Wine Country region - is home to the happiest tweeters in the nation. California as a whole, however, did not even rank in the top five in a measure of happiness on Twitter. Figure 1. Average word happiness for geotagged tweets in all US states collected during calendar year 2011, from PLoS ONE In Figure 1, the redder the state, the happier the tweets. Using geotagged tweets, researchers at t

Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Monday that law enforcement officers can take DNA swabs without a warrant for serious offenses. Most 5-4 decisions fall on ideological lines, but not this one. Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia “switched sides.” Breyer joined the conservative bloc to make up the majority and Scalia joined the traditionally liberal justices. The high court ruled that there is no difference between taking fingerprints and obtaini

Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Supreme Court of the United States ruled on Monday that law enforcement officers can take DNA swabs without a warrant for serious offenses. Most 5-4 decisions fall on ideological lines, but not this one. Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia “switched sides.” Breyer joined the conservative bloc to make up the majority and Scalia joined the traditionally liberal justices. The high court ruled that there is no difference between taking fingerprints and obtaini

Late Tuesday, president Barack Obama announced 10 appointees to undertake the Commission on Election Administration. The commission includes both Republican and Democratic operatives, as well as academics and business professionals. From the release: “The right to vote is one of the most essential rights provided by the Constitution.  As I said in my State of the Union Address, when any American, no matter where they live or what their party, is denied that right simply because too many obstacl

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) recently released a report, "Managing California's Water: From Crisis to Conflict." The report overviews the major issues facing California water supply, safety, environmental impacts, as well as regulatory and management issues. With continued water demands from residents and business interests, water in California continues to be an issue. In fact, the PPIC report labels the last 40 years of water management in the state as the "era of conflict