Search query: Illinois

Credit: usnews.com The drought that has been plaguing vast areas of the nation this summer, has intensified dramatically over the past week according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The unrelenting heat and dryness of the regions most severely affected has caused the increased drought conditions stretching across 29 states. Drought Monitor author, Brian Fuchs, stated that the recent jump is the highest ever recorded since the inception of the nation’s drought monitor. The states in which drought

This weekend, the National Governors Association (NGA) will be meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia. The NGA is an annual meeting of current governors from all fifty U.S. states and five U.S. Territories. In honor of this year's meeting, here's the five memorable moments from governors past and present. Governor Chris Christie – New Jersey Governor Christie responds to a reporter questioning his tone of voice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQQdZFtHJD8 Governor Angus King – Maine Governor King

Governor Rick Perry of Texas joins a list of growing states who say they will refuse to implement Medicaid expansion in their states. The one-time presidential hopeful stated yesterday, “If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.” Gov. Rick Perry’s decision makes Texas the sixth state to opt out of Medicaid expansion so far. Texas joins Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Wisconsin in using

[Last week], the California Senate passed the TRUST Act.  Known by some as the “anti-Arizona immigration law,” it would limit California law enforcement’s cooperation with the federal Secure Communities program.  The TRUST Act is positive news for California budgets, residents of the state, and police departments that practice community-policing strategies. The TRUST Act is an improvement for three main reasons: community policingJames Makowski Beyond the TRUST Act, Secure Communities should

In 2008, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute conducted a national survey testing the basic civic literacy of the American public. The poll of 2,508 individuals asked such simple questions as “What are the three branches of government?” and “What part of the government has the power to declare war?” among others, many of which were adopted from naturalization exams and high school social studies tests. Of those polled, 71% failed the test. Fewer than 50% could correctly identify the three branc

Following the controversies surrounding the presidential election of 2000, in which George W. Bush lost the popular vote but won the presidency, there was renewed interest in reforming the Electoral College system. That interest has held steady over the course of the last decade. In a Gallup survey from late last year, 62% of those polled said they would prefer that the president be elected by a direct popular vote rather than via the indirect system characteristic of the Electoral College. The

Gary Johnson excluded from national discussion on immigration policy On our report about Mitt Romney and Barack Obama's "dueling addresses" on immigration policy to Latino leaders at a conference in Florida, one commenter pointed out the exclusion of Libertarian Party presidential candidate, Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico from the discussion: "That’s right, exclude the guy with the best record and a 2 term governor of the of the most Latino state: http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/record" This

I'm watching Mitt Romney's address to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials live on CSPAN right now. He has really come out swinging hard at President Obama... UPDATE (9:31am PT) - Romney's introductory remarks were brief. He said what unites us as Americans is more important than our differences, and that what unites us is our love for this country. He then wasted no time in discussing what divides us (partisan bickering), and launching into a robust criticism of P

He came up with what he called the American System.  His name was Henry Clay of Kentucky.  In 1806, Henry Clay was elected to the US Senate by the Kentucky legislature.  At which, he set out at once for the nation's capital city, Washington DC.  Part of his route would be via boat while more of it would be via the nation's roads... or what were considered roads at that time.  It was upon this journey that Clay's zeal for an internal improvement program for the nation were formed.  He had already

The following interview is with Illinois Ron Paul Delegate, Greg Bishop, who attended the Illinois Republican State Convention held in Tinley Park, Illinois on June 9th. Bishop recently explained his first hand experience of the incident where the Ron Paul delegation was shut out of the state convention. AJ: Please provide for the readers your background? Bishop: 
I'm an activist at heart. Having been on the air with a politically-driven radio talk show for nearly 6 years, my experience in rea