Government Accountability/Reform

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Colorado ‘treatment’ center held mentally disabled teen in solitary for 25 days

‘All I know is it was long, real long, and it felt like the worst thing ever.’
| 05.10.13 | 11:33 am | View Article

This story was originally published by The Colorado Independent.
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Fourteen-year-old Kiondre Davison had a habit of acting up in school and running away from home. Social services officials stepped in to help. They sent him to El Pueblo Boys and Girls Ranch, a teen treatment center in Pueblo, Colo.,

Via Plan B One-Step

Colorado county board renews decision to ban Plan B at health clinics

Debate characterized by anti-abortion anxiety and aversion to subsidized contraception
| 05.09.13 | 1:01 pm | View Article

This story was originally published by The Colorado Independent. More…
Colorado’s Weld County Board on Monday renewed a 2010 policy that prevented county health clinics funded by the federal Title X women’s health program from dispensing Plan B emergency contraception to their mostly young and low-income patients.

Michigan Supreme Court via Wikimedia Commons

Michigan Supreme Court upholds partner benefits for unmarried state workers

| 05.06.13 | 12:43 pm | View Article

LANSING – State employees in Michigan can continue to receive health benefits for their significant others, even if they’re not married, and even if they’re gay. That’s because the Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday declined to hear an appeal from the attorney general’s office, which has been challenging a local More…

Mich. health dept. denies media access to training on controversial HIV database* UPDATE

| 03.05.13 | 10:04 am | View Article

This article has been updated, below the original story, to reflect that The American Independent has been authorized to attend Wednesday’s meeting. More…
LANSING, Mich. – Dozens of agencies and local health departments will be attending a mandatory meeting Wednesday in Lansing to review grant-fulfillment requirements related to HIV funding, but

Screenshot of Civitas' noincometaxnc.org

The conservative push to end NC’s income tax

| 01.18.13 | 4:33 pm | View Article

Republicans in North Carolina haven’t had it this good since 1870. That’s the last time they controlled both the state’s legislative and executive branches.
And they’re getting right down to business, pledging in interviews with local papers to pursue corporate and personal tax reform. More…

Texas Governor Rick Perry and Dr. Arthur Laffer before the launch of the Laffer Center for Supply-Side Economics as a part of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) at the Four Seasons in Austin, Texas on April 18th, 2011. Photo via http://governor.state.tx.us/

Arthur Laffer’s dynamic roadshow

| 12.18.12 | 1:24 pm | View Article

On January 19 of this year, Kansas state Sen. Julia Lynn offered an exuberant greeting to renowned tax-cutting enthusiast Arthur Laffer. “What an honor and privilege to have you here in Kansas,” Lynn said, welcoming the fabled former Reagan economic advisor to an informational meeting of the senate’s assessment and More…

‘Past time’ to review HIV criminal laws, says former presidential commission member

| 11.30.12 | 6:00 am | View Article

A member of the first federal commission to look at the HIV epidemic says it is “probably past time” for states to revisit their HIV-specific criminal laws. More…

via Shutterstock.

Privacy concerns linger over FBI’s new facial recognition system

| 10.24.12 | 1:44 pm | View Article

In July, Sen. Al Franken opened a Senate hearing on the privacy and civil liberties implications of facial recognition technology by affirming some incontrovertible facts. “You can change your password. You can get a new credit card. But you can’t change your fingerprint, and you can’t change your face,” Franken More…