Abbott says he'll cut funding to state universities that declare themselves sanctuary campuses

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday he will cut state funding to any Texas public university that declares itself a sanctuary campus.

Abbott issued the statement on Twitter following news that students from across the state are petitioning school administrators to declare state universities sanctuary campuses for undocumented immigrants.

Petitions released Monday from students at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University demanded school administrators follow the model of sanctuary cities like Los Angeles and Chicago, which prevent police from enforcing immigration laws and cooperating with federal immigration officials.

The petitions also demand administrators guarantee the privacy of students and staff regarding their immigration status, forbid federal immigration officials from entering campus property without a warrant and promote services specifically for minorities and other marginalized groups on campus.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/texas/2016/12/01/texas-gov-greg-abbott-says-will-cut-funding-state-universities-declares-sanctuary-campus

For the First Time, Georgia Elects Openly Gay Man to State General Assembly

Far from the conniptions over Donald Trump’s election success and Pat McCrory’s less-than-gracious defeat in North Carolina, Georgia has quietly elected the state’s first openly gay male legislator.

Sam Park, the son of Korean immigrants and the only Asian-American representative in Georgia’s upcoming House of Representatives, unseated a three-term incumbent Republican, winning 51 percent of the vote.

Park will represent more than 85 thousand residents in Gwinnett County, the second-most populated county in Georgia.

Sam Park @SamforGeorgia

The final results from the Georgia Secretary of State. My sheepish smile is counteracted by that look of hope on Bee's face...
12:14 PM - 9 Nov 2016

The Racine Journal Times Most Read: Wisconsin Men Charged

From the most read column on the right side of the page:

1) Kenosha man charged with incest, child enticement
2) Racine man charged after hit and run, dragging officer
3) Union Grove man charged with dealing heroin
4) Man charged with armed robbery at Kmart
5) Mount Pleasant man faces cocaine trafficking charges

http://journaltimes.com/

[font color=330099]Is there an innocent man left in Wisconsin or is there something in the cheese? Florida Man is beginning to look like a choir boy in comparison.[/font]

Why Wisconsin's Presidential Results Are So Unbelievable

In the run-up to the this year's election, the New Yorker ran a Paul Noth cartoon of a Kremlin-esque war room, with high ranking officials sitting around the United State's red-blue electoral map. The caption:

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/p1mCldu97NIwQG4xemguOWOCT_rfwVTgKCL3aZQmGx-zWlnFZQRxcBEhedZxCXykGXZwRvwGR_LySb7GG8l7uMU0NPZguDvZ07nrEZcalFg6TdsSMGyHItO7y8XXO0YBR-PEb9i3
"In the end, it all comes down to Waukesha County"

Waukesha County, as many political nerds know, delivers the single biggest pot of votes to Republicans in the fertile "WOW" set of suburban Milwaukee counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington). In order to win statewide, a Republican typically needs to run up big margins in the WOW counties, keep margins in check in the dem strongholds of Dane and Milwaukee counties, win the Fox Valley region around Green Bay by about ten points, and roughly break even in the rest of the state.

In 2012, Mitt Romney won Waukesha and the two other WOW counties by about a 133,000 vote margin, but lost the state by a 213,000 vote or 7 percent—to President Obama. This past election, Trump won the WOW counties by only a 105,000 vote margin—28,000 fewer than Romney's losing effort. In fact, if you look at the previous four presidential elections in Wisconsin, Trump's margin in the WOW counties was about 20 percent below the average.

On the other hand, Clinton won the Dem strongholds of Dane and Milwaukee by a 309,000 vote margin—about the same margin as Obama's 310,000 edge over Romney in 2012. That's about a 20 percent higher margin of victory than the previous four presidential elections in Wisconsin.

Read more: http://www.progressive.org/news/2016/11/189082/why-wisconsins-presidential-results-are-so-unbelievable

State HR manager files federal discrimination complaint against Wisconsin Dept. of Veterans Affairs

A human resources manager at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs has filed a discrimination complaint with both state and federal agencies after she was denied a promotion.

Laura Tetting, the former interim director of human resources and a current HR manager at the agency, believes she was potentially discriminated against because of her Native American race, her gender, her age and her efforts to oppose alleged discrimination at the agency against others.

The complaint, filed with the state Department of Workforce Development and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, includes allegations that are unproven at this point. It comes as one of the agency's veterans' homes is being audited by the Legislature and its chief official, Secretary John Scocos, announced his resignation earlier this month. Scocos said he will step down on Jan. 7.

The veterans agency, represented by the state Department of Justice, disputes Tetting’s claims and said in a written response to her complaint that she made dozens of errors on the job and never alerted management at WDVA to cases of discrimination against other employees.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/state-human-resources-manager-files-federal-discrimination-complaint-against-wisconsin/article_934e7fdb-bdf1-5637-8fd1-0e5bc70e6edd.html

AFSCME files suit over labor contract

As expected, Illinois’ largest state employee union has gone to court to block implementation of a new labor contract.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 filed suit in St. Clair County to stop Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration from imposing its final contract offer.

A ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board last month said talks between the state and AFSCME were at an impasse which opened the door for the administration to begin imposing its contract terms.

The union said the administration began imposing its contract terms before a written copy of the ILRB ruling was filed. The union said that is a violation of state law.

Read more: http://www.sj-r.com/news/20161201/afscme-files-suit-over-labor-contract

Illinois House fails to overturn Rauner's veto of automatic voter registration bill

The Illinois House failed to overturn Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of a bill that would have allowed automatic voter registration at some state agencies.

Democrats who advocated for the override Tuesday were four votes shy of the 71 needed to have the bill become law despite the rejection from Rauner. Senate Democrats already approved a rejection of the veto.

The outcome shows a reversal from many Republicans who supported the bill before Rauner's veto. It also illustrates the impact of Democrats losing four House seats earlier this month.

The bill sought to allow visitors to a handful of state agencies to be automatically registered to vote unless they opt out. Rauner told lawmakers he liked the bill's concept, but feared there weren't enough fraud safeguards.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-automatic-voter-registration-bill-veto-20161129-story.html

Madigan a no-show at meeting, Rauner's GOP launches attack website

A series of events Tuesday at the Capitol illustrated that Democrats and Republicans are digging in deeper amid the state's historic budget impasse, with the focus quickly turning to the 2018 election even as a temporary spending plan is set to expire at year's end.

First, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan didn't show up for a meeting called by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Little more than an hour later, the Illinois Republican Party unveiled a new website attacking Madigan and rank-and-file Democrats who have supported him. Talks of rescheduling the meeting for the afternoon soon were scuttled.

Later, efforts to override Rauner's veto of a bill to automatically register people to vote failed as all House Republicans backed their governor. Democrats argued Rauner was trying to suppress minority turnout as he seeks another term in office in two years.

The action unfolded as lawmakers returned to Springfield for the final scheduled week of the fall session. No session dates have been planned yet for the new year, so Rauner has pushed for daily gatherings with legislative leaders to reach a budget deal before the state can no longer send money to universities, social service providers and others come January.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-madigan-state-budget-met-1130-20161129-story.html

Battle over $600M wind power superhighway heads to Illinois Supreme Court

Rock Island Clean Line envisions building an electric project that would transmit wind energy to Grundy County in Illinois from planned turbines in Iowa.

Backers say $600 million would be spent on the 120-mile stretch in Illinois, in the process creating construction jobs, stimulating the manufacturing sector, generating tax and other revenues for state and local governments, and providing low-cost, clean renewable energy to 1.4 million Midwest homes.

There's just one problem: The 300-member Illinois Landowners Alliance, the 80,000-member Illinois Farm Bureau and Commonwealth Edison have fought the project. In August, an appellate court handed the opponents a victory, reversing a 2014 Illinois Commerce Commission decision that allowed the construction of the transmission line to proceed.

But it's not yet lights out for Rock Island Clean Line. Last week the Illinois Supreme Court agreed to review the appellate court's decision.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-grundy-county-transmission-1201-biz-20161130-story.html

ComEd, Rauner on board with complex plan to raise rates, bail out nuclear plants

As lawmakers prepare to wrap up the fall session, Exelon and ComEd on Wednesday announced an agreement with Gov. Bruce Rauner to raise rates on consumers to help two struggling nuclear power plants.

The last-minute attempt to resolve the long-festering electricity issue came on a day the Republican governor and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan continued to try to position the other guy to take the blame over the lack of a state budget.

All of which sets up the prospect of lawmakers going home for the year on Thursday after voting to bail out the power companies but failing to approve a state budget. A temporary spending plan to keep universities and social service programs afloat is set to expire come January.

While Exelon and subsidiary ComEd issued a news release that profusely thanked Rauner for his office's "input" on the "historic energy bill," no floor votes were taken Wednesday. Democrats want assurances that Republicans will put up some votes to pass the bill, which would raise rates to prevent the closure of plants in Downstate Clinton and the Quad Cities.

Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-rauner-madigan-illinois-comed-exelon-deal-met-1201-20161130-story.html