The WISCONSIN Assembly approves SB 179, which would ban doctors from performing abortions after a woman has reached the 20th week of her pregnancy. It goes to Gov. Scott Walker (R), who says he will sign it into law. Opponents are expected to challenge the statute in federal court (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
HAWAII Gov. Davie Ige (D) signs HB 631, which allows transgender people to change the sex on their birth certificate without first having sex-change surgery. The change will now be allowed with just a doctor’s certification (KHON.COM [HONOLULU]).
A federal judge rules that UTAH must recognize the rights of a married lesbian couple by issuing a birth certificate for their infant daughter that lists both of the women as legal parents. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said the state has not shown “any legitimate reason” for not treating same-sex spouses the same as opposite sex couples. Beehive State officials are considering an appeal (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE).
CALIFORNIA Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signs AB 1085, which creates legal recourse for adult children who are denied access to a parent by their parent’s current spouse or another family member. Under the law, Golden State judges will have the authority to direct or grant a conservator the power to enforce a senior’s right to receive visitors, telephone calls, and personal mail and require caretakers to give notice of an elder’s death to certain family members (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
ILLINOIS Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signs HB 352, which creates a bobcat hunting season in the Prairie State. Hunting the cats had been barred since 1972. It was removed from endangered species protection 16 years ago (SOUTHERN ILLINOISIAN [CARBONDALE]).
-- Compiled by RICH EHISEN
Today’s information professionals play a critical role in managing the endless stream of information generated in a fragmented media landscape. The challenge lies in curating and analyzing this mass of data to provide meaningful insights that can be shared across the organization. Here we discuss the most important characteristics of the successful information professional.
Over the past 5 years there has been a shift in the responsibilities of the knowledge manager from simply procuring and providing information to the organization to a more consultative role. Information managers must now play a more active role analyzing news content to provide actionable insights to meet businesses strategic goals.
The sheer volume and frequency of new news sources and content means that information overload is a very real issue. Now in addition to traditional media types such as newspapers, business publications and company data, online sources and social media must be aggregated and managed. As a consequence of this explosion of data sources with more information available online, there is a greater need to ensure the quality of that information.
We’ve conceptualized these content types by grouping them in a pyramid to represent the media landscape. From the highly processed and low volume ‘industry and country reports’ to the high volume, transient content types such as social media.
Social media is by nature high volume and high frequency content. It has not been created with a research purpose in mind, but simply to inform or entertain. This poses a challenge for information professionals in analyzing the vast quantities of unstructured data.
In a shift that has seen the knowledge manager play a more consultative role within the organization, we have seen that responsibilities now include:
The ability to quickly analyze and identify trends, changes and topics in large volumes is now essential for information professionals. Dashboards and analytics tools have become the critical insight providing layer for this.
Dashboards allow users to search and track relevant news across different content types, also saving time on compliance due to our carefully curated content which has been managed to include content licenses and distribution rights. The development of the analytics dashboard also enables you to identify trends in news quicker through visualization tools. Lastly you have the option to stay informed with real-time alerts and newsletters across your enterprise.
Try as we might to avoid it, time always marches on. And so it has for Pam Schofield, who State House News Service reports retired a few weeks ago after 32 years on the job as reference librarian for the Massachusetts State Library in Boston. During that time, Schofield saw the full impact of budget cuts and Google and social media on libraries, much of it not to the good. She also saw the change in demeanor and civility among politicos, recalling how back in 1988 the presidential candidacy of then-Gov. Michael Dukakis filled the library every day with two large groups of folks: the Dukakis people looking for favorable tidbits on their boss and the opposition research folks looking for negatives. The two groups, she says, were well aware of each other but generally just went about their business without fuss. Imagine that.
The OREGON House approves SB 460, which allows the Beaver State to begin selling recreational marijuana by Oct. 1, a year earlier than originally allowed under the measure that voters approved to legalize recreational weed use. It is now with Gov. Kate Brown (D) for consideration (NWNEWSNETWORK.ORG).
Warning that the world is heading toward “total unsustainability and ecological collapse” if we don’t do something to counter the impacts of global climate change, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D)called on more states and international governments to work together to reduce carbon greenhouse gas causing carbon emissions. Attending the Climate Summit of the Americas in Toronto last week, Brown lashed out at climate change deniers in America – particularly in Congress – joking that “we have a lot of troglodytes south of the border.”
But Brown was more serious in his call for more action from regional leaders.
“The real source of climate action has to come from states and provinces,” Brown said. “This is a call to arms. We’re going to build up such a drumbeat that our national counterparts – they’re going to listen.”
Brown and Washington Governor Jay Inslee(D)were among several leaders on hand to witness Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard of Quebec announce his province was joining a climate pact with 17 other states and provinces from North America, South America, Europe and Africa. The nonbinding agreement, which Brown announced earlier this year in Sacramento, is aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and limiting the increase in global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius – the warming threshold at which scientists say there will likely be catastrophic climate disruptions. Quebec has already implemented a cap-and-trade program that is linked to California’s own cap-and-trade effort.
“We have to redesign our cities, our homes, our cars, our electrical generation, our grids — all those things,” Brown in an address. “And it can be done with intelligence. We can get more value from less material.”
Brown will also soon take his message to Pope Francis, who voiced his own call for leaders to tackle climate change through an encyclical the Pontiff released in June. Brown’s office announced on Thursday he will address a symposium on climate change and modern slavery to be held at the Vatican later this month.
“In the spirit of the pope’s encyclical, this unprecedented gathering of global leaders is a wake-up call to face up to the common threats of climate change and human exploitation,” Brown said in a statement. “This is about the future of humanity and how we as human beings live and treat one another and the natural world around us.” (LOS ANGELES TIMES, SACRAMENTO BEE, CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S OFFICE, CHRONICLE HERALD [HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA])
Two Littleton, Colorado residents, Gene and D’Arcy Straub, have filed a pair of ballot initiatives that would redefine same-sex marriages in the state as civil unions and allow wedding-related businesses that oppose gay marriage to hire contractors to serve same-sex couples.
Dave Montez, executive director of the gay rights advocacy group One Colorado, said the civil-union measure was an effort to undo the Supreme Court’s decision on June 26 legalizing gay marriages nationwide.
“This initiative is an unnecessary attempt to radically redefine all marriages in Colorado in order to undermine the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” he said.
He also said the second initiative would “open a can of worms and make it more difficult to enforce Colorado’s laws that ensure businesses are open to everyone.”
Colorado state Rep. Dominick Moreno (D), a member of the House Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, meanwhile, said the measures were superfluous.
“I think this is more of a political statement than anything,” he said. “You can’t override the Supreme Court, especially at the state level.”
Each of the measures will need a minimum of 98,492 verified signatures from registered voters to qualify for the state’s ballot. (DENVER POST)
Politicos’ misadventures with social media are well-chronicled here. But almost as common – and idiotic – is male electeds’ inability to be around attractive women without making dolts of themselves. Case in point this week comes from California, where the Sacramento Bee reports state Sen. John Moorlach welcomed a visit by Mexican Consul General Alejandra Garcia Williams to the California Capitol by noting her vast political acumen, her well-respected accomplishments and...wait for it...that she “is hot.” (Sound of palm slapping forehead) As noted, Moorlach is only the latest lawmaker to let his bulging eyes get the better of his judgement. You might recall a while back a certain president of the United States introducing California Attorney General Kamala Harris as “by far the best-looking attorney general in the country.” Which we’re sure went over quite well with the First Lady. And he thought the Republicans had it out for him.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) signs SB 106, which bars the sale and possession of synthetic drugs sold under names like Spice (WMUR.COM [MANCHESTER]).
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) issues Executive Order No. 147, which appoints the Empire State attorney general as a special prosecutor in matters relating to the deaths of unarmed civilians caused by law enforcement officers (LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed a package of bills last week aimed at allowing financially troubled school districts to receive help faster during a fiscal emergency. The package, House Bills 4325-4332, collectively requires more financial reporting, expands deficit elimination plan programs and creates enhanced deficit elimination plans. The package also changes the process for state officials withholding state aid payments to school districts.
In a statement, Snyder hailed the bills, saying they would enable “school districts to resolve potential financial issues before they become unmanageable.” But opponents decried the signing, saying the measures strip control from local districts, giving it instead to the state, and do nothing to actually fix problems they identify. (MLIVE.COM, LANSING STATE JOURNAL)
In 2005, public outcry over a pay raise Pennsylvania lawmakers voted themselves helped erase it just four months after it took effect and fueled a major purge of both chambers in the next two election cycles. Government reform advocates have marked the anniversary of the pay-raise vote every year since, occasionally by trotting out a giant inflatable pink pig. For this year’s diamond anniversary of the event, Eric Epstein of Rock the Capital plans to dedicate a “historical marker memorializing the crime” and issue a report revealing which lawmakers paid back the money they received during the four months the pay raise was in effect.
It may be of some consolation to Epstein and his fellow reformers to know that rank-and-file lawmakers in the state are making about $15,000 per year less than the $100,000 they would likely have been making if the pay raise hadn’t been rescinded. (PENNLIVE.COM)
When it comes to the issue of transportation, California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) main focus - beginning with his first pass through the governor’s office a generation ago - has been the often-tough sell of a bullet train connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. The current price tag for that project: $68 billion.
Brown, however, now has another major transportation task on his hands, with the state’s roads and freeways -- the legacy of Brown’s father, former Gov. Edmund G. “Pat” Brown -- badly in need of repair after years of neglect. The estimated cost for that: $59 billion.
Adding to the governor’s challenge is the fact that the financial landscape for transportation is much different than it was in the 1950s and ‘60s when Pat Brown was governor and the state was flush with cash from the federal Highway Trust Fund. Now that fund is running on empty, thanks to its dependence on the federal gas tax, a diminishing resource with the increasing fuel-efficiency of modern vehicles.
“Jerry has to address a tougher issue politically,” said Ethan Rarick, director of the Robert T. Matsui Center for Politics and Public Service at the University of California, Berkeley.
Still, there’s reportedly potential for consensus on the issue at the state Capitol. Even tax-averse groups say they’re willing to discuss new fees or higher gas levies for roads.
“As long as the money goes to transportation,” business interests will consider it, said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which represents most of the state’s largest companies.
Brown recently called a special legislative session to weigh the state’s options.
“Everything is on the table,” he said when he made the announcement. “I don’t know if you’ve seen my table. It’s a very big table.” (LOS ANGELES TIMES)
As of March, 20 cities, four states and the District of Columbia had passed ordinances, regulations or laws allowing ride-sharing services, also known as transportation network companies (TNCs), to operate, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and The Wall Street Journal. The Journal also said that according to the ride-sharing company Uber, nine cities -- including, Washington, D.C.; Dallas, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Chattanooga, Tennessee -- passed ordinances in the last four months of 2014.
Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Wall Street Journal, Uber
Legend:
States that had passed ridesharing laws/rules as of March 2015: California, Colorado, Illinois, Virginia
States in which cities had passed municipal ordinances: Louisiana, Alabama, Illinois, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Utah
One of the biggest obstacles facing ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft since coming into existence a few years ago has been getting permission from city and state regulators to operate. But having won that approval in many places, the companies are confronting a new challenge that could cripple their flourishing business and that of other “on-demand” services.
Last month the California Labor Commissioner’s Office ruled that Uber, the dominant player in the ride-sharing business, misclassified one of its drivers as a contractor instead of an employee and, consequently, had to reimburse that driver, Barbara Ann Berwick of San Francisco, $4,152.20 for expenses and other costs she incurred when she worked for the company last year. The decision came just six months after a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal reported that Uber, known for its aggressive expansion tactics, was having success with a new approach it had embraced in the face of mounting resistance from regulators and taxi cab operators around the world: diplomacy. The story, which was headlined “How Sharp-Elbowed Uber Is Trying To Make Nice,” noted that Uber’s efforts had contributed to the adoption of ordinances allowing smartphone-based car services to operate in 17 U.S. cities last year.
The California Labor Commissioner’s Office evidently wasn’t won over by Uber’s kinder, gentler approach, flatly rejecting the company’s longstanding argument that it is merely the provider of an app allowing drivers to connect with passengers.
“Defendants hold themselves out as nothing more than a neutral technological platform, designed simply to enable drivers and passengers to transact the business of transportation,” it wrote in its order to the company. “The reality, however, is that defendants are involved in every aspect of the operation,” from vetting drivers to setting rates to deactivating drivers whose approval rating falls below a certain level.
The implications of the ruling are weighty for Uber, potentially placing it on the hook for typical employee costs, such as health care benefits, payroll taxes and worker’s compensation, along with fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. Currently, the company -- which was valued at $40 billion earlier this year -- receives 80 percent of the fares collected by its drivers and requires them to cover their own expenses.
Uber issued a statement saying, “The California Labor Commission’s ruling is nonbinding and applies to a single driver.” The company also said worker classification cases in five other states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania and Texas, had resulted in rulings categorizing its drivers as contractors.
But in May, authorities in Florida said a former Uber driver in that state should also have been classified as an employee and was entitled to unemployment benefits. The company is appealing that decision as well as the one in California.
The California ruling is particularly significant because officials there formally laid out the reasons why they consider Uber drivers employees. That could be “helpful” to class-action lawsuits in the state that have been initiated by Uber drivers claiming they were misclassified as independent contractors, according to Shannon Liss-Riordan, a Boston-based labor lawyer involved in those suits.
“This is a very big deal,” she told The New York Times. “Uber has been fighting very hard against any decisions like this coming out, and when a factfinder sat down and looked at the situation, they determined that Uber is an employer.”
Other Uber drivers could also follow Barbara Ann Berwick’s lead and file claims with California’s labor office.
“We’ll see if this starts a trend,” said Wilma B. Liebman, a former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, according to The Times. “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a flood of similar kinds of claims.”
That flood could also spill over into other ride-sharing services, or transportation network companies (TNCs), like Lyft and Sidecar, as well as into other areas of the sharing economy. As The Times reported, according to data from CB Insights, since 2010 venture capitalists have invested over $9.4 billion in “on-demand” startups, “spawning things like on-demand laundry services and hair stylists.”
In one sense Berwick seems an unlikely source for the dampening of all that entrepreneurial spirit. She’s run her own money-management business for years and before that operated a phone-sex service. Now she’s starting a new venture, teaching other Uber drivers how to be classified as employees by California’s Labor Commissioner.
“It’ll take two to three hours and I’ll go over all of the particulars and stuff,” she told Slate. “Exactly what you want to do to get compensated as an employee, how to claim your expenses and stuff. That would be for anyone that’s interested.”
But Berwick and her company have also filed at least 20 lawsuits in California since 1991, according to The Times. And she also told that newspaper that when she drove for Uber from July to September of 2014, she worked 60 to 80 hours a week and earned about $11,000.
“If you work it out, if I didn’t get compensated for expenses, I’d be working for less than minimum wage,” she said, adding that that was the reason she’d filed her claim against Uber.
Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley and a former U.S. secretary of labor, said being an independent contractor is “at best a mixed blessing.”
“At worst, it is a nightmare. Obviously some workers prefer to be independent contractors -- but mostly they take these jobs because they cannot find better ones.”
Independent contractor jobs could be a little harder to find in California and elsewhere if the Labor Commission’s ruling stands and sets a precedent that results in the reclassification of ride-sharing companies’ drivers and other on-demand services’ workforces as employees. But that may not necessarily happen.
“I think it is one of those things that can go either way,” Ali Vahabzadeh, CEO of Chariot, a ride-sharing company that hires its drivers instead of contracting them, said in an interview with LinkedIn. “They have marshaled a lot of resources throughout the 1099 on-demand economy.”
They’ve also poured a lot of resources into lobbying efforts, including $475,000 between July and November of last year in California alone, according to The Washington Post. And David Plouffe, senior vice president of policy and strategy for Uber, as well as a key strategist for Barack Obama’s two successful presidential campaigns, told The Wall Street Journal in January that the company was willing to compromise as long as regulators didn’t “want us to operate [just] like a taxi company with decades-old regulation.”
“We’re not going to do that,” he said.
Chariot’s Vahabzadeh said there might be another alternative that it would be in the interest of contract-based ride-sharing companies to pursue.
“I think that there may be a third rail that emerges out of all of this,” he said. “Someone who is not a 1099 or a W-2, but a third class of worker that will be produced. Regulation doesn’t move as fast as the pace of innovation so in the interim, I think it is dangerous for Uber and others to have this legal liability hanging over their business models.”
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Virginia), meanwhile, called for a federal overhaul of employment law.
“Today’s ruling from the California labor regulators demonstrates why federal policy makers need to reexamine the 20th-century definitions and employment classification we’re attempting to apply to a 21st-century work force,” he said, according to the Times.
Given the pace of movement in Congress, Warner’s call may not amount to much in terms of legislative action. But his point is a valid one. The sharing economy has indeed been modernizing industries. It remains to be seen what a regulatory framework modernized to accommodate it looks like.
Speaking of head-shakers, word comes from New Jersey that a pair of lawmakers are crafting a bill that would force any Garden State governor wishing to run for president – Chris Christie comes to mind - to step down from the governor’s office. The complaint being of course that anyone running for the presidency cannot possibly be focused on running their own state. As someone who has lived in California long enough to remember Gov. Jerry Brown 1.0 spending each of his first two terms back in the 1970s and 80s being more interested in his longshot presidential campaigns than being governor, it makes a bit of sense. But then there is the nasty bit of reality that Gov. Chris Christie himself must sign it for it to become law, which we’re sure he’ll do without a moment’s hesitation. Right.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) signed legislation last week to remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds in Columbia and send it to a museum instead. Haley signed the bill nine times with nine different pens in honor of the same number of black parishioners murdered in a racially charged shooting at a Charleston church last month.
Some lawmakers and civil rights groups have been calling for the flag’s removal for years without luck. Although the banner is actually the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, it has come to be viewed by most people as a symbol of the Confederacy and southern heritage. But its critics contend it is a symbol of racially-based hatred, slavery and ongoing oppression of minorities.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, many black lawmakers again urged the flag be taken down. But this time, Haley surprised most observers by joining them in their plea. She asked lawmakers to quickly pass legislation to authorize its removal. A number of prominent national political figures, including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), who is running for the GOP nomination for president in 2016, joined her. So did a growing number of major national companies, including WalMart, Target and Amazon.
But while the effort to move the flag seemed to come with amazing swiftness, it didn’t come down without a fight. The flag’s supporters, all Republicans, introduced 68 different amendments aimed at keeping the flag on statehouse grounds. If even one had passed the entire bill would have failed. But those efforts eventually petered out and the bill was sent to Haley on Wednesday. Haley signed the bill in front of a large crowd the next day.
“So 22 days ago, I didn’t know if I would ever be able to say this again, but today I am very proud to say that it is a great day in South Carolina,” Haley said before signing the measure, which called for the flag – which has flown at the Capitol for over 50 years – to come down within 24 hours of her signature. (WASHINGTON POST, WTOC.COM [SAVANNAH])
Ohio AG Mike DeWine announced last week that credit-card giant Chase has agreed to a $136 million settlement with the state and 46 other states over its debt-collection practices.
The settlement comes in connection with an investigation that revealed Chase sued and obtained judgments against customers based on inaccurate information about their credit-card debts, in some cases using documents signed without the signer’s knowledge.
As part of the settlement, Chase agreed to cease collection efforts aimed at 528,000 consumers across the country, enact safeguards to help ensure its debt information is accurate and stop selling debt to other entities.
“As a result of this settlement, Chase customers will be less likely to be sued for a debt they don’t owe or receive third-party collection calls for a debt they already paid off,” DeWine said.
Chase also seemed satisfied with the settlement, issuing a statement that said: “We are pleased to resolve these legacy issues and are working to complete our remediation of affected credit card customers.” (PLAIN DEALER [CLEVELAND])
Crafting a state budget is not for the weak of heart, nor is it for the humor-challenged. Thankfully neither is the case in Washington, where lawmakers last week carried on what has become a more than two decades-long tradition of giving each budget negotiation its own theme, all culminating in a group photo befitting that storyline. As The Olympian reports, themes in previous years have included budget staffers posing with buckets – to symbolize the buckets of cash they had back in 1995 – and a more recent year featuring everyone dressed as zombies to symbolize the somewhat brain-dead feuding that almost forced the government to shut down. And this year’s theme? Balloonicorn! And what is that, you ask? A plastic blow-up toy unicorn chosen to note the plethora of references to horses and ponies throughout the marathon six-month legislative session. And you thought nobody was paying attention during those long-winded floor speeches.
-- By RICH EHISEN
NEW HAMPSHIRE Gov. Maggie Hassan (D) vetoes HB 449, which would have altered a Granite State law requiring the payment of child support payments until a student has graduated from high school, even if that student is over 18. Under the bill, payments would have stopped if the student chose to seek a diploma via a high school equivalency test rather than attending a traditional high school (NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE).
WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signs SB 5954, a bill that will cut tuition 5 percent this fall, and then another 10 to 15 percent at the four-year schools in fall 2016. After 2016, tuition hikes will be limited to the annual average percentage growth in the median hourly wage for the Evergreen State over the previous 14 years (Q13FOX.COM [SEATTLE]).
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signs legislation that expands to private colleges and universities a definition of sexual consent that requires a clear, affirmative agreement between partners. The measure also creates a victim’s bill of rights and boosts training for law enforcement, faculty and students. The so-called “enough is enough” policy took effect for public universities last year (NEW YORK TIMES).
CONNECTICUT Gov. Dannel P. Malloy (D) signs legislation that requires the state Education Commissioner to monitor and audit one charter school each year; requires each charter governing council to adopt anti-nepotism and conflict of interest policies; and requires all employees who have contact with the students to undergo a background check (HARTFORD COURANT).
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) said last week a monument to the Ten Commandments will remain in place on the Capitol grounds in Oklahoma City while state Attorney General Scott Pruitt appeals the state Supreme Court ruling ordering its removal. The Court ruled in June that the monument violates the Sooner State constitution, which explicitly bars state funds or property from being directed “for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.” Pruitt, with Fallin’s blessing, has asked the court to reconsider its decision. Failing that, she said lawmakers will attempt to change the state constitution, which will require voter approval. (WASHINGTON POST, OKLAHOMAN [OKLAHOMA CITY], TULSA WORLD)
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered judges in LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, and TEXAS to wrap up same-sex marriage cases in their states in line with last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The order removes one of the final procedural hurdles in three cases pending before the New Orleans‑based court (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
KANSAS’ Secretary of State’s Office has created a website and phone hotline to allow residents to report suspected cases of voter fraud. The Legislature granted Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R) the power to prosecute voter fraud in this past session (WICHITA EAGLE). * A dozen Democrats are suing election officials in WISCONSIN over legislative maps drawn by Republicans in 2011. The maps – with the exception of two Assembly districts on Milwaukee’s south side - were upheld by a three-judge panel two years ago, but the new lawsuit alleges the maps are so partisan they’re unconstitutional (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL)
CALIFORNIA has become the second state in which Hispanics outnumber whites. Hispanics outnumbered whites in NEW MEXICO as early as 2003 (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
-- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
A new 6 percent tax on soft drinks took effect in VERMONT on July 1. The tax was part of a $30-million package approved by the state Legislature in May to help close a $113 million budget gap (BURLINGTON FREE PRESS).
The KANSAS State Finance Council, comprised of Gov. Sam Brownback (R) and state legislative leaders, passed a resolution this month authorizing the Kansas Development Finance Authority to issue $1 billion in bonds to shore up the state’s Public Employees Retirement System. Rebecca Floyd, general counsel for the KDFA, said it should take about six weeks to complete the steps required to issue those bonds (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
CALIFORNIA residents’ water bills are going up despite conservation measures they’ve been taking. The 8- to 36-percent cuts the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has ordered because of the drought are expected to leave state water departments with a $1 billion hole in revenue, and they’re turning to customers to fill it (ASSOCIATED PRESS).
MAINE lawmakers overrode Gov. Paul LePage’s (R) veto of a $6.7 billion, two-year budget and also approved $100 million in bonds for transportation and housing projects (PORTLAND PRESS HERALD, LEXISNEXIS STATE NET).
- Compiled by KOREY CLARK
Marketing and competitive intelligence professionals are expected know what’s trending now and anticipate the future. With content being created every second of every day, it is difficult to monitor—let alone analyze for insights.
LexisNexis® Media Analytics Solutions Specialists Ryan Williams and Zak Gollop recently hosted a media intelligence Webinar where they discussed how media-monitoring solutions can help to discover trends, opportunities and possible threats to ensure brands, products, and organizations can thrive.
LexisNexis® Newsdesk empowers media intelligence.
In this Webinar, Ryan and Zak shared how media-monitoring solutions can help organizations sift through print, Web, broadcast and social content to uncover actionable insights. Through case studies and a demo, they highlighted how to seek perspective to make data-driven decisions with LexisNexis Newsdesk.
3 Ways to Apply This Information Now
WISCONSIN Gov. Scott Walker (R) signs SB 15, which bars the manufacture of personal care products containing small, non-biodegradable plastic particles known as microbeads. The law takes effect on December 31, 2017 (FOX6NOW.COM [GREEN BAY]).