Headlines

The chemical industry trade group American Chemistry Council, a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), has spent $648,600 on ads supporting Tommy Thompson, a former ALEC member and the Republican candidate for Wisconsin's open U.S. Senate seat.

On New Year's weekend in 2011, many Wisconsinites were focused on the Badgers' return to the Rose Bowl or whether the Green Bay Packers would beat the Detroit Lions and get another shot to win the Super Bowl, but the incoming administration of Governor Scott Walker had other, bigger contests on its agenda. In mid-winter, while many in the state were worried about who would win or lose the big games, Walker's team was preparing to change state law in numerous ways, including making it easier for corporations to win big cases and limit the damages paid if their products or practices kill or injure people in Wisconsin.

The Washington DC-based Club for Growth has racked up a winning record in its well-funded, $10.8 million effort to influence GOP Senate primaries across the country, and with help from some deep-pocketed donors, will continue throwing its weight around as November approaches.

The future of New York's water supplies and the health of its millions of citizens hang in the balance as Governor Andrew Cuomo decides whether to end the state's moratorium on new wells to drill for "natural" gas through the controversial industrial process of hydraulic fracturing or "fracking." Activists estimated that over two thousand concerned citizens joined the march in Albany Monday to try to persuade Cuomo not to lift the moratorium -- statewide or in some counties -- a decision expected to be announced some time after Labor Day.