Archive for May, 2014

Boehner's big reform decision

Its up to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Republican and Democratic advocates see one final, long-shot chance to pass immigration reform this summer, and its fate rests with a Speaker stuck between his partys resistance and his search for a career-defining legacy.

Boehner clearly wants to overhaul the immigration system, but to revive the issue, he will have to untangle knots he tied during the past year.

First, he ruled out the Senates comprehensive bill and said no House bill would get a vote absent support from a majority of Republicans. Then he announced that instead of a single, wide-ranging bill, the House would take a step-by-step approach, with reform embodied in several separate bills that could not be reconciled with the Senate proposal.

Yet these practical or procedural hurdles may not be Boehners biggest challenge. The highest bar to clear may be an issue of trust, specifically trust of President Obama.

Since February, the Speaker has said legislation cannot proceed until Republicans can trust the administration to enforce any new laws Congress passes.

It is a seemingly impossible standard for a president reviled by a majority of Republican lawmakers. Even stalwart advocates of immigration reform see scant chance of Obama meeting it.

Nobody trusts the president, and thats just the reality, said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (Fla.), a Republican who has written a bill that beefs up border security and offers a path to legal status for illegal immigrants. Can the president re-establish his credibility in the next two months with the House, with the American people or with our allies? No. I think he can hopefully not make it worse.

Boehner has not said how Obama could restore trust among Republicans who have watched angrily as he has repeatedly delayed parts of the healthcare law without congressional approval. Aides say, however, that he could begin by working with GOP members on some of their other priorities, such as the Skills Act, which the House passed to overhaul federal job-training programs.

A House GOP leadership aide said Obama could also help his cause by publicly ruling out unilateral action to halt deportations and by promising to enforce any new immigration law fully in the way Congress intended.

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Boehner's big reform decision

Poll: GOP voters back immigration reform

Comprehensive immigration reform enjoys broad bipartisan support, but is particularly intense among Hispanic voters, who are most likely to weigh the issue heavily as they assess candidates, according to a new POLITICO poll of voters in places with the most competitive House and Senate races.

Seventy-one percent of likely voters surveyed and nine of 10 Hispanics said they back sweeping change to immigration laws. The support spans party lines: 64 percent of Republican respondents back comprehensive immigration reform, as do 78 percent of Democrats and 71 percent of independents.

(Full poll results and cross tabs on POLITICO Pro)

The survey, which was conducted in both English and Spanish, found that 41 percent of Hispanic voters strongly support comprehensive immigration reform; while 28 percent of white voters and 17 percent of African American voters said the same.

Asked how important the issue was to determining which candidate to vote for, 85 percent of Hispanic voters called it important while 53 percent said it was very important. Seventy-four percent of white voters and 58 percent of African American voters called it important.

Overall, only 28 percent of those surveyed oppose comprehensive immigration reform, with 12 percent saying they are strongly opposed.

(Full POLITICO poll results)

The poll, designed by SocialSphere and conducted by the research firm GfK, surveyed 867 likely voters between May 2 and 13, in places with highly competitive midterm contests. The poll, conducted with GfKs online KnowledgePanel methodology has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.1 percentage points.

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Poll: GOP voters back immigration reform

The "First Amendment Zone" nearby Bundy Ranch – Video


The "First Amendment Zone" nearby Bundy Ranch
This is the first thing you see when coming off the main highway.

By: Chris Callesen

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The "First Amendment Zone" nearby Bundy Ranch - Video

First Amendment – Video


First Amendment
Lynn Klyde-Silverstein, a journalism professor at the University of Northern Colorado, explains the importance of Freedom of the Press.

By: Lynn Klyde

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First Amendment - Video

Blade earns First Amendment award

Published: Monday, 5/19/2014 - Updated: 23 seconds ago

BLADE STAFF

COLUMBUS The Blade won the First Amendment Award given by the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors on Sunday for the newspapers pursuit of freedom of information to obtain a police-created map of gang territory in Toledo last year.

The Blades request for a copy of the citys map that shows gang boundaries was denied, prompting a lawsuit by the newspaper and a months-long court battle.

Additionally, Blade reporter Taylor Dungjen, who spoke about the project at the awards ceremony, and photographer Amy Voigt who worked on the series Battle Lines: Gangs of Toledo, were awarded first place in the best enterprise reporting category for newspapers with a daily circulation of more than 75,000.

After the police and city administrators refused to make the citys map public, The Blade created one, using information from gang members and Toledo police sources.

The gang series, which has received awards from other news organizations, has sparked a series of community forums on the causes of racism and remedies for gangs and gang violence.

The first place investigative reporting award was given to Kris Turner for the series Deals Gone Bad, which outlined the states costly investments in failed solar-power firms.

Mr. Turner was awarded third place under best explanatory reporting for his Going to Pot story.

First place also was awarded to Tom Fisher for best illustration for his Monster Hits. Blade artist Jeff Bastings was awarded third in the same category for his Portrait of a Pointer.

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Blade earns First Amendment award