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(Note: Test article from Aubrn, NY daily nrewspaper "The Citizen"; you may read the text or hear the audio of it from this site)

As contractors widen Interstate 66 in Northern Virginia, they produce tons of excess dirt. So do excavators digging basements for homes or leveling land for commercial projects or schools. Some of that dirt – no one knows how much – ends up on Fauquier County properties. Some county officials think it is way too much. “Fauquier County is becoming, if not has already become, the dumping ground for Northern Virginia's fill dirt. And it's obviously a huge problem. And it's affecting people's lives,” county supervisor Rick Gerhardt (Cedar Run District) said at April’s Board of Supervisors meeting, as residents complained...

Iowa Radio is reporting that the Iowa range protection and strengthened preemption bill has passed the Iowa House. The bill passed on a 52 to 44 vote, with 4 members not voting. There are 56 Republicans and 44 Democrats in the Iowa House. The bill was earlier reported on as HSB 615. Second Amendment supporters have been attempting to pass the bill for several years. From radioiowa.com: Supporters of the bill say Iowa gun owners should not have to navigate a labyrinth of different ordinances. The bill also forbids cities and counties from trying to ban gun modifications or from...

How can the state of California collect deposit fees on plastic bottles of .05 cents per bottle and .10 cents per quart of oil and never pay out on it? If anyone else collected a deposit that was never paid they would find themselves in a world of trouble.

Orange County, Fla. - Orange County leaders passed a new ordinance Tuesday that would go against state law and make it more difficult to buy a gun. After two hours of discussion, commissioners unanimously voted to create a 3-day waiting period and background checks for gun purchases. Currently, licensed gun dealers are required to run a background check on buyers and wait three days before completing a sale. But at gun shows or flea markets, private gun dealers don’t have to meet those requirements. After two hours of discussion, commissioners unanimously voted to change that, and require those unlicensed dealers...

North Dakota’s Republican-led Senate rejected a measure Tuesday that would have changed state law to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision that same-sex couples have the right to marry. The bill failed 15-31. It would have changed dozens of references, such as “husband and wife,” to gender-neutral terms. North Dakota law lists “one man, one woman” or “husband and wife” for everything from marriages and divorces to fishing licenses. The measure got a hearing last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which voted 4-2 to recommend against passage. …

In a surprise move Tuesday, a federal three-judge panel told Republican legislative leaders they should consider drawing new election maps taking into account challenges from Democrats and Latinos. The court gave the Legislature until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to decide whether it wants to revisit the maps it approved last summer. If it does not, the trial challenging the maps will resume Wednesday. If lawmakers agree to take up the maps anew, the court would give them until mid-March to approve them. The order, coming just after the trial began Tuesday, sent the 16 attorneys in the courtroom scrambling to consult...

Rep. John Boehner declined to join a chorus of angry opponents of a state law in Arizona that, among other stipulations, requires that law enforcement asks residents for paperwork to prove they aren’t illegal immigrants. “I think the people of Arizona have the right to pass their laws under the 10th amendment,” said Boehner during a news conference at the Capitol. Echoing a GOP response line that the Arizona law would not have been necessary had Congress been successfully passed immigration reform, Boehner said he thinks the resulting Arizona law “is clearly the result of the federal government’s failure to...

THE Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which President Obama plans to sign soon, is named after two men who were murdered in 1998. Shepard, a gay college student, was beaten to death in Wyoming. Byrd, a black hitchhiker, was dragged to death behind a pickup truck in Texas. Bigotry seemed to play a role in both crimes. Here is something else Matthew Shepard and James Byrd have in common: Their killers were arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to life in prison or death -- all without the benefit of hate-crime laws, state or federal.

The National Coalition of Latino Clergy filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Gov. Brad Henry and Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, seeking to overturn House Bill 1804, a strict new state law against illegal immigration. The suit alleges that the law is unconstitutional and violates rights to due process for undocumented immigrants, who are listed as "John Doe" or "Jane Doe" in the list of plaintiffs. "The leaders and people behind House Bill 1804 are guilty of ethnic cleansing," said the coalition's president, the Rev. Miguel Rivera, at a press conference outside the federal court building. The Rev. Victor Orta...

I am curious how many other States have the new law of them taking blood from lab work for genetic research. We went to the Docs (routine blood work done twice a year for personal health issues) office yesterday and had to sign a consent that we have been explained that under a new Oregon State law any blood drawn once tested for what ever the reason, I have thyroid levels checked, the left over blood will be sent to a lab for genetic testing. Signing the form is your consent, they have a box to check to say NO...

California's registered domestic partners should report their pay on federal tax forms the way single people do, rather than using methods available to married couples, according to an internal memo the Internal Revenue Service released Monday. The clarification is the first guidance from the IRS in the wake of a sweeping state law that took effect in 2005, giving gays and lesbians many of the rights of married couples. The news should ease the confusion facing the state's 71,000 partners with the April 17 tax-filing deadline just weeks away. But the federal agency's response wasn't the answer that gay and...

A lawyer for San Diego's retirement system determined in May 2004 that board members likely had broken the state conflict-of-interest law – a conclusion reached in private one year before prosecutors brought charges against six current and former pension trustees. In a May 13, 2004, memo, Michael A. Leone wrote that it was "probable" that a court would find that the law was broken when the trustees voted to adopt a city proposal to continue underfunding the pension system while simultaneously enhancing future benefits for city workers. The memo is one of 60,000 documents and e-mail messages released last week...

The long arm of the law just got longer at San Diego City Hall, with the District Attorney's Office informing top officials there yesterday that it has launched a criminal investigation into the troubled pension system and its 13-member board of trustees. In a confidential letter, hand-delivered to City Attorney Michael Aguirre and distributed to top city officials, the district attorney's investigators gave City Hall until Wednesday to hand over records or face possible search warrants. With that, the investigators confirmed for an already rattled city establishment that they are marching down a well-worn path, one trekked for more than...

This is nothing but a vanity guys, but I was just wondering... Well, are cameras allowed in the voting centers where you live (in your county, state, whatever)? I just got back from doing my civic duty for Pres. Bush, Mobile congressman Jo Bonner, and Sen Richard Shelby, and I was quite surprised to find out from the poll workers at my voting center that my camera wasn't allowed INSIDE the voting center due to state law. Weird, but true. I've heard from other people I know that this law is far from common in some other states, and that...

HARRISBURG - The state will count absentee ballots of Pennsylvanians living abroad and serving in the military overseas that arrive up to eight days after Tuesday's election under a compromise brokered yesterday by a federal judge. Yet the agreement might not be the final word on a contentious battle pitting Republican leaders and conservative talk-show hosts against Democratic Gov. Rendell, who had until yesterday opposed the extension. Hours after a federal judge approved the settlement, GOP leaders filed a separate motion in state court to push back the deadline even further. Still, parents of the two Army enlisted men serving...

REPOST FROM MICHAEL MOORE: Friends, You may have heard by now that the Michigan Republican Party has called for my arrest. That's right. They literally want me brought up on charges -- and hope that I'm locked up. No, I'm not kidding. The Republican Party, yesterday, filed a criminal complaint with the prosecutors in each of the counties where I spoke last week in Michigan. My crime? Clean underwear for anyone who will vote in the upcoming election. Each night on our 60-city "Slacker Uprising Tour" through the 20 battleground states, I've been registering hundreds (and on some nights, thousands)...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- The Michigan Republican Party is asking four county prosecutors to file charges against filmmaker Michael Moore, charging that he illegally offered underwear, noodles and snacks to college students in exchange for their promise to vote. "We want everyone to participate in this year's election, but not because they were bribed or coerced by the likes of Michael Moore," said Greg McNeilly, executive director of the state Republican Party. The GOP said it asked prosecutors in Wayne, Ingham, Antrim and Isabella counties to charge Moore with violating Michigan's election law. The law prohibits a person from contracting...

<p>SAN FRANCISCO — The killer of a pregnant woman can be found guilty of the murder of her fetus as well, even if the assailant did not know the victim was pregnant, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.</p> <p>The court's 6-1 decision expands the reach of a 1970 state law that made it possible for prosecutors to charge assailants with the death of a fetus when a pregnant woman is attacked. A similar federal law making it a crime to kill a fetus in the commission of a federal offense was signed into law last week. Both laws exempt abortion.</p>

Environmental activists and conservation groups are confronting a variety of state-level attempts to criminalize dissent aimed at corporate and commercial targets. In Pennsylvania, Republican state senator Joe Scarnati has introduced SB589, which defines a new crime: 'environmental harassment' or 'communicating' a threat to commit or cause a violent crime dangerous to human life, property, or business practice. If passed, the bill would create a new misdemeanor and fines for actions leading to 'loss of business.' Protest signs or slogans could be included under this rubric of threatening communication. Activists convicted under the law might also have to pay restitution for...