Free Republic

With Democrats taking control over the Legislature, executive branch, and Michigan Supreme Court next year, a progressive agenda is likely to advance quickly throughout the state. If past introduced bills offer a window into the future, Michigan will be substantially transformed, likely following in the footsteps of California and New York. Let’s take a look at some of the bills that have been introduced by Democrats but never passed due to Republican legislative control. This give us a forecast of what is likely to happen in Michigan in the 2023. Property owners in the state currently have the legal right...

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s unemployment rate jumped to 11.1 percent in June, up from 10.8 percent in May and the first time in nearly 26 years that the rate has topped 11 percent. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released the rate on Friday, July 17. “Ohio’s labor market continued to weaken in June,” Douglas Lumpkin, ODJFS director, said in a press release. “Significant job losses in both the goods-producing and service-providing industries led to an increase in the unemployment rate to 11 .1 percent. The state’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 33,000 over the month, from 5,133,200...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide range of employers eliminated a net total of 663,000 jobs. The Labor Department's report is fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America's workers and companies. Most economists expect the job cuts will continue for much of this year. The latest tally of job losses, released Friday, was slightly higher than the 654,000 that economists expected. The rise in the unemployment rate matched expectations. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a...

Then-candidate Obama said the "next president needs to unite the nation." I like the way the AP put it because it is so representative of a ongoing reality: COLUMBIA, S.C. - In a slap at his chief rival, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Thursday the most important asset the next president can offer is the ability to unite the country. And thus Obama slaps Republicans in the mouth even as he celebrates his ability to rally them behind him. You see, being a Republican means being divisive and mean-spirited; being a Democrat means being unifying and nice. "Bi-partisanship" means...

ABC News has obtained exclusive data that shows the murder and robbery surge that spiked last year has continued in 2006, and in many communities across the country, crime has gotten worse. The Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank that serves many of the nation's police departments, examined the murder and robbery stats in 53 U.S. cities for the first six months of this year.... ...Murder was up in 26 of 53 cities — and robberies rose in 43 of 53 jurisdictions. For all jurisdictions reporting to the group, murder was up 4 percent. For the overall survey, robberies...

Does anyone know how long (from when to when) Democrats had control of both houses of the Congress? I know it ended in 1994, but when did their 40+ years of controlling both houses start before that? Thanks for any help you can give! ;-/