Free Republic

JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell says he will not enact the federal health care overhaul after a judge in Florida struck down the law as unconstitutional. Parnell considers that ruling the law of the land, barring implementation in the state. He said the state will pursue options of its own instead. It's not completely clear what practical impact Parnell's unusual decision will have. Alaska has a state-run plan for residents previously denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. The law's main expansion is pending.

HOOVER DAM, Nev. - Water officials from California, Arizona and Nevada joined the federal government Monday in enacting a 50-year plan to protect the lower Colorado River and ensure states are able to get enough water and power from it. The $626 million agreement will benefit "the many important species, including humans, that rely on the Colorado River," said John Keys, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, during a ceremony at the base of the massive Hoover Dam. The program, called the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, aims to protect threatened and endangered species along 400 miles of river...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back on the road again Wednesday, posing with law enforcement officials and demanding that legislators pass his plan to protect local governments from the depredations of the state. That is, protect local governments once he finishes taking $2.6 billion from their coffers over the next two years. Given his own designs on city and county revenues, Schwarzenegger's hands are hardly clean on this issue. So perhaps he should ease the inflammatory rhetoric and get back to doing what he promised when he was elected: solving some of California's seemingly intractable problems. One of the biggest among...