We are happy to announce that IVN contributor Chris Hinyub will be on-scene at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida at the end of August.

While many independents look towards high-profile positions such as President or members of Congress for representation, a key towards future political success is occupying positions from the bottom to the top.

Of note on the subject, the governor of California announced two appointments to the California State University Board of Trustees. One of the new appointees is registered as No Party Preference.

UPDATE

As expected, members of the California State Assembly voted Thursday afternoon to approve the initial $8 billion in funding for the high-speed rail. Final vote came in at 51 to 28.

Today's News Tips. Your Independent Breakdown of Today's News.

POLITICO – Obama’s Ground Force One [PHOTO]

Four facts & four charts to help explain the June jobs report:

• The unemployment rate was unchanged in June at 8.2%.
• U.S. employers added only 80,000 jobs in June, a third straight month of weak hiring that shows the economy is still struggling three years after the recession ended.
• The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits declined by 14,000 to a seasonally adjusted 374,000 in the week ending June 30.
• Nevada, Rhode Island and California have the highest unemployment among U.S. states.

Credit: AP

It's been a monumental week for physicists, who have found the "strongest indication to date" to prove the existence of the Higgs boson particle, or the "God particle."

And while scientists around the world celebrate the discovery, most people are unaware of the implications, that is, if they even know what the Higgs boson particle is to begin with.

Motherboard TV went to the streets of Williamsburg to interview hipsters on their knowledge of the Higgs boson, most of which had never heard of it. Maybe the discovery was just too mainstream...

The ever-widening LIBOR scandal now engulfs one major bank, Barclays, threatens to implicate other banks, and perhaps even the British government itself.

"It is the largest rigging of prices in the history of the world by many orders of magnitude," says Professor of Economics and former bank regulator Bill Black

Last night, Rachel Maddow had FairVote.org chair and Nirvana bassist, Krist Novoselic on her show to discuss putting the power of elections back in the hands of voters. It's an interesting interview and touches on the problematic two-party system.

Click through the photo to view the 5 minute interview and learn more about what FairVote is advocating.

A new Field Poll out today shows President Obama with a considerable lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. The Sacramento Bee's Torey Van Oot has the details, including this interesting statistic: