The USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) has announced its Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts for the 2012 fiscal year. Over 114,000 acres of marginal California farmland have been enrolled in the federal conservation program designed to increase wildlife habitat.

A Democrat-turned-Tea Party activist is seeking to intervene in a lawsuit against California’s top-two style open primary in opposition to the disenfranchisement of write-in voters. 

Ordinarily, if a large corporation has a physical presence in a state, then that state can charge sales tax on transactions. California, in a desperate attempt to raise more money, has decreed that Internet transactions are now taxable even if the company has no physical presence in California and the goods were shipped from, say, Nevada to Missouri.

A recent Rasmussen poll shows that voters not affiliated with any major political party believe that congressional Republicans are slightly more partisan than their Democratic colleagues.  This comes as congressional representatives from both parties spar over whether or not to raise the debt ceiling.