On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council voted to place a charter amendment on the November 2018 ballot to repeal ranked choice voting (RCV, locally called "instant runoff voting") for electing most city council seats.

Ignoring a remarkable show of support for RCV captured in this television news story, the council disregarded its citizens’ wishes.

New Mexico entrepreneur and horse trainer Jarratt Applewhite could make history in the Land of Enchantment. He is running for State House District 50 as an independent, and if he wins he would be the first person elected to the State Legislature with no party affiliation ever and the first non-Democrat/Republican since 1914.

Applewhite launched his campaign this week, stating that he is running on two things in particular:

With just the right amount of grease applied to its gears, Atlanta's partisan political machine reversed momentum in the race for mayor and defeated independent Councilor Mary Norwood by 759 votes out of more than 92,000 cast, according to the unofficial count.The winner, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, is the hand-picked successor of outgoing Mayor Kasim Reed, whose administration is under

In a dramatic show of just how fractured the relationship is between the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and the San Diego Lifeguard Association, 76 of 102 permanent lifeguards voted to form their own department called the “Marine Safety Department," and leave the Fire-Rescue Department.

Turnout was 92% with roughly 77% voting for the new department.

The vote, taken at Marina Village, authorizes the Lifeguard Union to publicly express concerns with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and demand a separation.

An overwhelming number of independent voters oppose the GOP tax reform plan, Gallup reported Tuesday. A slim 25 percent of non-affiliated voters say they support the tax plan, while 56 percent say they disapprove of the current bills.

Predictably, partisan voters divided up along party lines in the survey, with 70 percent of Republicans in favor of their party's efforts. Meanwhile, only 7 percent of Democrats feel the same.

On Friday, December 1, 2017, the Senate garnered sufficient votes to pass their version of tax reform legislation. Previously, the House had already passed their plan for tax reform.

At this point, the two plans will need to be reconciled before a final bill goes to President Trump for approval.

Critics of the legislation claim that it has been rushed already without consideration for the long-term consequences the bills could bring. Regardless of what happens during the reconciliation process, millions of American lives will be impacted.