primary election system. The Republican and Democratic parties have worked hand-in-hand for over a century to make ‘their’ party primaries the centerpiece of the entire electoral process.

For example, there is Right to Rise, the committee supporting a presidential run by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and there is America Rising, another PAC designated to raise and spend unlimited sums of money in hopes of defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016.

“After a long and dreary winter, the streets of Washington are once again in bloom. While the most vibrant displays of color and renewal can be found around the monuments and Tidal Basin, spring has also brought some surprising flourishes of possibility to Congress.” - Jason Grumet, President of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)

Grumet and the BPC are respected on both sides of the partisan aisle for their innovative approaches and efforts to reduce divisiveness and improve government effectiveness.

Shona Banda, 37, lost custody of her 11-year-old son (at least temporarily) in late March after the boy stood up for the medical benefits of cannabis oil during an anti-drug class at school. The AP reported Monday that Banda did not get custody of her son back after a hearing in Finney County District Court.

A collaborative effort between Patrick Miller of the University of Kansas and Pamela Johnston Conover of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill offers new insight into the growing phenomenon behind political polarization in the United States. The study, titled Red and Blue States of Mind: Partisan Hostility and Voting in the United States, was published in Political Research Quarterly on March 30.

Moonrise Extracts, an industrial hemp operation in Colorado, expects to reap tens of thousands per acre, from what started as a few dozen feral hemp plants.

Introduced earlier this year by State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago), House Bill 1335, also known as "Right-to-Try," allows terminally-ill patients to try new drugs that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

3 Pitfalls of the Fair Tax Proposal, published by David Yee on April 16. By way of background, the FAIRtax® is a bill in Congress with 74 sponsors that repeals Subtitles A, B, and C of the Internal Revenue Code and phases out the IRS over a three-year period.

That last feature should be welcome news for those of you who just filed tax returns and did not receive a refund. Tax collection devolves to the states.

Editor's note: The article below initially said that Nebraska does not have a top-two system, which is true for many of its elections. However, it does have a form of top-two for state legislative races and the article has been updated to clarify this fact.

Jeb Bush charged straight into one of the most politically divisive issues of our time: altering the minimum age to start receiving Social Security.