1. An opinion piece in the News Leader argues that Virginia should not indulge partisan calls to close the state's primaries after Eric Cantor lost his seat.

Interestingly enough, one of the biggest names leading the charge to change state law to allow closed primaries is former Virginia Lt. Governor Bill Bolling.

“Why even talk about June? It’s just a warm up,” said David Lee, the executive director of the Chinese American Voters Education Committee, who, after seeing the primary results, feels that much can happen in Assembly District 17 between now and November.

"The term 'PTSD' has come into the common lexicon in a very non-specific manner, often used to refer to any type of emotional reaction to traumatic or disturbing events," said Dr. David Reiss, M.D., in an interview for IVN. Reiss is a psychiatrist from San Diego currently providing treatment within the Uniform Services Program at The Brattleboro Retreat in Vermont.

It's important to understand that PTSD isn't just an abbreviation on a memo from a bureaucrat's office. It is a debilitating condition to those who live with it.

As an early Baby Boomer, I feel more than qualified to write about this. My Gen X son never moved back in. Back-up. I just learned he technically did for 5 years.

Several states are adopting an alternative approach to measure their citizens' well-being and shape public policy.

“They set out with little or no money. Thousands, shelter workers say, make their way through Mexico clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains. Since the 1990s, Mexico and the United States have tried to thwart them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, the children jump on and off the moving train cars.

California’s Republican Party is counting on Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen to help break a potential two-thirds Democratic super-majority in the state legislature this November. She’s running against Democrat Jose Solorio (AD-69) to represent the 34th Senate District as a result of the June 3 nonpartisan, top-two open primary.

1. A new lawsuit filed in federal court challenges restrictive ballot access laws for independent candidates in New Mexico.

The lawsuit, filed by a member of the Public Education Committee, says the significantly higher bar in signatures required for independent candidates to appear on the ballot places an unfair burden on independents.

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” -- John Steinbeck

Self-professed "zillionaire" Nick Hanauer thinks pitchforks are looming in a recent op-ed piece in Politico Magazine.

In June, Wisconsin witnessed both enormous highs and distressing setbacks for those who are battling for gay rights.

On June 6, 2014, District Judge Barbara Crabb overturned Wisconsin’s same-sex marriage ban, asserting that the case “is about liberty and equality, the two cornerstones of the rights protected by the United States Constitution.”