Dramatic change in the area of the Great Salt Lake over the past 25 years. Left: August 1985. Right: September 2010. The lake was filled to near capacity in 1985 because feeder streams were charged with snowmelt and heavy rainfall. In contrast, the 2010 image shows the lake shriveled by drought. // Credit : USGS Landsat Missions Gallery

ramatic change in the area of the Great Salt Lake over the past 25 years. Left: August 1985. Right: September 2010. The lake was filled to near capacity in 1985 because feeder streams were charged with snowmelt and heavy rainfall.

Welcome to the 2013 Crony Capitalist Awards: Senate Edition. For these awards we define crony capitalism as the disproportionate influence by special interests (non-individuals) on elected officials. One of the founding principles of our country was no taxation without representation. Having to “pay to play” is merely another tax. And not being able to “pay to play” just another negative freedom.

On Monday, Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope received an approximate total of 6,400 signatures that were collected by the Coalition for a Safer Lansing for its marijuana legalization initiative. City Clerk Swope stated that the measure appears to satisfy legal requirements for placement on the November ballot.

Since the start of the Great Recession in 2008, the question on most people’s minds has been, “When will the housing market recover?”

The good news is that for many markets, the recovery is already here. Many metro areas across the United States have already seen robust recovery.

The debate on tax policy seems to emerge once every year as budget negotiations deadlock and little substantive progress is made to address the nation's fiscal needs.

This last cycle, negotiations culminated under the 'fiscal cliff' which has since disappeared from media airwaves. Consequently, voters are left out of the real discussion concerning tax policy.

California State Senator Ed Hernandez has introduced

Senate Bill 491. The bill expands the scope of practice for a Nurse Practitioner (NP) in order to allow them to set up their own practices. Under current California law, NPs are allowed to treat patients under doctor supervision. While doctors do have more training than NPs, NPs can act as physicians and have been referred to as “physician extenders."

There is an idea, a myth if I may, that gets more attention in the mainstream media concerning the reasons behind political gridlock in Washington than any other explanation. It is an idea that says increased polarization in Washington is merely a reflection of increased polarization and ideological division in the electorate.

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