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Efforts to Deliver "Kill Shot" to Paid Sick Leave Tied to ALEC

By Brendan Fischer and Mary Bottari

Paid Sick DaysIn a victory for working families, New York is poised to become the largest U.S. city to require businesses offer paid sick days to workers. Community activists and labor leaders struck a deal with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to allow a vote on a paid sick leave ordinance that would cover almost 1 million people. But workers in more than 700 other large American cities must choose between spreading their illness and getting paid.

In Wisconsin, Voters Reject ALEC/Walker Education Agenda

Tony Evers, Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public InstructionTony Evers, Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction, easily won reelection on Tuesday. Unconfirmed official results have Evers beating opponent State Representative Don Pridemore by 61 percent to 39 percent. Pridemore, who has served in the Wisconsin State Assembly since 2004, supported a far right education agenda, including placing armed volunteers at schools in response to the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

Wisconsin Voters Reaffirm Election Day Registration

Voters in Madison and Milwaukee have reaffirmed the state's Election Day registration law, with an overwhelming majority supporting the practice in two advisory referendums on Tuesday's ballot. Allowing voters to register on Election Day has helped Wisconsin achieve one of the highest voter turnout rates in the country -- but some state Republicans have proposed rolling back the state's highly successful law.

In a Divided Wisconsin, Scott Walker Even Looms Large in Local Judicial Races

Ten months after beating back a recall, Governor Scott Walker continues to divide Wisconsin, with his shadow hanging over judicial races in Milwaukee, Ozaukee, and Dane Counties. Those normally sleepy races are also attracting new levels of outside money, and demonstrate how Walker remains a polarizing figure in the state even as he mulls a run for president.

Chemical Industry Clout Delays EPA Regulation of Hexavalent Chromium

Contaminated Jug of Water at Hinkley Meeting (Source: PBS)The hit 2000 film Erin Brockovich, which tells the story of how a novice legal clerk holds a huge corporation liable for contaminating a town's drinking water with the carcinogenic chemical hexavalent chromium, or chromium (VI), ends in justice for those harmed. But as it turns out, Hinkley, California, the real-life town featured in the movie, is still contaminated.

JP Morgan Gets an Award for London Whale Fiasco, Will Schneiderman Harpoon the Corruption?

Jamie DimonA JPMorgan Chase employee stepped onstage at a black-tie gala on Wall Street last week to accept a "best crisis management" award given by an investor relations magazine. The bank, which was recently the subject of a U.S. Senate investigative hearing and an ongoing FBI probe into $6.2 billion in trading losses known as the "London Whale" fiasco, is not the subject of ridicule -- but praise -- from its cronies on Wall Street.

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