By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD — At least one former employee of Illinois’ beleaguered prepaid tuition program personally benefited by the investment firms the program contracted with in 2010 and 2011, according to an audit released Wednesday.

By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog

MIAMI — After a litany of civil lawsuits and scrutiny from the federal government, it seems Florida’s Legislature may be vindicated in its efforts to combat voter fraud.

At least three Florida counties are investigating cases of registered voters who do not have legal citizenship status, adding support to the sentiment that precipitated changes to state election laws in March of last year.

By Sheena Dooley | Iowa Watchdog

DES MOINES — More than $4.1 million of Iowa taxpayer dollars will be shipped out of state next year to two for-profit education companies with a poor track record in other states, according to open enrollment figures.

By David Frisk | Virginia Statehouse News

RICHMOND — Gov. Bob McDonnell and state-employee groups are at odds over his proposal to fund a salary bonus with cuts to state agencies.

By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter MADISON — The stage is set, the players chosen. Let the all-out battle begin. Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are set for a rematch of the 2010 gubernatorial election, this time in the June 5 gubernatorial recall election. The recall is the culmination of a fight that began 15 [...]

By Dustin Hurst | Watchdog.org   HELENA — Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester touts his record on transparency in a new television ad this week, but his campaign is hiding information on the Internet. Through a complex Internet coding process, Tester is preventing the Wayback Machine, the Internet’s only web page archive tool, from storing screenshots of his 2012 [...]

By Andrew Thomason | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Tuesday echoed a familiar tone during his first official visit to the Illinois General Assembly — pension reform. The first-term mayor laid out a plan to fix Chicago’s pension funds, which are unfunded to the tune of $20 billion, about 46 percent. Emanuel said during an Illinois [...]

Lawmakers may close loophole   By Melissa Daniels | PA Independent   HARRISBURG — A concerned resident saw something amiss in the state's unemployment system. Something lawmakers had not yet noticed.     So the resident told a local representative.   What's this, said state Rep. Adam Harris, R-Juniata?   Was a state retiree actually collecting unemployment benefits after [...]

By Sheena Dooley | Iowa Watchdog

DES MOINES — Officials with the Iowa Department of Education will continue to funnel millions of dollars into six of the state’s lowest performing schools despite their noncompliance with federal law.

Leaders in the Des Moines and Waterloo school districts — both of which oversee some of the state’s lowest performing schools — promised Iowa education officials they would extend learning time, tie teacher and principal evaluations to student achievement, and provide teacher incentives to boost retention and reward student gains.

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — Just about every soldier has grumbled — to himself — about an order. Relatively few openly defy them.

But what happens when a service member promotes the dismissal of the commander-in-chief?