The WonkLine: November 23, 2010

“North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on Tuesday after dozens of shells fired from the North struck a South Korean island near the countries’ disputed maritime border, South Korean military officials said.”

“The secret peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban leaders took a giant step backwards Monday.”

“The Israeli Knesset has passed a law which conditions any Israeli withdrawal from any of its territory on passing a nation-wide referendum.”

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) says that he will introduce a bill “early in the 112th Congress” to end the practice of giving U.S. citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants.

Senate Republicans are stepping up attacks on the DREAM Act, which they claim would have adverse “social and financial costs.”

A group of immigration activists advocating for the passage of the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform are staging weekly demonstrations at the entrance to the Krome immigrant detention center in West Miami-Dade, Florida.

“No U.S. service members have been discharged for being openly gay in the moth since the Defense Department adopted new rules regarding ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ a Pentagon spokeswoman said Monday.”

“It was very easy to believe last week that gay people around the world had been pushed even closer to a bloody end. The UN general assembly voted to remove the mention of killings based on sexual orientation from a resolution condemning arbitrary and extrajudicial executions.”

“The head of Chicago’s Roman Catholic archdiocese Monday portrayed legislation authorizing civil unions between gay and lesbian couples as an initiative that would ‘change the nature of marriage”’ and urged state lawmakers to reject it.”

“Lower-income families in high-deductible health plans appear more likely to delay or forgo medical care based on cost than higher-income families with similar coverage, according to a report in the November 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.”

“Amid pressure from employers, the Obama administration on Monday loosened rules for bare-bones health-insurance policies. It marks one of the administration’s biggest steps to peel back regulations that big business found onerous under the health- care overhaul.”

“One of the Democratic Party’s prominent voices on fiscal issues has thrown a hand grenade into the debate over the long-run sustainability of Medicare, the signature Great Society health program for the elderly.”

The number of children displaced by foreclosure has been climbing, “with nearly 40 percent of U.S. school districts surveyed citing foreclosure as the top reason for the surge in homeless students.”

The FBI raided the offices of three large hedge funds yesterday, stepping up the heat in a three-year insider-trading investigation.

The new Basel III international banking rules “will leave the biggest U.S. banks short of between $100 billion and $150 billion in equity capital.”

” As many as seven tornadoes have been reported in Illinois and Wisconsin damaging homes and businesses and causing injuries.”

“South Dakota is nearing the end of an unusually punishing year of weather” including “a parade of ice storms, tornadoes, floods and, with a climactic thud, the nation’s largest hailstone.”

In a paper that has just appeared in the Journal of Climate, scientists studying cloud feedbacks find that “climate is actually more sensitive to perturbations by greenhouse gases than current global models predict.”

Stephen Sawchuck takes a look at Gov. Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) combative style of pushing education reform.

“If Cathie Black can’t get a waiver to become the city’s next schools chancellor, it’s going to be tough to attract anyone else of such stature to the high-pressure post,” New York City Mayor Bloomberg argued yesterday.

Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD) said that he “plans to navigate a middle course between state teachers unions and the Maryland State Department of Education in an effort to ensure Maryland will receive $250 million in promised federal education funding.”

“The Justice Department recouped $3 billion for the federal treasury in the most recent fiscal year from civil suits, most brought against companies alleged to have defrauded the government.”

Joe Miller “pressed forward with his legal efforts Monday in the Alaska Senate race by re-filing his case in state court, at a federal judge’s request.”

The Minnesota Supreme Court “rejected a petition by the Republican Party of Minnesota and Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign to force counties to undergo a reconciliation in search of ‘phantom votes.’”

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