The WonkLine: February 28, 2011

Wisconsin police last night refused to evict protesters from the Wisconsin Capitol building, while “a vote on an Ohio bill that would end collective bargaining rights for public employees could come as early as Wednesday.”

Only one in four homeowners who sought a mortgage modification under the Obama administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program actually got their monthly mortgage payment reduced.

“Two of the nation’s largest banks may face billions in potential fines or enforcement actions from state and federal regulators over allegations of improper foreclosure paperwork,” the Hill reports.

USA Today wins today’s prize for most misleading headline with “U.S. health care law not immune to nullification.” The truth is that all federal laws are immune to nullification.

An Illinois appeals court revived a $10 billion suit against Phillip Morris.

After violating federal disclosure laws, unethically joining a Koch-fueled political fundraiser, potentially paving the way for his wife’s new career as an advisor to right-wing political donors, demanding that his colleagues “shut up,” and trying to declare the minimum wage and bans on child labor laws and whites-only lunch counters unconstitutional, Justice Thomas is now whining that his critics are “bent on undermining” the Supreme Court as an institution.

“A new poll seems to be suggesting that when it come to the topic of same-sex marriage in Iowa, many Iowans either are conflicted or don’t care one way or the other.”

“A New Hampshire committee will vote as early as Tuesday on two bills that would repeal the state’s gay marriage law, the AP reported.”

The government is still defending the constitutionality of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but in a different way.

“For nearly two decades, the leaders of Al Qaeda have denounced the Arab world’s dictators as heretics and puppets of the West and called for their downfall.”

“Iraq’s prime minister is calling for new provincial elections following anti-government protests that killed 14 people last week.”

In Ireland, the political party “Fine Gael is expected to start contacting potential coalition parties on Monday after its record victory in the Irish general election.”

A major New York Times investigation finds that fracking wastewater “contains radioactivity at levels higher than previously known, and far higher than the level that federal regulators say is safe for these treatment plants to handle.”

Climate activist Tim DeChristopher goes on trial today for disrupting, as Bidder 70, a last-minute auction of pristine public lands to the oil and gas industry in the waning days of the Bush presidency.

Severe storms tore through Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and are heading into the Northeast.

The New York City Department of Education yesterday released “a list that estimates the number of teachers each school will lose to layoffs if the state does not allocate more money for schools and seniority rules are not changed.”

In Washington, D.C. there are now “enough preschool and Pre-K slots for every 3- and 4-year-old child seeking a spot.”

The University of Louisiana “approved changes in its procedures for dismissing professors that faculty leaders say have destroyed key elements of tenure protections.”

“More than half the states want permission to remove hundreds of thousands of people from the Medicaid insurance program, a move that would represent a rare cut to a national social program.”

“U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson has already dealt the Obama administration a staggering blow on health reform, and this week the administration may get another one from the fiery Florida judge.”

“A two-week, stopgap continuing resolution (CR) proposed by House Republicans includes more than $450 million in cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services, but it avoids hot-button issues such as funding for healthcare reform and Title X family planning.”

Yesterday, on Univision, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated that Obama didn’t break his promise of immigration reform, rather, “what he found is that it is almost impossible with the resistance in the Senate of the Republicans to pass it.”

Six people have been arrested at the Arizona state Senate and at least two people barred from returning during a raucous week surrounding the anti-immigrant bills the state legislature is currently considering.

At an awards ceremony, Shakira said that some U.S. states’ proposed anti-immigrant legislation goes against her foundation’s efforts to provide education to poor people around the world.

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