For residents in four U.S. cities, it’s about to get more expensive to buy soda or other sugary drinks after voters okayed new taxes on these beverages. [More]
votes
Selfies In The Voting Booth? Not So Fast.
By 8.29.16
When exercising your right to vote for the next President of the United States it might be tempting to document the once-every-four-years event with a selfie. But before you hit the camera button, you should know your state laws, because in some areas of the U.S. the now-popular voting booth selfie is illegal. [More]
Los Angeles One Step Closer To Raising Minimum Wage To $15/Hour By 2020
By 6.4.15
The Los Angeles City Council took another step on Wednesday in its mission to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020, but the finalization of the ordinance will have to wait for a second vote next week. [More]
Financial Reform Bill Stalls In Senate
By 4.26.10
With a 57-41 vote, Senate Republicans blocked debate over the White House-supported financial reform bill. The Democrats needed a 60-vote “supermajority” to avoid a Republican filibuster threat. Democrats plan to reintroduce the bill as early as tomorrow. [More]
Senate Passes Health Care Reform Bill
By 12.24.09
In case you missed it, Senate Democrats managed to succeed at their goal of pushing through some sort of health care reform bill before Christmas Day–the chamber voted this morning 60-39 along party lines and passed the bill. Up next: the Senate and House have to get together and negotiate some final version. If you want to compare what’s in the House and Senate versions, the New York Times has put together an excellent side-by-side comparison tool.
Facebook Voting Has Ended; New Terms Being Considered Despite Small Turnout
By 4.24.09
When voting ended yesterday on the Facebook terms of service, around 600,000 people had voted, and about 70% of those votes were cast for the new documents drafted over the past couple of months. Although the voting total was nowhere near the 30% of active Facebook users that Facebook said would be required, the site is still considering validating the vote and implementing the new terms after the audit is complete.
You're Participating In The Facebook Terms Of Service Vote, Right?
By 4.22.09
You’ve got about a day and a half left to cast your vote for which Terms of Service you’d prefer Facebook go with—the one written in September 2008 without user input, or the new one they’ve drafted over the last month based on suggestions from the Facebook community.
Don't Forget To Vote In Round 2 Of WCIA '09
By 4.19.09
If you haven’t done so yet, visit our posts for the round two competitors for Worst Company in America—we’ve got 7 face-offs ready for your vote, and the final one will go up next week (Circuit City vs. BoA, if you’re following the bracket.) Is Ticketmaster’s stranglehold on the live event industry worse than United Health Care’s capacity for denying valid insurance claims? Does bailout-tainted AIG deserve the title more than regular-tainted Peanut Corp? Only you can decide!
By 2.10.09
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Senate approves $838 billion economic stimulus bill 61 to 37. C-Span says three Republicans broke ranks to vote for it: Senators Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, and Arlen Specter.
By 1.28.09
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Knife to the eye! The Digital TV transition will not be delayed after all, according to the House vote today. Will the Senate try again? [Washington Post] (Thanks to Ult3!)
Ohio Continues To Punch Pay Day Lenders In The Face
By 11.13.08
Check ‘N Go, a pay day lender, is closing 36 of its 71 stores in Ohio after voters failed to repeal a law that stopped them from charging asinine interest rates.
ICANN Votes To Squash Domain Tasting And Allow New Top Level Domains
By 6.26.08
So what does today’s vote from ICANN mean to the regular person? Well, if Network Solutions honors its promise, it means the next time you search for an available domain through Network Solutions, they won’t immediately snatch it up and force you to register it through them at an increased fee. In theory, it may also mean that a lot of domains that were held in eternal limbo by domain tasters and front runners may soon be available, although we can’t be sure of this until it actually happens. And on a more idealistic note, that Saturday Night Live commercial—the one where the bank has the domain name www.clownpenis.fart—is now in the realm of the possible. Hooray!
Senate Committee Votes To Rollback FCC's Media Consolidation Plan
By 4.26.08
Poor Kevin Martin. The Senate is well on its way towards killing his proposal to let newspapers get all freaky and consolidate with television and radio stations. Martin shouldn’t be too surprised: this is exactly what happened the last time a FCC Chairman tried to ram media consolidation down our throats.
FCC Approves Media Consolidation Plan On 3-2 Party Line Vote
By 12.18.07
The Federal Communications Commission just approved Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan to shred 32-year-old rules that block media conglomerates from controlling both a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market. The spectacled Chairman won on 3-2 party line vote, having failed to lure either Democratic commissioner with last-minute changes that will prevent the Commission from approving mergers in small media outlets that host profitable papers.
Shareholders To Decide If Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg Deserves $21 Million
By 11.3.07
Verizon will deign to consider an advisory vote on executive compensation from shareholders starting in 2009. Shareholders demanded the right to vote on executive pay at last year’s annual meeting. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg’s salary increased 11% last year to $21,309,264. Seidenberg’s salary has risen consistently, unlike Verizon’s profits.
