Wisconsin Senate Race Will Be Test Of Political Mood

A top Republican lawmaker blasted President Obama after he held an Oval Office meeting this week with illegal immigrants, despite having ignored recent requests for a sit-down from the union representing immigration officers. 

A California bill that would have required manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways died in the state Assembly without a vote Friday. Assembly Bill 521 was before the chamber’s Appropriations Committee, and the panel failed to act on it, effectively killing the legislation for the session. It had previously passed the Assembly Natural Resource Committee. State Assemblyman Mark Stone, D-Monterey Bay, one of the proposal’s sponsors, was disappointed by the outcome. … AB521 would have required manufacturers to figure out how to reduce 95 percent of plastic pollution along the

Some labor unions that enthusiastically backed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry, fearful that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members. Union leaders warn that unless the problem is fixed, there could be consequences for Democrats facing re-election next year. "It makes an untruth out of what the president said _ that if you like your insurance, you could keep it," said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. "That is not going to be true for millions of workers now."

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied that he smokes crack cocaine and said he is not an addict, breaking a week of silence over reports of a video purportedly showing him using the drug. Critics were not appeased, with one city councilor questioning whether the mayor told “the whole truth” and another calling on him to resign. The mayor of Canada’s largest city did not say whether he has ever used crack. He did not take questions from reporters at a news conference at City Hall, held after close allies released a letter urging him to address the reports of the