Briefs were filed in federal district court on Feb. 27 by Reps. Chris Shays (R-CT) and Martin Meehan (D-MA) and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in a case challenging regulations implementing the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). At issue are regulations on soft money, defining illegal coordination between campaigns and outside groups and exemptions to the prohibition on broadcasts that mention federal candidates in the period before elections (called ?electioneering communications?

Ironically, just months after the business-friendly Bush administration squelched the climate change section of the Environmental Protection Agency’s report on the environment, the world’s second largest insurer released a report revealing how climate change is rising on the corporate agenda.

From federal suits to administrative action, Bush’s faith-based initiative remains in the public spotlight. Action Taken by the Supreme Court on Government Funded Religion The Supreme Court, on Feb. 25, 2004, ruled in favor of the state of Washington in a major challenge to limits on government-funded religion. In the case of Locke v. Davey, the Court held that Washington’s exclusion of a devotional theology degree from its Promise Scholarship program does not violate the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced last week that employment grew by only 21,000 jobs in February, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.6 percent.