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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12784 WMC Spends $600,000 to Demote Chief Justice as Criminal Probe of Walker Campaign Looms]</h3>

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC), Wisconsin's premier lobby for corporate tax breaks and low wage jobs, has unleashed a $600,000 ad blitz to strip Wisconsin's independent Chief Justice of her title just as the court prepares to take up the "John Doe" criminal probe of Scott Walker and the special interest groups that defended him against recall in 2012.

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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12782 The ALEC-Backed War on Local Democracy]</h3>

After the town of Denton, Texas passed a ballot initiative banning fracking in November 2014, the oil and gas industry reacted with outrage and swiftly filed suit. Politicians in the state capitol responded with a fusillade of bills to preempt local authority over public health and safety and to subject local ballot initiatives to pre-approval by the state attorney general. There was even a bill to end local home rule altogether.

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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12777 Pearson, ETS, Houghton Mifflin, and McGraw-Hill Lobby Big and Profit Bigger from School Tests]</h3>

School testing corporations have spent at least $20 million on lobbying along with wining and dining or even hiring policymakers in pursuit of big revenues from federal and state testing mandates under "No Child Left Behind" measures and the Common Core curriculum, according to a new analysis by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD).

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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12780 ALEC, NFIB Push Prevailing Wage Repeal]</h3>

As unions and working people battle "right-to-work" legislation in several states, the [http://alecexposed.com/ American Legislative Exchange Council] (ALEC) and allies have opened another flank in their war on good jobs. Targeted this time are state prevailing wage laws, which require public construction projects to support local wage standards instead of undercutting them. Studies have repeatedly found that prevailing wage laws do not harm taxpayers but are effective in providing something increasingly rare in regional labor markets, upward pressure on wages.

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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12779 BP Dumps ALEC; Tally at 102]</h3>

BP announced that it was cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, the controversial corporate bill mill. It is the third major fossil fuel company to sever ties with ALEC, after Occidental Petroleum in 2014. ExxonMobil remains on the ALEC private sector board.

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<h3>[http://www.prwatch.org/node/12778 Voter ID Will Take Effect in Wisconsin--Here's What that Means]</h3>

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to strike down Wisconsin's Republican-backed voter ID restriction, paving the way for the law to take effect in upcoming elections.