Dell Computers confirmed today that they will not be renewing their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council Education (ALEC). Dell, whose ads in the early 2000s included the slogan "Dude, You're Getting a Dell," was a member of the ALEC Education Task Force and is the twentieth corporate member (and the twenty-fourth private sector member) to drop their ALEC membership in recent months.

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote Thursday on a measure to urge the Transportation Conference Committee to strip the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the ability to designate toxic coal ash as a hazardous waste. This spring, the House approved H.R. 4348, the Surface and Transportation Extension Act of 2012. In this bill the House included an amendment by West Virginia Republican Representative David McKinley, that would prohibit the EPA from ever setting federally enforceable safeguards for the disposal of toxic coal ash. Now McKinley and the coal lobby are fighting to keep his amendment from being stripped out during House-Senate conference committee negotiations.

Two things will happen today in steamy Wisconsin, where temperatures are set to break 95. One election will be certified, while another will be recounted. The confluence of events have some wondering if a window of opportunity has been created to allow the Wisconsin GOP to pull a fast one.