Mass. expected to lose House seat through Census

South, West expected to pick up House seats after census
WASHINGTON — Sun Belt states and those in the West are expected to gain even more political clout when the Census Bureau announces on Tuesday which states will gain Congressional Seats and which will lose them. Among the likely winners are Washington State, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, South Carolina and Utah. The likely losers are such Rust Belt states as Missouri, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ohio. While it may be an insider's game, the political st...

Why the Census may be bad news for Missouri Democrats
WASHINGTON — The Census will make clear on Tuesday what has been speculated about in Missouri political circles for a while: The state could lose a Congressional Seat effective the 2012 Elections. Democrats could be most at risk. Going into the 2011 Congress, they will hold only three seats in the nine-member House delegation because the party just lost Rep. Ike Skelton's district in the November Midterm Elections. But they might have trouble keeping that many. It depends on how the Rep...

Kabuki or Kumbaya?
Republican and Democratic leaders in the Colorado General Assembly on Thursday announced plans to seat a joint select committee that will guide the usually contentious process of redrawing Congressional Districts. During a briefing at the Denver Press Club to preview the upcoming legislative session, Senate President Brandon Shaffer, D-Longmont, House Speaker Frank McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, Minority Leader Mike Kopp, R-Littleton, and Pace said keeping congressional redistricting out of court ...

Measured approach to redistricting tried
Could U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, a Denver Democrat, find herself in the fight of her life in 2012? Is it possible to make a Congressional Seat centered in Republican-red El Paso County truly competitive? Statehouse leaders are hoping to find out. Speaking at the Denver Press Club on Thursday, Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced a special Bipartisan congressional redistricting committee. The 10-member group, to be composed of five Democratic and five Republican lawmakers, will ...

Patrick Kennedy leaves public life, and an era ends
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

More D.C. area commuters leaving the driving to others, census data show
Network News X Profile View More Activity READ MORE Traffic & Roads See the latest alerts, a construction calendar, traffic cams and more to help you get around Washington. >> Dr. Gridlock is here to help >> Get transit tips | Traffic By the numbers DataPost Looking for research help, deeper understanding of the day's news, or do you just like numbers? Here's are some of the most interesting, searchable databases developed by The Washington Post and other local and national organizations ...

Washington area is wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, census data show
The Washington area's affluence and education levels make it the wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, according to Census data released Tuesday that reflect five years of relative prosperity compared with the rest of the country. This Story More D.C. area commuters leaving the driving to others, Census data show Commuters data Poll: Have you changed your commute? Washington area is wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, Census data show U.S. Census Bureau: American C...

Which States Will Gain/Lose House Seats?
The Census Bureau will release its official state population totals next week along with the resulting allotment of House seats for the next decade. Cook Political Report: "For some states, there isn't much suspense. Georgia, Nevada, and Utah are all but certain to gain an additional seat in the House, while Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are all but certain to lose a seat and Ohio is all but certain to lose two seats. However, much like NCAA ba...

As era nears end, Patrick Kennedy embraces new opportunities
WASHINGTON — Representative Patrick Kennedy stepped carefully around a clutter of half-packed cardboard boxes, overstuffed luggage, and several open bags of Potato Chips at his Capitol Hill apartment. It seemed more like a scene of a College Student heading home than the end of a 64-year political legacy. But Kennedy’s upcoming Retirement will break a bond between the nation’s capital and Camelot. When the new House is seated in January, it will mark the first time since 1947 ...

LAST TICKET: Wyden has prostate cancer; congressman tweets in Morse code (The Ticket)
Here are the stories we took note of today but didn't give the full blog treatment: • Senator Ron Wyden has early-stage Prostate Cancer. (The Oregonian) • Sarah Palin's poll numbers are worse than Nancy Pelosi's. (First Read) • Greg Walden announced his House telecom subcommittee chairmanship by posting a Twitter message in Morse code. (Daily Intel) • Could "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" save Joe Lieberman? (The Fix) • Rob Simmons thinks the National Republican Senatorial Committee

Black segregation falls, but Latino and Asian separation up
California's relatively small and slow-growing black population is experiencing far less residential segregation that it did in years past, but its rapidly growing Latino and Asian American populations are experiencing more, a new nationwide study of housing patterns indicates. The study, "Racial and Ethnic Separation in the Neighborhoods: Progress at a Standstill," was written by John R. Logan of Brown University and Brian J. Stults of Florida State University, was based on data from decennia...

Latest Indicators: Jobless Claims Dip; Trade Gap Grows; Housing Starts Up
What is this? The number of people filing first-time claims for jobless benefits decreased by 3,000 last week, to 420,000, the Employment and Training Administration says. Bloomberg News says that signals "a labor market that is on the mend" in part because the slight decline was unexpected and in part because claims have now dipped in three of the past four weeks. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Economic Analysis says the nation's Deficit "on trade in goods and services" widened to $127.2 billion in t...

Americas 10 Poorest Counties in Appalachia, Deep South or on Indian Reservations
Friday, December 17, 2010 By Dan Joseph (CNSNews.com) - America’s 10 poorest counties, both in terms of the percentage of those living below the Poverty level and median household income, lie either on Indian Reservations, are in the Deep South or are found in the Coal Mining areas of eastern Kentucky.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Poverty and Income Estimates for 2009, the 10 U.S. counties with the highest percentages of their population living in Poverty are: 1. Z

Family Report Shows Brokenness in U.S. Homes
Only 45 percent of American teenagers have spent their childhood with both parents legally married to one another, according to a recent report. The Family Research Council's "U.S. Index of Belonging and Rejection" also found that 55 percent of U.S. teenagers live in families where their biological parents have rejected each other. Read the entire report here . "We have undertaken this study because, bad though it may be, the out-of-wedlock Birth Rate is not the key measure of family intactne...

Census Bureau Data: Richest Counties Get Richer, Poorest Get Poorer
Source: ABC News Kentucky Has County With Lowest Median Household Income; Richest 3 in Virginia The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. The Census' American Community Survey, released this week, provides detailed neighborhood data, including languages spoken in a home, commute time and income levels. The poorest county, Owsley County, Ky., had the lowest median household income o...

Census: Rich Areas Richer, Poor Get Poorer
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least judging by the most extreme neighborhoods for median household income in the latest Census Bureau data. More Video ...

Housing Starts and Vacant Units
by CalculatedRisk on 12/17/2010 01:36:00 PM Here is an update to a graph showing total Housing Starts and the percent vacant housing units (owner and rental) in the U.S. Over a year ago, I used this chart to argue that there would be no "V shaped" recovery, and that Housing Starts wouldn't rebound rapidly. See: Housing Starts and Vacant Units: No "V" Shaped Recovery. In that earlier post, I also argued that the Unemployment Rate would remain high throughout 2010. Hey, housing matters! Note: Ho...

Schedule for Week of December 19th: Happy Holidays!
by CalculatedRisk on 12/18/2010 11:42:00 AM This is a holiday week (Merry Christmas!), but there will still be plenty of economic releases. There are two key housing reports: November existing Home Sales on Wednesday, and New Home Sales on Thursday. ----- Monday, Dec 20th ----- 8:30 AM ET: Chicago Fed National Activity Index (November). This is a composite index of other data. Morning: Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Index (CPPI) for October. ----- Tuesday, Dec 21st ----- 11:00 AM: Th...

Serf And Turf
Don't like the way wealth is distributed? Then you can join congressional Democrats and grump about it, or you can get some wealth for yourself. Ahh, if only that were true. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in the United States in 2009 was $49,777, not statistically different from the 2008 median. The nation's official Poverty rate in 2009 was 14.3 percent, up from 13.2 percent in 2008 — the second statistically significant annual increase in the po...

Redistricting panel's work questioned
by Mary Jo Pitzl - Dec. 14, 2010 06:08 PM Republican lawmakers are challenging some of the early decisions of the political redistricting process - a process that was designed to exclude legislative influence. On Tuesday, the lawmakers reiterated their call for reconsideration of three nominees to the Independent Redistricting Commission. And they worried about the "chilling effect" of a Tucson man being dropped from the list, for what the lawmakers say were concerns about his Christian faith. T...

Palin, Angle succeed by failing upward
Editor’s note: This column appears in this week’s CityLife. Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity to run for vice president in 2008. After a campaign in which she demonstrated unmistakably she was unqualified for the office, she quit her job as Governor of Alaska, took a Fox News TV gig, hit the lecture circuit and started her own PAC. Today, her Facebook posts get covered as real news. (By the way, it’s not just me saying Palin was unqualified; former Staffers on her own camp...

Notes from the Capitol
Rep.-elect H. Morgan Griffith, R-9{+t}{+h}, will hold a seat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rep.-elect Scott Rigell, R-2{+n}{+d}, will serve on the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Department of Defense, including The Army, Navy and Air Force. The Energy and Commerce Committee oversees national Energy Policy, health facilities and interstate and foreign commerce, among other things. Rep.-elect Robert Hurt, R-5{+t}{+h}, will have a seat on the Committee on Finan...

What Shuts Down, Exactly?
Lawmakers in the House and Senate are scrambling to pass Legislation to preserve the funding stream for the Federal Government, which, if nothing is done, will expire at midnight on Saturday, prompting a shutdown of the federal government. In the event lawmakers fail to reach a deal, old hands in and around the Capitol have begun looking to the past as prologue, to determine how the federal Bureaucracy -- and Americans across the country -- would be affected by a government shutdown. "The entire...

Republican Rep.-elect picks a bone with a top leader in his party
Washington (CNN) - Wasting no time taking on his own leadership, Congressman-elect Allen West is already picking a bone with House Majority Leader-elect Eric Cantor sending the message: lawmakers should have fewer days off. Cantor, who will be the second-most-powerful Republican in the House, sets the 2011 Congressional calendar which is then communicated to members. West is a Tea Party favorite who will represent Florida's 22nd District once sworn in on January 5. But he's already at work...

AM Alert: No. 1 for 'top two'
The first election under California's new top-two primary rules has been set. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday called an April 19 Special Election to fill the vacant 28th Senate District seat. That date means the primary will be held Feb. 15. The election for the seat vacated by the October death of Democratic Sen. Jenny Oropeza will be conducted using the system that voters approved under Proposition 14. That means Candidates of all party affiliations will run on one primary ballot, wit...