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ColorOfChange and CREDO Action members began calling Walgreens' corporate offices last week to express concern about the company's relationship with ALEC. On Tuesday, Debbie Garza, Walgreens' divisional vice president of government relations, told ColorOfChange that Walgreens will not renew its membership. Garza emailed ColorOfChange the following statement:

Walgreens will not be renewing its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”) where we have participated on ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force. Walgreens will continue to be an active presence on critical health care and pharmacy issues facing the country and looks forward to continuing to work across the political spectrum in the public policy arena.

On Monday, Bryan Roosa, General Motors' regional director of state government relations, told a ColorOfChange staffer via email that, "GM has communicated to ALEC that we will no longer fund nor participate going forward."

"Walgreens' and GM's recent announcements that they have cut ties with ALEC is further proof that everyday people working together to hold corporations accountable can achieve tremendous change," said ColorOfChange.org Executive Director Rashad Robinson. "The ColorOfChange community applauds these companies' willingness to end their relationships with this right-wing policy group that has worked to suppress the Black vote."

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Full episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are no longer available on Comedy Central’s websites thanks to a fight between parent company Viacom and satellite TV provider DirectTV.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Viacom has opted to cut back on the number of full television episodes it offers on the Internet after pressure from DirecTV, which stopped carrying 26 Viacom channels this week, including MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET and others.

Viacom did not announce the plan to remove full episodes of some of its most popular shows, including Spongebob Squarepants and Jersey Shore, leaving hopeful viewers confounded at an apology message on Thursday morning that encouraged them to watch brief clips of the shows instead. Strangely enough, while full episodes of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were unavailable via their own websites, they were still being offered through Hulu.com.

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ColorOfChange.org announced today that it has received word from five new companies that say they will no longer fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC): John Deere, CVS Caremark, MillerCoors, HP, and Best Buy.

"We want to thank these companies for making the right decision, and we continue to call on all major corporations to stop funding ALEC given its involvement in voter suppression and its work pushing policies designed to benefit rich and powerful corporations at the expense of people of color, workers, and the environment," said Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org.

"We're continuing to reach out to corporations directly to tell them that now is the time to leave ALEC, and that our members are prepared to hold them publicly accountable if they refuse," Robinson said.

More than 100,000 ColorOfChange members have signed a petition calling on companies to stop funding ALEC. ColorOfChange members have made thousands of calls to companies supporting ALEC, and funded radio ads highlighting companies that continue to fund the group.
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Among the findings:

1 Texas was worst of all states in caring for breast cancer patients under 70 and in home health-care for patients with respiratory problems, urinary incontinence and chronic pain.

1 Texas' highest scores came in nursing home care, cancer and maternal and child health care. The first two were rated average, maternal and child health care slightly above average.

1 Texas ranked above the national average in the quality of care provided to Hispanics and blacks, compared to care provided to whites.

Minnesota was followed by Wisconsin, Maine, Massachusetts and Iowa atop the report card. West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico finished above Texas at the bottom.

"This report card shows that insured or not, Texans generally aren't getting the quality care they should," said state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, a longtime member of the House public health committee and critic of the state's limited Medicaid program. "It shows what we know - that we're at the bottom."

Politics, ideology clash over expanding Medicaid

If the political rhetoric that accompanied last week's Supreme Court ruling on health care reform was any indication, Texans can expect a raucous few months ahead as politicians consider whether to accept billions of federal dollars to expand Medicaid coverage to as many as 2 million low-income Texans.
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The Legislature could take up the issue when it meets in January.

"I'm not holding my breath," said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat who is head of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. "It almost seems to me the Republican leaders are still in denial about what happened at the Supreme Court."

At the least, they are waiting for the results of the upcoming election between President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

"If Romney wins, it takes a lot of pressure off the Legislature," said state Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston. "If Obama wins, then we're going to have to deal with a complex and somewhat confusing decision."
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