This roundup comes through the fine work of the good folks at BlueNC.  The really heavy lifting was performed by the excellent bloggers you’ll find at each state site. Flip it for the good stuff…

Texas
   Texas Kaos reports that rogue Judge Sharon Keller got a rebuke from another quarter this week when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals changed its rules to allow email appeals.

Texas 
   The Burnt Orange Report staff reflects on the enormous shifts that have occurred in Texas since the fateful 2002 elections. 

Indiana 
   Blue Indiana takes a look at the anatomy of Tuesday’s big electoral upset in Indianapolis.

Michigan 
   Michigan College Republicans turn on their own.  Michigan Liberal reports the Jan 15. primary date has been struck down.

Ohio 
   OH-10: Rosemary Palmer Attacks Kucinch, Progressives Online Point Out What a Fool She Is

California 
   San Diego bans drinking on the beach , what will the frat boys do now?

Nevada
   Democrats are increasing their voter registration advantage in Nevada, especially in NV-03 which will feature one of the top house races in 2008.

Montana 
   Another moderate Republican legislator feels pushed out by his own party.  Left in the West gives the good news of Senators Baucus and Tester opposing Mukasey.

Alabama 
   State Senator Harri Anne Smith looks to be the Republican choice for the AL-02 Congressional seat being vacated by Terry Everett.  No Democratic candidate has announced for this seat yet, although rumors persist that Montgomery mayor Bobby Bright will throw his hat in the ring.  Also, Do high profile endorsements mean Hillary will wear well in Alabama?  It would mean more if they were from people who are running next year.

Arizona 
   One of the major environmental issues in Arizona is the contamination left from uranium mining.  Now, Howard Shanker is trying to get congress to act.

North Carolina 
   Democrats Kay Hagan and Jim Neal, candidates for the NC Senate seat held by Elizabeth Dole, were both asked what their vote would have been in the nomination of Michael Mukasey for attorney general.

West Virginia
   wvblueguy tells the story of book banning in Kanawha County.

Delaware 
   Delaware Dem muses on a 62 District Strategy and the Lesson of New Hampshire.

Florida 
   Election Roundup from South of Gulfport tells of three slow growth candidate wins in Venice and a sales tax increase passing in Sarasota.

Georgia 
   SilenceDogood brings a good perspective to the WGA strike and why we should support it in every state.

Illinois 
   Blue and Bush Dogs including Melissa Bean of IL-08 are blocking mortgage relief legislation being pushed by real Democrats.  Also, Prairie State Blue reports on how Bush Dog Lipinski is out of touch.

Minnesota 
   Joe Bodell gives a roundup of Minnesota election results.

Wisconsin 
   Uppity Wisconsin gives the scoop on how the Veterans Day parade excludes veterans

Iowa 
   Bleeding Heartland asks, what happened in your city or town (election)?

New Mexico 
   LP covers the release of two new YouTube videos by Second Congressional District candidate Bill McCamley.

Maryland 
   Maryland’s Comptroller Peter Franchot decries the regressive tax package coming out of the state Senate.

Utah 
   Vouchers go down to a flaming defeat in Utah while Voucher supporters call the voters of Utah idiots.

Kentucky
    Mediaczech provides video of Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo who had quite a bit of praise for Lt. Col. Andrew Horne who may run against Mitch McConnell. Don’t miss the liveblog of the Kentucky Democratic Party Victory Celebration.

New Jersey 
   Blue Jersey created the marriage equality ad that will run for two weeks and is being paid for by New Jersey’s largest gay rights organization.

Virginia 
   According to Rob at Raising Kaine Immigration is not the silver bullet the GOP had hoped for.  There was dancing in the streets as Democrats took control of the state senate in Virginia.

Back at the start of May, it was a slow Friday morning and I decided to try out a little experiment… why not visit all the blogs in the 50-State Blog Network, find a highly commented upon story at each and put it all together into a post.

It didn’t take too long–except for getting distracted with all of the good material at the sites–and the process left me with an even greater respect for the great work going on at fellow state blogs. Thus was the first 50-State Blog Roundup born.

Thankfully, others also liked what they saw, and as they saying goes, many hands makes light work. The 50-State Blog Roundup has flourished thanks to the efforts of multiple volunteers who have generously contributed their time and talents:

– June 15, 2007 by Jon (a.k.a. flackattack) from Tondee’s Tavern
– June 9, 2007 by isaac at Free State Politics (MD)
– June 2, 2007 by Joe Bodell of MN Campaign Report
– May 25, 2007 by LP from New Mexico FBIHOP
– May 18, 2007 by IVR Polls 
– May 11, 2007 by mattw at MyLeftNutmeg (CT)
– May 4, 2007 by Clem Guttata at West Virginia Blue

Can you compile a weekly roundup? Email me (Clem G. at [email protected]) if you can help out.

This week’s round-up

Before we get to the round-up proper, there’s some cool news to share: Blue Jersey Founder Juan Melli Named 17th Most Powerful Politico in NJ. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor, Juan! It just goes to show, state blogging really does make a difference.

Now… on with the show!

Energy and the Evironment
Delaware Delaware Liberal	Tom Carper is upset with his Sens. role in de-greening the Senate Energy Bill.
Hawaii Poinography!	Hawaii has a new oil industry transparency act. Will this have any effect on the nations highest gasoline prices?
New Jersey	Good news: huge global warming legislation passes NJ legislature.
Louisiana Daily Kingfish	Mike Stagg explains Why Greenland’s Icecap Matters to Louisiana
South Dakota CleanCutKind.com	Guess what percentage of South Dakotans view global warming as a serious problem…
Michigan	DianeS speaks up In Defense of Carl Levin (The new CAFE standards Vote)
New Hampshire	What did you Senator do? Sununu Chooses Big Oil over New Hampshire
West Virginia	In the arguments for Liquid Coal subsides (which were thankfully voted down in Senate this week) you may have heard some nonsense about a 250-year US coal supply. Murrayevw takes a hard look at our vanishing coal reserves.
Social Justice: One step forward and…
New York	Phillip has the big news that the New York “state assembly passed a bill extending full marriage equality to all New Yorkers.” Kudos to the NY state assembly for passing legislation with full and equal rights–not just civil unions or any other half measures–to all New Yorkers. Here’s hoping it clears the remaining hurdles to be enacted as law.
Maryland	There’s speculation in Maryland about how an upcoming court decision on same-sex marriage will turn out.
Indiana	crimsonscare has the unfortunate news that the Indiana Court of Appeals due to take a hard right turn
Colorado	pacified keeps us on the alert for Colorado fundamentalists: they’re after a constitutional amendment on abortion. If Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO-5) has his way, our government won’t have any money available to make sure those unwanted pregnancy are healthy ones, either.
Washington WashBlog	Here’s a story that deserves wide attention: Soldier in Iraq Resists the Occupation – Please help and Call his Senator
Elections and Party Politics
New Mexico	When was the last time your state Democratic Party Chairman visited your county? In New Mexico the Chairman is on his way to visit all 33 counties. He recently hit 5 in 39 hours.
Georgia	flackattack checks in with the latest on the impressive Draft Wyc Orr for Senate effort.
Maine Turn Maine Blue	Check out the Anti-Lieberman pro-Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) fund-raiser. Give ’em some love, too.
Illinois	Here’s a blogger running for office:Daniel Biss for State Rep.
Arizona AZNetroots	Turn Arizona blue… help show Rep. Shadegg (AZ-03) the door in 2008.
California	Brian reminds Rep. Doolittle “Confession is Good for the Soul”.
Ohio (AOG)	It’s not every day a politician admits they were wrong… this week Sherrod Brown admitted his Military Commissions Act vote was a mistake
Texas	A bit of a barfight broke out in the comments on: Hispanics REALLY Unhappy with Cornyn. Also, find out why you just might care about a Houston City Council At-Large race.
Iowa	Here’s the latest Iowa polling figures for the Dem. Presidential race.
Vermont Green Mountain Daily	odom interview Presidential candidate Mike Gravel. Curious? Read on.
Governing and Mis-Governing: Hmmm… lots of Republicans here
Rhode Island	Matt provides the inside scoop on the last few days of the General Assembly session of the General Assembly–learn about RI’s consideration of the barbaric practice of locking up 17 year olds as adults.
Alabama	Mooncat has photo evidence of protests of Pres. Bush’s visit to Alabama. For some reason, media reports just didn’t cover that part of his visit.
Virginia Raising Kaine	Lowell explains how instead of raising taxes, Republicans are issuing $3550 traffic tickets(!).
Nebraska New Nebraska Network	More Re-thug-lican leadership in action as Republican Governor Uses Strong Arm Tactics on Student Leaders.
North Dakota BismarkDems.com	The most talked about story in North Dakota this week is that a Wisconsin-based group has sued the state of North Dakota. Why? Hint: there’s some religion involved.
Utah Wasatch Watcher	Here’s a Romney-related story that got buried in Guiliana’s bad news… Romney’s money man in Utah accused of abusing minors.
Massachusetts	Romney also has an aide taking a leave of absence for leave of absence for making prank phone calls impersonating a state trooper.
Wisconsin Uppity Wisconsin	xoff looks at a new state park and finds it comes up short
Minnesota	Tom Elko advocates for A culture of constraint: Governor needs to answer for agencies
North Carolina	How’s this for irony: “[http://bluenc.com/le… On the same day Republican State Auditor Les Merritt failed to present any evidence of voter fraud to a state Senate committee, he submitted incomplete documents to the state Board of Elections.”
Missouri	Yes, it is as bad as it sounds: Blunt Administration Moving Public Money to Junket Slush Fund
Everything Else
Tennessee Knox Views	R. Neal asks a really good question about why he should take this advice from Harold Ford Jr.
Idaho	Learn all about Idaho politics in the Spud State Blog Rundown 6/22/07.
Montana	Matt Singer surveys the Montana Republican party to find their Big Tent Pup Tent is shrinking further.
Connecticut	mattw has a fascinating piece on difference between conservatives and liberals reactions to threats
Florida	College progressive contributes Mobilizing Young Voters: Ideas to Win Elections

Finally, in closing… on this closest Friday to the longest day of the year, I hope everyone finds time to slow down and relax. Take an evening away from that computer to connect with your neighbors, family and friends. As Carnacki wrote this week, those are the moments when you just might feel like you’re in heaven.