内容摘要：Democrats have the largest share of registered voters in the state, followed closely by independent voters and then Republicans, who have roughly 800,000 fewer registrations than the Democratic Party. But the GOP has made gains in recent years, shaving the Democrats’ lead of more than 1 million more registrations to the current level.

Democrats have the largest share of registered voters in the state, followed closely by independent voters and then Republicans, who have roughly 800,000 fewer registrations than the Democratic Party. But the GOP has made gains in recent years, shaving the Democrats’ lead of more than 1 million more registrations to the current level.

His lawsuit compared it to asking a judge to preside over his own trial or a police officer to investigate himself.The legal question will likely hinge on whether the extra money is considered part of a per diem for lawmakers and meant to pay their daily expenses or if it is personal income that is taxable.

Lawyers for the House and Senate have not answered the lawsuit.The raise was proposed by Republican Sen. Shane Martinin a proviso, which is a one-year order on how to spend money. The monthly stipend hadn’t changed in about 30 years, and Martin said the increase was needed to offset inflation.

Climer said Monday he and other opponents of the increase think it should have passed as a stand-alone bill with hearings and a full debate.“Regardless of how you feel about a legislative pay raise, this is the wrong way to do it. It violates the Madisonian principles that the legislature cannot take the people’s money and appropriate it to themselves in real time,” Climer said.

Hours after receiving word of the lawsuit, the state Supreme Court ordered both sides to submit briefs before the end of the month in what appears to be an effort to make some kind of decision before the raises start when the fiscal year begins July 1.

Otherwise “we’d have to try to claw back money from legislators. And we don’t want that,” said former Democratic state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, an attorney who filed the lawsuit on Climer’s behalf.Bakeni said it was difficult to determine if the priest was specifically targeted, given the number of travelers caught in the ambush. Other travelers were also abducted, he said, although it was unclear how many.

Nigerian authorities haven’t publicly commented on the abductions and didn’t respond to requests for comment.Rev. Robert Fath, the vicar general of the diocese of Fairbanks, Alaska, told the Anchorage Daily News on Thursday that he had received a phone call from Boko Haram confirming they had Afina.

Afina served in Alaska from 2017 to 2024 before returning to Nigeria, where he works with the Justice, Development and Peace Commission, a Catholic social justice group.Nigerian authorities are struggling to stem rising violence in the north and central regions where armed groups, including Boko Haram, target rural communities, killing thousands and abducting people to ransom.