TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/16/10

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Rochelle Riley: Time to change Mich. primary system (Livingston Daily - MI) For frustrated independent voters, the Aug. 3 primary forced them to temporarily join parties they didn't want to belong to in the first place.
• State first in Supreme Court campaign costs (By Phillip Rawls, Montgomery Advertiser) Alabama's hotly contested partisan races for state Supreme Court seats were by far the most expensive in the country during the last decade, according to a new national study by Brennan Center.

NEW YORK

• Democratic Bigwigs Show At Rangel's Birthday Fundraiser (Gothamist)
• Rangel’s Birthday Party ‘Damn Sure Ain’t No Funeral’ (NY Magazine/Daily Intel)
• Poll: D.C. elites rate Congress higher (By: Andy Barr, Politico)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Fine-tuning city's tribunal system (Peter N. Spencer, SI Advance)
• $110K grant kept Rev. Al Sharpton quiet about Mayor Bloomberg changing term limits (ADAM LISBERG, Daily News) On Aug. 7, Sharpton said he would fight any push to make city elections nonpartisan - which Bloomberg hoped to do this fall. His public stand helped kill the idea. Barely 48 hours later, Bloomberg pulled the plug.