Washington, DC, USA. A questionable investment embarrasses a Wisconsin state senator. Indiana state fairgoers object to a racy blue-ribbon photo. And one California lawmaker’s hard line on the state budget lands her across the street. In case you missed those stories this week, Worth Noting fills you in.

 

In a case of stock shock, self-professed “family values” proponent Wisconsin state Sen. Robert Cowles (R) went red-faced over a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report that he had invested more than $50,000 in two companies that run strip clubs and X-rated Web sites. He blamed his financial adviser for selecting the pair of unseemly stocks, which he has since sold. “It’s an embarrassment,” Cowles told the newspaper.

 

No maple syrup for the White House. President George W. Bush has paid a courtesy call to every state in the Union except Vermont, Cox News Service says. The spurned Green Mountain State has not exactly unfurled the welcome mat, handing Bush a 20-point loss in the 2004 election. “Why would he ever come here just to get a bunch of crowds to boo him?” an unidentified state Republican Party official told the news service.

 

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Newly married Maura and John Leppert in a prize winning photograph. What is your opinion? Photo courtesy of Randy Baughn.

 

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Indiana State Fair officials took down the blue-ribbon-winning wedding photo of a just-married couple canoodling on the steps with the bride’s gown hiked up around her knees, The Indianapolis Star reports.

 

Some fairgoers found the image too suggestive, but photographer Randy Baughn told the paper he stands by his work. “Is it a little racy? Yes. Is it a little edgy? Yes. But is it smutty? No. It's a married couple just absolutely head-over-heels in love with each other.” Baughn gets to keep the $50 prize.

 

Get-out-the-vote efforts get out-of-hand in Oregon where the secretary of state’s office has been fielding complaints from people whose pets, children and dead relatives received voter registration cards in the mail, Oregon Public Broadcasting says. The state claims these cards come from interest groups who glean names and addresses from magazine subscription lists. Fido loves Newsweek.

 

One California lawmaker’s commute just got a little longer. State Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D) was evicted from her office in the state Capitol for breaking rank as she had threatened to do on the long-delayed state budget, The Sacramento Bee reports. Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D) can reassign troublesome lawmakers, and Parra’s nay vote on the budget Aug. 17 earned her new quarters across the street. Parra is now the only California lawmaker with no office in the statehouse.

 

 

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