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The leader of the New Jersey Assembly has agreed to post a bill requiring all public workers to pay more for health care and pension benefits for a hearing, despite an initial reluctance to move the measure forward without a majority of Democrats backing it.

Wisconsin state employees will start paying more for their health care and pension benefits in late August, state officials said Wednesday as a coalition of unions filed a new lawsuit against the GOP-supported plan that strips away collective bargaining rights from most public workers.

An AP source says NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and several owners are meeting with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith and a group of players for a second straight day in Maryland.

Wisconsin's polarizing union rights law is set to take effect after the state Supreme Court determined that a judge overstepped her authority when she voided the governor's plan to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

In an otherwise lean budget year, the House on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to boost funding to take care of the medical needs of the nation's veterans.

Some Democrats are up in arms over a McKinsey survey reporting one third of employers will drop health coverage in 2014.