What we're watching: Thurs., June 30, 2011 Minn. budget...Milwaukee teachers...U.S. focus of al Qaeda...Lennon a Republican?

MINNESOTA SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN; MILWAUKEE LAYOFFS – Though Governor Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders continue to meet, they have not reached an agreement on a budget for fiscal 2012, which starts Friday. Without a last-minute deal, many state services will be suspended. Highway rest stops will close during the holiday weekend, as will the state zoo. Road construction projects will cease, as will licensing for teachers and businesses. Funding for services such as job training and homelessness support will be cut off.

 Meanwhile, in a budget-cutting move likely to be echoed around the country, Milwaukee Public Schools said Wednesday it will lay off 519 staff members - including 354 teachers - because of $84 million in state cuts and the system's efforts to control costs. Superintendent Gregory Thornton also said schools will likely see larger class sizes and the continued use of older textbooks.

DANGEROUS AL QAEDA – A new U.S. counterterrorism strategy released Wednesday focuses on the ability of al Qaeda and its network to inspire people in the United States to attack the homeland, said John Brennan, White House counterterrorism adviser. Speaking at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Brennan said, "Indeed, this is the first counterterrorism strategy that designates the homeland as a primary area of emphasis in our counterterrorism efforts."

Meanwhile, a top Haqqani network leader suspected of providing support for Tuesday's deadly attack at a Kabul hotel was killed in an airstrike in southeast Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force said Thursday. Ismail Jan, who is the deputy to the senior Haqqani commander, and several fighters were killed in a precision airstrike Wednesday in Paktiya province.

RHODE ISLAND APPROVES CIVIL UNIONS; DEPORTATION IN N.J. CANCELLED – Less than a week after New York became the nation's sixth state to legalize same-sex marriage, Rhode Island state lawmakers on Wednesday voted in favor of a bill that permits civil unions between gay and lesbian couples. Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, is expected to sign the bill into law, according to his spokesman, Michael Trainor.

And in a decision that could have far-reaching effects on immigration cases involving same-sex couples, federal officials have canceled the deportation of a Venezuelan man in New Jersey who is married to an American man, the couple’s lawyer said Wednesday. According to The New York Times, the announcement comes as immigration officials put into effect new, more flexible guidelines governing the deferral and cancellation of deportations, particularly for immigrants with no serious criminal records.

 COLBERT WANTS A SUPER PAC – The Federal Election Commission does serious issues. It does complex debates over mind-numbing campaign laws. It does not do funny. But now the agency finds itself the target of a very public joke by television comedian and provocateur Stephen Colbert, who is set to testify Thursday on his tongue-in-cheek bid to form an eponymous “super PAC” for the 2012 election season.

The Washington Post reports that the host of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central has spent months riffing on the notion of a political committee dedicated to his enrichment, part of a broad satire poking fun at court rulings allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections. He wants permission to let his network’s parent company, Viacom, help him in the effort.

JOHN LENNON, REPUBLICAN? – John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death – according to the tragic Beatles star's last personal assistant. The Toronto Sun reports that Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 to Lennon's death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self.

In new documentary "Beatles Stories,"  Seaman tells filmmaker Seth Swirsky Lennon wasn't the peace-loving militant fans thought he was while he was his assistant. He says, "John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.