The California Attorney General’s office has ruled that Amazon.com is legally permitted to seek a voter referendum to overturn sales tax fairness legislation signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in late June.

In a slew of recent editorials, columns, and op-eds, Amazon.com is being skewered for its attempts to avoid collecting and remitting California sales tax.

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In a hard-fought and significant legislative victory, on Wednesday, June 29, California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a sales tax fairness provision into law. The e-fairness win for independent bookstores and Main Street retailers follows more than a decade of advocacy efforts, which saw sustained opposition and many near-victories.

The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association and the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance have partnered to create Club Read, a “booklovers retreat,” featuring 12 authors who will interact with 200 attendees.

On Thursday, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a proposed budget that contained a sales tax fairness provision. However, the sales tax fairness campaign in the state is not over. In vetoing the budget, Gov. Brown did not single out the sales tax fairness provision as a contibuting factor.

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The campaign for sales tax fairness has heated up in key states where Amazon.com has or is planning to open warehouse or distribution facilities.

Several weeks after the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association ran a half-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle to let readers know that the area’s indie booksellers were alive and well, a group of San Francisco booksellers has pooled resources for a second ad, this time in the Bay Guardian.

In the aftermath of the tornadoes that wreaked havoc in the southern and eastern U.S. and killed 45 people, ABA checked in with several North Carolina bookstores.