The Heartland Institute

TEA Party Caucus Advisory Committee (TPCAC) compiles research from several local grassroots organizations and think tanks, as well as The Heartland Institute, to come up with a list of legislative priorities for the TEA Party Caucus of the Texas Legislature. ...

The Texas legislature has been consumed with education during this year’s session, debating lifting the state’s charter school cap, reconsidering 15 tests students must take to graduate, and a court ruling state education funding is unconstitutionally small. Even with Republicans firmly in control of the governor’s office and both ...

A majority of the senior scientists responsible for producing the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s draft report are affiliated with environmental activist groups, investigative journalist Donna Laframboise reports. Of the 13 senior scientists who put together USGCRP’s January 2013 draft report, seven have ties to activist groups ...

Small changes in solar output have a significant effect on the earth’s climate, National Research Council scientists report in a new study published by the National Academies Press. The new study indicates an increase in solar output during the past century has played a greater role in recent global warming than claimed by ...

After teaching Spanish for many years, I was asked by my school district to teach English as a Second Language. Teaching Spanish, I was told, meant teaching a second language, so the process should be similar. It wasn’t. I didn’t realize the demographics of the learners would present such a profound teaching challenge. My ...

Pennsylvania residents can no longer dispose of electronic equipment through regular garbage pickups. Under a law that took effect January 24, landfills are no longer allowed to accept televisions, computers, printers, and similar electronic devises. Manufacturers Must Act In addition to blocking landfills from accepting electronics ...

Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a newly published survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies . The survey throws cold water on assertions by global warming alarmists that nearly all scientists agree humans are causing a global warming ...

U.S. regulatory cost estimates of around $1.8 trillion per year encompass compliance costs paid by the public plus economic drag. But those estimates do not include the costs of administering the regulatory state—on-budget amounts spent by federal agencies to produce rules and to police regulatory compliance are not accounted ...

Secret negotiations over employment contracts between union representatives and government officials are the norm in nearly every state in the union. This keeps taxpayers in the dark about how compensation packages are awarded and stops journalists from knowing what goes on behind closed doors. In a report released by the Goldwater ...

Grassroots environmentalists are increasingly calling out large, prominent activist groups for selling out to corporate donors from the renewable energy industry. Nowhere is the split between corporate-type “Big Green” groups and grassroots “Little Green” groups more apparent than in southeastern California, where Big Green activist ...

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District that it did not have to implement special pollution abatement plans for water flowing from concrete-encased storm water channels into more natural portions of the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers. The Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Circuit Court ...

Todd Wynn, director of the Energy, Environment, and Agriculture Task Force for the American Legislative Exchange Council, explains how renewable energy mandates are punishing the economy. ...

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has unveiled a plan to privatize the Keystone State’s monopoly liquor store system, simultaneously executing a move intended to accomplish a goal of his administration while undercutting some of his loudest critics. In Pittsburgh, Corbett, a Republican, said the proceeds from selling off the state ...

A key issue for many state legislatures this year is transportation funding. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) have proposed sales tax increases for transportation, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) has proposed raising his state’s second-lowest-in-the-nation gasoline tax, and others have proposed new ...

Exercising their rights under California’s 2010 Parent Trigger law, more than 300 parents delivered petitions to the Los Angeles school district in January, calling for their children’s failing school to be improved or converted into a charter school. Parents are now reviewing proposals from eight different organizations and ...

A South Carolina lawmaker has introduced a school choice bill that would give parents a $4,000 tax deduction per year for each child they send to independent schools, a $1,000 tax deduction for those sent to public schools outside their district, and a $2,000 tax deduction for those that homeschool. After filing Senate Bill ...

The Wisconsin Legislature is edging closer to asking voters whether to amend the state constitution to ensure transportation-related revenue stays in the transportation fund. After years of raiding the transportation fund to pay for other programs, the legislature last session passed a joint resolution that would block future lawmakers ...

Delaware taxpayers may lose a $21.5 million “investment” as Fisker Automotive took taxpayer money to create green jobs but has yet to produce a single car in the state. In addition to the $21.5 million in grants and loans that appear unlikely to be repaid, state taxpayers have had to cover an additional $400,000 in electric ...

Friday's ed news: 1. The forthcoming Common Core science standards are unclear, drop important knowledge, and force failed teaching strategies. 2. Governors Jindal, McDonnell, and Bush get together today to discuss education reform. 3. The high number of teacher absences shortchange students. 4. Testing should be used as a ruler ...

Benjamin Domenech talks about how smokers are singled out for Obamacare rate hikes. ...