The Heartland Institute

Michigan labor unions are working to land a “Protect Our Jobs Amendment” on the state’s November ballot. If passed, unions’ collective bargaining rights would be added to the state’s constitution. “I think they should rename it the “Drive Our Jobs Away Amendment,” said Greg Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work ...

Investors are seeking federal backing for a loan of more than $5 billion to build a high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to Victorville, nearly 100 miles from Los Angeles. Transportation expert Wendell Cox says this may be the worst high-speed rail proposal he's ever seen. The probable losses would make the government ...

While many conservatives have been suspiciously eyeing Common Core education standards because the Obama administration pushed them on states, several support these lists of what children should know in grades K-12 for math and language arts. Sol Stern, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Public Policy and contributing ...

Removing a major obstacle during contentious contract talks, Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union reached an agreement to lengthen students’ school day without lengthening most teachers’ workdays by hiring 477 new teachers. Under the agreement, the elementary school day will lengthen from five hours and 45 minutes ...

Friday's Top Ten: 1. A new $19 million grant is going to promote global-warming curriculum in K-12 public schools. 2. Nearly 500 New York school districts, including New York City, have ignored a state law requiring them to implement new teacher evaluations. 3. Virginia deserves an F for its restrictive charter school laws , concludes ...

Benjamin Domenech on the Paul Ryan pick and the policy and politics of Medicare. ...

Over the past week, the dueling presidential campaigns have been arguing back and forth about President Obama's cuts to Medicare, which total $716 billion over ten years . Now, these cuts aren't the worst thing in the world, and they're being demagogued to a disturbing degree, with the implication being that the cuts are ...

And now for another terrible housing idea: using eminent domain to "condemn" underwater mortgages, forcibly buy them from mortgage-backed securities (MBS) investors at rates below face value, then sell the new mortgages with lowered principal balances to other private investors. As terrible as this idea is, the debate cannot focus ...

Puerto Rico has instituted some of the most pro-growth tax reforms of any US state or territory, with no tax on passive income for high net-worth individuals, and, to boost exports, almost no tax on business income derived from customers outside the commonwealth. Deputy Secretary Edward Calvesbert discusses the measures ...

This Taxpayer Risk Assessment examines the financial risks to taxpayers of the proposed XpressWest high-spreed rail project from Victorville to Las Vegas. There would be no need for a Taxpayer Risk Analysis without government (taxpayer) involvement. For example, if a bus company were to establish a new service between Victorville ...

High-performing teachers are conducting a mass exodus from urban school districts that make little to no pay, promotion, or personal distinctions between them and poor teachers, according to a report from The New Teacher Project. The study examined 90,000 teachers in four urban districts. The report estimates the nation’s 50 ...

Do the consequences of enhanced nocturnal warmth hinder or help lizards to reproduce? According to the authors of this study, such effects are “primarily beneficial for this population of northern lizards,” and they predict that “future changes will continue to benefit the reproduction, growth and survival of individuals at this ...

Yesterday, The Heartland Institute announced more than 5,000 people have signed a petition demanding that Congress “ rein in the Environmental Protection Agency ” (EPA) through deep cuts in the size, power, and cost of the agency . EPA was established in 1970 to protect the nation’s air and water from pollution. Over ...

Despite the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the individual mandate, Ohio Department of Insurance Director Mary Taylor announced Ohio will not create a health insurance exchange as directed by President Obama’s health care law. In a press call following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding most of the law, Taylor—a Republican ...

Nearly 50 million U.S. adults—more than a fifth of the total adult population—smoke cigarettes. After vigorous public health efforts including taxes, education, and outright bans on smoking, the percentage of Americans who smoke has fallen by almost half in the past four decades. In recent years, however, the number of Americans ...

California state government over the past few years has borrowed $4.3 billion from special funds that were designated for specific purposes to cover general fund expenses, according to an analysis by the Sacramento Bee newspaper. The news did not surprise Ed Howard, senior counsel of the Center for Public Interest Law. “I can ...

Do you have a love of fabric and furniture and a talent for decorating? In some states, it’s tough luck if you want to start a decorating business—unless you have a license. Most states actually have laws limiting the use of the title “interior designer.” It’s a result of the growing problem of occupational licensing, which ...

Birmingham public schools enrollment and teaching staff have decreased over the past decade while the city’s central education office has remained disproportionately flush with employees, many of whom have retained hefty salaries amidst budget cuts. In June, Alabama’s Department of Education voted unanimously to step in and oversee ...

By Kenneth Artz In a ruling which surprised the federal and state governments alike, the Supreme Court decided states can opt out of President Obama’s sweeping expansion of Medicaid without losing access to their funds under their prior model. As envisioned under Obama’s law, the expansion of Medicaid, the government’s health ...

Steven Titch, policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, discusses internet sales tax and the marketplace fairness act. ...