The Heartland Institute

A prominent House Committee Chairman is questioning whether the White House has used President Obama’s health care law to direct hundreds of millions of dollars in support to political allies ineligible to receive it. In February, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded nearly $640 million in low-interest loans ...

Internet privacy has become a hot issue as technology to track user movements online has become more widespread. Much of the debate centers on “behavioral advertising,” through which businesses target their marketing based on Web users’ search and browsing histories. Some critics of the practice argue tracking Internet users’ online ...

In this 2012 study, researchers Anders Bohlmark and Mikael Lindahl examined the performance of students who used vouchers to attend one of the nearly 400 independent schools in Sweden. They found that school choice raised student performance regardless of student demographics, competition was the central driver of student and ...

DISH Network’s “AutoHop” technology feature has prompted lawsuits from the ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC TV networks. The technology, introduced on May 10, makes it easier for DISH’s satellite-television customers to skip revenue-generating commercials transmitted by the networks. The networks filed their suit in the U.S. District Court ...

Rick Hess discusses the education policy implications of yesterday's Supreme Court healthcare ruling . It is likely to squeeze state education budgets further, but possibly reduce federal coercion over state policies, he says. The Wall Street Journal hosts a debate on whether the U.S. should have national education standards . Are ...

What does the Supreme Court ruling mean for states? Today the Supreme Court upheld as constitutional most of President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the controversial individual mandate, which was called a tax by the Court. The Court did, however, strike down the law’s Medicaid expansion ...

Climategate central figure Michael Mann gave a talk in Orange County, California last month that perfectly illustrates how global warming alarmists spread myths and misinformation to further their agenda. Before his presentation, Mann reportedly objected strenuously to skeptical scientists appearing on the same panel with him. His ...

David Lesperance helps people move their money and themselves around the world. Demonizing rhetoric from America's political leaders and bills like the recently introduced Ex-Patriot Act have boosted his business as millionaires and billionaires -- the nation's "Golden Geese" -- look for ways to protect their wealth from a money ...

While policymakers and health care and legal analysts debate the constitutionality of U.S. healthcare reform, technology experts and medical doctors remain skeptical whether a nationwide data hub is desirable or even feasible. One critical aspect of the Affordable Care Act is the establishment of state health insurance exchanges ...

Benjamin Domenech interviews Andrew Grossman, Dan McLaughlin, Erick Erickson and others on the Supreme Court's shocking Obamacare ruling. ...

It took seven years, but Colorado and U.S. Forest Service officials have finally completed work on an environmental impact statement on the state’s roadless rule. President Bill Clinton in 2001 announced his Roadless Area Conservation Rule setting off limits to logging and road construction on more than 58 million acres of declared ...

Wireless communications have improved the lives of millions of people across the United States and the world. However, the rapid expansion of wireless services has brought growing pains: The electronic spectrum on which most communications are broadcast is a limited resource that is quickly filling up. The most significant issue ...

Virginia and New Hampshire passed into law Wednesday statewide school choice programs funded by businesses' tax-deductible contributions to nonprofits that in turn pay students' private school tuition. Both houses of the New Hampshire legislature overrode Gov. John Lynch's veto of the bill to pass it into law by a 69 percent ...

Alaska state officials are crying foul after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took the unprecedented step of issuing a highly critical assessment of a mining project even though plans for the project have yet to be developed. EPA Issues Critical Analysis EPA on May 18 issued a highly critical draft analysis of the Pebble ...

At long last, the day is here: we'll finally find out whether the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause has any restriction whatsoever, or whether it truly extends to all economic activity and inactivity. We'll be adding to this story all day with links and updates from other sources, as well as participating in live ...

If anyone proposes a substantial reform to Medicare, you can be sure demagogues will immediately wail that it will end “Medicare as we know it.” It is also absolutely certain that Medicare as we know it will end. Politicians are just maneuvering to find ways to fix the blame on the other Party. The end of “something as ...

In a result that surprised both the left and right, the Supreme Court ruled the individual mandate at the heart of President Obama’s health care law was constitutional, not on the basis of the Commerce Clause, but as a tax—an argument the White House itself had not advanced before the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts ...

The New Jersey General Assembly unanimously approved legislation to reform teacher tenure after almost two years of debate. The bill would require annual evaluations that incorporate evidence of student achievement growth before a teacher becomes eligible for tenure. Teachers would become eligible for tenure after four years of ...

A growing practice among gasoline retailers is to offer cash and higher credit card prices to combat increasing numbers of card users, rising gas prices and high “swipe fees,” transaction fees set by credit card networks for banks. Although credit card prices may differ from cash prices as much as 5 cents a gallon, gas merchants ...

New Jersey is one of several states—including Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Nevada, South Dakota, and Virginia—that recently considered tightening qualifications for teacher tenure or replacing it with rolling contracts. New Jersey legislators are considering two such proposals. One, sponsored by state Sen. Teresa Ruiz, would remove tenure ...