The Heartland Institute

Top Virginia Republicans are veering away from fellow Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation-funding initiative, and a growing number of alternative plans threaten to block its passage. Since unveiling his $3.1 billion program in January, McDonnell has garnered support from a variety of business groups, including chambers ...

Heartland's Jim Lakely speaks with Ember Reichgott Junge, a former Democratic Minnesota state senator and a member of the National Charter Schools Hall of Fame. They follow up her appearance at a Heartland Author Series luncheon to discuss the 20-year history of the charter school movement, the principle of offering choice ...

Alex Nowrasteh, the immigration policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity, writes in this Policy Analysis that, "the three components of politically feasible immigration reform are legalization for some unauthorized immigrants, border and work-place enforcement to impede the entry and hiring ...

Scientific models of climate change are incomplete and unconvincing. Has the earth been warming over the last century? Yes. By most indications, the earth has been warming and the atmosphere is about 0.8 degrees Celsius warmer than it was 100 years ago. Has the earth been warming over the last decade? There is contradictory ...

Natural gas exploration in shale formations could create more than 47,000 jobs in Illinois and spur $9 billion in statewide economic development, concludes a new study released by the Illinois Chamber Foundation. The study was conducted by Dr. David Loomis, a widely recognized expert in energy and telecommunications economics, who ...

The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee on January 11 issued a draft report titled “Climate Change and the American People.” The report was produced by the 60-person NCADAC and supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of our federal government. The report concludes, “Climate change ...

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal recently announced a new tax reform proposal that would eliminate Louisiana’s personal and business income taxes while increasing state sales taxes and removing certain tax breaks. Jindal says the reforms will save Louisiana families money and encourage businesses to come to Louisiana, invest, and create ...

Next week experts from Heartland will spend Valentine’s Day in Topeka, Kansas testifying on a bill that would amend the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS). The bill would postpone the deadlines by which utilities are required to increase the percentages of electricity they sell from renewable sources, which are more expensive ...

Missouri legislators are filing companion bills to withdraw the state from the Common Core, a set of national requirements for what students should know in math and English. Since 45 states adopted the Core in 2010, several states have reconsidered, usually motivated by local objections to the standards’ quality, cost, and potential ...

We've seen a torrent of news from HHS over the past few days, particularly on the question of whether affordability would be determined by the price for individual coverage or for family coverage. This was a critical question because of a glitch in Obamacare which we've covered before . Essentially, the government had to ...

Just as it does for numerous other foods that sustain mankind and the planet’s many animals, it stimulates the production of antioxidants... Read More Islands Rimming Pacific Atolls: Their Response to Sea Level Rise (29 Jan 2013) On 17 October 2009, members of the Maldives’ Cabinet donned scuba gear and used hand signals ...

Thursday's news roundup: 1. Nevada's governor proposes tax-credit scholarships. State lawmakers want even more school options . 2. New Hampshire activists sue to stop tax-credit scholarships . 3. California school districts issue hundreds of bonds with payments not due for decades and interest costs as high as 23 times the amount ...

South Carolina legislators are considering an education reform that has garnered significant national attention: the Parent Trigger. The legislation, first passed in California, has been considered in approximately 20 other states, and legislators in five states have announced their intentions to propose it this year. A Parent Trigger ...

Joseph Antos of the American Enterprise Institute writes that the expansion of Medicaid won't help people as much as its supporters think it will - and that many of those forced into the program will find it insufficient for their needs. A more relevant issue is how access to necessary care will change when Medicaid is significantly ...

Calling it a way to “stop the bleeding” in the state’s public pension systems, Pennsylvania Senate President Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) says he would support a proposal to move all new hires into a new pension system similar to the 401(k) plans that are now commonplace in the private sector. But he questioned whether it was ...

The number of U.S. cell phone subscribers has grown significantly in recent years from 48.7 million in 1997to 321.7 million in 2012. That period has also seen a fall in landline telephones, with 34 percent of households now only using wireless phones. This trend toward cell phones has not gone unnoticed by state and local ...

Benjamin Domenech chats with Christina Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute about how Obamacare conflicts with state health care freedom acts. ...

The 9-1-1 and emergency response systems play a key role in public health and safety. These services are funded through fees added on to telephone bills, which are then placed into a fund that is supposed to be used only to maintain and improve these systems. In some states, however, these funds are being used for other ...

Illinois state government has canceled a $500 million debt sale, just days after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the state’s credit rating to the worst in the nation. S& P put most of the blame for its downgrade on the state's pension problems. The agency dropped the rating on the state's general obligation bonds to A- from ...

The number of U.S. cell phone subscribers has grown significantly in recent years from 48.7 million in 1997 to 321.7 million in 2012. That period has also seen a fall in landline telephones, with 34 percent of households now only using wireless phones. This trend toward cell phones has not gone unnoticed by state and local ...