The Heartland Institute

Missouri 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 state legislators in four states have stated their intentions to propose it in early 2013. A Parent ...

Gary Alexander, the public welfare secretary in Pennsylvania, has a long career of successfully applying cost-saving reforms at the state level. He’s also one of the few secretaries paying a great deal of attention to the Obamacare failings that have attracted less notice – namely, the package of regulations and requirements ...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration appears to be using two contradictory datasets for its official temperature records, meteorologist Anthony Watts reports. The contradictory data cast doubt on NOAA’s assertion that 2012 was a year of record warmth in the United States. Watts reports that he was looking up month ...

Environmental activist groups are ramping up efforts to recruit liberal Republicans to promote a national carbon tax. Although activists say the tax is necessary to stave off global warming, Republicans so far are not buying such claims. Meetings Discuss Strategy Resources for the Future, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Clean ...

Lawyers defending Louisiana’s vouchers will appeal their case to the state Supreme Court after a district judge ruled the program unconstitutional because of how the state funds it. “The clear intent of the [state] constitution is that we fund children and not bricks,” Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) said in public comments after the ...

What is the relationship between personal information acquired over the internet and privacy? Some believe that rapidly evolving information technologies are eroding privacy. Downes contends that "We cannot solve the privacy 'crisis' by treating information as the personal property of those to whom it refers or by adapting the ...

It’s not unusual for persons claiming workers’ compensation to be caught faking their injuries, but a recent California case has an unusual twist. A 29-year-old woman claimed she injured her ankle while working as a school district janitor. She couldn’t walk without crutches, she said, and saw doctors at least ten times. Tipped ...

I am in Dubai, holding up a mobile device in front of a large conference ofCommunications Ministers and industry representatives attending ITU Telecom World 2012. I ask, "What Is This?" They shout out answers in a cacophony of dialects and accents, literally from every corner of the world.While it is still a mobile phone ...

Ben Domenech discusses Obamacare's new taxes. ...

What passes today as a “debate” over privacy lacks agreed-upon terms of reference, rational arguments, or concrete goals. Though the stars are aligning for a market in privacy products and services, those who believe that rapidly evolving information technologies are eroding privacy regularly pitch their arguments in the direction ...

A federal judge has denied an injunction that would have blocked reforms to the personal injury protection portion of Florida’s auto insurance law that were enacted in 2012. Backers of the reforms say the judge’s ruling is a big win for Florida’s auto insurance consumers. In his decision, U.S. District Court Judge Richard ...

In the classic movie The Shawshank Redemption , one of the most fascinating characters is one that doesn’t exist. Peter Stevens, the silent, silent partner. A phantom. An apparition. Second cousin to Harvey the Rabbit. When Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) concocts various frauds, scams, and kickbacks for Warden Samuel Norton to ...

Two U.S. Senators sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar asking why the Department of the Interior is open to permitting wind farms in federal waters off the Atlantic Coast but opposes oil and natural gas production in the same region. Apparent Double Standard Sens. David Vitter (R-LA) and Lamar Alexander (R ...

Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein almost emulated Tim Tebow as a homeschool graduate who won the Heisman Trophy for college football excellence. Klein placed third in this season’s Heisman voting. If state Sen. Tom Garrett gets his way, Virginia may cultivate more Tebows and Kleins. Garret has revived a bill to let homeschool ...

So this is what Congress and President Obama meant by “balance” in addressing the “fiscal cliff”: $42 of tax increases for every dollar of spending cuts. It also apparently meant doling out billions of tax dollars to industries including movies, rum manufacturing, auto racing, and alternative energy. 2013 began with Congress ...

Clive Hambler, a lecturer in biological and human sciences at Oxford university, writes that wind turbines can do a lot of damage. These wind farms can have significant effect on populations of rare birds and bats to the point that it drives some to the point of extinction. Interestingly, environmentalists don’t want to know ...

In 2011, roughly two-thirds of the nation’s college seniors graduated with college debt averaging more than $26,000, according to the Project on Student Debt. While much national attention has focused on higher tax spending to address the problem, a new book highlights young entrepreneurs who, through their businesses, graduate ...

Global warming will benefit most Arctic and sub-Arctic species, a team of scientists report in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One . The scientists found global warming will allow most Arctic and sub-Arctic species to expand their ranges, and no species are expected to go extinct. The study delivers a sharp blow to global warming ...

A new report written by one of the nation’s leading authorities on groundwater hydrology and nuclear energy says uranium mining in Virginia can take place safely and with minimal environmental impact. At issue is a plan to lift a moratorium on uranium mining that has been in place in Virginia since 1982. The Coles Hill uranium ...

The election results have been certified, the fiscal cliff has been averted, and the world didn’t end. Now state lawmakers are heading back to their state capitols to begin their 2013 legislative sessions. States are expected to face many important issues this year, including Medicaid expansion and balancing their budgets ...