The Heartland Institute

In this "Best of" Heartland podcast, Energy economist Donn Dears discusses the economic benefits of natural gas fracking and its outstanding environmental record. ...

A surgery center in Oklahoma has returned to a direct fee-for-service business model in an attempt to resist tight government controls and avoid heavy reliance on health insurance and the third-party payer system. The Surgery Center of Oklahoma, founded by Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantier, has cut out the insurance middleman ...

( Originally published in The Washington Examiner ) In 2007, a divided Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency must treat carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases as "pollutants," and must therefore analyze whether the increasing concentrations in atmospheric carbon might reasonably be anticipated to endanger ...

Gary D. Alexander, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Public Welfare writes to The Honorable Joseph R. Pitts, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health and The Honorable Frank Pallone, Jr, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Health with recommendations to improve the Affordable Care Act. ...

There was a time when the Harrisburg, Pa., incinerator was a successful waste-to-energy plant. Then, with the stock market rising and every American looking like a sharp investor, politicians hooked up with Wall Street in a series of exotic financial deals designed to finance plant upgrades. After a decade, they’ve incinerated ...

Nevada restaurant owners—increasingly anxious about the future of their businesses under the Affordable Care Act—are echoing statements by national restaurant chains about the excessive costs President Obama’s health care law will impose on them. "I don't know what secret [the politicians] know, where they just assume we can write ...

It’s the real-world equivalent of Jarndyce v. Jarndyce, the fictional lawsuit Charles Dickens wrote about in Bleak House . The Jarndyce case in the chancery courts in Britain dragged on for so many generations the legal fees devoured the probate estate over which the parties were haggling. Evidently there’s no risk of that ...

In this "Best of" Heartland podcast, Investments expert Bill Gunderson says, in many markets, a real recovery in housing looks to be underway. It's the result of good old supply and demand coming into alignment after several years of a depressed housing industry ...

In this "Best of" Heartland podcast, Steven Titch, policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, discusses internet sales tax and the marketplace fairness act. ...

In this "Best of" Heartland podcast, Many government efforts to make U.S. colleges more affordable and accessible has actually made them more expensive and inaccessible, writes Vicki Alger in a new report for the Independent Women’s Forum. Alger joins the podcast to discuss her report, the moral hazard of student loans, and ...

With the passing of the deadline for states to inform the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services whether they will implement an exchange under President Obama’s law, the next big decision facing governors and legislatures is whether to participate in expansion of the Medicaid program—a decision HHS recently announced would ...

This Report to Congress on State Collection and Distribution of 911 and Enhanced 911 Fees and Charges is submitted by the Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (Commission), pursuant to the New and Emerging Technologies 911 Improvement Act of 2008 (NET 911 Act). Prepared by Commission staff in the Public Safety and Homeland ...

Wealthy suburban school districts lack the academic heft many believe they have, according to the Global Report Card 2.0 . The updated 2012 findings match the 2011 edition’s conclusion: Even the best U.S. school districts rate mediocre when compared to international peers. “Suburbanites falsely believe that education reform has ...

North Carolina has the region's highest income tax burden, high unemployment, and slow personal income growth. The Civitas Institute in Raleigh, N.C., proposes ending the state's personal and corporate income taxes and franchise tax and replacing them with a consumption-based tax that research shows could boost employment and ...

It has been nearly 25 years since James Hansen first regaled Congress with predictions of imminent global warming doom and gloom. At the time, the Earth had only recently emerged from a 30-year cooling period and projections of future warming had little empirical data to back them up. Accordingly, computer models ruled the ...

The idea of a grand bargain is very much on the minds of Washington, DC insiders these days. But any grand bargain that promises to cut spending in return for higher tax rates is unlikely to come to fruition, because the spending cuts are likely to be only an illusion. Just prior to the election, more than 80 CEOs from ...

Friday's ed news: More than two dozen Missouri lawmakers want to give teachers the freedom to bear guns . Indiana already allows designated teachers to bring guns to school. Parents are rushing to buy bullet-proof backpacks for their children. The U.S. Department of Education took four years to release data indicating federal preschool ...

This article accounts for the failed BTU tax offered by the Clinton administration, and assesses the chances of a revived carbon tax in President Obama's 2nd term. ...

A new tax levied by President Obama’s health care law will likely hike veterinary bills for the nation’s pet owners as businesses pass their increased costs along to consumers. The news comes as even Senate Democrats who voted for the law are demanding the tax in question be postponed. The Internal Revenue Service will administer ...

A Buffalo Bills fan is suing the football team, alleging it sent him too many text messages. The man signed up on the team’s Web site to receive text message updates on scores and other team news. He alleges the site stated he would receive three to five messages per week, but says he received six messages one week and ...