Editor’s Note: This is the latest part of a series on rural Texas and the challenges that rural Texans face. Over the next year, the Associated News Service will delve into the issues facing the Lone Star State’s 177 (out of 254) rural counties. SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas — Katie Koon says she didn’t stand a...
Homeownership has long been one of the defining features of the American dream. For many young families today, it feels increasingly out of reach. While policymakers have spent years debating interest rates and zoning reform, they have largely ignored one of the biggest demand shocks in modern American history. According to a report from the Federal Reserve...
Kyiv has slashed Russian fuel processing capacity by a third, matching two years of Allied strategic bombing in weeks. Russian missiles and Iranian-supplied drones continue to slam into Ukrainian hospitals and apartment blocks with regularity. These are not precision strikes aimed at military targets; they are clumsy, often wildly inaccurate terror attacks designed to break the will...
As the public’s once-high view of college education burns down before our eyes, the universities’ favorite water-carrier, the Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE), continues to fiddle. CHE’s recent article on Texas Tech University (TTU) rebottles an old whine, warning that Texas’ 2025 law, Senate Bill 37, has brought a wave of faculty self-censorship, administrative pressure,...
Across the state, a collection of terror networks and their Islamist partners are using US politicians, institutions and nonprofit infrastructure to advance violent, radical ambitions. In 2022, Yasin Malik, the leader of a Kashmiri group declared by a US federal appeals court as a terrorist organisation involved in killings, bombings and kidnappings, was sentenced by an Indian...
It’s Not a Revenue Problem What to know: The city of Austin just proposed a new $6.6 billion budget that calls for raising taxes and fees, despite residents struggling with an affordability crisis. In all, “the increases would cost the average Austin homeowner nearly $346 a year,” with more than half of that amount stemming from higher property...
Public Education Elites What to know: Austin ISD’s highest paid employees make more than $200,000 per year and also receive cell phone stipends, travel stipends, retirement benefits, and subsidized healthcare. “The combined total pay for all top 30 employees was about $5.9 million” for the 2025-26 school year. The TPPF take: Education elites complain about inadequate funding even...
Home Prices What to know: Illegal immigration drove up housing prices, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas says in a draft report. The TPPF take: There’s no mystery here; millions more people means millions fewer affordable homes. “Housing markets are governed by the same economic principles as every other market,” says TPPF’s John Bonura. “When millions of additional people enter...
The EPA’s 2025 decision to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding is being called one of the largest deregulatory actions in US history. But what exactly is the Endangerment Finding, and why do supporters say this change matters for American families and businesses? In this Fast Facts breakdown, we explain the 16-year history of greenhouse gas...
Since it has been unable to pass new gun restrictions through the legislative process, President Biden’s Administration is intentionally ignoring and misinterpreting well-established law to shut down lawfully operating gun dealers. TPPF Senior Attorney Matt Miller breaks down how this backdoor scheme works and explains TPPF’s lawsuit to restore Americans’ legal right to purchase firearms.
Illegal activity that harms the U.S. is coming from Mexico in much the same way as it does from other corrupt individuals in other countries the U.S. currently sanctions. Texas should compile a list of corrupt Mexican elites and request the federal government to deny them entry to the U.S. or revoke their visas. Read...
On July 4, I stood at the site of the Boston Massacre, in front of the Old Massachusetts State House, and heard the Declaration of Independence read from the same balcony where it was first read 250 years ago. Standing on the streets where it all started, I pondered the miracle of those first patriots...
Even though I’ve taken off from my Winners & Losers newsletter this summer, I still join the Cardle & Woolley Show on Talk 1370 Radio in Austin Friday mornings at 8:30 a.m. to announce the week’s list. You can listen live here every week or download the broadcast anytime by clicking here. This week I...
June is here and Pride Month is back—but it’s not all rainbows and parades like it used to be. For years, Americans were told that so-called Pride events were all about tolerance and equal treatment, something we should celebrate like the Fourth of July. Ultimately it didn’t sell. Pride celebrations have become inextricably linked to...
Democrats and the progressive left continue to lambast the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais to strike down the Bayou State’s second majority-Black congressional district as a racial gerrymander. Democrat leaders have used vicious and ugly attacks to pronounce the decision as racist and insist that it guts the Voting Rights Act (VRA). In...