The federal government released its first jobs report of 2019, showing that nonfarm payroll grew by 304,000 in January, far above economists’ consensus estimate of 170,000. The average monthly gain in 2018 was 223,000. Over the past year, average hourly earnings were up 3.2%. After revising its data for past periods, the U.S. Bureau of...
By now, most people have heard about the small, underperforming school district in the Valley that spent state money to build a $20 million water park. But as it turns out, the story gets even worse. According to Progress Times, La Joya ISD’s water park has also become a drain on its annual budget. “During...
The reason for conducting a SWAT raid in the pre-dawn hours is the element of surprise. Most people are sleeping at this time and adjusting to such a situation from a sound sleep takes time — time during which a SWAT team can swiftly take control of a dangerous felon. It is particularly useful during...
What the AccuWeather service calls “the coldest weather in years” is gripping the nation, from Wisconsin to Alabama. The temperatures, AccuWeather says, “will put millions of people and animals throughout the Midwestern United States at risk for hypothermia and frostbite to occur in minutes during the final days of January.” The only real defense against...
Federal statisticians are beginning to put a wrap on 2018, providing a clearer picture of the positive effects of President Trump’s tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks. There are two sets of data that truly stand out: manufacturing job growth and the rate of private sector job growth in the states. Looking at the national jobs...
Bail reform is increasingly being considered by state legislatures and many cases challenging bail practices continue to wind their way through federal courts. Understanding the significance of these developments requires examining the role of constitutional rights, the negative effects of pretrial detention, and how recent reforms in several states are reshaping the pretrial justice landscape....
Political leaders in a college town in central Texas won wide praise from former Vice President Al Gore and the larger Green Movement when they decided to go “100 percent renewable” seven years ago. Now, however, they are on the defensive over electricity costs that have their residents paying more than $1,000 per household in...
The Conservative Texas Budget (CTB) limits increases in the state’s two-year appropriations of state funds and all funds (state and federal funds) to less than the average taxpayer’s ability to pay—appropriately measured by population growth plus inflation. The figure below shows the limits for the currently discussed 2020-21 state budget. These CTB limits are based on...
Some cities and states are trying to fix the Affordable Care Act’s deficiencies all on their own. New York City, for example, has pledged to directly pay the medical bills of the city’s estimated 600,000 uninsured. Massachusetts is looking at some form of “Medicare-for-All,” at least in name, because that name polls very well (when...
State leaders appear poised to boost public education funding in a big way. A few weeks ago, the Texas House published its version of the new state budget for 2020-21. In it, lawmakers call for a roughly $7 billion increase in K-12 spending — but only if certain things happen first, like reducing recapture, providing...
Maybe one problem with our school finance system in Texas is how we talk about it. We express tax increases in terms of pennies on the tax rate; the reality is these are real dollars out of the pockets of hard-working Texans. We talk about taxes for school funding in terms of local contributions and...
Having a baby at a UT Health Tyler hospital in Tyler, Texas, will cost a family $19,147.11, according to that facility’s newly posted price transparency guide. That’s a vaginal delivery with no complicating diagnosis. For a caesarian section, the price goes up to $31,644.38. Of course, that’s not what people pay. It’s just what the...