Last month, in a move that captured national attention, Oklahoma released 462 people early from prison after Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted their sentences. Each of these individuals was imprisoned for low-level, nonviolent offenses that, due to recent reforms, would not result in prison were they arrested today. Stitt’s order was the largest single-day commutation in...
Local government debt continues to soar. According to new data from the Bond Review Board, local debt service outstanding—or “the amount that is required to cover the repayment of principal and interest on a debt” held by political subdivisions in Texas—rose to more than $365 billion in FY 2019, which is an increase of almost...
The numbers are good—and suggest our nation’s economic expansion continues apace. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today that the number of people who were unemployed at any time in 2018 as a proportion of the number of persons who worked or looked for work—called the “work-experience unemployment rate”—was 7.8%, down by 0.8%...
Every election year, politicians in Wisconsin take to the campaign trail and promise to spend taxpayer dollars wisely and to keep our streets safe. But in our state, we have a criminal justice system that often betrays those promises and undermines our shared values. Since 1980, Wisconsin’s prison population has grown more than fivefold. Today,...
‘Did you need to go to college to become a welder?” I asked. Jeff Jenkins answered with a chuckle. “No, no I didn’t.” Jenkins, owner of an HVAC company and a welding firm in Austin, educated me for the next 25 minutes on what it takes to get into — and succeed at — the...
The re-election of Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who made protecting his state’s expanded Medicaid program a key campaign issue, has some pundits excited about the chances of expanding Texas’ own government-run healthcare system. What these pundits fail to realize, however, is that neither an election nor the elation surrounding it make Medicaid expansion a...
In the weeks since the Texas Department of Transportation began clearing homeless encampments that have become an unofficial and unwelcome symbol of life in Austin, the homelessness crisis has shown few signs of slowing down. A five-acre temporary campsite established by the state has seen little traffic while tents and makeshift shelters continue to pop up beneath overpasses almost...
The saga over systemic failures of the Texas foster care system continues with the state Department of Family and Protective Services paying a $150,000 fine levied by U.S. District Judge Janice Jack. Payment comes in the wake of a contentious hearing during which Judge Jack criticized the department for dragging its feet on implementing changes...
The Houston Chronicle editorial board missed the mark in its recent criticism of our outgoing Secretary of Energy, slamming Rick Perry for—get this—doing his job. “It’s clear that promoting fossil fuels, especially coal, took up far more time than it should have,” wrote the editorial board, “for someone whose job also includes developing energy alternatives.”...
Amidst a raging Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a “Proclamation of Thanksgiving” on October 3, 1863, 74 years to the day after President George Washington issued his first presidential Thanksgiving proclamation. Prior to Lincoln’s proclamation, states, mostly in the North, would mark their own Thanksgiving commemorations. The concept for a national Thanksgiving celebrated annually...
The current economic expansion is 10 years and five months old and showing little signs of ending. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Wednesday that the third quarter grew at a 2.1% annual rate vs. the previously estimated 1.9%. Preliminary data from the fourth quarter looks steady as well. The good economic news comes amid widely...
Thanksgiving can be a tough time of year for many Americans. “The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank,” G.K. Chesterton pointed out many years ago. These days, the holiday has two stumbling blocks that I see. The first is America’s growing secularization. The second...