K-12 Education

Amid campus protests, universities worry about . . . fundraising

The recent rash of campus protests has caught the national eye, causing some to ask, 'What exactly are students taught in college today?' and 'What are senior university administrators doing to enforce—or not enforce—rigorous instruction, the instruction needed to ensure that American college graduates are able to survive in the intensely competitive, 21st-century world marketplace?'

December 29, 2015

Criminal Justice

A real-life horror story: You are a felon and you didn’t even know it

It is estimated that each American commits three felonies a day without ever knowing it.

December 29, 2015

Energy & Environment

America and executive fiat

Thus we have the Orwellian named 'Clean Power Plan' that everyone agrees will have virtually no impact on temperature, sea level, or the climate. But it will have an impact on individual prosperity.

December 29, 2015

Health Care

The feds are trying to take over mental health policy from states

Instead of making IMDs Medicaid-reimbursable, the federal government should give states more flexibility to use Medicaid dollars more effectively.

December 29, 2015

Taxes & Spending

Texas’ business margin tax fails as good public policy

Since the margin tax’s inception in January 2008, the Texas comptroller’s office has had difficulty accurately estimating its revenue as noted by the cumulative $2.8 billion less in actual collections than estimated.

December 28, 2015

Taxes & Spending

Working poor hurt most by property taxes

Increases in the average appraisal value and tax rate in Midland will hurt those with low and fixed income the most, particularly the working poor and elderly, as property taxes rise from factors out of their control.

December 27, 2015

Energy & Environment

Like CO2, the Paris agreement is vapid

The question now is whether Congress will have the courage to prevent monies from being spent to support this illegal, unconstitutional, and scientifically flawed 'agreement' that in the end will not prevent the earth’s climate from changing.

December 23, 2015

Higher Education

Explaining the college affordability crisis — by blaming its victims

The more nuanced truth regarding the relationship between funding and tuition is that there have been mild decreases in legislative funding that have been met by comparatively wild increases in university prices and spending.

December 22, 2015

Criminal Justice

The government’s overcriminalization hypocrisy

But it's a foregone conclusion that no one at the EPA will be held criminally liable in this incident either, and civil lawsuits involving the executive branch are hard to successfully litigate due to 'sovereign immunity' (which means the government can't be sued unless it agrees to be) and added procedural hoops that come with governmental suits.

December 22, 2015

Criminal Justice

The value of Texas prison ministries

While these rates have been reduced thanks to Texas’ 2008 reforms, prison ministries continuously report recidivism rates at a fraction of state averages.

December 21, 2015

Economy

Texas vs. The Beltway: What economic model works best?

It isn’t at all sustainable to assume that each new worker in the private sector could support one new government employee, much less three or four as is the case in Virginia and Maryland.

December 21, 2015

Economy

State and local regulations choke economic growth, too

A new research report shows that just 12 policy mistakes at all levels of government add $546 billion a year in consumer costs.

December 21, 2015