Katie Greer is communications manager for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Right on Crime initiative. Fall: That time of year when Americans race down the aisles to snag all things pumpkin and hunt for perfect Halloween costumes. It’s also that time of year when criminal-justice policy experts poke fun at Chesapeake, Va., for trying to...
The Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, six months into former President Obama’s first term. The economy continued to shed jobs until the following March. Manufacturing was particularly hard hit, with almost 2.3 million manufacturing jobs—some 1 in 6—lost between January 2008 and March 2010. As is the case during recoveries, jobs bounced back,...
Over the 25 years of my work with incarcerated individuals and their families, I have had the great pleasure and honor to run into a number of what I call “reentry warriors.” These people were the early champions of improving reentry for those leaving prison long before reentry became the darling of policies and politics...
The Ector County school district is asking voters for a raise. District officials have called a Tax Ratification Election (TRE) for Nov. 6, which would mean a 13 cents (per $100 in property valuation) tax hike for district homeowners and businesses. Ector County will be taxing its citizens the maximum maintenance and operation tax allowed...
Dallas ISD wants more money, and it’s going to the taxpayers in November to request a tax hike. A tax ratification election on the ballot would authorize a tax rate increase. Other Texas districts, including Frisco, Richardson and Duncanville, will hold TREs on Nov. 6. Great! Taxpayers should have a say in what their taxes will...
On June 1, 2016 at a town hall sponsored by PBS, Eric Cottonham, a steel workers’ union member from Indiana, asked President Barack Obama about manufacturing jobs creation, saying, “All of our jobs have left, or are in the process of leaving.”01:07 In response, Obama noted that some jobs have gone overseas and that “I’ve been trying...
Since the founding of our great nation and the development of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, Americans have been protected by due process. The purpose of due process is to ensure fairness in all legal matters, both civil and criminal, and to prevent prejudicial or unequal treatment in the justice system. Essentially, due process...
On October 5th, The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and its Right on Crime initiative hosted an event on criminal justice reform at the Microsoft Innovation and Policy Center in Washington, DC. Marc Levin, vice president of criminal justice policy at TPPF, moderated the first of two panels which explored the role of technology in...
A recent memo from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifies why many Americans aren’t getting the medications they need. The wrong person is choosing your prescription drug, and it isn’t your doctor. According to CMS, starting in 2020, Medicare Part D health plans can implement “indication-based drug therapy.” Medically, an indication is pain in a...
When you have to begin an argument with “depending on how you look at it,” you’re not arguing from a strong position. Yet such has become the answer to the question of, “Is California a good role model?” posed recently in The New York Times. Even its defenders say California’s prosperity is relative. The good news...
In his first debate with Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso, Sen. Ted Cruz promoted Texas’ low taxes and light regulations as essential to job creation, citing as evidence, “The cost of a one-way U-Haul from California to Texas is more than 300 percent the cost the other way around.” Why mention U-Haul at...
The western United States, as we know it today, has been a place of hopes and dreams for Americans since manifest destiny embedded itself in the public psyche some two centuries ago. California’s latest energy policies prove that brand of wishful thinking is still alive — but its aspirations are detached from reality. California recently announced two...