The Green New Deal and its associated hyperbole have commanded most of the recent attention that is paid to energy policy. Yet the Green New Deal has no chance to pass until 2021 at the earliest; even its Senate sponsor, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, says he won’t vote for it when Majority Leader Mitch McConnell […]
In 2015, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio asked his wife, First Lady Chirlane McCray, to lead an effort to tackle mental health challenges in the city. Called ThriveNYC, it purported to offer a “roadmap for mental health for all.” Yet records show Ms. McCray failed to keep track of how her program spent […]
Governors and legislators new and old taking office this month will be inundated with advice from all directions. Each special interest and left-wing or right-wing single-issue activist group will have scheduled meetings between its highest-paid lobbyists and the most important legislators; prepared its talking points and social media campaigns; and made its first campaign contributions […]
On Tuesday, November 6, South Dakota voters will decide whether to approve Initiated Measure 25 (IM 25). This measure would increase taxes on cigarettes by $1 per pack and increase the wholesale tax on tobacco products from 35 to 55 percent. The revenue, it is claimed, will be devoted to the state’s four technical schools. […]
When Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico and other places in the fall of 2017, Americans of all types raced to help. Utility companies were among the first to provide aid, as restoring the island’s power grid was a monumental task. As is customary for natural disasters, the federal government, through the Federal Emergency Management […]
Montanans will decide the fate of Initiative 185 when they vote this November. The ballot measure is needed, proponents say, because it will finally accomplish the most noble, yet elusive, of goals: reducing smoking and raising revenue for the expansion of Medicaid in Montana, so that thousands more can realize the benefits of healthcare. It […]
In May 2018, in Murphy v. NCAA, the Supreme Court invalidated a 1992 law called the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which prohibited most states from legalizing sports betting. (PASPA did not apply to the states of Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, and Montana, where sports betting was legal in 1992.) The Court ruled that […]
Although most average Americans are not thrilled when they sign their tax returns every April, most of them do not have to worry that their returns will be on public display. The federal penalties for releasing tax returns without authorization are severe, as they should be. In 2013, Lois Lerner and her underlings at the […]
On August 7, 2018, Missourians will have the opportunity to vote to uphold their state’s right-to-work law, passed by the legislature in 2017, which ensures that anyone can hold a job without having to join a union. If they uphold the law by voting yes on Proposition A, Missouri will join the 27 states that […]
In the spring of 2018, New Jersey’s new governor and leaders in the legislature were arguing about which state taxes to raise. Governor Phil Murphy had pledged to soak the wealthy with a state individual income tax of 10.75 percent on all income more than $1 million, but powerful State Senate President Steve Sweeney preferred […]
