If you don’t visit Freedom Pub and the Heartlander digital magazine every day, you’re missing out on some of the best news and commentary on liberty and free markets you can find. But worry not, freedom lovers! Heartland Weekly is here for you every Monday with a highlight show. Subscribe to the email today, and read this week’s edition below.
Case is Key to Public Workers’ Free Speech
Jesse Hathaway, Detroit News
As we celebrate the incoming year, a Supreme Court case, Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, could give government workers a reason to be merry in 2018, by freeing them from union captivity and delivering a big win for personal liberty. READ MORE
Teachers Unions Say Each Teacher Costs Schools $100,000 But Unions Still Want MORE Money
Teresa Mull and Lennie Jarratt, Daily Caller
The holiday season has come and gone, and as America’s school-aged kids and their teachers enjoy a nice vacation, our country’s teachers unions are doing what they do best: throwing a childish tantrum and demanding they get more of your hard-earned tax dollars to spoil their underperforming members. READ MORE
Today’s ‘Che Guevara’ Democrats Do Not Understand Economic Growth
Peter Ferrara, Daily Caller
You wouldn’t know it by listening to congressional Democrats, but the Republican tax reform bill helps the middle-class and blue-collar workers first by directly cutting their taxes. Speaker Paul Ryan reports that, under the bill, a family of four earning the median income of $73,000 will get a tax cut of $2,059. READ MORE
Featured Podcast: Tim Huelskamp: Fixing American Health Care in 2018
Tim Huelskamp, former congressman and current president of The Heartland Institute, joins Bette Grande to talk about the current political climate. Huelskamp lay out the organization’s plans to restore consumer rights in health care including Medicare and Obamacare reform. LISTEN HERE
Support Heartland In The New Year!
Put The Heartland Institute on your gift at the start of year! A great way to support us all year long is to set up a monthly giving plan – the easiest and most efficient way to support us. You are in total control. You can easily start, change or stop your gift at any time online or by phone. You’ll receive uninterrupted membership benefits, ensuring you never miss an issue of our popular QPR-Quarterly Performance Report. Learn more about monthly giving to The Heartland Institute.
U.S. Standards Limit Mass. Students
Robert Holland, Boston Herald
Prior to the advent of Common Core in 2010, Massachusetts led all other states in the intellectual depth and productiveness of its home-grown K–12 standards. Today, it lags. The reason for this? According to State Senator Michael Barrett, “It’s crazy to think that people in Massachusetts should learn more and better content than people in Mississippi.” READ MORE
Betsy DeVos’s DoE Says It Plans to Reduce ‘Overreach’ in 2018
Teresa Mull, School Choice Weekly
The U.S. Department of Education announced it will spend 2018 deregulating the nation’s education system. According to the Washington Examiner, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is seeking to curb what she says is federal overreach. It we’re lucky, the DOE can deregulate itself right out of existence. READ MORE
Record Cold Muddies Warming Claims
H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Change Weekly
Much of the United States and Canada is in a winter freeze the likes of which has rarely been seen across such a vast swath of the continent. As we rang in the new year on January 1, the average temperature for the continental United States was a bone-chilling 11 degrees Fahrenheit. Daily record low and record low high temperatures have been set or tied in dozens of cities and towns across the United States in the past week alone. READ MORE
Bonus Podcast: Heartland’s Past & Future
Before his departure, Heartland Institute CEO Joe Bast discusses The Heartland Institute’s history, its accomplishments and what it hopes to achieve under new leadership. Founded in 1984, Heartland has been the foremost think tank for addressing a myriad of state policy issues and providing the bridge between state and federal issues. LISTEN HERE
Closing Coal Plant in Pleasant Prairie Will Increase Electricity Prices
Isaac Orr, Wisconsin State Journal
WE Energies says closing a Wisconsin power plant and building a new solar installation will save consumers money in the long run and help the utility company comply with Obama-era regulations limiting carbon dioxide emitted from power plants. Wrong. The premature closure of the Pleasant Prairie coal-fired power plant will drive up electricity costs for families, businesses and manufacturers. READ MORE
Eco-terrorist Attacks on Energy Infrastructure on Tap for 2018
Bonner Cohen, The Hill
Determined to disrupt the interstate transport of oil and natural gas throughout the United States, a network of environmental activists is openly threatening to resort to sabotage to achieve their ends. And having let their intentions be known, they are crying foul now that law enforcement officials are taking their threats seriously. READ MORE
Heartland Pre-Super Bowl Party
We’re going to kick off the year with a night full of food, fun, and football!
Heartland has a great game plan to achieve some big victories in 2018 and put points on the board. Fighting for freedom is a rough sport, but we are ready to tackle the big issues and get fans of liberty cheering. We are ready to run over our opponents and deliver a crushing hit to the big government agenda! Please join us as we huddle and celebrate success at Heartland’s Super Bowl party. Heavy hors d’oeuvres will be served. The event is complimentary for all Heartland’s friends and their guests. Click here to register!
Help Us Stop Wikipedia’s Lies!
Have you visited Heartland’s Wikipedia page recently? The good news is that it is more complete than it was just a couple months ago, after leftists took it over and trashed it. Most of the new information is accurate and unbiased. But the lies and libel about our positions on smoking and climate change remain. Other conservative and free-market sites suffer, too. Wikipedia refuses to make many of the changes we request and deletes and reverses the changes made by others. We need your help! READ MORE
Jim Lakely is the Vice President and Director of Communications of The Heartland Institute.
