Opinion
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Texas Students Routinely Promoted Without Passing
Opinion -According to a report released in late October by the Texas Education Agency (TEA), social promotions in the Lone Star State continue almost unabated three years after the beginning of a concentrated effort to end the practice of moving students to the -
Schools Should Share Services to Save, Study Says
Opinion -School districts across the country are constantly calling for more funds, but additional money might be available in their existing budgets if they'd take advantage of opportunities to share services with other districts, according to an October 2005 -
Book Review: A Crash Course in Profitable Politics
Opinion -Review of Crash Course: Imagining a Better Future for Public Education Written by Chris Whittle (Riverhead Books, 2005) 269 pages, $16. -
Coming U.S. Workforce Unprepared for Knowledge Economy, Author Warns
Opinion -Review of The 2010 Meltdown: Solving the Impending Jobs Crisis Written by Edward E. Gordon (Praeger Publishers, 2005) 288 pages, $39.95, ISBN 0275984362 Edward E. -
Myth Buster
Opinion -Review of Education Myths: What Special-Interest Groups Want You to Believe and Why It Isn't So Written by Jay P. Greene (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005) 265 pages, $24. -
Oregon Courts to Settle Property Protections
Opinion -A county circuit judge in Oregon has ruled the state's Measure 37 property protection law violates the Oregon Constitution. The ruling puts a temporary halt to the voter-enacted law, at least until the Oregon Supreme Court reviews the case. -
Detroit on Brink of Fiscal Catastrophe
Opinion -Even as Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick won re-election in November, the city's financial situation continued to slide, as reflected by a November 21 announcement by the bond rating service Standard & Poor's. -
Washington Voters Reject Repeal of Gas Tax Increase
Opinion -Washington voters on November 8 rejected Initiative 912, which would have repealed a 9.5 cents per gallon increase in the gasoline tax passed by state lawmakers in April 2005. -
Vermont Should Become Leader in E-Government, Report Says
Opinion -After two years of work, the Vermont Institute on Government Effectiveness has issued recommendations that would allow the state to make better use of technology to provide services and cut government spending. -
Feds Pledge $337 Million for Chicago Airport
Opinion -Chicago's O'Hare International Airport expansion project moved ahead on two fronts in November when it received a formal pledge of funding from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and won the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by two Chicago suburbs and -
Chicago Puts a Heavy Price on Smoking
Opinion -Finding no other palatable source for additional revenues to balance his 2006 budget, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has settled on a big increase in city cigarette taxes. -
Bush Tax Panel Plans Lag Behind Global Reforms
Opinion -President George W. Bush's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform has proposed two plans to modernize the tax system. Both plans would take steps to simplify the tax code and reduce taxes on savings and investment. -
Analysis: Nothing New in Presidential Panel’s Tax Reform Report
Opinion -After reading the long-awaited report of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, released November 1, I must conclude the disappointing truth is the report doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know. -
Index Shows Impact of State Policies on Small Businesses
Opinion -Virtually all politicians say they support entrepreneurs and small businesses. But how does the political rhetoric match policy reality? -
Organization Aims to Protect Intellectual, Physical Property Rights
Opinion -A new organization whose goal is to bridge the gap between intellectual and physical property rights has been launched under the auspices of Americans for Tax Reform. The Property Rights Alliance (PRA) came into being on September 26, 2005. -
Total Recall
Opinion -California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) was elected during a Wild West-style recall election of former governor Gray Davis (D) in October 2003. -
Reform Activist Inspires Parents at Heartland Event
Opinion -Editor's note: In late October 2005, Virginia Walden Ford--executive director of D.C. -
California Air Cleaner than Ever
Opinion -New data from California's coastal cities show air quality in 2005 was remarkably high compared to years past, continuing a long-term trend. -
House Bill Would Update 1872 Mining Law, Allow New Claims
Opinion -The U.S. House of Representatives on November 18 approved revisions to a century-old mining law that would update the purchase price of mining claims on federal lands and rescind an 11-year moratorium on new mining claims. -
Florida Medicaid Plan Receives Federal Approval
Opinion -On October 19, 2005, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) announced the federal government has approved Florida's Medicaid transformation plan. -
Consumer-Directed Health Group Names Board of Directors
Opinion -The members of a newly founded advocacy group for consumer-directed health care met in Washington, DC on December 10 to elect its first board of directors. -
Eminent Domain Ruling Favors Virginia Family
Opinion -A Roanoke jury ruled November 16 that a housing authority that threatened to condemn and take a family's property for 20 years owes the family $281,590 in compensation. "You hope for more, but ... that's the way it goes," responded Dr. -
Earmarks Gone, Wasteful Federal Spending Remains
Opinion -Hurricane Katrina developed in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico before slamming into Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama last August 29--but two major symbols of Katrina's fiscal storm sit more than 3,000 miles away at the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of -
Washington Had Nation’s Only Successful Statewide Referenda
Opinion -Initiative 912 was one of five initiatives on the Washington ballot on election day. Two initiatives passed--one to require performance audits of government-funded programs, and one to restrict indoor smoking.