Opinion
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Texas Considers Rural Phone Universal Service Subsidy Reform
Opinion -Local government has been struggling with different approaches to mandated "universal service" programs since they were first instituted at the breakup of AT&T in 1984. -
Six Decades of Rural Phone Subsidies
Opinion -The practice of overcharging urban and long-distance customers to subsidize phone service in high-cost areas began in 1950, when federal and state regulators began making long-distance customers pay more of AT&T's costs. -
Microsoft-Yahoo! Merger Could Increase Internet Competition
Opinion -Since Microsoft Corp. approached Yahoo! Inc. in early February with an offer of $44. -
Better Public Safety Communications System Is a Matter of Life and Death
Opinion -A vivid example of the continuing need for communications interoperability among public safety organizations occurred on September 11, 2001, after the South Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed and police and fire offices in the North Tower were -
Kansas Legislators Urged to Reject Carbon Tax Plan
Opinion -Republican legislative leaders in Kansas introduced a measure to impsoe the nation's first carbon tax as a provision of a comprehensive energy bill. -
Chicago Taxes Jump $530 Million to Pay for Mass Transit
Opinion -A year after Illinois lawmakers began discussing a plan to bail out the Chicago region's mass transit system, the final piece of the plan fell into place. -
Parde Named President of National Taxpayers Union
Opinion -A face familiar to many Budget & Tax News readers has become the leader of an equally familiar pair of organizations. -
Kentucky Town Imposes Special Fines on Out-of-Town Drivers in Accidents
Opinion -Erlanger, Kentucky Police Chief Marc Fields is torn. He's concerned his city's recent decision to start collecting payment from out-of-town drivers at fault in traffic accidents will hurt his city's image. On the other hand, he's seen the numbers. -
Landowner Must Cut Redwoods to Accommodate Neighbor’s Solar Panels
Opinion -In a battle between next-door neighbor environmentalists, a Sunnyvale, California couple is being ordered to cut down their backyard redwood trees or face up to $1,000 per day in fines. -
Abuse, Misuse of Peer Review Process Allow Spread of Scientific Misinformation
Opinion -Those of us who regularly seek out information about scientific and medical subjects have learned there's a hierarchy of reliability. -
President Proposes Expanding DC School Voucher Program
Opinion -President George W. -
California Likely to Reject Federal Options to Reform Failing Schools
Opinion -With California facing a cash-strapped state budget, some choice advocates are calling for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to follow his tough reform talk by expanding parental options in education. -
Paying Students Can Pay Off
Opinion -Some schools' policies for rewarding student achievement have made the news lately. -
IT Deregulation Is Key to Economic Growth
Opinion -Bret Swanson of the Progress & Freedom Foundation and George Gilder of the Discovery Institute predict the U.S. Internet of 2015 will be at least 50 times larger than it was in 2006. -
Experts Say ‘Demand-Side’ Policies Needed to Close the Broadband Gap
Opinion -Current broadband policy is directed too much toward infrastructure development at the expense of demand-side initiatives that prove better at closing the gap in broadband adoption between the general population and certain demographics, particularly -
Crime Concerns Spur St. Louis Sales Tax Hike
Opinion -Voters in St. Louis have approved a half-cent sales tax increase to fund firefighter and police pensions and place more police officers on the streets. -
Tax Hikes Often Fail to Generate Expected Revenues
Opinion -State lawmakers are increasingly turning to tobacco taxes to balance state budgets and, they say, fund public health programs. -
January Weather Was Exceptionally Cold, Snowy
Opinion -January 2008 has been an exceptional month for winter weather, not only in North America but across the globe, according to numerous indicators. -
Climate Change Policy Must Encourage Innovation
Opinion -Participants at the United Nations climate change conference last December in Bali produced a roadmap for future negotiations and an agreement to complete by 2009 negotiations for a post-Kyoto climate change agreement. -
Baltimore Is Paying High School Students to Study
Opinion -The Baltimore school system has joined the ranks of districts experimenting with a controversial pay-based incentive plan to improve student test scores--but this time, it's not for teachers. -
School Choice Is Benefiting All Ohio Students
Opinion -In the past three years, more than 1,000 families throughout Youngstown, Ohio have taken advantage of the state's open-enrollment law, charter schools, and new statewide voucher program for students in chronically failing schools. -
Curricular Standards and Parental Choice Are Fully Compatible
Opinion -The idea of a split in the school choice movement has fascinated the mainstream media recently. -
Excessive, Discriminatory Taxes on Wireless Hurt Consumers, Business, and U.S. Economy
Opinion -Just as road and railroad building were critical to the economic viability of towns, cities, and states in the 1800s and 1900s, the data rates and carrying capacities of telecommunications links are equally critical to a community's being and remaining -
Switch to Digital Television Causing Confusion
Opinion -The federally mandated national changeover to digital television is less than a year away, meaning the end of analogue broadcast signals and more demand among consumers for digital programming.
