Regulation

PLCB’s Sultan of Syrah Surrenders Silently

  • January 21, 2013

For those in the public relations business, a state-issued news release dropped on a weekend buttressed by a holiday is the media equivalent of the midnight pay raise.  But that’s…

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Taxes & Economy

How Do Pa. Gas Taxes Stack Up?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 17, 2013

In the wake of reports Gov. Corbett will unveil a transportation funding plan that includes increasing the cap on the Oil Company Franchise Tax, the Tax Foundation has put…

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Union Politics Hinder Prosperity

  • Priya Brannick
  • January 16, 2013

Businessman Jerry Shenk argues in today’s Harrisburg Patriot-News that tough economic realities forced lawmakers to reexamine union privileges in their traditional strongholds of Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana—and that Pennsylvania…

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Health Care

Federal Funds Create Perverse Incentives

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • January 15, 2013

There’s no such thing as a free lunch, just like there’s no such thing as free money from the federal government. But you wouldn’t know that by reading a recent…

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Education

California School Parents Make History

  • Priya Brannick
  • January 10, 2013

The win didn’t come easy, but parents at Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, Calif. finally prevailed this week in putting the failing school under new charter school management, becoming…

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Public Union Democracy

Lottery Agreement Better Than Union Guesstimate

  • Elizabeth Stelle, Nathan Benefield
  • January 10, 2013

AFSCME’s counter proposal to the Pennsylvania Lottery private management agreement (PMA) provides no guaranteed revenue for senior services, no new jobs and no protections for taxpayers if profits fall…

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Criminal Justice Reform

Milestone Corrections Reform Offers Taxpayer Savings

  • January 9, 2013

On the heels of Pennsylvania’s historic decline in prison population—the largest one-year decline in four decades—the Department of Corrections announced today the imminent closure of two older prisons.

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Education

What’s Behind Pennsylvania’s D+ on Education?

  • Priya Brannick
  • January 9, 2013

StudentsFirst, a bipartisan education reform group, released report cards for all 50 states evaluating individual state education laws and policies—and the news wasn’t good for Pennsylvania,…

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Public Union Democracy

Union Attacks Won’t Improve Lottery

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 9, 2013

AFSCME Council 13, the union representing state lottery employees, released its “Alternatives” to a lottery private management agreement.  However, their document doesn’t represent a serious counter-proposal that would…

Media

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