Public Union Democracy

Three Ways Lawmakers are Expanding Worker Rights

  • Jessica Barnett
  • December 13, 2018

Over the last two years, Pennsylvania lawmakers have taken great effort to improve our state’s labor laws to protect workers’ basic rights. However, as brave public servants like Greg Hartnett, an…

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Taxes & Economy

Bureaucrats are Keeping Pennsylvanians Dependent on Food Stamps

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • December 13, 2018

Great things are happening in our economy, including more job opportunities and rising incomes. Yet, Pennsylvania is continuing to see near-record food stamp enrollment. The Census Bureau's newly-released American…

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Education

Gesu School: Education Choice in Action – Part I

  • Marc LeBlond
  • December 12, 2018

Drive down Schuylkill Expressway, exit 342 past the Philadelphia Zoo, across the Girard Bridge—eventually you’ll arrive in North Philly, home of Gesu School. The surrounding neighborhood has all the…

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State Budget

Budget Outlook: Restrained Spending Growth

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 12, 2018

On Tuesday, Budget Secretary Randy Albright gave the mid-year budget briefing (slides available here) for the 2018-19 budget. If you’re expecting a repeat of the Wolf Administration’s tax-and-spend rhetoric…

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Taxes & Economy

Will Carbon Taxes Bring Paris Protests to Pa?

  • Gordon Tomb
  • December 11, 2018

“Nothing reveals the disconnect between ordinary voters and an aloof political class more than carbon taxation,” write the editors of the Wall Street Journal. As French “yellow vest”…

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Public Union Democracy

Union Leaders: Resignation Denied

  • Jessica Barnett
  • December 11, 2018

William Neely is a psychiatric aide in Berks County and a 15-year union member. Mr. Neely felt his union leaders, AFSCME 13, no longer represented his interests, and attempted to resign…

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Government Accountability

Union Leaders Lied, Now Members Sue

  • Jessica Barnett
  • December 10, 2018

Unions should represent employees, not work against their own members’ interests. Yet, that’s exactly what happened to public sector workers in Erie—and some are pushing back. During closed-door negotiation…

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Education

Education Spending 2017-18: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

  • Marc LeBlond
  • December 7, 2018

In early 2017, Rep. Dave Reed acknowledged the importance of education spending to everything the General Assembly tackles: We have an amazing opportunity. … We get to…

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Health Care

Four Ways Pa. Lawmakers Can Reduce the Cost of Health Care

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • December 6, 2018

Bureaucracy just makes things worse. Case in point: Obamacare. Pennsylvanians have faced soaring health care costs and far fewer options ever since the law was passed.   Thankfully, a…

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