Commentary

Education

Cyber Proposal Undermines Cherished School Option

• Priya Brannick
• January 29, 2013

The Matunis girls are just two of some 32,000 students statewide who are thriving at cyber schools.  New legislation unveiled in Harrisburg, however, could do serious damage to cyber…

Commentary

Regulation

Pension Bomb to Hit Pennsylvania Families

• Nathan Benefield
• January 18, 2013

Are you ready to pay an additional $1,000 in state and local taxes alone?  Prepared to see your child's teacher laid off? Thanks to bad promises politicians made to good…

Commentary

Taxes & Economy

Promise Land Panned: Mike’s Story

• January 7, 2013

In the movie Promised Land, Matt Damon plays a smooth talking land man who is sent to rural Pennsylvania to secure the rights to drill for natural gas on locals'…

Commentary

Regulation

Averting the “Lottery Cliff” for Seniors and Taxpayers

• Elizabeth Stelle
• January 3, 2013

From the greatest generation to the latest generation, Pennsylvania’s seniors have worked a lifetime to build this great commonwealth through hard work and sacrifice, but are now being told the…

Commentary

Education

Handouts Hurting Poor, Help Up a Better Way

• Charles Mitchell
• December 12, 2012

The holidays are a great time to be grateful for the gifts we've received.  And, as we remember well, fallen Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney claimed that some Americans have…

Commentary

Education

Pa. Must Pull Parent Trigger to Save Education

• September 28, 2012

Martin Luther King Jr. believed that, "unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality."  If correct, then no stronger love or enduring truth can personify his…

Commentary

Public Union Democracy

Why Cities Fail

• Matthew Brouillette
• September 10, 2012

Harrisburg is broke.  Literally.  So are 26 other cities across the commonwealth that are stuck in the state's Act 47 program for financially strapped municipalities.  Many enter in – like…

Commentary

Government Accountability

Labor Day is for Taxpayers, Not Unions

• Matthew Brouillette
• August 29, 2012

Comprising the government employee unions, private sector unions, trial lawyers, extreme greens, and other nonprofits that feed off taxpayer money, the Union Party is aligned for a single purpose:  To…

Commentary

Taxes & Economy

Fix Welfare to Protect Poor, Save Taxpayers

• Elizabeth Stelle
• August 21, 2012

Despite prevalent evidence showing the current welfare system does irreparable harm by trapping families and children in a cycle of poverty, presumptive Republican vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to…

Commentary

Criminal Justice Reform

Don’t Fire Arrows without Arrowheads in Corrections Reform

• July 24, 2012

Reforming our state corrections system is not being soft on crime—it is being smart on crime.  To achieve transformative corrections reform, lawmakers should finish this critical legislative package and build…

Commentary

Education

Massive Strategic Victory for Kids

• Matthew Brouillette
• July 16, 2012

I've long been convinced that Thomas Jefferson was exactly right when he wrote, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never…

Commentary

State Budget

Olympic Hurdles Grab for Gold in Pennsylvania Budget

• Nathan Benefield
• July 3, 2012

This July signals the beginning and end of two feats requiring amazing determination, stamina and perseverance—the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics and the on-time passage of the Pennsylvania state…

Commentary

Criminal Justice Reform

Pennsylvania Passes Proven Prison Reform

• June 29, 2012

Pennsylvania's inmate population and rate of recidivism have reached crisis levels in recent years.  Since 1980, Pennsylvania's inmate population increased over 500% between 1980 and 2009. …

Commentary

Education

Lawmakers & Businesses Can Rescue Students Now

• Priya Brannick
• June 14, 2012

If lawmakers were in any doubt about how dire Pennsylvania's education crisis has become, they need only look to Harrisburg mother Taisha Bartow and her 5-year-old daughter, Alayaisha.

Commentary

Criminal Justice Reform

Pennsylvania’s Blueprint for Better Public Safety

• June 12, 2012

As Pennsylvania confronts another tight budget, Governor Corbett and legislative leaders must address the skyrocketing costs of prisons. Obviously, there are dangerous people who should be locked up to protect…

Commentary

State Budget

Limit Growth of Government to Protect Taxpayers

• June 6, 2012

We must face a simple fact:  The General Assembly will act only when it has no alternative.  Therefore, the only way to restrain spending and avoid hitting the fiscal iceberg…

Commentary

Criminal Justice Reform

Commonsense Can Correct Corrections

• Matthew Brouillette
• May 22, 2012

Kyle, a convicted burglar sentenced to 1-3 years in Pennsylvania state prison, was granted parole in June 2011, but spent an extra 100 days in jail, not because he failed…

Commentary

Government Accountability

Let’s Do It For Them – VOTE!

• April 20, 2012

You've surely heard it said that you and I have a right to vote.  Well, I believe we also have a responsibility—not just to vote, but to cast an informed…

Commentary

Regulation

Government-run Golf a Taxpayer Double Bogey

• April 11, 2012

Believe it or not, local governments, i.e., taxpayers, own 49 golf courses in Pennsylvania.  One of the poorest performers is Dauphin Highlands Golf Course, owned by Dauphin County taxpayers, which…

Commentary

Pennsylvania Legislative Candidate Survey 2012

• April 9, 2012

This year, Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls to elect 203 men and women to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and 25 members to the Pennsylvania Senate. To help…

Commentary

Education

Education Spending: The Rest of the Story

• Elizabeth Stelle
• April 3, 2012

Since Gov. Corbett's budget proposal, those who profit from Pennsylvania's $26 billion a year public school system have been gnashing teeth over what they claim is an "underfunding" of the…

Commentary