Media

State Budget

Chart of the Day: Pennsylvania Operating Budget since 1970

• Nathan Benefield
• March 16, 2012

Pennsylvania’s total state operating budget increased for 40 consecutive years before being reduced last year.  The cumulative increase of 151 percent—adjusted for inflation—represents more than $12,000 per family of four…

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Taxes & Economy

For Dimock, The Verdict Is In

• March 16, 2012

In an update to the ongoing saga of federal overreach in Dimock, Pa., the Environmental Protection Agency has released results of drinking water testing at 11 area homes…

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Education

It’s Good to be the King (of Charter Schools)

• Priya Brannick
• March 16, 2012

We blogged last month about HB 1973, a bill that would gut funding for cyber schools.  Now it turns out there’s a bill—recently introduced to the House Education Committee—that…

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Oh, SNAP! Welfare Cheats Sentenced

• March 15, 2012

Weeks ago we published our take on welfare cheats and made the case for reinstating the asset test in order to rid the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…

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Education

Principled, Punchy Pols Are Popular Pols

• Charles Mitchell
• March 15, 2012

I’ve written previously in this space about Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has garnered enormous popularity while governing courageously.  Today, with a new Quinnipiac poll about Gov.

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Criminal Justice Reform

Saving Rather than Spending in Corrections

• March 14, 2012

Last week, PCN’s Call In Program featured a great discussion with PA Corrections Sec. John Wetzel. The Secretary is committed to both saving money and improving safety by making sure…

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Regulation

House Passes Corporate Welfare Reform

• Elizabeth Stelle
• March 14, 2012

This week the Pennsylvania House passed RACP (pronounced RCAP) reform by a wide margin of 184 to 9. RACP – the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program – is a political…

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Taxes & Economy

Fighting Fiction with Fracking Facts

• March 13, 2012

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to Tea Party Patriots of Central Pa on environmental aspects of natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania and new Marcellus Shale regulations and…

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Government Accountability

National Popular Vote: Radical Shift in Elections

• Nathan Benefield
• March 13, 2012

Yesterday, the House Republic Policy Committee held a hearing on National Popular Vote (NPV). If passed, Pennsylvania would join a compact of states agreeing to award their electoral votes…

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Education

Does School Choice Harm Public Schools?

• March 12, 2012

This is a common question among school choice skeptics about whether school choice drains funding from public schools. According to new research by The Friedman Foundation for Educational…

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Criminal Justice Reform

Chart of the Day: Corrections Spending

• March 12, 2012

Today’s chart highlights the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ skyrocketing spending since 1980. This unsustainable growth is part of the four-alarm fire that threatens Pennsylvania’s fiscal house. For more…

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War on Welfare Fraud Raging

• March 12, 2012

Look out welfare swindlers, there’s a new sheriff in town and he aims to take you off the street and protect taxpayer money.  And that’s not just tough talk; he’s…

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Budget numbers often depend on whose numbers they are

• March 11, 2012

Media Hit

The Price of Battle

• March 11, 2012

Media Hit

PLCB Smells Like Teen Spirit

• March 9, 2012

Smell that, PLCB?  No, it’s not what the Rock’s been cookin’ or teen spirit, it’s the sweet smell of freedom wafting from places like Seattle today where Washington state begins the…

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Education

Does Underfunding Pensions “Help the Kids”?

• Nathan Benefield
• March 9, 2012

A letter I recently submitted to the Allentown Morning Call on state education subsidies and pension funding: The Morning Call’s article on state subsidies to school districts has…

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Public Union Democracy

Big Bucks for Government Union Bosses

• Priya Brannick
• March 8, 2012

Union bosses frequently criticize corporate CEOs and government leaders for supposedly taking home hefty pay at workers’ expense. Just this week, protesters picketed House Majority Whip Stan Saylor’s office…

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Of Mice, Barbie and Prevailing Wage

• March 8, 2012

In March of 1961, the Soviet Union shot a dog, some mice and a guinea pig into space.  Meanwhile, back in the U.S., nine black students from Mississippi…

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Criminal Justice Reform

Nurses’ Union Opposes Corrections Reform

• March 7, 2012

At yesterday’s House Appropriations Committee, Department of Corrections Sec. John Wetzel explained his roadmap to reducing corrections spending, now the third-largest department in the General Fund Budget. What was…

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Sounding spending alarm

• March 7, 2012

Media Hit

Public Union Democracy

Construction Workers Picket Rep. Saylor

• Priya Brannick
• March 6, 2012

No sooner did we release research documenting the iron grip of Pennsylvania’s labor unions on the commonwealth’s taxpayers than they obliged us with a case-in-point on union bullying tactics.

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