Regulation

Liquor Store Loan? Don’t Bank on It

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 16, 2017

Gov. Wolf’s plan to borrow more than $1 billion against PLCB revenue to balance the budget makes little sense. Under Wolf’s plan to “monetize” our liquor system, the state’s General…

Commentary

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Regulation

An Inhospitable Tax Increase

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • October 4, 2017

Another day, another tax. The newest plan to fill a $2.2 billion budget hole includes a 5 percent increase to the hotel tax, along with a new tax on fireworks and third-party online…

Media

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State Budget

Pennsylvania’s Small Towns Need Harrisburg to Think Big

  • August 25, 2017

The stories are all too familiar. In towns hollowed out by economic downturns, Pennsylvanians are struggling to get by. Many are wondering when, or if, things will get better. Small…

Media

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Government Accountability

News Release: $65 Million in Earmarks Hidden in State’s Fiscal Code

  • August 16, 2017

Pennsylvanians shouldn’t need a decoder ring to know how their tax dollars are being spent. But lawmakers have hidden more than $65 million in vaguely worded earmarks in the Senate-passed…

Press Release

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Taxes & Economy

The Fizz Tax Is on the Fritz

  • August 15, 2017

Philadelphia’s soda tax was the final blow to the Orlando family’s nearly 70-year-old bakery. The business closed earlier this month following a steep decline in sales after the soda…

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Erie Suspends Costly Ghost Teaching

  • Jessica Barnett
  • August 1, 2017

Someone in Erie must have called the ghostbusters. Last August, the Erie School District and the Erie Education Association signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) ending ghost teaching in…

Media

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Education

Op-Ed: Contract Secrecy Plagues Public Schools

  • James Paul
  • July 20, 2017

Taxpayers were kept in the dark, only to be slipped a $395 million bill—along with the admission that there’s no way to pay for it—at the 11th hour. These secret…

Commentary

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Public Union Democracy

Ghost Teachers Exposed by NBC Philadelphia

  • Gina Diorio
  • July 6, 2017

The ghost teaching phenomenon is continuing to garner major media coverage—this time, a multi-part NBC10 Philadelphia investigation. Investigative reporter Mitch Blacher gets to the bottom of union work on school…

Media

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