News Round-up
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ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT The Heartland Institute this week released a 57-page slide presentation produced by its legal counsel titled “Criminal Referral of Dr. Peter H. Gleick Talking Points.” The report, presented to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, asked the government to prosecute Pacific Institute President Peter Gleick, a prominent climate scientist and environmental activist. New York Times columnist John Broder experienced a rude surprise recently when he test-drove a taxpayer-subsidized Tesla sedan. Like its many failed cousins in the Green Economy, the Tesla sedan delivered very little for all its taxpayer funding and left him stranded in the freezing cold. President Barack Obama in his second inaugural address called for new action to “respond to the threat of climate change.” Leaving aside the question of whether the threat of manmade global warming (aka “climate change”) is real, his call for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is another reason Virginia should lift its moratorium on uranium mining. “Already,” President Obama claimed last night, “the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.” Wait, is that right? Health care spending growth growing at a low rate precedes Obamacare? It was so effective, it worked before it even passed! Is Obamacare bad for the young? In a short answer, yes -- if "bad" means "forcing young people to buy more expensive health insurance than they need" is bad. And for most young, healthy people, that impact on your wallet isn't viewed as good. The Obama administration said it will not provide broad exceptions to the contraception mandate in its signature healthcare law. The Health and Human Services Department rejected calls to let any employer opt out of the mandate based on religious objections to contraception. But the department took new steps to remove religiously affiliated employers from the process of paying for their employees’ contraception coverage. EDUCATION A lawmaker has filed a bill that would withdraw Georgia from Common Core national education standards and prohibit personal information that tests collect from being shared outside the state. Iowa’s teacher-preparation programs fail to produce graduates who are ready to lead a classroom, according to a new study that quickly drew fire from some educators. School choice is getting mighty popular among families, teachers, and legislators. Twenty-nine governors officially recognized National School Choice Week (NSCW) in the last week of January, and state legislatures are brimming with voucher and charter school legislation. BUDGETS AND TAXES Sales tax collections in the United States are on the rise and at an all-time high, according to TaxConnex, America’s leading independent provider of sales and use tax outsourcing and consulting services. The NAACP and the Hispanic Federation went to court in January to block a ban on large sugared soft drinks that New York City is set to begin enforcing in March. They join the American Beverage Association in challenging the ban, arguing it would hit small and minority-owned businesses especially hard. FINANCE, INSURANCE, REAL ESTATE French president Francois Hollande’s statement saying that the euro should not fluctuate according to the mood of the market; the complaint by Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker about the euro being “dangerously high”; and the Bank of Japan’s recent decision to weaken the yen with “aggressive” quantitative easing confirm what we already knew: The world is at monetary war. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching an inquiry into the impact of financial products marketed to students through colleges and universities. It will then determine whether these arrangements are in the best interest of students. TECH Wireless consumers in the United States pay more than 17 percent in taxes and fees on average on their cell phone bills, including more than 11 percent in state and local charges, according to a new analysis by the Tax Foundation. Via a video by Mike Wendy of MediaFreedom.org, Less Government's Seton Motley — a policy advisor for The Heartland Institute on telecom and technology issues and frequent guest on the tech episodes of the Heartland Daily Podcast — talks about what President Obama's next pick for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission may do to the Internet. LEGAL AFFAIRS Ten years ago the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) sued Ringling Bros.–Barnum & Bailey circus for alleged mistreatment of its elephants. Now the litigation is ending with the ASPCA agreeing to pay the circus $9.3 million for alleged litigation abuse. |
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