Back in the Air Again
The Antiplanner is flying to Orlando today for the eighth annual Preserving the American Dream conference. I’ll also be traveling for the following two weeks through October 7. Postings during this time may be light, especially if I can’t find good internet connections.
It’s as Important as Ever for Colorado Parents to Know their Educational Options
The new week brings an interesting Ed News Colorado story from new writer Katie Kerwin McCrimmon called “Keeping Up with the Dunruds.” The story highlights a Denver family with a boy about my own age who sounds like he shares some of my penchant for prodigy:
Braeden Dunrud was riding in the family car when he […]
Another Rail Project Goes Overbudget
With phase 1 already under construction, planners now say that phase 2 of Washington’s Dulles Airport rail line will cost almost 50 percent more than previously projected. Of course, the bus-rapid transit project that most people wanted could be running today at a fraction of the cost. One way to save money, planners say, would […]
Non-Union PACE Keeps Adding Teacher Members
Colorado remains a state where teachers have true membership options. Now in its fourth year, the non-union Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE) continues to add teacher members. PACE director of membership Megan Leatham explains what the growing organization is about, as well as some of its legal and professional development services.
How Much Does Government Cost You?
Thanks to our friends at the Independent Institute out in Oakland, California, regular folks like us can figure out just how much the government is costing us in direct payments and in lost earnings over our lifetime. From the About Page on the MyGovCost website, The Government Cost Calculator is a unique service from The […]
Highways Safer Than Ever
It’s official: fewer than 34,000 people died in highway accidents in 2009. That is the fewest highway fatalities since 1950 and the lowest fatality rate per billion vehicle miles in automotive history. In 1910, nearly 450 people died for every billion vehicle miles driven. This declined to 150 by 1930, 72 by 1950, under 50 […]
Denver School Performance Framework Shows Signs of Reform Progress
The big local education news of the day is the release of the latest results from Denver’s School Performance Framework. SPF — which in this case has nothing to do with how much protection you get from the sun — takes into account a host of measures of how DPS schools are performing, with an […]
Get Ready for Your Health Care ‘Re-Education’
Paul Hsieh, MD writes: … rather than acknowledging that their health care plan [Hr 3590] is fundamentally flawed, the Obama administration is trying to pretend that the problem is merely one of bad public relations. Hence, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has stated that “we have a lot of re-education to do.” […]
Colorado’s Great Green Deception
Colorado’s Great Green Deception: If HB 1001 Seems too Good to Be True, It’s Because It Is By William Yeatman and Amy Oliver Cooke Last March, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) signed HB 1001, a mandate requiring investor- owned utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity sales from renewable energy sources by 2020. The […]
Private Transit
Many analyses of transit presume that, if government did not subsidize transit, transit wouldn’t exist and everyone who rides it would instead be driving cars. In fact, there are many private transit lines, but they are hard to find partly because the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database only includes lines that are subsidized and […]
Hey, Betcha Didn’t Even Know Obama Addressed Students Yesterday
Flash back to last September. Remember the big brouhaha about President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren? I commented on it a few times. To me the big deal was the creepy notes created by the Department of Education for teachers that promoted a sort of worshipful, service-oriented attitude toward the President. But no need to rehash […]
High-Speed Fantasy Land
One of the strongest arguments critics raise against California high-speed rail is that it will require huge operating subsidies. Promoters promised that not only would fares cover operating costs, the trains would earn such large operating profits that private investors would be willing to put up around 20 percent of the capital costs if they […]
