Free Republic

Twelve states filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration on Friday seeking to block an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to regulate coal-fired power plants in an effort to stem climate change. The plaintiffs are led by West Virginia and include states that are home to some of the largest producers of coal and consumers of coal-fired electricity. The suit was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The other plaintiffs are Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming. The E.P.A. rule, announced by President Obama on June...

A Broward judge must decide whether to recognize — and then dissolve — a lesbian’s Vermont civil union.

A recent report by JP Morgan’s Michael Cembalest provides a fresh look at the problem of state indebtedness. Cembalest, global head of investment strategy, is best known for his writings on housing and for flagging Bernard Madoff’s fund and refusing to invest in it, even while other divisions at JPMorgan gleefully did so. Cembalest looks at state governments’ annual payments towards bonded debt interest and retirement liabilities (defined-benefit and defined-contribution pensions as well as retiree healthcare benefits) expressed as percentage of total annual revenue. In addition to assessing states’ default risk, this approach quantifies exactly how much debt expenditures are...

A ballot initiative that would support breaking California into six smaller and more coherent states is being backed by Timothy Draper, a tech investor. It’s a great idea. But why stop with California? Breaking up all of the too-large states would increase both the accountability and efficiency of the U.S. government. America’s state governments are too big to be democratic and too small to be efficient. Given an adequate tax base, public services like public schools and hospitals, utilities and first responders are best carried out by cities and counties. Most infrastructure is either local or regional or national. Civil...

The border crisis is in full swing, leaving communities in Texas, California, Arizona, and around the country scrambling to find ways stop the federal government from dropping of illegals in their area.Thousands of minors are continuing to pour into the country, packing shelters like sardines and draining local economies, forcing many angry citizens to step up and protest the government’s plan to dump the immigrants without any form of support. A big part of the president’s job description is the enforcement of laws created by Congress. Unfortunately, Obama sees a political advantage in granting amnesty to illegals, so he refuses to...

(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors are developing a criminal fraud case hinged on whether General Motors made misleading statements about a deadly ignition switch flaw, and are examining activity dating back a decade, before GM's 2009 bankruptcy, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. At the same time, at least a dozen states are investigating the automaker. Two state officials said that effort is likely to focus on whether GM broke consumer protection laws. Both federal and state investigations into the switch, which is linked to at least 13 deaths and 54 crashes, are at early stages, and it is...

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker delivered his State of the State address in January 2013, he promised that an agenda of budget cutting, reduced taxes and less business regulation would result in a better economic climate and more jobs for his state. “Unlike the message coming out of Washington, I believe that putting more money in the hands of the people — instead of the government — is good for the economy,” said the Republican governor, who is known as a reformer. Walker is just one of several Republican governors who, with the help of friendly Republican-dominated state legislatures, have...

When President Obama took office in 2009, the U.S. economy was in the midst of the Great Recession of 2008. Five and a half years later, that historic swoon remains his excuse for continued economic stagnation. Whoever or whatever is to blame, neither his efforts nor luck nor a natural rebound have managed to restore America's job market to what it was in better times. The July 3 jobs report was a reminder that the economy is at least creating jobs again, albeit at a rate that barely keeps up with population growth. And national and state unemployment rates have...

New research takes a look at decades of corruption convictions to find the crookedest states in the union. When we think of government corruption (as one tends to do), our biased minds often gravitate to thoughts of military juntas and third world governments. But, of course, corruption is everywhere, in one form or another. And it’s costing U.S. citizens big time. A new study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2% of...

The federal Highway Trust Fund is running out of money, and some senators have proposed to fix the problem by raising gas taxes. This, however, is the wrong solution because it treats the symptom, and not the underlying reason for the shortfall. Here are five reasons for not increasing gas taxes. 1. The problem is not a shortage of funds but an excess of spending. For more than 50 years after Congress created the Highway Trust Fund in 1956 it was able to avoid a shortage of funds by a simple measure: it didn't spend more than was collected in...

You may have heard on the news about a Southern California man who was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found he owned 100 guns and allegedly had 100,000 rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel.

The happiest small-business owners are all in the Midwest and South, according to a new survey. Online job marketplace Thumbtack and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation surveyed more than 12,000 small-business owners across 38 states in the U.S. on topics concerning how easy it is to start and grow a small business in their state."Thousands of small-business owners across the country told us that the keys to a pro-growth environment are ease of compliance with tax and regulatory systems and helpful training programs," says Jon Lieber, Thumbtack's chief economist.Participants determined that the most important regulatory issue in determining their state's...

You’ve probably seen the recent reports of President Obama ordering the transport and dumping of thousands of Mexican Illegal Aliens into various states, particularly Arizona. According to DHS and ICE officials it’s because the border with Texas is overwhelmed with an influx of Mexican Nationals seeking U.S. status with pending Amnesty Immigration Legislation widely anticipated. Before looking at what DHS/ICE are actually doing, I would like to divert your immediate attention to this video. This video was taken in 2011, in the exact area where the U.S. Border Patrol are currently being overwhelmed. The Border Patrol has been overwhelmed by...

Christianity is by far the largest religion in the United States; more than three-quarters of Americans identify as Christians. A little more than half of us identify as Protestants, about 23 percent as Catholic and about 2 percent as Mormon. But what about the rest of us? In the Western U.S., Buddhists represent the largest non-Christian religious bloc in most states. In 20 states, mostly in the Midwest and South, Islam is the largest non-Christian faith tradition. And in 15 states, mostly in the Northeast, Judaism has the most followers after Christianity. Hindus come in second place in Arizona and...

The GOP-controlled House voted early Friday in favor of blocking the federal government from interfering with states that permit the use of medical marijuana. The somewhat surprising 219-189 vote came as the House debated a bill funding the Justice Department’s budget. The amendment by conservative GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California—the first state to legalize medical marijuana—came as almost half the states have legalized marijuana for medical uses, such as improving the appetites of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. …

Broadview Networks The above map, sent to us by Mike Simmons of Broadview Networks, shows the largest employer in every state. Broadview Networks used information from CareerOneStop, a database sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. Interestingly, only two companies in the top 10 largest employers in America — IBM and Wal-Mart — appear as a state front-runner. And the map doesn't feature other large companies, like UPS and McDonald's, at all.Instead, major state universities, like those in Alabama and Colorado, and innovative hospitals, like the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, employ the most residents in numerous states.In some states, like Alabama, when...

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today regarding the federal role in highway and transit funding.Federal policymakers are considering ways to close the large funding gap in the Highway Trust Fund. One option would be to reduce spending and downsize the federal role in transportation. That approach would encourage state governments to pursue their own innovative solutions for highways and transit, such as new types of user charges, public-private partnerships, and privatization.Federal aid programs for highways and transit have many shortcomings. Aid redistributes transportation funds between the states in ways that are...

There is an obvious disconnect in the minds of taxpayers between the amount we fork over each April and what we ultimately receive from the government in return. Tax Day is a tangible, painful reminder of our investments in federal, state and local governments, but it’s difficult to discern the government’s precise role in our day-to-day quality of life and overall pursuit of happiness. Perhaps that’s why 52% of people feel they pay too much in taxes and most people think roughly half of their tax dollars are being wasted.

A map of the U.S. shows the states where residents were the most and least likely to say they had recently donated to charity.Gallup There are only two U.S. states where at least 50 percent of residents say they've recently given either money or time to charity: Utah and Minnesota, according to a new Gallup poll. Nevada and Kentucky tied for the lowest rate of charitable giving.The poll was conducted in the last six months of 2013, when at least 600 residents of each state were asked whether they had donated money to a charity or volunteered at an...

Finally, after being headquartered in Torrance, Calif., for half a century, Toyota has had enough of CaliforniaÂ’s anti-business, anti-growth policies and is packing its bags and moving to Plano, Texas, where the contrast couldnÂ’t be greater. And Toyota is not alone in fleeing California. You can tell a lot about the hot spots in America by tracking where Americans are moving to and where they are running from. Every year, about 3 million Americans move from one state to another; the combined adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of these movers and shakers is over $140 billion. Last week, the IRS...