In case you missed it…
National School Choice Week:
Despite temperatures in the 20s on Wednesday morning, hundreds of students, parents and teachers braved the cold and rallied at the Capitol Building in Carson City for National School Choice Week. The crowd cheered on a handful of speakers, and held signs urging policymakers to expand educational choice in the Silver State. Nevada Policy Research Institute’s Karen Gray pointed out that with Education Savings Accounts on the agenda for 2017, the rally lets lawmakers know there is a substantial grassroots movement fighting to empower parents and students with choice in education. (Read more)
Education reform:
School choice isn’t a new concept — it has been tried repeatedly, and its success is obvious. Carlos and Calvin Battle grew up in the poorest neighborhood in Washington D.C., where gang violence and poverty are nearly inescapable. And yet, because of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program — D.C.’s school choice program — these two brothers now see more opportunity for their future than they ever thought possible. (Watch the video)
Cronyism:
During Thursday’s Stadium Authority Board meeting in Las Vegas, the Oakland Raiders organization submitted its proposal for leasing the $1.9 billion domed stadium, once it is built. Under the proposed lease, the team would pay a mere $1 per year for use of the partially taxpayer-funded facility. Board members will review the 107-page document with their legal counsel and discuss it in detail during a meeting next month. (Read more)
Labor unions:
Labor unions continue to decline in membership, as more workers embrace their freedom to opt out of membership. Union membership fell below 11 percent nationwide in 2016, as 240,000 due-paying members exited. Currently, about 14.6 million workers remain in labor organizations — approximately half as many as in 1983, when the federal government began tracking such data. (Read more)
Economic growth:
Since the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis began tracking Gross Domestic Product growth in 1929, America has seen only one 11-year stretch when annual growth in real GDP failed to hit 3 percent. That was 2006 through 2016 — the longest stretch of sub-par growth on record. (Read more)