Do Charter Schools Take the Joy Out of Learning?
This article in the Salt Lake Tribune tells the woeful tale of some overworked kindergartners. These kids spend several hours...
St. Louis City And County: Divided With Love
Today’s Post-Dispatch has the history behind the famous 1876 split between St. Louis County and city. This coincides nicely with...
Switching to Private Utilities Could Fund Springfield’s Pension Shortfall
The city of Springfield is currently struggling to deal with a significantly underfunded public pension plan. Officials recently attempted to...
Build a Better Mousetrap, Then Run an Ad Campaign
It’s not unusual to see some ignominious mention of SLPS in newspaper articles about education. The reference goes something like...
Ridiculous Lawsuit Over Assessments in Jackson County
Talk about having your cake and eating it, too. School districts loved it when property values skyrocketed throughout this decade along...
Missouri Suffers From the Saint Louis and Kansas City Earnings Taxes
The Saint Louis and Kansas City earnings taxes, 1-percent income taxes imposed on those living or working within city limits,...
Small but Notable Government Consolidation in Kansas City
It is always dangerous to talk before you have all the facts, as a certain person sharing a beer today...
Political Fix and “Saturday Night Live”
I was blessed with a pretty good memory, especially for words and numbers — less so for faces. So when I...
Traffic Studies and the New I-64
Freakonomics has some links to interesting studies of traffic congestion. The studies indicate that, paradoxically, sometimes a reduction in road...
Another Great “You Paid For It” Segment on Eminent Domain Abuse
A few nights ago, Fox 2 in St. Louis broadcast a “You Paid For It” story about eminent domain. Featuring...
Great Privatization Success for Kansas City Animals
Check out this article in the Kansas City Star, and these comments over at Toellner Tells It, about the recent privatization...
Can I Open a Day Care Center in a Tattoo Parlor?
The Post-Dispatch has had some fine articles recently about occupations involving state licensing. Both articles apply statewide, not just in...
Energy Monopoly: Less Is Not More
Show-Me Policy Pulse cited an AP article that appeared in the Kansas City Star on Sunday about the “energy efficiency”...
David Stokes on the News
I didn’t catch David Stokes on Fox 2 last night in St Louis, but fortunately the clip is online. Dave...
All-Star Earnings Taxes
Sunday’s Post-Dispatch had a good article about a planned attempt by the St. Louis city collector’s office to apply the...
Earnings Tax Burden Is Too Heavy
In a recent article for the St. Louis Beacon, the Show-Me Institute’s vice president Joseph Haslag and intern Alex Schulte...
Puppy Mills Are Terrible, But Is Licensing the Solution?
The attorney general’s office has recently announced a crackdown of sorts on unlicensed dog breeders in Missouri, commonly referred to...
What Does the Earnings Tax Cost Saint Louis and Kansas City?
Missouri’s two largest cities are shrinking relative to the rest of the United States. The city of Saint Louis is...
Bill McClellan on Property Taxes and Country Clubs
I am a huge Bill McClellan fan. For those of you outside of St. Louis who are not familiar with him,...
Quo Vadis, Domine?
I’ve just had the chance to look at the papers filed with the city of St. Louis, requesting the formation...
