Daily news coverage of politics, policy, and issues shaping the nation.
The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia previewed the new George H.W. Bush Gallery last week and displayed its hallmark exhibition, “Constituting Liberty: From the Declaration to the Bill of Rights.” The gallery features a first-edition copy of the Declaration of Independence and a copy of the U.S. Constitution from its first public printing. But its star attraction—thanks…
In an effort to oust Gov. Rick Scott, billionaire activist Tom Steyer has underwritten a nearly $15 million campaign focusing on climate change, an issue one poll says few Florida voters care about. Steyer’s advocacy group, NextGen Climate Action, set up shop in Miami this year, targeting Scott as oblivious to global warming disasters, a…
When the Teamsters Union came knocking, Michael Romanchock refused to pony up the dues the union demanded. After all, he had worked nine months at his jobsite—a Pepsi bottling plant in Ebensburg, Pa.—and didn’t even know it was unionized. Why pay for services you cannot notice? This May, union officials threatened to have him fired…
In the final weeks of a heated governor’s race, Pennsylvania’s teachers unions have made their candidate preferences well known. For the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, one of the most powerful public-sector unions in the country, this has gone beyond the traditional activities of its political committee, raising some questions about how the union uses money collected…
Will Rick Santorum run for president again? The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania doesn’t waste time denying his interest. In between campaigning for fellow Republicans in the midterm elections, Santorum stopped Friday in Washington, D.C., to speak at The Heritage Foundation’s semiannual President’s Club meeting. Afterward, in an exclusive interview with The Daily Signal, Santorum discussed the…
It’s hard to imagine a more bedrock American right than being free to live according to your religious convictions. The very idea of being forced to violate your beliefs seems unthinkable. Unless you happen to believe that marriage refers exclusively to the union of a man and a woman. Because more and more often, the…
In the past few months, a former police chief in Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to voter fraud in a town-council election. That fraud had flipped the outcome of a primary election. Former Connecticut legislator Christina Ayala has been indicted on 19 charges of voter fraud, including voting in districts where she didn’t reside. (She hasn’t entered…
The headline in newspapers one recent weekend read like an April Fool’s joke, but it wasn’t April 1. The Obama administration announced it wants to provide a little more juice to the now-lackluster housing market by bending the home lending rules to make it easier for banks to make loans and marginal buyers to take…
In North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, characterized by seemingly ubiquitous and accusatory ads, incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan touts herself as a moderate lawmaker willing to compromise. She’s the “most moderate,” in fact, and she’s not afraid to say it. Hagan, who surprised Republican stalwart Elizabeth Dole in 2008, faces state House speaker Thom Tillis as…
In mid-October, during the peak of the democracy protests in Hong Kong, decidedly different demonstrators congregated outside the printing plant of Next Media, publisher of the Apple Daily newspaper. These demonstrators called for the fall of Jimmy Lai, the outspoken founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper despised by the ruling establishment in Hong Kong and…
Earlier this year, when the University of California, Santa Barbara, adopted a student-led resolution urging professors to include trigger warnings on class syllabi—statements which provide notice the coursework may include potentially upsetting material—pundits on both sides of the aisle reacted strongly. Months later, the debate has attracted a new caucus: academics. Ann Pellegrini, New York…
An amendment on the ballot in New Mexico could pave the way for taxpayers saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in school elections across the state. But critics say the wording of Constitutional Amendment 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot may so confuse voters they may end up simply skipping the question or even inadvertently…
Grant Gerber, a longtime Nevada rancher, attorney and land-rights activist, died last Saturday from injuries sustained during his cross-country ride in the Grass March on Washington, D.C. Earlier this month, Gerber, a 72-year-old county commissioner of Elko County, Nev., who earned a Bronze Star in Vietnam, led a group of ranchers and grassroots activists on…
MADISON, Wis. — Responding to allegations she was fired from her family’s firm in the 1990s, Mary Burke now says she was a victim of downsizing at Trek Bicycle Corp. “We reorganized and eliminated the position that I had, and I left that organization in charge of two other people who reported directly to the…
The failed launch and fiery explosion at the Wallops Island spaceport could blow up Virginia’s projected financial windfall at the commercial site. The state invested $26 million in 2009 to bring privately operated space flights to the Eastern Shore. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport was estimated to generate $4.25 billion for Virginia’s economy through 2020. After the…
Tunisia has been billed as the success story of the Arab Spring. As countries such as Syria, Libya and Egypt struggle with conflict, Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring in December 2010 — is positioning itself as a rare source of freedom and democracy in the region. “[Tunisia] offers the opportunity for the…
Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, a senior independent contributor to The Daily Signal, released video showing what she believes to be a hacker deleting data from her computer right before her eyes. Attkisson began experiencing technological problems during her reporting of the 2012 terrorist attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, she writes in her new…
Tragedy struck Mary Ann Mendoza’s family in May when an illegal immigrant, who was driving drunk, killed her son. Brandon Mendoza, a Mesa, Ariz., police officer, died in the crash along with Raul Silva-Corona of Mexico. Silva-Corona had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he was driving the wrong way on a…
Brad Reynolds received a text message, Oct. 24, from Maumee City Schools: “Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser tonight at Maumee High School. 5 – 6:30. $6 adults. $4 seniors/students. Students performing throughout” The text came from the School Messenger alert system — the one that’s supposed to be used to notify parents of an emergency or about…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul may be predictably progressive, but the powers at City Hall enthusiastically embrace the “1 percent.” The 1 percent, that is, of costs automatically taken off the top of local government construction projects, under a city ordinance mandating taxpayer-funded public art. Form counts as much as function in city infrastructure…