Teachers report increase in student behavioral issues

A survey of nearly 1,900 elementary school teachers, administrators and staff from 41 public school districts across the country reveals the vast majority of educators perceive an alarming increase in behavioral disruptions in elementary school classrooms over the past three years.

Panera Cares Closes Last “Pay-What-You-Can-Restaurant”

The article below was originally printed in The Blaze and details the spectacular failure of the “test of humanity” conducted by the founder of Panera. It turns out people won’t magically pay their “fair share” when there is no accountability. By effectively reducing the price of the meals to nothing, demand skyrocketed and the company hemorrhaged money, and eventually had to cap the number of free meals it would give to the homeless. Panera Bread will be closing its last pay-what-you-can restaurant, located in Boston, on Feb. 15. The move comes after the business’s “nonprofit” restaurant concept became unviable. On Tuesday, Eater reported that...

In the Tank Episode 178 Green New Deal FAQ Fail, 70% Tax Rate!? Pacific Legal Foundation

Donny, Isaac, and Justin talk about how the Green New Deal saga gets even crazy, what would increasing top marginal tax rates to 70 percent accomplish, California's failed high-speed rail, and an interview with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

AMERICAN EXPERIMENT BOOK SHELF

Amtrak Launches New Effort to Revive Failed Passenger Line to Duluth

Amtrak’s operating loss for 2018 came in at $168 million–and they’re proud of it. Never mind that the passenger line would be even more in the red if the cost of depreciation and other expenses were included. Yet it’s the lowest operating loss ever since the inception of the taxpayer-subsidized rail line in 1972, cause for celebration in their world. All told, it was “the best performance in Amtrak’s history,” Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said in an interview. With the bar set low, it should be no surprise that Amtrak officials want to revive another money-losing passenger rail line that...

Minnesota’s economic news, w/e 2/15/19

A round-up of the last week’s economic news stories in Minnesota.

Green New Delusion Would Require Lots of Mining, But Will Walz Allow it in MN?

The Green New Deal (GND) has become the talk of the down despite the fact that Ernie Moniz, the head of the Department of Energy under the Obama administration, has called the deal impractical. However, renewable energy advocates are pressuring lawmakers in St. Paul to push ahead with their own GND for Minnesota, but the question remains, where will the copper, nickel, cobalt, and manganese come from? An article from Geologyforinvestors.com suggests there will be as many as 125 million electric cars on the road within the next decade, which may be overly optimistic, but we’ll see. The more important...

What Elizabeth Warren Could Have Taught Marco Defunis

As you read the blog below, keep in mind how Sen. Elizabeth Warren declared herself to be an American Indian when she thought Harvard Law School would thereby afford her extra consideration, perhaps even points. The first big affirmative action case in higher education to reach the U.S. Supreme Court was not the famous Bakke case in 1978 but the less-well-known Defunis case in 1974.  For those who don’t recall it (or somehow didn’t write a dissertation about affirmative action in the academy in 1980), Marco Defunis’s application for admission to the University of Washington law school was originally rejected. ...