The Lone Star state boasts all-star status when it comes to job creation and economic growth. Writing for City Journal, Wendell Cox brings us a great in-depth look at one of the healthiest state economies in the U.S. Texas job creation is well above the national average, with the number of jobs having grown 31.5 […]

Persistent droughts have plagued U.S. ethanol this year, as a poor corn crop has put pressure on supply chains. The Boston Globe has the story: The Renewable Fuels Association, a trade group, provided data showing that of the nation’s 211 ethanol plants, 20 have ceased production over the past year, including five in January. Most remain […]

Beppe Grillo isn’t joking anymore. The wrinkled, floppy-haired former comedian addressed thousands of his Italian supporters who braved freezing air in the foothills of the Alps a few days ago. Just as he has done for many months across the country, he poured scorn on his country’s politicians. Against all odds, he has become a political […]

It’s game on in the UK. A legal report released today by the British government argues that if Scotland votes for independence, it will have to renegotiate its membership in the EU and other international organizations. Scottish independence advocates were understandably aggravated. The NYT reports: “For the U.K. government to argue that the U.K. will be […]

An American Bar Association task force on law schools is suggesting several major changes to a legal education, among them: reducing the length of programs from three years to two, shifting the focus of legal education towards the practice of law rather than theory, and, perhaps most interesting, providing training for lower-level legal assistants along the lines of […]

Once again President Obama has found the sour spot in his foreign policy—this time on Syria. Already pilloried by the left and right for his garbled strategy, Obama is now drawing the ire of the center as well. Following Leon Panetta’s admission last week that the President overruled his national security team’s wish to arm […]

Germany’s Environment Minister told a radio show Monday that he “can’t see fracking being used anywhere in Germany in the foreseeable future.” The Associated Press brings us the story via Fox News: Environment Minister Peter Altmaier told Deutschlandfunk radio Monday that Germany’s government is working to ensure the practice is subject to limits and he wouldn’t advise […]

American universities may finally be catching up to Iran on LGBT rights. Our foe to the east offers state-funded sexual reassignment surgeries. Now Brown University’s student health insurance plan will also be picking up the tab for 14 different gender-shifting surgeries starting in August. The Brown Daily Herald reports: “We identified this as an important benefit for […]

The big news this morning is that Pope Benedict XVI says that he will resign by the end of February, the first pope to do so in just under 600 years. Read the official statement, courtesy of ABC News. The key passage: After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the […]

The next financial market meltdown may already be brewing: not in the housing market, this time, but in municipal bonds. Greedy bankers, opportunistic politicians and hobbled regulators are putting a time bomb in the muni market that could set off another devastating crash.California is leading the way.It is starting out innocently enough. Looking to expand […]