The Baines Report
By Ardian Shaholli Amid the inflation rate reaching a 40-year high, there is an understandable impetus for the Federal Reserve to take action. It has raised interest rates four times during the first seven months of this year, including two 0.75% rate hikes, the highest increase since 1994. Back in May of this year, Federal […]
By Sabrina Page You can learn a lot about population change in Texas simply by entering the parking lot of your local HEB. When I moved to Austin from Seattle last fall, I started noticing the high out-of-state representation by playing a game called “How many different license plates can I spot today?”: Illinois, Massachusetts, […]
By Connor McMann Before kickoff of every Michigan football game versus Ohio State, my father used to light a large wax candle, emblazoned with a blue Block M, and place it in the room for good luck. By the time Michigan lost to our bitter rivals for the eighth straight year, the middle of the […]
By Ardian Shaholli Last September, the Supreme Court ordered that Texas’ SB 8 may take effect. The law bans abortions after six weeks (with no exception for rape or incest) and offers up to a $10,000 bounty for private citizens who sue abortion providers or those aiding in abortion access. Since the court issued the […]
By Connor McMann Congressional and gubernatorial races in 2022 represent the first big opportunity for American voters to pass judgment on the Biden administration and life under Democratic rule. With Democrats and Republicans preparing to do battle in an enormously consequential election cycle, undecided American voters in every constituency will be courted by a broad […]
By Sabrina Page Abortion, guns, and religion. The U.S. Supreme Court has already heard cases on all three during its current argument session. With some of the country’s most controversial constitutional issues on the docket, it is paramount that the public trusts the Court to be independent in their decision-making. Without this trust, the Court […]
Introducing Community-Anchor Engagement By Ryan Cramer Much like the character arc of the T-800 from “Terminator 1” to “Terminator 2”, the mission of universities as anchor institutions has evolved over time for the better. While anchor institutions are traditionally universities and hospitals, that definition has expanded to include non-profit and for-profit institutions, which have a […]
By Brittany Head The ongoing partisan squeeze of the American Families Plan has pushed reform of the community college and public university system out of discussion in Congress. Democratic policy makers eliminated a provision to subsidize and support access to community college in the United States along with several other major policy proposals in the […]
The time to abolish the filibuster is long overdue. The filibuster is not in the U.S. Constitution. It is not codified law. It is simply a procedural mechanism adopted by the Senate at the suggestion of Vice President Aaron Burr in 1805. Burr thought the previous question motion, which only required a simple majority to […]
Perhaps spooked by how record voter turnout in the 2020 election allowed Democrats to narrow or close the gap with Republicans in some of Texas’s most competitive counties, Republicans have touted baseless claims of election fraud to promote a slew of bills that would make it much harder for Texans to vote in future elections. […]