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You’re a reader of this blog, so you are a part of the conversation at The Heartland Institute, one of America’s most influential free-market think tanks. The posts here reflect the exchange of ideas, insights, and opinions on liberty from the writers, editors, thinkers, and scholars that happen at Heartland every day.

But Heartland has also, for many years, produced news coverage from a free-market perspective — the counter-spin to the mainstream media. At the Heartlander digital magazine, our team of writers and editors cover budgets and taxes, education; environment and energy; finance, insurance and real estate; lawsuit abuse; and technology.

Here are a few of the stories that we’ve run recently, which you can also get for  your iPad with the Heartlander app. Bookmark the page, or grab the RSS feed for your reader:

ENVIRONMENT

Michael Mann Falsely Claims He Was Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Michael Mann was never awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the director of the Nobel Institute says, despite Mann’s public claims that he was.

Heritage Produces List of Bankrupt and Faltering ‘Green Energy’ Companies Funded by Taxpayers

For people having a hard time keeping track of all the taxpayer-funded “green energy” companies that are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy or that have already gone bankrupt, the Heritage Foundation has the resource you need.

Africa Is Benefiting from Warming Despite Alarmist Claims

Michel Nasibu, an advisor in the International Development Advisory Section of KPMG East Africa, wrote a compelling Forbes.com column Monday expressing concern about global warming devastating his continent. It is easy to empathize with people who are sincerely and deeply troubled about our mutual future. Fortunately, however, Nasibu’s fears are misplaced.

EDUCATION

Voters to Consider Education Ballot Initiatives

Two realities sparked a blaze of education-related state ballot initiatives voters will decide Nov. 6: frenzied reforms following a 2010 Republican resurgence, and federal demands embedded in Race to the Top stimulus grants.

Daily Top Ten School Reform News Roundup, Oct. 22 to 26

Charles Murray on central problems in education, Four Oklahoma teachers have been stripped of their certifications for sex crime convictions, and more.

California Allows Inexpensive Online College Textbooks

California state university students enrolled in the 50 highest-traffic general education courses will soon have access to cheap, open-source textbooks online.

HEALTH CARE

Ten Medicare Myths From the Presidential Campaign

If you like public policy, this is potentially an ideal time to have a serious national discussion about the future of Medicare. What we are getting instead is something akin to school yard taunts.

Obama Administration Delays Regulations Until After Election

You may have heard that in reaction to President Barack Obama’s health care law, small businesses and franchises are considering shifting employees to part-time work. The Darden Restaurant group is the latest company to attract attention for this, responding to the requirement to cover full-time workers by shifting existing workers to 28 hours per week:

Vermont’s Single Payer Program Raises Big Questions

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin is currently in the process of implementing a single-payer health care system in his state—though he has been reluctant to call it that.

TECH

Dr. Tyler Cowen: Marginal Revolution University Online

More universities are herding into massive open online courses, or MOOCs. Just this week, the University of Texas, announced it would, joining the likes of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Virginia.

FCC Tables Broadband Tax Proposal

The Federal Communications Commission has withdrawn a proposal to tax broadband Internet service after a public outcry over the issue.

LAWSUIT ABUSE

Dental Case

Prisoners at the Westchester County Jail in New York state are suing the county for $500 million because they are being denied dental floss.

Code Breaker

A Chicago zoning inspector took two bribes and was convicted by a jury on federal bribery charges. But the conviction was overturned recently because the bribes weren’t big enough.

When Tykes Attack

A 220-pound Queens gym teacher and former football player plans to sue the city of New York over injuries he allegedly suffered after being attacked by a 50-pound six-year-old.

BUDGETS AND TAXES

Obama, Ryan Budgets ‘Should Define This Election’

President Barack Obama’s budget plan would continue policies that have made the economic recovery since 2009 the weakest since the Great Depression, whereas those of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) would return the federal government to its modern average level of spending and growth, says Heartland Institute Senior Fellow Peter Ferrara.

Study: Govt. Accounting Rules Hide $4.6 Trillion of Unfunded Pensions

When he describes a fundamental truth of pension accounting universally accepted by economists, Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute achieves an elegant explanation: “A guaranteed liability must be discounted at a risk-free rate.” But that truth is ugly when it reveals the hidden tax increases and service cuts likely to be inflicted on future generations by deceptive public pension accounting today.

Bill Seeks to Block FDA from Rolling Cigar Industry

Three years ago Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act giving the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the marketing, manufacture, and sale of tobacco products. Shortly thereafter the agency announced its intention to regulate cigars as it has the cigarette industry.

FINANCE, INSURANCE AND REAL ESTATE

New-Home Construction, Existing-Home Sales Climb

Residential home construction in September hit its highest level in four years, and in some markets, existing home sales also have been surging.

Three States Join Lawsuit Challenging Dodd-Frank Law

The states of Michigan, Oklahoma and South Carolina have joined a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

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