PUNTA GORDA, Fla.–Nearly 60,000 Florida families will be receiving stimulus checks to help cover back-to-school expenses for their children, but the checks are causing controversy with other Floridians. July 25 is the start of the annual back-to-school tax holiday season, when school-related items such as clothes, shoes, and even computers can be purchased tax-free. Foster…

Commentary Last month, President Biden proposed fixing the so-called “family glitch,” a quirk in Obamacare’s text that has prevented millions of people from purchasing subsidized coverage through the exchanges. It’s only the latest attempt to gift more people taxpayer-sponsored health coverage. The result will be rising premiums, fewer coverage options, and ballooning costs for the…

A year ago, President Joe Biden was riding the polls with a 59 percent approval rating having just signed what he called the “American Rescue Plan” (ARP), a stimulus package that the administration promised would “provide direct relief to the Americans, contain COVID-19 and, rescue the economy.” A year later, having approved the $1.9 trillion…

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) has introduced a bill that would strike down a provision of Democrats American Rescue Plan (ARP) spending bill that requires third-party payment processors like Venmo and CashApp to report transactions of more than $600 to the IRS. The ARP was passed just weeks after President Joe Biden took office, making it…

LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been awarded $1.24 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Jan. 12. The funds are intended to help transit agencies around the country maintain service and keep workers on the payroll as surging COVID-19 cases strain the economy. “Public transportation…

LOS ALAMITOS, Calif.—As holiday shopping begins, Los Alamitos, California, is pushing residents to shop locally by providing each household with a $50 voucher for a local business. Each household within the city will receive $50 worth of “Los Al Bucks” beginning the first week of November. Residents can spend the vouchers at participating stores from…

Commentary PITTSBURGH—It’s 4:30 in the morning, and Raymond Mikesell’s alarm has gone off. Within an hour, as the first rays of pink and orange morning light reflect off the skyscrapers in the city, Mikesell is at his restaurant, Cafe Raymond, in the Strip District, the city’s Main Street for small businesses. On his way to…

Orange County, Calif. is rolling out a new housing plan that will offer more than 1,000 emergency housing vouchers (EHV) to homeless and vulnerable individuals. The board of supervisors is set to approve multiple contracts during its July 27 meeting with various non-profits that will distribute 529 vouchers. The certificates provide ongoing rental assistance for eligible households. Individuals and families that receive EHVs will…

Cities in Orange County, Calif. are using their shares of the $350 billion American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) stimulus to rebuild from the economically-crippling CCP virus pandemic. The federal aid is meant to help lessen the economic harm and recover lost revenue during the pandemic. Each of Orange County’s 34 cities are receiving a share of about $715 million…

The Orange County Board of Supervisors on June 8 began public discussions of the county’s newly-recommended $7.7 billion budget for the 2021-22 fiscal year. No formal action is set to be taken until the board officially adopts the budget during its June 22 meeting. During the June 8 meeting, the financial blueprint was presented to supervisors and…