Also on today’s menu:
Faulkner Fined After Acknowledging Vandalism
Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rates Steady
The Department of Education has blocked efforts to audit the Children’s Scholarship Fund, the New York-based nonprofit organization that handles New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Accounts, because — although the state has a contract with the agency — CSF records are confidential.
House Bill 1135, passed two years ago, requires an audit of the Education Freedom Account program, which provides public money to support income-eligible families that choose to send children to private schools or homeschool them. The state transfers money from the Education Trust Fund to the private scholarship organization that administers the disbursements to schools and services on behalf of the families. Because the contract provides confidentiality for the Children’s Scholarship Fund, the state has not been able to complete the audit.
The Department of Education maintains that, because the data is held by a private contractor, the state cannot access the information necessary for an audit, despite the 2022 law. Christine Young, director of audits for the Office of the Legislative Budget Assistant, told lawmakers that its audit report “would be very limited, because we can’t review much of the information that’s held by the scholarship organization.”
Discussion: This appears to be another failure of Charlie Arlinghaus, the Commissioner of Administrative Services for the state. His job is to make sure when recommending contracts to the Executive Council that the contracts meet New Hampshire needs. A contract with an outside entity may allow that company to withhold internal financial information, but it should guarantee access to information on how public money placed in its care is utilized. The Children’s Scholarship Fund has even attempted to influence New Hampshire legislation, going on record to oppose a bill that would prevent taxpayers’ money going to support religious instruction. Matt Southerton, the CSF’s director of Policy Compliance, said the bill would “discriminate against” approved providers.
Faulkner Fined After Acknowledging Vandalism
Loren Faulkner will pay $2,500, undergo a behavior assessment, participate in behavior counseling, enter an educational or vocational program or maintain employment, and complete 200 hours of community service work as the result of a consent decree from Rockingham County Superior Court. The original fine was $50,000 but the remainder of the fine was suspended pending three years of good behavior and complying with the other requirements.
The consent decree, a court-enforced settlement, was negotiated by the New Hampshire Attorney-General’s Office as a punishment for 21 violations of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, RSA 354-B. Faulkner acknowledged acts of vandalism that included destruction of rainbow LGBTQ+ Pride flags and other symbols of the LGBTQ+ community, spray-painting swastikas and crosses on Temple Israel in Portsmouth, spray-painting Stars of David on St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, defacing a Black Heritage Trail sign at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, and damaging or destroying signs and murals that expressed support for diversity and Black Lives Matter. The court found the actions to be motivated by hostility towards people based on their race, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The actions attempted or succeeded in interfering with lawful activities, including people’s ability to worship freely and engage in free speech or free expression.
The court also ordered Faulkner to avoid committing further Civil Rights Act violations, or coming within 250 feet or contacting the locations he had targeted, or the owners, staff, congregants, and/or residents of those locations for a period of three years. A violation of any of the conditions could lead to the imposition of the suspended civil penalty and/or criminal charges.
Discussion: Professing one’s beliefs is one of the most important rights Americans possess, but that does not include interfering with others’ rights to profess their beliefs.
Federal Reserve Holds Interest Rates Steady
Major stock indexes climbed to record highs after the Federal Reserve declined to raise interest rates in response to a recent uptick in the inflation rate. The Fed kept rates steady while indicating that it would reduce rates in three-quarters of a point increments later this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by one percent, or 401 points, at the news.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that, although inflation had risen slightly in January and February, it remains low, and both the economy and the labor market remain strong, “and that gives us the ability to approach this question carefully."
The unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent for more than two years, while employers have added an average of 265,000 jobs in each of the last three months. The average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was 6.74% last week, according to Freddie Mac — down from a peak near 8% last October. After housing prices “went through the roof” in recent years, existing home sales dropped by 19 percent last year, to their lowest level since 1995. Retail sales also slowed in recent months, likely because consumers are struggling with the combination of high prices and high borrowing costs. Credit card debt topped $1.1 trillion last year, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the number of card users who are behind on their payments now exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
Discussion: The United States has outperformed all other countries in controlling inflation and rebuilding the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic, yet many Americans still believe that the economy is in a shambles, partly because food prices remain so high. That is not due to government policy; rather, it is due to greedy companies raising prices to reap record profits, aided by large companies’ monopolistic control after having forced smaller companies out of business. They were able to raise prices during supply shortages, and now are keeping those prices high and even raising them further by repackaging food with smaller quantities and higher prices.