No nonprofit is forbidden from speaking. The tax code attaches conditions to a tax benefit, and the strictest conditions fall on charities. Whether those conditions are fair is an active argument in the courts. The Johnson Amendment, added to the tax code in 1954 and named for then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson, bars 501(c)(3) organizations from taking… Continue reading Who Can Say What: Nonprofit Speech, the Tax Subsidy, and the Johnson Amendment

Section 501(c) of the tax code covers many kinds of tax-exempt organizations, but four dominate the headlines: charities, social welfare groups, labor unions, and trade associations. What separates them is mostly what they may say and do about politics, and who gets a tax break for supporting them. The Congressional Research Service identifies four common… Continue reading The 501(c) Family, Explained: Charities, Social Welfare Groups, Unions, and Trade Associations

Southern Nevada has two large, recent examples of public money and private capital working side by side. They use different tools, and comparing them shows how much the word “partnership” can cover. Allegiant Stadium: Public Tax, Private Tenant In October 2016, a special session of the Nevada Legislature passed Senate Bill 1, which Gov. Brian… Continue reading Two Las Vegas Partnerships, Two Structures: Allegiant Stadium and Brightline West

Many people own a small piece of a toll road or rail line without knowing it, because their retirement systems invest in infrastructure funds. Research on how those investments perform is more mixed than the pitch behind them. Infrastructure has become an asset class for large institutions, drawing pension funds, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, banks,… Continue reading How Everyday Savers Become Infrastructure Investors: Pension Funds and the Indirect Route

Before a public agency hands a project to a private partner, federal guidance says it should answer one question: would the public get a better deal than if it did the job itself? A 75-year lease in Chicago shows what that question is worth. FHWA’s Value for Money primer lays out the test. Analysts build… Continue reading How Governments Decide a Partnership Is Worth It: The Value-for-Money Test and a Chicago Case Study

Many of the roads, rail lines, and venues people use every day are built under contracts that split the work between a government agency and a private company. How that split is written decides who carries the risk and who collects the money. The Federal Highway Administration defines a public-private partnership, usually shortened to P3,… Continue reading Public-Private Partnerships, Explained: Who Builds, Who Pays, and Who Owns

Before a Las Vegas child ever sets foot in a public school classroom, there’s a good chance their earliest education already runs through a corporate chain built and financed by private investment firms. KinderCare operates 11 daycare and child care centers within 15 miles of Las Vegas, according to the company’s own location listings, spanning… Continue reading Private Equity Runs Nearly a Dozen Daycares in Las Vegas Alone

A federal judge ruled a private equity firm can be sued directly over a data breach at a company it bought, in a case that turns on the exact records schools keep on every child: grades, attendance, and enrollment. Bain Capital closed a $5.6 billion acquisition of PowerSchool on October 1, 2024, taking over a… Continue reading A Private Equity Firm Now Owns the Software Holding Millions of Students’ Records

The University of Phoenix operated a campus in Henderson for years while its parent company faced federal fraud findings, a $191 million settlement, and repeated attempts by the U.S. Department of Education to claw back money from the private investment firms that now own it. Apollo Global Management and the Vistria Group, two private investment… Continue reading A Private Equity Firm Owns a College Campus in Henderson — Here’s What That’s Cost Students

The Joshua tree’s range almost perfectly outlines the Mojave Desert itself. Scientists studying how that range is shifting are using the tree as a living instrument for measuring climate change across the region Las Vegas calls home. Joshua trees are spindly, tree-like yucca plants so closely tied to this specific desert that their historic range… Continue reading How a Warming Climate Is Reshaping the Mojave Desert’s Signature Tree