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An attack in New Orleans raises fears about Islamic State

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WHEN MAKING New Year’s resolutions few have violence on their minds. That was evidently not the case for Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old American citizen and military veteran from Texas. He rammed a rented Ford pickup truck into a crowd of revellers on Bourbon Street in New Orleans in the early hours of January 1st, killing 15 and injuring 35. After the crash police killed Mr Jabbar in a shoot-out. The FBI is investigating the attack as an act of terrorism; a black Islamic State (IS) flag flew from the bumper of the truck driven by Mr Jabbar and social media posts suggest he was a man of faith with intent to kill. The fact that he avoided detection suggests a fairly sophisticated conspiracy. “This is not a garden-variety attack,” says Colin Clarke of the Soufan Center, a global-security research group.

Economics

Texas looks set to pass America’s biggest school-voucher scheme

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GREGG ABBOTT was playing retribution politics before it was cool. Two years ago the governor of Texas named his top policy priority: a sprawling school-voucher bill that would give parents $10,000 each year if they sent their children to private schools, opting out of the public system. He wants choice “not just for millionaires” but for the state’s nearly 6m schoolchildren, one of every nine in America. But after failing to get his bill passed he went on the attack and backed primary challenges to Republicans who had voted against it, knocking most of them out of the legislature. Now Austin’s politicos are betting vouchers will pass. On April 3rd the bill made it out of committee. Mr Abbott is planning a “Texas-sized party” to celebrate its becoming law.

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Economics

How Donald Trump’s tariffs will probably fare in court

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WITH AMERICA still reeling from the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on around 180 countries, a conservative organisation has filed a lawsuit challenging an initial round of tariffs the president announced in February—and doubled in March—on Chinese imports. The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which counts Charles Koch, a right-wing billionaire, among its supporters, argues that Mr Trump lacked the authority to impose these levies. Similar lawsuits against the broader tariff blitz of April 2nd could yet scuttle the boldest—and most destructive—move of Mr Trump’s second term.

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Economics

Checks and Balance newsletter: The view as “Liberation Day” unfolded

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Checks and Balance newsletter: The view as “Liberation Day” unfolded

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