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ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “Schwarzenegger signs budget bills, cuts $489 million more” (Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2064003.html
2. “AM Alert: Blue pencil blues” (CapitolAlert, Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); blog citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP/MPH 1988); http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/024255.html
3. “Governor signs $84.5 billion spending plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2009); story citing MARK CLOUTIER (MPP/MPH 1993); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/28/MN3N190BSI.DTL#ixzz0MfRy1TMW
4. “Exploring the legality of the line-item vetoes” (Capitol Alert, Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); blog citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/024265.html
5. “Daly, wife paid cash for
6. “U.S. Rejects Changes in Detainee Rules” (New York Times, July 29, 2009); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/nyregion/29detain.html?scp=1&sq=%22karen%20tumlin%22&st=cse
7. “Proposed tax on ‘Cadillac’ coverage questioned” (Houston Chronicle, July 29, 2009); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/washington/6551815.html
8. “Report criticizes migrant detention” (Redding Record Searchlight, July 28, 2009); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
9. “Hospitals footing more bills” (Sacramento Bee, July 28, 2009); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2061111.html
10. “Health overhaul’s advocates fear side-effects of cost
cuts” (The Monitor (
11. “Seizures reported in young patients”
(Republican-American (
12. “Daly sends his family out of S.F.” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 24, 2009); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/24/MNA418U429.DTL&tsp=1
13. “A vision of
14. “Award Recognizes Excellence in Installation Management” (States News Service, July 23, 2009); newswire citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
15. “German automakers drive toward gas-electric hybrids” (
16. “Budget to reshape the
17. “McClatchy surprises Wall Street, but problems remain” (Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2009); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2044865.html
18. “William Hederman joins Concept Capital as senior energy analyst” (Hedgeweek, July 21, 2009); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974); http://www.hedgeweek.com/articles/detail.jsp?content_id=343594
19. “Raising money for AIDS” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 20, 2009); story about event sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation headed by MARK CLOUTIER (MPP/MPH 1993); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/20/BAG118RTC7.DTL&type=newsbayarea#ixzz0LqQqd3ur
20. “Defying Slump, 13 States Insure More Children” (New York Times, July 19, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP/MPH 1988); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/us/19chip.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
21. “Dispute over education funding may be near end” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 2009); story citing EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/19/MNDA18RI5T.DTL
22. “Scientists zoom in on carbon dioxide in NYC” (The Associated Press, July 19, 2009); newswire citing KEVIN GURNEY (MPP 1996).
23. “Medi-Cal reductions a headache” (Bakersfield Californian, July 19, 2009); editorial citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002).
24. “Big business is cashing in on EU farm grants” (The Daily
Telegraph (
25. “Vroom! Off on a Tour of Brooklyn to Help the
26. “Capitol Alert: From the ground up” (Sacramento Bee, July 17, 2009); event featuring DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.ccspartnership.org/default.cfm
27. “Costly Gas Pushes Up Consumer Prices” (The New York Times, July 16, 2009); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/economy/16econ.html?scp=1&sq=%22mickey%20levy%22&st=cse
28. “Business Crunches the Health-Care Numbers. Legislation working its way through the House and Senate would make employers “pay or play” for employee insurance. But would it hurt job growth?” (Business Week, July 16, 2009); story citing PHILLIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2009/db20090716_001356.htm
29. “Senior Executive Service Appointments and Reassignments” (Defense Department Documents and Publications, July 15, 2009); news release citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
30. “UN presents new education kit for disasters” (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 15, 2009); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
31. “Qorvis MD/Partner Stanley Collender on Bloomberg TV” (Financial Markets Regulation Wire, July 15, 2009, Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC All Rights Reserved); interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
32. “Medical, foreclosure crisis ends
33. “Obesity risk factor in swine flu?” (Erie Times-News, July 11, 2009); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD); http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009307119939
34. “How’s Newsom’s S.F. farm idea supposed to work?” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 2009); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/11/BASG18LNQ0.DTL
35. “Around the Region -
36. “Guaranteed school funds complicate budget” (Sacramento Bee, July 10, 2009); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2014812.html
37. “
38. “Critics protest BART-Oakland Airport connector” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 2009); story citing group led by STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/09/BAIU18L5DS.DTL
39. “Poizner rejects 23.7 percent average rate hike for workers’ comp premiums” (Sacramento Bee, July 9, 2009); story citing FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993); http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2011676.html
40. “Banks’ plan to refuse California IOUs takes heat” (The Associated Press, July 8, 2009); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
41. “‘Recovered memory’ debate is still on” (Hindustan Times, July 8, 2009); story citing ROSS CHEIT (MPP 1980/PhD 1987).
42. “Swine flu resistance testing to grow after US case” (The Associated Press, July 8, 2009); newswire citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD).
43. “Poll shows broad support for tobacco tax increase” (Oakland Tribune, July 7, 2009); story citing DAVE METZ (MPP 1988); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12771005?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
44. “India News: Letter from Himachal Pradesh” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], July 7, 2009); story by MICHELLE AREVALO-CARPENTER (MPP cand. 2010); http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124697371327805767.html#printMode
45. “East Bay peace activist weds Army Reservist, writes memoir” (Contra Costa Times, July 6, 2009); story featuring SOPHIA RADAY (MPP 1993); http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_12742467
46. “Employees getting real” (Oakland Tribune, July 5, 2009); op-ed by DANIEL BORENSTEIN (MPP 1980/MJ 1985); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12736242?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
47. “Congress prepares to face health care challenge” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2009); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/05/MN9V18IFRD.DTL
48. “Language of the Health Care Debate” (Forum, KQED public radio, July 2, 2009); features commentary by MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R907020900
49. “Study: Employer mandate could create jobs” (The Hill,
July 4, 2009); story citing
50. “‘Pay or play’ not as painful as originally thought” (Employee Benefit News, July 7, 2009); story citing PHILIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/pay-or-play-not-as-painful-as-originally-thought-2681291-1.html
51. “Broadband Grant Criteria Reflect Public Interest Priorities” (Targeted News Service, July 1, 2009); newswire citing S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
52. “Health overhaul means big Medicare changes. Can Democrats assure seniors that reforms don’t threaten them?” (MSNBC.com, July 1, 2009); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999); http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31671157
53. “
54. “State budget squabble dragged into the night” (The Sun (
55. “Gays and the census: Counting them in. But they had hoped for more from the new president” (The Economist, June 25, 2009); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13915838
56. “Hospital defends actions in care of Utah flu victim” (Salt Lake Tribune, June 15, 2009); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD); http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12594446?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
57. “Eyeing new revenue, cities consider charter status” (Lamorinda Sun, June 25, 2009); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12689077?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
58. “One thing safe in health reform: Jobs. Concerns stemming from a ‘play-or-pay’ policy for employers amount to much ado about nothing” (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, June 23, 2009); op-ed by PHILLIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/48932497.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
59. “Tire label would show gas savings; LaHood: Tag cuts
guesswork” (
60. “No easy road to imposing fee on Oakland sports tickets” (Oakland Tribune, June 18, 2009); story citing MARIANNA MARYSHEVA (MPP 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12625143?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
61. “It’s simply shocking news — not” (Davis Enterprise, June 12, 2009); Letter to Editor by RAY REINHARD (MPP 1978).
62. “Grand jury raps San Rafael for stiffing drug task force” (Marin Independent Journal, June 12, 2009); story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12580834?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
63. “Federal Stimulus Funds Boost Innovation in Online Learning; Schools Use Open Educational Resources to ‘Race to the Top’” (Ascribe Newswire, June 10, 2009); newswire citing BARBARA CHOW (MPP 1980).
64. “Filling in the Medicare doughnut hole is a sticky issue” (Dallas Morning News, June 9, 2009); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999); http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/060909dnbusdoughnut.3e8e845.html
65. “President Obama’s Speech to Muslim Communities around the World, Summary of Reactions” (Targeted News Service, June 6, 2009); event featuring ALAN YU (MPP 1988).
66. “Raising standards without cramping space” (The Washington Times, June 5, 2009); Letter to the Editor by ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/05/raising-standards-without-cramping-space/
67. “Blue-collar
68. “Sick may get help with insurance But proposed state rule might raise cost for healthy individual customers” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 1, 2009); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
69. “Virginia” (Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 31, 2009); story citing AMINA LUQMAN (MPP 2001).
70. “CalWORKS cuts would be dire,
ex-official says. Budget Forum: He predicts 44,000
71. “Inland cuts would run deep. Governor: His budget plan impacts hundreds of thousands in the area, and today he’ll seek further pay reductions and other trims” (Press-Enterprise, May 29, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP 1988/MPH 1988) and TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).
72. “Freeze on Healthy Families enrollments begins July 17” (Ventura County Star, June 30, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP 1988/MPH 1988) ; http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jun/29/freeze-on-healthy-families-enrollments-begins-17/
73. “South Bay schools reap federal stimulus funds — and face losing more in state funds” (San Jose Mercury News, May 15, 2009); story citing JANNELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12372198?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
74. “Alameda County set to file lawsuit against Lehman Bros. officials” (Oakland Tribune, May 15, 2009); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971/JD 1975); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12379268?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
75. “Author to speak about how dumb people are about science” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 13, 2009); event featuring SANDRA ARCHIBALD (MPP 1971/PhD 1984) ; http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406189_science13.html
76. “AIR’s National High School Center to Host Webinar on Educating High School English Language Learners” (States News Service, May 11, 2009); event featuring NEAL FINKELSTEIN (MPP 1991).
77. “Bush Attorneys Who Wrote Terror Memo Facing Backlash” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 2009); story citing STEPHANIE TANG (MPP 2004).
78. “Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius Holds a News Briefing on the Department of Health and Human Services’ F.Y. 2010 Budget Proposal” (Financial Markets Regulation Wire, Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC All Rights Reserved, May 7, 2009); news briefing moderated by RICHARD TURMAN (MPP 1987).
79. “Youngest Children Are Underrepresented in Federal Budget” (Targeted News Service, May 5, 2009); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
80. “
81. “Education roundup: State to study career pathways programs” (Bakersfield Californian, April 18, 2009); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1982).
82. “With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King?” (The New York Times, April 12, 2009); story citing SANDRA ARCHIBALD (MPP 1971/PhD 1984); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/weekinreview/12lohr.html?scp=1&sq=%22sandra%20archibald%22&st=cse
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “Green Inc. Blog: McKinsey Report Cites $1.2 Trillion in Potential Savings from Energy Efficiency” (New York Times, July 29, 2009); blog citing DAN KAMMEN; http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/mckinsey-report-cites-12-trillion-in-potential-savings-from-energy-efficiency/?scp=2&sq=Berkeley&st=cse
2. “A summer drive to ride out the economy” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 29, 2009); Listen to this commentary
3. “Dispute over clean-tech patent protections” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 2009); op-ed by CEPP visiting scholar ROBERT COLLIER; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/28/ED3018UQR3.DTL
4. “Robert Reich says Obama ready to ‘knock heads’ on health care reform” (San Francisco Business Times, July 23, 2009); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/07/20/daily79.html
5. “
6. “
7. “Room for Debate Blog: Should the Rich Pay for the Uninsured?” (New York Times Online, July 20, 2009); debate featuring ROBERT REICH; http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/should-the-rich-pay-for-the-uninsured/
8. “Two Giants Emerge from Wall Street Ruins” (New York Times, July 17, 2009); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/two-giants-emerge-from-wall-street-ruins/
9. “US installing radiation detectors at Pakistani ports” (Indo-Asian News Service, July 17, 2009); newswire citing MICHAEL NACHT.
10. “North Korean provocations linked to power transition - US official” (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, July 17, 2009); newswire citing MICHAEL NACHT.
11. “The Ed Show” (MSNBC, July 16, 2009); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533
12. “Tax the wealthy, keep everyone healthy” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 15, 2009); Listen to the commentary
13. “Statistical Tests Suggestive of Fraud in
14. “Obama’s healthcare clock is running out. Unless the president can get the Senate moving on universal healthcare this week, it will probably never happen” (Salon.com, July 14, 2009); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/14/healthcare/
15. “The sun rises in the West.
16. “A chat with UC-Berkeley energy expert Dan Kammen” (Mercury News, July 10, 2009); interview with DAN KAMMEN; http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_12811858?nclick_check=1
17. “Paso man helps distill a new idea: MicroFuelers turn waste into homemade ethanol” (San Luis Obispo Tribune, July 7, 2009); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/775606.html
18. “Congressional Race in
19. “Put an X through visions of recovery” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 1, 2009); Listen to the commentary
20. “Rise and Flaw of Internet’s Election-Fraud Hunters. Benford’s Law, Which Tests Numbers for Authenticity, Might Detect Vote-Rigging but Can’t Prove It” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], July 1, 2009); column citing HENRY BRADY; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640788035376975.html#printMode
21. “The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization. Have you ever looked at our marijuana policy? I mean, really looked at it?” (Mother Jones, July/August 2009 Issue); story citing ROBERT MACCOUN; http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/patriots-guide-legalization
1. “Schwarzenegger signs budget bills, cuts $489 million more” (Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2064003.html
By Steve Wiegand
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, flanked by key aides (finance
director Mike Genest at his right), signs a
budget-balancing package of 27 bills Tuesday. (Bryan
Patrick/Sacbee.com)
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a 27-bill budget-balancing package Tuesday, but only after making another $489 million in spending cuts and likening the experience to “the good, the bad and the ugly.” …
The biggest single cut was $80 million in funds allocated to counties to pay for programs that investigate and remediate cases of child abuse and neglect. Officials said the program had been spared in earlier rounds of budget cuts.
“The situation has just gotten to the point we can’t exempt them anymore,” said Mike Genest, Schwarzenegger’s finance director….
2. “AM Alert: Blue pencil blues” (CapitolAlert, Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); blog citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP/MPH 1988); http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/024255.html
… Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used his blue pencil veto authority to trim the programs after legislators sent him a package that fell $156 million short of his planned reserve. One program slashed to a sliver of its former self? Healthy Families, which provides low-cost coverage to children and teens whose families don’t qualify for Medi-Cal.
An additional $50 million was penciled out of the program’s budget, bringing its total shortfall to $194 millon—a figure that amounts to more than half its state funding.
The program already froze enrollment earlier this month, quickly amassing a waiting list of some 22,000 kids in need of health care, and swapped its application payment assistance program for $4.6 million in savings. Now, to cope with the cuts, it’s expecting to disenroll hundreds of thousands of participants starting later this fall.
The Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, which runs the program, will come together Thursday to work out how exactly the cuts will be made. But MRMIB Deputy Director for Health Policy Legislation Ginny Puddefoot said they expect to begin rolling back coverage in the coming weeks.
“It’s hard to quantify the number of children, based on shortfall that currently exists the most likely scenario would be to notify the first wave in August,” Puddefoot said….
“At this point, it is strictly based on eligibility renewal dates,” Puddefoot said. “Those children who were enrolled in July or August, and those children who were first enrolled in September will be the first to be disenrolled….
Puddefoot and others expressed hope that the First 5 California could step in to fill some of the shortfall. The group, which gave $16.7 million late last year to prevent 65,000 children from being shifted to a wait list, has pledged to provide some financial support in wake of the cuts….
[Ginny Puddefoot was also cited on the subject in The Daily Californian, July 30, 2009.]
3. “Governor signs $84.5 billion spending plan” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 29, 2009); story citing MARK CLOUTIER (MPP/MPH 1993); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/28/MN3N190BSI.DTL#ixzz0MfRy1TMW
--Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle
Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the spending plan (finance director Mike Genest at his right). (Photo:
Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
Services for people with AIDS, which had previously been spared by the Legislature, were reduced by $52 million by Schwarzenegger on Tuesday. That cut will mean no state spending on HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, education or housing services for people with the disease. The state will continue paying for AIDS medications and for tracking the epidemic.
Mark Cloutier, executive director of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, called the cut “grossly irresponsible” and said it will lead to increased HIV infections.
“This means there are going to be more people who are HIV-positive who are unwittingly infecting others,” Cloutier said….
4. “Exploring the legality of the line-item vetoes” (Capitol Alert, Sacramento Bee, July 29, 2009); blog citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/024265.html
Posted by Kevin Yamamura
Advocacy groups and lawyers are mulling over their next steps in response to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s $489 million in line-item vetoes yesterday, the bulk of which were directed at social service programs.
The main crux of the issue—if you believe there is an issue, which the governor’s team firmly does not—is whether Schwarzenegger can use his line-item veto authority to expand the size of legislative spending reductions….
If [Democratic state Controller John] Chiang does carry out Schwarzenegger’s vetoes, expect advocacy groups to file suit against Chiang. If Chiang does not carry them out, expect another legal battle between Schwarzenegger and the controller.
Department of Finance Director Mike Genest predicted Tuesday that Democrats would not challenge the vetoes because “they have something to lose, too.” His comment suggested that Democrats know full well that it is difficult to find another $489 million in savings—and they might be better off politically allowing the governor to bear the brunt of criticism for the cuts he did implement yesterday….
5. “Daly, wife paid cash for
--Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
… Revolving door: More changes in San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s political galaxy….
Meanwhile, back at City Hall,
two key players are leaving…. And Nani Coloretti, the mayor’s budget director, accepted
a job as deputy assistant to the
6. “U.S. Rejects Changes in Detainee Rules” (New York Times, July 29, 2009); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/nyregion/29detain.html?scp=1&sq=%22karen%20tumlin%22&st=cse
By Nina Bernstein
The Obama administration has refused to make legally enforceable rules for immigration detention, rejecting a federal court petition by former detainees and their advocates and embracing a Bush-era inspection system that relies in part on private contractors.
The decision, contained in a six-page letter received by the plaintiffs this week, disappointed and angered immigration advocacy organizations around the country. They pointed to a stream of newly available documents that underscore the government’s failure to enforce minimum standards it set in 2000, including those concerning detainees’ access to basic health care, telephones and lawyers, even as the number of people detained has soared to more than 400,000 a year….
The [Department of Homeland Security] maintained that current inspections by the government, and a shift in 2008 to “performance-based standards” monitored by private contractors, “provide adequately for both quality control and accountability.” …
But standards without teeth are
doomed to fail, said lawyers for two other national immigration law
organizations, one in
Both groups recently won the release of thousands of pages of detention inspection documents that had been kept secret. They said the documents showed that the government had routinely violated its own minimum monitoring standards and ignored findings of deficiencies for years.
The “performance-based”
standards the Obama administration has now embraced have no penalties and are
not significantly different from what failed in the past, said Karen Tumlin, a
lawyer with the
[On August 6, 2009, The New York Times reported: “The Obama administration intends to announce an ambitious plan on Thursday to overhaul the much-criticized way the nation detains immigration violators, trying to transform it from a patchwork of jail and prison cells to what its new chief called a “truly civil detention system.” … ]
7. “Proposed tax on ‘Cadillac’ coverage questioned” (Houston Chronicle, July 29, 2009); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/washington/6551815.html
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press
President
Barack Obama participates in an AARP tele-town hall
on health care, July 28, 2009, in
Senators scrambling to pay for a $1 trillion health care overhaul are leaning toward taxing health insurance companies on policies costing more than $25,000 a year—about twice the value of the average employer-provided family plan.
But some insurance experts say the reason certain plans are so expensive isn’t that they’re providing lavish benefits like full-body diagnostic scans and tummy tucks. Instead, the super-high premiums are likely being charged to older, sicker people, either as individuals buying their own coverage, or working for a small employer.
“Maybe it’s
Cadillac profits for the insurance industry, but it’s not Cadillac coverage for
the person,” said Karen Pollitz, a
Indeed, Pollitz says the coverage that members of Congress get could cost $25,000 or more—if the federal health plan were allowed to charge higher premiums just because of age. Under the health overhaul legislation, private insurers selling to individuals and small businesses would still be able to do that. One proposal lawmakers are weighing would allow a five-to-one difference between premiums for 20-year-olds and for people in their 60s….
Pollitz did the math.
Assuming a five-to-one age differential, she said a family of four headed by a 64-year-old would pay $31,725 for the standard federal health benefits package—which is worth an average of $13,500. And a similar family headed by a 59-year-old would pay $25,600.
“The whole notion of Cadillac plans is kind of a made-up notion,” said Pollitz. “A typical employer plan covers all the stuff you’d want and pays 90 percent of the bills.” …
8. “Report criticizes migrant detention” (Redding Record Searchlight, July 28, 2009); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).
By Amy Taxin – The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Immigrant advocates say the federal government has failed to meet its own standards for detaining immigrants, making it unduly difficult for immigrants to defend themselves in court and fight to remain in the country.
A report released Tuesday says detainees face limited access to phones, mail and law libraries in violation of federal standards. The authors based their findings on more than 18,000 pages of documents that showed facilities across the country limited detainees’ access to legal materials and transferred them without proper notice.
“Our concern is we have this
deep belief in the American justice system that the truth will eventually come
out and those individuals who have meritorious cases will be granted relief,”
said Karen Tumlin,
a staff attorney at the
The study was based on inspection reports of dozens of facilities by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the American Bar Association and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees between 2001 and 2005.
It comes after criticism over medical care in facilities and long-standing complaints by immigration attorneys that their clients are transferred too often, making it hard to represent them….
[Karen Tumlin was also cited on the subject in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, etc.]
9. “Hospitals footing more bills” (Sacramento Bee, July 28, 2009); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2061111.html
By Bobby Caina Calvan
The emergency room at UC Davis Medical Center is bustling, its waiting room more crowded than ever and its doctors and nurses caring for an increasing stream of patients who can’t possibly pay for services.
These days, more patients are arriving without jobs or health insurance.
As a result, the university medical center is forced to absorb the financial burden of caring for many of the capital’s medically indigent, uninsured and financially strapped—a burden that eventually is passed on to paying customers….
Last year, hospitals across
Nonprofit hospitals such as UC Davis Medical Center are required by the Internal Revenue Service to benefit the community in exchange for billions of dollars in tax breaks….
If
… Universal health care is
certainly one of the goals for overhauling the country’s health care system,
but the question is still open about how truly universal the current proposals
would be, said Marian Mulkey, a senior program officer with the
Few of those watching the
health care debate unfold believe that a universal insurance company would
truly provide coverage to every person in the
10. “Health overhaul’s
advocates fear side-effects of cost cuts” (The Monitor (
By Jordan Rau and Eric Pianin, Kaiser Health News
Since June, leading lawmakers have been trying to lower the price tag on legislation that would provide affordable coverage to 47 million uninsured Americans. After an initial estimate for a Senate plan came in at $1.6 trillion over a decade, lawmakers vowed to prune the cost to no more than $1 trillion.
Now, with President Barack Obama encouraging House of Representatives and Senate leaders to find even more in savings, some health care advocates question whether lawmakers can preserve the core principles of the Democrats’ plan—including near-universal coverage, ample insurance subsidies for low-income families and a cap on out-of-pocket costs….
Karen Pollitz, a research professor at the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, says she’s already worried that under the current legislative drafts, a person with a serious illness such as cancer or diabetes could quickly run up charges for thousands of dollars in deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance.
Bill drafters are trying to protect people from such catastrophic costs by setting a maximum amount that they would have to pay each year out of pocket—$5,000 a person and $10,000 a family in the House bill and a bit more in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee version. Pollitz said, however, that even those levels may be too high for low-income people.
“It may be fine for families that don’t need too much care, but God forbid somebody gets into a motorcycle accident,” Pollitz said. “They’re going to hit the $5,000 limit quickly. People with limited incomes—and particularly families—can easily drown in bills, even if there are co-pays.” …
11. “Seizures reported in young
patients” (Republican-American (
--Bloomberg news
Swine flu caused seizures in
two
Two patients, 7 and 10 years old, were described as having seizures, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children aged 11 and 17 exhibited the other symptoms.
The cases, which occurred from May 13 to May 26, were reported today in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
This is the first evidence of potential seizures or other neurological symptoms from swine flu, also called H1N1, the report said. Seasonal flu can also cause neurological complications such as personality changes, loss of concentration, involuntary eye movements and impairment of cognitive function, according to an editorial accompanying the report.
This is not to say that neurological side effects are very common or will be common, said Tim Uyeki, a study author and flu epidemiologist at the CDC, in a telephone interview today. It’s to alert people to the fact that these complications can occur with H1N1 infections….
Such warnings may prevent doctors from giving patients the wrong medications for the neurological symptoms, Uyeki said. One kind of neurological illness, encephalitis, has multiple causes, so doctors should be aware that the brain dysfunction may be linked to swine flu to choose proper treatment, he said.
About 5 percent of childhood encephalitis arises from seasonal influenza, the authors wrote. The cases in swine flu patients appear to be less serious than similar cases from seasonal flu, the researchers wrote….
12. “Daly sends his family out of S.F.” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 24, 2009); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/24/MNA418U429.DTL&tsp=1
--C.W. Nevius
Supervisor
Chris Daly (Frederic Larson / The
Chronicle)
Supervisor Chris Daly, the sworn enemy of
gentrification in the city, announced Wednesday that he has bought a house in
the suburb of
Daly, who was 28 when he was
elected to the board in 2000, has been in the vanguard of far-left politics
since he arrived from
“The reason is that you have this largely transient population who come here with their college ideals and want to enact ideological change,” said David Latterman, a local political consultant and analyst.
“It’s an anti-middle-class
agenda,” he said of Daly’s legislative history in favor of building low-income
units. “It is really about using a portion of the renters in
Latterman’s point is backed up
by some simple math. The 2000 census says that two-thirds of housing units in
“Why is it so damn difficult
for a middle-class family to make it in
13. “A vision of
--Craig Whittom
The state’s taking of gas tax funding and redevelopment funds, if they survive legal challenges, would require choices that include reducing streetlight operations and street paving, and eliminating capital funding in our neighborhoods that are most in need. The state’s proposed taking of $2.4 million in Proposition 1A property tax funding would further reduce the public safety services that our residents need and value.
The City Council will make these choices because it has no option. Cities do not have the ability to raid funds from other public agencies—a strategy state representatives have used year after year to fix the state’s broken budget process.
Craig Whittom
is
the assistant city manager/community development for
14. “Award Recognizes Excellence in Installation Management” (States News Service, July 23, 2009); newswire citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
The award recognizes the efforts of those who operate and maintain military installations and who have best managed their resources to support the mission, said Dorothy Robyn, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations [and environment].
“Those being recognized today represent the finest achievements in installation support by our military -- accomplishing their mission while improving the quality of life for those who serve,” Robyn said.
With military combat and humanitarian deployments under way across the globe, she said, “all of our installations are under extraordinary demands, which makes the accomplishments of our awardees all the more remarkable.”
This year’s awardees are:
15. “German automakers drive
toward gas-electric hybrids” (
By James R. Healey
Mercedes-Benz plans to roll out some gasoline-electric models, including a version from its ML series. Pictured is a gas-fueled Mercedes ML 550.
After years of championing diesel power, high-end German automakers are rushing into hybrids….
In fact, German makers are using their expertise in diesels, which can offer a 30% fuel mileage edge over gasoline, to combine the two alternatives in diesel-electric hybrids. Such a matchup would get far better mileage than gas-electric models, says David Champion, head of auto testing at Consumer Reports magazine. But, “You have the double whammy of the extra cost of a diesel and the extra cost of a hybrid powertrain.”
Still, diesel-electric hybrids
could be the only way to meet emissions standards envisioned in Europe that
would be so tight they’d equate to a
If automakers invest to meet such tight standards in one market, they’ll have to try to sell the vehicles in as many markets as possible to help cover their development costs.
“You might say, ‘Ah, too expensive; never happen,’ but how else do you get to low carbon dioxide emissions?” Hwang says. Carbon dioxide, or CO{-2}, is a greenhouse gas emitted by internal combustion engines; the more fuel they use, the more CO{-2} they emit.
“Does it mean an average $35,000 or $45,000 for a vehicle instead of $25,000? I think not. Innovation will drive down those costs,” Hwang predicts….
16. “Budget to reshape the
By Mitchell Landsberg
Some
convicts could be granted early release and others could be sent to county
jails rather than state prisons. (Brian Vander Brug/
Roads will be rougher, classrooms fuller and textbooks more tattered. The odds of encountering someone fresh out of prison will almost certainly be higher.
If the budget deal crafted by
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and top legislative leaders is passed by the
Legislature and survives the inevitable court challenges,
The state will be reshaped, at least for the short term, into a domain that is more efficient by necessity, but also noticeably shabbier, less generous and possibly more dangerous.
Those who will notice the biggest changes will be students and the poor as class sizes increase and health and welfare benefits shrink….
[Miriam] Ibarra’s husband is a truck driver who doesn’t get health benefits because he is self-employed. Ibarra … and her husband go without health insurance. But the Healthy Families program covers the couple’s two children, ages 14 and 10, for a premium of about $10 a month, with $5 co-pays for some visits.
Ginny Puddefoot, a spokeswoman for the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, the state agency that operates the program, said she is expecting about $124 million in cuts, in addition to an existing $20-million shortfall. Since the federal government kicks in $2 for each $1 the state spends on the program, she said the total loss will be about $432 million out of a total budget of slightly more than $1 billion….
17. “McClatchy surprises Wall Street, but problems remain” (Sacramento Bee, July 22, 2009); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2044865.html
By Dale Kasler
The McClatchy Co. has cut its way back to profitability in a big way but still faces problems with debt and an industrywide downturn in newspaper advertising.
After losing money in the first quarter, The Bee’s parent said Tuesday that it earned $42.2 million in the second quarter, about double the $19.7 million reported a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose to 50 cents from 24 cents.
Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman and chief executive, said he was “extremely pleased” with the results, which showed that McClatchy is “taking the right steps.”
The higher profits came in spite of a 25.4 percent drop in revenue, to $365.3 million, from a year earlier. Ad sales, the biggest revenue producer for any newspaper company, fell 30.2 percent despite a slight improvement in June.
Fueling the profit: a cost-cutting campaign that reduced cash expenses 29.3 percent, excluding severance pay.
This spring the Sacramento-based company imposed a third round of staff reductions and other cuts. McClatchy since last summer has cut staff by 35 percent, reduced pay at The Bee and most other papers, eliminated shareholder dividends and made other reductions. The cutbacks are comparable to what most other newspaper chains have undertaken.
McClatchy’s second-quarter results prompted some on Wall Street to back away from predictions that McClatchy would default on its bank covenants by year’s end.
“This is just a phenomenal
performance. They’ve given themselves a much better shot (at avoiding default)
than anyone dreamed,” said analyst Edward Atorino of
The Benchmark Co. in
Pruitt repeated his insistence that default isn’t in the cards.
“There has been a steady drumbeat in recent media and analyst reports about the prospects of McClatchy violating bank covenants this year,” he said on a conference call with analysts. “We think it is important to note that even if our advertising performance does not improve from its current run rate for the rest of the year, we would not breach our bank covenants. In the meantime, we will continue to reduce debt.” …
18. “William Hederman joins Concept Capital as senior energy analyst” (Hedgeweek, July 21, 2009); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974); http://www.hedgeweek.com/articles/detail.jsp?content_id=343594
Concept Capital, an institutional broker and
total solutions provider for global investment managers, has appointed William F. Hederman to its
Hederman is the former founding director of the Office of Market Oversight and Investigations (now the Office of Enforcement) for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
In his new role, Hederman will use his years of experience in both industry and government positions to provide in-depth coverage of utilities, FERC, and natural gas sectors, as well as a broad overview of the entire energy sector landscape….
19. “Raising money for AIDS” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 20, 2009); story about event sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation headed by MARK CLOUTIER (MPP/MPH 1993); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/20/BAG118RTC7.DTL&type=newsbayarea#ixzz0LqQqd3ur
Thousands
started from Sharon Meadow in
20. “Defying Slump, 13 States Insure More Children” (New York Times, July 19, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP/MPH 1988); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/us/19chip.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
By Kevin Sack
Sarah McIntyre, 8, with her mother, Vicky, now has subsidized government health insurance. Sarah, who had cysts removed from her lungs, uses an inhaler for asthma medication. (Stuart Isett for The New York Times)
Despite budgets ravaged by the recession, at least 13 states have invested millions of dollars this year to cover 250,000 more children with subsidized government health insurance.
The expansions have come in the
five months since Congress and President Obama used the reauthorization of the
Children’s Health Insurance Program to vastly increase its funding and
encourage states to increase enrollment. Although the federal government covers
the vast majority of the cost, states set their own eligibility levels and must
decide whether to spend state money in order to draw even more from
But a number of states decided that their depleted coffers did not allow them to insure additional children, even as a minority partner. Several either deferred previously scheduled eligibility expansions or saw their legislatures defeat efforts to broaden coverage.
... And in
In
“It is heartbreaking,” said Ginny
21. “Dispute over education funding may be near end” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 19, 2009); story citing EDGAR CABRAL (MPP 2005); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/19/MNDA18RI5T.DTL
--Matthew Yi, Chronicle
(07-19) 04:00 PDT
The larger controversy last week, however, was over how to ensure schools would be given billions of dollars in future years to make up for cuts made in this fiscal year and the last one….
According to the tentative agreement, state officials would first certify 2008-09 as a test three [which explicitly states that repayment is required] even though all of the actual figures that are required to make the calculations won’t be available until later this year. To discourage a court challenge, the deal includes setting a 45-day statute of limitations for lawsuits, sources said.
And as a backup in case there is a successful lawsuit, the plan would still authorize appropriation of $9.5 billion to schools as early as 2012. But the appropriation could be negated in the future by another bill approved by the Legislature and the governor even after Schwarzenegger and most of the current legislative leaders, whose terms end in 2010, are out of office, sources said.
But sources added that they believe the only way for the plan to be derailed is if there is a successful lawsuit and the Legislature and the governor pass a bill to negate the planned appropriation.
Edgar Cabral, a Prop. 98 expert at the Legislative Analyst’s Office, said one way to settle the future payment issue outright would be another ballot measure approved by voters to amend Prop. 98. A legislative effort to clarify could result in another legal fight, he said….
22. “Scientists zoom in on carbon dioxide in NYC” (The Associated Press, July 19, 2009); newswire citing KEVIN GURNEY (MPP 1996).
By Jennifer Peltz, Associated Press Writer
Within 15
minutes, a graph spiked in his office eight blocks away. The abrupt peak
marked the carbon dioxide the
The urban experiment shows a growing interest by researchers in tracking how much of the heat-trapping gas a city, neighborhood or building puts in the atmosphere, and how much the urban environment can suck out.
Some scientists hope the data might eventually help shape efforts to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the main contributors to global warming, and measure whether such efforts are effective….
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration now has about 70 carbon dioxide sensors around the world, many in remote areas. The agency hopes to do more carbon dioxide monitoring in cities to help test whether efforts to curb carbon emissions are effective, said Pieter Tans, who runs the monitor network.
Most power plants have been
required to monitor their carbon dioxide emissions since the 1990s. Scientists
have done carbon monitoring experiments of their own in
Purdue University researcher Kevin Gurney sends a low-flying plane
over
Lamont Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Observation Project: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/outr/LACOP/
23. “Medi-Cal reductions a headache” (Bakersfield Californian, July 19, 2009); editorial citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002).
Finally. Someone out there understands us. Or at least, somebody empathizes with our confusion over what’s going on with Medi-Cal and state budget talks. All we wanted to know was how Medi-Cal cuts proposed by the Schwarzenegger administration would affect Kern’s health-care industry. The consensus seems to be—and we’re paraphrasing here—”Have a seat. This is going to take a while.” …
Then there’s the matter of Schwarzenegger’s request for federal flexibility on Medi-Cal. His May 18 letter to the White House states that the governor would like to tighten eligibility restrictions as a means of saving as much as $1 billion, but that he was unable to do so because of existing federal guidelines….
But when we asked for the state’s Plan B, Toby Douglas, the state’s chief deputy director of health care programs for the Department of Health Care Services, said: “At this point we’re focusing on federal flexibilities.” Whoops—sorry we asked.
Other Medi-Cal
cuts may be more likely.
24. “Big business is cashing in
on EU farm grants” (The Daily Telegraph (
By Bruno Waterfield
in
EUROPEAN Union agriculture subsidies amounting to billions of pounds are being paid out to businesses and multinational corporations with little connection to traditional farming….
New information gathered by Farmsubsidy.org, a research organisation, since May this year showed that more than euro13 billion (pounds 11 billion)—about a quarter of the pounds 47.5 billion spent under the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)—was paid to big business and industry, not farmers.
The CAP consumes 42 per cent of the EU’s budget at an annual cost to every citizen of pounds 95, which means a bill of pounds 380 a year for the average British family….
Haribo
[the sweets manufacturer] qualified for euro332,000 in
farming subsidies for the sugar used in its “gummy bears’’ produced in
Arids Roma, a Spanish construction company, received euro1.59 million for road-making materials under EU rural development budgets that are a growing part of the CAP….
A report from the European Court of Auditors last December found that serious problems existed in the accounting for EU rural development projects amounting to pounds 10 billion a year.
The data gathered by Farmsubsidy.org also indicated a
significant shift in agriculture subsidies away from farmers to some of
Jack Thurston, a founder of Farmsubsidy.org, said that for the first time this year the EU’s 27 governments provided varying degrees of information on the beneficiaries of farm cash payments.
He accused the European Commission of compiling complicated and patchy data that failed to give the public a clearer picture of how money was spent. “The idea of publishing is that European people can have the information so debate about CAP and how it spends money is well-informed,’’ he said….
25. “Vroom! Off on a Tour of
Brooklyn to Help the
By Susan Dominus
Before Sandra Fleming, a 45-year-old social worker, walks in the door at the home of one of her clients, she has some undressing to do. First, off comes her black $400 Shoei helmet with internal speakers. Off comes the little beanie she wears underneath, on her hair, to keep the helmet spotless. Off comes the bright red jacket with built-in armguards. At that point, unburdened by gear and unrecognizable as an avid motorcyclist, she can finally get to work, counseling those who are receiving medical care from her employer, the Visiting Nurse Service of New York….
Ms. Fleming’s job sometimes demands that she visit several different Brooklyn ZIP codes in one day, a project that used to take her a lot longer when she had to find metered parking at each stop, and left her exhausted when she tried, as an alternative, bicycling from client to client with a heavy bag of files. It was not just for work that she started riding a motorcycle a few years ago—’’I was looking for a new passion,’’ she said—but it has certainly helped….
‘‘It’s a green mode of transportation,’’ said Ms. Fleming, going for a counterintuitive angle. ‘‘Think about how much less fuel a motorcycle requires than a car.’’
IT’S true that motorcycles produce fewer carbon emissions than cars, said Bruce Schaller, the city’s deputy commissioner for planning and sustainability at the Department of Transportation. But the hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions are far less regulated. ‘‘If you want a greener vehicle, buy a hybrid, not a motorcycle,’’ said Mr. Schaller….
26. “Capitol Alert: From the ground up” (Sacramento Bee, July 17, 2009); event featuring DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://www.ccspartnership.org/default.cfm
It’s Day 15 and counting since the state started printing IOUs.
Hundreds of local government officials are heading to the capital city for the first day of a two-day summit on state governance and fiscal reform.
Today and Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Sacramento, they’ll be discussing proposals to shorten legislative sessions, institute open primaries, require new funding sources for ballot measures, and reform term limits. And more.
Hosting the summit is a group called the Cities Counties Schools Partnership, a collaboration of the League of California Cities, the California State Association of Counties, and the California School Boards Association.
Officials from those organizations are among those expected to attend, as are representatives from the bipartisan reform group California Forward as well as the Bay Area Council, which is backing the idea of a state constitutional convention and wants to put two related ballot measures before voters next year.
The summit’s
theme? “Rebuilding
[Dave Metz (Fairbanks, Maslin, Maullin & Associates) was dinner speaker at the summit: “The California Electorate: The Mood and Attitudes toward State and Local Government”.]
27. “Costly Gas Pushes Up Consumer Prices” (The New York Times, July 16, 2009); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/business/economy/16econ.html?scp=1&sq=%22mickey%20levy%22&st=cse
By Gerry Shih
A
cab driver fills his tank with gasoline in
Consumer prices rose in June at
their quickest rate since last summer as gasoline claimed a larger portion of
family budgets while real incomes fell. The trend poses a challenge to
The Labor Department said Wednesday that its Consumer Price Index climbed 0.7 percent last month from May, slightly more than the 0.6 percent increase expected by economists. The index’s core rate, which excludes energy and food prices, also accelerated quicker than expected, to 0.2 percent….
From the larger economic perspective, analysts say the price figures are not alarming. Fears of broad-based inflation are not likely to be set off now, after economists anticipated that a month of roller-coaster trading in the oil markets might skew the June index.
‘‘The C.P.I. is not much of a
story this month,’’ said Mickey Levy,
the Bank of
At the least, the price data soothed worries that the economy might be slipping into a deflationary trap—when unemployment, wages, aggregate demand and shelf prices spiral downward—such as what happened to Japan during its ‘‘lost decade’’ after an asset bubble collapse in the early 1990s. Mr. Levy, the Bank of America economist, said that prices had held up surprisingly well despite the severity and length of the recession. ‘‘I expect core C.P.I. to drift lower but not outright decline,’’ he said…..
28. “Business Crunches the Health-Care Numbers. Legislation working its way through the House and Senate would make employers “pay or play” for employee insurance. But would it hurt job growth?” (Business Week, July 16, 2009); story citing PHILLIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2009/db20090716_001356.htm
By Catherine Arnst and John Tozzi
Proposed health-care legislation issued by House and Senate committees this week call would require companies to offer insurance benefits to their employees or pay a fine. This so-called pay-or-play option is strongly opposed by most business groups, on the grounds that companies will cut staff rather than absorb mandatory health-care costs. Or, they say, employers might choose to pay the fine and get out of offering insurance altogether, letting employees take their chance in the open market.
But several analyses, including
one from the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, estimate that there will be
little to no negative impact on employment levels. And while the various
health-care reform proposals coming out of
Other recent reports came to
much the same conclusions as the CBO. A study by Phillip Cryan, an economist at the
29. “Senior Executive Service Appointments and Reassignments” (Defense Department Documents and Publications, July 15, 2009); news release citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced the following Department of Defense Senior Executive Service, appointments and reassignments: …
Dorothy Robyn bas been appointed to the senior executive service and is
assigned as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations and
Environment), Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition,
Technology, and Logistics),
30. “UN presents new education kit for disasters” (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, July 15, 2009); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
Ann Veneman, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said that quickly getting youngsters in such situations into a learning environment was important.
“I have seen first hand the trauma children endure during disaster and conflict,” Veneman said, seated next to the large kit with colourful stuffed animals, colouring pads, games and puzzles, intended for children up to six years of age.
She had recently visited places
like Darfur, the troubled region in western
“Early childhood is the most important period for developing,” Veneman told reporters. “A disruption in development, like a serious trauma, can result in lifelong development problems.”
The kit is meant to complement an already used School-in-a-Box created in the 1990s with the UN’s science and education wing (UNESCO)….
31. “Qorvis MD/Partner Stanley Collender on Bloomberg TV” (Financial Markets Regulation Wire, July 15, 2009, Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC All Rights Reserved); interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
… TOM KEENE: How do you respond to those of various political persuasions that say OK, we need to cut spending, great, but we also need to raise taxes? Do raising taxes in an economic slowdown or the presumption of economic recovery—does that make a dent?
STAN COLLENDER: Well, not only does it not make a dent, but it doesn’t make any sense.
First of all you don’t want to be increasing taxes in a time when you’re trying to get the economy to recover because you want to keep money in the hands of individuals and corporations so they can spend it. That’s what you really want to do. And increasing taxes or cutting spending in a downturn would be a Herbert Hoover like move that we’d probably be paying for a decade or more. So that’s number one.
Number two, it’s likely to be counterproductive. You’ll slow the economy rather than increasing it and revenues will fall even more rather than less.
So under those circumstances we shouldn’t be talking about increasing revenues in a downturn. And you know what? No one really is. What they’re talking about is the need to increase revenues coming out of this when we’ve got unambiguous evidence and ambiguous indications that the economy has recovered or is recovering and is not likely to fall backwards….
32. “Medical, foreclosure
crisis ends
By Corinne Reilly Creilly
Rod Hoofard and his
wife Kay spending some time in their backyard garden in
Years ago, when Kay and Rod Hoofard
imagined what it would be like to grow old together, they pictured a
comfortable retirement in a home they would make together….
Instead, at ages 67 and 68, they are living in a house that isn’t theirs and pinching every penny.
Facing mounting medical
expenses, they lost their
He needs a new heart, and if he’s fortunate enough to get one, the Hoofard’s financial problems will get a lot worse.
If it wasn’t for medical bills, the Hoofards think they probably could have afforded to keep their house....
Financial catastrophe caused by
medical bills is a growing problem among the insured, and the economic downturn
has only worsened the squeeze on middle-class families dealing with major
illnesses, said Marian Mulkey, with the
“It’s an especially sad day when you find people in situations like this who are covered by Medicare,” Mulkey said. “That’s when you know we all need to be worried.” …
33. “Obesity risk factor in swine flu?” (Erie Times-News, July 11, 2009); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD); http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009307119939
A high proportion of those who have gotten severely ill from swine flu have been obese or extremely obese, but health officials have said that might be due to the fact that heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more susceptible.
Obesity alone has never been seen as a risk factor for severity of seasonal flu.
But in a report released
Friday, health officials detailed the cases of 10
Nine of the 10 were either obese or extremely obese. Only three of the 10 had other health problems. Two of the three that died had no other health conditions….
Also remarkable were that five of the patients developed blood clots in their lungs, and six had kidney failure. Those complications have been seen in some swine-flu patients before, but not usually in such a high proportion.
“Clinicians need to be aware that severe complications can occur in patients with the novel H1N1 virus, particularly in extremely obese patients,” said Dr. Tim Uyeki, a flu expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Uyeki was a co-author of the report, released by a CDC publication, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report….
34. “How’s Newsom’s S.F. farm idea supposed to work?” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 11, 2009); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/11/BASG18LNQ0.DTL
--C.W. Nevius
There’s really only one thing
wrong with Mayor Newsom’s new idea to have the city of
It doesn’t go far enough.
Where are the plans to raise chickens, a terrific, healthy and low-calorie food source? A March report to the Board of Supervisors by the Peak Oil Preparedness Task Force recommended changing city law to allow “small-scale animal husbandry” including “allowing resident to keep a small number of goats and hogs.” So far, that proposal hasn’t moved forward….
But that’s not the end of it. Newsom is also sending an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors in the next couple of months mandating that food served at city jails, hospitals, homeless shelters, and community centers be healthy….
Newsom’s lack of details for this proposal leads to the cynical view that this is just another potential bullet point in his gubernatorial stump speech. I’d say that sounds about right….
“Just because it is overtly political doesn’t mean that it is a bad idea,” said David Latterman of Fall Line Analytics. “In fact, I think it could be a good idea. The question is, after the press release, after the ribbon cutting, is anything going to happen?” …
35. “Around the Region -
... Building Community for Full Equality and Marriage Equality USA will
hold a regional community gathering to discuss marriage equality in
36. “Guaranteed school funds complicate budget” (Sacramento Bee, July 10, 2009); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/2014812.html
By Kevin Yamamura
As the budget clock ticked, the state’s school funding guarantee complicated talks this week due to questions over how much money the state owes education now and in future years….
Education funding is roughly 40 percent of the state’s general fund budget, so any change in the Proposition 98 school formula has a significant impact on how much money is available for other budget needs….
The Department of Finance issued two new scenarios Wednesday. But Finance Director Mike Genest said the department is sticking with its July 1 proposal with an estimated $26.3 billion deficit….
Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers last week to give schools $3 billion less than Proposition 98 guarantees. The California Teachers Association on Thursday launched $1 million in ads statewide opposing such a move and attacking the governor….
The Department of Finance offered two scenarios Wednesday, based on lower June revenue, that it believes would eliminate a $9.6 billion long-term payment the state would owe to schools under Proposition 98. Democrats and education groups believe the state owes that money regardless of Finance’s interpretation….
The new scenarios would not significantly change the amount of money paid to schools in 2009-10, but they would alter calculations that define school funding for years to come – a point of contention for school groups.
In other budget news, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that blocked a 10 percent pay cut to Medi–Cal providers last August. The court ordered the state to repay providers $111 million, about half of which would come from the general fund.
[Senate President Pro Tem Darrell] Steinberg said Wednesday the “Big Five” group of legislative leaders and the governor had not met since Monday because they were waiting for the governor to offer a proposal answering education questions.
The Governor’s Office and Genest downplayed that portrayal. Genest said the governor’s proposed solutions remained the same in any of the scenarios.
[Mike Genest was also cited in a related Capitol Alert blog about education funding.]
37. “
By Gale Holland
Two
“They really are sort of
technical issues,” said Gary Colombo, vice chancellor for institutional
effectiveness at the Los Angeles Community College District, which operates
nine campuses, including Trade-Tech and
“Would we think a hospital review of a patient death was just a technicality?” responded Barbara Beno, president of the accrediting commission. “Two-year colleges have a lot of students entering, but by the time they get to graduation, the numbers are way down…. We want to get institutions to focus on student success, and I don’t consider it to be a technical issue.”…
“In this era of a huge push to
get people through [college], it’s no longer good enough to say we don’t know who’s there for what, and what happens to them,” said Nancy Shulock,
executive director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy
at
38. “Critics protest BART-Oakland Airport connector” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 2009); story citing group led by STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/09/BAIU18L5DS.DTL
--Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
A plan for a people-mover system to replace the AirBART shuttle buses has drawn criticism for its escalating cost.
Opponents of a proposed peoplemover that would shuttle passengers between the
Coliseum BART Station and
Former state Sen. Don Perata, a candidate for
The cost, which has escalated significantly from the original $130 million price tag, is “too much money for too little transit value,” he said.
Transit advocates, led by a group called TransForm [headed by Stuart Cohen], have been pushing for an alternative rapid bus system to ferry passengers between BART and the airport, and they say their plan could be built at a fraction of the cost. However, it has no official funding or development sponsor…..
39. “Poizner rejects 23.7 percent average rate hike for workers’ comp premiums” (Sacramento Bee, July 9, 2009); story citing FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993); http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/2011676.html
By Dale Kasler
Workers’ compensation costs are
going back up in
In a conference call with reporters, Poizner said he rejected a 23.7 percent average rate increase proposed in March by the Workers’ Compensation Rating Bureau of California, a nonprofit governed largely by insurers. Poizner, who is elected to his post and is running for governor, said a big increase would devastate employers and isn’t justified by the data….
Insurers are free to do as they please. Many have already posted increases, blaming higher medical expenses. The state’s largest insurer, the State Compensation Insurance Fund, raised rates 15 percent.
Workers’ comp rates are considered
a significant cost of doing business and are frequently cited as a major issue
when elected officials debate the state’s business climate. Economic
development officials in
Even with the increases, rates
are still roughly 60 percent below the late-2003 peak, said Frank Neuhauser,
a workers’ comp expert at the
40. “Banks’ plan to refuse California IOUs takes heat” (The Associated Press, July 8, 2009); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer
The banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. and some regional banks, are trying to pressure lawmakers to end the impasse by warning that, after Friday, they won’t accept IOUs issued by the state. The move would leave many businesses and families with pieces of paper and fewer options for getting their money immediately….
Some banks are already placing limits on the IOUs, accepting them from existing customers only….
At Bank of
“We don’t want acceptance (of IOUs) to deter the state from a budget agreement,” bank spokeswoman Julie Westermann said….
The banks “can come up with any justification they want, but there will be extreme anger,” said Stan Collender, managing director at Qorvis Communications, a business consulting and public relations firm in Washington. If businesses and families suffer because they couldn’t cash IOUs, the banks will be viewed as “another bad guy,” Collender said….
41. “‘Recovered memory’ debate is still on” (Hindustan Times, July 8, 2009); story citing ROSS CHEIT (MPP 1980/PhD 1987).
The claims made by Harrison G. Pope and James Hudson in the journal Psychological Medicine in 2007, following a ‘Repression Challenge’ in 2006, drew a lot of media attention. Cheit said that he repeatedly contacted Pope and the journal editors shortly after the article was published, requesting the data from Pope and raising questions about the contest methodology. According to him, several months later, Pope and his team acknowledged on their Web site that the submitted example of Nina, a 1786 opera by the French composer Nicolas Dalayrac, fulfilled the contest criteria and that the 1,000-dollar prize had been awarded.
Cheit, however, insisted that the authors and the journal never published a correction, addendum, or retraction of their original article and its conclusions. “The entire situation is remarkable to me. It’s clearly a ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ situation. Pope takes an extreme position in saying there’s no such thing as recovered memory and I’m stunned that a scientist would be such an extremist. I’m also stunned that a scientist would be so willing to ignore evidence that contradicts him,” Cheit said. He calls Pope’s entire contest ‘a sham’, accusing Pope’s team of failing to provide a thorough account of all submissions and the process by which they were rejected, offering highly questionable literary analysis, and including several misrepresentations of the state of the science regarding memory for trauma….
Cheit’s arguments appear in an article published in the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation.
42. “Swine flu resistance testing to grow after US case” (The Associated Press, July 8, 2009); newswire citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD).
By Mike Stobbe, AP Medical Writer
A
Her illness was mild, but noteworthy. She’s just the third person in the world to be diagnosed with a strain resistant to Tamiflu, the primary pharmaceutical weapon against the new virus.
The other two resistant
cases patients in
“It’s a little more concerning” than the two previous cases, said Dr. Tim Uyeki of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention….
Spread of a Tamiflu-resistant strain may not be ongoing, said Uyeki, a CDC flu expert. “These are likely to be sporadic cases, but it’s very important to monitor” for them, he said….
The CDC is calling for health departments to send in more samples for testing Tamiflu resistance, Uyeki said….
Health officials are continuing to recommend Tamiflu as a treatment for swine flu, Uyeki said.
43. “Poll shows broad support for tobacco tax increase” (Oakland Tribune, July 7, 2009); story citing DAVE METZ (MPP 1988); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12771005?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Josh Richman -
More than seven out of
10
The poll of 600 registered voters — 500 randomly sampled plus an oversample of 100 more Republicans, surveyed June 25-28 — found 78 percent of Democrats, 75 percent of independents, and 65 percent of Republicans support such an increase.
The poll was commissioned by the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society and American Heart Association. Paul Knepprath, the American Lung Association’s vice president for advocacy and health initiatives, said the tax increase would bring in about $1.2 billion per year, 85 percent of which would go to the state’s beleaguered General Fund and the rest to existing tobacco-prevention programs as well as to tobacco disease and lung cancer research….
Dave Metz of the Democratic polling firm of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin & Associates, which conducted the poll with
the Republican polling firm Public Opinion Strategies, said when given three
choices for reducing the deficit, 13 percent of voters called for a primary
focus on tax and fee increases, 50 percent preferred a mix of spending cuts and
tax increases, and 25 percent preferred a primary focus on cutting services.
Even among this latter group — the quarter of the
The poll also found 57 percent of voters would be more likely to back a state legislative candidate who supported this tax increase, while 20 percent would be less likely to do so….
Voters in November 2006 rejected Proposition 86 — which would have raised the state tobacco tax from $0.87 to $3.47 per pack to fund various health programs, children’s health coverage and tobacco-related programs — in a 52 percent to 48 percent vote. But Knepprath noted Tuesday the tobacco industry spent about $62 million to defeat that measure, and Metz said polling at the time had shown most voters supported some tobacco tax increase, just not that one for those purposes….
44. “India News: Letter from Himachal Pradesh” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], July 7, 2009); story by MICHELLE AREVALO-CARPENTER (MPP cand. 2010); http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124697371327805767.html#printMode
By MICHELLE AREVALO-CARPENTER
[Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter is a Rotary
World Peace Fellow studying public
policy at the
As a Latin American traveling through tiny villages in rural Himachal Pradesh, I can’t help but feel that I’ve been immersed in Macondo, the enchanted town depicted in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s canonical fiction “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”
The book documents the town’s journey from poverty to wealth to poverty brought on by a cycle of foreign investment and large-scale development. When I hear of one Himachali villager paying another 1,000 rupees ($21) to tie his shoe after receiving cash for his land, I have an overwhelming sensation that the denouement will be reached within the next few chapters….
![[Michelle Arevalo-Carpenter]](aug2009_files/image021.jpg)
My mission in staying among the villagers was to
assess whether the International Finance Corp.’s Performance Standards on
involuntary resettlement and land acquisition are adequately addressing the
needs of affected populations. These social standards are to be implemented by
any private company borrowing funds from IFC, which is part of the World Bank….
There is no doubt that positive development changes have come in the recent years since construction began: employment and wages are higher, water now gushes from taps, convenience stores have a constant flow of customers, Prini and Hamta are now accessible through paved roads, several new homes have been built and many more have been renovated or expanded.
Why then, are so many villagers unhappy with the recent developments? Even as the villages experience the best of days of the construction boom, disappointment looms.
Pictures courtesy: Michelle Arevalo Carpenter.
![[Rural Himachal]](aug2009_files/image023.jpg)
“First
came the road,” says Raman, a local in Prini, as he recounts the town’s recent history vis-a-vis AD Hydro Power, known locally as “The Company.”
“Then, people sold their land.” …
On the surface all seems fine, as the villagers received cash compensation above market price. Still, none felt they had the option not to sell, and few were prepared to make the transition from subsistence farmers to overnight capital investors.
Although no-one sold their entire landholdings, most of the sellers will see their agricultural output and source of income dry up in the long term. This is partly due to the villagers’ inability to turn the cash compensation they received into a substantive source of income….
![[Himachal village]](aug2009_files/image025.jpg)
Clearly,
sustained rural community development is about much more than cash transfers
and funding local government: there is a need to strengthen the democratic
structures at the grassroots level and enable civil society to play a role in
holding local authorities accountable for administering local development
funds.
It would be simplistic to think that only villagers that have not received a contract with the company oppose the project, but most inhabitants are unhappy with the management of the local area development fund, as they have seen Pradhans and their main contacts and relatives become rich through the assignation of development contracts. Given this type of access to resources, the local area development fund may in fact be creating previously non-existent inequalities in these villages as well as entrenching power in a few hands…..
45. “East Bay peace activist weds Army Reservist, writes memoir” (Contra Costa Times, July 6, 2009); story featuring SOPHIA RADAY (MPP 1993); http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_12742467
By Jessica Yadegaran
Author and liberal political activist Sophia Raday, left, poses for a portrait with her soldier/police officer husband, Blair Alexander, at their home in Albany, Calif. (Sean Donnelly/Staff)
THIRTEEN YEARS ago, Sophia Raday was a war-protesting political activist when she met and fell in love with Blair Alexander, a police officer and major in the Army Reserve. Back then, Raday’s idea of a good time was swimming naked and going to farmers markets. Alexander liked shooting and fishing.
Despite their differences and what likely amounts to hundreds of arguments about politics, the Albany couple has been happily married for almost a decade and has two children, ages 3 and 8. Raday, a founder of the online magazine Literary Mama, relays this ultimate bipartisan love story in her first book, “Love in Condition Yellow: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage” (Beacon Press, $23.95).
Much like other politically diverse couples — James Carville and Mary Matalin come to mind — the most important thing Raday has culled from her relationship is that it is not essential to agree with your partner to be emotionally close.
“That was a big ah-ha for us,” says Raday, 44, sitting with Alexander in their living room on a recent Friday afternoon. “You hear all this talk that you have to find someone who has the same interests as you, and that they should mirror you and be your soul mate. But we realized that if you can talk to someone with general curiosity about the other person as opposed to trying to change their mind to the way you see the world, it leads to a deeper respect and understanding of each other.” …
Before long, they realized a pattern, particularly when it came to their discussions on poverty, policy issues and international affairs.
“Often when you are
arguing about politics, there is really something underneath that,” Raday says,
referencing an incident when the couple was eating burritos six months into
their relationship and Alexander said the country should bomb
… Raday
graduated in international relations from
Alexander was prepared
to retire from the Army Reserve after they married and had their first child.
Then 9/11 hit. The biggest challenge Raday faced, she says, was her husband’s decision to remain
in the military and go to
“That shared experience really bonds you,” she says. “That’s another thing that transcends differences. It has made me realize the importance of involving more of the country in the war effort. Mine was the protester view of police and the peace activist view of a soldier. Without losing those, I’ve come to see what the soldier’s view is or the (view of the) police officer’s wife that’s sitting at home worried about her guy.” …
[Sophia and Blair were also profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle (7/5/09).]
46. “Employees getting real” (Oakland Tribune, July 5, 2009); op-ed by DANIEL BORENSTEIN (MPP 1980/MJ 1985); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12736242?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Daniel Borenstein - Staff columnist and editorial writer
EAST BAY REGIONAL Park District employees are balking at a one-year contract with a 0.9 percent raise and no changes in their generous benefits. BART employees are demanding a 3 percent pay hike over the next two years on top of their lucrative health care and pension provisions. Despite drastic cuts in education funding, West Contra Costa school district teacher union officials boycotted a fact-finding meeting designed to head off a strike.
Against this backdrop of public employees living in denial, it’s refreshing to see that at least some union leaders get it — that at least some recognize we are living in a time of financial crisis in which government-funded salaries and benefits are unsustainable in the short and long term.
Credit the leading
unions representing about 5,600
More significantly, the county employees are going to shoulder a greater share of their health insurance costs in coming years.
Recall that the county had dug itself a huge financial hole by promising health care for current and future retirees without setting aside money to pay for it. In 2006, the county received an actuarial report that placed the unfunded liability at $2.6 billion. Ever since then, county officials have been making changes to try to whittle down that number.
Approval of the latest contracts and application of the changes to most retirees will reduce the liability to $1.4 billion. If those provisions are applied to the rest of the county employee groups and retirees, the liability will be $1.1 billion. It’s a debt the county plans to pay off over 30 years. By reducing the total debt, the county is reducing its annual payments and, in turn, freeing up money for public services.
To the unions, that means saving jobs….
47. “Congress prepares to face health care challenge” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 5, 2009); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/05/MN9V18IFRD.DTL
--Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer
President Obama discusses lower drug costs at a June 22 event at the White House, where he was joined by (from left) AARP chief Barry Rand and Sens. Max Baucus and Chris Dodd. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)
With an August deadline looming, Congress is expected to return from the July Fourth holiday this week to tackle the complex issue of health care reform with a renewed sense of urgency….
The goal is to find a way to get more than 47 million uninsured Americans covered and to figure out a way to control the spiraling medical costs that threaten our nation’s economy. But exactly how these goals will be accomplished—particularly how they will be paid for—remains unclear.
Some clarity has come in the form of three major health proposals that have emerged from the Democrat-controlled Congress: two from Senate committees and one from three House committees. The plans share some key policy provisions, diverge on some elements and offer varying levels of detail….
“They all involve an
individual mandate, they all are probably going to end up having a significant
employer mandate and they all involve the expansion of public programs,” said Marian Mulkey,
senior program officer with the
48. “Language of the Health Care Debate” (Forum, KQED public radio, July 2, 2009); features commentary by MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R907020900
Continuing our series on health care reform, we hereby formally exchange the loaded word ‘reform’ with ‘debate.’ We look at the power of words in the health care issue.
Guests:
•Chris LeHane, Democratic consultant, partner at Fabiani and Lehane, a U.S.-based PR firm and former press secretary for Vice President Al Gore throughout the 2000 campaign
•Marian Mulkey, senior program officer at the
•Matthew Klink, principal and executive vice president of public relations, campaigns, and issues management with Cerrell Associates, an independent public relations and political consulting firm
•Ron Elving,
senior
49. “Study: Employer
mandate could create jobs” (The Hill, July 4, 2009); story citing
By Mike Soraghan
A study commissioned by liberal think tanks disputes claims that a “pay or play” employer mandate in a national healthcare plan would cause massive job loss, and says it could actually create jobs.
The study by [Philip Cryan of] the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley found that in a “worst-case scenario,” 166,095 jobs could be lost, which would be about 0.1% of employed workers.
But the study said that assumed several unlikely outcomes from healthcare reform, such as Congress not exempting small employers, and companies not opting to pay the payroll tax.
The study says it’s more likely that jobs would be created because of new jobs sparked in the healthcare sector, savings for employers who lower their healthcare cost by paying the 8 percent tax and system-wide savings from slowing down the growth in the cost of healthcare….
“Concerns about
significant job losses resulting from such a policy are unfounded,” said the
study, done by Phillip Cryan at the
Wal-Mart on Tuesday announced its support for an employer mandate, providing a political boost to the concept. In announcing its support Wal-Mart broke with the majority of the business community.
50. “‘Pay or play’ not as painful as originally thought” (Employee Benefit News, July 7, 2009); story citing PHILIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/pay-or-play-not-as-painful-as-originally-thought-2681291-1.html
By Kathleen Koster
That’s the word following the release of a new study from the Economic Policy Institute. The research says that a “play or pay” mandate, as is included in both House and Senate health care reform proposals, would cause fewer job losses than originally speculated and health care reform in general would create more job openings….
The nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank released the study in the midst of strong debate over an employer mandate, with many arguing that such a mandate would cause massive job losses. The report’s author, Phillip Cryan, who wrote the report as a Masters thesis in Public Policy at the University of California-Berkeley, disagrees, citing that not only are these concerns over job losses “overstated and unfounded,” but a health care reform package that includes a “play or pay” mandate would on the whole cause a “significant boost to employment,” he states in the study.
According to Cryan, prior studies that predicted much higher unemployment rates used widely different parameters, with some measuring the effects of a 40% tax on payroll. In what Cryan presents as the worst-case scenario with an 8% payroll tax (on the steep end of the 4% to 8% range proffered by policymakers), 166,095 jobs would be lost or 0.1% of employees would be put out of work….
He recommends that all employers “sit back for a minute and think through the likely effects on productivity and retention associated with everyone having secure access to quality health care.” …
51. “Broadband Grant Criteria Reflect Public Interest Priorities” (Targeted News Service, July 1, 2009); newswire citing S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
The criteria, or “Notice of Funds Availability,” create a detailed system for prioritizing grant applications and outline how the agencies will distribute $4.7 billion in broadband money for the NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program and $2.5 billion for RUS loans and grants. Under the rules announced today for the BTOP programs, applicants that provide wholesale access to their networks at reasonable rates will be given preference for funds. Preference will also be given to networks that offer affordable services and community partnerships, among other public service goals. All recipients will have to operate their networks in a manner consistent with the FCC’s Internet Policy Statement as well as agree to “not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others.”
In March, Free Press released a broadband stimulus grant scorecard that outlined criteria policymakers should use to score potential broadband deployment projects. Many of the factors identified by Free Press in March, such as Net Neutrality, broadband adoption, affordability, speed and job creation, are reflected in the criteria released today.
“Today, the Obama administration reaffirmed its commitment to Net Neutrality by ensuring that public funds will not be used to build closed and discriminatory networks,” said S. Derek Turner, research director for Free Press and author of the scorecard. “These broadband programs are first class examples of public policy serving the public interest. They will use public dollars to build out Internet access as a public service infrastructure.”
“To those large corporations that say public interest requirements are too restrictive, we say step aside and make way for the thousands of other companies, non-profits and municipalities that are eager to bring the transformative benefits of the open Internet to the millions of Americans left on the wrong side of the digital divide,” said Turner.
Along with the release
of grant guidelines, leaders from the three federal agencies charged with
collaborating and overseeing the national broadband plan were joined by Vice
President Joe Biden in
“These agencies have set the bar for our nation’s digital future,” said Turner. “The success of the national broadband plan hangs heavily on how these federal dollars are doled out and these guidelines will help ensure that funds are allocated in a fair and efficient manner consistent with the priorities set forth by Congress and the president.” …
52. “Health overhaul means big Medicare changes. Can Democrats assure seniors that reforms don’t threaten them?” (MSNBC.com, July 1, 2009); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999); http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31671157
By Tom Curry, national affairs writer, msnbc.com
… That’s a good reason
to pay attention as Congress debates an overhaul of
Medicare is big, and it’s going to get much bigger: Between 2010 and 2030, the number of people on Medicare is projected to rise from 46 million to 78 million, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Over the long term, the program is underfunded. According to the Medicare trustees, it would take an immediate 134 percent increase in the Medicare tax rate, or an immediate 53 percent cut in spending, to bring Medicare’s hospital insurance program into long-term fiscal balance.
The cost savings which President Barack Obama says are urgently needed won’t be possible without cutting Medicare’s outlays, which have kept growing annually at a pace more than two percent faster than the economy….
Obama has proposed policy changes which his budget director Peter Orszag says will cut more than $200 billion over ten years from Medicare, partly by requiring hospitals, hospices, outpatient clinics, and skilled nursing facilities to become more efficient by meeting certain productivity benchmarks….
As policy analyst Juliette Cubanski
of the Kaiser Family Foundation pointed out in a panel discussion sponsored
by the
Opinion polls already reveal an anxiety among older people that the Democrat’s proposed changes may hurt their Medicare coverage….
A survey this month of 1,205 adults by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed similar jitters among older Americans.
The survey asked whether—as one way to help pay for health care reform—respondents would favor limiting increases in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals.
A majority, 56 percent, of those under age 65 supported such limits on payments, while 35 percent opposed them.
But people over age 65 were opposed to such payment limits, 48 percent to 40 percent.
“Right now not that many details have filtered down to the average person answering a poll,” said the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Cubanski in an interview with msnbc.com Tuesday. “What people might be hearing is ‘we’re going to make cuts in Medicare’ - without knowing any of the specifics about what those cuts really are and what they would mean for beneficiaries.”
She added, “Some of the proposed reforms—such as bundling payments to hospitals and other providers—are potential ways to bring greater efficiency to the way Medicare benefits are paid for. I don’t think it’s clear at this point what the effect on beneficiaries would be with some of these changes. Beneficiaries might not actually see much in the way of a tangible change in their benefits or a change in which doctor they see.” …
53. “
Federal officials on
Tuesday cleared
In a major reversal of Bush administration policy, the Environmental Protection Agency’s ruling was hailed by California politicians and national environmental groups as a breakthrough in curbing carbon dioxide—a leading contributor to global warming.
Tuesday’s waiver highlights the state’s decades-long tradition of environmental leadership, said Roland Hwang, transportation program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“When you look at
54. “State budget
squabble dragged into the night” (The Sun (
By James Rufus Koren, Staff Writer
Tuesday night, on the eve of the 2009-10 fiscal year - which began at 12:01 a.m. today - state lawmakers were still squabbling over cuts to the 2008-09 budget.
With just hours to go before the 2008-09 fiscal year ticked away, Democratic lawmakers wanted Republicans in the Senate to approve billions in cuts to that year’s spending plan….
In their effort to balance this year’s budget, lawmakers were looking for part of the money by taking it back from funds given to schools and community colleges last fiscal year.
That would mean schools would get less money in the coming fiscal year ….
“It’s not like a school
district can reduce their spending in 08-09. So it’s really a cut to their
reserves,” said Edgar Cabral, a budget
analyst with the nonpartisan
But if the state is aiming to save money in the 2009-10 fiscal year, why not just cut from the 2009-10 budget? Because, Cabral said, it’s easier in some cases to cut from the previous year’s.
The state Constitution, because of voter-approved Proposition 98, requires a certain level of funding for education programs.
Cabral said public education was funded above the minimum level in the 2008-09 fiscal year, meaning the Legislature could cut from that budget while still meeting Proposition 98 requirements. That might not be the case if they cut from the 2009-10 budget….
55. “Gays and the census: Counting them in. But they had hoped for more from the new president” (The Economist, June 25, 2009); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13915838
Photo: AP
On June 19th officials announced that same-sex married partners would be counted in the ten-yearly census for the first time. The 2010 census will provide the federal government’s first official recognition of gay marriage, which is legal in six states….
… On June 17th, Mr Obama announced that he will extend some (although not full) benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees. But some gays worry that Mr Obama has not touched bigger issues, like his campaign pledge to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bars openly gay people from serving in the armed forces, and the Defence of Marriage Act, which defines, for federal purposes, marriage as between a man and a woman. Gays, while they are happy to be counted, are beginning to worry that they cannot count on their president.
56. “Hospital defends actions in care of Utah flu victim” (Salt Lake Tribune, June 15, 2009); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD); http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12594446?IADID=Search-www.sltrib.com-www.sltrib.com
By Brooke Adams - The
Salt
Francine Rushton (Courtesy of
Craig Whitehead)
A hospital visited twice by a
Two rapid diagnostic tests conducted by the hospital indicated Francine Rushton, 47, did not have the flu. So she did not qualify for antiviral medication under state and federal guidelines—despite the rapid test’s high false-negative rate, her flu-like symptoms and her contact with her mother, who did have a confirmed case….
Rushton
continued to deteriorate and three days later returned to
She was transferred to
The rapid influenza antigen test used in health clinics and doctor’s offices to make an initial flu diagnosis has a sensitivity rate of 50 percent to 70 percent compared to viral tests done in a lab, according to the CDC.
“However, much lower sensitivities have been reported,” said Tim Uyeki, a physician with the CDC’s influenza division. “False negative results clearly occur. This means that a fair amount of infections are missed by this test.” …
False negative results are more likely when disease prevalence is high, the CDC said….
The brief said the H1N1 flu cannot be excluded based on a negative rapid antigen test, and that in patients who have had contact with someone with a confirmed case of the flu additional testing and treatment may be warranted….
Uyeki said in an e-mail to the Tribune that transmission of the new virus is not completely understood. “There are many unanswered questions about this virus that CDC scientists and others are working to address,” he said….
57. “Eyeing new revenue, cities consider charter status” (Lamorinda Sun, June 25, 2009); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12689077?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Jonathan Morales - Lamorinda Sun
Is becoming a “charter city” simply the thing to do these days? …
All three are now
“general law” cities, as are most other cities in the state and every city in
the county except
General law cities are bound by the state’s general law. But adopting a charter means a city can have more control over elections, how contracts are awarded and a number of other regulations.
Perhaps most importantly to cities in troubled budgetary times, it allows voters to raise the property transfer tax collected whenever property — generally a house or other real estate — is sold….
The numbers can be
significant.
An increase isn’t a
cure-all, however.
Still, she added, “if we hadn’t raised it, we would be getting nothing.” …
58. “One thing safe in health reform: Jobs. Concerns stemming from a ‘play-or-pay’ policy for employers amount to much ado about nothing” (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, June 23, 2009); op-ed by PHILLIP CRYAN (MPP 2009); http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/48932497.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:U0ckkD:aEyKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
By PHILLIP CRYAN
… But the people warning against play-or-pay draw their concerns from a small set of academic studies. What they fail to recognize—as I discovered very quickly, after digging into the research—is that none of the studies predicting job losses from an employer mandate looked at policies even remotely like those being proposed by the Obama administration.
The cost of compliance with the kind of play-or-pay mandate proposed by the administration would be somewhere between 4 and 8 percent of payroll for “paying” employers, with small businesses that don’t provide coverage facing either a lower payment or no payment at all. That’s a tiny fraction of the costs modeled in the academic studies predicting job losses. Once the actual kind of play-or-pay policy on the table today is plugged into the same kind of conservative economic estimation used in the prior studies, the expectation of job losses simply disappears….
59. “Tire label would
show gas savings; LaHood: Tag cuts guesswork” (
By Chris Woodyard
The government on Thursday proposed a simplified new tire label that would show potential gas savings for buyers of that tire, as well as safety and tread life ratings.
Making sure consumers know which tires are the best gas savers could take up to a 2% whack out of the 135 billion gallons of fuel the nation consumes every year, estimates the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)….
The federal move comes a
week after a state tire-labeling effort in
The simplified labels have the blessings of an environmental group that has followed the effort. “Armed with efficiency ratings, consumers can choose replacement tires that can cut the gasoline consumption of their current car, minivan, SUV or pickup and save money with fewer trips to the pump,” said Luke Tonachel, vehicle analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council in a blog note….
60. “No easy road to imposing fee on Oakland sports tickets” (Oakland Tribune, June 18, 2009); story citing MARIANNA MARYSHEVA (MPP 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12625143?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Kelly Rayburn -
Whatever else happens, one thing is clear: the ticket fee won’t generate $9 million in the upcoming fiscal year, as the council members’ proposal indicated last Friday. While it seems plausible, officials say, the fee could eventually generate $9 million in annual revenue, it won’t happen in the 2009-10 year largely because a number of A’s and Raiders tickets have already been sold.
Oakland Assistant City Administrator Marianna Marysheva-Martinez said this week the city can expect “$4.5 million at best” in the first year, and council members agree that $4.5 million is a more realistic figure….
61. “It’s simply shocking news — not” (Davis Enterprise, June 12, 2009); Letter to Editor by RAY REINHARD (MPP 1978).
To Editor: Re: “Admissions favoritism exposed,” Davis Enterprise, June 5:
As Louis (Claude Rains)
said to Rick (Humphrey Bogart) in
Of course, with a fixed pool of freshman “slots,” the preferential treatment accorded one group is simply discrimination against others. But then, whoever said life was fair?
—Ray Reinhard, Davis
62. “Grand jury raps San Rafael for stiffing drug task force” (Marin Independent Journal, June 12, 2009); story citing NANCY MACKLE (MPP 1990); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_12580834?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
By Gary Klien
A new report by the Marin
County Civil Grand Jury says the county’s narcotics task force is well worth
preserving and faults
The task force, launched in 1977 as a cooperative between Marin’s 11 cities and the county, was created to target mid- to upper-level drug dealers. In earlier years, its ranks were filled by various local agencies, the FBI, the state Department of Justice and the California Highway Patrol, but state and federal agencies redirected their resources after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Two years later,
San Rafael officials just received the grand jury report Friday and will review it in the coming months, said Deputy City Manager Nancy Mackle. The city must respond to the grand jury by September, Mackle said.
On June 2, the city approved a package of job cuts, service reductions and work furloughs to close a $3.2 million budget deficit for 2009-10. Mackle said that if money were available, the city might consider the task force, but there is no money to be had.
“We just don’t have the personnel, the cash, the dollars, to participate in this,” she said.
63. “Federal Stimulus Funds Boost Innovation in Online Learning; Schools Use Open Educational Resources to ‘Race to the Top’” (Ascribe Newswire, June 10, 2009); newswire citing BARBARA CHOW (MPP 1980).
The OER movement offers high quality educational materials free of charge to anyone with access to the Internet….
Some states have already started using the federal stimulus funding to get involved in the OER movement through a membership in the National Repository of Online Courses (NROC) which offers a library of top-notch online classes….
“ARRA is a great opportunity to accelerate the OER movement,” said Barbara Chow, education program director for The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. “It works, it is cost effective, it improves instruction and it can have a profound impact on improving student outcomes.”
By joining NROC, educational institutions support OER and receive a variety of benefits including customizable content, specialized support and professional development resources. NROC’s content is also accessible to individual learners free of charge at http://www.hippocampus.org .
NROC is an OER project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, supported by a grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Learn more about spending guidelines for stimulus funding at: http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/guidance/uses.doc ….
64. “Filling in the Medicare doughnut hole is a sticky issue” (Dallas Morning News, June 9, 2009); story citing JULIETTE CUBANSKI (MPP 1998/MPH 1999); http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/060909dnbusdoughnut.3e8e845.html
By Bob Moos, Staff Writer
John and Donna Williams of Colleyville say their out-of-pocket drug
expenses quadruple to more than $400 a month once they hit the doughnut hole, when
Medicare’s and their costs together exceed $2,700 for prescriptions in a year. (Khampha Bouaphanh/DMN)
AARP and other advocates for older adults are calling on Congress to get rid of the “doughnut hole” in Medicare’s drug benefit as part of the lawmakers’ broader efforts to reform health care.
Though most seniors say they’re pleased with the drug benefit, the one aspect they love to hate is the gap in coverage that usually kicks in during summer or fall and forces millions of beneficiaries to bear the full cost of their drugs….
More than 3 million of the nearly 27 million older or disabled Americans who receive the Medicare drug benefit are expected to reach the coverage gap this year and pay the full cost of their prescriptions, says the AARP Public Policy Institute….
At that point, after paying a total of $4,350 out of pocket, beneficiaries become eligible for Medicare’s catastrophic coverage and are responsible for 5 percent of their bills for the rest of the year. The process repeats itself each Jan. 1.
Because the government updates the doughnut hole annually to reflect growth in drug spending, the AARP Public Policy Institute projects that the size of the gap will almost double, from $3,454 to more than $6,000, by 2016.
Sixteen percent of beneficiaries who hit the gap reduce their medication or stop taking their drugs altogether, says the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“That should be a serious concern,” said Juliette Cubanski, an analyst on the foundation’s Medicare policy project. “People who go off their medication sometimes find themselves back in the hospital before long.”
The coverage gap exists because Congress had only so much to spend when it created Medicare’s prescription drug benefit, Cubanski said.
“The lawmakers couldn’t give comprehensive coverage to everyone and stay within their budget, so they provided some initial coverage to all beneficiaries and more help to those with low incomes or high medical costs,” she said….
65. “President Obama’s Speech to Muslim Communities around the World, Summary of Reactions” (Targeted News Service, June 6, 2009); event featuring ALAN YU (MPP 1988).
According to an online
poll being conducted by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), reactions to
Summary of Outreach …
More details in key regions/countries …
*A post-speech webchat with Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone, Assistant Ambassador Mussomeli, and Political Chief Alan Yu answered over 40 questions from over 100 participants including those linked electronically at Lincoln Centers….
66. “Raising standards without cramping space” (The Washington Times, June 5, 2009); Letter to the Editor by ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/05/raising-standards-without-cramping-space/
Your editorial last week (“Small cars kill,” Opinion, Sunday) was unduly cynical about the impact of the new miles-per-gallon regulations for cars. The updated standards, which President Obama announced on May 19, can be met using technologies that can be applied to any vehicle, regardless of size. Furthermore, the new standards actually discourage automakers from making smaller cars as a method to comply because the standards vary by size of the vehicle. The standards also will cut our dangerous dependence on oil, save consumers money, and create clean energy jobs without sacrificing safety.
ROLAND HWANG
Vehicles policy director, Natural Resources Defense Council
67. “Blue-collar
Illustration by KAL
… The current recession is hitting blue-collar
Americans much harder than the masters of the universe on Wall Street who have
grabbed so many of the headlines. Almost 6m jobs have been lost since the
recession began in late 2007. About 70% of those job losses are accounted for
by blue-collar Americans, and most of them are men. The unemployment rate in
construction, for example, is around 19%.
This comes on the heels of 30 dismal years. Blue-collar wages have been almost stagnant since the days of Jimmy Carter; and for men they have declined. Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution calculates that, between 1974 and 2004, median wages for men in their 30s, adjusted for inflation, fell by 12% from $40,000 to $35,000, at a time when median female wages were rising.
68. “Sick may get help with insurance But proposed state rule might raise cost for healthy individual customers” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 1, 2009); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
By Guy Boulton, Staff:
A seemingly innocuous provision tucked inside a proposed state law would make it much more difficult for health insurance companies to drive up the rates of customers who get sick.
The proposal would allow customers with high medical bills to buy a different policy from their insurance company — without having to undergo the medical underwriting that screens out people with health problems.
That effectively would require insurers to offer those customers new, competitively priced plans that now often are available only to healthy customers….
It touches on one of the inherent flaws in the market for individual insurance: the steps that health insurers can take to rid themselves of long-term customers with medical problems….
“These practices persist
because they are amazingly invisible,” said Karen Pollitz, project director of the Health
Policy Institute at
People with pre-existing medical conditions — from relatively minor illnesses to serious diseases — generally can’t buy individual insurance in the private market.
But once people are
customers, health insurers in
That doesn’t prevent the insurance company, however, from taking other steps to get rid of the customer.
“You can’t cancel the policy, but you can price it out of reach,” Pollitz said….
Most people who buy individual health insurance remain customers for less than two years. At the same time, health insurers know that the longer they have a customer, the greater the chances that he or she will develop a medical problem.
“It is not in the interests of insurers for customers to buy a policy and stay for a long time,” Pollitz said….
69. “Virginia” (Richmond Times-Dispatch, May 31, 2009); story citing AMINA LUQMAN (MPP 2001).
By Jay Strafford, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
In 1973,
That distinction, as well as many others, is among the history that Amina Luqman-Dawson recounts in African Americans of Petersburg (128 pages, Arcadia Publishing, $21.99).
With scores of archival photographs and informative captions, “African Americans of Petersburg” focuses, of course, on the civil-rights struggle. But there’s plenty more, as Luqman-Dawson includes details of black residents’ religious and business lives, too.
The book is part of the
publisher’s “Images of America” series, which celebrates the history of
neighborhoods, towns and cities across the
70. “CalWORKS
cuts would be dire, ex-official says. Budget Forum: He predicts 44,000
By Duane W. Gang, The Press-Enterprise
Tim Gage, who served as Gov. Gray Davis’ finance director from 1999 to
2002, told residents at a budget forum that the proposed elimination of the
CalWORKS program could leave nearly 44,000
“Counties are making decisions to make layoffs, and they don’t have money to make up the reductions the state makes,” Gage said.
Gage conducted a study for the California Endowment, a private health foundation. The study looked at the effects of budget cuts on social services, including CalWORKS, which is the state’s welfare-to-work program.
The proposed cuts come at a time when applications for financial assistance are increasing, said Gage, founder of the Blue Sky Consulting Group.
Tuesday’s forum was sponsored by the California Partnership, a statewide coalition of groups working to combat poverty. The partnership opposes the deep cuts proposed for social services. Instead, it favors limiting corporate tax credits, changes to how commercial property is assessed and the creation of an oil severance tax to help bridge the budget gap….
... The governor on Tuesday proposed $5.5 billion in additional cuts, including the elimination of CalWORKS.
The state also is considering borrowing as much as $2 billion from local governments, meaning those agencies, many struggling with their own budget woes, might also have to resort to cuts in services.
Whether the proposed cuts actually take place, Gage said the depth of the state’s budget problems means everything—from social services to public safety—is on the table for possible reductions.
“It’s not a pretty picture, unfortunately,” Gage said….
71. “Inland cuts would run deep. Governor: His budget plan impacts hundreds of thousands in the area, and today he’ll seek further pay reductions and other trims” (Press-Enterprise, May 29, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP 1988/MPH 1988) and TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).
By Ben Goad and Jim Miller, Staff Writers - The Press-Enterprise
Tens of thousands of children
across
State assistance for more than 170,000 of the region’s poor would be cut off.
Thousands of college-bound Inland students could no longer apply for tuition help through a state-sponsored grant program….
The state budget package approved in February contained $15.4 billion in cuts through June 2010. In the past two weeks, however, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed $15.5 billion in additional reductions….
To date, he has called for eliminating CalWORKS, the state’s main welfare program for people with children, ending parts of the state health program for low-income residents and slashing funding for schools and universities….
One of the governor’s proposals is to eliminate Healthy Families, which provides health, dental and vision coverage to almost 1million children from low- and middle-income families.
About 145,000 children in
Healthy Families administrators are encouraging families to continue to apply for the program. If it is cut, they would get 30 days’ notice, said Ginny Puddefoot, deputy director of health policy legislation and external affairs at the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, the state agency that oversees Healthy Families….
Tim Gage, a former state finance director and co-founder of Sacramento-based Blue Sky Consulting Group, helped
prepare a report on the proposed cuts for the California Endowment, a
foundation focused on healthcare for low-income residents. The statewide report
examined
Gage said the proposed elimination of Cal-WORKS could hurt local economies, since recipients spend almost all of their assistance every month on food and services.
“You would likely see more homelessness,” he added. “You would see more demand for services from non-profits. Food banks and churches, folks will certainly turn to them for additional support.” …
72. “Freeze on Healthy Families enrollments begins July 17” (Ventura County Star, June 30, 2009); story citing GINNY PUDDEFOOT (MPP 1988/MPH 1988) ; http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/jun/29/freeze-on-healthy-families-enrollments-begins-17/
By Evan Sherwood ; Correspondent
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating the program as part of his budget-balancing plan. The plan supported by Democrats in the Legislature calls for a $74 million cut in Healthy Families’ funding.
Faced with those prospects, the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board acted to begin scaling down the program. Officials said freezing enrollment is preferable to dropping children already covered.
Healthy Families enrolls an average of 29,000 new children per month. Ginny Puddefoot, deputy director of Health Policy with the board, said the enrollment freeze would allow coverage to continue for children already in the program.
“If we don’t cap enrollment and our funding stays exactly the way it is now… at some point in the year we would have to take the step of actually dis-enrolling kids,” Puddefoot said….
About 920,000 children are
insured under the state-federal program that provides subsidized insurance to
children from low- and moderate-income families. An estimated 21,380
The freeze will take effect July 17. The board had originally considered implementing the freeze on July 1. The effective date was pushed back, however, after children’s health advocates urged a delay.
Representatives from
In light of advocates’ testimony, the board decided to wait until mid-July. Puddefoot said the agency’s executive director can nullify the freeze if new money is found.
If the freeze does take effect, the board will establish a waiting list for the program. If new funding is found at some point during the year, Puddefoot said enrollments would begin again.
73. “Applicants would be screened for eligibility then put on a waitlist… people would be enrolled based on the date of application.”
“South Bay schools reap federal stimulus funds — and face losing more in state funds” (San Jose Mercury News, May 15, 2009); story citing JANNELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12372198?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
By Sharon Noguchi, Mercury News
Just in time, Uncle Sam has
opened a fat wallet to financially flailing school districts. Yet, the $8
billion in federal stimulus funds for
In examining the mouth of the federal gift horse, districts are finding all sorts of problems—requirements to create new programs with one-time money, limits on replacing local funding and demands that their programs further the Obama education reform plan, even though the plan hasn’t been rolled out yet.
Normally, educators would
rejoice over million-dollar grants. But Uncle Sam is doling out dollars just as
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced that
But federal funds cannot simply substitute for vanishing state money. Uncle Sam is demanding assurances that his money is being spent as he likes.
And then there’s the order to
create new jobs, amid a reality of people losing old jobs. “The feds say ‘avoid
the funding cliff’ of relying too heavily on stimulus funds for ongoing
programs,” said Jannelle Kubinec of
School Services, a
74. “Alameda County set to file lawsuit against Lehman Bros. officials” (Oakland Tribune, May 15, 2009); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971/JD 1975); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_12379268?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
By Chris Metinko
-
The county, which lost $5
million in Lehman’s collapse, will file the suit in
Richard Winnie, county counsel, said the lawsuit will allege that Lehman’s financial statements for the fiscal years ending Nov. 30, 2005, through 2007 were materially false and misleading, with limited write-downs of mortgage assets and mortgage-backed securities. As a result of these investments, investors lost millions of dollars….
75. “Author to speak about how dumb people are about science” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 13, 2009); event featuring SANDRA ARCHIBALD (MPP 1971/PhD 1984) ; http://www.seattlepi.com/local/406189_science13.html
By Tom Paulson, Special to SeattlePI.Com
Most Americans believe that scientific innovation is critical to our economic and overall success as a nation, yet only a tiny minority appear to have even the most basic understanding of science and technology.
Worse, surveys show that many operate more according to a gross misunderstanding—of basic facts, of the difference between evidence and opinion—that some say now threatens to undermine our future.
“At a time when science really matters to us more than ever before, people remain as scientifically and technologically illiterate as ever,” said Chris Mooney, author of several books on science policy…. While some might shrug off this plague of scientific ignorance—whether it is about evolution, climate change or genetics—Mooney contends it is a problem that hurts us all….
Thursday’s event
entitled “Dumb, Getting Dumber?” begins 7 p.m. at the science center’s Eames
Theater and is free and open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the Northwest
Science Writers Association and the
Panelists include Tom Clement, chair, Washington Biotechnology and Biomedical Association; Dennis Schatz, science educator, Sandra Archibald , dean of the University of Washington’s Evans School; and Stephen Jones, wheat scientist, Washington State University.
76. “AIR’s National High School Center to Host Webinar on Educating High School English Language Learners” (States News Service, May 11, 2009); event featuring NEAL FINKELSTEIN (MPP 1991).
WASHINGTON -- The National High School Center, a project of the American Institutes for Research (AIR), will host a Webinar Thursday, May 14, 2009 on “Effectively Educating English Language Learners at the High School Level: What Research and Practice Tell Us.”
The relatively high
dropout rates and persistent achievement gaps among the growing population of
English language learners (ELLs) in
Participants:
- Ana Diaz-Booz,
Principal, School of International Business (
- Neal Finkelstein, Senior Research Scientist, WestEd
- Libia
S. Gil, Senior Research Fellow, American Institutes for Research and Senior
Advisor,
- Becky Powell
(Moderator), Director of Outreach,
77. “Bush Attorneys Who Wrote Terror Memo Facing Backlash” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 10, 2009); story citing STEPHANIE TANG (MPP 2004).
By Terence Chea, The Associated Press
John Yoo,
a
Justice Department investigators have stopped short of recommending criminal charges, but suggest in a draft report that the two men should face professional sanctions. A number of groups across the country agree, and some want even stronger action….
In December, the Berkeley City Council, known for wading into politically charged national and international issues, passed a measure urging the federal government to prosecute Mr. Yoo for war crimes.
Human rights and anti-war activists are planning a demonstration at the Berkeley School of Law’s May 16 commencement ceremony to press for Mr. Yoo to be fired.
“It’s unconscionable that the legal architect of the torture apparatus is teaching the future generation of lawyers and judges at UC Berkeley,” said Stephanie Tang, an organizer with the group World Can’t Wait….
78. “Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius Holds a News Briefing on the Department of Health and Human Services’ F.Y. 2010 Budget Proposal” (Financial Markets Regulation Wire, Copyright 2009 CQ Transcriptions, LLC All Rights Reserved, May 7, 2009); news briefing moderated by RICHARD TURMAN (MPP 1987).
HALL: … I’d like to turn this over now to our moderator for today’s briefing, Mr. Richard Turman, who is the acting Assistant Secretary for Resources and Technology here at HHS….
RICHARD TURMAN: Thank you, Bill. I appreciate that. We look forward to answering the questions you all have. I wanted to welcome you all here to the opportunity to discuss a budget that will help strengthen the department and our nation….
REICHARD: What about aids prevention funding? Some of the advocacy groups have called for much more aggressive funding; what does the budget do in that area?
TURMAN: We do have increases for AIDS both in the Health Resources and Services Administration and in the Centers for Disease Control. I think I’ll ask Dr. Ann Schuchat from CDC to spend a moment talking about the items in CDC.
SCHUCHAT: Yes, thank you. The CDC will be getting a $53 million increase to help strengthen the prevention and slow the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. We are very excited that part of that is going to go to state and local areas that will encourage 600,000 more people to be tested and identify 6,000 more HIV infected persons.
We’ll also be working on integration of service delivery with HIV and TB and other services, but we’re very, very pleased about the opportunities to slow the spread of the epidemic through implementation of the testing guidelines.
TURMAN: Let me also ask Dr. Mary Wakefield from HRSA to describe, for a moment, the additional investments in Health Resources and Services Administration HIV/AIDS.
WAKEFIELD: And so the HRSA funds complement those that were just described, with about a $54 million increase to support a comprehensive approach to addressing healthcare needs of individuals with HIV/AIDS, adding in additional resources for oral health, for example, for provider training and for direct services and, also, coverage to allow additional people to be able to take advantage of the drug assistance program. That’s about a $2.3 billion appropriation for 2010….
79. “Youngest Children Are Underrepresented in Federal Budget” (Targeted News Service, May 5, 2009); newswire citing JULIA BIXLER ISAACS (MPP 1985).
The nation’s 12.5 million children under age 3 are 4.2 percent of the population, but they received just 2.1 percent—$44.1 billion—of federal domestic spending in 2007. Domestic outlays, which exclude defense, homeland security, and international affairs, totaled $2.1 trillion.
Besides the $44.1 billion, another $13.0 billion in tax expenditures was spent on infants and toddlers. Together, these allotments represent the majority of public investment in this age group, since states spend little on them.
“Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers in 2007” scans more than 100 programs across eight domains: health (e.g., Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program); nutrition (e.g., Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps); housing (e.g., Section 8 low-income housing assistance); income security (e.g., Temporary Assistance for Needy Families); social services (e.g., Head Start); education and training (e.g., Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C); refundable tax credits (e.g., refundable portions of the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit); and reductions in taxes(e.g., the child and dependent care credit).
The report was written by Jennifer Macomber, Tracy Vericker, Adam Kent, and Paul Johnson of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution’s Julia Isaacs. It was funded by the Irving Harris Foundation and the Buffett Early Childhood Fund.
“This study establishes baseline figures for what is being spent on our nation’s youngest and most vulnerable residents,” said Macomber. “It offers legislators, executive branch officials, and concerned citizens a starting point for comparing federal expenditure patterns with researchers’ findings about where taxpayer dollars will yield the greatest return.” …
“Federal Expenditures on Infants and Toddlers in 2007” is available at http://www.urban.org/url.cfm?ID=411875
80. “
By Mike Zapler, Mercury News
Jim Beall’s
first stab at a beer tax was downed last year by opposition and ridicule.
Undeterred, the
Beall’s Assembly Bill 1019 would slap a roughly 10 cents-a-drink levy on beer, wine and hard alcohol. And he’s structured it as a fee, which can pass the Legislature with a simple majority vote, rather than a tax, which takes a two-thirds supermajority to be enacted.
Also possibly aiding his cause this time around is the fact that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year proposed his own nickel-a-drink alcohol tax as part of his budget plan. The governor eventually dropped the tax and his office said Monday he’s not interested in revisiting it. But the fact that Schwarzenegger once was on board with the idea could bode well for Beall’s idea, particularly if the state budget outlook continues to deteriorate.
Beall’s
plan would generate about $1.4 billion a year, with the money going toward
alcohol- and drug-related programs. He and other supporters noted at a Capitol
news conference Monday that
“Big alcohol pays zero, nada, bupkis, zilch to clean up the mess caused by their dangerous products,” said Bruce Livingston, executive director of the Marin Institute, which touts itself as an alcohol industry watchdog….
81. “Education roundup: State to study career pathways programs” (Bakersfield Californian, April 18, 2009); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1982).
By Jeff Nachtigal, Californian staff writer jnachtigal@bakersfield.com
This week the state launched the Multiple Pathways Feasibility Project.
That’s longform for the
The state will submit a final report with recommendations to the state Legislature and the governor by December….
State education programs consultant Joe Radding said the wide-ranging study would look at barriers districts face putting these types programs into place, and the accountability systems that go with them.
“Currently at the state and federal level we are focused on standardized test results,” Radding said. “What those systems are not focusing on, at least not directly, is the extent to which we prepare our students for college and career.”
The report would not be an implementation plan nor would it include guidelines for programs, Radding said.
But the report could help districts such as Kern improve programs already in place, he said….
82. “With Finance Disgraced, Which Career Will Be King?” (The New York Times, April 12, 2009); story citing SANDRA ARCHIBALD (MPP 1971/PhD 1984); http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/weekinreview/12lohr.html?scp=1&sq=%22sandra%20archibald%22&st=cse
By Steve Lohr
SECOND THOUGHTS Students visit the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 6, a day the Dow dropped 400 points. (SpencerPlatt/Getty Images)
In the Depression, smart
college students flocked into civil engineering to design the highway, bridge
and dam-building projects of those days. In the Sputnik era, students poured
into the sciences as
Today, the financial crisis and the economic downturn are likely to alter drastically the career paths of future years….
What will the new map of talent flow look like? It’s early, but based on graduate school applications this spring, enrollment in undergraduate courses, preliminary job-placement results at schools, and the anecdotal accounts of students and professors, a new pattern of occupational choice seems to be emerging. Public service, government, the sciences and even teaching look to be winners, while fewer shiny, young minds are embarking on careers in finance and business consulting....
Graduate schools of government and public policy are seeing a surge of applications. In a survey of its members released last week, the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration found that 82 percent reported an increase in applications this year, and many saw the largest percentage jumps in several years, or ever. The most-cited reason was the expectation by students that government will be hiring.
Still, the appeal of public sector careers extends beyond job openings, say school officials. The laissez-faire presumption that government is not the solution but the problem, dating back to the Reagan era, has been cast aside, they say.
The government’s need to
step in with financial bailouts and recovery programs to steady the economy is seen
as the immediate proof, they say, but not the only one. The environment, energy
and health care also pose huge, complex challenges. ‘‘Young people today
understand that government has a powerful role to play in solving these
problems,’’ said Sandra Archibald, dean
of the
1. “Green Inc. Blog: McKinsey Report Cites $1.2 Trillion in Potential Savings from Energy Efficiency” (New York Times, July 29, 2009); blog citing DAN KAMMEN; http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/29/mckinsey-report-cites-12-trillion-in-potential-savings-from-energy-efficiency/?scp=2&sq=Berkeley&st=cse
By Kate Galbraith
A new report on energy efficiency from the
consulting firm McKinsey found that the
That investment would cut the country’s
projected energy use in 2020 by about 23 percent — a savings that would be
“greater than the total of energy consumption of
Daniel Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group at
the University of California at Berkeley who is
unaffiliated with the study, said that McKinsey’s work underscored the
possibilities inherent in energy efficiency. “There’s absolutely no place in
the
“I think this is really the key story — everyone can do this,” Mr. Kammen added.
2. “A summer drive to ride out the economy” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 29, 2009); Listen to this commentary
ROBERT REICH: This summer, road trips are back. Mainly because most of us can’t afford to fly anywhere for a vacation, let alone pay for a resort hotel or a trip abroad….
First of all, I love driving across
I don’t want to minimize the bad consequences of this lousy economy. Too many Americans can’t even afford a road trip, let alone a fancier summer vacation. But in many ways, the economy is causing us to slow down, and that’s not all bad. There are pleasures to be had, for example, in taking a few days with your kid and maybe a big dog, and doing nothing all that special except listening to music and talking and looking at the country.
RYSSDAL: When he’s not behind the wheel, Robert Reich teaches public policy at the
3. “Dispute over clean-tech patent protections” (San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 2009); op-ed by CEPP visiting scholar ROBERT COLLIER; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/28/ED3018UQR3.DTL
--Robert Collier
Energy Secretary Steven Chu
(right) visits a clean-energy development in
As the U.N. climate talks stumble toward a
showdown this year in
The dispute arises from demands by
In
There is middle ground for compromise. This
month, Energy Secretary Stephen Chu took a valuable step forward, signing an
agreement in
Robert Collier is visiting scholar at UC
Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Public Policy, which is organizing an international conference Oct. 26-27 in
4. “Robert Reich says Obama ready to ‘knock heads’ on health care reform” (San Francisco Business Times, July 23, 2009); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://sanfrancisco.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2009/07/20/daily79.html
by Chris Rauber
Robert Reich, the U.S. secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, told a conclave of healthcare executives in San Francisco Thursday afternoon that President Barack Obama needs to “start knocking heads” on health reform if he intends to get a major bill through Congress this fall.
Reich
said Obama learned from some of Bill Clinton’s errors, which is why he didn’t
send a detailed bill to Congress that would have been dead on arrival, like the
But Reich, the keynote speaker at a Leadership Summit conference sponsored by Health Forum and the American Hospital Association, added that Obama probably should have started knocking heads two weeks earlier, and now risks having Congress adjourn without having settled on a bill, which could give the proposed package’s opponents more time to come up with attack plans.
Nonetheless, Reich, predicted that “you will see an Obama bill” when a joint
House and Senate conference committee takes up the legislation. “That’s when
Obama will play his cards,” said Reich,
now a professor at the
5. “
Kai Ryssdal: So California has a budget. Almost…. But Marketplace’s Jeff Tyler reports some of the proposed cuts could wind up costing more money than they save.
JEFF TYLER: Some of the savings will come from reducing services, like health care for children and the elderly. But that will just drive up emergency room visits, where medical care is more expensive.
Part of the budget shortfall will be covered by the state—ahem—borrowing from county coffers. John Ellwood is a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley.
JOHN ELLWOOD: A lot of the borrowing appears to be coming by borrowing from other levels of government. And they are going to scream bloody murder. But they can’t do much about it….
The budget gap will also be closed by some fancy accounting. State employees will get paid at the end of each month, so the payment shows up on next month’s ledger instead of this month’s. John Ellwood explains how that works.
ELLWOOD: When I worked for the federal government, we did this all the time. You would take payments, and you shift them from one fiscal year to the next fiscal year. And then you get to the next fiscal year, and you’d shift them back to the previous fiscal year. Nothing has really changed there, but it makes it look good on the books….
6. “
By Queenie Wong
A deal struck between Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger and
The deal is a huge win for conservatives, who
favor a smaller government, says John
Ellwood, a professor at UC-Berkeley’s
Cuts in government spending might not be fully effective because the state is in an economic free-fall, says Ellwood, who sits on the California Budget Project’s board of directors, a liberal think tank.
“Revenues are just collapsing, and there are a lot of gimmicks in this [agreement] because politicians don’t like to inflict pain, even conservatives,” he says….
7. “Room for Debate Blog: Should the Rich Pay for the Uninsured?” (New York Times Online, July 20, 2009); debate featuring ROBERT REICH; http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/should-the-rich-pay-for-the-uninsured/
By The Editors
… One way to pay for reform, as proposed by the House Democrats, is to make the wealthiest Americans pay a surtax, ranging from 1 percent to 5.4 percent of income. Is it time for President Obama to consider raising taxes on some to pay for health care expansion? Or is this politically untenable during a recession? …
A Surtax is Fair and Easy
Robert
Reich, a professor at the Goldman School of Public
Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was secretary of labor
in the
A surtax on high-end taxpayers isn’t ideal — I’d prefer capping tax-free employer-provided health benefits or limiting deductions for the very rich — but a surtax isn’t all that bad, either. In fact, it has three big virtues.
First, it’s fair. According to the most recent data (for 2007), the wealthiest 1 percent of American households take home about 20 percent of total income — the highest percentage since 1928....
Second virtue: A surtax is relatively easy to administer. Third virtue (never to be underestimated): It’s easy to understand.
Will it hurt Democrats politically? Not as much as taxing employer-provided health benefits (labor hates this) or limiting the tax deductions of the wealthy (every nonprofit that depends on contributions from the wealthy is lined up against this one)….
8. “Two Giants Emerge from Wall Street Ruins” (New York Times, July 17, 2009); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/two-giants-emerge-from-wall-street-ruins/
By Graham Bowley
JPMorgan Chase posted a $2.7 billion quarterly profit on Thursday, showing its turnaround. (Jessica Ebelhar/The New York Times)
A new order is
emerging on Wall Street after the worst crisis since the Great Depression — one
in which just a couple of victors are starting to tower over the handful of
financial titans that used to dominate the industry.
‘
On Thursday, JPMorgan Chase became the latest big bank to announce stellar second-quarter earnings. Its $2.7 billion profit, after record gains for Goldman Sachs, underscores how the government’s effort to halt a collapse has also set the stage for a narrowing concentration of financial power.
“One theme here is that Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan really have emerged as the winners, as the last of the survivors,” Robert Reich, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, told The Times....
[Professor Reich was also quoted in a <a href=“http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/07/17/Economic-Outlook-Long-view-from-Paris/UPI-10381247832816/”>UPI</a> story on this topic]
9. “US installing radiation detectors at Pakistani ports” (Indo-Asian News Service, July 17, 2009); newswire citing MICHAEL NACHT.
“We do work with
“I would just add that collaboration of the
Pakistani government with the
10. “North Korean provocations linked to power transition - US official” (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, July 17, 2009); newswire citing MICHAEL NACHT.
Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap
“It may well be that a number of the activities of the North in escalating a kind of aggressive behaviour in recent months is as much of a domestic consumption as it is for international activities,” Michael Nacht, assistant secretary of defence for global strategic affairs, told a House Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, according to a transcript released by the committee Wednesday.
In recent months,
“
Nacht said that the US government has “limited” although “not zero” information on North Korea, and has contingency plans that can be implemented with the budget set aside for North Korea’s denuclearization under the stalled six-party talks….
11. “The Ed Show” (MSNBC, July 16, 2009); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30031533
Ed Schultz, Host: ...President Obama got fired up
on health care today, I guess you could say on the
campaign trail in
Now let’s turn to Robert Reich, former labor secretary under the
Mr. Reich, what do you make of all of this discussion right now, as far as the public option is concerned, how to pay for it? Is this one that the Democrats could lose?
ROBERT REICH, Fmr. Labor Secretary: They certainly could lose, Ed. The last 75 years, the American Medical Association and the private insurers have all fought against anything reassembling any government intrusion into health care whatsoever, even though the health care system has gotten more and more insane. So it can be lost.
Look, the good news is that you`ve got a very good bill coming out of the House that has a public option in it, that pays for health care for everybody by taxing the very, very wealthy.
And you also have a good bill coming out of the Senate Labor and Health Committee. So what you really want to focus on, and what the president needs to focus on right now, is the bottleneck. And that is the Senate Finance Committee. And then get both chambers to vote on this before they head off for the summer. Timing is essential....
12. “Tax the wealthy, keep everyone healthy” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 15, 2009); Listen to the commentary
ROBERT REICH: It’s the most blatant form of Robin Hood economics ever proposed. The House of Representatives’ universal health care bill, announced yesterday, pays for the health insurance of the poorest 20 percent of Americans who need help affording it with a tax surcharge on the richest 1 percent….
There’s another word for it: fair. According to the most recent data, the richest 1 percent of American households now take home about 20 percent of total income, the highest percentage since 1928….
But there’s no reason to suppose that taking a tiny sliver of the incomes of the top 1 percent will reduce all that much of their ardor to invest, innovate and hire in the future. Yet if this tiny sliver means affordable health care for a far larger number of Americans, they’ll be able to get regular checkups and thereby stay healthy and productive. And a more healthy and productive workforce will do far more to build the American economy….
RYSSDAL: Robert
Reich is a professor of public policy at the
13. “Statistical Tests Suggestive of Fraud in
By Julie Rehmeyer, Science News
An American statistician says strong statistical evidence backs up the claims of Iranian protestors that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June election was fraudulent.
Walter Mebane of the
“This suggests that the actual outcome should have been pretty close,” says Mebane, who described his analysis on a paper posted on his website June 15 and updated June 29. The official results showed Ahmadinejad getting almost twice as many votes as his closest rival.
“His data is highly, highly, highly suggestive
that something odd was going on,” says political
scientist Henry Brady of the
14. “Obama’s healthcare clock is running out. Unless the president can get the Senate moving on universal healthcare this week, it will probably never happen” (Salon.com, July 14, 2009); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/07/14/healthcare/
By Robert Reich
... Universal healthcare is so complicated—touching on so much of the economy, stepping on the toes of so many vested interests—that to allow the bills to languish past recess risks the entire goal. Speed is essential. Recall that after Bill Clinton was elected, universal health insurance looked inevitable; a year later, it was doomed. As Lyndon Johnson warned his staff after the 1964 landslide, “Every day while I’m in office, I’m gonna lose votes.” …
…The gravitational pull of the midterm elections of 2010 will frighten off Blue Dogs and delight Republicans.
Robert
Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley,
was secretary of labor during the
15. “The sun rises in the West.
By E.B. Solomont
(Photo:
Zuma Press)
The city of
Starting last fall,
“We were trying to brainstorm and think about how
we could promote solar installation, and we kept coming back to the biggest
problem — financing it,” says
Under the program, homeowners can receive a loan, which will be assessed to their property tax bills and can be paid off over 20 years. The loans transfer to the new owner if the home is sold, which lawmakers hope will minimize high upfront costs and address fears that the cost of installing solar panels won’t be recovered if a homeowner puts the property up for sale.
In the first round, only 40 homes are eligible
for the financing, at a total cost of roughly $1.5 million. After the kinks are
worked out in the program, Bates says he envisions financing hundreds more
homes. Out of 40,000 homes in
Proponents say the model is being eyed by other
cities, because of the creative financing. “This changes the whole game when
combined with no upfront costs,” says Dan
Kammen, a professor at
“Other municipalities can copy the idea and adapt to local tax codes,” Kammen writes in an e-mail message. “My lab is building Web-based calculators for interested cities.” …
So far,
And the loan program could benefit solar
contractors, who are vying for new customers under the
16. “A chat with UC-Berkeley energy expert Dan Kammen” (Mercury News, July 10, 2009); interview with DAN KAMMEN; http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_12811858?nclick_check=1
By Tracy Seipel
UC-Berkeley professor of energy Dan Kammen is well-known around the country and throughout the world for his work in renewable energy science and policy.
Recently, he and a team of academics, entrepreneurs, business leaders and policymakers released a 141-page report, 18 months in the making, called “The Gigaton Throwdown’’ that outlines a path for a dramatic expansion in the development and deployment of renewable and low-carbon energy. The team focused on what it would take for nine different technologies to reduce the annual emissions of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases by a least 1 billion metric tons, or one gigaton, by 2020. A copy of the report has been widely distributed on Capitol Hill, and has been presented to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a colleague of Kammen’s….
Q: How and why did this report come about?
KAMMEN: Sunil Paul, the founder of Spring Ventures, brought together a team of six of us for the 2007 Clinton Global Summit where we signed one of the pledges to help transform society to one based on sustainable energy. Sunil guided the ship. In terms of the individual pieces of it, over half the chapters (on solar, wind, biofuels, nuclear energy and plug-in hybrids) were done by my students and me.
Q What about this report is better or different from other research on reducing carbon emissions?
KAMMEN:
Quite often reports like this come from federal agencies or task forces. This
one was driven by the academics on my side and, most important, by the
The audience for the report — the users — is what is so interesting. Venture capital groups and academics wrote it, but the reviewers and scrutinizers come from all walks of life, which means that our “out there” scenarios for a clean-energy economy were vetted by many diverse perspectives — economic, social, engineering and so forth….
Q How realistic are the conclusions and recommendations?
KAMMEN: People will argue about how realistic they are. We think the scenarios are realistic if we push for improved energy research efforts and policies to move clean energy to the market — such as a price on carbon emissions. Things could move very rapidly.
FIVE THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT DAN KAMMEN
1. Planned to be an astronaut but was derailed by the vision test….
17. “Paso man helps distill a new idea: MicroFuelers turn waste into homemade ethanol” (San Luis Obispo Tribune, July 7, 2009); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/775606.html
By Raven J. Railey
E-Fuel’s Floyd Butterfield of Paso Robles with his MicroFueler, which converts starchy or sugary material into
ethanol fuel to power cars or generators.
Two inventors who view ethanol as a potential solution to unstable oil prices are beginning to produce ethanol distillers in Paso Robles for home or business use and are lining up dealers and companies to buy them….
The E-Fuel 100 MicroFuelers, which are in preproduction, will sell for $9,995 and produce ethanol fuel distilled from sugars, including waste such as overripe or damaged fruit, leftover alcohol or wine grape skins.
Daniel Kammen, co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, said that if MicroFuelers are fed only waste material, it diverts waste from landfills, which is laudable. He runs an alternative fuels laboratory that contributed to the development of the state’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard.
Kammen said that he remains skeptical about the ethanol distiller. He thinks it would be a relatively expensive way for individuals to produce ethanol. Commercial production of the renewable fuel is generally centralized in large plants.
And since anyone can buy a MicroFueler, there’s no guarantee what they will decide to feed it, Kammen added….
18. “Congressional Race in
By Jesse McKinley
California’s 10th Congressional District, a sprawling inkblot made up of a collection of suburbs east of San Francisco, has been represented since 1997 by Ellen O. Tauscher, a Democrat who resigned after being confirmed on June 25 to a top post in the State Department.
The field to succeed her includes the lieutenant governor, two state lawmakers, a decorated Iraqi war veteran who is openly gay and a former newspaper reporter. And that does not even include the Republican candidates in this Democratic-leaning district.
The crush of hopefuls, said Henry Brady, a professor and dean of the public policy school at
“These seats don’t come available very much, and
the reason is very simple: geography,” Dr.
Brady said. “The Democrats are primarily on the coast, and the Republicans
are in the
Dr. Brady, of the University of California, said the Democrats would probably retain Ms. Tauscher’s seat, though the primary could be bruising. Mr. DeSaulnier, a divorced father of two boys, has already turned his attention to Mr. Garamendi, accusing him of not living in the district he seeks to represent….
19. “Put an X through visions of recovery” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], July 1, 2009); Listen to the commentary
ROBERT REICH: The V-shapers are the optimists who look back at prior recessions and conclude that the faster an economy drops, the faster it gets back on track. And because this economy fell off a cliff late last fall, they expect it to roar to life early next year. Hence the V shape.
Unfortunately, the V-shapers are looking back at the wrong recessions. Focus on those that started with the bursting of a giant speculative bubble, and you see slow recoveries because asset values at bottom are so low, investor confidence returns only gradually. That’s where the more sober U-shapers come in.
Personally, I don’t buy into either camp because in a recession this deep, recovery doesn’t depend on investors. It depends on consumers who, after all, are 70 percent of the economy. And this time they got really whacked. Until consumers start spending again, you can forget any recovery, V or U shaped…..
VIGELAND: Robert
Reich teaches public policy at the
20. “Rise and Flaw of Internet’s Election-Fraud Hunters. Benford’s Law, Which Tests Numbers for Authenticity, Might Detect Vote-Rigging but Can’t Prove It” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], July 1, 2009); column citing HENRY BRADY; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640788035376975.html#printMode
By Carl Bialik, Columnist
Protesters on the streets of
![[Rise and Flaw of Internet's Election-Fraud Hunters]](aug2009_files/image045.gif)
Just
how many 0s and 5s to expect hinges on a law rediscovered by General Electric
physicist Frank Benford in 1938, after mathematician
Simon Newcomb had noted the same principle in 1881. Both men were clued in to
what’s now known as Benford’s Law by logarithm books,
tools used frequently before calculators by engineers and physicists. The early
pages of these books, listing the logarithms of numbers with low leading digits
(such as 128), were more heavily worn than later pages. They surmised that such
numbers occur more often than those with high leading digits (such as 876)....
“Benford’s Law seems
like a very weak instrument for detecting voting fraud,” Henry Brady, a political-science professor at the
21. “The Patriot’s Guide to Legalization. Have you ever looked at our marijuana policy? I mean, really looked at it?” (Mother Jones, July/August 2009 Issue); story citing ROBERT MACCOUN; http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/patriots-guide-legalization
By Kevin Drum
—Illustration:
Mark Matcho
...Does
decriminalizing cannabis have any effect at all? It’s remarkably hard to
tell—in part because drug use is faddish. Cannabis use among teens in the
We do, however, have studies that compare rates of cannabis use in states that have decriminalized vs. states that haven’t. And the somewhat surprising conclusion, in the words of Robert Maccoun, a professor of law and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley, is simple: “Most of the evidence suggests that decriminalization has no effect.”...
No country has ever done this, so we don’t know.
The closest example is the
The most likely conclusion from the overall data is that if you fully legalized cannabis, use would almost certainly go up, but probably not enormously. MacCoun guesses that it might rise by half—say, from around 15 percent of the population to a little more than 20 percent. “It’s not going to triple,” he says. “Most people who want to use marijuana are already finding a way to use marijuana.”...
July 1 Robert Reich was featured in RAI’s—Italian National Television—primetime documentary on
the financial crisis, “Da Wall Street a Gran
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