eDigest

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Editors

Annette Doornbos

Theresa Wong

eDIGEST March 2011

eDigest Archives | Upcoming Events | Quick Reference List | Alumni & Student Newsmakers | Faculty in the News

Recent Faculty Speaking Engagements & Publications | Videos & Webcasts

UPCOMING EVENTS

1. “Cracking the Code: Creating Jobs in America (in the wake of globalization)”

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Visiting Lecturer at the Goldman School of Public Policy

March 2, 6-7:30 p.m., International House, Chevron Auditorium

2. “Crack Pipes and Policing: A Case Study of Institutional Racism and Remedial Action in Cleveland”

Mona Lynch, Professor of Criminology, Law & Society, University of California, Irvine

Robert MacCoun, Professor of Public Policy, Goldman School of Public Policy and Professor of Law, School of Law, University of California, Berkeley

March 8, 3:30-5:00 pm, Goldberg Room, 297 Simon Hall, UC Berkeley Law School

Presented by ISSI’s Center on Culture, Immigration and Youth Violence Prevention along with the Center for the Study of Law & Society, the Criminal Justice Working Group at the Center for Race and Gender, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute for Law and Social Policy and the Criminal Justice Policy Group at the Goldman School of Public Policy.

3. “Covering All Californians: Health Insurance Exchanges and Public Program Expansion”

Marian Mulkey (MPP/MPH 1989), Director of the Health Reform and Public Programs Initiative, California HealthCare Foundation

March 9, 2:00-3:30 p.m., GSPP room 105

Presented by the Public Policy of Health Reform Implementation group at the Goldman School of Public Policy.

4. “What is the future of classical music and what is the job of the arts in liberal and professional education?”

Leon Botstein, Music Director and Principal Conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and President of Bard College, will join:

Michael O’Hare, professor of public policy, Goldman School

Matias Tarnoposky, director, Cal Performances

David Wessel, director of CNMAT & professor of music

March 10, noon-1 p.m. Rm. 250 GSPP

Presented by the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Center for New Music and Technology

5. “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future”

Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy

March 16, 4:10 p.m., International House, UC Berkeley

The Barbara Weinstock Memorial Lecture on the Morals of Trade. Watch simulcast at grad.berkeley.edu/lectures

6. “The Economics of Green Buildings”

Dr. Nils Kok, Visiting Scholar at the Haas School of Business, and Assistant Professor, Finance & Real Estate, Maastricht University

Thursday, March 17, 12:00pm - 1:30pm, Room 250 at the Goldman School of Public Policy

Lunch will be served. Please RSVP to cepp@berkeley.edu by Tuesday, March 15

Presented by the Center for Environmental Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy

7. 2011 Goldman School of Public Policy Career Fair

March 17, 2:00-5:00 p.m. Goldman School of Public Policy, 2607 Hearst Avenue; more info

8. GSPP 40th Anniversary Celebration: Alumni Panels

March 18, 2011, 9:45 am-3 pm, GSPP Room 250

Confirmed Alumni Panelists: Elizabeth Hill (MPP 1975), Mickey Levy (MPP 1974), Jesse Rothstein (MPP 2000/PhD), Reid Harvey (MPP 1986), Karl Hausker (MPP 1981/PhD 1986), Ned Helme (MPP 1971), Chuck Shulock (MPP 1978).

9. GSPP 40th Anniversary Celebration: Alumni Dinner

March 18, 5:30-10 pm, The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue

Honorees:

GSPP Alumnus of the Year: Ned Helme (MPP 1971)

Founder and President, Center for Clean Air Policy

GSPP Award for Urban Leadership: Carmen Chu (MPP 2003)

Supervisor, 4th District, San Francisco Board of Supervisors

10. GSPP 40th Anniversary Celebration: Faculty Modules (March 19, 2011, 10 am-1 pm)

Faculty Module #1:

“Advanced Thinking About Causality for Program Evaluation and Public Policy”

10:00 am - 1:00 pm, GSPP Room 250

1:00 - 2:00 pm (Lunch), GSPP Living Room

GSPP Faculty Instructors: Dean and Professor Henry E. Brady, Professor Steven Raphael

Faculty Module #2:

“New Methods for Understanding Race and American Public Policy: Implicit Racism, Racial Gaps in Educational Outcomes, and the Impact of Brown versus Board of Education”

10:00 am - 1:00 pm, GSPP Room 150

1:00 - 2:00 pm (Lunch), GSPP Living Room

GSPP Faculty Instructors: Professor Jack Glaser, Professor Rucker Johnson, Professor Jesse Rothstein

11. WorldAffairs 2011 Conference: “Challenges to American Power”

March 18, 6:00-9:00 p.m. March 19, 8:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m. The St. Regis San Francisco

Keynote speakers: Robert Reich, Stephen Hadley, Fareed Zakaria, Arun Majumbar, James Zogby.

Presented by the World Affairs Council of Northern California. More info

12. “Education, Civil Rights and the Pursuit of the American Dream: A Conversation with Sen. Gloria Romero on Education Reform”

March 29, 2011, 12:30-1:30 pm. Goldman School of Public Policy

RSVP: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t_PXXscttiYwm1dpMwtZ7ig&authkey=CNSv-OsP#gid=0

Presented by the Goldman Latino Speaker Series

13. Discover Cal - Atherton: “The Future of K-12 Education: A Look at Teacher Quality and Technology”

Lecture | March 30 | 6-8:30 p.m. | Menlo Circus Club

Jesse Rothstein; Glynda Hull

$25 in advance, $30 at the door if available

14. 2nd Annual Michael Nacht Distinguished Lecture in Politics and Public Policy:

“How Can Citizens Drive the Political Will to Preserve our Water Supply?”

Former Senator Bob Graham

Tuesday, April 5, 2011. Other details TBD.

15. 2011 Aaron Wildavsky Forum on Public Policy: “The Coming Transformation of American Medicine”

Lecture | April 7 | 7:30-9 p.m. | 105 Stanley Hall

David Cutler, economist at Harvard University and senior health-care adviser to the Obama presidential campaign

Wildavsky Forum Panel Discussion

Friday, April 8, 2011. Other details TBD.

16. “Building our Awareness: How We Engage Race in our Work”

A Race and Policy Symposium presented by Students of Color in Public Policy

April 20, 2011, noon – 5:00 p.m. Goldman School of Public Policy

Keynote speaker: Christopher Edley, Dean of Berkeley Law School

Welcome address by Dean Henry Brady and panels featuring professional and academic leaders from around the Bay Area

More information on panel speakers, room locations, and registration to follow

17. “California Climate Policy — A New Template for the Americas?”

Robert Collier, visiting scholar at the Center for Environmental Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a consultant to nonprofit organizations on climate and energy policy

Monday, April 25, 12:00 pm. Location: TBD. More info

Presented by the Center for Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley

18. Commencement of the Graduating Class of 2011

Saturday, May 14, 2011. International House

QUICK REFERENCE LIST

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

1. “Berkeley-Haas Wins 2011 Education Leadership Case Competition” (The Berkeleyan, February 28, 2011); story citing PAUL PERRY (MPP cand. 2011); http://www2.haas.berkeley.edu/News/Newsroom/2010-2011/110228edulead.aspx

2. “CITY INSIDER: Candidates’ dim view of City Hall” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2011); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/27/BAPO1HT2SM.DTL#ixzz1FIYuDtyH

3. “Use It Up, Wear It Out” (The New York Times, February 26, 2011); story citing MICHAEL KOBORI (MPP 1995).

4. “Commission recommends rolling back pensions for current state, local workers” (Sacramento Bee, February 25, 2011); story citing commission whose executive director is STUART DROWN (MPP 1986); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/25/3429573/commission-recommends-rolling.html#ixzz1EzXCZIcn

5. “Analysts Say a Government Shutdown Is No Joke” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), February 24, 2011); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

6. “RENEWABLE ENERGY: Calif. Senate votes to codify 33% RPS target” (E&E News PM, Vol. 10 No. 9, February 24, 2011); story citing LAURA WISLAND (MPP 2008); http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2011/02/24/7?page_type=archive&terms=%22laura+wisland%22

7. “Sale of Alameda Towne Centre gives city a financial boost” (Oakland Tribune, February 24, 2011); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_17474079?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

8. “Bipartisan phone survey: Majority of Westerners prefer renewable energy” (The Colorado Independent, February 24, 2011); story citing DAVE METZ (MPP 1998); http://coloradoindependent.com/76538/bipartisan-phone-survey-majority-of-westerners-prefer-renewable-energy

9. “Next 10 Releases 2011 California Budget Challenge” (PR Newswire, February 23, 2011); newswire citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980) and TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).

10. “Adult Conversation. Paul Staley believes an adult conversation on federal spending requires a dose of self-examination” (Perspectives, KQED public radio, February 22, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this Perspective

11. “The Levi’s(R) Brand is Named the #1 Jeans Brand by GoodGuide” (Targeted News Service, February 22, 2011); newswire citing MICHAEL KOBORI (MPP 1995).

12. “1995 Federal Budget Debate Is Repeating Itself” (Roll Call, February 22, 2011); commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

13. “Time to reform the mortgage interest deduction” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 20, 2011); op-ed by LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993/PhD 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/19/INHD1HNGKR.DTL#ixzz1Eic6PiTr

14. “Medical marijuana barely dents Mexican drug trade” (Hearst Newspapers, February 20, 2011); story citing BEAU KILMER (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/19/BAVN1HPEF7.DTL#ixzz1EjEOyYhr

15. “Ana Matosantos: State fiscal exec rolls up sleeves” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 20, 2011); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/19/MNLL1HNUOB.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1EiWGiWZy

16. “Threat of Shutdown Looms Large over Budget Debate” (Weekend Edition Saturday [NPR], February 19, 2001); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to the story

17. “In Obama’s Budget, ‘A Lot of Things to Question’” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), February 18, 2011); interview with SEAN WEST (MPP 2006); Listen to the story

18. “Police staffing expected to shrink” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2011); story citing DEBORAH LANDIS (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/18/MN1E1HPFUD.DTL

19. “Film lays bare Mexico’s broken justice system” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2011); story citing LAYDA NEGRETE (MPP 1998/PhD candidate) and ROBERTO HERNÁNDEZ (PhD candidate); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/02/18/entertainment/e100305S40.DTL

20. “Brown seeks best ways to cut government waste” (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, February 18, 2011); newswire citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986); http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_17414362?IADID=Search-www.montereyherald.com-www.montereyherald.com&nclick_check=1

21. “Survey maps out digital divide” (Washington Post, February 18, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/17/AR2011021707234.html

22. “Op-Ed: Put science at center of kids’ education” (Sacramento Bee, February 18, 2011); op-ed citing study by DAVID GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1995); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/18/3412527/viewpoints-put-science-at-center.html

23. “Sebelius Pushes ACOs as Medicaid Cost-Cutting Option” (Inside CMS, Vol. 14 No. 4, February 17, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002).

24. “Obama’s F-35 sales push” (GlobalPost, February 17, 2011); story citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003); http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/war/110221/obama-F-35-stealth-fighter-jet-military

25. “What Unrest in the Middle East Means for US Defense Stocks” (Minyanville, February 17, 2011); analysis citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).

26. “U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn grills FCC chief on neutrality—GOP assails agency’s light Internet regulations” (The Commercial Appeal, (Memphis, TN), February 17, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/feb/17/blackburn-grills-fcc-chief-on-neutrality/

27. “Parents urged to sign up kids now for health insurance” (Sacramento Bee, February 15, 2011); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/15/3403113/parents-urged-to-sign-up-kids.html#ixzz1E351NOzC

28. “San Francisco needs a supervised injection clinic” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 15, 2011); op-ed by LAURA THOMAS (MPP/MPH 1995); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/14/ED3T1HM6G8.DTL#ixzz1E3DzWgu2

29. “The Wonkster: More Money for Charter Schools” (Gotham Gazette, February 15, 2011); blog citing RAY DOMANICO (MPP 1979); http://www.gothamgazette.com/blogs/wonkster/2011/02/15/more-money-for-charter-schools/

30. “CDC Issues Guidelines on Antiviral Use for Flu” (Family Practice News, Pg. 10 Vol. 41 No. 3 ISSN: 0300-7073, February 15, 2011); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD).

31. “Mickey Levy, Chief Economist, Bank of America Talks about the Economy” (Midday Surveillance, Bloomberg News, February 14, 2011); interview with MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).

32. “Drivers express interest in hybrids, but many don't buy” (USA TODAY, February 14, 2011); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2011-02-14-carspoll14_ST_N.htm

33. “Briefs: Kids can make 50 toy monsters from book” (Pittsburgh Tribune Review, February 14, 2011); review of book by ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995); http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/lifestyles/family/s_722834.html

34. “Previewing Obama’s Budget Cuts” (Weekends All Things Considered [NPR], February 13, 2011); interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to the story

35. “Small Business Administration yet to set rules on new loan program” (Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2011); story citing KURT CHILCOTT (MPP 1984); http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sba-loans-20110212,0,2090060.story

36. “‘Jeopardy!’ battle pits man vs. machine” (USA TODAY, February 11, 2011); story citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).

37. “Obama may limit tax breaks for rich” (CNNMoney.com, February 11, 2011); analysis citing SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).

38. “The Gipper’s Gift: A Pro-Israel GOP” (The Forward, February 11, 2011); analysis citing MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

39. “Obama touts plan to get wireless internet to 98% of US” (Washington Post, February 10, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/10/AR2011021005765_2.html

40. “Morgan Stanley Commits $500 Million to Enable Small Businesses to Increase Investments and Create Jobs” (Business Wire, February 10, 2011); story citing KURT CHILCOTT (MPP 1984); http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110210006039/en/Morgan-Stanley-Commits-500-Million-Enable-Small

41. “K Street takes lawmakers to school” (Politico.com, February 10, 2011); story citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).

42. “High-speed wireless access for entire US will spark innovation, Obama says” (Christian Science Monitor, February 10, 2011); story citing DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0210/High-speed-wireless-access-for-entire-US-will-spark-innovation-Obama-says

43. “States face health care cutbacks” (Gannett News Service, February 9, 2011); story citing REBECCA KAVOUSSI (MPP 2001).

44. “GOP Assembly, Senate caucus meet this week at Farm Bureau” (Capitol Alert (Sacramento Bee delivered by Newstex), February 7, 2011); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980) and STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).

45. “Some parents still struggle with acquiring insurance for children” (Marketplace Money, [NPR], Feb. 4-7, 2011); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); Listen to the story

46. “Daniel Borenstein: Public employee pensions much higher than advertised” (Contra Costa Times, February 5, 2011); op-ed by DAN BORENSTEIN (MPP 1980/MJ 1985); http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_17299237?source=most_emailed&nclick_check=1

47. “Bill would ban most pesticides at schools, ball fields” (The Record, (Hackensack, NJ), February 4, 2011); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/news/environment/115258524_Bill_would_ban_most_pesticides_at_schools__ball_fields.html

48. “Florida man charged in cold case slaying returned to Seattle” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 3, 2011); story citing JEFFREY BAIRD (MPP 1985/JD); http://www.seattlepi.com/local/434771_cold03.html

49. “California ranks near bottom in kids’ health care” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 2011); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/01/BASV1HGAGE.DTL#ixzz1Cp0z2U4Q

50. “Today’s Events in Washington” (The Frontrunner, February 2, 2011); event featuring TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).

51. “Success of College-Readiness Intervention Hard to Gauge” (Education Week, Pg. 1 Vol. 30 No. 18, January 26, 2011); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1982/PhD).

52. “Closings raw deal for ‘neediest’ students” (The New York Post, January 26, 2011); story citing RAY DOMANICO (MPP 1979); http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/closings_raw_deal_for_neediest_students_hsHmib1Dub8Xg4hNxXf0lJ

53. “Linnaean Regulation in Health Insurance and Information Technology” (Balkinization, January 22, 2011); analysis citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).

54. “Volume and Vocabulary. Paul Staley asks whether, in the wake of Tucson, we’ll discuss the content as well as the volume of our national discourse” (Perspectives, KQED public radio, January 17, 2011); commentary by PAUL STALEY (MPP 1980); Listen to this perspective

55. “CalWorks fraud case exposes lack of state controls” (Associated Press State & Local Wire, January 10, 2011); newswire citing GREG HUDSON (MPP 1989).

56. “North Jersey politicians say rhetoric should be toned down in wake of shooting” (The Record, January 9, 2011); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/news/113175104_North_Jersey_politicans_say_rhetoric_should_be_toned_down.html?c=y&page=2

57. “Jornaleros van contra la Ley SB1070” (La Opinion, January 8, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).

58. “Quan spends first day as mayor meeting police, firing and hiring staff” (Oakland Tribune, January 6, 2011); story citing SABRINA BIRNBAUM LANDRETH (MPP 2004) and MARIANNA MARYSHEVA (MPP 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_17026624?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

59. “Schwarzenegger promise to blow up boxes fizzled” (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, December 28, 2010); newswire citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).

60. “Why Few Are Debating the New Federal Fuel Economy Rules” (Engineering News-Record, 4Q Cost Report; Pg. 56 Vol. 265 No. 18, December 27, 2010); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004).

61. “Sex offender residency ban on lawmaker’s agenda” (San Francisco Chronicle, December 27, 2010); story citing JESSICA FLINTOFT (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/27/MN4A1GTVN8.DTL

62. “Missouri’s budget woes” (The Kansas City Star, December 18, 2010); Letter to Editor by TRACI GLEASON (MPP 2000).

63. “Gov. Schwarzenegger Applauds CORE's Commitment to Advance Digital Education” (States News Service, December 16, 2010); newswire citing BARBARA CHOW (MPP 1980).

64. “As newspapers shrink, journalists land jobs in state government; For these castaways of the California press corps, oversight work provides a new outlet for shoe-leather reporting skills” (Stateline.org, December 1, 2010); story citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “Unions Debate What to Give to Save Bargaining” (New York Times, February 28, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/us/28unions.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

2. “Experts see perils in Hillsborough’s teacher evaluation plans” (St. Petersburg Times (Florida), February 27, 2011); story citing JESSE ROTHSTEIN; http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/experts-see-perils-in-hillsboroughs-teacher-evaluation-plans/1154222

3. “GOP budget strategy is lies and deception” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/26/INOK1HS1NS.DTL#ixzz1FIUDlfj3

4. “Arts & Living: Books” (Washington Post, February 25, 2011); event featuring DAVID KIRP; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022506701.html

5. “Midmorning: Wisconsin stalemate: Who will blink first?” (Minnesota Public Radio, February 23, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program

6. “The coming shutdowns and showdowns: What’s really at stake” (The Berkeley Blog, February 23, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/02/23/the-coming-shutdowns-and-showdowns-whats-really-at-stake/

7. “Workers’ Rights Battle Goes National at Pivotal Time for Labor” (Bloomberg News, February 22, 2011); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/02/22/bloomberg1376-LGTVSP0D9L3701-4RHP6J0KEDPAA5JGKIFJ1S33R7.DTL#ixzz1EjfHTxw6

8. “The music market” (The Berkeley Blog, February 22, 2011); commentary by MICHAEL O’HARE; http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/02/22/the-music-market/

9. “More Cash-Strapped States Take on Public Unions” (Talk of the Nation [NPR], February 21, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to this program

10. “Environmentalists and locals win fight against coal plant in Borneo” (Monga Bay, February 16, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0216-hance_coal_sabah.html

11. “World Kudos for Malaysia in Keeping Sabah Coal-Free” (Bernama [Malaysia], February 18, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=564608

12. “Red-hot raffle for S.F. General Hospital” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 2011); event featuring ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/16/LV6M1HN078.DTL

13. “The money game’s dirty secret: No talk on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security” (John King USA, CNN, February 15, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the interview

14. “Budget cuts pour gas on Republican flame. The coming debate over spending cuts has nothing to do with reviving the economy” (Christian Science Monitor Online [*requires registration], February 14, 2011); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2011/0214/Budget-cuts-pour-gas-on-Republican-flame

15. “Economy’s fate rides on Main, not Wall Street” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/12/INTC1HKE2V.DTL#ixzz1Dxf0inEQ

16. “NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate Launches Conference on Sustainable Real Estate” (Targeted News Service, February 10, 2011); event featuring JOHN QUIGLEY; http://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2011/02/10/nyu-schack-institute-of-real-estate-launches-conference-on-sustainable-real-estate-.html

17. “MPR News: The unknown and unspoken issue of race” (Midmorning Show, Minnesota Public Radio, February 8, 2011); features commentary by JACK GLASER; Listen to this program

18. “Texas’ finances not as rosy as they seemed” (Los Angeles Times, February 7, 2011); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-texas-budget-20110207,0,4154023.story

19. “Deficit shouldn’t preclude investment in future” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 2011); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/05/INO91HHDAH.DTL#ixzz1DIaavIsh

20. “Egypt uprising only part of unrest in North Africa” (KGO TV, February 3, 2011); features commentary by MICHAEL NACHT; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7936665

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

The winning Education Leadership Competition team: German Freiwald, MBA 12; Paul Perry, MPP 11; Moritz Plischke and Bruce Dos Santos, both MBA 12.

For the first time since its launch at Berkeley-Haas five years ago, a Berkeley MBA team took first place in the Haas Education Leadership Case Competition, providing the nation’s second largest school district with ideas for implementing and marketing a new school governance model.

Bruce Dos Santos, German Freiwald, and Moritz Plischke, all MBA 12, teamed with Paul Perry, who will graduate with a master’s in public policy this year, to win the two-day Haas-run competition, which ran Feb. 18 and Feb. 19. This year the competition focused on the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which is facing major budget cuts and, at the same time, moving to a budgeting model that allocates resources by students rather than teachers….

In the LAUSD challenge, the Haas team realized that parents might believe that moving to the new budgeting model actually caused the budget cuts. “With this risk in mind, we proposed that they position the new model as a change that mitigated the negative impacts of budget cuts,” says Freiwald. The team also proposed a buddy program between Oakland principals and LA principals--since Oakland recently went through a similar budgeting transition….

--Heather Knight

They say familiarity breeds contempt—and it certainly seems to be the case for mayoral candidates and their view of City Hall.

We took a spin through the websites of all seven serious, declared candidates and discovered a clear pattern: The closer one is to City Hall, the more likely they are to think city government is downright awful….

Political consultant David Latterman said it’s disingenuous for anyone besides [venture capitalist Joanna] Rees to paint themselves as outsiders. “Come on, these people are absolutely part of San Francisco city government,” he said.

He added that it may not be effective, either, now that the circus starring Newsom and former Supervisor Chris Daly has left town. Interim Mayor Ed Lee and the new board are actually—gasp—getting along.

“Maybe that’s a campaign slogan: Let’s continue not sucking as bad,” Latterman said….

3. “Use It Up, Wear It Out” (The New York Times, February 26, 2011); story citing MICHAEL KOBORI (MPP 1995).

By Matt Richtel

Throw away the cell phone after two years? Not so fast. Ditch the flat-panel TV for an even thinner model? Maybe next year. Replace the blouse with the hole? Darn it! …

It is hardly the stuff of generations past, those stung by the Great Depression, who held onto antediluvian dishware and stored canned goods until rust formed on the lids. But for the moment, many citizens of a throwaway society are making fewer visits to the trash and recycling bins….

Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, said it was simply too soon to tell whether economic recovery would bring back a more disposable society. “There aren’t enough aggregate statistics since the crash for us to know,” he said….

In a few cases, consumers who are inclined to discard less are getting some positive reinforcement from an unlikely corner: companies that profit from upgrades.

Levi Strauss is telling customers to take steps that will actually lead them to buy fewer pairs of jeans. The Levi’s sustainability campaign urges customers to wash their jeans less often and in cold water, a move that the company says reduces water use.

“And they absolutely will last longer,” said Michael Kobori, vice president for social and environmental sustainability at Levi’s. He said the message was part of building trust with consumers and emphasizing the durability of the company’s products….

By Jon Ortiz

California’s state and local governments should roll back pensions for existing employees, dump guaranteed retirement payouts and put more of the burden for pension benefits on workers, a bipartisan watchdog commission said Thursday.

Any attempt to reduce pensions for current workers would prompt a legal battle royal. Still, the 12-member Little Hoover Commission concluded that government pension funds are in such dire financial straits that they’ll never right themselves without cutting into benefits for those working now. The proposal wouldn’t affect benefits drawn by current retirees.

“This is one of the toughest issues that we’ve taken on,” said Chairman Daniel Hancock shortly before the commission unanimously approved the 100-page report and its recommendations….

The report caps a year’s research and a series of hearings that included testimony from actuaries, union officials, pension reform activists, retirement board members, labor union leaders, public employees and others.

Since reducing pensions for the next generation of employees won’t cut costs in the near term, the commission recommended the Legislature pass a measure that lets state and local governments freeze the pensions of current workers and move them into a less costly hybrid system….

5. “Analysts Say a Government Shutdown Is No Joke” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), February 24, 2011); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

… MARA LIASSON: In private, talks continue on a possible compromise, but in public, the two parties are squaring off, trying to make sure if there is a shutdown, the other side gets the blame….

In fact, it’s unlikely Social Security and veterans’ checks would stop coming—we’ll have more on that in just a moment. Still, budget expert Stan Collender says a government shutdown is a very big deal.

Mr. STAN COLLENDER (Founder, Capital Gains and Games Blog): Everybody may hate federal spending, but they like federal services. And that’s what happened back in ‘95 and ‘96 when we had the last two shutdowns. Within minutes of the shutdown, after everyone got over the initial kind of amusement of the situation, they realized suddenly that they couldn’t apply for a passport and couldn’t apply for a visa, and National Parks were closed. And they were angry as hell about it….

--Colin Sullivan, E&E reporter

The California Senate voted today to enact a 33 percent renewable portfolio standard by 2020 for all electric utilities.

The bill, from Sen. Joe Simitian (D), would codify a standard already in place under an executive order signed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). Replacing the order with standing law would give regulators more legal teeth to enforce the targets….

The 33 percent standard would apply for the first time to public power, including the sprawling Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which imports much of its load from coal-fired plants outside the state. It would let utilities meet their targets by one of three ways: with directly interconnected renewable energy from in- and out-of-state sources, with energy swaps and with renewable energy certificates.

Laura Wisland, an energy analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists, said the bill is designed with maximum flexibility in mind initially, with utilities ramping up over the decade to eventually meet 75 percent of their renewable obligation with directly interconnected power by 2020.

The new RPS would also let utilities meet requirements every three or four years, revising the yearly targets written into the 2010 RPS.

“It’s actually much more flexible,” Wisland said. “You have breathing room between years.”

Wisland is hopeful the State Assembly will take up the bill before the current special session ends March 11. The special session has been called by Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in an attempt to pass a budget….

By Peter Hegarty - Staff Writer

The recent sale of Alameda Towne Centre pumped an extra $2.1 million into the city’s General Fund as a result of property transfer taxes—money that will now be used to purchase firefighting equipment, upgrade the city’s cable system and pay other expenses.

“It’s wonderful,” Acting City Manager Lisa Goldman said about the injection of money, which stems from last month’s sale of the shopping center for $181 million. “I joked at a recent meeting of Rotary that if anyone has another Alameda Towne Centre for sale, we would like to hear about it.”

The City Council allocated how the money will be spent on Feb. 15. The council expects to actually receive the money by the end of this month.

The biggest chunk of the money—$860,000—will go to Alameda County to pay for emergency medical services this fiscal year, while $575,000 will cover the costs for various police and fire labor settlements….

By David O. Williams

A phone survey of 2,200 registered voters in five Western states, including 600 in Colorado, found that a majority of Western voters think the amount of their states electricity being produced by renewable energy sources should dramatically increase, even if it means paying more on their utility bill.

Conducted by both a Republican and Democratic polling firm and produced for the Colorado College State of the Rockies Project, the Conservation in the West survey found that voters thought the average percentage of their states electricity coming from renewable resources should be about 65 percent.

Generally expressing more positive impressions of solar and wind power than coal or oil (with the exception of Wyoming residents), 77 percent of all those surveyed felt environmental standards and a strong economy can co-exist. And 65 percent said they disagree that renewable energy is too unreliable to be a significant part of our energy supply.

And a majority of voters in all five states (70 percent), which also included New Mexico, Montana and Utah, said its time to start replacing coal with other energy sources like wind and solar power.

The poll was conducted Jan. 23-27 by Lori Weigel at Public Opinion Strategies (a Republican firm) and Dave Metz at Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (a Democratic firm). An executive summary is available by going to the Colorado College State of the Rockies website….

9. “Next 10 Releases 2011 California Budget Challenge” (PR Newswire, February 23, 2011); newswire citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980) and TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).

SAN FRANCISCO -- Last month, Governor Brown proposed a budget that includes both extensions to temporary tax increases and cuts to nearly every state program to balance a staggering $25.4 billion deficit. As the state legislature grapples with these proposals, Californians can try their hand at reducing our state’s budget gap-their way. Last week, Next 10 released the 2011 version of the nonpartisan California Budget Challenge, an online tool that lets users understand the serious choices facing our state and see where they stand on a series of spending and revenue policy options. They can create a budget that reflects their values and share it with their elected representatives and colleagues…..

“The California Budget Challenge gives citizens a unique opportunity to see how all of the major pieces fit together and the trade-offs inherent in putting together a balanced budget for our state,” stated Michael Genest, former Director of Finance for Governor Schwarzenegger….

“Many have called this the year of ‘fiscal reckoning,’” said Tim Gage, former Director of Finance for Governor Davis. “Our state has run out of short-term solutions and needs to make long-term decisions about spending and revenues to close the $25.4 billion deficit. It’s more important than ever that Californians have a better understanding of our fiscal choices.” …

By Paul Staley

Evidently we could be on the verge of having the adult conversation about the role of government that our politicians have been promising and then postponing for so long. But hopefully this will be an opportunity for self-examination as well as debate given the conflicting opinions we have on the matter not only between but also within ourselves.

Our government is composed of the many systems that tie us together, yet in this country we ground it in a national mythology of rebellion and independence. It is comprised of our fellow citizens but we talk about it as if it were an alien life form.

In our personal experience it seems to move all over the place. When we get our paychecks we find that the government was in front of us in line, getting its share before we see one dime. And, yet sometimes when an emergency or disaster strikes, it is nowhere to be found.

We chafe against government when it imposes restrictions that we consider unnecessary or inappropriate, and yet are quite happy to see the law used to enforce our own biases and preferences. We may profess to hate it but we make the same conflicting demands of it that we sometimes make of the people we love. We ask it to walk a tightrope that balances process with responsiveness and then are disappointed when it inevitably falls. We bequeath to it the problems that are the eternal woes of human existence, poverty, war and disease, and then criticize its inability to eradicate these. We entrust to it the people and things that we value the most in life, the education of our children and the protection of our homes and family, and then resent the contribution this requires of us….

Paul Staley is a real estate developer. He lives in San Francisco.

11. “The Levi’s(R) Brand is Named the #1 Jeans Brand by GoodGuide” (Targeted News Service, February 22, 2011); newswire citing MICHAEL KOBORI (MPP 1995).

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Levi’s(R) brand announced it has been ranked first in the denim category by GoodGuide, an independent website that provides consumers with expert ratings and information about the health, environmental and social impact of products and companies. The original denim brand as well as the Dockers(R) brand, both ranked as one of the top five apparel brands overall, with a score of 7.4 out of 10.

Today GoodGuide launched its first-ever rating system for apparel companies, assessing 118 brands on a number of key metrics including overall environmental efforts, sustainable material use, integration of lifecycle approach to product design, management of supply chain, restricted substance program, and vigilance in monitoring manufacturers and working conditions, among other things.

“We don’t have nutrition labels on clothing yet, but GoodGuide is the first independent company to give consumers data to make informed comparisons about the clothes they purchase,” said Michael Kobori, Vice President of Social and Environmental Sustainability for Levi Strauss & Co. “We believe that increased transparency is the best way to empower consumers to support brands that are creating products in a thoughtful way.” …

12. “1995 Federal Budget Debate Is Repeating Itself” (Roll Call, February 22, 2011); commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).

By Stan Collender

… As with much of what’s happening this year on the budget, the debate over spending, revenues and the deficit that took place in 1995 when Republicans took control of the House and Senate just two years after Bill Clinton was elected president provides some lessons and perspective….

It’s nearly impossible not to see the current situation as a repeat of 1995. Current House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) didn’t tell the White House not to bother with a budget because the 2010 elections had rendered it irrelevant, but Obama’s fiscal 2012 budget, like Clinton’s for fiscal 1996, didn’t include the big changes that Congressional Republicans were expecting. Just like 1995, the GOP was forced to criticize what the president didn’t do rather than the specific cuts in entitlements that, had the White House proposed them, would have made Republican political lives much easier over the next few months.

Ryan and Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) last week both said House Republicans will produce their own budget that will include the significant spending cuts in entitlements that they had expected the White House to propose. The GOP budget proposals in 1995 allowed Clinton to look moderate. To the voters whose programs were most at risk under the GOP’s budget plans, Clinton became the most trusted person to deal with the situation. That same opportunity may now exist for Obama….

Stan Collender is a partner at Qorvis Communications and author of “The Guide to the Federal Budget.” His blog is capitalgainsandgames.com.

--Larry Rosenthal

Subsidized mortgage interest has been expected for generations of homebuyers, but now policymakers are questioning whether the benefit for some is worth the cost to the whole nation. (Alex Washburn / The Chronicle)

After we won our big mid-century war, the American Dream was built upon smallish, cookie-cutter homes in the suburbs. These places were modest, something most every working family could afford. Paying off the mortgage in 30 years was well within most households’ reach. A touch of federal generosity at tax time – allowing the deduction of mortgage interest—only helped.

By the time of our recent financial collapse, however, the vision of everyone owning a small piece of the good life had morphed into something decidedly less wholesome.

At its worst, just before the bubble burst, the emblem of that Dream had become an oversized, excessively leveraged McMansion out on the metropolis’ edge, bought with little money down. Humongous floor plans and jumbo loans were oversold. Half-built, abandoned developments cluttered the landscape and became a shared nightmare.

We are now re-examining how our public policies, and our culture, treat homeownership. A number of us are convinced it is time to dial back the amount We The People forgive every year via the federal mortgage interest deduction….

Home loans up to $1 million generally qualify for the mortgage interest deduction. Refinancings, home equity lines and even mortgages for second homes are eligible for the benefit. But only those itemizing deductions on their returns receive it—and itemizers are predominantly higher-income.

We the taxpayers foot the bill every year, and it’s neither cheap nor equitable. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the deductibility of mortgage interest cost the federal government $79.2 billion during fiscal year 2010. By 2016, it is projected to cost us $144 billion. The entire federal budget for housing and urban development for 2010 was just $45.1 billion. We can extend more help to those most needing it—low- and moderate-income renters—by reducing the mortgage interest deduction and providing general “shelter” benefits for all taxpayers….

Larry Rosenthal teaches public policy at UC Berkeley….

--Dan Freedman, Hearst Washington Bureau

(02-20) 04:00 PST Washington -- Domestic pot production and the proliferation of medical dispensaries have affected California’s previously strong appetite for Mexican marijuana but have had minimal impact on Mexican traffickers’ marijuana revenues.

Fifteen years after voters approved Proposition 215, permitting medicinal marijuana use, strong varieties like those produced in Northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle dominate the market. Weaker Mexican pot, once the weed of choice for the 1950s Beat generation and the 1960s flower children, is less popular, according to drug policy experts and law enforcement officials….

With approximately 1,700 dispensaries catering to between 300,000 and 400,000 customers, California is ahead of the other states with similar laws in building a soft-legal medical marijuana infrastructure….

None of this has deterred the Mexican cartels, which derive approximately 15 to 26 percent of their revenues from marijuana, according to a Rand Corp. analysis last year….

“Most of the marijuana used throughout the U.S. is still commercial grade, but that ratio is much less in California,” said Beau Kilmer, lead author of the Rand report and co-director of the think tank’s Drug Policy Research Center. “Use of (domestically grown) high-grade stuff is higher in California than elsewhere in the U.S.”

The Rand report [coauthored with Robert MacCoun] concluded that legalization in California would at most reduce Mexican traffickers’ income by between 2 and 4 percent on marijuana revenues estimated at between $1.1 billion and $2 billion annually….

--Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Matosantos, who was born in Puerto Rico, hugs Pedro Reyes after he was sworn in as chief deputy director for policy. (Paul Chinn / The Chronicle)

(02-20) 04:00 PST Sacramento - … While helping steer California through the morass is largely a thankless task, many people who know [Ana] Matosantos and have worked with her in Sacramento say she is both the best and perhaps the only person able to tackle the challenge….

Mike Genest, who held the finance director post prior to Matosantos, met her in 2003 when he headed the fiscal office for Senate Republicans. He was impressed with her smarts and her ability to adapt to situations and get things done quickly.

“I trusted her, I liked her and I wanted to bring her into a position of authority at the Department of Finance,” Genest said.

He said it took him two tries to convince Matosantos to be his chief deputy at the Department of Finance, a grueling job that Genest said is sometimes more difficult than being director and required her to defend a Republican governor’s budget proposals. Matosantos is registered as a Democrat, but she agreed to take the job in 2008….

The next year, when Genest decided to retire, he said he pressed Schwarzenegger to appoint Matosantos. He said Schwarzenegger was slightly hesitant because she was young, and Matosantos was hesitant about crafting that administration’s budget, which at points called for the complete elimination of welfare in the state among other things.

“It was weeks before I knew if she would do it,” Genest said. He said not only was she physically tired from the grind of dealing with the state budget, “I think a lot of things we had to do in the budget really affected her. She knew it was necessary but it wasn’t easy for her heart.” …

When asked, Matosantos declined to say where she is on the political spectrum, though her former boss Genest, a conservative Republican, described her as a liberal Democrat with a finance mentality….

16. “Threat of Shutdown Looms Large over Budget Debate” (Weekend Edition Saturday [NPR], February 19, 2001); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to the story

By David Welna

… A stopgap funding measure [to keep the federal government’s lights burning for the rest of this year] expires in two weeks, and the House voted early Saturday to replace it with one that carves out tens of billions of dollars from current spending levels. The Democrats who run the Senate are balking amid growing talk of an imminent government shutdown….

Senate Democrats warned there isn’t enough time left to work out a deal to avert a government shutdown. So they proposed a short extension of current funding to work out such a deal. Boehner said he would not agree even to a stopgap bill that did not cut current spending levels.

“When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips, we’re going to cut spending,” Boehner said.

Democrats immediately interpreted that read-my-lips warning as an ultimatum from Boehner: Go along with our spending cuts or face a government shutdown….

Stan Collender, an expert on congressional funding with Qorvis Communications, does not think this will have a happy ending.

“I think there’s a better than 50-50 chance we’re going to see a government shutdown of some magnitude, some length of time,” he said….

17. “In Obama’s Budget, ‘A Lot of Things to Question’” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), February 18, 2011); interview with SEAN WEST (MPP 2006); Listen to the story

By Adam Davidson

(Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

This week, President Obama released the federal budget for 2012. It was an exciting moment for budget wonks around the country.

“You wake up early, you get there early, and then you realize they’re at least a half-hour late like always. You remember last year when you were doing the same thing,” Sean West, an analyst with the EurasiaGroup, told me.

Like lots of other analysts, reporters, politicians and lobbyists all over the country, West spent hours poring over the document. He doesn’t necessarily care what departments gained or lost money. He’s looking for something else: budgetary lies.

“There is nothing in there that necessarily jumps out at you as ridiculous. But there are a lot of things to question,” says West.

One thing West questions: the president’s assumption that Republicans will vote to repeal a host of taxes on multinational corporations.

“Well, presidents since JFK have tried to get rid of these benefits for multinational firms. And it’s very hard to actually pass,” he says….

--John Wildermuth

The San Francisco Police Department’s $470 million 2011-12 budget will pay for a lot fewer officers next year.

Because of the city’s budget woes, no police academy classes are scheduled for next year, so instead of the 1,861 sworn officers who worked for the department in July, retirements and resignations are expected to drop that to 1,745 by June 2012….

That could include closing and consolidating some of the 10 district stations, realigning district boundaries and putting more administrative officers in the field, Godown added.

The department could even eliminate its popular community policing foot beats.

Former Mayor Gavin Newsom already had asked the police and other city departments to find 10 percent in cuts and prepare another 10 percent in contingency cuts.

Although the department made the first 10 percent trim without cutting staff, things will change if the contingency cuts are required.

Because 90 percent of the department’s budget is salary and benefits, more cuts mean layoffs. Beyond the projected retirements and resignations, as many as 185 officers could face the ax, said Deborah Landis, the department’s acting financial officer….

By Olga R.Rodriguez, Associated Press

Associated Press writer Carlos Rodriguez in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Antonio Zuniga, protagonist of the documentary “Presumed Guilty,” in Mexico City, Feb. 16, 2011. The award-winning film opens in Mexican commercial theaters Wednesday and its directors and protagonist hope it galvanizes Mexicans to demand changes to their failed legal system. (Alexandre Meneghini / AP)

Mexico City, Mexico (AP) -- Antonio Zuniga was minding his own business, walking through his Mexico City neighborhood, when police arrested him on charges of murdering a young gang member he had never seen. He was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence.

The story might have ended there if it hadn’t been for two determined lawyers armed with a video camera. They got the street vendor a retrial and, finally, acquittal by an appeals court thanks to the video they shot, which turned into a harrowing documentary that opens in Mexico on Friday in its first run in commercial theaters….

Lawyers Roberto Hernandez and Layda Negrete won a retrial for Zuniga when they found that his original defense attorney lacked a valid license to practice law, and they got the judge’s approval to film the proceedings....

Hernandez and Negrete, husband-and-wife doctoral students at the University of California, Berkeley, have campaigned for judicial reform in Mexico for years. They conducted a survey of Mexico City prisoners in 2008 and found that 95 percent of those charged were convicted. They also found that 92 percent of the cases lacked physical evidence and were based on witnesses testimony.

Hernandez and Negrete had trouble finding a Mexican distributor for their film, even with the buzz it created at film festivals and in the U.S., where it aired on public television’s “P.O.V.” documentary series last year.

So they turned to Alejandro Ramirez, CEO of Mexico’s largest movie theater chain, Cinepolis, who had seen the documentary in Morelia [where it won the best documentary category]. Even though his company doesn’t usually distribute films, he decided to do it for the “Presumed Guilty,” which will open in 130 theaters in six major cities.

Hernandez and Negrete say they want videotaping to be mandatory in all interrogations and trial proceedings in Mexico.

“The film will help people open their eyes and realize that their freedom is as fragile as someone pointing a finger at them on the street,” Hernandez said.....

[This story appeared in more than 100 sources nationwide, including the <a href=“http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_17423204“>San Jose Mercury News</a>, <a href=“http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/18/3413853/film-lays-bare-mexicos-broken.html“>Sacramento Bee</a>, and <a href=“http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_17423204“>Oakland Tribune</a>]

By Judy Lin, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown already has cut back on cell phones and vehicles for government employees. Now he’s looking for even larger ways to reduce state government spending.

This week the governor asked the state’s top watchdog agencies to create “Top 10” lists for cutting waste and improving efficiency. Brown sent letters to the state auditor and the Little Hoover Commission, a state oversight agency, asking for their help tackling the state’s nearly $27 billion budget gap….

... Brown asked each watchdog agency to produce a list and include five recommendations that he can implement by executive order.

The Little Hoover Commission is charged with investigating state government operations. It is led by a bipartisan board composed of five citizen members appointed by the governor and four citizen members appointed by the Legislature, two senators and two Assembly members.

Executive Director Stuart Drown said commissioners will have a chance to discuss ideas next Thursday. The commission has tackled a variety of topics, including prisons, public health and career technical education….

By Cecilia Kang, Washington Post Staff Writer

A first-of-its-kind federal survey of online access found that Americans in lower-income and rural areas often have slower Internet connections than users in wealthier communities.

The data, released Thursday by the Commerce Department, also found that 5 to 10 percent of the nation does not have access to connections that are fast enough to download Web pages, photos and videos….

But some experts were disappointed with the study, which was based on advertised maximum speeds submitted by companies such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T. The Commerce Department didn’t test the speed data, and many experts complained that the survey lacks pricing information, which would enable better comparisons of service across regions.

“Price is one of the most important variables to have,” said Derek Turner, policy director of the public interest group Free Press. “And real speeds are important because it shows whether companies are really giving people what they are paying for.” …

By Tom Torlakson and Margaret Gaston, Special to The Bee

In his recent State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama spoke of the importance of science education to our country’s future. Without a scientifically literate citizenry, America will continue to lose its competitive edge to industries overseas and jobs will go to those who are better prepared....

Hidden behind the rhetoric regarding the importance of science education, however, is the reality of what is happening in classrooms. Given student performance in the subject, science looks more like a missing ingredient than the centerpiece of our children’s education.

The recent National Assessment of Educational Progress results make this reality disturbingly clear. The findings show that less than half of U.S. students are proficient in science. ...

A 2007 survey of school districts in the Bay Area conducted by [David Goldstein, Associate Director of] the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 80 percent of K-5 teachers who responded to the survey said they spent 60 minutes or less teaching science each week. Sixteen percent said they spent no time at all. These teachers also said they felt less prepared to teach science compared with other subjects, and more than two-thirds said they had fewer than six hours of professional development in science education over the last three years. More than a third – 36 percent – said they received none at all….

23. “Sebelius Pushes ACOs as Medicaid Cost-Cutting Option” (Inside CMS, Vol. 14 No. 4, February 17, 2011); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002).

-- Rachana Dixit

As CMS gets closer to issuing its much-anticipated proposed rule on health reform's Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), increasingly more attention is being given to the idea of states promoting ACOs and incorporating Medicaid into the model. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote in her recent letter to governors, which suggests ways states can make Medicaid more efficient without slashing eligibility, that states should promote ACOs that include Medicaid by bringing states into the planning and testing of ACO models that include or even focus on Medicaid plans and providers. HHS has already been given the authority under the Affordable Care Act to pilot ACOs with Medicaid pediatric care, but sources say Sebelius now is also urging states to promote ACOs that include Medicaid because of the future possibility that ACOs could share savings across multiple payers, once the concepts are fully developed….

… Toby Douglas, director of the California Department of Health Care Services, said California is in the very early stages of developing ACOs for its Medicaid population. The best approach to have shared savings in ACOs, Douglas said, would be to share them across Medicare and Medicaid.

“The only true way to test this out is to integrate the payment,” Douglas told Inside Health Policy. CMS has not outlined anything in particular for shared savings in ACOs, but CMS is considering sharing Medicare savings with states that are designing programs for dually eligible beneficiaries….

24. “Obama’s F-35 sales push” (GlobalPost, February 17, 2011); story citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003); http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/war/110221/obama-F-35-stealth-fighter-jet-military

By Barry Neild

U.S. Air Force planes from four generations, including an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, an F-15 Eagle, an F-4 Phantom and a P-51 Mustang fly in formation near the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

With prices starting at $110 million per jet, the F-35 Lightning II fighter isn’t really the sort of thing for sale on Craigslist. But the way the Obama administration has been peddling this sophisticated aerial combat tool around the world, perhaps it wouldnt be a surprise if it were.

While countries including Australia, Canada, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have all placed orders amounting to hundreds of F-35s, the president and his team of executive salesmen have been pitching hard elsewhere.

Late last year, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was in Japan singing the praises of the stealth fighter that has cost his government billions to develop. And in Israel, ministers have reportedly been debating F-35 deals offered by Barack Obama as sweeteners in the Middle East peace process….

To some, it might seem odd that the commander-in-chief is willing to hand over keys to aircraft packed to the hilt with the latest U.S. military technology “particularly radar-evading stealth, which no other country yet has” even if the paying customers are allies….

Jeff Abramson, deputy director of the Arms Control Association, argues that attempts to sell the F-35 overseas are part of the Obama administrations efforts to double U.S. arms exports and thus aid economic recovery.

But even if F-35s are merely being deployed against economic uncertainty rather than into aerial combat, Abramson warned of other consequences.

In general, it is unwise to think of arms sales as just any other commercial transaction, he told the GlobalPost, suggesting that the F-35s could be vulnerable to misuse or even contribute to regional arms races and instability.

Any transfer agreement must consider whether the proposed weapons are appropriate for their intended use, and whether they might contribute to regional arms races or instability. It’s not clear that all the discussions around F-35s have adequately taken these considerations in mind.

25. “What Unrest in the Middle East Means for US Defense Stocks” (Minyanville, February 17, 2011); analysis citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).

By Keith Fitz-Gerald

While many investors are focused on the roles that Google and Twitter played during Egypt’s recent turmoil, I immediately zeroed in on all the American-made military hardware that exists in that region—and began to analyze the risk that investors face if the US defense industry quite literally bet on the wrong horse.

Between 2006 and 2009, we sold more than $50 billion worth of weapons systems and related hardware to Middle East nations, according to the Congressional Research Service. The value of annual military contracts in the region has quadrupled since 2000, according to CNN.com….

In 2009 and 2010, the US Department of Defense notified Congress that weapons sales to foreign buyers could reach as much as $100 billion—almost an eightfold increase from the $13 billion that was the yearly norm from 1995 to 2005, Deutsche Bank AG analyst Myles Walton told CNNMoney.com….

“There is an Obama arms bazaar going on,” Arms Control Association Deputy Director Jeff Abramson told CNNMoney….

By Bartholomew Sullivan

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who opposes efforts by the Federal Communications Commission to establish Internet neutrality, prompted its chairman to concede it does not have jurisdiction over some content distribution agreements.

In an ongoing commercial dispute, Comcast wants to charge higher fees to deliver Level 3 content, including streaming video from Netflix, which Level 3 believes violates net neutrality rules….

The exchange came prior to the introduction in the House and Senate of resolutions of disapproval of the FEC’s December action. Blackburn is a co-sponsor of Wednesday’s House resolution, and introduced legislation last month that would limit regulation of the Internet to Congress….

S. Derek Turner , research director for Free Press, a nonpartisan advocate of Internet neutrality, urged Congress Wednesday not to dismantle the little oversight the FCC has agreed to provide.

“We urge Congress, instead of standing by while the big phone and cable companies try to avoid any oversight by the FCC, to stand with the millions of Americans of all political stripes who support the open Internet,” Turner said after the hearing.

By Bobby Caina Calvan

The push is on to enroll thousands of children who previously could not get health coverage or whose parents paid much higher premiums because of their children’s pre-existing medical conditions.

Under new federal rules that took effect last fall, children with chronic health conditions cannot be denied coverage.

California went one step further: Insurers may not charge premiums more than double the rate of covering healthy children. But to qualify for the price protection, parents must sign up before the open enrollment period ends March 1, or wait until the child’s next birthday.

Children’s health advocates have been urging parents to take advantage of the opportunity.

“There is real urgency. The time is now to sign up children for the coverage,” said Kelly Hardy, the health policy director for Children Now, an Oakland-based child advocacy organization.

It has been difficult for children suffering from chronic health conditions to obtain coverage. If they do, it is often for many times the price of coverage for a healthy child, creating tough choices for families, Hardy said….

--Laura Thomas

San Francisco is in the midst of a hepatitis C epidemic. More than 12,000 people here live with hepatitis C, many of whom do not know they have it. The city has the highest rate of liver cancer in the country because of hepatitis infections. Treatment for hepatitis C is difficult, expensive and not always successful. People continue to become infected with hepatitis C in San Francisco, primarily through injecting drugs but increasingly through sexual contact as well.

For the past year and a half, I have been a member of the San Francisco Mayor’s Hepatitis C Task Force, along with 30 other dedicated participants, including doctors, researchers, advocates and people living with hepatitis C....

... As a part of our direction that San Francisco must provide effective hepatitis C interventions, we recommended the creation of a legal, supervised injection facility…..

.. The evidence is conclusive that they reduce HIV and hepatitis transmission risks, prevent overdose deaths, reduce public injections, reduce discarded syringes and increase the number of people who enter drug treatment. Few people would disagree with any of those outcomes….

Even here, we have some officials who remain invested in addressing drugs as a criminal justice issue rather than a public health issue….

San Franciscans face a choice: Do we continue to waste money and allow people to become sick and die, or do we follow the clear evidence and invest in something that works?

Laura Thomas directs the San Francisco office of the Drug Policy Alliance ( www.drugpolicy.org).

By Gail Robinson

In this era of uneasy co-location—the sharing of space by traditional public and charter schools—the parents and staff at the old-fashioned publicly run school often say the charter kids have it better—fancier library, better supplies and so on.

Are they just paranoid?

Not if new calculations from the Independent Budget Office are accurate. In the 2008-2009 charter schools in public school buildings received almost $650 more per students in public funding than traditional public schools, Ray Domanico and Yolanda Smith write an IBO blog post. This number includes about two thirds of the citys charter schools and covers only operating funds.

“When complete data from 2010-2011 become available, they are almost certain to show an even greater advantage for those charters housed within public school buildings compared with traditional public schools,” Domanico and Smith write.

They found traditional district public schools got $15,672 per students, charters in public school buildings $16,373, with charter schools in private space coming in third with $13,662 per student.

If the $650 discrepancy doesnt sound that significant, keep I mind that, according to current estimates, Gov. Andrew Cuomos budget cuts would cost the city about $550 per student.…

30. “CDC Issues Guidelines on Antiviral Use for Flu” (Family Practice News, Pg. 10 Vol. 41 No. 3 ISSN: 0300-7073, February 15, 2011); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD).

By Robert Finn, Elsevier Global Medical News

Children younger than 1 year of age may be given oseltamivir for influenza treatment and prophylaxis despite the expiration of the Food and Drug Administration’s emergency authorization allowing use of the drug in that age group, according to new guidelines issued last month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an interview, the CDC’s Dr. Tim Uyeki said, “ACIP [the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices] and CDC are recommending use of oseltamivir for treatment or chemoprophylaxis in children less than 1 year of age with suspected or confirmed influenza, because of the high risk for complications – including serious complications – in children less than 1 year of age, as well as the fact that the 2009 H1N1 virus continues to circulate worldwide including in the U.S.” …

In another significant change, the guidelines now emphasize that it’s permissible to treat individuals with influenza who are at low risk of complications with oseltamivir and zanamivir.

“We never said, ‘Don’t treat persons who are not hospitalized and not high risk,’” said Dr. Uyeki, a pediatrician and medical epidemiologist. “The emphasis on high-risk patients and hospitalized patients might have been interpreted as, ‘Don’t treat persons with mild, uncomplicated illness who were previously healthy.’” …

31. “Mickey Levy, Chief Economist, Bank of America Talks about the Economy” (Midday Surveillance, Bloomberg News, February 14, 2011); interview with MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).

… THOMAS KEENE (HOST): Is that what this is really about—is to hell with inflation, we’ve got to get people employed and we’ll worry about inflation later?

MICKEY LEVY (CHIEF ECONOMIST, BANK OF AMERICA): Well, we do have a major problem with unemployment. My concern is a significant portion of the increase in the unemployment rate has not been cyclical, that you can just pump money in the system, create aggregate demand, and that is going to generate jobs. It is either structural or as fed Chairman Bernanke says it might take five years, and that is a long time.

And so I think we need to address the specific areas where there are economic weakness and address the specific areas in the labor markets, like semi-skilled jobs, rather than have the Federal Reserve pump in money and hope they can continue to increase or try to increase aggregate demand without triggering higher inflationary expectations….

By Chris Woodyard

About six out of 10 consumers say they would look at a gas-electric hybrid when the time comes to replace their current vehicle, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll has found….

But while the results seem to indicate that hybrid gas savers are taking off, the results are at odds with what consumers actually are buying: only 4.3% of vehicles sold last year were hybrids, the Environmental Protection Agency reports….

Except for Toyota, which has bet big on hybrids, most makers are sparingly sprinkling them into their lineups.

Roland Hwang, transportation program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, thinks they are being too cautious. “There's a gap between what people want and what the auto companies are offering.” But, he adds, “That gap is shrinking.” …

Higher gas prices, which AAA says average $3.13 for a gallon of regular, could push hybrid demand. The survey found 36% of consumers would replace their current vehicle with one with better gas mileage at $4 a gallon or less. An additional 25% would trade at $5 to $7.

In any case, automakers need to sell more hybrids to help them meet new government fuel-mileage rules ratcheting up to 35.5 mpg in 2016.

Hwang says that with the many factors coming together, “Everybody says hybrid sales are poised to take off this year.”

33. “Briefs: Kids can make 50 toy monsters from book” (Pittsburgh Tribune Review February 14, 2011); review of book by ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995); http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/lifestyles/family/s_722834.html

By staff and wire reports

Children’s book features Mozart’s sister

“For the Love of Music: The Remarkable Story of Maria Anna Mozart,” by Elizabeth Rusch with illustrations by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, (Tricycle Press/Random House. $16.99, 32 pages) is a children’s book aimed at ages 4 to 8.

Growing up as the musically gifted older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could not have been easy for Maria Anna Mozart (1751-1825). When the girl was 7, her father started teaching her to play the harpsichord, and later took her and Wolfgang on tours of many cities, where, occasionally, she received top billing performing before kings and queens. As her brother’s genius became more apparent, however, she was pushed aside, although her love of music never faded. In this celebration of a talented woman, author Elizabeth Rusch cleverly uses the structure of a piano sonata to organize her chapters. The illustrations of Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher are evocative of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries….

34. “Previewing Obama’s Budget Cuts” (Weekends All Things Considered [NPR], February 13, 2011); interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to the story

The White House will send its budget proposal Monday down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Guy Raz examines three areas of spending the president has signaled he’s willing to cut: earmarks, Community Service Block Grants and Community Development Block Grants. Also, budget-watcher Stan Collender predicts what other cuts might be on the table….

GUY RAZ: … Many elected officials talk about across-the-board spending cuts, but according to Stan Collender, a former congressional staffer who worked on the House and Senate Budget Committees, making those cuts is not so simple.

Mr. STAN COLLENDER (Budget Expert): Basically, when they talk about across-the-board spending cuts, they’re only talking about one-third of the budget that gets appropriated every year. The rest of the budget goes up or goes down depending upon a variety of other factors that are already in the law, like the number of people eligible for Social Security this year.

So unless you want to take on some very, very difficult program-by-program decisions on entitlements, across-the-board cuts is not really across the board. It’s across the board for only a very select part of the budget….

What’s missing from the debate and what would be the truly creative things would be if someone was able to come up with a vision of what the government should be doing, not simply how to slash spending or eliminate programs, but what it would be when you’re finished.

That is, what would happen if we didn’t have a Department of Education? What would happen if the government didn’t support business in a variety of ways? That’s the debate that has to take place. It’s not simply over numbers. And if all you do is cut programs across the board, what you’re going to do is make them ineffective and get people more frustrated with them, rather than actually having, you know, a substantial impact….

By Sharon Bernstein

A new federal loan program signed into law five months ago to help small businesses refinance the mortgages on their buildings could help save thousands of firms.

If only the program could get started.

Businesses can’t apply for the loans or even determine if they qualify for them until the Small Business Administration releases rules for the program. The wait is not only problematic for stressed businesses, it’s also eating up time.

As passed by Congress, the program runs for two years—beginning when the law was signed.

“We have less and less time to actually be able to use the program the longer the SBA takes to get the rules out,” said Kurt Chilcott, president of CDC Small Business Finance, a nonprofit lender. “And what that means is there will be a limited number of small businesses that will be able to access the program.” …

36. “‘Jeopardy!’ battle pits man vs. machine” (USA TODAY, February 11, 2011); story citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).

By Diana Costello - The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News

WESTCHESTER, N.Y. - The time has come to take sides in the ultimate man vs. machine showdown.

Starting Monday night, IBM’s Watson computer will battle the brains and buzzers of “Jeopardy!” champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, with two matches airing on ABC over three consecutive days….

Regardless of the winner, the technology’s practical applications are what could reap the greatest rewards.

IBM on Friday announced a partnership with eight universities worldwide to help advance the technology, looking to develop into fields from health care to help desks.

“This has huge implications for the workforce and education,” said Marina Gorbis, executive director of the Institute for the Future, an independent nonprofit research group based in Palo Alto, Calif.

“To me, it’s exciting because clearly we’re on a path where computers are getting more advanced, but it means the challenge is on us to move to deeper levels of skills and more complex skills.”

And anyone who thinks this technology won’t soon be part of our everyday lives should just forget it, she said.

“The reality of it is that we are completely dependent on these tools already. If you think of our mobile phones, our computers, even our cars. We are totally lost without these things already,” Gorbis said. “They are serving as extensions of our brains.” …

37. “Obama may limit tax breaks for rich” (CNNMoney.com, February 11, 2011); analysis citing SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).

By Jeanne Sahadi, senior writer

President Obama on Monday may propose limiting tax breaks for the rich, budget and policy experts say.

In the president’s past two budget requests, he called for limits on the value of itemized deductions for those in the top two tax brackets. That would include deductions for mortgage interest and charitable contributions.

The proposals went nowhere—in part because charities claimed that their funding, already hurt by the recession, would suffer even more. And the lobbyist-heavy real estate industry spoke out against it as well.

But this time, the proposal might be better received given the increased political and public awareness of U.S. debt and an improved economic climate, said Sean West, a U.S. policy analyst at the Eurasia Group.

“He’s always called for it, but now there’s a new narrative,” West said.

In particular, West said, the president’s bipartisan debt commission raised awareness that the country gives up more than $1 trillion a year in revenue because of hundreds of tax breaks, many of which benefit some investments and taxpayers more than others.

Take the mortgage interest deduction: It is seen as a big spur to housing sales, which in turn can bolster big swaths of the economy. But some argue the generous deduction contributed to an unstable rise in home prices, and tax statistics show that the wealthiest households disproportionately benefit….

38. “The Gipper’s Gift: A Pro-Israel GOP” (The Forward, February 11, 2011); analysis citing MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

By Tevi Troy

… As America marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, … [f]riends of Israel will have a special reason to celebrate: Reagan made the Republican Party into the unambiguously pro-Israel party that it is today.

Indeed, before the Reagan era, the Republican Party had a decidedly mixed record on Israel. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the conservative movement had strong isolationist and even anti-Semitic tendencies. Later, Republican presidents, such as Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon while by no means isolationists had complicated relations with the Jewish state. Eisenhower forced Israel to return the Sinai to Egypt after capturing it in 1956. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Nixon wasted precious days before finally re-supplying a tapped out Israel with arms.

Reagan, by contrast, had staunchly pro-Israel views. These were informed by his perception of Israel as an important American ally in the Cold War and his identification with Israel as a vibrant democracy.

Only by full appreciation of the critical role the State of Israel plays in our strategic calculus can we build the foundation for thwarting Moscow’s designs on territories and resources vital to our security and our national well-being, Reagan said. As Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, has noted: Ronald Reagan was the first President to state explicitly that Israel was a strategic asset to the United States….

By Cecilia Kang; The Washington Post

MARQUETTE, Mich. – In this remote, snow-swept college town rejuvenated in part by Internet commerce, President Obama on Thursday outlined a plan to create similar economic stories through the expansion of super-fast wireless Internet connections.

Speaking at Northern Michigan University, Obama said he would use $18 billion in federal funds to get 98 percent of the nation connected to the Internet on smartphones and tablet computers in five years.

To get there, the federal government will try to bring more radiowaves into the hands of wireless carriers to bolster the nation’s networks and prevent a jam of Internet traffic. He said he hoped to raise about $27.8 billion by auctioning airwaves now in the hands of television stations and government agencies…

Obama’s plan is ambitious and complicated and relies heavily on the participation of cautious television broadcasters who are loath to give up their greatest asset—spectrum, experts say….

Derek Turner, research director for the public interest group Free Press, said the focus should be on ensuring that rural communities will adopt broadband Internet connections over wireless devices. He said that means lower costs for some and more competition among national carriers.

“Spectrum is a valuable public resource, and we need public service commitments from companies in exchange for it,” Turner said….

NEW YORK -- Morgan Stanley announced today the launch of a new initiative to help deliver up to $500 million of credit to small businesses seeking to increase investment and create new jobs.

In collaboration with national nonprofits and local community banks, Morgan Stanley will enable more small businesses to utilize the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 504 Loan Program which focuses on providing the long-term capital small businesses need for commercial real estate investments and job creation and retention. The initiative, called the Morgan Stanley SBA 504 Program, will be available through Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), a nonprofit corporation, and CDC Direct Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of CDC Small Business Finance, a certified development company that focuses on serving the financing needs of small businesses….

Kurt Chilcott, President and CEO of CDC Small Business Finance added, “For the past 32 years, CDC Small Business Finance has helped thousands of small businesses access billions of dollars of capital through a range of programs and services. Our relationship with Morgan Stanley will allow us to reach even more small businesses with essential capital for growth and expansion, which will lead to more jobs in the communities we serve.” …

41. “K Street takes lawmakers to school” (Politico.com, February 10, 2011); story citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).

By Darren Samuelsohn

… The 112th Congress has a lot of new faces: More than 90 House members plus 15 senators, the vast majority of them Republican. The numbers mean that coal, oil, gas, nuclear and renewable-energy advocates face a daunting task as they swarm Capitol HilL—simply because many of the freshmen are a mystery to the lobbying world….

Renewable energy advocates are taking their message—a nationwide “clean energy standard” and permanent tax breaks—to the freshman class by pointing to their potential as a big job creator.

“There’s a bunch of members and new members from windy parts of the country, so they’re naturally very interested in understanding our industry,” said Rob Gramlich, senior vice president for public policy at the American Wind Energy Association.

Gramlich would not say which members he’s been in talks with, but he noted that 46 states are already home to about 400 manufacturing facilities for wind turbines.

“There are a lot of districts where there are real jobs that people can see,” he said….

By Mark Guarino, Staff writer

President Barack Obama seen during his State of the Union address. Obama promoted a plan for 98 percent of Americans to have high-speed wireless Internet access within five years while speaking at Northern Michigan University, Thursday. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

… In remarks given at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Mr. Obama said his proposal, titled the National Wireless Initiative, would boost small-business development and would be of particular use in rural areas. He likened high-speed wireless access to the transcontinental railroad, which united both coasts of America….

The plan he talked about Thursday revolves around raising $27.8 billion in funds from the auction of 500 megahertz of public, wireless airwaves. Also called spectrum, the airwaves would be sold to commercial wireless carriers….

Critics say that by opening up public airwaves to auction, the administration is primarily giving a free gift to the telecommunications industry, namely Verizon and AT&T.

According to S. Derek Turner, research director of the Free Press, a nonprofit media advocacy group based in Washington, the real issue hindering rural America is not necessarily access, but rather affordability, which Obama’s framework does not address.

“It does raise a lot of questions why the federal government would subsidize private industry that will turn around and gouge private consumers,” Mr. Turner says. “We’re not [advocating] for rate regulation, [but] we should be asking questions about what the government should do to ensure these services are affordable.”

Of the top 25 countries with broadband access, the US ranked 11th in 2008 in terms of the average monthly subscription price, according to Free Press data.

Turner proposes that if the cost of broadband in the US is to remain high, the relevant companies should be required to “be good public stewards” and foot the bill of the infrastructure, from cell towers to fiber-optic cables….

43. “States face health care cutbacks” (Gannett News Service, February 9, 2011); story citing REBECCA KAVOUSSI (MPP 2001).

By Julie Appleby, Kaiser Health News

Lisa Huff says the state-funded Disability Lifeline program in Washington state has lived up to its name, helping her get counseling for depression, treatment for diabetes and support for her ultimate goal: getting a job.

But now the program for low-income, temporarily disabled residents is one of many on the chopping block in Washington, where lawmakers face stark choices in closing a projected shortfall of $4.6 billion in their next two-year budget, 2011-13….

The state’s budget gap is large even though Washington has already trimmed workers and reduced services, decreasing spending by more than $5 billion in the past three years.

Advocates for the poor, seniors and disabled are anxious about the impact of deep cuts. Home-based care services for low-income people will be reduced, affecting up to 45,000 people. And, unless lawmakers come up with a way to pay for it, Basic Health will end this spring, affecting nearly 60,000 residents who earn less than $21,660 a year.

“It’s a crisis,” says Rebecca Kavoussi of the Community Health Network of Washington. A recent survey of community clinics there found that 40 percent expect they will have to close at least one location if proposed budget cuts go through, as well as make staff cutbacks and other changes. “Our clinics are already getting calls from patients wondering if they can still come in.”

By Susan Ferriss

Republican lawmakers are gathering Tuesday and Wednesday for a two-day policy conference with guest speakers - including Gov. Jerry Brown - at the spacious California Farm Bureau building in Sacramento.

Not suprisingly, the Republicans intend to focus heavily on the budget crisis and job creation at their annual conference, according to Jann Taber, spokeswoman for Senate minority leader Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga. The caucuses of both houses also expect to hear talks on business regulatory reform ideas, which has been a perennial issue for both minority caucuses.

Senate and Assembly members plan to hold separate meetings for each house as well as joint gatherings. In addition to Brown, speakers will include Mike Genest, former finance director for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Peter Schaafsma, who worked for 11 years as fiscal staff director for the Assembly Republican Caucus.

Schaafsma recently joined Genest’s private consulting firm.

Stuart Drown, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission, is scheduled to talk about regulatory reform ideas, Taber said.

45. “Some parents still struggle with acquiring insurance for children” (Marketplace Money, [NPR], Feb. 4-7, 2011); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); Listen to the story

(iStockPhoto)

… JENNIFER COLLINS: Nearly five million children in this country have preexisting conditions that can make health coverage too expensive—or impossible to get….

That’s Leila’s mom Maggie Wilkerson. Leila’s healthy. There’s just one thing...

MAGGIE WILKERSON: I remember when she was five months old, she was laying on my chest and she had her head to the side and I kinda noticed a bulge on the back of her neck….

So she took her daughter to a pediatrician.

MAGGIE: And they discovered it was something called a hemangioma.

A hemangioma is a non-cancerous growth. It can be dangerous, but doctors said Leila’s wasn’t….

MAGGIE: I can’t tell you how many people I spoke with and I assured them, I said, “This is not something that interferes with her physically.” But it was on the list. No insurance. That’s it.

Under health care reform, insurance companies can’t turn away children because of preexisting conditions. But premiums can be high. To boost the number of insured kids, California created special enrollment periods, when premiums are capped for sick kids and often discounted for healthy ones. The idea is to attract enough healthy kids to cover the cost of the sick….

In California—which could become a model for other states—the enrollment period has been open for over a month. But many people have yet to sign up. State budgets are so tight, officials can’t completely afford to get the word out.

KELLY HARDY: Unfortunately, there’s some state outreach programs that were cut.

Kelly Hardy is with the advocacy group Children Now.

HARDY: So parents may not know just because they may not have ever heard of the open enrollment periods….

By Daniel Borenstein – Staff columnist

IN THE statewide debate over public employee pensions, there are few numbers more misleading and misused than the average benefit for retirees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement Association.

CalPERS loves to circulate the statistic. So do politicians and unions representing workers. “Twenty-five hundred dollars a month is the average state employee pension,” state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a member of the CalPERS board, told a UC Berkeley conference of academics and journalists last month….

It leaves the impression that the average public employee now retires after a full career into a life of poverty, living off less than $27,000 a year. That’s simply not so.

In fact, CalPERS data shows the average career public employee, who put in at least 30 years of service and retired in the 2008-09 fiscal year, collected a starting pension of $67,000 a year, or 2.5 times the advertised figure. The higher number is buried deep in the retirement system’s financial statement and never makes it to the promotional material CalPERS hands out….

By Scott Fallon, Herald News Staff Writer

Most pesticides would be banned on any school lawn or park playground under a bill making its way through Trenton that advocates say is the toughest of its kind in the nation.

Dubbed the Safe Playing Fields Act, the bill allows only low-impact pesticides that contain benign ingredients at public and private schools, day-care facilities and ball fields at public parks. It was unanimously approved by the Senate Environment and Energy Committee this week.

“Children are more susceptible to these chemicals, so it seemed prudent to take extra precautions,” said Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Shirley Turner, D-Trenton.

Connecticut bans pesticides at schools for kindergarten through fifth grade; New York bans the use from kindergarten through high school, said Dave Pringle, head of the New Jersey Environmental Federation advocacy group. Neither ban it at child-care facilities.

“This bill really covers everything,” he said. “We’re talking about the nastiest chemicals out there and targeting the places where the most vulnerable are.”

By Seattlepi.com Staff

A Florida man accused in a 1983 slaying at a SeaTac motel has been returned to Washington to face a jury.

Charged in what prosecutors have described as a “completely unprovoked” slaying, John Wayne Folds was booked into King County Jail on Wednesday evening following his extradition from Florida, where he was arrested in December.

King County prosecutors contend DNA evidence found at the scene 27 years ago ties Folds to the killing of Frank T. Kuony Jr., a San Francisco-area antiques dealer found slain in February 1983. Folds and Kuony apparently met aboard an early morning flight headed north from San Francisco. Kuony, 36, landed at Sea-Tac Airport at 3 a.m.; a little more than six hours later, he was dead.

Describing the slaying, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Baird noted that Kuony’s killing “appears completely unprovoked and was the result of numerous knife wounds.” …

--Victoria Colliver, Chronicle Staff Writer

California fares poorly when it comes to delivering health care to children, especially those from low- and middle-income families, according to a report released today. The study, by the Commonwealth Fund, ranked the state 44th in comparison with the other 49 states and the District of Columbia. The study found California especially inadequate in delivering affordable care for children. The scorecard was based on 20 measures, including access to care, prevention and treatment….

Some states have extended Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program to kids in families who earn as much as 400 percent of the federal poverty level, while other states have made it available to those below 175 percent of the poverty level. California offers coverage to children in families earning up to 250 percent of the poverty level, and provides limited coverage for mothers.

Two hundred and fifty percent doesn’t go as far in California than it does in many other states, said Kelly Hardy, director of health policy at Children Now, a national children’s rights group based in Oakland.

Hardy, who was not surprised by California’s ranking, doesn’t expect much improvement in the near future. “The (governor’s) new budget proposal would really just add insult to injury with more cuts to children’s health,” she said….

50. “Today’s Events in Washington” (The Frontrunner, February 2, 2011); event featuring TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).

BROOKINGS - STATE BUDGETS - Web Event - 12:30 p.m. - 1 p.m. Web discussion on “With shortfalls in state pension funds and fiscal crises in states from New York to California, once-unimaginable scenarios are unfolding. Will states actually default on their debts?” Participants: Tracy Gordon, Okun-Model Fellow, Economic Studies. Moderator: Seung Min Kim, Assistant Editor, POLITICO….

51. “Success of College-Readiness Intervention Hard to Gauge” (Education Week, Pg. 1 Vol. 30 No. 18, January 26, 2011); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1982/PhD).

By Catherine Gewertz

Stubbornly high college remediation rates have revealed a painful equation: High school completion does not equal college readiness. That disconnection has prompted national leaders to focus like never before on figuring out how to ensure that high school graduates are truly ready to succeed in college. In that quest, a California program is often cited as a model.

The Early Assessment Program draws praise for doing something few thought possible: It brought together K-12 and higher education and got them to agree on the knowledge and skills that constitute college-level mastery. They created a test that sends rising high school seniors an early signal about their readiness in mathematics and literacy, and allows those who meet the mark to go right into credit-bearing coursework as college freshmen, skipping remedial classes. To complete the picture, they crafted a suite of courses to bring lagging 12th graders up to college-level snuff and added training for preservice and in-service teachers….

How much districts have “embraced” the EAP as a way to improve college readiness varies greatly from place to place, said Joe Radding, who oversees college-preparation programs for the California education department. But he contended that while the program has sparked an important conversation, particularly about the state’s weakness in teaching writing and expository analysis, it can’t be expected to serve as the “major driver” in bolstering K-12 students’ college readiness.

“California still has a lot of work to do on things like high school graduation requirements and accountability,” he said. “We can’t leave those out of the discussion.” …

By Sally Goldenberg

The city is shuttering schools whose students need the most financial and academic help, the city’s Independent Budget Office warned at a City Council hearing yesterday, previewing a study due out today.

“The schools on this year’s closure list have, in recent years, been serving a student population with greater needs than other schools,” Ray Domanico, IBO’s director of education research, told the City Council Education Committee during a hearing yesterday.

His office found that the 14 high schools on the city’s overall list of 25 closures serve a population comprised of 6 percent homeless students, compared to 4 percent citywide, and of 18 percent special education students compared to 12 percent in high schools on average.

The IBO also found that 9 percent of the students in the high schools targeted for closure entered overage—more than twice the citywide rate of 4 percent, and a group that’s much likelier to drop out than the average student….

53. “Linnaean Regulation in Health Insurance and Information Technology” (Balkinization, January 22, 2011); analysis citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).

By Frank Pasquale

I was recently listening to Health Affairs’s “Newsmaker Breakfast with Karen Pollitz.” She gave a fascinating presentation on the challenges she faces as she develops HealthCare.Gov as a portal for information about health insurance. As I noted a few years ago, health insurers can easily mislead consumers about the nature of their coverage, and disclosure charts can be very helpful.

But even disclosure charts run up against the slipperiness of language. Pollitz noted that for some plans, a “deductible” was not really a deductible; you could easily spend much more out-of-pocket on health care than the stated “deductible level” before coverage kicked in.

How can an individual make an informed choice when words lose their meaning in a tangle of qualifications and conditions? At what point does a deductible cease being a deductible? While this might seem like a relatively technical question of insurance regulation, it is reflects a more general information-gathering problem that will confront regulators in coming years….

Starting essentially from scratch, Pollitz and her fellow regulators are engaging in a painstaking rebuilding of the foundations necessary for substantial regulation. Having long neglected even to closely monitor the sharp practices of health insurers, federal regulators are now beginning new programs of surveillance….

By Paul Staley

Fundamentally governance is about the application of principles to the particular circumstances of life. For example, we agree that murder is a crime, but in practice we distinguish between a death in a drunken brawl and a premeditated homicide.

But partisan politics is that process in reverse. Every particular is now elevated to a matter of principle. Every nomination, every piece of legislation is no longer a solution to a problem but a manifestation of a larger conflict. The result is more than an escalation in rhetoric, as toxic as that may be. What happens is that our debates are no longer about the issue at hand, but rather arguments based on what each side thinks the issue represents. In this context partisan commentary purports to offer a sort of x-ray vision that allows people to see what’s really going on, but the outcome is distortion, not illumination.

Thus the debate over health care reform morphs from a discussion of how we prevent and treat illness into a struggle between tyranny and liberty. Public finance is not a matter of revenues and expenditures but the replay of events in other times or places. Commentators and politicians hold up a mirror in which we are supposed to see ourselves as the Weimar Republic or modern day Greece….

55. “CalWorks fraud case exposes lack of state controls” (Associated Press State & Local Wire, January 10, 2011); newswire citing GREG HUDSON (MPP 1989).

By Christina Hoag, Associated Press

RIVERSIDE Calif. -- Stephanie Vega’s soon-to-be ex-husband was gathering belongings to move out of their home when he found a curious bag in a closet it contained $3,000 cash and bogus check stubs and documents with alterations of his name.

The Riverside County district attorney’s office says that’s the evidence that unraveled a nine-year-long, $500,000 swindle of a state program that pays for child care so welfare recipients can go back to work.

Vega, then a $51,115-a-year child-care liaison in the county office of education, was arrested along with four relatives and two associates, in early December.

The bust is not the first time large-scale fraud has been alleged in the CalWorks child care program administered by the state Department of Education. But despite repeated discoveries of scams that have cost millions in taxpayer dollars over the years, glaring holes in the program’s oversight continue.

While welfare laws require the Social Services Department to fund investigators to go after cheats, the Education Department has no funding or authorization to establish similar enforcement and no money to give its partner agency.

“We’ve sort of been round and round about this,” said Greg Hudson, Education Department administrator….

There have been attempts to fix the system.

In 2004, the state budget was revised to include $3.1 million to fund fraud investigators for the Education Department, but that was later diluted to reviews to detect administrative errors. In 2006, a Senate bill would have funded a pilot-program for Education Department child-care investigations, but it died in committee.

In the meantime, the department encourages agencies to ferret out scams, press for prosecution and terminate dodgy clients, as well as develop and share ways to corroborate information and close loopholes.

“Neither federal or state law gives us much in the way of alternatives,” Hudson said. “You can never totally outsmart everybody.”

By Hugh R. Morley, Scott Fallon and Michael Gartland – The Record Staff Writers

Unnerved public officials across North Jersey on Sunday lamented the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona as they assessed whether the tragedy demanded a tightening of security for elected officials and a change in the tone of public discourse….

“I’ve had death threats made against me since I was mayor of Englewood,” said Rep. Steve Rothman, D-Fair Lawn, who hosted several heated and anger-laced hearings on the health care bill 18 months ago….

State Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, also blamed “a very polarized political environment” and the 24-hour news media. He also noted that “there are people out there who are mentally unstable and will act out.”

Gordon said that after sponsoring legislation in 2007 to better regulate the towing industry, he became the target of a vandal who drove over his front lawn several times.

“This happened in broad daylight,” he said. “I don’t think people appreciate that there are crazy people out there.”

57. “Jornaleros van contra la Ley SB1070” (La Opinion, January 8, 2011); story citing KAREN TUMLIN (MPP 2003/JD 2004).

By Pilar Marrero

Organizaciones de derechos civiles ampliaron ayer la demanda en contra de la Ley de Arizona SB1070, pidiendo al tribunal federal que suspenda la aplicación de dos cláusulas de la misma que criminalizan las actividades de los jornaleros que piden trabajo en la calle y de quienes los contratan….

Dos cláusulas de la ley SB 1070 entraron en vigor, a pesar de que la mayor parte de la misma fue bloqueada por el tribunal federal que considera la constitucionalidad del caso, y son justamente las cláusulas que lidian con los jornaleros.

Las secciones 5A y 5B de la ley convierten el pedir trabajo en una esquina en delito y el levantar a trabajadores en otro delito, es decir, criminaliza al jornalero y al que ofrece el jornal.

Karen Tumlin, abogada del Centro Nacional de Leyes de Inmigración (NILC) dijo que aunque estas cláusulas están dentro de le ley y este mismo grupo de organizaciones tiene una demanda pendiente contra la misma, “esta orden de suspensión no la habíamos pedido por que había un caso pendiente que pensamos lo resolvería”….

Tumlin explicó que se pide una suspensión temporal mientras el tribunal considera la ley completa y la constitucionalidad de sus diferentes cláusulas, proceso que puede llevar por lo menos un año….

By Sean Maher and Cecily Burt – Oakland Tribune

OAKLAND -- With the pressure already on, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan spent her first full day in office Tuesday dropping in at the early morning police briefing, firing the budget director and assistant city administrator, and announcing her own hand-picked staff.

Quan, facing a multimillion-dollar budget deficit in the coming year, promised in her inauguration speech Monday to propose a new budget by March, which her office says will require some cooperation with the police union and a diligent, reliable core staff.

Assistant city administrator Marianna Marysheva is out, effective Friday, as is budget director Cheryl Taylor. Marysheva was budget director under former Mayor Jerry Brown. She left the city in 2005, but was rehired in 2008 by then-Mayor Ron Dellums…. Sabrina Landreth, an analyst in the budget office, will replace Taylor as budget director.

Quan’s Core Staff:

Sabrina Landreth, transition coordinator and budget director; formerly an analyst for the council’s Finance and Management Committee….

59. “Schwarzenegger promise to blow up boxes fizzled” (The Associated Press State & Local Wire, December 28, 2010); newswire citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).

By Don Thompson, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO Calif. -- It was the kind of over-the-top pledge Californians had come to expect from the Hollywood action star they had elevated to the governor’s office in their unprecedented political revolt: Arnold Schwarzenegger wouldn’t just rearrange the boxes of a bloated state bureaucracy, he would “blow them up.”

The “Governator,” who rode voter discontent into office during the 2003 recall election, said he would streamline a wasteful government to trim its cost, consolidate departments with overlapping responsibilities and eliminate unneeded boards and commissions.

As Schwarzenegger prepares to leave office in January, most of the boxes survive. Some have been rearranged, some have expanded, and at least one restructuring has been criticized for causing more harm than good….

His biggest change was consolidating the adult and juvenile prison systems in 2005.

The administration had hoped the streamlined agency would reduce the number of parolees who quickly return to prison, rein in its runaway budget, improve inmate medical care and end abuses of juvenile offenders.

Yet critics say the decision backfired by creating a behemoth too big to manage.

The Little Hoover Commission, which investigates government operations, said ongoing problems with adult prisons quickly overshadowed the juvenile institutions. It has recommended separating oversight of juvenile offenders, who are housed in a combination of county and state lockups, from what became the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation….

Stuart Drown, executive director of the Little Hoover Commission, said the state also is seeing substantial savings from coordinating its information technology services across state agencies.

The Office of the State Chief Information Officer estimates it has saved $400 million over three years and shaved another $100 million from the $3 billion the state spends annually on information technology….

60. “Why Few Are Debating the New Federal Fuel Economy Rules” (Engineering News-Record, 4Q Cost Report; Pg. 56 Vol. 265 No. 18, December 27, 2010); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004).

By Mike Larson

Getting stakeholders to agree on a clean-air rule is no easy feat. So it may come as a surprise that the equipment industry is getting behind new federal greenhouse-gas targets for big trucks.

One reason for the lack of debate is economics. “The new, more-efficient trucks will run more cleanly, and their savings at the fuel pump will far outweigh the cost of the technology needed to create those savings,” says Luke Tonachel, a senior analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Another reason? The needed technology already exists…..

Both NRDC and ATA [American Trucking Association] would like to see further steps. “One of the largest opportunities for more savings is to improve trailers, which are not included in this proposal,” says NRDC’s Tonachel. “The technology to boost fuel efficiency with aerodynamic improvements and easier-rolling tires already exists, so it wouldn’t take a lot of lead time for manufacturers to employ it.” …

--Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer

State Sen. Mark Leno has chosen his New Year’s resolution: changing a law that has left thousands of sex offenders homeless in the Golden State.

It won’t be easy. The law that bars registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools and parks was part of Proposition 83—also known as Jessica’s Law—an initiative approved in 2006. It had the unintentional effect of reducing the number of places where sex offenders can live so dramatically that many are forced onto the street.

Because the measure was passed by voters, it would require a statewide vote or a two-thirds vote of the Legislature to change it. Either would be a tough sell….

Recently, local officials have been working to at least get severely ill sex offenders legally housed. The city’s Reentry Council—which includes local, state and federal law enforcement officials—is concerned that a number of paroled sex offenders that have AIDS, cancer or other debilitating, chronic illnesses have been able to find housing but barred actually from moving in, because it would violate their parole terms.

Jessica Flintoft, policy director at the Reentry Council, said state parole officials are allowed under the state’s policies to grant exceptions to the residency restrictions if someone is sick, but they have not been willing to do so. The group is considering asking the state to improve its process for reviewing these types of exceptions next year….

62. “Missouri’s budget woes” (The Kansas City Star, December 18, 2010); Letter to Editor by TRACI GLEASON (MPP 2000).

Jason Noble’s Dec. 12 story on the Missouri budget, “A $700 million gap looms,” highlights the dire fiscal situation facing our state.

Missouri’s general revenue continues to fall. However, in the last decade, the state’s only action to address its budget woes has been to make cuts to vital services.

To address the ongoing fiscal crisis, elected officials must adopt a balanced approach and update the state’s outdated revenue structure to reflect the modern economy.

The article cites two proposals to increase revenue: tax credit reform and allowing the state to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases. While these proposals will not immediately solve Missouri’s fiscal challenges, the erosion of Missouri’s tax base is an ongoing crisis that must be addressed.

It is imperative that elected officials examine these options, as well as updating the state’s cigarette tax, now the lowest in the country. Relying solely on budget cuts jeopardizes the foundation of services and infrastructure upon which a strong economy is built. Addressing the state’s continued revenue decline will both enhance economic recovery and benefit Missouri’s families.

Traci Gleason

Director of Communications & Public Engagement, Missouri Budget Project

Kansas City

63. “Gov. Schwarzenegger Applauds CORE's Commitment to Advance Digital Education” (States News Service, December 16, 2010); newswire citing BARBARA CHOW (MPP 1980).

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today applauded the California Office to Reform Educations (CORE) commitment to advance his ground-breaking free Digital Textbook and Technology Initiative to help ensure a technologically advanced education system for Californias students. CORE is the non-profit organization established to carry out bold education reforms under the states Race to the Top application. The Governor also announced that the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation will provide funding to CORE to launch a digital academic assessment pilot program in participating school districts….

“The smart use of technology in education can both save money and make educational materials available to those who otherwise could not afford them,” said Barbara Chow, director of the education program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. “We at Hewlett think that open educational resources, which make textbooks and other educational materials available for free sharing and reuse, are one of those smart uses. Since these resources can be customized for different school environments, it also makes them helpful for supporting common core educational standards.”

By Rob Gurwitt, Special to Stateline

Washington, D.C. -- A few months ago, Nancy Vogel, a longtime reporter for the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times, published her investigation into the use of affordable housing money by California’s redevelopment agencies. The results were not pretty….

For example, the agency in Culver City salted away $22 million in its low- and moderate-income fund over 13 years while producing just four units of housing. Even worse, Vogel reported, there was essentially no way to be sure that money was being spent appropriately, as oversight mechanisms “are few and flawed.” Had Vogel’s reporting appeared in the Times, it would have been front-page news. Instead, her work had a smaller, although more influential, audience: state legislators and staffers in a position to do something about what she’d found.

That’s because late in 2008, Vogel left the Times’ state capitol bureau and went to work for state government in the new Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes. Created by Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg, the office is designed “to professionalize oversight and institutionalize it across the board,” in Steinberg’s words. But it does so in an unusual way: Its three “consultants” … are all former reporters….

The three are not the only former journalists in California to put their investigative skills to use digging into the workings of government from the inside. Mark Martin, a former statehouse reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, works for the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review, an oversight committee set up a few years ago under former Speaker Karen Bass. Stuart Drown, a one-time city editor for the Sacramento Bee, now runs the Little Hoover Commission, an independent oversight agency that likewise looks into state government operations….

John Hill of the new Senate office takes issue with [Dan] Walters’ assessment of their impact. “Every report any of us has done, if it had been done for a newspaper, would have been a big page-one splash,” he says. Moreover, he argues, “When I was a reporter, the holy grail was to get a bill done on something you’d written about. We have a direct conduit here.”

So far, their record on that score has been more miss than hit—although Little Hoover’s Stuart Drown contends this is in the nature of oversight work. “To have somebody have run all the traps and lay out arguments and have it researched is really useful, in a public way. It broadens the discussion and it makes the discussion richer,” he says. “They’re keeping issues on the radar screen, and when the [legislative] opportunity arises they’ve provided a resource that’s easily digestible and easy to understand.”

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

By Michael Cooper and Steven Greenhouse

As Wisconsin’s governor and public employees square off in the biggest public sector labor showdown since Ronald Reagan fired striking air traffic controllers in 1981, government employees’ unions in a range of states are weighing whether to give ground on wages, benefits and work rules to preserve basic bargaining rights.

It is not yet clear whether Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin will succeed in his quest to strip public employee unions of most of their bargaining rights. But by simply pressing the issue, he has already won major concessions that would have been unthinkable just a month ago.

Some of Wisconsin’s major public sector unions, faced with what they see as a threat to their existence, have decided to accept concessions that they had been vigorously fighting: they said they would agree to have more money deducted from workers’ paychecks to go toward their pensions and health benefits, translating into a pay cut of around 7 percent….

The sudden spate of bills seeking to eliminate or weaken collective bargaining — and the fierce protests by unions trying to preserve those rights — are largely a product of November’s elections. Those elections brought a new class of conservative Republican governors to power, including Mr. Walker and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, who is also taking aim at collective bargaining. Republicans won control of both houses of 25 state legislatures, up from 14….

Robert B. Reich, who was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, said he saw the effort to curtail bargaining rights as a politically motivated act by Republican governors. “Wisconsin state workers have already signaled their willingness to give the governor what he wants in concessions — they just don’t want to give up the right to bargain,” said Mr. Reich, one of the more liberal voices in the Clinton White House. “We’re likely to see the same pattern across the country. This is exactly the pattern we’ve seen over the last 20 years in the private sector.” …

By Tom Marshall, Times Staff Writer

MacFarlane Elementary music teacher Frank Hannaway says the proposed testing regime focuses on just a narrow piece of the learning picture. (Willie J. Allen Jr. | Times)

TAMPA -- Everyone seems to have a bright idea in the tug-of-war to fix America's public schools.

Pay teachers more. Adopt a common curriculum. Give parents a voucher and let them pick the school.

But this spring, one solution is looming above all others, both nationally and in bills before the Florida Legislature. It rests on a simple claim: that it's possible to predict each student's performance on tests based on their track record, and then hold teachers accountable for making those annual predictions come true.

It's called value-added analysis. And the Hillsborough County School District is preparing to push the new science to its limits.

Nearly every Hillsborough student this spring will take exams in rarely-tested areas like physical education and the arts. Such scores, along with those already collected on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, will allow the district to rate virtually every classroom teacher using student tests….

Teachers say the new emphasis on testing adds pressure to teach memorizable facts at the expense of exercise or creativity. They worry of being wrongly labeled and facing pay cuts or even termination as a result….

Value-added is being used by hundreds of school districts nationwide, including New York City and Chicago. But research shows it's often inaccurate…..

Jesse Rothstein, an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said using value-added as part of a teacher's evaluation can prompt them to change their teaching in unhealthy ways, dropping useful activities that aren't being measured by a narrow, simplistic test.

“You do have to worry that you create incentives for teachers to aim at the measure you're using, rather than aiming at being effective,” he said….

--Robert B. Reich

The Republican strategy is to split the vast middle and working classes—pitting unionized workers against nonunionized, public-sector workers against nonpublic, older workers within sight of Medicare and Social Security against younger workers who don’t believe these programs will be there for them and the poor against the working middle class.

By splitting working America along these lines, Republicans want Americans to believe that we can no longer afford to do what we need to do as a nation. They hope to deflect attention from the increasing share of total income and wealth going to the richest 1 percent while the jobs and wages of everyone else languish….

These three aspects of the Republican strategy—a federal budget battle to shrink government, focused on programs the vast middle class depends on; state efforts to undermine public employees, whom the middle class depends on; and a Supreme Court dedicated to bending the Constitution to enlarge and entrench the political power of the wealthy—fit perfectly together.

They pit average working Americans against one another, distract attention from the almost unprecedented concentration of wealth and power at the top and conceal Republican plans to further enlarge and entrench that wealth and power.

What is the Democratic strategy to counter this and reclaim America for the rest of us?

4. “Arts & Living: Books” (Washington Post, February 25, 2011); event featuring DAVID KIRP; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022506701.html

… [MARCH] 2 Wednesday

...7 p.m. David L. Kirp, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, discusses and signs his new book, “Kids First: Five Big Ideas for Transforming Children’s Lives and America’s Future,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919.

5. “Midmorning: Wisconsin stalemate: Who will blink first?” (Minnesota Public Radio, February 23, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker appears on TV to try to end the budget-labor standoff. Will his appearance change the dynamic in Wisconsin? Plus, what would it take to force a compromise?

Guests

* Robert Reich: Former US Labor Secretary and Professor at the University of California at Berkeley joins us in Orlando....

* Patrick McIlheran: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Columnist joins us en route to Madison.

* Joshua Javits: Arbitrator/ Mediator and former National Mediation Board member

Robert Reich, professor of public policy | 2/23/11

Wisconsin is in a showdown. Washington is headed for a government shutdown.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker won’t budge. He insists on delivering a knockout blow to public unions in his state (except for those, like the police, who supported his election)….

Republicans say “we’ve” been spending too much, and they’re determined to end the spending with a scorched-earth policies in the states (Republican governors in Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey are reading similar plans to decimate public unions) and shutdowns in Washington….

Public budgets are in trouble because revenues plummeted over the last two years of the Great Recession.

They’re also in trouble because of tax giveaways to the rich.

Before Wisconsin’s budget went bust, Governor Walker signed $117 million in corporate tax breaks. Wisconsin’s immediate budge shortfall is $137 million. That’s his pretext for socking it to Wisconsin’s public unions.

Nationally, you remember, Republicans demanded and received an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich….

So the problem isn’t that “we’ve” been spending too much. It’s that most Americans have been getting a steadily smaller share of the nation’s total income….

But America is the richest nation in the world, and “we’ve” never been richer. There’s no reason for us to turn on our teachers, our unionized workers, our poor and needy, and our elderly. The notion that “we” can no longer afford it is claptrap.

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Unions and their allies are planning rallies, vigils and press conferences in at least 27 states this week against what they see as a national attack on government employees that is a seminal moment for organized labor.

Demonstrations are spreading from Wisconsin and Ohio, where bills from Republican governors to curtail collective-bargaining rights have attracted thousands of protesters. Efforts include lobbying all week against measures in Indiana and a Feb. 25 AFL- CIO rally to warn New Jersey Governor Chris Christie “not to balance the budget on the backs of middle-class families.” …

“The Republican Party’s strategy is to turn working Americans against one another—unionized versus non-unionized, public versus private, older workers close to retirement age against younger ones who don’t believe Social Security will be there for them,” Robert B. Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said in an e-mail. Reich was labor secretary under President Bill Clinton….

8. “The music market” (The Berkeley Blog, February 22, 2011); commentary by MICHAEL O’HARE; http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/02/22/the-music-market/

Michael O’Hare, professor of public policy | 2/22/11

Matt Yglesias gets the key fact about recorded music. It’s a non-rival good: when I play an mp3 file of a song, there’s no less of it for you, so the marginal cost of my consumption is zero. He also gets the profoundly illuminating and useful principle that everything should be sold at marginal cost. From this, and I note that it’s a short post and he doesn’t undertake to get much into the weeds, he tries to turn down the alarm volume over the 50% decline in recorded music sales (correctly distinguishing it from listening) since 2001.

However, he slips in this reassurance:

Thanks to copyright, a recordings-seller does have some level of market power to allow him to seek monopoly rents. But there’s a pretty high degree of substitutibility between different songs, so the competition is still pretty intense and the prices are low.

which is completely wrong in two ways. First, recorded content is not only non-rival but has now become non-excludible. Copyright is only useful if the fixed or variable costs of infringing are high, the former so infringers are few enough to enforce against (for example, people with a printing press and a distribution system for physical books), and the latter so an infringer can’t make lots and lots of very cheap usable copies. This is no longer the case as music has become digital (hence copyable perfectly and quickly without limit, unlike, for example, a book with a copying machine or music on tape cassettes) and the ‘printing press’ is any computer….

The world Yglesias portrays has no economic place for any music that can’t fill a stadium or impress a small self-replicating academy….

9. “More Cash-Strapped States Take on Public Unions” (Talk of the Nation [NPR], February 21, 2011); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; Listen to this program

NEAL CONAN: ... Joining us now from member station WMFE in Orlando is Robert Reich, who served as … secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He’s now professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. His op-ed, “The Shameful Attack on Public Employees,” ran last month in The Huffington Post….

And as you’ve been listening to this argument, should not public employees be asked to make sacrifices in these states where there are so many big deficits?

Professor ROBERT REICH (Public Policy, University of California Berkeley): … Well, I think it is appropriate to ask public employees to make sacrifices, along with everybody else. The problem here—and I think what’s being lost in a lot of these debates, Neal, is that public employees didn’t suddenly increased their wages and salaries or bargaining power in 2008 when many of these states went into budget crises. In fact, if anything, public employees—as some of your callers have made very clear—have been taking wage cuts and pension cuts.

The real change that’s occurred since 2008, obviously, has been the great recession. And the great recession has really driven a lot of state revenues down and put states into a terrible, terrible budget crisis. But to take away the bargaining rights of public employees rather than simply ask them for wage and benefit concessions … you’re into a different universe … of really taking away their power. What we’re talking really here about is power—the power of public employees, the power of Democrats versus the power of Republicans, in many of these states….

CONAN: And what about the argument that public employees make more than their comparable people in the private sector?

Prof. REICH: Well, that’s not true if you take account of the fact that public employees, in general, are much—have a much higher level of education. There are more teachers, more social workers who have BA’s. Counselors, public defenders, public prosecutors, all of these people do need, at the very least, a college degree. And relative to others in the private sector with college degrees, public sector employees actually are paid less.

In Wisconsin, for example, college-educated workers earn about, in the public sector, about 9 percent less—even before all of the furloughs and everything else—than their contemporary—than their college-educated workers in the private sector….

10. “Environmentalists and locals win fight against coal plant in Borneo” (Monga Bay, February 16, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0216-hance_coal_sabah.html

--Jeremy Hance

Environmentalists, scientists, and locals have won the battle against a controversial coal plant in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northern Borneo. The State and Federal government announced today that they would “pursue other alternative sources of energy, namely gas, to meet Sabah’s power supply needs.” Proposed for an undeveloped beach on the north-eastern coast of Borneo, the coal plant, according to critics, would have threatened the Coral Triangle, one of the world’s most biodiverse marine ecosystems, and Tabin Wildlife Reserve, home to Critically Endangered Sumatran rhinos and Bornean orangutans. Local fishermen feared that discharges from the plant would have imperiled their livelihood.

Green SURF (Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future), a coalition of environmental and indigenous rights groups, developed a robust campaign against the plant, including hiring an energy expert to prove that Sabah’s power needs could be met without coal....

Last March an energy audit by Professor Daniel Kammen, Director of Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (Rael) at the University of California Berkeley, found that Sabah had a number of untapped energy sources that could compete with coal. According to the analysis biomass ‘waste’ from palm oil plantations and hydropower were both cost competitive with coal, though in the long-term pursuing solar power and geothermal would likely be Sabah’s best bet. The analysis also found that the cheapest way forward would be to encourage reduction in energy demands across the state….

“In canceling the coal plant project in favor of a diverse suite of sustainable energy options Sabah has opted to invest in a healthy economy and environment for Sabhuans today and for the 21st Century,” Kammen said. “I am thrilled to have been able to work with the people of Sabah on this victory, and look forward to watching the international community learn from Sabah’ triumph of planning and partnership.”...

11. “World Kudos for Malaysia in Keeping Sabah Coal-Free” (Bernama [Malaysia], February 18, 2011); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=564608

Kota Kinabalu, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has received a pat on the back from the international community for its decision not to use coal to generate energy in Sabah, a move that will open the doors to clean power options in the state.

World Bank Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Prof Daniel M. Kammen said that by cancelling a proposed coal-powered plant in favour of sustainable energy options, Malaysia had opted to invest in a healthy economy and environment for Sabah.

“This is a turning point that should bring deserved praise and partnerships to Malaysia at the upcoming climate conference in Durban, South Africa.

“I’m truly thrilled by the efforts of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman and for their leadership in directing the course of the nation and state towards a diverse mixture of energy resources.

“This will help stabilize energy costs, bring new entrepreneurs into the energy field, create job growth and cut local environmental impact and global greenhouse gas emissions growth,” he said in a statement on Friday….

--Catherine Bigelow

Robert Reich with Cody Award honorees Marion Abbott (left) and Ann Leyhe at the Authors Dinner. (Catherine Bigelow / Special to The Chronicle)

...Making book: Bibliophiles and belletrists crowded the stacks Saturday at Berkeley Central Library during the Berkeley Public Library Foundation’s ninth Authors Dinner.

The heady evening (chaired by Linda Schacht Gage with emcee Bill Schechner) honored renowned scribes (including Nobel Prize winner Burton Richter, Joyce Carol Oates, Dave Eggers, Rachel Saunders, Phil Cousineau, Daniel Clowes, Romney Steele, Tobias Wolff, Jaron Lanier) ....

Even in the midst of a $3.5 million capital campaign for the system’s four branch libraries (of which $1.4 million has already been raised), book lovers raised $110K more at dinner in support of branch infrastructure.

In his first at-bat as honorary dinner chair, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, now a public policy professor at UC Berkeley, who recently wrote “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future,” was also on this star-studded author roster.

“Berkeley is filled with extraordinary people and amazing authors,” he said. “But my books are the kind that once you put down, you can’t pick up again. In fact, they have better side effects than Sominex.”...

13. “The money game’s dirty secret: No talk on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security” (John King USA, CNN, February 15, 2011); interview with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the interview

KING: Can we have a serious conversation about Washington’s spending problem if we don’t talk about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security? …

ROBERT REICH (professor public policy, University of California): … Obama did deal with Medicare substantially in the health care bill that became law, and he paid for in terms of the Republicans accusing him of cutting Medicare….

By Robert Reich, Guest blogger

President Obama has chosen to fight fire with gasoline.

Republicans want America to believe the economy is still lousy because government is too big, and the way to revive the economy is to cut federal spending. [Sunday] Republican Speaker John Boehner even refused to rule out a government shut-down if Republicans don’t get the spending cuts they want.

[Monday] Obama pours gas on the Republican flame by proposing a 2012 federal budget that cuts the federal deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years….

But don’t believe for a moment that federal spending cuts anytime soon will get the economy growing soon. They’ll have the opposite effect because they’ll reduce total demand.

The progressive tax system I’ve outlined will get the economy growing again. This, in turn, will bring down the ratio of the debt as a proportion of the total economy — the only yardstick of fiscal prudence that counts.

But we can’t get to this point – or even to have a debate about it – if Obama allows Republicans to frame the debate as how much federal spending can be cut and how to shrink the deficit.

The President has to reframe the debate around the necessity of average families having enough to spend to get the economy moving again. He needs to remind America this is not 1995 but 2011 — and we’re still in a jobs crisis brought on by the bursting of a giant debt bubble and the implosion of total demand.

Robert Reich is chancellor’s professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton….

--Robert Reich

At a time when corporate profits are through the roof, the Dow has reached 12,000, Wall Street paychecks are fat again, and big corporations are sitting on more than $1 trillion in cash, you’d expect jobs to be coming back. But you’d be wrong.

The U.S. economy added just 36,000 jobs in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unusually bad weather could have accounted for some of the reluctance of employers to hire. But even considering the weather, the economy is still terribly sick.

Remember, 125,000 new jobs a month are needed just to keep up with the increase in the population of Americans wanting and needing work. And 300,000 a month are needed—continuously, for five years—if we’re to get back to anything like the employment we had before the Great Recession….

Americans in this first economy own little or no shares of stock. Their major asset is their homes, whose values continue to drop. In coming months, Americans in this first economy will also be contending with sharply rising prices for food and fuel….

Americans in this second economy have most of their savings in stocks and bonds, and right now they are living well off of global corporate profits. The richest 10 percent of Americans, holding 90 percent of all financial assets, are riding the wave of the stock market rally….

The denizens of the second economy—along with most of official Washington and the business press—believe the second economy eventually will pull along the first into a strong recovery. They have it backward. Unless the first recovers, it will pull the second back into recession….

NEW YORK -- The Center for the Sustainable Built Environment (SBE) at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate is pleased to announce its first annual Conference on Sustainable Real Estate. Bringing together leaders from the real estate industry, academia, and the public sector—including such prominent speakers as Professors Edward Glaeser and John Quigley, Adrian Benepe and Dr. Daniel Walsh, and Jay Cross, John Gilbert, and Jonathan Rose, the Conference will provide an outstanding forum to exchange ideas and identify new opportunities for sustainable buildings, infrastructure, finance, and development.

This year’s event—”Building the Smart City: Removing Barriers, Fostering Innovation”—will be held at the NYU Kimmel Center on February 22, 2011 and reflects the critical importance of innovative strategies in the design, development, financing, and management of the built environment. Speakers will demonstrate how, through the use of real-time information and data analysis, it is possible to improve decision-making and achieve positive social, environmental, and economic outcomes….

17. “MPR News: The unknown and unspoken issue of race” (Midmorning Show, Minnesota Public Radio, February 8, 2011); features commentary by JACK GLASER; Listen to this program

President Barack Obama speaks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Monday, Feb. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The election of President Obama was described as a chance for Americans to talk openly about the racial divide. Two years later, have we squandered this opportunity to address stereotypes? Or can we tell more from testing our subconscious and analyzing online search results?

Guests

...Jack Glaser: Associate Professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy the University of California, Berkeley....

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Austin, Texas — The lecturing from Texas leaders about how California wouldn’t be in such a budget mess if its politicians did business the way it is done in Austin has been relentless for years....

But the latest budget projections out of Texas have sharply changed the discussion: The Lone Star State is facing a budget gap of about $27 billion, putting it in the same league as California among states facing financial meltdowns. The gap amounts to roughly one-third of the state’s budget....

Texas lags far behind California in major research universities, patents produced, high-tech infrastructure and venture capital investment, according to the Missouri-based Kauffman Foundation. The foundation’s 2010 ranking of states in “movement toward a global, innovation-based new economy” put California at No. 7. Texas was No. 18.

“Their model is a low-wage economy with greater income inequality,” said John Ellwood, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley. “For all the talk of Texas being a high-tech state, they have never really caught up to California.... Look at the big new growth companies. Where is Facebook? Where is Google? Are any of these companies in Austin? No.”...

[This story also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.sacbee.com/2011/02/07/3383330/an-outsized-budget-gap-in-texas.html“>Sacramento Bee</a>]

--Robert Reich

The federal budget deficit will hit nearly $1.5 trillion this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Should you be worried? It depends on what we’re borrowing the money for….

... Spending on education, infrastructure and basic R&D is fundamentally different from other categories of government spending. These outlays are really investments in the future productivity of our people…

Businesses also borrow in order to increase future productivity. If they didn’t, they’d be out of business. Such borrowing makes sense as long as the return on the investment is higher than the cost (principal plus interest) of the borrowing.

This is why America needs an “investment budget” that allows us to see how much we’re investing in education, infrastructure and basic R&D, how much we’re paying to borrow the money to finance these investments and what sort of “return” we’re getting….

Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of the new book “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” © Robert Reich

Reported by Alan Wang

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Experts say what we’re seeing in Egypt is the culmination of simmering unrest throughout North Africa. Scholars at UC Berkeley spoke Wednesday night about the growing unrest this year in North Africa. The entire region is a potential tinderbox with uprisings in Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia….

“I think it amounts to a revolution, yes,” says UC Berkeley public policy Prof. Michael Nacht.

Nacht just returned from a year in the Obama administration. He says the Arab-style democracy, seen in Iraq, could be the template for Egypt, Tunisia and possibly Yemen. But he warns that it’s still early and history has seen revolutions undergo a series of regimes.

“You could have a lot of modern, younger democratically-oriented people who perhaps could even topple Mubarak, but then they themselves could be overthrown by another autocrat by the army, by the Muslim Brotherhood or by somebody else,” says Nacht.

Nacht also pointed out that chaos makes it easier for extremist groups to take over and that is a big concern for the U.S.

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Recently aired on UCTV:

“Aftershock with Robert Reich” – Robert Reich examines the aftermath of the economic meltdown arguing that there is a structural problem with an increasing concentration of income and wealth at the top, and a middle class that has had to go deeply into debt to maintain a decent standard of living. He argues that history shows that such a disparity leads to ever greater booms followed by ever deeper busts. Q&A follows brief presentation (49 minutes total) (#20481). View this program

To view a complete list of GSPP videos, visit our Events Archive at: http://gspp.berkeley.edu/events/webcasts

Recent events viewable on UC Webcast: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events.php?group=The+Richard+%26+Rhoda+Goldman+School+of+Public+Policy

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