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1.
2013
Monday, March 4 2013, 3:00 pm - 6:00
pm; more info and to register
2.
“The Governance Report 2013” by Professor Helmut K. Anheier
Comments by Henry Brady, Dean of the Goldman
March 7, 2013 from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30
p.m., Room 250 at the
EIP International Public Policy
Speaker Series Event
3.
“How I Learned International Law Thinking about the Bomb”
Professor Roger S. Clark, the Board
of Governors Distinguished Professor of Law at
March 7th, 12:30-2:00 p.m., Room 105
GSPP
International Policy, Development and
Practice Speaker Series
4.
“Assemblywoman Wilma Chan discusses her work as Alameda County
Supervisor, as state legislator, in youth policy, early childhood education and
healthcare reform”
March 8th, from noon-1:30
p.m. Room 250 GSPP.
Hosted by Youth Policy & Women in
Public Policy groups
ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “Spending cuts: When they’ll really bite” (CNN Wire, February
28, 2013); newswire citing SEAN WEST
(MPP 2006) and STAN COLLENDER (MPP
1976).
2. “State needs federal investment, not cuts” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed by LUKE
REIDENBACH (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/State-needs-federal-investment-not-cuts-4311055.php#ixzz2M7lWPL4m
3. “Sequester cuts will devastate Head Start” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed by VIJAY
DAS (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sequester-cuts-will-devastate-Head-Start-4311050.php#ixzz2M7qXFtj0
4. “Preschool advocates should tamp expectations” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed by SEAN LA GUARDIA (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Preschool-advocates-should-tamp-expectations-4311051.php#ixzz2M7t0LOiM
5. “Healthcare overhaul may threaten California’s safety net”
(Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2013); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002) and study coauthored by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005) and MIRANDA DIETZ (MPP 2012); http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-left-uninsured-20130226,0,3348028.story
6. “Conservation is central to branding
7. “Athletes cash in on
8. “As sequestration nears, gear up for problems” (Kansas
City Star, February 23, 2013); analysis citing MICHAEL LINDEN (MPP 2007).
9. “Brown should save Foster Youth Services” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 21, 2013); editorial citing AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Brown-should-save-Foster-Youth-Services-4295331.php#ixzz2Lx8a4kwn
10. “The Travails of Cutting State Taxes” (All Things
Considered, NPR, February 21, 2013); program citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
11. “Israel stop a boost to Rubio’s profile - Adds to foreign
policy resume” (Washington Times, February 21, 2013); analysis citing MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
12. “Nightly Business Report” (PBS, February 19, 2013);
interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP
1976); watch the video
13. “State loans urged to help residents install solar gear”
(Honolulu Star-Advertiser, February 19, 2013); story citing FRANCISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000).
14. “Key legislative committee to consider Medi-Cal expansion” (Los Angeles Times, February 18, 2013);
story citing study coauthored by LAUREL
(TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005) and MIRANDA
DIETZ (MPP 2012); http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-key-panel-to-consider-medical-expansion-20130218,0,1745888.story
15. “‘Big changes’ are indeed coming, but don’t panic yet”
(The Virginian-Pilot, February 17, 2013); column citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
16. “SSU Offers Green Training” (The Press Democrat, February
17, 2013); event featuring ALLISON
JORDAN (MPP 2004).
17. “Geography to play larger role in health premiums”
(Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2013); newswire citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/16/5195509/geography-to-play-bigger-role.html
18. “Critics say
19. “Beyond Lehrer: Some optimism in
20. “Obama addresses
21. “Education Experts Available to Discuss Proposals Made in
State of the
22. “Online dating preferences block romance” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 13, 2013); op-ed by SEAN
LA GUARDIA (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Online-dating-preferences-block-romance-4273548.php
23. “For Kids With Chronic
Conditions, a Looming Insurance Battle” (The California Report, KQED public radio,
February 11, 2013); story citing KELLY
ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); Listen to this story
24. “Job poaching rare despite states’ boasts” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 11, 2013); column citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Job-poaching-rare-despite-states-boasts-4267467.php#ixzz2KdLFTnE3
25. “Online instruction destined to increase in
26. “Crossword - Puzzle by DAN SCHOENHOLZ Edited by WILL SHORTZ, NEW YORK TIMES” (The Beacon
News, (
27. “Club’s Effluent Pact Is Reviewed - Deal: Wastewater For Public Golf Access” (Albuquerque Journal, February 9,
2013); story citing CHRIS CALVERT
(MPP 1979).
28. “Carmen Chu is mayor’s pick for SF assessor” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 2013); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Carmen-Chu-is-mayor-s-pick-for-SF-assessor-4257554.php#ixzz2KF4GCbob
29. “Free Muni for low-income youth starts Friday” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 28, 2013); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Free-Muni-for-low-income-youth-starts-Friday-4314454.php#ixzz2MDfk8b6A
30. “Queries on numbers vex officials” (Sacramento Bee,
February 7, 2013); story citing TRACY
GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
31. “$5 Million in Grants Awaits Worthy Town-Healing Projects”
(The Record (
32. “Money managers, California Department of Finance, play
annual accounting games” (The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 6, 2013); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/06/5168832/money-managers-california-department.html#storylink=cpy
33. “Avalos urges not investing in guns, fossil fuel” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 2013); story citing GREG KATO (MPP 2006).
34. “
35. “The James Irvine Foundation Honors Six California
Leaders for Breakthrough Solutions to Significant State Issues; Elected
Officials to Honor Recipients at Sacramento Event” (The James Irvine
Foundation, February 4, 2013); award citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); watch meet the recipient video
36. “Traffic didn’t grow with county” (The Columbian,
February 3, 2013 ); story citing JOE CORTRIGHT (MPP 1980).
37. “Smokers penalty part of new law - Insurers can impose a
50 percent surcharge” (Dayton Daily News, February 3, 2013); analysis citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
38. “No Clear Path to Mathematics Learning in
39. “Fracking could fill
40. “Editorial: California must expand Medi-Cal”
(San Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 2013); editorial citing study
lead-authored by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005) and co-authored by MIRANDA DIETZ (MPP 2012); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/California-must-expand-Medi-Cal-4244320.php
41. “
42. “UofL Energy-Saving Project is Outpacing its Goals” (Targeted News Service, January 29,
2013); newswire citing LARRY OWSLEY
(MPP 1973).
43. “CSWA Releases 2012 Progress Report, Third Edition
Sustainable Winegrowing Workbook” (Targeted News Service, January 25, 2013);
newswire citing ALLISON JORDAN (MPP
2004).
44. “Medi-Cal plans could cost
counties” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 2013); story citing TANGERINE BRIGHAM (MPP 1990).
45. “Media: Vote, Violence and Weather Top 2012 U.S. TV News”
(IPS - Inter Press Service, January 17, 2013); story citing ROBERT ENTMAN (MPP 1980).
46. “Some Death Row inmates are ‘low risk’ for parole” (San
Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2013); column citing JESSICA FLINTOFT (MPP 2004).
47. “Low-income kids’ coverage shuffles - advocates fret”
(San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2013); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004).
48. “Global gun control treaty for the U.N.” (CNN, December
23, 2013); interview with JEFF ABRAMSON
(MPP 2003); http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/12/23/cnni-abramson-control-arms.cnn
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “Could We Model a National Energy Policy on ‘Race
to the Top’?” (The
2. “Does pre-K work? Ask Old People” (CNN Online,
February 28, 2013); commentary citing DAVID
KIRP; http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/opinion/sutter-preschool-obama/index.html
3. “Reflections on Reputation and its Consequences”
(States News Service, February 28, 2013); speech citing HENRY BRADY.
4. “‘Let’s just repeal the sequester’: Robert
Reich on what Republicans and Democrats should be saying” (Viewpoint, Current
TV, February 27, 2013); interview with ROBERT
REICH; watch this interview
5. “Ex-Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich rips
Wal-Mart in
6. “California coalition’s report calls for
overhaul to rein in health care costs” (The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 26, 2013);
story citing RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/26/5217193/california-coalitions-report-calls.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy
7. “Talk of the Nation: It’s Time to Raise the
Minimum Wage” (NPR, February 25, 2013); interview and Q&A with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program
8. “Schools of Thought Blog: Not all preschools
are created equal” (CNN, February 21, 2013); commentary by DAVID KIRP; http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/21/my-view-not-all-preschools-are-created-equal/
9. “Immigrants May Be the Best Hope for Desperate
Baby Boomers” (Business Insider, February 21, 2013); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.businessinsider.com/connecting-entitlement-reform-to-immigration-reform-2013-2
10. “Robert Reich on the sequester: These
spending cuts are so massive they will drain the economy” (Viewpoint, Current
TV, February 20, 2013); interview with ROBERT
REICH; watch this interview
11. “The minimum wage and the meaning of a decent
society” (
12. “Austerity economics a cruel hoax” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Austerity-economics-a-cruel-hoax-4283095.php#ixzz2LOEZKuLs
13. “Robert Reich: Obama must address jobs and
the economy in his State of the Union speech” (Viewpoint, Current TV, February
11, 2013); interview with ROBERT REICH;
watch this interview
14. “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools” (The New
York Times & International Herald Tribune [*requires registration],
February 10, 2013); op-ed by DAVID KIRP;
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-secret-to-fixing-bad-schools.html?pagewanted=all
15. “History Lessons From
16. “Labor unions raise prosperity for all” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Labor-unions-raise-prosperity-for-all-4264078.php
17. “2012 PROSE Awards” (States News Service,
February 7, 2013); award citing HENRY
BRADY; http://www.publishers.org/prosewinners2012/
18. “Climate Change? Don’t Hold Your Breath”
(Huffington Post, February 5, 2013); op-ed citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/climate-change-dont-hold_b_2623037.html
19. “Reagan’s GOP coalition unraveling” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Reagan-s-GOP-coalition-unraveling-4244313.php#ixzz2JyU3fqXE
20. “Nonfiction Reviews” (Publisher’s Weekly
Review, Nonfiction Vol. 260 No. 02, January 14, 2013); review of book by DAVID KIRP.
By Jeanne Sahadi
For the most part, the
ramifications would kick in over months, not several days or weeks.
“By [April], government
agencies will execute reduced work schedules and the budget crunch will become
more acute,” Sean West,
Of course, anyone
directly affected will feel the cuts right away. But the general public’s
awareness may be delayed and uneven. Different cuts will create different domino
effects, according to longtime budget
expert Stan Collender.
For instance, a
government worker facing a furlough may think twice about buying a new car,
whereas a federal contractor getting less business from Uncle Sam may not make
new hires. Summer travelers may be surprised to face reduced hours at national
parks or increased delays at airports....
2. “State needs federal
investment, not cuts” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed by LUKE REIDENBACH (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/State-needs-federal-investment-not-cuts-4311055.php#ixzz2M7lWPL4m
--Luke Reidenbach
... The history of
aerospace in
These investments paid
off. Even just 20 years ago,
... But while aerospace
has waned, other innovation-heavy industries less reliant on government as a
customer have risen. Everyone knows the story of
One reason these
industries have thrived in
Regardless of the sequester’s
potential cuts to the defense sector,
Luke Reidenbach
is a master’s candidate at the
3. “Sequester cuts will
devastate Head Start” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed by VIJAY DAS (MPP cand.
2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Sequester-cuts-will-devastate-Head-Start-4311050.php#ixzz2M7qXFtj0
--Vijay Das
Our leaders often peddle
the role of family. Yet with the specter of a federal government shutdown,
Now more than 11,900
The
sequester was supposed to be a doomsday scenario that would incite
congressional action to make thoughtful cuts. Yet, instead of a
Head Start, the federal
education aid program modeled on the goals of the 1962 Perry Preschool Project,
doesn’t simply help children. It saves taxpayers money....
In the name of deficit
reduction, we cannot deprive Californians a chance to do well simply because
they were born in rough parts of
Vijay Das is a graduate student
at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. Das worked on gang violence and public health reforms for the mayors of
Los Angeles and New York.
4. “Preschool advocates
should tamp expectations” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 2013); op-ed
by SEAN LA GUARDIA (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Preschool-advocates-should-tamp-expectations-4311051.php#ixzz2M7t0LOiM
--Sean La Guardia
Ever since President
Obama’s emphasized universal early childhood education in his State of the
Union address, the chattering class has gleefully proclaimed its potential to
be a game-changer for
The president mentioned
a cost-benefit analysis showing that every $1 spent on quality preschool
corresponds to a $7 return on investment. What he failed to mention is the
analysis relied on the study of the experiences 50 years ago of students at the
Perry Pre-School Project, who received 2.5 hours of preschool every weekday
coupled with a 90-minute weekly home visit. The amount of money spent per pupil
would today amount to more than $17,000 per student.
Though comparisons on
quality cannot be made on cost alone, a quick look at the cost of private
preschools shows tuition ranges from between $4,000 and $13,000 nationally.
Head Start spends about $7,300 per child (including its full-day program)....
Which poses the even
larger question: Does one year in early childhood education make up for 13
years enrolled in a failing school district? Even if we were to ensure the
quality of our preschool programs, the maintenance of those gains can be
ensured only with quality K-12 education. K-12 education suffers from inequality
among school districts, a lack of qualified teachers, and curriculum that does
not make students competitive in the global economy....
Clearly, there is need
for universal preschool. Any child receiving any form of education and care in
a safe environment is a net benefit to society. Lower incarceration rates, in
themselves, are enough reason to make such an investment. However, the devil is
in the details, and these benefits should not be overstated. If advocates of
this reform over-promise, then they run the risk of thwarting universal access
to preschool by future generations.
Sean LaGuardia taught math at Gilroy High School. He is
a master’s candidate at the
5. “Healthcare overhaul
may threaten California’s safety net” (Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2013);
story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP
2001/MPH 2002) and study coauthored by LAUREL
(TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005) and MIRANDA
DIETZ (MPP 2012); http://www.latimes.com/health/la-me-left-uninsured-20130226,0,3348028.story
By Anna Gorman,
... An estimated 3
million to 4 million Californians — about 10% of the state’s population — could
remain uninsured even after the healthcare overhaul law takes full effect. The
burden of their care will fall to public hospitals, county health centers and
community clinics. And those institutions may be in jeopardy....
Under the healthcare
overhaul, the state could enroll as many as 1.4 million additional residents in
Medi-Cal, its program for the poor and disabled, and
sign up 2.1 million others for subsidized private insurance through a
marketplace known as Covered California, according to a recent UC Berkeley report [coauthored by Laurel Lucia and Miranda
Dietz et al.].
About a quarter of those
left uninsured will be undocumented immigrants, and nearly three-quarters will
be
To pay for care for the
uninsured, counties have long relied on revenue from sales tax and vehicle
license fees — a pot of money known as realignment funds. In fiscal year 2012,
the funds amounted to an estimated $1.3 billion.
Brown argues that
counties will no longer need all that money because so many of the uninsured
will gain coverage under the federal law. At the same time, the governor’s
administration has said, the state will need the funds if it is going to run
the expanded Medi-Cal program.
“There is going to be a
fundamental shift in responsibility of healthcare to the state from the
counties,” said Toby Douglas, director
of the state Department of Health Care Services. “There needs to be a
realignment of
[See: “Medi-Cal Expansion under the Affordable Care Act:
Significant Increase in Coverage with Minimal Cost to the State” – January 2013,
by Laurel Lucia, Ken Jacobs, Greg
Watson, Miranda Dietz, and Dylan H.
Roby for the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education and the UCLA
Center for Health Policy Research; http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/
]
6. “Conservation is
central to branding
In late January,
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper launched a new
initiative to rebrand the state in hopes of attracting more tourists, skilled
professionals and businesses. As the program, known as brandCO,
gets underway, the governor might want to examine the results of the recent
bipartisan 2013
Registered voters in
* Reject selling off
public lands for private enterprise;
* Favor protections for
sensitive lands subject to drilling; and
* Identify renewable
energy production as a priority.
Coloradans strongly link
preservation and conservation of public lands to economic prosperity and an
attractive quality of life, both of which should be key elements of the
governor’s plan to articulate the state’s identity and make it more appealing
to visitors and newcomers.
While the nation reads
about drought and catastrophic fires in Colorado, registered voters within the
state are weighing in with high levels of concern: The survey found that low
levels of water in Colorado rivers and the severely below-average snowpack in
the mountains both rank as equally serious (93 percent), and the perception of
inadequate water supplies in the 2013 poll is 79 percent, up from 71 percent a
year earlier....
An astounding 98 percent
of Coloradans in the 2013 poll believe that the national parks, forests,
monuments and wildlife areas are an essential part of
... The poll was
conducted Jan. 5-10 by Republican pollster Lori Weigel
of Public Opinion Strategies and Democratic
pollster Dave Metz of Fairbank,
Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. The
survey queried 2,400 registered voters, 400 in each of the six Western states.
7. “Athletes cash in on
By Marc Lifsher
All states allow
professional athletes to claim workers’ compensation payments for specific
job-related injuries — such as a busted knee, torn tendon or ruptured spinal
disc — that happened within their borders. But
A
growing roster of athletes are using this provision in
Team owners accuse
players of exploiting a legal “loophole” that allows out-of-state retirees to
wait years before submitting cumulative trauma claims. Not only are the claims
expensive, owners say, but they also hurt
“The actual answer to
this problem is not a state-by-state decision,” suggested Frank Neuhauser, executive director of the
Center for the Study of Social Insurance at UC Berkeley. “The leagues
should negotiate with the players associations to resolve how to handle these
cases in the future.... The players need coverage for these diseases that they
got playing for teams that made billions of dollars.”
8. “As sequestration
nears, gear up for problems” (Kansas City Star, February 23, 2013); analysis
citing MICHAEL LINDEN (MPP 2007).
By Mike Hendricks and
Dave Helling, The
... Rhymes
with frustration. And there will be plenty to go around in the weeks
ahead if Congress fails to craft a budget deal by Friday that cancels the sequester’s
automatic, dramatic and problematic cuts to the federal budget.
Fewer
food inspections. Canceled flights. Less money for schools and national defense.
All that and more forced
by suddenly having to slash $85 billion from a $3.6 trillion federal budget....
But because the $85
billion goal for 2013 must be met by the end of September, administrators have
to cram nearly a year’s worth of reductions into an eight-month window.
For defense, that means
a 13 percent cut, and a 9 percent reduction in non-defense programs.
“It will be a stupid
experiment,” said Michael Linden of the
Center for American Progress, a left-leaning
Unlike past federal
shutdowns, when just like that
“It’s more like a
rolling blackout,”
9. “Brown should save
Foster Youth Services” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 21, 2013); editorial
citing AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/Brown-should-save-Foster-Youth-Services-4295331.php#ixzz2Lx8a4kwn
Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan
to give local school districts more flexibility in how they spend state dollars
makes good sense overall. His pledge to provide extra money for students who
come from low-income homes, foster care or non-English-speaking families also
rings right.
As the governor so
pointedly noted in his recent State of the State address, “Equal treatment for
children in unequal situations is not justice.”
Regrettably, the
governor’s noble words and sensible actions could be undermined by his proposal
to eliminate a program that has been critical in helping foster youth navigate
the educational system.
That vital support role
has been performed for the past 30 years by the staffs at Foster Youth
Services, which is regarded as a national model for identifying and filling the
specific needs of foster youth.
“This is the glue that
keeps a lot of these kids in school,” said Amy
Lemley, policy director of the John Burton Foundation,
a leading foster-care advocacy group in
10. “The Travails of
Cutting State Taxes” (All Things Considered, NPR, February 21, 2013); program
citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD
2001).
... DAVID SCHAPER: It
sounds like these governors might be trying to outdo each other when it comes
to cutting taxes. [
... And [Scott Drenkard of the Tax Foundation] says his studies show that
higher income taxes hurt growth more than higher sales and property taxes. In
most states, sales taxes apply only to goods, not services. So broadening the
sales tax, the theory goes, to include services, such as haircuts and car
repairs, could raise enough money to offset the loss of income tax revenue.
But other economists,
such as Tracy Gordon at the Brookings
Institution, say that broadening the sales tax could pose a risk.
TRACY GORDON: The argument you hear on the other side is that increasing
sales taxes disproportionately affects low income people and that’s because
those people tend to devote more of their budgets to consumption.
DAVID SCHAPER: And Gordon says it’s not
just lower taxes that spurs economic growth.
TRACY GORDON: Regulation, quality of life, the availability of an
educated labor force, so it’s a complicated decision. And in particular, we
have to remember that taxes go to fund services that people want.
DAVID SCHAPER: Services
such as health care, roads and schools....
11. “Israel stop a boost
to Rubio’s profile - Adds to foreign policy resume” (Washington Times, February
21, 2013); analysis citing MITCHELL BARD
(MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
By Seth McLaughlin, The
Sen. Marco Rubio met
Wednesday with leaders in
The trip, which included
a stop in Jordan, came on the heels of a visit from Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky—another
tea party favorite with potential White House aspirations in 2016—and was
billed as part of Mr. Rubio’s duties as a member of the Senate intelligence and
foreign relations committees....
The back-to-back visits
from Mr. Rubio and Mr. Paul have sent a strong signal that—no matter the
outcome of the postelection civil war that has erupted within the Republican
ranks—
“Regardless of how the
internal fight shakes out in the end, ideologically there is not really any
sentiment to abandon
“It is one of the real
consensus issues for both parties. So that is going to be the same and probably
as it was in the last campaign, where you have the Republicans’ candidate who
is going to support
Mr. Bard said the trips are part of the early presidential vetting
process and will allow Mr. Paul, Mr. Rubio and whoever jets there next to “check
off one box on the checklist of preparing to run for president.” ...
12. “Nightly Business
Report” (PBS, February 19, 2013); interview with STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); watch
the video
Susie Gharib, host: As the clock ticks down to sequester, let’s
get some analysis from Stan Collender, former budget staffer in the House and Senate,
currently National Director of Communications at Qorvis
Group.
STAN COLLENDER, QORVIS COMMUNICATIONS GROUP: ...
Simpson Bowles never even got their original plan through their own committee,
so their current plan isn’t going anywhere—it’s only attention-getting....
This is the new normal, ... lurching from crisis to crisis, governing by
crisis. There won’t be a grand bargain;
there’s no chance for a big tax overhaul or entitlement reform. We can look forward to two years of
stomach-churning till the next election....
13. “State loans urged
to help residents install solar gear” (Honolulu Star-Advertiser, February 19,
2013); story citing FRANCISCO DEVRIES
(MPP 2000).
The state might help
more consumers afford solar panels by tapping into the same bond financing that
utilities have used to improve power plants and respond to storm damage.
Under bills moving
through the Legislature, the state would issue revenue bonds to raise money for
loans that consumers could obtain to install solar water heaters or rooftop
photovoltaic systems. Consumers would repay the loans over time from the energy
savings on their electrical bills.
The financing is meant
to deal with the high upfront expenses of solar, which even with generous state
and federal tax incentives can cost consumers thousands of dollars. If the
concept works, it could also help
Utilities nationally
have been using bond financing, known as securitization, since the 1990s to
help cover the costs of infrastructure improvements and storm damage. The bonds
are secured by charges on utility customers....
Cisco DeVries , president of Renewable
Funding, an Oakland, Calif., firm that specializes in financing tools for
renewable energy, said Hawaii could be the first to use the bond structure to
finance a consumer lending program for solar. He likened the concept of
combining the two strategies to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“Peanut butter has
existed for a long time, and jelly has existed for a long time. And I think
what the policymakers are working on in
14. “Key legislative
committee to consider Medi-Cal expansion” (Los
Angeles Times, February 18, 2013); story citing study coauthored by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005) and MIRANDA DIETZ (MPP 2012); http://www.latimes.com/news/local/political/la-me-pc-key-panel-to-consider-medical-expansion-20130218,0,1745888.story
By Michael J. Mishak
The federal government
would subsidize costs for the first three years, phasing down to 90% after
that.
The legislation, AB 1X1,
would also streamline the Medi-Cal enrollment process
to help sign up hundreds of thousands of Californians who are currently eligible
but not enrolled. According to a recent study by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research [lead-authored by Laurel Lucia and coauthored by Miranda Dietz] and the
15. “‘Big changes’ are
indeed coming, but don’t panic yet” (The Virginian-Pilot, February 17, 2013);
column citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
By Amy Jeter
You’ve probably seen the
commercial.
A pleasant-looking
H&R Block tax professional looks into the camera and tells you that “the
Affordable Care Act means big changes this year when you file your taxes.” ...
So, why are your 2012
earnings related to your health insurance in 2014?
Karen Pollitz of the Kaiser Family Foundation
explained:
People who want to
participate in an exchange start signing up in October for coverage beginning
in January. This fall, your most recent tax return will indeed be what you
filed for 2012. That’s what they’ll look at first to determine what you qualify
for, said Pollitz, a senior fellow with the foundation....
If it looks like you’ll
qualify for a tax credit or subsidy, you can get it upfront. That means you’ll
pay less for your health insurance when you buy it instead of receiving the
assistance as a refund from the IRS.
Ultimately, when you
file your 2014 tax return, the IRS will look at your actual earnings and
determine how much help you were eligible for. Based on that, you may get a
check or you may have to pay the government back....
Does that mean you’ll
see “big changes this year when you file your taxes” then? Not
exactly.
Still, as Maddox, Pollitz and the
woman on the commercial pointed out, this sprawling law can be incredibly
confusing.
“The more people out
there giving people good information, the better,” Pollitz said....
16. “SSU Offers Green
Training” (The Press Democrat, February 17, 2013); event featuring ALLISON JORDAN (MPP 2004).
Compiled by Cathy Bussewitz
Allison Jordan, director of environmental affairs for the Wine
Institute, will teach “Green from Grape to Glass.”
The course will cover
sustainable winery and vineyard practices, including soil and pest management,
air and water quality protection, energy and water efficiency, habitat
preservation, and environmental approaches to purchasing, human resources and
community relations....
17. “Geography to play
larger role in health premiums” (Associated Press, Feb. 16, 2013); newswire
citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989);
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/16/5195509/geography-to-play-bigger-role.html
By JUDY LIN - Associated
Press
All this leaves geography
as one of the few ways insurers can adjust premiums. The premiums will not be
set for most consumers under the law until summer, although estimates are
available at the website of California’s health benefits exchange,
www.coveredca.com....
But consumer advocates
are concerned that smaller regions will give health plans the opportunity to
target poor, rural or less healthy communities with higher rates, similar to
how insurance companies have charged higher auto rates in some communities
deemed higher risk.
California needs to
balance the social benefit of spreading risk—defined as having healthy people
subsidize care for those who are less healthy—against having people paying
their own medical costs, said Marian Mulkey, director of the Oakland-based nonprofit California
HealthCare Foundation’s health reform initiative.
“There’s probably some
Goldilocks, just-right balance between there, but it’s extremely hard to find,”
she said. “And that’s why this is a sticky conversation and difficult to navigate.” ...
18. “Critics say
By Brady McCombs - Associated
Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) —
The U.S. Supreme Court’s split ruling on
Assistant Attorney
General Philip Lott countered that the key provisions in the state’s law are “night
and day” different from
The hearing pitted Lott
and one other state attorney against a team of lawyers arguing the law should
be struck down. That side included [U.S. Justice Department’s
lawyer, Scott] Simpson, Karen Tumlin of the National Immigration Law Center, and
Jennifer Chang Newell of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Simpson said the federal
government concedes that one section of
Cecillia
Wang, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said afterward that
the Supreme Court’s decision “made it clear that states have no business
criminalizing activities that have to do with immigration status and trying to
interfere with the federal government’s authority.”
But Lott said he’s quite
optimistic that
“We feel like ours is
even more restrictive than
Tumlin disagreed, saying [U.S.
District Judge Clark] Waddoups’ questions about
whether the provision would violate some basic liberties showed he has real
concerns. The judge mentioned he may send this part of the law to the Utah
Supreme Court to get a ruling.
Tumlin said that would be a wise
move, but Lott said it would only further delay the implementation of the law....
19. “Beyond Lehrer: Some
optimism in
... Jonathan Groves, an
assistant professor at
About 400 people
gathered this week in
Among those sharing stories
were John Mooney, a longtime journalist and founding editor of NJ Spotlight,
and his foundation partner, Hans Dekker,
president of the Community Foundation of
Mooney spoke
passionately about his desire to commit journalism, covering his state capital
and holding government accountable at his nonprofit news site. Dekker, whose foundation manages the
finances for Mooney’s project, provided a candid counterpoint: “Foundations
want to see results. They want to affect the public discourse. They want
sustainable civic engagement.”
Dekker: “The journalists don’t know the business model. We don’t
know the business model. We don’t come out of journalism. I think all of these
projects are feeling their way on the model. And so there’s not a pattern to
follow that’s easy. So we have a lot of conversations at the board level about
who our audience is. Who are we writing for? How can we monetize it? How can we
make this more sustainable?
“And sometimes, I think,
the journalists hear that as: We’re in their business too much. And they’re
journalists, and no one should tell them what to write. And there’s a lot of
push and pull on those issues.
“It’s no longer just up
to journalists to satisfy these community information needs, especially in this
disrupted media landscape. Engaging a corps of committed citizens through the
support of institutions like community foundations is critical to success.”
(Knight believes that enough to commit another $9.5 million to it this week.)
...
20. “Obama addresses
--Andrew S. Ross
...
According to Michael Cunningham, vice president of
public policy at the Bay Area Council, which has volunteered its services
in the effort, said there are several proposals.
On March 12, UC Berkeley’s
The Department of Energy
and Department of Defense are key decision makers in handing out the federal
grants. (Agenda for the March 12 workshop at sfg.ly/WnI2FA.)
...
21. “Education Experts
Available to Discuss Proposals Made in State of the
The president proposed a
focus on college affordability and ensuring students get the best bang for
their buck. This requires data, accountability, radically rethinking how
federal financial aid is used, and a new system of accreditation to allow for
innovative models that will allow students to get faster, cheaper,
and higher-quality degrees and credentials. New
* A new system of
innovation-focused accreditation: In addition to comprehensive coverage of
accreditation issues on Higher Ed Watch, Deputy
Director of Higher Education Amy Laitinen has
published a report and numerous publications on the origins—and import—of the
credit hour....
22. “Online dating
preferences block romance” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 13, 2013); op-ed
by SEAN LA GUARDIA (MPP cand. 2013); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/openforum/article/Online-dating-preferences-block-romance-4273548.php
--Sean La Guardia
“Witty, charming, and
adventurous grad student ...” I hit the backspace anxiously. Grad students don’t
draw attention and I feel it best to be modest. “Smart, laid
back, and active male seeking someone who’ll make the ride more enjoyable.”
Cheesy.... Two weeks later, I will take down the
profile, having been reminded of an ugly truth: Human beings need not be polite
when behind the curtain of their laptop screen....
Perhaps at no time since
desegregation has an American been able to so publicly unleash her biases upon
an innocent romantic....
... In traditional
courtship, a suitor attempts conversation without the roadblock of knowing the
other’s list of disqualifications. Traditionally, the receiver of such
attention must respond. The online dater can simply pretend such an encounter
never happened.
I’m even angrier that
many daters of every race have the sole preference of Caucasian. Rather than “white
flight,” online dating oversees the “flight to white.” ...
Friends tell me I am
overreacting. This preference for whites is just coincidence. Coincidence because they tend to make more money? Coincidence because they are generally better portrayed in the
media? Because they come from more stable families?
Accepting some correlation between race and these favorable traits begs the
question: why? If this is the generation raised on tolerance,
self-affirmation and with the greatest equality of opportunity in the history
of the world, then why?
Perhaps because the
online world is a truer reflection of where we really are as a nation....
Sean La Guardia is a master’s
candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
23. “For Kids With Chronic Conditions, a Looming Insurance Battle” (The
California Report, KQED public radio, February 11, 2013); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004); Listen to this story
Taylor Gaydon (R), 15, ziplines with friends at the Diabetic Youth Foundation’s
diabetes camp in
Children with conditions
like asthma, Down syndrome and diabetes need all sorts of support services to
thrive, not just survive. But many of these services are not strictly medical.
And as the Affordable Care Act takes shape in
You’re likely familiar
with rehabilitation — physical therapy after an injury would fall into this
category. But parents with chronically ill children are all too familiar with a
different type of service — habilitation service....
“Habilitative
services are really just making sure that a child can thrive in the world that
they’re living in, so, for example, hearing aids are a habilitative
service,” says Kelly Hardy, director of
health policy at Children Now, a statewide advocacy group....
24. “Job poaching rare
despite states’ boasts” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 11, 2013); column
citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/Job-poaching-rare-despite-states-boasts-4267467.php#ixzz2KdLFTnE3
--Joe Garofoli
Texas Gov. Rick Perry
rolls through the Bay Area on Monday to start a high-profile
Spurred by Perry’s
recent headline-grabbing battle with Gov. Jerry Brown over whose state is
better, the trip has put a spotlight on the long tradition of governors trying
to poach jobs from other states.
But while politicians
love to drop anecdotes about the companies they have wooed to their state,
analysts say the reality is that such moves are rare anywhere....
In Silicon Valley, which
is experiencing dot-com-boom-level economic growth, only a small percentage of
all the companies that are closing or moving are leaving the state, said Doug Henton, CEO
of Collaborative Economics, a
“Somebody like Gov.
Perry can say, ‘Come to
25. “Online instruction
destined to increase in
By Jim Sanders
Gov. Jerry Brown and
Targeting a tech-savvy
generation, they are paving the way for more students to pass courses and
obtain degrees without ever going to class.
Given budget
constraints, they say boosting online programs is the only way to accommodate
more students without expanding campuses and making higher education even more
expensive....
To accelerate the push,
Brown wants to make a nearly $37 million investment....
How well online
education works is still under study....
In
Jonathan Stein, UC student regent, warned against assuming that
students will embrace online classes simply because they enjoy laptops.
“No one has asked
students if they’re interested in this,” he said. “No one has asked students if
they want this.” ...
26. “Crossword - Puzzle
by DAN SCHOENHOLZ Edited by WILL
SHORTZ, NEW YORK TIMES” (The Beacon News, (
A WHIFF OF
ACROSS
1 Pop-___ 6 División of a house 10 They may be running in a saloon 17
Sun, in Verdun 18 Thin ice, e.g. 19 Survey 21 Alternative to white 23 How
overhead photos may be taken 24 “That’s ___ excuse …” 25 Like St. Louis
vis-à-vis New Orleans 27 Name 28 End to end? 29 Torn 30 Inexperienced 31 See
67-Across 33 Kind of tape 34 “How I Met Your Mother” narrator 35 Put out 36 Who
said “Familiarity breeds contempt - and children” 37 Like Virginia among states
to ratify the Constitution 38 Booth, e.g. 41 Sphere 42 Suit size: Abbr. 43 PC
component 44 Target of minor surgery 45 Dick ___, co-creator of “Saturday Night
Live” 49 Tangle 51 Either end of an edge, in graph theory 52 Ph.D. hurdles 54
Diamond stat 55 Worked the soil, in a way 56 “A Clockwork Orange” hooligan 57
Actress Loughlin of “90210” 58 Soda fountain option
59 Spritelike 60 Skater Midori 61 Cool 62 Roosevelt’s
successor 64 Roosevelt’s successor 65 Shade provider 67 With 31-Across, favor,
as a ballot measure 68 1952 Brando title role 69 Enzyme ending 70 Fairbanks
Daily News-___ 71 Geraint’s wife, in Arthurian legend 72 European coin with a
hole in it 73 Sex partner? 75 Fraternity member 77 Theologian’s subj. 78
Actress Dennings of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” 79 Like
many a fraternity party 80 Insect’s opening for air 85 Puppet of old TV 87
French Champagne city 88 Make a call 89 Mason’s trough 90 Noodle 91 Group of
bright stars? 92 Baseball commissioner Bud 93 Homey 94 Bushel or barrel: Abbr.
95 Chem ___ 96 Potter’s pedal 98 Language related to
Tahitian 99 Tousles 102 Low grade? 104 Noble rank 105
Playwright Joe who wrote “What the Butler Saw” 106 Tessellation 107 Clipped 108
Cool 109 Pass
DOWN
1 Alternatives to comb-overs 2 Ingredients in some candy bars 3 Move, as a plant 4
Level 5 Camera type, briefly 6 Hidden 7 Alan of “Argo” 8 Schreiber who won a
Tony for “Glengarry Glen Ross” 9 Place for a Dumpster 10 Vaudeville singer’s
prop 11 “In the American West” photographer 12 Show over 13 Old New York paper,
for short 14 Actress Gardner 15 Novel that focuses on character growth 16
High-quality 17 Peloponnesian War winner 18 Import, as water or music 20 “Christina’s
World” painter Andrew 22 Paavo ___, 1920s Finnish
Olympic hero 26 Practical approach to diplomacy 30 It’s a blessing 32
Customizable character in a computer game 33 Cougar’s prey 36 Email forerunner
37 Los ___ mosqueteros 39 Confident test-taker’s cry
40 Some “Bourne” film characters 41 Ring event 44 Rapper? 45 Inner ___ 46
Forceful advance 47 Depressed at the poles 48 Jungle vine 49 Big media todo 50 Informal social gathering 51 Inexperienced 53
Caught at a 41-Down 55 Went after 58 St. Peter’s Basilica feature 61 Snookums 63 More pink, maybe 66 All’s partner 67 Goes off
on a tangent 70 Small bit 74 Mark of ___ 76 Discuss lightly 79 Big ___ 80
Ill-humored 81 ___ set (tool assortment) 82 Jumbled 83 Cheap, as housing 84
Trim 85 Time’s second African-American Person of the Year 86 Primates with
tails 87 Scold 88 Mark of a rifle’s laser sight 91 Conductor Kurt 92
Present-day personality? 93 Alfalfa’s love in “The Little Rascals” 95 Mother of
Castor and Pollux 97 Gaelic ground 98 Principal 100
Word missing twice in the Beatles’ “___ Said ___ Said” 101 One on foot,
informally 103 Verizon forerunner....
27. “Club’s Effluent
Pact Is Reviewed - Deal: Wastewater For Public Golf
Access” (Albuquerque Journal, February 9, 2013); story citing CHRIS CALVERT (MPP 1979).
By Kiera
Hay - Journal Staff Writer
In an era of increasing
water scarcity, a decades-old agreement requiring the city of
Some of
“I just think it’s a
matter of fairness. They’ve got a huge chunk (of the city’s treated effluent)
and they don’t pay for it. That doesn’t give them any incentive to save,” Councilor Chris Calvert, chair of the Public Utilities Committee,
told the Journal.
“Times have changed,” Calvert said. “Back then, it probably
wasn’t a big deal, but now the city has grown considerably and the needs have
grown and I think it’s time to look at it and ask for reconsideration.”
Calvert said he’d like to “sit down and talk” with country club
officials, perhaps see if the club “would be able to do things more efficiently
and curtail the amount allotted to them.” ...
28. “Carmen Chu is mayor’s
pick for SF assessor” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 7, 2013); story citing
CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Carmen-Chu-is-mayor-s-pick-for-SF-assessor-4257554.php#ixzz2KF4GCbob
--John Coté
Supervisor Carmen Chu, shown here in an earlier photo, will
be appointed assessor-recorder, but she will continue to serve on the Board of
Supervisors until Mayor Ed Lee picks her replacement in District Four.
Supervisor Carmen Chu will be
On Wednesday, Mayor Ed Lee,
in a widely expected move, named
“It comes as no
surprise, probably for all of you, that I’ve chosen Carmen,” Lee said during a public announcement in his office,
calling
“I think she will be
phenomenal,” Supervisor Scott Wiener said. “She is smart, methodical and
solutions-oriented.”
Lee joked
that rating service Moody’s just upgraded the city’s bond rating because it had
heard the rumor that
The assessor oversees
valuations of real estate for property taxes, the largest slice of revenue for
the city’s general fund, making up about 40 percent of the income....
“All the things that we
care about—being able to fund public services, police services, children’s
services, health services—these are all things that can only be accomplished
when we have a very firm financial footing,” Chu said....
29. “Free Muni for
low-income youth starts Friday” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 28, 2013);
story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Free-Muni-for-low-income-youth-starts-Friday-4314454.php#ixzz2MDfk8b6A
--Neal J. Riley
Mayor Ed Lee swears in Carmen Chu as the new
assessor-recorder. (Michael Macor
/ The Chronicle)
... On the move: The
Board of Supervisors didn’t just lose a budget whiz when Carmen Chu was sworn in Wednesday as assessor-recorder, it lost its
biggest fan of the Golden Arches.
“I’m sure that some of
us will be glad that we won’t have a regular McDonald’s patron in our midst,”
said Supervisor David Chiu during a tribute at the end of Tuesday’s board
meeting for the french fry-crazy
Supervisor Scott Wiener
said he enjoyed introducing Chu to
the LGBT community and recalled a text message from a confused
“Go on Wikipedia and put
in ‘gay bear,’ “ Wiener said. His text back from
At Wednesday’s
swearing-in ceremony, things were a little more serious with Chu saying that she wanted to make her
new office “the envy of all county assessor’s offices in the state of
30. “Queries on numbers
vex officials” (Sacramento Bee, February 7, 2013); story citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
By Jon Ortiz ; jortiz@sacbee.com
You would think that a
multibillion-dollar enterprise could do the basic stuff, like track how many
employees answer to the boss or where its money goes....
Budget politics and
procedures aside, sometimes the most basic number queries stymie the state: ...
* Recent reports that
some salaried state workers hold second jobs in their departments raised
several questions: How many employees have two titles? How much has the state
paid them? How do departments make sure the duties and pay don’t overlap?
We still don’t know,
three weeks later. The state has provided a few monthly snapshots of
departments and jobs involved, but no actual pay info while the administration
sorts details....
“The systems don’t
communicate with each other like you think they would,” said Tracy Gordon, a Brookings Institution
economics fellow. That makes customized and accurate big-picture numbers
difficult....
31. “$5 Million in
Grants Awaits Worthy Town-Healing Projects” (The Record (
By Harvy
Lipman, Staff Writer
Non-profits and other
groups with ideas for helping communities with the long-term recovery from superstorm
The New Jersey Recovery
Fund has raised most of its money from charitable and corporate foundations
around the country. The fund was put together by two of the state’s leading
foundations: the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Community Foundation of New Jersey, both based in
While the fund has given
out about $250,000 in what Community
Foundation president Hans Dekker described as “emergency small grants” to
non-profits affected by the storm, its main focus is longer-term needs. Those
include rebuilding homes and infrastructure to make them more resistant to
future storms, innovations in regional planning to reduce communities’
vulnerabilities, and environmental protection projects.
“We want to encourage
citizen engagement in the recovery,” Dekker
said. The fund anticipates underwriting proposals mainly from non-profit
organizations, but he emphasized that it doesn’t want to discourage good ideas
from anyone else.
The fund would look at
grant proposals not only from non-profits but from partnerships that also
involve business, government and individuals.
“As far as the
partnerships go, as long as at the end of the day the project is charitable in
nature, we would consider it,” Dekker
emphasized. “The ideas could come from the towns themselves.”
Grant proposals must
address one of five focus areas:
* Projects that improve
the availability of public information. These would provide ongoing, local
non-profit media coverage of recovery efforts. Dekker said priority would be given to ideas that involve local
citizens in gathering and distributing information and encourage them to come
up with ideas for solving local problems. Proposals that provide communities
with detailed information about government and private recovery spending also
would get top consideration.
* Projects that promote
policy reform to make communities more “resilient and sustainable.”
“The idea is to have a
conversation at a statewide level about what we want to look like going
forward: Where do we want communities to develop in the future, what kind of
development do we want along the Shore, where do we not want to build again,
and so on,” Dekker explained....
Information about the
fund, proposal guidelines and details of how to apply are available on its
website, grdodge.org. Anyone with questions about the grant process can email njrecoveryfund@grdodge.org.
32. “Money managers,
California Department of Finance, play annual accounting games” (The Sacramento
Bee, Feb. 6, 2013); story citing MIKE
GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/06/5168832/money-managers-california-department.html#storylink=cpy
By Kevin Yamamura
State parks employees
told investigators last year it was common to hide money in their budget
because they were afraid the state Department of Finance would otherwise cut
their funding.
In 2009, when an
internal auditor questioned the hidden nature of a Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection account, a department lawyer warned that tipping off Finance
officials would result in fire budget cuts elsewhere. The department kept
quiet.
Elsewhere, state payroll
and budget officials appear to have had little knowledge that 571 employees not
eligible for overtime, including managers, were taking second state jobs, possibly
in violation of labor laws....
But in the trenches of
state government, a battle of accounting gamesmanship plays out each year
between money managers and the governor’s Department of Finance....
Mike Genest, who worked as both a Department
of Health Services manager and Department of Finance director, said a
cat-and-mouse game has long been part of the
“My experience, having
been on both sides, is that Finance is the gatekeeper,” Genest said. “And if you can
find a way to get around the gatekeeper, you try to do that.”
...
33. “Avalos urges not
investing in guns, fossil fuel” (San Francisco Chronicle, February 6, 2013);
story citing GREG KATO (MPP 2006).
--Neal J. Riley and
Heather Knight
... Supervisor John
Avalos introduced two nonbinding resolutions Tuesday that call for the city’s
retirement board to divest from fossil fuel companies and firearms and
ammunition manufacturers in the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System.
Initial reaction pointed
to Avalos’ gun resolution being a far easier sell than the fossil fuel proposal
because of the sheer money involved. Preliminary estimates are that the pension
fund, worth a total of $15.6 billion, has $900,000 in firearm-related
investments and more than $1 billion in fossil fuel companies....
[Board President David
Chiu] said he had considered writing his own resolution restricting the city’s
investments in gun companies—but learned through the treasurer’s office that
this rule is already in place.
The treasurer’s office
holds $5 billion in a “pooled portfolio,” essentially the checking account for
the city departments’ regular operations, which is different from the pension
fund.
According to official
policy, the treasurer is discouraged from making investments in manufacturers
of tobacco products, firearms or nuclear weapons. Greg Kato, policy and legislative manager for the treasurer’s office,
confirmed that there are no investments in any of those areas....
34. “
By Nels
Johnson - Marin Independent Journal
A motorist drives along
An effort to curb
development along
The scenic designation,
boosted by a group shepherded by activist Carolyn Lenert
of Terra Linda, is “not warranted now or in the near future,” said board
president Judy Arnold, summarizing the unanimous view of board members....
To apply to the state
for the designation, a proposal must be submitted along with a “corridor
protection program” outlining steps to preserve vistas and other attributes to
ensure development is compatible with the environment. The program must include
“zoning, ordinances and/or planning policies.”
Thus, a county planning
study of the corridor could result in tightening policies regulating projects,
including any housing planned for Grady Ranch, where filmmaker Lucas is now
working with the Marin Community Foundation to study merits of a low-income
housing complex....
“I don’t think anyone
wants to see some kind of castle on the hill,” said Joy Dahlgren of
35. “The James Irvine
Foundation Honors Six California Leaders for Breakthrough Solutions to
Significant State Issues; Elected Officials to Honor Recipients at Sacramento
Event” (The James Irvine Foundation, February 4, 2013); award citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); watch
meet the recipient video
This year’s recipients,
described below, will each receive $125,000 in organizational support.
Additionally, award recipients are eligible to apply for another grant of up to
$200,000 to share their effective approaches with policymakers and others or to
expand their programs....
The recipients of the 2013
James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards are: ...
Stuart Cohen, TransForm,
In recent years,
36. “Traffic didn’t grow
with county” (The Columbian, February 3, 2013 ); story
citing JOE CORTRIGHT (MPP 1980).
By Erin Middlewood - Columbian staff writer
In a decade of growth in
It didn’t.
Traffic rose just 1
percent from 2002 to 2011, according to the most recent counts available, even
as the county’s population grew 17 percent.
Critics of the Columbia
River Crossing project have argued these figures cast doubt on traffic
forecasts used to justify plans for a $3.5 billion new Interstate 5 bridge....
“People are driving
less,” said
Planners estimated
143,700 vehicles would cross the I-5 bridge on the average weekday in 2010—13
percent higher than the 126,900 actually experienced, Cortright points
out....
The economy isn’t the
whole story, however. Traffic started to level off before the economy
officially crashed in December 2007.
“The recession argument
doesn’t wash. The decline in traffic on the I-5 bridge
began well in advance of the recession, and traffic continued to decline even
after the economy got better,” Cortright said. “The long-term trend has everything to do
with the fact that gasoline cost in real dollars has doubled.”...
“People respond to
prices in a whole series of decisions: how much they drive, what kind of
vehicles they drive, how far they travel, how far they look for jobs and
houses,” Cortright
said.
“Young people are
driving less, and fewer are getting driver’s licenses -- or waiting longer to
get them. When you look at young adults, they are increasingly moving to city
centers,” Cortright
said....
37. “Smokers penalty
part of new law - Insurers can impose a 50 percent surcharge” (Dayton Daily
News, February 3, 2013); analysis citing KAREN
POLLITZ (MPP 1982).
By Randy Tucker, Cox
Newspapers
The federal law, which
prevents health insurers from rejecting people with pre-existing conditions,
still allows insurers to charge higher premiums based on risk factors such as
age, location and family composition and tobacco use.
And tobacco use carries
the heaviest penalties, allowing insurers to charge premium rates as much as 50
percent higher for smokers than non-smokers under the law....
And since most smokers
tend to be low-income residents, the surcharge could price many smokers out of
the market and encourage them to pay the less-than-$100 penalty for not signing
up for health insurance in the first year under the law, rather than paying
thousands of dollars in premiums they cannot afford.
“The smoking surcharge
can be a lot of money for some people, and that has prompted a debate in some
states about whether they will allow the smoking surcharge for the very reason
that they expect it to keep a lot of people from getting covered,” said Karen Pollitz , a
health policy analyst at Kaiser....
Last year, tobacco use
resulted in $96 billion in direct health care expenditures and $97 billion in
lost productivity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention....
Faced with such high
costs for coverage, some smokers seeking health insurance under the new health
care law might simply deny their tobacco use. But Kaiser’s Pollitz warned: “It’s always
scary to lie to an insurance company.”
While it would be
difficult for insurers to determine whether new enrollees lied about their
tobacco use on an application for coverage, once they’re admitted to a hospital
or emergency department with a smoking-related illness, insurers could simply
deny coverage and even prosecute them for fraud, Pollitz said.
“My guess would be that
insurers in the health exchanges are going to be on the lookout for that kind
of fraud, and those cases will probably be investigated,” she said....
38. “No Clear Path to
Mathematics Learning in
Conducted by a team of
researchers at WestEd and SRI International and
released today by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd, the research makes clear that doing well in grade 7
mathematics is predictive of enrollment in more advanced math classes in high
school....
Additionally, the
majority of students who achieve proficiency on the CST in algebra 1 are those
who already have strong math skills and are on an “accelerated math track.” ...
“These results provide
powerful evidence that school systems are struggling to successfully teach, or
re-teach, mathematics to students who are not already performing well in math
by the time they reach middle school,” says Neal Finkelstein, Senior Research Scientist at WestEd
and lead researcher on this study. “The data make it very clear that the
struggle to successfully teach math starts before and continues after the
middle grades.” ...
... For students who
repeated algebra 1 in grade 9, the grade-9 algebra 1 CST proficiency rate was
21 percent. Among students who repeated algebra 1 in grade 10, the grade-10
algebra 1 CST proficiency rate was just 9 percent.
“Many students repeat
algebra, but few repeaters achieve proficiency on their second attempt,” added Finkelstein. “Repeating algebra is
generally not an effective strategy for helping students progress in secondary
mathematics.”
Study authors suggest
that state policymakers revisit policies encouraging completion of algebra 1 by
grade 8 and take advantage of implementation of the Common Core State Standards
to look carefully at the ways districts and schools can strengthen student
progress in mathematics. Policymakers should also act to strengthen the supply
of qualified math teachers in
[The
study, “College Bound in Middle School and High School? How Math Course
Sequences Matter” including an executive summary and listing of recommendations
for educators and policymakers can be found at www.cftl.org. ]
39. “Fracking
could fill
--Ankit Jain
... Shale oil
development may have its risks, but putting a moratorium on fracking
isn’t the best solution. True, it eliminates the environmental hazards, but it
also eliminates the economic upside. Instead, there are ways to minimize the
chances of an accident while still allowing
Worldwide, the potential
of shale oil and gas is just beginning to be understood, and it is reasonable
to assume that there will soon be significant production outside the
Ankit
Jain is a master’s candidate at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC
Berkeley.
40. “Editorial:
California must expand Medi-Cal” (San Francisco
Chronicle, February 2, 2013); editorial citing study lead-authored by LAUREL (TAN) LUCIA (MPP 2005)
and co-authored by MIRANDA DIETZ
(MPP 2012); http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/California-must-expand-Medi-Cal-4244320.php
The Legislature is in a
special session on health care to consider legislation that’s designed to help
There are exceptions to
this rule, of course, and one of the most important things that the Legislature
is working on is the question of how to help the lowest income Californians get
coverage. Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-
Expanding Medi-Cal is the right thing to do, and it’s the easiest way
for
But there are cost
savings for all Californians, because uninsured people tend to go to the
emergency room, where the costs for care are far higher, rather than schedule a
visit to a doctor. ER costs then drive up the price of medical care for
everyone, including the insured.
Plus, the federal government
will pay for the first three years of the Medi-Cal
expansion, and no less than 90 percent in the years after that. The state will
have to pay administrative costs during those first years—between $46 million
and $75 million in 2014, according to a research
study [coauthored by Laurel Lucia
and Miranda Dietz] from UC Berkeley’s
Center for Labor Research and Education. That amount seems minimal,
considering the size and scope of this benefit....
[The study was also
cited in a Sacramento Bee editorial; http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/03/5159573/california-under-the-microscope.html
]
41. “
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) —
The former mayor of Central Falls has agreed to pay a $7,000 penalty and admit
he violated ethics rules by accepting a new furnace from a campaign contributor
who got a lucrative city contract, Rhode Island ethics officials say.
The state Ethics
Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the agreement with Charles
Moreau. Moreau pleaded guilty in November to a federal corruption charge
related to the gift. He is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
The agreement ends a yearslong ethics probe of the former mayor, who stepped
down last year. Moreau was stripped of most of his powers in 2010 when the
state took over the city to manage its finances....
Moreau accepted the
nearly $7,000 furnace and home repair work from Michael Bouthillette,
a friend who received a no-bid contract to board up vacant homes in
Ethics Commission Chairman Ross Cheit
called the fine “a very solid amount” and said he is pleased the case has
concluded.
“Any time you can reach
a reasonable, informal resolution, that’s better than going to trial,” Cheit said. “He
(Moreau) wanted it done.” ...
42. “UofL
Energy-Saving Project is Outpacing its Goals”
(Targeted News Service, January 29, 2013); newswire citing LARRY OWSLEY (MPP 1973).
Fuel use on UofL’s Belknap Campus dropped 48 percent while electricity
and water use dropped 27 and 31 percent, respectively, from their annual usage
before the project started. The numbers were released last week in a report
measuring energy savings in 2011, the first full year after improvements were
completed....
The overall reduction in
energy use has trimmed the greenhouse gas emissions emitted on Belknap Campus
by an annual 53 million pounds, an amount equal to removing 4,400 cars from the
road for a year, officials said.
In 2009, UofL and Siemens Industry Inc. launched a comprehensive
$21.7 million initiative to save energy on Belknap Campus. Since then, workers
have installed more efficient lighting, updated heating, cooling and
ventilation systems and found ways to cut water consumption in 71 campus
buildings and outdoor areas....
“We’re extremely pleased
to see that this project is working the way it’s supposed to,” said Larry Owsley, UofL’s
vice president for business affairs. “Our initial investment is paying off
both in energy savings and dollar savings.” ...
43. “CSWA Releases 2012
Progress Report, Third Edition Sustainable Winegrowing Workbook” (Targeted News
Service, January 25, 2013); newswire citing ALLISON JORDAN (MPP 2004).
“The Code Workbook is a
wonderful tool that allows participants to expand sustainable practices
according to their company priorities and diverse regional growing conditions,”
said Allison Jordan, executive director
of CSWA. “CSWA’s goal is for vineyards and
wineries that represent 80 percent of
44. “Medi-Cal
plans could cost counties” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 2013); story
citing TANGERINE BRIGHAM (MPP 1990).
--Victoria Colliver
Gov. Jerry Brown has
committed to expanding the state’s Medicaid program for low-income residents as
prescribed by the federal health law, but his suggestions for how to do that
could put more of the expense of doing so onto counties.
As part of his budget
proposal last week, Brown offered two ways to make the program more widely
available to poor adults with no dependent children and who did not qualify
under the traditional rules for the health program, known as Medi-Cal in
Under one option, the
state would run the expanded program but the counties would have to give up
some funding. In the other scenario, the duties of running the program would
fall to the counties. Either way, the counties could be taking on more responsibility
for extending care to about a million more residents statewide over the next
five years....
The governor’s budget
proposal sets aside some $350 million in his 2013-14 budget plan to help pay
for the costs of covering those who are currently eligible but not yet enrolled
in the program.
If the counties are left
in charge, their low-income health programs will be expanded, but they will
have to adhere to federal law, leaving them with less leeway in setting many of
the rules.
Tangerine Brigham, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of
Public Health, said one thing remains clear. “There will still be uninsured
individuals after 2014 and, generally, those uninsured individuals will turn to
county safety nets,” she said.
“We want to make sure the
residents in our county benefit from expanded coverage.” ...
45. “Media: Vote,
Violence and Weather Top 2012 U.S. TV News” (IPS - Inter Press Service, January
17, 2013); story citing ROBERT ENTMAN
(MPP 1980).
By Jim Lobe
The Olympics and the
British royals together received almost as much attention as
The Eurozone
crisis, which has had a serious impact on and poses still greater risks to the
U.S. economy, received a total of 87 minutes of coverage—or about 40 percent
less than the British royals.
“Here we are in this globalising economy and culture,” noted Robert Entman, a
communications and international affairs professor at
“Outside our borders, it
looks either like the froth of the Olympic Games and the royals or violence,”
noted Entman.
“I think it’s legitimate to take note of both, but there are a lot more
important substantive things.” ...
46. “Some Death Row
inmates are ‘low risk’ for parole” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 13, 2013);
column citing JESSICA FLINTOFT (MPP
2004).
--Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
What do Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan and Scott Peterson
have in common besides murder?
They are all classified
as “low-risk” repeat offenders by the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation.
The “low-risk”
appraisals are based on everything from their age (in Manson’s case, 78) and
conduct behind bars to the number of years since their last arrest....
The terms “low risk”—and
“non-serious”—and the public’s perception of what the terms mean—have become
central to the politics and public relations of prison overcrowding....
Reform advocates aren’t
satisfied with a 40,000-inmate drop in the state’s prison population, and are
keeping up the legal pressure on Gov. Jerry Brown to make further reductions....
On the other hand, there
are also some questions about “non-serious” offenders who are being sent back
to the counties....
More than half had
previous convictions involving violence, weapons or sex crimes.
Bottom line, says Jessica Flintoft,
director of the San Francisco Probation Department’s Re-entry Program: No
matter what label is used to describe the danger they pose, “with the exception
of Charles Manson, everyone is coming back to the community.”
...
47. “Low-income kids’
coverage shuffles - advocates fret” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 5, 2013);
story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY
(MPP/MPH 2004).
--Victoria Colliver
On Tuesday,
The move is expected to
save the state about $58 million in health care costs in 2013-14 and more than
$70 million a year when Healthy Families is fully phased out.
Although the children
moving to Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program,
will not lose basic health coverage, health advocates and many physicians who
care for children are concerned that the young people and their families will
have a hard time finding a specialist who accepts Medi-Cal
patients or, for the same reason, find it difficult to find a primary care
doctor. They fear some children will even get lost in the shuffle dealing with
the much larger Medi-Cal program, which covers more
than 7 million people....
... A snafu has already
occurred: Late last month, the state sent more than 2,600 Medi-Cal
benefit cards intended for Tuesday’s transition to the wrong families. The
families were notified, and the mistake was corrected.
“We’re hoping for
minimal disruption in children’s care, but we recognize the access to
providers, especially specialists and dentists, is not as good in Medi-Cal as in Healthy Families,” said Kelly Hardy, director of health policy for Children Now, a
That’s because Healthy
Families pays doctors an estimated 15 to 20 percent more than Medi-Cal pays, said Anthony Wright, executive director of
Health Access
48. “Global gun control
treaty for the U.N.” (CNN, December 23, 2013); interview with JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003); http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/12/23/cnni-abramson-control-arms.cnn
How is the debate about
gun control in the
Arms Control Director Jeff Abramson discusses a proposed U.N.
treaty to regulate the global arms trade.
JEFF ABRAMSON, Arms Control: ... This treaty would create agreement
globally about what is a responsible arms trade. Right now, we are confronting the issue when
1. “Could We Model a National Energy Policy on ‘Race
to the Top’?” (The
By Anthony Flint
Breaking that mold is Jennifer Granholm, the two-term former
governor of
Her big idea, presented this week at TED 2013 in
Long Beach, is to establish a $4.5 billion pot of money – the same amount
initially set aside for the Race to the Top program for educational innovation
– that would allow states to compete for funds to incubate industries in solar,
wind, geo-thermal, electric vehicle technologies and other alternatives to
fossil fuel-based energy.
Given the gridlock in Washington over
sequestration, taxes and spending, Granholm is asking
the private sector to step up with the money for this competition – whether
Google, Microsoft, Apple – well-represented in the TED audience -- or Michael
Bloomberg or Warren Buffett. She says she’s confident the seed money would
prompt all kinds of innovation to help the
“I just know how governors operate,”‘ she says. “They care about jobs.” ...
Granholm was a rising
star in politics, though her Canadian [birth] prevented her consideration as a
potential running mate for President Obama. More recently, there’s been talk of
her being looked at for a cabinet position in the Obama administration. For the
moment, she’s spending time in the Bay Area, teaching at
2. “Does pre-K work? Ask Old People” (CNN
Online, February 28, 2013); commentary citing DAVID KIRP; http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/28/opinion/sutter-preschool-obama/index.html
By John D. Sutter
Parents in the IFC show “Portlandia” explain the value of preschool to their son. (Courtesy IFC)
(CNN) -- ... Yes, elite preschool admissions are
perfectly absurd, but the benefits of preschool are seriously significant.
Researchers in
In
Schweinhart said that
expanding preschool programs across the nation won’t automatically improve
lives. But if the programs are funded and managed well, he said, they will have
real impact. That seems like a reasonable assessment, and it’s one that’s more
or less shared by professor David Kirp of
the
“Whether universal prekindergarten really makes
a difference in children’s lives or turns out to be a false hope,” Kirp wrote
recently for a CNN blog, “depends entirely on the quality of what’s being
offered.”...
3. “Reflections on Reputation and its
Consequences” (States News Service, February 28, 2013); speech citing HENRY BRADY.
Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin,
At the 2013 Banking Outlook Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of
... In my remarks today, I want to consider
various aspects of how reputational harm manifests itself in banks and begin a
dialogue with you about how we might refresh our thinking about this category
of risk....
In the Internet age, the impact of consumer
distrust is amplified: anyone can easily, cheaply, and anonymously create,
organize, and participate in a protest. Participants do not have to gather
physically to make their action felt. A recent survey found that
60 percent of American adults use social media,
such as Facebook or Twitter, and
66 percent of those social media users (39
percent of all American adults) have used social media to engage on civic and
political issues, including by encouraging other people to take action on a
political or social issue.3 ...
3. See Lee Rainie,
Aaron Smith, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry Brady, and Sidney Verba (2012), “Social Media and Political Engagement (PDF) ,” Pew Internet and American Life Project (
4. “‘Let’s just repeal the sequester’: Robert
Reich on what Republicans and Democrats should be saying” (Viewpoint, Current
TV, February 27, 2013); interview with ROBERT
REICH; watch this interview
Robert
Reich, former U.S. labor secretary and professor
at U.C. Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, tells Current TV’s John
Fugelsang why Democrats and Republicans need to
cooperate in order to avert the looming sequester.
“What Democrats ought to be proposing, and even
Republicans ought to be proposing, is to say, ‘Let’s
just repeal the sequester,’” Reich
says. “The problem right now is not the budget deficit — the budget deficit is
actually shrinking — the problem right now is jobs. The problem right now is
the economy and economic growth. Wages. That’s what we
ought to get back to – the fundamentals.”
“Trickle-down economics is just a bald-faced
lie,” Reich adds. “It means that you’re
protecting the rich, protecting the powerful. It’s what Republicans have been
doing for years, and you know, you tell a lie over and over and over again …
and eventually people start to believe it.” ...
5. “Ex-Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich rips
Wal-Mart in
By Julie Johnson
Robert Reich (AP
File)
Economist and former Labor Secretary Robert
Reich gave a standing-room-only audience Monday in
With the backdrop of a movement in
“This isn’t about blaming Wal-Mart, it’s about
blaming the system,” Reich told
about 400 people at
The global retailer is a “net job destroyer”
when it arrives in communities, Reich
said....
During the 1950s, when General Motors was the
country’s largest employer, the average worker made about $50 an hour including
benefits, a figure Reich said was
adjusted for inflation to reflect current dollars....
And the typical worker at the nation’s largest
employer Wal-Mart makes $8.81 an hour, Reich
said....
He told the crowd that to boost the economy, the country needs fair wages for the typical
worker.
The issue of stagnant wages struck a chord with
Erin Beard, 28, of
She was encouraged that Reich emphasized that citizens can demand that the system change.
“I like how he said, ‘Let’s start talking about
what we can do,’ “ Beard said. “It’s uplifting.”
6. “California coalition’s report calls for
overhaul to rein in health care costs” (The Sacramento Bee, Feb. 26, 2013);
story citing RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.sacbee.com/2013/02/26/5217193/california-coalitions-report-calls.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy
By Cynthia H. Craft
A dozen CEOs from health care providers and
insurers spent the past year participating in an unprecedented, collaborative
effort with public policymakers and health care researchers, dubbed the
Berkeley Forum and based at UC Berkeley School of Public Health.
The result: a report that contains a variety of
proposals for changing health care delivery and also stresses the need for
Californians to take more responsibility for staying healthy....
Cost-cutting is particularly important given
that the Affordable Care Act in 2014 will cover about 2 million more uninsured
Californians, adding an estimated 5 percent to the overall cost of providing
health care.
“The Affordable Care Act is a tipping point
toward this call to action,” said Richard
Scheffler, vice chair of the
7. “Talk of the Nation: It’s Time to Raise the
Minimum Wage” (NPR, February 25, 2013); interview and Q&A with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the program
Hosted by Jennifer Ludden
In his State of the Union address, President
Obama proposed a plan to boost federal minimum wage from 7.25 an hour, to 9
dollars. Columnist Robert Reich,
Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton [now professor of public policy at the
ROBERT
REICH: ... [S]ome opponents say that the minimum
wage recipients are mostly high school kids working for extra money. That’s not
true. Nearly 90 percent, and this is a study that the Economic Policy Institute
did last summer, showing that nearly 90 percent of the recipients of that
minimum wage increase are at least 20 years old, more than half work full time,
more than a quarter are parents. I mean these are working people not unlike
every other working person, and ... it seems to me and I think it is not just
economic issue, it is a moral issue. If they’re working full time, they should
not be in poverty.....
LUDDEN: ... And Robert Reich, [healthcare
service] is one of the fastest growing industries in the country. And we all
know about budget cutting at the federal level. So it’s—wouldn’t that be
tough...
REICH:
Yes, undoubtedly it’s hard. And some of those businesses that are involved in
health care are getting hit with a double whammy. But by the same token, I
think it’s important to consider that if people are not being paid a living
wage, or they’re being paid under the poverty line, we all end up subsidizing
them indirectly through welfare payments, through more Medicaid payments,
through housing assistance. In other words, there is a public subsidy that is
invisible that subsidizes the small businesses and other businesses that are
paying people a wage that really keeps them in poverty....
8. “Schools of Thought Blog: Not all preschools
are created equal” (CNN, February 21, 2013); commentary by DAVID KIRP; http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/21/my-view-not-all-preschools-are-created-equal/
“If it’s going to have an
impact, preschool must be good,” David L. Kirp
writes. “Quality costs money, though...”
By
David L. Kirp,
Special to CNN
Editor’s note:
David L. Kirp,
professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, is
the author of “The Sandbox Investment” and the forthcoming book “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great
American School System and a Strategy for America’s Schools.”
(CNN) - Kudos to the president—his call for
preschool for every 4-year-old, in the State of the Union address, is a bold
and visionary idea. It’s what those who understand the power of early education
to unlock children’s minds have been urging for years. It’s what I promoted
when I served on the 2008 presidential transition team. But—and it’s a very big
but—whether universal prekindergarten really makes a difference in children’s
lives or turns out to be a false hope depends entirely on the quality of what’s
being offered.
The plus-side first: It takes nothing away from
the president’s boldness to note that early education, which used to be derided
as baby-sitting, now enjoys widespread popularity. Scientists have learned how
rapidly the brain develops during the first years and how much those early
experiences build a foundation for later learning. “Skill begets skill,” as
Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman puts it, and studies of marquee
prekindergarten programs show its potential for lifelong impact. Economists
have calculated that every dollar invested in high-quality preschool returns
$7—a figure that would make Warren Buffett envious—with greater educational
achievement, higher earnings, fewer unwanted pregnancies, lower welfare costs,
even lower crime rates....
9. “Immigrants May Be the Best Hope for Desperate
Baby Boomers” (Business Insider, February 21, 2013); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.businessinsider.com/connecting-entitlement-reform-to-immigration-reform-2013-2
--Robert
Reich
... Most of us early boomers had planned to
retire around now. Those born a few years later had planned to retire in a few
years.
But these plans have gone awry....
We assumed we’d at least have Social Security and
Medicare. After all, we’ve been paying into both programs for years.
Yet both are now being eyed by deficit hawks who
say the only way to avoid large and unsustainable budget deficits in future
years is to limit these programs....
So are the boomers doomed?
Not necessarily. One possible response to the
aging of
We need to think more broadly, and connect the
dots. One logical way to help deal with the crisis of funding Social Security
and Medicare is to have more workers per retiree. And the simplest way to do
that is to allow more immigrants into the
Immigration reform and entitlement reform have a
lot to do with one another.
Robert Reich is one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at
the Goldman School 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
Bill Clinton.
10. “Robert Reich on the sequester: These
spending cuts are so massive they will drain the economy” (Viewpoint, Current
TV, February 20, 2013); interview with ROBERT
REICH; watch this interview
Robert
Reich talks to Current TV’s John Fugelsang about
the looming sequester, a set of federal budget cuts
that Reich fears could put us “back in a recession.” Reich also addresses House Speaker John Boehner’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which he
says the president needs to offer up spending cuts in order to come to an
agreement with the GOP.
“The president has agreed to $1.5 trillion of
spending cuts. That’s what Boehner’s not saying. The president has already
agreed to those spending cuts,” Reich
says....
Fugelsang: I recall Speaker
Boehner boasting that he got 90% of what he wanted after the last deal.
REICH:
“Whenever the president or the Democrats agree to cuts, they say ‘Fine, we need
more cuts.’ They really want to go after
Social Security and Medicare, but they don’t want to say that.” ...
“That degree of cutting, when the economy is
fragile, is going to drain so much demand out of the economy that we are back
in a recession, and I frankly don’t think Republicans care about that. They don’t
care that people would be unemployed.... They are wedded to their Republican,
supply-side, trickle-down orthodoxy that has been shown again and again not to
work.” ...
11. “The minimum wage and the meaning of a decent
society” (
By Robert
B. Reich
Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 should
be a no-brainer.
Republicans say it will cause employers to shed
jobs, but that’s baloney. Employers won’t outsource the jobs abroad or
substitute machines for them, because jobs at this low level of pay are all in
the local personal-service sector (retail, restaurant, hotel and so on), where
employers pass on small wage hikes to customers as pennies more on their bills.
States that have set their minimum wage closer to
$9 than the current federal minimum don’t have higher rates of unemployment
than do states still at the federal minimum....
Don’t fall for the mindless assertion that “markets”
know best. Markets are human creations, requiring human beings to decide how
they are structured and maintained.
The toughest questions we’re facing
today—whether, and how much, to raise the minimum wage; whether, and how, to
restrict the availability of guns; whether, and how, to expand health care
coverage—inevitably require us to define what we mean by a decent society.
Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of
labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at
Berkeley and the author of “Aftershock:
The Next Economy and America’s Future.”
12. “Austerity economics a cruel hoax” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 16, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Austerity-economics-a-cruel-hoax-4283095.php#ixzz2LOEZKuLs
--Robert
Reich
We are in the most anemic recovery in modern
history. The president is talking about boosting the economy and rebuilding the
middle class, but
In fact, apart from the Fed—which continues to
hold down interest rates in the quixotic hope that banks will begin lending
again to average people—the government is heading in exactly the wrong
direction: raising taxes on the middle class and cutting public spending. It’s
called austerity economics....
The major reason the economy contracted in the
fourth quarter last year was a large drop in government outlays—especially
military spending, which fell 22.2 percent. That was mainly due to reduced
spending on the war in
More jobs, better wages and faster growth should
be the most important objectives now. With them, everything else will be easier
to achieve - protection against climate change, immigration reform, long-term budget reform. Without them, everything will be
harder....
© 2013 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
13. “Robert Reich: Obama must address jobs and
the economy in his State of the Union speech” (Viewpoint, Current TV, February
11, 2013); interview with ROBERT REICH;
watch this interview
Robert
Reich, former
14. “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools” (The New
York Times & International Herald Tribune [*requires registration],
February 10, 2013); op-ed by DAVID KIRP;
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/opinion/sunday/the-secret-to-fixing-bad-schools.html?pagewanted=all
By DAVID
L. KIRP
WHAT would it really take to give students a
first-rate education? Some argue that our schools are irremediably broken and
that charter schools offer the only solution. The striking achievement of
Public schools in such communities have often
operated as factories for failure. This used to be true in
... These places — and there are a host of them,
largely unsung — didn’t become exemplars by behaving like magpies, taking shiny
bits and pieces and gluing them together. Instead, each devised a long-term
strategy reaching from preschool to high school. Each keeps learning from
experience and tinkering with its model. Nationwide, there’s no reason school
districts — big or small; predominantly white, Latino or black — cannot
construct a system that, like the schools of
David L. Kirp is a
professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of the forthcoming book “Improbable
Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for
America’s Schools.”
15. “History Lessons From
The secret to fixing bad schools - Feb. 17,
commentary
Three simple steps
This column [by David Kirp] ought to be a must-read for
In case the point has been missed, the
—Stephen Phillips,
* * *
Thinkers, not test-takers
This commonsense column from David Kirp should be required reading for
Gov. Rick Scott, all
Not everyone can go to
—Esther Kirk, Riverview
16. “Labor unions raise prosperity for all” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 9, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/Labor-unions-raise-prosperity-for-all-4264078.php
--Robert
B. Reich
... Almost a quarter of all jobs in
If they were rational, the wealthy would support
public investments in education and job training, a world-class infrastructure
(transportation, water and sewage, energy, Internet) and basic research—all of
which would make the American workforce more productive.
If they were rational, they’d even support labor
unions, which have proven the best means of giving working people a fair share
of the nation’s prosperity....
Walmart is a microcosm
of the American economy. It has brazenly fought off unions. But it could easily
afford to pay its workers more. It earned $16 billion last year. Much of that
sum went to Walmart’s shareholders, including the
family of its founder, Sam Walton.
The wealth of the Walton family now exceeds the
wealth of the bottom 40 percent of American families combined, according to an
analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.
But how can Walmart
expect to continue to show fat profits when most of its customers are on a
downward economic escalator?
Walmart should be unionized.
So should McDonald’s. So should every major big-box retailer and fast-food
outlet in the nation. So should every hospital in
That way, more Americans would have enough money
in their pockets to get the economy moving. And everyone—even
the very rich—would benefit. As the president said,
17. “2012 PROSE Awards” (States News Service,
February 7, 2013); award citing HENRY
BRADY; http://www.publishers.org/prosewinners2012/
Awards
for Excellence
Award for
Excellence in Social Sciences
The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal
Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy
By Kay Lehman Schlozman,
Sidney Verba, and Henry E. Brady
18. “Climate Change? Don’t Hold Your Breath” (Huffington
Post, February 5, 2013); op-ed citing DAN
KAMMEN; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/climate-change-dont-hold_b_2623037.html
By Amitai Etzioni
... One further notes that most climate change
prevention measures require dialing down economic activities, and hence they
are particularly difficult to introduce into an economy whose take off is far
from assured and growth is rather anemic.
This is not an argument against a carbon tax or
tax on gasoline or other ways of improving the climate by dialing down economic
activities. To the extent that the taxes can be sold and factories made to
produce less and hence fume less—such acts will do good.
Indeed, this is the reason most environmentalists favor leading simpler, less
materialistic lifestyles, despite understanding that most people experience
such scaling back of economic activity as a pain. Daniel Kammen, an energy expert at the
University of California, Berkeley, told NPR that a new California law that
require businesses to be more energy-efficient, a law he helped write, reflects
that “we’ve squeezed the lemon a little bit.” The problem is that while lemons
seem not to mind when they are squeezed, people do. Hence the merits of finding
ways to proceed which entail as little pain as possible, especially in this age
of austerity....
19. “Reagan’s GOP coalition unraveling” (San
Francisco Chronicle, February 2, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/Reagan-s-GOP-coalition-unraveling-4244313.php#ixzz2JyU3fqXE
--Robert
Reich
... The GOP crackup was probably inevitable. Inconsistencies
and tensions within the party have been growing for years—ever since Ronald
Reagan put together the coalition that became the modern Republican Party....
Republican libertarians have never gotten along
with social conservatives, who want to impose their own morality on everyone
else. Shrink-the-government fanatics in the GOP have never seen eye-to-eye with
deficit hawks, who don’t mind raising taxes as long as the extra revenue helps
reduce the size of the deficit. The GOP’s big-business and Wall Street wing has
never been comfortable with the nativists and racists
in the party who want to exclude immigrants and prevent minorities from getting
ahead. And right-wing populists have never gotten along with big business and
Wall Street, which love government as long as it gives them subsidies, tax
benefits and bailouts.
But Reagan’s coalition remained fragile. It
depended fundamentally on creating a common enemy: communists and terrorists
abroad, liberals and people of color at home....
© 2013 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
20. “Nonfiction Reviews” (Publisher’s Weekly
Review, Nonfiction Vol. 260 No. 02, January 14, 2013); review of book by DAVID KIRP.
Too many American public school students,
especially poor and minority students, lack basic reading and math proficiency
and are educated by uninspired teachers. What to do? To find out, UC Berkeley education and public policy
expert Kirp spent a year at in classrooms in a
school district in
Release Date: January 14, 2013
Product Name: Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of
a Great American School System and a Strategy for
Product Publisher:
Product Creator: David L. Kirp
ISBN: 978-0-19-998749-8
February 13 Robert Reich spoke on “Economy,
Inequality and Obama’s Second Term” at the World Affairs Council,
New this month on UCTV:
“Searching for Democracy:
Is Civility Overrated?” (UCTV, March 6, 2013); http://www.uctv.tv/shows/Is-Civility-Overrated-24567
Join Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy
at UC Berkeley Henry Brady, the Institute for Civility in Government’s
Cassandra Dahnke,
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
If you would like further information
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Director of External Relations and Development