|
Web |
Editors |
eDIGEST May 2010
|
|
|
eDigest Archives
| Upcoming Events | Quick Reference List | Alumni & Student Newsmakers | Faculty in the News Recent Faculty Speaking
Engagements &
Publications
| Videos &
Webcasts |
|
1.
May 4 —
6–7 p.m.— Reception with light refreshments and no-host bar
7–8:30 p.m.— Faculty perspectives and audience Q&A
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at the door. More info & registration
Faculty Speakers:
Steven Raphael Ph.D. ‘96, professor in the Goldman School of Public Policy.
Maria Echaveste J.D. ‘80, lecturer in residence at Berkeley Law.
2. “Car 2.0 – The Race for Electric Transportation Leadership”
May 5, 2010, 11 am – 6 pm,
Speakers in panel on “
Roland Hwang (MPP 1992), Transportation Program Director, Natural Resources Defense Council
Presented by The Berkeley-Stanford CleanTech Conference Series; more info at www.bscleantech.org
3. “Multi-Sector Model of Tradable Emissions Permits”
Makoto Tanaka, Associate Professor, National Graduate
Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in
May 4th, 2010, 12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Room 105 at the
Presented by the Center for Environmental Public Policy
(CEPP) at the
4. GSPP Bay Area Alumni Networking and Fundraising event
May 12, 5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m., Mimosa Champagne Lounge, 2355 Broadway, Oakland. RSVP online
If you have questions, please contact Deb Kong (MPP 2007) at debkong@gmail.com .
5. GSPP Commencement Exercises of the Class of 2010
Commencement address by: Michael Nacht, currently Assistant Secretary for Global Strategic Affairs in the Defense Department and formerly the Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy
May 15, 2010, 10:00 a.m., Chevron Auditorium, International
House,
Reception to follow at
6.
“Presumed Guilty” a film by Roberto
Hernández [with Layda Negrete]
and Geoffrey Smith
Premiere broadcast on PBS’s “P.O.V.” on July 27, 2010 [check your local PBS broadcast schedule].
The award-winning “Presumed Guilty” is the story of two young lawyers and their struggle to free a wrongfully imprisoned man and to expose a criminal justice system that imprisons thousands of other innocent people like him. With no background in film, Roberto Hernández (PhD cand.) and Layda Negrete (MPP 1998/PhD cand.) set about recording the injustices they were witnessing. More info
ALUMNI AND STUDENT
NEWSMAKERS
1. “‘Presumed Guilty’: Kafkaesque tale of injustice” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2010); story citing ROBERTO HERNÁNDEZ (PhD cand.) and LAYDA NEGRETE (MPP 1998/PhD cand.); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/29/DDF01CF3I6.DTL#ixzz0mVgqsJ6v
2. “Asian American attacks focus at City Hall” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2010); column citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/29/BAJL1D68SF.DTL
3. “After 5 years, Veneman prepares to step down as head of UNICEF” (McClatchy-Tribune News Service, April 28, 2010); newswire citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
4. “Lugar bucks House earmark rule—Pursues $10 million for private
company, citing defense needs” (Journal Gazette (
5. “Drive-through lawmaking” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2010); column citing RANDY KANOUSE (MPP 1978/JD); http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/diaz/
6. “Get ready to fight for S.F.’s political soul” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2010); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/24/BAU51D3PFU.DTL
7. “
8. “
9. “NATIONS: The 2 biggest carbon emitters find common ground in clean energy technology” (ClimateWire, April 23, 2010); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/04/23/archive/1?terms=%22ned+helme%22
10. “McClatchy profits rise; ad slump eases” (Sacramento Bee, Apr. 23, 2010); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/MD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/23/2699730/mcclatchy-profits-rise-ad-slump.html
11. “Riehm Environmental Award Goes to UofL’s Larry Owsley” (Targeted News Service, April 22, 2010); award citing LARRY OWSLEY (MPP 1973); https://louisville.edu/uofltoday/campus-news/vpba-larry-owsley-receives-environmental-award
12. “BA/ML’s Levy, Barclays Maki, MS’ Greenlaw Differ on Fed” (The Main Wire, Market News International, April 22, 2010); newswire citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).
13. “Free Press Testifies at House Hearing on Need for Broadband Data” (States News Service, April 21, 2010); congressional testimony by S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
14. “Assembly panel OKs insurance ‘exchanges’ bill” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2010); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/21/BAIC1D1P6A.DTL
15. “Hearing of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee; Subject: ‘National Capital Region” (Federal News Service, April 21, 2010); congressional testimony by DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
16. “Opinion: Henton: We knew how to invest in education 50 years ago” (San Jose Mercury News, April 20, 2010); op-ed by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_14915808
17. “Staff, pay cut despite new funds” (Sacramento Bee, April 19, 2010); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/19/2688050/staff-pay-cut-despite-new-funds.html#ixzz0ley7OIWq
18. “CLIMATE: CCAP’s Helme discusses progress in int’l discussions” (E&ETV’s OnPoint Vol. 10 No. 9, E&E News PM, April 19, 2010); interview with NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/04/19/archive/6?terms=%22ned+helme%22
19. “Health coverage program worries state” (Press-Register (
20. “CLIMATE: Cap-and-trade protesters disrupt carbon conference” (E&E News PM, April 16, 2010); story citing MARK TREXLER (MPP 1982/PhD 1989); http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/04/16/archive/7?terms=trexler
21. “
22. “Choosing sides in net neutrality battle” (Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2010); column citing S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
23. “The Most Important Vote for Higher Ed” (Huffington Post, April 14, 2010); op-ed by JONATHAN STEIN (MPP cand. 2011); http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-stein/the-most-important-vote-f_b_537287.html
24. “San Francisco passes landscaping law” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 14, 2010); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/14/BA1P1CUBG8.DTL#ixzz0l5gjldeP
25. “S.F. firefighters’ water marvel seeks repairs” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2010); story citing MICHAEL THOMPSON (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/13/MN7R1CTJ3O.DTL
26. “Sunset losing sleep over plan for pot dispensary” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2010); column citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/13/BAPD1CTHS9.DTL
27. “San Francisco Detours into Reality Tourism” (New York Times, April 12, 2010); story citing DON FALK (MPP 1981); http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/us/12tenderloin.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fnational%2Findex.jsonp
28. “United Nations: In Zambia, UNICEF chief pushes for boost to voluntary testing for HIV” (M2 PressWIRE, April 12, 2010); newswire citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
29. “Think you could fix
30. “States try to link up vets with federal government
benefits” (
31. “Retirement delay seen key to solvent Social Security” (The Washington Times, April 8, 2010); story citing NICOLE MAESTAS (MPP 1997/PhD Econ 2002); http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/08/retirement-delay-seen-key-to-solvent-social-securi/
32. “S.F. program to help homeowners go green” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 2010); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/08/BUJ31CQMF5.DTL#ixzz0kWcRksUz
33. “Principal in Deloitte Tax Joins Board of Trustees at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California” (CPIC.org, April 8, 2010); press release citing LOUIS WELLER (MPP/JD 1975).
34. “Governor Announces Opening of Governor’s Office of Economic Development” (States News Service, April 8, 2010); newswire citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).
35. “Piedmont City Briefs: Foster care topic of league talk” (Oakland Tribune, April 8, 2010); story citing AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_14844986?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
36. “The Wrong Drunk” (Sun Sentinel, April 7, 2010); op-ed by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
37. “Court: FCC can’t regulate Internet” (Politico.com, April 6, 2010); story citing S DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35450.html
38. “The iPad lesson for
39. “Proposal to ban caffeine in beer opposed” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2010); story citing organization headed by BRUCE LIVINGSTON (MPP 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/06/MNI61CQ1RT.DTL
40. “Silicon Valley Slumps Shows Shift of U.S. Technology” (PBS Newshour, April 5, 2010); features commentary by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); watch this program
41. “Owning a home is in reach at last for some people” (Modesto Bee, April 5, 2010); story citing LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993/PhD 2000); http://www.modbee.com/2010/04/05/v-print/1115019/first-place-is-in-reach-at-last.html
42. “United States Groups seek details as they welcome OCS plan” (TendersInfo, April 5, 2010); story citing SKIP HORVATH (MPP 1976).
43. “‘One of the things that carried me was my wedding vows’” (Washington Post [*requires registration], April 4, 2010); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
44. “S.F. budget deficit expected to soar” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2010); story citing GREG WAGNER (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/03/BA6P1CP4PR.DTL
45. “W.H. finalizes strict fuel standards” (Politico.com, April 1, 2010); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
46. “Impulse is Bliss; Older but wiser? Don’t count on it. New brain research shows exactly how much help sixtysomethings need with financial decisions, and it’s a lot” (Financial Planning, April 2010); story citing NICOLE MAESTAS (MPP 1997/PhD Econ 2002).
47. “Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md, Delivers Remarks at a forum for the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and the Concord Coalition” (CQ Transcriptions, April 1, 2010 All Rights Reserved); event featuring TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
48. “The George Washington University (GW) holds a conference with a discussion on a Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) report, ‘State of the Media 2010.’” (The Washington Daybook, March 29, 2010); event featuring ROBERT ENTMAN (MPP 1980).
49. “Annual Keenan Summit Addresses Challenges and Opportunities in Health Care; Experts Address Timely Trends and Best Practices at NorCal and SoCal Events” (PR Newswire, March 25, 2010); event featuring FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993).
50. “Law School Lecture Focuses on Conflict of Interest in Government” (US Fed News, March 25, 2010); event featuring ROSS CHEIT (MPP 1980/PhD 1987).
51. “Council floats idea of raising property taxes” (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 2010); story citing STEVE AGOSTINI (MPP 1986); http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/88337317.html
52. “
53. “Finding a cure for
54. “Wind Industry Applauds Release of Nebraska Wind Integration Study” (States News Service, March 12, 2010); newswire citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).
55. “‘Aggressive campaign’ against
56. “Clinics, hospitals: safety net at risk without taxes” (The Olympian, March 3, 2010); story citing REBECCA KAVOUSSI (MPP 2001).
57. “Steve Frenkel brings significant environmental policy experience to advance Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing throughout the Midwest” (Business Wire, February 25, 2010); newswire citing STEVE FRENKEL (MPP 2000) and CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000).
58. “Hearing of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Subject: ‘FY 2011 Budget for the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, and the Federal Maritime Commission’;
Chaired By: Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD)” (Federal News Service, February 25, 2010); congressional testimony by STEVEN CALDWELL (MPP 1983).
59. “Restoring Vast Water Bodies; Committee: Senate Environment and Public Works; Subcommittee: Water and Wildlife” (CQ Congressional Testimony, February 24, 2010); congressional testimony by PATRICK WRIGHT (MPP 1987).
60. “Fiscal 2011 Appropriations Transportation and HUD; Committee: House Appropriations; Subcommittee: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies” (CQ Congressional Testimony February 23, 2010); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony citing WILL FISCHER (MPP 1999).
61. “Copenhagen emissions pact appears increasingly fragile; U.N. climate chief resigns China, India have yet to formally sign off on deal” (The Washington Post, February 19, 2010); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971).
62. “Should we budget for snow or for blizzards?” (Washington Post, February 17, 2010); blog citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/should_we_budget_for_snow_or_f.html
63. “Wednesday Readers’ Forum: Reevaluate SMART rail” (Marin Independent Journal, February 10, 2010); letter to Editor citing JOY DAHLGREN (MPP 1977); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14373498?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
64. “Schools Make 1st Cut - OK Management Shuffle to Save Cash” (Modesto Bee, February 9, 2010); story citing JANNELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997).
65. “Climate Change: Polluters Dragging EU Back” (IPS - Inter Press Service, January 20, 2010); newswire citing JASON ANDERSON (MPP 1997).
66. “2010 Sigma Xi Awards Honor Leading Scientists” (States News Service, January 13, 2010); newswire citing KEVIN GURNEY (MPP 1996); http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/news/2010awards.shtml
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Getting Wall Street out of Washington and Washington out of Wall Street” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 26, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/296888
2. “Pentagon Paints Unsettling Picture of WMD Proliferation” (The White House Bulletin, April 23, 2010); news bulletin citing MICHAEL NACHT.
3. Robert Reich’s Blog: “A citizen’s guide to reforming Wall Street” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 21, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2010/0421/A-citizen-s-guide-to-reforming-Wall-Street
4. “6 to be honored with Goldman Prizes tonight in S.F.” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); story citing RICHARD & RHODA GOLDMAN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/19/MN4M1CVFQO.DTL
5. “Goldman Environmental Prize” (Forum, KQED public radio, Apr 19, 2010); program citing the GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE; Listen to the program
6. “Elephant peacemaker given Goldman Prize” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); story citing the GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/19/MN4G1CN4QV.DTL
7. “
8. “Goldman Environmental Prize Awards $150,000 to Six Heroes of the Environment” (Business Wire, April 19, 2010); newswire citing RICHARD N. GOLDMAN.
9. “Open Forum: On prioritizing spending at UC Berkeley” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); op-ed coauthored by MICHAEL O’HARE; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=61511#ixzz0lYeqDdXt
10. “Robert Reich’s Blog: Future of American jobs won’t look like past” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 16, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/295070
11. “Page 3.14 Blog: Energy Ministers of the
12. “When Two Progressives Disagree on How to Create Jobs” (Huffington Post, April 13, 2010); commentary citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/when-two-progressives-dis_b_535367.html
13. “The Jobs Picture Still Looks Bleak” (Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2010; op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304222504575173780671015468.html?KEYWORDS=Berkeley#printMode
14. “Reading Economic Signs of the ‘Great Recession’” (Talk of the Nation [NPR], April 13, 2010); features commentary by and Q&A with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the story
15. “Note to Environmentalists: Economists are on your side” (Energy Collective, April 12, 2010); commentary citing MICHAEL HANEMANN; http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/63043
16. “US 2010 QDR strikes right balance for military: Pentagon” (DefenceWeb, April 8, 2010); story citing MICHAEL NACHT; http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7432:us-2010-qdr-strikes-right-balance-for-military-pentagon&catid=54:Governance&Itemid=118
17. “Immigrants: The key to Social Security” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], April 7, 2010); Listen to this commentary
18. “Robert Reich’s Blog: Break up the banks: Why we must limit the size of banks” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 6, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2010/0406/Break-up-the-banks-Why-we-must-limit-the-size-of-banks
19. “
20. “Back in the Job Hunt, With
21. “Biotech companies in need of resources to thrive” (KGO TV, April 2, 2010); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=7365336
22. “Analysis of March Jobs Report with Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich” (Nightly Business Report, April 2, 2010); interview with ROBERT REICH; watch the extended interview
23. “Seeking to Help Budding Researchers with a Click of the Mouse” (New York Times (*requires registration), April 2, 2010); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/02sfenterprise.html
1. “‘Presumed Guilty’: Kafkaesque tale of injustice” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2010); story citing ROBERTO HERNÁNDEZ (PhD cand.) and LAYDA NEGRETE (MPP 1998/PhD cand.); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/29/DDF01CF3I6.DTL#ixzz0mVgqsJ6v
--Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer
Layda Negrete (left) and Roberto Hernández are married UC Berkeley grad students and lawyers who made the film. (Noah Berger / Special to The Chronicle)
Antonio Zuñiga thought
he was being kidnapped. Two men came from behind and shoved him to the ground
on a
Turns out it was a police car. He was held in jail for two days without a phone call, while officers repeatedly told him he “did it.”
Zuñiga, a 26-year-old street vendor, never knew what “it” was until he was charged in December 2005 with the shooting death of a gang member he had never heard of. Despite gunpowder residue tests that proved he didn’t fire a gun, and a bevy of unquestioned witnesses who saw Zuñiga at his computer repair stand several miles away when the killing occurred, a judge convicted and sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the crime.
His Kafkaesque two-year ordeal, and the two UC Berkeley students who brought cameras into the prison and the courtroom to expose the corruption of his case, provide the story line for “Presumed Guilty,” chosen as best Bay Area documentary at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival.
Roberto Hernández and Layda Negrete, married lawyers who are earning their doctorates in public policy at UC Berkeley [Goldman School of Public Policy], became so involved in Zuñiga’s case that halfway through, they put down their cameras and became part of the legal team that eventually freed him….
After watching the 90-minute documentary, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard flew the filmmakers to his office to ask for advice eradicating police malfeasance.
“We told him to put cameras in every police department to film every interrogation,” Hernández said. “He had just spent $8,000 on surveillance cameras. He wrote it down. I think he may do it.”
“Presumed Guilty” provides some of the first behind-the-scenes accounts of how money, power and fear braid to form Mexico’s dysfunctional legal system, where police are rewarded for the number of arrests they make, 80 percent of defendants never see a judge, and 90 percent of suspects are found guilty without any scientific evidence like fingerprints or DNA, according to the filmmakers and the National Center for State Courts, a U.S. nonprofit.
“In
2. “Asian American attacks focus at City Hall” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 29, 2010); column citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/29/BAJL1D68SF.DTL
--C.W. Nevius
… On March 22, [Mrs.] Cheng was checking on her daughter who was late coming home on the bus. Standing on the Third and Oakdale Muni platform, she recalls being grabbed from behind, choked and thrown off the 5-foot-high metro stop and into the street.
The impact knocked her unconscious, shattered some of her teeth and left her lying in the path of a bus. The attacker was identified as a 15-year-old African American boy who was charged with robbery. But he threw her to the ground for no apparent reason.
Cheng was just one of the nearly 300 Asian Americans who showed up at City Hall to share story after story about being assaulted, robbed and intimidated. The two hours of testimony were tearful and angry. The need to share their stories was triggered by Cheng’s experience; the January beating death of Huan Chen, 83, as he left a bus station at Third Street and Oakdale Avenue; and Tian Sheng Yu, who died after he was punched by an 18-year-old African American man in Oakland….
Bayview police station Capt. Greg Suhr says the police are responding, including adding 32 officers to his station to make Muni safer. But he thinks the racial issue is clouding perceptions….
That may be, but Supervisor Carmen Chu said she’s heard stories of Asians being pushed on the bus, or insulted or spit on.
“Some of the perceptions
are based on reality and some on stereotypes,” said
3. “After 5 years, Veneman prepares to step down as head of UNICEF” (McClatchy-Tribune News Service, April 28, 2010); newswire citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers
Some aspects of her
five-year stint can be easily summed. The 72 countries she’s visited. The 17
separate trips to
“I’ve had a lot of vaccines,” Veneman said with a laugh. “I’ve taken a lot of malaria pills.”
But as Veneman approaches her April 30 departure date, part of her resume defies simple accounting.
Last summer, for
example, Veneman flew commercial air
to
In Swahili, Mapensa means “love.”
Soldiers had raped Mapensa, multiple times. Then they came back and raped her again. Her husband, as a result, now shuns her. Mapensa’s future, and that of her children, seems utterly bleak.
“This is not rape in the traditional sense,” Veneman said. “This is brutality. This is torture.” …
Several hundred thousand
girls and women have been raped in the
UNICEF targets the war
crime in several ways. Through a “Stop Raping Our Greatest Resource” campaign,
the organization trained
“She has fulfilled her mandate with immense dedication,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said upon news of Veneman’s departure….
4. “Lugar bucks House
earmark rule—Pursues $10 million for private company, citing defense needs”
(Journal Gazette (
By Sylvia A. Smith,
… A Hoosier business is working on the technology that it says would fill a national security void: What happens if there’s a blackout in an area with a major military base and communications and other operations are frozen?
The hybrid trucks and
vans under development by Bright Automotive in
[Sen. Richard Lugar,
R-Ind., is] asking Congress to allocate $10 million [an “earmark”] in next
year’s budget to
Earmarks for for-profit companies is “where the rubber meets the road on pay to play,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, which advocates against all earmarks.
Ellis said businesses “can send thousands of dollars in campaign contributions, which can net them millions of dollars in earmark tax money.” …
But the amount of money claimed for earmarks—while billions of dollars—is still a tiny portion of the overall $3.5 trillion budget, budget analyst Stan Collender said.
“It’s almost so small as to not be worth anyone’s time. But earmarks have never been about the number. They’ve been about appearances and politics,” he said.
In recent years, earmarks have received considerable attention and produced a lengthy investigation into lawmakers who were accused by a watchdog group of trading earmarks for campaign contributions.
Collender said the most telling factor of earmarks is that few members of Congress request them for projects outside their states or districts.
5. “Drive-through lawmaking” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2010); column citing RANDY KANOUSE (MPP 1978/JD); http://www.sfgate.com/columnists/diaz/
--John Diaz
Poll after poll has
shown that public regard for the California Legislature has fallen to an
all-time low. If their so-called public hearings are any indication, our
elected representatives in
The drive-through hearing, in which public comment is restricted to as few as eight minutes on legislation under consideration, has gone from end-of-session rarity to commonplace in the state Capitol.
“Some people, God forbid, just want to tell their story and how a bill might help them or hurt them,” said Randy Kanouse, a 30-year veteran lobbyist who works for the East Bay Municipal Utility District. “They should have that opportunity.”
If they came to the state Capitol in the past two weeks, their chances of being heard in a committee session were only slightly better than hitting the lottery.
In one recent Assembly Daily File, which lists upcoming hearings on legislation, 18 of the sessions imposed severe restrictions on public testimony. Many of them limited input to two witnesses per side, two minutes each. The Senate had four hearings that each limited testimony to two witnesses per side, three minutes each.
“Was this always the case? No, no,” Kanouse said. “Anyone who’s been doing this work for 20 years or more will tell you: This did not happen 10 years ago.” …
“These rules really disenfranchise the public,” said Kanouse, the EBMUD lobbyist. “They are wrong, just wrong.”
6. “Get ready to fight for S.F.’s political soul” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 2010); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/24/BAU51D3PFU.DTL
--C.W. Nevius
Moderate Democrats in
The next two months will see a battle for the political soul of the city. It will pit the progressives against the moderates in a face-off that will have huge implications in the November elections and, perhaps, the election of the next mayor. The key is control of an obscure but incredibly influential organization called the Democratic County Central Committee.
Rather than complaining about the direction of the city, middle-of-the-road Democrats have to get active. They have to vote in the June DCCC election and they have to do their homework on the candidates to learn if they represent moderate values.
“If you want to see change in the city, change to the culture of the Board of Supervisors, and bring some common sense and reason back to the city, it starts with the DCCC,” said David Latterman, a local pollster….
7. “
Nearly one million
Hispanic and non-Hispanic white Californians cross the Mexican border each year
in search of medical, dental and prescription medication services. Of those, an
estimated 150,000 are covered by one of several private insurance companies
offering cross-border health coverage. These plans generally provide access to
urgent and emergency care in
Changes in health and immigration laws could have significant effects on cross-border insurance, but experts are divided about what those might be….
“It’s uncertain,” said Arturo Vargas Bustamante about changes that might come about in the market as a result of health reform. [Vargas] Bustamante is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Services at UCLA’s School of Public Health.
“It will all depend on
whether it’s effective at actually offering better care for those who are
currently underserved, even though they have insurance, and also whether it is
effective at reducing costs,” [Vargas]
Bustamante said. “If health care is
less expensive, employers may be willing to offer you very nice terms to get
all of your health care in the
8. “
In the end, supporters of smaller type won big. The state pharmacy board voted Thursday to adopt a new standard for the type size on prescription drug labels.
The new rules are supported by industry and opposed by consumer and senior advocates, who had pushed to require pharmacies to print key drug label information, such as the medicine’s name and instructions, in a larger type size.
People need to be able
to see what’s in their prescription bottle, said Marty
The California Board of Pharmacy had been poised, in January, to adopted the larger type size. But the day before the vote, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed a drugstore executive to the panel, who cast the decisive vote to kill the plan, The Times reported….
9. “NATIONS: The 2 biggest carbon emitters find common ground in clean energy technology” (ClimateWire, April 23, 2010); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2010/04/23/archive/1?terms=%22ned+helme%22
--Lisa Friedman, E&E reporter
A wind turbine farm in
America’s relationship with
In the run-up to the
Late last month, Energy
Secretary Steven Chu announced $37.5 million over the next five years for the
research center, which will be located at existing facilities like universities
[including the University of
California-Berkeley] and national laboratories in both countries.
Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy, said
“There’s a much more
nuanced appreciation of
10. “McClatchy profits rise; ad slump eases” (Sacramento Bee, Apr. 23, 2010); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/MD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/23/2699730/mcclatchy-profits-rise-ad-slump.html
By Dale Kasler
The McClatchy Co. reported higher profits and an easing of its advertising slump Thursday.
The Bee’s parent said its
first-quarter results show it is making progress in its recovery from a
devastating downturn. Advertising revenue fell 11.2 percent compared to a year
earlier – much less than the 30 percent plunge the
“We are weathering this recession,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Pruitt in a conference call with investment analysts. “Even though we expect advertising revenues to be down in the second quarter, we believe the ad trend will continue to improve.”
McClatchy is the third
largest newspaper chain in the nation and one of the biggest publicly held
companies in the
The company’s income from continuing operations came to $4.8 million, or 6 cents a share, compared to a $22.9 million loss a year ago. Despite the improvement, the results came in 4 cents a share below Wall Street expectations, according to Thomson Reuters.
“We are pleased with our first-quarter results given the economic environment,” Pruitt said….
Like most other newspaper chains and other media companies, McClatchy is recovering from a major ad downturn that forced significant cutbacks in staffing and other expenses. McClatchy’s cash expenses fell $69 million in the first quarter, or 21 percent, not counting severance costs.
Pruitt said the company will continue to control costs but “we are not anxious to make more cuts.” …
11. “Riehm Environmental Award Goes to UofL’s Larry Owsley” (Targeted News Service, April 22, 2010); award citing LARRY OWSLEY (MPP 1973); https://louisville.edu/uofltoday/campus-news/vpba-larry-owsley-receives-environmental-award
LOUISVILLE,
Larry Owsley, UofL’s vice president for business affairs, received
the award created by the Partnership for a
Owsley, who joined UofL in 1983, oversees the university’s business, construction and renovation, physical plant, police, parking, transportation, food services and vending operations. The size and scope of his work in sustainability has been “immense,” said his nominators.
During his time at UofL, Owsley has revitalized hundreds of acres of brownfields into environmentally-safe properties such as Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, Jim Patterson Baseball Stadium and a new student housing complex on the former American Standard property.
He also negotiated a contract with TARC that allows UofL students and employees to ride the bus free with a valid university ID, a step that has encouraged thousands of people to use alternative transportation, nominators said.
“The
Larry Owsley was one of the first people to champion environmental
sustainability at the
Largely because of his efforts, UofL earned a B+ on a report card issued last fall by the Sustainability Endowments Institute, a national organization that rates sustainability at more than 300 colleges and universities.
Owsley also took a lead role in securing a $21.7 million, 13-year performance contract to make Belknap Campus more energy efficient. The project is expected to reduce UofL’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 55.5 million pounds, an amount equal to removing 4,000 cars from the road for a year….
Owsley, a
12. “BA/ML’s Levy, Barclays Maki, MS’ Greenlaw Differ on Fed” (The Main Wire, Market News International, April 22, 2010); newswire citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).
By Sheila Mullan
He added that “the timing of the Fed moves depends on the Fed’s objectives” but also warned that the threats from a Congress that seeks to lessen the power and independence of the Fed, so to speak, “are real.”
“Monetary stimulus works with a long and variable lags,” he added. “But once it gains traction, it can be very powerful. I concur that the economy is going to outperform. The core members of the Fed rely aggressively on a GDP model,” he continued. “The GDP gap model has been notoriously unreliable,” he said, and cited the 1970s GDP and inflation situation wherein accelerating inflation was missed until too late.
“I see in the last two quarters that nominal GDP is accelerating,” said Levy. “I am not saying that inflation is coming back right now. But Dave [Greenlaw] made the point that the market is going to lead the Fed not just because the Fed does not want to surprise the market but the Fed also has to deal with Congress.”
He asked, rhetorically, “How long can the Fed keep the real fed funds rate negative, as the economy is accelerating and gaining traction? Once the money multipliers stabilize, the Fed needs to be very careful. The reverse repos are only temporary draining operations.
“The market is going to lead the Fed,” he added. “And after a couple more months of strong employment numbers, the Fed is going to change the language.”
13. “Free Press Testifies at House Hearing on Need for Broadband Data” (States News Service, April 21, 2010); congressional testimony by S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
Turner commended the FCC for modernizing the Universal Service Fund to increase access to broadband services, but added, “The transition plan still leaves in place many of the more problematic aspects of the existing subsidy system, including the lack of a process of determination of where subsidies are actually needed in order to keep rates and service quality [in rural areas] reasonably comparable to rates and quality in urban areas.”
Turner also criticized the FCC’s assessment of the state of broadband deployment. He said the National Broadband Plan overstates the availability of high-quality broadband services, noting that the Plan’s quantification of availability is based on questionable assumptions and fails to make determinations about where services are actually offered.
Finally, Turner testified on the Commission’s authority to act in the broadband arena in the wake of the Comcast v. FCC decision. Turner said, “Reclassification would simply restore the framework that Congress adopted for all two-way communications networks in 1996, a framework that today still applies to all of the high-capacity data lines in the very competitive business broadband market.” …
14. “Assembly panel OKs insurance ‘exchanges’ bill” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2010); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/21/BAIC1D1P6A.DTL
--Victoria Colliver, Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writers
Taking a step that prepares the state to carry out the new federal health overhaul law, the Assembly Health Committee approved a bill Tuesday that would ultimately create a marketplace where Californians could go to buy health insurance.
The bill, introduced by Assembly Speaker John Pérez, creates the framework for a state-based “exchange,” a vehicle through which individual consumers and small-business owners will be able to band together to buy private insurance under the rules of the new health law….
Through these exchanges, consumers will be able to shop and compare options, and use federal subsidies if eligible. For small businesses, the exchanges are expected to offer large-group purchasing power.
“The exchange is going
to play a central role in the ultimate implementation of this new law, as it is
conceived today,” said Marian Mulkey,
senior program officer for the
15. “Hearing of the Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee; Subject: ‘National Capital Region” (Federal News Service, April 21, 2010); congressional testimony by DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
Chaired By: Representative Norman Dicks (D-Wa)
Witnesses: Charles Rice, President, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Defense Undersecretary for Installations and Environment; Vice Admiral John Mateczun, Commander of the Joint Task Force, National Capital Region Medical….
MS. ROBYN: … My office is the advocate for maintaining the investment necessary for our facilities to support our missions and personnel effectively. My office also oversees the BRAC [base realignment and closure] process which, among other things, has been a significant engine for the recapitalization of our enduring facilities.
The 2005 BRAC process is channeling a significant amount of money into our enduring facilities with hospitals and medical facilities among the largest beneficiaries.
The 2005 BRAC commission endorsed the Department of Defense’s proposal to consolidate and realign medical care delivery in the National Capitol Region. The BRAC decision recognized that the renovation of the aged and deteriorating Walter Reed facility was not the best use of our resources. By allowing us to channel these resources to the new configuration, BRAC addressed long-standing health-care facility needs in the National Capitol Region.
In the department’s view, this restructuring will transform medical care delivery in the NCR.…
In the course of transforming medical care in the NCR, we’ve made positive course corrections at several points in response to outside independent reviews. And I won’t go into detail on those, but I will say that the enhancements that resulted from responding to those outside recommendations account for most of the increase in the cost of this BRAC process, which was originally estimated to cost a billion dollars in the NCR and has ended up costing an estimated 2.6 billion (dollars)….
16. “Opinion: Henton: We knew how to invest in education 50 years ago” (San Jose Mercury News, April 20, 2010); op-ed by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_14915808
By Doug Henton
Special to the Mercury News
The front-page stories in the April 18 Mercury News on record profits for Silicon Valley companies and the crisis in California higher education suggest that it is time to explore the historic relationship between investment in higher education and our region’s leadership in innovation — and what is now at risk.
As a graduate student at UC Berkeley [in the
Graduate School of Public Policy], I
had the opportunity to meet Clark Kerr, the former president of the University
of California and architect of the Master Plan for Higher Education. Later, I
conducted an in-depth interview with Kerr for a chapter on the
I learned that Kerr was
a noted economist who understood the importance of preparing the next
generation of knowledge workers and promoting world-class research to generate
long-term economic benefits for the
In fact, that is how he
sold the Master Plan to the California Legislature in 1960:
Now we face a paradox.
Our leading technology companies are prospering with record profits based on
these skills and the research from our universities, but we are no longer
investing in our public higher education system. Last year, the state of
In short, our firms are less connected to our state’s educational future at exactly the time when our education system has experienced deep trouble. How do we overcome this growing disconnect that threatens the long-term economic health of our region?
Clearly, there have been many signs of crisis and expressions of concern by students, faculty, parents and companies about the future of our university system. However, the fundamental logic of investing in higher education to fuel economic prosperity so well articulated by Clark Kerr needs to be remembered during this time when global competition is even more important. In the end, where do we want to place our investments for the future?
DOUG HENTON is chairman and CEO
of Collaborative Economics, a
17. “Staff, pay cut despite new funds” (Sacramento Bee, April 19, 2010); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/19/2688050/staff-pay-cut-despite-new-funds.html#ixzz0ley7OIWq
By Christina Jewett and
Agustin Armendariz -
California’s nursing homes have received $880
million in additional funding from a 2004 state law intended to help hire more
caregivers and boost wages.
But 232 homes did just the opposite. They either cut staff, paid lower wages or let caregiver levels slip below a state-mandated minimum, a California Watch investigation has found….
Among the 131 homes that cut staff by 2008, the median profit was 35 percent more than other homes in the analysis.
But the law that made the extra money possible included few safeguards to ensure that patient care improved. And about two dozen homes that made the deepest caregiver cuts had about one-third more deficiencies than other state facilities over a three-year period ending in 2009, according to an analysis of Medicare data by the nonprofit California Healthcare Foundation….
The Nursing Home Quality
Care Act of 2004 was intended to address a glaring problem: Daily Medi-Cal
rates paid to nursing homes in
Toby Douglas, chief deputy director for health care programs at the
state health department, said that most of
Douglas said the Governor’s Office has “made it clear that (the
funding law) could be improved” by linking nursing home pay to factors such as
patient satisfaction, reduction of bed sores or payment of fines for inadequate
care. His department,
18. “CLIMATE: CCAP’s Helme discusses progress in int’l discussions” (E&ETV’s OnPoint Vol. 10 No. 9, E&E News PM, April 19, 2010); interview with NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/04/19/archive/6?terms=%22ned+helme%22
Following the latest
round of international climate discussions in
… Monica Trauzzi: So,
from where we’re sitting now, what’s the outlook for Cancún? I mean is it going
to be another contentious meeting as
NED HELME: I think that Cancún will get some of these agreements
firmed up, so the Copenhagen Accord key issues will be on the table. We won’t
get a treaty and they’re not shooting for a treaty and that doesn’t bother me,
because I think … that one of the keys here is we’re starting this fast start,
this three year period, $30 billion for actual projects and actions in
developing countries. Historically, we’ve had $2 billion over 17 years. We have
ten times as much money, a chance to really do concrete things, and we’re
talking about real actions in these countries in the next year or two. So, it
doesn’t bother me if we don’t get it all done in Cancún. I think actually the
learning by doing, the actual doing it in
19. “Health coverage
program worries state” (Press-Register (
By Sean Reilly -
The “high-risk” insurance pools are to be created under the federal health care overhaul approved last month, which also provides $5 billion nationwide to defray the cost of coverage through 2013….
“This is clearly a federal program; it’s not on the states,” said Karen Pollitz of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute in the nation’s capital….
In a report released this January, Pollitz noted that the 35 states that run high-risk pools spent about $900 million in 2008 to cover excess losses by approximately 200,000 participants.
Given the rate of health care inflation and other factors, she wrote, “it is doubtful” that the added federal funding “would support substantial pool enrollment growth.”
20. “CLIMATE: Cap-and-trade protesters disrupt carbon conference” (E&E News PM, April 16, 2010); story citing MARK TREXLER (MPP 1982/PhD 1989); http://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/2010/04/16/archive/7?terms=trexler
--Debra Kahn, E&E reporter
The protest—at a conference put on by offset issuer Climate Action Reserve, analysis firm Point Carbon and the International Emissions Trading Association—came amid a discussion of the prospects of reducing emissions 80 percent by 2050. Josh Hart, representing Offset This!, cited NASA scientist James Hansen’s recent criticism of cap and trade and offsets as perpetuating the use of coal-fired electricity and allowing financial speculators to profit handsomely…
... Panelists agreed that offsets suffer from poor public perceptions but maintained they spur reductions that would not have happened otherwise.
“We have done a terrible job of convincing people that we’re far enough over on the reality meter,” said Mark Trexler, director of climate strategies and markets for Det Norske Veritas, a risk management firm….
21. “
22. “Choosing sides in net neutrality battle” (Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2010); column citing S. DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).
By Michael Hiltzik
Here’s an entry in my bizspeak-to-English dictionary: When executives in certain industries talk about needing to be rid of regulation so they can foster “better customer service,” they’re really talking about safeguarding their income.
Case in point: the cable and telecommunications industry, and the concept of network neutrality.
Net neutrality, broadly speaking, is the principle that any Internet service provider, such as your cable or phone company, should be largely blind to whatever data flow to your computer from the websites you access—your service provider shouldn’t interfere with your Web searches, say, by giving Google preferential routing (and thus faster speed to you) over Yahoo.
The net neutrality issue scuttled back into the headlines last week with a ruling by a federal appeals court that appeared to nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s jurisdiction over Internet providers’ behavior. Not surprisingly, the decision has freaked out a lot of people concerned with keeping the Internet a widely accessible utility.
“Without an about-face,
the commission’s policies are in tremendous doubt now,” says S. Derek Turner, research director for Free
Press, a Washington nonprofit in the forefront of the fight for an open
Internet. More than net neutrality is at stake, he told me. The court decision
undermines the commission’s plans to “bring broadband to every corner of
23. “The Most Important Vote for Higher Ed” (Huffington Post, April 14, 2010); op-ed by JONATHAN STEIN (MPP cand. 2011); http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-stein/the-most-important-vote-f_b_537287.html
By Jonathan Stein – Co-president, Coalition for a
Strong UC
… Funding for the UC has
dropped consistently over the last 25 years [state support has declined by over
50% since 2002], during the rule of both Democratic and Republican governors,
and with a variety of administrators at the helm of the UC [system]. Students in
The time has come for reform. In November, there should be at least one initiative on the ballot that would replace the 2/3rds requirement for passing a budget with a simple majority. Students are behind this much-needed move. A student group called the Coalition for a Strong UC (which, full disclosure, I co-lead) is running a campaign with one message for the more than 200,000 student-voters at the 10 UC campuses: “Restore the Majority, Restore the UC.”
24. “San Francisco passes landscaping law” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 14, 2010); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/14/BA1P1CUBG8.DTL#ixzz0l5gjldeP
--Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Supervisor Carmen Chu. (Photo: Kim
Komenich / The Chronicle)
The continued quest by
The [Green Landscaping
Ordinance] … will require that 50 percent of the surface area in new front
yards be permeable, either with in-ground plantings, porous asphalt or
interlocking bricks or pavers that will allow more rainwater to soak into the
ground. The goal is to divert rainwater from the storm drains and reduce the
burden on
In addition, the legislation calls for parking lots, gas stations, car washes and other automobile-dense uses to be planted with more trees. Trees or ornamental fencing, or a combination of the two, will have to be used to screen larger lots from public view. Garage doors or solid walls can be used on smaller lots.
The new ordinance “will
help
25. “S.F. firefighters’ water marvel seeks repairs” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2010); story citing MICHAEL THOMPSON (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/13/MN7R1CTJ3O.DTL
--Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Michael Thompson, assistant deputy fire chief, describes the
pump station near the foot of
San Francisco’s voters will be asked in June to approve a $412 million earthquake-safety bond measure, most of which would pay for easy-to-understand, high-profile projects like shoring up several fire stations and moving many police functions out of the decrepit Hall of Justice.
But $104 million would go to fix a system of which most city residents have probably never heard. Making it even more bizarre, it’s a system that was cutting-edge when it was built nearly a century ago—and remains so cutting-edge, it is the only one of its kind in the entire country.
It’s the city’s auxiliary water supply system, a network of storage systems and pipes that allows firefighters to access streams of incredibly high-pressure water to battle major blazes like one that could occur following a devastating earthquake.
“A lot of people call it
the architectural underground marvel of
The network was completed in 1913, and while it has been upgraded, it mostly looks and functions as it did 97 years ago….
The reservoirs send water downhill through 135 miles of pipes to fire hydrants that are distinguishable from the city’s regular hydrants because they are shorter and have colored tops to denote which reservoir the water comes from. The system is used to fight major blazes four or five times a month, Thompson said.
“It’s still cutting edge,” Thompson said of the system. “It’s just cutting edge and old.” …
26. “Sunset losing sleep over plan for pot dispensary” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 13, 2010); column citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/13/BAPD1CTHS9.DTL
--C.W. Nevius
… Conventional wisdom says the Sunset is full of quiet, politically uninterested families who mind their own business. That’s true, right up until a plan to put a medical cannabis dispensary on Taraval was announced.
Supervisor Carmen Chu’s office has already entered 1,698 letters and e-mails in their database, with another two large manila envelopes full of correspondence yet to be counted. Responses are running 100 to 1 against.
“The groundswell among
individuals in the neighborhood has been quite overwhelming,”
27. “San Francisco Detours into Reality Tourism” (New York Times, April 12, 2010); story citing DON FALK (MPP 1981); http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/us/12tenderloin.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fnational%2Findex.jsonp
By Jesse McKinley
Civic boosters are hoping to turn the grit of the Uptown Tenderloin
district into an attraction, pointing out its ties to music (the Grateful Dead
recorded there) and its “rich vice history” (alas, the gambling dens and
speakeasies are gone). (Thor Swift for The New York
Times)
But now
“We offer a kind of
grittiness you can’t find much anymore,” said Randy Shaw, a longtime
All of which, Tenderloin
fans contend, is as much a part of
“I think a lot of San Franciscans appreciate the Tenderloin,” said Don S. Falk, the executive director of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a nonprofit group that has renovated and operates 15 residential hotels in the Tenderloin. “It’s part of their identity.” …
And while battles over maintaining low-income housing derailed some past efforts to develop the neighborhood, even Mr. Falk, of the nonprofit housing development corporation, says a little new development would not be a bad thing.
“In 1981, gentrification was the most important issue; in 2010, quality of life is the most important issue,” Mr. Falk said. “People with disposable income help local businesses be successful, and those local businesses help support homeless people.” …
28. “United Nations: In Zambia, UNICEF chief pushes for boost to voluntary testing for HIV” (M2 PressWIRE, April 12, 2010); newswire citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).
Increasing the rates of
voluntary testing and improving public awareness about HIV and AIDS are
critical to overcoming the pandemic in
Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF, is on a two-day visit
to
More than 1 million Zambians are estimated to have died from AIDS-related diseases since the 1980s, and Ms. Veneman used her visit to advocate for greater public awareness and for scaling-up voluntary testing among the public….
‘President Kaunda has led by example—his unwavering commitment in leading the fight against HIV and AIDS is an inspiration to us all,’ the UNICEF chief said, adding that investing in education is also vital to turning back the spread of the disease in Zambia.
During her visit Ms. Veneman has also visited a camp for about 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had to flee their homes after recent heavy rains and floods, and toured a health-care centre that provides basic services to mothers and newborn children.
‘Excellent work is being
done,’ she said. ‘The country has maintained polio-free status since 2002.
29. “Think you could fix
By Denis C. Theriault
But would we do any better? The Mercury News recently asked five people from different perspectives to confront the same apocalyptic choices as our lawmakers by tackling an online, nonpartisan simulation called the California Budget Challenge.
Closing
Given the gamut of policy options from prison cuts to higher income taxes—but none of the quick-fix gimmickry lawmakers often resort to—each panelist did in minutes what polarized Sacramento often can’t do in months: They held their noses and made hard choices that sometimes conflicted with their core ideals.
Debbie Stephens Stauffer, a Democrat, pulled the plug on welfare grants to help pay for a $19.5 billion boost in K-12 education. Kris Rowberry, a Republican, cut into social services but still agreed to swallow more than $10 billion in new tax revenues rather than slash even deeper….
Some 150,000 people have taken the California Budget Challenge in the six years since the nonpartisan think tank Next 10 introduced it, and many of them have fallen short, too. The agony over that last few billion—choosing sick children over mentally ill adults, corporate tax breaks over university fees—is what the simulation’s designers aim to drive home, in hopes of forcing a new understanding of the state’s woes….
This year’s simulation, meant to reflect the worsening budget morass, got a booster shot of bipartisan credibility: Longtime Next 10 consultant Tim Gage, Gov. Gray Davis’ former finance director, worked to design it with Mike Genest, who was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget chief until late last year….
[To take the California Budget Challenge yourself, go to www.nextten.org/challenge. ]
30. “States try to link
up vets with federal government benefits” (
By Judy Keen: (c) USA TODAY
Some states are saving millions of dollars by using a national database—originally created to find welfare cheats—to link veterans to health and benefits from the federal government they didn’t know were available.
Under the program, the Department of Health and Human Services database is searched to identify veterans who receive Medicaid. Then state veterans officials work with those veterans to determine whether they’re eligible for health coverage, long-term care benefits or pensions through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or Department of Defense….
In
Bill Allman of Washington state’s Department of Social and Health Services [who devised the system] … has been contacted by about 20 interested states. Among them: …
*
The California
Legislative Analyst’s Office says the state could save $25 million if 10% of
its veterans switched to VA health care. “We’re doing the right thing both from
a cost-avoidance perspective and ensuring that our veterans get the
highest-quality services,”
31. “Retirement delay seen key to solvent Social Security” (The Washington Times, April 8, 2010); story citing NICOLE MAESTAS (MPP 1997/PhD Econ 2002); http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/08/retirement-delay-seen-key-to-solvent-social-securi/
By Jennifer Harper - The
The national fear that Social Security and Medicare will go broke under the huge demands of aging baby boomers could be remedied by a major “tectonic” cultural shift.
An unprecedented upturn in the number of older Americans who delay retirement is likely to continue and even accelerate over the next two decades, a trend that should ease the pinch, according to a Rand Corp. study released Wednesday.
Funded by the National Institute on Aging, the research also suggested that lawmakers should consider dismantling barriers that discourage or penalize older workers from remaining on the job, and throw in some incentives to encourage employers to hire seniors.
“We should consider removing the disincentives to delaying retirement and let people make the decision about whether they want to remain in the work force or not,” said economist and study [co-author] Julie Zissimopoulos….
After more than a century of decline, the number of older American men and women in the work force began to rise modestly during the 1990s. While about 17 percent of Americans aged 65 to 75 were employed in 1990, the number is expected to rise to 25 percent in 2010, the study said….
While some Bureau of
Labor Statistics data indicate that the trend will flatten in the next decade,
Based on an analysis of long-term data from federal and private sources, the research was published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.
“More older Americans
are extending their work lives, both because they want more income and because
their improved health allows a longer work life,” said co-author Nicole Maestas, another
[“How Longer Work Lives Ease the Crunch of Population Aging” by Nicole Maestas & Julie Zissimopoulos can be accessed here.]
32. “S.F. program to help homeowners go green” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 2010); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/08/BUJ31CQMF5.DTL#ixzz0kWcRksUz
--Andrew S. Ross
One of the nation’s
largest and most ambitious home-retrofit and alternative-energy programs is
being launched right here in
GreenFinanceSF is a $150 million, privately funded program enabling San Francisco property owners to have money-saving energy-efficiency measures—like low-flow toilets and double-paned windows—and noncarbon energy sources, like solar, installed in their homes and businesses. The costs, which will be attached to property tax bills, are payable over 10 to 20 years….
In addition to alleviating the usual costs of environmental improvements, [Mayor Gavin] Newsom said, the program “will save property owners money on monthly utility bills, increase property value and will help the city meet its aggressive greenhouse gas reduction goals.” …
“Something
transformative”: The $150 million for
Renewable Funding operates the programs in more than 200 places nationwide,
including
But none, so far, are as
big as
33. “Principal in Deloitte Tax Joins Board of Trustees at the Cancer Prevention Institute of California” (CPIC.org, April 8, 2010); press release citing LOUIS WELLER (MPP/JD 1975).
FREMONT,
“Cancer is something that unfortunately seems to affect almost everyone, whether directly or indirectly via loved ones, friends or colleagues,” said Mr. Weller. “CPIC’s focus on cancer prevention is both unique and vital. As someone whose family has coped with cancer, I’m eager to participate in CPIC’s efforts to understand how, through prevention and early detection, we can create a future where the scourge of cancer affects fewer people and more of those affected can look forward to positive outcomes.” …
“We are delighted to announce the appointment of Lou Weller to CPIC’s Board of Trustees,” said Samuel Bronfman II, Chair of CPIC’s Board of Trustees. “Lou brings to CPIC a passion for the mission combined with experienced financial and oversight skills. He comes from a service industry and that perspective will help CPIC keep its focus on the public we serve.”
Mr. Weller received a B.A. from
34. “Governor Announces Opening of Governor’s Office of Economic Development” (States News Service, April 8, 2010); newswire citing STUART DROWN (MPP 1986).
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER: … We are going to make it simpler and painless to do business here and this is why this morning I signed an executive order to launch the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. I think that this is a great, great step forward to make it easier for businesses to come here and to do business. It means cutting through the red tape and streamlining state bureaucracy, basically. We’re coordinating more than 100 programs across 28 state departments and creating basically one office, a one-stop shop, a concierge service, so to speak, in order to make it easy.
Just two months ago the Little Hoover Commission has
recommended exactly to do that and our Performance Review Commission also—the
[In its February report, “Making Up for Lost Ground,” the Little Hoover Commission called for a new Governor’s Office of Economic Development.]
35. “Piedmont City Briefs: Foster care topic of league talk” (Oakland Tribune, April 8, 2010); story citing AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_14844986?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com
--Piedmonter
Amy Lemley, policy director of the John Burton Foundation, will discuss “Why Should We Care About Foster Care?” at the League of Women Voters of Piedmont meeting on April 21.
She will talk about the
problems of transitioning from foster care to independent and productive young
adulthood, and the difficulties posed by the state’s current budget crisis. In
The John Burton
Foundation is dedicated to improving the quality of life for
36. “The Wrong Drunk” (Sun Sentinel, April 7, 2010); op-ed by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).
By Mitchell Bard
One of the most oft-quoted lines used to defend the Obama administration’s berating of the Netanyahu government settlement policy is Thomas Friedman’s remark that “friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Friedman’s analogy is a good one; however, he has misidentified the driver of the car. If anyone has been drunk for the last year it is the president, who has been imbibed with self-delusion about his powers of persuasion and ability to alter regional dynamics by the force of his goodwill.
After a nearly year-long rush to diplomacy, and a naive conviction that it could end a century-long conflict by being the anti-Bush, the Israelis are trying to convince the administration that a clear head is needed to achieve peace.
On Obama’s first trip to
the Middle East, he hit a speed bump in
The president ran off
the road by demanding a complete settlement freeze without any parallel demands
on the Palestinians. He won some initial support in
The freeze demand killed
any hope for peace negotiations, the presumed objective, because it suddenly
created a previously nonexistent precondition for Palestinian participation in
talks. When
Bard is the author of Will Israel
Survive? (Palgrave) and 48 Hours
of Kristallnacht: Night of Destruction/ Dawn of the Holocaust (
37. “Court: FCC can’t regulate Internet” (Politico.com, April 6, 2010); story citing S DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35450.html
By Chris Frates, Fred Barbash
Judge David Tatel. (AP
Photo)
A
federal appeals court threw a major roadblock into the Federal Communications Commission’s
Net neutrality plans as well as its broader National Broadband Plan, ruling
that the agency lacks the authority to regulate the Internet.
A three-judge panel in Washington said that while Congress gave the FCC broad and adaptable power to keep pace with evolving technology, it needs, and lacks, express authorization from Congress to interfere with the management of broadband by the providers….
The unanimous ruling, written by Judge David Tatel, places the courts squarely in the middle of the heavily lobbied controversy over whether the FCC can tell providers of broadband services, such as Comcast, that they must treat all content providers equally, thereby preventing them from saying who gets slower or faster service, for example….
S. Derek Turner, research director for Free Press, which took the opposite side in the case, said that “the decision has forced the FCC into an existential crisis, leaving the agency unable to protect consumers in the broadband marketplace and unable to implement the National Broadband Plan.
“As a result of this
decision, the FCC has virtually no power to stop Comcast from blocking
websites. The FCC has virtually no power to make policies to bring broadband to
rural
The case itself stemmed from a suit bought by Comcast Internet subscribers who discovered that the company was interfering with peer-to-peer applications—which allow the sharing of large files over the Web and consume large amounts of broadband.
Free Press and another advocacy organization, Public Knowledge, joined with a coalition of public interest groups to challenge Comcast’s actions. The FCC ordered Comcast to stop its interference. Comcast then went to court, arguing that the agency did not have sufficient powers under existing laws and policy to set rules for the Internet. …
[Derek Turner was also cited in MarketWatch, TechWeb and Bay Area News Group on the topic.]
38. “The iPad lesson for
By Terence Corcoran, National Post; Financial Post
As a symbol of the
dangerous sham and total wonkiness of the official Obama administration
campaign to force
The imported cost of the
basic iPads, maybe US$250, will show up as another part of the
What’s
One of those
researchers, Greg Linden at the Personal
Computing Industry Centre at the University of California,
With so little of an
iPad actually Chinese, iPad imports into the
39. “Proposal to ban caffeine in beer opposed” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2010); story citing organization headed by BRUCE LIVINGSTON (MPP 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/06/MNI61CQ1RT.DTL
--Marisa Lagos, Chronicle
(04-06) 04:00 PDT
But the bill by a
In November, federal
food and drug regulators announced they were looking into the safety and
legality of such drinks. Some large alcohol producers have already agreed to
discontinue production of similar beverages under an agreement with attorneys
general from several states, including
Health advocates and others have increasingly worried in recent years about sweet malt beverages known as “alcopops,” which often mask the flavor of alcohol and tend to be marketed to younger drinkers.
Michael Scippa, a spokesman with the Marin Institute [headed by Bruce Livingston], an alcohol industry watchdog group, said the drinks have only become more dangerous since companies began adding stimulants such as caffeine and guarana.
Scippa noted that many of these products come in 23-ounce cans that contain the equivalent of five to eight cups of coffee, are 12 percent alcohol and are sold for $1.99. A regular energy drink, by contrast, can cost $2.99, he said.
“The bottom line is they create a low price point entry drink for a lot of youth that brilliantly keeps them alert and wanting to keep drinking the product,” he said, adding that up to 60 percent of the caffeinated malt beverages sold in California are consumed by underage drinkers. “It’s a marketer’s dream, but I don’t know how they sleep at night.” …
40. “Silicon Valley Slumps Shows Shift of U.S. Technology” (PBS Newshour, April 5, 2010); features commentary by DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); watch this program
SPENCER MICHELS:
Starting in the 1960s
Investments, profits and
employment soared, and the Valley became known as the engine sparking the
SPENCER MICHELS: Russell Hancock, whose group Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network co-sponsored a new study of the economic health of the region, hosted a recent radio show with two economists. Doug Henton did the reports’s research and laid out the problems.
DOUG HENTON, Collaborative Economics: We lost 90,000 jobs. So, it was a tough year for us in terms of employment. Our real per capita income has been falling at a faster rate than the nation….
41. “Owning a home is in reach at last for some people” (Modesto Bee, April 5, 2010); story citing LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993/PhD 2000); http://www.modbee.com/2010/04/05/v-print/1115019/first-place-is-in-reach-at-last.html
By John Holland
The sign posted on the door, “Foreclosure Prevention Workshop, Form
Line Here” at the event held at the
The housing market is still bloodied and dazed after the free fall of the past few years.
Median prices in the
Out of that dizzying downward spiral came something positive. The low prices it created provide an opportunity, perhaps of a lifetime, for purchases by first-time buyers, families of modest means and those hoping to get back into a home after losing it all….
Larry Rosenthal, a housing expert at UC Berkeley, said job losses in the Bay Area have reduced demand for valley homes.
He said the valley should make as much use as it can of the federal stimulus money aimed at preserving neighborhoods and preventing homelessness.
Rosenthal, executive director of the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, also urges financial reforms to prevent housing bubbles.
“We need to talk about why values rose to such unimaginable and unsustainable levels,” he said….
42. “United States Groups seek details as they welcome OCS plan” (TendersInfo, April 5, 2010); story citing SKIP HORVATH (MPP 1976).
Oil, natural gas, and
other business associations continued to respond warmly to
It’s a very positive development, said Brian T. Petty, executive vice-president for government affairs at the International Association of Drilling Contractors….
Natural Gas Supply Association Pres. R. Skip Horvath had a similar
reaction, saying on Mar. 31: “Producing natural gas in areas of the Atlantic
OCS, eastern Gulf of Mexico and Arctic Ocean north of
43. “‘One of the things that carried me was my wedding vows’” (Washington Post [*requires registration], April 4, 2010); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
By Ellen McCarthy
Stan Collender and Maura McGinn at their 25th anniversary
party. (Richard A. Bloom Photo)
In the early 1980s, Stan Collender spent six months asking a leotard-clad blonde who worked the front desk at his health club for a date.
She finally relented and they moved in together two years later. He spent the next two years intermittently asking her to marry him, and “the fourth time,” says Maura McGinn, “I said yes.”
But Collender didn’t know what he was getting into. Not really—and maybe no one does.
“You don’t figure everything out as you’re living together,” says Collender, now 59. “You continue to change.”
Which, it turns out, has been a bigger blessing than either expected….
The contrasts between them
were part of the attraction from the beginning. He was a Jewish guy from
McGinn is a worrier and a realist. Collender is an unfettered optimist who faces tough issues head-on. When McGinn had breast cancer diagnosed seven years into their marriage, she fixated on the thought of losing her hair. He took out a legal pad to make a list of things that needed to get done immediately. Still, it tested them.
“One of the things that carried me was my wedding vows,” Collender recalls. “I kept remembering ‘through sickness and health.’ Because you want to run away and say, ‘I don’t want to deal with this. I didn’t sign up for this.’ And then you realize that you did.”
He didn’t run away. He came to the hospital on Easter morning dressed in a bunny suit and was patient in the ensuing years when, even after McGinn went into remission, she thought every headache might be a brain tumor….
There have been ups and downs, but the marriage has thrived, both think, largely because of their sense of commitment. “Getting divorced wasn’t an option,” Collender says. “You can’t go into a marriage thinking it’s a temporary thing, or something you’re just going to try.”
“No matter what comes our way, I’m 100 percent sure Stan will be with me,” McGinn adds. “Especially as we get older, I’ll be there for him. He’ll be there for me. Knowing that takes a lot of pressure off, I think.”
The two still talk five or six times during each workday. They hike and play tennis together and recently took up ballroom dancing. They’re each still evolving, he says, and “I don’t feel like we’ve already had the best years of our marriage. We’re just coming into the best part.”
44. “S.F. budget deficit expected to soar” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 3, 2010); story citing GREG WAGNER (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/03/BA6P1CP4PR.DTL
--John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writer
The good news: The city’s economy has most likely already hit rock bottom and congressional moves to extend stimulus funding will be the biggest help in slashing about $40 million off the projected $522 million deficit for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
Now for the bad news. That deficit still stands at almost $483 million and it’s projected to balloon to $787 million two years later, according to an annual joint report by budget analysts for the mayor, Board of Supervisors and City Controller.
The projections include city plans to use half of the $24.6 million rainy day fund—the maximum allowed—to help cover next year’s budget, plus $6.1 million more from the fund for schools. That will leave just $6.2 million in reserve, said Greg Wagner, the mayor’s budget director….
45. “W.H. finalizes strict fuel standards” (Politico.com, April 1, 2010); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).
By Lisa Lerer
The Obama administration finalized strict new gas mileage standards for new cars and trucks Thursday, a key piece of the White House’s climate and energy agenda.
Vehicles released in 2016 will be required to meet fuel efficiency targets of 34.1 miles per gallon—an increase of nearly 10 mpg over the current rules.
The new rule is a big win for the administration, which is struggling to push a climate bill through a skittish Senate.
The heads of the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency say the new standards will increase costs by about $1,000 per vehicle. But EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson stressed that consumers will save $3,000 in fuel costs because of the more efficient transmissions….
The new standards reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 960 million metric tons over the lifetime of the vehicles, equivalent to taking 50 million cars and light trucks off the road in 2030, according to the government….
Environmentalists also heralded the new rule as a major step forward.
“By completing these rules, the Obama administration is putting our country on the road to creating thousands of clean energy jobs and cutting our dangerous dependency on oil,” said Roland Hwang, transportation program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
46. “Impulse is Bliss; Older but wiser? Don’t count on it. New brain research shows exactly how much help sixtysomethings need with financial decisions, and it’s a lot” (Financial Planning, April 2010); story citing NICOLE MAESTAS (MPP 1997/PhD Econ 2002).
By David E. Adler
… Research into how the elderly make decisions is one of the hottest areas of behavioral finance right now. The conclusions are often counterintuitive and even unsettling….
What is the defining characteristic of the elderly client? “Vulnerability,” says Nicole Maestas, an economist at the Rand Corporation, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based think tank. “A 40-year-old could easily have problems handling complex financial decisions, but the problems are much worse in a 65-year-old, and the difference is clearly age-related,” she says. We are not talking about Alzheimer’s or dementia here, but about fully functioning individuals. Maestas studied people’s ability to navigate the Medigap insurance market. These plans are highly standardized, and yet people pay wildly different prices. Maestas calls the disparity “puzzling.” According to standard economics, people should buy the lowest cost product, she says, but that wasn’t the case.
Why not? According to Maestas, the decision is so complex that people turn to insurance agents for help-and whether the advice is bad or good, they take it. The price variation “shows the vulnerability of the elderly when facing agents” as well as their inability to determine the lowest-cost policy on their own. Medigap purchasers tend to be the affluent and well educated, yet even these consumers are making poor decisions and are vulnerable to their agents’ sales pitches, Maestas adds.
At the same time, as Maestas points out, “there is heterogeneity in the pace of the decline.” Not all the elderly are equally marked by diminished decision-making ability, with the highly educated tending to be more resilient. Nonetheless, in general, the old are different….
47. “Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md, Delivers Remarks at a forum for the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and the Concord Coalition” (CQ Transcriptions, April 1, 2010 All Rights Reserved); event featuring TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
Speakers:
I.M. Destler, Stern
Professor of Civic Engagement at the
Donald Kettl, Dean of
the
C.D. ‘Dan’ Mote,
President,
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., House Majority Leader
Robert Bixby, Executive
Director at the
David Walker, President and Ceo of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation
William Novelli,
Professor at the
Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar at American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research ….
MOTE: … And finally, I’d like to mention that the School of Public Policy has been focusing, of course, on these issues of economic policy a very long time with very well-known names in the school—Allen Schick, the noted scholar on budgeting; Don Kettl himself; Ken Apful, who is deeply involved in the fiscal issues as commissioner of Social Security, among others. Also, Tracy Gordon … explores public finance and management at the state level….
QUESTION: Hi. Tracy Gordon, School of Public Policy.
So, since this is a fiscal solutions forum, I thought I would ask about one particular solution, which is a value-added tax, or a VAT. And as you all know, sales taxes have traditionally been the domain of state and local governments.
And some very nice work that Mr. Biggs did recently, and that was reported on the New York Times, shows that state governments, when you look at their explicit and implicit liabilities, are also in a world of hurt right now, and some of the work that Mr. Walker pioneered at the GAO.
So, I just wondered, given the situation that states are in, does it really make sense to ask them to bail out the federal government by raiding their tax base, basically? …
48. “The George Washington University (GW) holds a conference with a discussion on a Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) report, ‘State of the Media 2010.’” (The Washington Daybook, March 29, 2010); event featuring ROBERT ENTMAN (MPP 1980).
AGENDA: Highlights :
-- 1 p.m.: PEJ Director Tom Rosenthiel delivers remarks during a presentation
-- 2:45 p.m.: Robert Entman, professor of media and public affairs at GW, delivers keynote remarks
-- 3 p.m.: Vivian Schiller, president and CEO of National Public Radio, delivers a keynote address ….
49. “Annual Keenan Summit Addresses Challenges and Opportunities in Health Care; Experts Address Timely Trends and Best Practices at NorCal and SoCal Events” (PR Newswire, March 25, 2010); event featuring FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993).
Afternoon presentations included Frank Neuhauser, Project Director and Research Specialist, on a UC Berkeley study on the potential advantages of integrating occupational and non-occupational health care….
50. “Law School Lecture Focuses on Conflict of Interest in Government” (US Fed News, March 25, 2010); event featuring ROSS CHEIT (MPP 1980/PhD 1987).
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-- The University of New Mexico School of Law hosts a presentation on governmental ethics by Ross Cheit, political science professor, Brown University, on Wednesday, March 31, at the UNM School of Law starting with a reception at 5:45 p.m., followed by a lecture at 6:45 p.m. Cheit will discuss “Ethics in Government: The Conflict-of-Interest Conundrum.”
According to Cheit’s summary, “Although there is no dispute that conflicts of interest are a concern for state and local government officials everywhere, there is little agreement on precisely how to define or treat conflicts. Who best can determine what constitutes an unacceptable conflict of interest for a public official and what should be done when one is found?”
Cheit is director of the Taubman Center’s Law and Public Policy Program
at Brown University and has been a member
of the
51. “Council floats idea of raising property taxes” (Philadelphia Inquirer, March 18, 2010); story citing STEVE AGOSTINI (MPP 1986); http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/88337317.html
By Miriam Hill and Elisa Lala, Inquirer Staff Writers
Francis Haasz (center) holds up a sign protesting the proposed
2-cents-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Haasz works in production at
the Coke-bottling plant on
Should the city raise property taxes despite widespread agreement that the assessment system is broken?
During a daylong hearing on the city’s $3.87 billion budget that was packed with protesters, several City Council members suggested higher property taxes as a better solution to the city’s financial woes than Mayor Nutter’s proposed levies on garbage collection and sugared beverages.
Next week, Councilman Frank DiCicco said, he plans to introduce legislation that would temporarily raise the property tax by 12 percent, the first such increase in at least a decade.
Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. asked Budget Director Steve Agostini whether a 10 percent property-tax increase would be more fair than the $300 trash-collection fee Nutter was backing.
Agostini answered that a higher property tax could raise the $107 million the city was projecting to get from the garbage fee. But he said he believed the increase would have to be 12 percent or 13 percent.
The Nutter administration also is worried that a property-tax hike could be a tough sell because of widely acknowledged problems at the Board of Revision of Taxes, which oversees assessments. Those problems led Nutter in January to declare a moratorium on new property assessments until the city believed the data were reliable.
“While the administration will move to fix the assessment system as quickly as possible, the data cleanup process could take two years,” Agostini said. “Without these fixes in place, the administration remains uncomfortable proposing an increase in property-tax rates.” …
52. “
By Peter Schelden; The
… The [City] Council learned the city experienced a $1 million revenue shortfall in the past six months.
The city received $292,000 less than expected from property taxes following reduced value assessments. More than $400,000 more was lost from a “significant decline in development,” said Steve Montano, administrative-services director.
The council approved launching a study on relaxing design standards to encourage hotel development.
The standards to be studied involve a hotel room’s floor-area ratio, the maximum building height and parking.
53. “Finding a cure for
By Anna Coren, CNN
Bandung, Indonesia -- …We’ve
arrived to cover a story on the Citarum River, considered one of the most
polluted rivers in Indonesia, if not the world. Around 30 million people rely
on this water basin, and it provides 80 percent of
…[I]n Sukamaju what’s in the river is pumped directly to the community. The only filtration available is a towel or sock wrapped around a waterspout. The villagers use this water everyday to bathe, wash and cook….
Near the village there
are dozens of textile factories—the main source of employment for many of the
local people. They’re also one of the biggest polluters of the
We meet Nyai, a 60-year-old great grandmother who has a persistent skin infection. She has welts, lumps and dark markings all over her torso. Her daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren all suffer the same condition, including 4-year-old Wildan….
But it’s not just the factories using the Citarum as a dumping ground; the community effectively uses it as an open sewer. As we walk through the village, children squat over canals and defecate directly into the water. Any garbage is thrown in the waterway or dumped on the side of the riverbank.
Re-educating local communities on how to look after the Citarum is one of the main projects for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It’s investing $500 million dollars over the next 15 years to try to save the Citarum and the communities who rely on it.
The ADB will work closely with Indonesian government to rehabilitate the entire river basin, addressing the issues of pollution, sanitation, and environmental problems like deforestation, siltation and flooding. Tom Panella from the ADB is fully aware of the enormous task in front of him and his team, but he remains hopeful.
“The Citarum is very sick and needs everybody to help bring it back to a state of health so all communities reliant on it can have a good quality of life and sustainable livelihoods,” he says. “It’s not dead, but it needs a tremendous amount of work from all of us.”
54. “Wind Industry Applauds Release of Nebraska Wind Integration Study” (States News Service, March 12, 2010); newswire citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).
The wind integration
study, funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, examined how the
power system would operate in scenarios in which 10%, 20%, and 40% of the
electricity was supplied by wind energy in Nebraska and the SPP region, which
includes all of Kansas and Oklahoma, most of Nebraska, and parts of New Mexico,
Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas. A 40% wind energy
penetration is one of the highest levels studied thus far, in the
Major carbon emission reductions were found in all scenarios, with CO2 emissions dropping by over 25 million tons per year in moving from the 10% wind scenario to the 40% wind scenario.
“This study corroborates what we’ve learned from around a dozen other wind integration studies and tens of thousands of hours of real-world grid operating experience: wind energy is a very effective tool for reducing carbon emissions, and large amounts of wind energy can be reliably integrated onto the grid at low cost,” said AWEA’s Senior Vice President for Public Policy, Rob Gramlich.
55. “‘Aggressive
campaign’ against
By Haviv Rettig Gur
The next few days will
see the first meeting in
The group, organized by McGill University history professor Gil Troy and American-Israeli policy analyst Mitchell Bard, is working on developing actionable recommendations for key Jewish groups and the Israeli government to combat what it calls a “full blown political, economic, cultural, ideological struggle against the very existence of Israel.”
The group was first formed in December as a “Delegitimization of Israel” working group at the Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism, an annual gathering under the aegis of the Foreign Ministry.
After two days of
discussions at the forum, the working group, then also chaired by
Through the “extremism” of BDS, many of whose supporters have as their ultimate goal the end of Jewish statehood, according to group members, the new campaign hopes to “help heal some of the rifts in the Jewish community, assert a big-tent Zionism, and invite left-wing critics of Israel who nevertheless believe in Israel’s existence to stand up for Israel on this defining issue.” …
56. “Clinics, hospitals: safety net at risk without taxes” (The Olympian, March 3, 2010); story citing REBECCA KAVOUSSI (MPP 2001).
Advocates for
But the representatives – who met with The Olympian’s editorial board … also said new revenues in the form of tax increases are needed to avoid tearing more deeply into the healthcare safety net. They said the state government outlay for health programs was cut by about $1 billion with last year’s no-taxes budget that bridged a $9 billion shortfall, and without more revenues, additional cuts would lead to clinic closures, fewer services at those staying open, and more people using costly hospital emergency rooms.
“We are at the moment
reasonably OK with what is in the budgets for low-income health care,” said
Cassie Sauer of the Washington State Hospital Association. She spoke along with
Shanon Hardie of SeaMar Community Health (a network of 46 community clinics
including two in
Altogether they estimated that $600 million more could be cut from low-income care this year if new revenues are not found by the Democratic majorities in the Legislature. And this could shift costs onto hospitals that shift costs to insurers and consumers, Kavoussi and the others said….
According to Hardie and Kavoussi, the state Basic Health Plan was already cut drastically with last year’s spending reductions, limiting coverage to 70,000 people or fewer. At the same time, higher jobless rates during the recession have driven up the demand for government-subsidized health care, including a waiting list of more than 93,000 people for the BHP alone, Kavoussi said….
Kavoussi cited state Office of the Insurance Commissioner
predictions that the number of uninsured would soar to over 1 million in
57. “Steve Frenkel brings significant environmental policy experience to advance Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing throughout the Midwest” (Business Wire, February 25, 2010); newswire citing STEVE FRENKEL (MPP 2000) and CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000).
Mr. Frenkel is filling a newly-created role within Renewable Funding, which has a rapidly expanding national presence to design, finance and administer Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs….
“More and more policy
makers have recognized the tremendous potential of PACE in reducing our
nation’s energy consumption,” said Cisco
DeVries, President of Renewable Funding and pioneer of the PACE financing model. “The Midwest has already shown
its commitment to lead the nation toward a new clean energy economy by
developing the Energy Security and Climate Stewardship Platform for the
As Chief Policy Advisor
at Illinois EPA, Mr. Frenkel helped
develop a regional greenhouse gas reduction program for the
“In recent years I have
had the privilege of working with leaders throughout the region to establish
energy and environmental policies that will cut utility bills, reduce emissions
and help put people back to work,” said Mr.
Frenkel. “I am excited to expand the reach of PACE in the
58. “Hearing of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; Subject: ‘FY 2011 Budget for the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, and the Federal Maritime Commission’;
Chaired By: Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD)” (Federal News Service, February 25, 2010); congressional testimony by STEVEN CALDWELL (MPP 1983).
Witnesses: Admiral Thad
Allen, Coast Guard Commandant; …; Steven
STEVEN CALDWELL: … While my written statement includes some issues on the Deepwater acquisition program, … I can refer you to those because I’m not going to discuss those much in my oral comments. But I would like to say a lot about the commandant’s reorganization—command realignment plan, as well as the workforce planning issues. Both of these management issues improve Coast Guard performance and mission by providing more detailed information on the requirements that the Coast Guard faces. But it is important for us to recognize that a good estimate of the resource requirements will not necessarily mean that those resources will be available. I think this budget makes that very clear….
59. “Restoring Vast Water Bodies; Committee: Senate Environment and Public Works; Subcommittee: Water and Wildlife” (CQ Congressional Testimony, February 24, 2010); congressional testimony by PATRICK WRIGHT (MPP 1987).
Statement of Patrick Wright, Executive Director,
… Thank you for inviting me to testify in support of the reauthorization of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act. I am testifying today on behalf of a broad coalition of state and local agencies and stakeholders in the Tahoe basin, who all strongly support this important legislation. We applaud the leadership of Senators Feinstein, Reid, Boxer, and Ensign in moving the bill forward….
But like many national
and international treasures,
The growing impacts of
climate change also pose a major threat to the environment and economy of the
basin.
We also wish to emphasize that this is not just an environmental bill—it’s a jobs bill. Public investments in the health of the basin are also investments in the health of its economy. Like many other areas of the country, the Tahoe basin is reeling from the impacts of the economic downturn, and is seeking funds for projects that would create green jobs and boost the local economy….
60. “Fiscal 2011 Appropriations Transportation and HUD; Committee: House Appropriations; Subcommittee: Transportation, Housing And Urban Development, and Related Agencies” (CQ Congressional Testimony February 23, 2010); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony citing WILL FISCHER (MPP 1999).
Statement of Shaun Donovan Secretary U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development….
… [T]olerating the inefficiencies of the status quo is no longer an option. The capital needs of our Nation’s affordable, federally-assisted housing stock are too substantial and too urgent…. To be sure, nearly two decades of concentrated efforts to demolish and redevelop the most distressed public housing projects, through HOPE VI and other initiatives, has paid off. The stock is in better shape overall than it has been in some time,[2] and the $4 billion in ARRA funds targeted to public housing capital improvements are further stabilizing the portfolio. But this very progress has created a unique but time limited opportunity to permanently reverse the long-term decline in the Nation’s public housing portfolio and address the physical needs of an aging assisted housing stock.
[2] Preserving Safe, High Quality Public Housing Should Be a Priority of Federal Housing Policy, Barbara Sard and Will Fischer, October 8, 2008 http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=655 (noting that “ninety percent of developments meet or exceed housing quality standards, although most developments are more than 30 years old, and many will need rehabilitation.”)….
61. “Copenhagen emissions pact appears increasingly fragile; U.N. climate chief resigns China, India have yet to formally sign off on deal” (The Washington Post, February 19, 2010); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971).
By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson
Just two months after
patching together a climate deal in
Nearly 100 nations,
including the
Meanwhile, a domestic
political stalemate in the
Pessimism about global climate talks deepened Thursday as Yvo de Boer, the United Nations’ top climate official, resigned after struggling for 3 1/2 years to produce a binding legal treaty requiring the world’s major emitters of greenhouse gases to slash their carbon output in the coming decades. He will step down July 1 with that goal unmet….
Negotiators will meet
again in
62. “Should we budget for snow or for blizzards?” (Washington Post, February 17, 2010); blog citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/should_we_budget_for_snow_or_f.html
Posted by Ezra Klein
(Photo credit: Jenna Isaacson/AP)
Stan Collender pushes back [in his CapitalGainsandGames blog] on the idea that the government should spend in preparation for freak events rather than historical averages:
In the immediate aftermath of last week’s
blizzard, many were saying that the governments needed to buy more equipment,
should have more sand, chemicals and salt for the roads, and had to have more
contracts in place with snow-removal companies. Even though the major and many
side roads were clear two days after the blizzard ended, they wanted the
governments to commit to a higher standard of removal so that there would be
less disruption in the future.
That
may appear to be a rational approach during the worst winter snow-wise in
63. “Wednesday Readers’ Forum: Reevaluate SMART rail” (Marin Independent Journal, February 10, 2010); letter to Editor citing JOY DAHLGREN (MPP 1977); http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_14373498?IADID=Search-www.marinij.com-www.marinij.com
During the run-up hype to the SMART sales tax election, there were a few so-called naysayers who opposed the project, largely on economic grounds. Their consistent comment was that the quarter-cent sales tax would not be sufficient to fund the rail project. Now we know that these folks were absolutely right all along and SMART has been either grossly mistaken ... or dishonest.
We need to include people like Mike Arnold and Joy Dahlgren, whose prescient knowledge of the subject continues to be categorically ignored by the SMART board, which is clearly off the track….
--John Ristow,
64. “Schools Make 1st Cut - OK Management Shuffle to Save Cash” (Modesto Bee, February 9, 2010); story citing JANNELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997).
By Michelle Hatfield
The Modesto City Schools Board of Education on Monday night took up several issues to slash spending, including closing an elementary school and consolidating administrative jobs.
The gravity of the board’s discussions and decisions was evident as many staff who usually leave after their presentations stayed through most of the meeting.
Trustees, staff and consultants spent an hour discussing the 2010-11 budget and how much and where to make spending cuts. The cuts—at least $25 million—will be so deep that officials need to protect programs that are the most cost-effective.
“You need to decide what is urgent and what is doable with the resources you have,” said Jannelle Kubinec with School Services of California, a financial advising and lobbying group for schools….
65. “Climate Change: Polluters Dragging EU Back” (IPS - Inter Press Service, January 20, 2010); newswire citing JASON ANDERSON (MPP 1997).
By David Cronin
The European Chemical
Industry Council (CEFIC), one of the largest corporate interest groups in
Its efforts appear to
have paid off.
The EU’s reluctance to set tougher targets for itself comes despite an admission by one of its most senior officials that the measures envisaged by the Copenhagen accord do not correspond with those that most scientists deem necessary to avert a potentially catastrophic rise in global temperatures….
…[T[he World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) complained that the Union’s lack of ambition is hampering it from championing the development of more ecologically friendly forms of technology than those currently in use. The WWF’s Jason Anderson said that by sticking to its 20 percent reduction target, the EU would actually be slowing down the pace of CO2 cuts set in the past three years.
“By failing to take on a
target of 30 percent or more we are foregoing [sic] massive energy savings that
will improve Europe’s economy and lead to the creation of new jobs in
industries that have a long future,” said Anderson.
“The EU has always made its mark on the world stage by leading from the front.
Shifting expectations to what other countries need to do before the EU moves
further is not only lacking in influence, it means foregoing [sic] real
benefits at home. There is no reason to hold Europe’s economic future hostage
to decisions made in
66. “2010 Sigma Xi Awards Honor Leading Scientists” (States News Service, January 13, 2010); newswire citing KEVIN GURNEY (MPP 1996); http://www.sigmaxi.org/about/news/2010awards.shtml
Young
Investigator: Kevin Gurney
Kevin Gurney focuses his research on the global carbon cycle, understanding sinks for atmospheric CO2, how CO2 changes connect to climate change and how to connect good climate science to development of sound public policy.
He was the lead author
on a 2002 paper addressing CO2 inversions that is listed in the top 1 percent
of Nature papers. He received a grant
from NASA to build a CO2 emissions inventory for the
The maps and system, called Vulcan, show CO2 emissions at more than 100 times more detail than was available before. The model examines CO2 emissions at local levels on an hourly basis.
Gurney has also worked extensively with non-governmental organizations and with United Nations’ negotiators. He is the co-author of Mending the Ozone Hole: Science, Technology and Policy (MIT Press)….
1. Robert Reich’s Blog: “Getting Wall Street out of Washington and Washington out of Wall Street” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 26, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/296888
By Robert Reich
Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange as they watch President Obama’s speech about reforming Wall Street, Thursday, April 22. (Mark Lennihan/AP)
On the other hand, both parties are going to Wall
Street seeking campaign donations to fund critically important television
advertising in the months ahead. After all, the Street is where the money is,
and TV ads demand huge amounts of it. In recent years, the financial industry
has become the second-biggest source of campaign contributions in
But politicians cannot continue to have it both
ways. Given the Street’s excesses,
If
Robert Reich is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His “Marketplace” commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
2. “Pentagon Paints Unsettling Picture of WMD Proliferation” (The White House Bulletin, April 23, 2010); news bulletin citing MICHAEL NACHT.
The threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is “highly complex and unpredictable,” according to Michael Nacht, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs, who warns that nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons—or the technologies and materials necessary to produce them—”also may be acquired by states that do not now have such programs.”
This includes terrorist, insurgent, and criminal
organizations, “acting alone or through middlemen,” Nacht told the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging
Threats and Capabilities. This intent to acquire WMDs, combined with “powerful
cross-cutting global trends of the 21st century,” including technological
advances, widespread black markets, and the emergence of new strains of
disease, create conditions that allow these technologies to “become
increasingly accessible to potential state and non-state adversaries,” Nacht said. The
3. Robert Reich’s Blog: “A citizen’s guide to reforming Wall Street” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 21, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2010/0421/A-citizen-s-guide-to-reforming-Wall-Street
By Robert Reich, Guest blogger
Mark Lennihan/AP
The real
scandal isn’t the Street’s unlawful acts (i.e., Securities and Exchange
Commission vs. Goldman Sachs) but legal acts that have reaped the Street a
bonanza and nearly sunk the rest of us….
The Dodd bill now being considered in the Senate is a step in the right direction. Yet despite the hype, it’s a very modest step. It leaves out three of the most important things necessary to prevent a repeat of the Wall Street meltdown:
1) Require that trading of all derivatives be done on open exchanges where parties have to disclose what they’re buying and selling and have enough capital to pay up if their bets go wrong. The exception in the current bill for so-called “unique” derivatives opens up a loophole big enough for bankers to drive their Ferrari’s through.
2) Resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act in its entirety so commercial banks are separated from investment banks….
3) Cap the size of big banks at $100 billion in assets. The current bill doesn’t limit the size of banks at all. It creates a process for winding down the operations of any bank that gets into trouble. But if several big banks are threatened, as they were when the housing bubble burst, their failure would pose a risk to the whole financial system, and Congress and the Fed would surely have to bail them out….
Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His “Marketplace” commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
4. “6 to be honored with Goldman Prizes tonight in S.F.” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); story citing RICHARD & RHODA GOLDMAN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/19/MN4M1CVFQO.DTL
--Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer
Goldman Prize honoree
Randall Arauz led a campaign to halt the practice of maiming and killing sharks
for their fins in
Six people from around the world will be honored tonight at the San Francisco Opera House for their grassroots work to protect the environment.
The Goldman Environmental Prize has been awarded each year since 1990 to “women and men from isolated villages or inner cities who chose to take great personal risks to safeguard the environment,” according to the Goldman Environmental Prize Web site.
This year the $150,000 prizes, created by San Francisco philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman, are being awarded to men and women in Costa Rica, Poland, the United States, Cuba, Swaziland and Cambodia….
5. “Goldman Environmental Prize” (Forum, KQED public radio, Apr 19, 2010); program citing the GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE; Listen to the program
The winners of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize—often referred to as the Nobel
Prize for environmental activism—are set to be announced today in
Guest:
Randall Arauz, a winner of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize and president of Programa Restauracion de Tortugas Marinas (PRETOMA), a restoration project for marine turtles
6. “Elephant peacemaker given Goldman Prize” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); story citing the GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/19/MN4G1CN4QV.DTL
--Geoffrey Cain, Special to The Chronicle
Sereivathana Tuy cares for
elephants at the Phnom Ta Mao Zoo in Takeo, a province in southeastern
(04-19) 04:00 PDT Prey Proseth, Cambodia -- … Poor farmers like [Sokha Seang, a
32-year-old rice farmer] have felt obligated to kill the elephants—with guns,
sharp bamboo sticks or poison—because they cannot afford to lose their crops.
But now, thanks to a soft-spoken man known affectionately as “Uncle Elephant,”
farmers have found a more peaceful way of living with the elephants, said
Seang, who lives in this village in the southwest
In
Seang credits Tuy for his newfound harmony with the hungry behemoths. Instead of using deadly weapons against the endangered Asian elephants, Seang and other villagers now ward off attacks with hot chile peppers, fences, fireworks and foghorns.
Tuy, 39, was a park ranger in the 1990s when he developed a community-based model for ending human-elephant conflict that revolves around building trust with farmers and giving them the resources to fend off elephant attacks….
7. “
By Will Weissert, Associated Press Writer
BAUTA,
Humberto Rios Labrada’s campaign to let Cuban farmers choose the crops and seed varieties best for their lands helped him win one of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prizes known as the “green Nobels” on Monday….
Rios’ wants to make Cuban farms more sustainable by giving farmers more autonomy a radical notion in what has long been a strictly top-down planned economy where officials tell producers just what to grow, even if it isn’t quite right for the soil.
The prize committee praised Rios’ approach for
reducing the need for fertilizers and pesticides, helping
Government officials at first bristled at his ideas, but his success, along with greater government openness to local autonomy, has led them to grant him unusual and growing leeway in working with 50,000 farmers and counting….
Goldman recipients are chosen annually from six
regions worldwide. Winners receive $150,000 at a ceremony in
The prize has been awarded to 139 people from 79 countries since philanthropist Richard Goldman and his late wife Rhoda created it in 1990. Rios is the first Cuban to win….
8. “Goldman Environmental Prize Awards $150,000 to Six Heroes of the Environment” (Business Wire, April 19, 2010); newswire citing RICHARD N. GOLDMAN.
Two recipients have focused their efforts on the
food system and its impact on the environment. Awarded the Goldman Prize for
her relentless struggle to hold factory livestock farms accountable for the air
and water pollution plaguing her rural
“I am motivated and inspired by the courage of these leaders,” said Goldman Prize founder Richard N. Goldman. “Their commitment to fighting for a better future illustrates the perseverance of the grassroots environmental movement around the world.” …
9. “Open Forum: On prioritizing spending at UC Berkeley” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 19, 2010); op-ed coauthored by MICHAEL O’HARE; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/opinionshop/detail?entry_id=61511#ixzz0lYeqDdXt
Intercollegiate athletics at UC Berkeley is required to be self-supporting under university rules [Section II.A] that classify it as an auxiliary enterprise. Yet every year this policy is violated.
Since 2003, this auxiliary has overspent its generated revenues each year by $7 million to $14 million. The campus continually covers these cost overruns at the expense of other programs.
Given the unprecedented budget cuts to the university, this drain is increasingly damaging to the academic mission….
Last fall, the eight of us wrote a resolution that was passed by a large margin at the largest Faculty Senate meeting in years. The resolution asks the chancellor to cease the annual bailouts and instead to make the academic program the campus’s first priority. It also calls for a permanent oversight faculty committee to confirm that the athletics auxiliary will live within its means….
Solid research has demonstrated that big-time athletics at academically top-ranked schools does not bring net financial benefits to the academic program, despite claims that this attracts more alumni donations to the campus….
We want UC Berkeley to continue as one of the best universities in the world, to be accessible to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, and to educate Californians to become the future world leaders for generations to come. One component of this multifaceted mission requires that we protect the core function of the university from continual and increasing financial raids to cover intercollegiate sports overspending, especially in view of the financial risk of a half-billion dollar debt for the athletics center and stadium construction.
Given the critical importance of these deliberations, the chancellor’s “special” council should not resemble an athletics cheerleading squad, but be balanced with representatives of the majority faculty opinion and more diverse alumni perspectives.
Alice Agogino, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Brian Barsky, Professor of Computer Science
Leslea Hlusko, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology
Jere Lipps, Professor of the
Margaretta Lovell, Professor of Art History
Laura Nader, Professor of Anthropology
Michael O’Hare, Professor of Public Policy
Loy Volkman, Professor Emerita of Plant and
Microbial Biology, all of the
10. “Robert Reich’s Blog: Future of American jobs won’t look like past” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 16, 2010)p; commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/295070
By Robert Reich
Job seekers line up for a resume
critique at a career fair put on by National Career Fairs in
Many of my students at
This [accelerated structural shift in the economy] also helps explain why the unemployment rate for Americans with college degrees is now only 5%, while it is 10.5% for those with only a high-school degree, and 15.6% for Americans with less than a high-school diploma. The jobs of well-educated Americans, although hardly immune to foreign outsourcing and technological displacement, have been less vulnerable to these trends than the jobs of Americans with fewer years of education
Robert Reich is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His “Marketplace” commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
11. “Page 3.14 Blog: Energy Ministers of the
Posted by Evan Lerner
In the Western Hemisphere Affairs bureau at the
U.S. Department of State, we have been working to advance policies and programs
to help create a cleaner, greener space for people throughout the
Daniel Kammen (Peg Skorpinski photo)
…
[U.S. Secretary of State Hillary]
Senior ECPA Fellows: This program is intended to
share energy and climate expertise, by making distinguished academic experts
available for speaking engagements or consultations with other countries across
the hemisphere. To launch this initiative, the
[More on “Secretary Clinton appoints Dan Kammen first clean energy fellow to Western Hemisphere“ .]
12. “When Two Progressives Disagree on How to Create Jobs” (Huffington Post, April 13, 2010); commentary citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/when-two-progressives-dis_b_535367.html
--Leo Hindery, Jr., Chairman, Economic
Growth/Smart Globalization Initiative at the New
I just hate it when two progressives disagree.
But I especially hate it when it’s me on one side
and the esteemed Robert Reich on the
other, a man who has done as much for
workers and workers’ rights as anyone in
In an important op-ed for the Financial Times (“Recovery depends on Main Street”, March 23, 2010), Reich started off his piece by asking, “Can the American economy recover if only its big global companies, Wall Street and high-income Americans are doing better but its small businesses and middle and lower-income Americans are not?”
He immediately answered his own question—I like doing this too, because then I always get the ‘correct’ answer—by saying, “The short answer is no.” …
I don’t at all disagree with Reich’s often expressed concern that much of corporate America ignoring its concurrent responsibilities to employees, communities and the nation while it elevates, above all else, responsibility to shareholders and management—in fact, I wrote an entire book on this issue and, like Reich, I still write about it frequently—nor do I disagree with anyone calling for much more regulation of business, especially of its compensation practices and concerning accountability….
Bob Reich says that, “Big companies do not know what to do with all the cash they have, as it is. They are not investing it in new plant or jobs. So why should the government cut their taxes and enlarge their cash hoards even more?” …
13. “The Jobs Picture Still Looks Bleak” (Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2010; op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304222504575173780671015468.html?KEYWORDS=Berkeley#printMode
By ROBERT REICH
Martin Kozlowski
The
Since the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, the economy has shed 8.4 million jobs and failed to create another 2.7 million required by an ever-larger pool of potential workers. That leaves us more than 11 million jobs behind….
The Great Recession has accelerated a structural
shift in the economy that had been slowly building for years. Companies have
used the downturn to aggressively trim payrolls, making cuts they’ve been
reluctant to make before. Outsourcing abroad has increased dramatically.
Companies have discovered that new software and computer technologies have made
many workers in Asia and
The likelihood, therefore, is that as the economy struggles to recover and today’s jobless begin to find work, the median wage will continue to fall—as it did between 2001 and 2007, during the last so-called recovery….
Mr. Reich, professor of public policy at the
University of California at Berkeley and former secretary of labor under President Clinton, is author of the
forthcoming “Aftershock: The Next
Economy and America’s Future” (Alfred A. Knopf).
14. “Reading Economic Signs of the ‘Great Recession’” (Talk of the Nation [NPR], April 13, 2010); features commentary by and Q&A with ROBERT REICH; Listen to the story
Monday, the Dow closed over 11,000 for the first time since 2008, payroll numbers indicate that some companies are hiring again, and some economists predict a strong recovery. Still, unemployment remains persistently high, and the housing market may take years to recover.
Guests:
Robert Reich, professor of public policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley….
15. “Note to Environmentalists: Economists are on your side” (Energy Collective, April 12, 2010); commentary citing MICHAEL HANEMANN; http://theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/63043
By Tim Haab on 04/12/2010 11:43
There is a tendency among some environmental writers to dismiss “classical”, “traditional”, “neoliberal”, or “mainstream” economics as somehow inimical to environmental interests.
The problem is that more often than not these writers get the facts wrong.
It’s almost as if the knee-jerk aversion to economics that exists among many environmentalists prevents them from acknowledging the truth: that mainstream economics is very much on their side….
Case in point are recent pieces by David Roberts of Grist and Bill McKibben in The New Republic ….
McKibben describes how the Waxman-Markey climate change bill is full of loopholes for special interests (which it is), and uses this as evidence against the basic economic rationale for a cap and trade bill. He then praises the new CLEAR bill sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell and Susan Collins for its fairness, lack of loopholes, and simplicity. He suggests that it represents a significant departure from traditional economics—the subtitle of his piece is “Forget Cap and Trade”—when in fact the bill is nothing but a cap and trade bill with full auctions and consumer rebates.
The CLEAR bill represents a policy that mainstream environmental economists—from Robert Stavins (Harvard) to Michael Hanemann (UC-Berkeley)—have advocated in one form or another for well over a decade; it is what I have taught and advocated in graduate school every semester for the past seven years….
16. “US 2010 QDR strikes right balance for military: Pentagon” (DefenceWeb, April 8, 2010); story citing MICHAEL NACHT; http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7432:us-2010-qdr-strikes-right-balance-for-military-pentagon&catid=54:Governance&Itemid=118
Written by AFPS
The Pentagon’s military leaders say the 2010
Quadrennial Defence Review, the
Navy Vice Admiral Stephen Stanley, Joint Staff
director for force structure, resources and assessment, told the House Armed
Services Committee the review sets the department on a new path, the Armed
Forces Press Service reports. “The QDR focuses not just on winning today’s
fight, but also on the complex and uncertain future security landscape and
potential conflicts the
Michael
Nacht, assistant secretary of defence for global strategic affairs, whose
office provided overall supervision of day-to-day operations of the ballistic
missile defence review, said one core element of homeland defence is protecting
against limited attacks. But, he added, his report provides a detailed outline
to address another core element of defence against regional threats, which he
said are growing. For example, the development and testing of missile defence
capabilities for deployment in
“We’re engaged in extensive discussions and negotiations with our closest allies and other partners,” Nacht said, “so that we’re all on the same wavelength as these systems reach full-scale development and then begin to be deployed.” …
17. “Immigrants: The key to Social Security” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR], April 7, 2010); Listen to this commentary
ROBERT REICH: This is the year Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes. This tipping point came sooner than anyone expected because the recession has kicked so many people off payrolls. But it was coming anyway. And it adds new urgency to reforming Social Security—a task the president’s commission on the nation’s debt is focusing on….
But another group of policymakers, far removed from Social Security, is now focusing its efforts on an issue that’s likely to have a bigger impact on Social Security than any of these changes. And that issue is immigration.
You see, the biggest reason Social Security is in
trouble, and Medicare as well, is because
… One logical way to 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
MOON: Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich is a professor of public
policy at the
18. “Robert Reich’s Blog: Break up the banks: Why we must limit the size of banks” (Christian Science Monitor Online, April 6, 2010); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/Robert-Reich-s-Blog/2010/0406/Break-up-the-banks-Why-we-must-limit-the-size-of-banks
By Robert Reich, Guest blogger
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman of the board and CEO Goldman Sachs Group Inc., answers questions at a hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Jan. 13. (Dennis Brack)
A fight is brewing in Washington – or, at the least, it ought to be brewing – over whether to put limits on the size of financial entities in order that none becomes “too big to fail” in a future financial crisis.
Some background: The big banks that got federal bailouts, as well as their supporters in the Administration and on the Hill, repeatedly say much of the cost of the giant taxpayer-funded bailout has already been repaid to the federal government by the banks that were bailed out. Hence, the actual cost of the bailout, they argue, is a small fraction of the $700 billion Congress appropriated.
True, but the apologists for the bailout leave out one gargantuan cost — the damage to the economy, which we’re still living with (witness the latest unemployment figures). Leave it to the Brits to calculate this. Andrew Haldane, Bank of England’s Financial Stability Director, figures the financial crisis brought on by irresponsible bankers and regulators has cost the world economy about $4 trillion so far….
Needless to say, the danger of an even bigger cost in coming years continues to grow because we still don’t have a new law to prevent what happened from happening again. In fact, now that they know for sure they’ll be bailed out, Wall Street banks – and those who lend to them or invest in them – have every incentive to take even bigger risks. In effect, taxpayers are implicitly subsidizing them to do so. (Haldane figures the value of that implicit subsidy to be about $60 billion a year for each big bank.) …
As long as the big banks are allowed to remain
big, their political leverage over
Robert Reich is professor of public policy st the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including The Work of Nations, Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His “Marketplace” commentaries can be found on publicradio.com and iTunes.
19. “
By Phillip Rawls — The Associated Press
Ron
Sparks shown without his mustache today (left) and with facial hair during a
governor’s forum in February. (Photo:
The mustache that state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks has sported since the 1970s is gone.
The man known as the pro-gambling candidate in
the Democratic race for governor has decided to gamble with his looks. On April
Fool’s Day, he had a
On Saturday, he switched his glasses from dark frames to light wire ones….
So far, the 57-year-old candidate said he’s been getting a lot of favorable comments about how he looks younger with the gray mustache gone….
In 1982,
The clean-shaven Wallace won.
Jack Glaser, a psychologist who teaches in the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has written extensively about the impact of appearances. He said hairstyles and facial hair convey impressions about social class, and facial hair is rare among executives.
He noted that New York Gov. David Patterson shaved his beard recently, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson grew a beard only after leaving office, and Al Gore added facial hair only after leaving the vice president’s office.
“It’s possible that
20. “Back in the Job Hunt, With
By Cari Tuna and Sarah Needleman
As
the economy stabilizes, Americans are returning to the labor force, suggesting
their confidence in the job market is improving.
Some who had dropped out of the labor force because they couldn’t find jobs said they were searching again and landing more interviews than they had earlier in the downturn….
The increase in the labor force, which grew for the third straight month in March, comes after it shed nearly two million people between May and December of 2009, as stiff competition for jobs during the economic slump led many laid-off workers to quit looking for employment.
The reversal is a good sign, some economists say, because it suggests that Americans’ confidence in the economy and their ability to find jobs is rebounding….
The labor force increased by 398,000 to roughly 3.5 million in March, the Labor Department said Friday. Returnees to the labor force outnumbered new entrants three to one….
But even as some people re-enter the work force in hopes of landing a job as the recession eases, others continue to drop out, underscoring the labor market’s continuing weakness. Nearly one million “discouraged” job seekers left the work force in March, the Labor Department said.
“This is not any time to breathe a sigh of
relief,” said economist Robert Reich,
who served as labor secretary under
President Bill Clinton and who now teaches public policy at the
21. “Roundtable: Jobs, Jobs, Jobs” (This Week, ABC TV News, April 4, 2010); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; watch this program
ROBERT REICH (University of California-Berkeley): There is reason to be concerned as stimulus funds run out … that there will not be enough demand to sustain a recovery….
“Biotech companies in need of resources to thrive” (KGO TV, April 2, 2010); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=7365336
By Tomas Roman
[Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose] says she
is proud that the Bay Area and
But some critics point out
In order for Silicon Valley to take advantage of
it’s knack for innovation and create more high-tech jobs, Dan Kammen, director of UC Berkeley’s Renewable Energy Lab, says
“
22. “Analysis of March Jobs Report with Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich” (Nightly Business Report, April 2, 2010); interview with ROBERT REICH; watch the extended interview
… TOM HUDSON: The 162,000 new jobs created in March is the best month in three years…. Revised figures now show the economy has added jobs in three of the past five months. But the jobs picture is much different for high school graduates who never went to college. If you look at the past five months, the unemployment rate for this group has risen. It remains more than twice the rate compared to people with at least an undergraduate degree. Now one key difference between working and not working clearly is education. Robert Reich was the Labor secretary under President Clinton. He is now at the University of California at Berkeley and author of “Super Capitalism” out in paperback. Mr. Secretary, welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT.
… As you know, we’ve seen the government response targeted on jobs to be focused on tax breaks for instance, for small businesses, a temporary give-back of payroll taxes for instance. Would that government stimulus money be better spent in the classroom?
ROBERT REICH, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: Well over the long term, yes. I mean look Tom, financial capital is important to this nation and we bailed out Wall Street. But human capital, the skills and insights of our people over the long term are much, much more important to the standard of living in this country. And we are not bailing out our schools or our public universities and we ought to be.
REICH: First of all, I think that the Federal government ought to provide an interest-free loan to states and localities to make up for the shortfall in public education we’ve seen over the last year and a half. Once the economy bounces back and tax receipts go back up again in states and also in localities, that interest-free loan can be repaid….
23. “Seeking to Help Budding Researchers with a Click of the Mouse” (New York Times (*requires registration), April 2, 2010); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/02sfenterprise.html
By Victoria Schlesinger
A battery recharging
business in Uganda. (Jonas Ketterle)
Jonas Ketterle, a top mechanical engineering
student at
But Mr. Ketterle, 23, and Mr. Lin, 28, struggle to pay for their research. The grant-making structure of their field and of the institutions in which they were trained means that small-scale research grants of less than $50,000 — the kind that could support new researchers with untested, independent ideas — are limited. That is where Eureka Fund comes in.
Eureka Fund, based in
Government agencies and foundations spend tens of billions of dollars each year on research at universities, typically granting large sums to principal investigators, who use some of the money to support masters students and Ph.D. candidates. If a student comes up with a concept that falls outside a professor’s focus, however, money can be scarce.
“That model is not sufficient,” said Daniel M. Kammen, a professor in the energy
and resources group at [U.C.]
“The more you want to be interdisciplinary, break boundaries,” Dr. Kammen said, “the less well it works because those big grants help senior investigators who are in traditional areas.”
Dr. Kammen
said one of his students obtained a $10,000 grant with his assistance and was
then able to help the City of
April 3 Robert Reich (with Harvey Pitts, former chairman of SEC) spoke on the
theme “The Second Decade (2010-2020): What’s Next for
April 15 Henry Brady moderated an expert panel discussion on: “What Can You Get for $10 Billion? Prison Spending and the CA Budget Crisis,” presented by The Goldman School of Public Policy’s Criminal Justice Policy Group.
April 16 John Quigley moderated “Housing Policy under the Obama Administration,” a panel discussion hosted by the Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy (directed by Larry Rosenthal).
Engelhardt, Sebastian Von and Maurer, Stephen M., “The New (Commercial) Open Source: Does it
Really Improve Social Welfare?” (January 1, 2010). Goldman School of Public
Policy Working Paper No. GSPP10-001 . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1542180
Lee S. Friedman, “The Importance of Marginal Cost Electricity Pricing to the Success of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs” (November 6, 2009). Goldman School of Public Policy Working Paper No. GSPP10-002. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1562102
David Kirp, “Invisible Students Bridging the Widest Achievement Gap” (April 22, 2010). Goldman School of Public Policy Working Paper No. GSPP10-003. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1594327
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
about any of the above, or hard copies of cited articles, we’d be happy to
provide them.
We are always delighted to receive your material for inclusion in the Digest. Please email the editor at wong23@berkeley.edu .
Sincerely,
Annette Doornbos
Director of External Relations and Development