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Archives | Upcoming Events | Quick Reference List | Alumni & Student Newsmakers | Faculty in the
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1.
Saturday, May 4. Screening 6:30 pm, Party 8:30 pm. More info and to purchase tickets
In this Inconvenient Truth for the economy, the Sundance
Special Jury Award–winning Inequality For All introduces former Secretary of Labor (and
current UC Berkeley professor) Robert Reich as an inspirational and humorous
guide in exploring the causes and consequences of the widening income gap in
2.
Featured speaker: Amory B. Lovins, co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of Rocky
Mountain Institute
Saturday, May 18, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. Chevron
Auditorium, International House
Reception to follow at
ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “Some dispensaries not too thrilled by legal pot” (Morning
Sentinel (
2. “State may forgo reserve fund; Without
a financial cushion, some say, it may be vulnerable to drops in revenue” (Los
Angeles Times, April 29, 2013); story citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
3. “ADULT EDUCATION: Older students may lose programs as
lawmakers consider major cuts” (San Franciso
Chronicle, April 29, 2013); story citing PETER
GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1981).
4. “Autistic children losing services in state health
insurance transition, parents say” (Bay Area News Group, April 29, 2013); story
citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH
2004), and TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP
2001/MPH 2002); http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_23119443/autistic-children-losing-services-state-health-insurance-transition
5. “Congress Acts On Flight Delays,
What’s Next?” (Weekend Edition Saturday, National Public
Radio, April 27, 2013); program featuring commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976).
6. “FACT CHECK: Did FAA have to furlough controllers?”
(Associated Press, April 26, 2013); newswire citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/FACT-CHECK-Did-FAA-have-to-furlough-controllers-4465465.php#ixzz2Rai7vxYn
7. “S.F. training for tech jobs scrutinized” (San Francisco
Chronicle, April 26, 2013); story citing non-profit headed by JAY BANFIELD (MPP 1997).
8. “Three new books that will prepare you for the future of
humanity” (io9, April 25, 2013); book review citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).
9. “Looming Baucus retirement may spur tax deal” (MarketWatch, April 23, 2013); analysis citing SEAN WEST (MPP 2006).
10. “Fallout for states rejecting Medicaid expansion”
(Associated Press, April 22, 2013); newswire citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Fallout-for-states-rejecting-Medicaid-expansion-4452348.php#ixzz2RDOOIUYK
11. “Borenstein:
12. “2013
13. “Accelerators Blog: Weekend Read — Vivek Wadhwa: The Truth about the ‘Age Premium’,” (Wall Street Journal Online [*requires registration], April 19, 2013); blog citing GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2013/04/19/weekend-read-vivek-wadhwa-the-truth-about-the-age-premium/?KEYWORDS=Berkeley
14. “GAO finds fault with court expansion plans” (The Washington Post, April 18, 2013); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
15. “Health law expands treatment for addicts in
16. “Vaccine in development as bird flu epidemic spreads” (Clinical Advisor, April 2013); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD/MPH 1996).
17. “New bird flu well-adapted to infect people” (CNN Wire, April 12, 2013); newswire citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD/MPH 1996).
18. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta holds its 2013 Community Development Research Conference, April 11-12” (The Washington Daybook, April 11, 2013); event featuring JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN (MPP 1992).
19. “Obama’s Budget Targets Wealthy, Social Security to Lower Deficit” (McClatchy-Tribune Business News, April 10, 2013); story citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
20. “AM Alert: California Federation of Teachers lobbies lawmakers” (Sacramento Bee, April 9, 2013); event featuring PETER BIRDSALL (MPP 1974); http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe8a12787361077b76&m=fefc1172766306&ls=fdf71670736c057471167677&l=feca16737661057a&s=fe2e157277640d74741677&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe551379726706757015
21. “Could your next boss be a robot?” (The
Globe and Mail (
22. “Borenstein:
23. “
24. “
25. “Tax preparers + enrolling in a health insurance exchange = Match made in heaven?” (MedCityNews.com, April 3, 2013); story citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000).
26. “EFFICIENCY: A handbook for cash-strapped schools to help
retrofit wasteful energy systems” (ClimateWire, Vol.
10 No. 9, April 3, 2013); story citing MARK
ZIMRING (MPP 2011/MS ERG 2012).
27. “Study: Governors who opt out of Medicaid expansion may create new tax bill for employers” (MedCityNews.com, April 3, 2013); story citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000).
28. “Christie Administration and Partners Work to Restore
Delaware Bay Beaches Eroded by
29. “Owners seeking condo conversions have chance of a break” (San Franciso Chronicle, April 1, 2013); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002).
30. “The credit hour begins to crack” (Deseret Morning News, March 25, 2013); story citing AMY LAITINEN (MPP 2003).
31. “Scenes from Day Three of NCSHA’S Legislative Conference”
(States News Service, March 12, 2013); event featuring MARGARET SALAZAR (MPP 2006).
32. “Bloomberg’s Homeless Plan was Incredibly Ambitious” (City Limits, March 11, 2013); story citing MAUREEN FRIAR (MPP 1990).
33. “College tuition soars as states reduce funding” (Deseret Morning News, March 6, 2013); story citing AMY LAITINEN (MPP 2003).
34. “Missouri Republicans push $1 billion tax cut plan” (The Kansas
City Star (MO), February 25, 2013); story citing TRACI GLEASON (MPP 2000); http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/missouri-republicans-push-1-billion-tax-cut-plan/#
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “Letters to the Editor: Does Going to Church Make You Healthier?” (New York Times [*requires registration], April 29, 2013; Letter to Editor by RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/opinion/does-going-to-church-make-you-healthier.html
2. “Steve Weiner – education activist” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2013); tribute citing former Associate Dean STEVE WEINER; http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Steve-Weiner-education-activist-4464764.php#ixzz2RavFRkMV
3. “Economists thrash banks for their excesses” (USA Today, April 23, 2013); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2013/04/23/darrell-delamaide-column-economists-banks/2107117/
4. “Tone-deaf lawmakers ignore Americans on the economy” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH.
5. “
6. “Education Expert David Kirp to Speak at UCLA on Rebuilding America’s Public Schools” (Targeted News Service, April 18, 2013); newswire citing DAVID KIRP.
7. “The War Room: Racial profiling in law enforcement: Why it’s unfortunately ‘hard to resist’” (Current TV, April 16, 2013); interview with JACK GLASER; http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/videos/racial-profiling-in-law-enforcement-why-its-unfortunately-hard-to-resist
8. “Explosions at the Boston Marathon” (Forum, KQED public radio, April 16, 2013); program featuring MICHAEL NACHT; Listen to this program
9. “Winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 2013); story citing RICHARD and RHODA GOLDMAN.
10. “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great
American School System and a Strategy for
11. “Brown v. Board Reduced Crime; And now resegregation is leading to a spike in violent crime among young black men” (Slate Magazine, April 9, 2013); analysis citing RUCKER JOHNSON and DAVID DEMING (MPP 2005).
12. “The invisible sequester” (Christian Science Monitor, April 9, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/0409/The-invisible-sequester
13. “Money & Company: Is the tougher workplace slowing down the economic recovery?” (Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2013); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-tough-workplace-economy-jobs-20130408,0,7433167.story
14. “The basics of better schools” (Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2013); op-ed by DAVID KIRP; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0331-kirp-schools-achievement-gap-20130407,0,6277272.story
15. “Social Security, Medicare merit protection, not cuts” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH.
16. “An urban school district that works — without miracles or Teach For America” (Washington Post [*requires registration], April 4, 2013); excerpt of book by DAVID KIRP; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/04/an-urban-school-district-that-works-without-miracles-or-superman/?print=1
17. “Robert Reich on immigration reform plan: ‘The stars are aligned in a very weird and unusual way’” (Viewpoint, Current TV, April 1, 2013); interview with ROBERT REICH; see the interview
18. “Among the Evangélicos; For Republicans reaching out to immigrant groups, a glimmer of hope: Protestant Hispanics are genuine swing voters” (The Weekly Standard, March 25, 2013); analysis citing HENRY BRADY.
1. “Some dispensaries not too thrilled by
legal pot” (Morning Sentinel (
By Michael Shepherd - State House Bureau
[Allen St. Pierre, executive director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML] suggests that’s because of economic protectionism: Simply put, when marijuana becomes legal, consumption will go up and prices will fall sharply. [Paul McCarrier, a lobbyist for Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine] said it’s not about protecting money, but protecting “the ability for caregivers to continue to operate.” ...
On taxes, a fine line would have to be walked to turn the average consumer to the new, recreational market. If the marijuana tax is too high, people probably would seek the black market or a doctor’s recommendation for patient status, say many working on tax proposals in other states....
The $50-per-ounce rate
has been discussed in other places.
Beau Kilmer, a drug policy researcher for the RAND Corp., a nonprofit think tank, said there are a number of ways regulators could tax marijuana, including per ounce and by the plant’s chemical makeup.
However, it’s too early to tell what would work best, so Kilmer suggests flexibility in the tax system.
“If large barriers are created to changing the taxes, it’s going to make it a heck of a lot harder to update them based on new research,” he said....
2. “State may forgo
reserve fund; Without a financial cushion, some say,
it may be vulnerable to drops in revenue” (Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2013);
story citing TRACY GORDON (MPP
1996/PhD 2001).
By Chris Megerian
But
The reserve was created
without a firm requirement to fill it, and Brown’s proposed budget contains no allocation
for the fund. Without a financial cushion, some experts say,
“We’re still in an
uncertain economy,” said Tracy Gordon, a
fellow at the Brookings Institution, a
3. “ADULT EDUCATION:
Older students may lose programs as lawmakers consider major cuts” (San Franciso Chronicle, April 29, 2013); story citing PETER GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1981).
By Nanette Asimov
In the five years since Araceli Melendez began taking free nutrition classes through City College of San Francisco at a local senior center, she’s lost weight, reduced her blood pressure and kicked her high cholesterol to the curb.
“This class is very
important to me,” said the 86-year-old student from
They are among thousands of students across California who would lose such free classes — parenting skills, art appreciation, exercise for older adults and more — under a new bill that would eliminate funding for certain adult education classes....
“We think our education system needs to refocus its mission to produce the kind of workforce we need to grow the economy,” said Suzanne Reed, aide to state Sen. Carol Liu, D-La Cañada Flintridge (Los Angeles County), whose bill, SB 173, would let the state pay only for six categories of adult education instead of 10....
If SB173 is approved, it’s
likely that dozens of free classes at
“It is highly unlikely that the college would be able to keep those classes by charging steep fees for students,” he said. “Instead, the college would likely try to offer the same number of total classes and shift those resources to (those) that do qualify.” ...
4. “Autistic children losing services in state health insurance transition, parents say” (Bay Area News Group, April 29, 2013); story citing KELLY ABBETT HARDY (MPP/MPH 2004), and TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_23119443/autistic-children-losing-services-state-health-insurance-transition
By Sandy Kleffman
Pamela DiBattista,
with her 4-year-old autistic daughter, Catalena, at
their
... [Pamela DiBattista] and other parents of autistic children have been
on a roller-coaster ride since the state began transitioning to Medi-Cal some 860,000 children who received low-cost
health, dental and vision care through its soon-to-be-defunct Healthy Families
program. The shift is expected to save
Parents say they were promised the move would not disrupt services for autistic children.
But many now say they feel betrayed after weeks of conflicting or unclear answers about whether their children can continue a popular and effective therapy, applied behavioral analysis, that can cost $20,000 to $50,000 a year....
A coalition of children’s advocacy groups has asked the state to suspend the transition, planned in phases throughout the year, until this issue is resolved. “The parents that we’ve talked to are just beside themselves—this is a matter of their child being able to function in the world,” said Kelly Hardy, director of health policy for Children Now, an Oakland-based national advocacy group....
On April 22, Health Care Services director Toby
5. “Congress Acts on
Flight Delays, What’s Next?” (Weekend
Edition Saturday, National Public Radio, April 27, 2013); program featuring
commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP
1976).
SCOTT SIMON: ... The
first great sequester showdown has ended and the White House says President
Obama will sign a bill that effectively ends furloughs for air traffic
controllers. The House yesterday approved the measure, which was passed by the
Senate Thursday night, and the action comes after a week of flight delays that
angered air travelers and set off a flurry of finger-pointing in
BRIAN NAYLOR: And while air travelers will no longer face furlough-related flight delays, other groups affected by the sequester aren’t faring so well. Democrat Steny Hoyer argued on the House floor that there is no rescue ahead for low-income Americans or seniors.
STENY HOYER: Head Start—70,000 children will be kicked out of Head Start. Nothing in this bill deals with them. Furloughs that cause delays in processing retirement for disability claims. Nothing in this bill deals with them. Four million fewer Meals on Wheels for seniors, 600,000 people dropped off WIC. Nothing in here for them.
BRIAN NAYLOR: Budget analyst Stan Collender says the reason those groups were left out of the sequester fix is simple.
STAN COLLENDER: Their ability to generate any kind of real political pain is very, very small. So, the chances are those sequester cuts are going to stay in place. What’s interesting here is that the Democrats in the administration did hold out and say, all right, if you want to fix FAA, we want to fix everything. We want flexibility in a lot of places....
6. “FACT CHECK: Did FAA have to furlough controllers?” (Associated Press, April 26, 2013); newswire citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/FACT-CHECK-Did-FAA-have-to-furlough-controllers-4465465.php#ixzz2Rai7vxYn
By Joan Lowy, Associated Press
This photo taken April 23, 2013 shows a Southwest
airlines jet waiting to depart in view of the air traffic control tower at
WASHINGTON (AP) — With disgruntled passengers complaining about airline flight delays, Republican lawmakers and the airline industry pounced on the Obama administration. The glitch was invented by the White House for political reasons, they charged, and officials waited until the last minute to warn Congress and the airlines of the impending upheaval.
They were wrong on the first count, and partly right on the second.
The FAA has no choice but to cut $637 million as its share of $85 billion in automatic, government-wide spending cuts that must be achieved by the end of the federal budget year on Sept. 30.
The cuts are required under a law enacted two years ago as the government was approaching its debt limit. Democrats were in favor of raising the debt limit without strings attached so as not to provoke an economic crisis, but Republicans insisted on substantial cuts in exchange. The compromise was to require that every government “program, project and activity” — with some exceptions, like Medicare — be cut equally.
“It was intentionally designed to provide no discretion whatsoever,” said Stan Collender, a former House and Senate budget committee staffer, and author of “The Guide to the Federal Budget.” ...
7. “S.F. training for
tech jobs scrutinized” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2013); story citing
non-profit headed by JAY BANFIELD
(MPP 1997).
By John Coté
Cameron Tang, 19, is a student at the nonprofit Year Up training
program in
Ceddrick Jonae had a seemingly solid career as a video postproduction technician until he was laid off from his job at Current TV in late 2010.
After being unemployed for about two years, the 46-yearold resident of San Francisco’s Civic Center area now has a new job thanks, in part, to a city training program designed to help recent local graduates and mid-career professionals join in the technology boom.
Mayor Ed Lee’s administration counts Jonae among the success stories in its fledgling effort to create a pipeline for San Franciscans to get lucrative new-economy jobs, but several members of the Board of Supervisors question whether tax breaks showered on the tech industry since Lee took office in 2011 are paying off for residents as a whole....
Rone Bowles (left), Tikiya
Hassan and Carl Craig—with Year Up—have internships with companies
outside the program. (Michael Macor
/ The Chronicle)
Growth in the tech industry is projected to create more than 42,000 new jobs in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties by 2020, according to state projections, and Lee said those positions will have direct and indirect benefits for lower-income residents or those who initially lack skills to compete for them.
In the short term, he pointed to a Bay Area Council Economic Institute report from December that found that for every high-tech job created, another 4.3 jobs are added in other areas, like lawyers, shuttle bus drivers and coffee shop baristas.
And once his TechSF training program has a chance to grow, even more people will have a chance to gain skills, Lee said.
The durability of TechSF is another question, though. The city’s portion is funded by two federal grants totaling $5.4 million....
The money lasts for up
to four years and is used to fund training done by nonprofits like Year Up [headed by Jay Banfield] and
“It’s important to note that we are just seven months into a five-year program,” said Todd Rufo, head of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, who pointed to a stream of TechSF students who told supervisors how the training had improved their job prospects, self-esteem and quality of life....
8. “Three new books that
will prepare you for the future of humanity” (io9, April 25, 2013); book review
citing MARINA GORBIS (MPP 1983).
Want some guides to tomorrow that are both entertaining and educational? Here are three new books that offer dramatically different perspectives on what comes next....
The Nature
of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed
World [1], by Marina Gorbis
Economic institutions
have changed dramatically over time, often destroying wealth and lives with
them. How can we prepare today to reap the benefits of tomorrow’s new systems
of value and exchange? Gorbis is the executive director of the Institute
for the Future [2], and she’s worked for years analyzing this question,
while in conversation with people from Fortune 500 corporations and at small
nonprofits and activist organizations. She believes that we’re at a turning
point where the old industrial economy is giving way to what she calls a “socialstructed” economy characterized by peer-to-peer
organization and crowdfunded projects. She compares
it to the informal, non-monetary economy she grew up with in the
9. “Looming Baucus
retirement may spur tax deal” (MarketWatch, April 23,
2013); analysis citing SEAN WEST
(MPP 2006).
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Odds are increasing that there will be some tax-reform deal before Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus retires in 2014, but the size and scope of it remain unclear, analysts said Tuesday.
Baucus, a 71-year-old Montana Democrat, won’t run for reelection next year, he said Tuesday. That means that the senator will try to make tax reform his legacy, analysts said, as he tries to finish the work he has begun with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican.
“I think Baucus’s retirement liberates him to cut all sorts of deals”
that he could not have otherwise,” said Sean
West, who heads the
West of the Eurasia Group also said pitfalls remain, including a Republican-led House that is deeply split with President Barack Obama over revenue issues.
“You have a chairman who is looking for a legacy,” West said. “But we should be cautious about getting too far ahead of how hard the process is going to be.”
Baucus recently bucked his party on a number of votes....
If Democrats keep the
Senate in 2014, Sen. Ron Wyden of
West noted that Wyden has been a proponent of tax reform in the
past. Wyden has worked in the past on bipartisan tax-reform legislation with
former Sen. Judd Gregg, a
10. “Fallout for states rejecting Medicaid expansion” (Associated Press, April 22, 2013); newswire citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/news/politics/article/Fallout-for-states-rejecting-Medicaid-expansion-4452348.php#ixzz2RDOOIUYK
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states where Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as “Obamacare.”
It could mean exposing businesses to Internal Revenue Service penalties and leaving low-income citizens unable to afford coverage even as legal immigrants get financial aid for their premiums. For the poorest people, it could virtually guarantee they remain uninsured and dependent on the emergency room at local hospitals that already face federal cutbacks....
As originally written, the Affordable Care Act required states to accept the Medicaid expansion as a condition of staying in the program. Last summer’s Supreme Court decision gave each state the right to decide. While that pleased many governors, it also created complications by opening the door to unintended consequences....
States that don’t expand Medicaid leave more businesses exposed to tax penalties, according to a recent study by Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt’s senior vice president for tax policy. He estimates the fines could top $1 billion a year in states refusing.
Under the law, employers with 50 or more workers that don’t offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized private insurance through the new state markets. But employers generally do not face fines under the law for workers who enroll in Medicaid.
In states that don’t expand Medicaid, some low-income workers who would otherwise have been eligible have a fallback option. They can instead get subsidized private insurance in the law’s new markets. But that would trigger a penalty for their employer.
“It highlights how complicated the Affordable Care Act is,” said Haile....
11. “Borenstein:
By Daniel Borenstein, staff columnistcontracostatimes.com
City officials try to have it both ways.
They blame their pension woes on the mighty California Public Employees’ Retirement System. But when CalPERS tries to do the right thing, as we just saw, cities drag their feet like petulant children.
CalPERS administers pensions
for 450 of
CalPERS has fallen billions of dollars short and needs cities to start paying off their portion of the debt at a more reasonable pace instead of leaving it for our children and grandchildren. It’s not only a matter of fairness to future generations; the fiscal integrity of the entire pension fund is at risk....
CalPERS deserves much blame for its years of deceptive accounting. But city officials must own up to their complicity. Any competent city manager or conscientious council member should have seen the problem and set aside more money.....
Yes, cities will face higher rates. But the money goes toward paying off their debts....
12. “2013
Beau Kilmer, author of “Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know”; watch the interview with viewer questions
13. “Accelerators Blog: Weekend Read — Vivek Wadhwa: The Truth about the ‘Age Premium’,” (Wall Street Journal Online [*requires registration], April 19, 2013); blog citing GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://blogs.wsj.com/accelerators/2013/04/19/weekend-read-vivek-wadhwa-the-truth-about-the-age-premium/?KEYWORDS=Berkeley
--Vivek Wadhwa
They don’t prepare you for this in college or admit it in job interviews. The harsh reality is that if you are middle-aged, write computer code for a living, and earn a six-figure salary, you’re headed for the unemployment lines. Your market value declines as you age and it becomes harder and harder to get a job....
This is not openly
discussed, because employers could be accused of age discrimination. But
research, such as that completed by
Brown and
14. “GAO finds fault with court expansion plans” (The Washington Post, April 18, 2013); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
By Josh Hicks
The Government Accountability Office told a congressional panel Wednesday that the federal court system’s one-page, $1.1 billion facilities proposal “does not support the judiciary’s request for courthouse construction projects.”
The watchdog report calls for a moratorium on the judiciary’s five-year capital plan, which the GAO says underestimates project costs and fails to evaluate the proposal under new guidelines.
The U.S. Judicial Conference, which oversees the courts, objected to the GAO’s recommendation during a hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Judge Michael A. Ponsor, who handles facilities issues for the judicial branch, said a moratorium would be “wasteful, unfair and dangerous” for districts with projects in the five-year plan.
“I feel like I’m speaking for the people . . . who’ve been waiting sometimes 15 years with courthouses that are falling to bits,” Ponsor said. “The courthouses are clearly needed.”
The General Services Administration, which manages federal properties, also opposed the recommended moratorium. GSA Commissioner Dorothy Robyn argued that the delay could “potentially undermine our ongoing maintenance of the federal inventory and our mission to provide the courts with safe and secure, quality courthouse space.” ...
The GSA said Wednesday that it has a proven record of right-sizing courthouse projects....
15. “Health law expands
treatment for addicts in
By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The number of drug and alcohol addicts eligible for health insurance that will cover substance abuse treatment will rise by 1.5 times when federal health care reforms kick in next year.
Throughout the state, and particularly in Los Angeles County where the largest share of people get treated for substance abuse through the public health system, providers are scrambling for ways to serve the wave of expected patients. Officials remain uncertain how the new programs will be funded under the Affordable Care Act....
The largest number of
patients getting taxpayer-funded treatment for alcohol and drugs was in
That is in part due to
demographics: more than one-third of all Californians enrolled in Medi-Cal live in
It also is due to the
county’s historic willingness to provide addiction treatment to those in need,
where some other
“Historically, many counties either ideologically or philosophically have decided they don’t like offering methadone maintenance in the community so they say ‘No, we have enough of you in our county,’” Senella said. “But now, many counties are considering applying to get certified to offer those services because they see they have to expand their capacity to take on the new patients.”...
Substance use disorder
services are one of the mandated essential health benefits that are required to
be provided under the part of the Affordable Care Act that expands Medicaid, a
provision that
16. “Vaccine in development as bird flu epidemic spreads” (Clinical Advisor, April 2013); story citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD/MPH 1996).
By Nicole Blazek
A novel strain of bird
flu, H7N9 influenza A, has sickened 63 people and killed 13 in
Concurrently, a profile
of H7N9 is emerging. Yuelong Shu,
PhD, of the Chinese CDC in
“The detection of human H7N9 virus infections is yet another reminder that we must continue to prepare for the next influenza pandemic,” Timothy M. Uyeki, MD, MPH, MPP, and Nancy J. Cox, PhD, of the U.S. CDC’s influenza division wrote in an accompanying NEJM editorial.
Because H7N9 influenza A infections have not occurred in humans before, it is expected that people of all ages might be susceptible worldwide, Uyeki and Cox warned.
17. “New bird flu well-adapted to infect people” (CNN Wire, April 12, 2013); newswire citing TIM UYEKI (MPP 1985/MD/MPH 1996).
By Caleb Hellerman CNN
A new variation of bird flu
that the WHO says has caused at least 11 deaths in
In a report published late Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, samples from three patients—all of whom died—had mutations that have previously been shown to increase transmissibility, and to help the virus grow in a mammal’s respiratory tract....
All three died after suffering severe respiratory symptoms, including acute respiratory distress syndrome and eventually septic shock and multiple organ failure.
In a commentary that ran
with the article, [
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) or zanamivir (Relenza) should be administered as soon as possible to patients with a suspected or confirmed H7N9 infection, the two wrote....
18. “The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta holds its 2013 Community Development Research Conference, April 11-12” (The Washington Daybook, April 11, 2013); event featuring JOSEPH FIRSCHEIN (MPP 1992).
AGENDA: Highlights : ...
-- 5:30 p.m.: Joseph Firschein, deputy associate director and community affairs officer in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System delivers closing remarks....
19. “Obama’s Budget Targets Wealthy, Social Security to Lower Deficit” (McClatchy-Tribune Business News, April 10, 2013); story citing TRACY GORDON (MPP 1996/PhD 2001).
By Liz Farmer, Governing
President Barack Obama’s $3.8 trillion budget released Wednesday targets the wealthy by closing some tax loopholes and limiting deductions while curbing entitlement spending, an effort that seeks to lower by two thirds the U.S. budget deficit’s share of GDP by 2023.
Localities are also worried about the impact on Obama’s proposed 28 percent cap on tax deductions for higher earners, which would include a cap on the tax-free income allowed for some municipal bond holders....
And in the meantime, an overall cap on deductions could affect spending in localities where the federal tax code helps cover higher costs. For example, the home mortgage interest deduction and local property taxes are all deductable from a filer’s total income.
“In certain places [deductions] compensate for a higher cost of living or higher housing costs,” said Brookings Institution Fellow Tracy Gordon....
20. “AM Alert: California Federation of Teachers lobbies lawmakers” (Sacramento Bee, April 9, 2013); event featuring PETER BIRDSALL (MPP 1974); http://view.exacttarget.com/?j=fe8a12787361077b76&m=fefc1172766306&ls=fdf71670736c057471167677&l=feca16737661057a&s=fe2e157277640d74741677&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe551379726706757015
... School finance: The
Public Policy Institute of California is hosting a talk on [Governor] Brown’s
proposed new school financing formula (incidentally, the Assembly’s Budget
Subcommittee on Education Finance is taking on the same topic today in a 9 a.m.
hearing). The PPIC talk will feature Joan Buchanan, who chairs the Assembly
Budget Committee; Peter Birdsall, executive
director of the
21. “Could your next
boss be a robot?” (The Globe and Mail (
By James Martin, Special to The Globe and Mail
In his famous laws of robotics, science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov decreed that robots cannot hurt humans, but he didn’t say anything about not taking our jobs. Automation in the workplace isn’t new—economist John Maynard Keynes warned of “technological unemployment” as far back as 1930, and even that came more than a century after mechanical looms riled up the first Luddites - but recent advances in artificial intelligence have allowed robots to climb the corporate ladder. How high can they go? Is there a corner office in R2-D2’s future?
“I believe we’re going
through the same process we went through in agriculture, but for knowledge work
and information work,” says Marina Gorbis, the executive director of the Institute for the
Future, a non-profit forecasting and research organization based in
22. “Borenstein:
By Daniel Borenstein, staff columnist © 2013 Bay Area News Groupcontracostatimes.com
A bankruptcy judge’s
ruling last week declaring the city of
City officials don’t want to make those cuts for fear of losing competitiveness when trying to recruit and retain employees. They say workers have already made other major cost-saving concessions.
But unhappy capital market creditors, including holders and insurers of city bonds, could force the issue by insisting that, if they must absorb economic losses to resolve the bankruptcy, payments to the pension program should be trimmed, too.
The legal showdown could be avoided if the city and those creditors reach a compromise. But if they don’t, Judge Christopher Klein warns, promised pension benefits could be amended.
That threat undermines
claims by
[Judge Klein] notes that the federal Constitution only bars state impairment of contracts. Meanwhile, it grants Congress authority to establish rules for bankruptcy, which typically involves altering contractual commitments....
23. “
By Neal J. Riley
Political observer David Latterman said Cup organizers are under a lot of pressure to live up to their promises of an international event that would bring a windfall to the city.
“It seems par for the course to have twists and turns when you’re setting up for a big event,” he said. “It’s all about managing expectations.” ...
24. “
By Theresa Harrington - Contra Costa Times
Marisol Padilla, who owns Advanced Interpreting Services, received her first $20,000 contract with the district in July 2010, and was awarded contracts worth a total of $94,000 in August 2011 and January 2012 based on recommendations and approvals from General Counsel Greg Rolen and others.
But Rolen did not publicly disclose that he and Padilla were romantically involved during that time period, despite his admission in court documents filed in his divorce from then-wife Diane Beall Rolen. In those documents, Rolen referred to Padilla as his girlfriend as far back as Sept. 28, 2010....
Although government ethics experts said Rolen’s failure to disclose his relationship sooner does not appear to have violated any laws, it raises public perception concerns.
“What the public might perceive, though, is that this firm got the contract because of favoritism due to the relationship between staff and somebody in the firm,” said Joanne Speers, executive director of the nonprofit Institute for Local Government. “We encourage our local public officials to think about public perception because a perception that the district used something other than a fair merit process can be very damaging to the public trust in how the district makes decisions.” ...
25. “Tax preparers + enrolling in a health insurance exchange = Match made in heaven?” (MedCityNews.com, April 3, 2013); story citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000).
Who says the Affordable Care Act doesn’t create jobs? The new insurance exchanges may create new revenue streams for tax preparers and year-round employment for their tax experts.
Jackson Hewitt is lobbying the government for an active role in helping boost enrollment in the insurance exchanges. H&R Block and Intuit won’t say what their plans are for new health insurance services, but it’s clear they see an opportunity.
Jackson Hewitt’s first vice president for health policy[1] says that tax preparers are the ideal partner to help the federal government enroll people in health insurance exchanges.
“Federal policy makers talk about enrolling people at healthcare centers, but if you enroll people as they are seeking services, you get sick people,” Brian Haile said. “At tax preparer sites, you’ll get everyone.”
“Also people are already coming to our brick and mortar locations, so you’re not asking them to change behavior.”
Haile said the tax filing moment should also be the exchange enrollment moment because: The same documents are needed to file taxes and to apply for the health insurance programs. The person has Internet access at the tax preparer’s office. She is thinking about financial transactions. She is about to get the largest paycheck of the year in form of tax refund.
“When you are talking about taking on a new premium, it’s better to talk to someone when she is getting money back,” Haile said....
26. “EFFICIENCY: A
handbook for cash-strapped schools to help retrofit wasteful energy systems” (ClimateWire, Vol. 10 No. 9, April 3, 2013); story citing MARK ZIMRING (MPP 2011/MS ERG 2012).
--Elizabeth Harball, E&E reporter
The decision to improve
energy efficiency in schools seems like a no-brainer—in 2008, U.S. educational
facilities spent about $8 billion on utilities, and a quarter of that cost
could be saved through efficiency measures, according to a 2008 report by U.S.
EPA.
But schools are still
suffering from the recession—more than three-quarters of districts surveyed by
the American Association of School Administrators last year said they were
still inadequately funded—and finding the resources to assess and pay for
energy upgrades can be a challenge.
A new report by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
in
“The reality for lots of
school districts is that budgets have been cut, and those budget cuts manifest
themselves in an overwhelmed administrative staff that is just thinking about
the core educational mission of keeping a school district going,” said Mark Zimring, who
contributed to the report.
Zimring and co-author Merrian Borgeson also found that
many schools lack the staff resources to assess how best to improve their
facilities’ energy efficiency. As a result, Zimring said, “there’s still a
consistent underinvestment in school infrastructure across the country, and one
of the manifestations of that is relatively poor energy performance.”
There are many different
ways to fund energy improvements, but the process of securing upfront capital
can be complicated. The report is specifically aimed at providing clarity in
this area, though the authors said details would vary within individual states
and districts.
“One of the bigger
takeaways is that lots of traditional financing tools that school districts use
in their standard capital raising activities, for all sorts of projects that
are not energy-related, can be deployed for energy efficiency,” Zimring said....
[“Financing Energy
Upgrades for K-12 School Districts,” by Merrian Borgeson and Mark Zimring, is available for free download here (http://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/lbnl-6133e.pdf
). The work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.]
27. “Study: Governors who opt out of Medicaid expansion may create new tax bill for employers” (MedCityNews.com, April 3, 2013); story citing BRIAN HAILE (MPP 2000).
... Why? “Shared responsibility[1]” penalties that are much more likely to kick in for employers in states that don’t expand Medicaid. This tax comes into play if certain employees can’t afford insurance from their employer and turn to exchanges and the associated tax credits for health insurance.
As with most policy
components of the Affordable Care Act, the explanation is complicated. But
given the potential price tag for employers—up to $447 million in
Brain Haile of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service recently calculated the potential “shared responsibility” bill for employers in all 50 states.
His study[2] focused on uninsured adults who are under 65, working full-time for a company with 50+ employees, and earning between 100-150% of the federal poverty level....
Haile used the example of a custodian who works for a county government.
‘The county provides insurance but the person’s wages are so small that 25% goes to insurance, which makes it unaffordable,’ Haile said.
That person could qualify for coverage through an exchange and the tax credit that goes along with it.
If the employee gets insurance through the exchange, the employer would pay a related tax, the ‘shared responsiblity’ penalty. This penalty applies to employers that offer health coverage and have 50 or more fulltime equivalent employees. The fines are up to $3,000 penalties for each employee who gets the premium assistance tax credits. The provision caps an employer’s total liability at approximately $2,000 multiplied by the total number of employees.
If the person is eligible for coverage through Medicaid instead of an exchange, the employer avoids the penalties.
“Businesses will have a lower tax penalty if more people are eligible for Medicaid,” Haile said....
Haile is Jackson Hewitt’s first senior vice president for health
policy[3]. Before joining the tax preparer earlier
this year, he was in charge of drafting
a plan for
28. “Christie Administration
and Partners Work to Restore Delaware Bay Beaches Eroded by
The first phase, currently under way, focuses on emergency, stop-gap restoration of beaches adjacent to creeks that provide critical shorebird feeding habitat for the upcoming spring migration. The second phase, to be conducted later this year, will focus on improving beaches by removing rubble, old pilings, bulkheads and abandoned structures for long-term habitat enhancement.
The partners are using grants from the nonprofit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Community Foundation of New Jersey coupled with smaller grants from the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust and Corporate Wetlands Partnership to restore the beaches....
The New Jersey Recovery Fund, administered by
the Community Foundation of New Jersey,
also is contributing to the emergency beach restoration as the first of a
two-phase, $515,000 agreement it has with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of
New Jersey to restore bay habitat following
“The several foundations
that have contributed to the NJ Recovery Fund are delighted to support such a
critical habitat restoration project that will provide substantial benefits to
local communities and our endangered wildlife” said Hans Dekker, the President of the Community Foundation of
29. “Owners seeking condo conversions have chance of a break” (San Franciso Chronicle, April 1, 2013); story citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002).
By Neal J. Riley
Two-month-old Blake Ernst is all smiles in his crib for the time being. But a walk-in closet off their bedroom isn’t where Stacy and Kevin Ernst want their son to grow up.
The Ernsts
are one of more than 2,500 owners of tenancy-in-common units in
But relief may be on the way for TIC owners. Long opposed by tenant advocates who want to protect the city’s rental stock, a compromise may be close on legislation authorizing a onetime bypass of the lottery process. Sponsored by supervisors Mark Farrell and Scott Wiener, the legislation could set aside up to $25 million for affordable housing, supporters say, by charging a maximum $20,000 conversion fee. The fee would decrease the longer the TIC owner has been in the lottery....
“It’s closer than they’ve ever been, for sure,” said David Latterman, a University of San Francisco political researcher, adding that past efforts to create a lottery bypass for a fee have been defeated by the board. “I think it’s less than 50 percent that this actually happens, but the fact that we’re saying that it could happen is actually a step up from the past.” ...
30. “The credit hour begins to crack” (Deseret Morning News, March 25, 2013); story citing AMY LAITINEN (MPP 2003).
By Celia Baker,
The U.S. Department of
Education is encouraging colleges to seek federal approval for degree programs
that don’t rely on the credit hour as a measurement of learning, an Inside Higher Ed story said. A letter
released by the Department of Education on March 19 endorsed competency-based
education, and indicated that credit hours will no longer be required as a
basis for federal student loans. Department officials said they will soon allow
Southern New Hampshire University’s College for
... The Department of Education’s softened stance on competency-based education follows on the heels of a New America Foundation report called “Cracking the Credit Hour,” by Amy Laitinen, which blamed the credit hour for myriad problems plaguing the U.S. system of higher education. “If the U.S. is to reclaim its position as the most-educated nation in the world, federal policy needs to shift from paying for and valuing time to paying for and valuing learning,” a report summary said. “In an era when college degrees are simultaneously becoming more important and more expensive, students and taxpayers can no longer afford to pay for time and little or no evidence of learning.” ...
31. “Scenes from Day
Three of NCSHA’S Legislative Conference” (States News Service, March 12, 2013);
event featuring MARGARET SALAZAR
(MPP 2006).
...HUD Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Single Family Housing Charles Coulter and HUD Office of Affordable Housing Preservation Acting Director Margaret
Salazar detailed HUD’s single-family and multifamily plans and answered
policy questions from the audience.... Salazar discussed the status of HUD
multifamily programs and called for legislative changes that would allow Ginnie Mae to securitize FHA-HFA multifamily risk-sharing
loans. She also recognized HFA participation in the Rental Assistance
Demonstration and Section 811 project-based rental assistance for persons with
disabilities demonstration programs.
32. “Bloomberg’s Homeless Plan was Incredibly Ambitious” (City Limits, March 11, 2013); story citing MAUREEN FRIAR (MPP 1990).
By Diane Jeantet
Some weeks after taking
office, Mayor Bloomberg and his then homeless services commissioner, Linda
Gibbs visited the
The trip was part of an effort to get the mayor and his team up to speed by meeting with advocates and field professionals. A first, formal meeting gathered about half a dozen advocates and a similar number of commissioners, all direct or potential actors in the battle against homelessness — homeless services, human resources, children resources and housing agencies. This first meeting was followed by a series of smaller, sometimes one-on-one tours around specific issues so the mayoral team could learn in a hands-on manner.
Among the advocates at
these meetings was Maureen Friar, then
the executive director of the Supportive Housing Network of
Friar and a group of other advocates had been working on The Blueprint to End Homeless in
33. “College tuition soars as states reduce funding” (Deseret Morning News, March 6, 2013); story citing AMY LAITINEN (MPP 2003).
By Celia Baker,
Growing enrollments and declining state budgets have been putting the squeeze on colleges and universities for the past 25 years, but the problem got a lot worse last year, says a new report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. That’s bad news for college students and their families, because it falls to them to make up the difference. The percentage of college costs supported by tuition has climbed steadily from 23 percent in 1987 to 47 percent in 2012... The national average for declines in state funding for higher education is 23.1 percent....
Discussion about those very thoughts has increased among education watchdogs since President Barack Obama brought them up in his recent State of the Union address. The president said he wants to prompt colleges to keep costs in line by shifting federal grants and loans away from schools that fail to keep tuition down and instead funnel that money to schools that serve needy students well—changes that would leverage $10 billion annually to keep tuition down, according to a White House fact sheet.
The $170 billion spent every year on federal aid to higher education is “a huge potential lever” for making sure colleges work as hard at graduating students as they do in recruiting them, said Amy Laitinen, deputy director for higher education at the New America Foundation. “Access to a college education is important, but it needs to be access to education with a degree that means something—without a sack-load of debt that is crushing people on a day-to-day basis,” Laitinen said....
Laitinen said federal efforts toward transparency and accountability have centered on K-12 education, and that focus on higher education is overdue. “Everyone is told you have to get a college degree, and that it’s an economic imperative to stay in the middle class,” Laitinen said. “That’s right—overall, college is a great return on investment—overall. But at which school? Which program? Which price? Republican and Democratic leaders are asking what students are getting. We don’t know. Students don’t know when they sign up.”
Few Americans realize that four-year college completion rates hover between an “atrocious” 25 and 30 percent nationally, depending on how they are figured, Laitinen said. High schools with low graduation rates are labeled as “dropout factories” targeted for transformation, but there has been little accountability for higher education institutions that graduate too few students, she said....
34. “Missouri
Republicans push $1 billion tax cut plan” (The Kansas City Star (MO), February
25, 2013); story citing TRACI GLEASON
(MPP 2000); http://midwestdemocracy.com/articles/missouri-republicans-push-1-billion-tax-cut-plan/#
By Jason Hancock
The bill, sponsored by
Republican Sen. Will Kraus of
Figures provided by
Kraus’ office estimated the tax cuts would cost the state $1.1 billion the
first year. The phased-in business tax credit will add another $200 million to
that price tag when fully phased in, Kraus said.
Critics argue the real
price of the tax cuts is closer to $2 billion, or roughly one-fourth of the state’s
general revenue budget....
“Instead of spurring economic growth, the tax
proposal will severely undermine
The cuts will make
Gleason said
1. “Letters to the Editor: Does Going to Church Make You Healthier?” (New York Times [*requires registration], April 29, 2013; Letter to Editor by RICHARD SCHEFFLER; http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/opinion/does-going-to-church-make-you-healthier.html
To the Editor:
Do healthy people go to church, or does church make you healthy? If the answer is that church makes you healthy, what is the mechanism? Leaving out divine intervention, what happens in church that produces health? ...
But we must confront the problem of causation. Those who attend church are on average healthier than those who do not: the selection effect. To deal with this, we would need to study the health of those who are randomly assigned to attend church and who do not attend.
Without this evidence, we can only hope that going to church makes us healthier, though it might be a good thing anyway.
RICHARD SCHEFFLER
The writer is a professor of health economics and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley....
2. “Steve Weiner – education activist” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 26, 2013); tribute citing former Associate Dean STEVE WEINER; http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Steve-Weiner-education-activist-4464764.php#ixzz2RavFRkMV
--Nanette Asimov
Steve Weiner held posts at Stanford and
Cal. (Photo
courtesy of family)
Steve Weiner helped shape some of the
nation’s leading universities during his career, but his influence only grew in
retirement when he turned his attention to changing public policy.
A co-founder of the Campaign for College
Opportunity—the driving force behind a transformation of
Mr. Weiner held administrative posts at
Stanford, the
He retired in 1996. But the Piedmont resident was just getting started.
“Steve relished shaking things up a little,” said former state Sen. Gary Hart, who serves on the Campaign’s board. “He was so perceptive and willing to not just accept conventional wisdom—and often that meant taking on the establishment.”
That’s what happened a few years ago when the Campaign for College Opportunity, founded in 2003, took on community college students’ low transfer rates to universities, resulting in a shakeup that led the systems to align their curriculum and brought new laws that made transfers easier.
But that was a cakewalk compared with what happened in 2010 when the group pushed for community colleges to focus scarce dollars on students with an academic plan....
The traditionally open-door colleges had little interest in rationing classes, despite a plunge in the revenue that paid for them....
The Campaign’s work resulted in recommendations
for focusing state resources on goal-oriented students while helping more
students create goals. It’s now policy for
He moved to UC in 1977, where he served as associate dean of the
3. “Economists thrash banks for their excesses” (USA Today, April 23, 2013); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2013/04/23/darrell-delamaide-column-economists-banks/2107117/
By Darrell Delamaide
Economists have been in the forefront of criticizing bank power since the financial crisis broke in 2008....
Robert
Reich, a former Labor secretary and now a professor at
“Why doesn’t the morality brigade complain about the rampant greed on (Wall) Street that’s already brought the economy to its knees, wiping out the savings of millions of Americans and subjecting countless others to joblessness and insecurity — and seems set on doing it again?” Reich wrote in a blog.
He argued that what people do in their bedrooms and women’s rights over their own bodies are private moral choices.
“But what powerful people do in their boardrooms is the public’s business,” Reich said. “Our democracy needs to be protected from the depredations of big money. Our economy needs to be guarded against the excesses of too-big-to-fail banks.”
4. “Tone-deaf lawmakers ignore Americans on the economy” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 21, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH.
By ROBERT REICH
... Before January’s fiscal cliff deal, for example, at least 60 percent of Americans expressed strong support for raising taxes on incomes over $250,000. But the deal locked in the Bush tax cut for everyone earning up to $400,000.
Polls also show Americans would prefer that taxes be raised to reduce the budget deficit rather than have future Medicare or Social Security benefits cut. Yet the president has offered to cut future benefits....
About 65 percent of Americans want to raise taxes on large corporations. But both parties are heading in precisely the opposite direction. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll, half of Americans favor a plan to break up Wall Street’s 12 megabanks, which control 69 percent of the banking industry. Only 23 percent oppose such a plan. But our elected representatives won’t even consider it.
Our politicians are sensitive to public opinion on equal-marriage rights, immigration and guns. Why are they tone-deaf to what most Americans want on the economy?
Because marriage rights,
immigration and guns don’t threaten big money in
© 2013 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former
5. “
Police in
6. “Education Expert David Kirp to Speak at UCLA on Rebuilding America’s Public Schools” (Targeted News Service, April 18, 2013); newswire citing DAVID KIRP.
David Kirp,
author and professor, speaks with Charles Webster, from New Jersey State
Department of Education, before the start of “An Evening with David Kirp” at the Union City High School Auditorium on Mar. 26,
2013 in
LOS ANGELES, April 17 -- Although the once great American public school system may seem to be failing, bad schools can be fixed, and great public education is still possible for all students, says renowned education expert and UC Berkeley professor David L. Kirp, who will speak at UCLA’s Korn Auditorium on Wednesday, April 24, at 5 p.m. Admission to the event is free, and the public is invited to attend.
Kirp will discuss his new book, “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America’s Schools” (Oxford University Press), and share his thoughts on reigniting public education as part of the Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series presented by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS)....
Kirp, the James D. Marver Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and a member of President Obama’s 2008 election transition team, has spent more than four decades working on education policy.
“As a policy expert, David L. Kirp is without equal in education reform. His years of experience of working on education policy and practice show that effective solutions for bringing immigrant students and others from poor communities into the educational mainstream are entirely possible and within reach,” said [Professor Marcelo M.] Suarez-Orozco, an internationally recognized scholar whose own work examines the crossroads of education, globalization and immigration. “We are honored to have him.”
Kirp’s research in “Improbable Scholars” draws on the poor,
densely populated community of mostly Latino immigrants in
7. “The War Room: Racial profiling in law enforcement: Why it’s unfortunately ‘hard to resist’” (Current TV, April 16, 2013); interview with JACK GLASER; http://current.com/shows/the-war-room/videos/racial-profiling-in-law-enforcement-why-its-unfortunately-hard-to-resist
Jack
Glaser, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, whose forthcoming book
“Suspect Race” looks at the racial stereotyping in criminal investigations,
joins Michael Shure inside “The War Room.” Glaser talks with Michael about the use
of racial profiling in law enforcement after the groundswell of speculation on
the day of the Boston Marathon bombings that a man from
[Professor Glaser was also featured in a documentary, The Color of Justice, that aired on <a href=“http://www.cpbn.org/program/color-justice”>Connecticut Public Television</a> April 16, 2013 (link to trailer). The program will be rebroadcast on April 21. ]
8. “Explosions at the Boston Marathon” (Forum, KQED public radio, April 16, 2013); program featuring MICHAEL NACHT; Listen to this program
A runner reacts near
We check in on developments in
Host: Michael Krasny
Guests: ...
Michael Nacht, professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and former assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs....
9. “Winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 15, 2013); story citing RICHARD and RHODA GOLDMAN.
By Peter Fimrite
The Goldman Environmental Prize, the most
prestigious award for grassroots environmental work, will be awarded Monday in
The winners include a
The awards, established in 1990 by
10. “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great
American School System and a Strategy for
David Kirp, public policy professor at the
11. “Brown v. Board Reduced Crime; And now resegregation is leading to a spike in violent crime among young black men” (Slate Magazine, April 9, 2013); analysis citing RUCKER JOHNSON and DAVID DEMING (MPP 2005).
By Ray Fisman
At the turn of the millennium, a young black man was four times more likely to be arrested for a violent offense than a young white man. Shocking as that figure may be, it actually represented an enormous gain since 1969, when the chances of an under-18 black man getting arrested for a violent crime was 12 times that of a white man.
... A growing body of social science research is now reaching the conclusion that school desegregation should get some direct credit for the drop in black crime. Indeed, as courts have begun overturning these rulings over the past decade, we’ve seen an alarming uptick in crimes by young black men. It turns out that integrating schools wasn’t just a matter of turning them into melting pots or providing equal access to education. It was also an effective way of fighting inner-city crime....
There are now many credible studies that
highlight the benefits to black students of court-ordered desegregation—a 2004
article in the prestigious American
Economic Review by Northwestern’s Jonathan Guryan found that integration led to a 25 percent fall in
black dropout rates during the 1970s, while leaving the rate for whites
unchanged. A more comprehensive 2011 study by
You might think that this isn’t so surprising-of course you’d have a better shot at good health, wealth, and a clean rap sheet if you go to a decent school. Rucker acknowledges that many of the gains associated with desegregation come from districts that “leveled up” spending at formerly black schools, leading to more resources per student. So the drop in crime can be chalked up, at least in part, to the “better schools, less crime” philosophy.
But that doesn’t seem to be the whole story, based on the findings of a recent study-as yet unpublished-that evaluates the effects of the past decade’s resegregation. The study focuses on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, the site of a decisive NAACP victory in 1971 that resulted in race-based busing to achieve integration. This mandated busing policy was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2001, leading the district to redraw its school boundaries to ignore racial considerations, and, as a result, to reassign half of its students to new schools the following year....
Despite cushioning minority students [by increased funding] from academic decline, the resegregation of Charlotte schools nonetheless led to a jump in arrests and incarcerations of minority students-particularly among poor black males, who are most at risk for crime. According to the authors’ calculations, a poor black male was 15 percent more likely to get arrested if assigned to a school that had 60 percent minority students rather than 40 percent minority.
The study’s authors (which include my
They suggest that peer influence—which drives so much of what teens do more generally—likely plays a role in their findings on crime....
12. “The invisible sequester” (Christian Science Monitor, April 9, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Robert-Reich/2013/0409/The-invisible-sequester
By Robert Reich
So far, the much-dreaded “sequester” – some $85 billion in federal spending cuts between March and September 30 – hasn’t been evident to most Americans....
That’s because so much of what the government does affects the nation in local, decentralized ways. Federal funds find their way to community housing authorities, state unemployment offices, local school districts, private universities, and companies. So it’s hard for most Americans to know the sequester is responsible for the lost funding, lost jobs, or just plain inconvenience....
A second reason the sequester
hasn’t been visible is a large share of the cuts are in programs directed at
the poor – and
For example, the Salt Lake Community Action
Program recently closed a food pantry in
Most Americans don’t know about these and other cuts because the poor live in different places than the middle class and wealthy. Poverty has become ever more concentrated geographically.
A third reason the sequester is invisible is many people whose jobs are affected by it are being “furloughed” rather than fired. “Furlough” is a euphemism for working shorter workweeks and taking pay cuts....
Robert Reich is chancellor’s professor of
public policy at the
13. “Money & Company: Is the tougher workplace slowing down the economic recovery?” (Los Angeles Times, April 8, 2013); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-tough-workplace-economy-jobs-20130408,0,7433167.story
By Alana Semuels
The workplace is changing as many companies, looking to increase productivity, ask employees for more while giving them less, according to a Los Angeles Times series. That’s difficult for individuals at work – but it might also have a profound impact on the economy in the long-term.
If workers feel that they have little job security and could be replaced at any time, they’re unlikely to spend a lot of money on the big ticket items that fuel consumer spending and, thus, the GDP. With professional development opportunities disappearing, promotions are harder to come by, restricting access to the middle class.
“Nobody is secure these days,” said Robert Reich, a professor at UC Berkeley who was Labor secretary in the
14. “The basics of better schools” (Los Angeles Times, April 7, 2013); op-ed by DAVID KIRP; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-0331-kirp-schools-achievement-gap-20130407,0,6277272.story
By David L. Kirp
The bile flowed freely in the first round of
Listening to the ads of the self-styled reformers, you’d have thought that charter schools were the elixir for every ill and teachers were slackers who needed a kick in the pants. For its part, the teachers union dismissed those who disagreed with it as corporate takeover artists.
The school board campaign, which isn’t over yet, is a fight over power — how to hire and fire teachers, for example — not a debate over education. In these adult games, kids are the losers. The vituperation, and the lines drawn in the sand, conceals what’s at the heart of the enterprise: an inspiring teacher, challenging curriculum and engaged students....
Consider what’s been happening in
In 2003, Sanger was labeled a failing school
system and put on a state watch list. Now it ranks among the top half of
Relations with the teachers union used to be so rocky in Sanger that would-be teachers were confronted by a union-sponsored billboard on the highway into town: “Welcome to the Home of 400 Unhappy Teachers.” A new superintendent turned things around by ending the I-win-you-lose contest of wills. He brought the union leadership into the policy conversation, looking for common ground by focusing squarely on students’ needs. When high school teachers and administrators were at loggerheads over how closely to follow a curriculum that, teachers complained, stifled students’ creativity, the school chief stepped in to ensure that the teachers had more leeway....
David L. Kirp,
professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, is the author of “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a
15. “Social Security, Medicare merit protection, not cuts” (San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2013); op-ed by ROBERT REICH.
--Robert Reich
The president and a few other prominent Democrats are openly suggesting that Social Security payments be reduced by applying a lower adjustment for inflation and that Medicare be means-tested. This is even before Democrats have begun formal budget negotiations with Republicans — who still refuse to raise taxes on the rich, close tax loopholes the rich depend on (such as hedge-fund and private-equity managers’ “carried interest”), increase capital gains taxes on the wealthy, cap tax deductions or tax financial transactions....
The fact is, Social Security is more important than ever. Private pensions providing a certain monthly benefit have all but disappeared. The homes many retirees had assumed would become their nest eggs when they stopped working are worth far less. Most retirees haven’t saved nearly enough, which is why so many people are postponing retirement (and clogging the pipeline for younger people)....
Social Security isn’t even responsible for the budget deficit. It’s been in surplus for decades. Those surpluses have been used by the federal government to pay its other bills....
Medicare’s administrative costs are a fraction of those of private health insurance. So rather than think of Medicare as the problem, it could be part of the solution...
Yet, ever since Social Security’s inception in 1935 and Medicare’s 30 years later, Republicans have been trying to get rid of them. If average Americans have trusted the Democratic Party to do one thing over the years, it’s been to guard these programs from the depredations of the GOP.
Why should Democrats now lead the charge against them?
© 2013 Robert Reich Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and the author of “Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future.” ...
16. “An urban school district that works — without miracles or Teach For America” (Washington Post [*requires registration], April 4, 2013); excerpt of book by DAVID KIRP; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/04/04/an-urban-school-district-that-works-without-miracles-or-superman/?print=1
By Valerie Strauss
To listen to some school reformers, you’d think
there are no urban traditional public schools that are successful. Here’s a
different story, adapted and excerpted from “Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth
of a Great American School System and A Strategy for
By David Kirp
What would it really take to give students a
first-rate education? Some argue that our schools are irremediably broken and
that charter schools offer the only solution. The striking achievement of
Public schools in such communities have often
operated as factories for failure. This used to be true in
17. “Robert Reich on immigration reform plan: ‘The stars are aligned in a very weird and unusual way’” (Viewpoint, Current TV, April 1, 2013); interview with ROBERT REICH; see the interview
Robert Reich, UC Berkeley professor and former U.S. labor secretary, joins Current TV’s John Fugelsang to weigh in on reports that a bipartisan group of Senators — the so-called Gang of Eight — may have reached a deal on immigration reform that includes a guest worker visa program.
“I can’t remember the last time the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Commerce got together on anything,” Reich says. “I mean, the Chamber of Commerce is interested in having a supply of guest workers so that basically wages don’t go up if the economy, and when the economy, turns around — particularly in low-wage professions, low-wage occupations. And the AFL-CIO has very different motives. The AFL-CIO sees undocumented workers in the future as potential members of the AFL-CIO and wants to court them. And both Democrats and Republicans obviously want to court Hispanics. So the stars are aligned in a very weird and unusual way here.”
18. “Among the Evangélicos; For Republicans reaching out to immigrant groups, a glimmer of hope: Protestant Hispanics are genuine swing voters” (The Weekly Standard, March 25, 2013); analysis citing HENRY BRADY.
By Michael Warren, The Weekly Standard
The truth is that in 2004, Bush won the popular
vote by a little more than 3 million votes, which is nearly equal to his 40
percent share of the 7.6 million Hispanics who voted in 2004. Bush’s popular
vote victory, the only one by a Republican since 1988, was due in no small part
to his support from Hispanic evangelicals (about 15 percent of all Hispanics).
They are the quintessential swing-voter group. If Republicans hope to gain a
foothold with Hispanic voters and start winning presidential elections again
they might want to begin by visiting Iglesia Misionera, a Spanish-language evangelical church in metro
There’s reason to believe that Hispanic
immigrants who spend their time at churches like Iglesia
Misionera are learning more than spiritual lessons
they’re learning how to be good Americans. Edwin Hernández,
the director of the Center for the Study of Latino Religion at the University of Notre Dame, has researched how Hispanic churches in
May 13 Dan Kammen’s participation in the World
Affairs Council discussion, “The Energy Mix: The Outlook for the Next 30 Years”
was broadcast on KQED public radio. Listen to or watch this program
To view a complete list
of GSPP videos, visit our Events Archive at: http://gspp.berkeley.edu/events/webcasts
Recent events viewable on UC Webcast: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events.php?group=The+Richard+%26+Rhoda+Goldman+School+of+Public+Policy
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