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eDIGEST April 2008
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1. Diversity Dinner for New Admits
April 1,
Living Room, GSPP
2. Open House for New Admits
April 2,
3. “‘A Special Relationship’: National Security in United States-Russian Relations”
Dr. J. Simon Rofe, University of Leicester, UK
April 2, 2008, 4 p.m., 223 Moses Hall
Co-sponsored by the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Institute of
International Studies
4. “Rebuilding Communities: Guiding
Capital to the Urban Core”
Frank Altman, President & CEO,
Community Reinvestment Fund
April 3,
Presented by the
5.
ANNUAL AARON WILDAVSKY FORUM:
“Explaining the Inexplicable: Suicide Bombers’ Motivation as the Quest for
Personal Significance”
Arie Kruglanski, professor of psychology at the
April 3,
6. WILDAVSKY FORUM DISCUSSION
April 4,
7.
Michael Hanemann
(Inv.) to speak on “
8.
April 10,
9. “The Role of
Josh Bushinsky,
Presented by the CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC POLICY
Lunch will be served. Please RSVP by April 11 to cepp@berkeley.edu .
10. Students of Color in Public Policy - 3rd Annual Alumni and Friends Dinner
Keynote Speaker: Nani Coloretti (MPP 1994)
April 18,
Please RSVP by April 4 to: ctponder@berkeley.edu
11. GSPP 2008 Commencement
May 17,
Reception to follow at GSPP
In addition to the print media referenced below, broadcast media coverage includes numerous interviews with DEAN NACHT by KRON TV, KGO TV and KTVU, among others.
ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS
1. “Philanthropists ensure gay community’s future” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
2. “K-8 schools gain support in West Contra Costa” (Contra Costa Times March 30, 2008); story citing IPA study by MICHAEL LINDEN (MPP 2007), LAUREL SIPES (MPP 2007), BRIAN PICK (MPP 2007), MICHAEL SMITH (MPP 2007), LESLIE HALL (MPP 2007); http://origin1.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_8748763
3. “
4. “Newsom ready to sue over cuts in Medi-Cal” (San Francisco
Chronicle,
5. “Pay for the Power, Not the Panels” (New York Times,
6. “
7. “Are Buildings Worth Billions Less? That's what S.F. commercial property owners are telling the assessor's office as they try to negotiate for lower taxes” (San Francisco Chronicle, March 23, 2008); story citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/23/BU5AVM01H.DTL&hw=james+temple&sn=008&sc=174
8. “Bureaucratic, financial obstacles ingrained in community
colleges” (Contra Costa Times,
9. “Ships fail test for spill alerts. Many vessels unable to
notify authorities quickly after an incident, state inspectors find”
(Sacramento Bee,
10. “Local News Briefs” (Buffalo News,
11. “Newsom says the Olympic torch probably will avoid
12. “Cost-benefit analysis is lacking” (Davis Enterprise,
13. “Newsom orders cuts; layoffs likely in S.F.” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
14. “Still no cakewalk, but getting into UC to be easier in
future” (San Jose Mercury News,
15. “Health care a prime target for states’ cutbacks” (Contra
Costa Times,
16. “
17. “Getting Coverage if Your Employer Doesn’t Offer It”
(Washington Post,
18. “
19. “Consumer price index holds steady in February” (Chicago Tribune, March 15, 2008); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-consumer-price-index-mar15,0,6863226.story
20. “Global Ambition, Regional Transformation” (UC Berkeley
Haas Asia Business Conference,
21. “Parolee re-entry group making plans” (Times-Herald (
22. “Report: Lag in college grads indicates reform necessary”
(Desert
23. “Group recommends pension reform. Organization focuses on
reducing costs of employee retirements” (Times-Herald (
24. “Budget gap spotlights public school funding” (Sacramento
Bee,
25. “Feds refocus grants to aid cutting-edge firms” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
26. “N.J. panel says ban horseshoe crabbing / Senate
committee seeks to preserve birds’ food source” (Press of Atlantic City,
27. “A closer look at
28. “Eaton Vance program helps advisers decipher political
scene; Tax hikes, AMT fix likely early in 2009, consultants predict”
(Investment News,
29. “Standing Up to a Crisis - As foreclosures batter communities across America, a coalition forms to fight back in Newark” (Star-Ledger, March 9, 2008); story citing ARIELLE COHEN (MPP 2005); http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1205040971201800.xml&coll=1
30. “Golden handshakes offered - Assembly seeks to cut $7.3
million by trimming staff and making other cuts” (Sacramento Bee,
31. “Solar Rising” (Your Call, KALW-FM,
32. “Taxes take precedence in
33. “Gays’ right to wed argued. State justices discuss
legality of ban, how to define marriage” (Sacramento Bee,
34. “UN Praises
35. “Another battle building as Dems prepare budgets; Lawmakers say they’ll hold out for increased domestic spending, fewer tax cuts” (USA TODAY, March 4, 2008); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-03-budget_n.htm
36. “Governor’s budgetary bombshell” (Sacramento Bee,
37. “A rainy day reserve that is both smart and possible”
(Sacramento Bee,
38. “Longtime
39. “Capitol is losing its watchdog - Hill departing
after 22 years of whipping budgets into shape” (San Francisco Chronicle,
40. “MEETINGS: “How the Media Shape Opinion on
41. “Meager science education threatens
42. “Book Review: iWikipedia
- the Missing Manual by John
Broughton” (Blogcritics.org Books,
43. “1971 cop-killing case could cost city millions” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
44. “UNICEF gathers 19 mln dollars for Liberian primary
schools” (Agence France Presse,
45. “Water officials run up a tab” (Whittier Daily News,
46. “Residents long for days of shopping ‘on the Pike’”
(Tennessean,
47. “Children’s book chronicles demotion of ‘9th planet’”
(Huntsville Times (AL),
48. “Town gets grant for flood control” (Rutland Herald (VT)
-
49. “Dental care the ‘underdog’” (Seattle Times,
50. “School district struggles to craft volunteer policy - Popular middle school coach remains stunned his actions resulted in his losing position in Albany” (Contra Costa Times, February 1, 2008); story citing EILEEN SHEEHAN (MPP 1983); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_8138684?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
51. “CLIMATE:
52. “All-auctioned allowances get promoted on Capitol Hill,
as
53. “Adapting to climate change” (Monterey County Herald,
54. “Forum: Green Progress to Speed Up - Auto Execs and
Environmental Leaders Agree” (Detroit Free Press,
55. “City Council Meeting -
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “Political Roundtable” (This Week with George
Stephanopoulos, ABC News,
2. “Year of Tumult: Chaotic 1968 changed
3. “A wise warning to protectionists” (Plain Dealer (
4. “Financing
5. “For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero” (New York
Times,
6. “The Ad Campaign: ‘It’s Time to Level the Playing Field’”
(New York Times,
7. “Barack Obama: Liberalism Without Dogmatism?” (Washington
Post,
8. “In Obama’s New Message, Some Foes See Old Liberalism”
(Washington Post,
9. “
10. “
11. “Nanotechnology: The Power of Small” (The Fred Friendly Seminars, PBS, April 2008); features DAN KAMMEN as discussant; for more info and to view brief promo, visit: http://powerofsmall.org/
12. “State Legislature’s trusted budget analyst is stepping
down. Elizabeth Hill will be leaving the post she’s held for 22 years
with one major regret: ‘The budget remains unbalanced.’” (Los Angeles Times,
13. “Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle development still in the slow
lane” (Sacramento Bee,
14. “Oil demand is drying up – slightly” (San Francisco
Chronicle,
15. “Superdelegates Torn Between Voters, Party” (CBSNews.com,
16. “Carbon Offset Plan Allows Businesses to Trade Environmental ‘Credit’” (PBS NewsHour, March 6, 2008); interview with DAN KAMMEN; audio and video available
17. “Experts Discuss Carbon Offsets” (PBS Online NewsHour,
18. “VP Picks: What are the ‘Odds’? Pols eye McCain-Romney,
Clinton-Obama pairings” (Boston Herald,
19. “Online calculator yields a personal carbon footprint. By
enabling household-to-household comparisons, it helps users better estimate the
impact of their energy-saving actions” (Berkeleyan,
20. “Natural riches are blessing and curse” – Commentary by ROBERT
REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR],
21. “Recalling old lessons from the New Deal” (Marketplace
[NPR],
22. “Trade Winners, Losers” (Bangor Daily News,
23. “Does labor need more clout? PRO: The economic problem
and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange” (San Francisco Chronicle,
24. “Inflated Art Appraisals Cost U.S. Government Untold
Millions” (
25. “Food demand may double in 50 years” (The Hindu (
26. “Research shows how vital pre-K is in helping children be
successful” (Tennessean,
1. “Philanthropists ensure gay community’s future” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--Anastasia Ustinova, Chronicle Staff Writer
Roger Doughty (left), executive director of the Horizons Foundation, thanks Joseph Rosenthal for donating a portion of his estate. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn
On a recent Thursday morning, Joseph Rosenthal, 77, drove from his barn-red, four-story house on Buena Vista Terrace to a lawyer’s office in the Castro, where he quietly transferred a substantial part of his estate to the endowment fund of the Horizon Foundation, a grant-giving organization for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community….
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement has traditionally depended on smaller, grassroots donations for specific causes. But more aging philanthropists like Rosenthal, whose generation was the first to be “out,” are making end-of-life gifts to help secure the future of the community….
In the past three decades, gay philanthropies such as Horizon Foundation, Pride Foundation and Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice have helped shape today’s lesbian and gay community, funneling millions of dollars into numerous HIV/AIDS treatment services, and civil rights, social advocacy and political campaigns. According to a group that advises grantmakers, New York-based Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues, grants made to gay organizations nationwide have more than doubled from under $30 million in 2002 to $65.5 million in 2006….
According to a survey of 1,300 donors conducted by the Horizon Foundation, for example, about 52 percent said they are “very likely” to make estate gifts to the gay and lesbian movement, while 87 percent think it is “important” and “very important” to them to “help future generations.” The foundation estimates it will receive at least $35 million in future estate gifts to its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender endowment fund.
“The success of this vision does not depend on any assumption that LGBT people are richer than the non-LGBT population,” said Roger Doughty, the executive director of the foundation. “All our projections are based on assumptions that we are ‘average,’ except that fewer of us have children and the lives of many reaching their ‘planned giving years’ have been deeply touched by the growth, struggles, and triumphs of the LGBT movement.”…
2. “K-8 schools gain support in West Contra Costa” (Contra Costa Times March 30, 2008); story citing IPA study by MICHAEL LINDEN (MPP 2007), LAUREL SIPES (MPP 2007), BRIAN PICK (MPP 2007), MICHAEL SMITH (MPP 2007), LESLIE HALL (MPP 2007); http://origin1.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_8748763
By Kimberly S. Wetzel, Staff Writer
It’s an idea as old as the single-room school house: kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools.
Districts across the country—Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Denver and elsewhere—are moving away from troubled middle schools to K-8s, to tackle declining enrollment, sinking test scores and safety problems.
In West Contra Costa Unified, the school board studied and ultimately decided against K-8s in 2006. But a determined group of parents and two board members have not given up, continuing to suggest K-8s as solutions to everything from the district’s budget woes to facilities dilemmas....
A 2006 study by UC Berkeley [Goldman School] students [Michael Linden, Laurel Sipes, Brian Pick, Michael Smith, Leslie Hall] called the “Goldman Report,” which the district requested, found that many West County communities supported converting elementary schools to K-8s to help foster community, improve test scores and quell safety problems.
The report also said K-8s could help the district retain some students who leave after elementary school. It was estimated at the time to cost around $160,000 to convert a school to K-8 the first year….
3. “
By Samantha Young, The Associated Press
The decision is expected to affect 12 other states that had
adopted
The California Air Resources Board voted to lower by 70
percent the number of those vehicles that automakers must sell here and in the
states that intended to follow
Instead, the air board said the six largest automakers must sell nearly 60,000 hybrid vehicles while they develop the more advanced technology that will allow mass production of pure zero-emission vehicles….
In essence, the air board took two steps on Thursday: It cut the number of zero-emission vehicles it wants on the road by 2014, while at the same time offering an alternative—the gas-electric hybrids.
Environmentalists and health advocates criticized the lowering of the zero-emission goal for vehicles. They said the threats posed by global warming, combined with rising gasoline prices, lends urgency to greatly reducing vehicle emissions….
Despite
“For the first time, the automakers have a requirement to put tens of thousands of plug-in-hybrids to the showrooms,” said Luke Tonachel, a vehicle analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council….
4. “Newsom ready to sue over cuts in Medi-Cal” (San Francisco
Chronicle,
--Cecilia M. Vega,Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom says the 10 percent reduction in Medi-Cal payments would impose an unfair burden on the city’s taxpayers.
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who is considering a run
for governor in 2010, injected himself into
Newsom called the cuts—a 10 percent reduction in reimbursements to doctors who treat Medi-Cal patients—”unconscionable.”…
Newsom criticized both Republicans and fellow Democrats for
approving the Medi-Cal cuts in February. Due to take effect July 1, the
reductions will save the state $567 million—but also mean
Nationally,
Newsom and others predict that lower reimbursement rates for doctors will mean that physicians will stop treating Medi-Cal patients altogether and that poor people will be forced to visit hospital emergency rooms for all of their medical care….
The San Francisco Department of Public Health will lose $9 million in Medi-Cal reimbursement money, including $5.3 million at Laguna Honda Hospital alone, said Jim Soos, assistant director of policy and planning.
That hasn’t been figured into the department’s huge deficit for the 2008-09 fiscal year. Already, the Health Commission has voted to close a program in which public health nurses visit chronically ill people at home, close a drop-in center for homeless people, reduce mental health services and reduce hours for S.F. General’s oral surgery clinic and operating rooms. Many more cuts are expected.
“This comes at an especially bad time,” Soos said of the Medi-Cal cuts. “We get hit by the local cuts as well as the state cuts.”…
5. “Pay for the Power, Not the Panels” (New York Times,
By Peter Maloney
LET IT SHINE. SunPower workers install panels in
INNOVATION is driving a boom in solar power, but some of the most compelling advances are taking place in financial engineering rather than photovoltaic technology.
Solar power is simple, clean and easily installed, but manufacturing solar panels is expensive, which is why this energy source is out of reach for many residences and businesses. Lately, however, solar power companies have discovered that they can attract more buyers if they act as financial intermediaries as well as suppliers of equipment and systems used to generate electricity from sunlight.
The new financial techniques allow the solar companies to separate the capital expense of the systems they sell and the tax benefits that accrue to the buyer from the final costs of the electricity produced. In doing so, the solar companies have made it possible for more corporations and even some homeowners to kill two birds with one stone: doing good for the environment while cutting the cost of the power they consume….
The new financial methods are propelling the recent surge in photovoltaic solar power installations. Some 148 megawatts of solar capacity came online in 2007, up 46.5 percent from the 101 megawatts installed the previous year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association….
Companies like Wal-Mart and Kohl’s are turning to solar power
because “they can actually reduce their electricity costs, particularly in
states like
Credit quality issues make the residential market harder to crack than the commercial market….
There are several possible solutions. One being watched is a
city-run program developed by [Cisco
DeVries in]
6. “
By Stefan Theil; with Antonio Oliveira in
Sheep No More: European farmers are aggressively marketing themselves to the world. (Patrick Frilet/Hemis-Corbis)
Remember Jose Bove, European agriculture’s old poster boy?
The sheep farmer and antiglobalization activist who spent his time doing things
like dismantling McDonald’s stores was a folk hero among Europe’s 13 million
farmers for his fight against foreign food imports. Powerful farm
lobbies—backed by the government of
The subsidy system still exists, but its worst absurdities do not. Largely gone are the days when EU bureaucrats in cahoots with national farm ministries set prices and paid billions to buy up excess production to be stored in Europe’s legendary “wine lakes” and “butter mountains,” later to be dumped on world markets at a price far below the cost of production….
Thanks to a new crop of muckraking European NGOs, more and
more EU voters are also starting to see through the shroud of myth surrounding
agricultural aid. Transparency groups like UK-based Farmsubsidy.org [founded by
Jack Thurston] have dug up lists of subsidy recipients, showing that the
biggest profiteers are actually corporate and aristocratic landowners such as
Nestle, Unilever, and the queen of
Of course, the shift is a culture shock to many. “I shouldn’t
have to invest, I should be supported,” says Samuel Marachal, a 34-year-old
mustard seed farmer, working his family’s 74-hectare farm near
7. “Are Buildings Worth Billions Less? That's what S.F. commercial property owners are telling the assessor's office as they try to negotiate for lower taxes” (San Francisco Chronicle, March 23, 2008); story citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/23/BU5AVM01H.DTL&hw=james+temple&sn=008&sc=174
--James Temple, Chronicle Staff Writer
You won't often hear developers bragging over cocktails that their landmark towers shed hundreds of millions in value, but that's exactly what some are claiming behind the scenes as they seek seven-figure tax cuts from cash-strapped San Francisco….
As of Feb. 29, San Francisco property owners argued their buildings, land and related possessions collectively lost about $3.4 billion in taxable value during the last few years—potentially a $38.6 million rebate.
Few if any, however, expect the hit to city coffers to even approach such levels. Landlords make sport of low-balling the assessor-recorder's office with their initial “opinion values” and the city frequently rejects them out of hand or settles on a compromise figure far closer to the original assessed valuation….
Experts say local office, retail and hotel properties generally increased in worth last year….
There's little to suggest things have slowed down since, as
at least two
Meanwhile,
Housing assessments, the source of about 64 percent of
Most notably, real estate property taxes are capped under
Proposition 13, so the obligation on any home bought five or more years ago is generally
well below what would be owed on the current market value of the property.
Meanwhile, even though
“The story for us really is that our market has held up quite well,” Rydstrom said….
8. “Bureaucratic, financial obstacles ingrained in community
colleges” (Contra Costa Times,
By Matt Krupnick
Students
cue up at the
If
community colleges are pipelines, they have developed major clogs and leaks.
Even dedicated students at the two-year schools have trouble navigating the bureaucratic and financial twists and turns that lead to a university education.
By some estimates, one in four students with transfer aspirations reach four-year schools, and the ratio is much lower for Latino and black students.
Nicholas Cabatingan, for example, was well on his way to
transferring from Las Positas College in
But the 21-year-old could not persuade school administrators
to declare him financially independent, which would have given him more access
to financial aid. Instead of continuing on his path toward becoming a history
teacher, he left school last year to work at a copy shop in
For students intent on transferring, the community college road is fraught with obstacles. Counselors are in short supply, a majority of students can’t read or do math on a college level and students’ own lives derail their ambitions….
In a 2007 study,
9. “Ships fail test for spill alerts. Many vessels unable to
notify authorities quickly after an incident, state inspectors find”
(Sacramento Bee,
By Matt Weiser
A
large number of cargo ships visiting
In public records obtained by The Bee, 21 of 164 ships subjected to spot state inspection in a three-year period could not place four notification phone calls, as required by state law. Often the ship’s crew failed to locate the phone numbers or didn’t understand the task….
The deficiency was illustrated Nov. 7, when the Cosco Busan
container ship rammed the
The calls are vital because it’s up to independent cleanup contractors to respond to spills. State officials have no significant cleanup ability of their own. If contractors aren’t notified promptly, environmental damage might snowball….
“This is about making a phone call. Nobody should be failing
that basic test,” said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the
The agency recently hired seven people for a new drills and inspections branch, tapping part of a $17 million budget surplus at the agency—money Sheehan complained should have already been put to use preventing spills….
The Cosco Busan’s cleanup contractors didn’t wait for a call from the ship. They responded on their own after learning of the spill by other means. But the team didn’t know where the ship was and initially missed the bulk of the spill, Sheehan said….
Roy Mathur, the state’s expert in this very technical task [of estimating the size of the spill], arrived at the scene 75 minutes after the spill. But it took him nearly three hours to board the Cosco Busan because his own agency didn’t provide a boat, and the Coast Guard didn’t follow through with a promised ride.
“He went out on the sandwich boat—literally the boat that took the sandwiches out to the ship,” Sheehan said.
Mathur then waited 90 minutes for a ride back to
10. “Local News Briefs” (Buffalo News,
The Jewish Federation has announced that Dr. Phyllis Chesler, who was scheduled to speak April 3 at the group’s eighth annual Dosberg Notable Speaker Series, has canceled her appearance.
Instead, Dr. Mitchell Bard, executive director of the nonprofit
American-Israeli Cooperative
11. “Newsom says the Olympic torch probably will avoid
--Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Mayor Gavin Newsom revealed the first scant details Thursday
about plans for the
Newsom made his comments hours after the Chinese Consulate in
San Francisco was attacked by arsonists early in the morning and shortly before
a Board of Supervisors committee heard 4 1/2 hours of public testimony mostly
critical of China’s human-rights record. Despite the emotional pleas for
supervisors to condemn
At City Hall, many residents with strong concerns about
The committee was considering a resolution introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly that called for the public official who represents the city during the ceremonies to “make publicly known that the 2008 Summer Games Torch is received with alarm and protest.”
Though they were greatly outnumbered, some people spoke in defense of the Chinese government and urged supervisors to aim for unity and not divisiveness.
Supervisor Carmen Chu
amended the original resolution to delete the criticisms of
“There are a lot of individuals who have very strong opinions
about this in both directions and I do think this legislation really tries to
get at the spirit of what people wanted to do, which is to recognize these
issues,”
12. “Cost-benefit analysis is lacking” (Davis Enterprise,
Our family moved to
… All
I went to a very large junior high (1,500 kids) and high
school (3,500 kids) in
Exactly what is this $600,000 “savings” from closing Emerson? How is this calculated? How much is just shifting costs, and how much would be true, net savings? What would be done with the surplus Emerson property? Wouldn’t a California Environmental Quality Act review be required to review both the traffic and pollution increases from increased vehicle trips to transport our kids to other parts of the city, and to review the other physical changes involved with closing Emerson and maybe changing its land use designation? …
--Jim McKinney, Davis
13. “Newsom orders cuts; layoffs likely in S.F.” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
“This is not going to be an easy year, but it’s one that we’re going to navigate quite fine.” -- Mayor Gavin Newsom. Associated Press photo by Reed Saxon
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has ordered all city departments to slash salary expenses by at least 8 percent in order to close a projected $300 million deficit, a move that officials say is likely to result in hundreds of city workers being laid off….
… By law, the mayor is required to submit a balanced budget to the Board of Supervisors by June 1….
Newsom’s budget director, Nani Coloretti, said departments will probably meet the mayor’s mandate to cut salary expenses by first eliminating vacant positions and then laying off workers.
Asked how many layoffs there would be, she said, “We’re thinking it’s in the hundreds.”
While some public safety agencies did not comply with the mayor’s first round of cut requests [calling for 13 percent across-the-board cuts in November], at least one department—the public defender’s office—submitted a proposed budget that was larger than its previous year’s budget, Coloretti said.
The Sheriff’s Department did not comply because it was forced by a court ruling to no longer allow prisoners to sleep on jail floors, bumping up expenses for the year, Coloretti said.
Newsom also said Tuesday that the city’s projected budget shortfall for the 2008-2009 fiscal year grew in recent weeks from $251 million to $300 million, largely as a result of budget cuts the city was forced to absorb because of the state’s budget woes….
And
14. “Still no cakewalk, but getting into UC to be easier in
future” (San Jose Mercury News,
By Lisa M. Krieger - Mercury News
The
fierce and frenzied competition for admission to the
That news comes as little consolation to the current crop of high school seniors, the largest in state history, who are now anxiously awaiting “accept” or “reject” letters from their first-choice UC campuses.
But their younger siblings will fare better. The number of high school graduates will drop nearly 7 percent over the next nine years. And the continued expansion of UC campuses means that there will be even more slots for applicants….
“It is a very different picture from what UC has faced over the past 50 years,” Nina Robinson, UC’s policy and external affairs director, told the UC Regents in San Francisco on Tuesday.
“That is a very good thing,” she said. “There have been years where we’ve just been exploding at the seams. We’ll have more measured growth in the future.”
The university will try to take advantage of the slowed growth to reach out to students who might not have otherwise considered UC, Robinson said. Only 8.3 percent of last year’s eligible high school graduates enrolled at UC. The university wants to increase that number to 9.2 percent, an all-time high.
“We would like to extend access to a broader group of
15. “Health care a prime target for states’ cutbacks” (Contra
Costa Times,
By Aaron C. Davis - ASSOCIATED PRESS
An Associated Press review of the budgets in all 50 states reveals that coverage would be eliminated for hundreds of thousands of poor children, disabled and the elderly. More than 10 million people would lose dental care, access to specialists, name-brand prescription drugs or other benefits. About 20 million could see their care jeopardized by further cuts to doctors’ reimbursements….
The depth of the cuts to come might first be seen in
To close the remaining gap, [Gov. Arnold] Schwarzenegger has proposed 10 percent cuts to health care, education and almost every state department….
He would eliminate dental care for 3 million and restrict access to specialists for 6 million. That includes podiatry care, which is crucial for diabetes patients to detect infections and avoid amputations….
“If you have money, you get health care. If you’re poor or homeless, you’re left to die,” said Sharon Richardson, who sat bundled up in the lobby of the Los Angeles Free Clinic recently, waiting to be seen for persistent back pain from a bus accident.
Doctors there will be paid less for treating Medicaid
patients under cuts lawmakers approved last month. The clinic also risks losing
state funding for months this summer when
Mike Genest, Schwarzenegger’s finance director, said the state has no option but to make significant cuts to health care, the state’s second-largest cost behind education.
“We need to cut billions; we can’t ignore the big areas where we do our spending,” he said, stressing the governor’s across-the-board approach. “We didn’t want to favor parts of the budget that you would think of as Republican favorites or Democratic favorites ... for fairness.”…
16. “
Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America, late Monday said the Fed likely will ease its Federal funds rate target 1 to 2 percentage points at its regularly scheduled FOMC meeting Tuesday….
“The Federal Reserve’s increasingly aggressive response to dysfunctional financial markets reached a new level last night, March 16, with its hands-on role and line of credit extended in the dramatic acquisition of a leading investment bank by a commercial bank, and its authorization for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to establish a new facility to lend directly to primary dealers,” Levy said.
He said he continues to expect the funds rate eventually will reach 1.5%.
“The Fed clearly is playing the role of lender of last resort,” Levy said adding that, “the Fed has made clear that its top priority is to restore order to financial markets, with the objective of constraining the negative fallout on economic performance. Beyond its normal conduct of monetary policy, the Fed can be expected to provide liquidity, as deemed necessary.”
“In this environment of a slumping economic conditions and financial turmoil, the natural rate of interest is falling. Expect the Fed to follow through on its role as lender of last resort by inflation. Unfortunately, the aggressive easing comes against a backdrop of rising inflationary expectations, a sharply steeper yield curve and soaring global commodity prices,” Levy said….
17. “Getting Coverage if Your Employer Doesn’t Offer It”
(Washington Post,
By Albert B. Crenshaw, Special to The
If you don’t have an employer plan:
The first step is to begin educating yourself about the health insurance market in your state. A good place to start is a Web site run by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, www.healthinsuranceinfo.net ….
Then think about what kind of insurance you need. In general, experts say, you should focus on protecting yourself against ruinous medical expenses and worry less about having your routine expenses paid.
“It’s better to buy comprehensive benefits with a high deductible as opposed to first-dollar [coverage] with limited benefits,” said Karen Pollitz, research professor at Georgetown’s Health Policy Institute.
You should also look for a policy that is renewable at your option. Many people, especially young adults expecting to take a job soon, buy temporary policies for, say, six months, figuring that’s all the coverage they’ll need. But this a risk.
“The problem with temporary policies is that they are temporary,” Pollitz said. “If you get a job, fine, but if you don’t, you are forced to renew. If you’ve had no claims, you can renew.... But it’s a six-month policy, and if you get hurt after four months, it pays the bills for two months. Then it’s not renewed, and now you’re really screwed.”…
Finally, if you find a policy that looks good, will the insurer sell it to you? In most states, that’s up to the insurer. “The medically underwritten market can be very difficult to enter,” said Pollitz, adding that she has heard of people being turned down for such seemingly minor ailments as acne and hay fever….
18. “
By Treena Shapiro, Advertiser Final
…Even though lawmakers are killing off much of the governor’s
legislative package, support is strong for a bill authorizing the purchase of
the
There is progress on several fronts, with the administration trying to get federal money for the purchase, the Legislature moving the legislation along and community members lobbying lawmakers to make sure it happens….
The community for years has been asking for public protection for the area and the resort—a major employer in the area—is in foreclosure and up for sale….
Many community groups support the state’s acquisition of the property in hope that it will put a halt to Kuilima’s plans to build up to five more hotels….
Denise Antolini, a Pupukea resident and a member of the North Shore Community Land Trust Board, is optimistic the state will be able to find a way to enhance the resort’s value through creative partnerships that won’t require expansion.
Having participated in the public acquisitions of
“The experience that we’ve gained from those two other efforts would speed this up considerably,” she said.
In this case, she thinks the legislative timeline is a plus.
“There are clocks ticking, which is a positive in this situation, because it keeps the pressure on people to work quickly,” she said.
19. “Consumer price index holds steady in February” (Chicago Tribune, March 15, 2008); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat-consumer-price-index-mar15,0,6863226.story
--From Tribune news services
The Labor Department said Friday that its consumer price index was unchanged in February, surprising economists who had forecast a 0.3 percent gain.
So-called core prices, which exclude food and energy, also showed no change, the first time they didn’t increase since November 2006. Economists had expected a 0.2 percent advance. A separate report showed consumer sentiment this month sank to a 16-year low.
The price report “comes as a relief, but one month doesn’t
make a trend,” said Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America Corp.
in
20. “Global Ambition, Regional Transformation” (UC Berkeley
Haas Asia Business Conference,
21. “Parolee re-entry group making plans” (Times-Herald (
By Andrea Wolf/Times-Herald staff writer
A
[Pat Nicodemus, a program manager for Youth and Family Services
and co-founder of the group] said as the group gets started, they are using a
successful
Thursday’s guest speaker will be Jessica Flintoft, program
coordinator for the
22. “Report: Lag in college grads indicates reform necessary”
(Desert
By K Kaufmann, The Desert Sun
Those are among the key findings of a new report released
Wednesday from researchers at
Recommendations include more intensive efforts to ensure students are college-ready with basic English and math skills, and a more flexible approach to community college funding to allow for increased local control.
“The whole system has a lot of regulations that bind the hands of the colleges to serve the students,” said Nancy Shulock, lead researcher on the report.
“We recommend there be an additional funding factor built in for students that are disadvantaged because they are more costly to educate,” Shulock said.
At College of the Desert, President Jerry Patton called the report “an excellent summary of the challenges we’re facing.”…
John Soulliere, president of the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership, echoed Shulock’s concerns about the connection between graduation rates and economic growth….
Major findings in Shulock’s report:
Completion rates for Latinos and African Americans continue to lag behind state averages….Transfer and graduation rates for Latino students stand at 18 percent compared to the state average of 24 percent. The rate for African Americans is 15 percent….
23. “Group recommends pension reform. Organization focuses on
reducing costs of employee retirements” (Times-Herald (
By J.M. Brown/Times-Herald correspondent
A pension reform organization focused on reducing the cost of
public employee retirements has recommended that
Based on a review of Vallejo’s certified year-end financial audits and reports by the state controller, the nonprofit California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility (CFFR) issued a report March 2 suggesting Vallejo could save $5 million in future years if it successfully sued to reverse what the organization called “illegal” retroactive pension increases OK’d by the City Council eight years ago.
… CFFR said
[CFFR vice president and treasurer Marcia Fritz] shared the
foundation’s report with
After reading part of the CFFR report, Assistant City
Manager Craig Whittom said
“Our focus is on the mediation and finding a solution outside
bankruptcy,” he said. Still, Whittom added, “The city complied with
CalPERS (the California Public Employees’ Retirement System’s) requirements
when (
24. “Budget gap spotlights public school funding” (Sacramento
Bee,
By Dan Walters
Inevitably, every debate about
It’s happening again as the Capitol’s political figures wrestle with a deficit that’s worse than usual and as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposes – semiseriously – a $4.8 billion whack in state aid to schools.
This month, as required by law, local schools are sending tentative layoff notices to thousands of teachers who would lose their jobs under the governor’s proposals. Democratic legislative leaders are insisting that they will absolutely refuse to enact them, however, and dozens of school superintendents and other educators invaded the Capitol on Monday to demand that Schwarzenegger’s cuts be rejected.
Public education is the budget battlefield not only because it’s the state’s largest single public program and consumes about 35 percent of the general fund, but because the state’s 6 million public school students are a microcosm of its social and economic trends, their schools are beset by poor high school graduation rates and academic test scores, and the state is near the bottom among states in per-pupil spending.
All of those factors generate ceaseless circular debate in academic, political and civic circles over whether schools need more money and if so, how that money should be raised and spent. Early last year, a 1,700-page series of studies [including one coauthored by Jannelle Kubinec] overseen by Stanford University concluded that while the schools need billions of more dollars, just spending more money without, as one study leader put it, “systemic and fundamental reform,” would be useless….
Cutting school financing … certainly doesn’t make the task of improving performance any easier but, as the Stanford researchers implied, merely spending money doesn’t, unto itself, guarantee a better outcome. There is virtually no statistical correlation between a state’s level of per-pupil spending and its standing in national academic tests or high school graduation rates….
25. “Feds refocus grants to aid cutting-edge firms” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer
The rising price of oil explains why Matt Clementz sought
federally subsidized consulting help for his family-owned manufacturing firm
that turns a petroleum-based goop into bathroom countertops and shower stalls
in
To help his tiny company survive, Clementz turned to a 20-year-old federal program called the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
The program helps small manufacturers like Cultured Marble Products hire efficiency experts they normally couldn’t afford, thanks to a three-way cost split—with roughly a third of the tab paid by the manufacturer, another third kicked in by the employer’s state and the rest paid out by the federal sponsor, the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
But the program is in danger of being phased out….
In January, the institute reported that based on a survey of the 24,000 companies that used the federal assistance in 2006, the program had created or retained more than 52,000 jobs and helped them increase or retain nearly $6.8 billion in sales.
In an interview, [acting institute director Jim] Turner stood behind the report but said the decision to cut the program boiled down to how much money his department has to spend and what the president considers its main research mission….
But Patrick Windham, the Senate staffer who helped write
the Manufacturing Extension Partnership in 1988, reprised a sound bite from
his former boss, Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., who pushed this program through
Congress at a time when Japanese exports were being blamed for the loss of
“He used to say we win the Nobel Prizes and the Japanese win
the profits,” said
Twenty years later,
Manufacturing employment continues to slide both nationwide and in the Bay Area, even as the institute report documents the importance of the 341,000 small manufacturers who “employ over 10.2 million people.”…
26. “N.J. panel says ban horseshoe crabbing / Senate
committee seeks to preserve birds’ food source” (Press of Atlantic City,
By Richard Degener - Staff Writer
The state Senate Environment Committee on Monday voted to ban
horseshoe-crab harvesting in
The issue pits 34 fishermen, mostly from southern
The goal of the legislation is to increase the number of
horseshoe crabs, which mate in the spring and lay eggs on
“Without state intervention, certain subspecies of the red knot will become extinct in as little as five years,” Gordon said….
27. “A closer look at
--Demian Bulwa, Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writers
The
city of
“
Crippled by a free-falling economy, an inability to create
tax revenue, management recklessness and a legacy of generous contracts for
police officers and firefighters, officials are slashing senior center hours
and closing firehouses in a frantic bid to keep
Many Bay Area cities are struggling through the collapse of
the housing market and a broader economic downturn. But
“The city did not, over a long period of time, set aside
tracts of land for industry or business parks or malls,” said Assistant City
Manager Craig Whittom, who oversees economic development and has become the
city’s point man in dealing with the crisis. “The development pattern in
Meanwhile, public safety salaries and benefits have ballooned, demanding an unusually high 74 percent of the city’s general fund budget, which also funds services including street repairs and senior centers….
Since the council first discussed bankruptcy at a Feb. 13 meeting, 20 police and firefighters have retired, concerned that their retirement packages would be jeopardized. But it’s not clear when the city will be able to pay them a total of $2.5 million in payouts.
Whittom, the assistant city manager, said
28. “Eaton Vance program helps advisers decipher political
scene; Tax hikes, AMT fix likely early in 2009, consultants predict”
(Investment News,
By Sue Asci
No matter who wins the upcoming
That’s just one of the conclusions reached by the
Boston-based company, which in January launched a program aimed at helping
financial advisers make sense of the changing political climate in
Eaton Vance’s Wall Street and the 2008 Election program includes election analyses, a list of key talking points to use with clients as well as access to conference calls and presentation with several tax experts. So far, several thousand advisers have taken advantage of the program, which is based on research by political and tax experts, said Matthew Witkos, president of Eaton Vance Distributors Inc.
Some of the research looks at past presidential elections.
“They found that when the new president takes office in January 2009, it’s likely that the tax code will be reviewed and could be changed,’’ Mr. Witkos said. “They also found that many of the changes happen very early in a new administration. The time to plan is now.’’
Researchers for the project included Stan Collender, a managing director at Qorvis Communications LLC;
Andrew Friedman, a senior partner at Covington & Burling LLP; and Nicholas
Giordano, a partner at Washington Council Ernst & Young. All three are
based in
29. “Standing Up to a Crisis - As foreclosures batter communities across America, a coalition forms to fight back in Newark” (Star-Ledger, March 9, 2008); story citing ARIELLE COHEN (MPP 2005); http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1205040971201800.xml&coll=1
By Brad Parks, Star-Ledger Staff
The van turned down
Then on
And
Then
It almost sounded like a game of real estate bingo, except Newman was reading off a list of addresses that have gone into foreclosure in the last two years.
In
In response, an unprecedented coalition of government officials, community development corporations, financial institutions and nonprofit groups has formed a task force to address the growing crisis. Rising vacancy levels could imperil or even reverse progress the city has made toward renewal in the last decade….
As members of the city and county task force toured
They just had to look for the mattresses. Unable to pack them in cars, foreclosed homeowners have simply left them behind, piled against the side of the house or in the front yard….
Alongside the vacant houses are the other ubiquity in high-foreclosure areas: The plastic signs that have been illegally posted on telephone polls and trees, offering cash for houses, salvation from foreclosure or cost-free home renovations….
Authorities say most of the numbers are attached to call centers that act as fronts, carefully vetting the calls and only passing along customers who sound the most desperate—and, therefore, are most vulnerable—onto less-than-scrupulous lenders or outright scammers.
The task force is planning a sign tear-down day. At one point
on this past week’s tour, several task force members hopped out of the van on
“It’s one small step,” said Arielle Cohen, a fellow at the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice.
“One down,” Newman said, “3,000 to go.”
30. “Golden handshakes offered - Assembly seeks to cut $7.3
million by trimming staff and making other cuts” (Sacramento Bee,
By Jim Sanders
The plan, effective immediately, is designed to cut about $7.3 million, roughly 10 percent of the Assembly’s budget through June.
Besides the golden handshake, the plan contains unspecified
cuts in Assembly hearings outside
“The Legislature has been cutting everybody else’s budget, so it’s time to tighten our own belts,” said Steve Maviglio, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez.
The golden handshake could be particularly attractive to longtime employees working for a legislator termed out this year.
Rick Simpson, a Nuñez aide, said the handshake could well be attractive to others, but he has no intention of applying. “I’m a lifer around here,” he said, laughing….
31. “Solar Rising” (Your Call, KALW-FM,
Why is Solar rising over the Bay Area? On the next Your Call we talk to different stakeholders in the solar boom taking place around the Bay Area. Cities are making it easier to install panels on residences and offices, even subsidizing it; local companies are spearheading research into new technologies and local contractors and non-profits are making it practical. What policies are happening in your town to make solar’s present as bright as its future?
Guests:
Cisco Devries in
32. “Taxes take precedence in
By David Jackson,
Tax cuts have been an article of Republican faith for some time, especially since Ronald Reagan’s 1981 economic package that called for a 30% reduction in taxes. Stan Collender, a federal budget analyst, said tax cuts won’t do much to address problems within the lending industry but are essential to reaching the GOP’s base. “It’s like an entry fee into the game,” he said.
He cautions that plans offered by the candidates may not be relevant later.
“By the time any of these guys get into office, the situation will have morphed into something else,” said Collender, managing director of Qorvis Communications….
33. “Gays’ right to wed argued. State justices discuss
legality of ban, how to define marriage” (Sacramento Bee,
By Crystal Carreon
An audience gathers Tuesday
to watch California Supreme Court proceedings on video in the court library in
The seven justices heard from attorneys for the city of
But lawyers for the state and private conservative groups reminded the panel that California voters had chosen to limit marriage eight years ago to being between a man and a woman, and insisted it was not the court’s place to interfere….
The cases heard Tuesday followed the fallout from the
marriage licenses granted to gay men and lesbians at
The high court voided thousands of those marriage contracts six months later, with Justice Joyce Kennard and Werdegar disagreeing with that decision.
A San Francisco Superior Court judge later found the marriage ban on gays and lesbians to be unconstitutional. But a 2006 appellate court decision overruled the judge and upheld the prohibition, paving the way for Tuesday’s Supreme Court review….
34. “UN Praises
Ha Noi, March 3 (VNA)
Speaking at the 35th session of the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition held in Ha Noi from March 3-6, the committee chairperson Ann Veneman said that the rate of malnutrition among Vietnamese children reduced from 51.5 percent (weight-for-age index) and 60 percent (height-for-age index) in 1980 to 21.22 percent and 33.9 percent, respectively, in2007.
Veneman, who is
also Executive Director of the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said although the rate remains higher than the world
average, the reduction is noteworthy. She said
35. “Another battle building as Dems prepare budgets; Lawmakers say they’ll hold out for increased domestic spending, fewer tax cuts” (USA TODAY, March 4, 2008); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-03-budget_n.htm
By Richard Wolf
Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate plan to unveil their proposed fiscal 2009 budgets Wednesday, and the differences with the White House are the same as last year. They want more domestic spending. They want fewer tax cuts. And they reject savings in Medicare, the federal health care program for the elderly and people with disabilities….
Last year, Congress and the president tangled over the domestic spending bills, ultimately approving 11 of them in one massive measure signed by Bush on Dec.26. The bill stuck to Bush’s overall spending limit, but Democrats shifted some funds to their priorities.
This year, “no one expects the president to get less recalcitrant on spending,” said Stan Collender, a budget expert and managing director of Qorvis Communications. For that reason, the Democrats’ budget has “no chance that it’s going to happen,” he said.
36. “Governor’s budgetary bombshell” (Sacramento Bee,
By Dan Walters
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a slash-and-burn state budget nearly two months ago, saying drastic action was needed to close the state’s chronic ever-growing deficits and seemingly rejecting new taxes to do it….
Then Schwarzenegger dropped a big hint that he wasn’t quite as determined as he had portrayed himself, telling The Bee’s editorial board that his budget was meant to “rattle the cages” of legislators, impressing them with the gravity of the situation in hopes that they’d agree to some kind of long-term budget reform….
On Thursday, Schwarzenegger dropped another strong hint that he’d trade multibillion-dollar revenue for budget reform when, as he spoke to business leaders in Los Angeles, he seemingly endorsed a $2.7 billion package of revenue proposed by Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, eliminating or narrowing a series of business and personal tax breaks – “loopholes” in the common parlance.
“Now, may I remind you, you see here – even though I’m a Republican, but I’m a big believer that when we have a financial crisis like this that we all should chip in. And this is why I totally agree with the Legislative Analyst’s Office when she says that we should look at tax loopholes,” Schwarzenegger said. “We should look at those seriously. [Hill] has identified $2.5 billion of tax loopholes, including the yacht tax is one of them. I think that we should go after those tax loopholes, because we would need the extra $2.5 billion. This is $2.5 billion we can give straight to education. I am totally for that. We should go for it, and we should do it, because everyone has to give something in order to make this work.”…
37. “A rainy day reserve that is both smart and possible”
(Sacramento Bee,
By Daniel Weintraub
In 2004, [Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger] persuaded the voters to create a rainy-day reserve and a balanced budget amendment that he said would sock away money in good times that the state could use later when revenues ran short.
But his own experience since then has shown that the measure, Proposition 58, was insufficient. It did not set aside enough tax revenue while the economy was hopping, and it allowed Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to tap into the reserve for short-term needs rather than hold the money back for the inevitable economic slowdown.
The result is a multibillion-dollar deficit and pressure to raise taxes….
Schwarzenegger’s new proposal is better than his last one. But it, too, is flawed. If adopted while the state still had a gap between its tax receipts and spending, Schwarzenegger’s plan could freeze that shortfall in place by preventing the state from spending new revenue…
His proposal for automatic cuts in bad times – if lawmakers fail to act by a pre-set deadline – is not only unnecessary but has virtually no chance of winning approval in the Legislature.
The Legislature’s independent analyst, Elizabeth Hill, has suggested an alternative to the governor’s proposal that would be an improvement over the status quo and might also be able to win support from lawmakers, whose votes Schwarzenegger would need to move his idea forward.
Rather than tying the budget and the reserve to an average of annual revenue growth, Hill suggests requiring the state to set aside tax receipts that come in above projected levels for the year. This would preserve the Legislature’s discretion during the normal budget-writing time while preventing lawmakers and governors from spending surpluses from an “April surprise”…. She would also raise the ceiling on the rainy day reserve to 10 percent of the general fund.
The analyst has urged the Legislature to reject Schwarzenegger’s call for automatic budget cuts in bad times because the proposal would simply use a new formula to combat the problems caused by all the existing ones. Instead, she urges lawmakers to re-examine more than a dozen mandates adopted by voters and earlier Legislatures that push spending up automatically or reserve particular pots of tax dollars for special programs.
Those mandates are politically popular, or they wouldn’t exist in the first place. Special formulas drive spending on schools, transportation, mental health programs and tobacco-use prevention. Altering any one of them, or all of them, would be a gargantuan political battle.
Hill’s recommendations on the budget reserve, however, are solid and doable….
If Schwarzenegger were to adopt Hill’s proposal as his own, it might actually have a chance of passing in the Legislature as part of a larger budget-balancing solution.
38. “Longtime
By Jim Sanders
Legislative Analyst
Elizabeth Hill announced her decision Thursday to retire in the fall after
working in the office since 1976. (Photo by Brian
Baer)
Legislative
Analyst Elizabeth Hill … announced her retirement Thursday from her “dream
job” as lawmakers’ fiscal adviser….
The Legislative Analyst’s Office was created to “call it as we see it and speak truth to power – and that’s how the Legislature has enabled us to operate,” Hill said….
“She certainly came up with ideas that were in equal parts respected, and perhaps feared, by both parties,” said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine.
Hill’s fiscal concerns played a major role two months ago in the Senate Health Committee’s rejection of Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez’s proposed overhaul of the state’s health care system.
“Even on the rare occasion when I may have disagreed with Ms.
Hill’s perspectives on a particular issue, I have always admired her
professionalism and determination to do right by the people of
Politicians from both sides of the aisle hailed her leadership Thursday – but admitted they didn’t always agree with her recommendations.
“She’s always been a straight shooter,” said Assembly
Republican leader Mike Villines of
“I can’t think of a bigger loss to the Legislature than Liz
Hill’s retirement,” said Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. “We need
more
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in a written statement, said that “few Californians can compare to Liz Hill’s long and distinguished record of nonpartisan public service and integrity.”…
Assembly Republican Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, described Hill as “calm, cool, collected” and “one of the nicest people in state government.”
Hill was applauded by others Thursday as dependable, trustworthy, hardworking and knowledgeable – but not necessarily a jokester.
“She was honest, straightforward, I always liked her,” said Democrat John Burton, former Senate president pro tem. “But everything was so serious to her. She’d smile when I’d say, ‘You’ve got to smile, Liz.’ “…
39. “Capitol is losing its watchdog - Hill departing
after 22 years of whipping budgets into shape” (San Francisco Chronicle,
By Matthew Yi, Chronicle Staff Writer
Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill is respected by Democrats and Republicans alike for her budgetary acumen.
The
state Capitol’s fiscal policy watchdog Elizabeth Hill said Thursday that
she will retire later this year as the nonpartisan legislative analyst after
more than two decades on the job.
Hill, fondly known around the Capitol as the “budget nun,” is considered the leading authority on the state budget who isn’t afraid to point out bad policy proposals or wasteful government spending.
Last month, Hill blasted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for proposing across-the-board cuts to help close a budget gap that was expected to be $16 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The deficit has been cut in half since then as a result of additional borrowing, withholding unspent education funds and delaying certain payments.
But Hill, who offered an alternate budget, argued that lawmakers should determine spending priorities and cut underperforming or redundant programs.
“I’ve been able to make a living by doing analysis and making recommendations in a nonpartisan way. I get real jazzed about doing analysis,” she told reporters Thursday, adding that her position has been her “dream job.”…
The 58-year-old policy guru is just the fourth legislative
analyst since the agency was created in 1941 to assist lawmakers in making
fiscal policy by offering analysis and recommendations. The office was a novel
idea at the time and has since been a model for other states and the Congressional
Budget Office in
Hill was tapped 22 years ago to become the first woman
in the widely respected post in
In 1978, two years into her job as a policy analyst for the agency, she caused waves by questioning the private use of state cars by 229 Justice Department employees.
The workers said they needed to take the vehicles home in case of emergencies, but Hill found that wasn’t the case. Lawmakers responded by changing policies on the use of state vehicles and cut $500,000 from the department’s budget.
At the helm of the legislative analyst office, Hill uncovered a deficit in one of then-Gov. George Deukmejian’s budgets in his second term. His staff argued there was no deficit, but Hill proved to be correct….
Under Gov. Pete Wilson’s administration, she offered a
welfare reform proposal that was very different from
In 2001, she was the first to predict that revenue shortfalls could plunge the state into a budget deficit and warned lawmakers that the budget gap would worsen unless they made spending cuts that were deeper than those proposed by then-Gov. Gray Davis….
“Her position has been more important in this term limits environment,” [Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego] said. “She’s not only someone who is nonpartisan and analytical, but also someone who has the historical and institutional knowledge of the state and the budget.”
The legislative analyst’s office is the only place Hill
has worked since earning her bachelor’s degree at
“It’s going to be a great loss, especially during this time
of fiscal” difficulty, said John Burton, a former Senate leader from
[Another story on Liz Hill’s announced retirement also cites Mike Genest: http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_8570659?nclick_check=1 ]
40. “MEETINGS: “How the Media Shape Opinion on
-- Today,
41. “Meager science education threatens
By Abby Sobrato and Anita Parsons
Last month, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gave his State of the State
address to Californians. He said, “
Therefore, it seems that within our great state, and through our schools, we should be educating and producing these talented scholars.
Unfortunately, that is not reality. Based on a recent study
conducted by researchers at the
So, where are all these scientists, engineers and researchers
coming from? According to a 2006 study by the Center for Studies in Higher
Education, “leading high-tech states (
42. “Book Review: iWikipedia
- the Missing Manual by John
Broughton” (Blogcritics.org Books,
By Anna Creech
Wikipedia is a popular website that uses wiki software to create a network of encyclopedic pages. It is free to use, and you have likely come across it in your online searching for information….
MediaWiki, the software used by Wikipedia, is one of the more common wiki applications out there, but it is by no means the most user-friendly for novice editors. In addition, Wikipedia has a plethora of rules and guidelines which are not always easy to track down. If you have never edited a wiki page, or written an encyclopedic essay, it can be a little intimidating to jump right in. With that in mind, it comes as no surprise that someone has written an off-line guide to Wikipedia.
That someone is John Broughton, who has been a registered editor at Wikipedia for two and a half years. Aptly named Wikipedia—the Missing Manual, it is the latest in the Missing Manual series from O’Reilly….
The book is broken out in to five parts, concluding with a few useful appendices and a lengthy index. The first part goes over the process of editing, creating, and maintaining existing Wikipedia articles. Notably, the author waits until the third chapter to cover the process of registering an account on the site. While it is possible to edit a Wikipedia page without having an account, your access to additional functions and features, including the addition of new pages, is significantly limited. Broughton gives you all you need to know for basic editing, and then explains why it is important to register an account before he goes on to lay out all of the other things that are possible on the site….
The second part covers aspects of collaborating with other Wikipedia editors….
This book would be appropriate for both personal and shared libraries, and should be on your bookshelf if you do or ever plan to contribute to the Wikipedia project.
43. “1971 cop-killing case could cost city millions” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
A murder trial for several men charged with killing a
The “San Francisco Seven” are accused of killing Sgt. John Young inside the Ingleside Police Station in 1971, and three of those men are also charged with conspiracy to kill officers from New York to Los Angeles to Louisiana from 1968-73.
Prosecutors have described the accused as members of the Black Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Black Panthers.
The case, which some attorneys involved are calling the most complex and expensive in city history, already has drained the fund of money set aside for attorneys of criminal defendants who cannot afford a lawyer.
“This is a very extraordinary case,” said Neal Taniguchi,
chief fiscal officer for
On Thursday, the Budget and Finance Committee of the Board of Supervisors considered a measure to allow the county court system to spend an additional $2.26 million this year for indigent defendants who are not represented by the public defender….
…[I]t would be in addition to the $7.26 million
The Superior Court assigned two defense attorneys for each defendant because of the voluminous amount of evidence, Taniguchi said….
Taniguchi said the money the court requested, which still needs approval from the full Board of Supervisors, also would pay for the increasing number of defense attorneys needed from outside the public defender’s office.
In 2005-06, 14 such attorneys were needed. Last fiscal year, that number increased to 24, he said.
44. “UNICEF gathers 19 mln dollars for Liberian primary
schools” (Agence France Presse,
“Reliable funding in the transition period following conflict is a major challenge,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman said on her first visit to the west African country….
UNICEF said that a new public and private sector partnership will help out in a nation where 67 percent of teachers in the public educational system are unqualified, and children deprived of school by conflict are less likely to be able to read than their parents….
Veneman added that UNICEF has made a further two million dollars available for research, strengthening data collection systems and to help cover costs of a census planned for March 2009.
Only about a third of primary school children in
45. “Water officials run up a tab” (Whittier Daily News,
By Jennifer McLain, Staff Writer
Two local water officials have incurred more than $170,000 in district expenses over two years for meetings and travel expenses, records show.
Upper San Gabriel Valley Municipal Water District board
President Leon Garcia was paid $82,769 from July 2005 to July 2007 in meetings
and travel. Expenses include a six-day trip to
Willard Murray, director at the Water Replenishment District
of Southern California was paid close to $90,000 in two years for attending
meetings and for travel expenses that included a trip to
“Maybe it is not illegal, but I do think that it is unethical,” said Upper San Gabriel Valley Water District Director William Robinson of Garcia’s expenses.
Records show that Garcia spent $35,000 in travel over two years. The average for his fellow directors over the same period was $13,000.
Murray, a former Assemblyman who served four terms, attended
conferences across the country. Records show a $749 dinner at L’Opera Ristorant
in
… Most districts spent between $1,000 to $6,000 a year per director for attendance at conferences, who typically attend no more than five conferences per year. At Upper District the limit is $9,400, and at the Water Replenishment District the limit is $10,500.
Records show that most area districts pay their directors between $100 to $165 a meeting. Some districts also provide car and communication allowances, mileage and reimbursement for meals.
Unlike most districts, Upper Water does not have a policy limiting the cost of meals and travel expenses while at conferences….
State law requires “that they set rates for reimbursement for things like meals, lodging and travel,” said JoAnne Speers, executive director at the Institute for Local Government. “If they don’t, they have to adhere to the IRS rates.”
For high cost locations, that rate is $16 for breakfast, $19 for lunch and $29 for dinner.
“It is yet to be seen whether exceeding the IRS guidelines is in essence an unlawful use of resources,” Speers said. “I worry that the individual could possibly be at risk getting reimbursed at a higher rate than the IRS rates.”…
46. “Residents long for days of shopping ‘on the Pike’”
(Tennessean,
By Nancy DeVille, Staff Writer
When Yvonne Eaves was growing up in
“We didn’t have to go downtown for shopping,” said Eaves, who
has lived in the
“It was more of a sense of community. We had everything we needed in our community. We would make one trip at downtown at Christmas. All the shopping we did was down on the Pike.”…
“So much has faded away, and I think a lot of it is because
the interstate came through this area,” Eaves said. “It’s depressing to look at
it now compared to the pictures of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s.
During the series of meetings, which began last month, planners are gathering ideas of what community members would like to see in the area in the future — land uses, form and character of development, height and placement of structures. Planners then work to honor that vision and balance it with sound planning principles that will accommodate growth in a sustainable fashion….
Community members have called for additional restaurants,
shops and services. They are open to more residential development along the
corridor, interested in designing
47. “Children’s book chronicles demotion of ‘9th planet’”
(Huntsville Times (AL),
By Steve Doyle, Times Staff Writer
Dr.
Mike Brown, the Huntsville-born astronomer named one of Time magazine’s 100 most
influential people in 2006, has received perhaps his biggest compliment yet.
Brown’s early life in
“In some ways, it’s almost embarrassing,” Brown, who works at the renowned California Institute of Technology, said by phone Thursday. “But I really like it. I think they did such a nice job with it.”
Author Elizabeth Rusch said she got the inspiration for the book after reading about Brown’s January 2005 discovery of an object larger than Pluto in the distant recesses of the solar system. His find touched off a fierce debate among astronomers, who voted in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, ending its 76-year reign as the ninth planet.
A space buff herself, Rusch said she was fascinated by the Pluto debate and wanted to try to explain it in simple terms to young children.
“I was looking for a story to tell that would bring the science of it to life,” she said, “and also the excitement that our knowledge and understanding of the solar system is growing and changing.
“To me, it was remarkable that we were even asking that question, ‘What’s a planet?’”
Rusch, who lives in
But Rusch and Utah-based illustrator Guy Francis pulled it off by focusing on Brown’s childhood fascination with the stars, including flooding his backyard with a garden hose so he could make moon-like craters in the mud….
Brown said his favorite part of the book shows him snipping Pluto off a solar system mobile in Lilah’s crib. On the last page, he and a much older Lilah are standing beside a telescope pointed at the night sky.
“I just cracked up into tears,” Brown said. “That’s (Lilah’s) favorite part of the book, too.”
“I like the fact that the book makes scientists, who are usually these crazy people in white coats with big, curly hair, seem human,” he said. “Not only Einstein-level people are doing it, but guys (like Brown) who lost their shoes growing up.”…
Rusch is happy with how the book turned out, too, but disappointed that it was released too late for review by school library journals that help determine the success of children’s books. The book’s scheduled September release was delayed after its publisher, Rising Moon, was acquired by another company.
“For me, the really sad part is here’s this beautiful book, this incredible story, and in a way it’s a little bit invisible,” Rusch said. “People don’t know about it.”
The book retails for $15.95 and is available on amazon.com and by special order from most bookstores, she said….
48. “Town gets grant for flood control” (Rutland Herald (VT)
-
By Patrick McArdle - Herald Staff
Michael Kline, a fluvial geomorphologist with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources’ Water Quality Division’s River Management Section, explained that the federal grant did not require a match from the town, but would allow the beginning of a plan to manage future flooding.
“To try to start getting room for the river to attenuate some of this sediment and attenuate some of this flood energy in a flood plain corridor together and maintain this channel through the infrastructure of the city is something we would very much like to pursue hand-in-hand (with the town of Bennington),” Kline said.
The problem with the Walloomsac and Roaring Branch rivers in
But as the river straightens, the waters build up speed. That’s further accelerated during a flooding event because the pressure on the waters can’t be relieved, or attenuated, by overflowing its banks and spreading across the flood plains….
The presentation to the Select Board was the result of a $57,000 study, from an Agency of Natural Resources grant, conducted by the engineering firm of Gomez and Sullivan.
While the study concluded there were many problem spots with the Walloomsac and Roaring Branch that needed remediation, Agency of Natural Resources river scientist Kari Dolan said the state had been successful with a strategy of “avoidance.”…
49. “Dental care the ‘underdog’” (Seattle Times,
--Kyung M. Song: Seattle Times health reporter
Dr. Marty Lieberman, right,
is the dental director for Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers. (Ellen M. Banner/The
Take
it from dentist Marty Lieberman. Putting an aspirin tablet on your throbbing
gums won’t kill the pain — it will make it worse by burning your mouth.
Yet he sees it all the time: desperate people trying desperate things, because they can’t afford regular trips to the dentist…. And he’s seen people take pliers to themselves to try to stop their torment….
[Lieberma’s] five dental clinics and several dozen other community dental clinics in the region try to help. But like their clients, most are strapped for cash. So this year, they’re going to Olympia to ask the Legislature for a one-time, $10 million handout to add dental chairs, shorten lines and stop minor dental problems from becoming critical.
Lawmakers seem sympathetic, but it could be a tough sell during a short session marked by a Legislature and governor both intent on reining in spending.
Dental care “is the underdog,” laments Rebecca Kavoussi,
public-policy director for Community Health Network of
More than twice as many Americans lack dental coverage as lack medical coverage….
And subsidized dental care is particularly scarce for adults.
Only one clinic run by Public Health —
That leaves the bulk of care for the poor to Community Health Network’s 56 dental clinics and about 80 medical clinics across the state, including Lieberman’s clinics, which run in part on federal grants and must take all patients regardless of income.
But needy mouths outnumber dental chairs. At Puget Sound
Neighborhood Health’s clinic on
Patients pay a flat rate based on what they can afford, whether they get five cavities filled or a single tooth pulled. Patient fees bring in just 7 percent of the overall revenue for Community Health Network clinics, Kavoussi said. The rest comes from Medicaid, Medicare, local and federal grants and some private insurance.
If the state were to cough up the $10 million, Kavoussi said, Community Health Network could add 100 dental chairs statewide to bring its total to 431. That would allow 175,000 more dental visits every year….
50. “School district struggles to craft volunteer policy - Popular middle school coach remains stunned his actions resulted in his losing position in Albany” (Contra Costa Times, February 1, 2008); story citing EILEEN SHEEHAN (MPP 1983); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_8138684?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com
By Shelly Meron, Staff Writer
For five years, Rick Holtzman loved his job as a volunteer
coach with the
“Holtzman is the kind of coach who inspires a lot of kids to
join track and stay with it. Kids responded to that,” said
But Holtzman’s coaching position ended abruptly last spring, after the parents of one of the girls on the team complained that Holtzman was too close to them and their daughter…
“I was told that the only reason I was being relieved is that, in befriending the parents, the family, I had violated coaching guidelines,” Holtzman said. “I was stunned.”
Holtzman said he was never made aware of any volunteer
guidelines in his five years of volunteer coaching. Now, the
Holtzman and [wife Karen] Leeburg have both been active volunteers in Albany schools for years, and both say more clear guidelines and some volunteer training is critical for the protection of both students and volunteers. But they are also advocating for some kind of committee—consisting of district staff, a school board member, parents, and others involved with the school district—that can be called on to evaluate certain cases where volunteers’ behavior may come into question.
“Had that existed when my husband’s situation occurred, I don’t think it ever would’ve happened,” Leeburg said of Holtzman’s dismissal. “We need some kind of way of discussing issues if they do arise, before they turn into divisive issues.”…
Sheehan supports the idea of a committee, and adds that the school district must have a clear policy on how it handles sensitive situations. Otherwise, it risks scaring away potential volunteers who may worry about being subjected to the same situation as Holtzman.
“Some of us who are volunteers are concerned about volunteering now because I saw another volunteer who was well-respected in the community suddenly have huge questions raised about them,” Sheehan said. “It’s definitely affected my inclination to volunteer. I saw a person’s good name...” she trailed off. “It’s bordering on slander.”…
Some have been critical of the proposal because they say it calls for a clear separation between volunteers and the students they work with outside of school hours—something that can prove tricky in a small town where students and volunteers can also be neighbors and family friends.
“The first draft is lacking in terms of giving clear guidance
on what communication is appropriate in a small community like
51. “CLIMATE:
--Darren Samuelsohn, Greenwire senior reporter
Greenpeace activists
challenged President Bush’s climate policies at the
Representatives
of the world’s largest economies continue their global warming talks today in
Now on the table for those countries: emission limits tied to economic development and specific industrial sectors. So too are a raft of new multibillion dollar funds that can be used for the purchase of breakthrough energy technologies, adaptation to inevitable climate change and to help avoid deforestation….
The Bush administration may be putting up a fight now as the
only developed country to oppose mandatory caps on
Even with a new dash of
Diplomats will need to make sure that the post-Kyoto agreement—with its blend of mandatory emission limits and sector-specific targets—still lines up with the science.
“Does it keep us on a path to meet the 2 degrees [Celsius], 450 parts per million?” said Ned Helme, executive director of the Center for Clean Air Policy, referring to the temperature and atmospheric concentration figures scientists say will stave off the worst effects of climate change. “That overarching principle is still critical.”…
[INSET] Bush’s proposed ‘clean energy’ fund wins support, finds critics
President Bush wasn’t staking out new turf with his State of
the Union call for a “clean energy technology fund” to help
But the single-sentence mention reflects a significant change in the international climate debate.
For years, developing countries have said they need billions of dollars in assistance to help buy and construct the clean energy technologies that would cut their growth in emissions. International climate treaties often reflected their need.
Until now, however, many of the world’s biggest economies have resisted making such major commitments. Bush’s proposal calls for a three-year, $2 billion commitment.
“That’s a big change in the rhetoric,” said Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy. “This really helps to get the game going.”
Helme is in
52. “All-auctioned allowances get promoted on Capitol Hill,
as
By Cathy Cash, Paul Whitehead
Economic and environmental policy experts told a congressional panel last week that a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade system with 100% auction of emission allowances could be designed to cushion anticipated energy price increases on consumers and regions that rely on coal.
Speaking before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, John Podesta, president of the Center for American Progress, said that 45% of the proceeds from an auction in which industries buy permits to cover their GHG emissions could be used to provide rebates to low- and middle-income people faced with higher electricity costs…
The committee is exploring the impact of a GHG policy with an
emissions cap-and-trading system with no free allowances, which is now being
proposed in
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso presented the new climate change package to members of the European Parliament last week. The package includes detailed plans on how the European Union intends to meet a 2020 climate change goal to cut EU emissions of carbon dioxide by 20% compared with 1990 levels and step up to a 30% target as part of any international agreement.
As part of the plan, the commission would pursue a 100% auction of emission allowances for the electric power sector by 2013, ending the current practice of giving this sector free allowances. Other sectors would experience a partial auctioning of emission permits.
This would result in about two-thirds of the allowances being
auctioned under the European Union Emissions Trading System, creating a value
of about $80 billion, according to the Center for Clean Air Policy. CCAP
said the proposal reflected recommendations made by the
“There is growing recognition in the EU,
53. “Adapting to climate change” (Monterey County Herald,
By Marie Vasari
Climate change isn’t just a philosophical argument rooted in politics or idealism or perspective.
It’s an economic reality that will have clear, measurable
impact upon the economy at all levels, according to organizers of a daylong
economic conference Friday in
The 14th annual Tri-County Economic Conference, sponsored by the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, brought together a panel of experts to discuss “California Climate Change Policies: Impacts on the Regional Economy.”
At the forefront of discussion was AB 32, the California
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which establishes greenhouse gas
reduction goals for the state of
[Assemblyman John Laird, D-Santa Cruz] put the legislation in context: Automobile emissions generate 41 percent of the greenhouse gas production in California, a state that accounts for one-eighth of the nation’s population but one-quarter of the hybrids purchased in the nation, he said.
High water consumption levels and dependence on distant water
sources compound complex energy issues. And future climate changes are
predicted to begin reducing the Sierra snowpack, primary water source for the
San Joaquin Delta which ultimately is tapped by 65 percent of
He also spoke of the need for shifts in residential and commercial construction to minimize waste and energy usage, both in construction and in operation….
Charles Shulock, assistant executive officer and director of climate programs at the California Air Resources Board, said accomplishing those goals is no easy task, involving a multitude of agencies. A scoping plan is being drafted to establish how to get there and to create a vision for a low-carbon future.
“These things don’t just happen because someone decrees, “Thou shalt go out and reduce greenhouse gases,’” he said. “There needs to be all these underpinnings.”…
54. “Forum: Green Progress to Speed Up - Auto Execs and
Environmental Leaders Agree” (Detroit Free Press,
By Joe Guy Collier, Free Press Business Writer
The green movement will gain even more steam in the next few
years as the
The push for change took place more quickly in the past year
than most industry experts anticipated, said Roland Hwang, vehicle policy director for the Natural Resources Defense
Council, a group headquartered in
Both the Democratic-controlled Congress and Republican White House lined up behind efforts to raise fuel-efficiency standards as gas prices rose and global warming became a high-profile issue, Hwang said.
The auto industry, betting against dramatic change, missed a chance to influence legislation and possibly get financial incentives to make the transition, he said. With a new round of environmental and energy legislation coming, Hwang urged the auto industry to take a more active step.
“The auto industry needs to be at the table now,” Hwang said….
55. “City Council Meeting -
By Scott Mobley ; Record Searchlight
It may have been tense. Or rude, as some have said.
But there was apparently nothing illegal or even improper about Councilman Dick Dickerson’s interrogation of Mary Machado, Shasta Voices director, at a recent Redding City Council meeting.
Under state law, a city council cannot forbid members of the public from criticizing its policies, procedures, programs or services. But the law is silent on whether a council member may grill a member of the public speaking before it.
Shasta Voices has criticized
Machado has said her organization represents “hundreds” of
JoAnne Speers, who directs the Institute for Local Government at the League of California Cities and heads its ethics program, said there’s a distinction between members of the public speaking for themselves and those claiming to speak for others.
“Decision makers have an obligation to understand just how
extensive the voices are, how decisions are made in the organization and how
many members there are,” Speers said in a telephone interview Friday
from her
Dickerson has said much the same thing in defending the way he handled Machado at the recent council meeting….
1. “Political Roundtable” (This Week with George
Stephanopoulos, ABC News,
Senator Hillary Clinton (2008 Democratic Presidential Candidate): The Federal Housing Administration should also stand ready to be a temporary buyer to purchase, restructure and resell underwater mortgages.
Senator John McCain (2008 Republican Presidential Candidate): It’s not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly….
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: George [Will], I would guess you think John McCain has the better of the argument there?
GEORGE WILL: Yes, he does. There are 55 million mortgages in this country, and 94% of which are being handled just fine. Not effortlessly. Families are scraping and sacrificing to get by…. And they will not be amused, that 94%, if the other 6% get what will be by some other means a bailout. Now Mrs. Clinton’s answer in the command control model of Democrats is price controls. That is to control the price of money by freezing for five years the mortgage interest rates. The Republicans have put themselves in a bind because people now say look, if you have Wall Street socialism whereby you save Bear Stearns or at least save JPMorgan to buy Bear Stearns and you were thereby socializing the losses, and keeping the profits private, why not help everybody? Soon we’ll hear from everyone in the country who has a student loan who says it’s a burden, help me.
ROBERT REICH (“THE AMERICAN PROSPECT”): Well, you know, McCain’s response is the kind of “let them eat cake” response—and, George, your response is a little bit too—won’t wash. And I don’t think it will wash because there are public effects, you know, with regard to Bear Stearns. There was the problem of contagion, a run on the bank. With regard to mortgages that are under water, people who are abandoning their homes, or people who are going to lose their homes, there are social consequences for neighborhoods. This is not something that is just your run of the mill economic or financial crisis. And I think therefore, it is very important, and appropriate for the government to do something. I mean, John McCain makes Herbert Hoover look like an activist….
2. “Year of Tumult: Chaotic 1968 changed
By Jack Torry, The
President Lyndon B. Johnson, stung by the anti-war campaigns
of Minnesota Sen. Eugene McCarthy and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, announced
at the end of March that he would not seek re-election. A few days later, a
white gunman in
During five days in August, Soviet tanks snuffed out the life
of the Prague Spring in
“It was a calamitous year,” said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, now a professor of public policy at the University of California-Berkeley. “Anyone who looks back on that year with nostalgia doesn’t remember how awful and frightening it was.”…
Coming of age in an era of unprecedented affluence, the
children of the World War II generation rebelled against the bloody
“I tell my students, some of whom are very depressed and
upset (about
3. “A wise warning to protectionists” (Plain Dealer (
Robert Reich
visited
Reich, now a professor
of public policy at the University of California, told an audience in
Finney Chapel that protectionism is a familiar response to economic hard times,
but that it is almost always the wrong one. He noted that manufacturing
employment in
Workers who have been displaced by trade don’t need the clock
turned back, Reich said, they need
policies that will help them prepare for higher-skill jobs and provide income,
health care and other supports during the transition. Anti-globalization
rhetoric does little for those workers, he added, though it keeps
demagogues—right and left—fully employed. It also fuels anger toward
immigrants, and if it succeeds in getting the
What Reich offered was the kind of common-sense talk that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama need to hear, especially from a fellow Democrat with a long history of standing up for working Americans….
4. “Financing
In the December, January and February issues of The American Prospect, economist Robert Reich,
Reich notes IRS data showing the bottom 50 percent of all Americans combined are earning just 12.8 percent of all income. The richest 1 percent earn more than 21 percent of all income. He faults Democrats and Republicans alike for their political unwillingness to raise taxes on those making over $500,000 a year, as the leading factor resulting in this increasing inequality seen since the late 1970s….
Reich simplifies
the two economic theories in
Bottom-Up means giving Americans what they need to be productive, a basic tenet of our Constitution—which can mean health coverage, good schools, a chance to attend college, jobs, and affordable child care, for starters.
How can we afford this and give baby boomers Social Security, Medicare, homeland security and defense, develop non-fossil fuels, and repair decrepit bridges and highways? The only way is to stop obsessing about a balanced budget (do you pay cash for your house?) and push for a serious tax hike on the rich (timid Democrats can call this rolling back the tax cuts for the rich if they like!)….
Let’s finance the common good once again. It worked before
the very rich and corporations took over
5. “For Carbon Emissions, a Goal of Less Than Zero” (New York
Times,
By Matthew L. Wald
Algae, which have a high
energy value per pound and consume carbon dioxide, are being cultivated at a
biofuel demonstration facility. (Jose A.
Martinez/Solena Group)
IF
the world is going to sharply reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into
the atmosphere by midcentury, then many businesses will have to go carbon
neutral, bringing their net emissions of the greenhouse gas to zero.
But some could go even further by removing more CO2 than they produce. Instead of carbon neutral, how about carbon negative?
In academic and industrial labs worldwide, researchers are working on technologies to reach that goal. Success could create the ultimate green business — for example, one that produces fuel whose emissions are more than offset by carbon dioxide stored during production. The businesses would be successful if, as anticipated, Congress puts a tax on emissions or starts a trading plan that makes carbon credits valuable.
For some experts, it’s not a question of whether businesses will go carbon negative but when.
Carbon-negative technologies of some sort will be essential,
said Daniel M. Kammen, director of the
Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [of which Kammen is a member] said that an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions was necessary to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. But capturing the gas from coal plant smokestacks or switching to fuels that produce less of it when burned goes only so far….
If the source of the electricity is carbon-neutral — from a windmill or a nuclear reactor, for example — the process would be carbon negative….
6. “The Ad Campaign: ‘It’s Time to Level the Playing Field’”
(New York Times,
By Sarah Wheaton
This 30-second television advertisement for Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton, Democrat of New York, began running in
THE SCRIPT Announcer: “She’s fighting for
ACCURACY Mrs. Clinton’s pledge to generate $55 billion in additional revenue is based on her campaign’s projections of the effects of at least a half-dozen policy proposals, including eliminating subsidies for oil companies, reducing payments to health maintenance organizations and cutting no-bid contracts. Her promise to create 5 million new jobs, part of her renewable energy policy, which she does not mention in the advertisement, is “realistic” but a “push,” said Dan Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley….
7. “Barack Obama: Liberalism Without Dogmatism?” (Washington
Post,
By Alec MacGillis
… “What does it take to be the most liberal member of the
United States Senate—farther left than Ted Kennedy, John Kerry or even Hillary
Clinton? For the answer, take a look at a man who could be the next president
of the
Clearly, the candidate who sees himself transcending facile categorization is going to spend much of the coming months trying not to be put into the liberal box….
Obama’s Social Security tax hike on the well-to-do will be an
obvious target if he’s the nominee. But Robert
Reich, the former
“It’s a question of what Americans can achieve by working together rather than fighting with one another,” Reich said. “And it makes it exceedingly difficult for modern Republicans because they don’t know how to respond—they’re much more comfortable on the terrain established by FDR and continued by Johnson.”…
8. “In Obama’s New Message, Some Foes See Old Liberalism”
(Washington Post,
By Alec MacGillis -
Sen. Barack Obama, at a town
hall forum last week in
Sen.
Barack Obama offers himself as a post-partisan uniter who will solve the
country’s problems by reaching across the aisle and beyond the framework of
liberal and conservative labels he rejects as useless and outdated.
But as Obama heads into the final presidential primaries, Sen. John McCain and other Republicans have already started to brand him a standard-order left-winger, “a down-the-line liberal,” as McCain strategist Charles R. Black Jr. put it, in a long line of Democratic White House hopefuls.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign has also started
slapping the L-word on Obama, warning that his appeal among moderate voters
will diminish as they become more aware of liberal positions he took in the
past, such as calling for single-payer health care and an end to the
Obama’s elusiveness until now has been a source of
frustration for
“The frustration that the
Obama’s allies insist that he does have an independent
record, as he worked with Republicans in
Cass Sunstein, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and an informal Obama adviser, said the candidate is imbued with a respect for the free market and personal choice that liberals do not always share. This can be seen, he said, in Obama’s decision not to mandate individual health insurance in his coverage plan, unlike Hillary Clinton; his opposition to her plan to limit mortgage interest rates to prevent bankruptcies; and his vote with Republicans for the Class Action Fairness Act, which made it more difficult for plaintiffs to sue corporations….
Further confounding the liberal framing, Reich said, is Obama’s multiracial background and the historic
nature of his candidacy, which may distract from the usual political
definitions. “Voters are amazed. They say, ‘Here’s the son of a black African
and white Kansan, brought up in
9. “
By Ariel Sabar, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Revote campaign:
The party is now under intense pressure to forge a solution
that backers of both Senator Clinton and Barack Obama see as fair. “The real
danger is a 1968 convention for the Democrats, where people felt cheated,” says
Ronald Rapoport, a political scientist at the
Despite heavy lobbying by Clinton and her supporters,
Meanwhile, party leaders in
If the dispute isn’t resolved by the time the 30-member rules panel disbands around July 1, it would move to a 186-strong convention credentials committee, a more freewheeling body with members from every state appointed by the presidential candidates in proportion to their delegate counts.
With the stakes so high, analysts say, the final decision on
the
10. “
--Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer
Mark Yudof
As head of the largest public university system in
Yudof, 63, was the unanimous choice Thursday of a committee charged with recommending who the next president of the 10-campus system should be.
Yudof is expected to be officially appointed by the UC Board of Regents on March 27, said Richard Blum, chairman of the selection committee and the UC Board of Regents....
“I literally don’t know anybody else in the country that has a shot of mastering the internal and external issues that will hit a new president,” said UC Berkeley public policy Professor David Kirp, who is an expert on higher education and wrote a book with Yudof. “He just has a great track record. He has been very good at managing, streamlining and structuring campuses.”...
11. “Nanotechnology: The Power of Small” (The Fred Friendly Seminars, PBS, April 2008); features DAN KAMMEN as discussant; for more info and to view brief promo, visit: http://powerofsmall.org/
Hosted by John Hockenberry, Nanotechnology: The Power of Small—a program that explores nanotechnology’s and solar technology’s potential impact on our future—is coming to public television stations nationwide April 2008. A station locator will be up before series premiere. Please check back for station broadcast updates, or check with your local PBS station.
12. “State Legislature’s trusted budget analyst is stepping
down. Elizabeth Hill will be leaving the post she’s held for 22 years
with one major regret: ‘The budget remains unbalanced.’” (Los Angeles Times,
By Evan Halper,
Legislative Analyst
Elizabeth G. Hill has been known for years in
SACRAMENTO
-- In a Capitol increasingly riven by partisan bickering and bitterness, one of
the few steady hands lawmakers have counted on to rise above it all and bring
clarity to policy issues is Elizabeth Hill.
But on Thursday, she announced that she is calling it quits….
“I am sorry to see her go,” said former Gov. Pete Wilson, a Republican. “She has done a job that is not easy to do.”…
John Ellwood, a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, called Hill “the last of the old generation,” a holdover from a time when lawmakers were more apt to work together across party lines. Hill’s analyses were often used as a starting point for compromise.
“It used to be that the analyst would say things and people would do them because it was the analyst who said them,” Ellwood said. “It is becoming harder and harder. Analysts are still saying things, but I don’t think lawmakers often do them.”
[Another column, “Deficit, Hill departure test Capitol,” commented on the significance of Liz Hill’s retirement: http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/793091.html ]
13. “Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle development still in the slow
lane” (Sacramento Bee,
By Jim Downing
Paul Brubaker of the U.S.
Department of Transportation test-drives a Ford fuel cell car Monday in
When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched the state’s
We’re still working on it.
Boosted by $1.2 billion in federal money over the past five years, automakers have been making strides with hydrogen fuel cells. Building filling stations for those vehicles, however, is another matter – what a top Bush administration transportation official refers to as the equivalent of a moon shot….
“The research is largely complete. What we need to do is focus on the infrastructure piece,” said Paul Brubaker, who heads the Research and Innovative Technology Administration for the U.S. Department of Transportation….
Absent a network of filling stations, automakers say, they won’t be able to scale up production of fuel-cell vehicles to the levels needed to drive costs down.
Federal energy officials and auto industry analysts have estimated that it would cost $10 billion to $15 billion to establish a refueling infrastructure in the nation’s top 100 major metropolitan areas. Other estimates, which include costs of building large-scale hydrogen production, distribution and storage systems, are much higher….
Passenger cars could well turn out to be a poor application
of fuel-cell technology, said Dan Kammen, who directs the Renewable and
Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the
Kammen said hydrogen might at first be practical only for, say, locomotives and ships, which fill their huge tanks at centralized depots, not thousands of neighborhood stations.
14. “Oil demand is drying up – slightly” (San Francisco
Chronicle,
--David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Oil costs more than at any time in history, gasoline prices
are shattering records in
It took soaring prices and the fear of global warming to accomplish, but society may finally have started the long process of weaning itself off of oil. Whether we stay on that path remains to be seen.
Meanwhile,
… Although the decrease just started elsewhere in the
country,
...
“Short term, we’re stuck with it because it’s incredibly convenient and we’ve built a whole economic system to take advantage of that,” said Daniel Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley. “I’m short-term pessimistic and long-term optimistic.”
15. “Superdelegates Torn Between Voters, Party” (CBSNews.com,
Brian Montopoli, CBSNews.com political reporter
With the Democratic presidential race potentially coming down to the will of the superdelegates—the nearly 800 party insiders and elected officials who can support the candidate of their choosing - the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are pushing very different visions of how those still undecided should make their choice....
The superdelegate system was created in 1982, following a difficult decade for the Democratic party. Ten years earlier, Democrats had nominated George McGovern, who would lose badly to Richard Nixon in the general election. (Sensing that McGovern was too liberal to beat Nixon, many Democratic leaders tried, but failed, to keep him off the ticket.)
In 1976, the party nominated Jimmy Carter, who would go on to
victory in the general election after a tough primary fight. But by the early
1980s, many Democratic leaders felt that Carter had been a poor president,
according to Henry Brady, political science professor at the
“There was a feeling that they had gone to the extremes of a popular system and ended up with George McGovern and Jimmy Carter, and that was a mistake of the system,” said Brady. “There was a feeling it had to be reined in.” ...
16. “Carbon Offset Plan Allows Businesses to Trade Environmental ‘Credit’” (PBS NewsHour, March 6, 2008); interview with DAN KAMMEN; audio and video available
As
scientists debate how to address climate change, one proposal for businesses
creates a carbon credit system that allows emission producing companies to buy
credits from companies that use energy efficient technologies as a way to
offset overall environmental impact.
SPENCER MICHELS: … Here’s how offsets work. An individual or a company—say, an airline—creates carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels like jet fuel. The CO-2 is emitted into the air and forms a layer of greenhouse gas that traps heat and contributes to global warming.
Meanwhile, a different company builds windmills, for example, that generate electricity, an activity that will reduce the need for fossil fuel and thereby cut the amount of CO-2 emitted.
The windmill firm sells a credit for the carbon dioxide it has eliminated to the airline company that can’t stop creating CO-2 and uses the money to build more windmills.
Dan Kammen, who teaches energy science and policy at U.C. Berkeley, took us to such a windmill project, which has benefited greatly by the sale of offsets.
DAN KAMMEN, U.C. Berkeley: This farm probably would not be as large as it is if they didn’t have these carbon credits because the profit margin would have been smaller.
SPENCER MICHELS: Kammen says voluntary projects like this are crucial to combat climate change.
DAN KAMMEN: The carbon offset market is critically important because it provides one of the ways to bring in capital and new innovative companies into finding solutions. And this is not something we’re going to solve without the private sector becoming a real dominant player in this game….
17. “Experts Discuss Carbon Offsets” (PBS Online NewsHour,
The
carbon offset market is growing, spurred by businesses and consumers who want
to lessen their carbon footprint by investing in ventures like hydroelectric
power or forest regeneration. Two experts on carbon credits take your
questions:
Daniel Kammen is a professor in the Energy and Resources
Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy at the
18. “VP Picks: What are the ‘Odds’? Pols eye McCain-Romney,
Clinton-Obama pairings” (Boston Herald,
By Casey Ross
Photo by Staff/Boston
Herald
The
most cutthroat political campaign in years took a lurch into “When Harry Met
Sally” territory yesterday with the leading presidential candidates and
analysts eyeing odd-couple Clinton-Obama and McCain-Romney tickets.
“Well, you know, that may be where this is headed,” a freshly victorious Sen. Hillary Clinton said in a television interview yesterday morning when asked about a possible ticket with arch-rival Sen. Barack Obama….
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, some party officials are urging victorious candidate John McCain to select as running mate the man he once routinely painted as a rich, flip-flopping phony: former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney.
Karl Rove is among those who have called for a unity ticket between Romney and McCain….
Some political analysts yesterday said such a union would not provide the complement McCain needs to win the general election.
“McCain’s problem is with the right wing, and I’m not sure
Romney is a true, dyed-in-the-wool conservative,” said Henry Brady,
political science professor at the
19. “Online calculator yields a personal carbon footprint. By
enabling household-to-household comparisons, it helps users better estimate the
impact of their energy-saving actions” (Berkeleyan,
By Robert Sanders, Public Affairs
The latest edition of the CoolClimate Calculator was created by scientists at the Berkeley Institute of the Environment (BIE) and the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL). Accessible at bie.berkeley.edu, the calculator allows not only individuals but households, small businesses, and even cities and municipalities to estimate the amount of carbon dioxide they generate annually based on their mode of transportation and their food, housing, and lifestyle choices, and then compare the results to the footprints of similar households in the nation’s 28 largest urban areas.
Simultaneously, the State of
Daniel Kammen, a professor of energy and resources and of public policy who is co-director of BIE, notes that “carbon calculators, even at this early stage, already highlight an important feature: that our carbon budget is not all energy purchases but is also the embedded carbon in the goods and services we purchase. A next step for this effort is to provide and support regional or state versions of the calculator and to get increasing amounts of detail on individual products.”
“The more we use these tools to educate the public, the
easier it will be for us to manage the state’s greenhouse budget,” adds Kammen.
“By the Air Resources Board taking the lead on this public mission, the board
is making people’s personal carbon footprints part of the public dialogue
around
20. “Natural riches are blessing and curse” – Commentary by ROBERT
REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR],
Scott Jagow: So Egypt wants to start a new gold rush. But commentator Robert Reich says there’s a cost to striking it rich.
ROBERT REICH: Whether it’s gold under
But there’s also a curse. You see, countries that earn their money mainly from resources buried under them tend to be wildly unequal societies, with a small group of very rich and powerful at the top and large numbers of very poor at the bottom. And this degree of inequality often gives rise to social unrest and repression....
Now, it’s not an iron-clad rule. Countries of the
Jagow: Robert Reich was Labor Secretary under
President Clinton. He now teaches public policy at the
21. “Recalling old lessons from the New Deal” (Marketplace
[NPR],
On the anniversary of President Roosevelt’s first inaugural address, we look back on how he used the New Deal to help end the Great Depression. Tess Vigeland speaks with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich about how New Deal principles could be applied to our current economic situation....
Vigeland: So, in very basic terms, what was the New Deal? Why was it so radical at the time?
Reich: Nobody before 1933 conceived of the federal government as having a major role to play in regulating or in stimulating the national economy. The dominant political and economic philosophy was laissez-faire, just leave it alone. Well, that changed pretty rapidly. People knew something dramatically had to be done....
Vigeland: Bob, we often hear that the New Deal is dead. Do you think that’s true?
Reich: Well, it’s certainly dead in terms of some of
the agencies—the National Recovery Administration was struck down by the Supreme
Court, the Works Projects Administration was ended by World War II. Also, I
think it’s fair to say that Americans today feel they have less need for and
certainly have less confidence in government, but there are certain legacies
that nobody can deny. Not only Social Security, unemployment insurance,
agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission, but there’s also … the
notion that when things get very bad, government has to be there as a kind of
last resort. We’re seeing the debate now with regard to the housing crisis, the
credit crunch. The question in
Vigeland: Robert Reich is a professor of public
policy at the
22. “Trade Winners, Losers” (Bangor Daily News,
At a recent debate, Democratic presidential candidates Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton argued about the efficacy of NAFTA, the North
American Free Trade Agreement, with each trying to paint the other as favoring
the agreement. The debate was in
In addition to illustrating how Democrats are backing away from NAFTA, a measure that was passed by a Democratic Congress and signed into law by President Clinton in 1993, the debate shows the public and political ambivalence about free trade.
…[A] 2002 Pew Global Attitudes survey showed 78 percent of Americans supported expanding free trade. Last year, that dropped to 58 percent….
John Snow, a former Bush administration treasury secretary, infamously told a newspaper in 2004 that the practice of shipping jobs to countries with lower labor costs “is part of trade.”…
Exporting jobs bolsters the economies of developing nations.
As those economies expand, the assumption is that those workers will be able to
afford to buy more things, including those made in the
Robert Reich, who was President Clinton’s treasury [actually labor] secretary, remains an advocate of expanding global trade. In an e-mail response to questions from the Bangor Daily News, he noted: “The benefits from free trade far exceed the costs, and the winners from trade (including all of us consumers who get cheaper goods and services because of it) far exceed the losers. The problem is, the costs fall disproportionately on the losers—mostly blue-collar workers who lose their jobs because someone abroad can do them more cheaply.” So far, a fair system for compensating the “losers” has not been developed, Mr. Reich said. “We have no national retraining system. Unemployment insurance reaches fewer than 40 percent of people who lose their jobs.”
Though Mr. Reich continues to support free trade, he predicts opposition to it will grow, because “it has taken a terrible toll on at least 20 percent of American workers.”…
23. “Does labor need more clout? PRO: The economic problem
and the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange” (San Francisco Chronicle,
--Robert B. Reich
We’re finally reaping the whirlwind of widening inequality. A
recession looms because most consumers are at the end of their ropes and can’t
buy more. Median hourly wages, adjusted for inflation, are no higher than what
they were three decades ago. Since then, most of what’s been earned in
There’s no magic bullet for reversing the trend toward widening inequality. Surely, better schools for children from poor and lower-middle class communities are part of the answer. So is a bigger refundable tax credit - in effect, a cash supplement - for working families. Both should be financed by a higher marginal tax rate on the rich.
But an additional part of the solution - rarely talked about these days - is stronger labor unions. This is especially true for low-paid workers in local service occupations, such as retail workers, hotel and restaurant employees, and people who work in hospitals. If they were unionized, they’d have the bargaining leverage they need to get better wages. They’d also have a voice for suggesting to management better ways of delivering services - often improving productivity enough to cover the higher pay….
The American economy is in trouble largely because lower and middle-income workers no longer have the buying power they need to keep it going. Inequality is wider now than it’s been in more than 70 years. Unions could help reverse this trend. But if even an order of nuns can stop workers from forming one, we’ve got a very long way to go.
Robert B. Reich is professor of public policy,
24. “Inflated Art Appraisals Cost U.S. Government Untold
Millions” (
By Jason Felch and Doug Smith
Federal authorities
are investigating an alleged tax fraud scheme in which Thai antiquities such as
this bell, were appraised at inflated values and donated to local museums. (LACMA)
LOS ANGELES -- An alleged tax-fraud scheme involving donations of overvalued art to four local museums is part of a larger, unchecked problem with inflated art appraisals that has cost the federal government untold millions, a Los Angeles Times analysis has found.
Each year, the Internal Revenue Service audits donations claimed on only a handful of the 100,000 or more tax returns that allow art donors to reap nearly $1 billion in tax write-offs. Half of the donations checked over the last 20 years had been appraised at nearly double their actual value….
In 2004, for instance, the IRS’ appraisers checked only seven of the 108,554 tax returns with donations of art. They found that more than one-third of the 184 objects claimed on those returns were overvalued—on average more than three times their true worth….
The federal government has long sought to balance incentives for art donors with the risks of tax fraud. Some lawmakers say that balance should be reconsidered in light of possibly widespread fraud….
Other critics suggest more fundamental reforms. Robert Reich, an economist and former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, recently contended that charitable donations that do not directly benefit the poor, such as art, should be eligible for only half their value in tax benefits.
“We’ve created a giant loophole right now through which the rich reduce their taxes by supporting culture palaces frequented primarily by themselves,” Reich said in an interview. “This is not the way the tax code was intended to be used.”…
25. “Food demand may double in 50 years” (The Hindu (
--Special Correspondent
JAIPUR: Lead author of the World Development Report-2008, Alain de Janvry, has warned that the global demand for food is expected to double within the next 50 years, while the natural resources that sustain agriculture will become ‘increasingly scarce, degraded and vulnerable to the impact of climatic changes’.
Delivering a lecture on ‘Agriculture in the contemporary world’ here over the week-end, Prof. Alain de Janvry said the agriculture sector not only needed greater investments, but should also be placed at the centre of the planning process to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015.
The lecture was organised by the Institute of Development
Studies (IDS) here. Prof. Alain de Janvry – professor at
16. “Research shows how vital pre-K is in helping children be
successful” (Tennessean,
By Ted Dreier
A quality pre-kindergarten education is equally as important to a young child’s future as a good foundation is to the future of a building. All generations of Americans must not turn a blind eye to the importance of pre-K education.
In a Jan. 3 Newsweek Interview, author David Kirp, professor of public policy at the University of California-Berkeley, explains the importance of a good pre-K education: “What’s driving it is the good, long-term research that shows that if a child goes to preschool, they will have a higher income, are less likely to be involved in crime, more likely to graduate from college and have happier lives. There is also brain science that has shown the incredible importance of brain development in the earliest years.”…
Feb. 8 Dan Kammen spoke on “Greenhouse
Gas Sources and Trends and
Feb. 15 Michael
Hanemann spoke on “The Economics of Climate Change in
March 7 Michael O’Hare spoke in the “Transportation Sector Solutions” panel moderated by Dan Kammen at the 2008 UC Berkeley Energy Symposium.
March 7 Margaret Taylor discussed “The Influence of Policy & Law on Technical Innovation” at the 2008 UC Berkeley Energy Symposium.
March 18 Robert Reich delivered the keynote
address at the Association for Corporate Growth Chicago international conference,
with the theme, “Middle Market Growth in Uncertain World Markets: Risk and
March 19 Robert Reich presented a lecture at
March 24 Michael Nacht moderated a talk by Walter Russell Mead, “Anglo-American Dominance: Culture or Grand Strategy?” at the World Affairs Council of Northern California, broadcast on KQED-FM, http://wacsf.vportal.net/
To view a complete list of GSPP videos, visit our Events Archive at: /news-events/archive.html
Recent events viewable on UC Webcast: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/events/archive.php?select2=36
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 .
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Annette Doornbos
Director of External Relations and Development