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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. “Discouraging driving crucial in warming battle” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2008); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/06/27/MNKN11EU9J.DTL
2. “Same-sex marriages will help city’s coffers” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
3. “Brattle Group Principals Estimate that an FCC Auction of
TV ‘White Space’ would Generate between $9.9 and $24.4 Billion” (PR Newswire,
June 25, 2008); story citing DOROTHY
ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
4. “Report: Many managers added to S.F. city staff” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
5. “For whom wedding bells toll – for keeps. Four years after their high-profile nuptials in San Francisco City Hall, lesbian and gay staff members report on the experience of getting hitched again” (Berkeleyan, June 23, 2008); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/23_wed.shtml
6. “What to Do When Your Health Insurance Runs Out”
(Washington Post,
7. “Rotary International sets up US$ 200M vs. polio”
(Philippines News Agency,
8. “Undocumented contributions” (Dos Mundos,
9. “Proposal to raise
10. “Self-funding helps CalPERS
bargain for health care with HMOs” (Sacramento Bee,
11. “HMO premium increases up to 8% loom for CalPERS” (Sacramento Bee, June 19, 2008); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/1024236.html
12. “
13. “McClatchy plans 10 percent cut in jobs” (Sacramento Bee, June 16, 2008); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/1016684.html
14. “Curry was eager to meet challenge at
15. “City workers volunteer to aid same-sex vows” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2008); story citing LUKE KLIPP (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/13/BAIO118C4A.DTL
16. “Prison czar aims to bypass Legislature on construction”
(Sacramento Bee,
17. “Carbon is the next gold. Consultants and financiers
scramble to stake their claim in the trillion-dollar carbon market” (Plenty
Magazine,
18. “Book row puts spotlight on spokespeople” (PR Week (US),
19. “Cyclists raise 11.6 mln USD
for HIV/AIDS research” (Xinhua General News Service,
20. “
21. “Study will include energy” (Reporter, The
(
22. “Referee plan to cut state prison overcrowding” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
23. “Broadcasters Fight Localism Rules; Stations, Supporters
Say They’re Doing Enough Already” (Television Week,
24. “Three million receive HIV/AIDS drugs, six million plus
still wait” (Deutsche Presse-Agentur,
25. “Cluster Munitions Treaty Hailed as Humanitarian Success by Arms Control Association” (States News Service, May 30, 2008); story citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).
26. “State program will oversee Santa Clara County’s dependency court lawyers” (San Jose Mercury News, May 26, 2008); story citing LEAH WILSON (MPP 1997); http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9383005?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
27. “The uninsured have a friend in
28. “Mayor Newsom Announces New Small Business Online
Permitting System for Outdoor Cafe Tables, Chairs” (US States News,
29. “
30. “Job Creation in Climate Change Solutions” (CQ
Congressional Testimony,
31. “PRIMARY CARE. State encourages doctors to help in
underserved areas” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
32. “Senators fight odds to allow sports gambling” (The
Record (
33. “It’s the Stupid Politics. The world’s poor are paying
the price for years of bad government policy in agriculture” (Newsweek,
International Edition,
34. “Does
35. “Is all this direct democracy worth it?” (Sacramento Bee, The Blog Watch,
36. “Tenderloin long needed Salvation Army center” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
37. “Mortgage mess affects everyone. Fast
action by courts and government may be the only way to curb foreclosures and
their collateral damage” (Newsday,
38. “Congress Passes Bill to Bar Bias Based on Genes” (New
York Times,
39. “How Scientific Gains Abroad Pay Off in the
40. “DePaul College of Law to Host Global Leaders at April 25
Conference that Examines Progress of the International Criminal Court 10 Years
after its Establishment” (PR Newswire,
41. “Faster, Maybe. Cheaper, No. But
Driving Has Its Fans” (New York Times,
42. “
43. “Reliant stands to gain from gift - Preservation effort
provides useful practice in carbon trading” (Houston Chronicle,
44. “Northgate’s healthcare expansion continues with new
expert appointment” (M2 Presswire,
45. “Funding woes dog transit - services; Officials blame
state’s aid formula” (Boston Globe,
FACULTY IN THE NEWS
1. “Fuel for Inequality” (New York Times,
2. “California’s Climate Plan” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, June 27, 2008); program featuring commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program
3. “You can’t afford not to vacation” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
4. “
5. “
6. “Fourth of July 2008: Experts Available to Discuss
Psychology to Patriotism” (States News Service,
7. “Stop swinging the outrage pendulum” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
8. “Robert B. Reich, Supercapitalismo: Come cambia l’economia globale e i rischi per la democrazia” (Fazi Editore, June 2008); publication of Italian edition of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.fazieditore.it/scheda_Libro.aspx?l=1108#
9. “Stop enabling the speculators” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
10. “New UC Berkeley gateway website debuts” (UC Berkeley
home page,
11. “
12. “Political Roundtable” (This Week with George
Stephanopoulos, ABC TV News,
13. “An alliance for green prosperity? On a visit to Berkeley
and LBNL this week, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet
emphasized the value of collaboration between her nation and the state of
14. “CITRIS co-sponsors
15. “Economic turmoil puts Treasury secretary to test. With
legacy on the line, Paulson steers White House response to deepening housing
crisis” (CNN Money,
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/7dda83a000764f5e1f05d16fb7fde875.htm
16. “Chilean president to speak at UC Berkeley” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
17. “More demand shaping global reality” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
18. “Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich speaks about high oil and gas prices affecting the economy” (The Early Show, CBS News, June 9, 2008); interview with ROBERT REICH.
19. “
20. “Obama Campaign Taps NYU
Scholar as New Economic Policy Director” (Campaign U: Chronicle of Higher
Education,
21. “Must the poor always be with us? What do we do?” (Tennessean,
22. “‘Amerika mangler moralsk statur til de globale udfordringer’. Robert Reich efterlyser nye internationale institutioner til at løse de fire internationale kriser. Gamle institutioner som Valutafonden og Verdensbanken har efter hans mening mistet deres legitimitet” (Danish Información, 7. juni 2008); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.information.dk/160434
23. “Wasting energy. McConnell should stop fighting saner
policy” (Lexington Herald Leader,
24. “Where Were You in ‘68?
Faculty and staff memories conjure a tumultuous decade’s most eventful
year” (Berkeleyan,
25. “Hellman Family Faculty Fund
awardees named” (Berkeleyan,
26. “Let’s get serious about public transit” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
27. “Scientists work to improve hydrogen car” (KGO TV,
28. “How About a Cap-and-Trade Dividend?” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Wall Street Journal
[*requires registration],
29. “Ignoring the caucus states: Hillary’s big mistake?
Clinton victorious in only one caucus, but ends up losing there as well” (MarketWatch,
30. “Iraq War Update” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM,
31. “Robert Reich:
Obama will be the next President” (Show, Australian
Broadcasting Company,
32. “McCain rejects endorsement from controversial reverend”
(The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Company,
33. “Robert Reich
speaks about ‘Supercapitalism’” (Australian
Broadcasting Company,
34. “Energy Shock” (Center for Latin American Studies, UC
Berkeley, Spring 2008); article by DAN KAMMEN; http://socrates.berkeley.edu:7001/Publications/newsletters/Spring2008/index.html
35. “GAO Plan for Pakistan: Better Planning” (Cato@Liberty, April 18, 2008); blog citing AARON WILDAVSKY; http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/04/18/gao-plan-for-pakistan-better-planning/#more-3483
1. “Discouraging driving crucial in warming battle” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2008); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/06/27/MNKN11EU9J.DTL
--James Temple, Chronicle Staff Writer
A sweeping plan to carry
out
The draft plan, which seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state by 30 percent by 2020, encourages local governments to create land-use and transportation plans that help them meet reduction targets.
The idea is to discourage driving by concentrating development in urban areas near transit, jobs and retail or by laying out suburbs more efficiently….
The state would dangle several incentives for cities, counties and developers to build projects that conform to these goals, according to the plan released Thursday. The incentives include help with securing funding, direct payments to developers or planners, or an easier environmental approval process.
Environmental and planning groups, while cautiously supportive of the draft proposal, said they thought it should do more to force local government and builders to develop in a climate-friendly fashion.
The plan said improved
land use and transportation planning could cut emissions by an additional 2
percent by 2020 and 4 percent by 2030, it said. An earlier report had put that
reduction closer to 6 percent by 2020, said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Transportation and Land Use
Coalition in
“We think this number got way too low,” he said. “It’s going to let everyone off the hook.”…
[Stuart Cohen cited in another report (Sacramento Bee,
2. “Same-sex marriages
will help city’s coffers” (San Francisco Chronicle,
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Same-sex marriages in
An analysis from the City Controller found that weddings will bring $19.8 million into the city economy by the end of July 2010, and the city budget will benefit with $1.7 million in extra money.
That means an extra $1.1 million for this fiscal year’s budget, which has drastic cuts to many social and health programs to close a projected $338 million deficit.
“That’s huge,” said Supervisor Carmen Chu, who requested the analysis. “I think this is really good news at this point in time.”
The controller’s
analysis estimates that 6,762 same-sex couples will marry in
By law, some of the money that flows into the city coffers will go to services like the Municipal Railway, which could receive about $100,000, and children’s services, which are anticipated to take in about $43,000.
If the remaining money
is spent in a lump sum, it would be enough to build a new playground or fund nearly
200,000 hours of in-home care for seniors,
3. “Brattle Group
Principals Estimate that an FCC Auction of TV ‘White Space’ would Generate
between $9.9 and $24.4 Billion” (PR Newswire, June 25, 2008); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).
WASHINGTON -- In comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week, Coleman Bazelon and Dorothy Robyn, principals of The Brattle Group, estimated that an auction of TV “white space” spectrum could generate anywhere from $9.9 billion to $24.4 billion in revenue. The white space refers to the unused portions of the TV band that will become available after next year’s digital TV transition. This spectrum is particularly desirable because it is useful for mobile broadband services. Similarly desirable frequencies recently sold by the FCC in the 700 MHz band generated $19 billion.
The comments, also authored by telecommunications consultant Charles L. Jackson, provided an update to findings contained in a report that Jackson and Robyn submitted in 2007 in a separate FCC proceeding. In their 2007 report, Robyn and Jackson argued that the FCC should license and auction the rights to the white space rather than make the spectrum available for unlicensed use, as the Commission had tentatively proposed. They showed that, compared to an unlicensed approach, licensing would free up twice as much spectrum and encourage more investment, especially in rural broadband….
[The full comments of Charles L. Jackson, Dorothy Robyn, and Coleman Bazelon can be found at http://www.brattle.com/ .]
4. “Report: Many
managers added to S.F. city staff” (San Francisco Chronicle,
--Cecilia M. Vega, Chronicle Staff Writer
Figures released by the controller’s office and debated Monday during a Board of Supervisors budget committee hearing found that the number of city managers has increased by more than 24 percent, or 212 positions, since the 2004-05 fiscal year, the first budget Newsom balanced as mayor….
Newsom administration officials disputed the assertion, saying the increase does not reflect new positions added to the payroll, but rather a change in the way many city workers are classified. For example, crime scene technician managers who recently were not part of the executive’s association recently joined the ranks and contributed to an increase in the overall numbers….
Newsom’s budget director Nani Coloretti said it’s more accurate for Newsom’s critics to include staffing figures for the 2003-04 fiscal year into the calculation, because even though Newsom inherited that budget when he took office, he imposed significant cuts to management ranks that year….
Meanwhile, managers and department heads agreed to take five unpaid days off in the coming fiscal year, as well as to postpone receiving nearly $1 million in raises owed to managers. Those concessions could save the city nearly $4 million….
5. “For whom wedding bells toll – for keeps. Four years after their high-profile nuptials in San Francisco City Hall, lesbian and gay staff members report on the experience of getting hitched again” (Berkeleyan, June 23, 2008); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2008/06/23_wed.shtml
By Wendy Edelstein, Public Affairs
Pamela Brown and Shauna Rajkowski
are all smiles after getting their wedding license in
It was the second time in recent years that gay couples in
the Bay Area were granted official approval to get hitched. Four years ago, San
Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered the city to issue marriage licenses to
same-sex couples, leading a number of gay campus staffers and their partners to
rise early, travel to
To get a read on what the latest gay-marriage news might mean on the personal and political fronts, the Berkeleyan contacted the lesbian and gay staff it spoke with in 2004, all of whom, we can report, are getting married once again….
Pamela Brown, an analytical-studies coordinator in the office of the vice chancellor — administration, recalls that when her marriage license was revoked, “it was like a punch in the gut.”
Next month Brown
will again marry Shauna Rajkowski, who works for UC’s Office of the President. The couple, who have been
together a dozen years, held a commitment ceremony seven years ago, then joined the throngs to wed at
“People just get it. My mother is asking who’s going to walk who down the aisle, and we’re getting advice about the ceremony and what we should wear.”…
Although conservatives have put an initiative on
Brown, too, feels
guardedly optimistic that attitudes toward gay marriage might be softening. When she and Rajkowski went to
“The support for us and the right to marry is so different
than it was four years ago,” says Brown,
who is active in Marriage Equality
6. “What to Do When Your Health Insurance Runs Out”
(Washington Post,
By Leah Ariniello, Special to The
Istockphoto
Just
when you thought your biggest hassle in life wouldn’t amount to much more than
determining whether you should watch a “CSI” rerun or a highly edited version
of “Pirates of the
Perhaps you’ve graduated from college and your parents are cutting the strings. Maybe your performance review tanked and you are about to get axed from your job. Or, … you uncovered a spouse’s cheating ways and have resolved to give him or her the boot.
In addition to the obvious drama that graduation, job loss or divorce can bring, you find out that the life change will also cause you to lose your health insurance.
The good news? No, you can’t crash on our couch until the turmoil subsides. But we do have your back on the health insurance front. Read on to find out about some options; you might be surprised at what’s out there.
1 GET A JOB WITH BENEFITS.
Obviously, finding a job with decent health benefits is often worth the
trouble. “Employers that offer good coverage by and large will pay the lion’s
share of the premiums on your behalf,” says health insurance expert Karen Pollitz [and director of the Health Policy Institute
at]
6 Find a Safety Net. If you’re experiencing a hardship such as poor health or low income, you might be able to gain coverage through a safety net. These options can vary depending on where you live….
The bad news is that it can be difficult to find out what help is available for your specific situation. The state insurance guides prepared by Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute are one good resource. Also check with your state’s insurance department….
7. “Rotary International sets up US$ 200M vs. polio”
(Philippines News Agency,
LOS ANGELES June 18—Rotary clubs worldwide are working hard to combat the crippling disease polio by trying to raise US$ 100 million to match the grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
According to organizers of the ongoing Rotary International
convention held
This week, they reported that the top leaders of the partnering organizations of the Global Polio Eradication initiative—Dr. Robert Scott, chair of The Rotary Foundation; Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization ; Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention; and Ann Veneman, executive director of UNICEF—are at the RI convention to officially kick off the USD100 million fund drive….
8. “Undocumented contributions” (Dos Mundos,
By Angeles Cruz Martinez, according to Jornada Newspaper
Mexican
undocumented immigrants in the
The study, coordinated by Xochitl Castaneda, director of the Health Initiative of the Americas at the University, points out that in 2004 alone, Social Security received $63.1 million from those workers. However, many of these contributors don’t receive any benefits from the support programs for the vulnerable population—not even emergency medical services, which they should be obliged to offer….
Although Federal Law establishes that undocumented immigrants
can access emergency medical care, a report from 2007 by the
Therefore, the proposal for the creation of Binational Health Insurance, sponsored by Miguel Gonzalez Block, executive director of the Research Center for Health Systems of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP), determines that 62 percent of Mexican workers in the United States would be interested in participating in this program, with the ability to access primary care, and if necessary, secondary and third-level services in Mexico. Besides, they would be willing to pay between $75 and $125 per month for this service….
[See “Willingness to Pay for Cross-Border Health Insurance
between the
9. “Proposal to raise
By Dan Walters
The state’s whopping budget deficit is obviously a huge political headache for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators, and it shows no signs of being resolved quickly. But it’s also an object lesson in unintended consequences.
The centerpiece of Schwarzenegger’s scheme to handle the $15.2 billion deficit is borrowing $18.4 billion against future state lottery profits and using $5 billion of the loan to close about one-third of the gap. Another $10 billion from the lottery loan would be held in reserve. The governor wants to place the lottery loan before voters on the November ballot with a standby 1-cent increase in the sales tax that could be triggered if voters reject the plan….
But … the alternative sales tax may not be the fail-safe backstop the governor and his minions portray it as being.
Elizabeth Hill, the legislative budget analyst, points out that the sales tax could not be triggered until Jan. 1, halfway through the fiscal year, at the earliest, thus generating just $3 billion, not the full $5 billion that the lottery loan would provide. And it’s possible that the tax would be delayed until next spring, cutting its yield even more, although administration officials say they could borrow against the revenue through “revenue anticipation warrants” to keep cash flowing.
Hill cited another wrinkle—and this is where the law of unintended consequences kicks in. Any tax increase triggers a recalculation of state aid to local schools under Proposition 98, the 1988 school finance measure. So roughly half of the $3 billion from the sales tax would automatically go to schools as additional state aid, Hill says.
The net effect of the backup sales tax could be, therefore, minimal, leaving another huge hole to be filled. Arithmetically, it might take a 3-cent increase in the sales tax—a 50 percent increase in the state’s share—to backfill the lottery loan for the 2008-09 fiscal year without borrowing against the tax. And with Republicans vowing to oppose even a 1-cent increase, prospects look very dim.
Hill has proposed a more modest lottery loan plan with a backup sales tax limited to one year that, viewed in historic terms, is quasi-radical change for her office, which has consistently advocated a pay-as-you-go policy, not borrowing…..
10. “Self-funding helps CalPERS
bargain for health care with HMOs” (Sacramento Bee,
By Jon Ortiz
The California State Public Employees’ Retirement System is bringing in a new competitor as it attempts to curb health care costs: itself.
The annual face-off between the nation’s largest public pension fund and its health maintenance partners, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield of California, climaxes today when a key CalPERS committee releases its tentative HMO premiums for 2009.
But this year appears different. In May the fund decided it wouldn’t raise premiums for members covered by CalPERS’ self-funded preferred provider organizations, or PPOs. Now it is using that decision to pressure the HMOs into holding down what they charge the fund for service.
“There’s a bit of stare-down going on here,” said Marian Mulkey of the California Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit organization that tracks health industry trends. “It will be interesting to see how the HMOs respond.”
CalPERS health insurance rates always get plenty of attention as a bellwether for companies that medically insure their employees…. Only the federal government and General Motors Corp. spend more on health care….
11. “HMO premium increases up to 8% loom for CalPERS” (Sacramento Bee, June 19, 2008); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/1024236.html
By Jon Ortiz
Hundreds of thousands of
But the impact of the news goes well beyond that. CalPERS is the nation’s third-largest purchaser of health benefits behind the federal government and General Motors. Its health care premiums for the coming year are widely viewed as an early indicator of what medical insurance will cost companies nationwide. About 158 million Americans get their health care coverage through work.
“Large health care buyers watch CalPERS
to see what kind of deal they might get,” said Marian Mulkey, senior program officer with
the
CalPERS premium increases have closely tracked with national trends for several years. Despite its huge membership – 1.2 million state workers, retirees and their families get medical insurance through the fund – it has struggled to tame runaway health care costs.
From 2002 to 2007, CalPERS’
statistics show its overall health insurance premiums for state workers rose a total of 80.8 percent. Meanwhile, premiums across the
Several health committee members complained that Kaiser’s premiums should have been lower, especially given CalPERS’ vast membership and its push to get them to live more healthy lifestyles….
Kaiser has negotiating leverage, said Mulkey, the health care expert, with a loyal following and a “wide and
deep footprint” of 6.6 million members in
“These things are always a calculated risk. Insurers take their best guess on medical cost trends for the coming year and then price their premiums,” Mulkey said. “The art is striking a price that’s not so low that you lose money or so high that you lose business.”…
12. “
By Deb Kollars
Many students who are behind in their skills are not overcoming their deficiencies in the state’s community colleges, according to a study by the Legislative Analyst’s Office released Monday.
In particular, numerous students are not being assessed adequately or early enough in basic math, writing and reading skills, nor are they being guided in large enough numbers into remedial courses that will lift them up, the report states.
The report, “Back to Basics: Improving College Readiness of Community College Students,” makes recommendations for improving the situation.
“These students need a lot of help,” said the author, Paul Steenhausen, senior fiscal and policy analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office. “They need more counseling. They need early assessment while they are still in high school.”
The state has 109 community colleges. A major part of their mission is to provide basic skills education to students who are not ready for four-year colleges…. But relatively few are acquiring proficiency in basic skills during their time there….
Assessments are a big problem, the report says, noting that community colleges use different tests and cut-off points for placing students in remedial courses.
“We, in effect, have 109 definitions of college readiness,”
said Nancy Shulock,
director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at
“A lot of students don’t even get assessed,” Shulock said, adding that she supports the study’s findings….
13. “McClatchy plans 10 percent cut in jobs” (Sacramento Bee, June 16, 2008); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/102/story/1016684.html
By Dale Kasler
The McClatchy Co., battered by declining profits and revenue,
announced a 10 percent companywide cut in its work force Monday, including the
McClatchy has prided itself on avoiding across-the-board layoffs even as it has used buyouts and attrition to cut its head count by 13 percent since April 2006.
But the expense reductions haven’t matched big drops in revenue as McClatchy has struggled with competition from the Internet and weak economy. In a separate announcement today, McClatchy said its May revenue fell 15.1 percent; ad sales fell 16.6 percent. The company has the additional burden of the $2.4 billion it owes lenders as a result of its 2006 purchase of Knight Ridder Inc. ….
Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman and chief executive, said he hopes Monday’s announcement represents the last of the cutbacks. But he couldn’t promise that.
“We certainly made these cuts in hopes that we wouldn’t have to make cuts like this again, but I can’t guarantee that,” he said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll see some improvement (in revenue) as the year goes on; to date, we have not seen that.”
McClatchy had planned to continue shrinking payroll through attrition and voluntary buyouts, he said. But the relentless decline in revenue, combined with rising expenses, forced the company to move faster.
“We had a five-year plan for the company that showed the company becoming smaller and more efficient,” he said. “But the advertising trends, the negative advertising trends ... led us to conclude that we had to accelerate that process.”
He added that McClatchy is “facing big increases in newsprint and energy costs, gasoline. ... We’re feeling a pinch on both sides of the equation.”
Today’s announcement could test McClatchy’s reputation as a publisher that can balance quality journalism with the incessant demands of Wall Street….
Many financial analysts believe newspapers have to permanently downsize operations to help compensate for the drop in print revenue….
“McClatchy is still viewed as a newspaper company that cares
about quality,” said John Morton, an independent industry analyst and
consultant in
Despite the cuts, Pruitt said, McClatchy “can still differentiate itself and distinguish itself through quality journalism and treating employees well.”
The company still has enough staffing to produce quality journalism and make the necessary investments on the Web, he added. “Because of these cuts today, we will have somewhat fewer resources (but) it still leaves us with the strongest, largest, biggest news-gathering and ad-sales operations in each of our markets,” he said…..
14. “Curry was eager to meet challenge at
By Stan Awtrey - The
Bill Curry recently had a physical examination and was pronounced healthy. Curry credited clean living; the doctor opted for hardy genetics. But even a guy with a low resting heart rate was shaken by a phone call he received last month.
It was Mary McElroy, the athletics director at
“She said, ‘I don’t want your ideas. I want to know if you would be interested in being our head coach,’” Curry said. “That just shocked me out of my mind.”…
On Thursday afternoon, before a crowd of 300 interested
Then Curry did what he does so well. He took the podium and commanded the attention of the audience as he talked about why a guy who has coached and played at the highest levels would want to start a program at a school with little athletic history….
“Bill is the perfect person to launch football at
15. “City workers volunteer to aid same-sex vows” (San Francisco Chronicle, June 13, 2008); story citing LUKE KLIPP (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/13/BAIO118C4A.DTL
--Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Jason Hinson (center) and Luke Klipp help take part in a mock wedding, presided over by Amy Brown (left). Chronicle photo by Brant Ward
They usually spend their days racing in ambulances to accident sites, helping supervisors craft the latest only-in-San Francisco legislation, writing news releases or designing new pump stations for the Public Utilities Commission.
But starting Tuesday, hundreds of city workers—paramedics, librarians, mechanical engineers, auditors and others—will don black robes and preside over the thousands of same-sex weddings that are expected to consume City Hall.
Yes, the city will still operate like normal. The bureaucrats-turned-wedding-officiants are volunteering and must fit it around their regular work or take vacation days….
[D]ozens of … city workers were trained for three hours Thursday morning. They could choose whether to get certified to perform weddings, issue marriage licenses, collect license fees, file licenses in the assessor/recorder’s office after the weddings, or greet people. So far, 120 have been deputized as marriage commissioners….
The training sessions were needed, according to the mayor’s office, because of the sheer numbers of same-sex couples expected at City Hall. Officials plan to conduct up to 500 wedding ceremonies a day and issue an additional 250 licenses daily until demand eases….
“The important thing,” [Amy Brown, deputy city administrator] told the volunteers, “is that everyone gets married, and everyone’s happy.”…
The training concluded with Brown presiding over a mock wedding ceremony between Luke Klipp, legislative aide to Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, and Jason Hinson, who works in the Department of Real Estate.
Both men are gay but not planning to marry anyone—let alone each other—anytime soon.
Klipp said later that when he read the vows on paper, he thought they were a little cheesy.
“But then (Brown) read it, and I started putting myself in the position of, ‘Oh, wow. I’ll be reading this for people who’ve been together for so many years, and they finally get this opportunity,’ “ he said.
Presiding over the weddings will be great, he said. But getting married would be even better.
“If only I had someone to actually get married to,” he said. “Now I just need to find a husband.”…
16. “Prison czar aims to bypass Legislature on construction”
(Sacramento Bee,
By Andy Furillo
Rejected in the state Senate,
Receiver J. Clark Kelso forwarded his $7 billion proposal Monday to the administration, which responded that it would rather work with the Legislature to build the beds….
GOP members said they don’t want to give the receiver the money for the beds until questions are resolved about last year’s prison expansion package, Assembly Bill 900. So far, no new beds have been built from the $7.9 billion appropriation.
Meanwhile, a federal three-judge panel has set a Nov. 17 trial date on a motion filed by inmates rights lawyers to cap the state prison population….
Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, said Republicans needed to hold up the receiver’s request to ward off the threat of a prison population cap in the overcrowding case.
“If we don’t use the medical beds to use as leverage to fix AB 900 … we basically have no case to make in front of the three-judge panel,” Spitzer said.
17. “Carbon is the next gold. Consultants and financiers
scramble to stake their claim in the trillion-dollar carbon market” (Plenty
Magazine,
By Victoria Schlesinger
Illustration by Christian Northeast
On a February evening in the Butterfly Lounge overlooking
The climate change policy that legislators agree on will determine
who gets the allowances, how many they receive, and who oversees the system.
The EPA estimates that a single allowance of one Mt of CO2 could be worth
between $37 and $51 by 2020. Given that the
Many environmental groups oppose handing out allowances for free and instead advocate auctioning them off in a cap-and-trade system…. Environmentalists argue that an auction will help discover the price of carbon, prevent companies from lobbying politicians for extra allowances, and ensure a system that benefits the public….
International Paper opposes an allowance auction for the same reasons as most emitters. “A tremendous amount of capital will be sapped out of the emitters to purchase the right to do what they have historically done,” [Doug Stilwell, International Paper’s manager of environmental health and safety] said. “Which would you rather we do—spend the money to reduce the emissions or buy the right to continue to emit?”…
There’s a worry, however, that companies won’t invest in reductions even if they receive the allowances for free, but rather will add the value of allowances to their business costs. As a result, product prices would go up, and the profit could be passed on to shareholders. As Busch from UCS, which supports an allowance auction, explained, “A scalper is selling Super Bowl tickets. Would you expect him to sell the tickets for less if he got them for free?”…
18. “Book row puts spotlight on spokespeople” (PR Week (US),
By Ted McKenna
… The just-published memoir of former press secretary Scott McClellan has raised questions regarding the role of the spokesperson, as many argue over the seeming about-face of the self-described former agent of propaganda for the White House….
The press secretary can’t do much more than pass along what they know and defend what they’ve said, notes Qorvis Communications MD Stan Collender. He questions whether ‘this event will have any bearing on the credibility of the office given that it didn’t have all that much credibility to begin with.’…
19. “Cyclists raise 11.6 mln USD
for HIV/AIDS research” (Xinhua General News Service,
Lively send-off for LifeCyclers: Thousands are taking a week to ride to
LOS ANGELES June 7—More than 2,500 bicyclists rode into
The seventh annual AIDS/LifeCycle
ride, which began last Sunday, raised a record 11.6 million dollars for the
AIDS/LifeCycle 7 set a new record for participation and money raised, attracting cyclists from 12 countries and 42 states, including a contingent of people living with HIV known as the Positive Pedalers….
“For seven days, this remarkable community of riders, roadies and donors traveled together down the California coast to make life better for people with HIV and AIDS,” said Mark Cloutier, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.
“Their support will help us devise new tools to prevent HIV infections and improve treatment and care for people living with HIV. Every year, AIDS/LifeCycle brings us closer to a world where HIV no longer threatens the health and happiness of those we love,” Cloutier said….
[For more info on the event, visit http://www.aidslifecycle.org/press/alc7_closing.html ]
20. “
By Stephanie Akin, Staff Writer
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters among North Jersey
Democratic officials followed their presidential candidate’s lead on Saturday,
saying they were now endorsing Sen. Barack Obama with the same enthusiasm they had put into
“I thought she did what she had to do,” state Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, said
shortly after
21. “Study will include energy” (Reporter, The
(
Doug Ford’s column regarding the
His concerns about the need to find alternative energy sources has also been identified as a cluster that will be thoroughly addressed in the studies.
Funded by
These studies, which will include benchmarks and continual
updates, will give economic development officials throughout
EDC members are enthusiastically supporting this effort and look forward to the upcoming reports from Mr. Henton and his Collaborative Economics organization.
--Michael Ammann,
president, Solano Economic Development Corp.,
22. “Referee plan to cut state prison overcrowding” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
At Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, among the most
overcrowded, a gym has become a living area for 147 prisoners.
A court-appointed referee in the battle over prison overcrowding in California unveiled a proposed settlement Tuesday that would reduce the inmate population by 17 percent in four years by keeping minor offenders and some parole violators out of state custody—and, as a last resort, requiring early releases of prisoners who have nearly finished their sentences….
A three-judge federal panel has set a Nov. 17 trial date if negotiations fail to bring all sides together.
Early release is unacceptable to Republicans, said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, representing Republican lawmakers who have intervened in the case. Because any settlement depends on legislation that would require two-thirds majorities in each house, some Republican support is essential.
Spitzer told the judges Friday that current prison conditions are “unconscionable and inhumane” but that the currently planned construction of [53,000] new prison beds may be enough to solve overcrowding. Setting a maximum prison population “may be dangerous,” he told reporters afterward….
23. “Broadcasters Fight Localism Rules; Stations, Supporters
Say They’re Doing Enough Already” (Television Week,
By Ira Teinowitz
Broadcasters and their supporters are reacting with fierce opposition to two Federal Communications Commission moves designed to make stations more accountable on airing local programming.
In comments and letters filed with the FCC, the broadcasters suggest the agency went too far last year in first requiring stations to immediately provide more details on their local programming and then proposing a series of additional steps to give the local community a bigger role in license renewals….
In December, as the FCC eased media ownership rules, the agency also announced a “localism’’ initiative and sought comments about a series of proposed rule changes. As part of license renewal, a broadcaster’s main studio would have to be in the city of the broadcaster’s license. The station also would have to have community advisory boards, staff the station whenever it is broadcasting and display evidence of local content.
Consumer groups portray the “localism’’ initiative as a sop to offset congressional critics of the eased ownership rules; they expressed doubts that significant changes will ever be implemented….
Consumer groups … want to know why the FCC isn’t shortening license renewals from every eight years to three years to more clearly tie local service to licenses. They also question broadcasters’ unwillingness to provide information if they are in fact meeting local programming needs.
Derek Turner, research director of Free Press, a group that is fighting media ownership consolidation, describes the FCC localism proposals as “very mild changes without major impact.’’
24. “Three million receive HIV/AIDS drugs, six million plus
still wait” (Deutsche Presse-Agentur,
The [combined report by WHO, UNAIDS and UNICEF] said some 31 per cent of the estimated 9.7 million people in need of [antiretroviral therapy] received it by late 2007 leaving an estimated 6.7 million still unable to access life-saving medicines.
Nearly 500,000 women were able to access antiretrovirals to prevent transmission to their unborn children in 2007, up from 350,000 in 2006. During the same period, 200,000 children were receiving ART, compared to 127 000 at the end of 2006.
“We are seeing encouraging progress in the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to newborn,” says UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman….
25. “Cluster Munitions Treaty Hailed as Humanitarian Success by Arms Control Association” (States News Service, May 30, 2008); story citing JEFF ABRAMSON (MPP 2003).
The so-called “
“Although it did not participate in the Oslo process, the United States should join other countries later this year in signing the accord otherwise it will find itself on the wrong side of what is an emerging international humanitarian consensus,” said Jeff Abramson, a conventional weapons expert at the Arms Control Association….
[Read Jeff Abramson’s
report on how the
26. “State program will oversee Santa Clara County’s dependency court lawyers” (San Jose Mercury News, May 26, 2008); story citing LEAH WILSON (MPP 1997); http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9383005?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com
By Deborah Lohse, Mercury News
Santa Clara County Superior Court officials have asked the state to take over the job of hiring and overseeing lawyers who represent parents and children in juvenile dependency court, even as an audit continues of the controversial firm that has been doing much of the job for the past 12 years….
That system has come under increased scrutiny since February, when the Mercury News published a series of articles describing the slipshod nature of legal representation and decision-making in dependency court….
In response to questions from the Mercury News, Superior
Court Chief Executive Kiri Torre
said the issues surrounding [
The 3-year-old program got under way after state officials, who had been trying to get more money from the Legislature for dependency legal services, realized they could not account for how well or poorly the money had been spent so far.
‘‘We were asking for more funding, but we couldn’t provide basic information like how many clients were being served,’’ said Leah Wilson, a manager with the Administrative Office of the Courts’ Center for Families, Children and the Courts.
The problems with Juvenile Defenders were typical of what the state found when officials began to investigate. The Mercury News series described the firm’s timid defense of parents, scant use of outside experts to bolster parent’s cases, low attorney pay and high turnover.
Among other revelations, the firm’s founder Gary Proctor admitted that he had not hired full-time social workers to assist with families as his contract required, and his attorneys too infrequently filed appeals when their clients faced losing their kids….
‘‘Dependency lawyers are the people that are really serving
at the forefront of efforts to bring broken families back together,’’
27. “The uninsured have a friend in
By Bill Ainsworth, U-T
Even though Genesh Bankoti has a chronic illness, he lost his health insurance last year. The restaurant cook couldn’t afford the $450 monthly premiums he paid at Kaiser, and his employer didn’t provide a plan.
Now Bankoti is enrolled in an
innovative
“I’m very happy,” Bankoti said. “The cost is OK. I get appointments when I need them.”
But the city’s 10-month-old program has provoked fierce opposition from the Bush administration and restaurant owners who have gone to court to strike down the employer fees that provide a crucial source of funding….
The program, called Healthy San Francisco, is aimed primarily at the working poor who earn too much to qualify for Medi-Cal, the state/federal program that serves the poor.
It relies on redirecting state and federal money, imposing new fees on employers and charging for services on a sliding scale. So far, 19,000 people have signed up….
Because the coverage isn’t portable, officials believe people won’t be willing to drop private coverage to sign up for the city’s less-expensive plan.
Tangerine Brigham, director of Healthy San Francisco, said the program aims to get a patient to see a doctor at one clinic rather than continually going to different centers.
“We’ve looked at what people really need,” she said. “People really need access to primary, preventive care that reduces their tendency to go to the emergency room.”…
28. “Mayor Newsom Announces New Small Business Online
Permitting System for Outdoor Cafe Tables, Chairs” (US States News,
Recognizing that small business owners need to remain in their shops and run their businesses, Mayor Newsom and Supervisor Carmen Chu asked DPW to develop a system that allows merchants to remotely reapply for their permits every year.
“Whenever we are able to improve efficiency in City services, it is important that we pass these savings down, especially when it comes to small businesses,” said Supervisor Carmen Chu, who sponsored legislation at the Board of Supervisors that streamlines the outdoor dining permit process.
DPW processes more than 400 permits annually…. Permit processing has been reduced from one month to two weeks….
Mayor Newsom unveiled National Public Works Week (May 18th to 24th), a national celebration to call attention to the importance of public works in community life….
[Supervisor Carmen Chu also organized a volunteer street-cleaning day in
her district (Sunset) on
29. “
By David Cronin
…Under former prime minister Tony Blair and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the British government has been arguing for radical surgery to the Common Agricultural Policy, which gobbles up over 40 percent of the EU’s 121 billion euros (188 billion dollars) yearly budget….
Against the backdrop of Anglo-French tensions and riots over food prices in the wider world, Mariann Fischer Boel, the EU’s agriculture commissioner, unveiled a series of measures May 20 designed to ‘upgrade’ the CAP, rather than reform it….
Her proposals … include ending a provision known as ‘set-aside’ where 10 percent of farmland has to be left fallow. The removal of this policy is designed to boost the productivity of agriculture.
She has also advocated that the
Fischer Boel has recommended that some of the money that had been allocated to export subsidies but unspent because of economic factors should be lent to small farmers in countries affected by the food crisis. She did not specify what sum could be made available for that purpose but stated that ‘it’s not peanuts.’
Jack Thurston, founder of farmsubsidy.org, a group campaigning for greater transparency about EU farm policies, was unimpressed by Fischer Boel’s recommendations.
‘Almost nothing in these proposals will have any effect while this commissioner is still in office,’ he said. ‘They are all very much about tinkering around the edges.’
He argued that while the new proposals could result in a
slight reduction of payments going to the largest landowners, they do not
address the deep-rooted unfairness in the system. ‘Relatively wealthy countries
like
30. “Job Creation in Climate Change Solutions” (CQ
Congressional Testimony,
Statement of Derik Broekhoff, Senior Associate, World Resources Institute
Senate Committee Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
Carbon offsets can be an effective tool for lowering the
costs of compliance in a cap-and-trade program, and are already being widely
used internationally to comply with greenhouse gas emissions targets. To
function well and maintain the integrity of a cap-and-trade system, carbon
offsets must adhere to certain basic criteria and standards defining how they
are quantified and certified. A number of programs around the world have begun
developing such standards, but these standards would have to be carefully
evaluated before being adopted under a
… One of the challenges in designing offset protocols is that they require balancing tradeoffs. Protocols that are too stringent (e.g., with respect to additionality) may end up excluding good offset projects and raising overall compliance costs. Lenient protocols may allow too many reductions to be credited and therefore undermine the integrity of an emissions cap. Ideally, protocols should be developed and adopted according to how well they achieve desired policy outcomes for an emissions trading system, including objectives for environmental integrity, transaction costs, and administrative costs….
31. “PRIMARY CARE. State encourages doctors to help in
underserved areas” (Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Eric Larson’s Sunday guest column (“Primary care shortage
undermines the health of everyone in the
A critical step is helping providers committed to a career in primary care—which is relatively low-paid compared with a career in specialty medicine—with the overwhelming cost of their education.
We should applaud the Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire for an additional investment they made this spring in the state’s Health Professional Loan and Scholarship Repayment Program, which helps students and primary care professionals who commit to serving in underserved communities (including urban areas) with the cost of their education and loan debt….
Rebecca Kavoussi
Community Health
Network of
32. “Senators fight odds to allow sports gambling” (The
Record (
BY John Brennan, Staff Writer
It’s a long shot, a group of state senators concede, but that
didn’t stop the lawmakers on Monday from pushing for legalization of
professional sports betting at
[Democrat Ray] Lesniak called on Governor Corzine to file suit to overturn a 1992 federal law that has left only four states — Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware — with the right to permit sports wagering…. Lesniak said the restricted-betting law violates the Constitution by discriminating in favor of some states and against others.
Getting Congress to rescind the 16-year-old law is considered
to be politically implausible, given that the U.S. Senate majority leader is
Harry Reid of
Jay Moyer, special counsel for the National Football League, testified that his league and other pro sports leagues “deeply oppose any effort to legalize sports gambling.”…
Donald Weinbaum, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, testified that whenever the amount of gambling expands, so do the number of problem gamblers. State Sen. Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, a committee member, said that information was among several reasons why he was hesitant to support either of the two sports gambling bills.
“I don’t feel a real compelling need to move on this,” Gordon said. “I just don’t like the idea of the state promoting gambling, even though we’re not exactly virgins there.”
Supporters of the sports betting bill conceded that state tax revenues generated from the new gambling might not bring in more than $10 million directly….
33. “It’s the Stupid Politics. The world’s poor are paying
the price for years of bad government policy in agriculture” (Newsweek,
International Edition,
By George Wehrfritz and Stefan Theil; with Rod Nordland in
The WTO cracked
The story illustrates the two biggest factors contributing to today’s global food crisis. One is the grossly distorted system of global trade in agriculture. Rich countries—mainly the United States and parts of Europe—heavily subsidize farms, then dump their surpluses onto emerging markets (often after forcing them open in one-sided trade deals). The other factor is underinvestment in agriculture in the developing world, which leaders rationalize on the mistaken assumption that imported food would forever remain cheap….
34. “Does
By Lillian Taiz
About 90,000 students will graduate from the 23 campuses of
the
On one side, there are those who argue CSU is a driver of the
state’s economy that excels for granting large numbers of four-year degrees in
fields vital to
On the other side, there are the governor and his colleagues who realize that public higher education is one of the easier areas to cut.
A report issued earlier this month emphasizes the vast
contribution our state university makes to
“Examining the Fiscal, Economic, and Social Impacts of the
- Investments in publicly supported higher education pay for themselves.
- CSU’s impact on regional economies is about $4.41 for every $1 spent.
- Tax revenues increase with more college-educated people.
- More college-educated people means fewer people on public assistance….
35. “Is all this direct democracy worth it?” (Sacramento Bee, The Blog Watch,
Posted by Brian Leubitz (calitics.com/showDiary)
About 220 years ago,
Heck, the Founders didn’t even want senators to be directly
elected. That didn’t come until the early 20th century. But here in
…. It has now become a full-employment mechanism for political types (um, thanks Hiram) and a means of bypassing the traditional means of getting a law passed: the Legislature. ...
In case you doubt the role of money in initiative politics, there’s a story in The Bee: “Legislators have no fund-raising limit for ballot measure accounts,” May 5.
Despite a 2000 law meant to curb the size of checks
Recently, the Center for Governmental Studies released a report on the initiative process that recommended some pretty substantial changes, but the question is out there, is the initiative system worth saving? ...
36. “Tenderloin long needed Salvation Army center” (San
Francisco Chronicle,
--C.W. Nevius
Construction continues on the Salvation Army’s community and housing center in the Tenderloin. (Photo by Noah Berger, special to the Chronicle)
Whenever a plan for new housing or facilities comes up in
But not this time. The Salvation
Army is putting the finishing touches on a remarkable 135,380-square-foot
housing and community center, which will offer a huge gymnasium, pool, workout
facility, game room, rock-climbing wall and even a dance studio for the use of
Tenderloin kids and residents. Next to it is
So is this the beginning of a new age of cooperation and camaraderie in the Tenderloin?
Probably not. As promising as the Salvation Army project is, there are some significant reasons why it sailed through the often-rocky process unscathed.
“It is still a slow process,” said Don Falk, executive director of the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Association, a nonprofit group that works to provide affordable housing. “But I don’t have any doubt that theirs was faster than others.”
There are several reasons. The Salvation Army already owned the land, for one, bypassing a land-buying process that can take a year or more, Falk said. Also, the organization has a proven track record of running programs and took the time to meeting with neighborhood groups early in the planning.
Oh, and several million dollars of private money didn’t hurt.
The $57 million community center and housing unit was made possible by a gift from the late McDonald’s heir Joan Kroc….
In
“Public money is highly scrutinized,” Falk said. “For example, a private developer can basically make a phone call and hire an architect. If we hire an architect in 90 days, we’re doing it fast.”
As for the housing component, Falk said the project benefited from the neighborhood’s diversity.
The 110-unit
Falk said concentrating so many people with such problems in a single facility would create a huge outcry in most neighborhoods.
“Here, these are just our folks,” he said….
37. “Mortgage mess affects everyone. Fast
action by courts and government may be the only way to curb foreclosures and
their collateral damage” (Newsday,
By AUBREY FOX
… Until recently, the foreclosure debate has unfolded in an odd way, either as a morality tale about whether the public should bail out a handful of foolish borrowers and unscrupulous lenders, or as a financial story that’s too complicated for the average reader to comprehend.
But here are some facts that should cause all Long Islanders to take notice--even those homeowners who pay their mortgage every month. Foreclosure is going to depress the value of your home, increase crime in your neighborhood and wallop your local school district in the form of sharply reduced property tax revenues….
Fortunately, there’s still a window of opportunity to limit the damage from foreclosure, but it will require action on several fronts.
One place to start is the court system.
To be sure, the courts can only do so much: In Summit County [OH], only about 15 percent of homeowners responded to the court’s offer of help. By the time the foreclosure process begins, many homeowners are already behind in their payments and have concluded, rightly or wrongly, that there’s nothing they can do. Some simply walk away from their homes….
This creates an obvious role for government in encouraging servicers to take their losses up front and spare the public the costs of foreclosure. Congress is considering legislation that would give servicers explicit permission to renegotiate with at-risk borrowers, as well as create a loan fund to encourage the pre-foreclosure refinancing of 1 million at-risk home loans. In exchange for a government guarantee, mortgages would be rewritten at no more than 90 percent of their current value….
Aubrey Fox is project director of Bronx Community Solutions, a program aimed at changing the
38. “Congress Passes Bill to Bar Bias Based on Genes” (New
York Times,
By Amy Harmon
A bill that would prohibit discrimination by health insurers and employers based on the information that people carry in their genes won final approval in Congress on Thursday by an overwhelming vote….
Doctors say a fear of discrimination on the part of patients has prevented thousands at risk of genetic disease from taking advantage of tests that might help them make better health care choices. Some patients worry that they may be denied jobs or face higher insurance premiums if a genetic red flag shows up in their medical records….
But with the mapping of the human genome and the rapid discovery of genetic variants that contribute to risk of common diseases like breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes and heart disease, the number of people who might benefit from learning what risks lie in their genes is growing quickly….
For health insurers, the bill may avert the need to compete in a complex game of calibrating policies to an ever-changing set of genetic risk probabilities. But as genetic tests provide ever more information at lower costs, the entire notion of insuring against unknown risk that has long defined the industry may be upended.
It may also give ammunition to those who argue for universal
health care. “Ultimately unlocking all these genetic secrets will make the
whole idea of private health insurance obsolete,” said Karen Pollitz, director of the Health Policy
Institute at
39. “How Scientific Gains Abroad Pay Off in the
By G. Pascal Zachary
At Seagate Technology’s
AT a time of economic belt-tightening, might cheap science from low-wage countries help keep American innovators humming?
Americans have long profited from low-cost manufactured
goods, especially from
American innovators—with their world-class strengths in product design, marketing and finance—may have a historic opportunity to convert the scientific know-how from abroad into market gains and profits. Mr. Hill views the transition to “the postscientific society” as an unrecognized bonus for American creators of new products and services.
Mr. Hill’s insight … runs counter to the notion that the
The opposite may actually be true. By tapping relatively low-cost scientists around the world, American innovators may actually strengthen their market positions.
“We shouldn’t fear the rise of science in
40. “DePaul College of Law to Host Global Leaders at April 25
Conference that Examines Progress of the International Criminal Court 10 Years
after its Establishment” (PR Newswire,
Other conference participants will include:
… Naomi Roht-Arriaza, professor of law at the University of California Hastings College of Law ….
41. “Faster, Maybe. Cheaper, No. But
Driving Has Its Fans” (New York Times,
By Diane Cardwell
Judy Aita favors mass transit but
drives with her dog,
… In his administration’s quest to charge drivers to enter
the busiest parts of
But in a city known for crowded subway platforms and standing-room-only buses, many residents, even those with robust public transit options, remain fiercely loyal to their cars. Despite the threat of traffic jams, honking horns and the urban version of road rage, these New Yorkers choose to drive, whether to shave time off their commutes, run their errands with less hassle or have a few moments to themselves inside mobile oases.
“
Notwithstanding the fact that 1.74 million cars are
registered in the city, most New Yorkers travel by public transportation. But
for that committed knot of drivers, even enhanced services may not lure them
onto fancy new buses, given that, according to Mr. Schaller, 80 percent of the people who drive into
“Most people who are driving will continue to drive,” he said, adding that the reasons are generally convenience and speed, or having waited for a bus in the rain one too many times….
42. “
By Ian Thompson ; McNaughton Newspapers
“This provides us with room for housing to meet the needs of
Councilman Chuck Dimmick called the limit “fair to landowners and developers because it gives them an idea of what we are going to accept.”
The action stemmed from an agreement reached in late 2004
between
Greenbelt Alliance representative Amanda Brown-Stevens said this was “a great compromise everyone could agree with” that will protect open space, jobs and housing needs.
The alliance had taken Triad Communities to court over its
plans to develop
A settlement reached in late 2004 led to the alliance dropping its lawsuit against the development.
In return, the developer agreed to cut back the number of
homes to be built in
Former Solano County Supervisor Skip Thomson stated this was the most orderly way of getting a growth measure passed that he has seen.
43. “Reliant stands to gain from gift - Preservation effort
provides useful practice in carbon trading” (Houston Chronicle,
By Tom Fowler, Staff
Reliant Energy’s $300,000 gift to help preserve coastal
forests near
Under the deal, Reliant gets the rights to “carbon credits” that will be created by the forest’s ability to draw up to 154,000 tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
While it has no immediate plans to sell the credits, Reliant
can use them on one of the carbon markets now operating in the
The plan with the most support so far would set a cap on the amount of CO2 emissions a company is allowed per year and then reduce the cap over time. Companies could cut their emissions by shutting plants and improving technologies or develop projects that reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
The largest CO2 credit trading market is a mandatory program in Europe launched several years ago under the Kyoto Protocol, an international climate treaty the U.S. did not sign, said Emilie Mazzacurati, a senior analyst with research firm PointCarbon.
Despite early problems, the market is running fairly well, she said, with about $60 billion in transactions per year.
The
“They’re not very ambitious, so companies can reach the goals without too much effort,” she said….
Since the existing
44. “Northgate’s healthcare expansion continues with new
expert appointment” (M2 Presswire,
Northgate Information Solutions today announces the key appointment of Carolyn Manuel-Barkin as Principal Healthcare Consultant as it drives to deliver new and innovative services, such as the Newborn Hearing Screening Programme, to healthcare organisations throughout the country. Carolyn has extensive experience in providing formidable healthcare analysis and consultancy services across the NHS and other public services sectors.
She joins Northgate from Matrix Knowledge Group, where she
worked as Managing Consultant in a strategic role specialising
in health and social care analysis, planning and strategy. Having analysed US
and
Ian Blackhurst, Managing Director, Northgate Healthcare Services, said: “We are delighted to welcome Carolyn to the
team. Her extensive experience will be a tremendous asset to us as we develop
new opportunities and strengthen our relationships with healthcare providers.
Carolyn’s appointment is indicative of Northgate’s commitment to radically
improving the delivery of patient healthcare in the
Carolyn Manuel-Barkin added: “I am looking forward to helping Northgate build upon its collaborative partnerships with healthcare providers across the country. Community health and well-being is founded on trust between local citizens and public authorities. The structure of public services means that organisational functionality can sometimes come before personal need. In healthcare, the real challenge is meeting patients’ demands for services in a way that is proactive and responsive to individual need, within an ever-changing healthcare landscape.”
45. “Funding woes dog transit - services; Officials blame
state’s aid formula” (Boston Globe,
By John Dyer; Globe Correspondent
The fast growth of the six-month-old MetroWest Regional Transit Authority, which would reach 11 communities with the expected addition of two more towns this year, could be compromised by what area officials call chronic underfunding on the part of the state.
The addition of Marlborough and Southborough would expand
what authorities see as a key tool in curbing traffic congestion across
As the MetroWest authority and the state’s 14 other regional transit authorities, or RTAs, face rising fuel costs and other mounting expenses, officials said, a chronic lack of funding from the state has stymied the development of the transportation networks and, in some cases, led officials to consider service cuts….
State officials—including an executive in Governor Deval Patrick’s administration—say regional transit authorities will get more funding in the coming fiscal year but not enough to solve all of their financial problems.
“Although they are likely to get an increase, they probably aren’t going to get enough of an increase to address all of the issues they currently face,” said Wendy Stern, an undersecretary in the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works….
1. “Fuel for Inequality” (New York Times,
By ROBERT B. REICH
AS if the widening wage gap weren’t bad enough, the bottom half of the American work force — everyone who will earn less than about $42,000 this year — is getting hit by the equivalent of a whopping regressive tax in the form of soaring gas prices. And fuel isn’t a discretionary item like cable TV that can be cut from the family budget….
Poorer Americans also tend to drive older cars that get lousy mileage. They don’t trade them in as often as wealthier people do, and can’t afford hybrids or new models that use gas more efficiently. And it’s not unusual for their jobs to require them to haul stuff from one place to another in pickup trucks or vans that guzzle even more gas….
It’s true that those on the bottom half of the economic ladder make greater use of public transportation, but they’re having a harder time finding it. Budget constraints are causing states and cities to reduce rail and bus services. A survey of the nation’s public transit agencies released last month showed that 21 percent of rail operators and 19 percent of bus operators are cutting service.
The wage gap in
ROBERT B. REICH, a former secretary of labor, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author, most recently, of “Supercapitalism.”
2. “California’s Climate Plan” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, June 27, 2008); program featuring commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program
Guests:
Dan Kammen, professor of energy at UC Berkeley
Dorothy Rothrock, co-chair of the AB 32 Implementation Group (a business coalition) and vice president of government relations for the California Manufacturers and Technology Association
Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board
Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
3. “You
can’t afford not to vacation” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
ROBERT REICH: After finishing what I can honestly say was a hard year’s work, I decided to dip into my savings and take a vacation this summer. But when I looked into my savings, I discovered there were a lot less of them than when I last looked.
Well, the dollar so weak against the euro, that European vacation I was dreaming about would have cost me a fortune anyway. So I cancelled that trip and congratulated myself on saving thousands….
So then I decided to hop
into my car and head to one of those great
But with food prices soaring, local restaurants are becoming much more expensive. So I figured I could save even more money by planting my own vegetable garden and eating at home. And what’s wrong with eating your own vegetables? It’s healthier that way.
By this time, I figured with all the money I’ll have saved by not going abroad, not taking that road trip, not eating out and by growing my own vegetables, I’ll just about have broken even with my losses in the stock market.
But, of course, I won’t break even if the stock market keeps dropping.
So I’ve decided to
forget about saving money this summer. I’m driving to
Vigeland:
Robert Reich teaches public policy at
the
4. “
Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger signs the Global Warming Solutions Act in
Sam Eaton: Putting the
world’s tenth largest economy on a low carbon diet is no small task. Today’s
plan for cutting
A cap-and-trade system with other Western states would let businesses buy and sell the right to pollute. The plan would also create tougher efficiency standards for cars, fuels, appliances and buildings. High speed rail would provide an alternative to flying and utilities would have to generate a third of their electricity from renewable sources.
UC Berkeley’s Dan Kammen says that alone
will spawn huge changes in
DAN KAMMEN: It’s going to put a big premium on innovation to find ways not only to reduce energy use overall but also to make the technologies that we’re likely to be using in much larger amounts—solar, biofuel, wind—to make those absolutely as large a part of the economy going forward as possible.
That has many calling
the plan a boon rather than a burden to the state’s economy.
5. “
By Mike Taugher - Bay Area News Group
Ushering in a historic
effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
The plan comes two years after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed one of the most ambitious pieces of environmental legislation ever, committing California to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020….
Many of the proposed measures already are in the pipeline, but the plan … calls for new and expanded efforts as well. For example, it calls for an increase in the state’s use of renewable energy sources to 33 percent by 2020, up from an existing state-mandated goal of 20 percent.
It also assumes the next
president will reverse the Bush administration’s refusal to allow
But the main feature of the new plan is to impose caps on greenhouse gas emissions and gradually bring that cap down. Businesses that reduce emissions below what is required would be allowed to sell credits in a new market.
The market would be
developed with
“We have to start charging for pollution. That’s a hard thing to do,” said Daniel Kammen, an expert on energy and public policy at the University of California-Berkeley….
6. “Fourth of July 2008:
Experts Available to Discuss Psychology to Patriotism” (States News Service,
The Fourth of July is
traditionally a day on which Americans come together to parade, wave the flag
and turn their eyes skyward to watch fireworks. While Americans are arguably
among the most patriotic citizens in the world, that patriotism is being tested
by the drawn-out wars in
Jack Glaser, PhD, Assistant Professor, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley. Glaser can talk about the differences between patriotism and nationalism and the psychology of voting. (According to Glaser, patriotism is the love of country while nationalism is the preference for one’s country over others.) …
7. “Stop swinging the
outrage pendulum” – Commentary by ROBERT
REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
ROBERT REICH: The great pendulum of American economic outrage moves back and forth over time between anger at big government and anger at big business. For almost 30 years, big government has been the target—starting with Ronald Reagan’s admonition that government is the problem, not the solution, through Bill Clinton’s declaration that the era of big government is over, and George W. Bush’s hands-off brand of free market fundamentalism....
But now, we’re experiencing what happens when the pendulum swings too far, and big business is given so much leeway that the public is harmed and the economy jeopardized. The corporate looting scandals that began with Enron were a wake-up call….
The reality is that neither big government nor big business is the problem. Both are necessary parts of a modern economy. Problems arise when they’re out of balance—as they were by the 1970’s, when government had grown so large it was stifling the economy. Or as they have become this decade, as big business, including Wall Street, grew so irresponsible as to undermine public trust and threaten the economy.
Now, the pendulum of
outrage is swinging back against large corporations.
Jagow:
Robert Reich teaches public policy at
the
8. “Robert B. Reich, Supercapitalismo: Come cambia l’economia globale e i rischi per la democrazia” (Fazi Editore, June 2008); publication of Italian edition of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.fazieditore.it/scheda_Libro.aspx?l=1108#
prefazione
di Guido Rossi
traduzione di Thomas Fazi
«Il
libro è rivoluzionario: al centro
…Reich – economista di stampo
liberal e già segretario
Più
che una critica
radicale al sistema, Supercapitalismo è soprattutto uno straordinario appello alla coscienza
civile, perché in una vera
democrazia soltanto i cittadini (e non le aziende) dovrebbero prendere parte ai processi decisionali
«Una
revisione davvero necessaria
Joseph E. Stiglitz
«Supercapitalismo è un impressionante ribaltamento delle credenze tradizionali».
«New York Times Book Review»
«Reich riconosce che il mercato globale ha offerto ai consumatori maggiore scelta e beni più economici. Ma ci avverte che questi vantaggi comportano un esorbitante prezzo da pagare».
«Newsweek»
9. “Stop enabling the
speculators” – Commentary by ROBERT
REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
ROBERT REICH: ...If it were just supply and demand, gas would probably be selling for around $3.50 a gallon, not $4, and food would be 20 percent cheaper. The difference is due to speculation.
Of course, all markets are speculative to some degree. Every time we purchase a share of stock, we’re speculating. Problems occur when prices are bid upward not because underlying values are rising but because investors expect other investors to make the same gamble. This can create a bubble....
The failure to require down payments from home buyers when mortgages became dirt-cheap beginning in 2003 contributed to the housing bubble. The failure to require investment banks to risk their own capital when they made risky bets on derivatives led to the credit crisis. So what about minimal collateral for investments in commodities futures like oil?
You see, the problem isn’t speculation per se. Whether it’s oil or food, financial derivatives or houses, the real problem is the failure of government to curb excessive speculation.
Moon: Robert Reich teaches public policy at the
10. “New UC Berkeley
gateway website debuts” (UC Berkeley home page,
Photo by Martin Sundberg
The first featured photo in the launch of the new UCB home page shows Peter Hart addressing a full audience in the GSPP living room. (Among the crowd are—counter-clockwise from the lower right—CAO Sandi Ketchpel, Assistant Dean Martha Chavez, Prof. Michael O’Hare, Prof. Jane Maudon et al.)
Embracing its role as a
public university, UC Berkeley hosts hundreds of events each month that are open
to the public. The Richard & Rhoda
Goldman School of Public Policy is one notable event sponsor. The
11. “
Everyone’s talking about “going green,” but in
the building industry, the cost of investment has been difficult to
justify—until now. Haas Professor John
Quigley has undertaken the first systematic analysis of environmentally
sustainable construction and its economic impact on the real estate market.
In the working paper, “Doing
Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings,” Quigley and co-authors Piet Eichholtz and Nils Kok of
Green-certified buildings produced an 8.5 percent increase in effective rent. The additional annual rent for going green amounts to almost $309,000, based on the average size building. Likewise, the incremental value of a green structure is an estimated $5.1 million more than an ordinary building. The study did not calculate the incremental cost of investing in green building practices.
When asked why he
decided to research the economic value of green-certified buildings, Quigley, the
His research offers quantitative evidence for builders and investors who value the social responsibility factors of green buildings but, up to now, lacked data about the financial performance of these investments. Quigley says, “Finding there is a linkage between energy and profitability of rental properties is potentially significant and leads to more extensive uses of this information.”
In July, Quigley will be attending a conference
in
12. “Political
Roundtable” (This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC TV News,
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: … it seems like we are going to be seeing a debate we’ve seen over the last several presidential elections between Republicans and Democrats on taxes and spending.
GEORGE WILL: … And now the question is, a nation this deeply personally in debt, the 70% sector, the personal consumption that runs the economy is tapped out, now what? And I don’t hear an answer from either.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Is there anything that government can do about that?
ROBERT REICH (The American Prospect): Well, the answer is, yes, there is. I mean the reason that they’re tapped out, George, is because particularly over the last eight years—in fact, you could argue over the last 20 years—the consumer has not gotten much return from this economy. Over the last seven years, almost all the gains of economic growth have gone to people at the very top—those with over a quarter million dollars in annual income. And that’s where the tax debate becomes interesting. Because this really is a referendum on supply-side economics, on trickle-down economics. John McCain wants to go one step beyond George Bush. Not only tax cuts mainly for the wealthy, but also corporate tax cuts….
GEORGE WILL: But, Bob, today, we have a bifurcated economy. The export sector is doing wonderfully, it’s pulling the country along. And the Democratic Party is raising doubts about its commitment, indeed it’s affirming it’s a lack of commitment to free trade…. Now, the doubt is that today’s capitalism on steroids, if you will, globalized capitalism increases national wealth but undermines family and individual security, which will produce a great flinch from free economics.
ROBERT REICH: That’s exactly the point. That’s exactly the problem, George. Americans now have lost their faith in free trade. They’ve lost their faith in economic growth because they haven’t seen the benefits of it. It’s all going to the top. That’s why Obama’s tax cuts for the middle class and for the poor are so important….
GEORGE WILL: If the economy as bad as you think it is, is this the time to give it the biggest tax increase in history? Which is what would happen if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to lapse.
ROBERT REICH: No. No. In fact, the
13. “An alliance for
green prosperity? On a visit to Berkeley and LBNL this week, Chilean President
Michelle Bachelet emphasized the value of
collaboration between her nation and the state of
By Carol Ness, Public Affairs
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet receives the Berkeley Medal, the highest honor offered by UC Berkeley, from Chancellor Robert Birgeneau. (Kathryn Bader/UC Berkeley photo)
Bachelet,
her energy minister, and a large Chilean government delegation spent two hours
Thursday afternoon at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), where
leading lab and
The visit is likely to produce collaborative efforts between Chile and Berkeley’s Energy Research Institute on things like wind turbines, energy-efficiency programs, and solar-power development to help Chile reduce its dependence on imported fuel and keep energy prices from reversing progress made to date in reducing poverty, said Berkeley’s Kammen, who presented Bachelet with research on the strides California has made toward energy efficiency and on renewable-energy production as an economic stimulus in both rural and urban areas….
14. “CITRIS co-sponsors
By Sarah Yang, Media Relations
BERKELEY – Some 250 of the world’s leading climate and energy researchers, industry representatives and government leaders will convene on Thursday, June 19, in Copenhagen, Denmark, for an international research summit sponsored by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) at the University of California, Berkeley, in partnership with the Copenhagen Climate Council.
The conference, “Unlocking the Climate Code: Innovation in Climate and Energy,” aims to identify the critical research and development achievements necessary for a successful transition to a low carbon economy. Conference participants will present and debate relevant policy and business models that can support technology innovation in carbon emissions reduction….
The results of the conference will be delivered to the Danish government, which hosts the next United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2009….
“The scientific verdict on climate change is long-since decided; we must act now, not in a decade, but now,” said conference co-organizer Daniel Kammen, UC Berkeley professor of energy and resources and founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory. “The financial case has also become clear: It is past time to create the new clean and low-carbon energy economy. The Copenhagen Climate Council is the right venue at the right time to forge new understanding of the opportunities to blend best science with progressive economics to create new business opportunities that can bring about the energy system we want, not just tinker with the one we inherited.” …
In addition to Kammen and Zysman,
• W. Michael Hanemann, professor of agricultural and resource economics and director of UC Berkeley’s California Climate Change Center …
15. “Economic turmoil
puts Treasury secretary to test. With legacy on the line, Paulson steers White
House response to deepening housing crisis” (CNN Money,
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/7dda83a000764f5e1f05d16fb7fde875.htm
Associated Press
He just didn’t know yet what form the downturn would take....
Now, ten months into housing and credit crises that are reverberating across financial markets and the broader economy, Paulson faces a long list of complicated economic problems....
With a weak president
who is on his way out, however, it is the Democrats in Congress—not Paulson or
the White House—who are shaping the agenda. “Treasury secretary is a powerful
position, but you can’t do it without a strong president,” said Robert Reich, a public policy professor at
the
Even as he confronts the current turmoil, Paulson continues to press ahead with a broader proposal to streamline regulation of the financial services sector. Among other things, his plan would expand the Fed’s authority to oversee the financial markets and merge the federal agencies that supervise the securities and commodities futures markets.
… Critics are particularly concerned that the plan would weaken the Securities and Exchange Commission, which serves as a watchdog over Wall Street.
“If there is one lesson here, it is that Wall Street is under-regulated or misregulated,” Reich said. “And the blueprint is little more than an attempt to preserve Paulson’s deregulatory agenda.”...
16. “Chilean president
to speak at UC Berkeley” (San Francisco Chronicle,
--Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
(06-11)
16:48 PDT -- Faced with a mounting energy crisis in her petroleum-starved
country, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will
visit UC Berkeley today in search of green energy technologies, part of a visit
to California to rekindle a four-decade partnership between the South American
nation and the Golden State….
… The mountainous country depends on hydroelectric power and
natural gas imported from
She will meet this afternoon with experts at UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to learn about options for solar, geothermal and wind power and energy efficiency. She is also scheduled to give a public talk, “The Transformation of Chile.”
“
17. “More demand shaping global reality” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
ROBERT REICH: The
cost of food and fuel are soaring, not just in the
You see, hundreds of millions of
people in
The answer to all this lies mainly in increasing the supply of food and fuels. And both will depend on two kinds of green research—into more productive and sustainable agriculture, and into more efficient and sustainable fuels.
in other words, we’re in a race between a new generation of biotechnology and non-carbon-based energy technology, on the one hand, and rising political and economic conflict on the other. And the global clock is ticking ominously fast.
Jagow: Robert Reich teaches public policy at the
18. “Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich speaks about high oil and gas prices affecting the economy” (The Early Show, CBS News, June 9, 2008); interview with ROBERT REICH.
RUSS MITCHELL: So what is $4 gas doing to the economy? Robert Reich was labor secretary in the
Mr. Secretary, good morning to you…. History has shown that as these prices go up, they eventually come down at least a little. Do you see that happening this time as well?
Mr. REICH: Well, they may come down a little bit, Russ, but anybody out there who thinks that we are going to get back to cheap gas or cheap energy really is wrong. The fundamentals are pointing all in the direction of keeping that, unfortunately, that $4 gas or maybe 3.50 at the cheapest, it’s going to be for quite some time.
MITCHELL: How high do you expect it to go before it at least stabilizes?
Mr. REICH: Well, with crude oil trading at about 137 to $138 a gallon…. [t]hat translates into over $4 a gallon at the fuel pump. And I think we’re going to see it through the summer. I wish I could be more optimistic about it. … [P]eople have to face the fact is that if they’re thinking about buying a new car, buy something other than a gas guzzler. If they’re thinking about some changes in their house, put in insulation, because the days of cheap energy and the days of cheap oil, the days of cheap gas, are really over, Russ.
MITCHELL: Mr. Secretary, President Bush talked about one solution, opening up the continental shelf, more oil there. Anything else the government can do to kind of help things out?
Mr. REICH: Well, the government could end … putting oil into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The government could develop alternative energy sources that over the long term may be cheaper than oil. The government could have a windfall profits tax on oil companies and return the proceeds to people because oil companies are making a boat load of money right now. We could try to reduce our dependence on oil altogether. I think over the long term, that’s the only way to go….
19. “
--The East African
Economists are going back to the drawing board to develop
ways of using agriculture to fight poverty in
At the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) biannual
meeting in
Some 40 years of structural transformation in several countries especially in the sub-Saharan region have yielded almost no growth.
The share of agricultural products in African exports have in the meantime reduced by over half, despite programmes to transform the sector such as the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture in Uganda, drought management in Kenya, and water user associations in Tanzania....
The effort to tailor agriculture policy to
The Green Revolution in
But some participants said it was high time that policy
makers stopped assuming
“Hence, an agriculture-for-development model for Africa will have to be different; not the technology-driven Asian Green Revolution, but new approaches; and not a single model but a multiplicity of models that are locally defined and optimised due to deep heterogeneity,” said Prof Alain de Janvry.
20. “Obama Campaign Taps NYU
Scholar as New Economic Policy Director” (Campaign U: Chronicle of Higher
Education,
-David Glenn
Barack Obama’s campaign today announced the appointment of a new economic policy director: Jason L. Furman, a 37-year-old economist who played a similar role in John Kerry’s 2004 effort….
“Senator Obama personally asked me
to help him get advice from a broad range of economic thinkers,” Furman
continued, citing the fiscal hawk Paul Volcker, the
labor-left economist Jared Bernstein, and Robert
Reich and Christina Romer of the
21. “Must the poor always be with us? What do we do?” (Tennessean,
By Charles M. North and Bob Smietana
… Economists have no special ability or training to help them decide the moral question, but they can certainly tell us what the real-world effects of minimum-wage hikes are. And it turns out that when the minimum wage goes up, poverty doesn’t necessarily go down….
Robert Reich, who was
secretary of labor under President Clinton, admitted as much to The New York Times. Reich told the Times
that, when it comes to fighting poverty, the minimum wage doesn’t work as well
as the Earned Income Tax Credit. On the other hand, Reich argued that raising the minimum wage has “a powerful moral
and political impact” at a time when there is great anxiety among
“They see neighbors and friends being fired for no reason by profitable companies, executives making off like bandits while thousands of their own workers are being laid off,” Reich told the Times. “They see health insurance drying up, employer pensions shrinking. Promises to retirees of health benefits are simply thrown overboard. The whole system has aspects that seem grossly immoral to average working people.” Instead of fighting poverty, Reich added, the minimum wage “demarcates our concept of decency with regard to work.”…
22. “‘Amerika mangler moralsk statur til de globale udfordringer’. Robert Reich efterlyser nye internationale institutioner til at løse de fire internationale kriser. Gamle institutioner som Valutafonden og Verdensbanken har efter hans mening mistet deres legitimitet” (Danish Información, 7. juni 2008); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.information.dk/160434
Af: Martin Burcharth
BOSTON - Det kan næppe undre, at forfatteren til bogklassikeren Work of Nations og opfinderen af udtrykket ‘symbolanalytiker’ (en ny klasse af vidensarbejdere) i længere tid har grundet over sammenfaldet af de fire internationale kriser - energiknaphed, høje fødevarepriser, klimaforandringer og spekulationen på finansmarkederne.
“Det giver ingen mening at anskue dem hver for sig,” siger Robert Reich i et interview med Information.
“De fire kriser skal studeres i sammenhæng.”
Men præsident Bill Clintons arbejdsminister fra 1993 til 1997 lægger ikke skjul på sin bekymring over den akutte mangel på løsningsinstrumenter.
“Desværre er
Bretton Woods-systemets toneangivende institutioner - Den
Internationale Valutafond, Verdensbanken og
Verdenshandelsorganisationen - ikke
i stand til at håndtere de nye globale udfordringer. Efter 2. Verdenskrig stod
23. “Wasting energy. McConnell should stop fighting saner
policy” (Lexington Herald Leader,
What if all the money that’s gone into the
It’s almost too painful to imagine how much better off this country and the world would be.
As one example, consider “clean coal.” Everyone from President Bush to Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne Rutherford sings its praises.
But, as The New York Times reports, “the nation’s effort to develop the technique is lagging badly.”
Citing spiraling costs, the Bush administration in January canceled FutureGen, a coal-fired power plant that was to showcase methods for capturing carbon emissions and storing them underground where they can’t trap heat in the atmosphere.
“Utility projects in Florida, West Virginia, Ohio, Minnesota and Washington State that would have made it easier to capture carbon dioxide have all been canceled or thrown into regulatory limbo,” reports the Times.
“It’s a total mess,” said Daniel M. Kammen,
director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the
Half of this country’s electricity comes from coal. But without perfecting the technique for sequestering carbon, coal-fired power plants will continue to be the largest single sources of global-warming gases.
Voters in coal-dependent
But don’t expect an answer. McConnell doesn’t want to talk about how to combat climate change. He was one of 14 senators who voted Monday against allowing debate on a bill that mandates reductions in heat-trapping gases….
24. “Where Were You in ‘68?
Faculty and staff memories conjure a tumultuous decade’s most eventful
year” (Berkeleyan,
1968 IS A VIVID year for me. I was
13, and that summer my family moved from
Also memorable was the good-looking older son of the family we were staying with, who hung out in the boathouse smoking weed and listening to Bob Dylan.
-- Jane Mauldon, associate professor of public policy
25. “Hellman Family Faculty Fund
awardees named” (Berkeleyan,
The Hellman Family Faculty Fund, established in 1995, supports the research of promising assistant professors who show a capacity for great distinction in their research. Twenty-three awards have been announced for 2008; they will go to the following faculty: … Sean Farhang, public policy….
26. “Let’s get serious about public transit” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace [NPR],
Record gas prices are driving commuters to buses and trains in mass. Commentator Robert Reich says unless we’re willing to upgrade our transit systems, those drivers won’t find anything on public transit but more frustration.
ROBERT REICH: For years, policy makers have wondered just how high gas prices would have to go before drivers switch to public transportation. Now we know: it’s around $4 a gallon, because millions of Americans are switching to buses, trains and subways to go to work.
Rather than bemoaning the spike in gas prices, we should be celebrating. Public transit not only reduces congestion but also reduces the nation’s energy needs and cuts carbon emissions that bring on global warming....
What better way to get the economy going and save energy and
the environment in years to come, than to create a modern, efficient system of
public transportation in
Kai Ryssdal: Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at the
27. “Scientists work to improve hydrogen car” (KGO TV,
By Wayne Freedman
Some Bay Area scientists may have solved that problem….
For Tim Ross of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, it’s about 13
years of research that have concluded with this modified
The carbon fiber tank has undergone rigorous testing, not just from altitude, but bullets and even fire. It neither leaks nor explodes, even at 5,000 pounds per square inch.
The biggest test, though. examined distance from one tank of hydrogen. The Prius set a new record—650 miles….
Hydrogen is not perfect, however. We have limited distribution and it’s dirty to produce.
“Green fuel, Green hydrogen, that’s the Holy Grail. It’s what you need with fuel cells and storage to get accelerated rapidly,” said UC Berkeley Energy Analyst Dan Kammen, Ph.D….
28. “How About a Cap-and-Trade Dividend?” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Wall Street Journal
[*requires registration],
By ROBERT B. REICH
The Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill is going nowhere.
Even in the unlikely event Congress passes it, President Bush has said he will
veto the measure, and there aren’t nearly enough votes to override. So the real
action commences on
So it’s a certainty that we’ll have a president next year who
wants to address global warming by imposing an overall cap on
Our atmosphere belongs to all of us. It seems only reasonable
that corporations should have to pay to use it. The citizens of
Mr. Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, is author of “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life” (Alfred A. Knopf, 2007).
29. “Ignoring the caucus states: Hillary’s big mistake?
Clinton victorious in only one caucus, but ends up losing there as well” (MarketWatch,
By Russ Britt, MarketWatch
Los Angeles -- When historians write about the 2008 Democratic presidential race years from now, it’s likely that armchair quarterbacks won’t see Sen. Hillary Clinton’s critical mistake as being her misstatement on Bosnia or that her ex-president husband’s temper dragged her down....
Henry Brady, a professor
of political science at University of California, Berkeley, said
“It was a mistake, but it wasn’t a bad bet to make,” he said.
“I don’t think she expected Barack Obama. I don’t think she expected any strong competitor,” Brady said. “She didn’t see anyone who could pick those [caucus votes] up.”...
30. “Iraq War Update” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM,
Forum discusses conditions on the ground and examines current
Guests:
Cliff May, president of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and chairman of the Policy Committee of the Committee on the Present Danger, a bi-partisan lobbying group
Corey Flintoff, foreign correspondent for NPR based in
Michael Nacht, dean and professor of public
policy at the
Phyllis Bennis, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies
31. “Robert Reich:
Obama will be the next President” (Show, Australian
Broadcasting Company,
KERRY O’BRIEN, PRESENTER: … Barak Obama continues to build a powerful array of endorsements to match his delegate numbers, one of the most surprising of which was Robert Reich, a close and long standing friend of both Bill and Hillary Clinton. He served as Labour secretary in the Clinton White House and is a high profile academic and author.
We featured Professor Reich last week talking from
Robert Reich, it might not be over for Hillary Clinton in formal terms, but people are starting to talk about her in the past tense now. When she started this race, did you think she’d win? Did she blow it, or was Barak Obama simply too good?
PROFESSOR ROBERT REICH, AUTHOR, SUPERCAPITALISM: She certainly thought that she would win. Bill Clinton thought that she would win. Most people who were following Democratic politics a year ago thought that she had it made, but Obama surprised everybody. He was not only terrific as a candidate, is terrific as a candidate, but put together an amazing campaign organisation. Very efficient, based on small donations. We haven’t seen anything like this organisation in American politics perhaps ever before.
KERRY O’BRIEN: What were your first impressions of Obama, and at what point did he win you over?
PROFESSOR ROBERT REICH: I met him about a year and a half ago. I was enormously impressed with him in person. He’s as impressive in person as he is in public. He’s very calm with himself, he doesn’t give the impression, as many politicians do, of being a little bit overly ambitious, or having a case of narcissism. He really is an average, normal person, in the sense of being comfortable with himself, but obviously extraordinarily bright at the same time. I was leaning in his direction. I thought his policies made a great deal of sense. I did not want to come out and endorse him, but about three or four weeks ago I felt that I had no choice. I thought that Hillary Clinton was getting terrible advice and she was being quite negative in the campaign and I felt that I needed to speak up and so I did publicly endorse him.
KERRY O’BRIEN: What is the evidence that you have seen in him that he has the depth to be President, given the critics who regard him as something of a flake, a manufactured leader?
PROFESSOR ROBERT REICH:
Well, that’s going to be the criticism of anybody who does very, very well and
who is not known all that much beforehand. John F. Kennedy was not known very
well and very much. Bill Clinton as a governor was known by almost nobody in
the national media or in
KERRY O’BRIEN: What is the single biggest hurdle Obama has to jump to reach the White House?
PROFESSOR ROBERT REICH: Obama has to convince many working class Americans, they used to be called Reagan Democrats, that he is sympathetic to their needs, that he understands their needs. Frankly, I think that a Democratic at this point in time, given how bad the economy is and how much job insecurity there has been, how median wages in the United States adjusted for inflation have gone nowhere, a Democratic is much better positioned to do that than a Republican. Finally, given George Bush’s very, very low standing in the polls, John McCain has a much bigger challenge than does Barak Obama in terms of overcoming that legacy….
32. “McCain rejects endorsement from controversial reverend”
(The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Company,
DAVID MARK: … John McCain actively sought the endorsement of the fire and brimstone influential TV evangelist, John Hagee, to shore up his support with right-wing Christian fundamentalists.
But the move backfired when audio of a sermon Pastor Hagee gave in the 90s emerged on the Internet in which he
argued the holocaust was God’s way of bringing the Jews back to
[Hagee] has now withdrawn his endorsement of Senator McCain, saying in a statement, “I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues”.
He’s right—at least about the distraction—says Henry Brady, a professor of political
science and public policy at the
HENRY BRADY: I think it’s very embarrassing given that John McCain was talking a lot about Jeremiah Wright, and what Jeremiah Wright had been saying. And how Barack Obama was really not doing the right thing in terms of accepting the endorsement of Jeremiah Wright and so forth. And Barack Obama had to really renounce even to a greater extent, Jeremiah Wright.
DAVID MARK: Why was Senator McCain so keen for this endorsement in the first place?
HENRY BRADY: Well Hagee represents a lot of fundamentalist Christians in America, and so he provides John McCain the party that he has had trouble with, which is the fundamentalist Christians who were not sure about his candidacy and thought that he was too far towards the centre, and frankly too moderate.
DAVID MARK: Does it make it more difficult for him now to get the support of the far right fundamentalists that you were talking about?
HENRY BRADY: I don’t think it actually does that so much. I think it’s something that’ll be discussed within that community. But the comments that John Hagee has made are pretty outrageous. And I think that even many in that movement would find them beyond the pale.
It doesn’t help John McCain in that regard, but I think the problems with that group for John McCain actually run much deeper and have to do with some of the votes he has taken along the way and some of the positions he has had.
DAVID MARK: You’ve mentioned Barack Obama’s problems with Jeremiah Wright, but Senator McCain is trying to get onto the front foot in saying that he was never a member of John Hagee’s flock whereas Barack Obama was a member of Jeremiah’s flock. Will the American public get that nuance?
HENRY BRADY: Well some people may. But it seems to me that’s really inside baseball. For most people it’ll be there was this crazy guy who Barack Obama was associated with, and there’s this crazy guy that John McCain was associated with, and both of them have their problems. And I think that’s the bottom line for most people. And so it won’t help either candidate particularly.
ELEANOR HALL: The University of California’s Professor Henry Brady, ending that report by David Mark.
33. “Robert Reich
speaks about ‘Supercapitalism’” (Australian
Broadcasting Company,
KERRY O’BRIEN, PRESENTER: It wasn’t politics or sport dominating radio talkback or talk around the water cooler today. It was Alan Moss’ final paycheque as the head of the so-called millionaires’ factory, Macquarie Bank. The Sydney Morning Herald headline said it all: “$80 million - it’s off the planet. Moss payout uproar.”…
But a book called “Supercapitalism”, coincidentally due out in Australia next week, authored by one of America’s most respected economists, says the problem goes much further than just the yawning salary gap between top executives and the rest.
Robert Reich, Bill Clinton’s labour secretary in his first term as President, and now Professor of Public Policy at the University of California’s Berkeley campus, argues that it is symptomatic of a bigger problem, and it’s not necessarily the executives themselves to blame - it’s all of us, and that democracy itself is suffering….
KERRY O’BRIEN: You use
ROBERT REICH:
Wal-Mart is the representative. It is the kind of symbol of American capitalism
right now. It is the biggest employer in the
KERRY O’BRIEN: And the rule that Wal-Mart’s playing to is that it’s driven prices down for consumers and dividends up for investors. Is that the heart of the matter?
ROBERT REICH: Exactly right. And that’s what corporations are for: they are for providing great deals to their consumers and their investors. The problem is government sets the rules of the game. If we want Wal-Mart to do something differently, then we have to have laws that change the rules of the game. If we want our employees to have health insurance, if we want our employees in America to have better wages, better salary, then those new rules of the game have to come through the legislature and we’ve got to face the trade-offs that many of those new rules would imply. Higher wages mean, often, higher cost to consumers….
KERRY O’BRIEN: So when you talk about democracy being overwhelmed, what are the most powerful manifestations of that for you?
ROBERT REICH: In
34. “Energy Shock” (Center for Latin American Studies, UC
Berkeley, Spring 2008); article by DAN KAMMEN; http://socrates.berkeley.edu:7001/Publications/newsletters/Spring2008/index.html
By Dan Kammen
The
current increase in energy costs is the second large-scale upheaval we have
seen in the energy sector. The first “shock” was the OPEC oil crisis of the
1970s and early 1980s. In retrospect, it is clear that the OPEC crisis was
driven by economic and political factors rather than an absolute scarcity of
resources….
In contrast…, the run-up we’re seeing now—while it certainly has political elements—is driven by a much broader set of factors…. The problem is we are running out of atmosphere far faster than we are running out of dirty fossil fuels to burn….
… Since the 1970s … we have seen increase of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere of about 1 part per million per year… but in the last 6 or 7 years it has nearly doubled. A large fraction of this increase is due to overall economic growth, but the natural system that sucks up those greenhouse gasses is also deteriorating….
… There’s more oil in the ground in
…But what I want to end with is this problem that policy is going to be required if the worst effects of climate change are to be averted. Hoping for new technologies will not solve the problem because the advantages that come to new fossil fuel technologies at higher energy prices will swamp any greenness of the economy unless the policy agenda changes dramatically.
Professor Dan Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy, and has appointments in the Energy and Resources Group, the Goldman School of Public Policy and the Department of Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley. He is the founding Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
35. “GAO Plan for
-Benjamin H. Friedman, Research Fellow at the Cato Institute
Thursday the Government Accountability Office published a
report that points out that the
Democratic leaders can use the report to bash the President,
which is presumably why they requested it. But most people will merely find it
useless. It is, after all, the GAOs shtick to issue
bland reports like this one, which does little other than note a lack of
coordinated planning and then recommend more coordinated planning. (The report
does say, to be fair, that the
The report never considers the possibility that the great
minds of
I am not arguing that the
The GAO report is the sort of thing Aaron Wildavsky had in mind [when] he
wrote that, if planning is everything, maybe
it’s nothing. Phase one in my plan to save
Feb. 27 Michael Hanemann
was featured speaker at the conference, “How Do/How Should We Tax?: Tax Reform for
June 11 Dan Kammen
spoke on “Imagining the Plug-In Future” at the conference, “Plug-In Electric
Vehicles 2008: What Role for
June 18-19 Dan Kammen spoke on “Addressing the Complexities in the Transition to a Climate-Friendly Economy” and “Solar PV and Thermal Electric Energy” at the Innovation in Climate & Energy conference in Copenhagen, hosted by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Copenhagen Climate Council; http://www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com/
June 19 Michael Hanemann spoke on “Addressing the Climate Challenge through Innovation and Industry Transformation” at the Innovation in Climate & Energy conference in Copenhagen, hosted by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) and the Copenhagen Climate Council; http://www.copenhagenclimatecouncil.com/
June 25 Dan Kammen gave a talk on “The Impact of State Policy Initiatives in the Bioeconomy” at the “Risk, Infrastructure and Industry Evolution” conference sponsored by the Farm Foundation, USDA, and Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA; http://www.farmfoundation.org/news/templates/template.aspx?articleid=365&zoneid=23
June 25 Dan Kammen testified in regard to AB 1709 Subcommittee Hearing, Municipal Clean Energy Financing Districts, sponsored by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, (committee approval 6-2), Sacramento, CA.
June 25 Dan Kammen testified in regard to SB 1484, Clean energy research and development tax credits, sponsored by State Senator Elaine Alquist, (continuance vote), Sacramento, CA.
June 25-26 David Kirp
was featured speaker at the 2008 Tennessee Early Childhood Summit, sponsored by
the Tennessee Alliance for Early Education, the Department of Education’s
Office of Early Learning, Pre-K Now and the Head Start State Collaboration
Office,
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 .
Sincerely,
Annette Doornbos
Director of External Relations and Development