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eDIGEST November 2006

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tom Hayden, Aya de Leon, Jeff Chang 1. “Mario Savio Memorial Lecture program” with Tom Hayden

Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m., Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley campus.

Admission is free.

Also featured: Hip-hop journalist/author Jeff Chang will discuss youth activism, and spoken-word artist Aya de Leon, director of Poetry for the People, will perform.

The evening includes a presentation of the Mario Savio Young Activist Award. Co-sponsored by the Goldman School of Public Policy.

2. “Green Cities Awards Ceremony”

November 3, 2006 – 4 pm., Morgan Hall Lounge, UC Berkeley

The Berkeley Institute of the Environment will hold an awards ceremony for winners of the Bears Breaking Boundaries competition

Presentations by Winners:

· Adam Langton (MPP cand. 2007) – “Solution to China’s Drinking Water Problem”

· Zack Norwood & Alec Plauche – “Urban Waste to Energy”

· Kevin Shively – “Dynamic Carpooling Demonstration Project”

3. “Election Night 2006 at IGS”

Nov. 7, 2006, 5:00 p.m. - Institute for Governmental Studies Library, 109 Moses Hall, campus

Watch the returns, and get up-to-the-minute analysis from an outstanding panel of political thinkers and analysts.

Featured Panelists:

· John Ellwood - Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley;

· Robert Reich - Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley, and former Secretary of Labor under the Clinton Administration;

· Jack Citrin - Professor of Political Science, IGS, UC Berkeley;

· Peter Schrag - Sacramento Bee;

· Debra J. Saunders - San Francisco Chronicle

4. Center for Environmental Public Policy speaker series on Climate Change presents:

Inez Fung, Professor of Atmospheric Science and Co-Director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, UC Berkeley

Nov. 8, 12:30-1:30 p.m., Room 355, Goldman School

5. “Biology, Stress, and the Intergenerational Transmission of Income” with Anna Aizer, Brown University

Nov. 15, 12 noon – 1 p.m., Room 105, Goldman School

QUICK REFERENCE LIST

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. “Opponent of racial preferences takes quest to Michigan. PROP. 209 AFTERMATH: Public colleges less diverse, but initiative backers tout fairness” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 30, 2006); story citing NINA ROBINSON (MPP 1989); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/30/MNGBRM2HKT1.DTL&type=printable

2. “Strong competition in Peralta bid. Newcomer gives incumbent run for money in community college district’s election for trustee” (Oakland Tribune, October 26, 2006); story citing ABEL GUILLEN (MPP 2001); http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_4552482

3. “Commute and vote in one fell swoop at BART” (Tri-Valley Herald, October 25, 2006); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4546268

4. “More Students Delaying College. Fewer in state going right after high school study finds” (Sacramento Bee, October 23, 2006); story citing NANCY BOROW SHULOCK (MPP 1978).

5. “Proposition 83: Sex Offenders” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, Oct 20, 2006); features commentary by BRIAN BROWN (MPP 2003); listen to the program at: http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing.jsp?progID=RD19

6. “2006 Public Managerial Excellence Awards” (Municipal Fiscal Advisory Committee to the Mayor, City & County of San Francisco government, October 2006); awards citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000), MICHELLE ALLERSMA (MPP 2000), JULIAN LOW (MPP 1999), DALEY DUNHAM (MPP 1999); http://www.mfac.org/awards.htm

7. “UNICEF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among 8 to pick up Prince of Asturias awards” (Associated Press Worldstream, October 20, 2006); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

8. “Proposition 87: Alternative Energy” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, Oct 18, 2006); features commentary by BRENDAN McCARTHY (MPP 2004); listen at: http://www.kqed.org/programs/program-landing.jsp?progID=RD19

9. “Takeover helps boost McClatchy earnings” (Sacramento Bee, October 18, 2006); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981); http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/41217.html

10. “Workers’ Comp Gains Haven’t Eased the Pain of Tough Cases” (Los Angeles Times, October 17, 2006); story citing FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993); http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-comp17oct17,0,5215319,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

11. “The Culture of Planners and Planning for Cultures: Community Engagement in Racially Divided New Orleans, Washington DC and Detroit” (City and Regional Planning, UC Berkeley, October 16, 2006); talk presented by DAVID CAMPT (MPP 1988); http://new-dcrp.ced.berkeley.edu/

12. “San Francisco: Daly, panel stall extra funds for police. Budget analyst says mayor’s request seems premature” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2006); story citing NOELLE SIMMONS (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/19/BAGM9LS84C1.DTL&hw=noelle+simmons&sn=001&sc=1000

13. “Berkeley City College gets permanent chief” (Oakland Tribune, October 11, 2006); story citing ELIHU HARRIS (MPP 1969); http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_4474434

14. “Transit Must Be Faster, Simpler To Attract Riders, Two Experts Say” (San Jose Mercury New, October 10, 2006); column featuring commentary by STUART COHEN (MPP 1997).

15. “Ga. State breaks ground on science labs” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 10, 2006); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP 1976, PhD 1976); http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2006/10/10/1010gsu.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild166=Fre6y4BqRdxkLD6Eummv9zWK3R0NjHX3SdEv0xlUM4oZW5gh3EUO!1558690983&UrAuth=aNaNUObNTUbTTUWUXUWUZTZU_UWUcUbUZUaU_UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

16. “Georgia State takes steps to sell dorms at North Avenue” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 10, 2006); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP 1976, PhD 1976).

17. “Pamela Davis, President & CEO Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group, Named One of Business Insurance Women to Watch” (Business Insurance [*requires subscription], October 9, 2006); story citing PAMELA DAVIS (MPP 1987); http://businessinsurance.com/

18. “U.S. Rules Allow the Sale of Products Others Ban. Chemical-laden goods outlawed in Europe and Japan are permitted in the American market” (Los Angeles Times, October 8, 2006); story citing report co-authored by DANIEL CHIA (MPP 2004) and BRYAN EHLERS (MPP 2004); http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping8oct08,0,3535703,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

19. “Opposition growing to transportation bond” (Alameda Times-Star, October 8, 2006); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4461413

20. “Commuter train a hard sell for 2 counties. Measure R would ease traffic on Hwy. 101, its backers say; critics cite high cost for very few riders” (Sacramento Bee, October 8, 2006); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/304/story/35564.html

21. “Suit challenges voting system” (MediaNews, October 6, 2006); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4450158

22. “Political hopefuls exploit gaffes online” (San Jose Mercury News, October 5, 2006); story citing BRIAN LEUBITZ (MPP cand. 2007); http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/popwire_post/6109/political-hopefuls-exploit-gaffes-online/

23. “Relief for big burden awaited - Lawmakers debate ways to save” (Herald News, October 5, 2006); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975).

24. “Miami Herald publisher resigns over pay scheme” (Charleston Daily Mail (WV), October 3, 2006); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981).

25. “Is the FDNY a Boys Only Club?” (New York Resident, Oct. 3, 2006); story citing CAROL CHETKOVICH (MPP 1987, PhD 1994); http://70.47.124.114/node/261

26. “Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns hosts a ceremony to unveil the official portrait of former Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman. Former Secretary Veneman will attend” (The Washington Daybook, October 2, 2006); ceremony honoring ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

27. “Another media chain feeling the pressure as advertising shifts. Tribune Co. forced to confront breakup, as Knight Ridder did” (Sacramento Bee, September 28, 2006); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981).

28. “Race to make clean, fuel-sipping cars revs up - Honda pushes clean diesels. GM takes big step with hydrogen. But can anybody outdo gas-electric hybrids?” (Christian Science Monitor, September 28, 2006); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).

29. “In the shadow of the megamall. Union Square vendors wonder how bigger Westfield Centre will affect them” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 2006); story citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/28/BUGLPLDU571.DTL&hw=megamall&sn=001&sc=1000

30. “GSU plans new law, business buildings downtown” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 21, 2006); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP 1976, PhD 1976).

31. “Eastern Parkway to lose lanes. U of L stresses safety in promoting project” (Courier-Journal, The (Louisville, KY), August 24, 2006); story citing LARRY OWSLEY (MPP 1973).

32. “Governor to push state fuels; Illinois would produce half of its own supply by ‘17” (The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL), August 22, 2006); story citing STEVE FRENKEL (MPP 2000).

33. “Salutes” (Honolulu Advertiser, August 20, 2006); story citing DENISE ANTOLINI (MPP 1985, JD 1986).

34. “Outplaying the movies” (The Daily Telegraph (Australia), June 2, 2006); story citing FRANK ALPERT (MPP 1981).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “New tools for a new world order. Nuclear forensics touted as method to trace bomb materials, deterrent for rogue nations” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 29, 2006); story citing Distinguished Visiting Scholar HAROLD SMITH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/29/MNG32M27K61.DTL&type=printable

2. “‘Risk shift’: the future of defined benefits plans” (Berkeleyan, October 26, 2006); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2006/10/26_risk.shtml

3. “Don’t vote for ‘Death of a President’” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 25, 2006; Listen to this commentary

4. “Forums help voters decipher ballot measures” (Oakland Tribune, October 25, 2006); story citing LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993; PhD 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4546571

5. “A rethink on shunning sin. A major fund company initiative would repeal bans on gambling and alcohol investments” (Christian Science Monitor, October 23, 2006); story citing DAVID VOGEL; http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1023/p14s02-wmgn.html

6. “Governor ‘wants to be all things to all people’” (Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA), October 22, 2006); story citing HENRY BRADY.

7. “Can we afford to secure Iraq, North Korea…?” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 18, 2006); Listen to this commentary

8. “Schwarzenegger targets the green vote” (Financial Times [UK], October 18 2006); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8d22f01c-5e35-11db-82d4-0000779e2340.html

9. “Tri-Valley has share of hate crime. Tally of reports for Pleasanton, Livermore comparable to Oakland” (Tri-Valley Herald, October 17, 2006); story citing JACK GLASER; http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_4504517

10. “Economist Edmund Phelps and Robert Reich discuss Dynamic Capitalism” (On Point, WBUR, National Public Radio, October 17, 2006); listen to the program at: http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/10/20061017_a_main.asp

11. “Go green and make green. California may profit from climate law” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 15, 2006); op-ed citing study by DAN KAMMEN’s research group; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/15/ING3JLM9791.DTL&type=printable

12. “The state of California under Phil” (Oakland Tribune, October 15, 2006); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.insidebayarea.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=4495231&siteId=181

13. “California’s Global Warming Plan” (Science Friday, National Public Radio, October 13, 2006, Hour Two); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; listen at: http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2006/Oct/hour2_101306.html

14. “Homecoming and Parents Weekend 2006” (Berkeleyan, October 12, 2006); story citing MICHAEL NACHT and ROBERT REICH; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/

15. “Putting dollars behind those green ambitions” (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 12, 2006); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen To Story

16. “Stanford University begins big fundraising drive” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 11, 2006); story citing ROBERT BERDAHL; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/10/11/BAGCELMSVR1.DTL&type=printable

17. “The trouble with ethanol. Tad Patzek’s anti-biofuel crusade comes home to Berkeley” (Salon.com, October 11, 2006); story citing study co-authored by MICHAEL O’HARE, BRIAN T. TURNER (MPP 2006), and DAN KAMMEN; http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2006/10/10/patzek/print.html

18. “China’s our best hope” - Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 11, 2006); Listen to this commentary

19. “Ex-UC chancellors defend race policy” (Oakland Tribune, October 11, 2006); story citing ROBERT BERDAHL; http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_4474452

20. “Vote yes: It will end dependence on imported oil” (San Jose Mercury News [*requires registration], Oct. 08, 2006); op-ed citing studies by DAN KAMMEN’s research group; http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/15709532.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

21. “State rushes in where Washington fears to tread” (Financial Times, October 6 2006); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/21bd10cc-5553-11db-acba-0000779e2340.html

22. “Cal, Stanford not intellectual rivals” (Contra Costa Times, Oct. 06, 2006); story citing ROBERT BERDAHL; http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/15693927.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

23. “It’s time to play the inequality card” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 4, 2006); Listen to this commentary

24. “County polls voters on road tax plan. County spent nearly $145,000 to do survey” (Tulare Advance-Register, August 16, 2006); story citing HENRY BRADY.

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

- Tanya Schevitz, Chronicle Staff Writer

Ten years after California became the first state to end race-based admissions in public universities through a voter-approved initiative, college classrooms are more segregated than before—yet supporters of Proposition 209 say their makeup is nothing but fair….

At the premier campuses—UC Berkeley and UCLA—enrollment of black freshmen has plummeted. At UC Berkeley, enrollment of Latino freshmen also has fallen. And though Latino enrollment has risen at UCLA, the proportion of Latino freshmen has dropped….

Since the measure’s passage, UC officials have worked to find ways other than race to ensure a diverse student body, setting up academic preparation programs in underprivileged middle and high schools and adjusting admissions policies to consider factors beyond grades and test scores.

Through UC’s efforts, the proportion of black freshmen across its campuses in 2005 was just one percentage point below where it was in 1997—3 percent instead of 4 percent.

And the percentage of Latino freshmen enrolling in the UC system actually rose, from 13 percent to 15 percent. But that didn’t even come close to keeping up with the nearly 50 percent rise in the number of Latinos graduating from high school during that time.

“We are losing ground,” said Nina Robinson, director of policy and student affairs at UC. “I don’t think there is a great deal more we can do.”…

[Click on graphs to zoom.]

By Katy Murphy, Staff Writer

Two-term incumbent Peralta Community College District trustee Alona Clifton is getting a serious challenge for her seat in the student-targeted campaign of 31-year-old Abel Guillen.

Guillen, a school finance adviser who was the first in his family to graduate from college, has become a fixture at Laney College, Peralta’s flagship campus. His strategy hasn’t gone unnoticed. “He’s been everywhere,” said Marlene Hurd, one of two student representatives on the board.

Hurd initially endorsed Clifton in the Area 7 race, but said Monday she was so impressed by Guillen’s showing in a recent Laney College debate that she changed her position.

That isn’t the first about-face Clifton has experienced this year: Peralta’s labor groups—which backed Clifton in 1998 and 2002—are now working for Guillen. They say he will better represent the needs of students and faculty.

Whoever wins the election Nov. 7 will oversee construction projects involving large amounts of local taxpayer money. In June, Alameda County voters approved a $390 million bond measure to fund capital improvements at Laney College, Merritt College, College of Alameda and Berkeley City College….

Like many political challengers, Guillen has vowed to bring greater transparency and accountability to the board. He says he would help the district focus its long-term goals and he would push to keep its services and course offerings relevant.

“It seems like the institution is stuck in old ways,” Guillen said. “I don’t think the status quo is working.”

OakPAC, the political arm of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, endorsed Guillen this month, saying he would help the community college district “engage in responsible fiscal planning and management.”

By building stronger partnerships with the health care, construction and information technology industries and establishing more of a presence in area high schools, Guillen said, Peralta could reach more people.

Guillen, whose brother attends Laney College, said he began to consider running for the seat after reading newspaper reports about the board, including an article about a controversial deal given to developer Alan Dones [who had undisclosed ties to Clifton] in late 2004….

Helene Maxwell, chairwoman of the Peralta Federation of Teachers’s Political Action Committee, said she was troubled by Clifton’s failure to file campaign finance reports on time. Although Maxwell helped Clifton get elected in 1998, she is now campaigning for Guillen….

Diana Lara, president of the Peralta chapter of the SEIU Local 790, a union representing many campus workers, said she thought Guillen would be better for Peralta and a role model for students.

“He has a financial background, and I think he would be a good watchdog,” Lara said. “He’s done his homework, that’s for sure.”

[For more info on the Guillen campaign, visit: http://www.abelforperalta.com/ ]

3. “Commute and vote in one fell swoop at BART” (Tri-Valley Herald, October 25, 2006); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4546268

By Erik N. Nelson, Staff Writer

If you want to run your elected officials out of town on a rail, BART is happy to help along with the Alameda County Registrar of Voters in an experimental marriage of public transit and the democratic process….

This year the county is trying out “mobile voting units” for early voting in a variety of public places, including the three BART stations….

In addition to BART stations and malls, [the office of the county’s new acting registrar of voters, David MacDonald] set up its portable touch-screen voting stations Wednesday at the Center for Independent Living, a senior center in Berkeley, and is scheduled to visit the Cal State East Bay Student Union on Wednesday and Thursday and the Student Union at the University of California, Berkeley on Nov. 1 and 2….

The innovation in electoral convenience is not without controversy.

Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition, expressed concern that BART be careful about influencing voters.

In its news release about the transit/polling stations, BART announced that voters “will be able to cast ballots in all the state and county races, including three critical transportation propositions. Propositions 1A, 1B and 1C, if passed, will provide additional funding for transportation needs in the Bay Area and throughout the state.”

That language, which is also carried by newsletters picked up by BART riders, could be interpreted as an endorsement of the measures, Cohen said.

“I think it’s great to make it easier in any way for busy people to get to vote. But one thing BART’s going to have to be really careful about is to make sure that there’s no literature in the area supporting any of the propositions,” Cohen said….

4. “More Students Delaying College. Fewer in state going right after high school study finds” (Sacramento Bee, October 23, 2006); story citing NANCY BOROW SHULOCK (MPP 1978).

By Eric Stern, Bee Staff Writer

Sacramento State researchers have found a declining percentage of California students going to college directly after high school, and called for efforts to promote a “college-going culture” as early as elementary school….

California ranks 40th among states in the rate of high school graduates going directly to college.

Nancy Shulock, director of the CSUS think tank that compiled the report, acknowledges that many students in California do go to college later in life. In fact, the state ranks at the top nationally in overall college participation because older students take classes part-time at low-cost community colleges.

But CSUS researchers argue that enrolling directly after high school—attending continuously, taking classes full-time and working less than 20 hours a week—offers the best chance of completing a degree. California is 47th among states in the number of the certificates and degrees granted per 100 undergraduates.

“We have a lot of students going, but we have few who are finishing,” Shulock said. “We’re very accommodating of older adults returning to college, but we do it in a way that doesn’t foster their success. It’s best to be prepared and go to college early.”

CSUS researchers said the declining trend of students entering traditional educational pipelines is particularly troublesome as the state’s working-age population grows increasingly Latino. Gaps in college participation and completion are more pronounced among Latino and black students, the study found.

In California, nearly half of the 18-year-old population is black or Latino, but only one-fourth of undergraduate certificates and degrees are awarded to black or Latino students….

[To read the full IHE report, go to www.csus.edu/ihe ]

[Nancy Shulock was cited widely with reference to her study in many California newspapers: Oakland Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, San Mateo Times, Desert Sun, (San Bernardino) Sun, Contra Costa Times, Alameda Times Star, Modesto Bee, La Opinion, etc.]

Forum discusses California Proposition 83, which proposes that the state amend laws applying to violent and habitual sex offenders and child molesters. Host: Dave Iverson

Guests:

Brian Brown, senior fiscal and policy analyst at the California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office….

The Public Managerial Excellence Awards are dedicated to recognizing outstanding leadership, creativity, and managerial excellence in San Francisco government.

Over the last 26 years, more than 100 City employees have been commended for their innovation, imagination and dedication to public service.

This year, five award winners were selected from a pool of 41 exemplary City managers, each of whom has demonstrated resourcefulness, responsiveness, and a commitment to serving the citizens of San Francisco with excellence and distinction.

The award winners will be honored at our annual luncheon on October 24. The winners will be congratulated by Mayor Gavin Newsom….

2006 Excellence in Public Management Awards Winners

The three MFAC Awards recognize exceptional management, leadership and innovative approaches to good government:

Todd Rydstrom

Director of Budget and Analysis

Controller’s Office

The SPUR (SF Planning & Urban Research) Award

The SPUR Award recognizes an individual manager who has demonstrated exceptional efficiency and consistent achievement:

Michelle Allersma, Julian Low….

Civil Service Reform: Preserving the Promise of Government - Department of Human Resources

2006 Excellence in Public Management Awards Nominees

Team Nominees

Port of San Francisco Daley Dunham, Tina Olson, Uday Prasad

7. “UNICEF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among 8 to pick up Prince of Asturias awards” (Associated Press Worldstream, October 20, 2006); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

MADRID Spain—The winners of this year’s prestigious Prince of Asturias prizes, … UNICEF director Ann Veneman among them, collected their awards at a colorful ceremony in the northern city of Oviedo on Friday.

The eight awards, given annually for outstanding contributions to areas ranging from the arts and science to sports and international cooperation, each carry a cash prize of euro50,000, or about US$62,000 and a sculpture by Catalan artist Joan Miro. A total of 301 candidates were considered for this year’s awards.

… UNICEF was to be presented with the concord award….

Forum discusses Proposition 87, concerning “Alternative Energy Research, Production, Incentives Tax on California Oil Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.” The measure establishes a $4 billion program to reduce oil and gasoline usage by 25 percent, with research and production incentives for alternative energy, education and training, funded by a tax of 1.5-6 percent on producers of oil extracted in California.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests: Brendan McCarthy, spokesman for the Legislative Analyst’s Office….

9. “Takeover helps boost McClatchy earnings” (Sacramento Bee, October 18, 2006); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981); http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/41217.html

By Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writer

The McClatchy Co. reported a jump in profits Tuesday due to its recent takeover of Knight Ridder Inc., but warned that its newspapers are still suffering from a dismal advertising climate that will last through the rest of the year….

Although revenue more than doubled in the quarter, to $680.9 million, the company’s revenue would have declined if not for the takeover….

“The overall advertising environment was difficult in the third quarter,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Pruitt.

He added that “we anticipate continued slowing” in fourth-quarter advertising. Ad sales got progressively weaker in July, August and September, and Pruitt said the fourth quarter is shaping up as weak….

Practically all newspaper publishers are struggling with ad sales. Part of it is cyclical, as the weakened housing market is starting to erode the sales of real estate classified ads. But newspapers also are facing a historic migration of ad dollars to the Internet and other media.

Also Tuesday, two other newspaper companies, E.W. Scripps Co. and Journal Communications, reported lower quarterly profits.

The ad malaise is so pervasive, it’s hitting other online media companies, too. Internet giant Yahoo Inc. reported a 38 percent decline in profits Tuesday….

Pruitt said McClatchy will continue to tighten its belt to compensate for the sluggish ad sales.

Employment is down 4.5 percent on a pro forma basis due to attrition, and the pain is being spread between the old McClatchy papers and the former Knight Ridder properties, Pruitt said.

“It’s a lousy operating environment,” he said in a conference call with stock analysts. “We’re going through budgeting right now (and telling the new papers), ‘Welcome to McClatchy, and cut your budget.’…

By Marc Lifsher, Times Staff Writer

Figure 1 Mary Stone works at her computer using only her left hand. The former assistant principal lost use of her right hand, arm and shoulder after being attacked at work. Her insurance company denied her doctor’s request for additional therapy. She’s appealing her case to a workers’ compensation judge. (Glenn Koenig/LAT)

Sacramento—Two years after California overhauled its workers’ compensation program, costs paid by employers have been sliced in half and profits for insurers have soared.

But employees injured on the job say they are paying a heavy price….

Even as the number of claims has plummeted—by 28% in the last two years—appeals of claim denials are up. Requests for hearings rose 7.6% to 73,513 in the second quarter of this year, compared with the fourth quarter of 2003, according to state statistics.

Medical care and disability payments by insurers to injured workers fell an estimated 37% from 2003 to 2005.

Physicians, labor union officials, advocates for injured workers and even some workers’ comp officials are wondering whether the changes went too far.

Under the new law, services and disability payments for many injured workers were cut, opportunities for rehabilitation were trimmed, and insurance companies received more power to scrutinize and reject doctor recommendations….

Although studies have been completed calculating the savings for business, the state has conducted little research into the quality of medical care being delivered to injured employees.

“It doesn’t seem like the people who can do the study or who can afford to have the study done are interested in doing it,” said Frank Neuhauser, a UC Berkeley researcher specializing in workers’ comp….

Speaker: David Campt

Ph.D., City and Regional Planning, 1999

MPP, Goldman School of Public Policy, 1988

This special presentation, as part of the College of Environmental Design’s Diversity Recruitment and General Open House Weekend, explored the presenter’s experiences around public deliberation projects in three very racially divided cities (Washington, Detroit, and New Orleans), and explored some theoretical and practical considerations for planners and policy makers who are considering public deliberation strategies.

[David Campt also presented a DCRP Colloquium: “Katrina: Rebuilding and Race” on October 18, 2006.]

By Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer

The often lukewarm relations between Mayor Gavin Newsom and his political opposites on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors turned downright chilly Wednesday when the board’s budget committee voted to hold up $2.5 million in additional funding for the Police Department and other law enforcement agencies.

[Supervisor Chris] Daly and Newsom’s staff have been trading barbs since the supervisor initially refused to put the mayor’s request on his committee’s agenda, complaining that Newsom had failed to provide enough financial details to the supervisors’ budget analyst. Newsom’s press office accused Daly of playing politics with public safety, and Daly insisted that the mayor himself appear before his committee to answer questions….

It fell to Newsom’s budget director, Noelle Simmons, to field tough questions from supervisors. Simmons said the mayor had asked for the money now in order to “actively alert” supervisors to increased spending on police overtime….

13. “Berkeley City College gets permanent chief” (Oakland Tribune, October 11, 2006); story citing ELIHU HARRIS (MPP 1969); http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_4474434

From Staff Reports

BERKELEY—The Peralta Community College District board recently appointed interim Berkeley City College president Judy Walters to permanent president of the new junior college.

Walters, who had served as interim president since July 2004, was at the helm of the college as it underwent construction of a new $70 million Center Street campus, which opened its doors in August after 2½ years of construction….

Peralta Chancellor Elihu Harris called Walters a dynamic and effective leader. “She has an impressive background in community college instruction and administration, understands and is committed to our communities, and has successfully opened a permanent facility for Berkeley City College,” he said in a statement….

14. “Transit Must Be Faster, Simpler To Attract Riders, Two Experts Say” (San Jose Mercury New, October 10, 2006); column featuring commentary by STUART COHEN (MPP 1997).

By Gary Richards -- column

Transit officials from across the United States are meeting in San Jose this week at the American Public Transportation Association’s annual conference. Roadshow asked local leaders their views of transit in the region….

Stuart Cohen

Transportation and Land Use Coalition

Transit agencies need to switch their perspective to that of the customer, and understand that we are looking for speed, safety, reliability and affordability. Instead of expanding and extending, they need to focus on running the existing system much more efficiently.

The best example is Caltrain’s baby bullet, which has led to a reinvention of system and for which I give Caltrain an A-minus…. Commuter rail is most attractive when the trains get one to a destination faster with fewer stops, and the ridership reflects that preference….

By contrast, one must look at the massively over-budget and underutilized BART extension to Millbrae. With a price tag of $1.5 billion, it made for good ribbon-cutting, but they could have done much more with a people mover to the airport.

VTA has had some outrageous fare hikes, especially on children. It costs well over $2,000 a year for a family of four to get around on the buses. At that point we find more families migrating toward cars and clogging up our roads.

Transit has to have a time advantage for it to attract great ridership. For the bus system, we need to give priority on our ever more crowded roads in a form of dedicated lanes, especially in San Francisco and the East Bay….

VTA should be praised for their Eco Pass, which allows employees of participating companies, and residents of some new buildings, to ride for free. Cities should be making this a requirement for all new transit-oriented buildings and should allow a reduction in number of parking spaces required for these buildings to help offset the cost.

The lack of integration between the region’s systems is one of the biggest impediments to greater transit use. While 511 has made a small dent, TransLink, the universal fare card that was supposed to be in place already right now, is encountering serious obstacles. Simplifying fares in coordinating schedules is one of the most important things that can be done….

By Andrea Jones

Georgia State University broke ground Tuesday on its $142 million science teaching lab and research lab — the first two buildings in a massive planned science park on its downtown campus.

GSU President Carl Patton said the buildings, which will give new homes to nearly all of Georgia State’s science departments, will help the university educate more health-care students and allow researchers to better share their findings with colleagues.

Georgia State is turning away qualified nursing students because it doesn’t have facilities to house them, and researchers are strapped by the lack of space in research grant applications, he said.

“This is another era of growth for our university,” Patton said at a ceremony Tuesday morning.

The labs will be at Decatur Street and Piedmont Avenue. Construction is slated to begin in the next few months and will take about 30 months to complete, Patton said.

Gov. Sonny Perdue, who attended the ground breaking, said the buildings “have real human impact.”

“This science park will be home to a spectrum of disciplines, all vital to Georgia’s long-term growth,” he said.

16. “Georgia State takes steps to sell dorms at North Avenue” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 10, 2006); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP 1976, PhD 1976).

By Maria Saporta - Staff

Georgia State University is taking its first formal steps toward selling the dorm complex that once was Olympic Village.

GSU’s University Village dorms, which loom over the Downtown Connector at North Avenue, were built to house athletes for the 1996 Summer Games. After the Olympics, the village was converted into dorms for Georgia State, housing 2,000 students in 500 four-bedroom units….

GSU President Carl Patton has long said he doesn’t like the distance between University Village and the school’s downtown campus, more than a mile to the south.

The dorms are much closer to Georgia Tech than they are GSU, and students travel by shuttle to the GSU campus.

“It’s no secret that we would like to build housing closer to our campus,” Patton said Monday.

There is a waiting list for GSU students wanting to live in its dorms. The university is building student housing on the site of the former Beaudry Ford dealership on Piedmont Road.

If a sale goes through, students would be able to move there.

Patton said the long-term goal would be to build student housing around Wall Street, which lies between Underground Atlanta and the heart of GSU’s campus. But the university must first sell the existing four-building complex.

“This will determine whether there are serious purchasers out there,” Patton said, adding that three entities have expressed an interest….

SANTA CRUZ, CA. Pamela Davis, the Founder, President and CEO of the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group, based in Santa Cruz, California, has been named one of the Women to Watch in the insurance industry by Business Insurance magazine. The Women to Watch feature highlights women leaders in commercial lines insurance, reinsurance, risk management and employee benefits who are doing outstanding work that is drawing notice not only within, but also outside, their organizations. Ms. Davis is being recognized for her leadership in founding the four companies that make up Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group, bringing stability to the insurance marketplace for 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group is comprised of four companies all of which are 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofits. Nonprofits’ Insurance Alliance of California (NIAC) began operations in November 1989. The idea for NIAC was proposed by Pamela in her masters [of Public Policy] thesis at University of California, Berkeley….

[For more information on the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group visit www.insurancefornonprofits.org.]

By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer

OAKLAND — Destined for American kitchens, planks of birch and poplar plywood are stacked to the ceiling of a cavernous port warehouse. The wood, which arrived in California via a cargo ship, carries two labels: One proclaims “Made in China,” while the other warns that it contains formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical.

Because formaldehyde wafts off the glues in this plywood, it is illegal to sell in many countries—even the one where it originated, China. But in the United States this wood is legal, and it is routinely crafted into cabinets and furniture.

As the European Union and other nations have tightened their environmental standards, mostly in the last two years, manufacturers—here and around the world—are selling goods to American consumers that fail to meet other nations’ stringent laws for toxic chemicals….

Michael Wilson, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, said the United States is becoming a “dumping ground” for consumer goods that are unwanted and illegal in much of the world. Wilson warned earlier this year in a report [co-authored with DANIEL CHIA and BRYAN EHLERS] commissioned by the California Legislature that “the United States has fallen behind globally in the move toward cleaner technologies.”

The European Union, driven by consumers’ concerns, has banned or heavily restricted hundreds of toxic substances in recent years, invoking its “precautionary principle,” which is codified into law….

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies have relied on voluntary steps from industries rather than regulations….

Last year alone, China exported to the United States more than half a billion dollars’ worth of hardwood plywood—enough to build cabinets for 2 million kitchens, a sixfold increase since 2002. Though China sends low-formaldehyde timber to Japan and Europe, Americans are getting wood that emits substantially higher levels of the chemical.

One birch plank from China, bought at a Home Depot store in Portland, gave off 100 times more formaldehyde than legal in Japan and 30 times more than allowed in Europe and China…. Formaldehyde exposure has been shown in human studies to cause nose and throat cancer and possibly leukemia, as well as allergic reactions, asthma attacks, headaches and sore throats.

With no government standards, monitoring or labeling, U.S. consumers cannot easily identify chemical-free products.

Columbia Forest Products, which spent $8 million to switch all its factories to nontoxic glues made of soy flour, says it is being hurt by the lack of U.S. standards for wood.

19. “Opposition growing to transportation bond” (Alameda Times-Star, October 8, 2006); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4461413

By Erik N. Nelson, Staff Writer

The East Bay’s broad-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition on Friday joined a number of groups calling for voters to reject the $20 billion transportation bond on the Nov. 7 ballot.

The coalition, which supported Alameda County’s Measure B half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, believes that if voters pass Proposition B, the state will incur so much debt that paying it off will starve some of the state’s most vital programs.

“If we don’t fix our transportation funding system, there’s going to be a massive destructive impact on education, health, social services and public safety,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the coalition. “This (bond measure) means that in tough budget years, $1.4 billion will ... pave roads when we could have simply raised user fees on transportation a little bit to keep up with inflation and kept our schools whole, our health clinics whole and our public safety resources whole.”…

Other groups elsewhere in the state that advocate for the needs of minorities and the disadvantaged also have come out against Proposition 1B….

By Herbert A. Sample - Bee San Francisco Bureau

Figure 2 Traffic slows in the evening rush hour near Novato. But a rail plan is seen by some in Marin County as a fix for a Sonoma County problem. Sacramento Bee/Bryan Patrick

Brake lights start glaring around 4:30 every weekday afternoon.

Cars, hundreds of them during evening rush hour, slow to a crawl as they approach the infamous “Novato Narrows,” a point on Highway 101 just north of this small Marin County town where Highway 101 shrinks from six lanes to four.

But for the second time in eight years, voters are being offered a chance to raise taxes for an alternative: Measure R would fund rail commuter service between northern Sonoma County and southeastern Marin County.

… Business groups that generally disdain tax hikes are siding with Sonoma County officials and some environmentalists, contending that rail is an answer to ever more cars on the area’s one major highway.

Meanwhile, taxpayer groups, some Marin County officials and other environmentalists claim Measure R would create a costly boondoggle for a relative few probable riders.

Both sides agree that congestion has so intensified on Highway 101, and population growth estimates for the area are so high, that even a commuter train is unlikely to significantly reduce freeway traffic….

Supporters, though, insist the environmental impact report’s authors adopted very conservative ridership estimates….

Voters need to think long-term, insisted Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition in Oakland, which backs Measure R.

“Once they widen the Novato Narrows, there is going to be an additional 200 cars per hour trying to go through during rush hour,” he said. Rail “will be a fabulous new commute option that folks just don’t have now.”…

21. “Suit challenges voting system” (MediaNews, October 6, 2006); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4450158

By Chris Metinko, MediaNews

Three Alameda County voters filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court Wednesday afternoon against the county and its registrar of voters office over concerns about security and accuracy of the county’s new voting system.

The group of voters—being coordinated by the nonprofit Voter Action organization—claims Alameda County has not performed independent, expert security vulnerability testing on its new Sequoia voting equipment. The group claims such testing was a prerequisite stipulated by county supervisors before the county would issue payment for the system.

Dave Macdonald, the county’s acting registrar, said the county did in fact hire an independent third party to perform vulnerability tests, and those test results will be shown to the board of supervisors during a public meeting Tuesday. He called the results very positive….

The handful of voters suing claim the county and registrar, however, did not abide by the county supervisors’ decision to test the equipment before purchase. This group contends the county entered into a contract with Sequoia that calls for the company to decide which tests to conduct, and does not stipulate that the testing be done by a third party.

County Counsel Richard Winnie said that allegation is incorrect, and the contract does not call for Sequoia to decide testing parameters. Winnie added the county has indeed performed its own third-party testing and is anticipating sending payment to Sequoia only after the November results have been certified and the county judges the equipment satisfactory….

The county’s supervisors agreed to purchase the new Sequoia system after having problems with its Diebold machines, purchased in 2001. Those problems included once assigning votes to the wrong candidate.

Diebold eventually agreed in 2004 to pay the state and Alameda County $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it made false claims when it sold its equipment to the county.

By Edwin Garcia

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—There’s California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on a summer evening newscast, boasting about the state budget he had just signed. And look, there he is again, minutes later, featured on a video clip of the broadcast posted online by his political opponents. It highlights the 11 words Schwarzenegger regretted declaring that day: “Uh, no there really is no plan to end the deficit.”

Fast forward.

Check out the 22-second video Schwarzenegger’s people posted of the governor’s rival, Phil Angelides. In it, Angelides tells a friendly audience that if he were governor, the state would provide everyone with health insurance. The next sound bite captures Angelides telling a news interviewer he “hasn’t taken an official position” on universal health-care legislation.

Sacramento Bee/Renée C. Byer

Pause.

Election campaigns are no longer relying on TV news to spread their candidate’s flashy video images or capture their opponent’s missteps. Today, campaigns are heavily turning to the hugely popular post-it-yourself Web sites—YouTube, MySpace Video and Google Videos—especially to upload damaging clips of political gaffes….

Although campaigns have dedicated staffers to monitor newspapers, radio broadcasts and television newscasts, it’s the often elusive trackers who can potentially provide the most damaging material….

Brian Leubitz, a 28-year-old attorney, liberal blogger and graduate student [at the Goldman School of Public Policy], follows Schwarzenegger with his $550 camcorder.

Aligned with the political action committee PowerPac, Leubitz gets into events as a member of the press. “I’m honest with who I am,” Leubitz said. “I say I’m a progressive blogger.”

But he hasn’t shot the video he so badly wants: An image of the moderate Schwarzenegger with Republican senator Tom McClintock, whose political ideology may be too conservative for the independent voters Schwarzenegger needs to attract.

“We’d like to see him on a stage with McClintock,” Leubitz said, “but you don’t see them together anymore.”…

Analysts agree that for all its pluses and minuses, the ability to quickly post clips for free on sites accessed by millions of voters and non-voters alike is good for democracy—as uncomfortable as that may be for the candidates.

23. “Relief for big burden awaited - Lawmakers debate ways to save” (Herald News, October 5, 2006); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975).

By Heather Haddon, Herald News

Leigh Rossi is desperate for relief from her $9,000 annual property tax bill [up from $5,000 just five years ago], and she doesn’t care if she has to exchange some home rule to do it.

“My taxes have gone out of sight,” said Rossi, 62, of Pompton Lakes. “How long can I afford to stay here?”

Legislators addressed this lament on Wednesday, debating the first pieces of legislation to come out of four special committees examining how to reduce the state’s property taxes.

The committee on government consolidation sought testimony on four bills that would encourage municipalities to share services or shift some to the county….

Proponents of shared services say that with 566 municipalities, the state suffers from waste, uncompetitive purchasing, and too many duplicate positions….

The bipartisan committees are also examining how to reform school funding and public benefits for potential tax savings. The shared-services group, however, is alone in agreeing on concrete proposals.

“We feel pretty good about where we are going,” said Assemblyman Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, in a telephone interview on Wednesday. “We really have to do something, or people are going to bleed to death.”…

Gordon said that 10 Bergen County municipalities, including Fair Lawn, met last week to discuss how to issue collective bids for big-ticket items like firetrucks.

But local municipalities don’t share police or fire duties, in part, because unions are resistant, fearing job eliminations. The practice isn’t unheard of, though, with several counties in South Jersey now using state troopers instead of local law enforcement.

Issuing local ballot referendums linking consolidation with tax savings may be a way to circumvent resistance, Gordon said. “We need to find some way to overcome the inherent conflict of interest when talking to mayors or other officials,” he said….

24. “Miami Herald publisher resigns over pay scheme” (Charleston Daily Mail (WV), October 3, 2006); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981).

By The Associated Press

MIAMI - The Miami Herald’s publisher resigned Tuesday, saying “ambiguously communicated” personnel policies resulted in the firings of three journalists at its Spanish-language paper who were paid to appear on U.S.-government broadcasts aimed at promoting democracy in Cuba.

Jesus Diaz Jr., the papers’ publisher since July 2005, had dismissed two El Nuevo Herald reporters and a freelance contributor who had been paid by Radio Marti and TV Marti. Diaz said the company offered to rehire the three and that six others who took payments would not be disciplined….

David Landsberg, a longtime Herald employee who served as general manager, took over immediately as company president and publisher of the two newspapers, said The McClatchy Co., the papers’ parent company…. McClatchy acquired the newspapers in June when it bought Knight Ridder Inc.

“While we are sorry to see Jesus leave, we couldn’t be happier about having such a talented and experienced leader perfectly poised to step into this important job,” said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy president and CEO….

25. “Is the FDNY a Boys Only Club?” (New York Resident, Oct. 3, 2006); story citing CAROL CHETKOVICH (MPP 1987, PhD 1994); http://70.47.124.114/node/261

By Mike McPhate

American women joined the field of law in 1638, dentistry in 1866, and New York City’s firehouses in 1982.

But nearly a quarter century after Brenda Berkman successfully sued the city and became its first female firefighter, the department remains a club almost exclusively of men.

Of 11,600 firefighters in the FDNY, 30 are women, the smallest fraction of any major American city. Minorities are also absent—91 percent of the force is white….

Last week, lawyers for five female employees of the city’s Emergency Medical Services, a division of the FDNY, announced a suit against the city for workplace discrimination. The plaintiffs say the department blocks the promotion of qualified women into senior ranks….

It’s difficult to measure anti-women sentiment within the FDNY, since few firefighters will talk publicly about the issue…. But Carol Chetkovich, a public policy professor at Mills College and author of “Real Heat”, a book on women firefighters, said she was not at all surprised at news of the suit.

Chetkovich said that the shortage of women firefighters could be explained in part by less interest among women in such physical work, but she also blamed sexism. “Traditional fire department culture, especially the old, big, urban departments tend to be very unfriendly to women,” she said.

She said the male “locker room” atmosphere of fire departments has been more resistant to integration than, for example, New York City’s police department, where two out of 10 cops are female, in part because firefighters live in close quarters for days at a time….

TIME: 3 p.m. LOCATION: Agriculture Department, Whitten Building Patio, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C.

By Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writer

The drama unfolding at Tribune Co. of Chicago is the latest chapter in a media-industry shake-up that already has turned The McClatchy Co. into the second largest newspaper chain -- and seems to be gaining speed….

Tribune’s announcement that it’s forming a special committee to explore the company’s options comes as mainstream media companies—newspapers, broadcasters, even some big Internet players—are struggling with a slowdown in the ad market. Last week investors were warned of slowing ad sales at the parent of the New York Times—and at Internet behemoth Yahoo Inc….

“The advertising environment has worsened, and you can see it in our numbers,” said Gary Pruitt, McClatchy’s chairman and chief executive. “You’re seeing it across the board for all media, as evidenced by Yahoo’s warning.

“We’re never happy when revenues decline,” he said. “You’ve got to respond by being tighter on the expense side, and we’re responding appropriately.”…

[Chris Watters, a media analyst at Ariel Capital Management] and others say current problems don’t invalidate McClatchy’s purchase of Knight Ridder, a deal that cost McClatchy about $4 billion in cash and stock plus $2 billion in debt assumption.

“I still think McClatchy made a brilliant acquisition, and it’s going to pay off in the long run,” said independent analyst John Morton. “Newspapers are going to continue, as they still are, to be highly profitable businesses.”

He said newspaper profit margins are averaging about 18 percent this year, down from around 20 percent last year but still nearly twice the average Fortune 500 company….

Analyst Morton said one likely scenario is that Tribune will sell several of its TV stations, plus a few of its smaller papers.

Another possibility, analysts say, is that Tribune could buy out all its shareholders and take itself private. Such a move would buffer Tribune from the quarter-to-quarter pressures to satisfy Wall Street.

McClatchy and several other big public newspaper companies already have some cushion through a two-tier stock structure that leaves most of the voting power in the hands of the founding family. Nevertheless, Pruitt said “going private is a long-term option for McClatchy.”

By Mark Clayton - Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

A global competition to build cleaner and more fuel-efficient cars is moving into a new and serious phase. In the past two weeks:

* Honda announced a new-generation diesel engine with so few emissions that it meets even California’s tough clean-air standards, while getting 30 percent better mileage than an equivalent gasoline-powered vehicle. It plans to sell it in the US in 2009.

* General Motors said it would lease more than 100 hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles by next fall and sell them in volume by 2011.

* Daimler-Chrysler’s Chrysler group said it would shift its emphasis from brawny truck-based vehicles to small cars, including 10 new fuel-sipping models….

Environmentalists say the green-car push is driven as much by the new emissions regulations as by higher gas prices.

“I can’t remember a time when we’ve had so much interest from the automakers in alternative fuels and technologies,” says Roland Hwang, vehicle policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. “These auto companies are acting like they finally understand that it’s a matter of their own survival in order to be competitive in a clean alternative-fuel vehicle market.”…

By Pia Sarkar; Chronicle Staff Writer

Workers enjoy a last moment of solitude before the frenetic opening today of the newly revitalized Westfield San Francisco Centre. Chronicle photo by Laura Morton

For three years, retailers in and around San Francisco’s Union Square looked on while their giant neighbor toiled away on a $460 million addition to its building.

Now that the expanded Westfield San Francisco Centre is set to open today, retailers will finally see whether the anticipated increase in customer traffic to the mall will spill over to the rest of Union Square.

The Westfield Group, in partnership with Forest City, began renovating the shopping center at Fifth and Market streets in November 2003. It expects the megamall, with new stores and restaurants, to draw 25 million shoppers and $600 million in retail sales annually.

The Union Square shopping district, which represents 811 merchants, including Westfield San Francisco Centre, generated $1.3 billion in sales last year, according to Todd Rydstrom, director of budget and analysis for the San Francisco controller’s office….

30. “GSU plans new law, business buildings downtown” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 21, 2006); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP 1976, PhD 1976).

By Maria Saporta - Staff

Georgia State University is making plans to develop a four-building complex that would include buildings for the J. Mack Robinson College of Business and the College of Law, a new classroom facility, and an auditorium.

A task force has been formed to consider possible locations with one condition -- that the buildings are located downtown.

GSU President Carl Patton said this project would solidify the close relationship between the business and law schools and provide them both with dedicated classrooms and a shared auditorium. “We are looking at downtown sites in space contiguous to our campus,” Patton said. “We’re already raising money for this.”…

The business school also has a new board chairman -- Thomas D. Body III, who has been an entrepreneur in the wireless phone industry for 25 years and currently is chairman of Wirefree Partners.

Body, who took classes at GSU, graduated from the University of Georgia. But he became involved with GSU because of his interest in the revitalization of downtown. A new business school would only add to the university’s contribution.

31. “Eastern Parkway to lose lanes. U of L stresses safety in promoting project” (Courier-Journal, The (Louisville, KY), August 24, 2006); story citing LARRY OWSLEY (MPP 1973).

By Bill Pike - The Courier-Journal

Cars streamed by Paul Marchetti yesterday while he waited to cross Eastern Parkway at Third Street on his way to classes at the University of Louisville.

“This is a very hazardous spot,” Marchetti said. “You see people darting across the street. Something needs to be done. It’s not safe.”

Help is on the way: U of L plans to reduce Eastern Parkway from four lanes to two between Third Street and Interstate 65.

“We want to improve pedestrian safety,” said Larry Owsley, UofL’s vice president for business affairs.

The project will include wider sidewalks and a landscaped median along parts of Eastern Parkway to discourage jaywalking.

“This is something we’ve been concerned about for years,” Owsley said.

There were 89 collisions involving automobiles from 2000 through 2003 on the block of Eastern Parkway east of Third Street, according to a campus study commissioned by school President James Ramsey….

Owsley said the project should be completed in about 18 months.

“As soon as the governor makes the announcement, we’ll move to the design phase,” he said.

Students and teachers at the [Speed Scientific] school have long been concerned because Eastern Parkway divides Speed from much of the rest of the Belknap Campus.

“It’s an obstacle to integrating Speed and the rest of the campus into one,” Owsley said….

By Adriana Colindres - State Capitol Bureau

Ethanol, biodiesel and other fuels produced in Illinois would provide half of the state’s energy supply by 2017 under an initiative Gov. Rod Blagojevich will announce today.

The plan is “ambitious but realistic,” said Steve Frenkel, the governor’s director of policy development.

“We’ve seen very little leadership coming out of Washington or the White House to address the energy crisis that’s facing our nation and facing our state. Consumers are frustrated, and they’ve been given few options to help reduce their energy costs,” Frenkel said.

Blagojevich “recognizes that we’ve got a unique combination of resources in Illinois that we can tap in an environmentally responsible way,” he added….

In addition, the governor’s office said, the proposal will create 30,000 new jobs….

33. “Salutes” (Honolulu Advertiser, August 20, 2006); story citing DENISE ANTOLINI (MPP 1985, JD 1986).

The Environmental Law Program of the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawai’i-Mänoa, is the 2006 recipient of the American Bar Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in Environmental Law and Policy.

Law school Dean Avi Soifer credited professor Casey Jarman, the founding director and associate professor, and current director Denise Antolini.

34. “Outplaying the movies” (The Daily Telegraph (Australia), June 2, 2006); story citing FRANK ALPERT (MPP 1981).

THE latest video games are more popular than new blockbuster movies, are not necessarily blood and gore fests and more than a third of devotees are women, a study found.

Griffith University professor of marketing Frank Alpert said that after a relatively short history, video games now regularly outmuscle movies, with the latest offerings often outperforming hyped-up films in opening week sales.

‘‘It’s only been around for about 25 years yet the entertainment software industry now outsells the movie box office,’’ he said.

Video game sales would outstrip CD sales in a few years, he predicted.

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

- Matthew B. Stannard, Chronicle Staff Writer

Amid all the frightening uncertainties of the decades-long Cold War, one thing was reassuringly clear: If a nuclear bomb ever fell on America, everybody would know where it originated, and retribution would be swift and sure….

“Deterrence ... as a matter of practice, was successful,” said Allen Weiner, a professor at Stanford’s Institute for International Studies and a State Department attorney from 1990 to 2001. “It was even successful more ambitiously—not only was the development of nuclear arsenals on both sides sufficient to deter a nuclear attack by the adversary, but (it) was essentially successful in deterring conventional attacks.”

At a time when nuclear devices are increasingly the weapons of choice for weaker nations rather than superpowers, can deterrence still work? Can it restrain emerging nuclear powers such as North Korea and Iran, or even smugglers and thieves and rogue scientists who sell plutonium to the highest bidder?

A growing number of respected nuclear scientists want more attention focused on the esoteric field of nuclear forensics as a means of keeping track of fissionable material and—they hope—enhance deterrence in an era of international terrorism and defiant nationalism….

The permanent five members of the U.N. Security Council, all nuclear powers, could take the lead in providing material for the database as a form of mutual self-defense, suggested Harold Smith, [visiting scholar] at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, who oversaw nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs during the Clinton administration.

“This is to our mutual benefit—to at least have samples of the P-5 material if for no other reason than to show it did not come from a Russian arsenal, a U.S. arsenal, etc. At least there’s the process of elimination,” Smith said. “Let’s at least take the small step.”…

In the event of a nuclear explosion, radiochemists would try to obtain tiny quantities of debris from the nuclear device on the ground near the point of impact and/or in the atmosphere. They would first separate the atoms into groups of chemically similar elements and then measure the radioactivity of each group. Three types of atoms are of particular interest in a forensic analysis….

[Source: Arms Control Today, October 2006: “Who Did It? Using International Forensics to Detect and Deter Nuclear Terrorism” (by William Dunlop and Harold Smith)]

2. “‘Risk shift’: the future of defined benefits plans” (Berkeleyan, October 26, 2006); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2006/10/26_risk.shtml

By Cathy Cockrell – Public Affairs

For Professor of Public Policy John Ellwood, an expert in financial management, public-sector budgeting, and budgetary-process politics, a pension fund’s market performance is only half the story. A board member for the California Budget Project and a former consultant to the Congressional Budget Office and the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, Ellwood speculates that UCRP’s funded status has declined, in part, because the university “took money out of the pension system during the good times in order to solve other problems.”

He cites as example the early-retirement programs, referred to as VERIPs, offered to faculty and staff in the early 1990s to ease pressure on university operating funds at a time of deep state budget cuts…. As early retirees started drawing from the pension fund, Ellwood explains, “UC didn’t have to pay their salaries on the operating budget, which is funded by the state through tax dollars.”

But Ellwood also points to the wider stage on which the pension-contribution drama is playing out—one in which economic risk is being shifted from institutions to individuals and families…. On the pension front that “risk shift” is reflected in “a whole movement of late in the United States … away from defined-benefit and into defined-contribution” plans.

“What the unions may eventually have to face, if the politics stay the same,” he thinks, “is a situation where the state will come to them and say, ‘You have a choice: We have a limited amount of funds. You can start contributing more to the defined-benefit plan, or we’re going to switch you to a defined-contribution plan. Go to it, folks.’”

Ellwood also notes that healthcare costs—rising 3 percent above inflation each year — are even more risky and worrisome to employers than pension funding….

3. “Don’t vote for ‘Death of a President’” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 25, 2006; Listen to this commentary

Commentator Robert Reich takes issue with the fictionalized account of the assassination of President Bush in the film opening this weekend. He says theatergoers should send a message to movie houses — by staying home.

ROBERT REICH: I’ve only seen the trailer, but from what I’ve seen I can tell you “Death of a President” is as tasteless as it is obscene.

It’s styled as an “investigative documentary,” mixing real news footage with dramatized segments, it depicts a fictional 2007 assassination of President Bush.

Now, I’m a libertarian when it comes to what people can see or hear, but this film tests my principles. And to release the film days before a midterm election is shameless and exploitative….

But that doesn’t mean we have watch it. In fact, we ought to teach the producers and movie houses a lesson they won’t forget. Let’s show them shameful sensationalism like this doesn’t sell.

So here’s my strong recommendation: Don’t pay good money to see this movie.

JAGOW: Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich teaches public policy at the University of California Berkeley.

4. “Forums help voters decipher ballot measures” (Oakland Tribune, October 25, 2006); story citing LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993; PhD 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_4546571

Baffled by the slew of ballot measures awaiting your vote Nov. 7?

The Graduate Assembly at University of California, Berkeley promises to cut through the rhetoric at debates today and next week on Measure I in the city of Berkeley and state Proposition 89….

The debates are free and open to the public.

Measure I, which would amend Berkeley’s condominium conversion ordinance, is debated from 8 to 9 p.m. tonight in North Gate Hall room 105. Larry Rosenthal of UC Berkeley’s program on housing and urban policy moderates the debate….

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

For as long as investors have been bringing moral concerns to bear on the stock market, two industries have loomed large as societal scourges to be avoided: alcohol and gambling.

But as the universe of socially responsible investing (SRI) expands and matures, debate is brewing as to whether traditional rationales for these age-old taboos still pass muster….

Later this week, Pax World Funds is expected to announce whether shareholders have repealed a 35-year ban on alcohol and gambling-related investments….

…[M]ore SRI funds are likely to follow Pax’s lead by reconsidering whether a hands-off approach to alcohol and gambling stocks still makes sense, according to David Vogel, a business ethicist at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of “The Market for Virtue.” In his view, these screens reflect a value system that no longer resonates with most ethical investors.

Bans on “gambling and alcohol come out of more of those early religious roots,” Vogel says. In the 1920s, Methodists began shunning firms whose stock in trade was to market one vice or another. In 1971, two Methodist ministers institutionalized those concerns (among others) when they founded Pax, the first publicly available SRI mutual fund.

“I can’t imagine that there are many social investors now who believe that a company engaged in those two things is inherently irresponsible,” Vogel says. If Pax drops its ban, “I think it might lead other funds to rethink their negative screens.”…

Ethical Market Monitor

The Domini Social Index 400 over the last 90 days

3m 6m 1y 2y compare to DJIA

Chart data by CSI

6. “Governor ‘wants to be all things to all people’” (Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA), October 22, 2006); story citing HENRY BRADY.

By Laura Kurtzman – The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- Two days after voters rebuked him in last year’s special election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was back on stage to say he had gotten their message.

The governor said he learned in Hollywood “to listen carefully to the people. If one of the movies goes in the toilet, you know that was the wrong story. That’s not the kind of movie you want to do.”…

Through Schwarzenegger’s many incarnations—as muscleman, movie star and politician—the one constant has been his faith in the box office as the ultimate arbiter of what he should do.

But while Schwarzenegger’s marketing genius propelled him as an entertainer through a series of changes that have kept his audience surprised, his talent for rapid transformation has left many in the political world wondering just who he is….

“Schwarzenegger, I find, is one of the most fascinating politicians around—the way he’s been able to change positions and still come up with people liking him,” said Henry Brady, a political scientist at the University of California, Berkeley….

7. “Can we afford to secure Iraq, North Korea…?” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 18, 2006); Listen to this commentary

Commentators David Frum and Robert Reich give their respective two cents on the issues that matter most — but probably won’t get any air time — in the upcoming midterm elections. This week, defense spending and world architecture.

KAI RYSSDAL: ... What you’ll hear is back and forth about who’s stronger on national security. But there’s not much discussion of what the war means for our economic security.

To help us sort it out we’ve got two of our regular commentators with us. David Frum is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at the University of California Berkeley….

Bob, let me try to get this to a place where perhaps Americans will ground their interest. And that is not in geopolitics…. It is all about the Treasury and how we are spending our precious money.

ROBERT REICH: Well, undoubtedly. This is an extraordinarily expensive initiative. Not just in dollars and cents. I mean, $600 billion to $700 billion a year — that’s military plus all of the extras for fighting in Iraq — and then all of the supplementals that have to do with Afghanistan. Well, that’s not small change. It means we cannot do what we need to do with regard to education and health care. A lot of other high priority items in the United States are going by the wayside. We also can’t do what we need to do in other areas of foreign policy, such as North Korea. The North Koreans know we are bogged down, our hands are tied because we are completely overstretched in the Middle East and, particularly, in Iraq.

FRUM: I strenuously disagree with that. The cost of the Defense budget is the price of the world trading system, it’s the price of a stable world order….

The United States can abundantly afford the cost of world architecture that’s favorable to the United States. I mean, the United States is today spending about 4 percent of GDP on defense. That’s less than it spent in the middle 1980s….

RYSSDAL: Bob?

REICH: You know, I think we have to think about foreign policy in much broader terms. It’s not just about the United States creating a world architecture in the short-term. Our security depends upon developing relationships with the rest of the world in which people trust not only our power but our moral authority. They believe that America is a force for good. And what we’ve squandered, particularly since 2001, is that sense in the rest of the world that we are there, not only to protect the world but we represent good things. Not just democracy but many, many other things that much of the rest of the world wants to aspire to. My concern is we cannot possibly guarantee our own security with so much of the rest of the world thinking of us as the world’s bully. And no amount of money is going to reverse that….

8. “Schwarzenegger targets the green vote” (Financial Times [UK], October 18 2006); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/8d22f01c-5e35-11db-82d4-0000779e2340.html

By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles

When Arnold Schwarzenegger went in front of the cameras in New York this week, the California governor spoke passionately about the need for individual US states to come together to fight global warming....

But with California’s gubernatorial election weeks away, the meeting was a timely reminder to voters of Mr Schwarzenegger’s newfound green credentials....

The Angelides campaign has … accused Mr Schwarzenegger of opportunism, saying the governor was forced to sign the climate change legislation and alleges that he pushed for amendments that would have gutted the bill. Angelides aides also point to Mr Schwarzenegger’s lack of support from environmental organisations, in contrast to their candidate who is well backed by green groups.

Still, Daniel Kammen, professor in the Energy and Resources Group at the University Of California, Berkeley, believes Mr Schwarzenegger has played a political trump card by passing legislation that has captured the world’s attention.

“Mr Schwarzenegger has really outmanoeuvred the Democrats on the environment. He is getting huge credit for having taken these major steps.

“The joke in US politics is always that if it’s not about the economy, it’s irrelevant. Suddenly, the environment is on the agenda.”

How much further the governor will go on climate change, though, is debatable. He still owns several gas-guzzling Hummers and has yet to pledge support for Proposition 87, an electoral ballot measure that seeks to impose new taxes on California oil companies to raise money for investment in “clean” fuels….

But what is clear is that voters in California are not going to drop their concerns about the environment.

And where California goes, the rest of the US tends to follow.

By Roman Gokhman, Staff Writer

Are Pleasanton and Livermore more crime-ridden than Oakland? According to just-released statistics from the FBI, the two cities were in 2005 in terms of hate-motivated crime….

Jack Glaser, a hate crime specialist and assistant professor in the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, said there are three ways to look at the statistics—and all three point to the volatile climate in Oakland.

In the first possibility, there are relatively few hate crimes in Oakland because of the segregation...85 percent of the hills are white, and 85 percent of the flats are black, he said. In that scenario, whites and blacks don’t interact enough to foster excessive hate crimes.

White on black hate crime is nationally more common than black on white hate crime, Glaser said. Because Oakland has a high black population, there is less room for racist whites. So there’s less opportunity for hate crime, he said.

In another scenario, Oakland’s high crime rate prevents police from having enough time to follow up on minor hate crime reports. The OPD officers could have their hands full, Glaser said….

Hate crimes don’t always equate to violent crimes, Glaser said. Crimes with a sexual orientation bias are usually the most violent, because the offender doesn’t care about changing a person but wants to punish him.

Crimes with a race bias can be violent, but are usually property crimes meant to send a message, he said. An example can be a cross-burning. Crimes with a religious bias are rarely violent and usually involve vandalism such as graffiti or a rock thrown through a window of a place of worship, he said….

In the East Bay, race played an even bigger factor [than the nationwide 54.7 percent] accounting for 62 percent of all hate crimes….

In San Francisco, however, crimes against homosexuals were the leading type of hate crime. The city had more hate crimes reported than all of the East Bay combined….

Glaser said the reason San Francisco had such a large number of sexual orientation crimes was because there is a higher concentration of homosexuals living there. It has a lot more potential hate crime victims, he said.

Guests:

· Edmund Phelps, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Economics, and professor of economics at Columbia University.

· Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 1997. He is currently Professor of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Quotes from Edmund S. Phelps:

"What the American [economic] system is good at is dynamism—coming up with innovative ideas that are economically feasible."

"The US economy and Canada have higher productivity levels than Germany, France and Italy."

Quotes from Robert Reich:

"I'm not sure Europe is less satisfied with its life choices."

"Unfortunately, most of the jobs created in America are not the dynamic sort but the drudge sort."

- Peter Asmus

A recent headline in the national energy trade press proclaimed, “California Commits Eco-Suicide.” The state Chamber of Commerce shook its collective head, warning that Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had just made the gravest error of his young political career.

…Despite the nay-saying, AB32 [a new state law calling for a 25% reduction in carbon dioxide in the next two decades] would actually spur an industrial renaissance in the Golden State….

“California is exporting nearly $30 billion every year—that’s $2,500 from every Californian household—to buy imported fossil fuels. AB32 will bring that money back to California,” commented Bob Epstein, co-founder of Sybase, GetActive Software and Environmental Entrepreneurs. A study [by Dan Kammen’s research group] released by UC Berkeley in August projected that reducing so-called greenhouse gas emissions in California would create 17,000 jobs and add $60 billion to the state gross domestic product by 2020….

While California remains the cleantech leader of the United States, California is losing ground to the Northeast, where firms enjoyed increases in both share of venture capital and consummated deals. California companies endured small declines in both categories. This was the second year in a row that California lost ground on finalizing new cleantech deals….

California regulators need to get back to the radical embrace of new technologies that was the hallmark of Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration three decades ago. Texas just surpassed California in terms of total wind power capacity and it is clear this state is falling short on its ambitious renewable energy targets. If the current dysfunctional state regulatory apparatus is not infused with a sense of profound purpose, the state’s economy, and the world’s environment, will suffer….

By Josh Richman, Staff Writer

Democrat Phil Angelides says his California would be kinder to its working families, more generous to its students and more welcoming to its immigrants, all while keeping its books in the black.

The state treasurer, 53, believes “liberal” isn’t a dirty word: He embraces the idea that government should be wielded widely as a tool to better people’s lives….

California still has a structural deficit, meaning it spends more than it takes in. The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office pegs it at $4.5 billion and $5 billion, respectively, in the next two fiscal years. Angelides says the state needs more money to close this gap and let government do more, rather than relying on borrowing, spending cuts and hope of a good economy.

He wants income taxes raised for the next three years from 9.3 percent to 11 percent on individuals making more than $250,000 and couples making more than $500,000 per year—the state’s richest 1 percent, he says, noting they were taxed at 11 percent under GOP governors Pete Wilson and Ronald Reagan. This would raise $3.1 billion, he says, and he would get $2 billion more by closing “corporate tax loopholes” as determined by a panel he would appoint….

“There’s no way he gets it through the Legislature because of the Republicans—they won’t even raise taxes when there’s a deficit,” said University of California, Berkeley, public policy professor John Ellwood, a California Budget Project board member and former Public Policy Institute of California state budget research director.

Angelides could ask voters to approve the tax hike as a ballot measure, he added, but “the chances of this happening are low.”

Angelides also has said he would consider reworking Proposition 13’s commercial property tax protections while leaving residential protection intact, but any change would need voters’ OK, and Ellwood said this has only a “slightly better chance” than an income-tax hike….

[This story also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/email/news/15765576.htm“>ContraCostaTimes</a>]

California is getting tough on global warming, with a new state law sets strict standards on greenhouse gas emissions. The state is already known for stricter environmental standards in other areas. How will the state meet its goals ...and will its economy suffer?

Join host Ira Flatow and guests in this hour of Science Friday for a look at California’s plan to fight global warming. Will other states follow suit?

Guests:

Dan Kammen

Co-director, Berkeley Institute of the Environment

Professor, Energy and Resources Group

University of California, Berkeley

14. “Homecoming and Parents Weekend 2006” (Berkeleyan, October 12, 2006); story citing MICHAEL NACHT and ROBERT REICH; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/

It was standing room only for Robert Reich’s faculty seminar on current political-economic issues. Reich, a professor of public policy and former Cabinet member under Bill Clinton, asked the question, “Where Is America Going?”

Michael Nacht, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy, discussed “National Security in a Turbulent Era.” He was among 30 faculty and administrators who led public seminars over the Homecoming weekend, to enthusiastic receptions.

[Both the Robert Reich and the Michael Nacht events can be viewed on broadcast or on demand. Go to the Videos and Webcasts section below.]

15. “Putting dollars behind those green ambitions” (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 12, 2006); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen To Story

It’s easy to say you support the environment, but will Californians put their money where their mouths are? The state is trying to build a million solar roofs by 2017. Sarah Gardner reports.

Photo: Michael Smith/Getty Images

The sun is relected in a photovoltiac panel SARAH GARDNER: In an upscale suburb on the west side of Los Angeles, the neighbors haven’t really noticed Wenise Wong’s latest purchase. That’s because it’s on her flat rooftop: 18 solar panels generate enough electricity to power Wong’s home and hopefully, zero out her monthly power bill.

WENISE WONG: “I have an environmental mind and I also had thought a lot about the power crisis we had in California a couple years ago and have been moved by all the global warming stories and thought, well this is time.”

Wong’s solar roof is among 25,000 in California right now. The state wants to boost that to a million. This year California committed over $3 billion to fund solar rebates over the next decade.

Without those rebates, Wong’s solar panels and installation would have cost $27,000 dollars. But the rebates knocked nearly a third off the price. Wong’s husband Eric Barron:

ERIC BARRON: “After the rebate it might be about 12 years before it has paid for itself.”

That’s part of the problem, say marketers of solar technology….

That’s why California plans to jumpstart its program with a mandate on new homes. Starting in 2011 developers building more than 50 houses in a single California subdivision must offer solar as a standard option.

State officials predict many homebuyers will bite. The solar will come already installed so it’s hassle-free. It’ll also cost less. Experts say it’s always cheaper to build a system into a new home than add one later.

Daniel Kammen is a professor in the Energy Resources Group at UC Berkeley:

DANIEL KAMMEN: “I predict that in ten years if you build a house or small business in California and don’t build in some local generation—be it solar as the most likely one, or something else—I think that’s going to be seen as weird. And that’s a really good form of weird.”

Kammen says the next logical step will be to let solar users profit by selling their excess power back to the grid. Germany’s doing it and solar panel sales in that country are booming….

- Carrie Sturrock, Chronicle Staff Writer

Stanford University, already one of the world’s wealthiest and most elite campuses, wants to raise $4.3 billion in its largest fundraising campaign ever….

“Stanford is looking ahead and trying to position itself,” said Robert Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities in Washington, D.C., and former chancellor of UC Berkeley. “It’s one of the great universities in America, and it wants to retain that position.”…

The new campaign will make life tougher for UC Berkeley, which competes with Stanford for students and faculty, Berdahl said. Cal had a $2.23 billion endowment in 2004-05, and is exploring how much it could raise, said university spokesman Jose Rodriguez.

“It’s going to raise the bar for Berkeley, there’s no question about it,” Berdahl said. “It will present Berkeley with a challenge. We in this country believe competition is healthy and good and produces better quality, and I think that’s true.”…

The multibillion-dollar campaigns are driven by several factors, said Berdahl.

One is universities’ push to have diverse campuses and admit people regardless of their financial circumstances, which requires a lot of financial aid. Another is the cost of modern research—setting up a single professor at a research university can exceed $1 million. And finally, there’s the cost of renovating and constructing buildings, which is particularly expensive in the earthquake-prone Bay Area….

By Andrew Leonard

Oct. 10, 2006 | I went to see Tad Patzek give a seminar on the U.C. Berkeley campus yesterday titled “Agriculture, Biofuels and the Earth,” because I wanted a firsthand look at one of the more controversial figures in the emerging world of biofuels. The Berkeley chemical engineering professor is the co-author…of two studies that cast doubt on the energy efficiency of corn-based ethanol and other biofuels….

The veracity of Patzek and Pimentel’s numbers has been vociferously debated hither and yon. They’ve been accused of using old data, of cherry-picking numbers, of making unfair or outdated assumptions on what factors to include in their data analysis. For many biofuel fans Patzek’s background as a petroleum engineer has been considered grounds for immediate dismissal of all his claims. A good summary of the back and forth can be found here..

In January, I wrote about a study published in Science by a group of Berkeley researchers [students and faculty of the Energy and Resources Group and Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley] that contradicted Patzek and Pimentel’s findings. But that hasn’t dissuaded Patzek from crisscrossing the country in a one-man jihad against the idea that biofuels offer any hope of replacing oil as an energy source….

But in response to the one questioner who did ask what could explain the huge discrepancies between the numbers cited by Patzek and those put forth by some biofuel advocates, he hemmed and hawed, making references to “complex systems” and how the choice of models “determines answers.”

And he said, at least twice, “Let’s not squabble about the details.”

Now, asking a bunch of graduate students not to squabble about the details is a strange thing for any professor to say, and critics of Patzek and Pimentel’s numbers would be entirely correct to guffaw scornfully at such a statement….

I came away from professor Patzek’s lecture feeling as if he hadn’t done anything to defend his ethanol numbers from their many critics. But I was also doubly glad to have ridden my bike there and back, because the shame of being Homo Colossus Americanus is getting to be too much to bear. I thank Patzek for stepping up the pressure.

[The ERG & Goldman school study of biofuel energy analyses, co-authored by Michael O’Hare, Brian T. Turner, and Dan Kammen, can be accessed at: http://rael.berkeley.edu/EBAMM/ ]

18. “China’s our best hope” - Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 11, 2006); Listen to this commentary

Commentator Robert Reich looks at the international community’s response to the supposed nuclear testing by North Korea—and says in this case, world leaders should listen to China.

ROBERT REICH: The problem is North Korea is run by a madman who doesn’t seem to mind if his own people starve.

That nation’s survival depends on $2-$3 billion worth of goods and money flowing in each year in order to feed and clothe the military and prevent a wholesale meltdown of the economy. But it’s already near meltdown.

The idea would be to tighten the economic vise still further until...until what?

You see, that’s the issue. Millions of people in that desolate land are already on the verge of starvation. Kim Jung Il doesn’t seem to care….

China holds the cards here. China is the only friend Kim Jung Il has in the world. He’s entirely dependent on his colossal neighbor for food and fuel….

If China is smart, it will bribe Kim Jung Il to give up his nuclear program.

Kim Jung Il may not be rational, but the Chinese leadership is. And they are our best hope now for a rational outcome to this mess.

JAGOW: Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is now a professor at the University of California Berkeley. He’ll be back in a couple weeks with another edition of The Public’s Business....

19. “Ex-UC chancellors defend race policy” (Oakland Tribune, October 11, 2006); story citing ROBERT BERDAHL; http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_4474452

By Michelle Maitre, Staff Writer

With a showdown over public school integration looming in the Supreme Court, a cadre of former University of California officials is urging the high court to uphold the use of race in desegregation plans.

Nineteen former UC chancellors filed a friend of the court brief Tuesday in a pending Supreme Court case to decide whether districts can consider a student’s ethnicity when admitting students. The court is expected to hear oral arguments in December on two cases originating from race-based assignments in Jefferson County, Ky., and Seattle.

In their brief, the former campus administrators argue that racially integrated public schools are essential for a cohesive society, since they expose young people to peers from a variety of backgrounds. Integration plans also help ensure that a diverse pool of graduates enter elite universities, the brief states.

The brief is signed by emeritus chancellors at each campus, including former UC Berkeley chancellors Robert Berdahl, Albert Bowker and I. Michael Heyman. Christopher Edley Jr., dean of UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, and law school assistant professor Goodwin Liu wrote the brief on behalf of the chancellors.

Groups including the Bush administration have filed briefs asking the justices to throw out the school assignment plans on the grounds they rely too heavily on race.

20. “Vote yes: It will end dependence on imported oil” (San Jose Mercury News [*requires registration], Oct. 08, 2006); op-ed citing DAN KAMMEN’s research group; http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/editorial/15709532.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

By Barbara Boxer

[BARBARA BOXER represents California in the U.S. Senate. She wrote this article for Perspective.]

When President Bush said in his 2006 State of the Union address that the United States was addicted to oil, he stated the obvious, but offered few solutions.

Over-reliance on petroleum as our primary source of energy has led to dangerous consequences. We have a highly concentrated oil market that is dependent upon a small number of unstable foreign producers and subject to unpredictable price spikes. It has also resulted in increased pollution in our air and water, which threatens the health of our families and our environment. And perhaps worst of all, it has been the Achilles heel of our foreign policy.

But on Nov. 7, Californians can once again step out in front and begin solving a national problem by supporting Proposition 87, the Clean Energy Initiative. Proposition 87’s goal is to reduce California’s use of oil—mostly gasoline and diesel—by 25 percent over the next 10 years. The state will work to accomplish this by investing $4 billion—paid for by oil company drilling revenues—to develop alternative fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, and provide incentives to consumers to purchase cars, trucks and SUVs that run on alternative fuels….

Proposition 87 asks the oil companies, who have experienced record profits again and again, to pay their fair share for cleaner energy…. Every oil-producing state in the nation—including Alaska, Louisiana and even Texas—already charge such a fee, and California does not.

We know from their experience that having this revenue fee does not mean higher gas prices. In fact, each of those states average lower gas prices than California. That’s why University of California-Berkeley economists [led by Dan Kammen who had testified in a Capitol Hill briefing at Senator Boxer’s request] and ABC News call the oil companies’ statements that gas prices will rise “misleading.’’…

21. “State rushes in where Washington fears to tread” (Financial Times, October 6 2006); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/21bd10cc-5553-11db-acba-0000779e2340.html

By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles and Guy Dinmore in Washington

…Arnold Schwarzenegger, California’s Republican governor, followed last month’s landmark bill to cut greenhouse gas emissions with another first: passing a law that prohibits the state’s pension funds from investing in companies with active business in Sudan.

The bill, prompted by the killings that have sparked a humanitarian crisis in Darfur, saw Mr Schwarzenegger cross party lines to find consensus on an issue that has galvanized California’s liberal population….

History shows that where California leads other US states and countries tend to follow. The implementation of clean air regulations in California in the mid-1970s, for example, led to a country-wide policy that saw catalytic converters fitted to all new cars, with other nations following suit.

With the new climate change legislation, Mr Schwarzenegger has already secured the support of international figures such as Tony Blair, Britain’s prime minister. Britain and California have bypassed the Bush administration and agreed to work together to explore ways to fight global warming.

“It all gives Californians confidence that we are not going to be left holding the bag by ourselves,” said Daniel Kammen, professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California, Berkeley. “A lot of states and countries are going to follow what California is doing.”

By Matt Krupnick

In the second season of HBO’s “The Sopranos,” Meadow Soprano explains to her parents why she wants to attend UC Berkeley: “There are more Nobel winners in the San Francisco Bay Area than anywhere on the planet.”

This week certainly has justified her argument, with three prizes going to Cal or Stanford University researchers. But, with Stanford holding a 2-1 lead this year, wouldn’t people on the Cal campus be just a bit happier than usual to win Monday’s economics Nobel?

No, collegiality seems to rule the upper levels of academia.

“Football is more a rivalry than Nobels, but that’s just my opinion,” said James Powell, vice chairman of the UC Berkeley economics department….

Whatever the reason, there has been more back-patting than griping between the two campuses this week. Former UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl said Cal and Stanford have a healthy relationship that isn’t evident on a football field or basketball court.

“Athletics is a contest where there’s a final score,” said Berdahl, now president of the Association of American Universities. “Yes, Berkeley would like to boast at having more Nobels than Stanford. But the fact is that there’s a lot of synergy between the two institutions.”…

Sure enough, several Stanford Nobelists have Berkeley degrees, and some Berkeley laureates attended Stanford….

23. “It’s time to play the inequality card” – commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, National Public Radio, October 4, 2006); Listen to this commentary

ROBERT REICH: There’s a debate brewing in the Democratic Party about whether to talk about the nation’s widening inequality. Some Democratic strategists say that’s too risky. Most of America’s vast middle class wants and expects to be rich someday themselves. Talk about widening inequality and you risk sounding too negative.

Well, I think that conventional wisdom is wrong. In September’s Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll, inequality ranked as the second-most-important economic issue, right after the cost of gas and energy…

The fact is, we haven’t experienced inequality on this scale since the 1920s — by some measures since the age of the Robber Barons in the 1890s.

The American economy has been growing nicely. Corporate profits are up. Top executives are raking in eight-digit compensation packages. But the paychecks of most people have not budged. Median household earnings are actually below what they were in 1999. Meanwhile, the costs of energy, health insurance and college tuitions are skyrocketing.

So don’t be surprised if you hear lots of Democratic candidates and maybe even a few Republicans talk about restoring fairness to the economy. That means rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, raising the minimum wage, lifting the ceiling on earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes, and cutting taxes on the middle class. The new political motto: It’s fairness, stupid.

MOON: Robert Reich teaches public policy at the University of California at Berkeley.

24. “County polls voters on road tax plan. County spent nearly $145,000 to do survey” (Tulare Advance-Register, August 16, 2006); story citing HENRY BRADY.

By Jed Chernabaeff - Staff writer

Surveys to measure whether Tulare County’s voters would approve a half-cent sales tax measure to repair and improve roads cost $144,900, according to documents provided by the Tulare County Association of Governments.

The money was spent for a telephone and mail survey, along with the consultants who wrote or conducted them….

Ted Smalley, deputy executive director of TCAG, said the money spent by the agency was well worth it….

After reviewing the survey Tuesday, Henry Brady, professor of political science and public policy at University of California, Berkeley, said the telephone survey conducted was not a push poll survey, meaning it was not worded in a way to influence responses….

FACULTY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & EVENTS

October 6 STEPHEN MAURER, Director, Goldman School Project on Information Technology and Homeland Security, moderated at the conference, “Globalization of R&D. Investing in Emerging Markets: China India Russia,” presented by the Clausen Center for International Business & Policy, Haas Business School. http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/HaasGlobal/emergingmarketsconference.html

October 10 ROBERT REICH debated Lou Dobbs about “The War on the Middle Class” on Larry King Live (CNN TV).

October 11 ROBERT REICH spoke on The Sam Seder Show (Air America Radio); http://www.bluestateblogs.com/majorityreport/archives/2006/10/

VIDEOS & WEBCASTS

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

The following are newly on the broadcast schedule at UCTV and on demand at: www.uctv.tv/schedule.asp

1. “Where is America Going? ROBERT REICH” (#12013)

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, looks into the future at the economy, the next president, the stock market and more. He can’t promise perfect clairvoyance, but he will provide a way to think about these and other political-economic issues in our future. http://www.uctv.tv/schedule3.asp?keyword=12013&x=0&y=0

2. “National Security in a Turbulent Era with MICHAEL NACHT” (#12012)

Michael Nacht explores the current challenges in American foreign policy, including the war in Iraq, the global war on terrorism, the nuclear weapons program of Iran and North Korea, and the rise of China as a strategic competitor. http://www.uctv.tv/schedule3.asp?keyword=12012&x=0&y=0

3. “National Security, the War on Terror and the Constitution” (#11916) with STEPHEN MAURER

This forum brings together a wide range of constitutional scholars, historians and political scientists, to consider, evaluate and debate the impact 9/11 has had and continues to have on the American Constitution. http://www.uctv.tv/schedule3.asp?keyword=11916&x=0&y=0

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

Visit the Goldman School’s website at: /

(This digest was edited by Theresa Wong)