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eDIGEST November 2007

UPCOMING EVENTS

1. “U.S., Syria and the New Old Middle East: Confrontation or Cooperation?”

Dr. Imad Moustapha, Syria’s Ambassador to U.S.

November 6, 2007, 4:15 - 5:30pm, GSPP Living Room

International Public Policy Speakers Event

RSVP to eip@berkeley.edu

2. FALL ALUMNI RECEPTION AT APPAM

November 8, 2007, 6:15-8:30 p.m.

The Washington Marriott, 1221 22nd Street NW, Washington DC

RSVP online

3. GSPP in WASHINGTON, DC NETWORKING RECEPTION

November 9, 2007, 4:30-7:30 p.m.

The Rayburn House Office Building Foyer Capitol Hill, Washington DC

Employer registration

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. “Federal Communications Commission (FCC) holds an open meeting on media and wireline competition” (Washington Daybook, October 31, 2007) (broadcast live online); features testimony by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).

2. “FCC Commissioners Adelstein and Copps Decry Proposals to Ease Caps on Media Consolidation” (Democracy Now, Free Speech TV, November 1st, 2007); Michael Copps cites research presented by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/01/1344254

3. “How to define affordable health care is key issue” (Sacramento Bee, October 30, 2007); op-ed citing studies by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000) and by LUCAS RONCONI (MPP/PhD 2007); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/460700.html

4. “Charlie Rose Science Series: Global Health” (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS TV, October 29, 2007); features commentary by ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971); http://www.charlierose.com/home

5. “Health Insurance: Some kids’ care costlier” (Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA), October 29, 2007); story citing KEVIN BEAGAN (MPP/MPH 1988); http://www.berkshireeagle.com/search/ci_7310026?IADID=Search-www.berkshireeagle.com-www.berkshireeagle.com

6. “Parties divided on entitlements. GOP and Democrats disagree on the urgency of addressing the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare” (Christian Science Monitor, October 29, 2007); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1029/p01s08-usec.html?page=2

7. “Cabs Will Switch to Meters, But the Question Now is How. Logistical Challenges Ahead in Leaving Zone System” (Washington Post, October 28, 2007); story citing BRUCE SCHALLER (MPP 1982); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/27/AR2007102700597.html

8. “Bay Area facing lifestyle changes to achieve greenhouse gas goals” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 27, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/27/MNBBT1SFF.DTL&hw=smaller+homes&sn=004&sc=248

9. “Berkeley going solar - city pays up front, recoups over 20 years” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 26, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/26/MNAIT0DQO.DTL&tsp=1

10. “Science courses nearly extinct in elementary grades, study finds” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 25, 2007); story citing study coauthored by DAVID GOLDSTEIN (MPP 1995); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/25/MNNKSVFOH.DTL

11. “New law blocks aggressive towing” (The Record (NJ), October 25, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MjEyNTc3

12. “The Future Of Radio - Committee on Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation” (Congressional Quarterly, October 24, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).

13. “Getting to Green” (New York Times [*requires registration], October 24, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/24/automobiles/autospecial/24DETROIT.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

14. “Coniglio is the hottest topic at debate - Rivals in Senate race spar over corruption accusations” (Record, The (Hackensack, NJ), October 23, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MjExODgx

15. “What if the UC system lost state funding?” (Mercury News, October 22, 2007); story citing STEVE OLSEN (MPP 1979); http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_7246939?nclick_check=1

16. “Purdue professor shares thoughts on his Nobel share” (Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN), October 21, 2007); interview with KEVIN GURNEY (MPP 1996); http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007710210351

17. “Parking, in Berkeley? City officials consider signs to make it easier” (Oakland Tribune, October 18, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_7212130

18. “McClatchy’s profits down sharply. Newspaper chain also says a charge will further reduce its earnings” (Sacramento Bee, October 17, 2007); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982); http://www.sacbee.com/103/story/436355.html

19. “U.N.-Report: Displaced Children are at Risk of Becoming Soldiers” (Inter Press Service, October 17, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

20. “Hype: TALKING BOOKS” (Buffalo News, October 17, 2007); column citing MITALI PERKINS (MPP 1987); http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupID=104754972&Mytoken=BA9D7B31-E4B2-4A1B-B37511E08AFF37E073732858

21. “Uninsured? You’re Not Alone” (Washington Post, October 16, 2007); story citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101201945.html

22. “Oil Prices Continue To Gush Toward Record Highs” (Nightly Business Report, PBS-TV, October 16, 2007); features commentary by MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/071016a/

23. “Offset credits for emissions ignite boom. Valley may cash in on industry created by global warming fight” (Sacramento Bee, October 15, 2007); story citing MARK TREXLER (MPP 1982/PhD 1990); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/431337-p2.html

24. “Hands to Hold When Health Care Becomes a Maze” (New York Times, October 13, 2007); column citing KAREN POLLITZ (MPP 1982); http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05E4D9103CF930A25753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

25. “What SCHIP does and doesn’t do” (Sacramento Bee, October 12, 2007); letter to Editor by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); http://www.sacbee.com/326/story/428147-p2.html

26. “It’s raining tourist dollars” (Oregonian, October 11, 2007); story citing JOE CORTRIGHT (MPP 1980); http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/business/119207312467680.xml&coll=7&thispage=1

27. “The money questions that no one wants to face” (Sacramento Bee, October 10, 2007); op-ed citing ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975) & MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/423635.html

28. “State budget: Revenues fall—projected deficit soars” (Sacramento Bee, October 10, 2007); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/424058.html

29. “‘Enough is enough,’ S.F. says of homeless. Residents of a famously liberal city appear to be changing views” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 9, 2007); column citing DAVID LATTERMAN (MPP 2002); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/09/MN9RSMAJ9.DTL

30. “County to state: Slow down on Hayward power plant” (Oakland Tribune, October 9, 2007); story citing RICHARD WINNIE; http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7129233?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

31. “Freeway auto mall in slow lane” (Oakland Tribune, October 8, 2007); story citing ALEX GREENWOOD (MPP 1993); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7117153?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

32. “State’s unruly budget pattern. Creative accounting, and the lawsuits that follow, are a costly—and routine—part of process” (Sacramento Bee, October 8, 2007); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980) & ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/420243.html

33. “[Roland] Hwang, Reinert will speak at congress” (Automotive News, October 8, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).

34. “Exposed: the poisons around us” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 7, 2007); book review citing research coauthored by DANIEL CHIA (MPP 2004) & BRYAN EHLERS (MPP 2004); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/07/RV3PS6HU7.DTL&type=printable

35. “Weighing the cost of health care reform” (Sacramento Bee, October 7, 2007); commentary citing study co-authored by LUCAS RONCONI (MPP/PhD 2007); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/417501.html

36. “Salem author a finalist for Oregon Book Award” (Statesman Journal (Salem, OR), October 7, 2007); awards nominations citing ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995).

37. “Baker’s hot sheet” (Oregonian, October 5, 2007); story citing ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995).

38. “Global Youth Summit to ring alarm for world” (Xinhua News Agency, October 4, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

39. “IRCC wants to lead regional economic push” (Stuart News, (FL), October 4, 2007); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2007/oct/04/30ircc-may-host-planned-regional-economic/

40. “Hospital critics rip after-care planning” (Sacramento Bee, October 4, 2007); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/413741.html

41. “Experts Wary of Lockyer’s $5 Billion `Green’ Bond Plan” (Daily News of Los Angeles, October 4, 2007); story citing ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975); http://www.dailynews.com/search/ci_7077311?IADID=Search-www.dailynews.com-www.dailynews.com

42. “Bio-fuel getting a second chance” (Contra Costa Times, October 2, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_7060913

43. “Solano County to start housing program for transitioning youth” (Times-Herald (Vallejo, CA), September 30, 2007); story citing DEANNE PEARN (MPP 1998) and First Place for Youth, co-founded with AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998); http://www.timesheraldonline.com//ci_7045878?IADID=Search-www.timesheraldonline.com-www.timesheraldonline.com

44. “Developing nations’ green efforts ‘ignored’” (China Daily, September 28, 2007); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2007-09/28/content_6140656.htm

45. “Rally Backs Victim Rights” (Monterey County Herald, September 26, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.montereyherald.com/search/ci_7001489?IADID=Search-www.montereyherald.com-www.montereyherald.com&nclick_check=1

46. “Making Sewage Water Good to Drink - Valley District, San Jose Look to Ensure Adequate Future Supply” (San Jose Mercury News, September 25, 2007); story citing LINDA SHEEHAN (MPP/JD 1990); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6991754?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

47. “Student debts too often outweigh passion for a job” (Kansas City Star (MO), September 25, 2007); commentary citing study by AMANDA BALLARD VON MOOS (MPP 2005) (based on her APA); http://www.kansascity.com/618/story/288991.html

48. “Analysts foresee tight credit constraining U.S. economy” (Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT), September 24, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).

49. “First, nail down the numbers” (Oregonian, September 24, 2007); editorial citing JOE CORTRIGHT (MPP 1980); http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1190420742204280.xml&coll=7

50. “A sort of victory” (Daily Telegraph, (London, England), September 21, 2007); column citing JACK THURSTON (MPP 1999); http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/09/20/earthlog120.xml

51. “Colo. air panel looks to Calif. program to curb car emissions” (Rocky Mountain News, September 21, 2007); story citing CHUCK SHULOCK (MPP 1978); http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5703540,00.html

52. “Health care rules form” (MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, MA), September 20, 2007); story citing KEVIN BEAGAN (MPP/MPH 1988).

53. “Can Scripps-Planck Pay Off?” (Palm Beach Post, September 18, 2007); story citing JOE CORTRIGHT (MPP 1980); http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/opinion/epaper/2007/09/18/a10a_engelhardtcol_0918.html

54. “South Africa; Unicef Hails Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration” (Africa News, September 17, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

55. “Study: Regulators never improved inspections after E. coli outbreak” (San Mateo County Times, September 16, 2007); story by GARANCE BURKE (MPP 2005); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6910967?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

56. “Revealed after a 31-month fight: who gets the GBP115m farm subsidies” (The Herald and the Sunday Herald, (Glasgow, Scotland), September 16, 2007); story citing JACK THURSTON (MPP 1999).

57. “Boutiques help low-income men dress for success” (Oakland Tribune, September 15, 2007); story citing First Place for Youth, founded by AMLEY LEMLEY (MPP 1998) & DEANNE PEARN (MPP 1998); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6903441?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

58. “Top Sunni Sheikh and U.S. Ally Killed; Iraqi Boy in U.S. for Medical Treatment; Sumatra Area Hit By Yet Another Quake” (Your World Today, CNN, September 13, 2007); features commentary by ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

59. “Lost in transmission. U.S. lacks the networks to move more energy” (Orange County Register, August 30, 2007); editorial citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).

60. “Shared duties result in better health care” (Daily Review (Hayward, CA), August 27, 2007); story citing SUSAN EHRLICH (MPP 1984).

61. “Ferry sets early launch, $5 fare” (Honolulu Advertiser, August 25, 2007); story citing DENISE ANTOLINI (MPP 1985/JD 1986).

62. “Tightening the screws on medical mistakes. Medicare’s policy to stop paying for medical errors is similar to a move launched three years ago by HealthPartners” (Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN), August 23, 2007); story citing SUZANNE DELBANCO (MPP/MPH 1994; PhD 1999).

63. “Hit the books, guys!” (Walton Tribune (Monroe, GA), August 15, 2007); column citing CARL PATTON (MPP/PhD 1976).

64. “New funds will help county’s uninsured” (San Mateo County Times, August 15, 2007); story citing SUSAN EHRLICH (MPP 1984).

65. “Small jets, more trips worsen airport delays” (Associated Press Financial Wire, August 13, 2007); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).

66. “Pollution, Without All That Guilt - Silver Spring Nonprofit Sells ‘Offsets’ To Carbon Dioxide, But Some Are Skeptical” (Sun, The (Baltimore, MD), August 4, 2007); story citing CHRIS BUSCH (MPP 1998/PhD 2006).

67. “Water or War” (New York Sun, August 1, 2007); commentary by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

68. “Sizing up your hospital - Online data reveal how its practices rate” (Chicago Sun-Times, July 22, 2007); story citing SUZANNE DELBANCO (MPP/MPH 1994; PhD 1999).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “CEOs creating value—for themselves” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], October 31, 2007); Listen to commentary

2. “Nuclear power industry gets recharged” (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], October 29, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to this story

3. “What Every Child Needs” (New York Times, October 28, 2007); op-ed citing DAVID KIRP; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28wwln-lede-t.html

4. “City may fund solar costs. Proposal would have homeowners repay through property tax” (Contra Costa Times, October 26, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000) and DAN KAMMEN; http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7287240?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

5. “Appearance Matters: Candidates’ Faces May Predict Success. Faces May Outweigh Facts When It Comes to Voter Decisions” (ABC News, Oct. 22, 2007); features commentary by JACK GLASER; http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=3761671&page=1

6. “It’s the economy” (Boston Globe, October 21, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/21/its_the_economy/

7. “World Bank Report Puts Agriculture at Core of Antipoverty Effort” (New York Times, October 20, 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/20/world/africa/20worldbank.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

8. “World Bank rural poverty drive” (Financial Times, October 19 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/647d82f2-7e6f-11dc-8fac-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

9. “World Bank moves to boost lending to agriculture sector” (BusinessWorld, October 22, 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY.

10. “Africa; Agriculture for Development” (Africa News, October 23, 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY.

11. “Special: Voting and Voter Confidence” (This Week in Northern California, KQED TV, October 19, 2007; re-aired October 20 & 21; also broadcast on KQED-FM); features commentary by HENRY BRADY; http://thisweek.kqed.org/episode.html

12. “Review of ‘Supercapitalism’ by Robert Reich” (International Herald Tribune, October 19, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/19/arts/idbriefs20B.php?page=1

13. “Review: What’s fueled the U.S.-Iran war of words” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 19, 2007); book review by RUTH ROSEN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/19/RVBRS4MH2.DTL&type=printable

14. “Global Warming Goals Call For Fundamental Changes” (San Jose Mercury News, October 12, 2007); commentary based on study coauthored by MARGARET TAYLOR; http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_7156340?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com&nclick_check=1

15. “Berkeley professors contribute to Nobel-winning climate work” (UC Berkeley Public Affairs, October 12, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/10/12_nobel.shtml

16. “Research, politics transform universal preschool movement” (Sacramento Bee, October 14, 2007); commentary by DAVID KIRP; http://www.sacbee.com/325/story/429794.html

17. “All eyes on Calif. climate-change fight” (USA Today, October 10, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-10-09-warming-regulations_N.htm?csp=34

18. “How capitalism broke politics” (Financial Times, October 8, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/918f288a-7538-11dc-892d-0000779fd2ac.html

19. “Fuels of the Future: How Far Down the Road?” (Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, NPR, October 5, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; listen to the program

20. “40 protest UC Berkeley research deal with BP” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 5, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/05/BAIKSK32J.DTL&type=printable

21. “The green job boom. Renewable energy supporters say the industry could create millions of new jobs, but economists are split” (CNNMoney.com, October 5 2007; story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/04/news/economy/green_jobs/?postversion=2007100509

22. “Why get so heated about global warming?” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 5, 2007); book review by Visiting Scholar ROBERT COLLIER; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/05/RV2QSBFFQ.DTL

23. “Is Harvard really a charity?” (Oakland Tribune, October 3, 2007); commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7070378?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

24. “Letter to the Editor: On reporting fee increases” (Berkeleyan, October 3, 2007); by LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993/PhD 2000); http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2007/10/03_letter.shtml

25. “Stumbling on the long march toward democracy” (Toronto Star (Ontario, Canada), October 2, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.thestar.com/article/262537

26. “New Zealand charges ahead in race to address climate change” (San Francisco Chronicle, October 1, 2007); op-ed citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/01/EDGBSAN1O.DTL&type=printable

27. “Citizens are losing out to consumers” (Herald News (West Paterson, NJ), September 30, 2007); op-ed citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNCZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzIwMDU4MQ==

28. “We Can’t Rely on the Kindness of Billionaires” (Washington Post, September 23, 2007); op-ed citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092101541.html

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

PARTICIPANTS: Rev. Jesse Jackson, president and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition; Marcellus Alexander, executive vice president for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Television, and president of the NAB Education Foundation; …Bob Edwards, national first vice president of American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and host of The Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio; … and Derek Turner, research director for Free Press.

[Derek Turner’s testimony made so powerful an impression on FCC Commissioner Michael Copps that he cited it next day on “Democracy Now” TV.]

AMY GOODMAN: Opponents of media consolidation packed a hearing room at the Federal Communications Commission Wednesday to criticize plans to rewrite the nation’s media ownership rules. FCC Chair Kevin Martin has proposed to do away with a rule that bars companies from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city. In 2003, Martin voted with the then-FCC chair, Michael Powell, to lift the same media ownership rules, but the effort was overturned by the landmark Prometheus v. FCC decision. The FCC was ordered to justify the changes and their impact on diversity and localism….

AMY GOODMAN: Michael Copps, what is new about what Kevin Martin is doing? What exactly is he saying he wants to do?

MICHAEL COPPS: Nobody knows. That’s one of the problems that we have here. He is trying to get us on a fast pace, do a fast break for more media consolidation, probably would include some loosening of the ban or elimination of the ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.

And one of the really bombshell things that came out of the meeting yesterday was research that was presented by [Derek Turner of] Free Press that just knocks the traces out from under the Martin argument and the previous FCC argument that newspaper/broadcast ownership isn’t so bad after all. It shows, this research, conclusively that if you combine newspapers and broadcast in a market, any size market, that the coverage of local news in that market is going to be diminished. You know, the one broadcaster that’s combining with the newspaper might be able to put on a little bit more news, but it’s going to drive others out of the market. It’s going to close more newsrooms, and it’s going to detract from voices in that particular market. So I think that just that one argument alone ought to put this on hold….

3.”How to define affordable health care is key issue” (Sacramento Bee, October 30, 2007); op-ed citing studies by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000) and by LUCAS RONCONI (MPP/PhD 2007); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/460700.html

By Daniel Weintraub

Although Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrats who control the Legislature have narrowed their differences over health care, they still have a fundamental difference in how they view the problem and the potential solution.

Schwarzenegger wants to use a combination of mandates and subsidies to provide at least basic insurance protection to Californians who don’t have coverage today, while focusing state aid on low-income families.

The Democrats, in contrast, want to guarantee comprehensive benefits to people who are employed, and to limit by law the amount that even middle-income families have to pay for their coverage….

The debate has focused attention on a key question: How much can people afford to pay for health care?…

A recent study by the University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center [coauthored by Lucas Ronconi] and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research [coauthored by David Carroll] concluded that the typical California family spends about 3 percent of income on insurance if they are covered through the workplace and about 6.8 percent if they buy it on their own….

[The California Budget Project/UCLA Center for Health Policy Research study by David Carroll et al. is “What Does It Take for a Family to Afford to Pay for Health Care?. The UC Berkeley Labor Center study by Lucas Ronconi et al. is “Health Coverage Proposals for California: Impact on Business.”]

[This column also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_7327941?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com“>San Jose Mercury News</a>]

4. “Charlie Rose Science Series: Global Health” (The Charlie Rose Show, PBS TV, October 29, 2007); features commentary by ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971); http://www.charlierose.com/home

Guests:

Paul Nurse, Nobel Laureate, Rockefeller University

Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University

Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF

Tonya Villafana, Malaria Vaccine Institute

Peter Hotez, Sabin Vaccine Institute, George Washington University

By Hillary Chabot, Eagle Boston Bureau

BOSTON — The cost of insurance for some kids has been jacked up by renewed focus on state health care, sparked by a new law aimed at making health insurance more accessible statewide….

The law, which went into effect July 1, brought attention to a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan that offered a relatively inexpensive plan just for children [monthly premium of $197 with a $15 co-pay and coverage of prescription drugs]….

Now that state officials have canceled the plan, the lowest plan Blue Cross Blue Shield offers is a $233 premium with a $25 co-pay and no prescription coverage.

Chris Murphy, spokesman for Blue Cross Blue Shield, said that pretty much every other plan available for children is more expensive than the Blue Health Plan for Kids….

Kevin Beagan, director of the state rating bureau in the Division of Insurance, said the law is about accessibility, not just affordability.

“I think that health reform is trying to level the playing field so all products are available to everyone, and this product was not available to everyone,” Beagan said, adding that parents can find plans that cover prescription services for children, but that most will be more expensive than the Blue Health Plan for Kids….

By Linda Feldmann, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

As baby boomers enter the starting gate into retirement, the cost of America’s entitlement programs—foremost, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—is projected to balloon to levels that are unsustainable.

Already, those three programs make up 40 percent of the federal budget. …[I]n 40 years, on the current path, the two medical programs alone could equal the size of today’s entire federal budget according to the US Government Accountability Office.

Experts tend to agree on the projections, but is it a crisis? In the hyperpartisan atmosphere of the 2008 presidential campaign, the topic of entitlement programs is also a matter of dispute between parties. Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R) of Tennessee, the most impassioned candidate on entitlement spending, suggests that it’s the nation’s most important domestic problem ….

“Democratic voters are not at all convinced that there’s a problem, because they believe in many ways that this is something that was kind of contrived by the administration in an effort to privatize the system,” says Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “They see people using crisis rhetoric as a big exaggeration.”…

If the issue gets more heated as the campaign progresses—especially when the parties have nominees, and the partisan divide on issues grows sharper—there’s a danger that candidates will get locked into promises that make an eventual compromise harder to achieve.

But at the same time, analysts say, public debate is needed in order for the shape of an agreement to emerge. “This is the kind of issue that takes a couple of years to develop a consensus around a solution,” says Stan Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications.

By Sue Anne Pressley Montes; Washington Post Staff Writer

Taxis line up at Union Station. The mayor’s order to switch to meters is anticipated to be implemented in the spring. (By Michael Williamson -The Washington Post)

For months, the biggest issue regarding the future of D.C. taxis was whether to go with zones or meters. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty settled that one this month when he ordered a switch to meters as soon as possible. But as it turns out, the tough questions are only beginning….

But there is no place in the taxi universe quite like Washington. With its 23 zones, each with a flat fee, and seemingly haphazard boundaries, the current fare system has been an object of criticism for decades….

Consultants for the taxi industry say they have long viewed the District in a category all its own and are surprised that the zone system is being scratched.

“People eventually gave up on D.C. ever changing,” said Bruce Schaller, a former consultant on taxi issues who works for the New York City Department of Transportation. “It’s a good move. Just the task of putting the meters into the cabs should be fairly straightforward. But people have to get used to them.”…

--Michael Cabanatuan; Chronicle Staff Writer

The Bay Area might need smaller houses, higher gas taxes and tolls on busy roads and congested business districts if it is to meet the state’s goals for the reduction of greenhouse gases, transportation and land use officials said Friday….

For the Bay Area to meet the state goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1999 levels, people will need to drive less and growth patterns will need to change to emphasize infill development over suburban sprawl, said [Henry Gardner, executive director of the Association of Bay Area Governments] and Steve Heminger, his counterpart at the [Metropolitan Transportation Commission]. That is likely to mean smaller homes and more trips on mass transit, bike or foot….

… Since cars are responsible for about half of the Bay Area’s production of greenhouse gases, and both driving and population are on the increase, drastic measures will be required.

Possibilities include boosting … the per-gallon tax on gasoline, imposing a carbon tax based on the number of miles a vehicle is driven, adding a surcharge to parking fees, or charging congestion fees on certain roads or in busy retail and business districts. Such pricing strategies could make a car five times more expensive to operate, Heminger said.

But those measures could also make getting around the region too costly for moderate- and low-income residents. Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition, a transit advocacy group, suggested making transit free and offering gasoline tax rebates to people below certain income levels….

--Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Berkeley is set to become the first city in the nation to help thousands of its residents generate solar power without having to put money up front—attempting to surmount one of the biggest hurdles for people who don’t have enough cash to go green.

The City Council will vote Nov. 6 on a plan for the city to finance the cost of solar panels for property owners who agree to pay it back with a 20-year assessment on their property. Over two decades, the taxes would be the same or less than what property owners would save on their electric bills, officials say.

“This plan could be our most important contribution to fighting global warming,” Mayor Tom Bates said Thursday. “We’ve already seen interest from all over the U.S. People really think this plan can go.”

The idea is sparking interest from city and state leaders who are mindful of California’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020. Officials in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica and several state agencies have contacted Berkeley about the details of its plan.

“If this works, we’d want to look at this for other cities statewide,” said Ken Alex, California deputy attorney general. “We think it’s a very creative way to eliminate the barriers to getting solar panels, and it’s fantastic that Berkeley’s going ahead with this.”…

The property owner would save money on monthly Pacific Gas & Electric bill because electricity generated by the solar panels would partly replace electricity delivered by the utility. After the assessment expired, the solar panels … would continue to partly replace PG&E electricity.

Bates’ chief of staff, Cisco DeVries, came up with the idea about eight months ago when he was looking for ways the city could meet its goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under a measure that Berkeley voters approved last year. Measure G mandates that the city cut its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

“Over 20 years, the economics of installing solar panels are great,” DeVries said. “But the financial hurdle of the up-front costs was preventing people from doing it.”

DeVries modeled the solar financing plan after underground utility districts. Putting utility wires underground can cost millions, but creating a special assessment district allows neighborhoods to pay off the costs over 20 or 30 years after the city pays for the service up front….

Berkeley also is considering using the financing plan for other energy-saving projects, such as insulation or heating. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week it intends to grant Berkeley $160,000 to cover some of the city’s legal, accounting and staff costs associated with starting the plan….

--Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer

…About 80 percent of those teachers said they spent less than an hour each week teaching science, according to researchers [including David Goldstein] from the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley and from WestEd, an education think tank based in San Francisco.

In contrast, a national study seven years ago found elementary school science instruction averaged more than two hours per week, said Rena Dorph, the lead researcher on the new study….

Her research team—reviewing responses from more than 80 Bay Area school districts as well as the [923] teachers—made other sobering findings about elementary science instruction in Bay Area schools:

n About 16 percent of the elementary teachers said they spent no time on science at all.

n Most kindergarten to fifth-grade students typically had science instruction no more than twice a week.

n Ten times as many teachers said they felt unprepared to teach science (41 percent) than felt unprepared to teach math (4 percent) or reading (4 percent).

n Fewer than half of Bay Area fifth-graders (47 percent) scored at grade level or above on last spring’s California Standards Test in science….

[Other reports appeared in the <a href=“http://www.contracostatimes.com/teens/ci_7276687“>Contra Costa Times</a> and <a href=“http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_7276457“>Oakland Tribune</a>. and <a href=“ http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_7275593?nclick_check=1“>San Jose Mercury News</a> and on <a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5725791“>KGO TV</a> (link to video). An Associated Press version appeared in several California sources, including the <a href=“http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_BRF_Bay_Scarce_Science_312635C.shtml“>Press Enterprise</a>]

By Stephanie Akin - Staff Writer

Governor Corzine, right, and sponsor Assemblyman Robert M. Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, after the bill was signed into law Wednesday. (Christ Pedota/The Record)

A bill to protect motorists from “rogue tow-truck drivers” was signed into law Wednesday by Governor Corzine near a Fair Lawn parking lot infamous for aggressive towing practices.

The Predatory Towing Prevention Act, in the works since last spring, is meant to prevent towing companies from charging exorbitant fees to remove cars from private property with no notice to drivers.

“We’ve all been there at some point in time,” Corzine said at a press conference before he signed the bill. “You’re out shopping, you’re at a business meeting, and you come back to find that your car isn’t there.”

The law requires all tow companies to register their trucks with the state and pay an as yet undecided per-vehicle fee. They must also report their rates to the state Division of Consumer Affairs, which will determine average fees for towing services. Companies will be prohibited from charging more than 150 percent of the average cost for any service….

Bill sponsor Assemblyman Robert M. Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, said he thought the required registration fee will be modest, and that it would be offset by the public benefit of having fees regulated and posted.

“Before this, it was anything goes,” he said….

12. “The Future Of Radio - Committee on Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation” (Congressional Quarterly, October 24, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony by DEREK TURNER (MPP 2006).

Statement of S. Derek Turner, Research Director, Free Press

… Ensuring a vibrant future for radio, as well as all other communications media, is vital to maintaining our economic and social well being in addition to our vigorous political discourse. Our democracy thrives on the dissemination of the widest possible sources of information, and radio remains one of the most important conduits for the propagation of local, national and international news, culture, entertainment and information.

The United States is a diverse melting pot of people and cultures. In such an environment it is not unreasonable to expect that the privilege of access to the scarce radio broadcast airwaves be distributed in a manner that reflects our racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Women and people of color comprise 67 percent of our population, but own just 13 percent of our nation’s radio stations. And though the Communications Act explicitly directs the Federal Communications Commission to disseminate “licenses among a wide variety of applicants, including... businesses owned by members of minority groups and women”, our research reveals that the FCC lacks even the most basic understanding of the current state of female and minority ownership, and therefore has no basis to assess the impacts of its broadcast regulatory policies on these underrepresented owners.

Our study, Off The Dial … is to date the only comprehensive assessment of the state of female and minority radio ownership and the impacts of FCC regulatory policy. Using the Commission’s own data, we have done the work that the FCC has neglected to do. The results of this study indicate a perilous state of under-representation of women and minorities in the ownership of broadcast media, where two-thirds of the U.S. population has very few stations representing their communities or serving their needs. The results also point to massive consolidation and market concentration as one of the key structural factors keeping women and minorities from accessing the public airwaves. We hope that this study reminds policymakers at the FCC and in Congress that ownership rules that mitigate media market concentration and consolidation exist for a reason: to increase diversity and localism in ownership, which in turn produces more diverse speech, more choice for listeners, and more owners who are responsive to their local communities and serve the public interest….

By Micheline Maynard

Bernard Hoffman/Time Life — Getty Images; Photo Illustration by Andrew Rodriguez/The New York Times

… [W]ith gasoline prices at $3 or more a gallon, and with the environment a pressing issue for consumers worldwide, auto companies have little choice about paying attention to developing green automobiles.

As [David] Friedman of [the Union of] Concerned Scientists said: ‘‘It isn’t just about making more patriotic and environmentally friendly cars, it’s also good business. Consumers are walking away from gas-guzzling vehicles.’’…

Detroit automakers were stung last spring when the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of legislation that would require their vehicles to get 35 miles per gallon by 2020, up from the current standards of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 24 miles per gallon for light trucks.

The action has forced the Detroit companies, along with Toyota, to back slightly higher fuel economy standards and to take other environmental steps….

Ford, for example, is peddling its hybrid-electric Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner S.U.V.’s to Washington lawmakers as patriotic (read: non-Toyota) symbols of their concern for the planet…

Out from under Daimler’s wing, Chrysler is now moving quickly to focus on its own hybrids….

For those companies, ‘‘it’s not too late, but I believe the next few years will be critical,’’ said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

As yet, neither Chrysler nor Ford promises anything with the star power of the Prius or the Volt, which G.M. says it will build beginning in 2010. The Volt, in turn, has prompted Toyota to accelerate work on its own plug-in hybrid, which it is testing.

Since neither company has the batteries to power its vehicles so far, the G.M.-Toyota contest is fraught with drama over which will get its car to consumers first. Yet the competition has some environmentalists shaking their heads.

‘‘Companies that want to thrive in a world where carbon matters and there’s $80-a-barrel oil can’t just swing for the fences’’ with one big effort like the Volt or a Toyota plug-in hybrid, Mr. Hwang said.

‘‘You have to have technology across the whole line to get you singles, doubles and triples,’’ he said. ‘‘You’ve got to have a full suite of technology across the board that you’re using to improve fuel economy and pollution performance.’’…

By William Lamb, Staff Writer

PARAMUS — State Sen. Joseph Coniglio wasn’t there, but he managed to dominate a debate Monday night between the two men running to replace him.

Bergen County Democrats drafted Assemblyman Robert Gordon to replace Coniglio on the Nov. 6 ballot after pressuring Coniglio to drop his reelection bid. Coniglio learned over the summer that he is the target of a federal corruption probe stemming from his role as a paid plumbing consultant to Hackensack University Medical Center.

The Republican candidate, former Elmwood Park Councilman Robert Colletti, tried several times to link Gordon to the Coniglio investigation during Monday night’s forum at Bergen Community College. Colletti claimed that Gordon knew about Coniglio’s association with HUMC as early as 2004, when Gordon endorsed giving a series of state grants to the hospital.

Gordon said he has been “totally demoralized” by the recent wave of indictments against Democratic state lawmakers. But the suggestion that he knew about Coniglio’s work at HUMC as the state was steering more than $1 million in state grants to the hospital is “totally ridiculous,” Gordon said, adding that he has been a longtime supporter of the hospital.

“I learned about Senator Coniglio’s problems when we all did — when it appeared on the front page of The Record,” Gordon said.

He said a 67 percent decrease in campaign contributions from contractors indicated that recent ethics reforms are “having some effect.” He said he would support the creation of a new ethics committee comprising retired judges and ordinary citizens….

Both candidates said they would oppose raising New Jersey’s 14.5-cent gas tax to pay for $13.6 billion in repairs to the state’s network of bridges. Colletti said the money should be found in the Department of Transportation budget, while Gordon said he would investigate a possible sale of the state lottery….

15. “What if the UC system lost state funding?” (Mercury News, October 22, 2007); story citing STEVE OLSEN (MPP 1979); http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_7246939?nclick_check=1

By Lisa M. Krieger

The UC-Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. (AP Photo/Steven Lewis)

…Faced with a huge state deficit, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer recently suggested the unthinkable: abandoning the entire UC system, a move that would eventually save California an estimated $7 billion a year….

While UC-Berkeley’s Haas Business School and Boalt Law School are public in name, almost three-quarters of their funds already come from tuition and private contributions. UC’s undergraduate campuses still rely on the state for much of their budgets—but the subsidy has plummeted 35 percent since 1990….

Educational experts say no amount of private support can fully offset the loss in public funds, even as they dwindle.

For UC’s endowment to pay out enough to cover all of its bills, the fund would need to be worth $54 billion—twice the size of Harvard’s and four times the size of Stanford’s. To fund it, every man, woman and child in California would have to contribute about $1,500.

“It will be literally decades, or even a century, before the endowment could grow to a point where it could provide substantial annual support to replace the state,” said Steven A. Olsen, UCLA’s chief financial officer….

By Brian Wallheimer

Kevin Gurney, associate director of Purdue University’s Climate Change Research Center, is one of about 2,500 people with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who will share the Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore.

Gurney is a member of the IPCC, which commissions assessments of global climate change from hundreds of experts in the field.

Question: How does it feel to have a share of the Nobel Prize?

Answer: I’m just proud to be one tiny part in the big thing. We’re part of an organization. It’s the ultimate shared honor. It’s our collective efforts that deserve the recognition.

Q: What was your part in the IPCC report?

A: I was a contributing author on this round and I was a reviewer in the last round. We put out these multi-volume sets on the literature. We leave out the opinions. I was writing about the linkages between the climate and the carbon cycle. It interacts with climate in a very complicated way.

Q: What is next for the IPCC?

A: We pick up the pieces and start again. These reports take five or six years to compile. I hope to continue, if they deem my contribution worthy and necessary. I will continue to help in any way I can.

Q: Do you get the Nobel Prize for a day, like hockey players get the Stanley Cup for a day?

A: (Laughing) Not that I’m aware of. It’s not a bad idea.

Q: Will you put the Nobel Prize on your resume?

A: I haven’t done that. People have suggested I do. I’ll see what my colleagues do first.

Kevin Gurney

Education: A bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of California-Berkeley; masters’ degrees in atmospheric science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and public policy from UC-Berkeley; and a doctorate in ecology from Colorado State University.

By Doug Oakley, Staff Writer

Relief may be on the way for motorists frustrated with trying to find a parking space in Berkeley.

Parking lots and garages owned by the city, University of California, Berkeley and private entities will be part of a $2 million system of electronic signs providing real-time information on available spaces, said Cisco DeVries, chief of staff to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. The contract with TCS International will go to the City Council in early November.

City officials have been talking about the project for three years as a way of stopping frustrated drivers from causing congestion and wasting gas by driving around looking for street parking.

It’s also a way to help downtown and south-of-UC businesses snag more customers who might otherwise leave the area because they don’t know where to look for parking….

Deborah Badhia, executive director of the Downtown Berkeley Association, said the signs will be good for business. They will not only help out-of-towners find parking but those who live here as well.

“We hear of people who have lived here 35 years, and they still don’t know they can park in a UC lot after 5 p.m.,” Badhia said. “We get constant complaints that people didn’t see a sign (for parking). Orienting people is part of our job.”…

DeVries called the parking signs “a generational leap in our ability to manage the parking supply effectively.”

“There are no signs directing people to the university lots, and it’s hard to find the private and city garages too,” DeVries said.

DeVries said the sign program and the system used to tell how much parking garages are actually used and at what times will help the city plan for parking in the future.

“It will answer some of the ongoing debates on whether you need parking or you don’t,” DeVries said.

By Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writer

Hammered by the housing market in California and Florida, The McClatchy Co. reported a steep drop in quarterly profits Tuesday and warned that it doesn’t know when things will improve.

Sacramento-based McClatchy, which owns The Bee, also said it will take a non-cash charge to reflect the diminished value of its assets. The charge, in an amount to be determined, will depress the just-announced profits even more….

The immediate future looks grim. Gary Pruitt, chairman and chief executive, told investors that fourth-quarter revenue will fall about as far as it did in the third.

“We do not know when the downturn will end, and do not currently have visibility beyond the fourth quarter,” he said in a conference call with investment analysts….

In addition, Pruitt said the housing slump is causing a “spillover effect” that’s hurting retail advertising and other segments of the business.

He expects California and Florida to rebound eventually, but the two states will continue to drag down the company for the foreseeable future. They account for one-third of McClatchy’s revenue and are home to its two largest papers, The Bee and the Miami Herald.

Online revenue was up 1.4 percent. Pruitt said the rate of growth is expected to surpass 10 percent next year, when a new agreement with Internet help-wanted site Career Builder takes effect.

The company noted that cash expenses in the quarter fell 8.6 percent. “We think there are more (cost-cutting) opportunities to be gained,” Pruitt said. But he said newspaper quality isn’t being compromised….

Pruitt stressed that the write-down will involve no cash going out the door. “Nothing about it changes our operations or our ability to reduce debt,” he said….

John Miller of Ariel Capital Management, the company’s single biggest investor outside of the McClatchy family, said the write-down “is not worrisome.” …

…Miller said Ariel still supports McClatchy. “We still think it’s an attractive investment. The business, if you exclude California and Florida, is doing much better,” he said….

19. “U.N.-Report: Displaced Children are at Risk of Becoming Soldiers” (Inter Press Service, October 17, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

--Thalif Deen

Military commanders told former first lady of Mozambique Gracha Machel in 1996 that children are good soldiers because they are “impressionable and easy to dominate.”…

[Machel] found that many children joined the military primarily for food and safety, after losing their parents and communities.

More than 10 years—and dozens of conflicts—later, the landscape has not changed significantly.

“Threats to children caught up in conflicts are increasing,” said Ann Veneman, the executive director of the U.N.’s children’s agency UNICEF. “They are no longer just caught in the crossfire. They are increasingly the intended targets of violence, abuse and exploitation, victims of myriad armed groups that prey on civilians,” she said.

Dozens of conflicts worldwide are still “robbing children of their childhood,” according to a special [UNICEF] study on child soldiers that was released on Wednesday….

“First Daughter: White House Rules” by Mitali Perkins.

Authors of young adult books are being featured in online chats in a MySpace forum this month. Each day of October a different author will be interviewed at 5 p.m. by Readergirlz. This Web-based community was launched last spring to give girls a chance to discuss books online. For the interviews, visit http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz. For more information about Readergirlz, visit www.readergirlz.com. The schedule for the rest of the month: … Oct. 20, Mitali Perkins….

By Alicia Ault; Special to The Washington Post

Barbra Lancelot has a master’s in education and a long career working with special-needs children. Until recently, she also had a good health insurance plan and prescription drug coverage, provided by her employer. But late last year, the 58-year-old College Park resident lost her job. Coverage was extended to her under COBRA, the law that guarantees temporary continuance of employer-provided insurance but requires the worker to pay the full premium.

It soon became a choice between paying rent or shelling out $350 a month for insurance premiums and another $800 a month for the eight prescription medications Lancelot takes for a variety of chronic conditions, including depression and fibromyalgia.

She chose to keep a roof over her head.

And as Lancelot quickly found, there aren’t many options available for people like her who make a small income and are not fully disabled….

A … recent study by the Washington-based advocacy group Families USA estimates that roughly one in three people in this region were uninsured at some point last year, and did not qualify for Medicare, the federal health insurance program for people older than 65 and those who are permanently disabled.

From losing a job as Lancelot did to finding employer-provided coverage too expensive, almost anyone can suddenly become uninsured.

“If you think this will never happen to you, think again,” said Karen Pollitz, project director of the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University. Here are some options to look into:

People seeking insurance coverage within 63 days of leaving a group health plan are guaranteed by law (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to be offered a policy, and preexisting conditions have to be covered. But the cost can be prohibitive.

For those who have not been part of a group, buying an individual policy can also be expensive—if they are even offered one. “This market is hard for healthy people, and it is impossible if you’re not healthy or just a little bit unhealthy,” Pollitz said….

…SUZANNE PRATT, Nightly Business Report Correspondent: $80 a barrel was supposed to mean a danger zone for the U.S. economy, ultimately taking a big bite out of growth. But oil futures have been trading above $80 a barrel since mid-September and it appears the economy has shrugged off gasoline prices that in many markets exceed $3 a gallon. Bank of America economist Mickey Levy says part of the reason costly oil has not done too much damage is that the economy is less sensitive to rising energy prices than it was a few decades ago.

MICKEY LEVY, CHIEF ECONOMIST, BANK OF AMERICA: Since the huge oil shocks of the 1970s, the impact of higher oil and energy prices on the economy has been much less than people have originally anticipated.

PRATT: Experts say companies are willing to absorb higher energy costs because their profit margins are still ample. In addition, demand for goods is weak enough that businesses are wary of upping prices and potentially losing market share to competitors. On top of that since 1980, services have become a bigger share of the economy and industries have become more efficient in their use of fuel.

LEVY: Over the years, consumption of energy per unit of GDP has fallen and so the higher energy prices have had less of an impact on economic output….

By Jim Downing and Dale Kasler - Bee Staff Writers

Joseph Farms general manager Carl Morris walks across a vinyl tarp that traps methane gas at the Atwater facility to generate electricity - and now carbon pollution credits that can be sold to businesses or others trying to offset their own production of harmful greenhouse gases. Sacramento Bee/Anne Chadwick Williams

Carl Morris wasn’t trying to save the planet when he spread a 7-acre sheet of black vinyl over Joseph Farms’ new cow manure lagoon in 2004. His goal was to capture methane to generate electricity.

To his surprise, he found he could do both—and get paid for it….

The dairy farm became a supplier of “offsets,” marketable credits purchased by companies or others trying to compensate for the amount of carbon dioxide, methane or other greenhouse gases they emit….

Offsets could become a new source of income for Central Valley agriculture. Farm industry groups and University of California researchers are working to pin down ways farmers can cut emissions and earn offsets….

A key reason why offsets remain controversial is there’s no single standard for evaluating whether a project is legitimate.

The United Nations, which oversees the Kyoto offsets, says preserving existing forests isn’t enough to justify an offset credit; new trees must be planted. But the California Climate Action Registry, a nonprofit entity given the task by the Legislature to draw up rules for the state, has given its blessing to the mere preservation of existing forests….

“We don’t have a common definition of what a legitimate offset is,” said Mark Trexler, director of global consulting for Ireland-based offset trader EcoSecurities….

By Alina Tugend

I have not dreaded thin envelopes so much since applying to college.

They are showing up with alarming regularity lately: forms from our health insurance company inexplicably denying payment—or only partly paying—for something we believed was covered….

There is little comfort in knowing we are not alone. Mention the issue of insurance reimbursement and almost everyone recounts a grim story about being underpaid or overcharged or simply denied….

A good source of information is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, at www.ahrq.gov ….

But consumers can only do so much. Insurance companies are going to make mistakes, if only because of the sheer number of forms they process daily. I have had errors as basic as the wrong Social Security number (and therefore the bill sent to me was meant for a different patient).

Or, as happened to Karen Pollitz, a research professor at the Health Policy Institute at Georgetown University, an insurer can process a 12-year-old’s broken elbow as a workers’ compensation claim rather than as a sports accident—and then refuse to pay for it—simply because the doctor checked accident on the insurance form….

While you can refer to your health plan explanation of benefits for many issues, some are simply not clear-cut. For example, take the issue of a pre-existing condition. While the federal government has tried to make it more difficult to deny people benefits based on pre-existing medical conditions, it is still a fraught issue, particularly for those covered by individual, rather than group, health care plans.

Ms. Pollitz, said, for example, that as a cancer survivor “in many states, I might be issued a policy that states that any future cancers will not be covered.”

“Medical necessity”—whether it be a procedure or a medication—is another unclear area.

“What one insurance says is a medical necessity, another may not,” Ms. Pollitz said. “It’s very vague.”

The first thing to do when you see a bill is denied is to take a deep breath, she advised.

Too often people panic and either throw the bill in the bottom of a drawer or pay it off right away out of fear that a collection agency will come knocking on their door.

Do not do either. Make a call. Press zero until you get a live person. Ask questions until you really understand the answer. If it is unclear, ask for it in writing.

You can appeal the process, but the first step is an internal appeal within the insurance company, and that will probably end with a denial, Ms. Pollitz said. Be persistent. Keep good records of all the information you gather and who told you what.

If it turns out in the end that you do owe a huge amount, do not ignore it. Call the hospital or provider and tell the administrator what happened. You can ask if the rate can be reduced to what the insurance would be charged, which is lower than what a person without insurance has to pay. Or ask if you can pay it off in installments. Or if you are in dire straits, ask that the fee be waived.

“Let them know you are a real person,” Ms. Pollitz said, “a nice person, just in a terribly unfortunate place.”…

25. “What SCHIP does and doesn’t do” (Sacramento Bee, October 12, 2007); letter to Editor by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); http://www.sacbee.com/326/story/428147-p2.html

In his Oct. 7 column “Children are lost in debate over health insurance,” Daniel Weintraub argues that a bill Congress passed—and the president vetoed—expands public subsidies to many children who already have health insurance and extends coverage to moderate-income children. It does neither.

The column argues that most children who would receive coverage under the bill already have health insurance. In fact, the bill would cover 3.8 million more uninsured children. Nearly all of these children—3.2 million—have incomes low enough to make them eligible for public coverage under the law as it stands today.

The column also mischaracterizes current income limits for children covered with federal dollars. States can already cover children whose family incomes exceed 200 percent of the poverty line. California, for example, covers children whose families earn up to 250 percent of the poverty line ($42,925 for a family of three). In addition, the governor’s and Democratic leaders’ proposals would expand coverage to children with incomes up to three times the poverty line—which federal law also allows.

Congress’ proposal actually restricts, not expands, states’ ability to cover moderate-income children. Further restrictions could put health reform in California—and the state’s current program—in jeopardy.

- David Carroll, Sacramento

Research Director, California Budget Project

--Jonathan Brinckman - The Oregonian Staff

… Overall travel spending in the Portland area last year was up 7.2 percent from the previous year, to $3.4 billion, according to a study conducted for the Portland Oregon Visitors Association, the third consecutive year of growth exceeding 7 percent….

Tourist visits are rising as Metro considers construction of a 600-room [taxpayer-funded] hotel near the Oregon Convention Center. Hotel boosters say the hotel would bring more large conventions to Portland by providing convenient lodging and convention amenities. Opponents, including economist Joe Cortright, say construction of the hotel would be a waste of public money.

Cortright is not impressed by arguments that visitors boost the area’s economy.

“Tourism jobs are not great jobs,” he said. “As a matter of economic strategy we should be investing in resources that create well-paying jobs.”…

By Peter Schrag - Bee Columnist

Even if you ride blindfolded from Reno on westbound Interstate 80, your shocks and backside will tell you when you reach the California line…

For now, with the exception of a few toll roads in Orange County, the ride on I-80 is the paradigm of California’s infrastructure—roads, bridges, transit networks, water systems—built for a population and economy less than half our present size and woefully underfunded and undermaintained for the better part of 40 years….

What’s long been clear, though rarely explicit in talk about long-term infrastructure planning, is the crucial need for financial incentives—through user fees for water consumption, higher gas taxes, tolls or some form of carbon tax—to reduce demand and peg the use of that infrastructure to the cost of building and maintaining it.

At this point, as Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill again pointed out last week, the state needs $2 billion more each year just to deal with current wear and tear on roads. The gas tax, last increased in 1994, is paying for barely a fraction of the needs.

So far, however, the need to control demand and make users pay a proportional share of the cost of infrastructure has barely grazed state policy. The governor’s water bond plan loads the cost on the general fund, meaning the taxpayer. Nor is it coupled to any systematic scheme to put the risks and costs of development in floodplains on those who develop and live there.

The other day, Mike Genest, the governor’s director of finance, declared that in the mix of flood control and water consumption (agricultural, urban, environmental) for which new dams would be used, it’s hard to determine who benefits how much from what….

[Elizabeth Hill and Mike Genest spoke at the PPIC Forum, “California Debt: ‘Can We Afford More Debt?’” (Oct. 3, 2007), broadcast on California Channel TV, Oct. 11 & 15, 2007; http://www.calchannel.com/schedule.htm ]

28. “State budget: Revenues fall—projected deficit soars” (Sacramento Bee, October 10, 2007); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/424058.html

By Judy Lin - Bee Capitol Bureau

Just weeks after lawmakers enacted a state budget amid partisan turmoil, finance officials say revenues are slipping below projections, making it likely that next year’s problem will be worse than expected.

Based on major tax receipts collected in the first two months of the new fiscal year, California could face a $8.6 billion operating deficit or more in 2008-09 if the state’s economy and soft housing market continue at the current pace. That would be 40 percent higher than the $6.1 billion gap officials anticipated in August.

“It’s fair to say the revenue situation is not going to be as good as we had hoped,” Finance Director Mike Genest said in a recent interview. “It’s likely the $6.1 billion (projected operating deficit) will be higher.”…

In the fiscal year that closed June 30, the state fell $821 million below what it had anticipated to collect from its three major taxes—personal income, sales, and corporate—than it had projected just six weeks earlier….

“I’m not going to tell you that you would be wrong,” Genest said of the projection. However, the Finance Department won’t be announcing new projections until January, when the governor releases his new budget proposal….

--C.W. Nevius

Jenny Kiely and her sons Dylan, 7, Nick, 4 and Thomas, 1, stand outside their home on Natoma Street.

San Francisco—the liberal, left-coast city conservatives love to mock—could be undergoing a transformation when it comes to homeless people. Although the city would still be a poor choice for a pep rally for the war in Iraq, indications are that residents have had it with aggressive panhandlers, street squatters and drug users.

“Maybe there has been an epiphany,” says David Latterman, president of Fall Line Analytics, a local market research firm. “People have realized they can hate George Bush but still not want people crapping in their doorway.”

Consider the case of David Kiely, who has lived in the South of Market area for 18 years. He bought a home when prices were low and now lives there with his wife, Jenny, and their three boys, ages 7, 4 and 1. Kiely insists “we’re not some white, yuppie parents saying we can’t take this.” In fact, he says, they donate to programs for homeless people at Glide Memorial Methodist Church and the food bank at St. Anthony Dining Room. But he’s finally saying “enough is enough.”

“I don’t expect it to be Cow Hollow or Pacific Heights,” he says. “But the other day Jenny is bringing the kids back from the park, and some guy is standing on the corner throwing up on himself.”…

“Maybe,” [Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco’s Human Services Agency] says, “you just need a guy with a badge standing over them and saying, you can’t stay there any more.”…

How that debate will come out is anyone’s guess, but it is hard to disagree with Latterman’s blunt assessment, which is, “People are just pissed. For the first time, even the left is saying they’ve had enough.”…

Latterman points to the neighborhood uprising in the Haight when it was proposed that a needle exchange program be moved to the Hamilton Methodist Church. When some 200 residents showed up, mostly to protest the idea, it was shelved.

“One sample doesn’t make a trend, but it is telling,” says Latterman. “C’mon, they live in the upper Haight. They’re liberal by definition.”…

There must be many who are as fed up as Kiely, because politicians like Newsom are taking a tough stand. In an election year, you can bet he wouldn’t go out on an unpopular limb. Now it will be interesting to see how the Board of Supervisors, traditionally progressive and more pro-homeless people, will react.

One proposal that could come from the Newsom administration is some form of a “sit-lie” law….

“This isn’t the war in the Iraq,” says Latterman. “We’ve been fed that line for a long time. If you support this, you’re a Bush supporter. You’re a fascist. Maybe people are fed up with that.”

By Karen Holzmeister, Staff writer

OAKLAND — The California Energy Commission is moving too fast on Hayward’s Russell City Energy Center, Alameda County supervisors said Tuesday.

The county will ask the commission to reconsider its mid-September approval for the 600-megawatt power plant until environmental issues affecting unincorporated areas are resolved….

County Counsel Richard Winnie said air quality issues in nearby unincorporated areas haven’t been addressed, and the county never was formally notified about the project….

The supervisors’ vote to contact the Sacramento-based Energy Commission was made in closed session. Winnie announced the decision during the subsequent open meeting.

Winnie said the county will file a motion this week calling for a delay on approving the plant.

Air quality issues weren’t “properly considered,” Winnie said. He cited a “lack of testing” by the Bay Area Air Quality Control District….

Hayward residents have opposed the plant because it would release thousands of pounds of pollutants into the air daily. Calpine Corp., the San Jose-based power plant developer, would be allowed to buy banked energy credits to reduce pollution elsewhere in the Bay Area, under terms of the commission decision.

By Cecily Burt, Staff Writer

Alex Greenwood, economic analyst for the City of Oakland, looks over the Northern Gateway area of the former Oakland Army Base where the city wants to put an Automall. (Laura A. Oda/The Oakland Tribune)

Oakland’s proposed freeway auto mall, sold to city leaders as the only way to save local auto dealerships and their healthy sales tax contributions, appears stuck in first gear.

The Oakland City Council, fearing it would lose a good chunk of the jobs and $3.2 million sales tax revenue generated by Broadway Auto Row dealerships, agreed late last year to create a Bay Bridge Auto Mall on 28 acres at the former Army base in West Oakland. The council authorized staff to sign agreements with three auto dealers and negotiate with others.

But those negotiations have stalled for a variety of reasons, notably the sale of two of the businesses, complaints by another about the proximity to a sewage treatment plant, and a lawsuit by the East Bay Municipal Utility District….

Steve Simi of Connell Auto Center first pitched the idea of a new auto mall adjacent to Interstate 880….

Simi has since sold off his Nissan and Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge dealerships. The new owners are interested in moving to the freeway location, said Alex Greenwood, the city’s urban economic coordinator. However, it took months to get national factory approval to finalize the sale, and negotiations must start anew….

By Judy Lin - Bee Capitol Bureau

In 1992 and 1993, Gov. Pete Wilson and lawmakers tried to take nearly $2 billion from public schools to balance the state budget. That didn’t work. The state lost a court challenge and had to repay the money, with interest.

In 1991, a budget move involving retired public employees didn’t work, either. The courts made the state pay $1.2 billion, plus $300 million in interest….

Last month, public transit advocates accused the state of illegally transferring $1.1 billion from bus and transit systems to help pay debt and shore up the general fund. The case could be in litigation for months, if not years….

Schwarzenegger’s finance director, Mike Genest, said the first priority of any administration is to balance the budget in a fair and legal manner. He said he’s confident the administration will prevail in the mass transit case, although he admits “sometimes we get that wrong.”

Indeed, the administration altered the transit proposal mid-year after the Legislature’s budget analyst, Elizabeth Hill, suggested it was legally suspect. But the state was still sued….

In addition to tampering with state teachers’ funds in 2003, the state tried to sell bonds on money owed to retired state workers. Genest, who was the chief budget consultant to Republican senators then, said the idea to sell up to $2 billion in pension obligation bonds was viewed as a way of refinancing debt. The Legislature and Davis did not believe the move required voter approval. Nor did Schwarzenegger.

The courts, however, disagreed.

“They didn’t buy it, but that’s what we argued,” Genest said.

Hill said the state faces litigation every year. In her 30 years in Sacramento, Hill said she can’t recall one year in which nobody sued the state over the budget.

Still, observers on both sides of the political spectrum say there have been too many instances when elected officials gambled and lost instead of biting the bullet and raising taxes or cutting the budget.

“It’s a reflection of the difficulty lawmakers have balancing the budget, largely because of the two-thirds vote for raising revenues. So instead, the state has submitted questionable assumptions to buy time,” said Jean Ross, director of the California Budget Project [on whose board John Ellwood is a director], a nonpartisan public policy research group that advocates for working Californians….

33. “[Roland] Hwang, Reinert will speak at congress” (Automotive News, October 8, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992).

Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Bill Reinert, who is in charge of advanced technology vehicles at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., will be among the speakers at the 2008 Automotive News World Congress in Detroit.

Hwang and Reinert will be part of a group discussing environmental issues and future technologies. The panel meets Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 22….

Hwang also is an expert on clean vehicle technologies and policies, and has co-written several reports.

Before joining the environmental group, Hwang was director of the transportation program for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Earlier, he worked for the U.S. Department of Energy at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and was an air pollution engineer at the California Air Resources Board….

--Steve Heilig

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What’s at Stake for American Power

By Mark Schapiro

Recently, many Californians have received dramatic mailings from a group named Californians for Fire Safety warning that if legislation banning some fire-retardant chemicals is passed, we would all be at much greater risk of burning to death in fires. Among the omissions in this literature are that the “Californians” are actually chemical-industry lobbyists, that firefighters themselves support the proposed legislation and that the chemicals in question have already been banned elsewhere because of concerns about health problems such as increased cancer, birth defects and reproductive problems….

Public health researchers at UC Berkeley [Michael P. Wilson, Daniel Chia & Bryan Ehlers] “estimate that forty-two billion pounds of chemicals enter American commerce daily, enough chemicals to fill up 623,000 tanker trucks, a string of trucks that could straddle the globe three times, every day,” notes Schapiro. Further, “fewer than five hundred of those substances have undergone any substantive risk assessments.” At the same time as this massive post-World War II production has taken place, research has demonstrated health hazards even or even especially, in some cases, at very low doses. And children, fetuses and pregnant women are especially vulnerable....

[Read the UC Berkeley study, “Green Chemistry in California: A Framework for Leadership in Chemicals Policy and Innovation” by Wilson, Chia, Ehlers.]

By Ken Jacobs - Special to The Bee

Californians want health care reform. All the recent polls agree….

Under the bill passed last month by the state Legislature, Assembly Bill 8, employers, individuals, health care providers and the public would all share the costs for increased health care coverage. The public would subsidize coverage for low- and moderate-income families. Employers would be required to spend 7.5 percent of payroll on their employees’ health care or pay those funds into a state health care pool. Individuals in the new health care pool would be required to contribute to the cost of their premium on a sliding scale based on income.

A vocal segment of the business community is arguing that a 7.5 percent minimum health care spending requirement will hurt businesses’ bottom line and eliminate jobs in California. Others, such as Safeway President and CEO Steve Burd, have criticized the governor’s proposal of a 4 percent fee for not asking enough of businesses that do not provide health care to their workers….

The main argument against the higher employer-spending requirement in AB 8 is that it would have a negative impact on business in the state. Research at the University of California, Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education found otherwise. The study, “Health Coverage Proposals in California: Impact on Businesses,” [co-authored by Lucas Ronconi] released in July, found that taken as a whole, AB 8 can be expected to have positive net impact on California’s economy.

Researchers found that the long-term impact of the 7.5 percent minimum health care spending requirement would be similar to a modest increase in the minimum wage, with most California businesses experiencing little or no net change in business operating costs after a short adjustment period. The study concludes that within two to three years, California businesses’ total operating costs would increase only one-tenth of 1 percent….

36. “Salem author a finalist for Oregon Book Award” (Statesman Journal (Salem, OR), October 7, 2007); awards nominations citing ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995).

By Ron Cowan - Statesman Journal

These are the finalists for the 2007 Oregon Book Awards, which will be handed out Dec. 2.

ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

Deborah Hopkinson of Corvallis, “Up Before Daybreak: Cotton and People in America”

Lori Ries of Tigard, “Aggie and Ben:Three Stories”

Shannon Riggs of Salem, “Not In Room 2004”

Margriet Ruurs of Shedd, “In My Backyard”

Elizabeth Rusch of Portland, “Will It Blow? Become a Volcano Detective at Mount St. Helens”

37. “Baker’s hot sheet” (Oregonian, October 5, 2007); story citing ELIZABETH SCHULZ RUSCH (MPP 1995).

By Jeff Baker; The Oregonian

Portland author Elizabeth Rusch’s new book “Will It Blow? Becoming a Volcano Detective at Mount St. Helens” (Sasquatch Books, $13.95, 48 pages) turns young readers into detectives trying to solve problems of volcanology through a study of Mount St. Helens. She’s putting on a family event at the Mount St. Helens Silver Lake Visitors Center that will include activities for kids and discussion of the current eruptive phase, now in its third year and going strong.

10 a.m.-2 p.m. Oct. 13, Washington State Route 504, five miles from Interstate 5. www.elizabethrusch.com

38. “Global Youth Summit to ring alarm for world” (Xinhua News Agency, October 4, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

Some 100 delegates from 16 countries and regions took the center stage as the Global Youth Forum (GYS) opened here on Thursday.

The forum will bring to light the current issues facing people with intellectual disabilities and at the same time bring about a string of other activities of the two-week summit, which is held over the course of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games here in Shanghai.

“Special Olympics provides one of the greatest platforms in the world for acceptance and inclusion, and the young people participating in the 2007 Youth Summit will play an important role as we work to eliminate stereotypes and change views about the capabilities and gifts of people with intellectual disabilities,” said Special Olympic’s Chairman Timothy Shriver….

A delegation of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) officials including the organization’s Executive Director, Ann Veneman, have also been working with the summit for a child-friendly version of the landmark U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This collaboration is the first between UNICEF and the GYS.

“It was a thoughtful and proactive measure to involve young people discussing issues of their own so as to provide adults with a different perspective,” said Veneman. “When young people net around, they could make a change of the world.”

“All of us have to make sure that children with disabilities have the same rights as all other children. They are entitled to adequate health care and quality education, and to live in an environment that protects them from abuse, exploitation and disease.”…

By Robert Barba

FORT PIERCE -- Indian River Community College could soon become the backbone of an organization aimed at enhancing the economic viability of the Treasure Coast.

On Wednesday, IRCC President Ed Massey volunteered his school to serve as a neutral ground for a committee of government and business leaders that would create and oversee an innovative strategy to help the economies of Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties.

Massey’s speech came during the Florida’s Research Coast Economic Development Summit held at the Kight Center for Emerging Technologies on the Fort Pierce campus of IRCC….

Massey said his proposition was unplanned, but inspired after hearing guest speaker Doug Henton, a national economic development expert, describe successes in California, such as those in San Diego, Silicon Valley and Sonoma County.

Henton’s presentation emphasized the need for the local governments to act regionally and be innovative in their approaches to attracting and retaining businesses.

“You have to collaborate to compete globally,” Henton said. “And if you don’t have innovation, you will fall behind.”

The idea of creating a regional council was at least conceptually embraced by the chairs of the boards of commissioners of Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties….

40. “Hospital critics rip after-care planning” (Sacramento Bee, October 4, 2007); story citing TOBY DOUGLAS (MPP 2001/MPH 2002); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/413741.html

By Aurelio Rojas - Bee Capitol Bureau

Ana Aureolas, accompanied by her service dog, attends Wednesday’s joint hearing of the Assembly’s aging and health committees. Sacramento Bee/Brian Baer

As an only child, Jackie McGrath cared for two elderly parents with dementia—and her experiences with hospitals were as eye-opening as they were frustrating.

When her parents were discharged, McGrath told a legislative panel Wednesday, hospitals failed to adequately assess their after-care needs.

Instead of returning them to the small board-and-care facility where they felt at home, they were steered to costly nursing homes—until she intervened….

Experts told the panel that as health care costs have risen, hospital stays have shortened and patients are increasingly likely to leave with inadequate after-care plans and end up back in the hospital.

The result, say researchers and care providers, is a system that wastes money while restricting the choices of older adults and people with disabilities….

Lynn Daucher, director of the California Department of Aging, said the state is developing a plan to improve elderly patient care….

Toby Douglas, a deputy director of the state Department of Health Services, said his department is also developing a “coordinated care management pilot program.”

[The joint legislative hearing on Aging and Long-Term Care was broadcast on California Channel TV, October 3, 2007; http://www.calchannel.com/schedule.htm ]

By Harrison Sheppard - Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO -- Even as state Treasurer Bill Lockyer outlined a proposal for a $5 billion bond measure to “green’’ state buildings Wednesday, a panel of experts and state officials said that while California has more capacity to issue debt it must proceed carefully.

Lockyer’s measure would increase environmental efficiencies—such as the use of solar power—in all state buildings.

On average, he said, studies have shown that every $500 invested in green technology results in $863 in savings—meaning the measure would pay for itself over time in cost savings, in addition to the environmental benefits….

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed placing a $9 billion bond for water projects on the ballot next year, and is expected to propose tens of billions more in the next two years to fulfill his Strategic Growth Plan.

The state currently has about $57 billion in outstanding bond debt, according to Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, and is paying about $4.8 billion this year to repay that debt.

It also has another $64 billion in voter-authorized debt that has yet to be sold as bonds.

She said the state will continue to maintain a $5 billion budget gap between what it is taking in and what it is spending….

42. “Bio-fuel getting a second chance” (Contra Costa Times, October 2, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://www.contracostatimes.com/environment/ci_7060913

By Doug Oakley - Staff Writer

Two years after the city of Berkeley’s experiment with bio-fuel went bang—in a bad way—city leaders want to bring it back.

When two truck engines using 100 percent bio-fuel exploded in 2005, the city cut back its use of the environmentally friendly fuel to a 20 percent blend of bio-fuel and 80 percent diesel in city engines.

Now, despite resistance from city mechanics who are still sore about losing their engines, City Council members Dona Spring and Kriss Worthington believe it’s time to try again.

“I think two years ago the technology wasn’t so good as it is now,” said Worthington. “I keep hearing that it is getting better and better.”

Worthington said he likes the idea of using bio-fuel because “it doesn’t mean we have to go and invade places like Iraq for their oil.”

Cisco DeVries, chief of staff to Mayor Tom Bates, who works on reducing greenhouse gas emissions coming from the city, said he and the mayor also want more bio-fuel in city engines.

“We would like to get back to bio-diesel diesel as soon as we can,” DeVries said. “I support that effort, and so does the mayor.”

By Andrea Wolf/Times-Herald staff writer

In October, First Place for Youth will open Solano County’s first supportive housing program for transitioning foster youth.

First Place for Youth is a nonprofit Bay Area organization providing services to children making the difficult transition from foster care to adulthood.

The new center will be able to provide permanent housing and supportive services for up to 30 foster care youth, and hopes to expand to reach all the young adults in need in the near future.

“First Place is honored to be invited into Solano County and looks forward to ensuring that even more vulnerable youth receive the support and guidance they need at this critical time in their life,” Deanne Pearn, co-founder, said.

Young adults 18 to 24 will be provided with two years of rent subsidies and an apartment in either Vallejo or Fairfield. After the two years, the tenants can choose to stay in the apartment if they want, Pearn said.

Youth with children are usually placed in one-bedroom apartments, and single youth will most likely share a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate.

“It is a good way to learn how to pool resources and learn to live with a roommate, which is an important skill here in the Bay Area,” Pearn said. “What makes this program unique is that it is a permanent housing program. So many other programs are transitional and just prolong homelessness for another 18 months.”

Pearn said that in addition to rental assistance, counseling and guidance resources are also available.

“This is really a community effort and we need full support to make sure these kids are successful,” Pearn said….

44. “Developing nations’ green efforts ‘ignored’” (China Daily, September 28, 2007); story citing NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2007-09/28/content_6140656.htm

Developed nations shouldn’t ignore the great efforts China and other developing countries have put in to tackle climate change, ministers from China, Brazil, Mexico and Portugal said in Washington on Wednesday.

Despite the main task of alleviating poverty, “China is making great efforts to reduce energy consumption by improving efficiency and increasing the use of renewable energy,” National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Vice-Minister Xie Zhenhua said.

“The overall goal is to reduce energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent from the 2005 base by 2020. Also, we are working to increase renewable energy use to 10 percent by 2010 and increasing forest cover to 20 percent,” Xie said at a forum sponsored by US think tank Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP)….

CCAP President Ned Helme said the international community should get proper knowledge about developing countries’ efforts to tackle climate change.

Mexico’s environment minister Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada said: “We are also extremely concerned over the consequences, the adverse effects of climate change.” The ministers presented a strong argument for UNFCCC-sponsored climate negotiations later this year instead of US President George W. Bush’s meeting yesterday and today for 16 “major emitter” countries….

By Julia Reynolds

Crime Victims United supporters rally outside the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. (Orville Myers/The Herald)

It’s a familiar ritual for many families of murder victims: every few years, they trek to a prison somewhere in the state to testify at a hearing, reliving crime details as they try to convince parole commissioners that their loved one’s killer should not go free.

Saying the state doesn’t do enough to support victims of violent crime, about 50 families of murder victims gathered Tuesday to protest outside the two state prisons in Soledad.

They came to support a family attending a parole hearing at the Correctional Training Facility: Marcella Leach and Henry Nicholas, mother and brother of murder victim Marsy Nicholas, a UC-Santa Barbara student who was killed by her ex-boyfriend Kerry Conley in November 1983….

The rally was held in conjunction with the first National Day of Remembrance for Victims, which was observed by events around the country Tuesday….

A few hours later, the Board of Parole Hearings denied [Conley’s] parole for another four years, said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, who attended the hearing.

Spitzer said he is a friend of the victim’s family and chairs the Assembly’s Committee on Prison Construction and Operations.

He said that while the board found that Conley was a “model prisoner” with no disciplinary problems since he was locked up, board commissioners cited the “heinousness” of the crime as reason for denial, along with concerns about allegations that Conley committed “substantial violence against women” in the past.

Specifically, Spitzer said, the parole board decided to investigate allegations described in a Los Angeles County probation report. The investigation will not affect Tuesday’s decision, Spitzer said.

By Paul Rogers, Mercury News

The Santa Clara Valley Water District and the city of San Jose are beginning talks on a bold new strategy to boost water supplies: making sewage water clean enough to drink.

If the public backs the plan, one day millions of gallons of the purified water could be pumped into streams and groundwater aquifers across Santa Clara County and mixed with existing drinking water supplies….

Nearly all the recycled water in the state, however, goes for non-potable uses such as irrigating crops, cooling power plants, and watering golf courses, cemeteries and highway landscaping….

In 1997, [San Jose] began delivering recycled wastewater across the county through purple pipes from its sewage treatment plant in Alviso….

Originally, the $225 million project was built after state water regulators ordered the city to stop pumping so much treated fresh water into San Francisco Bay, where it was diluting brackish marshes and changing the bay’s ecology.

But now, the city and the water district see the project as a potentially significant source of drinking water….

Environmentalists are generally supportive.

‘‘Recycled water is going to be a critical component of California’s water future,’’ said Linda Sheehan, executive director of the California Coastkeeper Alliance, in Fremont. ‘‘It has to be, because of population growth and because climate change is going to reduce the amount of snowpack in the Sierra.’’

Sheehan said, however, that the water must be rigorously tested not only for traditional contaminants such as bacteria but also for minute levels of pharmaceuticals, hormones and other contaminants that can get through sewage treatment plants unfiltered….

By Molly Hamm

As tuition for higher education continues to rise in our state and across the country, students and employers should look to ensure that job choice upon graduation can be based on personal passion rather than financial circumstance.

The U.S. House and Senate are working together to compromise their versions of the College Cost Reduction Act, an effort to make higher education more accessible by cutting interest rates on student loans, increasing federal aid and regulating tuition costs.

The House version of the bill contains a key component: incentives for those entering public service. While the legislation outlines a system of student loan forgiveness for public sector employees, including nurses, early childhood educators, law enforcement officers, and public defenders, it leaves out the crucial population of 501(c)3 nonprofit organization employees.

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that 74.5 percent of new college graduates who accept a job in a nonprofit organization have student loan debt (“Understanding the Next Generation of Nonprofit Employees: The Impact of Educational Debt” by Amanda Ballard)….

While the personal satisfaction of working for a nonprofit organization often trumps the financial lure of other occupations, many recent graduates find that high student debts make pursuing a nonprofit job impossible.

It is time for this country to move forward and give additional support to those who work for the public good. I urge students and employers alike to take action and see that nonprofit organizations are included in this legislation.

48. “Analysts foresee tight credit constraining U.S. economy” (Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT), September 24, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974).

By Harlan Levy - Journal Inquirer

Despite uncertainty, the U.S. economy is likely to be constrained in coming months, according to a new report by Banc of America Securities.

The current credit and liquidity issues—financial institutions’ reduced eagerness to grant loans and tougher conditions on those loans—are likely to delay recovery in the housing market, BAC economists Mickey Levy and Peter Kretzmer said in the report.

“We anticipate that residential construction will fall at a reaccelerating pace late this year, before the declines subside in the first half of 2008, and housing remains virtually flat into 2009,” the economists said.

Levy and Kretzmer also projected that tighter credit conditions will spread weakness to the business sector, as firms reduce hiring and capital spending plans….

… They predicted that the Federal Reserve will trim the key federal funds rate by another quarter-point late next month, to 4.5 percent….

SUMMARY: Metro [Portland’s regional government] shouldn’t rush to a decision on the [Portland convention center] hotel project even though dropping it would be its easiest choice

Going into the hearing on the headquarters hotel last week, Metro was eye-to-eye with a frightening set of figures.

Equally unnerving is the fact that all of these numbers are still on the loose. None of the hotel’s financial projections has been pinned down….

And … the total price tag soars to $244 million. Covering the mortgage payments for the first eight years with a cushion to safeguard the public leaves a possible financing gap of $7.8 million annually. Metro could cobble together several sources of public funds to help cover it, but current projections still leave $1.5 million a year uncovered.

All of these numbers induce something akin to altitude sickness, but last week’s hearing did a good job of grounding them. Or to be more precise, it left a few numbers on the floor. In a surprise appearance, Portland-area economist Joe Cortright questioned several key assumptions about the hotel, and even pointed out a possible flaw in the math of project consultants. That made everything feel shaky.

The Metro Council, quite properly, has asked that Cortright’s questions be addressed quickly. The regional government had hoped to move quickly on the hotel project in general, but it needs to slow down now and carefully respond to Cortright’s analysis, in addition to doing more of its own.

Metro also needs to send its own team to evaluate how publicly funded hotel projects are faring in several comparable cities, including Denver. The answer to that question depends, in part, on how you define success. A successful hotel would not only pay for itself, but would also “induce” demand in other hotels by bringing big conventions to Portland.

Admittedly, Cortright’s testimony last week was disconcerting. What made it powerful is that, unlike most people at the hearing, Cortright was not there representing a client or even a public agency, but was offering his own independent analysis, and pronouncing the hotel’s prospects dim….

By Charles Clover

Isn’t it nice that after 31 months and much chivvying the Scottish Information Commissioner has finally resolved my Freedom of Information Act request of spring 2005? I was asking to know what farmers in Scotland were paid in subsidy in 2002-3 and in 2003-4, information which the Scottish Executive refused to provide, claiming that its disclosure was incompatible with an EU obligation.

Well, the commissioner, Kevin Dunion, has ruled finally that no such obligation exists. It is indicative of the culture we live in that civil servants thought it did and that the whole process took so long. The provision of information in this country lags far behind that in Denmark, Sweden and even Slovenia, according to Jack Thurston who runs that superb website, farmsubsidy.org….

By Berny Morson, Rocky Mountain News

California motorists will pay more for cars that emit less greenhouse gases, but they will come out ahead through energy savings, a Golden State official told a Colorado air-quality panel Thursday.

The price of a passenger car will go up by $367 to meet California’s 2012 standards and $1,064 to meet the even tougher 2016 standards, said Charles Shulock of the California Air Resources Board. “But it’s important to note that cars that meet these standards are more efficient,” he said.

Average monthly payments on car loans will increase by $7, but fuel savings will be $18 under the 2012 regulations—cutting costs by $11, Shulock said. And those numbers were figured when gasoline was $1.74 a gallon. The savings under the 2016 rules is $3.

Shulock was in Denver to speak to the Regional Air Quality Council. The group is charged with making recommendations to the state Air Quality Control Commission and Gov. Bill Ritter on steps to reduce both ordinary pollution and greenhouse gases along the Front Range area….

California has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. That will be accomplished by a variety of small improvements on cars, Shulock said. For example, cars might have six-speed transmissions.

The goal is a one-third reduction in emissions.

Meanwhile, manufacturers will have to produce fuel that contains less carbon, the basis of greenhouse gases. That can be accomplished by using more bio-fuels, such as ethanol from corn or switchgrass.

The low-carbon fuel program begins in 2010. The exact specifications of the fuels have not been set, Shulock said. But the standards will become stringent between 2010 and 2020, he said.

52. “Health care rules form” (MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, MA), September 20, 2007); story citing KEVIN BEAGAN (MPP/MPH 1988).

By Michael P. Norton; State House News Service

BOSTON - A state council is poised to approve regulations tomorrow that will require health insurers, beginning Dec. 1, to begin submitting data about health care quality and costs, information that will eventually be made available to the public with the goal of helping them make provider-specific decisions….

The council was created under last year’s health insurance access law, which has led to intensified scrutiny of rising health care costs and quality of care issues. The law’s supporters say rising costs and quality of care issues like preventable medical errors and hospital-acquired infections threaten the law’s success, in addition to the patients affected. Containing costs and improving quality are both goals of posting health care data online, officials say….

Kevin Beagan, who represents the Division of Insurance on the council and reported the review team’s findings, said council members want to ensure that systems are in place to verify the accuracy of information.

‘‘There will be many who question the information we’re collecting and the reliability of the information,’’ said Beagan.

Both ViPS and Health Management Systems, a pair of national firms that are seeking the data manager contract, scored 4.2 on a rating scale of 5, compared to 4 for the Maine Health Information Center and 3.2 for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, Beagan said. The Maine nonprofit was recommended, he said, largely due to its bid price and confidence that it will be able to work with the state’s Dec. 1 deadline….

By Joel Engelhardt

A team of Max Planck Society scientists accomplished a scientific breakthrough last year. They watched thought. That is, for the first time, they viewed the workings of a brain synapse through a light-based microscope.

Their technique let them focus at a level so infinitesimal that it was believed for centuries to be impossible with such a microscope. An electron microscope can do it, but the cells have to be cut and dried. Watching live cells at such a level is the difference, Max Planck President Peter Gruss said, between watching a flash photo and a movie.

The breakthrough by scientists under Stefan Hell at the Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany, could be Palm Beach County’s. If the state agrees to match a $94 million local contribution, Planck would bring its advances in microscopy to Jupiter to collaborate with The Scripps Research Institute….

There’s no doubt that the scientific promise of the Scripps-Planck collaboration is huge….

The key for Palm Beach County, however, is creating the for-profit businesses that can transform the region’s economy. The county is betting on the drawing power of top-flight science, but even the best science doesn’t guarantee commercialization, notes biotech skeptic Joe Cortright, co-author of a Brookings Institution study of the industry. While Scripps developed the leukemia drug, Leustatin, in San Diego, it is manufactured in New Jersey. “Academic research,” Mr. Cortright said, “is very portable.”…

54. “South Africa; Unicef Hails Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration” (Africa News, September 17, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

--BuaNews

New York - The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for greater policies and programmes to tackle the poverty, discrimination and exclusion faced by indigenous children.

This came as the organisation welcomed the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a declaration outlining the rights of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous people. UNICEF Executive Director Ann Veneman praised UN states after [they] approved the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples last week, following more than 20 years of debate….

….The majority of the 370 million indigenous people worldwide are children or adolescents, Ms Veneman said, noting that they are often among the most marginalized and vulnerable members of their societies. “In particular, UNICEF welcomes the recognition in the declaration that indigenous children sometimes need special assistance to realize the rights—to an education and to protection from exploitation, discrimination and harm—that all children possess,” she said.

Ms Veneman said it was vital that the declaration is followed by the introduction and implementation of policies and programmes to increase the opportunities available to indigenous children….

By Garance Burke, Associated Press

Kay Filice owns a small farm near Hollister. She is struggling to meet new safety guidelines. (Karen T. Borchers /MediaNews staff)

SALINAS — Government regulators never acted on calls for stepped-up inspections of leafy greens after last year’s deadly E. coli spinach outbreak, leaving the safety of America’s salads to a patchwork of largely unenforceable rules and the industry itself, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The regulations governing farms in this central California region known as the nation’s “Salad Bowl” remain much as they were when bacteria from a cattle ranch infected spinach that killed three people and sickened more than 200.

AP’s review of data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act found that federal officials inspect companies growing and processing salad greens an average of just once every 3.9 years….

Despite widespread calls for spot-testing of processing plants handling leafy greens following last year’s E. coli outbreak, California public health inspectors have not been given the authority to conduct such tests, so none have been done, the AP review found….

Public health inspectors can impose mandatory food-safety rules on the farm only after an outbreak, said Patrick Kennelly, chief of the food safety section at California’s Department of Public Health….

In March, the Bush Administration issued a draft of its guidance to minimize microbial hazards of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables.

Unlike the strict hazard-control program governing meat and poultry, the guidance included no new laws….

56. “Revealed after a 31-month fight: who gets the GBP115m farm subsidies” (The Herald and the Sunday Herald, (Glasgow, Scotland), September 16, 2007); story citing JACK THURSTON (MPP 1999).

By Environment Editor Rob Edwards

A HUNDRED of the richest farmers in Scotland have had a massive GBP115 million hand-out from the government over five years, the Sunday Herald can reveal. More than 50 farmers, including some well-known members of the landed gentry, pocketed over GBP1 million each. Five received over GBP2m each, and one received GBP3.5m.

The hand-outs have been lambasted as “galling”, “astonishing” and even “virtually Biblical” by environmentalists. But they have been defended by the farmers and landowners concerned as “nothing to be ashamed of” because of the contribution they make to the rural economy.

After two and half years of secrecy and prevarication, the Scottish government has been forced by the Scottish information commissioner, Kevin Dunion … to name those who have benefited most from agricultural subsidies in the past….

The naming of the farmers has been greeted by a chorus of criticism from environmental groups and campaigners, who have long protested over the unfairness of agricultural subsidies….

“To the rich shall be given, and from the poor will be taken away even that which they have. The growth of massive farm units reflected in these payments is a failed agriculture policy that rewards production above all else.” [The Green MSP Robin] Harper pointed out that while big grants were handed out to rich farmers, small farmers had to struggle. The point was echoed by Jack Thurston, who runs www.farmsubsidy.org, monitoring handouts under the Common Agricultural Policy across Europe.

“Politically, the policy survives on the myth that it is helping the small guy, “ Thurston said. “But the more data we see, the more it becomes clear that wealthy landowners and large agribusinesses scoop up the lion’s share.”…

By Sara Steffens, Staff Writer

Christopher Luckett gets a hug from Michelle Augenstein, executive Director of Wardrobe for Opportunity. Christopher is their 1,000th client and spoke at a formal celebration of the non-profit’s success, Friday, Sept. 14, 2007 in Oakland, CA. (Laura A. Oda/Oakland Tribune)

Christopher Luckett isn’t made of money.

So when he landed a long-sought job interview, he figured he would have to borrow a suit from his grandfather. Then a caseworker at First Place for Youth, which serves former foster youths, told him about the Oakland clothing boutique run by Wardrobe for Opportunity.

“I wasn’t expecting for it to be brand-new clothes and brand-new shoes,” admitted Luckett, a 22-year-old single father who lives in Richmond. “When I came here, I was just overwhelmed. It made me feel better about myself. I went in (to the interview) 100 percent sure that I would get the job.”

And he did: Along with raising his 4-year-old son, Luckett now works two jobs, tutoring elementary school students through AmeriCorps and teaching dance at Richmond’s Nevin Center.

… Over the past 12 years, the East Bay nonprofit has helped more than 13,000 low-income women get the professional attire they need to find and keep jobs….

Programs serving adult males aren’t the most popular sell in the world of social services, said Michelle Augenstein, executive director of Wardrobe for Opportunity. But people who meet the men who come to Wardrobe, and see their transformation, tend to be won over….

HIGHLIGHT: … UNICEF says the number of children dying before their 5th birthday has actually dropped below 10 million a year for the first time ever….

JIM CLANCY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: …Now, UNICEF says the biggest challenge is in Sub-Saharan Africa. If current trends continue, that region could account for 60 percent of children’s deaths between birth and the age of 5 by the year 2015.

UNICEF’s executive director says despite all the recent drop in child deaths, this certainly is no time for complacency. Ann Veneman says the solutions to keeping children alive are tried and tested and what we need is more action from all of us. The executive director joins us now from New York City. What do the numbers mean, Ann, in human terms?

ANN VENEMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, UNICEF: Well, as you said, they really show that progress is being made. The fact that since 1960, we’ve gone from 20 million children dying every year under the age of 5 to now under 10 million, it shows that we are making progress and we know what works.

And I really think that what we have to do going forward is to better apply what works to determine which countries and which areas aren’t getting the needed help and to really focus our efforts to achieve results all around the world. Because no child deserves to be left behind.

CLANCY: You know, when you look at the statistics, you see things like AIDS, malaria, intestinal or respiratory problems accounting for a large portion of these deaths. And yet more than half of them are one way or another linked to malnutrition.

VENEMAN: Well, that’s correct. Lack of proper nutrition contributes to 53 percent of these deaths. Now, it doesn’t cause them. But, for example, if you have malaria as a child and you are also malnourished, you’re more likely to die. And malnourishment often comes because a child does not have access to clean drinking water. So, then, gets diarrheal diseases that saps the child’s system of the proper nutrition. And so, all of these issues are linked, from clean water to nutrition to the diseases that impact children so dramatically, including pneumonia, malaria and so forth.

CLANCY: …[Th]is has been a week when we have looked at Iraq … and the future of the U.S. military there, but certainly the tragedy within the story in Iraq, has to be its children. UNICEF and others have been trying to raise funds to provide an education. A lot of these [children] can’t go to school and they are not getting the nutrition or health care they need.

VENEMAN: Well, we are very concerned about the state of children in Iraq. And we are focused on not only getting clean water and sanitation to children in Iraq and education to children in Iraq, but also there have been a number of refugees that have come over the border into Jordan, into Syria who are Iraqi children who need help. And we are working with the high commissioner for refugees to ensure that we can reach the children inside Iraq as well as those who are refugees so that they can get health care, education, and clean water and sanitation….

59. “Lost in transmission. U.S. lacks the networks to move more energy” (Orange County Register, August 30, 2007); editorial citing ROB GRAMLICH (MPP 1995).

We oppose most of what’s in the energy bills awaiting Congress’ return from recess, because they favor mandates over markets, pie in the sky over practicality and are largely disconnected from reality. But it turns out they’re disconnected in a literal sense, too.

In a case of putting the renewable-energy bandwagon before the horse, Congress might soon impose stringent renewable-energy production quotas on every utility in the country without doing anything to clear the way for a major expansion of the electric grid. These one-size-fits-all mandates—which require every utility to generate 15 percent of power from wind, solar and other “renewables” by 2020—are misguided on a number of levels. But without a concomitant expansion of the transmission system, and without the construction of conventional power plants to back up these intermittent energy sources, this amounts to a fool’s errand.

“You can build all the solar arrays or wind turbines in the world, but if you don’t have the transmission lines it does you no good,” Dan Riedinger, a spokesman for Edison Electric Institute, pointed out in a recent news story. Added Rob Gramlich of the American Wind Energy Association: “There is wide recognition in the wind industry that (lack of transmission) is our biggest long-term barrier.”…

60. “Shared duties result in better health care” (Daily Review (Hayward, CA), August 27, 2007); story citing SUSAN EHRLICH (MPP 1984).

By Suzanne Bohan, Staff Writer

There’s a glimmer of good news about reining in health care costs.

Pilot projects in two Bay Area county-run medical centers show that when doctors divvy up duties with nurses, dieticians and other health care professionals, patients’ health improves. With that improvement comes the promise of lower health care costs in the future.

The strategy goes by the unwieldy term “case management,” but it simply means that patients with conditions like heart disease, diabetes and asthma get more than just a quick visit with a doctor to manage their disease. Instead, a small team of health care professionals assemble to provide education, motivation and monitoring….

Studies show striking results from the use of case management, also called disease management. Within the Medicaid system, where it’s used more widely, case management for chronic diseases reduced costs by up to one-third, primarily through fewer ER and urgent care visits, while patients’ health improved, according to a study in Disease Management Health Outcomes….

[A San Mateo County] study found that patients whose care was augmented by case managers reduced their overall risk by 10 percent of suffering a heart attack or heart disease during the next decade….

“Policymakers, organizations and individuals want to know that the money they spend is put to good use,” said Dr. Susan Ehrlich, vice president of the San Mateo County Medical Center and director of ambulatory services. “This is the best way of showing this,” she said of the San Mateo study. The county plans to expand the use of case management in caring for medical center patients, Ehrlich emphasized.

Doctors also have to adapt to this approach….

“As physicians, we like to think we can do everything. But we can’t,” said Ehrlich.

“If I’m spending ten minutes every three or four months with a patient, I don’t have much of chance to make an impact on them,” she continued. “It really makes sense to share the management of these patients.”

Ehrlich said while some doctors in San Mateo County’s medical center embraced the concept, others initially were uncomfortable with nurses and other non-physician health care workers taking a more active role in managing patients’ chronic diseases.

“But that faded over time, because they saw the benefits,” Ehrlich said….

61. “Ferry sets early launch, $5 fare” (Honolulu Advertiser, August 25, 2007); story citing DENISE ANTOLINI (MPP 1985/JD 1986).

By Dan Nakaso and Christie Wilson - Advertiser Final

Flying in the face of possible legal action, the Hawaii Superferry will launch two days ahead of schedule tomorrow with [promotional] $5 one-way tickets for passengers and $5 one-way tickets for vehicles, the company announced yesterday.

Opponents, who plan to seek an injunction against Superferry operations on Monday, reacted angrily, saying the company is defying state laws and acting in bad faith.

“This is really a slap in the face to the residents of Hawai’i and to the state Supreme Court”—which on Thursday ruled that Superferry must conduct an environmental assessment of its operation—said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of the Sierra Club Hawai’i Chapter.

Across the state yesterday, there was wide reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision to require an environmental assessment….

Environmental law expert Denise Antolini called the ruling “historic” and “striking” both in content and for the speed with which it was delivered.

“It is highly unusual for the court to rule so quickly and firmly in a situation where the project was past the eleventh hour. It’s remarkable,” she said. “It gives me great faith in our judicial system’s ability to focus on the legal merits and to stay independent of what are obviously intense economic pressures.”

Antolini, who heads the Environmental Law Program at the University of Hawai’i’s William S. Richardson School of Law, said it was clear to her from the start that state law required an environmental review and that there was strong legal precedent for it.

“There was absolutely no way this project should be exempt in view of the scope of the project and its cumulative impacts. The Hawai’i Supreme Court ruled very early in the history of the EIS law that the focus of the law is to broadly look at the secondary and cumulative impacts of a project, and that that broad look means you cannot fit a camel through the eye of a needle, and that’s what the Superferry was trying to do, saying these are just little projects when they were obviously very large projects.”

A 1981 Hawai’i Supreme Court ruling in a case involving a water transmission project and the Moloka’i Homesteaders Cooperative clearly set the role of the environmental review law as covering the secondary impacts and socioeconomic consequences of major projects, said Antolini, who worked for the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund before joining the UH faculty 11 years ago….

“The court has a 25-year tradition of being protective of Hawai’i’s fragile environment and enforcing the environmental review law, but in a case like this where the stakes were really high and the ferry had already arrived, it put the court in a very difficult position. The decision reaffirms our faith in the court that they would stick to the law.”…

By Chen May Yee - Staff Writer

Three years ago, a Minnesota health insurer said it would stop paying for things that should never happen to patient in a hospital, such as leaving a sponge in the body after surgery….

Now Medicare officials are taking a leaf out of Bloomington-based HealthPartners’ playbook. Starting next year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will stop paying for eight hospital-associated conditions widely seen as preventable.

Medicare not only is rolling out the controversial concept nationwide, it’s including common hospital infections that affect a much wider swath of patients. The money Medicare hopes to save isn’t a lot—just $20 million a year from its budget of $400 billion. But it’s a significant shift from the usual tactic of paying hospitals and physicians bonuses for sticking to medical guidelines and may prod private insurers to follow suit.

After the policy was announced, HealthPartners received inquiries for information from state agencies and health plans around the country, [Babette Apland, senior vice president for health and care management at HealthPartners] said. HealthPartners officials met several times with Medicare and the Leapfrog Group, a health quality coalition of big employers, to share their experience, she said….

In Minnesota, some of the initial dismay has dissipated.

“Hospitals have fully embraced the notion that no one should pay for these events…,” said Bruce Rueben, president of the Minnesota Hospital Association and an early critic of the HealthPartners policy….

“This is just a baby step in trying to connect how we pay for health care and the quality of that care,” said Suzanne Delbanco, chief executive of the Leapfrog Group in Washington. “It’s highly likely it will expand over time.”

63. “Hit the books, guys!” (Walton Tribune (Monroe, GA), August 15, 2007); column citing CARL PATTON (MPP/PhD 1976).

By Danny Daniels

…A dedicated group of Georgia State alumni and friends, called the First Team, has formed to assist the athletic department in promoting the possible addition of football at Georgia State University.

In April, President Carl Patton named Georgia native and former Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Reeves as the school’s football consultant to gauge the level of interest and see if the financial support would match the emotional support….

First Team members will be reaching out to the masses to match other alumni and friends’ interest with actual pledges. This is a grass roots initiative to capitalize on the strength in numbers of Georgia State alumni. GSU is the second largest institution in Georgia….

64. “New funds will help county’s uninsured” (San Mateo County Times, August 15, 2007); story citing SUSAN EHRLICH (MPP 1984).

By Rebekah Gordon, Staff Writer

REDWOOD CITY — A federal grant of more than $31 million for San Mateo County will fund the pilot phase of its initiative to provide health care coverage for the uninsured this fall.

The pilot, like the county’s larger health care coverage initiative for about 40,000 uninsured adults, will focus on proactive care to keep people with complex, chronic conditions—such as diabetes—out of emergency rooms.

“Ambulatory medicine in our country is based on the 10- to 15-minute visit, where people come in for their acute problems; we try to fix them and then they leave,” said Dr. Susan Ehrlich, vice president and medical director of ambulatory services for the medical center. “This model is really turned around. We are focusing on actively managing a population of people with chronic illnesses, anticipating their needs before they come in.”…

The $31 million was awarded by the California Department of Health Services’ Health Care Coverage Initiative, a state program that was given $180 million by the federal government to help counties expand health care access.

Seventeen counties in the state applied; San Mateo was one of 10 selected.

The county will receive a little over $10 million a year for three years. Ehrlich said about $7.5 million will be used for direct services—such as salaries for workers and medical supplies—and about $2.5 million for administration….

65. “Small jets, more trips worsen airport delays” (Associated Press Financial Wire, August 13, 2007); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983).

By Scott McCartney, The Wall Street Journal

…The nation’s air-travel system approached gridlock early this summer, with more than 30 percent of June flights late, by an average of 62 minutes. The mess revved up a perennial debate about whether billions of dollars should be spent to modernize the air-traffic control system. But one cause of airport crowding and flight delays is receiving scant attention. Airlines increasingly bring passengers into jammed airports on smaller airplanes. That means using more flights and increasing the congestion at airports and in the skies around them….

Aircraft numbers tell the tale: U.S. airlines grounded a net 385 large planes from 2000 through 2006 but they added 1,029 regional jets says data firm Airline Monitor….

Searching for a new remedy, the FAA last year proposed minimum average sizes for the planes that fly into and out of La Guardia….

Another proposal: Change the structure of landing fees….

Yet another idea is to tie landing fees to the level of demand through the day, so they’d cost more at peak hours. This would encourage airlines to spread out flights and use bigger planes, says Dorothy Robyn, a consultant at Brattle Group and former aviation adviser in the Clinton administration. She says the current system “guarantees overuse of the air-traffic-control system because airlines aren’t charged the true cost.”…

By Tom Pelton - Sun reporter

Eric Carlson sells an invisible commodity: the soothing of guilt over global warming. And these days, business is hot.

His Maryland-based nonprofit organization, Carbonfund.org, which acts as a middleman for donors who want to reduce greenhouse-gas pollution, saw its revenue jump 20-fold last year, to $850,000….

The industry works this way: People who feel bad about the carbon dioxide pollution created by their lifestyles—for example, flying across the country or driving to the beach—give donations to Carbonfund or other groups, which in turn passes the money on to pollution-fighting projects. In return, donors get bumper stickers proclaiming they’ve done their part to “fight climate change.”…

But the growth of this new enterprise hasn’t come without criticism, both of Carbonfund’s specific claims and the broader idea of paying someone else instead of cutting your own energy consumption and pollution.

One complaint is that Carbonfund tends to make small donations to multimillion-dollar alternative energy projects years after they’re already built and running. This raises questions about whether Carbonfund’s donations are really achieving anything to reduce carbon dioxide, as the donors intended….

Chris Busch, an economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that Carbonfund should not claim it is reducing carbon dioxide pollution when it gives money to alternative energy projects that would have been built anyway, without its money.

“There’s no way that can be an offset,” he said about Carbonfund’s contributions to these projects. “An offset is a project that wouldn’t have happened otherwise without the offset funding. ... This is the problem generally with carbon offsets - there are all sorts of claims about them, and a lack of verification.”…

67. “Water or War” (New York Sun, August 1, 2007); commentary by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

By MITCHELL BARD

The supply of water is a matter of life and death, war and peace for the peoples of the Middle East. Israel is likely to face a shortage of water for drinking and for agriculture because of recurrent droughts, an increase in consumption, and pollution. Moreover, territorial compromise with its neighbors could put as much as half its water supply at risk. This makes securing its existing supplies and developing new ones vital for its future prosperity. Consequently, water is a key element of any peace negotiation, but it is widely neglected in the public debate.

Syria’s foreign minister has said that “Israel has no right even to a single drop of water.” If Syria controlled the Golan Heights, it could divert water flowing into the Sea of Galilee, which supplies about 25% of Israel’s water. The effort to do so between 1965 and 1966 was one of the causes of the Six-Day War….

Israel’s water security is further threatened by the fact that the mountain aquifer, which supplies another 25% of Israel’s water, including most of the drinking water for the major cities, is partially located in the West Bank….

To secure its water future, Israel would need to maintain control over three West Bank regions comprising 20% of the land. In return, Israel has said it is prepared to give up control of the mountain aquifer. This would make Israel dependent on the goodwill of the Palestinians to protect the quality of the water and to ensure that Israel continues to receive sufficient water to meet its needs….

King Hussein of Jordan once warned that the one issue that could lead him to go to war again is water….

To insure that water does not become a flashpoint for conflict, however, negotiations among Israel and its neighbors must take into account water security. Their lives depend on it.

Mr. Bard is the executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, director of the Jewish Virtual Library, and one of the leading authorities on U.S.-Middle East policy. He has written and edited 18 books including “Will Israel Survive?” recently released.

68. “Sizing up your hospital - Online data reveal how its practices rate” (Chicago Sun-Times, July 22, 2007); story citing SUZANNE DELBANCO (MPP/MPH 1994; PhD 1999).

By Theo Francis; Wall Street Journal

Amid a broad push to bring more accountability to the U.S. health care system, consumers have access to a growing range of data on hospital quality.

Now, the federal government, state agencies and several private entities are stepping up their push for greater ‘‘transparency’’ on hospital practices….

Perhaps the biggest category of data involves so-called best practices. Such data -- available from a variety of public and private entities -- track whether hospitals adhere to recommended guidelines for certain procedures….

The Leapfrog Group, a not-for-profit consortium of big health care buyers like General Motors Corp., provides hospital ratings that are available to the public at www.leapfroggroup.org. Like Medicare’s, many ratings focus on process rather than outcomes, but it collects some data of its own and analyzes 30 different practices at about 1,300 hospitals. Measures include whether hospital procedures consistently encourage hand-washing, whether specialized doctors and nurses staff intensive-care units, and whether doctors enter orders electronically in an effort to avoid errors.

The assumption is that hospitals with the best practices will provide the best care, chief executive Suzanne Delbanco says. The group also tracks how hospitals handle ‘‘never events’’—mistakes that should never happen, like a newborn abduction or amputating the wrong leg—but it doesn’t track how often such events occur. ‘‘We’re not counting problems,’’ Delbanco says….

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “CEOs creating value—for themselves” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], October 31, 2007); Listen to commentary

ROBERT REICH: If you were to look at the highest-paid one-half of one percent of Americans, whom do you imagine you’d find? Well, according to a study by University of Chicago professors Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh, the fact is, you’d find more than twice as many Wall Street financiers as corporate executives.

… If you believe pay is a measure of someone’s economic value, you might think Wall Street’s top brass contributes more to the economy….

But you might want to think again. Last week, Merrill Lynch stunned investors by announcing a $7.9 billion write-down of bonds backed by subprime mortgages—billions more than the company had forecast earlier this month. Then yesterday, Merrill’s top guy, Stan O’Neal, was sacked.

But don’t cry for him—he’ll get $250 million dollars severance, $40 million more than Robert Nardelli’s severance after Home Depot’s shares plunged. Even when it comes to being fired, it seems Wall Street’s top brass do better than regular CEOs….

RYSSDAL: Robert Reich was the secretary of labor during the first Clinton Administration. He’s a professor of public policy at [UC] Berkeley now. His latest book is called Supercapitalism.

2. “Nuclear power industry gets recharged” (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], October 29, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to this story

Steam billows from the cooling towers at Exelon’s nuclear power generating station in Byron, Ill. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

After years of resistance from the public, the nuclear industry is attempting a comeback. It has already won $12 billion in taxpayer subsidies and is pushing for even more. Sarah Gardner reports….

Sarah Gardner: The industry wants to expand loan guarantees for so-called “clean energy” power in the Energy Act of 2005. That program was originally limited to $2 billion—nuclear lobbyists are now pushing for $50 billion….

Wall Street has lobbied for generous loan guarantees for nuclear power as well. Lenders don’t want to get stuck holding the bag if a nuclear project falters. Of course, one of the biggest gifts Congress could give the nuclear industry, says U.C. Berkeley’s Dan Kammen, is a tax on carbon.

Dan Kammen: In that context a nuclear plant looks like a far better deal than almost anything else.

Nuclear reactors don’t emit greenhouse gases, and more policy makers now sing nuclear’s praises as an effective way to fight global warming….

3. “What Every Child Needs” (New York Times, October 28, 2007); op-ed citing DAVID KIRP; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/magazine/28wwln-lede-t.html

By Ann Hulbert

In the early 1990s, I was taken aback to overhear my 3-year-old son insisting to his 6-year-old cousin that he went to “ABC school,” not to day care, as she condescendingly referred to it…. I had no idea where he got that term, or when he decided his educational credentials needed upgrading. And, given that alphabet drills weren’t in fact part of the program, I wasn’t sure what he was really boasting about.

But with universal prekindergarten (UPK) emerging as a campaign issue, it’s now clear to me that he was a kid ahead of his time. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have recently joined a chorus of early-childhood-education advocates, governors, foundations and social activists who have been promoting the cause in notably wonky, rather than warm and cuddly, terms. Calling for an overhaul of the current patchwork of uneven preschool programs, UPK proponents invoke neuroscientific evidence of brain growth rather than child-care needs…,

The hardheaded rhetoric conveys an important message: expanding access to early education is serious business, not baby stuff…. Yet aligning with an ethos of no-nonsense academics inspires uneasiness among UPK crusaders themselves, as the Berkeley professor Bruce Fuller points out in “Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle Over Early Education.” …

It is a vexed question for liberal universalists, since the answer tends to vary by, among other things, economic class. In families at the well-educated top of the heap, where books and big vocabularies abound, parents have long gravitated to the “whole child” end of the pedagogical spectrum, as [Berkeley professor] David Kirp notes in his recent manifesto for the cause, “The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics.” For their offspring, already steeped in ABC stuff, they generally favor an emphasis on individualized exploration and creative classroom collaboration to promote social and emotional growth. That entails having well-trained teachers at hand to comment and facilitate, like attentive parents, rather than overtly direct. Not cheap, it’s what many child experts consider developmentally correct….

Nobody wants a two-tiered system, which isn’t likely to narrow the achievement gap, or a rigid one-size-fits-all system, either…. Kirp and others pragmatically hope that in a universal system that includes well-off families, there would be built-in demand for a developmentally sensitive preschool, which is arguably icing on the cake for the affluent but especially beneficial for those who lag behind. Those parents’ political clout, moreover, would make budgets harder to cut….

By Doug Oakley - Staff Writer

Berkeley is hoping to become a model for cities nationwide with a plan to bankroll homeowners who want to install solar energy systems.

Mayor Tom Bates will introduce the concept, called the Sustainable Energy Financing District, to the City Council on Nov. 6. If the council approves it, the district could become reality by the middle or end of next year, said Bates’ chief of staff, Cisco DeVries, who came up with the idea.

Berkeley would pay the upfront costs of installing solar systems and energy-efficient upgrades to a home or business. The owner would pay it back over 20 years as an add-on to property taxes. Homeowners would be charged interest, but DeVries said the rates will be lower than what a bank would charge….

“You are borrowing money from the city, and the city is getting repaid through property taxes; that’s how you would experience it as a homeowner,” DeVries said. “Our goal is to make putting solar on your house as cost-effective as paying your utility bill.”…

Dan Kammen, director of UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, which does analysis and research in renewable energy, called the Berkeley plan “incredibly clever.”

“There’s no question that the big issue for solar is the big upfront cost,” Kammen said. “This will allow you to spread it out over your property taxes.”

Kammen said it’s a “big hassle” to get a loan from a bank to install solar because $15,000 and $20,000 loans are small potatoes for banks.

“This is a loan that is much more accessible,” Kammen said. “And I think the mayor’s assessment is right, that if the upfront cost goes away, we’re going to see a huge wave of solar energy and efficiency projects.”

By Raja Jagadeesan, M.D. - ABC News Medical Unit

Clinton and Giuliani

(AP Photo)

If faces are any indication, the 2008 campaign may already be over….

People who are shown candidates’ faces for less than one second can correctly predict the winner of gubernatorial and senatorial races significantly better than chance alone, according to a new study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In the study, performed by researchers at Princeton University, between 64 and 120 undergraduate students were enrolled in each of several experiments. They were asked to look briefly at pictures of two gubernatorial or senatorial candidates they did not know….

Psychological experts not affiliated with the study agreed that voters may indeed—either consciously or subconsciously—be powerfully influenced by a candidate’s appearance.

“These findings confirm that a significant portion of electoral judgments—and, therefore, choices—are not based on rational, deliberative assessments of the most important factors, such as a candidate’s record and policy positions,” said Jack Glaser, assistant professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. “Rather, they are, to a substantial degree, based on inferences made from superficial characteristics of candidates.”…

“The burden needs to be placed on the voter, the campaigns and the media to provide good information about candidates so people can make choices based on substance, and not physical appearance,” said Glaser. “And until that happens, we can keep expecting candidates to spend $200 on their haircuts—that’s the rational thing for them to do in this environment.”

6. “It’s the economy” (Boston Globe, October 21, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/10/21/its_the_economy/

By Robert Weisman, Globe Staff

In a presidential campaign so far dominated by war and security, pocketbook concerns are commanding more attention from candidates and voters alike as the economy softens and financial pressures grow on many families.

Republican candidates tussled over taxes and trade at a Michigan debate Oct. 9….

At the same time, leading Democrats have been reaching out to voters squeezed by financial hardship. New York Senator Hillary Clinton proposed incentives for retirement and college savings along with relief for homeowners facing foreclosure, while Illinois Senator Barack Obama called for closing some corporate loopholes and overhauling the tax code to give poor and middle-class taxpayers $85 billion in relief.

The focus on the economy comes as a national slowdown, marked by high energy prices, tight credit, and a pullback in consumer spending, has fueled recession jitters. “If the economy cools, it could be the number one issue,” said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, public policy professor at the University of California at Berkeley….

Among Democrats, free trade differences have narrowed as the quickening pace of outsourcing and painful contract concessions by auto unions have underscored the threat of jobs shifting abroad.

Clinton and Obama, while continuing to defend free trade, have joined “fair trade” advocate John Edwards … in questioning the impact of trade pacts on US workers. With growing numbers of would-be voters from both parties expressing similar qualms, “the polls are very clear that Americans no longer believe in free trade,” said Reich….

By Celia W. Dugger

Farmers assisted by the aid organization CARE weighing their pineapple crop in Kenya. Evelyn Hockstein for The New York Times

For the first time in a quarter century, the World Bank’s flagship annual report on development puts agriculture and the productivity of small farmers at the heart of a global agenda to reduce poverty. Three-quarters of the world’s poor still live in the countryside.

The World Development Report, released yesterday, is the first on agriculture since 1982….

Foreign aid for agriculture has plunged as support for global health and primary education has surged…. But most poor Africans make their living in agriculture and need to grow more to feed themselves and earn their way out of destitution, many analysts say.

“We’re not saying health and education aren’t important,” said Alain de Janvry, one of two authors of the report, “Agriculture for Development,” who has taught agricultural economics [and public policy] at the University of California, Berkeley, for 40 years. “But if you look at Africa, there’s no alternative to agriculture as a source of growth.”…

The 365-page report was conceived before the arrival of the bank’s new president, Robert B. Zoellick, but he embraced its themes yesterday in Washington, while acknowledging the recent critical evaluation of the bank’s own performance….

Derek Byerlee, an agricultural economist with the bank who wrote the report with Professor de Janvry, said at a panel discussion yesterday that the United States’ subsidies to cotton growers were “directly and negatively impacting African farmers.”

Professor de Janvry said the report was not meant to settle the complicated and difficult policy questions, but “to change the conversation.”

8. “World Bank rural poverty drive” (Financial Times, October 19 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/647d82f2-7e6f-11dc-8fac-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

By Chris Giles in Washington

Agriculture will again become a priority of World Bank research and lending, the institution said on Friday after its annual World Development Report concluded that improving growth in rural areas was by far the best way of reducing poverty among the world’s poorest people.

In the 1990s, agriculture fell out fashion among those directing support for the poor. The proportion of development aid targeted at the agricultural sector fell from 17 per cent in the early 1980s to 3.4 per cent in 2004, while the proportion of World Bank financing for rural areas similarly fell from 30 per cent to 10 per cent over the same period.

This was a mistake, the World Bank now believes. Currently 75 per cent of the world’s poor—those with less than $1 a day—live in rural areas, while only 4 per cent of overseas development assistance goes to the poor. This was described as a “striking discrepancy” by Professor Alain de Janvry, one of the report’s authors.

The World Bank’s new attitude to agriculture comes as rapid growth in poor countries has not always reduced poverty as much as hoped. The reason, according to the report, was that economic growth originating in agriculture was about four times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in other sectors….

[The World Development Report coauthored by Alain de Janvry was also reported in The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal.]

9. “World Bank moves to boost lending to agriculture sector” (BusinessWorld, October 22, 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY.

Washington - The World Bank has renewed its interest in lending to the agriculture sector as it noted that robust economic growth in developing countries, including the Philippines, had failed to reduce poverty and uplift the poor….

Alain de Janvry, one of the report’s authors, noted that the Philippines’ buoyant economic growth has failed to trickle down to the rural poor.

“We see in a sense a tremendous resilience of rural poverty in spite of the fact that there is economic growth which is going on in other sectors,” Mr. Janvry said….

The Philippines, a formerly agriculture-based economy, has posted an impressive growth of 7.3% in the first half—the best in 20 years—mainly driven by consumption, government spending and the booming services sector.

“So the question is why is it that those populations don’t move on, and what we need to do in a sense is create more opportunities in the rural areas for those populations to find gainful employment and new investment opportunities, which can be in smallholder farming,” Mr. Janvry said.

He noted a “very little effort” on the part of the government to regulate and implement regulations in agriculture in the rural labor markets.

“The rural labor market has to perform better. It tends to be very informal. It tends to be unregulated. It has child labor. Working conditions are very hard,” Mr. Janvry said.

10. “Africa; Agriculture for Development” (Africa News, October 23, 2007); story citing ALAIN DE JANVRY.

The World Bank has called for greater investment in agriculture in Africa and warns that the sector must be placed in the centre of the region’s development agenda if the goals of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, are to be realized.

Titled ‘Agriculture for Development,’ the report says the need for action is especially urgent in Sub-Saharan Africa, where agricultural productivity growth has lagged behind other regions. Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa employs 65 percent of the labor force and generates 32 percent of GDP growth….

The agriculture for development agenda also requires rich countries to amend policies that harm the poor. For example, it is vital that the rich countries reduce subsidies that hinder African cotton exports. And the report says rich countries that have been the major contributors to global warming urgently need to do more to help poor farmers to adapt to climate change.

“Africa’s own agricultural revolution must cater to very diverse rain-fed farming systems and simultaneously improve technologies, institutions, and markets,” said Alain de Janvry, Co-Team leader of the report and professor of agricultural economics [and public policy] at UC Berkeley. He cited irrigation in Nigeria (small scale) and Mali (large scale), multiple uses for cassava in West Africa, cotton in Zambia, and horticulture and dairy in Kenya, as good examples of local successes which can be scaled up….

Willie Brown - Former Mayor, City of San Francisco

Henry Brady - Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley

Susan Clark - Executive Director, Common Knowledge

Carla Marinucci - Political Writer, San Francisco Chronicle

...From now through November, 2008, many voters in California will go to the polls four times, to decide on local, state and national issues as well as candidates, from mayors to the next president. From healthcare and housing, the environment and education, to the war in Iraq, what are the issues that bring voters out to the polls? Why will others stay home? ...

Since the 2000 presidential election, many have become suspicious of the voting process itself; particularly paperless, electronic voting machines that they fear are unreliable, uncertified and vulnerable to tampering. This has contributed to an increase in early voting using absentee ballots and campaign organizers have had to adjust their tactics by putting more emphasis on the earlier stages of their campaigns. At the same time, party activists are adjusting to the wave of early presidential primaries and the possibility of “election fatigue” among voters during this election season.

By Robert Frank

Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life. By Robert Reich. 272 pages. $25. Alfred A. Knopf.

…The supply of moral outrage is limited. When we aim it at the wrong targets, we squander a valuable resource. In “Supercapitalism,” Robert B. Reich argues that the current political debate in the United States is drowning in misdirected moral outrage. We cannot hope to solve our problems, he says, without first understanding the forces that have caused them.

Reich, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and formerly President Clinton’s secretary of labor, is quick to concede that rising inequality, environmental degradation and a dysfunctional health care system are problems worth worrying about. But he argues that social critics are wrong to attribute them to increased greed and corruption. Today’s corporate and political leaders are no different, he says, from their earlier counterparts. What has changed is that new technology has made the economic environment dramatically more competitive….

If our social ills are indeed rooted in increased competition, our only recourse, Reich argues, is to change the rules. Denouncing greed is simply wasted energy. If we want less inequality, we must make taxes more progressive. If we want cleaner air and water, we must adopt more stringent environmental laws….

Why hasn’t government stepped in? Again, Reich fingers greater competition as the culprit. Once some companies discovered they could gain an edge by influencing government decisions in their favor, rivals had little choice but to join the fray….

…[T]oday’s presidential candidates should study his message carefully. “Keeping supercapitalism from spilling over into democracy,” he writes, “is the only constructive agenda for change.” All else is “frolic and detour.”

“Supercapitalism” is a grand debunking of the conventional wisdom in the style of John Kenneth Galbraith….

It’s often useful to get angry when things aren’t going well. But moral outrage is counterproductive unless directed at the right targets. By focusing our attention on those who continue to block effective campaign finance reform, Reich shows that he can spot a worthy target when he sees one.

Robert Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University, is the author, most recently, of “Falling Behind” [based on his Aaron Wildavsky Forum presentation at the Goldman School of Public Policy].

By Ruth Rosen

The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis

By Reese Erlich

Polipoint Press; 192 Pages; $14.95 Paperback

…Most Americans know very little about Iranian history, including the fact that Iran is Persian, not Arabic. Also little known is that the CIA funded and engineered a coup in 1953 against Mohammed Mossadegh, a democratically elected leader chosen by Time magazine as Man of the Year just two years earlier. In his place, the United States installed the Shah of Iran, who turned over 50 percent of Iranian oil production to U.S. oil companies.

Iranians have never forgotten that America violated its own democratic principles in order to control Iran’s oil. It was against the shah’s brutal reign, his lavish conspicuous consumption and his role as an American puppet that large parts of the population staged a coup in 1979 and took over the American Embassy.

When the Bush administration came to power, the goal of many neoconservatives, according to officials who spoke with Erlich, was regime change in Iran—after, that is, they had completed regime change in Iraq. That is why Iran was dubbed part of the “axis of evil.” They wanted to topple the current leaders and to install, once again, an American ally who would allow the United States to dominate access to the region’s oil….

Ruth Rosen, the author of the revised and updated book “The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America” (Penguin), is a visiting professor of history and public policy at UC Berkeley.

By Louise Bedsworth

California has set some extraordinary goals in its venture to reduce global warming. And, as is often the case, the rest of the country is watching to see how things unfold. As a global leader in environmental regulation and technology, the success—or failure—of the climate change policies Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature have put in place could resonate worldwide….

Luckily, California does have some models to follow. The Global Warming Act is not the first time the state has faced the challenge of achieving radical innovation. In fact, California is home to a unique program whose primary focus has been on radical innovation in the passenger vehicle sector.

In 1990, the California Air Resources Board adopted the Zero-Emission Vehicle program. The ZEV program differed from previous regulations in two important ways. First, rather than requiring an incremental reduction in vehicle emissions, the regulation required a total elimination of tailpipe emissions to zero. Such a reduction requires a fundamental change in vehicle fuels and technology rather than add-on emission control devices. Second, the ZEV mandate included a sales requirement: Automakers were required to have zero-emission vehicles make up a defined portion of their new vehicle sales. By 2003, 10 percent of new cars sold in the state would have been zero-emission vehicles under the original ZEV mandate.

The dearth of zero-emission vehicles on the roads today is evidence that the ZEV program has not achieved its initial technology goal. Vehicle batteries failed to achieve cost and performance targets that made battery-electric vehicles … untenable as a mass-market offering. Despite this, the program has managed to achieve environmental benefits in line with what was originally envisioned for the program. The ZEV mandate is currently being met through a combination of extremely clean conventional vehicles and a smaller number of conventional vehicles that incorporate advanced technology such as hybrid electric vehicles….

These types of uncertainty are bound to arise as the state moves ahead with its programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Emission reduction programs need to be designed to send strong demand signals to producers of new technology. But, these programs must be sufficiently flexible to handle the uncertainty in technology development.

Louise Bedsworth is a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Her recent publication [coauthored with Margaret Taylor], “Learning from California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Program,” is available at www.ppic.org. ]

Peg Skorpinski photo

BERKELEY – Several University of California, Berkeley professors have contributed to a United Nations international climate change organization that is sharing the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. The prize was announced Friday morning (Oct. 12).

From Berkeley, Inez Fung, a professor of atmospheric science and co-director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of the Environment; William D. Collins, a professor of earth and planetary science; Norm Miller, an adjunct professor of geography; and Dan Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group and the Goldman School of Public Policy and co-director of UC Berkeley’s Institute of the Environment, are among more than 2,000 scientists worldwide who have conducted groundbreaking research for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The IPCC was established in 1988 and has issued three major studies that analyzed climate change causes, impacts and what can be done about it.

“All the scientists that have contributed to the work of the IPCC are the Nobel laureates who have been recognized and acknowledged by the Nobel Prize Committee,” Rajendra Pachauri, the Indian engineer and energy expert who chairs the panel, told the Associated Press.

Kammen has been a key figure in multiple areas of energy research here at Berkeley including the $500 million Energy Biosciences Institute….

16. “Research, politics transform universal preschool movement” (Sacramento Bee, October 14, 2007); commentary by DAVID KIRP; http://www.sacbee.com/325/story/429794.html

By David L. Kirp - Special to The Bee

A third of a century ago, President Richard Nixon vetoed legislation that would have underwritten child care for everyone. “No communal approaches to child rearing,” Nixon vowed, playing to his constituency. When then-Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt made kids’ issues the centerpiece of his state-of-the-state address in 1988, the press ridiculed him for serving up a “dish of quiche” rather than the “meat and potatoes” of government….

How times have changed. Across the country, ambitious statesmen from both sides of the political aisle are now borrowing from Babbitt’s playbook….A recent national survey found that 87 percent of the populace supports public funding to guarantee every 3- and 4-year-old access to a top-notch preschool.

Americans resonate to the theme of “no second-rate children, no second-rate dreams,” focus groups report, which is why President Bush repeatedly used that line in his presidential campaigns. Bush’s rhetoric turned out to be just that, however, as his recent veto of the state child care and health program legislation, or SCHIP, confirms. Universal preschool has not been on the federal agenda….

“Preschool for all” makes a great slogan. But will it be more than a slogan? Will it be of high quality or run on the cheap? …

Despite the best efforts of the lobbying groups and the overwhelming support registered in the polls, children’s needs aren’t high on the American political agenda…

Much of the argument for preschool has been based on evidence such as the brain research. But the fundamental political choices, which go beyond the rhetoric to reveal who we are as a nation, are rooted in values rather than analytics. An artful leader knows how to talk about values in a language that doesn’t come off as preachy or hypocritical, how to translate theories about how the world ought to be working into commonsense concepts of what government out to be doing.

This is the smart politics of the heart, and it can change people’s minds.

David Kirp, a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, is the author of the newly published book, “The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics,” from which this article is adapted.

By John Ritter, USA TODAY

Traffic flows into downtown Los Angeles last August. Photo: Kim D. Johnson/AP

SAN FRANCISCO — Make big-rig trucks more aerodynamic. Allow docked ships to shut off engines and plug into electrical outlets. Require oil-change technicians to check tire pressure….

Sleeker trucks, ships that don’t idle in port and proper tire inflation don’t seem earthshaking, but each would be a small step toward reaching California’s ambitious goal—spelled out in its landmark 2006 law—of producing fewer greenhouse gases, which most scientists believe cause the planet to warm….

The law says California must slash greenhouse gases 25% by 2020. This month’s nine proposed rules, plus three others approved in June, could achieve 10% of the target, the [California Air Resources Board] says….

In the legislative battle over the state law, supporters argued that a crackdown on greenhouse gases would stimulate new technologies and make California a global center of clean, efficient energy.

“We think they overstated the virtues of climate-change regulation and the business that would follow it,” [California Chamber of Commerce Vice President Dominic] DiMare says. “It wasn’t supported by strong evidence.”

Others disagree. “The more we get serious about this, the more we’ll start to build better technologies and then start selling them,” says Dan Kammen, a University of California, Berkeley energy professor. “There’s a huge global market now for clean technology.”…

18. “How capitalism broke politics” (Financial Times, October 8, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/918f288a-7538-11dc-892d-0000779fd2ac.html

By Clive Crook

Robert Reich, secretary of labour under Bill Clinton, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and irrepressible political pundit, sets out to answer these questions in his thoughtful and often surprising new book: “Why has capitalism become so triumphant and democracy so enfeebled? Are these two trends connected? What, if anything, can be done to strengthen democracy?”

In Washington, Reich was a liberal outsider in a stridently pro-business administration. He was usually ignored—Locked in the Cabinet , as the title of his earlier memoir put it. His thinking has moved on. There is plenty in Supercapitalism to make old-school liberals splutter. Much of what Reich now says is even correct.

“Supercapitalism” is his term for heightened competition, innovation and global integration. He pays tribute to its awesome productivity, calling it a triumph for consumers and investors. But as “citizens seeking the common good”, he argues, Americans have fared less well. Dominant firms have retreated; unions have withered; regulators have been emasculated; economic insecurity reigns. Worse, money and market forces have spilled into politics, corrupting it. “Thus did supercapitalism replace democratic capitalism.”…

19. “Fuels of the Future: How Far Down the Road?” (Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, NPR, October 5, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; listen to the program

Corn-based ethanol, biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol—they’re all ways to try to reduce our dependence on oil. But how close are we to growing enough fuel to make a difference? Guests discuss the future of alternative energy and biofuels.

Guests:

Dan Kammen, co-director, Berkeley Institute of the Environment; professor, Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley….

--Charles Burress, Chronicle Staff Writer

Accusing UC Berkeley of selling out to the oil industry, about 40 protesters with a makeshift, 8-foot-high Trojan horse demonstrated on campus Thursday against the $500 million contract between petroleum giant BP and a research partnership headed by Cal….

The target of the protest is the 10-year BP-UC deal, announced in February, that would fund research into biofuels and sources of cleaner and more economical energy….

[David Zilberman, director of the Center for Sustainable Resource Development and host of the conference on biofuels and agriculture] said the university’s expertise can help solve major problems facing the world and that academic-corporate cooperation can not only support needed research that the university lacks money to conduct but also enable the research to have a real-world impact….

Dan Kammen, a professor in the campus Energy and Resources Group and a key organizer of the EBI project, said he sympathizes with many points raised by protesters and that the contract with BP should respect “the issues of open access, and a research agenda set by university researchers, not simply a private company.”…

By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writer

To hear environmentalists tell it, investing in renewable energy won’t just provide a clean source of power, it will create an explosion of new jobs.

Estimates of just how many jobs our push to go green may generate vary widely, and not all economists believe that there really will be any kind of “green job” boom....

But the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California Berkeley thinks the boom will deliver something more along the lines of one million new jobs by 2020....

In addition, they say, these jobs will won’t get outsourced.

“We’re not going to import biofuel from Saudi Arabia,” said Dan Kammen, a professor in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California Berkeley....

--Robert Collier

Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility

By Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger (Houghton Mifflin; 344 Pages; $25)

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming

By Bjorn Lomborg (Knopf; 253 Pages; $21)

For a while earlier this year, it seemed the debate over global warming might be over. Al Gore became a superstar, and conservatives were starting to concede defeat in their attempts to deny the scientific evidence of climate change.

Now, as the Democrat-led Congress considers a variety of legislation to reduce energy use and spur alternative energy development, a new counterattack appears to be brewing from the right and even sectors of the left. This time, opponents are regrouping under the banner of “we’re environmentalists, too.” Global warming is real, they say, but let’s not get carried away with doing anything too fast. Just get used to it, and adapt to the hotter world as much as your wallet can afford.

Intellectual cover for this argument comes in two angry new books that are likely to get considerable attention among the chattering classes—”Cool It,” by Bjorn Lomborg, and “Break Through,” by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger. In each case, the authors are reprising their earlier success as enfants terribles of the anti-environmentalist cause....

Robert Collier is a visiting scholar at the Center for Environmental Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

By Robert B. REICH

THIS year’s charitable donations are expected to total more than $200 billion, a record. But a big portion of this impressive sum—especially from the wealthy, who have the most to donate—is going to culture palaces: operas, art museums, symphonies and theaters where the wealthy spend much of their leisure time….

This year, for instance, the U.S. Treasury will be receiving about $40 billion less than it would if the tax code didn’t allow for charitable deductions….

It turns out that only an estimated 10 percent of all charitable deductions are directed at the poor. So here’s a modest proposal. At a time when the number of needy continues to rise, when government doesn’t have the money to do what’s necessary for them and when America’s very rich are richer than ever, we should revise the tax code: Focus the charitable deduction on real charities.

If the donation goes to an institution or agency set up to help the poor, the donor gets a full deduction.

If the donation goes somewhere else—to an art palace, a university, a symphony or any other nonprofit — the donor gets to deduct only half of the contribution.

Robert Reich, author of “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life,” was secretary of Labor under President Clinton and teaches at the University of California, Berkeley.

24. “Letter to the Editor: On reporting fee increases” (Berkeleyan, October 3, 2007); by LARRY ROSENTHAL (MPP 1993/PhD 2000); http://www.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2007/10/03_letter.shtml

The topic of fee increases is a sensitive one for a great public university….

The anonymous article in the Berkeleyan’s Sept. 27 issue … about the recent decision by the UC regents to increase fees for students in professional-degree programs states that professional-degree fees in the UC system will remain well below those of most such programs. The article goes to great lengths to justify the necessity of the increases in budgetary terms.

Rather than debate these official pronouncements on their merits, the Berkeleyan instead opted to critique them on the cheap. I speak of the “sticker-shock guide” box on page 6 [and front page] of that issue….

… The editors of the newspaper apparently question whether UC’s professional-degree programs remain a substantial bargain. After all, purchasers of bargain goods and services—excellent quality at relatively low prices—experience sticker delight, not sticker shock.

Perhaps the newspaper welcomes neither the content of this news item nor the manner of its impersonal byline. Whatever the case, there are more forthright options for expressing editorial views than embedding poorly hidden implications in catchy labels.

Larry Rosenthal

Alumnus, Goldman School of Public Policy

Executive Director, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Haas School of Business

25. “Stumbling on the long march toward democracy” (Toronto Star (Ontario, Canada), October 2, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.thestar.com/article/262537

--Richard Gwyn

From Burma to Ukraine, democracy is getting a rough ride.

In Burma, the army has maintained the repressive rule of the generals by killing some monks and nuns, arresting several hundred others and driving the rest back into their monasteries.

Worse, because of its broader implications, has been the impotence of the United Nations. The two powers that could have exerted pressure to effect change, China and India, have chosen to do nothing….

In Putin’s Russia, the media is muzzled, opposition journalists are assassinated, opposition politicians are smeared or harassed and arrested, and ex-KGB types hold the top jobs in the government.

The emergence of Putin’s Russia as an international role model constitutes a new trend. Next door to it is an even more attractive global role model: China.

China’s economic success, with the world’s largest middle-class clawing its way up the income ladder, goes hand in hand with a repressive political system.

To a great many around the world, this is proof that the formula the West has espoused for decades—that political democracy and economic democracy, or the free market, go hand in hand—is fatally flawed….

In a powerful article in the Washington-based magazine Foreign Policy, a former senior secretary in president Bill Clinton’s cabinet, Robert Reich, writes that the “fortunes” of these two liberating forces are “beginning to diverge.”

At the same time that capitalism has become “remarkably responsive to what people want as consumers,” democracies are failing in their basic functions—”to articulate and act upon the common good.” The great economic advances of the last decade or so have been accomplished by “workers forced to settle for lower wages and benefits ... (and) companies that shed their loyalties to communities and morph into global supply chains.”…

--Tim Watkin

California likes to think of itself as the world’s climate change champion, “the world’s last best hope”, as The Chronicle headline read last month.

When the state looks back over the decades, it sees its early commitment to hydropower and conservation; when it looks forward it sees falling emissions of polluting gases and more renewable power sources; and when it looks east it sees a nation in its wake, struggling to face up to the realities of climate change. There’s a feeling that as Dan Kammen, a professor from UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group, declared, “We are again leading the world.”…

By Robyn Blumner, Tribune Media Services

Robert Reich, former labor secretary under Bill Clinton, is a very smart man with a very good heart—my favorite combination. He’s one of those people to whom I pay special attention….

So I pounced on Reich’s new book, “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life,” an unblinking look at the economic realities of the global marketplace and what can be done to temper its worst elements….

Reich says that a structural change has occurred in our economy. Since the 1970s, we have been moving away from democratic capitalism toward “supercapitalism.” He describes this metamorphosis as a natural consequence of the rise of competition along with the decline of institutions such as labor unions, regulatory agencies, industry oligopolies and legislatures responsive to Main Street—entities that had acted in formal and informal ways to spread the wealth and establish equitable rules of business conduct….

I’m not quite as willing as Reich to give corporate titans a pass on morality. Blaming competition for forcing factory girls in Bangladesh to work seven days a week for a pittance, or for contracting with manufacturers in China who fail to protect workers from toxic fumes, is a little too convenient. Rules shouldn’t be necessary to tell executives they need to value human life….

But I do agree that government has abdicated its role in ensuring that capitalism’s rewards inure to society’s betterment. Which is why so much of the electorate is disenchanted and disengaged.

America needs more citizens and fewer consumers. But that will only happen when our leaders start doing their jobs. Reich is right, once again.

By David Nasaw, The Washington Post

“Giving,” Bill Clinton’s folksy first-person tour of worthy causes and the good people who support them, is so relentlessly upbeat that only the most churlish professor would say a discouraging word about the book. But the former president is so intent on celebrating 21st-century philanthropy … that he blithely ignores a hard reality: Philanthropy and democracy don’t get along nearly as seamlessly as “Giving” would have us believe….

In urging us to do good privately, he tacitly reinforces a lack of faith in the capacity of democratic governance to cure our social ills….

As Clinton remarks, without comment or regret, today’s startling expansion of the philanthropic sector is being fueled by a “vast pool of new wealth.” … “The rich when alive give away a smaller share of their income than the rest of us,” Fortune magazine noted. “And when it comes time to die, the rich leave their money mostly to their children.” About 9 percent goes to charitable causes. Pets get about 2 percent….

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich estimates that only 10 percent of the contributions that qualified for charitable deductions in 2006 were “directed at the poor.” The percentage of philanthropic giving that went toward disaster relief, services for the disadvantaged and alleviating poverty has dropped about 12 percent from 2005 to 2006, after the surge prompted by Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, according to the Giving USA Foundation….

FACULTY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & EVENTS

October 1 Alain de Janvry spoke on “‘Agriculture for Development’: Implications for Latin America?” at the Center for Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley.

October 4 Dan Kammen spoke on “Biofuels: Intersection of Energy and Agriculture—Implications of Biofuels and the Search for a Fuel of the Future” at the Biofuels Symposium, UC Berkeley.

October 6 Robert Reich’s talk on “Supercapitalism” at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, was broadcast on Peralta Channel TV.

October 9 Dan Kammen gave a talk, “Global sustainability: A Noble Cause: Bioenergy and a sustainable future” at Potsdam, Germany.

October 12 Michael Nacht spoke on “After Iraq, What?” during Homecoming Weekend at UC Berkeley. http://homecoming.berkeley.edu/everyone/faculty-seminars.cfm

October 14 Robert Reich was featured on “Work with Marty Nemko”, broadcast on KALW radio. http://www.martynemko.com/past-and-upcoming-radio-shows

October 17 Robert Reich gave a lecture hosted by the Dallas Friday Group.

October 19 Robert Reich was the inaugural speaker for the First Tennessee Foundation Distinguished MBA Speaker series, at the University of Tennessee.

October 27 Robert Reich was featured on “West Coast Live” hosted by Sedge Thompson, broadcast on KALW and other radio stations nationwide; http://wcl.org/schedule.html

October 27 Steve Raphael spoke on “Understanding the Causes and Labor Market Consequences of the Steep Increase in U.S. Incarceration Rates” at the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley. http://www.irle.berkeley.edu/events/ulman_program.html

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

New this month on UCTV Video On-Demand (All programs can be viewed in RealPlayer):

Conversations with History: Business, Government and Ethics in an Era of Globalization with David Vogel

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