GSPP

Web

Editors

eDIGEST October 2007

UPCOMING EVENTS

1. “US-UK: Still a special relationship?”

Rt Honorable Shirley Williams, PM Gordon Brown’s Advisor on Nuclear Proliferation

October 3, 2007, 3 - 4:30 p.m., Goldman School – Living Room

2. “The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court”

Jeffrey Toobin gives a behind-the-scenes examination of the Supremes and their decisions, including Bush v. Gore.

October 4, 7:30 p.m., International House (2299 Piedmont Avenue, Berkeley)

The Goldman School of Public Policy is co-sponsor.

Tickets $5, available at Cody’s and by phone (510-559-9500); tickets may be used for a 20% discount on The Nine in the store and at this event. Seating is first-come, first-served. http://events.berkeley.edu/?event_ID=3540&date=2007-10-04

3. “Our Energy Future: The Role of Science, Technology and Policy in Shaping our Common Future,” by Professors Dan Kammen & Jay Keasling.

Homecoming Week 2007 at UC Berkeley.

Oct. 13, 9 a.m., 105 Stanley Hall. See the College of Engineering’s website for details.

4. “New Public Policy Perspectives and the Power of Engaged Citizens”

Featuring David Kirp, Robert Reich & Carol Chetkovich (MPP 1987/PhD 1994) to discuss their new books.

October 15, 6-8 p.m., Free Speech Movement Café (Moffitt Library)

Moderated by Steve Silberstein, GSPP Board member

http://events.berkeley.edu/?event_ID=3815&date=2007-10-15

5. 9th ANNUAL ALUMNI DINNER

Honoring 2007 Alumnus of the Year, Gary Pruitt (MPP 1981/JD 1982)

Policy Leadership Award, Tangerine Brigham (MPP 1990)

Reunion Classes 1972, 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002

October 26, 2007, 5:30 - 10:00 p.m.

The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue.

Reservation deadline is October 15, 2007; /alumni/events.html

6. Wonderfest 2007: “Have We Passed the Tipping Point on Climate Change?”

Dian Grueneich, Commissioner, California Public Utilities Commission

Dan Kammen, Professor in the Energy & Resources Group, UC Berkeley

October 28; 2:00 p.m., Andersen Auditorium, UC Berkeley

http://www.wonderfest.org/

7. 11^th ANNUAL MARIO SAVIO MEMORIAL LECTURE

“From Jim Crow to Guantanamo: Prisons, Democracy and Empire”

Angela Davis, social activist and UC Santa Cruz professor.

Nov. 1, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30), Pauley Ballroom, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, UC Berkeley.

Co-sponsored by the Goldman School of Public Policy. http://events.berkeley.edu/?event_ID=2996&date=2007-11-01

8. FALL ALUMNI RECEPTION IN WASHINGTON DC

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

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

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. “Foster care overhaul - some say long overdue - on governor’s desk” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 29, 2007); story citing First Place Fund for Youth, founded by AMY LEMLEY (MPP 1998) & DEANNE PEARN (MPP 1998); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/29/MN3ESFF84.DTL&type=printable

2. “Senators hear ideas for reducing Bay Area traffic congestion” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 2007); story citing MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM (MPP 1993); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/28/BADKSFUKO.DTL

3. “Bush’s fiscal legacy: bigger debt” (Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2007); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p01s02-usec.html

4. “MTC adopts first regional rail plan. Proposal maps out what Bay Area system should look like” (San Mateo County Times, September 27, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_7013426

5. “Not everyone equal in state health care funding plans. Governor, Dems have sights on insurance, but don’t expect same effects” (Oakland Tribune, September 27, 2007); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_7013736

6. “White House Taking Unearned Credit for Emissions Cuts. Pushing Voluntary Curbs on Greenhouse Gases, Administration Lauds Results of Programs It Opposed” (Washington Post, September 27, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992) & NED HELME (MPP 1971); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/26/AR2007092602345.html

7. “S.F. mayor’s finance office aide named interim replacement for Ed Jew” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 26, 2007); story citing CARMEN CHU (MPP 2003); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/26/MNHJSE286.DTL

8. “Survey: Cut the dropout rate, aim for college. Liberal coalition is first to weigh in with a proposal to improve state schools” (Sacramento Bee, September 26, 2007); story citing study coauthored by JANNELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/399239.html

9. “Congress Still Figuring Out Spending” (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], September 24, 2007); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to story

10. “2 Oakland charter schools get association’s approval” (Oakland Tribune, September 22, 2007); story citing BRIAN EDWARDS (MPP 1999); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6970133?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

11. “Farm groups fear worsening labor woes amid immigration crackdown” (Hutchinson News, The (KS), September 22, 2007); story citing AUSTIN PEREZ (MPP 1999).

12. “Jim Crow Comes for Our Kids” (Washington Post, September 21, 2007); op-ed by AMINA LUQMAN (MPP 2001); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092001958.html

13. “Soil case spurs call for law - School ground hazards would require notices to DEP, parents” (Record, The (Hackensack, NJ), September 19, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTk3MDc2

14. “Prisons under Pressure” (California Channel TV, September 19, 2007); film features commentary by TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.calchannel.com/schedule.htm

15. “Bay Area offers the good, bad and ugly of commuting” (Alameda Times-Star, September 19, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6935623?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

16. “Barneys bolsters revival of S.F. retail” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2007); story citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/18/MNH0S5UB3.DTL&hw=barney&sn=003&sc=891

17. “PUC Suggests Long-Term Energy Efficiency Plan - Agency Wants Utilities to Come Up with Unified Strategy” (San Jose Mercury News, September 18, 2007); story citing KIM MALCOLM (MPP 1982); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6925418?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

18. “Asia Will Lose as ‘Made in China’ Goes Local” (Bloomberg News, September 18, 2007); column citing GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aCJhffjdL7QE&refer=home

19. “S.F. takes another step toward universal health care” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2007); story citing TANGERINE BRIGHAM (MPP 1990); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/18/BAE6S7URU.DTL

20. “Bernanke chooses deliberation over Greenspan’s act-fast approach” (Deseret News, September 17, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695210030,00.html

21. “Replacement on the ballot for Coniglio. [Robert] Gordon is nominated by Bergen Democrats” (Star-Ledger, (Newark, NJ), September 17, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1190003220194610.xml&coll=1

22. “Getting the price right is key to solving congestion” (Davis Enterprise, September 16, 2007); op-ed citing BRUCE SCHALLER (MPP 1982).

23. “Child deaths fall to record low; Crediting anti-disease efforts, Unicef expects further drop” (International Herald Tribune, September 14, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

24. “Alameda County pays women for abuse alleged in foster home” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 14, 2007); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971/JD 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/14/BA53S5VQ5.DTL

25. “Alameda may lose hold of ferry. Bill awaits governor’s OK” (Oakland Tribune, September 13, 2007); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_6880996

26. “Call for ‘sharing of ideas’” (Third Sector, September 12, 2007); column citing RICHARD HALKETT (MPP 2005).

27. “UNICEF Seeks End to Genital Mutilation” (Africa News, September 11, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

28. “State could have trouble selling off loan agency. EdFund has been called troubled and inefficient” (San Diego Union-Tribune, September 10, 2007); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980).

29. “Racism alive and well in S.F. schools - here’s proof” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2007); story citing AMANDA JOHNSON (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/09/BAIFS1GE4.DTL&hw=goldman+school&sn=003&sc=112

30. “Tackling racism and segregation in San Francisco schools” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 2007); story citing study by AMANDA JOHNSON (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/16/BAK6S6526.DTL&hw=nevius&sn=003&sc=339

31. “BART turns 35 – Service, communities adapt along the way” (Contra Costa Times, September 9, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_6845122?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

32. “Offbeat Religion News: UC policy gives students flexibility on move-in days” (Press-Register (Mobile, AL), September 8, 2007); story citing TODD GREENSPAN (MPP 1984).

33. “U.S. jobs report jolts markets” (International Herald Tribune, September 7, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/07/business/webecon.php?page=1

34. “California health reform puzzle: How to insure low-paid workers?” (Contra Costa Times, September 6, 2007); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6819641?nclick_check=1

35. “Sino-U.S. trade benefits all” (Xinhua [China], September 6, 2007); story citing research by GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/06/content_6669905.htm

36. “Electric-car startup Tesla is a hit with politicians and stars - Green company is delivering a well-connected car” (San Jose Mercury News, September 3, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6790522?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

37. “House draft eases rules for schools - Battle looms over law’s renewal” (Washington Times, September 3, 2007); story citing CYNTHIA BROWN (MPP 1986).

38. “First summer of mandatory reliability rules finds FERC, NERC working out new roles” (Electric Utility Week, September 3, 2007); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974).

39. “America’s Car Culture Clashes with Climate Change” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), September 3, 2007; story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); Listen to the program

40. “The State of the U.S. Labor Movement. Grocery lessons: In key realm of health benefits, new contract improves on body blows of recent years” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 2007); story citing study coauthored by FELIX SU (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/02/BUISRRQHN.DTL&type=printable

41. “Doubts on sentencing plans. Governor isn’t likely to sign either of two bills creating panels, aide says” (Sacramento Bee, September 2, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/356411.html

42. “No takers yet for shuttered school; Housing agencies seek longer lease” (Boston Globe, September 2, 2007); story citing ALEXANDER MARTHEWS (MPP 2001); http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/02/no_takers_yet_for_shuttered_school/

43. “Keep that ‘R’ word out of the economic vocabulary” (Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT), August 28, 2007); interview with MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18757049&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569380&rfi=8

44. “Getting Smart - About Buying Carbon Offsetting” (San Jose Mercury News, August 26, 2007); story citing DERIK BROEKHOFF (MPP 1999).

45. “Sac City stresses all of the angles. Geometry is one of four new standards that will be required for graduation” (Sacramento Bee, August 20, 2007); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1992); http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/334298.html

46. “Clamp-down on manipulation raises eyebrows as Congress looks to close loopholes” (Inside FERC, August 6, 2007); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974).

47. “So, what does $9.2 million buy?” (Sacramento Bee, August 3, 2007); story citing TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).

48. “WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE? By Mitchell G. Bard” (Palgrave Macmillan, July 2007); publication of new book by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987); http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403981981

49. “Public Employee Pension and Healthcare” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, July 13, 2007); program features commentary by MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); Listen to program

50. “Canyon Country Driver Saves with CNG-Powered Car” (Daily News of Los Angeles, July 9, 2006); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004).

51. “Israel’s only goal to try and survive” (Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT), July 3, 2007); op-ed citing MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

52. “Location key in condo plan. Advocacy group buys closed factory near the common” (Daily News Tribune, The (Waltham, MA), June 28, 2007); story citing ALEXANDER MARTHEWS (MPP 2001).

53. “American University holds a conference on ‘Framing the Issues’” (Washington Daybook, June 21, 2007); event featuring ROBERT ENTMAN (MPP/PhD 1980).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “Back to the future—with balloting by mail” (Oakland Tribune, September 30, 2007); op-ed citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/tribune/ci_7045175

2. “Robert Reich at the Commonwealth Club” (Broadcast on KQED public radio, September 28, 29, 30, 2007); Listen to program

3. “Documenting the Drive for Universal Preschool” (Weekend Edition, National Public Radio, September 29, 2007); features interview with DAVID KIRP; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14829446

4. “The China syndrome” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 28, 2007); op-ed by Goldman School Center for Environmental Public Policy visiting scholar ROBERT COLLIER; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/28/EDLJSFFI1.DTL&type=printable

5. “‘Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life’ by Robert B. Reich” (Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-book28sep28,1,1555723.story

6. “NASA Releases Some Global Warming Images” (ABC7 TV News, September 27, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=global_warm&id=5679398

7. “Senators urged to invest in ‘green tech’ - Ex-GOP leader skeptical over benefits to U.S. economy” (San Jose Mercury News, September 26, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=7001517&siteId=568

8. “The Class Warrior: Robert Reich expounds on the dangers of capitalism run amuck in his new book, and from the lectern at UC Berkeley” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 23, 2007); story featuring ROBERT REICH, and citing MICHAEL NACHT and the GOLDMAN SCHOOL; http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/23/CMC9S0D8I.DTL

9. “The High Costs of Ethanol” (New York Times, September 19, 2007); Editorial citing study by DAN KAMMEN, MICHAEL O’HARE, BRIAN TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/opinion/19wed1.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1190219602-iWZcwnXZzseo+9FX10byZQ&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

10. “Robert B. Reich on Supercapitalism” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, September 19, 2007); features interview with ROBERT REICH; Listen to program

11. “Robert B. Reich on Supercapitalism” (Your Call, KALW-91.7 FM, September 18, 2007); features interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.yourcallradio.org/

12. “Judge Tosses California Global Warming Lawsuit” (ABC7 News, September 17, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Link to video

13. “All in the genes?” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2007); op-ed by DAVID KIRP; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/ED7MS6FQP.DTL

14. “Money, money—that’s what college kids want. Successful careerists advise students to pursue passion, not payday” (MSNBC, September 16, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20775717/

15. “Is California the world’s last best hope against climate change?” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 2007); op-ed citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/16/IN3ERM8TK.DTL&type=printable

16. “In California’s Global Warming Venture, Zero-Emissions Vehicle Program has Valuable Lessons to Teach” (Public Policy Institute of California, September 14, 2007); release of study coauthored by MARGARET TAYLOR; http://www.ppic.org/main/pressrelease.asp?p=764

17. “CEOs Deserve Their Pay” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], September 14, 2007); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB118972669806427090.html

18. “Salt Water Can ‘Burn,’ Scientist Confirms” (National Geographic News, September 14, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070913-burning-water.html

19. “Partisan Brain Study” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, September 13, 2007); features commentary by JACK GLASER; Listen to program

20. “Labor: Unionized nurses flex their muscle. Caregivers direct their newfound clout at the political process as well as working conditions” (Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nurses11sep11,0,2482451,full.story?coll=la-home-business

21. “Robert Reich Looks Askance at ‘Supercapitalism’” (Fresh Air from WHYY [NPR], September 11, 2007); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14321590

22. “It’s Not Business’ Business” (BusinessWeek, September 10, 2007); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_37/b4049106.htm?chan=search

23. “Robert Reich: Don’t blame Wal-Mart, we’re getting what we ask for” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/09/RVI8RM15E.DTL&type=printable

24. “‘Supercapitalism’ sifts trends for an understanding the world’s financial upheaval” (The Oregonian, September 9, 2007); review of book by ROBERT REICH; http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/118903294526000.xml&coll=7

25. “Tomgram: Ruth Rosen, Shutting Down the Information Society, Bush-Style” (Atlantic Free Press, September 7, 2007); weblog citing RUTH ROSEN; http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/2345/81/

26. “Business and society: In search of the good company. The debate about the social responsibilities of companies is heating up again” (The Economist [UK], September 6, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9767615

27. “One problem we can’t spend away” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], September 5, 2007; Listen to commentary

28. “Start-up U. With global warming breathing down our necks, energy is hot. And at Berkeley, green ideals are teaming up with that other green—money” (California Alumni Magazine, September / October 2007); story citing MICHAEL HANEMANN, DAN KAMMEN; http://alumni.berkeley.edu/California/200709/margonelli.asp

29. “Dangers of a Turbocharged Economy” (New York Times, September 2, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/business/02shelf.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

30. “Roundtable with George Will, Robert Reich, Matt Bai” (This Week With George Stephanopoulos, ABC News, September 2, 2007); features commentary by ROBERT REICH; http://abcnews.go.com/politics

31. “What happened to Labor Day? - Corporate greed didn’t kill labor, we did” (Chicago Sun-Times, September 2, 2007); commentary by ROBERT REICH.

32. “Clean Tech Economics” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, August 17, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program

33. “Green Job Growth and Global Warming” (Congressional Quarterly, August 14, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony by MICHAEL HANEMANN.

34. “Green Job Growth and Global Warming” (Congressional Quarterly, August 14, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony citing DAN KAMMEN.

35. “Clinton fundraising in gay community” (11 o’clock News, ABC7 TV, August 12, 2007); features commentary by HENRY BRADY.

36. “Voting vulnerable” (Californian, The (Salinas, CA), August 4, 2007); story citing HENRY BRADY.

37. “The Greenest Green Fuel” (Popular Science, June 19, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Genetics.aspx?Name=genetics&infoId=14948

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

--Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

Jasmenda Brown was homeless for a year at 15. Now things are looking up - she’s studying to be a dental hygienist.

…More than 77,000 foster children live in California, more than in any other state. For decades, members of this largely invisible population have been moved from home to home until they were “emancipated” at age 18 and cut off from services….

In the Bay Area, there is an array of programs for foster children and their families, from those that help preschool-age children who have behavioral problems to those that aid young adults interested in jobs or college.

The First Place [Fund] for Youth catches foster kids as they exit the system, helping them transition from foster care to housing, counseling and academic programs.

Executive Director Sam Cobbs said while there is great momentum around foster care reform, huge gaps in services remain.

“As we’re addressing housing, we need to take a look at education,” he said. “Five percent of young people who graduate from foster care end up going to college. Of those 5 percent, only 3 percent end up graduating. If we’re going to begin to change these drastic outcomes, we need to focus on more funding for these kids to get to college and have the resources to stay there.”…

Jasmenda Brown was placed in foster care in Oakland at age 5. Her mother was a drug addict and her father was never in the picture. She was cared for by her grandmother until she was kicked out at age 15. She was homeless for more than a year, until she found First Place [Fund] for Youth, where she was directed to housing and other supportive services….

Now 20, Brown is studying to become a dental assistant. She has reunited with her mother, who has been drug-free for five years….

By Michael Cabanatuan; Chronicle Staff Writer

With Bay Area traffic already the second-worst in the nation, major growth in jobs and population coming, and ambitious state goals to reduce greenhouse gases, it’s time to get serious about luring people out of their cars.

Five panels of Bay Area transportation officials, developers, business leaders, planners and politicians delivered that message to two members of a state Senate subcommittee that met Thursday afternoon in Redwood City.

Getting people to drive less—and use public transportation more—won’t be easy, the 16 speakers told Sens. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, who sit on a transportation subcommittee. And it won’t be cheap….

Michael Cunningham, the transportation director for the Bay Area Council, a business group, said, “Employers need to choose office locations that encourage transit use.”…

3. “Bush’s fiscal legacy: bigger debt” (Christian Science Monitor, September 27, 2007); story citing STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0927/p01s02-usec.html

By Peter Grier, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Whatever happens over the next 16 months, President Bush will leave office having presided over one of the fastest accumulations of government debt in the history of the United States.

During his time in office, federal debt held by the public—Washington’s equivalent of a credit-card balance—will have increased by more than 50 percent, to about $5.5 trillion. Uncle Sam will be paying interest on that sum for years to come….

“Federal debt—that’s the Bush legacy on the budget,” says Stan Collender, a veteran Washington budget expert and managing director of Qorvis Communications….

Bush’s tax cuts also reduced US revenue coming in….

This fiscal year, the US laid out $235 billion in net interest, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. That’s a number that’s half the size of the Pentagon budget.

When the next president takes office, interest will be the third largest item in the budget, after military spending and Social Security, says Mr. Collender of Qorvis Communications. It will chew up cash that might better be used handling the coming fiscal crisis of Social Security and Medicare, he says.

“It’s absolutely the most uncontrollable part of the budget,” says Collender….

By Erik N. Nelson, Staff Writer

There may or may not be high-speed “bullet trains” whizzing around the Bay Area in 2050, but the region’s first plan for a unified commuter rail system since BART was envisioned in the 1950s would connect Antioch with Tracy, feature a second BART tube under the Bay and extend all the way to Monterey in the south and Cloverdale in the north.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission unanimously adopted its first regional rail plan Wednesday, brushing aside criticism from public transportation advocates and a Central Valley delegation that the plan was incomplete without more public input, deliberation and research on future ridership….

Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition, said that while he thought “the process did not work that well,” he liked several aspects of the plan, including its acknowledgment that different corridors would be better served by different types of rail systems….

By Mike Zapler, MediaNews Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO — Universal health care. The term, tossed around with ease by politicians looking to remake the state’s medical system, can conjure up images of major upheaval.

But if Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers succeed in extending coverage to everyone, experts say the ways that people could be affected are far from universal.

People in well-paid, skilled jobs with generous health plans probably won’t notice much difference at all, at least initially….

But for low-wage workers in jobs such as retail and fast food, and for millions of others anxious about losing their insurance and not being able to buy it on their own, any health care plan that emerges out of this fall’s special legislative session could bring big change when it comes to their medical care.

In short, health reform will mean very different things to different people.

“The impact will certainly vary depending on a person’s circumstances,” said Marian Mulkey, a senior program officer at the Oakland-based California Healthcare Foundation. “Because both of these reform proposals build on the existing patchwork system of employer-based coverage and public programs, there are a number of different paths that people would experience.”…

By Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson; Washington Post Staff Writers

Seeking to counter international pressure to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration has been touting the success of three mandatory programs to curb U.S. energy consumption: gas mileage standards for vehicles, efficiency standards for home appliances and state laws requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources.

But for most of the Bush presidency, the White House has either done little to promote these measures or, in some cases, has actively fought against them. Moreover, the fuel economy and appliance initiatives were first taken years ago to slash energy consumption, long before climate change became a pressing issue.

The administration initially delayed plans to set improved energy-efficiency standards for 22 appliances, which led to a court battle with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. Under a 2006 legal settlement, the Energy Department is now working to finish the rules. The White House also tried to reverse strict efficiency standards for central air conditioners upon Bush's taking office in 2001, a move the NRDC had reversed in a separate lawsuit.

Although the administration imposed modest boosts in the gas mileage standards for light trucks starting in 2003, Bush did not endorse any substantial increase in the mandates for cars until this year's State of the Union address….

"These are just simply words," said Roland Hwang, the NRDC's vehicle policy director. Hwang added that Bush's new goal of increasing overall vehicle fuel efficiency is admirable, but there's "a big question mark" as to whether it will come to fruition before he leaves office….

The administration has vowed to further increase fuel efficiency by 4 percent a year over 10 years, which would result in a combined fleet average of nearly 35 miles per gallon in 2017. Hwang praised that goal but said he was waiting to see if the EPA actually publishes rules to accomplish it….

The government's voluntary efficiency program, which awards efficient appliances, products and buildings an "Energy Star" label, translated into greenhouse gas emissions savings last year equivalent to taking 25 million automobiles off the road for a year, according to the EPA.

But Ned Helme, president of the Center for Clean Air Policy, said if the United States had ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which Bush repudiated when he took office, the nation would have had to cut 2.8 billion tons of carbon emissions in 2010, and that these voluntary programs are "not even in the ballpark."

"There's no way the appliance standards and [fuel efficiency] standards would achieve the Kyoto targets for the U.S. in 2010," Helme said.

--Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

Carmen Chu is named by Mayor Gavin Newsom (right) as interim replacement for Supervisor Ed Jew, who was suspended.

(09-25) 23:17 PDT San Francisco -- Carmen Chu, the 29-year-old policy wonk tapped by Mayor Gavin Newsom to fill suspended Supervisor Ed Jew’s seat on the Board of Supervisors, was widely hailed Tuesday by her City Hall colleagues and others as smart, poised and likable….

Chu, who until Tuesday morning served as deputy director of the mayor’s office of policy and finance, was the first to admit politics hasn’t been her ambition….

Chu, the middle of three daughters of Chinese immigrants, was born and raised in Los Angeles and worked in her parents’ Chinese restaurant. In 2000, she earned a bachelor’s degree in public policy from Occidental College, a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Three years later, she earned a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. While at Cal, she won a prestigious fellowship with the Public Policy and International Affairs Program, which aims to get people from underrepresented communities into leadership positions….

In introducing Chu, Newsom said her lack of political experience is a plus in his book. “I wanted to avoid political theater,” Newsom said. “I wanted a policy person ... someone who understands the inner workings of city government. There’s no greater discipline than understanding a $6.77 billion budget in terms of its nuances and its details. That’s something that’s going to give her a real leg up.”…

[At the policy and finance office], she may be best known for overseeing the budget for Healthy San Francisco, the city’s new universal health care program that aims to provide health care to the 82,000 residents who lack health insurance.

Mitch Katz, director of the city Public Health Department, said he has worked with Chu closely on Healthy San Francisco and praised her for being highly intelligent and easy to work with. Katz said a political newbie with rich policy experience is just what the board needs….

By Laurel Rosenhall - Bee Staff Writer

After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared in March that 2008 would be his “year of education reform,” people around the state with an interest in public schools began organizing. Researchers, advocates, teachers, parents, politicians—they all want to influence what the governor will focus on next year.

Proposals from many groups will roll out over the next few months. The first one was made public Tuesday, when a coalition of liberal advocacy groups released the results of a survey of parents and students.

Their finding: Parents and students are concerned about the large number of kids dropping out of school. They want schools to prepare teens to get into college—not just to graduate from high school. And they say they’re willing to pay higher taxes for better schools, especially if they could have a say locally on how schools spend money….

The focus on school reform comes in response to a set of 22 studies [by Jannelle Kubinec et al.] about the state’s education system that were released with fanfare in March. The Stanford reports, known as “Getting Down to Facts,” detailed problems plaguing California schools—the confusing funding system, the jumbled governance structure, the low achievement levels of many students….

9. “Congress Still Figuring Out Spending” (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], September 24, 2007); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); Listen to story

Reported by John Dimsdale

When they took over Congress in January, Democrats promised to do a better job of approving spending bills.

The House and Senate are close to agreement on four, maybe five of the bills. But the White House is threatening to veto every one of them as budget busters.

Stan Collender, who writes the Budget Battles column for National Journal, says he’s looking for a game of chicken this week: “The president threatening to veto every bill, or virtually every bill that came out of Congress on appropriations, meant that Congress had to reevaluate the politics and think about how it wants to do it. And it looks like their decision is to hold everything till the very last minute, and send up a bunch and then dare him to veto those.”...

By Shirley Dang, Staff Writer

Two charter schools in Oakland are among more than four dozen statewide to receive a new seal of approval from the California Charter School Association….

The Charter School Association’s certification represents the first attempt in the nation to hold charter schools to high standards….

The question remains whether the certification process—voluntary and partly based on self-evaluation—will make a difference in the quality of charter schools statewide or improve the accountability, which a 2004 State Auditor report called “weak.”…

“Basically, it’s sort of like a union saying we want our members, our carpenters, to be well skilled so that carpenter wages remain high,” said Brian Edwards, senior policy analyst for EdSource, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group based in Mountain View. “Obviously the association is not a neutral party that’s going to sniff out problem areas.”…

As a reform idea in its adolescence, charter schools still struggle with the reputation of inferiority. A June EdSource study [coauthored by Brian Edwards] shows that while California’s charter middle schools and high schools are outperforming other schools overall, charter elementary schools tend to do worse….

11. “Farm groups fear worsening labor woes amid immigration crackdown” (Hutchinson News, The (KS), September 22, 2007); story citing AUSTIN PEREZ (MPP 1999).

By Roxana Hegeman - Associated Press Writer

WICHITA - An illegal immigration crackdown blamed for a farm labor shortage has raised fears in Kansas, which draws heavily on immigrant labor in its dairy, cattle and meatpacking industries.

Two of the state’s largest farm groups—the Kansas Livestock Association and the Kansas Farm Bureau—have launched separate initiatives because of the latest crackdown measure, which involves so-called no-match letters that warn of discrepancies in the information the federal government has on workers.

Under the new policy, the letters … are to contain notification of more serious penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants….

A nationwide coalition of trade groups, called the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, contends the new effort would lead to the firings of thousands of immigrant workers, destabilizing the work force and aggravating the current labor shortage.

Austin Perez, a spokesman with the American Farm Bureau Federation, said an immigration bill that would provide guest workers is needed this year. “We actually have crops rotting in the fields,” he said….

[Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies] and other advocates for tougher restrictions contend that the use of immigrant workers depresses wages for U.S. workers.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, farm wages have increased 43 percent from an average $6.97 an hour to $9.95 an hour over the past decade as the industry struggles to retain workers….

According to an American Farm Bureau study released this year, without a guest-worker program, U.S. fruit-and-vegetable producers would sustain losses of between $5 billion and $9 billion annually. Net farm income for the rest of the industry would decline between $1.5 billion and $5 billion annually, the study said.

It predicted that grocers would increasingly fill their shelves with foreign-grown produce.

“We simply cannot find willing Americans to take those jobs,” said American Farm Bureau spokesman Perez….

12. “Jim Crow Comes for Our Kids” (Washington Post, September 21, 2007); op-ed by AMINA LUQMAN (MPP 2001); http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/20/AR2007092001958.html

By Amina Luqman

Something about the case of the “Jena 6” has sparked a rumbling within the black community. It’s ironic, sadly, because there is an everyday sameness to what has happened. Consider: A racially provoked incident and a lackluster community response—same as ever. Extreme charges brought for less-than-spectacular alleged crimes—same as ever. An overzealous prosecutor, an inept defense attorney, an all-white jury, witnesses not called, a quick guilty verdict—same, same, same. Unfortunately, any of these elements is less than extraordinary in black American life….

Some in mainstream America may think that blacks feel vindicated or satisfied by tales of racism such as this one, since America often lives in denial about racism and racial inequality. On the contrary, for black Americans to hear of the Jena 6 is to feel as though the color has been washed out of our lives, that we are suddenly watching ourselves in grainy black-and-white footage of the Jim Crow South. Our vulnerabilities are laid bare before all the world; a school fight can cost our children their lives, and it can happen without America giving so much as a second look.

Mainstream media outlets long ignored the Jena 6 or gave the case cursory summations…. When what happened in Jena has been reported, the media’s language has been tepid—marked by such phrases as “a town in turmoil” or “racial strife rips a town apart.”

This language presumes a legitimacy to both sides, a fair fight. Yet there is nothing balanced or fair about what is happening to these boys. Black Americans crave the same outrage the media rained down on Michael Vick for his unjustified abuse of dogs. For mainstream America, Vick’s actions were beyond debate. “How could he be so cruel?” we lamented. Whatever the reason, mainstream America said clearly that what Vick did was wrong. Shouldn’t America be at least as appalled by how Jena has treated these six black teens?…

Amina Luqman is a freelance writer. Her e-mail address is amina.luqman@yahoo.com.

[Amina Luqman’s commentary was reprinted in: Cincinnati Post Dispatch, The Virginian-Pilot, etc.]

By Michael Gartland, Staff Writer

PARAMUS — Acting Gov. Richard Codey and several state officials announced Tuesday that they intend to push for a law requiring that school boards contact the state government after learning of contamination on school grounds.

The proposed legislation has not yet been drafted, but Assemblyman Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, said it would require school districts to alert the state Department of Environmental Protection within 12 hours of discovering potentially hazardous materials. The bill also would require school boards to contact parents within 10 days.

“Transparency is essential to public trust,” Gordon said during a press conference at Paramus Borough Hall. “Clearly this is a statewide problem that requires a response from the state government.”

Paramus parents first learned of high levels of pesticides in the soil at West Brook Middle School in May, four months after school district officials first discovered the problem….

The legislation would apply not only to pesticides, but to any hazardous materials, such as mold and asbestos….

He also noted that the law will contain language compelling the DEP to respond within a prescribed time frame.

“There needs to be something in writing compelling agencies to respond,” he said….

14. “Producer Prices Fell 1.4% in August, Led by Gasoline” (New York Times, September 19, 2007); story citing MICHEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/business/19econ.html

By Michael M. Grynbaum and Jeremy W. Peters

Prices at the producer level declined in August, the government reported yesterday, signaling a possible slackening of inflation pressures in the months ahead….

The new inflation figures were released ahead of the Federal Reserve’s announcement yesterday afternoon cutting its benchmark interest rate by an unexpectedly large half a percentage point, a move that was warmly greeted by Wall Street investors dealing with a credit squeeze caused by this summer’s subprime mortgage crisis.

The slowdown in producer prices … suggested some leeway for the Fed to move ahead with its expected cut, though several economists said the report had little impact on yesterday’s meeting.

“This will carry mostly zero weight,” said Mickey Levy, the chief economist at Bank of America. “It’s just obvious that the Fed’s focus is not on near-term inflation conditions.”…

Mr. Levy said that nothing about yesterday’s report was “really out of whack,” noting that trends in productivity, wages and unit labor costs offset any rises in inflation for core wholesale goods over the last year.

But with the Federal Reserve announcement dominating the talk on Wall Street yesterday, the producer price report quickly became old news.

“It’s taking the back seat to the Fed’s more pressing issues,” Mr. Levy said.

15. “Prisons under Pressure” (California Channel TV, September 19, 2007); film features commentary by TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.calchannel.com/schedule.htm

View the film, hosted by David Keith at www.prisonsunderpressure.com

16. “Bay Area offers the good, bad and ugly of commuting” (Alameda Times-Star, September 19, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6935623?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

By Erik N. Nelson, Staff Writer

Interstate 580 traffic starts to stack up for the afternoon commute on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, in Livermore, Calif. (Cindi Christie/STAFF)

Bay Area commuters waste more time and fuel in traffic than their fellow sufferers in every city in America save one: their freeway-enslaved counterparts in Los Angeles, according to a nationwide study released Tuesday.

Individual commuters average 60 hours of delay a year in the San Francisco-Oakland area, tied for second-worst with the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta metro areas. Angelenos clocked in with an untouchable 72 hours of delay per commuter….

In wasted fuel, the Bay Area stands alone as second worse, with each commuter consuming an average 47 gallons a year stuck in traffic—10 less than those in Los Angeles.

While these results aren’t news to area transportation officials…, the study by the Texas Transportation Institute also shows the area combating congestion as few other cities do.

Using ramp metering lights, video monitors and a rapid-reaction force to clear stalls and wrecks, the area is third best in the nation for cutting commuter delays by keeping highways running smoothly….

Area commuters also derive the fourth-highest benefit from public transportation, shaving a total of 26 million hours of travel delays per year.

“This is telling us that a combination of improved public transit and small improvements that keep our highways flowing is going to be the biggest bang for the buck for Bay Area commuters,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition….

17. “Barneys bolsters revival of S.F. retail” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2007); story citing TODD RYDSTROM (MPP 2000); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/18/MNH0S5UB3.DTL&hw=barney&sn=003&sc=891

By George Raine; Chronicle Staff Writer

Barneys New York is spending $35 million to gut and transform the old Joseph Magnin space into a temple of fashion.

…San Francisco retailers were in economic quicksand five years ago, and while recovery has taken its own sweet time, there has been a burst of new stores of late, particularly in the luxury category. One of the most noteworthy additions will come this week with the opening Wednesday of Barneys New York, the very stylish luxury specialty store, in the Union Square area….

Sales tax figures from the San Francisco controller’s office help tell the tale….

Citywide, San Francisco collected nearly $121 million for the year ended in March, and of that, $11 million was from sales in apparel stores, trailing only restaurants and miscellaneous retail. The citywide figure was $114.5 million in 2006 and $105.7 million in 2005.

“That’s very healthy and shows a rebound in our local economy,” said Todd Rydstrom, director of budget and analysis at the controller’s office….

18. “PUC Suggests Long-Term Energy Efficiency Plan - Agency Wants Utilities to Come Up with Unified Strategy” (San Jose Mercury News, September 18, 2007); story citing KIM MALCOLM (MPP 1982); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6925418?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

By Matt Nauman, Mercury News

The Public Utilities Commission released a proposal Monday that would require the state’s utilities, including Pacific Gas & Electric, to create a unified, long-term energy efficiency plan to meet the state’s greenhouse-gas reduction goals….

‘‘We have the most aggressive energy-efficiency goals in the country. We need to have our utilities thinking long-term and strategically,’’ said Dian Grueneich, the commissioner who wrote the 148-page proposal along with Administrative Law Judge Kim Malcolm.

‘‘This proposal seeks to make energy efficiency business as usual, a part of everyday life for California,’’ Grueneich added.

The goal, according to the proposal, would be to achieve ‘‘market transformation’’ rather than short-term cuts in energy use.

The proposal will be presented at the PUC’s Oct. 18 meeting. That starts a process which includes getting plans from utilities, a series of public hearings and an ultimate decision in September 2008.

[The authors] proposes that:

All new homes built in California will be zero net energy by 2020; i.e., produce as much energy as they use.

All new commercial construction in the state be zero net energy by 2030.

The design, installation and use of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning units be improved….

19. “Asia Will Lose as ‘Made in China’ Goes Local” (Bloomberg News, September 18, 2007); column citing GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aCJhffjdL7QE&refer=home

By Andy Mukherjee

Much of the analysis of China’s bloated trade surplus focuses on exports, when it’s the imports that deserve greater scrutiny….

Almost half of China’s foreign trade is of the so-called processing variety, in which everything from mobile phones and laptop computers to DVD players and plasma TVs are assembled in China using parts imported from around the world….

“Trade statistics can mislead as much as inform,’’ concludes Greg Linden, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley. Along with two researchers from University of California, Irvine, he has done a preliminary analysis of who captures the value in Apple Inc.’s iPod music player, which is assembled in China….

“For every $300 iPod sold in the U.S., the politically volatile U.S. trade deficit with China increased by about $150, the factory cost,’’ notes Linden’s study. “Yet, the value added to the product through assembly in China is probably a few dollars at most.’’…

[This story also appeared in the International Herald Tribune.]

20. “S.F. takes another step toward universal health care” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 18, 2007); story citing TANGERINE BRIGHAM (MPP 1990); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/18/BAE6S7URU.DTL

--Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco’s unique experiment in providing health care for all its residents took a significant step forward Monday—moving beyond its trial phase at two clinics in Chinatown and into 20 additional clinics around the city.

The expansion comes as the national debate over how to solve the country’s health care problem continues to rage. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday announced her national plan for universal health care should she be elected president, and California lawmakers are in a special session trying to hammer out a state plan for health care….

The expansion will likely prove a make-it-or-break-it period for public health officials, who have said their only real hurdle since starting the program July 2 has been keeping up with demand.

The city aims to cover all 82,000 uninsured residents under its program…in phases, culminating in about 18 months. So far, 1,548 have enrolled at the two Chinatown clinics alone, more than the city anticipated….

In the meantime, Healthy San Francisco is in the national eye. [Supervisor Tom Ammiano, an author of the city’s plan] said his office has received many calls from government officials…who are thinking about replicating the program.

Tangerine Brigham, the director of Healthy San Francisco, said she also fields numerous phone calls from around the country, including from officials in New Orleans who are looking at how to rebuild their health system in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

“We’re not secretive about what we’re doing,” she said. “We want to share it with everyone so ultimately it increases overall access.”

21. “Bernanke chooses deliberation over Greenspan’s act-fast approach” (Deseret News, September 17, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695210030,00.html

By Craig Torres - Bloomberg News

Alan Greenspan trusted his instincts. Ben Bernanke trusts the MAQS.

For the past several days, the MAQS—a group of analysts in the Federal Reserve’s Macroeconomic and Quantitative Studies unit—have run a series of what-if scenarios on the U.S. economy that will play a critical role in next week’s interest-rate decision….

[Bernanke’s] approach contrasts with that of predecessor Alan Greenspan, who relied more on his own reading of conditions—and as a result probably would have cut rates to insure against a recession long before the Sept. 18 Federal Open Market Committee gathering.

“Greenspan emphasized that, in response to a low-probability but high-cost outcome, the Fed should move aggressively,” said Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America Corp. in New York. “This Fed under Bernanke is more disciplined.”…

22. “Replacement on the ballot for Coniglio. [Robert] Gordon is nominated by Bergen Democrats” (Star-Ledger, (Newark, NJ), September 17, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1190003220194610.xml&coll=1

By Julie O’Connor; Star-Ledger Staff

Democratic leaders in Bergen County last night unanimously nominated Assemblyman Robert Gordon to take the place of state Sen. Joseph Coniglio on the November ballot.

During a special convention held at the county’s Democratic Committee headquarters in Hackensack, party leaders also selected Bergen County Freeholder Connie Wagner to take Gordon’s slot on the ballot after an endorsement by county Democratic chairman Joseph Ferriero….

Last night, Gordon, 57, pledged to run an aggressive campaign in the general election against Republican Robert Colletti.

“We’re not going to be making any changes in our approach,” Gordon said.

A former mayor of Fairlawn, Gordon was elected to the Assembly in 2004. His endorsement by Ferriero practically ensured his nomination last night….

23. “Getting the price right is key to solving congestion” (Davis Enterprise, September 16, 2007); op-ed citing BRUCE SCHALLER (MPP 1982).

By Donald Shoup - Special to The Enterprise

Most people view traffic with a mixture of rage and resignation: rage because congestion wastes valuable time, resignation because, well, what can anyone do about it? People have places to go, after all; congestion seems inevitable.

But a surprising amount of traffic isn’t caused by people who are on their way somewhere. Rather, it is caused by those who have already arrived. Streets are clogged, in part, by drivers searching for a place to park.

Several studies have found that cruising for curb parking generates about 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts. In a recent survey conducted by Bruce Schaller in the SoHo district in Manhattan, 28 percent of drivers interviewed while they were stopped at traffic lights said they were searching for curb parking….

As is often the case, the prices are wrong. A national study of downtown parking found the average price of curb parking is only 20 percent that of parking in a garage, giving drivers a strong incentive to cruise….

24. “Child deaths fall to record low; Crediting anti-disease efforts, Unicef expects further drop” (International Herald Tribune, September 14, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

By Donald G. McNeil Jr. - The New York Times Media Group

For the first time since record keeping began in 1960, the number of deaths of young children around the world has fallen below 10 million a year, according to figures from the UN Children’s Fund that were to be released Thursday.

This public health triumph has arisen, Unicef officials said, partly from campaigns against measles, malaria and bottle-feeding, and partly from improvements in the economies of most of the world outside Africa.

The estimated drop, to 9.7 million deaths of children under 5, ‘‘is a historic moment,’’ said Ann Veneman, Unicef’s executive director, noting that it shows progress toward the UN Millennium Development Goal of cutting the rate of infant mortality in 1990 by two-thirds by 2015. ‘‘But there is no room for complacency. Most of these deaths are preventable, and the solutions are tried and tested.’’…

In general, Veneman said, the countries that did best concentrated on extending simple measures to rural areas and focusing on inexpensive prevention rather than expensive care.

Ethiopia, many of whose doctors and nurses emigrate, trained 30,000 community health workers for tasks like weighing babies, advising on breast-feeding, giving shots, testing for malaria and handing out mosquito nets.

Success, Veneman said, ‘‘is not just linked to money, it’s linked to setting priorities.’’

25. “Alameda County pays women for abuse alleged in foster home” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 14, 2007); story citing RICHARD WINNIE (MPP 1971/JD 1975); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/14/BA53S5VQ5.DTL

--Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer

Alameda County has agreed to pay $188,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by three women who said the late leader of Your Black Muslim Bakery, Yusuf Bey, sexually assaulted them and abused them as minors after the county placed them in his home.

The three women, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe 1, 2 and 3, were foster children or wards of the court from 1978 to 1994 and were placed in Bey’s home by county social service workers.

Bey routinely raped them … and threatened them with harm if they ever told anyone, according to the suit the women filed in Alameda County Superior Court in July 2003 that sought millions in damages….

The county agreed in February to settle the case and avert a trial, Alameda County Counsel Richard Winnie said Thursday.

“It was going to be extremely difficult to litigate that case,” Winnie said. “It was very old, the facts were very murky and, of course, we were going to have to rely on people who were subjected to intimidation and whose testimony could be influenced by intimidation.”…

26. “Alameda may lose hold of ferry. Bill awaits governor’s OK” (Oakland Tribune, September 13, 2007); story citing LISA GOLDMAN (MPP 1997); http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_6880996

By Alan Lopez, Staff Writer

Control of Alameda’s ferries could be wrenched away from the city under a bill approved by the California Senate in the early morning hours Wednesday.

Under Senate Bill 976, Alameda and Vallejo ferry services would be consolidated and placed under the authority of one newly created body to better coordinate emergency response and provide more efficient service.

City officials are not sure how the move will affect Alameda, which runs the Alameda/Oakland Ferry Service and the Harbor Bay Ferry service.

“There’s a lot of issues that need to be resolved, a lot of vague language about what it means to consolidate ferry services,” said Alameda Deputy City Manager Lisa Goldman. “We’re looking into that. We’re looking to work with the author of the bill and others ... (including) our own senator, (Don Perata), ... to try to understand the intent and what the language means.”

Goldman added, “I understand they will do some clarification language, what they call ‘clean-up’ language, next year.”…

The 11-member board that now oversees the Water Transit Authority—which includes Alameda Mayor Beverly Johnson as a member—would be replaced with a five-member board chosen by the governor, the Senate

and the Assembly.

The possibility of Alameda not having a representative on the board also concerns the city, Goldman said.

“We understand the important role ferries can play in a disaster situation,” she said, “and we’re very supportive of ferries being a part of a regional response to emergencies. But we want to ensure our services don’t suffer and residents enjoy the good ferry service they now enjoy.”…

27. “Call for ‘sharing of ideas’” (Third Sector, September 12, 2007); column citing RICHARD HALKETT (MPP 2005).

By Helen Warrell

Social entrepreneurs should be prepared to hand their ideas to private or public sector bodies rather than struggle to keep their own organisations going, according to a report from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts.

In and Out of Sync, a report produced jointly by Nesta and social innovation body the Young Foundation, says that if entrepreneurs try to ‘hoard credit’ for their ideas they may in fact impede the social aims they are working to achieve.

‘If you are trying to achieve a social impact, you should let go, step back and release your idea to the winds,’ said Richard Halkett, a co-author of the report and executive director of Nesta’s policy and research unit. ‘It is important to share best practice and ideas. We need to focus on social impact and not the organisations themselves.’

Halkett said this altruistic attitude was essential. ‘People in value-driven social organisations claim they are working for the greater good; we need to test that and see what it really means,’ he said.

The report, which is based on in-depth analysis of 11 social innovation projects, including social enterprise The Big Issue and charity Teach First, also highlights the problem of social enterprise leaders hindering the growth of their organisations by failing to adapt to changing circumstances….

[Richard Halkett was also cited in The Times (London), September 18, 2007.]

28. “UNICEF Seeks End to Genital Mutilation” (Africa News, September 11, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for an end to female genital cutting, so-called honour crimes and child marriage, which were described as symbols of discrimination against girls and women.

The call was made by UNICEF’s Executive Director Ann Veneman.

In an opinion piece in the Modesto Bee … Veneman highlighted the cases of two young girls in Egypt who died as a result of genital cutting this summer.

“About 3 million girls are cut each year, and an estimated 130 million women have undergone the procedure,” she wrote, assailing the practice as ‘one of many harmful practices that have their roots in discrimination’ against girls and women.

In a statement issued by the UN, other destructive and discriminatory practices cited by Veneman included ‘honour crimes’ and child marriage.

Any effective strategy to end such abuses has to include community-based approaches like those adopted by Tostan, a UNICEF-supported non-governmental organisation in Senegal, she argued.

“Tostan works with communities in local languages to help provide women with a voice in decision-making,” she wrote. “This approach has been put into practice in hundreds of Senegalese villages with great success.”

Veneman, who visited the Tostan programme last year, said nearly a third of the 5,000 communities in Senegal had abandoned female genital cutting and many had moved away from child marriage.

Through collective action encompassing efforts like these, female genital cutting and “other harmful practices that subjugate young girls must be consigned to history,” she concluded.

29. “State could have trouble selling off loan agency. EdFund has been called troubled and inefficient” (San Diego Union-Tribune, September 10, 2007); story citing MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980).

By Ed Mendel; Staff Writer

It's there in black-and-white to help balance the new state budget: $1 billion in revenue from the sale of an obscure state nonprofit agency, EdFund, that administers federal student loans.

But the state's first major venture into the world of selling assets to aid the budget … is one of the softest numbers in the new $145.5 billion state budget….

After the budget was signed on Aug. 24 … the governor's finance director, Mike Genest, was asked about the contention by state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, that the EdFund sale may only yield about $200 million.

"How would he know?" said an exasperated Genest. "We don't know. We don't even claim to know ... You have pushed a particular button of mine."

Genest said there were discussions "with people who think that they know something about these matters." Investment bankers, such as Goldman Sachs, have approached the state about selling off assets.

"We settled on $1 billion," Genest said. "It is a good thing we have a large reserve, because that $1 billion may or may not play out."

Genest said state finance officials are fairly confident that EdFund will be sold for a "substantial amount," but there is some concern that it might not happen until next fiscal year….

30. “Racism alive and well in S.F. schools - here’s proof” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 9, 2007); story citing AMANDA JOHNSON (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/09/BAIFS1GE4.DTL&hw=goldman+school&sn=003&sc=112

--C.W. Nevius

Last spring, Cal graduate student Mandy Johnson wrote a paper looking at why parents picked certain schools in the choice-based San Francisco district.

“I just thought it would be interesting,” says Johnson, who is now a policy analyst for the district. “I realized that it could be explosive if I could prove this.”

Working at Cal’s Goldman School of Public Policy, Johnson analyzed the data from the 2006-07 school year. The two top factors correlated with high demand for a seat in a particular school were its academic performance and the availability of special classes like language immersion.

The top factors correlated with low demand were the prevalence of low-income students and—here’s the really troubling one—race. Specifically, Johnson found, “as the percentage of African American students in the school increases, kindergarten demand decreases.”

By the way, for those assuming this is something that can be explained away by the interplay of race and poverty, it isn’t. Johnson said she used a statistical tool called regression analysis, which allowed her to isolate factors such as income and skin color. For example, the researcher found no correlation between school choice and the number of Latino students, who are disproportionately lower-income….

[San Francisco school board President Mark Sanchez] read Johnson’s report and is attempting to use it as a way of starting a dialogue about something “our society doesn’t want to talk about.”…

Although schools have responded with more programs and desirable amenities, racial balance has proved increasingly difficult to achieve. As Johnson says, “The district has two problems: Enrollment is going down, and segregation is going up.”…

31. “Tackling racism and segregation in San Francisco schools” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 16, 2007); story citing study by AMANDA JOHNSON (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/16/BAK6S6526.DTL&hw=nevius&sn=003&sc=339

--C.W. Nevius

To say last Sunday’s column raised a furor is an understatement. It was based on a study [by Amanda Johnson] that showed that one of the main indicators for choosing San Francisco schools was the presence of African American students….

The response was powerful. We had more than 300 comments on SFGate.com, and I received more than 100 e-mails. Frankly, in some cases, there was anger and some really unpleasant racial comments….

But there was hardly anyone who cares about San Francisco Unified—which is losing enrollment and growing more segregated—who didn’t take the issue seriously and give it deep thought. New Superintendent Carlos Garcia said this week that he is convening a school district task force to look at the problem….

32. “BART turns 35 – Service, communities adapt along the way” (Contra Costa Times, September 9, 2007); story citing STUART COHEN (MPP 1997); http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_6845122?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

By Denis Cuff, Staff Writer

With the construction of the new East Dublin BART Station parking structure in the background, a BART train pulls into the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station on Wednesday. Construction has begun on another station along Interstate 580 in Dublin. (Doug Duran/Staff)

BART’s sleek electric trains with plush carpets hummed into service Sept. 11, 1972, with a bold mission.

Bay Area Rapid Transit was going to save the Bay Area from gridlock, smog and urban sprawl. Along the way, BART also would juice up the seedy image of public transit….

BART was touted as a sprawl-buster when voters in Contra Costa, Alameda and San Francisco counties were asked in 1962 to pay property taxes to build the system.

As the predictions went, homes and businesses would cluster around train stations in transit-oriented villages. By leaving cars at home, BART riders would cut pollution and traffic.

Today, transit villages built around BART stations have been developed at Fruitvale in Oakland and one is in development at the Pleasant Hill station.

For the most part, though, residential housing boomed in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda counties far from the original BART stations, according to a series of studies by the federal government and UC Berkeley in the 1980s and 1990s.

Cities and counties often did not zone land around BART stations for high-density developments, said Stuart Cohen, chief of the Oakland-based Transportation and Land Use Coalition.

“I think BART, overall, has been a good thing,” Cohen said. “But it did not meet its potential to curb urban sprawl. With 35 years of service, I think we’re really at the cusp of having land around stations converted to transit villages.” …

33. “Offbeat Religion News: UC policy gives students flexibility on move-in days” (Press-Register (Mobile, AL), September 8, 2007); story citing TODD GREENSPAN (MPP 1984).

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The University of California will no longer force students to choose between observing religious holidays and move-in days at dormitories, according to a new system-wide policy.

Previously, Jewish students had complained that move-in days often conflicted with the Jewish High Holy Days, such as this year, when move-in day is scheduled for Sept. 22, during Yom Kippur….

Under the policy, schools with move-in days that conflict with a religious holiday must change their schedule so no student will have to choose between fulfilling their religious obligations and moving in. Mandatory orientation activities have been rescheduled so no student will miss them because of religious reasons, said Todd Greenspan, the UC’s director of educational relations.

While the Jewish High Holy Days were the impetus for the change, the new policy applies to all religions, Greenspan said. Officials plan to meet with a diverse group of religious leaders to ensure the policy will not conflict with any major religious holiday.

After 2010, the institution plans to set a move-in calendar that should not conflict with any major religious holiday, Greenspan said.

34. “U.S. jobs report jolts markets” (International Herald Tribune, September 7, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/07/business/webecon.php?page=1

By Jeremy W. Peters

NEW YORK: Employers in the United States eliminated 4,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said Friday, bringing an end to four years of uninterrupted job growth, and sending stocks into a tailspin….

Not only did the Labor report show that there was no job growth last month, but it also found that the job market was significantly weaker in June and July than the government first reported. Revisions to earlier jobs reports showed that 81,000 fewer jobs were created than was initially estimated.

Construction and manufacturing were the hardest-hit industries, losing a combined 68,000 jobs. That offset hiring in education services, health and retail. About 28,000 government positions were eliminated as well….

Some economists noted that while the report was undeniably weak, it only represented only one month.

“There’s really no silver lining in it,” said Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America. “However, one month does not make a trend.”

Levy said a combination of factors, including strong economic growth overseas and interest rates that are low by historic standards, should help prevent a recession. He said his forecast for a one-in-three chance of a recession was unchanged.

“The financial turmoil and extend problems in housing put the risks for the economy clearly to the downside - no question,” he added. “But there are also factors that suggest a longer period of slower growth, but not recession.”…

35. “California health reform puzzle: How to insure low-paid workers?” (Contra Costa Times, September 6, 2007); story citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6819641?nclick_check=1

By Laura Kurtzman - Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO—To understand why it is so hard to cover the uninsured in California, consider the case of Brookfields, a small chain of family style restaurants near the state capital.

Profits are low, and the owner, Sam Manolakas, says he cannot afford his workers’ rising health care premiums. But since his waitresses, cooks and busboys earn so little, neither can they.

So, like low-wage workers across California and the nation, many of Manolakas’ employees are dropping their coverage.

Now, reformers in Sacramento want to reverse this trend, which is a major reason why 6.8 million Californians had no insurance at some point last year.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says Brookfields’ workers should be forced to buy health insurance on their modest wages. Democrats in the state Legislature say Manolakas should bear the burden. They are in intense negotiations to find a compromise in the waning days of the Legislative session.

But, experts say, neither approach has enough subsidies to help Manolakas and his workers afford these proposed mandates, given that medical costs are rising so much faster than inflation.

“Health care is still really expensive,” said Marian Mulkey, an analyst with the California Health Care Foundation. “This is shifting the cost but not reducing the cost.”…

36. “Sino-U.S. trade benefits all” (Xinhua [China], September 6, 2007); story citing research by GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995); http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-09/06/content_6669905.htm

Beijing, Sept. 6 -- Sino-U.S. trade will benefit both countries as well as the world, says an article in the overseas edition of People’s Daily. The following is an excerpt:

Last year, the Sino-U.S. trade volume was 262.68 billion U.S. dollars and China’s trade surplus was 144.26 billion dollars.

Commenting on the trade imbalance, Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai said: “China has the trade surplus while the United States has the profits.” This is because of the characteristics of the Sino-U.S. trade….

According to the findings of a research team [Greg Linden, Kenneth L. Kraemer and Jason Dedrick] of the University of California at Berkeley [and Irvine], for the 30-gigabyte video iPod sold at 299 dollars, the most expensive component (73 dollars) is the hard drive manufactured by Toshiba. This is followed by the display module (20 dollars), the video/multimedia processor chip (8 dollars) and the controller chip (5 dollars). The labor associated with the final assembly of the iPod in China amounts to only 4 dollars. Each 299 dollars iPod sold contributes 150 dollars to the trade deficit of the U.S., which is actually in their favor. The truth is that, using the method described by the research team, only 3 dollars, or 1 percent, of the value of the iPod that is “Made-in-China” is captured by China....

[The study by Greg Linden, et al. is titled “Who Captures Value in a Global Innovation System? The Case of Apple’s iPod”.]

37. “Electric-car startup Tesla is a hit with politicians and stars - Green company is delivering a well-connected car” (San Jose Mercury News, September 3, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6790522?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

By Matt Nauman, Mercury News

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center, joins automakers to highlight the latest alternative fuel vehicles, one of which was an all electric sports car by Tesla Motors, left, during media day at the Los Angeles Auto Show (AP Photo/Ric Francis)

Even before the Tesla gets delivered to its first owner, the very notion of this electric-car start-up—its greenness, its technological promise, its Silicon Valley roots—already has the eyes and ears of politicians in Washington and Sacramento.

The company says it will deliver its first electric car, a two-seat Roadster that costs about $100,000, to customers later this year. For the past year, the company has been showing off prototypes of the Tesla Roadster to politicians and policy-makers, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger….

Tesla ‘‘invested in a product that advertises itself,’’ said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in San Francisco. ‘‘It has an immediate attraction to politicians who want to gravitate toward a product that makes a statement.’’ …

In June … Democratic Senators Harry Reid …, John Kerry …, and Evan Bayh … held a meeting on energy efficiency with representatives from four companies, including Tesla. Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, ran a photo of Reid being driving in a Suburban SUV on his way to drive the electric Tesla….

But displaying a prototype of an electric car for politicians isn’t the same as producing a production vehicle that’s as affordable as the average car that costs about $25,000, [Gloria Bergquist of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers] said….

In the meantime, as Hwang noted, Tesla has become the poster child of the emerging green economy.

‘‘Tesla, in a very kind of crisp manner, articulates the ability of new technologies,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s a hunger, a pent-up demand for a real environmental car that’s fun to drive. There’s political demand there, too.’’

38. “House draft eases rules for schools - Battle looms over law’s renewal” (Washington Times, September 3, 2007); story citing CYNTHIA BROWN (MPP 1986).

By Amy Fagan, The Washington Times

Battle lines are being drawn as the House prepares to tackle the renewal of President Bush’s No Child Left Behind education law with an initial draft proposal that loosens testing requirements, allows new measuring techniques and creates a new funding stream.

Rep. George Miller, California Democrat and chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon of California, the ranking Republican on the committee, last week sent a discussion draft to various stakeholders and asked for feedback.

The 2002 law requires states to test and track students and holds schools accountable if they don’t make adequate yearly progress. Because the act evokes strong opinions and produces a complex political dynamic, Mr. Miller must maintain a delicate coalition to guide a renewal bill to passage.

“Miller has a tough job on his hands,” said Cynthia Brown, education policy director at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. “Both the right and left are divided on this law.”…

39. “First summer of mandatory reliability rules finds FERC, NERC working out new roles” (Electric Utility Week, September 3, 2007); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974).

By Dipka Bhambhani

Only two months into the mandatory electric reliability regime, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. has tallied more than 300 alleged violations of reliability standards….

NERC had years of reliability experience when the system was voluntary, but FERC is taking on an entirely new position, required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005….

William Hederman, executive director of the Energy Resources Group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and previously the first chief of FERC’s former Office of Market Oversight and Investigation, said FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher reads the Federal Power Act as “giving all authority, and especially the new parts of EPAct” to FERC.

“The chain of command will follow the command from the top of the chain,” he said.

“FERC may delegate [enforcement authority] to this reliability organization, which FERC got to approve, [but] FERC has not permanently appointed NERC,” he said. NERC has been given a term, subject to a triennial review, he said. “That’s important.”…

Given FERC’s serious approach to the reliability mandate, “I would not be surprised if FERC becomes a micromanager,” Hederman said. Conflict is possible, he said with something of a chuckle, but it is unlikely, because “FERC is in charge. There is only a conflict if there are two bodies with equal authority. That’s the relationship. FERC gets to make the decisions and delegations.”

A possible area of disagreement concerns the judgment of violation severity, Hederman suggested. NERC tends to be more concerned about technical violations than about administrative ones, he said, and “FERC has not officially bought into that philosophy.” FERC’s philosophy is “every rule is important,” he said. “That identifies potential for serious conflict between NERC and FERC,” he said. “It is the difference between an engineering mentality and a lawyer mentality.”…

Hederman said he expected “FERC will be looking closely over NERC’s shoulder. FERC will probably put members on regional audit teams and be part of the process.”

40. “America’s Car Culture Clashes with Climate Change” (All Things Considered, National Public Radio (NPR), September 3, 2007; story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); Listen to the program

LAURA SYDELL: …Charles Vogelheim is vice president of Automotive Development at J.D. Power and Associates, which does surveys of American car owners…. Vogelheim says Americans feel safer in big cars. And the roads here accommodate them. Europeans might like to pack up the family and all their gear, but large autos just won’t fit.

Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director of the National Resources Defense Council, says most European cities were designed for horses, buggies and feet.

Mr. ROLAND HWANG (Vehicles Policy Director, Natural Resources Defense Council): If you go to London, if you go to Paris, … you practically couldn’t drive a Hummer to the streets; you certainly couldn’t park them in many places.

SYDELL: Hwang says Americans have 30 percent of the world’s cars and only 5 percent of its population. Environmentalists are trying to figure out how to change America’s driving habits….

SYDELL: …Congress is proposing new fuel economy standards for American carmakers, but automobile manufacturers say such standards would deny consumers the ability to choose cars that suit their lifestyle.

Roland Hwang of the National Resources Defense Council says if Detroit had the will, it could make big cars that get good mileage.

Mr. HWANG: Every vehicle ranging from a Honda Civic to a Ford Explorer to a Chevy Suburban, all can be made more efficient with existing technologies that are—in some cases—literally off the shelf.

SYDELL: Hwang says there are technologies being developed that could turn off car cylinders when not in use and shut down the engine when idling at a stoplight. He believes that Americans still may be able to find environmentally friendly vehicles that suit our culture and our lifestyle….

41. “The State of the U.S. Labor Movement. Grocery lessons: In key realm of health benefits, new contract improves on body blows of recent years” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 2, 2007); story citing study coauthored by FELIX SU (MPP 2007); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/02/BUISRRQHN.DTL&type=printable

--George Raine, Chronicle Staff Writer

In July, 65,000 Southern California grocery workers ratified a labor contract with a health plan that pays 100 percent for preventive care procedures ranging from exams to immunizations.

That’s good news for a labor movement that is struggling to get a grip on the health care issue. The bad news is that such deals are few and far between….

The Southern California grocery workers, represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, had considerable ground to make up. They had been buffeted by the consequences of a 141-day strike and lockout that ended Feb. 29, 2004, and they accepted a contract at the time that significantly restructured health insurance coverage.

That contract increased the length of waiting periods for health care eligibility for new hires from four months to 12 months for individuals (18 months for clerks) and 30 months for families. The effect of that was dramatic. The [Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley] found that employer-sponsored insurance coverage for grocery workers between September 2003 and September 2006 fell from 94 to 54 percent in Southern California.

Only 29 percent of workers hired under the new contract were eligible for coverage between September 2003 and September 2006, the study [coauthored by Felix Su] said….

“We were able to bargain back much of what we think was stolen from us three years ago,” said Greg Conger, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 324 in Buena Park….

[The Labor Center study is titled “Declining Health Coverage in Southern California Grocery Industry” by Ken Jacobs, Arindrajit Dube, Felix Su (January 2007]

42. “Doubts on sentencing plans. Governor isn’t likely to sign either of two bills creating panels, aide says” (Sacramento Bee, September 2, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/356411.html

By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau

…Two bills are circulating in the Legislature that would create a California sentencing commission with the ability to change the length of prison terms. But a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested it is highly unlikely that either commission bill would get signed into law….

State Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, wrote one of two sentencing commission bills now pending in the Capitol and the one that legislative staffers believe has the best chance of making it to the governor’s desk. She said forming a sentencing commission represents perhaps the state’s last and best hope to prevent a specially empaneled three-judge federal court from slamming a population cap on California’s massively overcrowded prison system….

Romero’s amended bill would empower a state sentencing commission to establish alternative terms for 274 specific statutes, covering a volume of drug laws in the Health and Safety Code as well as both property and violent crimes in the Penal Code….

Law enforcement groups and legislative Republicans have blasted the idea of a sentencing commission, echoing concerns raised by the Governor’s Office that the panel would strip the Legislature of its foremost public safety responsibility….

Tying the commission’s oversight to specific bills only creates more trouble for the proposal, said Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange.

“Why is she picking which (statutes) she wants them to look at?” Spitzer said of Romero. “It’s like she’s passed judgment on which ones she wants them to see, rather than having the commission look at the whole code and see which ones they want to change.”

43. “No takers yet for shuttered school; Housing agencies seek longer lease” (Boston Globe, September 2, 2007); story citing ALEXANDER MARTHEWS (MPP 2001); http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/02/no_takers_yet_for_shuttered_school/

By Stephanie V. Siek - Globe Staff

Does nobody want the Banks School?

No usable responses were received to a Waltham request for proposals to turn the surplused former Banks School into housing or services for the developmentally disabled. The lease term [of 10 years] specified under the request was considered too short by the nonprofits that generally run services for the disabled and by any firm that would consider using the site for housing….

The request for proposals was written with the promise that “the city will consider seeking a special act of the Legislature for a longer lease term,” but it was apparently against state bidding rules to include that line….

The second response [of only two] included a joint proposal from the Waltham Alliance to Create Housing and Cascap Realty. Conditional upon being granted a longer lease term, it was rejected because with that requirement, the proposal failed to conform to the criteria identified in the RFP.

Alex Marthews, executive director of the alliance, said the rejection took him by surprise, and said the city should have found a way to clarify the language to all the interested bidders.

Marthews said that coming up with an affordable housing project under a 10-year lease is all but impossible. The subsidies and grant funding that make below-market rents possible can take years to set up, and many of the funding sources require that the housing they’re helping to create will be available long-term, Marthews said.

“You’re bringing together eight to 10 sources of funding and each has different terms, but in general, funders want to see that what they are investing in will remain there for a substantial period of time, and the longer the better,” said Marthews.

His alliance and Cascap Realty had proposed to renovate the building to include 30 units of affordable housing aimed at low- and moderate-income renters…. Five percent of the units and parking would be reserved for those with disabilities….

44. “Keep that ‘R’ word out of the economic vocabulary” (Journal Inquirer (Manchester, CT), August 28, 2007); interview with MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.journalinquirer.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18757049&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=569380&rfi=8

By Harlan Levy, Journal Inquirer

Bank of America’s chief economist, Mickey D. Levy analyzes and forecasts national and international economic performance and financial market behavior and conducts research on monetary and fiscal policies. Levy, a widely quoted economic observer, is also an adviser to several Federal Reserve Banks.

Q: With the short-term funding markets tenuous, and the unwinding of the sub-prime and leveraged credit markets proceeding slowly and involving significant losses, what’s your forecast for the economy?

MICKEY LEVY: I expect several quarters of slower economic growth, but not recession.

The recent turmoil in financial markets and ongoing problems in mortgages will definitely lead to larger declines in real estate and residential construction for a longer period. It is uncertain, however, whether this will spill over materially into other sectors of the economy.

Consumer confidence may be weakened somewhat; however, businesses continue to hire, wages are rising, businesses are still hiring, and boosting personal income, and gasoline prices are falling. Moreover, U.S. exports remain strong, reflecting healthy global growth and a weaker dollar.

Q: What’s your view of the housing market and its effect on the economy?

MICKEY LEVY: Since mid 2006, declines in residential investment has subtracted about 1 percentage point from Gross Domestic Product growth. That’s large. These sharp declines in construction, however, have not kept pace with declines in sales, and the inventory of unsold homes has risen significantly.

Prices are falling—my hunch is faster than official data suggest—as builders offer financial incentives to prospective buyers. I expect recent problems in mortgages, coupled with interest resets on ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) and increasing defaults, to weaken home sales and elongate the adjustment to supply and demand.

Accordingly, I’m not expecting a turnaround in housing until at least mid-2008….

45. “Getting Smart - About Buying Carbon Offsetting” (San Jose Mercury News, August 26, 2007); story citing DERIK BROEKHOFF (MPP 1999).

By Sarah Jane Tribble, Mercury News

Feeling guilty about the amount of deadly greenhouse gases you emit by driving that big SUV or using your air conditioner during the summer?…

While celebrities like Al Gore and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger burnish their green credentials by buying so-called carbon offsets that fund projects like wind farms to make up for their energy excesses, environmental advocates nationwide criticize the effectiveness of the programs.

Their concern: The carbon offset market, which is largely unregulated, lacks the standards or the oversight needed to make sure that the projects consumers send money to are actually helping clean the air….

A number of organizations are rushing to create standards for projects, said Derik Broekhoff, a senior associate at the non-profit environmental policy think tank World Resources Institute.

‘‘Unfortunately, it’s perfectly easy for the buyer and seller in the transaction to be perfectly happy and yet it’s the atmosphere that could get the short end of the stick,’’ Broekhoff said….

…If you do choose to use [offsets], experts advice asking some tough questions. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Ask if the offsets are certified to a particular standard such as the Voluntary Carbon Standard, the California Climate Action Registry’s offset protocols, or the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard, and, if not, why not?

2. Ask how you can know that the offset is only being sold once and if the transaction is being registered somewhere.

3. Ask if the project adds new greenhouse gas emission reductions to the atmosphere. For instance, a forest already under a conservation easement that prevents trees from being cut shouldn’t count as a new project.

4. Make sure the project is verified by an independent auditor who visits the site and measures the tons of carbon being mitigated.

Source: Ecosystem Marketplace Managing Director Ricardo Bayon and Derik Broekhoff, a senior associate at the non-profit environmental policy think tank World Resources Institute.

46. “Sac City stresses all of the angles. Geometry is one of four new standards that will be required for graduation” (Sacramento Bee, August 20, 2007); story citing JOE RADDING (MPP 1992); http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/334298.html

By Kim Minugh, Bee Staff Writer

…This year, the Sacramento district is putting into effect the final parts of a plan to make graduation requirements more rigorous. Geometry has now become a part of that rigor.

Sometime during their four years of high school, students also have to complete at least one year of a foreign language; a semester each of geography and contemporary global issues; and a computer literacy class—or pass a test showing they’re computer-savvy….

Controversy erupted over a state law signed in 2001 requiring all seniors to have passed algebra, which must be completed before geometry.

And the California High School Exit Exam—another recent condition for graduation—does not test students on geometry.

Joe Radding, an educational programs consultant with the state Department of Education, said none of Sacramento City Unified’s new requirements is radical.

As educators and politicians statewide continue upping expectations of students, Radding said many districts statewide—even large urban agencies like Los Angeles Unified—have aligned their standards with the University of California and California State University admission standards or are moving toward doing so.

“In general, I think it’s a good thing,” Radding said. “While we understand not all students are going to go on to college, the closer we get to having those expectations the more prepared our students are going to be for other pursuits after high school.”…

47. “Clamp-down on manipulation raises eyebrows as Congress looks to close loopholes” (Inside FERC, August 6, 2007); story citing WILLIAM HEDERMAN (MPP 1974).

By Joel Kirkland

With the Washington energy community abuzz about FERC’s exhaustive cases against Amaranth Advisors and Energy Transfer Partners and the whopping $458 million in proposed fines, the message sent by the commission seems clear: it is unafraid to impose major penalties for the worst cases of misconduct.

US Senators lauded FERC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission last week for taking steps to prosecute Amaranth and ETP for market manipulation in the physical and financial natural gas markets. They talked about closing the “Enron loophole,” which exempts electronic energy trading platforms from regulatory oversight, and increasing the CFTC’s budget to bolster oversight of booming commodity markets….

“FERC’s actions should remove any scintilla of doubt for any rational person that things have changed,” said William Hederman, executive director of the Morgan Lewis Energy Resources Group and former chief enforcement officer at FERC. “This is a big step for everyone, and the stakes are incredibly serious now,” he said. “Everyone’s got to go back and decide how to change their practices to be in alignment.”

The breadth of the enforcement actions this year will have unintended consequences, Hederman said. For example, gas and electric companies will probably fight provisions in FERC rules that could get them into trouble on the enforcement side.

It also could impact efforts to implement electric reliability standards, he suggested. As the North American Electric Reliability Corp. implements reliability standards, the enforcement steps could signal that FERC will also treat the auditing of reliability standards as it has the other matters….

48. “So, what does $9.2 million buy?” (Sacramento Bee, August 3, 2007); story citing TIM GAGE (MPP 1978).

By Jim Wasserman

…Ever since California voters passed Proposition 13 in 1978 to cap their property taxes, home builders have wrestled with the question: Does a new house really pay for the services it requires—or is it a drag on local and state government treasuries?…

Builders are back with a new study saying they’re paying their way and then some. According to their study—by the Blue Sky Consulting group, which includes former Davis administration finance director Tim Gage—new houses provide a significant one-time benefit and positive ongoing annual revenue.

That ongoing revenue averages $771 for cities, $190 for counties and almost $3,500 for the state from each new house, says the study. The report, financed by the California Homebuilding Foundation, a builders group, is called “The Housing Bottom Line, Fiscal Impact of New Home Construction on California Governments.”…

49. “WILL ISRAEL SURVIVE? By Mitchell G. Bard” (Palgrave Macmillan, July 2007); publication of new book by MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987); http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=1403981981

While most people view the Palestinian conflict as the greatest threat to Israel’s survival, it is in fact only one of the nation’s long-term concerns. Aside from terrorists seeking to destroy it, Israel must contend with tensions between religious and secular Jews, the demographic issues posed by a quickly growing Arab population, internal political divisions, and disputes over the water sources that are critical to its survival. In the face of these challenges, the country’s future can seem precarious. Bard paints a realistic picture of the road ahead with a hopeful message: Israel will not only survive, but will endure long into the future.

“Discussion of Israel in the media is ‘very simplistic, misleading, and often inaccurate,’ said Middle East expert and author Mitchell Bard... His new book, Will Israel Survive?, is a response to that misleading media coverage.

‘One of the main points I’ve tried to get across in the [new] book is that the reason for the persistence of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors is because of the complexity of the issues,’ said Bard.”

--CNSNews.com

50. “Public Employee Pension and Healthcare” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, July 13, 2007); program features commentary by MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); Listen to program

The program explores public employee retirement benefits, including the challenges San Francisco faces in paying the soaring costs of retiree health benefits.

Guests:

Jason Dickerson, public retirement analyst at the Legislative Analyst’s Office

Mike Genest, director of Finance at the California Department of Finance….

51. “Canyon Country Driver Saves with CNG-Powered Car” (Daily News of Los Angeles, July 9, 2006); story citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004).

By Judy O’Rourke, Staff Writer

Canyon Country -- A local woman who drives an alternative-fuel-powered car calls herself a friend of the environment and a foe of foreign-supplied oil, but she might not realize bureaucrats are hot on her trail.

Her 2002 Chevy Cavalier … will get the equivalent of 30 mpg at $1.55 per gallon in compressed natural gas.

“I pay half of what everybody else pays for fuel and I’m not polluting anything,’’ said Victoria Bennett, who paid $6,100 for the now-discontinued model….

While lone drivers might not flock to the technology, those who buy fleets of cars have.

“In 2005, in California, about 100 million gallons of petroleum was displaced in buses, trucks, fleet vehicles like shuttles and taxis using CNG and liquefied natural gas,’’ said Mike Eaves, president of the Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition. “Focusing on high fuel use, (using CNG in) fleets makes a lot of economic sense….”…

And while several auto companies have turned to hybrids as the next big thing and other technologies are also in the running, the race to break oil dependency is far from over.

“The bottom line is, we’re addicted to oil and have to pursue all the potential solutions to breaking that addiction,’’ said Luke Tonachel, a vehicles analyst for the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council. “Included in that list is biofuels, electricity, fuel cells and alternate fuels like CNG and hydrogen. They’ll all play a role.’’ Biofuels include ethanol and biodiesel.

He says fuel economy regulations have not changed since the late 1980s.

“We need to give consumers choices,’’ he said. “If choices are available, people will choose to buy alternatives to petroleum.’’

A law passed last year requires the state Energy Commission and Air Resources Board to assess different alternate fuels and come up with targets for increasing their use, he said….

An initiative on the November ballot, the Clean Alternative Energy Act, aims to promote alternative fuels and vehicles and more efficient vehicles through state-funded projects.

52. “Israel’s only goal to try and survive” (Times Argus, The (Montpelier-Barre, VT), July 3, 2007); op-ed citing MITCHELL BARD (MPP 1983/PhD 1987).

Can anyone claim anything more despicable and insulting to a people than to state the Israelis are aping Hitler and his Nazis? (June 26 letter, “Worried about Israeli intentions” by Rama Schneider).

Schneider and his ilk need not worry. Israeli intentions are clear to anyone of intelligence and knowledge of history: Israeli intentions are to survive in the face of constant attacks and threats by sub-humans of being annihilated….

Rama Schneider would do well to read Myths and Facts: A guide to the Arab-Israeli conflict, by Mitchell G. Bard, and dust off his history books… if he has any.

Ruth Lowry, Marshfield

53. “Location key in condo plan. Advocacy group buys closed factory near the common” (Daily News Tribune, The (Waltham, MA), June 28, 2007); story citing ALEXANDER MARTHEWS (MPP 2001).

By Nicole Haley

WALTHAM - The Waltham Alliance to Create Housing has a new affordable housing project in the works that will provide six two bedroom condos down the street from Waltham Common.

‘‘It’s really a great location,’’ said Alex Marthews, executive director of the nonprofit housing advocacy group. ‘‘You can walk to the commuter rail, to eight bus lines, and all sorts of shops and restaurants are in great access.’’

Marthews said the alliance signed a purchase and sales agreement Tuesday to take ownership of the former Beacon Valves Co. facility at 2 Jackson St. on the corner of Central Street. The alliance plans to replace the closed-down factory with affordable housing.

‘‘All of the apartments will be affordable to people earning 80 percent or less of the area’s median income,’’ Marthews said….

Marthews said the project cost has been estimated at $2.25 million. He hopes construction will start by September 2008 and completed by spring or summer 2009.

In 2003, the alliance, which also advocates for tenants, built three two-family homes for low- and moderate-income tenants at 51-59 Charles St. In July 2005, the group completed seven affordable apartments above its Moody Street office and finished a four-unit affordable housing project in Belmont in February 2006.

‘‘I think that the need for housing for regular people is very acute in Waltham,’’ Marthews said. ‘‘Housing prices have risen so much, and it’s very hard for young families in particular to buy property within or near Waltham.’’

Marthews said tenants for the Jackston Street project would need to meet income and household size requirements and would be chosen by lottery.

Ward 5 Councilor Gary J. Marchese, who represents that neighborhood, said he is excited about the project and hopes the alliance can obtain financing.

‘‘One of the best things about this project is it takes a rundown commercial use out of the residential neighborhood and really puts all residential in that area,’’ Marchese said. ‘‘Plus it provides much needed affordable housing in Waltham.’’

Mayor Jeannette A. Mc- Carthy said the thought the proposal was ‘‘a very good concept.’’

‘‘They (the alliance) had an original sketch that looked very nice,’’ McCarthy said.

In addition to focusing on the new project, Marthews said the alliance intends to submit a proposal to the city for an affordable housing project at the former Banks School. The school was declared surplus in 2005 and City Council approved a request for proposal for the Main Street property this month.

54. “American University holds a conference on ‘Framing the Issues’” (Washington Daybook, June 21, 2007); event featuring ROBERT ENTMAN (MPP/PhD 1980).

PARTICIPANTS: Robert Entman, professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University; and Shanto Iyengar, professor of communications at Stanford University.

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “Back to the future—with balloting by mail” (Oakland Tribune, September 30, 2007); op-ed citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.insidebayarea.com/opinion/tribune/ci_7045175

--Daniel Borenstein, Columnist and editorial writer

Enough already with all the squabbling over touch-screen voting. California should follow Oregon’s lead and convert to all-mail balloting….

We have been trying to fix the nation’s voting systems since the 2000 presidential election debacle in Florida introduced most of us to “hanging chads” and “butterfly ballots.”

We knew something was wrong there when later analysis showed thousands of voters in heavily Democratic Palm Beach county unexpectedly cast ballots for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan rather than Al Gore. In some counties, nearly 9 percent of the punch-card ballots had no valid votes for president.

The concern was accuracy: Voters’ preferences were not being correctly recorded by the punch-card ballots….

But as Henry Brady, a University of California, Berkeley, public policy and political science professor, points out, the debate over accuracy quickly morphed into one over security.

Touch-screen systems were seen as vulnerable to hackers….

2. “Robert Reich at the Commonwealth Club” (Broadcast on KQED public radio, September 28, 29, 30, 2007); Listen to program

Robert Reich, economist and former U.S. secretary of labor, explains the current great economic transformation and how we can best navigate it while spreading prosperity. Reich, currently a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, has written eleven books, including “The Work of Nations” and was co-founder of The American Prospect.

David Kirp, author of The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics, talks with Scott Simon about the movement to give every child a chance to attend preschool.

--Robert Collier

For the foreign officials gathered at President Bush’s two-day climate summit meeting this week, there’s a cruel reality—no matter whether they opt for the voluntary, go-slow American path to emissions cutbacks or the more muscular United Nations approach, there’s no way to stop catastrophic global warming if China doesn’t also go green….

According to several international studies released in recent months, China is in the process of overtaking the United States as the world’s No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions. But a closer look at the numbers shows even more startling news—China’s emissions growth will soon outstrip that of the entire industrialized world combined. Even if China meets its own targets for energy-efficiency improvements, its greenhouse gas emissions will increase by about 2.5 billion metric tons over the next five years, an amount far larger than the 1.05 billion tons in reductions imposed by the Kyoto Protocol on wealthy nations and on the United States, which has since withdrawn from the treaty….

Rather than throwing ever-greater sums of money at the problem, U.S. politicians should listen to the Energy Foundation of San Francisco, which gets remarkable results by spending about $20 million per year to support interchange between U.S. and Chinese policymakers and scientists, and in the process far eclipses the less than $2 million per year spent by the federal government.

“The big lesson of the last decade is that China’s key problem is their bureaucratic structure,” said Douglas Ogden, director of the Energy Foundation’s China program. “There’s great discretion for local officials on what laws and regulations to enforce, and local polluters often are allowed to just get away with it.”…

Ogden proposes sending teams of U.S. regulators and technicians throughout China to help local and central government officials draw up efficient environmental enforcement rules and fair pricing mechanisms. “If they could send 30 or so teams out there for a couple years, giving workshops, doing training events, you could do more with, say, $50 million per year than you could with (spending) billions on other programs,” he said….

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

By Terry Burnham, Special to The Times

…In Reich’s view, capitalism has triumphed in the form of hyper-competitive markets, and the transformation merits adding his new word, supercapitalism, to our lexicon. This virulent strain of capitalism, he contends, produces better products and higher stock market returns but comes at the cost of inequality, uncertainty and a decline in democracy. This economic pressure cooker squeezes companies toward ruthless penny-pinching, decimates unions, degrades the environment and pushes government further into the pockets of lobbyists.

Reich, a former secretary of Labor for the Clinton administration and now a professor at UC Berkeley, identifies human nature as a central cause for these woes…

Reich’s view that our own human nature lies at the root of modern woes stands in refreshing contrast to standard left-right rhetoric. ... As he notes in the book’s strongest chapter, we are “of two minds” about modernity.

Despite its profound flaws, “Supercapitalism” describes important and sweeping economic changes, and is readable (at least to an economist). The rise and fall of unions in America has been dramatic, as has the rise in government lobbying and the recent divergence between worker productivity and pay (an important cause of record profits). Reich has a talent for making economics accessible and sometimes even fun….

6. “NASA Releases Some Global Warming Images” (ABC7 TV News, September 27, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=global_warm&id=5679398

By Wayne Freedman

KGO - NASA has released some thought-provoking images. They show an unprecedented amount of ice melting in the Arctic Ocean, the most since 1979—when the agency began using satellite pictures.

This is a time lapse satellite view of the Arctic ice cap. It always changes with the seasons, but this summer, it reached new known low. As much sea ice melted this summer, as we would normally see disappear in three….

This year for instance, most of the Northwest Passage between Canada and the Arctic Circle cleared.

"The problem is that the green house effect on climate is going to respond in ways that are surprising to us. And one of those ways is as we disturb the system, we are going to find more stuff," said Dr. Dan Kammen from UC Berkeley.

Then there is the matter of oil deposits beneath the ice caps. Most experts agree that oil and fossil fuels at least helped contribute to global warming, and now there will be more of them.

"The irony is that our ability to find oil is being driven by the problems oil is causing," said Dr. Kammen….

By Frank Davies, Mercury News Washington Bureau

Washington - Entrepreneurs, scientists and venture capitalists, including two leaders on energy issues from the Bay Area, urged senators Tuesday to invest in “green tech” programs they said would create jobs and help achieve energy independence....

A University of California-Berkeley study [by Dan Kammen] found more jobs will be generated by investing in renewable energy than in a comparable investment in fossil-fuel sources....

The director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at UC-Berkeley, Daniel Kammen, said the United States is trying to catch up to European nations and Brazil, “who are reaping economic benefits” from investment in renewable energy.

Kammen, who worked on California’s low-carbon fuel standard, noted that the U.S. ethanol industry created 147,000 jobs in 2004, generating $2 billion in new tax revenue, yet Congress and the Bush administration have cut the budget for energy research and development since the 1990s.

“As a nation, we invest less in energy research, development and deployment than do a few biotech firms in their own, private R&D budgets,” Kammen said. “This is a disturbing trend.”...

[This story also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7002627?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com“>Oakland Tribune</a>]

--Heidi Benson, Chronicle Staff Writer

The income gap is Topic A in former secretary of labor Robert Reich’s class on Wealth & Poverty.

From the pulpit of a lecture hall in the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, Robert Reich is preaching about the perils of the wealth gap. “We haven’t experienced inequality on this scale since the 1920s,” Reich says, eyes flaring. “How much inequality are we willing to accept?”…

Everyone knows where Reich stands. He’s the guy on the Left. The wry optimist. As secretary of labor in the Clinton administration from 1992 to 1997, he implemented the Family and Medical Leave Act and helped raise the minimum wage. His proudest achievement during that time was “running a tight labor market,” he says. “Income inequality actually started to reduce.”

To Reich, it’s not enough to identify a problem; solutions can and must be found. He aims for both in his many books about the intersection of economics and politics, including his latest, “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life,” published this month by Knopf….

In 2002, he took the plunge into electoral politics, running what one paper dubbed “a guerrilla campaign” for governor of Massachusetts in the Democratic primary, supporting abortion rights and same-sex marriage....

He lost the primary; current Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the governorship....

About that time, his longtime colleague Michael Nacht—now dean of the Goldman School—invited him to come to Berkeley as a visiting professor. He was ripe for a change, he says, and came aboard full time in 2006. “I fell head over heels in love with Berkeley,” Reich says. “I’m now in a state of continuous mild euphoria.”...

It has been a decade since he left Washington. Does he miss having his hands on the gears of government now that his influence is largely confined to his books and Cal’s ivory tower? Not at all. “What better way for me to influence the course of culture than to teach?” he says.

“My students are going to change the world.”

Backed by the White House, corn-state governors and solid blocks on both sides of Congress’s partisan divide, the politics of biofuels could hardly look sunnier. The economics of the American drive to increase ethanol in the energy supply are more discouraging.

American corn-based ethanol is expensive. And while it can help cut oil imports and provide modest reductions in greenhouse gases compared to conventional gasoline, corn ethanol also carries considerable risks. Even now as Europe and China join the United States in ramping up production, world food prices are rising, threatening misery for the poorest countries….

Meanwhile, the environmental benefits are modest. A study published last year by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley [including Dan Kammen, Michael O’Hare, Brian T. Turner], estimated that after accounting for the energy used to grow the corn and turn it into ethanol, corn ethanol lowers emissions of greenhouse gases by only 13 percent….

[This editorial also appeared in the <a href=“http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/09/19/news/edethanol.php“>International Herald Tribune</a>]

10. “Robert B. Reich on Supercapitalism” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, September 19, 2007); features interview with ROBERT REICH; Listen to program

Author Robert B. Reich discusses the political influence of megacorporations on our democracy.

Guest: Robert B. Reich, author of “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life”, was Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration and is now professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

11. “Robert B. Reich on Supercapitalism” (Your Call, KALW-91.7 FM, September 18, 2007); features interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.yourcallradio.org/

Guest Robert B. Reich is interviewed by host Rose Aguilar and takes calls from listeners.

12. “Judge Tosses California Global Warming Lawsuit” (ABC7 News, September 17, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Link to video

By Alan Wang

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) - Is the company that made your car responsible for global warming? That’s a question that may never get answered in court because a federal judge has rejected California’s lawsuit against the six biggest automakers.

A federal judge threw out the case against the six largest automakers, saying it’s impossible to determine how much they’re responsible in monetary damages for global warming….

Scientists say they can tell which carmakers are responsible through smog testing.

“And they build up an inventory. Because we know how many vehicles and which type are on the road, and we know roughly how many miles they’re driven each year,” said Dan Kammen from U.C. Berkeley Institute of the Environment….

Rick Frank of U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Environmental Law says this is one of several battles being fought, by several states against the auto industry. He says it might be difficult to quantify the monetary damage, but there are other avenues….

Like forcing automakers to build more cars, like a plug-in Prius hybrid which gets 100 miles to the gallon. Dan Kammen, of the U.C. Berkeley Institute of the Environment says U.S. automakers would have to play catch up.

“While other companies like Toyota and Honda have worked aggressively for plug-in hybrids, higher efficiency vehicles they’re actually in the better position”…

13. “All in the genes?” (San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2007); op-ed by DAVID KIRP; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/ED7MS6FQP.DTL

--David L. Kirp

Heredity versus environment, nature versus nurture: the argument over what best explains intelligence has been going strong for more than a century….

Here’s the scientific news, with potent policy implications: a new generation of studies demonstrates that nature and nurture don’t occupy separate spheres. Much of what is labeled hereditary becomes meaningful only in the context of experience. Rather than nature versus nurture, as the debate has been framed, it’s nature through nurture….

…As “A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy,” a just-released report from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (www.developingchild.harvard.edu ), concludes, “a remarkable convergence of new knowledge about the developing brain, the human genome, and the extent to which early childhood experiences influence later learning, behavior and health now offers policymakers an exceptional opportunity to change the life prospects of vulnerable young children….

[The old-line geneticists] mostly studied the experiences of middle-class children; not surprisingly, they discerned no social class effects. But when researchers started comparing the lives of twins from poor families with those of middle-class twins…, they learned that whether a child’s genetic potential is fully realized depends heavily on the circumstances in which he or she is raised. Nature may fix the boundaries of what a child may achieve … but nurture determines whether that potential will be realized….

This emerging scientific consensus makes hash of the Bell Curve argument that it’s a waste of time to focus on the needs of poor kids. On the contrary, the research shows the possibility of having a profound impact on these children’s lives by giving them a shot at the stimulating world that middle-class youngsters routinely inhabit. Don’t all children deserve that chance?

David L. Kirp, professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, is the author of “The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics,” published in August by Harvard University Press.

By Eve Tahmincioglu - MSNBC contributor

Is becoming rich a proper career goal?…

When asked about their life goals, 81 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds said getting rich is either the most important or the second-most important goal in their lives, according to a Pew Research Center poll….

I decided to contact a bunch of successful individuals from all walks of career life to ask them what their aspirations were in college:

Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Clinton, professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley:

When I began college, my career goal was to be an architect or a politician. I love architecture and wanted to create beautiful buildings. I admired what politicians did for the country. (Remember, this was 1964.)

Money did not even cross my mind. In the end, I didn’t become an architect, and although I occasionally served in Washington I was never elected to office. And the pursuit of money has never ranked high.

Any young person who believes they can make loads of money first and then pursue their dreams afterwards is fooling themselves. The pursuit of money as its own end can cause dreams to disappear….

--Peter Asmus

Windmills in the Altamont Pass are a clear example of the creative solutions California can provide for energy and climate problems. File photo

When it comes to energy, California has often been seen as the Promised Land….

Despite the Golden State’s energy meltdown just seven years ago … all eyes today are again focused on California and its radical legislative agenda addressing the largest energy challenge of all: global climate change.

The passage of AB32 has earned our dear governor and state lawmakers many kudos and good press. “You might think we might be risk averse (since the energy crisis), but that never happened,” said Dan Kammen, a professor with UC Berkeley’s Energy and Resources Group. “I call it the ‘California miracle.’ We are again leading the world.”

But now as push comes to shove, large questions loom. How can California tackle such an enormously global issue as climate change, when our federal government is still in denial? Even Kammen freely acknowledged: “The hard part really is still ahead of us: How do we really implement these climate change standards?”…

SAN FRANCISCO — An ambitious California program aimed at reducing vehicle emissions may have overreached in its technological goals. But its outcome could serve as a vital lesson in the state’s efforts to combat global warming through regulation, according to a study released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).

The 1990 Zero-Emission Vehicle Program was designed to require the auto industry to develop zero-emission vehicles. Given the technology available, the program became a de facto mandate to develop battery-powered vehicles. But to date, it has had little effect on private sector improvement of the cost-effectiveness or performance of battery-electric technology….

“Although disappointing, the program has valuable implications for California’s current efforts to curb global warming,” says PPIC research fellow Louise Bedsworth, co-author of the study with Margaret Taylor, assistant professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. “As with the zero-emission vehicle program, meeting the state’s global warming goals will require significant technological advances. The challenge for policymakers is how to use regulation to inspire this development in the private sector—a delicate balancing act that could have a better chance of success if it accounts for technological and industrial realities.” …

[Read the full report, “Learning from California’s Zero-Emission Vehicle Program” by Louise Wells Bedsworth and Margaret R. Taylor (PPIC, September 2007). Ethan Jennings (MPP/MA-IAS 2006) and Jennifer Baka (MPP 2007) provided research support to this study.]

17. “CEOs Deserve Their Pay” (Wall Street Journal [*requires registration], September 14, 2007); op-ed by ROBERT REICH; http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB118972669806427090.html

By Robert B. Reich

Mr. Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, is author of the just-published “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life” (Alfred A. Knopf).

According to research published recently by the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies, the 20 highest-paid corporate executives earned on average $36 million in total compensation last year. The typical CEO of a Fortune 500 company didn’t do quite as well, but at $10.8 million didn’t do so badly—that’s more than 364 times the pay of an average employee. Forty years ago, top CEOs earned 20 to 30 times what average workers earned.

The trend has ignited a flurry of attention in Washington. Last year the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered companies to reveal more detail about executive pay, but it’s still hard for investors to decipher what companies disclose. SEC chairman Christopher Cox recently complained that a typical remuneration report is “as tough to read as a Ph.D. dissertation.” In April, the House approved a proposal for a mandatory “say on pay” vote by shareholders. Although the White House opposes it and it has little chance of becoming law, expect Democrats to hammer away at the theme this election year....

...But if America wants to rein in executive pay, the answer isn’t more shareholder rights. Just as with the compensation of Hollywood celebrities or private-equity and hedge fund managers, the answer—for anyone truly concerned—is a higher marginal tax rate on the super pay of those in super demand.

--John Roach for National Geographic News

Salt water can indeed burn when exposed to a certain kind of radio wave, a university chemist has confirmed. Rustum Roy of Pennsylvania State University verified earlier this month that the radio waves break the water into its components, allowing the resulting freed hydrogen and oxygen to catch fire….

Daniel Kammen directs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley. While he remains skeptical about the phenomenon as an energy source, he said, “it sure would be neat if true.”

He explained that hydrogen is the most common element on Earth and a great fuel if pure, but it is always locked with at least one other element—oxygen to form water or carbon to form methane, for example….

So researchers would like to find ways to isolate hydrogen with minimal energy and no fossil fuels, Kammen said….

The burning water technology could potentially open such a door, he added.

Solar, wind, or wave energy, for example, could power the radio frequency generator, he said. As salt water passes through the generator, the hydrogen would be released.

“That would be a remarkable source of hydrogen and then you could either burn the hydrogen directly or use it in a fuel cell,” he said….

19. “Partisan Brain Study” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, September 13, 2007); features commentary by JACK GLASER; Listen to program

A new psychological study appears to show that liberals tolerate ambiguity and conflict better than conservatives. The program examines the study, which gives new meaning to the terms “right brain” and “left-brain.”

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests:

· David M. Amodio, professor of psychology at New York University and author of the study

· Jack Glaser, professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley

· Jonah Goldberg, editor at large of the National Review Online, columnist at the L.A Times and author of article, “Hard Wired Right”

By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Registered nurses, represented by SEIU 121RN, go on strike and rally in front of the hospital in Pomona. Photo: Irfan Khan/LAT

Nurses aren’t just taking orders anymore.

From intensive care wards to the halls of Congress, they’re exerting growing influence over hospital practices and patient treatment. With the clout they’ve gained through unionization, they’ve raised their incomes and their profession’s profile....

As baby boomers grow older, their medical needs increase the demand for nurses. But the supply isn’t keeping up....

Unlike many jobs, however, nursing can’t be shipped offshore. “Workers in other nations cannot do it like they can produce flat-screen televisions,” said Robert Reich, a public policy professor at UC Berkeley who was secretary of Labor under President Clinton.

Looming physician shortages and efforts to cut costs are likely to push even more of the patient-care workload onto nurses, further stoking demand, as is ever-changing medical technology, which requires skilled workers, often nurses, to operate.

As a result, Reich said, “we’re going to see more and more pressure put on hospital systems that are not yet unionized.”...

Union colors

J. Emilio Flores/Getty Images

We love low prices, sure, but we frown at the things companies do to get us good deals — like paying low wages. In his book Supercapitalism, economist Robert Reich looks at the divided mind of the consumer and citizen.

Reich subtitles his book “The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life,” and in it he asks tough questions about American priorities: “Why has capitalism become so triumphant and democracy so enfeebled? Are these two trends connected? What, if anything, can be done to strengthen democracy?”

Reich was secretary of labor in the Clinton administration and now teaches public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He delivers weekly commentaries on public radio’s Marketplace, and he blogs at RobertReich.blogspot.com.

22. “It’s Not Business’ Business” (BusinessWeek, September 10, 2007); interview with ROBERT REICH; http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_37/b4049106.htm?chan=search

It's Not Business' Business^"We haven't conferred on CEOs the authority or legitimacy to decide where public interest lies"^^^ Robert B. Reich isn’t the first person you’d expect to defend Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and criticize the corporate social responsibility movement. But Reich—who served as Labor Secretary in the Clinton Administration—says his fellow liberals are barking up the wrong tree in urging companies to be do-gooders. He says it’s elected governments that should set social goals and make rules for companies to follow. Reich teaches at the University of California at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and has put his latest ideas into a new book, Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life (Knopf). He spoke about the book with Economics Editor Peter Coy. Excerpts:

You sound like [libertarian economist] Milton Friedman in places.

I agree with Friedman that corporations are not set up to be social institutions. We haven’t conferred on CEOs the authority or legitimacy to decide where the public interest lies. In fact today, arguably, there’s even less consensus on what the public interest means. There is such polarization.

Aren’t companies sometimes better than government at getting things done?

So harness them with specific laws and rules. Tell the private sector what to do. Corporations are going to play the game as fiercely as they can, and that’s not a bad thing as long as the rules of the game reflect public values—preventing global warming, rebuilding New Orleans, etc.

In your view, is “supercapitalism” good or bad?

Capitalism has proven itself the most successful system ever designed for allocating resources to where they’re most needed. Global capitalism over the last 30 years has been extraordinarily successful at providing consumers with a range of choices such as they have never had before and investors with returns unparalleled in history. At the same time, democracy is failing. We used to assume that capitalism and democracy went together, hand in glove. But the intensifying competition in the private sector is sloshing over into our democracy. The money companies are pouring in gets in the way….

--Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life

By Robert B. Reich

Knopf; 272 pages; $25

Former Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich’s new book, “Supercapitalism,” seeks to explain why so many Americans are cynical about politics and fearful for their jobs even as they enjoy what remains an enviable standard of living.

Reich, now a professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, uses the term “supercapitalism” to describe the race to the bottom he deems inherent in the relentless global drive to reduce the price of everything to as close to zero as possible….

The book’s most forceful moments come in Chapter 4, “Democracy Overwhelmed,” as he shows how citizens are ignored in Washington, where lobbyists—whose numbers have roughly tripled since 1997—vie for congressional favors over “matters of mundane competitive advantage in pursuit of corporate profit.”

For the most part this is a remarkably restrained work nearly devoid of accusation or outrage, as Reich shows quite matter-of-factly how America and its allies in Europe and Japan got into the super-capitalist pickle in which ever-concentrating wealth strangles self-governance….

“Supercapitalism” is not a polemic or a call to arms. Reich is merely trying to dent capitalism’s rock-star status while suggesting to a dazed citizenry that, as Shakespeare said of Caesar’s Rome, the fault is not in our stars but in ourselves.

--Elizabeth Grossman - Special to The Oregonian

“In supercapitalism, companies exist only to serve consumers and thereby make money for investors. This is how they serve the public,” declares Robert B. Reich in his new book “Supercapitalism,” which examines the relationship between business and democracy, and how it influences Americans’ everyday lives. This may sound like a treatise for policy wonks, but Reich engagingly outlines the events that brought us CEOs who make more in a week than their employees do in a lifetime, rampant corporate lobbying and bargain prices that propel corporations to suppress wages and slash payrolls.

Common political wisdom holds that democracy and capitalism go hand in hand. Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California and labor secretary under President Clinton, explains how recent technological innovations have upset assumptions many Americans cling to—those of job security, U.S. manufacturing predominance and corporate benevolence. Computer technology, says Reich, changed how corporations produced and marketed goods and services, and in turn changed the nature of our democracy’s capitalism….

by Tom Engelhardt

…For those who remember the “memory hole” down which the bureaucrats of the Ministry of Truth dumped all uncomfortable or inconvenient documents in Orwell’s famed dystopian novel 1984, this administration has created its functional equivalent. Just since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the government has removed from open shelves and sequestered from public view more than one million pages of “historical government documents—a stack taller than the U.S. Capitol.” … In many cases, there is simply no way of knowing what has been removed, because the removals have largely not been catalogued….

…But perhaps nothing has been as crucial as the shutting down that Ruth Rosen, former columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and author of the groundbreaking book The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America…, considers below under the rubric: “soft crimes” of the Bush administration:

“Soft Crimes Against Democracy: What Ever Happened to Freedom of Information?”

By Ruth Rosen

…In May, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit group, filed a lawsuit seeking information from the White House Office of Administration about an estimated five million e-mail messages that mysteriously vanished from White House computer servers between March 2003 and October 2005. Congress wants to investigate whether these messages contain evidence about the firing of nine United States attorneys who may have refused to use their positions to help Republican candidates or harm Democratic ones.

The administration’s first response to yet another scandal was to scrub the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request section from the White House Office website. One day it was there; the next day it had disappeared. Then, Bush-appointed lawyers from the Justice Department tried to convince a federal judge that the White House Office of Administration was not subject to scrutiny by the Freedom of Information Act because it wasn’t an “agency.”….

When the White House claimed that its administrative office was not subject to the FOIA, … the New York Times … asked, “What exactly does the administration want to hide?” It rightly argued that the “administration’s refusal to comply with open-government laws is ultimately more important than any single scandal. The Freedom of Information Act and other right-to-know laws were passed because government transparency is vital to a democracy.”…

How true. It’s taken a long time for our paper of record to realize that “soft” crimes are actually hard assaults against our democracy. The restrictions on FOIA and an executive order to seal presidential records may seem tame when compared to the crimes committed at Abu Ghraib, Haditha, and Guantanamo, not to mention warrantless surveillance, the extraordinary rendition of kidnapped terror suspects to the prisons of regimes that torture, and the imprisonment of so-called enemy combatants.

But don’t be lulled into thinking that the act of censoring information, of shielding the American people from knowledge of the most basic workings of their own government, is any less dangerous to democracy than war crimes or acts of torture. In fact, it was the soft crimes of secrecy and deception that enabled the Bush administration’s successful campaign to lure our country into war in Iraq—and so to commit war crimes and acts of torture….

Historian and journalist Ruth Rosen, a former columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, teaches history and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and is a senior fellow at the Longview Institute. A newly updated edition of her book, The World Split Open: How the Modern Women’s Movement Changed America was published in January 2007.

If you believe what they say about themselves, big companies have never been better citizens. In the past decade, “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) has become the norm in the boardrooms of companies in rich countries, and increasingly in developing economies too. Most big firms now pledge to follow policies that define best practice in everything from the diversity of their workforces to human rights and the environment. Criticism of CSR has come mostly from those on the free-market right, who intone Milton Friedman’s argument that the only “social responsibility of business is to increase its profits” and fret that business leaders have capitulated to political correctness. But in a new twist to the debate, a powerful critique of CSR has just been published by a leading left-wing thinker.

In his new book, “Supercapitalism”, Robert Reich denounces CSR as a dangerous diversion that is undermining democracy, not least in his native America. Mr Reich, an economist who served as labour secretary under Bill Clinton and now teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, admits to a Damascene conversion, having for many years “preached that social responsibility and profits converge over the long term”. He now believes that companies “cannot be socially responsible, at least not to any significant extent”, and that CSR activists are being diverted from the more realistic and important task of getting governments to solve social problems. Debating whether Wal-Mart or Google is good or evil misses the point, he says, which is that governments are responsible for setting rules that ensure that competing, profit-maximising firms do not act against the interests of society….

27. “One problem we can’t spend away” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], September 5, 2007; Listen to commentary

ROBERT REICH: Even before Wall Street went bonkers, consumer debt was at an all-time high, and median wages were dropping.

But most of us didn’t have to face these unpleasant facts, because loose lending and easy money pushed up the value of our homes. So we could treat our homes like bottomless piggy banks through refinancing and home-equity loans, and pretend we were rich enough to go on splurging.

Now that the days of loose lending and easy money are over, however, home prices are dropping all over the country—and our piggy banks have gone bust.

So we have to face the awful truth that, as the Census Bureau revealed last week, the median household is earning less than it did in 2000—before the last recession….

Wall Street’s crisis is shocking the middle class into realizing how little money it actually has. And that realization may push us smack into a recession.

Ryssdal: Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at the University of California Berkeley. Once upon a time, he was the secretary of labor for President Clinton. Bob’s got a new book out, “Supercapitalism” it’s called. We’ll have him on next week to talk about it.

by Lisa Margonelli

…The story of how Berkeley became the hub of a would-be biofuel boom reveals not only the formidable power of the university’s labs, but also the extraordinary influence its professors have on state leaders regarding what many see as a climate change emergency. The desire for speedy technological fixes is driving unprecedented collaborations among the university, government, and industry.

Long before there was much interest in investing millions of dollars to produce fuel from green plants, Berkeley academics were intimately involved in creating California’s pioneering greenhouse gas regulations. In late 2006, Goldman Public Policy professor Michael Hanemann and Energy and Resources Group professor Alex Farrell released an influential multipart report that contradicted conventional wisdom, arguing that California’s economy could benefit from greenhouse gas regulation. “California has a different culture,” says Hanemann, pointing to the gonzo-creativity of Silicon Valley and the state’s innovative regulations on smog and energy efficiency, which stimulated better emissions control and appliance efficiency. “Nationally, the first instinct is to preserve the status quo. In California the feeling is that greenhouse gasses are a challenge and we’ll rise to the challenge by using innovation. As a bonus, we might also get industrial and economic growth.” Convinced that early regulation could avoid environmental disaster and benefit the state’s economy, the governor and the California Legislature passed AB 32, the greenhouse gas legislation….

…Meanwhile, Professor Dan Kammen has proposed a California Climate Institute that would have a budget bigger than [the BP-funded Energy Biosciences Institute’s]. He describes the Institute as a “do tank,” where state regulators would work side-by-side with campus researchers to solve greenhouse gas issues quickly. There is talk of soliciting foundations for funds to set up another institute to study the social and environmental impacts of biofuels. And the newly proposed Center for Energy and Environmental Innovation hopes to become a formal pipeline between university researchers and area businesses….

Can Berkeley troubleshoot the ecological and political consequences of a global transformation on this scale? …

The university’s difficulty in assessing these potential impacts is personified by the hyperhybrid work/life of Dan Kammen, who is on the EBI project’s executive committee. Trained in physics and now a professor of nuclear engineering, Kammen first became interested in alternative energy in the late 1980s. He later started an interdisciplinary study of energy technology, policy, and development, a history reflected in his office bookshelf, where an English-Xhosa dictionary sits near Plutonium, Power, and Politics and Biomass Energy Policy in Africa. A professor at the Energy Resources Group, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and the nuclear engineering department, as well as the founder of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, Kammen, perhaps more than any other faculty member at Berkeley, has adopted multiple public roles: climate change analyst, policy wonk, technological innovator, and consultant to high-profile green tech investors such as British tycoon Richard Branson.

Kammen’s media savvy and upbeat enthusiasm for green tech give him the air of a friendly host on the Discovery Channel, but he is frank about the gamble the university has helped California take. “We need to make good on our commitment to AB 32, which we really don’t know how to do. We need to actually do what we said we could in our op-ed pieces.” He describes California as a guinea pig for new technologies, markets, and regulations, and a magnet for investment in new industries. And risks? “History is strongly on the side that it’s more important to make a decision than to make the globally optimum decision.” …

By Stephen Kotkin

IT’S Labor Day weekend, so let’s talk about labor….

Around 140 million people are employed in the United States. They are engaged in work like governing, manufacturing, health care providing, retailing and researching (as well as suing).

This gigantic army of laborers, argues Robert B. Reich, has morphed into a nation of consumers and investors, rather than citizens. “Supercapitalism” (Knopf, $25), his 11th book, seeks to explain why this supercharged economic system is a civic problem, and what can be done about it.

Mr. Reich, who teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, does not rip into opaque hedge funds and demand their regulation. Nor does he harp on lax government regulation of credit and mortgage practices. On the contrary, he criticizes many of the usual liberal fixes directed at the “excesses of the market.” His book is smart and compelling, if ultimately toothless….

It was during what Mr. Reich aptly calls the Not Quite Golden Age, from 1945 to 1975, that America prospered, income inequality fell and most people trusted in government. Then, thanks to technologies like shipping containers and the Web, companies suddenly confronted brutal competition. After that, there was no going back.

Consumers got more choice and lower prices, while the people on Main Street became investors. Together, newly powerful shoppers and shareholders of this supercapitalism drove a decline in labor unions and a frenzy by corporations desperate to buy some market advantage in Washington….

… Mr. Reich argues that the “most effective thing reformers could do is to reduce the effects of corporate money on politics and enhance the voices of citizens.” But he also writes of the lock that corporations have and how “the system cannot repair itself from the inside.”

So he opts for consciousness-raising….

STEPHANOPOULOS: … We’re here to talk about that plus a lot of other politics this week with George Will, our friend Robert Reich, also the author of a new book called ‘Super Capitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life,” and Matthew Bai of ‘The New York Times,” .… [L]et’s begin with the Senator Larry Craig story, which just exploded across the country this week, and I get why he had to go, don’t get me wrong, but there does seem to be, even though Senator Ensign denies it, a bit of a double standard here. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and it’s just hard to believe that if he were not gay he would be gone….

ROBERT REICH: Well, I agree with my friend George…. I mean, this is a matter of not only a fear of homosexuality but when Mitch McConnell says it’s unforgivable, and Mitt Romney says disgusting, I can’t help but think… that what they’re really talking about as unforgivable and disgusting is what Larry Craig’s presence in the party, if he’s going to be a continued presence, would mean for 2008. They want to run on social conservatives. They would face a hypocrisy they just could not deal with….

STEPHANOPOULOS: …Democrats are not going to pick up the seat in Idaho. But it is pretty clear, Bob, that the Republicans’ back is really up against the wall now in the Senate.

ROBERT REICH: They face a potential perfect storm, George. Not only with regard to Iraq and the sleaze factor with regard to—it’s not just Larry Craig obviously, it’s Ted Stevens and David Vitter, but it’s also the economy…. That’s a perfect storm with 22 Senate seats up, with the presidency up. This could be a rout of a sort that we haven’t seen in the Republicans since ‘64 or maybe 1932….

31. “What happened to Labor Day? - Corporate greed didn’t kill labor, we did” (Chicago Sun-Times, September 2, 2007); commentary by ROBERT REICH.

By Robert B. Reich; The Chicago Sun-Times

A young person asked me not long ago—only half in jest—whether Labor Day was named in honor of natural childbirth.

Most young people today have no memory of a time when Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers and John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers were household names, when presidents jawboned labor to prevent agreements from causing wage-price inflation, when productivity gains pushed wages up and when more than a third of the American work force was unionized.

Now fewer than 8 percent of America’s private sector workers are in unions, median wage gains have fallen far behind productivity gains, and for most of us, Labor Day means a long weekend….

But don’t blame Ronald Reagan or corporate greed. Blame us—you and me. You see, starting about 30 years ago and with increasing efficiency, technologies have given us consumers a world of choice—low-priced goods and services that often depend on low wages here and elsewhere….

In other words, we as a nation have traded off lower-priced goods and services in place of a unionized work force with the bargaining clout to get higher wages. So now, a lot of us get good consumer deals and lousy paychecks….

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. commondreams.org

32. “Clean Tech Economics” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, August 17, 2007); features commentary by DAN KAMMEN; Listen to the program

The program explores the economic and policy side of Silicon Valley’s boom in clean technology.

Host: Dave Iverson

Guests:

· Dan Kammen, director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment….

· Ira Ehrenpreis, general partner of Technology Partners and chairman of the Clean-Tech Investor Summit

· James L. Sweeney, director of the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency at Stanford University, professor of Management Science and Engineering and fellow at the California Council on Science and Technology

· Vindu Goel, business columnist and blogger at the San Jose Mercury News

33. “Green Job Growth and Global Warming” (Congressional Quarterly, August 14, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony by MICHAEL HANEMANN.

Statement of W. Michael Hanemann, Chancellor’s Professor, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Committee on Senate Environment and Public Works

…I am a professor of environmental economics and policy and Director of the California Climate Change Center in the Goldman School of Public Policy. Since the Center was established four years ago, my colleagues and I have been working on various aspects of climate change and its implications for California, including the potential adverse impacts to California’s economy, society and ecology, and also the policies that California needs to adopt to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in an effective manner and at a tolerable cost.

Climate change and global warming are the greatest environmental policy challenge that we face today not only because of the scale and magnitude of the problem but also because of its complexity and novelty….

The first point to be made is that governmental action needs to be taken. Voluntary measures, while helpful, are not going to solve the problem….

The second point is that is that, as noted above, global warming is more complex than other problems of pollution which Congress has dealt with in the past, and it will require a broader set of policy measures.

In my observation, many economists have tended to view global warming through the prism of the nation’s highly successful experience in dealing with sulfur dioxide (SO2) under Title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990…. Because of its success, this has been seen by some economists as a precise template for dealing with greenhouse gas emissions. I disagree….

With greenhouse gasses there is a very different situation. There is no low CO2 coal….

There are, thus, two policy objectives for greenhouse gasses, short-tem and long-term. The short-term objective is to deploy existing and near-term technologies to roll back emissions to their level of 1990. The long-term objective is to stimulate innovation and investment in new technologies for a major decarbonization of the future economy….

34. “Green Job Growth and Global Warming” (Congressional Quarterly, August 14, 2007); Capitol Hill Hearing Testimony citing DAN KAMMEN.

Statement of Barry Cinnamon, Chief Executive Officer, Akeena Solar

Committee on Senate Environment and Public Works

… In 2005 Akeena Solar, in conjunction with the California Solar Energy Industries Association, authored a White Paper entitled “The Economics of Solar Power for California.” One of the key findings of this White Paper was that the renewable energy industry is a powerful job creation engine….

Professor Dan Kammen of U.C. Berkeley has also studied the incremental economic benefit associated with renewable energy. In an April 2004 review of the available studies on the jobs created by photovoltaic generation, Dr. Kammen cites estimates of 1.6 to 2.2 additional jobs created per MW of PV installed, over the life of a facility, compared to the jobs created by conventional electric generation.1 Assuming a 20 to 25-year facility life, this results in very similar numbers to Cal SEIA’s result of an additional 40 person-years of employment per megawatt installed….

35. “Clinton fundraising in gay community” (11 o’clock News, ABC7 TV, August 12, 2007); features commentary by HENRY BRADY.

Reported by Lilian Kim, ABC News

… Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton made her way into Trader Vic’s restaurant in San Francisco for yet another fundraiser. This time, though, the money was coming from the members of the gay and lesbian community where each person spent $2300 to rub shoulders with the New York senator….

SENATOR CLINTON: “I am absolutely in favor of civil unions with full equality—full equality of benefits, rights and privileges.”

Right now an Ohio Congressman Kucinich is one of the few that supports gay marriages. But that is no surprise to UC Berkeley’s Henry Brady.

HENRY BRADY: “There are other constituencies that are not in favor of gay rights issues. You have to do a balancing act if you are thinking not only about the primaries, but the general election.”

Finding the right balance may be critical as the gay and lesbian community prove to be reliable at the polls. A recent survey by a research group, Community Marketing, said 92% of gay men reported voting in the 2004 presidential election. Among lesbians, nearly 91% voted voting in 2004. That’s a big difference compared to the general public with 61% turnout….

36. “Voting vulnerable” (Californian, The (Salinas, CA), August 4, 2007); story citing HENRY BRADY.

By Robert Balicki - The Salinas Californian Capitol Bureau

Despite substantial improvements in voting security since the 2000 presidential election debacle, voting systems used in 44 out of 58 California counties are vulnerable to attack, a report released Friday found….

The review, which was part of a comprehensive assessment of voting technology in California, also examined how accessible the voting systems were to individuals with disabilities….

In years past, disabled voters often could not vote at all without the help of poll workers. Nationally, the trend has been away from lever machines and punch-cards and toward touch-screen and optical scan, according to a report by University of California, Berkeley, professor Henry Brady.

In 2000, the year of the punch-card and butterfly ballot debacle in Florida, 17 percent of voters used lever systems and 31 percent used punch cards nationwide, the report said.

Six years later, the percentages dropped to 7 percent for lever machines and less than 0.2 percent for punch cards, according to the report. At the same time, the use of touch-screen and optical scan voting has exploded, going from 12 to 40 percent and 30 to 50 percent in those six years, respectively, the report said.

37. “The Greenest Green Fuel” (Popular Science, June 19, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Genetics.aspx?Name=genetics&infoId=14948

By Elizabeth Svoboda

Looking for a clean fuel that grows anywhere, needs only sunlight and water, and could produce enough oil to free the U.S. from its petroleum addiction? Here’s one start-up’s plan for converting oil from algae—yes, algae….

In theory, making fuel from algae should be straightforward. The government scientists who ran the Aquatic Species Program proved that it is possible to grow a whole bunch of green stuff and add chemicals to extract the oil and make at least a small amount of fuel…. But replicating and improving on 20-year-old results isn’t all that easy. Out of the dozens of brash young algae-biodiesel start-ups, only one, Aquaflow in New Zealand, has managed to produce enough fuel to power a car engine.

This delay reflects the unique difficulties of engineering a biological system….

After the harvest, another conundrum presents itself: how to get the oil out. Algae isn’t fibrous enough to stand up to cold pressing, the standard way of extracting fat from plant matter. Processing the green slurry piped out of the bags by adding chemicals like methanol or hexane is the most obvious alternative—an efficient and relatively cheap means of removing oil. But some observers worry about the possible unintended consequences of the operation. “There are different schemes that are likely to affect land and water use and, if anything gets loose, there’s a whole variety of possible impacts,” says Dan Kammen, the director of the University of California at Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory….

FACULTY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & EVENTS

Sept. 6 David Kirp spoke on “The politics and economics of pre-school” and his new book, The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics, on KPFA-94.1 FM; listen to this program.

Sept. 10 Michael Hanemann gave a talk on “Climate Change and Human Health: Implications for California’s Water, and Food” at the Climate Change and Human Health conference, in San Francisco.

Sept. 10 Dan Kammen gave a talk on “How meteorological processes interact with the local ecology and the built environment to affect health” at the Climate Change and Human Health conference, in San Francisco.

Sept. 10 Robert Reich spoke on the subject of his new book, “Supercapitalism,” at the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, sponsored by Cody’s Books.

Sept. 25 Dan Kammen testified at a U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, chaired by Senator Barbara Boxer, Washington, DC.

Sept. 27 Dan Kammen discussed the “Primary Differences and Similarities between a Federal Cap and Trade Program and a Carbon Tax”; in the Climate Policy Connections briefings, presented by the California Institute for Federal Policy Research in collaboration with the University of California, California’s Governors office, and Air Resources Board.

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

Premiered this month on UCTV (Local access TV Channel 33):

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

(#13290 ; 56 minutes; 9/17/2007 ) http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people7/Vogel/vogel-con0.html

Host Harry Kreisler welcomes David Vogel, Professor of Business Ethics at UC Berkeley, for a discussion of the evolution of business government relations in the United States and Europe. Focus is on environmental policy and the efforts to bring ethics to the marketplace.

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