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eDIGEST September 2007

UPCOMING EVENTS

1. “The Uses of Social Science in Anti-discrimination Law: Theories of Animus, Implicit Bias and Institutional Racism”

Prof. Jack Glaser will be featured panelist.

September 6, 3:30 - 5:00 p.m., Goldberg Room, Boalt Hall

Presented by The Institute for the Study of Social Change and the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice. For more information, please contact Dr. Christine Trost, 510-643-7237. ctrost@berkeley.edu

2. “Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life”

Professor Robert Reich will discuss his new book with Alan Jones, dean of Grace Cathedral.

Sunday, Sept. 9. 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Gresham Hall (on the lower level of Grace Cathedral), 1100 California St. (at Taylor), San Francisco.

Free of charge; donations accepted. http://www.gracecathedral.org/calendar/category.php?cid=3

3. GSPP ALUMNI BBQ

Pat Windham (MPP’75) and Arati Prabhakar open their home on September 29th for an alumni and family barbeque. Eat, swim and hear Professor Steve Maurer talk on “Synthetic Biology: Science, Economics, and Public Policy.” TO RSVP, contact Nancy Hall at (510) 642-9437. Space is limited.

Saturday, September 29, noon-3 pm

4. “Our Energy Future: The Role of Science, Technology and Policy in Shaping our Common Future”

presented by Professor Dan Kammen.

Homecoming Week 2007 at UC Berkeley.

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

5. 9th ANNUAL ALUMNI DINNER

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

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

The Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant Avenue.

6. 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. “Restoring justice to juvenile justice system” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 31, 2007); op-ed by ADAM GOMOLIN (MPP cand. 2008) and DAVID KIRP; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/31/EDPSRR0RC.DTL&type=printable

2. “Hyatt puts Tesla roadster recharging stations in 3 hotels” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 30, 2007); story citing ROLAND HWANG (MPP 1992); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/30/BUKERRNPR.DTL

3. “Editorial: It’s not too late to craft a successful health plan. With so many goals in common, governor and lawmakers surely can find a way” (Sacramento Bee, August 30, 2007); editorial citing study coauthored by LUCAS RONCONI (MPP/PhD 2007); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/351140.html

4. “Prison plan aims to fill 3,200 jobs. Official tells legislative hearing of recruiting efforts, but is met with skepticism from all sides” (Sacramento Bee, August 29, 2007); story citing TODD SPITZER (MPP/JD 1989); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/349540.html

5. “State law tying hands of Paramus school board - Firing Dime likely would spark costly litigation” (Record, The (Hackensack, NJ), August 27, 2007; story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0MjkmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxODY5ODgmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz

6. “New Offer Aims to Halt Piper Move” (Palm Beach Post, August 27, 2007); story citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/business/epaper/2007/08/27/m1bz_samplescol_0827.html

7. “OK, California finally has a budget; now what? It’s time to seek changes that will relegate this annual debacle to history’s dustbin” (Sacramento Bee, August 23, 2007); editorial citing ELIZABETH HILL (MPP 1975); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/339681.html

8. “Workers’ comp outlays dropped 12 percent in 2005 in California” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 22, 2007); story citing FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993); http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/22/BUMFRMNVC.DTL

9. “Health Care for All Should Be the Goal in California” (San Jose Mercury News, August 20, 2007); commentary citing MARIAN MULKEY (MPP/MPH 1989); http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6668192?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com

10. “Clinton lauds Tahoe restoration” (Oakland Tribune, August 18, 2007); story citing PATRICK WRIGHT (MPP 1987); http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_6663567?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com

11. “Suit fuels big debate on schools” (Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2007); op-ed citing study coauthored by JANELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/325921.html

12. “Inland voices heard on health care change” (Press-Enterprise, (Riverside, CA), August 12, 2007); story citing RUTH LIU (MPP 1999); http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_D_health12.3cd448b.html

13. “Health debate: Who pays? Satellite event today to air concerns about affordability” (Sacramento Bee, August 11, 2007); story citing DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/320004.html

14. “Ag employers fear new crackdown. ‘Mass firings,’ predicts immigration attorney” (Capital Press (Salem, OR), August 10, 2007); story citing AUSTIN PEREZ (MPP 1999); http://www.capitalpress.com/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=616&ArticleID=34259

15. “New no-match rule wields heavy enforcement hammer. Repercussions could range from unpicked crops to jail time for employers” (Capital Press (Salem, OR), August 14, 2007); story citing AUSTIN PEREZ (MPP 1999); http://www.capitalpress.com/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectionID=792&ArticleID=34399&TM=62207.53

16. “Thanks for the whiskey, Jeff, now pass the budget” (Modesto Bee, August 10, 2007); op-ed by MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/38997.html

17. “Report: Workers’ comp fraud rampant. Underreporting of high-risk jobs costs honest employers” (Sacramento Business Journal, August 10, 2007); story citing FRANK NEUHAUSER (MPP 1993); http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2007/08/13/story1.html?t=printable&b=1186977600^1504718

18. “Nigeria; Achieving the MDG’s Targets” (Africa News, August 8, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

19. “Building an auto mall in Berkeley? Maybe” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 7, 2007); story citing CISCO DEVRIES (MPP 2000); http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/07/BA1PRCVGI1.DTL

20. “Georgia State University: Campus graduates to big role downtown” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 7, 2007); story citing CARL PATTON (MPP/PhD 1976); http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/stories/2007/08/07/gastate.html

21. “Starting breast-feeding immediately can save babies” (Idaho State Journal, August 5, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

22. “100 in Paramus urge DEP to kill plan for housing” (Record, The (Hackensack, NJ), August 3, 2007); story citing ROBERT GORDON (MPP 1975); http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTc3MTky

23. “Meetings set to weigh budget delay’s impact. County officials aim to figure out how programs with state funding will cope until approval” (San Mateo Times, August 3, 2007); story citing MAYA ALTMAN (MPP 1985); http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_6534147

24. “State needs to know what works in school” (Sacramento Bee, August 3, 2007); editorial citing research by JANELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/306031.html

25. “Exponen necesidad de subsidios medicos” (La Opinión, August 2, 2007); story citing DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); http://www.laopinion.com/negocios/?rkey=00000000000002060230

26. “State grant to fund research into contaminated beaches” (Oakland Tribune, August 2, 2007); story citing KELLYX NELSON (MPP 2004); http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_6524587

27. “President Bush Prepares To Do Budget Bill Battle With Congress” (Nightly Business Report, PBS-TV, August 2, 2007); features commentary by STAN COLLENDER (MPP 1976); http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/070802c/

28. “Pros and cons of gay marriage debated” (Bay Area Reporter, Vol. 7 No. 2, August 2, 2007); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2047

29. “Report: California Health Care Unaffordable” (ABC7 TV News, August 1, 2007); features commentary by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); video available

30. “The Pioneers of Roseland: Roseland students see into their futures at SSU” (The Press Democrat, (Santa Rosa, CA), August 1, 2007; story citing NANCY BOROW SHULOCK (MPP 1978); http://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20070801/NEWS/708010317/-1/xmlnews

31. “Farmers push for water deal” (Contra Costa Times, August 1, 2007); story by GARANCE BURKE (MPP 2005); http://www.contracostatimes.com//ci_6515294?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

32. “One man saves travelers billions. CU economist still seeing success of airline deregulation” (Ithaca Journal, July 31, 2007); story citing DOROTHY ROBYN (MPP 1978/PhD 1983); http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707310326

33. “R&D Investment Helps out Locally” (Arizona Republic, July 31, 2007); story citing BRUCE GUILE (MPP/PhD 1987); http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0731biz-econnotes0731.html

34. “It’s not the sky that Chicken Littles need to worry about; Lost amid the hand-wringing over foreign raiders is the fact that Canadian business leaders need to be more ambitious” (The Globe and Mail (Canada), July 30, 2007); op-ed citing GREG LINDEN (MPP 1995).

35. “Redundancy testing - Charles Murray, erstwhile champion of the SAT, has changed his mind about the test - and says it’s time to scrap it” (Boston Globe, July 29, 2007); column citing VERONICA SANTELICES (MPP 2001); http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/07/29/redundancy_testing/?page=full

36. “O.C. cities lag in revenue from new homes” (Orange County Register, July 25, 2007); story citing TIM GAGE (MPP 1978); www.ocregister.com/ocregister/money/housing/article_1785468.php - 68k - 2007-07-25

37. “You are now free to pollute about the country - Air travel is the latest guilt trip for people worried about global warming. And they’re trying to cool your jets” (Chicago Sun-Times, July 22, 2007); column citing LUKE TONACHEL (MPP 2004).

38. “Ariel’s read on papers: A good buy. Stake in McClatchy increased to 15.5%” (Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2007); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982).

39. “Iron to Plankton To Carbon Credits. Firm’s Emission Plans Have Critics Aplenty” (Washington Post, July 20, 2007); story citing DERIK BROEKHOFF (MPP 1999).

40. “City employees honored with day of appreciation - Workers with five to 25 years of service lauded for their efforts, dedication” (Contra Costa Times, July 20, 2007); story citing ABE FRIEDMAN (MPP/JD 1998); http://www.contracostatimes.com//ci_6421953?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com

41. “More growers, vintners warming to solar. ‘A lot of people can get their energy bill close to zero’” (Capital Press (Salem, OR), July 19, 2007); story citing ALLISON JORDAN (MPP 2004).

42. “Higher mortgage rates hit sales. Cheap money harder to find for buyers who remain eager” (Chicago Tribune, July 13, 2007); story citing MICKEY LEVY (MPP 1974); http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/nearwest/chi-credit_nh_713jul13,0,7664612.story

43. “Making sure that the world is ours” (San Diego Union-Tribune, July 8, 2007); column citing DOUG HENTON (MPP 1975); http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/calbreath/20070708-9999-1b8dean.html

44. “Wofford likes GPA better than SAT - Study: High school grades a better gauge of how student will do” (Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, SC), July 1, 2007); story citing VERONICA SANTELICES (MPP 2001); http://www.goupstate.com/article/20070701/NEWS/707010342/-1/xml

45. “Money and morals don’t mix” (Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2007); op-ed by BENJAMIN ZYCHER (MPP/PhD 1974).

46. “Ads prod Capitol on health care plans” (Sacramento Bee, May 31, 2007); story citing ANN-LOUISE KUHNS (MPP 1987).

47. “Saturday Readers’ Forum: SMART doomed to fail” (Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA), May 12, 2007); Letter to the Editor by JOY DAHLGREN (MPP 1977).

48. “Democratic Dilemmas: How to engage citizens in the process of educational improvement” (SUNY Press, May 2007); publication of book by JULIE MARSH (MPP 1995); http://www.sunypress.edu/details.asp?id=61456

49. “Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments, April 22” (States News Service, April 22, 2007); story citing ARIELLA BIRNBAUM (MPP 2001).

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “The Green Enterprise: UC Berkeley. Taking the green campus tour” (ZDNet, August 31, 2007); features interview with DAN KAMMEN; video link

2. “Preschool Reform” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, Aug 29, 2007); features commentary by DAVID KIRP; Listen to the program

3. “Knowing your carbon impact increasingly important” (San Jose Mercury News, August 27, 2007); story citing DAN KAMMEN; http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?articleId=6729438&siteId=568

4.“The New Development” (Its Getting Hot in Here Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement, August 27, 2007); column citing DAN KAMMEN; http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2007/08/27/the-new-development/

5. “Can socioeconomic mixing fix schools?” (Sacramento Bee, August 26, 2007); op-ed citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/343508.html

6. “GOP Ads Run To Counter War Detractors President Under Pressure” (ABC7 TV News, August 24, 2007); features commentary by MICHAEL NACHT; http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=5602836

7. “China, U.S. need free-market police” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], August 22, 2007); Listen to this commentary

8. “Stop the hedge fund casinos” (Sunday Times (London), August 19, 2007); commentary by ROBERT REICH.

9. “Sen. Boxer in Silicon Valley to emphasize conservation” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 2007); story citing MICHAEL HANEMANN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/15/BUPURIFCV.DTL

10. “Down with financial entrepreneurs” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], August 15, 2007); Listen to this commentary

11. “When Hillary Met Robert. A transcript from the would-be president’s college tryst with ‘Dartmouth boy’ Robert Reich” (Los Angeles Times, August 15, 2007); column citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-daum11aug11,1,6234298.column

12. “More state payments delayed. Hospitals, clinics and nursing homes won’t get $212.6 million this week” (Sacramento Bee, August 7, 2007); story citing JOHN ELLWOOD; http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/312222.html

13. “New voting system could cost $6 million” (The Californian, August 6, 2007); story citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/californian/4_00_048_6_07.txt

14. “Pristine waterway to replace polluted inlet Community effort: In neglected Bayview neighborhood, forgotten slough’s restoration will be part of planned 350-acre waterfront park” (San Francisco Chronicle, August 6, 2007); story citing RICHARD GOLDMAN; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/08/06/MN2ORAUJK1.DTL

15. “Ethanol no panacea for rising energy demands” (Contra Costa Times, August 5, 2007); op-ed citing study coauthored by DAN KAMMEN, MICHAEL O’HARE, BRIAN TURNER (MPP 2006); http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_6550244?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com&nclick_check=1

16. “The 2010 Economic Doomsday” (New York Times, August 3, 2007); story citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/us/politics/04web-redburn.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

17. “Alarm raised by attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow” (KTVU-Fox TV, 10 O’clock News, July 2, 2007); features commentary by MICHAEL NACHT.

ALUMNI AND STUDENT NEWSMAKERS

By Adam J. Gomolin, David L. Kirp

Legislation that is now on the governor’s desk is a long-overdue attempt to reform the state’s disastrous juvenile justice system …. The measure, Senate Bill 81, turns over responsibility for all but the most violent juvenile offenders to their home counties. While that’s a wise move, the counties will have to rethink the ways they handle teen offenders.

In the juvenile correctional facilities run by the California Youth Authority, gangs run the show, violence is omnipresent and newcomers rightly fear rape. Congressional investigations have highlighted sexual abuse by officials and the excessive use of force all the way up the chain of command. Teachers wear body armor to classes; not surprisingly, little teaching gets done. Medical staff is scarce; at the El Paso de Robles facility in Paso Robles (San Louis Obispo County), there is only 1 psychiatrist for 750 youngsters, 91 of whom had already attempted suicide. On days when there’s no school, youths are locked in their cells for 23 hours. Small wonder, then, that San Francisco has refused to send any juvenile offenders to the state-operated institutions....

Reforming the juvenile-justice system is not just a moral imperative. It can also save the taxpayers a bundle of money. The Last Chance Ranch costs about half as much per ward as the California Youth Authority’s facilities. Much more money is saved because just half as many youths wind up in prison. What’s more, the fact that many of them become productive citizens benefits them - and the rest of us as well.

Adam Gomolin, who is completing his graduate studies at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, is a policy analyst at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. David Kirp is a professor at the Goldman School; his latest book is “The Sandbox Investment,” (Harvard University Press, 2007).

--David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Electric car lovers willing to spend nearly $100,000 on the new Tesla Motors roadster will have some swanky places to plug it in.

Hyatt will install Tesla recharging stations at three hotels, stretching in an arc from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe….

The agreement between Hyatt and Tesla underscores a primary issue for electric cars—coming up with a standardized way to recharge the things….

The method of recharging electric cars is a bigger issue than it may appear. During the era of the EV1, automakers battled over two different, incompatible recharging technologies….

“That was a big controversy, a Beta versus VHS kind of debate,” said Roland Hwang, vehicles policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “We need to make it as easy as possible for the consumer to make a clean-energy choice. You don’t want them to be confused.”…

Ever since they declared 2007 to be the year of health care reform, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate leader Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez have shown they share similar goals.

All three leaders want to expand health insurance coverage and reduce the costs created by the state’s 6.8 million uninsured. All want to contain costs that are forcing businesses and employees to pay ever-higher premiums. All hope to get their names on marquee legislation that could top last year’s global warming law.

You would think these shared values would be enough to craft a deal. But because of their constituencies, Schwarzenegger and his Democratic counterparts have different thresholds for success.

Schwarzenegger seems intent on a plan that would expand coverage to all Californians, while limiting impacts on many of the business groups that have backed him. By contrast, the Democrats’ plan focuses largely on forcing employers to either provide coverage for their workers or pay into a fund for the uninsured. Such a plan appeals to their labor supporters and could easily pass with a simple majority vote, but it only would only cover about half of the uninsured….

There is, however, an alternative to this game of chicken: Crafting a hybrid plan that might win grudging support from business, hospitals, insurers, certain labor groups and other constituencies.

Such a hybrid would be financed by a higher payroll tax than the 4 percent that Schwarzenegger is advocating, but not the 7.5 percent that Democrats endorse. A study by the University of California, Berkeley, Labor Center [by Lucas Ronconi et al.] suggests that the 7.5 percent payroll tax would impose significant immediate costs on retail businesses and other small businesses that don’t pay for employee health care….

[The UC Berkeley Labor Center study, “Heath Coverage Proposals in California: Impact on Businesses,” was funded by The California Endowment.]

By Andy Furillo - Bee Capitol Bureau

A top California corrections official told a legislative hearing Tuesday that the prison system will fill its critical staff shortages within 18 months, but that prediction was met with derision by the president of the state correctional officers’ union.

Joyce Hayhoe, the chief lobbyist for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said an aggressive recruiting program that will include outsourcing some of its background investigations will help fill the 3,200 vacancies in a rank-and-file force slotted for 31,000 jobs….

Other witnesses at the informational hearing conducted by the Assembly Public Safety Committee did not share Hayhoe’s optimism.

Prison medical czar Robert Sillen, in fact, said the backlog of potential recruits who still haven’t undergone background checks is getting bigger. Democratic and Republican members of the panel said the state needs to settle its contract with the California Correctional Peace Officers Association as a precursor to hiring the people it needs. And California Correctional Peace Officers Association President Mike Jimenez worried that the prison agency is dropping its standards to knock down its 10.3 percent vacancy rate….

Legislators implored the corrections department to get the contract settled. Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, said it was “unconscionable” that negotiations are still lingering.

“We are beyond frustrated,” Spitzer said.

By Michael Gartland, Staff Writer

Joseph Schisani yells during a meeting about contaminated soil at West Brook Middle School. Chris Pedota/The Record

… Borough officials and parents of West Brook Middle School students are angered that [Superintendent Janice] Dime has not yet been fired, even though she didn’t reveal that harmful pesticides had been found in soil at the school.

In June, the board put Dime on paid leave—a month after parents learned of the pesticides at the school….

One of the board’s key concerns has been avoiding litigation with Dime, which could end up costing the district much more than her $200,000-plus annual salary. Her contract, in effect through 2009, is worth more than $600,000.

As a result, local elected officials have focused their attention on a state law they say has stalled the firing of Dime and other district employees. The statute was ratified in March and deals with school district accountability, but has not been seriously tested….

Assemblyman Robert Gordon, D-Fair Lawn, helped enact the law before the controversy to increase transparency and eliminate sweetheart deals between school boards and the administrators who are paid to run a district.

“They were getting forms of compensation and perks that never saw the light of day,” he said. “The [law] gives districts more control.” …

It also requires that school districts use due process when attempting to remove a superintendent or other employee from a position. That part of the law stipulates that school boards cannot alter a superintendent’s contract without giving 30 days’ public notice prior to taking action and calls for boards to hold a public hearing on the matter. It’s what has some parents and Paramus borough officials criticizing the law….

Joseph Schisani has a son who attends West Brook and views the question of whether to fire Dime and Business Administrator Jerome Bohnert as uncomplicated decisions.

“I want these two fired,” he said. “It’s not just about reopening the school. ... My issue is accountability. I’m still not getting accountability.”…

Many parents and teachers agree, but to some, accountability without following the law translates into ignoring due process. Gordon said he understands people’s desire for closure and punishment, but doesn’t see the case for firing Dime in such clear-cut terms.

“The bottom line is she’s lost all credibility, so she really can’t function,” he said. “But there always has to be some due process. ... There are many cases—I think this is one—where there’s a gray area.” …

By Eve Samples

The four-county area has been calling itself Florida’s Research Coast for about three years—but so far the title hasn’t amounted to much cross-county collaboration.

The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council is planning an economic summit for Oct. 3 to do something about that.

“If we are calling ourselves the Research Coast, what does that mean? Does that mean we take certain action?” said Greg Vaday, economic development coordinator for the planning council.

Silicon Valley consultant Doug Henton is headlining the event and will provide some insight into how regional economies are more competitive than isolated communities—and what powers the regions that are thriving across the country….

The conventional wisdom in Sacramento is that Senate Republicans embarrassed themselves by delaying a state budget for 52 days—all for a few concessions they could have negotiated in July.

While there’s some truth to that, it ignores the driving force behind many decisions at the Capitol—the need for politicians to play to their core political base, no matter how small it is….

Before the budget holdout, Democrats seemed inclined to support Schwarzenegger’s plan to reform how political districts are drawn in California. Now there’s a strong chance that Democrats will bury that idea….

…[R]edistricting reform is essential if lawmakers are ever to be held accountable for their achievements and failures, such as the deliberations on this year’s budget. Allowing a majority of lawmakers—instead of two-thirds—to pass a budget is also needed more than ever….

True budget reform, of course, will require a re-examination of the state’s entire system of setting priorities, and paying for them….

[Senate President Pro Tem Don] Perata wants to bring in Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill, a figure respected by both parties, to help set the agenda and bring forward many years of reform proposals suggested by her office and others.

Hill may need a forklift to haul all that paperwork to the meeting. Yet this is a deliberation that needs to get started. If the Senate leader can get leaders of the warring factions to move beyond the recent posturing, it will be the clearest indication yet that the post-budget atmosphere isn’t as poisoned as many fear.

--Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Outlays to cover workers’ compensation claims fell 12.2 percent in California in 2005 but rose 1.7 percent in the rest of the nation, according to a new report from a nonpartisan group that serves as the statistical referee on many social service issues….

Ishita Sengupta, who co-authored the 85-page report … noted that California represented roughly 13 percent of the nation’s payroll in 2005 for purposes of this report, but accounted for about 20 percent of the nation’s workers’ comp outlays—even after the 12.2 percent drop.

Frank Neuhauser, a research professor at UC Berkeley who is an expert on workers’ comp, said that data point out that California’s costs were so far out of whack before the reforms that they are still high, relative to other states, even after the legislative fixes. Neuhauser said it was likely that costs in California will continue to fall, without further legislative action, because the 2005 data only began to reflect the savings of laws passed in 2003 and 2004….

By Sue Hutchison - Mercury News

Whenever the discussion heats up about whether California should be the first state in the nation to adopt a single-payer health care system—known among its opponents as ‘‘evil socialized medicine’’—the first thing we hear is how satisfied millions of Americans are with their current health care….

If you really think your health insurance is so hot, let me ask you this. When is the last time you had to use it for anything other than a routine doctor’s visit? If you think that dealing with a state-run health care system would be a nightmare bureaucracy, have you tried navigating the maze of double talk at your health insurance company lately?…

… I’ve heard horror stories from people who have been denied care by their health insurance carriers that are as bad as the stories from people who don’t have insurance at all….

Meanwhile, ask yourself why citizens of countries that have universal health care programs, which don’t let subscribers fall into pre-existing-condition hell, could never conceive of giving it up—despite the shortcomings.

Marian Mulkey, senior program officer of the non-partisan California Health Care Foundation, said she noticed a major difference in philosophy when the foundation hosted the visiting health minister from Germany, Ula Schmidt.

‘‘The message that came through from her was that there is a fundamental core value of solidarity: We are in this together,’’ Mulkey said. ‘‘In this country we don’t have that bedrock philosophy, that we will share benefits and responsibilities. The first question here is always, ‘Who’s going to pay for this?’ ‘‘

Obviously, that question is important, but it’s time to move it from the top of the list. Question No. 1 should be: How do we guarantee the right of decent, affordable health care for everyone?

By Mike Taugher, Staff Writer

Former President Bill Clinton attending the 10th Anniversary Lake Tahoe Forum. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Contra Costa Times)

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Former President Bill Clinton returned to Lake Tahoe on Friday, 10 years after he launched what became a $1 billion restoration program, and called the alpine lake a focal point for the world’s two biggest environmental challenges: global warming and resource depletion.

Speaking to a crowd of about 1,000, the Clinton exhorted residents to increase their efforts to protect the lake and said the program is a model of cooperation among people with divergent interests….

The 10th annual Tahoe forum marked an unofficial end to the first chapter in the massive attempt to reverse environmental degradation at the lake, including what was once feared to be an irreversible decline in its clarity, which began with the 1997 presidential summit….

Half of the $1.1 billion spent since 1997 has gone to projects meant to protect water quality, with other money going to restoring forest health, increasing public access and recreation, improving transportation and other projects.

A plan for the next chapter is being developed among 50 state, federal and local agencies, and a cost estimate is expected next year, Tahoe regulators said.

“The first 10 years was just the down payment. We’re going to need a sustained commitment to meet our goals,” California Tahoe Conservancy Director Patrick Wright said in an interview….

11. “Suit fuels big debate on schools” (Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2007); op-ed citing study coauthored by JANELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/325921.html

By Dan Walters - Bee Columnist

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early acts as governor was to settle a lawsuit alleging that poor children attending poorly performing neighborhood schools were being denied their right to a good education.

The 2004 settlement acknowledged, in effect, that the students were being denied textbooks, qualified teachers, safe and adequate classrooms and other educational basics. Schwarzenegger agreed to spend an additional $1 billion on schools with the lowest 30 percent of academic test scores.

This week, the lawyers who brought the suit—the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and Public Advocates—hailed the outcome in an update prepared by researchers at UCLA….

Few would dispute that good classrooms, adequate textbooks and qualified teachers are basic necessities. And providing them is largely a matter of spending money, as the lawsuit’s settlement demonstrates. What no one has proved—or disproved for that matter—is whether spending more money does, in fact, have a significant effect on educational outcomes….

[Critics] contend that public education needs a structural overhaul, not merely more money.

The latter contention received a boost earlier this year when a 1,700-page, foundation-sponsored, Stanford University-managed series of studies on California’s schools was released. While the study team [including Janelle Kubinec] said that California’s schools need more money … it also concluded that spending more without … “systemic and fundamental reform” would not create the renaissance that everyone professes to want….

By Steve Fetbrandt; The Press-Enterprise

Each participant at Saturday’s health care forum has an electronic keypad for casting votes on various questions. William Vasta/The Press Enterprise

RIVERSIDE -- Nearly 300 Inland residents weighed in on the issue of state health care reform Saturday via satellite hookup with other groups throughout California….

The daylong event focused on how health care should be funded in California….

The session started with televised remarks by Gov. Schwarzenegger, who said the impasse in state budget negotiations has stalled health care reform. He urged participants to encourage their legislators to settle the budget issue so they can move on to health care.

“It’s holding up the discussions and negotiations we hope to conduct between the governor’s health care proposal, the Democratic proposal and some of the Republican ideas as well,” said Ruth Liu, one Schwarzenegger’s health advisers at the UCR session. “The idea is to come up with some consensus that works for the people of California.”…

By Aurelio Rojas - Bee Capitol Bureau

When thousands of people gather today across California to add their voices to competing proposals to overhaul the state’s health care system, chief among their concerns will be the issue of affordability.

But affordable health insurance is a politically charged concept, based on judgments about the appropriate share of income individuals or families should be expected to pay for coverage….

Expanding the number of people, especially the working poor, who have health insurance, was among the recommendations in a joint report released earlier this month by the California Budget Project and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

“Health proposals should fully subsidize the cost of coverage for families that make up to twice the (federal) poverty rate” of $19,350 for a family of four, said David Carroll, research director for the liberal-leaning California Budget Project….

Families are finding it harder to afford premiums after paying for housing, child care and other household expenses, according to the Budget Project-UCLA report, “What Does It Take for a Family to Afford to Pay for Health Care?” [authored by David Carroll et al.]

The report found that the median, or typical, single adult with private health coverage—including job-based coverage and individually purchased coverage—spends nearly $800 per year on premiums and the typical two-parent family of four spends nearly $1,800….

The report found these families could face devastating medical expenses if they are not adequately protected. It recommended that health care reform proposals ensure families can realistically afford premiums and out-of-pocket expenditures….

By Cookson Beecher

Agricultural employers across the country are nervously awaiting the release of a federal rule that many fear will force them to fire workers whose names don’t match their Social Security numbers.

Under the proposed rule, which was released last June, employers must take certain steps if they receive a “no-match” letter indicating that an employee is possibly making up a Social Security number or using someone else’s….

If, after 60 days, the worker fails to take any action to correct the mistake or report back to the employer, then the employer must fire the worker or risk being prosecuted for knowingly violating the law….

Pointing out that up to 70 percent of the agricultural workforce lacks legal documentation, Barry Bedwell, president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League, said the rule could have “a dramatic and drastic impact” on agriculture if it doesn’t address the challenges associated with seasonal workers.

“With the failure, to date, of achieving immigration reform, this rule will point out the need to fix our legal system,” he said. “It will accelerate the issue and hopefully get people to see we need comprehensive immigration reform.”

Austin Perez, labor specialist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, agrees.

“The problem is you’ll see employers turning away workers,” he said. “But that won’t fix the problem because there are no workers to replace them. Only Congress can solve the problem.”

He fears that as a result of the rule, farmers will be faced with labor shortages so intense that crops will go unpicked.

“We can only hope that the rule offers a safe harbor that will work for agriculture,” he said….

The [AgJobs] bill, supported by many in the ag community, includes a way for foreign ag workers to earn permanent resident status. It also includes a revision of the H-2A guestworker program that would make the program easier for employers to use while also protecting workers against abuse.

Farm Bureau’s Perez said that despite Congress’s failure to pass an immigration-reform bill, the Farm Bureau is doing everything possible to get one passed this year.

“The issue is still out there,” he said.

By Cookson Beecher

SEDRO-WOOLLEY, Wash. - Crops left unpicked; crops not planted. Mass firing of workers; jail time for employers.

These could be some of the repercussions of the Bush Administration’s new no-match rule, warn some key Western ag leaders.

Released on Aug. 10, the new rule outlines what employers need to do when they receive letters informing them that an employee’s name doesn’t match his or her Social Security number….

Under the new rule, employers will have 90 days … to resolve no-match letters. If the employee’s legal status can’t be confirmed after 90 days, then the employer must fire the worker.

While some seasonal employers believe the 90-day time limit lets them off the hook because in many cases the employee will have left by then, Austin Perez, labor specialist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, warns that this could be a risky path to take.

“You have to make a good faith effort to contact the worker,” Perez said. “You can’t just say ‘the guy is gone.’ If questioned about the mismatch, you’ll need to show documentation that you tried to reach him.”

Perez said that according to the preamble of the new rule, it’s going to be up to the department’s discretion as to whether an employer made “a good faith effort.”

As for hiring the same worker again the following season, Perez warns of possible pitfalls.

“You’ll be taking your chances if you hire the same employee with a different mismatch number,” he said….

Perez said that in coming up with the new rule, the Bush Administration was trying to give employers more specific information—a bright line—about what they need to do to gain safe harbor and more time to investigate whether an employee is eligible to work in this country or not.

But he warns that this “one-size-fits-all” approach leaves out a large segment of agriculture: employers who hire workers for less than 90 days.

“There’s no ‘bright-line guidance’ about what these employers need to do to get safe harbor,” he said. “There’s no guarantee in the rule that gives them safe harbor.”

On the legal side of the ledger, the rule makes the employers responsible for determining if a worker should be fired or not.

“The government has taken a difficult burden in court—to prove that someone knowingly hired an illegal worker—and boiled it down to three steps,” said Perez. “As a result, it has made it very simple to make cases against employers.” …

…President Bush has directed the Department of Labor to review the H-2A regulations and to make changes that will provide farmers with “an orderly and timely flow of legal workers, while protecting the rights of laborers.” …

Austin Perez, labor specialist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, supplied some numbers to describe the challenge.

Last year, 32,000 H-2A visas were granted, yet agriculture needs 600,000 to 800,000 H-2A workers.

“That’s the scope of the problem,” Perez said. “I hope the Department of Labor realizes this. I hope it streamlines and simplifies the process.”

As for how quickly he would like to see it happen, Perez was blunt: “We need it yesterday.” …

16. “Thanks for the whiskey, Jeff, now pass the budget” (Modesto Bee, August 10, 2007); op-ed by MIKE GENEST (MPP 1980); http://www.modbee.com/opinion/community/story/38997.html

By MIKE GENEST

Genest is director of California’s Department of Finance.

It’s difficult to take issue with a man who was kind enough to buy me a fine glass of Booker’s Bourbon on the night of Gov. Schwarzenegger’s inaugural. But I must take exception with Sen. Jeff Denham’s comments in his op-ed (“Our budget should be balanced,” Aug.8, Page B-6) on the state budget now pending in the senate….

The budget that was approved last month by the Assembly and is now before the Senate is, in fact, balanced. Under this plan, the state would not spend more than it collects in revenues for the coming fiscal year. With the governor’s promise of additional line-item vetoes to the spending plan, the year-over-year growth in spending would be $624 million—or, just 0.6 percent….

Five Senate Republicans, including Denham, voted in favor of last year’s budget—which increased state spending by 9.3 percent and had a budget reserve of $2 billion. Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman, who joined Denham in voting for that budget, said: “This budget does meet a lot of Republican priorities in paying the down the debt, increasing the reserve, taking care of education and taking care of law enforcement. We think it is a good balance for the state of California.”

The budget that’s now before the Senate accomplishes all of these same priorities and goes them one better, by limiting spending growth to less than 1 percent and boosting the reserve to more than $4 billion. It’s hard to understand why this better budget doesn’t warrant Denham’s support.

By Kathy Robertson, Staff Writer

Dennis McCoy/Sacramento Business Journal

California employers in industries where workers face a high risk of on-the-job injuries may be hiding 75 percent of their payroll for those risky jobs, forcing honest employers to pay workers’ compensation rates as much as eight times higher than if everyone paid their fair share, a new study concludes.

That translates to as much as $100 billion in underreported payroll in 2002. The report, expected to be released today by University of California Berkeley researchers Frank Neuhauser and Colleen Donovan, is the first to quantify the extent of fraud in workers’ comp payroll reporting in California.

“I was staggered,” Neuhauser said. “We ran over the figures a number of times. There are not a lot of employees in these high-risk classes, but the impact is huge.”…

Fraudulent employers seek to cut workers’ comp costs by underreporting wages—or misreporting workers with high-risk jobs, such as roofing or logging, as if they worked in low-risk categories such as sales or clerical work, the researchers found.

Fraud increases when premium rates go up because there’s more incentive to cheat when the potential savings are higher. Premiums in California peaked in 2004 before dropping to 2002 levels following workers’ comp reform. The report studied rates in 1997 through 2002 because there is a significant time lag in reporting rates to the public.

The problem is at least as bad today as it was during the period covered by the study, Neuhauser said….

It’s been difficult to quantify the extent of underreporting or misreporting because there have been no accurate estimates of total wages that are subject to workers’ comp premiums. The underground economy, where employers pay cash to avoid reporting wages, has been outside the scope of previous studies.

The new report attempts to portray a more complete picture by using the Current Population Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau to estimate total wage income, including the cash economy. Other sources were also used, and researchers compared data from those surveys to payroll figures reported to the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau to identify gaps….

[Frank Neuhauser was also cited in a San Francisco Chronicle report, http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/11/BU4FRGLB5.DTL&hw=Neuhauser&sn=001&sc=1000 ]

18. “Nigeria; Achieving the MDG’s Targets” (Africa News, August 8, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

--Daily Champion

DO you know that “if the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are met, an estimated 500 million people will escape death and poor health by 2015.”

“In addition, 240 million people worldwide will be spared from hunger, and 30 million children who would have died in infancy would have survived.”

Executive Director of United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Ms Ann Veneman who stated this, in this year’s edition of The State Of The World’s Children regretted that millions of children particularly in developing countries … die needlessly.

“These are children without adequate access to education, to good health and life-saving vaccines and sadly despite enormous efforts to reach these children with the needed services, millions continue to die every year” Veneman lamented….

Nigeria, according to the UNICEF report ranks 13th from the rears at 197 per 1,000 of the estimated under-five mortality rate, a sad indication of the poor health of children in the country.

Other indicators for nutrition, the report revealed that a significant number of infants suffer from wasting conditions, as well as moderate and severe malnutrition defects.

Only about 60 per cent of Nigerians use improved drinking water sources, while less than 30 per cent use adequate sanitation facilities.

Little wonder, incidence of malaria has become a very common ailment often leading to deaths of children and pregnant women.

Consequently, economic progress, intelligence quotient (IQ), life expectancy, research and health facilities are compromised.

Indeed the UNICEF boss made a sad projection that “At current rates of progress for example, over 8 million children under five years of age will die in 2015, Nigerian children inclusive.”

However, if the MDGs goals are met, an additional 3.8 million children would be saved.”

Indeed, “meeting these goals is therefore, a matter of life or death of our children” Veneman stressed.

--Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Berkeley’s long, tortured relationship with the automobile may soon pull a surprise U-turn.

After decades of shunning cars by using flower-planter roadblocks, anti-global-warming policies and alternative-transportation strategies, the city is considering rezoning two areas in West Berkeley to allow car dealerships. The change would allow dealers that currently have cramped, relatively inaccessible showrooms downtown to relocate closer to the freeway and double the size of their lots….

The city is also eager to keep its car dealers before they flee to Oakland, which is considering creating an auto mall at the former Army base near the Bay Bridge. Under that plan, much of Oakland’s current auto row on Broadway would move to a large freeway auto mall….

Not everyone considers it a win. Artists and some retail businesses in West Berkeley say the proposed zoning change will force them to move or go out of business altogether because property values will rise….

Green economics is something Berkeley takes seriously. Last year, voters passed Measure G, a mandate to lower the city’s greenhouse gasses by 80 percent. To reach that goal, the city is on a crusade to sharply reduce use private cars. Car-shares, public transit, bike and pedestrian paths, and electric vehicles all rank high on the City Hall agenda….

“We have to live in the real world,” said Cisco DeVries, Mayor Tom Bates’ chief of staff and Measure G coordinator. “People will keep buying Hondas. So do we want them to buy Hondas in Berkeley or Oakland?”

He also noted that the zoning change is intended to provide space for Berkeley’s existing car dealers, not open the floodgates to a crowd of outside dealers.

Furthermore, the city’s economic interests do not necessarily contradict its environmental goals, he said.

“When people approved Measure G, they weren’t saying, ‘Let’s drive all the car dealers out of Berkeley,’” he said. “It’s not easy to make these decisions, but we’re doing the best we can.”

By Andrea Jones - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The University Commons dorm, built around a courtyard, will open as students start to move in for the new school year. Fang Liang/AJC Staff

Standing in the courtyard of his university’s massive student housing complex, Georgia State University President Carl Patton giddily ticks off a few facts.

Nearly 2,000 students will call University Commons home when it opens Friday, and many more are clamoring to get in. The $168 million mega-structure on Piedmont Avenue came in “early and under budget” and is, he says, the largest privately funded student housing project in the country.

It’s just the latest coup for GSU, the urban university that has gobbled up downtown Atlanta….

By 2015, Patton says, GSU plans to house 20 percent of its estimated student population of 36,000 on campus, a sea change for an institution founded in 1913 as a night commuter school for busy professionals.

Putting students on downtown sidewalks, making GSU “a part of the community rather than apart from it,” has been Patton’s mantra for years.

It is a goal the urban planner put into play shortly after he arrived on campus in 1992, with the $14 million renovation of the Rialto Theatre, which for years had sat vacant and boarded up on the corner of Luckie and Forsyth streets.

In following years, GSU built a student center, a recreation center and a $45 million, four-story classroom building.

The school moved its schools of business, music and public policy into the historic Fairlie-Poplar District.

Veteran Atlanta developer John Aderhold said the school is bringing downtown back….

Last fall, the school broke ground on a $142 million science park on the corner of Decatur Street and Piedmont Avenue near Grady Memorial Hospital, a 3.2-acre site that will soon replace its red clay with a teaching laboratory and research laboratory…

The school’s private foundation bought the white 26-story SunTrust building on Park Place, overlooking Woodruff Park, last fall for $52 million and recently bought Citizens Trust Bank, adjacent to the new housing complex on Piedmont, this year.

The bank buildings will be used for desperately needed office space and the eastern portion of the SunTrust site will eventually be developed as a professional education center that will house Georgia State’s colleges of law and business, Patton said….

For Patton, each construction project brings the university closer to his vision for the institution: becoming a place where people learn and live, instead of a campus of commuters.

As he walked down one of the long hallways at the Commons, where students will soon move into apartments any college kid would envy, he stopped and took a sniff.

“I just love that new building smell.”

21. “Starting breast-feeding immediately can save babies” (Idaho State Journal, August 5, 2007); story citing ANN VENEMAN (MPP 1971).

… In a recent study published in Pediatrics in 2006, babies who started to breast-feed in the first hour of life in rural Ghana were more likely to survive the neonatal period than those who did not. Babies who did not start breast-feeding until after 24 hours from birth were 2.5 times more likely to die than babies who did….

World Breast-feeding Week 2007 will once again be celebrated in over 120 countries worldwide on Aug. 1 to Aug. 7 with the theme Breastfeeding : The 1st Hour - Early initiation and exclusive breast-feeding for six months can save more than ONE million babies! … ONE action that individuals and country groups could do during World Breast-feeding Week is to join the first ever attempt to create the Guinness World Record on Synchronised Breast-feeding in Multiple Sites….

The effort to gain a new world record will bring attention from policymakers to the communities to recognize the importance of breastfeeding initiation during the first hour. “The challenge we face is to find creative and convincing ways at the community level to encourage breast-feeding and to provide national authorities with solid evidence of the advantages of promoting breast-feeding at the national level,” said Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF.

By Michael Gartland, Staff Writer

PARAMUS — The development of a 144-unit housing complex on 35 acres of wetlands could worsen flooding and harm drinking water, opponents of the plan told DEP officials Thursday night.

More than 100 residents, elected officials, and local environmentalists spoke out against the plan during the public hearing, held by the state Department of Environmental Protection. A lawyer for the developers disagreed, saying that building on the land will actually benefit the environment.

The DEP is reviewing permit applications submitted by the developers, JDME Acquisitions and the Robertson Douglas Group. The state expects to make a decision on the wetlands development by the end of the month….

Foremost among [opponents’] concerns is how the project would affect drinking water in the area — the brook feeds into a watershed, which leads to a reservoir. Mark Distler, one of the creators of Save the Paramus Wetlands, described flooding as another important practical concern….

Assemblyman Robert Gordon, a member of the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee, also pointed out that the local water supply is becoming more important. In 2012, he said, Bergen County is projected to face shortages to its water supply.

“I urge the staff ... to reject this application,” he said. “This parcel may not be pristine ... but today, it is undeveloped and open.” …

By Shaun Bishop, MEDIANEWS STAFF

… Without an approved budget, State Controller John Chiang said this week he has been unable to pay an estimated $1.1 billion in benefits to agencies throughout the state, including community colleges, school districts and other services.

Medi-Cal payments to hospitals are also expected to be delayed this week after a $1 billion Medi-Cal reserve fund was depleted, but San Mateo County should still get its share, one health official said.

Maya Altman, executive director of the Health Plan of San Mateo, which administers the county’s Medi-Cal services, said she got word late last week from the state health department that a $9 million check to cover the county’s 49,000 Medi-Cal patients for the month of August should come through.

Even if that doesn’t happen, the health plan will use reserve funds to ensure services are available, she said.

“We are getting calls from our providers and members who are worried, so I want to assure people that we’ll take care of them,” Altman said. “It’s outrageous that the state budget’s being held up. It’s causing a lot of hardships for a lot of people and organizations.”…

24. “State needs to know what works in school” (Sacramento Bee, August 3, 2007); editorial citing research by JANELLE LEE KUBINEC (MPP 1997); http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/306031.html

By David Plank and Russlynn Ali

Several months ago, some of the nation’s most respected education researchers [including Jannelle Kubinec] released a comprehensive review of California’s ailing K-12 public schools and recommendations for raising student achievement levels back to tops in the country. One of the core findings of these “Getting Down to Facts” studies was that solving the state’s education woes begins with increasing our knowledge of what works and what doesn’t.

In California’s current system, everyone from policymakers to parents lacks the information necessary to make informed decisions about education policies and practices. Moreover, reforms have not been designed in ways that allow us to learn from experience about how to best design and implement policy.

Elected officials, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, agreed: Creating a better data collection system that follows students, allows good program evaluation and tells us whether our funds are being spent wisely is a critical first step toward raising student achievement….

Why is funding data collection so urgent?

The answer lies in this quick pop quiz: How many students drop out of California public schools each year? Which interventions successfully lift student achievement levels? Which ones fail? What programs most effectively train teachers?

All of these questions and many more, have the same answer: We don’t know….

25. “Exponen necesidad de subsidios medicos” (La Opinión, August 2, 2007); story citing DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); http://www.laopinion.com/negocios/?rkey=00000000000002060230

By Róger Lindo

Una familia paga 1,800 dólares en gastos médicos en California, aún teniendo seguro médico, según reveló ayer un estudio. (ARCHIVO/La Opinión)

Un estudio difundido ayer en Los Ángeles defendió la necesidad de ayudar financieramente a las familias de California para poder cubrir sus costos de atención médica, sobre todo cuando estos son muy altos.

El reporte, realizado por el Centro de Políticas Sanitarias de la Universidad de California en Los Ángeles (UCLA) junto con California Budget Project (CBP), revela que muchas familias incurren en enormes gastos médicos a consecuencia de las elevadas cuotas que dictan sus pólizas de seguro, así como por gastos adicionales que éstas no cubren.

El estudio aborda las propuestas de reforma sanitaria del gobernador Arnold Schwarzenegger, y la de los legisladores estatales demócratas, y recomienda que el estado asuma la obligación de ayudar a aquellos que no pueden pagar sus cuentas médicas, debido sus gastos en vivienda, comida y otras necesidades básicas….

“Al considerar el debate sobre la reforma sanitaria no podemos perder de vista lo que las familias de California realmente necesitan”, declaró David Carroll, director de la investigación en la teleconferencia donde se anunciaron los resultados….

[Read the study by David Carroll et al., “What Does It Take for a Family to Afford to Pay for Health Care?,” at: http://www.cbp.org/ ]

26. “State grant to fund research into contaminated beaches” (Oakland Tribune, August 2, 2007); story citing KELLYX NELSON (MPP 2004); http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_6524587

From Staff Reports

PRINCETON-BY-THE-SEA — Everyone has a theory about what caused dangerously high levels of E. coli to multiply on the beaches within Pillar Point Harbor.

Some say it’s the seagulls, which roost and feed on the beaches and surrounding rivers that flow into the harbor. Others blame leaky sewer lines or urban runoff. Still others point a finger at the “live-aboard” vessels anchored in the outer harbor, which have no septic systems and dispose of their waste in onshore tanks.

The county will be in a position to answer those questions for the first time this month, since the State Water Resources Control Board recently approved a possible $845,000 research grant for a project proposed by the San Mateo County Resource Conservation District.

The district must still negotiate a contract, pending approval by its board of directors. But by August or September, environmental officials will be able to begin the three-year process of understanding why Capistrano Beach contains more E. coli and other fecal coliforms than they can even test for—and where they are coming from….

“We know the numbers and how bad it is, but we don’t know where it’s coming from,” said Kellyx Nelson, executive director of the Resource Conservation District.

Although its source, or sources, remain a mystery, officials think they understand why the pollution is confined to beaches inside Pillar Point Harbor. Three breakwalls—one on each side and one parallel to the beach — form a kind of low-current bathtub, keeping bacteria flowing within the area in a feedback loop as pollution accumulates on the beaches. In the wet season, storms push water down through two rural creeks that dump into the harbor and also through an urban drainage pipe that flows onto Capistrano Beach. Pollution peaks at these times, but it does not flush out to sea and disperse because of the breakwalls, according to Nelson….

… The county’s blue danger signs do not seem to keep people off [Capistrano Beach] in sunny weather, digging for clams in the surf even though the signs specifically warn against it.

“At low tide dozens of people still come out and clam. I often see people throwing sticks for their dogs, who go crashing into the water. I see children running around barefoot,” said Nelson….

If the Pillar Point study determines that leaking sewer lines are to blame, infrastructure improvements can be made, Nelson said. But if the seagulls are the main problem, the county’s options will be limited….

Paul Kangas: President Bush today criticized Democrats for preparing to leave town for their summer break without finishing work on important spending bills. Democrats fired back saying that the Republican record on the budget leaves much to be desired. As Darren Gersh reports, it’s all part of the early positioning for a looming veto showdown….

Darren Gersh, Nightly Business Report Correspondent: … Critics point out the administration may have a hard time sustaining spending vetoes given its own record. Over the last six years, total Federal spending rose 23 percent after inflation. Even after subtracting spending on defense and homeland security, spending still rose 21 percent under Republicans. It is the fastest rate of increase in 50 years and twice the level under the Clinton administration.

… But Democrats do want to increase spending, citing pressing needs on everything from support for veterans to food safety. Still, budget analyst Stanley Collender gives Democrats credit for putting in place new budget rules and for the most part, sticking to them.

Stan Collender, Managing Director, Qorvis Communications: This was a no-win situation. They decided, it looks like the Democrats have come down, let’s increase the spending, let’s try to pay for it, and let’s let Republicans criticize us, because it’s going to happen anyway….

28. “Pros and cons of gay marriage debated” (Bay Area Reporter, Vol. 7 No. 2, August 2, 2007); story citing PAMELA BROWN (MPP 1991); http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=2047

By Cynthia Laird

MEUSA’s Pamela Brown. Photo: Rick Gerharter

A spirited debate over whether the LGBT community should pursue marriage equality was held Monday, July 30 in the East Bay and while no consensus was reached, presenters on both sides made strong arguments during the forum….

[Pamela Brown, policy director for Marriage Equality USA] was adamant that MEUSA believes marriage equality is a possibility and that while there has been a backlash among conservatives that led to the state constitutional amendments, she noted that other states such as Connecticut and New Jersey have civil unions and Washington state just started its domestic partner registry. She maintained that same-sex couples are getting those because of the fight for marriage. Since lawmakers aren’t ready to allow same-sex couples to marry, civil unions has become a de facto compromise.

Brown also pointed out that the major Democratic presidential candidates have expressed support for extending federal rights to same-sex couples and support civil unions….

“Equal rights is never about popularity,” she said, adding that it wasn’t until 1991 that most people supported interracial marriage, even though it had been legal across the country since the Loving court decision 40 years ago.

“We are building support in California,” Brown said. She said it was “really naïve” to say that language doesn’t matter.

“Look at immigration reform—undocumented workers versus illegal aliens. Language definitely matters. Marriage is understood in society,” she said, as opposed to civil unions or civil partnerships or domestic partnerships or reciprocal partnerships.

“No one questions your spouse in the hospital if you’re married,” Brown said, “but in a domestic partnership, you’d better bring your paperwork. If you go out of state, you have nothing.”

She also said that in California, same-sex parents are urged to get second-parent adoptions because the state’s domestic partner laws can’t be trusted to fully protect a family. That’s not equal,” Brown said.

“The way we win is the way they did in Massachusetts—telling our stories,” Brown added….

Responding to a question afterwards, Brown said that MEUSA sees civil unions and domestic partnerships as “fabulous steps forward.” She said the group envisions a patchwork of marriage laws in states.

29. “Report: California Health Care Unaffordable” (ABC7 TV News, August 1, 2007); features commentary by DAVID CARROLL (MPP 2000); video available

By Nannette Miranda

(KGO) - The state of health care affordability in California is grim, according to a new report by a watchdog group. It shows that many families can’t afford to pay for their homes and medical expenses.

The new UCLA/California Budget Project Report on health care affordability paints a sad reality. After calculating housing, child care, food and transportation costs in California, many workers in this state really don’t have enough money left over for health care.

The report says, for instance, single parents with two kids need to make $51,532 dollars per year to live and cover typical health care needs.

According to a 2005 American Community survey, the median income for the same family unit is $28,800 dollars a year.

The report is supposed to guide lawmakers when trying to reform the broken health care system.

David Carroll, California Budget Project: “That’s important so that families can afford not only health care, but their other costs. And they don’t have to continue to face hard choices, such as, ‘am I able to continue paying rent, or do I need to pay for a doctor visit?’” …

State Senator Sheila Kuehl is pushing for universal health care, which she can’t seem to sell to top leaders.

St. Senator Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica: “I’m glad that this report came out because it’s very important for the Governor to see what real people’s lives are like and how really unaffordable California is.”

The report recommends giving full or partial health coverage at certain income levels and capping out-of-pocket expenses….

By Robert Digitale - The Press Democrat

… In Sonoma County, only two in 10 Latino students graduate with all the courses needed for admission to a state university—compared with four in 10 for white graduates. As such, the community will be watching next spring to see how many of the [Roseland University Prep charter] school’s [first class of] 70 seniors are eligible to enter a four-year college….

The education of California’s growing Latino student population represents one of the greatest challenges for the state’s public schools. In Sonoma County, educators from a majority of school districts have been working together to raise the test scores and academic skills of students who speak English as a second language, the vast majority of whom are Latino.

Experts say the future of California’s economy depends on how well the public schools prepare Latino students for college and careers.

“The only growth in the California work force for the next 10 or 15 years is in the Latino population,’’ said Nancy Shulock, director of the Institute for Higher Education Leadership and Policy at California State University, Sacramento. “That’s who the new California is.’’ …

By Garance Burke, Associated Press

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - The U.S. government appears poised to turn over the rights to billions of gallons of water to a politically connected group of farmers, even as residents across the West are being asked let their lawns go brown and adopt other emergency measures to conserve water.

Under a proposed settlement federal regulators are likely to present Wednesday in Washington, landowners in the Westlands Water District would gain the rights to 1 million acre feet of water, or 15 percent of the federally controlled water in California. That would make it the largest grant to irrigators since the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was created in 1903, agency officials said.

If drought-like conditions persist, the deal would guarantee the farmers’ irrigation pumps will flow, even if that means some cities in the San Francisco Bay area will get less drinking water. That prospect has alarmed environmentalists and others seeking to preserve the state’s water supply for cities and an estuary inhabited by an imperiled species of fish.

“This new proposal appears to increase the opportunity for water diversions to the biggest farms of all,” said Hal Candee, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who is participating in the negotiations. “Can a proposal that appears to put a small group of farm operations ahead of the taxpayers and our fish and wildlife resources be justified because it may help one federal agency deal with a specific drainage problem?”…

By Dan Reed - Gannett News Service

Photo: SIMON WHEELER/Journal Staff

ITHACA — At 89, Alfred Kahn doesn’t fly as much as he used to. When he does, he can’t help but smile and feel a sense of accomplishment when he sees how crowded the planes are these days. “Sometimes, I even gloat a little bit,” he admits with an impish grin. “Of course, unless I’m traveling with an associate, no one around me has any idea that I had anything to do with creating those circumstances.”

More than anyone else, Kahn, a Cornell University economist who headed the old Civil Aeronautics Board under President Carter, gets credit for the dramatic lowering of fares over the past 30 years that has powered the explosion of demand for air travel….

In 1978, when the Airline Deregulation Act passed, the average air traveler paid 8.3 cents per mile for a flight. In 2006, travelers paid just less than half that rate on an inflation-adjusted basis, according to the Air Transport Association, the industry’s trade group.

Kahn estimates consumer savings at $5 billion to $10 billion a year. But Dorothy Robyn, an economist at The Brattle Group in Washington, and sometimes Kahn collaborator, says, “Fred’s just being modest. Most estimates I’ve seen put it at closer to $20 billion.”

Robyn says only the past two inflation-fighting Federal Reserve Board chairmen, Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan, have had bigger impacts on Americans’ wallets than Kahn, whose impact continues to be felt by far more than just airline passengers. Kahn has been a major player in the broader deregulation movement that persuaded Congress to give other industries such as trucking, telecommunications, railroads and financial services the freedom to set their own prices without government involvement….

“There were others involved in the deregulation movement, and others who thought and wrote about it before (Kahn),” Robyn said. But Kahn “gained the trust of people in Congress and in Washington and was the key figure in getting it done. He has an amazing ability to talk to the average person about very complicated subjects and make it all very clear.” …

During the debate and in the early years of deregulation, most airline executives barked about the enormous upheaval in their business caused by “academics” like Kahn…. Similarly, labor leaders opposed deregulation for the hundreds, even thousands, of jobs they predicted would be lost.

Robyn says some concerns were well-founded. But those negative side effects were worth it to the deregulators, “whose goal from the start was ... to make it so that air travel was no longer something only the elites could afford.” …

33. “R&D Investment Helps out Locally” (Arizona Republic, July 31, 2007); story citing BRUCE GUILE (MPP/PhD 1987); http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/0731biz-econnotes0731.html

By Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic

Science Foundation Arizona is pointing to two recent studies to show that public investments in research and development boost local economies.

The first study, “R&D Investments Drive State Economies: A Guide for Arizona,” was produced by the Washington Advisory Group. It reported that, despite rapid population and job growth here, the state lags in productivity and salaries.

“Arizona needs to target investments in science and technology and establish benchmarking processes for tracking performance,” said Bruce Guile, managing director of the Washington Advisory Group….

By MICHAEL MURPHY, Michael Murphy is acting president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce

The debate surrounding foreign investment in Canada and what Canada needs to do in the face of foreign competition is long overdue. But unfortunately, we are debating the wrong questions.

The debate centres on two questions, one explicit and the other implicit. Explicitly, we are wondering what can be done to protect Canadian companies from foreign takeovers…. Implicitly, some are questioning whether foreign investment in the Canadian economy is good for Canada.

In all the commotion, it is easy to lose sight of the right questions: How do we assist Canadian companies to become global champions? How can we use our impressive resource endowment to promote the economic well-being of Canadians? And how do we promote sustainable job creation in a global economy? …

Foreign direct investment, both inward and outward, links Canadian companies, consumers, and workers to the global economy. It enhances Canada’s competitiveness by revitalizing domestic industry and increases the flow of goods and services between Canada and its trading partners. Foreign investment not only produces jobs, but also introduces new technology, new management techniques and new market access….

RECOMMENDED READING

* Who Captures Value in a Global Innovation System? The Case of Apple’s iPod (by Greg Linden, Kenneth L. Kraemer and Jason Dedrick of the Personal Computing Industry Center.) An interesting study that breaks down the 451 components that make up Apple’s 30GB iPod and determines the value created by country in the creation of this product. The study shows how the greatest value accrues to Apple, even though it does not manufacture or assemble any of the components in the product.

By Christopher Shea

Charles Murray has turned against the SAT. Yes, that Charles Murray.

The author of the controversial 1994 book ‘‘The Bell Curve’’ and champion of IQ tests might be the last person in the world you’d expect to object to a test that boils academic aptitude down to a couple of numbers burned into students’ memories for life.

Yet Murray has just invigorated the anti-SAT cause with a manifesto titled ‘‘Abolish the SAT’’…. That the SAT is superfluous—worse, outright bad for American education—is ‘‘a conclusion I resisted as long as I could,’’ Murray writes, partly for biographical reasons: He assumed his SAT scores carried him from his podunk Iowa high school into Harvard.

There have long been complaints about the test, but Murray’s turnabout coincides with a surge in criticism of the SAT and its use by colleges. A University of California researcher, on whose earlier work Murray draws, released a study [coauthored with Maria Veronica Santelices] in June affirming that the SAT provides little additional information in California’s admissions process….

In 2001, the UC researchers [Saul Geiser and Richard Studley] found that achievement tests and high school GPA were powerful predictors of freshman-year college performance at even the weakest California high schools—which sealed the deal for Murray. Last month, Geiser, now a fellow at Berkeley’s Center for Studies of Higher Education, and co-author Maria Veronica Santelices, of Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education, released a follow-up report showing that the 2001 findings were confirmed by the students’ grades throughout their college years….

By Jeff Collins, The Orange County Register

Orange County cities get less revenue from new-home construction than any other metropolitan area in the state, a study released Tuesday shows.

The construction of a typical house here nets local cities $287 a year in taxes, the Blue Sky Consulting Group reported in a study commissioned by the California Building Industry Association. That compares to a statewide average of $771.

High home prices here mean local cities should get more property tax revenue, not less.

But revenue-sharing formulas give the county one of the lowest property tax “recapture rates” in the state, said Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street. Local governments keep about 7 percent of property taxes generated in Orange County, while Los Angeles County governments keep 26 percent and San Francisco, 64 percent.

In addition, fiscal conservatism in Orange County means local cities levy less in such fees as municipal utility taxes.

“Orange County’s historically had a smaller share of property taxes,” said Tim Gage of Blue Sky….

The Blue Sky study sought to show how new construction pays for itself through revenue that is generated. The study estimated that a typical California house generates $771 in net taxes for cities, $190 for counties and $3,498 for the state….

By Katharine Mieszkowski; Salon

This spring, meteorologist Robert Henson was thrilled to be a finalist for the prestigious Royal Society Prize for Science Books for “The Rough Guide to Climate Change.” There was only one problem: He was required to appear at the awards ceremony. Henson lives in Boulder, Colo. The ceremony was in London.

The irony of jetting halfway around the globe and back—merrily spewing the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming—to honor a book about the pressing dangers of the warming planet was not lost on the meteorologist. “I wanted to be there, and I had agreed I would be there by entering the contest,” says Henson. “But I wanted to do it in the most greenhouse-friendly way that I could.”…

… For a long trip, like a trans-Atlantic flight on an average-size plane, each passenger is responsible for sending .39 pounds of CO2 per mile into the atmosphere, according to the World Resources Institute. By that measure, flying direct from Denver to London and back puts about 3,600 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, equivalent to driving a Toyota Prius hybrid 10,000 miles….

It may be a short flight from Houston to Dallas, but shorter flights have a larger impact per mile than longer ones, since the ascent and descent are the most fuel-hungry parts of the journey. “These regional flights are not efficient because they don’t have time to get up into the atmosphere and cruise, where jets are most efficient,” says Luke Tonachel, a vehicles and fuels analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council….

38. “Ariel’s read on papers: A good buy. Stake in McClatchy increased to 15.5%” (Chicago Tribune, July 21, 2007); story citing GARY PRUITT (MPP 1981/JD 1982).

By Becky Yerak and Michael Oneal, Tribune staff reporters

…So why is Chicago’s Ariel Capital Management, which watched the value of its long-held investment in Tribune Co. shrink over the last three years, plunking new money into McClatchy Co., the ailing publisher of the Sacramento Bee, Miami Herald and 29 other daily newspapers?

“Our firm is based on contrarianism. We often find that’s where opportunity is,” said Ariel founder John Rogers.

In a filing this month with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ariel reported that it owned 12.7 million McClatchy Class A shares. That boosted its position in the company to 15.5 percent as of June 30 from 10.3 percent on March 31, Ariel said. That makes it McClatchy’s second-largest shareholder, behind the McClatchy family, which owns about 30 percent of the outstanding shares, the firm said.

Chicago-based hedge fund Citadel Investment Group disclosed last month that it also had accumulated 3.2 million McClatchy Class A shares. It declined to comment on the reason for its investment.

… Rogers said he isn’t interested in [a takeover], and McClatchy Chairman Gary Pruitt said he considers his relationship with Ariel nothing but friendly.

Rogers said the investment is a simple bet that the market has undervalued the Sacramento-based company. In his view, the industry’s woes are about to bottom out, setting up McClatchy and other pure-play newspaper stocks for a rebound….

In California and Florida, where the real estate boom inflated results last year, the housing bust took its toll this year. Still, Rogers and Ariel portfolio manager John Miller choose to look on the bright side.

Miller pointed out in the wake of the earnings announcement that McClatchy stock is trading at around 7 times projected operating cash flow, making it cheap by industry standards. Moreover, while second-quarter revenue dropped 8.3 percent, McClatchy managed to cut operating expenses by 12.2 percent.

Pruitt said that the third quarter will be another dark one. But he expects results to show improvement starting in the fourth quarter, as the industry slowly adjusts to its new reality of lower ad spending.

With newspapers in growing markets, alliances to sell ads with both Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and improvement in McClatchy’s cost structure, “we approach the future with confidence,” Pruitt said….

39. “Iron to Plankton To Carbon Credits. Firm’s Emission Plans Have Critics Aplenty” (Washington Post, July 20, 2007); story citing DERIK BROEKHOFF (MPP 1999).

By Steven Mufson; Washington Post Staff Writer

A small California company is planning to mix up to 80 tons of iron particles into the Pacific Ocean 350 miles west of the Galapagos islands to see whether it can make a splash in the markets where people seek to offset their greenhouse gas emissions….

…[B]ut the plan has already stirred the waters in Washington. Environmental groups say the Planktos project could have unforeseen side effects, and the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that the action may be subject to regulation under the Ocean Dumping Act.

Disputes like the one over Planktos may be the wave of the future in the new carbon-conscious era. As countries and companies seek to slow climate change, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere can be financially rewarding….

Many companies are calling for Congress to set standards for voluntary credits if it does not establish a U.S. version of Europe’s more rigorous cap-and-trade rules.

“The global market for voluntary carbon offsets is currently unregulated,” said Derik Broekhoff, senior associate at the World Resources Institute, “which has led to growing concerns about whether buyers are really getting what they are paying for.”

By Linda Davis, Staff Writer

Piedmont city employees took a break from their busy schedules to be recognized for their service at the annual employee appreciation day held at the Piedmont Community Hall….

Vice Mayor Abe Friedman was the master of ceremonies.

“We are incredibly lucky to have such a dedicated city staff,” Friedman said. “We operate on a lean staff. We know you put a tremendous amount of effort into your jobs. We are fortunate to have the quality of programs and services we have in this city.”

Friedman prefaced each group of honorees by recounting some highlights from five, 10, 15 years ago and so on….

By Bob Krauter

While many Californians were seeking shade and air-conditioned relief from recent triple-digit summer heat, Santa Cruz County vintner John Bargetto enjoyed cool savings on his electric bill.

Bargetto is among a growing number of vintners and growers who are trimming their energy bills by going solar.

Bargetto, owner of Bargetto Vineyard Estates, said 2007 will mark the first full year of operation of his 3.0 kilowatt photovoltaic system that provides power to an irrigation pump for a vineyard near Corralitos. A row of panels soaks up the sun and allows Bargetto to sell Pacific Gas and Electric the surplus electricity….

The California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance has sponsored a series of energy efficiency workshops with the assistance of PG&E. Alliance Executive Director Allison Jordan said the wine industry is warming to the use of solar.

“It is definitely a growing trend,” Jordan said. “It makes a lot of sense that it is one of the alternative energy sources that we use. It depends on where you are within the state of course, but just the technology has come so far that it just makes a whole lot of sense.”

The Alliance has a list of three-dozen wineries and vineyards—from the North Coast to the Sierra foothills—where solar systems are helping to irrigate vines and cut energy costs in cellars and barrel rooms.

“In the winery, basically what it does is you are hooked up to the grid and so at times when there’s a lot of sun, you’re basically rolling back the meter,” Jordan said. “And a lot people can get their energy bill close to zero or at least a lot less than they were previously.”…

Patsy Dugger, who manages PG&E’s energy management programs for a variety of agricultural applications, has seen interest and excitement from attendees at the energy workshops….

“These workshops help people improve their practices and it is all part of this self-assessment that is really at the heart of this sustainable winegrape program that you are constantly improving your practices,” Jordan said. “We talk about energy efficiency, we talk about energy evaluation and planning, and renewable energy options other than solar, like biofuels.”

By Gretchen Morgenson and Vikas Bajaj | New York Times News Service

The unusually low interest rates of the last three years have been an enormous boon to almost every corner of the U.S. economy.

They have provided consumers with dirt-cheap mortgages that fed the real estate boom. They have supplied easy credit to companies and investment firms, propelling stocks and corporate profits to record highs and fueling a buyout binge.

Now that party may be coming to an end….

Homeowners are not the only ones who will have to swallow higher costs. Corporations, accustomed to financing operations with cheap debt, will see their expenses rise, cutting into profits. In addition, rate increases will crimp the private-equity buyout boom, which has been fed in large part by the heavy issuance of corporate debt at low rates.

“There has been a half a percentage point rise in rates while inflation has been flat, so the real cost of capital has gone up for consumers and for corporate America,” said Mickey Levy, chief economist at Bank of America. He said he expected the increase to put pressure on stocks and dampen already-weak demand for housing….

By Dean Calbreath

In the global marketplace, San Diego County’s a pretty cheap date.

Nevertheless, the amount of venture capital foreigners pump into San Diego has stagnated over the past few years, or even declined slightly after adjusting for inflation. And we’re facing growing competition from other regions.

Hoping to get more juice from our global connections, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. is launching a Partnership for the Global Economy, a coalition of corporate, government and education leaders aimed at drumming up more international trade as well as creating more cohesion between San Diego’s disparate business sectors….

This time the EDC, in cooperation with San Diego City Hall and the San Diego Institute for Policy Research, is taking on the world. A 37-page report developed for the partnership details the region’s ties to foreign nations—and the opportunity for bolstering those ties….

“The big change that’s happened over the past eight years is the increasing globalization of the world economy,” says Doug Henton, president of Collaborative Economics, which prepared the report for the EDC. “Most regions have to take that into consideration, so they can build on all the strengths they have.” …

Beyond making a pitch for more global investment, the report recommends greater collaborations from San Diego’s seven key business sectors: information services, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, health services, innovation and professional services, commercial construction, and tourism….

It’s fine to go chasing after investments and trade from abroad. But the report suggests that a much more logical place to start looking for profitable business partnerships is right across the street.

By Sean P. Flynn

A new study from the University of California adds to what the Wofford College admissions department has discovered through its own studies over the past several years: A prospective student’s high school grade-point average is a much better predictor of success in college than the student’s scores on the SAT….

At the University of California, researchers Saul Geiser and Maria Veronica Santelices analyzed incoming freshmen’s GPAs and SAT scores, then looked at their grades and graduation rates over the next four years. They found high school grades were consistently the most accurate predictor of success at all of the university’s campuses, not just at the elite Berkeley campus….

“Surprisingly, the predictive weight associated with (high school GPA) increases after the freshman year, accounting for a greater proportion of variance in cumulative fourth-year (college grades) than first-year college grades,” the study states….

45. “Money and morals don’t mix” (Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2007); op-ed by BENJAMIN ZYCHER (MPP/PhD 1974).

By Benjamin Zycher, BENJAMIN ZYCHER is the president of Benjamin Zycher Economics Associates.

Back in the old days, when Republicans, led by Ronald Reagan, actually stood for a set of principles, efforts by Democrats to make political statements with other people’s money were roundly criticized.

One of the most prominent examples was the campaign during the 1980s for disinvestment by public pension funds in the South African economy.

It was a misguided idea from the outset. Professor Walter Williams (and others) predicted during the national debate on the subject that disinvestment, along with such other steps as economic sanctions, would have the counterintuitive effect of strengthening apartheid and delaying its inevitable collapse; he then showed, in a subsequent 1989 book, that that was the actual outcome.

But a narrower issue was important too. However abhorrent the system of apartheid, was it appropriate for government officials to use public pension funds to make political statements? …

Now it is the Islamic regime in Iran that is front-page news, with its ongoing efforts to build nuclear weapons and its bankrolling of terror throughout the Middle East. In response, the California Legislature is considering legislation mandating that the large state public pension funds … sell off the billions of dollars of shares they hold in firms doing business with Iran….

The notion that we can “de-fund” terrorism by withholding our investment is particularly weak….

The administration’s failure to act against the Iranian regime has led to pressure to do something, creating an opening for old-fashioned political posturing by elected officials across the country. Thus the disinvestment campaign is less a policy than a substitute for policy. And that is why it ultimately will prove self-defeating.

46. “Ads prod Capitol on health care plans” (Sacramento Bee, May 31, 2007); story citing ANN-LOUISE KUHNS (MPP 1987).

By Aurelio Rojas - Bee Capitol Bureau

The debate over health care change in California has entered the campaign phase with major players in the state’s nearly $200 billion industry advertising on television, radio and newspapers to protect their turf….

Blue Cross ran ads twice in the last week in The Bee, warning the proposals could have unintended consequences like the energy deregulation that ushered in the state electricity crisis.

On Wednesday, the insurer began radio ads in Sacramento….

Blue Cross officials say they agree with 80 percent of Schwarzenegger’s plan and proposals by Democratic leaders in the Legislature. But they adamantly oppose provisions in the proposals requiring insurers to sell policies to everyone, regardless of their medical history.

“That’s akin to saying that people can buy homeowner’s insurance when their house burns down, or buying auto insurance after you get in an accident,” said Ann-Louise Kuhns, a Blue Cross vice president. The requirement, she said, would drive up insurance costs.

“Coverage should be gotten either in the individual markets under existing rules, or through a high-risk pool if you can’t get coverage,” Kuhns said. “And we’re going to help pay for the high-risk pool.”

47. “Saturday Readers’ Forum: SMART doomed to fail” (Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, CA), May 12, 2007); Letter to the Editor by JOY DAHLGREN (MPP 1977).

If the IJ editorial “What SMART must do to win” (April 29) is correct, then Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit is doomed to fail once again, because it can simply not do what is required.

The editorial says that “They (SMART) need to capitalize on the growing concern about global warming escalating gasoline prices.” But SMART’s own environmental impact report shows that SMART it would save only 114 pounds of carbon dioxide per household per year.

According to some estimates, replacing one frequently used incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb would save 250 pounds per year. Those lightbulbs cost under $10; SMART would cost around $100 per household per year in additional sales taxes.

A second requirement is to show that SMART will reduce traffic congestion. But SMART’s EIR shows that the level of service on all sections of Highway 101 even in 2025 would be the same with or without the train.

Why? Because by the time SMART is operational, additional highway lanes will be completed in San Rafael and Santa Rosa, expanding capacity by 50 percent in Santa Rosa and 33 percent in San Rafael. Even by 2025, SMART would carry only 750 people southbound between the Marin Civic Center and San Rafael during the morning peak period compared to 35,000 people in buses and cars on the highway.

A third requirement is that SMART must “run a fact-based campaign and not simply offer a grand vision that the North Bay needs a commuter train.” In 2006, SMART attracted many supporters with its grand vision—think BART or big-city subways with frequent trains that serve all sections of the city. The facts are that SMART would have only 12 trains in each direction on weekdays and no weekend service. There would be 30-minute waits between trains during peak hours. The average speed would be 46 miles per hour.

If voters have the facts, they will see that few people would find SMART useful and that despite its huge cost, it would offer little in environmental or congestion benefits.

SMART simply cannot do what it must to win.

Joy Dahlgren, San Rafael

Drawing on three years of field research and extensive theoretical and empirical literature, Democratic Dilemmas chronicles the day-to-day efforts of educators and laypersons working together to advance student learning in two California school districts. Julie A. Marsh reveals how power, values, organizational climates, and trust played key roles in these two districts achieving vastly different results. In one district, parents, citizens, teachers, and administrators effectively developed and implemented district-wide improvement strategies; in the other, community and district leaders unsuccessfully attempted to improve system-wide accountability through dialogue. The book highlights the inherent tensions of deliberative democracy, competing notions of representation, limitations of current conceptions of educational accountability, and the foundational importance of trust to democracy and education reform. It further provides a framework for improving community-educator collaboration and lessons for policy and practice….

Julie A. Marsh is Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation….

49. “Governor Schwarzenegger Announces Appointments, April 22” (States News Service, April 22, 2007); story citing ARIELLA BIRNBAUM (MPP 2001).

Sacramento, Calif. -- Ariella Birnbaum, 31, of Sacramento, has been appointed assistant to the director of the Department of Health Services. Most recently, Birnbaum was the director of regulatory affairs at the California Association of Health Plans from 2005 to 2006. From 2001 to 2005, she served as a national market research analyst for the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan. Birnbaum previously worked for the State Health and Human Services Agency (HHS) from 1997 to 1999, where she held the positions of policy analyst and executive fellow. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $87,000. Birnbaum is registered decline-to-state.

FACULTY IN THE NEWS

1. “The Green Enterprise: UC Berkeley. Taking the green campus tour” (ZDNet, August 31, 2007); features interview with DAN KAMMEN; video link

--Sumi Das

In our first installment of the Green Enterprise, ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das takes a tour of green technologies around the UC Berkeley Campus, including solar arrays powering the student union, an eco-friendly cafeteria and a prototype of electrochromic energy-efficient windows. She also talks with Dan Kammen, co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment, about green innovations students and scientists are researching on campus and at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory….

2. “Preschool Reform” (Forum, KQED-88.5 FM, August 29, 2007); features commentary by DAVID KIRP; Listen to the program

The program discusses various proposals to reform preschool with two professors of public policy.

Guests:

· Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley and author of the recently published, “Standardized Childhood: The Political and Cultural Struggle over Early Education”

· David L. Kirp, professor of public policy at UC Berkeley and author of fourteen books including, “The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics”

By Mark Boslet - Mercury News

Never mind the carbon footprint, needled the New York Times earlier this month when Nicolas Sarkozy, the new president of France, whisked to Paris and back to the United States hours later….

A typical commercial flight to Paris and back to the East Coast coughs out at least a couple of thousand pounds of carbon dioxide per person or a significant share of the 26,000 pounds experts say an average Californian generates in a year….

At a time when human consumption of energy is raising fears of a planetary rise in temperatures, carbon counting is increasingly important and necessary. So the Mercury News came up with a formula to help you estimate your impact on climate change—and look for ways to reduce it.

The carbon-footprint formula was designed to be simple to use and easy to interpret. It provides only an estimate because the science of calculating carbon use is imprecise. But it includes the most accurate San Jose-specific data from PG&E. And it has been reviewed for accuracy by two experts: Dan Kammen, a professor at the University of California-Berkeley who is co-director of the Berkeley Institute of the Environment; and Ned Raynolds, northeast climate policy coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge, Mass., non-profit environmental organization….

The good news is you will find many Bay Area residents generate fewer pounds of carbon each year than the average American….

Part of the reason is that “our utilities are dramatically cleaner,” noted Kammen. Coal, which gives off more CO2 than natural gas, generates about 53 percent of the nation’s energy, Kammen said. But PG&E gets only 2 percent of its energy from coal. Forty-five percent comes from natural gas. The remainder comes from nuclear plants, large hydro-electric facilities and renewable sources, none of which generate carbon….

[A second story quoting Professor Kammen on this topic appeared in the <a href=“http://www.mercurynews.com/search/ci_6729439?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.com“>San Jose Mercury News</a>]

4. “The New Development” (Its Getting Hot in Here Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement, August 27, 2007); column citing DAN KAMMEN; http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2007/08/27/the-new-development/

By timothydenherderthomas

… We have argued that China will not stop the mad course of industrialization, but we should ask who will not stop. Is it the growth percentage-obsessed public officials who define the progress of the country or the hopes and dreams of the people who simply want lives that are actually better. Whose development is it anyway?

Here in America, we also have working class people facing financial insecurity, social instability, and loss of community because their jobs have moved elsewhere. Here in America, we also have poor communities being surrounded by polluting energy facilities that give them elevated risk of asthma, cancer, and more… Here in America, the economy keeps roaring, turning out ever more consumer goods (and land-fill filler) and wealth for large corporations while yielding less and less of relevance to the average American. A few million homeless people walk the streets of our cities, farmers across the country are losing their land, and inner city high-school children have pretty high chances of going nowhere….

It’s time for the new development….

This is not a developing country, but the clean energy industry is a huge source of development….

Do a bunch of research in your own community—you’ll probably find a bunch of folks … trying to do the same thing. Then, check out the national and global scene. The Apollo Alliance is pushing for a massive public investment in the clean energy sector to create 3 million new jobs, end our oil addiction and confront global warming. As UC Berkeley’s Daniel Kammen points out, investments in renewable energy create several times more jobs than equivalent investments in fossil fuels…

5. “Can socioeconomic mixing fix schools?” (Sacramento Bee, August 26, 2007); op-ed citing ROBERT REICH; http://www.sacbee.com/110/story/343508.html

By Walt Gardner

Once viewed largely as a strategy to avoid legal challenges to the use of race for integrating schools, socioeconomic factors are getting a fresh look in California and elsewhere as the next focus for providing equitable opportunities for learning….

In 2000, the Wake County School Board in North Carolina voted to implement a plan to assure that no school in the district would have more than 40 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, and no school would have more than 25 percent of its students performing below grade level. Based on the evidence to date, the plan is working to raise achievement of all students and narrow the gap between groups….

In the absence of any of Wake County’s factors, it’s unclear how the strategy would fare in California. Research has shown that schools must be at least 50 percent middle class in order to produce the expected benefits…

…According to Robert Reich, former labor secretary, the top 20 percent of families by income and education nationwide are already in the process of seceding from public schools. If socioeconomic integration of schools were adopted as policy, more of these same families might be tempted to follow suit. In that case, the number of middle-class students would be insufficient to create the desired socioeconomic balance.

By Mark Matthews

(KGO) - …The latest blow to the President is a published report in the “Los Angeles Times” that says General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is expected to advise the President to cut U.S. forces nearly in half at some point next year….

In a statement, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi asked “why the administration continues to risk the lives of our brave troops in a civil war, when the Iraqi government refuses to take the political steps necessary to end the sectarian violence?”

The response, in part, is coming in the form of political ads.

A Washington group called “Freedom’s Watch” is paying $15 million to run ads for the next three weeks.

“I think there’s been an overemphasis on the failures of the war, and not an emphasis on the positive. The glass is not always half empty; the glass is half full, as we see it,” said [CEO of “Freedom’s Watch,” the President’s former deputy assistant, Bradley] Blakeman….

The U.C. Berkeley national security expert and Dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy says the Iraqi government’s performance is not a question of half full or half empty.

“On the core issues, how do they divide the oil revenues, how do they guarantee the rights of the minorities... how do they split up the authority, so that the Sunnis and the Shias and the Kurds each get a piece of the pie? As far as I can tell, there has been no really major progress in any of those areas,” said Michael Nacht, Ph.D.

Professor Nacht says the crucial question is determining how many Republican lawmakers will peel away from the President over the issue of Iraq….

7. “China, U.S. need free-market police” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], August 22, 2007); Listen to this commentary

Kai Ryssdal: … There's been some talk that all the problems China's having with manufacturing can be traced to its get-rich economic system. But commentator Robert Reich says our brand of free market isn't squeaky clean either.

ROBERT REICH: … A basic free-market principle is that when consumers cannot differentiate between risky products and good products, they'll withdraw from the market, which is what's happening to China's consumer exports. So China has to rein in its rip-roaring free-market capitalists with regulations that better ensure safe products.

The American financial market is facing much the same challenge. When it became apparent that many subprime mortgage loans were far riskier than assumed, and were packaged with other loans, investors began withdrawing from all sorts of financial instruments because they couldn't figure out how much risk they had taken on….

The practical question, then—in China and America—isn't whether you're in favor of free markets or government regulation. It's what kind of regulation is needed to make markets work.

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.

8. “Stop the hedge fund casinos” (Sunday Times (London), August 19, 2007); commentary by ROBERT REICH.

By Robert Reich

The Federal Reserve Board, acting as America's central bank, sliced half a percentage point off the discount rate it charges banks for loans last week. Its primary purpose was to lift the confidence of investors and consumers in the United States and around the world that America's central bank would do whatever is necessary to keep the American economy going….

But what exactly happened to set this off? In recent years, with so much money sloshing around the global economy, American banks and other mortgage lenders found themselves with lots of cash. They thought they could make a tidy profit by pushing home loans—not only on average Americans but also on poorer Americans who wanted to own a house but normally couldn't afford the interest on the loans….

Meanwhile, hedge funds created what can only be described as giant betting pools—huge amalgamations of money from pension funds, university endowments, rich individuals, and corporations—whose assumptions about risk were derived from the assumed low risks of the home loans (hence the term "derivatives"). Investors in these hedge funds had little or no understanding of what they were buying, because hedge funds don't have to disclose much of anything.

It was not just a housing bubble but a financial house of cards that would tumble when central bankers tightened up on the global money supply in order to fight inflation….

In other words, the Fed has to bail out the speculators, because we'll all suffer if it doesn't.

That doesn't mean, though, that the irresponsibilities now so clearly revealed in American financial markets should be excused or forgotten….

For the financial market to work well—to ensure fair dealing and to prevent speculative excess—government must oversee it…. Finance is too important to be left to the speculators.

Robert Reich is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, and former US labour secretary. His soon-to-be published book is Supercapitalism.

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Barbara Boxer talks with W. Michael Hanemann from UC Berkeley during her San Jose visit. Chronicle photo by Liz Hafalia

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer turned to Silicon Valley Tuesday to illustrate one of her favorite points—that fighting climate change won’t kill the economy….

Boxer and other supporters of greenhouse gas limits say that doing nothing could prove far more expensive. They also say the search for cleaner energy sources and ways to use power more efficiently could trigger job growth, just as advances in information technology did in the 1990s.

To make that point, Boxer on Tuesday held a field hearing in San Jose of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which she chairs. Businessmen making money off clean-energy technologies testified that green tech already has created jobs and will create more, with those employees pumping money into other parts of the economy….

W. Michael Hanemann, a UC Berkeley economist, said voluntary efforts among businesses to limit greenhouse gases—the approach favored by the White House—would not be enough.

“Voluntary measures, while helpful, are not going to solve the problem,” he said….

10. “Down with financial entrepreneurs” – Commentary by ROBERT REICH (Marketplace, American Public Media [NPR], August 15, 2007); Listen to this commentary

Robert Reich was Secretary of Labor for President Clinton. He now teaches at the University of California Berkeley.

Scott Jagow: The problems in the credit market have pounded the stock market value of banks, insurance companies and asset managers in the U.S. and Europe. $860 billion in stock market value has just vanished in recent weeks. Commentator Robert Reich isn’t surprised.

Robert Reich: America is the greatest entrepreneurial nation in the world. But there are really two kinds of entrepreneurs here — product entrepreneurs and financial entrepreneurs — and only the first kind really builds the economy.

Product entrepreneurs find new ways of satisfying customers. Financial entrepreneurs find new ways of… making money.

Thirty years ago, finance was the handmaiden of American industry. Now industry is run by finance and we’re paying the price....

By Meghan Daum, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Daum is an essayist and novelist in Los Angeles.]

When letters written to a friend by a college-aged Hillary Rodham resurfaced a few weeks ago, her mention of a certain “Dartmouth boy” with whom she spent an evening in 1966 piqued notable interest. But recently The New York Times reported that the mystery date was none other than Robert Reich, former secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton.

In a post on his video blog, Reich called the encounter a “presidential summit” (“She was the president of her freshman class at Wellesley, and I was president of my sophomore class at Dartmouth,” he explained.) and said they went to the Michelangelo Antonioni film “Blow Up.” …

By Judy Lin - Bee Capitol Bureau

Lawmakers made little progress Monday as California entered its sixth week of a budget morass even as the Schwarzenegger administration issued more warnings of delayed payments to vendors and medical institutions.

The state Department of Finance said hospitals, clinics and nursing homes will not receive $212.6 million in medical reimbursements on Thursday. The delayed payment follows $227 million in Medi-Cal bills missed last week….

Democratic and Republican Assembly members on July 20 passed a $103 billion general fund budget that includes Democratic concessions such as cuts to public transit and delays a cost-of-living increase for low-income elderly, blind and disabled.

Republicans in the Senate, however, have refused to vote for the budget, saying it doesn’t go far enough to address future deficits….

Republicans say that if the GOP governor and Senate Democrats were serious about funding, they could have passed an emergency appropriations bill offered by Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater.

Denham had proposed to appropriate $10 billion for the state controller to pay state expenses until a budget is passed, but Democrats refused to take up the measure Wednesday night….

John Ellwood, a professor of public policy at University of California, Berkeley, and an expert in the federal budgetary process, said emergency appropriation is a tactic frequently used in Congress. He said state Senate Republicans could have an incentive to pass emergency appropriations if the amount is less than what the budget proposes to spend.

“What this is really about is politics,” Ellwood said. “It creates an incentive for Republicans to never agree and continue to stall, and you’ll end up with the Republican level of funding.”…

13. “New voting system could cost $6 million” (The Californian, August 6, 2007); story citing HENRY BRADY; http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/californian/4_00_048_6_07.txt

By: Chris Bagley - Staff Writer

New state mandates for February’s presidential primary election will prompt Riverside County either to adopt a $6 million system of paper ballots or to file a lawsuit to retain its existing system of touch-screen terminals, county officials said Monday.

After teams of computer scientists described security gaps in most counties’ voting systems late last month, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen ordered a wide range of new security measures for touch-screen systems used in 22 counties and for the systems of scanned paper ballots used in most other counties. Bowen also sharply curtailed the use of touch-screens, a move that virtually assures that those counties will have to buy and install entirely new systems….

An attempt to block Bowen’s orders could face a couple of hurdles. For one, an advisory panel created by the Board of Supervisors earlier this year came back last month with a recommendation that the county replace most of its 3,700 touch-screens “as quickly as possible.” The panel didn’t have the power to mandate a timetable, nor did it suggest one….

“There’s a great deal of administrative discretion on this,” said Henry Brady, a political scientist at UC Berkeley.

The matter at hand is somewhat different from Riverside County’s earlier case, since Bowen’s order does not provide any conditions that would allow Riverside, San Bernardino and 13 other counties to continue using all their Sequoia touch-screens. A similar order applies to San Diego and three other counties that use touch-screen terminals made by Diebold Election Systems.

Brady said he faults most of the voting-machine manufacturers for imperfect security, but he also questioned Bowen’s decision to single out Sequoia and Diebold touch-screen systems while imposing new but less stringent conditions on a third. Hart-InterCivic’s electronic voting systems are similar in concept to Sequoia’s and Diebold’s, but users make their choices with a device similar to a computer mouse. All three are known in elections lingo as “direct-recording electronic” terminals, or “DREs.”

And the UC computer scientists’ July 27 reports don’t argue that optical scanners, which are subject to new security measures, are any better than touch-screen terminals, which are all but banned outright, Brady said. In focusing on protection from rogue computer hackers, Bowen ignored the various systems to record voters’ intentions accurately, Brady added.

“It’s very mystifying why she came to the decision she came to,” Brady said….

--Julian Guthrie, Chronicle Staff Writer

Ranger Ann Meneguzzi and Elizabeth Goldstein of the California State Parks Foundation tour the site near Yosemite Slough where a major wetlands restoration will take place. Chronicle photo by Kim Komenich.

The transformation of one of San Francisco’s last stretches of undeveloped land is about to begin, as a small tidal inlet on the city’s southern shoreline is readied for restoration.

The revitalization of the inlet across from Monster Park is part of an ambitious plan to turn hundreds of contaminated acres at Bayview-Hunters Point into a pristine Crissy Field south, complete with stunning vistas, a thriving habitat, open green space and recreation.

Behind the greening of the degraded land is a deeper goal: to bring new life and industry to the most marginalized and isolated area of San Francisco.

The cleanup of Yosemite Slough will create San Francisco’s largest contiguous wetlands and two new nesting islands for migratory birds, and will renovate and open 34 acres that have for decades been closed to the public. It will create new paths to be linked to the Bay Trail….

The nonprofit [California State Parks Foundation] is managing the project on behalf of California State Parks, and has received donations from state agencies including the California Coastal Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Board, and from private sources—notably $1.5 million from San Francisco philanthropist Richard Goldman, who runs the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the Goldman Environmental Prize….

By Donald F. Anthrop - Guest Commentary

Many politicians at both the federal and state levels are being pushed by environmentalists to embrace the biofuels craze. As with most stories that are built upon myths, this one is going to have an unhappy ending….

Perhaps the two most popular myths are corn ethanol are that 1) it is a renewable energy source, and 2) its use as a motor fuel substantially reduces greenhouse gas emissions when compared to gasoline.

A.E. Farrell [Daniel Kammen, Michael O’Hare, Brian T. Turner] and colleagues of the Energy Resources Group at UC Berkeley recently published the results of a study to determine the net energy balance of fuel ethanol. In the course of that work, which concluded that the net energy balance is positive, the authors found that the renewable (solar) content of corn ethanol was only 5-26 percent. The balance of the energy input is primarily natural gas and coal….

[The study by Kammen, O’Hare, Turner, et al, is “The ERG Biofuel Analysis Meta-Model (EBAMM),” developed by students and faculty of the Energy and Resources Group and Richard & Rhoda Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.]

By Tom Redburn

Just about everybody remembers Captain Louis Renault, in “Casablanca,” declaring, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.”

And just about everybody expects a newly elected politician to declare, upon taking office, that he is “shocked, shocked” to find that his predecessor has left the government’s finances in worse shape than expected….

But the excuse will be harder to accept when the next president and Congress take over. For years now, budget and tax experts of all political stripes have been warning that President Bush and the Republicans who controlled Congress at the time have created what I think of as a kind of “doomsday machine,” one that will blow itself up by 2010 when nearly all of the tax cuts they approved in 2001 and 2003 are set to expire at once….

When congressional Republicans adopted the temporary tax cuts in the early years of the decade, they assumed that future lawmakers would have no choice but to extend them.

But now that Democrats control Capitol Hill and have a good shot at capturing the White House, says Robert Reich, a former Labor Secretary under President Bill Clinton, that is not so obvious.

“The tax cuts will automatically expire,” Mr. Reich, who is now at professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said, “so the next president won’t have to do anything except sit tight.” …

17. “Alarm raised by attempted car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow” (KTVU-Fox TV, 10 O’clock News, July 2, 2007); features commentary by MICHAEL NACHT.

Reported by Randy Shandobil, Political Editor- KTVU Channel 2 News

… Flying into San Francisco from Australia today, we actually had to go through two security checkpoints. It’s in part because of the failed car bomb attacks in London and Glasgow but also because of intelligence warnings that Al Qaeda is planning another attack on American soil….

UC Berkeley National Security Professor Michael Nacht says the Al Qaeda warning is vague. It mentions no specific targets. “You can’t have a high quality protection capability for every chemical plant, every nuclear plant, every airport, every bus terminal, every train station, every major shopping center, every movie theater…. We are talking about hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of targets in the United States.”

Nacht: “Even though the would-be attacks in London and Glasgow failed to do any real damage, they did succeed on another level: doing what terrorism is supposed to do—generating fear in Oakland.”

FACULTY SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS & EVENTS

August 2 ROBERT REICH’s talk on “Berkeley’s Economic Future” at Berkeley City College (January 25, 2007) was broadcast on Peralta TV, P-Span.

August 14 MICHAEL HANEMANN testified on “Conservation, Clean Energy Technology and Business Initiatives to Combat Climate Change” before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, in San Jose, CA.

August 23 DAN KAMMEN gave a talk on “The Energy Revolution is Now!” at the League of Women Voters Annual Community Luncheon, Berkeley, CA.

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

If you would like further information about any of the above, or hard copies of cited articles, we’d be happy to provide them.

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Annette Doornbos

Director of External Relations and Development