HUFFINGTON POST: In another embarrassing blow to Atlanta public schools, nearly three dozen former educators, including the ex-superintendent, were indicted Friday in one of the nation’s largest test cheating scandals. Former Superintendent Beverly Hall faced charges including racketeering, false statements and theft because prosecutors said some of the bonuses she received were tied to falsified […]
Month: March 2013
Energy firms, environmentalists agree on ‘fracking’ standards
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE-MONITOR: Energy companies and environmentalists have reached rare common ground over the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” of fossil fuels, agreeing to a set of environmental standards that would diminish the environmental impact of drilling operations in the northeastern United States.
Elite in China Face Austerity Under Xi’s Rule
NEW YORK TIMES: Life for the almighty Chinese government official has come to this: car pools, domestically made wristwatches and self-serve lunch buffets. In the four months since he was anointed China’s paramount leader and tastemaker-in-chief, President Xi Jinping has imposed a form of austerity on the nation’s famously free-spending civil servants, military brass and […]
Cheating Our Children
You don’t have to be a civil engineer to realize that America needs more and better infrastructure, but the latest “report card” from the American Society of Civil Engineers — with its tally of deficient dams, bridges, and more, and its overall grade of D+ — still makes startling and depressing reading. And right now — with vast numbers of unemployed construction workers and vast amounts of cash sitting idle — would be a great time to rebuild our infrastructure. Yet public investment has actually plunged since the slump began…
Ed Rendell takes heat over article not disclosing tie to firm that invests in fracking
PHILLY NEWS: …Two days ago, the usually loquacious Democrat had an op-ed piece published in the New York Daily News urging New York state to get over its fears and permit hydraulic fracturing – commonly known as fracking – to seek natural gas within its borders. In the piece, headlined “Why [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo Must […]
Hybrid learning’ ahead, says Pa. Department of Education Secretary Tomalis
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: With help from the Internet, schools one day will tailor education to individual students, who might choose from among 100 languages to learn, the state’s top education official predicted on Thursday… Tomalis is optimistic about Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposal to sell the state’s wine and spirits stores and use the expected $1 billion […]
Scientists Find New Gene Markers for Cancer Risk
ABC NEWS /AP: A huge international effort involving more than 100 institutions and genetic tests on 200,000 people has uncovered dozens of signposts in DNA that can help reveal further a person’s risk for breast, ovarian or prostate cancer, scientists reported Wednesday… One analysis suggests that among men whose family history gives them roughly a […]
Obama administration moves ahead with sweeping rules requiring cleaner gasoline
WASHINGTON POST: The Environmental Protection Agency will move ahead Friday with a rule requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles nationwide, amounting to one of President Obama’s most significant air pollution initiatives, according to people briefed on the decision. The proposed standards would add less than a penny a gallon to the cost of gasoline while […]
Cantor: Give Illegals’ Children Path to Citizenship
NEWS MAX: While it will be difficult to reach an overall accord on immigration, Republicans and Democrats should at least be able to agree on a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who came here as children, says House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
Mitt Romney: I’m Happy to Be Back in Private Life
NEWSMAX: …“The bubble is a different experience,” he told Dennis Miller on the comedian’s radio show Wednesday. “Being in your own charter aircraft, having the Secret Service accompany you everywhere you go and outside your front door at night. I mean, it’s really quite an unusual thing and kind of exciting.”… “I have to admit, […]
North Korea Rockets On Standby To Hit U.S. Bases On Kim Jong Un’s Orders
HUFFINGTON POST: North Korea put its rocket units on standby on Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after the United States flew two nuclear-capable stealth bombers over the Korean peninsula in a rare show of force… On Thursday, the United States flew two radar-evading B-2 Spirit bombers on practice […]
Israel and Turkey let bygones be bygones
WASHINGTON POST Editorial: … THE DARKENING situation in the Middle East has produced a silver lining. With Syria’s civil war intensifying and Iran showing no sign of slowing its nuclear program, Israel and Turkey have patched a nearly three-year-old rift. In a March 22 phone call stage-managed by President Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]
Cyberattacks Seem Meant to Destroy, Not Just Disrupt
The group says it is retaliating for an anti-Islamic video posted on YouTube last fall. But American intelligence officials and industry investigators say they believe the group is a convenient cover for Iran. Just how tight the connection is — or whether the group is acting on direct orders from the Iranian government — is unclear. Government officials and bank executives have failed to produce a smoking gun…
The Drug War as an Indicator of Human “Progress”
One conclusion I’ve been driven to progressively in the course of my study of drug policy is that our species may represent a failed natural experiment in that we appear to have dug a hole for ourselves from which escape will predictably be very difficult and may have even become impossible.