A national study on charter school performance shows that academic achievement is on the rise nationally among charter school students, but Pennsylvania is not sharing in that success, likely due to students in cyber charter schools.
Month: June 2013
Texas Anti-Abortion Bill Filibustered By State Senator Wendy Davis Is Dead
HUFFINGTON POST: … Lawmakers had to vote on Senate Bill 5 before the special session’s end at 12 a.m. local time. However, more than 400 protesters halted the proceedings 15 minutes before the roll call could be completed with what they called “a people’s filibuster,”The Associated Press reported… The crowd of demonstrators in the capitol […]
NEW YORK TIMES
Article “Clean Air Act, Reinterpreted, Would Focus on Flexibility and State-Level Efforts” opens; “With no chance of Congressional support, President Obama is staking part of his legacy on a big risk: that he can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by stretching the intent of a law decades old and not written with climate change in […]
Two possible outcomes in Harrisburg debt negotiations: Deal, or bankruptcy court
“We can’t wait forever,” says the receiver’s spokesman, Cory Angell. “We may have to proceed to bankruptcy court.”
Democrat Edward Markey wins Massachusetts special US Senate election
BOSTON GLOBE: Veteran Democratic US Representative Edward J. Markey beat back a challenge from Republican businessman Gabriel E. Gomez today in a special election for US Senate in Massachusetts that was marked by its brevity and by low voter turnout. Markey garnered 55 percent of the votes, compared with 45 percent for Gomez, with 99 […]
ANALYSIS: Snowden’s great escape
ALJAZEERA: …So, as Washington tries to detain the NSA whistleblower, strains emerge with Russia and China. What are the diplomatic repercussions of tracking down Edward Snowden? Inside Story Americas, with presenter Shihab Rattansi, is joined by guests: Charles Kupchan, a former US National Security Council official and a professor of international affairs at Georgetown University; […]
Obama lays down conditions for Keystone pipe go-ahead
In a widely touted speech, the US president laid out a three-part plan to deal with climate change using the power of his office, defying congressional inaction on the issue…
Voting Rights Act Section 4 Struck Down By Supreme Court
“Congress could have updated the coverage formula at that time, but did not do so. Its failure to act leaves us today with no choice but to declare [Section 4] unconstitutional. The formula in that section can no longer be used as a basis for subjecting jurisdictions to preclearance.” …
Studies find methane in Pa. drinking water
Duke researcher Rob Jackson says their paper shows that methane contamination is “not an epidemic” but does exist. Methane is an odorless gas that is not known to be toxic, but high concentrations can be explosive…
Credit Warnings Offer World a Peek Into China’s Secretive Banks
NEW YORK TIMES: … The People’s Bank of China, the central bank, let the world know on Monday that it was putting the nation’s banks on notice: the loose money and the speculation it fed had to stop. It said banks had to step up risk controls and improve cash management.
Exit From the Bond Market Is Turning Into a Stampede
NEW YORK TIMES: …A bond sell-off has been anticipated for years, given the long run of popularity that corporate and government bonds have enjoyed. But most strategists expected that investors would slowly transfer out of bonds, allowing interest rates to slowly drift up. Instead, since the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, recently suggested that […]
Attorney General Kane stays mum on details uncovered in review of Sandusky investigation
In an appearance today at the Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon, Kane acknowledged his review of her predecessors’ handling of that case is progressing but declined to offer a date certain when it would be complete.
Edward Snowden Says He Sought Booz Allen Hamilton Job To Gather NSA Surveillance Evidence
HUFFINGTON POST: Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who leaked information on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs, says he sought the job with Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence on the agency’s data collection networks. In a June 12 interview with the South China Morning Post published Monday, Snowden, who previously worked as a […]
Supreme Court Punts on Texas Affirmative-Action Case
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Capping a year of suspense with a surprise anticlimax, the Supreme Court Monday sidestepped a sweeping ruling on affirmative action and instead directed lower courts to re-examine whether a race-conscious admissions program at the University of Texas at Austin should survive constitutional scrutiny.