Commentary
Business & Economics
New legislation could lower credit card interchange fees
A subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently began considering legislation that would control the rising interchange fees credit card companies charge to merchants who accept plastic from their customers. Titled the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (H.R. 5546), the bill was introduced by Rep. John Conyers ...
Commentary
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Commentary
Does Families USA Know What’s Up in Its Own Backyard?
Families USA seems to be really polishing up its business of putting out publications that rank states according to dubious criteria. They’re coming fast and furious. This latest one is a real howler – but for what it ignores, not what it measures. In Your Own Backyard purports to measure ...
Business & Economics
Florida Offers Case Study In Worthy Legal Reform
Legal reform is needed across the country, especially given today’s sluggish economy and job market. Florida is a case study in its importance. When the Jeb Bush administration began in 1999, Florida’s legal climate was hurting the state’s economy. Spiraling litigation costs were quashing job creation, and lawsuit abuse was ...
Business & Economics
Bye Bye Nerdy!
The Sacramento Union, June 18, 2008 San Francisco Business Times, June 13, 2008 Last week, the House Judiciary Committee considered a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest ...
Climate Change
How Should California Schools Teach Climate Change?
One California lawmaker is gaining momentum with a bill that would include “climate change” among the science topics in public schools. Senate Bill 908, authored by Joe Simitian, a Palo Alto Democrat, would include climate change in science textbooks approved for California public schools. “You can’t have a science curriculum ...
Agriculture
What you should know about genetically modified crops
The Eureka Reporter, June 18, 2008 With concerns mounting over global food supply and prices, and the potential impact of climate change on the frequency of droughts or disease outbreaks, now’s the time for using technology to our advantage in food production. With this in mind, the Bush Administration included ...
Commentary
Remembering Prop. 227 and the “End” of Bilingual Education
Ten years ago, most major California media opposed Proposition 227, the “English for the Children” initiative that sought to end bilingual education. Unsurprisingly, the same media ignored the anniversary of the landmark ballot measure. In fact, virtually the only publication to take a serious look at 227’s ten-year record was ...
Commentary
Taking It to the Streets
Earlier this month, thousands of parents took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the ongoing assault against their children’s charter schools by the powerful Los Angeles Unified School District. “Families That Can,” the new parent organization and the first-ever statewide advocacy organization for charter school families, objects to ...
California
Let Go of Your Hats: A Good Health Bill Will Not Pass In California
Has it been only a few days since I advised readers to “hold on to your hats: a good health bill might actually pass in California”? Although it got through the Senate at the end of May, the Assembly Health Committee killed it unanimously. My previous post responded to a ...
New legislation could lower credit card interchange fees
A subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee recently began considering legislation that would control the rising interchange fees credit card companies charge to merchants who accept plastic from their customers. Titled the Credit Card Fair Fee Act of 2008 (H.R. 5546), the bill was introduced by Rep. John Conyers ...
How state violates students’ right to safe schools
Lincoln News Messenger (CA), June 19, 2008 Editor’s note: This editorial refers to suspension rates for violence and drugs at local schools, a topic covered in depth on the front page of the News Messenger. While the numbers might seem alarming, many of the suspensions referred to in this editorial ...
Does Families USA Know What’s Up in Its Own Backyard?
Families USA seems to be really polishing up its business of putting out publications that rank states according to dubious criteria. They’re coming fast and furious. This latest one is a real howler – but for what it ignores, not what it measures. In Your Own Backyard purports to measure ...
Florida Offers Case Study In Worthy Legal Reform
Legal reform is needed across the country, especially given today’s sluggish economy and job market. Florida is a case study in its importance. When the Jeb Bush administration began in 1999, Florida’s legal climate was hurting the state’s economy. Spiraling litigation costs were quashing job creation, and lawsuit abuse was ...
Bye Bye Nerdy!
The Sacramento Union, June 18, 2008 San Francisco Business Times, June 13, 2008 Last week, the House Judiciary Committee considered a proposal by Silicon Valley Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, to end restrictions on the most critical resource driving technological innovation. This resource is human talent, and with the greatest ...
How Should California Schools Teach Climate Change?
One California lawmaker is gaining momentum with a bill that would include “climate change” among the science topics in public schools. Senate Bill 908, authored by Joe Simitian, a Palo Alto Democrat, would include climate change in science textbooks approved for California public schools. “You can’t have a science curriculum ...
What you should know about genetically modified crops
The Eureka Reporter, June 18, 2008 With concerns mounting over global food supply and prices, and the potential impact of climate change on the frequency of droughts or disease outbreaks, now’s the time for using technology to our advantage in food production. With this in mind, the Bush Administration included ...
Remembering Prop. 227 and the “End” of Bilingual Education
Ten years ago, most major California media opposed Proposition 227, the “English for the Children” initiative that sought to end bilingual education. Unsurprisingly, the same media ignored the anniversary of the landmark ballot measure. In fact, virtually the only publication to take a serious look at 227’s ten-year record was ...
Taking It to the Streets
Earlier this month, thousands of parents took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest the ongoing assault against their children’s charter schools by the powerful Los Angeles Unified School District. “Families That Can,” the new parent organization and the first-ever statewide advocacy organization for charter school families, objects to ...
Let Go of Your Hats: A Good Health Bill Will Not Pass In California
Has it been only a few days since I advised readers to “hold on to your hats: a good health bill might actually pass in California”? Although it got through the Senate at the end of May, the Assembly Health Committee killed it unanimously. My previous post responded to a ...
