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Feb
23
Via Feministing, at Woman and Tech News, from HPC Wire:
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Frances E. Allen the recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award for contributions that fundamentally improved the performance of computer programs in solving problems, and accelerated the use of high performance computing. This award marks the first time that a woman has received this honor. The Turing Award, first presented in 1966, and named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.
Please read the entire article linked above at HPC.
Awesome. But since the award has been in existence since 1966, and Ms. Allen is 74, and her work has been pursued since 1957, you don’t think that there was one year earlier when they might have given it to her?
Sorry – don’t mean to be sour grapes.
Congratulations, Ms. Allen. And thank you.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:27 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Feb
23
Case Western, H&R Block, US Dept. of Ed team up to ease college financial aid application
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
So maybe we can say a few nice things about U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
This article in Inside Higher Ed details a spanking new research effort now underway in Cleveland (the only place in the U.S. so far, though I found no news stories or even info on the Case website about it) that will help low-income students who want to attend college complete tax returns and, in the process, export much of that information – which is also needed for federal student financial aid, onto the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Here’s how the project, which involves researchers at Case Western Reserve University and University of Toronto in addition to Long, works: Randomly selected taxpayers with incomes below $45,000 who seek help from their taxes from H&R Block offices in and around Cleveland, Ohio, will be offered help filling out their FAFSA forms (a control group will receive only a brochure with publicly available information about attending and paying for college).
H&R Block’s tax preparers, working with software the company and the researchers jointly created, will help transport the applicants’ tax information into the federal financial aid form (more than half of the FAFSA information comes from the tax form), and help them collect the information for, and complete, the rest of the form. The hypothesis is that using tax data to automatically fill in a large number of answers to the 108 questions on the financial aid form, and offering personal help in filling out the rest, will make the FAFSA less daunting than it might otherwise be.
Next, company representatives, trained by the researchers, will give study participants projections of how much state and federal financial aid they may qualify for, and how far that would go in covering the cost of attending selected colleges in the area. “When we finish that interview, we give them a piece of paper that says, based on the information we’ve gathered today, here’s the tuition and here’s the aid you’d be eligible for,” says Eric P. Bettinger, associate professor of economics at Case Western.
The Ohio legislature and Governor Strickland might want to note that this program is expected to eventually coordinate with the Board of Regents:
Over time, the researchers plan to collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents and the National Student Clearinghouse, which works with colleges to track enrollments and other information, to monitor whether those who participate in the program (and their children) are more likely to attend college, receive financial aid, and earn degrees than are students in the control group. The results, they hope, will point the way to possible ways to build on the approach, perhaps through arrangements in which federal tax information would automatically be shared with the Education Department for financial aid purposes.
Why haven’t we heard more about this program? I don’t know. But I hope we do – and particularly, I hope the people eligible to take advantage of what it could offer hear about it, long before April 15, now less than two months away.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:20 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Feb
23
Via Feministing, at Woman and Tech News, from HPC Wire:
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Frances E. Allen the recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award for contributions that fundamentally improved the performance of computer programs in solving problems, and accelerated the use of high performance computing. This award marks the first time that a woman has received this honor. The Turing Award, first presented in 1966, and named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.
Please read the entire article linked above at HPC.
Awesome. But since the award has been in existence since 1966, and Ms. Allen is 74, and her work has been pursued since 1957, you don’t think that there was one year earlier when they might have given it to her?
Sorry – don’t mean to be sour grapes.
Congratulations, Ms. Allen. And thank you.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:27 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Feb
23
This news isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General. Read its audit report of the federal Reading First Program here (pdf) or here (Word). The program’s budget was over $1 billion in 2006, and nearly the same for the last four years, since NCLB was put in place.
From the report itself:
We concluded that the Department did not have controls in place to ensure compliance with the DEOA and NCLB Act curriculum provisions. We found that: 1) only a select number of reading programs were discussed during the “Theory to Practice: A Panel of Practitioners” sessions; 2) at the first and third RLAs, the luncheon speaker’s presentation featured one of the few reading programs discussed during the “Theory to Practice” sessions; and 3) participants at the first and third RLAs expressed concerns that certain programs were being endorsed and promoted by the Department.
and
We found that the Department did not adequately assess issues of bias and lack of objectivity when approving individuals to be technical assistance providers before and after the NCRFTA contract was awarded. Specifically, the Department did not: 1) adequately vet proposed technical assistance providers resumes, and 2) follow up on reading related contracts held by technical assistance providers in order to determine whether views and positions taken could be largely motivated from the close identification or association of an individual with a particular point of view or the positions or perspectives of a particular group.
…
Since the DEOA and the NCLB Act prohibit the Department from endorsing or promoting curriculum, it should have had a process in place to assess potential sources of bias and lack of objectivity. Without an adequate assessment of bias and lack of objectivity for individuals proposed to perform Department contract work, the Department could be placed in a situation where the public could reasonably question and perhaps discount or dismiss the work performed simply because of the existence of a potential bias. Further, the Department should ensure its contractors also perform this assessment.
I would say that that’s putting the public’s possible reaction lightly.
So, Ohio’s junior Senator, Sherrod Brown, sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee which is in charge of reauthorizing NCLB. Hopefully, he’s aware of this recommendation, made by the DOE’s Inspector General in this audit report:
We suggest that the Department and Congress, during the next reauthorization of the law, clarify whether reading programs need to have scientific evidence of effectiveness in order to be eligible for funding under Reading First.
I would think so.
Was Ohio affected? I don’t know. I’m not quite sure how to determine that, but I’m open to ideas.
Hattip to The Blotter.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:24 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 1 Comment
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Feb
23
Case Western, H&R Block, US Dept. of Ed team up to ease college financial aid application
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
So maybe we can say a few nice things about U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
This article in Inside Higher Ed details a spanking new research effort now underway in Cleveland (the only place in the U.S. so far, though I found no news stories or even info on the Case website about it) that will help low-income students who want to attend college complete tax returns and, in the process, export much of that information – which is also needed for federal student financial aid, onto the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Here’s how the project, which involves researchers at Case Western Reserve University and University of Toronto in addition to Long, works: Randomly selected taxpayers with incomes below $45,000 who seek help from their taxes from H&R Block offices in and around Cleveland, Ohio, will be offered help filling out their FAFSA forms (a control group will receive only a brochure with publicly available information about attending and paying for college).
H&R Block’s tax preparers, working with software the company and the researchers jointly created, will help transport the applicants’ tax information into the federal financial aid form (more than half of the FAFSA information comes from the tax form), and help them collect the information for, and complete, the rest of the form. The hypothesis is that using tax data to automatically fill in a large number of answers to the 108 questions on the financial aid form, and offering personal help in filling out the rest, will make the FAFSA less daunting than it might otherwise be.
Next, company representatives, trained by the researchers, will give study participants projections of how much state and federal financial aid they may qualify for, and how far that would go in covering the cost of attending selected colleges in the area. “When we finish that interview, we give them a piece of paper that says, based on the information we’ve gathered today, here’s the tuition and here’s the aid you’d be eligible for,” says Eric P. Bettinger, associate professor of economics at Case Western.
The Ohio legislature and Governor Strickland might want to note that this program is expected to eventually coordinate with the Board of Regents:
Over time, the researchers plan to collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents and the National Student Clearinghouse, which works with colleges to track enrollments and other information, to monitor whether those who participate in the program (and their children) are more likely to attend college, receive financial aid, and earn degrees than are students in the control group. The results, they hope, will point the way to possible ways to build on the approach, perhaps through arrangements in which federal tax information would automatically be shared with the Education Department for financial aid purposes.
Why haven’t we heard more about this program? I don’t know. But I hope we do – and particularly, I hope the people eligible to take advantage of what it could offer hear about it, long before April 15, now less than two months away.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:20 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Feb
23
Ohio ranks in the top six – of the number of people who live in extreme poverty
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
According to this graphic and article from McClatchy, Ohio has the sixth largest total of residents who live in extreme poverty, with the top five above it – California (total pop: 36.5 million residents), Texas (total pop: 23.5 million), New York (total pop: 19.3 million), Florida (total pop: 18 million) and Illinois (total pop: 12.8 million) being the five most populous states in the country, California being more than three times Ohio’s size (total pop: 11.4 million) and Texas more than twice as populated.
The legislature’s move to cover more children’s insurance needs and the Children’s Hunger Alliance’s report about how the Ohio government and legislature can assist the hundreds of thousands of Ohio kids who go hungry evidence some level of recognition of the dire situation.
But what more must be done? Can be done? Other than talk. Or write for that matter.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:41 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Feb
23
National Report Card on schools, kids released
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Read about it here in the Plain Dealer and for yourself, here.
I haven’t read it yet but I have to ask, do we really know what we should expect? Can we every be really sure? Can that concept – of expectations for the nation’s children – have more than a few standard items? And implementation to achieve those standards – how standard should that, can that – really be?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 3:16 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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Feb
23
For first time, "Nobel Prize of Computing" goes to woman
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Via Feministing, at Woman and Tech News, from HPC Wire:
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Frances E. Allen the recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award for contributions that fundamentally improved the performance of computer programs in solving problems, and accelerated the use of high performance computing. This award marks the first time that a woman has received this honor. The Turing Award, first presented in 1966, and named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.
Please read the entire article linked above at HPC.
Awesome. But since the award has been in existence since 1966, and Ms. Allen is 74, and her work has been pursued since 1957, you don’t think that there was one year earlier when they might have given it to her?
Sorry – don’t mean to be sour grapes.
Congratulations, Ms. Allen. And thank you.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:27 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
[updated] "What Can the New Governor Do?" features Joe Hallet, John Corlett, Jim Trakas
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Does anyone know much about Topix? It has this page for Pepper Pike News. It’s an aggregator of some type but I can’t quite figure out what terms it looks for to construct the PP page. It does include blog posts – one of which was mine, which is how I ended up there in the first place.
As fate would have it, I scrolled down, looking for other blogs noted, and found this link from Case News about Monday’s forum at 4:30pm, What Can the New Governor Do?”. I can’t attend but I did think about getting a babysitter just so I could go. Maybe Case will provide audio or video? Hmm – John Corlett and Jim Trakas, looks like you’ll be getting a friendly email from me (I don’t know Joe Hallett).
Here’s the description – I hope someone goes and blogs about it:
“What Can the New Governor Do?” Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Policy Studies is sponsoring a panel discussion on challenges facing Governor Ted Strickland’s new administration on Monday, February 26. The free, public event begins at 4:30 p.m. and will be held in Ford Auditorium of Allen Memorial Library, 11000 Euclid Avenue.
The new administration inherits difficult budgetary conditions, major policy quandaries such as school finance and economic development, and a legislature controlled by the opposition party. Yet it may benefit from common perceptions that previous policies have not worked well and a sense among many politicians that the voters want agreement, not ideology. Our panelists can speak to the policy, legislative and broader dimensions of both the constraints and the opportunities.
For further information please call 368-2426, or go to http://policy.case.edu/
Joe Hallett writes about politics for the Columbus Dispatch.
John Corlett is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Community Solutions (and you can read about and listen to the Meet the Bloggers sessions with him here).
And Jim Trakas is a politician. Now, I want to say that I hesitated to sum him up that way, but after reading what the webpage says, I’m not sure there’s any other way to sum it up:
Jim Trakas, a four-term former legislator in the Ohio General Assembly from the 17th District (Independence, Ohio), and former Chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, who among other posts served on the Finance and Appropriations Committee and as Majority Whip of the House.
Again, if someone goes, please tell us about it.
Update: I’ve received word that the event will be recorded for posting on the Center for Policy Studies website at a later date. It will not be simulcast. They hope to post it quickly, but no deadline was indicated.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:03 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
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Feb
23
US Dept. of Ed breaches prohibition on interfering w/state, local officials re: curriculum; spending billions improperly
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
This news isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General. Read its audit report of the federal Reading First Program here (pdf) or here (Word). The program’s budget was over $1 billion in 2006, and nearly the same for the last four years, since NCLB was put in place.
From the report itself:
We concluded that the Department did not have controls in place to ensure compliance with the DEOA and NCLB Act curriculum provisions. We found that: 1) only a select number of reading programs were discussed during the “Theory to Practice: A Panel of Practitioners” sessions; 2) at the first and third RLAs, the luncheon speaker’s presentation featured one of the few reading programs discussed during the “Theory to Practice” sessions; and 3) participants at the first and third RLAs expressed concerns that certain programs were being endorsed and promoted by the Department.
and
We found that the Department did not adequately assess issues of bias and lack of objectivity when approving individuals to be technical assistance providers before and after the NCRFTA contract was awarded. Specifically, the Department did not: 1) adequately vet proposed technical assistance providers resumes, and 2) follow up on reading related contracts held by technical assistance providers in order to determine whether views and positions taken could be largely motivated from the close identification or association of an individual with a particular point of view or the positions or perspectives of a particular group.
…
Since the DEOA and the NCLB Act prohibit the Department from endorsing or promoting curriculum, it should have had a process in place to assess potential sources of bias and lack of objectivity. Without an adequate assessment of bias and lack of objectivity for individuals proposed to perform Department contract work, the Department could be placed in a situation where the public could reasonably question and perhaps discount or dismiss the work performed simply because of the existence of a potential bias. Further, the Department should ensure its contractors also perform this assessment.
I would say that that’s putting the public’s possible reaction lightly.
So, Ohio’s junior Senator, Sherrod Brown, sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee which is in charge of reauthorizing NCLB. Hopefully, he’s aware of this recommendation, made by the DOE’s Inspector General in this audit report:
We suggest that the Department and Congress, during the next reauthorization of the law, clarify whether reading programs need to have scientific evidence of effectiveness in order to be eligible for funding under Reading First.
I would think so.
Was Ohio affected? I don’t know. I’m not quite sure how to determine that, but I’m open to ideas.
Hattip to The Blotter.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:24 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
Case Western, H&R Block, US Dept. of Ed team up to ease college financial aid application
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
So maybe we can say a few nice things about U.S. Department of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.
This article in Inside Higher Ed details a spanking new research effort now underway in Cleveland (the only place in the U.S. so far, though I found no news stories or even info on the Case website about it) that will help low-income students who want to attend college complete tax returns and, in the process, export much of that information – which is also needed for federal student financial aid, onto the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
Here’s how the project, which involves researchers at Case Western Reserve University and University of Toronto in addition to Long, works: Randomly selected taxpayers with incomes below $45,000 who seek help from their taxes from H&R Block offices in and around Cleveland, Ohio, will be offered help filling out their FAFSA forms (a control group will receive only a brochure with publicly available information about attending and paying for college).
H&R Block’s tax preparers, working with software the company and the researchers jointly created, will help transport the applicants’ tax information into the federal financial aid form (more than half of the FAFSA information comes from the tax form), and help them collect the information for, and complete, the rest of the form. The hypothesis is that using tax data to automatically fill in a large number of answers to the 108 questions on the financial aid form, and offering personal help in filling out the rest, will make the FAFSA less daunting than it might otherwise be.
Next, company representatives, trained by the researchers, will give study participants projections of how much state and federal financial aid they may qualify for, and how far that would go in covering the cost of attending selected colleges in the area. “When we finish that interview, we give them a piece of paper that says, based on the information we’ve gathered today, here’s the tuition and here’s the aid you’d be eligible for,” says Eric P. Bettinger, associate professor of economics at Case Western.
The Ohio legislature and Governor Strickland might want to note that this program is expected to eventually coordinate with the Board of Regents:
Over time, the researchers plan to collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents and the National Student Clearinghouse, which works with colleges to track enrollments and other information, to monitor whether those who participate in the program (and their children) are more likely to attend college, receive financial aid, and earn degrees than are students in the control group. The results, they hope, will point the way to possible ways to build on the approach, perhaps through arrangements in which federal tax information would automatically be shared with the Education Department for financial aid purposes.
Why haven’t we heard more about this program? I don’t know. But I hope we do – and particularly, I hope the people eligible to take advantage of what it could offer hear about it, long before April 15, now less than two months away.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:20 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
Texas lawmaker blames support for evolution on "long-secret Jewish religious text"
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Do people not realize that God does NOT like people who say stuff like this?
I know one of the ten commandments is to not lie. One of them also says not to covet. But I’m thinking that Republican Warren Chisum, Chairman of the Texas House Appropriations committee, must just be jealous that he’s not Jewish. I’d even invite him to my son’s bar mitzvah if I thought he actually thought he’d made a mistake.
But, somehow, I doubt he does.
The NYT reports here on his apology.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:29 pm February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Feb
23
National Report Card on schools, kids released
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Read about it here in the Plain Dealer and for yourself, here.
I haven’t read it yet but I have to ask, do we really know what we should expect? Can we every be really sure? Can that concept – of expectations for the nation’s children – have more than a few standard items? And implementation to achieve those standards – how standard should that, can that – really be?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:16 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
US Dept. of Ed breaches prohibition on interfering w/state, local officials re: curriculum; spending billions improperly
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
This news isn’t coming from me. It’s coming from the U.S. Department of Education’s Inspector General. Read its audit report of the federal Reading First Program here (pdf) or here (Word). The program’s budget was over $1 billion in 2006, and nearly the same for the last four years, since NCLB was put in place.
From the report itself:
We concluded that the Department did not have controls in place to ensure compliance with the DEOA and NCLB Act curriculum provisions. We found that: 1) only a select number of reading programs were discussed during the “Theory to Practice: A Panel of Practitioners” sessions; 2) at the first and third RLAs, the luncheon speaker’s presentation featured one of the few reading programs discussed during the “Theory to Practice” sessions; and 3) participants at the first and third RLAs expressed concerns that certain programs were being endorsed and promoted by the Department.
and
We found that the Department did not adequately assess issues of bias and lack of objectivity when approving individuals to be technical assistance providers before and after the NCRFTA contract was awarded. Specifically, the Department did not: 1) adequately vet proposed technical assistance providers resumes, and 2) follow up on reading related contracts held by technical assistance providers in order to determine whether views and positions taken could be largely motivated from the close identification or association of an individual with a particular point of view or the positions or perspectives of a particular group.
…
Since the DEOA and the NCLB Act prohibit the Department from endorsing or promoting curriculum, it should have had a process in place to assess potential sources of bias and lack of objectivity. Without an adequate assessment of bias and lack of objectivity for individuals proposed to perform Department contract work, the Department could be placed in a situation where the public could reasonably question and perhaps discount or dismiss the work performed simply because of the existence of a potential bias. Further, the Department should ensure its contractors also perform this assessment.
I would say that that’s putting the public’s possible reaction lightly.
So, Ohio’s junior Senator, Sherrod Brown, sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee which is in charge of reauthorizing NCLB. Hopefully, he’s aware of this recommendation, made by the DOE’s Inspector General in this audit report:
We suggest that the Department and Congress, during the next reauthorization of the law, clarify whether reading programs need to have scientific evidence of effectiveness in order to be eligible for funding under Reading First.
I would think so.
Was Ohio affected? I don’t know. I’m not quite sure how to determine that, but I’m open to ideas.
Hattip to The Blotter.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:24 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
[updated] "What Can the New Governor Do?" features Joe Hallet, John Corlett, Jim Trakas
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Does anyone know much about Topix? It has this page for Pepper Pike News. It’s an aggregator of some type but I can’t quite figure out what terms it looks for to construct the PP page. It does include blog posts – one of which was mine, which is how I ended up there in the first place.
As fate would have it, I scrolled down, looking for other blogs noted, and found this link from Case News about Monday’s forum at 4:30pm, What Can the New Governor Do?”. I can’t attend but I did think about getting a babysitter just so I could go. Maybe Case will provide audio or video? Hmm – John Corlett and Jim Trakas, looks like you’ll be getting a friendly email from me (I don’t know Joe Hallett).
Here’s the description – I hope someone goes and blogs about it:
“What Can the New Governor Do?” Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Policy Studies is sponsoring a panel discussion on challenges facing Governor Ted Strickland’s new administration on Monday, February 26. The free, public event begins at 4:30 p.m. and will be held in Ford Auditorium of Allen Memorial Library, 11000 Euclid Avenue.
The new administration inherits difficult budgetary conditions, major policy quandaries such as school finance and economic development, and a legislature controlled by the opposition party. Yet it may benefit from common perceptions that previous policies have not worked well and a sense among many politicians that the voters want agreement, not ideology. Our panelists can speak to the policy, legislative and broader dimensions of both the constraints and the opportunities.
For further information please call 368-2426, or go to http://policy.case.edu/
Joe Hallett writes about politics for the Columbus Dispatch.
John Corlett is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Community Solutions (and you can read about and listen to the Meet the Bloggers sessions with him here).
And Jim Trakas is a politician. Now, I want to say that I hesitated to sum him up that way, but after reading what the webpage says, I’m not sure there’s any other way to sum it up:
Jim Trakas, a four-term former legislator in the Ohio General Assembly from the 17th District (Independence, Ohio), and former Chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, who among other posts served on the Finance and Appropriations Committee and as Majority Whip of the House.
Again, if someone goes, please tell us about it.
Update: I’ve received word that the event will be recorded for posting on the Center for Policy Studies website at a later date. It will not be simulcast. They hope to post it quickly, but no deadline was indicated.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:03 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Feb
23
Texas lawmaker blames support for evolution on "long-secret Jewish religious text"
Filed Under Politics | 2 Comments
Do people not realize that God does NOT like people who say stuff like this?
I know one of the ten commandments is to not lie. One of them also says not to covet. But I’m thinking that Republican Warren Chisum, Chairman of the Texas House Appropriations committee, must just be jealous that he’s not Jewish. I’d even invite him to my son’s bar mitzvah if I thought he actually thought he’d made a mistake.
But, somehow, I doubt he does.
The NYT reports here on his apology.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:29 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | 2 Comments
Print This Post
Feb
23
National Report Card on schools, kids released
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Read about it here in the Plain Dealer and for yourself, here.
I haven’t read it yet but I have to ask, do we really know what we should expect? Can we every be really sure? Can that concept – of expectations for the nation’s children – have more than a few standard items? And implementation to achieve those standards – how standard should that, can that – really be?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:16 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
[updated] "What Can the New Governor Do?" features Joe Hallet, John Corlett, Jim Trakas
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Does anyone know much about Topix? It has this page for Pepper Pike News. It’s an aggregator of some type but I can’t quite figure out what terms it looks for to construct the PP page. It does include blog posts – one of which was mine, which is how I ended up there in the first place.
As fate would have it, I scrolled down, looking for other blogs noted, and found this link from Case News about Monday’s forum at 4:30pm, What Can the New Governor Do?”. I can’t attend but I did think about getting a babysitter just so I could go. Maybe Case will provide audio or video? Hmm – John Corlett and Jim Trakas, looks like you’ll be getting a friendly email from me (I don’t know Joe Hallett).
Here’s the description – I hope someone goes and blogs about it:
“What Can the New Governor Do?” Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Policy Studies is sponsoring a panel discussion on challenges facing Governor Ted Strickland’s new administration on Monday, February 26. The free, public event begins at 4:30 p.m. and will be held in Ford Auditorium of Allen Memorial Library, 11000 Euclid Avenue.
The new administration inherits difficult budgetary conditions, major policy quandaries such as school finance and economic development, and a legislature controlled by the opposition party. Yet it may benefit from common perceptions that previous policies have not worked well and a sense among many politicians that the voters want agreement, not ideology. Our panelists can speak to the policy, legislative and broader dimensions of both the constraints and the opportunities.
For further information please call 368-2426, or go to http://policy.case.edu/
Joe Hallett writes about politics for the Columbus Dispatch.
John Corlett is a senior policy analyst at the Center for Community Solutions (and you can read about and listen to the Meet the Bloggers sessions with him here).
And Jim Trakas is a politician. Now, I want to say that I hesitated to sum him up that way, but after reading what the webpage says, I’m not sure there’s any other way to sum it up:
Jim Trakas, a four-term former legislator in the Ohio General Assembly from the 17th District (Independence, Ohio), and former Chair of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party, who among other posts served on the Finance and Appropriations Committee and as Majority Whip of the House.
Again, if someone goes, please tell us about it.
Update: I’ve received word that the event will be recorded for posting on the Center for Policy Studies website at a later date. It will not be simulcast. They hope to post it quickly, but no deadline was indicated.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:03 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
Print This Post
Feb
23
Texas lawmaker blames support for evolution on "long-secret Jewish religious text"
Filed Under Politics | Comments Off
Do people not realize that God does NOT like people who say stuff like this?
I know one of the ten commandments is to not lie. One of them also says not to covet. But I’m thinking that Republican Warren Chisum, Chairman of the Texas House Appropriations committee, must just be jealous that he’s not Jewish. I’d even invite him to my son’s bar mitzvah if I thought he actually thought he’d made a mistake.
But, somehow, I doubt he does.
The NYT reports here on his apology.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:29 am February 23rd, 2007 in Politics | Comments Off
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