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  • A living wage for weatherizers
    Mar 15, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    The ultimate payoff will be lower energy bills for residents and reduced greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. In setting the wages, the state and utilities should be careful. Too high and fewer homes will get weatherized.
  • Education groups vary in response to White House plan
    Mar 15, 2010 — USA Today
    The law, which pushes school improvements mostly through annual testing in reading and math, is overdue for a reauthorization and Obama wants Congress to do it this year, with a handful of radical changes.
  • Election years boost lawmaking
    Mar 15, 2010 — USA Today
    Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., announced this month that he is moving forward with a bill intended to prevent another meltdown in the financial markets. A draft of that bill, Dodd said, will be unveiled this week. Education. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the ability of Congress to address other issues may depend on how Democrats proceed on health care.
  • Exotic dancer uses labor law to sue D.C. club over wages
    Mar 15, 2010 — Washington Post
    Thompson is suing The House in U.S. District Court, alleging that the club pays dancers no wages but ought to under the law. If a dancer was late to the stage, Thompson said, the club charged a $10 penalty. When she threatened to sue the club's owner, Darrell Allen, he told her to "get in line," she said.
  • McDonnell shows some successes in first legislative sessions
    Mar 15, 2010 — Washington Post
    Anita KumarRICHMOND -- Virginia Gov. He concentrated his speeches and trips across the state on his top priorities during the campaign: jobs and the economy. The new governor worked round-the-clock to learn the budget process and had to make do with few dollars for new programs."What can you do?
  • Metro aims to use travel training to help disabled passengers and save money
    Mar 15, 2010 — Washington Post
    This fiscal year, there have been about 320,000 Free Ride trips on Metrobus and Metrorail. The program is an expansion of the one-day individual and group travel-training orientations Metro has provided for years. The key to reducing MetroAccess costs is to make sure that only the people who really need it use it, said Christian T. Kent, assistant general manager for Metro's department of access service.
  • Pro-Uribe Parties Dominate Colombia's Senate Vote
    Mar 15, 2010 — New York Times
    The vote count for the 166-seat lower house was running much slower than the Senate races and there were no early indications the party breakdown in that chamber. It was too early to say how the Uribe-allied parties would deal with PIN, the Party of National Integration. Former Uribe agriculture minister Felipe Arias held a slight lead of 43.5 percent to 42.3 percent in the Conservative Party's presidential primary over Noemi Sanin, a former foreign minister.
  • Some miss George W. Bush, and they're not shy about it
    Mar 15, 2010 — Fort Worth Star-Telegram
    His favorability rating last month was 38 percent, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics survey. An average of 500 of these items are sold each day.
  • State firm on school quality
    Mar 15, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    ...skills'' and lack rich academic content at each grade level.``The national standards are not nearly as good as Massachusetts','' Stotsky said. ``They are generic skills that can be applied to any grade level that you want. They don't give teachers any guidance about what makes a standard at Grade 8 any more difficult than at Grade 6.''Most states, except Alaska and Texas, initially signed on to help develop the standards. But some states known for high standards are now...
  • Uribe Allies Win Colombia Congress Vote
    Mar 15, 2010 — New York Times
    Uribe's U Party and Conservative Party secured most seats in the Senate, according to partial tallies. Colombia's election race heated up in February when a court ruled Uribe could not run for a third term. But Sunday's vote went ahead with little violence, a sign of the success of Uribe's U.S.-financed campaign against Latin America's oldest insurgency.
  • Lisa Kron's 'The Wake' revisits the 2000 presidential election and Sept. 11
    Mar 14, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    Ellen finds herself attracted to a woman, Amy. She offers Ellen an emotional permeability she's never imagined. Has Obama's presidency refracted any of your ideas?
  • A step down: Federal education standards
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Boston Globe
    In math, the standards end somewhere short of Algebra II. Ripple effects of the common core standards would be felt throughout public education in Massachusetts. Connecticut scrapped its former standards and assessments in favor of ones that look more like Massachusetts. Vermont and Kentucky also gave up on student portfolio assessments because they proved unwieldy, unreliable, and too expensive.It takes time to develop and implement quality standards.
  • Bankruptcy agreement could aid Kenosha plant
    Mar 13, 2010 — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
    Kenosha licenses were included in the filing to aid the Chrysler estate "in bolstering the recoverable value, and promoting the efficient liquidation" of the factory, equipment and fixtures in the Kenosha plant. Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said she could not comment on the estate's plans for the disposition of the plant. "Our plans for Kenosha have not changed," she said. "We still plan to close the plant at the end of the year." Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said in a...
  • Campaign urges black donors to step up
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
    Of 8,061 people on waiting lists for organs in Pennsylvania, 2,551 are black, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Some patients wait five years for a match. Jamiliah Beverly, 14, of Garfield has waited 10 years to receive a bowel, liver and pancreas transplant.
  • Challenges mount to April 6 Columbia election
    Mar 13, 2010 — The State
    ...election law. One question swirling among would-be challengers in District 2: What about the absentee voters? Absentee voting for other seats in the April 6 election, including mayor, had already started when Cromartie resigned. Voters who live in Districts 1, 3 and 4 can vote absentee now in those districts as well as for mayor and one of the council's at-large seats. But Richland County election officials said Thursday voters in District 2 will have to wait until March...
  • Duncan wants 3 ratings for schools in education overhaul
    Mar 13, 2010 — USA Today
    And it will require the skills, talents, and dedication of many: principals, teachers, parents, students.
  • EDITORIAL: EDUCATION
    Mar 13, 2010 — Richmond Times-Dispatch
    Mar. 13, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Educators empaneled by America's governors have proposed a uniform set of educational standards for the nation. This seems like a fine idea, except for the ways that it is not. Uniform standards would make it easier to compare student performance across state lines. Using a common yardstick is preferable to having everyone invent his own ruler.
  • Expert says RI wind farm power cost high, but might be worth it
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Providence Journal
    Because no offshore wind farms have been built in the United States, there are no direct comparisons for prices. That contract was signed in Delaware between Delmarva Power and Bluewater Wind, a company that wants to install 60 to 70 turbines in shallow waters off that state's coast. Any offshore wind farm in the United States would receive renewable-energy credits based on how much power is generated.
  • GOP nominates newcomer to succeed Murtha
    Mar 13, 2010 — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    John P. Murtha. Tim Burns, a self-made millionaire from Eighty Four, Washington County, and a native of Mr. Murtha's hometown of Johnstown, handily defeated Bill Russell, who mounted a strong challenge to Mr. Murtha has already attracted widespread attention at the national level.
  • Karzai Reverses on Vote Auditors
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    Karzai signed a decree allowing him to appoint all five members of the Electoral Complaints Commission in consultation with parliamentary leaders and the chief of the Supreme Court. Karzai of nearly one-third of his votes, forcing a potential runoff. Karzai was eventually declared the president when his remaining challenger dropped out of the race.
  • Lender blames escrow shortage for $400 increase in monthly mortgage payment
    Mar 13, 2010 — Washington Post
    Usually, lenders do not pay interest on escrowed funds. In September, the lender will need six months escrow payments to cover the real-estate tax. Some lenders try to increase the mortgage rate when the borrower opts to avoid escrow.
  • Living History: Utah women's group still political after 90 years
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Salt Lake Tribune
    Utah's Territorial Legislature had sanctioned "unrestrictive" women's suffrage in 1870. James Wolfe (Democrat) -- in those days, women often went by their husband's name -- was president of the WSLC. Members (delegates) listened to resolutions and researched issues.
  • Los Angeles Times James Rainey column
    Mar 13, 2010 — Los Angeles Times
    Mayhill Fowler has discovered it can be a rough ride. Fowler uncovered Barack Obama's biggest stumble in campaign 2008, turning her into a star. Fowler became an object of loathing among some partisans. Some journalists resented the idea that an amateur could get information from an event that had been closed to them. But in my view, Fowler did nothing wrong.
  • Marilyn Gittell, 78, Advocate for Local School Decisions, Dies
    Mar 13, 2010 — New York Times
    The cause was cancer, her son, Ross Gittell, said. Professor Gittell’s husband, Irwin Gittell, whom she married in 1950, died in 2005. This did not sit very well with Professor Gittell.
  • Mercury News interview
    Mar 13, 2010 — San Jose Mercury News
    It's a solid oxide fuel cell that can operate on either hydrogen or natural gas and make electricity. Many clean tech startups have venture capital funding and DOE loan gaurantees, but they say they still need more money, that there's still a missing piece. They can have carbon offsets from planting trees.
  • Obama previews No Child Left Behind overhaul in address
    Mar 13, 2010 — The Hill
    The president and Duncan separately praised the decision by a Rhode Island school district whose students were performing poorly to fire all 70 of its teachers after they had rejected reforms.
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