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Displaying results 1711 - 1720 of 2062
Equitable funding rather than test scores, educators urge at NPC Newsmaker
More emphasis on equitable funding of schools rather than higher test scores will help to improve education in the U.S., authors of a new book said at a National Press Club Newsmaker briefing on Thursday, April 25. The four-member panel unveiled "Closing the Opportunity Gap," their new book, which comes 30 years after the release of "A Nation At Risk," a ground-breaking national commission report on the declining state of education. The "At Risk" report helped spark education reforms, including efforts to focus on shortcomings by measuring achievement through widespread student testing. Test-…
Type: News
U.S. infrastructure gets D+ from American Society of Civil Engineers
U.S. infrastructure -- transportation, energy, water and waste -- got a D+ in the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2013 quadrennial report, according to Gregory DiLoreto, president. While the grade rose slightly from the D earned in the last report, "I don't think that's a card you take home to show your parents," he said at a National Press Club Newsmaker event on April 23. Calling infrastructure "the backbone of the economy," DiLoreto said people don't notice it until it stops working. The report's release in mid-March at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge illustrated his point by…
Type: News
`Price-managed' lanes cut traffic gridlocks, says Newsmaker urging test
A toll-road proponent urged Congress, at an April 22 National Press Club Newsmaker, to include in the next highway funding bill a pilot project allowing states to convert some traffic lanes to toll roads to alleviate congestion. Congress should approve a pilot allowing the top-20 urban areas with “severe congestion” to “take some percentage” of non-toll roads and test whether price-managed lanes would reduce gridlock, said Matthew Click, Southeast division director of tolls for HNTB Corp, a consulting firm based in Kansas City, Mo. Price-managed lanes is the Federal Highway Administration's…
Type: News
Case load quotas impede decisions on disability claims, Judge Frye says at NPC
Imposing case quotas on federal administrative law judges can erode the quality of their decisions on disability claims, Randall Frye, a federal administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration in Charlotte, N.C., said at a National Press Club Newsmaker on April 19. “Our caseloads everywhere have increased," said Frye, president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges. The quotas mean that "judges have to process cases – regardless of their complexity – in a finite period of time." It is particularly difficult in the disability courts, ``where for the last four or five…
Type: News
Postmaster General tells National Press Club Luncheon bailout could cost $58 billion
U.S. taxpayers may have to pay $58 billion through 2017 to bail out the U.S. Postal Service but the financially troubled agency would much prefer postal-reform legislation that gives it the ability to right its own ship, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe said at a National Press Club Luncheon April 19. “Congress faces a simple choice,” Donahoe said. “It can decide to start appropriating a lot of money to prop up a broken Postal Service or it can give the organization the flexibility to operate more effectively.” With the volume of mail falling precipitously in the Internet era, the Postal…
Type: News
Drug czar affirms opposition to pot legalization at National Press Club Luncheon
Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, emphasized the Obama administration’s opposition to marijuana legalization during an address at a National Press Club Luncheon on April 17. “We shouldn’t lose sight of the fundamental fact that using marijuana has public-health consequences,” said Kerlkowske, also known as the nation’s Drug Czar. “The most responsible public policy is one that restricts its availability and discourages its use.” Kerlkowske’s comments come amid an ongoing push at the state level to decriminalize marijuana most recently exemplified by the…
Type: News
E-Discovery raises concerns for small business, individuals
New legal discovery technology that allows litigants to quickly and successfully retrieve evidence from massive amounts of data may be difficult for small businesses and individuals to obtain, according to an expert panel that appeared at the National Press Club on April 15. Big businesses and wealthy individuals have access to the new system through law firms specializing in the software and in preemptive management plans that structure business computers to help clients if litigation occurs, according to the expert panel. Electronic communications, such as emails and Word documents are now…
Type: News
Iceland president sounds climate alarm demanding global attention, action at NPC Luncheon
Iceland President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson announced at a National Press Club Luncheon April 15 the creation of an international assembly named "Arctic Circle" to alert the world to glacial melting and other climate threats and what can be done about them. "The Arctic is the fastest-warming place in the world," Grímsson said, "and is playing an increasingly important role in globalization, economic development, energy exploration, environmental protection and international security." "The aim of the Arctic Circle is to strengthen the policymaking process by bringing together as many Arctic and…
Type: News
Red Cross President tells Press Club Newsmaker situation in Syria getting more serious
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been able to expand humanitarian aid in Syria during its civil war but the needs of the population are growing exponentially, Red Cross President Peter Maurer said at an April 11 National Press Club Newsmaker. Fighting in Syria has been going on for more than two years. There has been an increase in fighting in Syria and because most people cannot return to their homes, they flee to neighboring countries, Maurer said. The Red Cross also is unable to respond adequately in certain areas of the country, he said. Several tipping points are emerging…
Type: News
Filmmaker gives account of false arrest in "Central Park 5," becomes 'card-carrying journalist'
Ken Burns' latest documentary for the Public Broadcasting System turned out to be a family undertaking for him, he told a National Press Club Luncheon audience April 12. Burns, celebrated for previous in-depth examinations of the Civil War, baseball, jazz, and prohibition, among other subjects, said he was “inspired” and “angered” by daughter Sarah’s 2011 book, The Central Park Five: A Chronicle of a City Wilding, and the years of research that produced it. The book recounts the events surrounding the brutal beating and rape of a young white woman, Trisha Meili, an investment banker and…
Type: News