Gov. Chris Christie has flexed his muscle in his appointments to the State Board of Education
What they are doing: It’s a busy agenda for the State Board this month, from broad policy discussions around the achievement gap and early literacy to key personnel decisions and public hearings on new regulations for charter schools and inter-district school choice. The board will also consider two resolutions to accept money from outside private foundations.
The board’s power: The state board has seen its power and influence wane over the past two decades, its meeting becoming anti-climactic as it largely went along with the administration at the time. Of late, it has been finding its voice, as evidenced by it taking up big policy issues on its own, as well as handling the usual code and regulations. But at the same time, Gov. Chris Christie has flexed his muscle in his appointments to the board, with now six of the 13 members appointed by the governor. On the agenda today will be nominations to the next board officers, potentially a test for current president, Arcelio Aponte. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
What it is: The Christie administration has proposed new regulations for New Jersey’s charter schools, from who can apply, how the application process would work, and what would be required for charter schools once approved, including considerably more powers for the state education commissioner. The proposal is before the State Board of Education, which will hold a public hearing on Wednesday.
What it means: The proposed regulations include a number of controversial measures, some of which critics contend go against what is allowed under the state’s 15-year-old charter school law. Among them are provisions for online charter schools and expanded roles for national charter management companies. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
10 Ways to Lower Gas Prices
Rory CooperJune 4, 2012 at 8:43 am
The average price of a gallon of regular gas is now $3.66, and has been decreasing for eight straight weeks. This is causing some of the President Obama’s advisors to declare energy prices an irrelevant issue. Political advisor David Axelrod recently tweeted: “Gas prices have been going down for the past six weeks. You think the GOP will blame the President?”
In those six weeks, the only significant energy policy change at the White House was to make new coal production nearly impossible and thus vastly increase the cost of electricity. So, it is hard to assign this slight dip to the president after a record 75 straight weeks of prices exceeding $3.00. However, it is true that the president is not entirely responsible for gas prices.
Market and economic conditions play a large role. With unemployment creeping back up, new global turmoil and summer travel on the wane due to a sagging economy, demand is surely dropping. But that does not mean, and has never meant, that the president’s policies or Congressional action does not play any role in gas prices.
After three years of adding regulatory hurdles and blocking exploratory access and development, President Obama’s policies are helping keep prices higher than necessary. Having only three percent of federal land available for oil exploration is not a “market condition.”
But we are in luck. There are several steps Congress can immediately take, and President Obama can immediately support, that will help alleviate the pain felt at the pump by American families and would create economic growth, and importantly, jobs.
In a new paper, Heritage’s Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow, Nick Loris lists ten actions Congress could immediately take that would help improve gas prices in the short term and the long term:
1. Lift offshore and onshore exploration and drilling bans: We remain the only nation in the world that has placed the majority of its territorial waters off limits to exploration. Congress should lift the ban on exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and conduct more lease sales off Alaska’s coasts.
2. Approve Keystone XL: The Keystone pipeline has bipartisan support and continues to be consistently popular, polling at 60 percent in November 2011 and 57 percent in late March. 69 Democrats joined House Republicans on a vote of support in April with Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) saying: “I think the president has made a very serious mistake here.”
Yet, President Obama continues to block it and the jobs that come with it. Had Obama not delayed approval, up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day would have come from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries by as early as 2013. That’s more than we bring in from Venezuela, our fourth largest importer.
3. Require timely environmental review: Environmental review requirements for oil and gas projects to commence on federal lands under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) take too long. Congress should place a reasonable 270-day time limit on NEPA reviews.
4. Permitting process: The processing time for an Application for Permit to Drill (APD) extends well past the 30-day time limit. Loris recommends: “Congress should require the Department of the Interior to honor the law’s deadline unless the Interior finds fault with the application…[and] should ultimately transition the permitting process to state regulators, who are best able to balance economic growth and environmental well-being.”
5. Issue leases on time: Rather than implementing an efficient leasing process, the Department of the Interior keeps adding administrative regulations to make the process more burdensome and bureaucratic. Congress should remove unnecessary red tape and if Interior fails to issue a lease within 60 days, it should be considered issued by default.
6. Allow development of oil shale: Oil shale production in the U.S. could be a global game changer since we hold the largest known reserves in the world. However, 70 percent of those reserves lie beneath federal lands. The Obama Administration has introduced new regulations, time frames, and significantly reduced the land available for leases. Congress should make permanent the 2008 guidelines for oil shale development in order to provide regulatory certainty.
7. Stop the land grab: Through Secretarial Order No. 3310, the Department of Interior is unilaterally and arbitrarily classifying federal land areas as “Wilderness” or “Wild Lands” restricting access to new drilling areas, preventing production on existing leases and halting economic growth. Congress should permanently block Secretarial Order No. 3310 and any similar designation should require congressional approval.
8. Implement 50/50 revenue sharing: States receive 50 percent of the revenues generated by onshore oil and natural gas production on federal lands and Congress should apply this allocation offshore as well. This would encourage more state involvement in drilling decisions and help state economies, whether by closing a deficit or aiding coastal restoration and conservation.
9. Prohibit greenhouse gas and Tier 3 gas regulations: In 2010, Interior suspended 61 leases in Montana alone because environmental groups charged that the energy production would contribute to climate change, demonstrating the need to permanently prohibit any federal agency from unilaterally regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, the proposed Tier 3 gas regulations to lower the amount of sulfur in gasoline are costly with no measurable benefits. Congress should prohibit the implementation of these regulations. Unelected bureaucrats should not hold such power over the economy.
10. Repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS): Soon, refiners will be fined when the amount of ethanol mandated exceeds the amount that can be refined for use but the mandate requires production of cellulosic ethanol, which no companies have been able to viably produce commercially. As a result, refiners paid more than $6 million in waiver credits or surcharges in 2011. It is an economic and environmental disaster and must be repealed.
President Obama is keen to accept credit for the windfall of oil production in North Dakota and in other private areas outside federal control, where jobs are plentiful and unemployment has plummeted. Meanwhile, production on federal land is decreasing and regulatory conditions are worsening. It would be to the president’s benefit to embrace some or all of these reforms that could immediately help American families filling up the minivan. Another 75 weeks with gas prices over $3.00, and household goods and food costing more as a result, will not help an already anemic recovery.
AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age As High As 80 After Crisis
By Boris Cerni and Zachary Tracer – Jun 3, 2012 6:00 PM ET
American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.
“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old,” Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. “That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth.”
“Human barcode’ could make society more organized, but invades privacy, civil liberties
As tech companies work to develop ID chips, how long until we’re no longer anonymous?
BY MEGHAN NEAL / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Would you barcode your baby?
Microchip implants have become standard practice for our pets, but have been a tougher sell when it comes to the idea of putting them in people.
Science fiction author Elizabeth Moon last week rekindled the debate on whether it’s a good idea to “barcode” infants at birth in an interview on a BBC radio program.
“I would insist on every individual having a unique ID permanently attached — a barcode if you will — an implanted chip to provide an easy, fast inexpensive way to identify individuals,” she said on The Forum, a weekly show that features “a global thinking” discussing a “radical, inspiring or controversial idea” for 60 seconds .
Moon believes the tools most commonly used for surveillance and identification — like video cameras and DNA testing — are slow, costly and often ineffective.
In her opinion, human barcoding would save a lot of time and money.
Deadline Fast Approaching for PSEG Environmental Education Grants
Ridgewood teachers encouraged to apply
(June 1, 2012 – Newark, NJ) – Teachers in New Jersey and Delaware have two weeks to apply for a 2012 Environmental Education Grant from PSEG. The energy company provides grants every year to educators who can link their students’ understanding of science, mathematics, computer science and/or technology with an enthusiasm and appreciation for the environment. The PSEG Foundation will award a total of $35,000 for the purchase of equipment, materials and field trips that would not normally be provided by the school or school district. Applications are due June 15.
“Education is critical in helping young people develop an appreciation for the environment,” said Sheila Rostiac, PSEG director of corporate responsibility, and President of the PSEG Foundation. “I’m proud of our investments in programs and partnerships that provide opportunities for students to experience real-life application of skills, as well as those that expose them to career possibilities in science, technology, engineering and math.”
Teachers of grades K-9 are encouraged to apply. Grants of up to $3,500 per project are available. Specific budget criteria are provided on the grant application. Applications that focus on ideas for the development of one or more classroom units, expansion or refinement of an existing course or curriculum, and extension of classroom work to community or after-school activities will be considered. Projects must be conducted over at least two years. Grant winners will be announced in the fall.
Teachers from schools in PSE&G’s utility service area and PSEG’s Estuary Enhancement Program area may apply, as well as all schools in New Jersey’s Salem and Cumberland counties and the State of Delaware. Public, private, parochial, and charter schools may apply for funding. For more information on the eligible towns, and to download an application, visit www.pseg.com/eegrants. Applications must be postmarked by Friday, June 15th.
The PSEG Environmental Education Grant Program began in 1991 as a partnership with the New Jersey Business/Industry/Science Education Consortium (NJ BISEC) and it is designed in cooperation with the Alliance for New Jersey Environmental Education (ANJEE). The goal is to provide financial resources to help inspire teachers to implement an interdisciplinary approach to teaching about the environment and to foster new ideas. Since its inception, PSEG has awarded more than $388,000 to fund 160 projects in over 105 school districts.
New Jersey stands to see as much as $40 million a year in sales-tax revenue from Amazon (AMZN).com Inc., the biggest online retailer, Governor Chris Christie said.
A deal the Republican governor disclosed today will bring to New Jersey $130 million in investments and 1,500 full-time jobs. Amazon will start collecting the 7 percent tax July 1, 2013, Christie said at a Trenton news briefing. Work on two new warehouses in the state may begin next year, he said.
“Today’s announcement marks a first step toward a long- term relationship with Amazon,” Christie, 49, told reporters. “With this agreement, Amazon is stepping up and making a real commitment to our state and to our people.” (Dopp, Bloomberg)
49% Consider Memorial Day One of the Most Important Holidays
Monday, May 28, 2012
Nearly half of Americans continue to rank Memorial Day as one of the nation’s most important holidays . A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just five percent (5%) of American Adults consider it one of the least important holidays, but 44% see it as somewhere in between.
— Felix Roque, mayor of West New York, N.J., in an email to a resident of the small town who had contributed information to an anonymous website advocating that Roque be recalled. Roque, 55, and son Joseph, 22, were arrested Thursday, charged with unauthorized access to computers. A co-conspirator identified only as a West New York public official was not charged. The younger Roque allegedly took down the recall website just a couple of days after it was created in February — after searching on Google for “hacking a Go Daddy site” and “html hacking tutorial” — as well as gained access to email and Facebook accounts of those involved with the site. According to the criminal complaint (PDF), the mayor then proceeded to try to intimidate the creators of recallroque.com, at one point telling one: “A friend of mine, he works in the — I can’t tell you — three letters: C.I.A. You know, that’s how I get information.” The Roques face up to 11 years in prison and $600,000 in fines. They were released on $100,000 bond each, according to the New York Times.
Coming to a school near you soon: Students will be tracked via chips in IDs
By Francisco Vara-Orta
Updated 11:44 p.m., Thursday, May 24, 2012
Northside Independent School District plans to track students next year on two of its campuses using technology implanted in their student identification cards in a trial that could eventually include all 112 of its schools and all of its nearly 100,000 students.
District officials said the Radio Frequency Identification System (RFID) tags would improve safety by allowing them to locate students — and count them more accurately at the beginning of the school day to help offset cuts in state funding, which is partly based on attendance.
Northside, the largest school district in Bexar County, plans to modify the ID cards next year for all students attending John Jay High School, Anson Jones Middle School and all special education students who ride district buses. That will add up to about 6,290 students.
The school board unanimously approved the program late Tuesday but, in a rarity for Northside trustees, they hotly debated it first, with some questioning it on privacy grounds.
Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds.
Under those accounting practices, the government ran red ink last year equal to $42,054 per household — nearly four times the official number reported under unique rules set by Congress.
A U.S. household’s median income is $49,445, the Census reports.
The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.
The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government’s books.
State Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex), seeks to slow down NJ’s virtual charters
As students continue to sign up for New Jersey’s first experiments with online charter schools, one leading legislator is asking the state to slow down.
State Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan Jr. (D-Middlesex), chairman of the Assembly’s education committee, said yesterday that he is preparing legislation that would seek at least a six-month moratorium on new online charters.
If approved, how much impact the bill would have is uncertain. Five charters that are either full-time or so-called hybrid online schools have already been approved, although not yet granted final charters. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
POSTED: 7:27 pm EDT May 17, 2012
UPDATED: 11:47 am EDT May 18, 2012
INDIANAPOLIS — Health experts have been trying to combat obesity in America for years and have recently suggested a new way to solve the growing problem.
A new study suggests that imposing a fat tax on unhealthy food and drinks could help slim down expanding waistlines.
35 mph is dangerous but 25 mph is safe?, Readers are not buying it
Really – What are the facts FROM THE STREETS WHERE THE SPEED LIMIT IS TO BE LOWERED (not some generic “study” of reduction of speed limit changes)?
Will the “Citizens Safety Advisory Committee” recommend that the speed limit be increased in the future if there is no change in accidents (or an uptick in accidents)? Why not reduce it to 20mph or maybe 10 mph? How about banning all motor vehicles from RW? That would be safest.
The “Citizens Safety Advisory Committee” – what a bunch of useless authoritarian feel-good fools.
What data do they have to back up their reccomendation to lowere the speed limit on Monroe? EXACTLY how much less safe is it on Monroe than on other streets? I’d venture that their are other streets with lowere speed limits that are more dangerous (to pedestrians AND motor vehicles).
Camden opens new chapter in Christie’s education reform agenda
What with its size and Facebook fortune, Newark gets all the press. But Camden is quickly becoming ground zero south for the Christie administration’s push for education reform.
This week, the district will be the first to seek proposals from nonprofit organizations — with potential for-profit partners — to build and run new schools in the city under the recently enacted Urban Hope Act. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
