“Santa Monica Fourth of July Parade celebrates the national holiday and environmental advocacy.” By Ann M. Simmons. Los Angeles Times. July 5, 2010. Stonyfield Farm is slapping its familiar cow logo on more than just containers of yogurt these days. The New Hampshire-based organic food maker is one of more than 50 local companies to lend its corporate name to a political lobbying campaign aimed at persuading Congress to support climate and energy legislation on Capitol Hill. The green-friendly businesses — including many young tech companies not yet household names — are the regional face of a multimillion dollar lobbying effort aimed at key senators across the country. Their effort is backed by some of the world’s most recognizable consumer brands and Fortune 500 companies, and guided by experienced political hands with deep connections to the Obama and Clinton administrations. The TV, radio, and print campaign, bolstered by in-person jawboning of legislators, demonstrates the political reach of green-technology and alternative energy companies, which have progressed from the cluttered basements of inventors and entrepreneurs into an emerging political force seeking to apply pressure at the highest levels of government.

“Good-Government Groups Spending Big Money On Fair-Elections Push.” No by-line. Huffington Post. JUly 7, 2010. In a push to implement a publicly-financed election system and curb moneyed interests in politics, a pair of good-government groups is launching a television ad campaign with a noteworthy price tag. Common Cause and Public Campaign, two organizations known for exposing the murkier influences on legislative and electoral processes, are staking $8 million to try and burnish Congress with the willpower to pass the Fair Elections Now Act. And they’re willing to spend as much as $15 million on their campaign-season gambit. The ads reflect the evolving tactics that public-financing advocates are applying to the legislative process — namely, a more aggressive approach. Coalition-building and issue advocacy have given way to a formal political campaign. Already the groups have personnel and organizations working in 24 states to channel the measure’s popular support into congressional action. The groups are working closely with first-time candidates as well as incumbents. In addition, and with some levity, they been dispatching actors dressed as founding fathers to confront lawmakers about the fundamentally anti-American spirit of special-interest fundraising.

“For the Sake of Transparency; Can the Sunlight Foundation’s efforts during the financial-reform battle teach us lessons for the impending regulatory phase?” By Tim Fernholz. American Prospect. July 7, 2010. The financial-reform bill has been a good test case for what happens when Congress introduces transparency into a clash that pits the interests of the powerful against those of the public. While it will take some time to assess the legislation itself — the Senate is expected to pass the bill after the July Fourth recess — we can consider how effective efforts to bring openness to the legislative process have been in terms of both scoring political points and delivering sound public policy. To scrutinize the Democrats, outside observers had to rely on efforts from groups like the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to government accountability. The group used streaming-video technology to provide live commentary and context on the conference committee, fact-checking and providing information about members’ connections to the financial sector. The organization also kept tabs on how the conferees raised money during the process, catching a number of Democrats taking money from the financial sector even as the process moved forward. Organizers leveraged that information to pressure individual members. Chris Bowers, who worked for financial reform at his blog, Open Left, and consulted with Americans for Financial Reform, a coalition that supports financial reform, used the information to alert Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s constituents that she was raising money from credit-card companies just before a major vote to limit those companies’ ability to charge businesses excessive fees. “[Sunlight's efforts] certainly helped a lot in this case. [We] wouldn’t have been able to prove it otherwise,” Bowers told me in an e-mail. “At least on this issue, it puts members of Congress who would normally be sympathetic to Wall Street on the defensive and helps reform.”

“Baby on Board; Leading for Kids in Need.” By Marshall Heyman. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010. At the moment, Matt Blesso sits on several boards. There’s the Institute for Urban Design, a progressive design and urban planning policy organization that emphasizes sustainability. There’s the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, which is a think tank. The Fourth Arts Block focuses on making the area on East Fourth Street between Second Avenue and the Bowery “a real cultural destination,” said Mr. Blesso. And he is also on the board of the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate, where he studied 10 years ago. The organizations have a lot in common with Mr. Blesso’s profession. The 37-year-old New Jersey native founded Blesso Properties 11 years ago to develop residential properties in the city. (With the real-estate downturn, Mr. Blesso has focused on buying most of the commercial property in the Fire Island Pines and developing a hotel in Panama. He also made an investment in the 3rd Ward arts collective.) “I love New York City and I’m trying to make it a better place, but on a deeper philosophical level, I wanted to know, Who are the neediest people in the world and how could I help them?” Mr. Blesso said. In early 2008, to satisfy that question, Mr. Blesso started a nonprofit to build sustainable housing for impoverished people in Central America. “And then the [economic] crisis kicked in,” Mr. Blesso explained. “It was no time for a nonprofit so I decided to table it.” Mr. Blesso quickly moved on to find an existing organization to which he could donate some time, one that supported orphan children. He eventually settled on the Worldwide Orphans Foundation, which was launched in 1997 by Dr. Jane Aronson, a pediatrician who works with children that have been adopted from Third World countries.

“Need a Job? Help Wanted at the N.Y. Philharmonic.” By Daniel J. Wakin. New York Times. July 5, 2010. The nation is bleeding jobs, unemployment stands at almost 10 percent, and lines run long at job fairs. But in one microscopic sliver of the economy, the pickings are rich: major orchestras. Next season the New York Philharmonic will have a rare 12 openings, or roughly 12 percent of its instrumental work force, thanks to a confluence of retirements, departures for better jobs and long-unfilled positions. The Boston Symphony Orchestra has 10 vacancies, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 9, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic 7. In New York, Chicago and Los Angeles the many openings create unusual opportunities for new music directors to deepen their imprints on their orchestras. They also present, at least in the short term, the risk of subtly eroding the highly cultivated sense of ensemble and tradition of sound and style that exist in orchestras at their level.

“SFMOMA Fills In Some Blanks.” By David Littlejohn. Wall Street Journal. July 7, 2010. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, currently celebrating its 75th year, has been on a roll for the past two decades. SFMOMA’s latest—and largest—leap forward came with the decision by Donald and Doris Fisher to entrust the museum (by means of a renewable 100-year loan) with their prize collection of 1,092 artworks, 429 of them prints. Museum director Neal Benezra identifies a “core collection” of 400 especially important works, about 90% of them created since 1960. Mr. Fisher, who opened the first Gap store here in 1969, died two days after the agreement was announced last September.

“A King’s Violin: From Italy To South Dakota.” By Gary Ellenbolt. All Things Considered. July 7, 2010. On a typical summer day, the University of South Dakota campus is quiet — save for a few summer school students and those who are getting the school ready for the next academic year. But inside the former Carnegie Library on the campus, there’s the potential for a lot of sound. It’s the home of the National Music Museum, said to hold the most eclectic collection of instruments in the U.S. Since its opening in 1973, the National Music Museum has become one of the first places people think of when they come across a rare instrument.

“Fine Art: A Five-Decade Marriage of Nature and Art.” By Lance Esplund. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010. A public, nonprofit educational organization founded in 1960 by Ralph E. Ogden and H. Peter Stern (then joint owners of Star Expansion Co.), Storm King was originally envisioned as a museum of the Hudson Valley painters. Early on, it mounted shows of pictures by Milton Avery, John Sloan, Joseph Stella, Goya and Rouault, as well as the curious exhibition “Tea Caddies, Japanese Dolls, Glass Paperweights, Chinese Snuff Bottles and Various Other Artifacts.” But outdoor sculpture, especially that of David Smith, which Mr. Ogden saw set in the open fields of Mr. Smith’s home in Bolton Landing, took Storm King on a different path. In 1966 Mr. Ogden purchased 13 works from Mr. Smith’s estate, and the museum’s primary focus immediately shifted to large-scale outdoor American and European postwar Modernist sculpture, specifically welded steel works from the 1960s. Today, sculptures by two of this country’s most talented artists, Mr. Smith and Alexander Calder, anchor the collection. And in recent years, Storm King has mounted groundbreaking exhibitions of large-scale works by Messrs. Calder and Smith, Henry Moore, Mark di Suvero and Maya Lin.

“Arts, Briefly: Pasadena Playhouse Out of Chapter 11.” By Robin Pogrebin. New York Times. July 10, 2010. The Pasadena Playhouse in California has emerged from Chapter 11 and plans to mount a production this fall, the theater announced. Two months after it filed for bankruptcy protection, the playhouse’s reorganization plan was approved on Wednesday by the United States Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. In February, the playhouse laid off its entire staff of 37 and was scheduled to close its doors because of deep debt. During its 90 years in operation, the playhouse has presented productions — most recently “Looped,” starring Valerie Harper — that have moved to Broadway, but it has also closed and filed for bankruptcy before. News of the playhouse’s struggles led to a $1 million matching pledge from anonymous donors, which helped to put the theater on better footing. The city, along with the theater’s board, staff members and advisers, “have all combined to create a plan to resurrect the Playhouse from years of unbearable debts,” the theater’s executive director, Stephen Eich, said in a statement. “Although we will be moving slowly in the future to ensure financial responsibility and stability, we will in fact be back.”

“Despite Protests, BP Still Committed To The Arts.” By Vicki Barker. Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 5, 2010. British oil company BP says it will continue to finance sponsorships of art institutions, including the Tate Britain and the British Museum. This despite the activities of protesters who have tried to call attention to BP’s handling of the Gulf spill disaster by smearing the Tate’s main hall with a feather-covered slick. In Great Britain, artists and environmental activists have already begun what they say will be a summer of protests against BP. They will be showing up outside the many cultural institutions that take sponsorship money from BP. Protestors say places like the Tate Gallery and the Royal Opera House stain their reputations by being associated with the company responsible for the Gulf Oil spill.

“Wal-Mart Does Saul Alinsky; The retailer brings hope and change to a struggling neighborhood.” By William McGurn. Wall Street Journal. July 6, 2010. When it comes to community organizing, maybe the Wal-Mart crowd has a thing or two to teach our president. And in the hometown of the father of community organizing, the late Saul Alinsky. After an epic struggle, a unanimous city council gave its blessing to only the second Wal-Mart in the city. But the vote just before Independence Day paves the way for as many as 24 stores in the coming years—and as many as 10,000 new jobs. Alderman Anthony Beale, who represents the Ninth Ward where the new Wal-Mart will be located, says the vote “gives my people hope.” “This the beginning of a new era,” he told the Chicago Defender, the city’s black newspaper. “I am filled with joy.” But the agitation for a Wal-Mart also came from the affected community. The Chicago Defender put it well in an editorial in May: “While the nation is slowly emerging from a horrific recession,” the paper wrote, “Black communities, like [Ald.] Beale’s 9th Ward, are still in the throes of depression. The only thing that ends that kind of economic downturn is jobs. That is what most Black leaders keep telling Congress and the president. It is what most community activists say is necessary to stop some of the violence on our streets. This community needs jobs. And yet, we have aldermen taking the position that if they cannot secure ‘good’ jobs for their constituents, they would rather they stay jobless. That is indefensible.” How Alinsky would have reacted to all this is not an easy question to answer. On the one hand, he had strong roots in the union movement. On the other hand, he always said that community organizing was supposed to be about helping communities agitate for their own choices.

CHARTER SCHOOLS

“A Modest Proposal in Glen Ridge.” By Barbara Martinez. Wall Street Journal. July 8, 2010. When the nine Glen Ridge, N.J., school board members hold their annual retreat later this month, they plan to discuss a radical notion: Should the district convert itself into charter schools? Such an extreme possibility reflects exasperation among some New Jersey school districts that have been battered by a loss of state aid as Gov. Chris Christie worked to close a state budget gap. Glen Ridge lost all of its $1.2 million in aid for next year, about 5% of its overall budget. “The frustration is at a fever pitch,” said Lynne Strickland, executive director of the Garden State Coalition of Schools. Among the 59 school districts in New Jersey that lost all of their state aid, a third are members of Ms. Strickland’s organization. All together, her members lost over $300 million from the state for next year.

HIGHER EDUCATION

“Cost of Stimulus Cash Vexes Universities.” By Cari Tuna. Wall Street Journal. July 6, 2010. The $18.2 billion marked out in last year’s federal stimulus package for research and development was hailed as a boon for universities, but many that received funds are finding their share of the costs burdensome. The conundrum is apparent at the University of California. Since early 2009, the UC, which has the biggest research budget of any university system, has won $690 million in stimulus grants for research through the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy and other agencies. The money has funded more than 1,600 projects in areas such as cancer and climate change, creating hundreds of jobs and continuing a decade-long trend of rising research funding from federal agencies and private foundations. But the stimulus grants have also required the UC to spend about $69 million that wasn’t reimbursed by federal agencies to support the new research projects. That helped push the UC’s total unreimbursed research-related costs to an estimated $800 million in the fiscal year ended June 30, up around 11%from $720 million a year earlier, university officials said. This came as the public university system grappled with a $1 billion budget shortfall amid reductions in state funding. “This [stimulus funding for research] is not money that in any way makes up for the loss of state funds. It actually makes our financial problems worse,” said Steve Beckwith, UC’s vice president for research and graduate studies.

“Oregon universities and colleges brace for record fall enrollments.” By Bill Graves. Oregonian. July 06, 2010. While the recession continues to deliver high unemployment, budget cuts and economic uncertainty, it also keeps filling Oregon colleges and universities with an unprecedented flood of students. The state’s community colleges, public and private colleges and universities are seeing record numbers of summer students and bracing for record-high enrollments this fall. The growth comes atop record enrollments last year and the year before, putting a strain on state institutions as they scramble to hire more professors and add more classes. Some say they are nearing capacity. The Oregon University System projects enrollment will climb at its seven campuses by about 5 percent to a record 96,200 students this fall. The state’s 17 community colleges all expect to grow, with some projecting increases as high as 25 percent. They continue to enroll students looking for a more affordable path to a degree and displaced workers trying to get job skills. At the same time, students are taking on more debt as state financial aid shrinks and some of their parents lose jobs and wages. Some students are opting for graduate school, and deeper debt, because they can’t find jobs.

“Celebrity Universities: Colleges Started By The Rich, Famous And Powerful.” By Natalie Sudikoff and Ariel Doctoroff. Huffington Post. July 9, 2010. Some celebrities use their influence to champion causes or address issues. Others start colleges. On the heels of Glenn Beck’s announcement that he is founding an eponymous online university, we took a look at some other universities with roots in the celebrity school of thought.

PUBLIC SCHOOL SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

“Teach For America Growing In Popularity, But How Effective Is It?” By Ariel Doctoroff. Huffington Post. July 9, 2010. With limited job offers in sight, college students are looking towards alternatives like Teach for America in growing numbers. Originally started in 1990 with 500 teachers, Teach for America has ballooned to include 8,200 instructors in 39 areas across the country. But contrary to popular belief, the program’s highly educated participants aren’t helping the education system as much as they may like to believe.
Related Stories:
“A Chosen Few Are Teaching for America.” By Michael Winerip. New York Times. July 11, 2010.
“What They’re Doing After Harvard; Teach for America now attracts 12% of all Ivy League seniors. The program’s founder explains why it beats working on Wall Street.” Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010.

“Nevada officials investigating prison fundraiser.” Washington Post/Associated Press. July 4, 2010. State prison officials are investigating reports that a fundraiser at the Nevada State Prison featured scantily clad female band members and a motorcycle that was brought into the yard for inmate pictures. Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Pardee says the agency’s inspector general’s office is interviewing staff to find out what happened during the June 26 barbecue and fundraiser hosted by the Vietnam Veterans of America. It was unclear what the event was raising money for, and a message left Sunday at the Vietnam Veterans of America state headquarters wasn’t immediately returned. A copy of the minutes from a Tuesday prison staff meeting referred to the barbecue as a “fiasco.” The minutes say the band members wore appropriate attire to enter the prison but later changed.

“What’s in a name? Plenty, say backers of renaming state colleges Cite chance for more money, as bill goes to Senate.” By Sydney Lupkin. Boston Globe. July 10, 2010. The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 124 to 21 Thursday to allow the nine state colleges to rename themselves universities, making it the farthest such a bill has ever advanced in the Legislature, said Representative David M. Torrisi, chairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, who voted for the measure. Supporters of the bill, which now goes to the Senate, say the change would allow schools to earn more grants, draw more applicants, and make students more attractive to employers. Detractors say it would do little to improve the quality of education and could be costly if professors ask for university pay. In general, Massachusetts public universities offer doctoral programs, while state colleges do not. “I think it will help our state colleges attract and attain more students,’’ said Torrisi, a North Andover Democrat.

“$17M Bid for St. Vincent’s Home-Care Program.” By Rachel Feintzeig. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010. New York health system Metropolitan Jewish Homecare Inc. is offering $17.1 million for St. Vincent’s Hospital’s long-term home health-care program, as the shuttered medical center continues to sell its remaining assets. The hospital said it has been working to sell the program for months, reaching out to dozens of potential purchasers even before it sought bankruptcy protection in April and closed its doors. The result of those efforts was the offer from Metropolitan Jewish, which St. Vincent’s wants to kick off bidding.

“Economy hits Georgia child care hard; 600 centers forced to shut.” By Gracie Bonds Staples. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 5, 2010. For nearly a decade, after the economy forced her out of a corporate job, Carol Ann George-Roach took care of other people’s children. She took pride in shaping young minds and sending them off to kindergarten prepared to learn. But not even child care, George-Roach found, was exempt from Georgia’s fragile economy. As the recession deepened and parents’ work hours were cut or they lost their jobs, the Decatur mother tried to adapt, cutting her fees and, in a few cases, providing free care. “This would have been my 10th year,” said George-Roach, 47, who was forced to shut down in May. “I held out for as long as possible but it wasn’t working out for me.” It hasn’t worked for a lot of Georgia child-care providers. Last year, the state lost 600 child-care centers and more than 1,800 family day-care homes such as George-Roach’s, according to a new study by Quality Care for Children, a non-profit that works to improve quality and access to child care. That was a 19-percent drop in child-care centers from 2008, said Pam Tatum, Quality Care for Children CEO. Family home-care facilities dropped 34 percent. It’s a trickle-down effect: Parents lose jobs, day-care bills are placed at the bottom of the stack and the children are caught in the middle.

“New home for Portland’s Miracles Club shows sometimes we get our priorities right.” By Anna Griffin. Oregonian. July 7, 2010. OregonianMalcolm Slaughter, board chairman of the Miracles Club, told those gathered Wednesday for the groundbreaking of the club’s new complex they should thank the federal government for its contribution. Right on cue, LeRoy Stanton, treasurer of the club, brought out life-sized cutouts of the president and first lady. Portland dignitaries and others celebrated the start of construction on the nonprofit’s new home on Norheast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Dignitaries don’t usually hang out at the Miracles Club, a gathering spot for recovering addicts. Despite their good work — hundreds of people, most African American, rescued from addiction and everything that comes with it — the club was in trouble. Neighbors complained about noise and traffic. The building owner had received an offer on the property he couldn’t refuse. Members either needed to raise the money to buy the building themselves or find a new home. City Commissioner Dan Saltzman persuaded his City Hall colleagues to donate $500,000 toward that effort. Four years later, a team of city aides and private developers has turned the initial investment into plans for a five-story, mixed-use complex that will include space for the club on the ground floor and 40 inexpensive apartments for the newly.

“Joining the secondhand fray; Savers takes on Mass. stalwart Goodwill with a for-profit approach to thrift.” By Megan Woolhouse. Boston Globe. July 8, 2010. The economy’s slowdown has helped fuel the growth of Savers, a 40-year-old chain with 245 stores in the United States and Canada, including 10 in Massachusetts and more on the way. The company, based in Bellevue, Wash., recently opened a store in North Attleborough, and a Framingham Savers is scheduled to start doing business today. A Worcester store will open later this month, and a Savers in West Roxbury is relocating to a more spacious site in Dedham in the fall. That will give nonprofit Goodwill — which has dominated the secondhand goods market and practically invented the thrift store concept in Boston about 100 years ago — a run for its money. Goodwill has 22 locations in Massachusetts, with an Amherst store scheduled to open tomorrow. The organization uses sales proceeds to fund its charitable mission offering job training to uneducated, disabled, or displaced people who struggle to find steady work. Savers is a for-profit with more than $750 million in revenues last year. “They’re a competitor, no doubt about it,’’ said James Harder, a spokesman for Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries Inc., which operates 11 Goodwill stores in Massachusetts. “We’re the model for others that come along.’’

“Group Relieves Veterans Of Student Loan Burdens.” By Dianna Douglas. Morning Edition/National Public Radio. July 8, 2010. Despite a new, more generous GI Bill, plenty of veterans have paid for college with little or no help from the government. Because the new measure isn’t retroactive, these vets are mostly digging out of college debt on their own. One group is trying to help veterans pay off their student loans and get on with their lives. With their nonprofit Leave No Veteran Behind, Roy Brown and Eli Williamson now offer to pay off the student loans of vets who fall on hard times. They see the government’s education programs for service members as inadequate. The GI Bill, for example, won’t pay back student loans people took out before joining, or for classes that get interrupted by deployment. In the last year, Brown and Williamson have been contacted by hundreds of veterans, each with an average of $42,000 in student loans.

“Nonprofit group makes farmers of urban teens; Food Project provides produce to local markets.” By Patrick G. Lee. Boston Globe. July 10, 2010. Boston is one of seven communities nationally to get stimulus money for battling both obesity and tobacco use. Of the city’s $12.5 million in grants, the Food Project is getting $600,000 to renovate a deserted greenhouse in Roxbury and build 400 backyard gardens in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan, the neighborhoods with the highest obesity rates in Boston. The rest of the two-year federal grant will support a variety of initiatives, ranging from expanding bike sharing programs to reducing soda consumption and limiting tobacco access. In the process, the city expects to create up to 50 temporary full-time jobs and 250 summer positions for local youth. The grants will also have an impact on a local level, especially on those living in neighborhoods with limited access to full-service grocery stores, said Margaret Williams, the Food Project’s executive director. Each of the 400 backyard gardens that will be built, for example, can provide a family of four with all its vegetable needs during the summer.

“Jim Bohlen, Led in Creation of Greenpeace, Dies at 84.” By William Grimes. New York Times. July 7, 2010. Jim Bohlen, whose snap decision to sail to Amchitka Island, Alaska, to protest an underground nuclear test led to the creation of the environmental organization Greenpeace, died Monday in Comox, British Columbia. He was 84 and lived in Courtenay, British Columbia. Today Greenpeace is an international organization with more than three million members that carries out environmental campaigns through its offices in 40 countries. Bohlen was a director of Greenpeace until retiring in 1993. His memoir, “Making Waves: The Origins and Future of Greenpeace,” was published by Black Rose Books in 2000.

GENERAL

“AMERICAS: We Need Sustainable Development Banks, Say NGOs.” By Emilio Godoy. Interpress Service (IPS). July 6, 2010. Non-governmental organisations from across the Americas are demanding that the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank institute policies that favour sustainable energy and help mitigate climate change. Civil society groups sent letters to the two institutions, both headquartered in Washington, about the IDB’s strategy on climate change and the World Bank’s long-term energy policy. In the case of the IDB, 10 NGOs from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and United States told the regional bank it should reduce its projects’ contribution to climate change, respect communities’ rights, make accounting more transparent, finance the development of renewable energy sources and phase out fossil-fuel sources and hydroelectric dams. “There is a need for coherence between policy and what they end up financing,” said Astrid Puentes, co-director of the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defence (AIDA, for its Spanish initials), one of the groups that signed the letter of comments. “Access to sustainable energy should be a priority, and they should assess the poor communities that they intend to support in order to determine the best options available,” she told IPS.

“Greenpeace Gets New Wind in its Sails.” Interpress Service (IPS). By Pavol Stracansky. July 10, 2010. Exactly 25 years after French secret agents sank its flagship and killed one of its crew, Greenpeace has begun construction of a new Rainbow Warrior. The group’s leaders say its environmental campaigning is needed more than ever. The new ship will be the group’s most environmentally friendly vessel in its almost 40-year history. Greenpeace leaders say that the third Rainbow Warrior is not just an example of environmentally-friendly engineering but a symbol of global campaigning against environmental abuse. The Rainbow Warrior has become an icon of environmental campaigning since the first vessel – a converted fishing trawler – was launched by the group in 1978.

AUSTRALIA

“Selectives are ‘causing academic apartheid’.” By Anna Patty and Andrew Stevenson. Sydney Morning Herald. July 5, 2010. NSW is creating a ‘’social and academic apartheid” in education with private and selective schools prospering at the expense of comprehensive public schools, says one of the state’s top educators. Chris Bonnor, a former president of the Secondary Principals Council and former principal of Asquith Boys High, said Australia had established a tiered education system that was segregating students by income level and academic performance. ”We are separating our schools for the academic elite,” he said. ”Schools which can do so are hunting out bright kids through tests, scholarships and interviews with parents and avoiding kids with learning difficulties,” he said. ”There is also a worsening social class division with low-income children increasingly going to public schools and the richer kids going to private and selective schools. ”There is an increasing separation of kids along academic and social lines and, to some extent, along religious and cultural lines and nobody in government departments or government wants to talk about it.”

“Coaching colleges claim 60 per cent success rate on selective schools test.” By Anna Patty. Sydney Morning Herald. July 6, 2010. THREE coaching colleges, with most of their students from non-English speaking backgrounds, claim to be producing more than half the successful applicants for NSW selective school places. James An, Pre-Uni New College and North Shore Development Centre claim that 2500 of their students were among about 4000 successful selective school applicants last year. James An, who opened his first tutoring college in Campsie 24 years ago with one student, said he now had 50 branches around the country, teaching about 10,000 students. ”In NSW, we have more than 1000 kids getting into selective schools each year,” he said. ”I’d say more than 70 per cent of kids [who attend the three main coaching colleges] get into Sydney selective schools.”
Related Story:
“Coaching complaints up as parents pay hundreds.” Sydney Morning Herald. July 10, 2010.

GAZA RELIEF FLOTILLA

“Aid Group, Israel Primed for Clash, Flotilla Review Shows.” By Marc Champion. Wall Street Journal. July 7, 2010. As Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House Tuesday, a clearer picture has emerged of how Israeli forces and Turkish-based aid workers each appeared to fuel the May high-seas confrontation that has since bedeviled Mr. Netanyahu on the international stage. In the five weeks since Israeli commandos boarded a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31, sparking a clash that left nine dead, an accumulation of video footage, witness testimony and reports has fleshed out a narrative that shows both sides fueled the bloodshed. More Turkish charity members prepared for a brawl, cutting iron railings into weapons using circular saws an officer said didn’t belong to the ship, the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli commandos who killed nine people on board shot five of them in the head, according to a Turkish forensic report. The U.S. is trying to mediate a continuing clash between two of its key allies in the region over who should accept primary guilt—Israel, or the Istanbul-based charity known as IHH, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation. Turkey says it will cut ties with Israel if it doesn’t accept an international investigation of the deaths or issue an official apology. Mr. Netanyahu has declined. Israel says the IHH is a jihadi front with links to Hamas, which Israel lists as a terrorist organization. It says the group set out with the flotilla in late May with the specific goal of forcing a confrontation that would trigger international pressure on Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza strip.
Related Stories:
“Turkey threatens to sever ties unless Israel apologizes for deadly raid on ship.” Washington Post. July 6, 2010.
“Blockade on Gaza eased – but diplomatic fallout from flotilla attack grows.” Independent (UK). July 6, 2010.
“Libyan Aid Ship Plans Run to Gaza.” New York Times/Associated Press. July 10, 2010
“Libyan aid ship begins its journey to Gaza; Greek companies, charities donate food and supplies.” Boston Globe. July 11, 2010.

HAITI

“Hollywood star shows how aid can help Haiti; Sean Penn’s tent city for victims of January’s quake is no publicity stunt.” Independent (UK). July 11, 2010. Sean Penn set about trying to make life better for some of the two million people left homeless by the earthquake that hit Haiti’s capital six months ago, when created J/P Haiti Relief Organisation to build a camp for displaced victims of the worst natural disaster in modern history. Today, that camp is home to more than 50,000 people, making it one of the biggest of the tent cities in Haiti, where the earthquake on 12 January destroyed about 280,000 buildings, killing 300,000 people and leaving – at a conservative estimate – a million and a half more without homes. Penn has become one of Haiti’s most hard-working advocates, pausing in his rescue mission only to make very occasional fundraising trips to Washington, where he addressed Congress and the UN, before returning to the coalface, digging trenches, hauling sacks of food and delivering medicine to help the inhabitants of his tent city – which aid workers informally call Camp Penn – to survive outbreaks of malaria, diphtheria and TB.

INDIA

“In ambitious India, workplace etiquette rounds out the coursework.” By Emily Wax. Washington Post. July 6, 2010. They call her India’s Miss Manners, and she is at the heart of a multimillion-dollar industry to make Indian companies more competitive globally by improving their workers’ social skills. Warrick’s school is part of a fast-growing trend in corporate India to remedy what analysts and recruiters call a serious impediment to India’s global economic goals. Although many skilled Indian workers have degrees from top universities, analysts said they are often jaw-droppingly inept at the basics of international workplace etiquette: dressing properly, hosting a meeting, making inoffensive small talk and even using cutlery. Fearing that such deficiencies are hurting India’s leadership potential, companies are spending millions of dollars on corporate finishing school for tens of thousands of workers. In many cases, those workers are products of India’s burgeoning middle classes who are the first generation in their families to enter the nation’s booming and globally minded economy. The outsourcing giant Infosys built a Global Education Center in the southern city of Mysore, teaching more than 50,000 graduates leadership and corporate manners, or “soft skills.” The company has also partnered with 400 engineering schools to train 4,400 faculty members to teach more than 80,000 students how to be “industry-ready” when they graduate.

CATHOLIC SEX ABUSE SCANDAL

“Pell adds his voice to archbishop’s apology on child sexual abuse.” By Deborah Snow and Barney Zwartz. Sydney Morning Herald. July 5, 2010. AUSTRALIA’S leading Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, has decided to throw his weight behind the historic apology to victims of sexual abuse issued at the weekend by Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne. In a statement yesterday Cardinal Pell, the Archbishop of Sydney, said he ”wholeheartedly endorsed” Archbishop Hart’s letter of apology which went to 219 parishes in Victoria, saying the letter ‘’speaks for me, too”. In the letter Archbishop Hart spoke of a ”crisis of faith” and acknowledged that victims of clergy abuse had been betrayed, while the church had not always responded properly.
Related Stories:
“Dioceses oust abusers they had pledged to monitor.” Washington Post/ Associated Press. July 4, 2010.
“Church often ousting abusers.” Globe/ Associated Press. July 5, 2010.
“Pope Revises Sex-Abuse Rules.” Wall Street Journal. July 5, 2010.
“Archbishop ’sorry’ for abuse by priests.” Independent (UK). July 5, 2010.
“Vatican to issue long-awaited sex abuse document.” Washington Post/ Associated Press. July 6, 2010.
“Belgium: Cardinal Questioned Over Sex-Abuse Cases.” Wall Street Journal. July 7, 2010.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-07-06-Vatican-abuse_N.htm
“Vatican to issue long-awaited sex abuse document.” USA Today. July 7, 2010.
“Vatican Approaches New Abuse Rules.” New York Times. July 7, 2010.
“Lawsuit: Conn. priest bribed sexual abuse victim.” Washington Post/Associated Press. July 7, 2010.
“AP Exclusive: Priests who abuse impaired targeted.” Washington Post/ Associated Press. July 8, 2010.
“The Pope’s Duty.” Editorial. New York Times. July 8, 2010.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-07-09-pope-vatican-legionaries_N.htm
“Pope names official to run Legionaries of Christ.” USA Today. July 9, 2010.
“Pope Names Delegate to Overhaul Scandal-Plagued Order in Mexico.” Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010.
“Pope Names New Leader of Order Beset by Scandal.” New York Times. July 9, 2010.
“Lawyer wants pope’s testimony in Oregon abuse case; Suits name the Vatican as a respondent on grounds that it employed clergy suspected of abuse. Papal spokesmen say it is a sovereign entity and immune from the American court system.” Los Angeles Times. July 10, 2010.

SOUTH AFRICA

“A Game Of Soccer For Children Of The World.” By Gideon Long. All Things Considered/National Public Radio. July 10, 2010. The World Cup isn’t the only soccer extravaganza reaching its climax this weekend. Johannesburg is hosting a kids’ soccer invitational called “Football for Hope.” It brings together 32 teams of disadvantaged teens from around the world with an emphasis on social change. For example, there’s an organization from Cambodia that gets kids playing and then teaches them about the danger of land mines. Football for Hope is a five-a-side tournament running alongside the World Cup. And just like the World Cup, there are 32 teams taking part from across the globe. But rather than playing for their countries, the young players here are representing community groups that have one thing in common: they all use soccer to try to make the world a better place. Like the delegation from Cambodia, for example, that encourages children to play soccer and then teaches them about the danger of land mines. Other delegations have come from within Africa, where they use football to bring kids together and educate them about HIV and AIDS. The Peace Team is from Israel and Palestine and includes players from both communities. The tournament’s been organized by soccer’s global governing body, FIFA, and Street Football World, a not-for-profit organization based in Germany

UK

“Want to help run your local library? Council cuts will have to be so big that closures or charges are inevitable – unless, perhaps, volunteers can be found.” By Tony Travers. Guardian (UK). July 5, 2010. Local governments face deep cuts over the full five-year period of the current parliament. George Osborne’s emergency budget made no pretence about the need for steep reductions in spending in a number of programmes. Council services are almost all “unprotected” – that is, there has been no government commitment to ringfence social services, local environmental provision, fire and emergency services, leisure and cultural activities, local transport or social housing. All local authority departments can look forward to unparalleled pressure caused by sharp and protracted expenditure cuts. The new government has decided to reduce the UK budget deficit faster than its Labour predecessor had planned. About 80% of this reduction will be borne by public spending restraint. The need to maintain most elements of social security spending, coupled with the decision to ringfence the NHS and international development, means the need to reduce public spending in all other programmes has become all the greater. Because spending reductions are being concentrated on a relatively narrow subset of services, the impact on the unringfenced ones is disproportionately great. Other government initiatives, notably the Big Society policy, will be implemented in parallel with this radical reduction in council spending. Councils may consider using volunteers to preserve some services such as libraries and to bolster children’s services. Charges for many services will have to rise. Some authorities may consider lobbying for the power to levy charges for provision which is currently free at the point of use.
Related Stories:
“Badge Joe Public blog: Could drastic cuts make the public sector more creative? Some think the biggest public management challenge since the creation of the welfare state and the NHS, will spark an era of innovation, says Patrick Butler.” Guardian (UK). June 29, 2010.
“Give more to charity, the government urges; Minister suggests people should give 1% of income to charity to help the sector cope with cuts.” Guardian (UK). July 5, 2010.

“Repentant Gove to visit schools after building blunder; Michael Gove: apologised for blunder.” By Philippe Naughton and Nicola Woolcock. Times of London. July 8 2010. A repentant Michael Gove is to make a personal visit of apology to schools that were mistakenly told they would get funding to be rebuilt despite huge capital spending cuts. The Education Secretary made an emergency statement to the Commons last night in which he said that he would be taking full personal responsibility for a list that wrongly identified schools to be axed from Labour’s £55 billion school reconstruction programme. He also agreed to visit the West Bromwich East constituency of the Labour MP Tom Watson, where as many as nine schools have been caught up in the blunder. Mr Watson was rebuked by the Speaker after calling Mr Gove a “miserable pipsqueak of a man”. The Government plans to cancel more than 700 rebuilding projects but information was given about 25 schools, some given false hope and others not listed at all. Some schools which have already been rebuilt were erroneously earmarked as being under threat. In his statement, Mr Gove “unreservedly” apologised for the blunder and said that he would take “full personal responsibility” for the error. Labour MPs shouted “resign” as he spoke.
Related Stories:
“Michael Gove apologises for blunders in cancelled school project list; 25 schemes originally listed as going ahead have been scrapped, and education department publishes corrected names.” Guardian (UK). July 8, 2010.
“Michael Gove faces protests over schools blunder.” Times of London. July 8 2010.
“Behind the story: How the Building Schools for the Future mistakes were made.” Times of London. July 8 2010.
“Public anger grows over scrapped school-building programme; Michael Gove promises to visit schools hit by new cancellations; Department officials say they ‘don’t have answer’ over errors.” No by-line. Guardian (UK). July 8, 2010.

“Private school reprieved over free places.” By Alison Kershaw. Independent (UK). July 8, 2010. A private school that faced losing its charitable status has won a reprieve after tripling the number of free places it offers to poor children, it emerged today. St Anselm’s, a fee-paying prep school in Derbyshire, failed the new public benefit test last year after the Charity Commission ruled it was not providing enough subsidised places. The commission is due to announce that the 230-pupil school in Bakewell, has met the test by increasing the number of free places it offers from one to three, with the bursaries worth 100 per cent of the fees. The move is likely to have implications for other fee-paying schools, who could be forced to offer more free places in order to retain their charitable status.
The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents private schools, has previously raised concerns that the commission was taking a “narrow approach” to the rules, and it today confirmed that it is seeking a judicial review of the guidelines. Under the rules, to keep their charitable status and the tax breaks that come with it, private schools must prove they benefit children who cannot afford their fees.

“Charities Q&A: Leaving legacies to charity; In the latest in a series of pieces giving advice to the voluntary sector, Laura Soley of Bates Wells and Braithwaite solicitors answers questions on legacy fundraising.” By Laura Soley. Guardian (UK). July 9, 2010.

“Anglican rebels meet to discuss Catholic defection; Holy Cross Hall in Leicester to host first formal meeting between parties since Vatican opened gates to disaffected Anglicans.” By Riazat Butt. Guardian (UK). July 9, 2010. Church of England clergy will tomorrow meet a senior Roman Catholic bishop to discuss conversion on the very day the General Synod attempts to reach a compromise over the ordination of women as bishops, the issue at the heart of their possible defection. Holy Cross Hall in Leicester provides the first formal encounter between a bishop from the Catholic Church in England and Wales and Anglican clergy who want to join a personal ordinariate – a Vatican initiative that will allow entire communities to cross over to Rome while maintaining elements of their own spiritual heritage. Pope Benedict stunned many last October when he issued a decree opening the gates of Rome to disaffected Anglicans. The meeting coincides with the Church of England General Synod, which faces the impossible task of balancing the needs of traditionalists, who want protection from female ministry, and supporters of women’s ordination, who say there should be little or none.

“Archbishop risks all as Synod decides on women bishops; Christina Rees says the last-minute proposal seems to be designed for a “small minority”, rather than doing the right thing for the future of the Church overall.” By Ruth Gledhill. Times of London. July 9 2010. The Archbishop of Canterbury faces the most serious test of his leadership to date as the Church of England prepares to decide on the issue of women bishops. For the first time since the Reformation, the established Church will have to take a stand on the one issue that it will no longer be able to fudge. Members of the General Synod gathering at York today face up to 18 hours of debate on one issue alone: the difficulty of deciding how to frame legislation to allow women to be consecrated to the episcopate. At the heart of it is whether women will be granted full authority and jurisdiction in the dioceses they lead.
Related Stories:
“Bishops ready to sabotage Williams over consecrating women.” Times of London. July 9 2010.
“Archbishop of Canterbury could be forced to resign over women bishops; Dr Rowan Williams: dislikes being put under pressure to act against his conscience.” Times of London. July 10 2010.
“Church of England faces crisis as Synod rejects concession on women bishops;
New concessions to Anglican traditionalists, proposed by Rowan Williams and John Sentamu, rejected by clergy.” Guardian. July 10, 2010.
“Anglican Body Hits Impasse on Women.” New York Times. July 10, 2010.

“McDonald’s to train Olympics volunteers.” By Helen William. Independent (UK). July 10, 2010. McDonald’s will help recruit and train the 70,000 volunteers who will be key to staging the London 2012 Olympics. The volunteers, who will be called Games Makers, will be given roles ranging from interpreting, stewarding, first aid, checking tickets and offering travel advice. As well as working at venues across London, they will be posted at sailing events in Weymouth and Portland, Dorset, and rowing events at Eton Dorney Lake in Buckinghamshire. London 2012 chairman Lord Coe said of McDonald’s: “There are few organisations with the scale and experience required to help us prepare such a large team in a relatively short space of time.”

“More schools to offer baccalaureate as confidence in A levels falls.” By Greg Hurst. Times of London. July 12 2010. Interest in the International Baccalaureate is surging among schools in England as growing numbers lose faith in A levels as the “gold standard” of academic excellence. The IB diploma is offered by 224 schools and colleges in Britain with 15 more awaiting approval to teach it from September next year and another 84 registering an interest in doing so. Britain has experienced the fastest growth of the IB within a region covering a third of the world, including Europe, the Middle East and Africa. IB administrators believe that demand will continue to grow as schools take advantage of the Government’s move towards more academies, which have greater freedom over their curriculum. By far the highest interest has been in England, which head teachers say reflects growing doubts about A levels compared with Scotland’s system of higher examinations and the newer Welsh baccalaureate.

“Companies Find Ways to Bypass Ban on Earmarks.” By Eric Lipton and Ron Nixon. New York Times. July 5, 2010. Just one day after leaders of the House of Representatives announced a ban on earmarks to profit-making companies, Victoria Kurtz, the vice president for marketing of a small Ohio defense contracting firm, hit on a creative way around it. To keep the taxpayer money flowing, Ms. Kurtz incorporated what she called the Great Lakes Research Center, a nonprofit organization that just happened to specialize in the same kind of work performed by her own company — and at the same address. Now, the center — which intends to sell the Pentagon small hollow metal spheres for body armor that the Defense Department has so far declined to buy in large quantities and may never use — has $10.4 million in new earmark requests from Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio. The congresswoman, who has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Ms. Kurtz’s family and her business’s lobbyists, thought the quickly hatched nonprofit organization was a convenient solution. “They met the requirements of the reform,” Ms. Kaptur said in an interview. “Yes, they did.”

“Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank.” By Jim Rutenberg, Mike McIntyre. and Ethan Bronner. New York Times. July 5, 2010. The American government seeks to end the four-decade Jewish settlement enterprise and foster a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the American Treasury helps sustain the settlements through tax breaks on donations to support them. A New York Times examination of public records in the United States and Israel identified at least 40 American groups that have collected more than $200 million in tax-deductible gifts for Jewish settlement in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last decade. The money goes mostly to schools, synagogues, recreation centers and the like, legitimate expenditures under the tax law. But it has also paid for more legally questionable commodities: housing as well as guard dogs, bulletproof vests, rifle scopes and vehicles to secure outposts deep in occupied areas. In some ways, American tax law is more lenient than Israel’s. The outposts receiving tax-deductible donations — distinct from established settlements financed by Israel’s government — are illegal under Israeli law. And a decade ago, Israel ended tax breaks for contributions to groups devoted exclusively to settlement-building in the West Bank. The use of charities to promote a foreign policy goal is neither new nor unique — Americans also take tax breaks in giving to pro-Palestinian groups. But the donations to the settler movement stand out because of the centrality of the settlement issue in the current talks and the fact that Washington has consistently refused to allow Israel to spend American government aid in the settlements. Tax breaks for the donations remain largely unchallenged, and unexamined by the American government. The Internal Revenue Service declined to discuss donations for West Bank settlements. State Department officials would comment only generally, and on condition of anonymity.

“Past fund-raising puts Kagan at risk of conflict; Harvard donors may well come before high court.” By Sharon Theimer. Boston Globe. Associated Press. July 8, 2010. One talent Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan displayed in her career climb could create unique ethics questions for her as a justice: the ability to persuade Harvard Law School alumni and other wealthy donors to give hundreds of millions of dollars, which helped surpass a daunting fund-raising goal that came with her job as dean. The $476 million total Kagan helped reach for the Setting the Standard campaign was a record not just for her university but for all law schools. Harvard Law sought $400 million to add professors, buildings, programs, and financial aid, and whether Kagan could pull it off would help determine her success as dean. She exceeded the goal, raising roughly $306 million from 2003-08, after her predecessor had pulled in $170 million. Kagan’s prolific fund-raising sets her apart from the current Supreme Court justices. To raise that kind of money, Kagan drew on interpersonal skills honed in the highly competitive environments of the Clinton White House and law school faculties. If Kagan is confirmed to the court as expected, it is possible she will encounter Harvard donors again, this time arguing as lawyers, plaintiffs, or defendants. Asked by the Senate Judiciary Committee to list potential conflicts of interest, Kagan did not mention her Harvard fund-raising, and senators did not ask her about it during two days of questioning at her confirmation hearing last week.

“Private-School Tuitions Burden DOE; Supreme Court Decisions Ease Way for Parents to Sue When Schools Can’t Accommodate Special-Education Children.” By Barbara Martinez. Wall Street Journal. July 10, 2010. The Department of Education is charged with overseeing the city’s public schools, but one of its fastest-rising expenses is the cost of covering private-school tuitions. The agency last year spent $116 million on tuition and legal expenses related to special-education students whose parents sued the DOE on the grounds that the public-school options were inadequate. That’s more than double the number of just three years ago, and the costs are expected to continue to rise in coming years. Parents have been helped by a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions—the most recent was last summer—that strengthened their legal position to sue school districts for tuition costs if a district’s schools are unable to provide adequate services for special-education children. The DOE’s legal position was also weakened in 2007, when then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer signed legislation that shifted the burden of proof in such lawsuits to the DOE from the parents.

“N.J. report recommends privatizing state services to save $210M a year.” No by-line. USA Today. July 09, 2010. New Jersey could save $210 million a year by privatizing several state services, including preschools, state parks, mental hospitals, toll booths, vehicle inspections and smog tests, according to a commission report obtained by the Newark Star-Ledger. Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, commissioned the report in March. It’s not yet clear how many recommendations he might adopt. A spokesman had no comment. The paper writes that the car inspection proposal “is sure to stir up controversy in a state with a tortured history of privatizing emissions testing.”

“Charities balk at deduction loss.” By Eric Engquist and Jeremy Smerd. July 11, 2010. Charities oppose a provision in the final, unpassed budget bill that would render only 25% of donations deductible for individuals earning $10 million or more. After 2012, the current 50% deductibility for anyone earning more than $1 million would.