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Friday, 18 September 2009
1. Editorial: New funding ideas needed
San Francisco Chronicle
September 18, 2009
The loud and angry protests at the UC Board of Regents meeting Wednesday reflected the depth of the frustration with unprecedented cuts to the University of California's budget. But the shouting didn't change anything. We need new thinking, not outbursts....
Here's some ideas to consider carefully:
-- Differential pricing. Tier tuition, with the campuses with the most name-brand clout, BERKELEY and UCLA, at the top; Davis, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz at mid-range, and Irvine, Merced and Riverside at the low end.... Full Story
2. Study Finds Benefits For Some To Filter Tap Water
KPIX TV
September 17, 2009
Even with treatment, tap water may contain small amounts of certain contaminants. Some reports suggest how even water that meets current U.S. standards may still make certain people sick. A new study done in the Bay Area not only backs that up, but adds a possible solution....
PROFESSOR JACK COLFORD IS AN EPIDEMIOLOGIST AT UC BERKELEY'S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH and lead author of the study.
"We were most concerned about whether elderly individuals might benefit from additional water treatment in a system where water quality is very high such as Sonoma's", Dr. Colford explained....
"We found about a 12 percent statistically significant reduction in gastrointestinal illnesses we were measuring, the kind of mild illnesses that keep you home for a day or two," said Dr. Colford.
But that mild illness can be a severe problem for the elderly.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal government are constantly reviewing and revising drinking water standards. These agencies will look at reports like these and determine whether standards are sufficient, if they need to be changed, or whether certain groups need to take additional precautions....
[Link to video] Full Story
3. Swine Flu Shots Safe for People With Weak Immune Systems: Experts
Atlanta Journal Constitution
September 18, 2009
The H1N1 swine flu vaccines approved this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration can be safely used by people with compromised immune systems, according to new recommendations from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology....
In other swine flu news, a study published in the September issue of the journal Risk Analysis seeks to quantify the risk from various routes of transmission of the swine flu virus. RESEARCHERS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, and the University of Illinois used sophisticated modeling and pored over the available data on four key means of person-to-person H1N1 transmission.
They speculate that hand contact with a contaminated surface brings a 31 percent risk of actual infection; inhaling tiny particles laden with virus in a room brings a 17 percent likelihood of infection; close contact where coughs spray viral-laden droplets onto the eyes, nostrils or lips brings a 52 percent chance of infection. Inhaling relatively large particles carrying virus when three feet or nearer to an infected person carries only a 0.52 percent risk for infection, the research team said.
According to the researchers, the study strengthens current recommendations to cover the mouth when coughing and to disinfect commonly touched surfaces. Full Story
4. Breaking New Ground
Parade Magazine
September 20, 2009
Not so long ago, most school cafeteria choices were limited to mystery meat and starchy sides or fast foods such as pizza and tacos brought in from an outside vendor. But a new age has dawned for young lunchroom diners. More and more schools are integrating gardening into their curricula and using schoolyard-grown produce in lunches to cultivate a taste for healthy dishes....
...A 2007 study by the St. Louis University School of Public Health found that kids who ate home-grown produce were more than twice as likely to eat at least the FDA-recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day as those who rarely or never ate home-grown produce.
These findings were echoed in more recent analyses by the CENTER FOR WEIGHT AND HEALTH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY. “The study demonstrates that students who have high exposure to kitchen and garden programs show an increase in knowledge and a change in attitudes and behaviors about food,” says Alice Waters, whose Chez Panisse Foundation underwrote the research as part of its mission to use food to nurture, educate, and empower young people.... Full Story
5. Morse Code Blog: Looking at the Best Public Colleges Rankings
U.S. News & World Report Online
September 17, 2009
Public colleges have seen a huge surge in popularity as a result of the current recession. Many publics have seen big increases in the number of applications as students and their parents are becoming more attracted to the lower sticker prices they find at the public colleges in their own states....
If you are interested in which public colleges and universities are the best, U.S. News has recently posted the top-ranked public schools from the 2010 edition of America's Best Colleges. The public schools are ranked within the 10 U.S. News categories. Some officials at American public research universities believe that their school's standing among its peer publics in the U.S. News Top Public National Universities ranking is the most important measure U.S. News offers.
How does U.S. News do these top public rankings? First, the public colleges must be in the top half of the rankings in their U.S. News Best Colleges ranking category, in which they are ranked against all of the schools eligible for that list, public and private. Next, U.S. News re-ranks just the publics that were in the top half of each category so that each public maintains its original rank order in the overall rankings. For example, since the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA–BERKELEY was the highest ranked public in the National Universities 2010 edition of the America's Best Colleges rankings, it was ranked No. 1 in the Top Public National Universities ranking. The University of California–Los Angeles and the University of Virginia were the next highest-ranked publics and also tied in the National Universities ranking, so they were both ranked No. 2 in the Top Public National Universities ranking.... Full Story
6. You're the Boss Blog: Is the Employer Mandate a Job Killer? Not in San Francisco.
New York Times Online (*requires registration)
September 18, 2009
That is the conclusion reported by National Public Radio, in a story that aired Tuesday morning. The piece was about a program called Healthy San Francisco, which offers uninsured residents access to a network of neighborhood clinics that emphasize preventive and coordinated care. Healthy San Francisco is funded in part by a mandate on firms with 20 or more employees. Companies with up to 100 workers must pay at least $1.23 for every hour worked by each employee to cover that employee’s health care costs; those companies who don’t provide insurance or other forms of reimbursement pay the minimum to fund the employee’s participation in Healthy San Francisco....
The program has entered its third year and already, N.P.R. reports, plan members are going to the hospital much less often, and the length of stay when they do go has been cut in half. But what caught The Agenda’s attention was this statement by WILL DOW, A HEALTH ECONOMIST AT U.C. BERKELEY who is studying the program: “There’s no evidence at all that Healthy San Francisco’s pay-or-play employer mandate is adversely affecting employment.”
With few exceptions, small business advocates and commentators are emphatic that a mandate is a job-killer. Seldom do they suggest that a company might be able to pass on to customers the increased costs of providing adequate health coverage for staff — here, for example is my You’re the Boss colleague, Scott Shane, dissecting the “harm” that would be done by the reform bill currently under consideration in the House, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009....
Mr. Dow tells The Agenda that he’s tracking one other potential employer reaction to Healthy San Francisco: dropping health insurance altogether and simply paying the less-expensive surcharge. Though it’s too early to draw conclusions, Mr. Dow said, “there is no evidence yet that there is much shifting going on.”... Full Story
7. Marin home sales slump along with sales in rest of Bay Area
Contra Costa Times (*requires registration)
September 17, 2009
A drop in Marin single-family home sales last month marked a halt in the continuous growth of sales activity over the past several months....
"In general, Marin has been the strongest market in the Bay Area in terms of surviving this downturn," said CYNTHIA KROLL, SENIOR REGIONAL ECONOMIST WITH THE FISHER CENTER FOR REAL ESTATE AND URBAN ECONOMICS AT THE HAAS SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY.
Her conclusion came with one caveat.
The county's small sample size of sales, including a single new home sale last month, means "one has to be a little careful in evaluating this market."
Highlighting the sole new home sold last month, Kroll noted last month's median price for all home sales in Marin jumped 6 percent even though the price of single-family home sales went up only 2 percent.
"That must have been a really high-priced home," she said.
Kroll said Marin, with many residents employed in neighboring San Francisco, benefits from the city's fairly robust economy, compared with other counties in the region.... Full Story
8. Unsuccessful Ohio Execution Could Impact State's Death Penalty Plans
KTVU
September 17, 2009
[TY ALPER, UC BERKELEY LAW PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE DEATH PENALTY CLINIC, discusses the significance of a failed execution in Ohio. Link to video] Full Story
9. Obituary: Leon Kirchner, Composer and Teacher, Dies at 90
New York Times (*requires registration)
September 18, 2009
Leon Kirchner, the eminent American composer who was also a pianist, a conductor and an influential teacher, died on Thursday at his home on Central Park West in Manhattan. He was 90....
Mr. Kirchner’s early music was strongly influenced by Bartok and Stravinsky. But a formative experience studying at the University of California, Los Angeles, with Arnold Schoenberg, the towering Austrian composer and pioneer of the 12-tone technique, set Mr. Kirchner on a lifelong creative path. Although he came to identify completely with the aesthetic of Schoenberg, Berg and Webern, he was an instinctive composer who never adopted the rigorous procedures of 12-tone composition....
Mr. Kirchner began GRADUATE WORK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, where he won the George Ladd Prix de Paris in 1942. But the war made it impossible for him to go to Paris to study. Instead he worked with Roger Sessions in New York and, after three years of military service, returned to Berkeley.
In 1954 he joined the faculty at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., a post for which Stravinsky had recommended him. Then, as Mr. Kirchner explained in later years, Stravinsky had second thoughts and advised him to decline the job, urging him instead to go out into the world to compose and perform.... Full Story
10. Attorneys seek help for homeless couple in trouble for sleeping in downtown Santa Cruz
San Jose Mercury News (*requires registration)
September 18, 2009
Santa Cruz -- Attorneys for the city and a homeless couple who racked up dozens of citations have decided to set the legal wrangling aside and help the couple find jobs and an affordable place to live....
In May, Judge Paul Burdick issued a temporary injunction ordering Miguel DeLeon, 35, and Anna Richardson, 27, not to sleep outside downtown....
The injunction had only pushed the pair to other areas where it is illegal to sleep outside, said lawyer Jonathan Gettleman, who took the couple's case pro bono....
Something positive already has come from the case, he said, in a call from DeLeon's daughter, who apparently had been searching for her father since she was 12 years old. Gettleman said he ran out to find DeLeon when he got the call and handed him his cell phone, saying it was wonderful to witness the exchange.
DeLeon's daughter, TAYLOR ROSE DELEON-FOOTE, IS AN 18-YEAR-OLD STUDENT AT UC BERKELEY.
Reached by phone, she said her father was a teenager when she was born and that she had no memory of him. She was raised by her mother and grandparents in Sacramento. She saw one photograph of her dad and searched for years before meeting his family and finding out he was living in Santa Cruz, she said.
When she recognized a photograph of him with an online article, she said she sat on her bed, holding her laptop and sobbed. Later, when she heard his voice, she said she tried to not become emotional "and base things on pure fact," telling him about his other three children, ages 14 to 18, and the basics of her life.... Full Story
11. Film cost $150 to make - it might be a record
San Francisco Chronicle
September 18, 2009
Trevor Adrian and Jordan Graham didn't set out to make the cheapest feature film in history. They were just two disciplined directors staying within their budget, which, as it turned out, was $150.
Adrian looked in Guinness World Records and found there was indeed a category for Least Expensive Feature Film...
So Adrian contacted Guinness in England and was sent verification criteria, one being a paid theater premiere, which is why the red neon at the Rio in Santa Cruz flickered on one night last week, advertising "Midground" with the ominous date "9.9.9"...
"Midground" is about a small town where everybody is either dealing drugs or just doing them while waiting for their software startup to strike gold so they can buy a house in the hills and retire in their 20s....
Asked his motivation, Adrian said Guinness recognition will be a marketing tool to sell "Midground" on DVD. He also plans to submit it as his senior thesis in digital media at UC BERKELEY, where he is "on a Steve Wozniak leave of absence," meaning there is no fixed date of return.... Full Story