This is an announcement about a three-day conference that looks at the first 100 Days of President Barack Obama's administration from an African American historical perspective.
"Using the term 'the federal personnel system' is a stretch. The prime instinct of most federal agencies is that, if they can find a way to break out of the existing system, they'll do so...We must lower the procedural barriers to recruiting the best workers into federal service." -Donald F. Kettl, incoming Public Policy dean,University of Maryland.
The Homeland Security Policy Institute (HSPI) announces the release of its latest Commentary, "Canada and the United States: Time for a Joint Threat Assessment?" authored by HSPI's Sharon Cardash, associate director; Frank Cilluffo, director; and James Jay Carafano, senior fellow. The authors outline the shape that a joint threat assessment could take in terms of both substance and process.
A large and diverse array of sportsmen and sportswomen is blitzing Capitol Hill this week to advocate for fish and wildlife as the House of Representatives initiates historic hearings on comprehensive climate change legislation.
Law students from the University of Iowa are helping domestic abuse victims who are now inmates in the state's women's prison and seek to have their sentences commuted. The women were originally sentenced for their crimes under guidelines that did not take into consideration the fact they suffered from domestic abuse.
President Obama's first 100 days have been marked by lightning-fast changes, not fully thought out, that are in the process of redefining the role of government, says Donald Kettl, incoming dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy and an expert in government management. "While surely needed, they are unrolling without assessment of long-term effects."
Indiana University faculty experts -- one of them a former EPA deputy administrator -- comment on the EPA's decision Friday to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants.
A workshop brought together policy and strategic thinkers to discuss key lessons, impacts and points to bear in mind when thinking about space deterrence. Topics ranged from the analysis of deterrence as a viable strategy, to the threat to space assets and key policy aspects of deterrence.
Though media hype insinuates that Mexican drug violence is crossing the border, a Texas Tech expert says violence declining, solution should be shared by U.S. and Mexico.
Experts from around the world are set to examine the dangers, prospects and legal issues of dealing with menacing Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) at The University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska. Participants in the April 23-24 conference will examine the legal and institutional challenges of international protocols if large asteroids or other interplanetary objects come too close to Earth for comfort.
Crime expert and American University School of Public Affairs professor Lynn Addington can provide insight into what has been learned about school violence in the 10 years since the massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado. Addington can explain what can be done to prevent more shootings and some of the misconceptions in the last decade.
Governments at all levels must make major changes or risk failure in the face of unprecedented challenges, says the new dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Don Kettl. An expert in transforming government, he says the US must get "real smart, real fast." Despite the stimulus, state governments face a "fiscal time bomb."
Stephanie C. Kane, associate professor in Indiana University's Department of Criminal Justice and an expert on port security, discusses piracy, poverty and global trade in the wake of Sunday's dramatic rescue of an American ship captain held hostage by pirates off the coast of Somalia.
Tuesday, April 14, Environmental leaders will hold a telephone press briefing to provide background on the upcoming Environmental Protection Agency announcement (expected on the 16th) that global warming pollution constitutes a danger to the public health and welfare. EPA is expected to declare its authority to hold polluters accountable under the Clean Air Act.
Women's health is increasingly undervalued in conflicts over reproductive rights, including clashes based on moral objections under so-called conscience clauses, a new study by a University of Illinois legal expert found.
Recent legal and legislative decisions to legalize gay marriage in Iowa and Vermont have brought suggestions from some commentators that government should get out of the marriage business entirely, grant civil unions to all couples and leave marriage to religious faiths. But University of Iowa law professor Ann Estin said that such ideas fail to recognize the deeply rooted importance of marriage in American culture.
A two-decade surge of legalized gambling is chipping away at U.S. security and military readiness, not just the bank accounts of bettors, a comprehensive new collection of research on the hazards of gambling warns.
A conference, "Near-Earth Objects: Risks, Responses and Opportunities," will examine the legal and institutional challenges of international protocols if large asteroids or other interplanetary objects come too close to Earth for comfort. The conference also will feature a simulation of a response to NEO impact scenarios. Keynote speaker is Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart.
The November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, stunned the world. In response, faculty members at Indiana University Bloomington have organized a symposium to address the problem of terrorism from the perspective of three countries hit hard by violence: India, Israel and Turkey.
Chicago's suburbs cannot meet their populations' growing need for social services like food pantries, emergency assistance, health care and homeless shelters through the current decentralized system, according to a new report by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago who recommend multiple layers of coordination.
The John. A. Hartford Foundation, one of the nation's leading funders in aging and health, has launched Health AGEnda, a new blog, to encourage policy and other thought leaders to consider older adults' experiences in the nation's ongoing debate about how to improve the health care for all Americans.
Victoria A. Samson has been selected as Director of Washington, D.C. Operations for Secure World Foundation, a role that will tap her talents in ensuring secure access to and sustainable use of space, as well as engaging Congressional staffers and agency officials on matters related to space security and space governance.
Applications to the University of Virginia School of Law shot up by more than 20 percent this year, a massive increase that far outpaces national averages, according to data from the Admissions Office.
Mount Holyoke College professor Christopher Rivers, who translated heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson's memoirs in "My Life and Battles" (2007), is available to discuss efforts to pardon the late athlete for violating the Mann Act.
The report is the product of a bipartisan Task Force composed of former senior federal officials, practitioners at the state and local levels, and subject matter experts in the area of homeland security policymaking. Co-chaired by HSPI Director Frank Cilluffo and Deputy Director Daniel Kaniewski, the Task Force identified and reviewed arguments for and against merging the Homeland Security Council and National Security Council, and also assessed crucial factors that merit consideration whether or not there is a merger.
The National Wildlife Federation announces the release of a comprehensive Children and the Outdoors State Policy Solutions Guide. The guide reviews leading state policy initiatives and provides policymakers with model solutions to the growing disconnect between children and the natural world.
A new study finds dramatic growth nationwide in arrests of online predators who solicited law enforcement investigators decoyed as juveniles. The numbers nearly quintupled from 644 in 2000 to 3,100 in 2006, according to the Crimes against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, known as Africa's "Iron Lady," will visit Furman University Monday, April 13. Her talk, a conversation with Furman president David E. Shi, is sponsored by Furman's Riley Institute and Water of Life's Global Pebble Project. The event is free and open to the public.
Furman University will host a two-day national conference on United States-China Relations April 7-8. Minister Xie Feng, Deputy Chief of Mission from the Chinese Embassy in the United States, will deliver the opening keynote address on Tuesday, April 7.
When Sadiqa Basiri Saleem returned to her homeland after the fall of the Taliban in 2002, she was disheartened to find Afghani women were being denied an education. She has since worked to correct that situation, and last week her efforts were formally recognized.
The University of Iowa College of Law will host a conference April 2-4 marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of Critical Race Theory, which deals with the issues of race and the law.
The first behavioral study to investigate whether people will provide false secondary confessions has raised significant concerns about the use of such evidence when informants are offered incentives.
March 24, 2009, will mark World TB Day. On this day around the world, the public health and scientific community will raise public awareness about tuberculosis and the challenges that remain in controlling it globally, such as the urgent need to develop new TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools.
As the Obama administration prepares to disperse economic stimulus money for infrastructure, a timely new book sheds light on special districts, the "shadow governments" that will be responsible for spending a large portion of these funds.
Paul Gootenberg, Professor of History and Co-Director of Latin American Studies at Stony Brook University in New York, published a controversial new book on the history of modern cocaine, the illicit drug that menaced U.S. cities during the 1980s and prompted an Andean "War on Drugs" which is now in its third decade.
New analysis calls into question widespread claims on potential economic, employment and environmental benefits promoted by special interest groups, industry associations and international organizations.
Advanced materials and new industrial coatings may provide more structurally stable, environmentally sound solutions for manufacturing, shipping and infrastructure.
A collision between spacecraft...close encounters with orbital debris by the crew of the International Space Station - what's going on? There is heightened interest in taking steps in shaping a space traffic control system.
Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is the theme to be addressed by leading experts attending Improving Our Vision III, to be held March 23-24 at Intelsat Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The keys to fixing the U.S. health care system are to hold people accountable for their actions; treat health insurance like auto insurance and tax individual's health care benefits said Larry Van Horn, a leading expert and researcher on health care management and economics.
Top California law schools launch new blog, "Legal Planet," which provides insight and analysis on climate change, energy, and environmental law and policy.
Ilan Peleg, a foreign-policy scholar at Lafayette College and author of a new book on the international impact of the George W. Bush administration's foreign policy decisions, is cautiously optimistic about the possibilities for the U.S. to regain global respect and credibility.
Northeastern University has been awarded a $230,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to support a collaborative project with Xiamen University on the extent of legal assistance in lower court criminal cases in China. The two-year international effort will be conducted jointly with Northeastern criminal justice researchers Phil He, Ph.D., and Associate Dean Jack McDevitt, Ph.D., with Professor Lanying Li at the Law School of Xiamen University, under the auspices of the newly formed Joint Center for Criminal Law and Justice.
Flawed testimony by forensic experts contributed to the conviction of innocent defendants, according to a new study co-written by University of Virginia Law School professor Brandon Garrett.
Secure World Foundation has entered into a new partnership with Imaging Notes magazine. Secure World Foundation centers on strengthening or developing the policies and institutions that improve the utility of space technologies in support of human and environmental security needs.
Canadian space policy is being addressed this week by a roundtable of experts meeting in Ottawa that will focus on what is required to spur government action on space activities.
On Wednesday, March 25, from 4:30-6:30 pm, the Brooke Ellison Project and Stony Brook University will present a scientific symposium, "Stem Cell Research: The Science, the Ethics, the Promise." Held in the Student Activities Center Auditorium, and open to community members, the symposium will provide an educational framework by which to better understand the basic science, ethical considerations, and legislative factors inherent in the issue of stem cell research.
There's no silver bullet for reforming U.S. Defense purchasing policies, but they do need reform, says University of Maryland professor Jacques Gansler, who testified yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Gansler directed Defense acquisition in the Clinton administration. He says new approaches are needed to meet new security challenges.