How Does New Orleans Justify Demolishing 47 Schools?

The following argument is puzzling to me because the City seems concerned that the Census figure will reduce the amount of federal aid they receive. Well, shouldn't the City receive a drop in federal aid if they feel the need to demolish 47 public schools?

A population estimate of 240,000 released this week by the Census Bureau is off by about 60,000 according to City Hall officials, who noted that a discrepancy of that size can drastically reduce federal grant allocations that are critical to an array of social programs. Such grants affect everything from education to substance abuse treatment, they said.

If one was truly interested in the population returning to pre-Katrina levels, they would ensure that the returning families have schools for their children. Those schools that are set for demolition were not just sitting idle before Hurricane Katrina. If everyone returned to New Orleans, wouldn't there be a school shortage?

Does Forced Admission Decrease Diversity?

The University of Texas at Austin has been forced to offer admission to a record number of Texas high school students using just a single criteria — class ranking — and that has hurt the university's ability to increase its racial and ethnic diversity, the school's president said Wednesday.

Eighty-one percent of the students being offered admission to UT's 2008 fall freshman class got in because they graduated in the top 10 percent of their high schools. That number is up 10 percent over 2007 figures and likely will rise to include all students in the not-too-distant future, William Powers Jr. warned.

On Wednesday and in testimony before a House panel a day earlier, Powers said the university could attract a more diverse student body if it was not forced by the state, under a decade-old law, to accept every student with a high class rank.

New Orleans Political Figures Sees Message In Obama's Speech

New Orleans area political figures gave a mix of positive and guarded responses Tuesday to Barack Obama's attempt to quiet an uproar about racial rhetoric in the presidential campaign.

In some circles nationally, critics dismissed the speech by the senator from Illinois as a self-serving effort to distance himself from his longtime pastor's comments about white people, Israel and America's role in bringing terrorism upon itself. But a smattering of local leaders saw healing potential in Obama's remarks.
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Judge for yourself.

Texas In Good Shape

As other states confront deficits with plans to trim government health care to children, disabled and the elderly, lawmakers in Texas so far expect to have enough money when they convene in January to write a state budget without such cuts.

The amount of money projected to be available for the next budget was estimated with the assumption that an economic slowdown would be in play. Still budget officials expect the state to have money to spare while writing the 2010-2011 state spending plan.

A healthy oil industry in Texas means stout employment rates. It also helps the state because proceeds from oil and gas production taxes are divvied up among public education and the state's so-called Rainy Day Fund. Several billion dollars are expected to be sitting in the fund by the time lawmakers meet next January.

Further padding the next two-year budget, lawmakers expect to have more than $8 billion left over from the last spending cycle.

Bill Clinton & Brad Pitt Meet In 9th. Ward

Former President Bill Clinton met with actor Brad Pitt and hundreds of volunteers in the Lower 9th Ward on Sunday at the site where a foundation headed by Pitt plans to begin building affordable homes for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Pitt and Clinton walked a street as hundreds of volunteers on either side, wielding shovels and rakes, prepared the land for homes. For hours, they cleared overgrown grass and weeds that were covering street drains and sidewalks.

The Lower 9th Ward was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods in New Orleans when Katrina struck on Aug. 29, 2005, causing the city's levee system to fail with devastating flooding.

Employers Can Have Access To Employees Health Records

Medical privacy has been protected for years by the most unlikely guardians: insurance companies. Now, the Texas Legislature has become the first in the nation to force insurance companies to pass along sensitive employee health records to their companies, a practice permitted under federal law.

Starting Jan. 1, companies became entitled to receive a list of their employees and family members — identified by number or some other code, but not by name — whose health bills exceeded $15,000 during the previous year. Employers also can obtain the diagnoses, dates of service, amounts paid, prognoses, future costs and treatment plans for each.

The law's supporters say they need the information to get a clear snapshot of health expenses, while critics fear it's an erosion of patient privacy.

Companies can also obtain the detailed health information on those who have been precertified for hospital stays of five or more days, according to the bill that sailed through the Texas House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Rick Perry last summer.