Daily News Summary for July 6, 2009
Robert Pollin, economics and co-director of the Political Economy Research Institute, comments in two stories. One talks about the minimum income a family needs to afford some economic security. The other discusses how the U.S. can switch to a clean energy economy and maintain jobs while at the same time reducing dependence on fossil fuels and cutting pollution. (Alternet.com, HealthNewsDigest.com, 7/4/09)
Thomas Zoeller, biology, is a guest on the NPR radio show On Point. Zoeller discusses how chemicals in the environment and what government regulators are and aren’t doing about the potential danger to humans. (WBUR, 7/6/09)
Paul Fissette, natural resources conservation, has been named to a 10-member panel that is charged with considering the technical and scientific issues related to making two dozen government buildings in Washington, D.C., more energy efficient. Fissette says some of the buildings, such as the U.S. Capitol, aren’t good subjects for steps that might work in a home or regular office building. (WFCR, 7/6/09; News Office release)
A columnist writing about recent sexual scandals involving high-profile politicians cites a study done by Robert Feldman, psychology, on how frequently people tell lies. (Providence Journal, 7/5/09)
A new law passed by the Legislature and included in the state budget for 2010 means that the Campus Center Hotel will now have to pay room taxes to the state and to the Town of Amherst. The hotel has been exempt from the tax since it opened in the 1970s. (WFCR, 7/3/09)
James V. Staros has been named the new provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at UMass Amherst. He was the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University in New York. Staros begins his new post on Aug. 2. (Republican, 7/5/09; News Office release)
Alumnus and state Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg writes an opinion piece about the state’s history and evolution toward greater freedom and equality for its citizens. (Gazette, 7/4/09)
An interview with alumnus and actor Bill Pullman notes that he received an honorary doctorate from UMass Amherst. (Broadwayworld.com, 7/6/09)
Ethan V. Howard Jr., 94, of Leverett, who served as an advisor to graduate students at UMass Amherst interested tracking and tagging black bears, died July 3. (Recorder, 7/6/09)
Expanded benefits under the GI Bill have increased the number of veterans attending colleges and universities around the country, but it has also revealed the culture shock many veterans encounter when they re-enter society. This is especially true for combat veterans. (Globe, 7/5/09)
Former Massachusetts Agricultural Commissioner and former state representative Jonathan "Jay" L. Healy of Charlemont was named to administer U.S. Department of Agriculture programs in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island on July 2. Healy will be working in Washington as the region's director of rural development. (Republican, 7/4/09)
Connecticut's public colleges lost more than 200 professors because of a retirement incentive program that took effect last week. Public schools are assessing impacts and filling holes left by the mass retirements without knowing what the state budget will be. (Courant, 7/5/09)
Robert Pura, president of Greenfield Community College, says his school will not turn away students during the economic downturn. Pura says this is the time when the school needs to help those people who are trying to improve themselves through education, even though the school budget is shrinking. (Recorder, 7/6/09)
