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Source: http://www.today.com/id/7358550/ns/today-entertainment/
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Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Judge approves BP agreement for Gulf oil spill
(Reuters) - A U.S. judge accepted an agreement by BP Plc to plead guilty for its role in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and pay a record $4 billion in criminal penalties for the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
The company said it pleaded guilty to 11 felony counts related to workers' deaths, a felony related to obstruction of Congress and two misdemeanors. It faces five years' probation and the imposition of two monitors who will oversee its safety and ethics for the next four years.
After the April 2010 explosion on the Transocean rig in the Gulf of Mexico, 4.9 million barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf over 87 days. Shorelines from Texas to Florida were fouled before responders could cap the mile-deep well.
BP has struggled with political, financial and legal fallout ever since. Even after settling federal criminal charges, the company faces civil penalties of up to $21 billion and separate state claims due to be heard at a trial starting in New Orleans on February 25.
Alabama's attorney general, Luther Strange, said the BP sentence was welcome for setting some federal money aside to restore the Gulf coast, but he planned to press ahead with his state's own claims for economic and natural resource damages.
"I look forward to presenting Alabama's case that BP was grossly negligent when we have our day in court next month," Strange said in a statement.
Transocean, owner of the doomed Deepwater Horizon rig, agreed this month to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. government charges over the disaster.
Halliburton Co, the oilfield services company that performed cementing work on the Macondo well and is being sued in the civil litigation along with BP, said on Friday it was working on its defense ahead of the trial next month.
BP, with its federal plea agreement now approved, has 60 days to send a remedial plan to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency laying out how it plans to meet all its stipulations. The plan could go back and forth among the three parties before it is agreed to by all sides.
The judge who imposed the sentence on BP, U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance of the Eastern District of Louisiana, found the fines far exceeded any in U.S. history, and were structured so BP will feel the "full brunt" of them, the DOJ said.
BP's total of $4.5 billion in federal penalties includes $2.4 billion for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a $1.256 billion criminal fine and $350 million for the National Academy of Sciences -- all payable over five years -- and a $525 million civil penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"Our guilty plea makes clear, BP understands and acknowledges its role in that tragedy, and we apologize - BP apologizes - to all those injured and especially to the families of the lost loved ones," Luke Keller, a vice president of BP America Inc, told the court, according to a BP statement.
BP now aims to settle the civil claims, for which negligence is a key issue. A gross negligence finding could quadruple civil damages owed by BP under the Clean Water Act to $21 billion.
The British company has already announced an uncapped class-action settlement with private plaintiffs that the company estimates will cost $7.8 billion to resolve. The litigation was brought by more than 100,000 individuals and businesses claiming economic and medical damages from the spill.
BP believes it can handle it all after selling off $35 billion worth of assets. As of November, when it agreed to the plea, BP had paid $23 billion in clean-up costs and claims.
The U.S. government banned BP from new federal contracts over its "lack of business integrity" in the spill, which could threaten its role as a leading U.S. offshore oil and gas producer.
But BP said on Tuesday that its mandatory debarment under the settlement did not affect any existing contracts or leases.
"The government has awarded BP over 50 federal leases since the Deepwater Horizon accident," said BP, which is the largest investor and deepwater leaseholder in the Gulf of Mexico with interests in 700 blocks and seven rigs now operating there.
The criminal case is "USA v. BP Exploration and Production Inc," case no. 2:12-CR-00292, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana in New Orleans.
(Reporting by Braden Reddall in San Francisco and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Nick Zieminski, Alden Bentley and David Gregorio)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-judge-approves-bp-agreement-gulf-oil-spill-184118722--finance.html
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Monday, January 28, 2013
Tim Geithner: A Good Hire -- Who Stayed About Three And A Half Years Too Long
The New Republic:
What are we to make of Tim Geithner on his last day as Treasury Secretary? For my money, the story that best gets at his essential Geithner-ness took place in the second half of 2009, when the recently-bailed out banks were back to making staggering profits even though unemployment was 10 percent. The public was furious over this disparity, which naturally caught the attention of Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff. And so Emanuel gathered the president?s top political and economic advisers to figure out what to do about it.
Read the whole story at The New Republic
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Canada denies Randy Quaid's request to stay
FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2011, file photo, U.S. actor Randy Quaid smiles during a news conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadian immigration officials have denied U.S. actor Randy Quaid's request for permanent resident status in Canada, a Canadian government official confirmed late Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2011, file photo, U.S. actor Randy Quaid smiles during a news conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Canadian immigration officials have denied U.S. actor Randy Quaid's request for permanent resident status in Canada, a Canadian government official confirmed late Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck, File)
TORONTO (AP) ? Canadian immigration officials have denied U.S. actor Randy Quaid's request for permanent resident status in Canada.
A Canadian government official confirmed late Saturday his request for permanent status has been denied. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Quaid can appeal the decision to the federal court.
U.S. officials last year refused to seek extradition of the actor and his wife from Canada to face felony vandalism charges in Santa Barbara, California, but authorities in the coastal town say they'll still have the couple arrested if they return to the states.?
Quaid has sought to stay in Canada, claiming he was being hunted by "Hollywood star-whackers" who had killed his friends David Carradine and Heath Ledger.?
Quaid's trouble began in 2010 when he and his wife were arrested for causing more than $5,000 damage at a hillside home they were renting.?
Randy Quaid is the older brother of actor Dennis Quaid and is best-known for his roles in films such as "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Independence Day." He won a Golden Globe award for his depiction of President Lyndon Johnson in a TV movie in the late 1980s.
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Video: Watch bat attack at college basketball game
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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50605251/
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Friday, January 25, 2013
Video: New gun ban introduced in Senate
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50579933/
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Cold Snap Shakes Up Winter Weather Outlook
Unusual activity in the atmosphere over the Arctic Circle is triggering snow and frigid temperatures across Canada, the U.S. and parts of Europe. Climatologist Jeff Weber, of the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research, explains why this winter could pack a punch.
Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/01/25/170267853/cold-snap-shakes-up-winter-weather-outlook?ft=1&f=1007
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
Video: Jacobs: Women in combat ?a good thing? for military
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50580364/
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Liquid metal makes silicon crystals at record low temperatures
Jan. 24, 2013 ? A new way of making crystalline silicon, developed by U-M researchers, could make this crucial ingredient of computers and solar cells much cheaper and greener.
Silicon dioxide, or sand, makes up about 40 percent of Earth's crust, but the industrial method for converting sand into crystalline silicon is expensive and has a major environmental impact due to the extreme processing conditions.
"The crystalline silicon in modern electronics is currently made through a series of energy-intensive chemical reactions with temperatures in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit that produces a lot of carbon dioxide," said Stephen Maldonado, professor of chemistry and applied physics.
Recently, Maldonado and chemistry graduate students Junsi Gu and Eli Fahrenkrug discovered a way to make silicon crystals directly at just 180 F, the internal temperature of a cooked turkey. And they did it by taking advantage of a phenomenon you can see right in your kitchen.
When water is super-saturated with sugar, that sugar can spontaneously form crystals, popularly known as rock candy.
"Instead of water, we're using liquid metal, and instead of sugar, we're using silicon," Maldonado said.
Maldonado and colleagues made a solution containing silicon tetrachloride and layered it over a liquid gallium electrode. Electrons from the metal converted the silicon tetrachloride into raw silicon, which then dissolved into the liquid metal.
"The liquid metal is the key aspect of our process," Maldonado said. "Many solid metals can also deliver electrons that transform silicon tetrachloride into disordered silicon, but only metals like gallium can additionally serve as liquids for silicon crystallization without additional heat."
The researchers reported dark films of silicon crystals accumulating on the surfaces of their liquid gallium electrodes. So far, the crystals are very small, about 1/2000th of a millimeter in diameter, but Maldonado hopes to improve the technique and make larger silicon crystals, tailored for applications such as converting light energy to electricity or storing energy. The team is exploring several variations on the process, including the use of other low-melting-point metal alloys.
If the approach proves viable, the implications could be huge, especially for the solar energy industry. Crystalline silicon is presently the most-used solar energy material, but the cost of silicon has driven many researchers to actively seek alternative semiconductors.
"It's too premature to estimate precisely how much the process could lower the price of silicon, but the potential for a scalable, dramatically less expensive and more environmentally benign process is there," Maldonado said. "The dream ultimately is to go from sand to crystalline silicon in one step. There's no fundamental law that says this can't be done."
The study, which appears in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, was funded by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund.
The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property and is seeking commercialization partners to help bring the technology to market.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Junsi Gu, Eli Fahrenkrug, Stephen Maldonado. Direct Electrodeposition of Crystalline Silicon at Low Temperatures. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2013; : 130124083041007 DOI: 10.1021/ja310897r
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/hyu9VuYA6bA/130124163242.htm
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Leggett & Platt Stock Is A Winner On Yield And ... - Investors.com
Hefty dividends are sometimes associated with greater risk.
Yet, the right kind of stock history can put the big dividend in a more stable context.
For example, Leggett & Platt (LEG) has increased its payout for 41 years in a row. The current annualized yield is 4.1%.
Keeping and increasing the dividend is "a high priority," the company stated in its most recent 10-Q report. In 2011, the company paid out about 53% of cash flow per share.
The big dividend, though, hasn't turned Leggett into a sluggish stock performer.
In 2012, the stock rose 18%, topping the Nasdaq's 16% gain and the S&P 500's 13% pop. Since the start of the bull market in March 2009, Leggett & Platt has risen 142% vs. 115% for the Nasdaq and 93% for the S&P 500 ? and that's not including dividends.
Leggett's diversified manufacturing model involves four segments. Residential furnishings ? a segment that accounts for about half of sales ? covers products such as mattress springs, bed frames and carpet pads. The three other segments account for roughly a sixth of sales each.
Industrial materials produces steel wire and erosion-control products. Commercial fixturing and components entails products such as shelving, in-store displays and parts for office furniture manufacturers. The specialized products segment includes automotive seat support structures and product packages for police vehicles.
Earnings growth on a year-ago basis was 23% in Q2 and 45% in Q3. Revenue fell 1% in Q2 and rose 4% in Q3. The Street expects a 32% earnings pop in Q4 on a revenue gain of 2%.
The company will report results Feb. 5 at the market open.
Leggett & Platt's fortunes are closely tied to factors such as consumer confidence, disposable income, employment and housing turnover.
The company used the recent tight economic environment to reduce fixed costs but kept spare production capacity. This means a stronger rebound in the U.S. and world economy won't require huge capital investments for Leggett.
The U.S. accounts for 71% of sales.
Health and environment: A closer look at plastics
Jan. 23, 2013 ? Plastics have transformed modern society, providing attractive benefits but also befouling waterways and aquifers, depleting petroleum supplies and disrupting human health.
Rolf Halden, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute has been following the chemical trail of plastics, quantifying their impact on human health and the environment. In a new overview appearing in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health, Halden and his co-author, ASU student Emily North, detail the risks and societal rewards of plastics and describe strategies to mitigate their negative impacts, through reconsideration of plastic composition, use and disposal.
"We are in need of a second plastic revolution. The first one brought us the age of plastics, changing human society and enabling the birth and explosive growth of many industries. But the materials used to make plastics weren't chosen judiciously and we see the adverse consequences in widespread environmental pollution and unnecessary human exposure to harmful substances. Smart plastics of the future will be equally versatile but also non-toxic, biodegradable and made from renewable energy sources," says Halden.
Plastics are made up of a network of molecular monomers linked to form macromolecules. These versatile chemical structures come in enormous varieties and today over 20 major forms of plastics exist. Plastics are typically lightweight and biocompatible. Along with their myriad uses in everyday life, plastics fulfill many needs in the public health arena, where they are found in items including absorbable sutures, prosthetics and engineered tissues.
Further, plastics may be manufactured at low cost using little energy and their adaptable composition allows them to be synthesized in soft, transparent or flexible forms suitable for a broad range of medical applications. Because they can be readily disposed of, items like latex gloves, dialysis tubes, intravenous bags and plastic syringes eliminate the need for repeated sterilization, which is often costly and inefficient. Such single-use items have had a marked effect on reducing blood-borne infections, including hepatitis B and HIV.
Many varieties of polymers are produced to meet the expanding needs of modern medicine. Polymer chemistry is used to produce sophisticated drug delivery systems for the pharmaceutical industry; material to cement bone for hip replacements is made with polymer polymethylmethacrylate and polymer scaffolds are revolutionizing the practice of tissue engineering.
Researchers like Halden have shown, however, that the benefits of global plastics use can come at a steep price in terms of both human and environmental health. Continuous contact with plastic products, from the beginning to the end of life has caused chemical ingredients -- some with potentially harmful effects -- to form steady-state concentrations in the human body.
In recent years, two plastic-associated compounds have been singled out for particular scrutiny, due to their endocrine-disrupting properties: Bisphenol A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP). Studies of bioaccumulation have shown that detectable levels of BPA in urine have been identified in 95 percent of the adult population in the U.S. and both BPA and DEHP have been associated, through epidemiological and animal studies, with adverse effects on health and reproduction. These include early sexual maturation, decreased male fertility, aggressive behavior and other effects. Concern over BPA exposure, particularly for highly vulnerable members of the population, has recently led the Food and Drug Administration to place a ban on BPA use in infant bottles, spill proof cups and other products intended for infants and toddlers.
Similar issues exist with DEHP, a plasticizer found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Because this additive is not tightly bound to the plastics in which it is used, the potential exists for DEHP to leach out and enter the body, causing unwanted exposure and affecting health. Both animal and human studies suggest DEHP may produce harmful effects, including insulin resistance, increased waist circumference and changes to male and female reproductive systems.
A variety of other plastic-related chemicals are currently under evaluation by Halden's group for their adverse effects on health and the environment. These include polyhalogenated flame retardants, polyfluorinated compounds and antimicrobials containing plastic additives such as triclosan and triclocarban.
While researchers are still at the early stages of assessing the risks to human health posed by plastics use, negative impacts on the environment have been a growing concern for many years. Over 300 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide each year. Roughly 50 percent of this volume is made up of products disposed of within one year of purchase.
Plastics today represent 15-25 percent of all hospital waste in the U.S. Some newer plastics are biodegradeable, but the rest must be incinerated, disposed of in landfills, or recycled. All of these methods have drawbacks and carry environmental risk, as the new study explains.
Biodegradeable plastics may break down in the environment into smaller polymer constituents, which may still pose a risk to the environment. Incineration liberates greenhouse gases associated with climate change. Landfilling of plastics, particularly in the enormous volumes now produced, may be an impractical use of land resources and a danger exists of plastics constituents entering the ground water. Finally, recycling of plastics requires careful sorting of plastic material, which is difficult. Recycled plastics tend to be of lower quality and may not be practical for health care and other applications.
As Halden explains, the problems posed by plastics need to be addressed on several fronts, and current research offers significant hope for improvements to human and environmental health. Better biodegradeable plastics are now being developed using carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide compounds and applying metal complexes as catalysts.
The technique provides a double benefit, binding unwanted greenhouse gases, while avoiding the competition with the human food supply. (Conventional bioplastics are made with plant sources like corn and molasses.) One application would be to replace BPA-containing epoxy resins lining metal food cans, thereby dramatically reducing BPA exposure while also sequestering 180 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (greenhouse) emissions.
The use of disposable items is also undergoing a reevaluation, in light of the potential environmental toll. In some cases, reusable plastic products are gaining ground, and estimates suggest the potential for a 50 percent reduction in medical equipment costs. Almost a quarter of all U.S. hospitals are now using reprocessing to decrease disposable waste.
Nevertheless, the largest source of plastics-related environmental damage stems from the overuse of items whose long-term harm outweighs their short-term benefit. Typically, these are consumer convenience items, often quickly discarded after a short use-life, including plastic water bottles, grocery bags, packaging, Styrofoam cups, Teflon-coated dental floss and other products. Halden recommends a thorough life-cycle assessment of plastics-based products, to identify safer, more sustainable replacement materials that reduce adverse effects to the environment and human health from plastic consumption.
"Many current types and consumption patterns of plastics are unsusustainable, as indicated by harmful plastic components circulating in our blood streams and multiple giant garbage patches of plastic debris swirling in the world's oceans. Continued use of plastics into the future will require us to redesign these indispensible materials of daily life to make them compatible with human health and the ecosystems we rely on," says Halden.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Arizona State University. The original article was written by Richard Harth.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Neanderthal baby spawns viral video
The Next Media Animation team in Taiwan takes on the "Neanderthal baby" controversy.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
You know a story has gone viral when the gang at Taiwan's Next Media Animation makes fun of it?? and such is the case with Harvard geneticist George Church's recent comments about the prospects for cloning a Neanderthal baby.
The German magazine Der Spiegel's interview with Church was misconstrued in some quarters as suggesting that the scientist himself was looking for a surrogate mother willing to carry a cloned Neanderthal embryo. In his book "Regenesis," Church says such a scenario is getting closer to the point of possibility. But he's definitely not planning to do the experiment himself.?This week, he told the Boston Herald that his original point was lost in translation.
Church and his colleagues are working on a wide array of genetic-engineering technologies, including techniques that could semi-automate the process of producing stem cell lines with artificially added genetic tweaks. Someday, that procedure could give humans new traits,?such as enhanced immunity to disease, or enhancements in strength or intelligence. The Neanderthal genome could point the way to such genetic novelties. But if you're looking for a Neanderthal pregnancy, don't bother looking in Church's direction. Instead, have a look at NMA's cartoon?? and have yourself a laugh.
More about future evolution:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/23/16663933-neanderthal-baby-spawns-viral-video?lite
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Twitter's Bird Logo Was Inspired By a Middle Finger
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Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Instant Spin Room
In the age of Twitter, we no longer have to wait to see how partisans and pundits will receive big speeches like today?s second inaugural address by President Obama?now we can witness the spinning, reporting, and commentary in real time.
Below are the live Tweets of 20 liberal pundits and politicos on the left-hand side of the screen and 20 conservative pundits and politicos on the right-hand side of the screen. You can see what both sides are saying about Obama?s inauguration speech?what it means for the president?s legacy and its short-term political impact?as he delivers it. Welcome to Tweet alley!
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c0b35eac623f15db58db6bf99b3228cf
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Monday, January 21, 2013
Security fears overshadow new Algerian oil law after siege
GENEVA (Reuters) - Investment in Algeria's oil and gas sector may fall as concerns about the costs of security after a bloody siege at a desert gas plant eclipse the impact of a hydrocarbon law designed to win over foreign firms, executives and analysts said on Monday.
Algeria's parliament acted quickly on Monday to endorse an oil and gas law, cancelling a windfall tax on foreign firms, in a move seen as a bid to reassure foreign investors and reverse declining interest in the OPEC member.
But executives say the attack, which left more than 60 people dead including many foreign workers, could mean that investment in Algeria and other oil-producing neighbors such as Libya and Mauritania lags behind other regions.
"Costs that are already extremely high will become even higher," said Repsol's Algeria country manager Gabino Lalinde in a telephone interview.
"Security risks and this new cost escalation will make Algeria less attractive to international oil firms," he added.
The Spanish firm produces around 8,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the country and has facilities deep in the southern Algerian Saharan desert and near BP's In Amenas site.
Algeria's oil and gas sector, which accounts for 98 percent of the country's exports, has struggled to lure in investment in recent bid rounds as executives eye the booming sectors of Iraq and east Africa.
Analysts said that Algeria's new law could be too late to reverse the investment trend.
"The change in the hydrocarbon law has come two-three years too late. They've already had unsuccessful bid rounds and the IOCs (international oil companies) have been voting with their feet," said Charles Gurdon, managing director of Menas Associates, a political risk consultancy.
Libya and Algeria are Africa's third and fourth largest oil producers with Libya also the largest oil reserves holder on the continent.
Together with Egypt, they are important gas suppliers to Europe.
BALANCING ACT
Alone among its neighbors, Algeria has so far been largely untouched by uprisings in 2011 that ousted leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
Any drop in Algerian investment could have serious consequences for a country which relies heavily on oil and gas revenues to pay for its 6 million tonnes a year of grain imports, seen as vital to ensuring domestic stability.
Oil majors such as BP and Total have been gradually reducing production in Algeria by either selling assets or letting existing investments lapse, raising concerns that there will not be enough new projects to maintain output.
Edward Bell of the Economist Intelligence Unit said that declining investment in Algeria's the oil and gas sector could affect spending on infrastructure and social projects.
"For now Algeria has comfortable reserves, but in the longer term its fiscal position could be impacted," he said, adding that youth unemployment - a feature of Arab Spring countries - also plagues Algeria.
Libya ranked 12th and Algeria 13th out of 17 major economies in the Middle East and Africa in a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Algeria needs an oil price of $121 to balance its books, according to a November estimate from the International Monetary Fund, as falling oil production and low gas prices hit earnings.
CROSSROADS
The chief executive of Statoil, which is still missing workers at the Algerian gas facility, said on Monday that the attack represented a "crossroad" for the global oil and gas industry that would raise many questions.
"We have a responsibility to run our business and support daily operations ... we cannot and will not let a terrorist attack interfere in our determination," Helge Lund told a news conference.
BP has evacuated workers from Algeria and an industry source said that other firms had taken steps to remove foreign employees from desert sites.
Neighboring Libya has also beefed up security in its oil fields and energy firms were considering similar measures in Egypt as Islamist militants threatened to attack new instillations in north Africa.
The In Amenas attack, which occurred close to the border with Libya, could also have implications for that country's oil and gas sector as long-standing clients begin to show frustration at supply disruptions caused by protests and strikes.
"The industry is going to assume that everything in North Africa is affected in terms of security, including Libya and also Morocco and Mauritania," said Gurdon.
Some Libyan oil fields such as Italian group Eni's Elephant are located several hundreds of kilometers across the desert from In Amenas, where the hostage tragedy unfolded this week.
Several U.S. oil firms have yet to return to resume exploration in Libya after the 2011 conflict due to security concerns.
"Should Libya be subject to similar attacks by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, we see a particular downside risk to Libyan output prospects for this year and for longer-term production prospects, as foreign firms will be reluctant to resume exploration and return expatriates to Libya," said Amrita Sen, Chief Oil Analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects in London.
For a map of Algerian facilities: http://www.mem-algeria.org/fr/hydrocarbures/hydrocarbon_map.jpg
(Reporting by Emma Farge; additional reporting by Christopher Johnson, Andrew Callus and Nigel Hunt in London and Balazs Koranyi in Oslo; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algeria-sees-no-impact-investment-gas-plant-attack-132953926.html
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2013 ? An African making sense of signals and noise in higher and ...
Disclaimer: I write this overview of some of the challenges facing higher and distance education in Africa in 2013, from the specific context of my location in South Africa. I cannot, however, speak on behalf of Africa. Even my identity as an African is continuously contested and rejected on grounds of my skin colour (white) and gender (gay).? Despite these contestations, being African is an identity that I chose to embrace ? with all the responsibilities, challenges and baggage any identity marker brings. (If you are interested, read my reflection ? Being an African: some queer remarks from the margins)
During my December break, I read Nate Silver?s ?The signal and the noise. The art and science of prediction? (2012). As someone who is numerically challenged (another disclaimer), but someone who is embedded in making sense of the claims and predictions in higher and distance education, I thought the book would introduce me to the limits and potential of predictions and forecasts in higher education. Though the book did introduce me to the discourses and complexities surrounding modelling and predictions, I found huge parts of the book difficult reading due to the book?s assumptions that everyone has a working knowledge of American baseball, American politics and poker? Despite these drawbacks, the book provided me with glimpses of the need to distinguish between noise and signals in higher education. Silver (2012) states that most of the information produced today is ?just noise, and the noise is increasing faster than the signal? (p. 13).? So how does one go about in making sense of all the claims and counter claims in higher and distance education? How does one recognize (and predict) patterns and signals?
The matter is, however, not so simple (maybe it never was?). Audrey Watters, in her blog ?Why I?m Not Making Ed-Tech Predictions for 2013?, makes a personal case for not attempting to predict trends in educational technology in 2013, while Tony Bates in his first blog of 2013, ?Why predicting online learning developments is risky but necessary? claims that, despite the issues raised by Watters, he feels that, not only is he in a position to make predictions, but also that it is necessary. In a follow-up blog ?Outlook for online learning in 2013: online learning comes of age? Bates then continues to make a number of predictions such as
- that online learning will ?come of age? in 2013 and move from the periphery to the centre
- there will be an increase in hybrid learning that will necessitate ?the re-design of courses to integrate the best of online and campus-based teaching?
- online learning will become an integral part of institutional strategic plans
- outsourcing will increase, such as, inter alia, 24/7 technical support, learning management systems, learner support/tutoring, and course design
- the evolution of massive open online courses (MOOCs) will continue
- open textbooks will become the norm
- the use of tablets will transform pedagogy
- flexible course design will become a necessity
- Mexico and Asia needs to be watched in the international domain.
Bates? last prediction namely ?expect the unexpected? includes ?monsters lurking in the shadows? such as the privatization of post-secondary education in the USA, Apple, Google, Facebook or Amazon entering higher education offering educational opportunities at a profit, with accreditation by elite universities and a possible backlash against the open educational resources (OER) movement with the tightening of copyright legislation. Also see Steve Wheeler?s series of posts on the future of education.
Many of the challenges facing international higher and distance education in 2013 such as the increasing convergence between traditional face-to-face higher education and distance education and e-learning, changing funding regimes, the impact of neoliberalism, the economic downturn and technology, ?also impact on higher and distance education on the African continent. These international trends in higher and distance education do and will continue to shape higher and distance education on the African continent and in South Africa. Castells (2009) warns that while not everyone is included in a global networked society, everyone is affected ? ?exclusion from these networks, often in a cumulative process of exclusion, is tantamount to structural marginalization in the global network society? (p. 25). This process ?overwhelms the local ? unless the local becomes connected to the global as a node in alternative global networks constructed by social movements? (p.26). ?Many of the challenges facing higher education on the African continent are embedded in the nexus of local versus global, alternative epistemologies and changes in international and local geopolitical alliances and networks.
In the rest of the blog I therefore try to make sense of the changes and challenges facing higher education with specific reference to higher and distance education in South Africa and on the African continent.
- The link between higher education and (un)employment. With an unofficial unemployment rate of close to 40%, and many graduates joining the queues of the desperate-for-work, we need to re-examine and possibly redefine many of our assumptions about higher education. Except for the growth in the NiNi (Not-in-employment, not-in-education) generation, we also have to consider the huge number of students in higher distance education who drop out before their second year, or take longer than 8 years to complete their qualification. We have to seriously reconsider, inter alia,
- The structure of our qualifications. In the South African higher education context, should students not complete their qualifications and ?exit? at an earlier stage, this leaves them with just an uncompleted qualification. The earlier regime of ?exit-level qualifications? were discarded a number of years ago. I realise there were (most probably) sound reasons for the change (e.g. issues of subsidization, etc.), but I sincerely think that the new regime leaves students who exit their qualifications earlier than planned, poorer in a number of ways.
- Our belief that tertiary education is necessarily appropriate or necessary for everyone. After decades of excluding prospective students on racial grounds, and a non-functioning Further Education and Training (FET) sector, tertiary education is seen (and marketed) as a basic ?right?, and your ticket to employment and the ?good life.? For many years South Africa?s primary and secondary school education did not (and still do not?) allow learners to discover and realize their potential. Any attempt to withhold this ?right? through admission requirements, capping of registration numbers and bridging courses are seen as dehumanizing and perpetuating the legacy of colonialism and apartheid. We need to critically question and engage with our assumptions, claims and counter-claims regarding the role and composition of post-secondary school education in the 21st century.
- Not only are most students totally under-prepared for higher and distance education, the institutions themselves are equally under-prepared to deal with these students? specific needs, unrealized potential and the daunting reality that their dream for a better future will be (once again) deferred. When square pegs don?t fit round holes, we usually blame the pegs, and we never question the shape of the hole?
?2.?????? Going digital and mobile. For years the debates on the impact of technologies on African higher education were shaped by the constructs such as the ?digital divide?, and ?digital natives?/ ?digital immigrants.? These constructs have been deconstructed and discredited as neither being based on empirical evidence nor sufficiently nuanced (see for example, Czerniewicz & Brown, 2010; Bennet & Maton, 2010) ?Mobile technologies (e.g. smart phones and tablets) offer huge potential for African higher education. The challenge is however how to harness this potential for teaching and learning. While the cost of smartphones have decreased and is forecasted to decrease even further, the cost and sustainability of connectivity are continuing concerns in our efforts to optimize the potential of mobile technologies. With students having access to a wide range of devices, institutions are faced with the possibilities and challenges of offering device-independent teaching and learning with implications for formats, readability, content-generation or use, etc.
3.?????? Going massive and open. While there is a lot of hype regarding the potential of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to include those not currently in higher education, recent research show that current enrolments in MOOCs are limited to those already in higher education or employment (see Beyond the MOOC Hype: Answers to the Five Biggest MOOC Questions, Part 1). Though these initiatives do offer potential for those not formally enrolled in higher education, we have not touched the immense need to open education for those who have never completed their primary and secondary school education. While the massification of higher education is embedded in the discourses and practices of addressing the legacies of apartheid, we cannot ignore the bigger questions regarding the role of higher education (see point 1), accreditation, the need for sustainable business models for massive (and open) higher education, and addressing the needs of the millions outside the epistemologies of privilege currently germane in higher education.
4.?????? Out with the old, in with the new (or not?) While present day fashion has made ?old? and ?worn? fashionable (you cannot buy a pair of jeans without it being torn in several places and with some permanent and carefully placed dirt marks), education seems mesmerized by the ?new? and the ?latest.? While I don?t contest that some of the latest advances in technology do offer interesting educational opportunities, this does not mean (necessarily) that we need to (always and immediately) discard the ?old.? Surely there is a way to embrace the potential of the ?new? while (still) nurturing and supporting the best of the ?old?? We seem to have sold out to thinking in binary terms (where ?old? is bad and ?new? is good) instead of embracing the fluidity of continuums where ?old? and ?new? can function interchangeably and appropriately dependent on the context.
?5.?????? Can anything good come from Africa? ?Africa and Africans have, for years, been defined (and are still defined) by North-Atlantic discourses and knowledge regimes as being backward, dark, second-best and in need of sympathy (not to mention development aid). ?The implications of ?being defined? by these discourses and knowledge regimes, include, but are not limited to the following:
- For years we internalized the superiority of North-Atlantic knowledge regimes and imported curricula and text books. While there is an urgent need to acknowledge that indigenous knowledge systems and ways of seeing the world are equally worthy for inclusion in our curricula and assessment practices, we should also be wary to romanticize, essentialize and even invent the past and the local. All knowledge is ideological ? whether produced in the North-Atlantic or whether local. Just because local knowledge is indigenous does not make it neutral.
- Many African scholars and researchers can testify how difficult it is to be acknowledged as an equal in the research, publishing and conference regimes in North-Atlantic contexts. ?Our African addresses seem to exclude us from many international conferences and publishing regimes. Many African scholars? attempts to be accepted by North-Atlantic journals are met with rejection because the research was ?too African?, parochial and not suited for an international (read North-Atlantic) audience, and/or that the article/paper does not contribute to the discourse (framed by North-Atlantic assumptions and epistemologies). Don?t get me wrong. As a researcher I don?t want to be included in a conference proceeding or journal just on the basis of my address. African scholars and researchers can also not expect that our research can be less rigorous or meet different criteria just because we are from a developing world context.
- While many graduates produced in North-Atlantic contexts have very little understanding of the impact of imperialism and colonialism on world and specifically African history, African graduates cannot afford to be ignorant regarding world history and the major events that shaped Africa and the world. I spoke to two graduates this week, an engineer and an accountant, who had no idea of the history of slavery (past and present), the genocides that shaped and still shape African and world history, and a general historical frame of reference of how geopolitical power relations changed over the last 100 years. Has higher education so sold out to neoliberal market ideologies that we continue to produce employable graduates with no critical sense of location?
?In conclusion: Higher and distance education on the African continent are shaped, in many direct and indirect ways, by international trends and developments. Our responses to these trends and challenges are, however, also shaped by broader geopolitical, economic and environmental trends ? many of which are embedded in the legacies of colonialism and an on-going realignment of geopolitical networks and alliances. The list of challenges I shared in this blog is anything but complete or comprehensive ? but it may provide readers with glimpses of some of the issues African higher and distance education face in 2013?
Postscript: In my previous blog, I shared my personal approach to blogging. I may have created the (incorrect) impression that blogging comes ?naturally? and ?easy?. ?This week?s blog was one of the most difficult blogs I ever wrote. I pondered, phrased and rephrased, deleted, and started over. ?This blog was difficult to write due to a number of factors, including the amount of ?noise? in higher and distance education and the way my personal identity and insight (or lack thereof) are shaped by my habitus, cultural capital and context. This blog is therefore not an African perspective on 2013 ? but one African?s attempt to find patterns and make sense of the world of higher and distance education.
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Good Reads: Boomtown slum, democracy in progress, and 'rewilding' in the Netherlands
This week's good reads include a day in Kenya's bustling Kibera slum, the struggle to promote democracy in the Arab world, and a radical conservation theory in the Netherlands.
A hairdresser braids a woman?s hair in her salon in Kenya?s Kibera slum.
Noor Khamis/Reuters
EnlargeThe image of an African shantytown does not usually conjure up hope for economic prosperity. But Kibera, one of Nairobi?s slums and arguably Africa?s largest slum, is exactly that for the Kenyans who call it home. In The Economist, a writer chronicled a day in Kibera, describing the slum?s ebbs and flows, capturing its entrepreneurial spirit. People from all over Kenya leave their towns and villages for a chance to find work in Kibera?s ?thriving economic machine.?
Skip to next paragraph Allison TerryAllison Terry is national news intern for the Christian Science Monitor. She previously worked on the cover page desk and contributed to the culture section of the Monitor.
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The half-mile-by-two-mile area accommodates roughly 1 million people, wedged together in repurposed wood-and-corrugated-tin-roof structures. The alleys that wind through the slum vary in size, but there is no room for cars. Many of the residents work in nearby factories or offices. Others find economic opportunity in providing goods and services for Kibera?s residents.
When Cecilia Achieng moved to the slum, she started a school, at first renting space from an empty church. She eventually saved enough money to build six makeshift classrooms. After school, Ms. Achieng starts her second job: catering. She caters church events, funerals, and is even trying to get into weddings. In the evening, Achieng goes door to door offering her services as a hairdresser.
?To equate slums with idleness and misery is to misunderstand them,? the correspondent writes. ?Slums are far from hopeless places; many are not where economic losers end up, but rather reservoirs of tomorrow?s winners.?
The promise of the Arab Spring
As post-Arab Spring countries struggle to establish democratic institutions, pessimism about their ultimate success misses a broader lesson: Stable democracies have historically evolved from violent uprisings, initial failures, and stumbling blocks.
?These troubles ... are not a bug but a feature ? not signs of problems with democracy but evidence of the difficult, messy process of political development through which societies purge themselves of the vestiges of dictatorship and construct new and better democratic orders,? writes Sheri Berman in Foreign Affairs.
Critics who see Egypt, Libya, and other transitioning countries as democratic failures ignore the inherited social, cultural, and political dynamics in these countries, and a broader historical perspective. New democracies are not blank slates, writes Ms. Berman. In the aftermath of overthrowing dictators, countries must overcome the baggage that comes with authoritarian regimes ? distrust, animosity, and lack of civil organizations to deal with people?s demands. Islamism is filling that void in Egypt after Hosni Mubarak?s fall as religious organizations were the only places where people could participate and express themselves.
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Sunday, January 20, 2013
How Did We End Up Here? | Psychology Today
Remember Jeff Goldblum's line from Jurassic Park? ?"Oh, yeah. ?Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts, but then later there's running, then screaming."
Infatuation?
Romantic relationships almost always start out "oooh, ahhh." Of course, older and wiser people tell us that it's only hormones. ?Infatuation! ?But we don't believe it. ?It feels like so much more. ??
Idealization?
Well, it is more. ?It's also idealization. ?University of Iowa researchers concluded the following:1
- Romantic interest causes positive comparisons to self.
- Such comparisons to self cast love objects in a favorable light and also blind us to their shortcomings.
- Romantic interest leads to overestimation of similarities.
Disenchantment
Then later, things change. Neurochemistry regulates. Infatuation fades. ?We stop idealizing our partners and start seeing their faults. ?Many are less sexually attracted, too. ?We feel like running and screaming. ?We are disenchanted. ?How did we end up here? ?
Here's how romantic couples end up at this crucial fork in the road:
- Although infatuation is a normal experience, it is not a normal state of being. ?Thanks to temporarily enhanced neurochemistry - Nature's way of perpetuating the species - we believe that we are special and bound for romantic success. ?Infatuated couples (of any age) behave in ways that, absent the infatuation explanation, would be seen as delusional, obsessive-compulsive, and manic. ?Infatuation is exhilarating, irresistible, incomparable, and it does not last! ? ?
- Conventional wisdom embraces the perpetual infatuation fantasy. ?This is the belief that only the romantically inept let infatuation die. ?This myth is kept alive by couples' wishful thinking and by entrepreneurs who profit from perpetuating this fantasy. ?Think about it. ?There's money to be made convincing?romantic couples to stop at nothing and spare no expense trying to rekindle the one-time-only experience of infatuation.
- Romantic couples choose fantasy over reality. ?Who wouldn't? ?We imagine that we can still have the fantasy, if only our partner goes back to being the enchanting person with whom we fell in love.?The fading of infatuation threatens our happily-ever-after.
- When we feel threatened, survival instincts predispose us to behave defensively and/or aggressively. ?The no-longer-idealized partner is blamed, and we start in the direction of disenchantment. ?See previous posts: Your Spouse is Behaving Badly...and This Is Your Brain on Disenchantment. ?
Mature love
Fortunately, there is another direction romantic partners can turn - toward mature love. ?Mature love has little to do with chronological maturity and everything to do with partners' emotional maturity. ?The foundation of mature love is self-responsibility. ?Self-responsible spouses:
- Commit to self-correction, "growing themselves up."
- Focus on behaving constructively, regardless of provocation by spouse.
- Recognize that partners are not renovation projects. ?
- Take command of their own negative emotions and insecurities.
- Understand that partners are not responsible for each other's happiness and unhappiness.
- Cultivate rational responses, despite defensive and/or aggressive first reactions.
Client examples
The following comments not only show how far these clients have come but also provide real life examples of progress toward emotional maturity:
Client A, in her early 40s, sought counseling after divorcing an abusive husband then quickly establishing another relationship with an emotionally?abusive man. ?The primary focus of her sessions has been increasing her emotional maturity. ?She ended the second abusive relationship and, currently, is in the first healthy romantic relationship of her life. ?
This is what she said: ?"This relationship is just so calm. ?I mean, there's practically no drama. ?In the past, I thought that drama, no matter how awful, was proof that the guy actually cared. ?Now, I think the opposite. ?The fact that we both stay calm and rational shows how much we care." ? ?
Client B, in his mid-30s, sought counseling because he wanted to break his pattern of unfulfilling relationships. ?The controlling and emotionally distant woman he was dating at the time told him that he was "too needy" and should get psychological help. ?The primary focus of his sessions has been increasing his emotional maturity. ?After a few months, he stopped trying to influence his partner's opinion of him and ended the relationship. ?
This is what he said: ?"Remember when you said that what one woman sees as needy another one sees as attentive? ?Well, I realized something recently. ?I think the women I've thought of as 'too nice' may be the emotionally mature ones. ?They seem 'too nice' because they aren't out to manipulate me."
For more about how to get to emotional maturity, see previous posts: The One and Only Marital Obligation,?How to Train Your Dragon, and Walking the Path Alone: Self-responsible Spouse. ?
?1. Shanhong Luo and Eva C. Klohnen, "Associative Mating and Marital Quality in Newlyweds: ?A Couple-centered Approach," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 88, no. 2 ( 2005): 304-326.
Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/everybody-marries-the-wrong-person/201301/how-did-we-end-here
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5 Proven Strategies for Internet and Network Marketing Success ...
?5 Proven Strategies for Internet and Network Marketing Success
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There are many opportunities in network marketing to help you reach your life goals. You can work
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from home and enjoy a steady cash stream while setting your own hours and doing what you love most to earn an income. But if majority of people who join your team are online network marketers, you probably aren?t sure how or where to get started with Internet and network marketing. Here are five proven strategies to get you started.
1. Start Your Own Network Marketing Success Website
In having your own network marketing website, you can build a profitable business model for your team. By providing your web site with information of use to newcomers as well as update your team members on a regular basis. A website can be used to enhance off-line network marketing as well. For instance, you can print your Web address on your business cards, letterhead, envelopes, postcards, and in printed ads. Those interested in your proposal can visit your website for more information. Your website can contain almost unlimited information that will help convert prospects into team members.
2. Start Your Own Network Marketing Success E-zine
What is an e-zine? An E-zine is an electronic newsletter that gets sent, by email, to a database of subscribers. E-zine builds trust and establishes you as an expert in your field of interest. You can set up a subscription form, for your e-zine, at your web-site. As potential sign up are obviously interested in your offer, so you can send e-mailings to them weekly and use the e-zine to get them back to your website. This is a great way to turn visitors to your site into network marketing partners.
3. Answer Questions in Forums and Discussion Groups About Network Marketing Success
Using forums, allows you to not just merely advertise your business. Forums can answer questions and include a link to your email or website. You can find work-from-home forums online. These forums are related to your network marketing business or possibly be able to cater to your target audience. Observe and read the questions and answers for a while before posting to get a feel for the people and atmosphere. Then, answer those questions pertaining to your type of business in a truly helpful manner. The person asking the question might visit your website as well as any others who might read the post. It?s a great way to meet new people and market your business.
4. Create Network Marketing Excitement
Creating network marketing excitement for your team members is another effective tool you can use online. At your own website, you can Hold contests for your team members, sponsor random giveaways, provide hosted space for your team members to create their own profiles or mini-websites, do feature bios on your team members, and more. These will motivate your network marketing team to work harder and increase their cash stream (and yours) while having fun.
5. Content Writing about the Internet and Network Marketing Success
Your website is a powerful tool that can add valuable content articles to your website on a regular
Network Marketing Success Continues
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basis. These articles should be targeting network marketing and working from home. Your articles should provide your target readers with helpful information. Then, at the conclusion of each article, you can include a signature/bio that will lead the reader to your sales pages.
By adding articles to your website on a regular basis and submitting these articles to free article directories for maximum results. These articles will help attract search engine traffic to your website without any cost to you.
Network Marketing Success Wrap Up
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There are also many other methods of Internet promotion for network marketing success? such as e-zine advertising, banner advertising, contextual or paid search engine ads, free traffic exchanges, and affiliate programs. Whether you are part of a global resorts travel business, a profitable reverse funnel system, or another successful business model, you?ll be amazed at the results when you combine all of the promotion methods above for the Internet and network marketing success!
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?Empower Network For MLM Pros
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Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/formlmpros/blog/network-marketing-success-strategies/
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Saturday, January 19, 2013
The Zillow for Pro Blog Weekly Roundup - January 18, 2012 | Real ...
REAL ESTAGING Source: Flickr
In this week?s most popular blog posts, find out what the most common website mistakes are and how you can fix them. See if allowing applicants to bring their own credit reports to the showing is a time-saving strategy for you, and learn how to manage the employees in your brokerage.
Building and Managing a Rental Brokerage, Part 3: Manage Your People
Most real estate agents are independent contractors and most brokers/owners don?t feel any responsibility to manage their agents. This style of non-management is in large part responsible for the extremely high failure rate of new people entering the profession.
Can Tenants Pull Their Own Credit Check?
To save everyone some time and money, would it make sense to allow your prospective tenant to complete their own credit check to bring to the showing? Let?s take a look.
Common Website Mistakes For Realtors
These aren?t necessarily the most common for Realtors, but pretty common overall. However, I have been hired by many real estate agents for SEO, and here are some errors I see all the time.
Tips on Renting Your Housing to Students
College students sometimes steer away from on campus housing or choose not to rent with other students. Renting a single room from a home can sometimes offer a student more privacy and amenities that wouldn?t have elsewhere. Here are a few tips on renting your house to student renters.
A Simple Guide to Outsourcing Property Management Services
Property managers must collaborate with other professionals to fulfill maintenance obligations that come up. An effective property manager should have a whole roster of skilled contractors and consultants to support his or her business. In this free guide, we?ll explain how outsourcing is the best way to save time while keeping your properties and business in good shape.
Source: http://www.zillow.com/blog/pro/2013-01-18/the-zillow-for-pro-blog-weekly-roundup-january-18-2012/
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Spaghetti dinner, silent auction Jan. 26 at Johnston City church
JOHNSTON CITY, IL (KFVS) - A spaghetti dinner and silent auction will be held for Cayce Buckner, Dakota Buckner?s father, on January 26 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the First Free Will Baptist Church.
The church is located at the corner of Broadway and Monroe in Johnston City, Ill. Organizers say Cayce has been unable to work since May 2011 due to an auto-immune movement disorder. He will go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Feb. 6. His wife Terra provides the family?s only source of income, and she will have to be off work in order to take him. They need money for transportation, hotel, food and medication.
The dinner $10 for adults, $5 for children under 12 and carry-outs will be available.
You may also make donations to:
Cayce Buckner
C/O Glen Burton (his sister)
7005. Calumet
Marion, IL 62959
Copyright 2013?KFVS. All rights reserved.
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Friday, January 18, 2013
Kan. gov proposes eliminating mortgage deduction
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- Republican Gov. Sam Brownback surprised some fellow conservatives Wednesday by reviving a failed proposal to eliminate Kansas' popular deduction for interest paid on home mortgages to help close a budget shortfall while further reducing state income tax rates.
The governor had promised legislators that the state could keep moving toward eliminating income taxes while preserving aid to public schools and spending on core government services. He outlined budget proposals for the two years beginning in July to meet those goals while closing the budget gap caused by last year's aggressive income tax cuts. His proposals also would leave the state with healthy cash reserves at the end of June 2015.
Brownback disclosed in his State of the State address Tuesday evening that he wants to keep the state's sales tax at its current rate, instead of letting it drop in July, as called for by law. But he didn't say in his speech that he would resurrect the proposal to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction, a move lawmakers rejected last year.
The governor also disclosed Wednesday that he's proposing to phase in the next round of income tax cuts over three years, waiting until 2017 to drop the top rate from its current 4.9 percent to 3.5 percent.
His proposals would raise an additional $541 million in new revenues for the fiscal year that begins in July, more than enough to cover the projected $267 million gap between anticipated revenues and existing spending commitments for the same period. His plans also would allow a slight boost in the state's per-pupil aid for its public schools, although it would still be far short of what a three-judge panel ordered in a ruling last week.
"What the governor presented was a very balanced budget," Steve Anderson, Brownback's budget director, said during a briefing for reporters. "I would be surprised if the Legislature ends up very far away from us."
But Brownback already was likely to face criticism from Democrats and more liberal Republicans who want the state to ramp up spending on public schools more aggressively now that Kansas' economy is emerging from the Great Recession.
In the ruling last week in Shawnee County, the three-judge panel sided with school districts and parents who say the state isn't spending enough money to meet its responsibility under the state constitution to provide a suitable education for every child. The judges ordered the state to restore its base aid to its 2008 level of $4,492 per pupil.
The current figure is $3,838 per student. Brownback proposes to keep it constant for the next fiscal year and increase it by $14 per student the following fiscal year, to $3,852. He's seeking to phase in a $76 million increase in overall aid to schools, but the court ordered the state to increase spending by at least $440 million next year.
"I don't think they have any intent of responding to the court's direction in terms of the level of funding," said Rep. Nile Dillmore, a Wichita Democrat who serves on the House Appropriations Committee.
Brownback's proposals would moderately increase overall spending next fiscal year before dropping it back to its current level of $14.4 billion in the second. Flat spending after two years wouldn't keep up with inflation and could force agencies to tighten their belts; Brownback also is not proposing across-the-board pay raises for state workers.
But some conservatives want to aggressively shrink state government while Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers. While they wouldn't openly criticize Brownback, they were wary of his proposals.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Ty Masterson, a conservative Andover Republican, said the governor produced solid budget proposals but he saw potential for "some heartburn" over taxes.
Lawmakers raised the sales tax to 6.3 percent in 2010 at the urging of Brownback's Democratic predecessor to close a previous budget shortfall but promised in state law that the tax would drop to 5.7 percent in July. Last year, Brownback proposed keeping the tax at 6.3 percent and eliminating the mortgage interest deduction to lessen the budget effects of tax cuts he wanted, but lawmakers rejected those offsets ? and he ultimately signed deeper overall reductions than he had sought.
"The mortgage deduction is a revelation," said freshman Sen. Michael O'Donnell, a conservative Wichita Republican who serves on the budget committee. "Obviously, extending the sales tax is a huge issue."
___
Follow John Hanna on Twitter at www.twitter.com/apjdhanna
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kan-gov-proposes-eliminating-mortgage-150940952.html
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