The state’s Commission on Investigation has just issued a scathing report on the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association entitled Time Out. This document “…revealed that longstanding primitive fiscal and accounting practices combined with what can only be described as a cavalier approach to oversight…reflect a culture of lax management that invites waste and abuse.” (p.3) News articles can be read at: The Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer, Asbury Park Press, Press of Atlantic City, Bergen Record, and newjerseynewsroom.
Archive for September, 2010
Wealthiest Zip Codes
The 500 wealthiest zip codes are enumerated in Forbes; New Jersey places 32 locations in this listing. Come to this site – OpenCongress – to find what zip codes have contributed the most to political campaigns, whether Democratic or Republican.
Governor Christie Unveils Education Reform Package
At a townhall meeting in Old Bridge, Governor Christie unveiled his plans for reforming the education system in New Jersey by, among other items, changing the tenure system for public school teachers. His entire presentation is available in a series of videos on YouTube. And his office has provided a press release summarizing his views; his reform agenda for education can also be perused. He has also signed Executive Order 42 establishing the New Jersey Educator Effectiveness Task Force to be comprised of nine members who are to investigate “…how best to measure the effectiveness of teachers and school leaders, based on defined parameters.” NJEA offers a dissenting view along with links to studies supporting its stance. As of this writing, the NJSBA has not posted its reaction to its website, but comments embedded in the news articles below give us some indication of its opinion. Additional news can be found at: NJ Spotlight, New York Times, Bloomberg, Asbury Park Press, Star-Ledger, Bergen Record, statehousesteps, and PolitickerNJ.
International Criminal Justice Statistics
This entry is prompted by the latest release of the FBI’s Crime in the United States, an annual report detailing trends in crimes throughout the country. Statistics can be broken down by state , by county and by municipality. Overall, crime is trending downwards. Previous reports back to 1995 are also online, along with other valuable FBI titles. New Jersey has its own Uniform Crime Report; previous volumes in the series can also be accessed. International criminal justice statistics are more difficult to come by. We recommend trying these documents: European Sourcebook of Crime and Criminal Justice Statistics – 2010 (this is the fourth edition of this irregularly published title; previous editions are here); International Statistics and Crime and Criminal Justice, published in 2010; and State of Crime and Criminal Justice Worldwide(this was a paper presented at the 12th United Nations Conference on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, Salvador, Brazil, 2010). Other papers include a discussion guide, papers on Africa, western Asia, Asia/Pacific, and on a variety of other topics.) Other sites of major importance are: United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems which published its 11th edition for 2007/08 and includes statistics on homicides, burglary, theft, etc. from around the world; victimization surveys for African countries available from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime; from King’s College, we have the World Prison Brief in which you will find that, for example, foreigners make up 72% of Saudi Arabia’s prison population while the United States’ federal prisons operate at 162% of capacity; the Overseas Security Advisory Council issues Crime & Safety Reports for all countries detailing crime threats, road safety, terrorist actvities, and political unrest; this site – Crime and Society: A Comparative Criminology Tour of the World presents a rather comprehensive overview of each country listing among other topics criminal codes, the court system, and incidences of crime, although this last category is somewhat dated; still quoted is this World Factbook of Criminal Justice Systems but it must be used with caution as much as the information is current only through the early 1990s; and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service has hundreds of full text documents on international crime. Last, but not least, there is the European Institute for Crime Prevention (HEUNI) which has published such valuable titles as: Victimisation Surveys in Comparative Perspective, Crime and Criminal Justice Systems in Europe and North America 1995-2004, What Does the World Spend on Criminal Justice?, and National Criminal Justice Profiles of European countries. Update (5-23-11): Crime statistics for Australia are available courtesy of the Australian Institute of Criminology. Update(7-20-11): Crime statistics are interspersed in this conference proceedings volume on Policing in Eastern and Central Europe. Update (11-11-11): Canadian statistics are available from Juristat (Statistics Canada). Update(11-30-11): Drug statistics are available from the “Statistics and Data” section of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Update (1-19-12): Crime in England and Wales (Home Office). Update (3-15-12): Comparing International Criminal Justice Systems (UK. National Audit Office, February 2012. A MUST READ!) Update (3-15-12): 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (US Department of State. Contains individual country reports.) Update (11-26-12): The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has a publications section replete with information and reports. Update (7-31-13): Police-reported crime statistics, 2012 (Statistics Canada); Update (10-11-13): Directory of Family and Domestic Violence Statistics, 2013 (Australian Bureau of Statistics); Update (7-21-14): Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending March 2014 (Office of National Statistics); Update (8-20-14): Crime and law enforcement: a quick guide to key internet links (Parliamentary Library of Australia); Update (11-10-14): Sixty-Five Years of International Criminal Justice: Facts and Figures (Tilburg University); Update (10-21-15): Crime in England and Wales, Year Ending June 30, 2015 (Office of National Statistics);
Homegrown American Terrorists
We have already listed recent reports and studies in an earlier blog entry on the above topic. Now comes this heavily documented report from CRS – American Jihadist Terrorism: Combating a Complex Threat. This is MUST reading. The report contains a wealth of information culled from a multitude of sources; altogether there are more than 600 notes attached to this 128-page report.
Who Are America’s Wealthiest?
This list – The Forbes 400: The Richest People in America – should answer the question. Each entry is accompanied by a brief biography, and you can search by industry as well as state of residence. Find out how many live in New Jersey. BTW, all on the list are worth at least $1 billion. See how these people compare to the list of World Billionaires.
Health Reform Timetable
Today, September 23, the first provisions of health care reform kick in. To keep abreast of the new initiatives, please consult this timelime from the Commonwealth Fund; this is an excellent place to keep informed as is the Kaiser Family Foundation. Specific news sites on health include: Kaiser Health News, Health News Review, and Beyond the Headlines.
New Jersey Has Thousands of “Excess” Workers
That is at least what this report – Identifying States with the Most (and Least) Justification for Paring State Public Employment Costs – says. Employing regression analysis and factoring in variables such as population, state GDP, and other criteria, this report maintains that New Jersey has between 19,000 and 28,000 “excess” workers (p.11); the low end of the scale is costing the state over $400 million annually (p.14). The report goes on : “Among the most populous states, New Jersey stands out as the strongest candidate for exploring reductions of both the number and pay of public employees.” (p.15) This conclusion is tempered on the following pages: “It is of course possible that in places like New Jersey and Iowa, public sector workers are much more efficient than elsewhere, leading to higher pay, and that they do a wider variety oftasks, leading to more employees. Or it may be that New Jersey and Iowa have made a conscious decision to use public sector employment as a policy strategy for redressing inequality or helping disadvantaged groups. The analysis here therefore reminds us that further in-depth study of particular states may illuminate sensible explanations for the “excesses” and “insufficiencies” revealed here.” (p.17-18)
Hispanic-Owned Businesses in the United States
According to this report – Survey of Business Owners: Hispanic-Owned Businessess: 2007 – Hispanic businesses increased by almost 50% between 2002 and 2007. (The Survey of Business Owners is done every five years. Other reports in this series dealing with other minority owners, women, and veterans will be released between now and June 2011.) In this report, the term “Hispanic” is broken down into four major groups: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other; i.e. Colombian, Dominican, etc. Where does New Jersey rank among the other states? We are third in the country with 1.5% of firms owned by Puerto Ricans; second at .9% of Cuban businesses; and fourth overall with 5.7% of all businesses owned by Hispanics.(Summary) Also, between 2002 and 2007 New Jersey saw a 37.2% increase in the number of Hispanic businesses and an accompanying 40.6% increase in their receipts. (Table C ) You can drill down to a specific town to find how many Hispanic businesses are located there. Here, for example, is Jersey City’s profile ; another search yields Hudson County’s profile. Articles from the Wall Street Journal, the Houston Chronicle, the Washington Business Journal, and the Press of Atlantic City provide additional information. This interview with Javier Palomarez, chief executive of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will also prove enlightening.
School District Breakdown of Federal Education Jobs Bill
Here is the listing of school districts (listed by county, then municipality) and how much each is to receive from the state. An FAQ is provided on how the monies can be spent.
New Jersey Government Watchdogs
In this well-researched and lucidly-written article, Reloading at the Statehouse, Mark Lisheron documents the dwindling number of reporters that news media assign to state capitols with the resulting dimunition of reliable news of vital concern to the states’ residents. New Jersey figures very prominently in this report, and Mr. Lisheron directs us, gentle reader, to other sources of information, among them: NJ Spotlight, NJ101.5, statehousesteps.com, New Jersey Foundation for Open Goverment, and Politicker NJ. These are all “government watchdogs” which are independent, non-governmental monitors at the local, state and federal levels; they ferret out corruption, bribery, waste, fraud, and mismanagement. Other Jersey watchdogs include: New Jersey Watchdog, New Jersey Citizen Action, Union County Watchdog Association, DataUniverse, New Jersey Policy Perspective, Watchdog (Asbury Park Press), and Watch-Dog-Report (Press of Atlantic City). And do not forget to visit Harvard’s Niemen Watchdog – “Questions the press should ask.”
Toxic/Non-Toxic Plants for Animals
If I find Miss Fifi eating my aloe plant, should I be concerned? What if Tabby Cat is happily chewing away at an avocado? The ASPCA has provided lists of plants that are or are not toxic for your pets. While it is not a full list, well over 400 plants are included, along with their scientific names, symptoms, and toxicity. The ASPCA also provides a poison hotline number to its Animal Poison Control Center (a fee may be charged). The American Animal Hospital Association maintains a list and Cornell hosts Plants Poisonous to Livestock and Other Animals.
Poverty and Uninsured Rates Increase
According to this just-released Census report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009, the official poverty rate for the country now stands at 14.3%, while those lacking health insurance has gone up to 16.7%. A summary of key findings is also available. Of interest to New Jerseyans is this February 2010 report from the Poverty Research Institute – Poverty Benchmarks 2010: Assessing New Jersey’s Progress in Combating Poverty.
U.S. Universities Once Again Dominate World Universities Rankings
Two recent rankings of world universities – Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings – have U.S. institutions figuring prominently at the heads of both lists. (We are glad to see three of our almae matres in the top thirty on both.) In fact, U.S. institutions continue to head up all lists of ranked universities as they have done for years. Why? Maybe Jonathan Cole’s Can American Research Universities Remain the Best in the World? can help answer the question.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Did you know that outside of Mexico, the United States has more Hispanics than any other country? This factoid and many more can be found at this Census Bureau site – Hispanic Heritage Month 2010: Sept. 15 — Oct. 15. Other helpful sites include: Hispanic Heritage Month from infoplease containing biographical information; Gale’s Hispanic Heritage with biographies and timeline; The Library of Congress contributes the Handbook of Latin American Studies and the Hispanic Reading Room; the Smithsonian has its own commemoration site; the Metropolitan Museum of Art is also celebrating; and consult Hispanic Parades and Festivals in the NYC Area – 2010. We recommend David Weber’s The Spanish Borderlands, Historiography Redux; The European Voyages of Exploration; Edward Bourne Spain in America; Frederick Hodge, ed. Spanish Explorers in the Southern United States, 1528-1543; Herbert Bolton, ed. Spanish Exploration in the Southwest, 1542-1706, and the Discoverers Web.
Governor Christie Proposes Sweeping Pension/Benefit Reforms
Governor Christie has released his proposals for both pension and benefit reforms. They are an eye-opening array of solutions, including boosting employee contributions to the health care premiums to as much as 30%. A video of his announcement can be accessed online; NJN News also provides coverage. Additional coverage is available from the Associated Press, The Star-Ledger, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Business Week, and NJ Spotlight. To see what other states are doing with these types of reforms, please visit this extremely informative page from the National Council of State Legislatures.
New Jersey, Ya Gotta Eat More Fruits and Veggies!
According to this report – State-Specific Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables by Adults – none of us eat enough of these nutrient-packed goodies. Numbers are arranged by state and by socio-demographic factors (the more education you have, the more fruits/vegetables you eat). According to the 2009 figures, we are above the national average for fruit consumption but below for vegetables. Hey, people, what’s wrong with broccoli or spinach or kale? Get to the farmers’ markets, listed by Jersey Fresh. And do not forget to visit Fruits and Veggies : More Matters.
Governor Christie Signs School Choice Bill
Bill A355, The Interdistrict Public School Choice Program Act, was signed into law by Governor Christie this past Friday evening. It allows parents to send their children to other school districts with the home school district paying the transportation fees to the “choice” school district at a range of up to twenty miles. This makes permanent a previous school choice program that had expired at the end of five years. Explanations of this law are found at The Star-Ledger and PolitickerNJ.
ACLU Sues California Over School Fees
The ACLU has filed suit against California over the imposition of mandatory academic course, general school, and extracurricular activity fees. In its report, Pay-to-Learn, the ACLU investigated the websites of many school districts to find out what fees they were charging students. While the ACLU acknowledges that this report is far from comprehensive, they call their findings “the tip of the iceberg” (p.2) and blame the state’s massive underfunding of education as the direct cause of this situation(ibid). As many New Jersey school districts are also imposing fees, this legal proceeding will be eagerly watched. A copy of the complaint is available as well as reports from the LA Times, San Diego Union Tribune, and the Contra Costa Times.
Terrorist Threats to the United States
According to this report – Assessing the Terrorist Threat – authored by the original 9/11 Commission members and issued by the National Security Preparedness Group, while al-Qaeda still possess the capability of inflicting damage on this country, homegrown, self-radicalized American citizens now pose as great a threat. The report finds that al-Qaeda does not have the wherewithal to launch attacks meant to kill thousands of people; the nightmare scenarios of al-Qaeda using weapons of mass destruction are nothing more than illusion. Self-radicalized Americans, on the other hand, are increasing in number and the report urges more cooperation among federal and local agencies. News coverage is found at: The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. More information can be found in: the recently-released Country Reports on Terrorism from the State Department; this 2007 report from the NYPD – Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat; this 2010 paper from RAND – Would-Be Warriors: Incidents of Jihadist Terrorist Radicalization in the United States Since September 11, 2001; this 2010 CSIS report – A Growing Terrorist Threat? Assessing “Homegrown” Extremism in the United States; and this 2008 Congressional report – Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat. And we would be remiss if we did not include at least one report from the formidable Congressional Research Service – Al Qaeda and Affiliates: Historical Perspective, Global Presence, and Implications for U.S. Policy (February 2010).
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 