NJCU, as well as our sister institutions, all face reduced support from the State. On page D-290 of the FY 2016 budget, the monies allocated to each state four-year institution are enumerated: NJCU adjusted state support for FY 2015 was $26,056,000; we requested $28,963,000 for FY 2016; and have been recommended to receive $23,598,000. We are not alone in our plight.
Archive for June, 2015
2015 New Jersey July 4th Celebrations
Because of when the 4th falls this year, not every community is celebrating on the day, so please peruse the following lists closely: Hudson County; Union County; Bergen, Essex, and Passaic counties (part of a state-wide guide courtesy of NJ101.5); southern New Jersey (by county); southern New Jersey (by municipality); and another state-wide guide, this arranged by region.
The Battle of Waterloo as Seen Through “The London Gazette”
The official publication of record, The [London] Gazette published several issues dealing with this critical battle. You can also search the thousands of issues of this publication for additional information on a wide variety of historical topics.
Online Primary Sources for American History: Additional Sources for the War of 1812
Document transcriptions of the War of 1812 in the Northwest is a ten-volume series (of which eight are online) consisting of various primary sources culled from a wide variety of sources dealing with the Northwest. They range from the letters of William Henry Harrison to battles on Lake Erie. This 1815 work The history of the war, between the United States and Great-Britain, which commenced in June, 1812, and closed in Feb. 1815 : … compiled chiefly from public documents : with an appendix, containing the correspondence which passed … in treating for peace : to which is added, the treaty of peace, and a list of vessels taken from G. Britain during the war must be one of the first attempts at collecting relevant official texts that cover this conflict. This is followed by an 1817 compilation – Collection of the official accounts, in detail, of all the battles fought by sea and land, between the navy and army of the United States and the navy and army of Great Britain, during the years 1812, 13, 14, & 15.
The two-volume work – Notices of the War of 1812 (1840) has appendices containing dozens of valuable letters written by the participants at the time.
And lest we forget – here is the Treaty of Ghent that ended this conflict.
Supreme Court Rules in Favor of the Affordable Care Act
“Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them. If at all possible, we must interpret the Act in a way that is consistent with the former, and avoids the latter.” So ends the opinion of the Supreme Court in King v Burwell; Justice Scalia and two dissenting justices have offered their own interpretation in this document as well. In essence the health subsidies remain intact. SCOTUSblog, as it has done with past cases, provides great coverage of this case. Key points of the decision are examined here in The New York Times.
Health Care Payments by State Workers Are To Be Significantly Reduced July 1, 2015
According to this article from The Bergen Record, clauses in contracts for many state workers that included payment of a percentage of salary for insurance premiums will “sunset” in favor of the 1.5% of salary contribution previously utilized, saving some workers thousands of dollars. Here is an editorial from the Herald News on this topic.
Interview with NJCU Athletic Director Alice De Fazio
Here is a recent interview with her discussing, inter alia, the expansion of the sports program, the Athletic Academic Retention Program, and the need for more female role models in sports. Photos accompany the article. NJCU’s profile in the Equity in Athletics database is available.
Mass Shootings in the United States
Herewith are some reports of relevance to this seemingly unending spate of mass murders: 11 essential facts about guns and mass shootings in the United States (The Washington Post); Public Mass Shootings in the United States: Selected Implications for Federal Public Health and Safety Policy (CRS); A Guide to Mass Shootings in America (Mother Jones); Mass Shootings in America (with interactive map, Stanford); Behind the Bloodshed (USA Today); and A Study of Active Shooter Incidents in the United States Between 2000 and 2013 (FBI). UPDATE: Mass Murder with Firearms:Incidents and Victims, 1999-2013 (July 30, 2015 from CRS).
Technology Counts – 2015 Edition
Technology Counts 2015: Learning the Digital Way has just been released. It examines the promises and challenges of utilizing educational technology in the schools. Reality does have a way of biting.
Who’s Running for President in 2016?
Practically everybody seems to be announcing a run. To keep up with all these potential nominees, the following sites are of use: Presidency 2016 (Politics 1, featuring candidates’ web sites, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts); Who Is Running for President (and Who’s Not)? (The New York Times, with a “What [the candidate] would need to do to win” feature for each announced individual); The 2016 US Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet (from The Atlantic, each profile containing answers to certain questions); and Presidential Candidates 2016 (from Ballotpedia including candidates’ opinions on topical issues and linked biographies of their main staff).
New Jersey Does Not Have to Pay Monies Into the Pension System
The state Supreme Court ruling allows the government to skip its payment into the system. Key findings are here.
Online Primary Sources: “British Documents on the Origins of the War, 1898-1914”
This eleven-volume series, of which most is online (here and here), consists of Foreign Office minutes, memoranda, dispatches, telegrams, and selected private correspondence dealing with a vast array of diplomatic matters among the various countries involved in this conflict. The series follows a chronological order terminating with the outbreak of war as reported in volume 11. Each volume contains both an index of writers and an index of persons mentioned in the text. Helpful introductions and editorial interpolations are added bonuses. A valuable resource for the British viewpoint.
Climate Data for New Jersey Since 1895
Climate at a Glance from NOAA allows searching across several different data points for climatological factors dating back to 1895 for U.S. states, the nation as a whole, and for global territories. One can see how temperatures have fluctuated over time; each year’s result is available along with its ranking relative to other years’ recordings back to 1895. Highly instructive and a well-spring of data.
Global Warming Not Slowing Down
Contrary to various reports detailing a “hiatus” in global warming, this article in Science – Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus – states that global warming continues.
EPA Report on Fracking and Its Impact on Water
The 1000 page report – Assessment of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources – and its more readable executive summary have just been published. Both sides of this question claim victory; here is FactCheck’s summation.
How Much Money Does the Federal Government Spend on Intelligence?
A lot. This Intelligence Budget Data site from the Federation of American Scientists shows the levels of spending from 2005 to the present with links to redacted budget request documents. However, these figures (from the DNI and the White House) totaling under $100 B are dwarfed by the total amount of funding spread through the various federal departments – almost $1 T. Please consult the 2015 OMB Budget Table 28-1 as well as Homeland Security Budgets of other federal agencies (again from the OMB) to get a real feel for the final numbers.
EdTech Reports – May 2015
Technology And Education: Opportunities And Side-Effects (European Parliamentary Research Service); The Hague Declaration on Knowledge Discovery in the Digital Age; Learning for Life: The Opportunity for Technology to Transform Adult Education (Tyton Partners); and Preparing for the Digital University: A Review of the History and Current State of Distance, Blended, and Online Learning (Gates Foundation).
New Jersey Teacher and Principal Effectiveness Ratings
The 2013-14 Final Educator Evaluation Implementation Report has just been released; 97% of both teachers (p.13) and principals (p.29) are rated as effective or highly effective. The 50-page document reviews the processes involved, providing numerous charts and data to arrive at its findings. Unfortunately, school district breakdowns are not included; only statewide aggregates are available even though throughout the text emphasis is placed on local initiatives. The report concludes with future programs of support. NJEA’s response, NJ Spotlight’s analysis, and NorthJersey.com reportage are all online.
National Security Reports – May 2015 Update
Report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 2013-2015; Domestic Drones and Privacy: A Primer (CRS): European Fighters in Syria and Iraq: Assessments, Responses, and Issues for the United States (CRS); All The President’s Psychologists (independent group of psychologists; pdf file from The New York Times); 2015 Global Cyber Impact Report (Aon); The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (US Dept of State); Bin Laden’s Bookshelf (DNI); and Privacy and Safety (series of reports from the Pew Research Center).
Congressman Frank J. Guarini Library Blog 