"What's happening now is that the amount of money being given has enabled single individuals to literally bankroll [a] candidacy," the director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance said. "I haven't seen that kind of power money in decades."
United Press International
May 20, 2012
Professor Rolnick and his colleagues have quantified the returns on investment in early education: boosting labor productivity, increasing tax revenue, and reducing by up to 50 percent costs associated with special education services and crime. Their essential argument is that if children show up to kindergarten ready-to-learn they will do better in school and, eventually, be better prepared for the workforce and less reliant on social programs. This benefits our society and our economy.
Boston.com
May 17, 2012
While this is just emerging as a public policy issue of the first order, the economic literature on occupational licensing has been conclusive for a long time, the lion share of the empirical work having been done by Morris Kleiner. He published an excellent summary of his work in the Fall 2000 issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives. Six years later he published a more comprehensive summery in the book Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?
Oregon Catalyst
May 17, 2012
Former Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) said he told prospective employers right from the start that he wouldn't lobby. "I made it clear to the various groups that sought me out after the election to consult with, I said, 'Fine, I will consult with you, share ideas, but I will not lobby,' " said Oberstar, now a senior adviser to National Strategies. "I have no problem with it. But for me, it just doesn't fit. ... I just don't like the idea of going up to members' offices to talk with them and plead on behalf of clients."
The Hill
May 17, 2012
Then-U.S. Rep. James Oberstar helped secure a $16 million grant for the center in 2010. At that time the proposed center was larger and costlier -- an estimated $40 million to $50 million -- and located across Fifth Avenue West from the Depot. "We wondered what would happen with our project" when Oberstar wasn't re-elected two years ago, Jensen said. What happened was that plans changed, with a smaller center planned for the site of the 43-year-old Wells Fargo parking ramp owned by INREIT Real Estate Investment Trust.
Duluth News Tribune
May 16, 2012
That led to Jennifer Kuzma calling for more transparency in this decision-making process, and risk studies and fault-tree analyses about the possibilities of one dengue vector replacing another.
Panama News
May 16, 2012
Former U.S. Senator David Durenberger, MinnPost political reporter Eric Black and U of M political science professor Larry Jacobs will participate in a wide-ranging discussion of politics, health care, and more.
MinnPost
May 16, 2012
Cultural influences cannot be checked at the courthouse door. We are immersed in a culture of distrust. Several national political leaders have tried to suppress the truth about their personal indiscretions. Logical conclusion: Everyone lies when they're guilty.
Star Tribune
May 16, 2012
"They're not threatening to leave," jokes Art Rolnick, a senior fellow at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, in reference to recent debate about public financing for a new Vikings stadium. "If it's a good investment for the Mall of America, they're going to do it anyway ... I see no reason why Bloomington should get involved in this."
Finance and Commerce
May 16, 2012
The Smart Politics blog went on to suggest, based on these numbers, that PolitiFact is biased against the right--precisely the type of knee-jerk centrism that Mann and Ornstein have called into question. After all, there is another possibility: the left just might be right more often (or the right, wrong more often), and the fact-checkers simply too competent not to reflect this--at least over long periods.
The Nation
May 16, 2012
Also see in Sublime Bloviations
May 17, 2012
A fine example of student leadership has been on display this spring at the Humphrey School. Several students -- Mary Small, Heather Schommer, Vincent Vu, Jon Brown, and Aaron Meyers - were the engines of the school's diversity strategic planning effort that began in fall semester and is nearing completion, just in time for some of these dedicated leaders to graduate.
pub Talk
May 15, 2012
First, Cohen conducted an in-depth examination of the civil war in Sierra Leone (1990-2002), in which widespread rape occurred even though the civil war was not an ethnic conflict. By starting her research in a region without an ethnic conflict, Cohen could focus her research on understanding other explanations of wartime rape. Over the course of her fieldwork, Cohen took three trips there, conducting interviews with over 200 ex-combatants and noncombatants about their varied experiences with violence during the conflict.
MinnPost
May 15, 2012
Most immigrants in Minnesota are seeking safety from violence or persecution. In other words, establishing a profile to justify "reasonable suspicion" of illegal immigration may prove difficult, if not impossible. Instead, Minnesotans may want to direct their gaze toward who stands to benefit from an increased numbers of detained individuals. This is an easy profile to establish.
Star Tribune
May 15, 2012
Former presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said Monday he wants off speculators' lists of potential running mates for presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney. He's not even sure a Cabinet post sounds all that appealing. The former two-term Minnesota governor emphatically denied any interest in joining the ticket following a policy-heavy speech at the University of Minnesota.
WCCO-TV
May 14, 2012
These three states are the "Battleground States of the Century," says the headline of the post by Eric Ostermaier, who does the research for Smart Politics, a news site for the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
USA Today, On Politics
May 14, 2012