Tag Archives: california

Tackling tuition

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Here in California, education has been making headlines this week, as the University of California board of regents voted to increase tuition more than 30%. And California is hardly alone. Across the country, education is being affected by the recession.

In New Hampshire, some students are facing a subprime loan crisis much like the housing one – except this time it’s loans to help cover rising tuition costs of higher education.

“In many cases private student loans come with variable interest rates that can top twenty percent. In addition, a number of recent graduates contend that the education they paid for included sub-par labs, mediocre instructors, and fell short of the quality education that was advertised.”

NewsHour’s Paul Solman reported that a new bill making its way through the Senate would move the student loan industry under the Department of Education, reducing the subprime risk.

In Michigan, among the areas hardest hit by recession, some recent graduates are staying true to their state.

“Anna Barson graduated from The University in Michigan and immediately moved to Washington D.C, and then New York. She’s discovered there’s a lot of grassroots activism in Detroit she wants to be a part of.
“I do feel some connection, and if I am serious about wanting to do social justice work, Detroit– I mean, it is in my home state, and I think it would be hypocritical of me to completely ignore that,” said Barson.”

Propublica reported on how the US Department of Education is dividing up stimulus funds to schools – and it’s turning into a competitive race to get any of that funding.

“Using an elaborate scoring system just announced, the program will benefit only those states that have already taken steps to shake up their school systems, the [Wall Street] Journal reports. “This is going to be highly competitive, and there are going to be a lot more losers than winners,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporter Neil King Jr. Preliminary plans for the program provoked an outpouring of criticism, The New York Times reports, but the final rules have added flexibility. Some potentially volatile aspects remain – like President Barack Obama’s emphasis on charter schools – but the new rules invite states to describe “innovative public schools other than charter schools.”

There is some good news for veterans looking to go back to school, however. As Emilie Ritter reported for Montana Public Radio back in August, a new GI bill is sending those who’ve served back to college — for free.

Financing the fires

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Station Fire, Los Angeles. Credit: Anthony Citrano/ZigZagLens.com

Station Fire, L.A. Credit: Anthony Citrano/ZigZagLens.com

The fires burning in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles have already cost two lives and thousands of acres of protected land. How much will the emergency spending to control the disaster cost the already bankrupt state?

Patt Morrison of Pasadena-based public radio NPR station KPCC reported this morning that the California Department of Finance has spent $106 million out of a $182 million emergency firefighting fund.

Even before the latest fire, California’s resources were burned out on fire control costs. In this piece from last July, the LA Times reported that fire service costs had grown exponentially:

“Wildfire costs are busting the Forest Service budget. A decade ago, the agency spent $307 million on fire suppression. Last year, it spent $1.37 billion. Fire is chewing through so much Forest Service money that Congress is considering a separate federal account to cover the cost of catastrophic blazes. In California, state wildfire spending has shot up 150% in the last decade, to more than $1 billion a year.”

At the time I wrote this blog, the biggest fear for radio and television stations in the region is the threat the fire poses to Mt. Wilson, where most of LA’s communications towers are set up. Media blog LA Observed reports that “Several area radio stations without backup sites at other facilities could be especially vulnerable, although information coming out of the fire area is understandably incomplete.”

PBS station KCET has a warning ticker on their its Web site, noting that services could be interrupted due to fire damage on Mt. Wilson. By the time you read this the fires could have already consumed Mt. Wilson. In fact, fire officials were predicting that such an occurrence was only a matter of when, not if, it would happen. Endangered fire fighters were already pulled from the top of Mt. Wilson for safety reasons.

For the latest on the Station Fire, follow LA public media resources SoCal Connected (on Twitter, @socalconnected) and KPCC’s Patt Morrison (@patt_Morrison). KPCC is also asking readers to send in their images of the fires and stories from the local area.

Water, water everywhere

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Roman Polanski’s classic film Chinatown centers on a key issue in Los Angeles politics – water. And more than 30 years since the movie’s release, water is still one of the biggest issues in California. Given the economic climate, it might seem like saving water pales in comparison to dealing with the ongoing mortgage crisis or reducing the state’s debts. But water and how it gets to farms, homes, and cities in California is tied to economics and politics in a number of ways.

Non-profit journalism project Spot.us asks the community to support journalists to report specific stories. Recently, the site uncovered a story about a San Francisco Bay Area group that got the local government to allow the reuse of graywater to conserve water and help survive California’s drought. Learn more about graywater use in California from this KOSU report about Catalina Island.

And California’s water issues are just , uh…a drop in the bucket compared with the global demand for the stuff:

The 2004 film “Thirst” featured on PBS’ POV examined water politics and the idea that clean water could soon be a commodity as valuable as oil, both in the U.S. and abroad.

In “The New Economy of Water” the filmmakers discuss water privatization:

“In the best cases, more efficient operation has allowed people without access to be hooked up to centralized water systems. But the problem remains that those cities, states, and nations with the biggest water problems and the strongest incentives to privatize are often the least prepared to deal with the many potential problems of water privatization.”

PRI’s The World reported this month that just one less toilet flush per day can save over a thousand gallons of water per year.

What’s happening in your community to conserve water? The following TED talk shows one way a new type of portable filter can take dirty water and make it usable again:

Schools feel the pinch – and the pinchers

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It may be summer vacation for students, but public schools around the country are in the headlines, as they are usually among the first to feel the impact of budget cuts. Already strapped for cash, some are coming up with new ideas to make the most of what they have, both in terms of staff and resources.

In Oakland, California, budget cuts have bred creativity – as well as several species of creatures. Cultivating their own insects and small animals like crayfish for science projects, rather than buying them from suppliers, has saved the district over $200,000.
Youth Radio reports on this unique approach.

In Seattle, teachers are seeing cutbacks beyond classroom resources as layoffs loom. Teacher seniority is the traditional way that layoffs are conducted in the school system. KPLU reports on a group of teachers that is pushing for a merit-based system that retains the best – rather than those who’ve been there longest. But the idea is facing criticism from both the union and the school system.

It’s not just elementary and high school education that are at risk due to the economic downturn. Students have faced increased costs at universities, among them the University of California system. This week, KQED’s California Report spoke with UC President Mark Yudof.

“The budget leaves us hurting badly…it leaves us somewhat less competitive for faculty and staff.”

Listen to The California Report interview with Yudof.

Cash-strapped California

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With an economy larger than most countries in the world, how can the state of California be in so much financial trouble? NPR is taking an in-depth look at how the Golden State went broke, and what’s being done to dig out with a series called California in Crisis.

San Francisco’s KQED has a collection of economic coverage that tracks the California situation, including reports on how small businesses are coping and whether the downturn is actually creating opportunity for the state’s tech hubs in Silicon Valley.

And NewsHour talked to Patchwork Nation’s Dante Chinni about the foreclosures in monied burbs — a key community in struggling California.

Listen to the interview here: Foreclosures in Monied Burbs? and read the full report.