TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalNew Problems In Higher Ed Emerge Because of "Crushing Debt Crisis"
New issues in higher education, like student debt held by baby boomers and increases in the numbers of homeless and hungry students at public colleges, are stemming from the same problem, according to former Secretary of Education Paul Reville.
“Hunger and homelessness among current college students or debt among baby boomers... are symptoms of this crushing debt crisis,” he said today on Boston Public Radio. “They’re representative of just how far off track we are in terms of the way in which we’re financing higher education generally now, and the overly burdensome load that students and their families are carrying.”
Recent news stories highlight surprising statistics; people over the age of 66 hold more than $66 billion in student loan debt, and more than 1,000 students at public colleges and universities in the Bay State are homeless or at risk for becoming homeless.
According to Reville, these problems are linked to the high cost of college.
He explained that sky-high college costs are part of an inflation that’s happening for a number of reasons.
Read more: http://news.wgbh.org/2017/01/26/local-news/new-problems-higher-ed-emerge-because-crushing-debt-crisis
Pig-Human Hybrids Could Be Used To Harvest Organs For Transplants
Last week, scientists announced that they have successfully added human stem cells to a pig embryo, creating a hybrid animal they called a chimera, after the mythical creature.
The breakthrough, detailed in the science journal Cell, could potentially be the start of a new way to produce organs for human transplant. Organs grown inside the pig-human hybrid will be easier for human bodies to accept because of its’ partial human DNA. Once the organs inside the pig have reached the desired size, the big would be slaughtered and the organs would be harvested for transplant. This system could greatly benefit the 76,000 people currently waiting for organ transplants in the United States.
While the hybrid animal will still look like a pig and not display any human features, some ethicist have worried about the creation of freakish lab made creatures and raising pigs strictly to harvest their organs.
“I support the idea,” said Medical ethicist and the director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU’s Langone Medical Center Art Caplan on Boston Public Radio Tuesday. “The motive is good. It is to try to find ways to grow organs to meet this terrible shortage we have of organs for transplants. Scientists aren’t hanging around trying to figure out how to make a minotaur or some kind of freakish thing for their amusement.”
Read more: http://news.wgbh.org/2017/01/31/pig-human-hybrids-could-be-used-harvest-organs-transplants
Senators reject governor's idea to delay school voting
MONTPELIER - Gov. Phil Scott's idea to delay school budget voting found no support Tuesday at a key Senate committee, even among the panel's two Republican members.
The Senate Education Committee voted 6-0 to reject the Republican governor's idea of holding all Vermont school budget votes on May 23, rather than on Town Meeting Day in March. The date change is at the heart of the governor's budget and would give school boards more time to comply with strict limits on education spending.
The governor has asked lawmakers to make a quick decision on the date change before considering his overall education package. He argues that a May vote would give school districts "more opportunity" to talk with their communities about spending.
"I’m not sure I’m understanding what the downside is to that," Scott said at a news conference last week.
Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/31/senators-reject-gov-phil-scott-idea-delay-school-budget-vote/97291666/
Hundreds rally in Burlington to support refugees
First, Enrique Belcazar read a statement in Spanish, then Will Lambek spoke in English. Their message was the same, in support of refugees coming to America and in opposition to new President Donald Trump’s restrictions on immigration.
“Immigration is a human right,” Lambek said, translating Belcazar’s words, “and you can’t trump human rights.”
The two men from the Burlington-based organization Migrant Justice were among an estimated 700 people in the crowd Tuesday night at Burlington’s City Hall Park. They gathered to protest restrictions on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, affecting refugees from war-ravaged nations such as Iraq and Syria.
Trump says his executive order is necessary to keep potential terrorists from entering the United States. A statement read at the rally from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in opposing Trump's plan says America is a nation of immigrants with a history of welcoming the oppressed. Opponents also argue that the restrictions do nothing to make the country safer.
Read more: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2017/01/31/hundreds-rally-burlington-support-refugees/97253776/
Senator: Army Corps Told to Approve Dakota Pipeline Easement
Source: AP
The Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline to proceed under a disputed Missouri River crossing, North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said on Tuesday, the latest twist in a months-long legal battle over the $3.8 billion project.
The Standing Rock Sioux, whose opposition to the project attracted thousands of supporters from around the country to North Dakota, immediately vowed to again go to court to stop it.
Hoeven announced late Tuesday that the acting Secretary of the Army, Robert Speer, had directed the Army Corps of Engineers to "proceed" with an easement necessary to complete the pipeline. Hoeven said he also spoke with Vice President Mike Pence, just a week after President Donald Trump signed an executive order signaling his support for the project.
A spokesman for the U.S. Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night. Hoeven spokesman Don Canton says that Speer's move means the easement "isn't quite issued yet, but they plan to approve it" within days.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/senator-army-corp-told-approve-dakota-pipeline-easement-45178876
Report shows roughly $160 million state surplus last year
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Strong state revenues allowed New Hampshire to end the last fiscal year with a nearly $160 million surplus.
The final numbers are part of the state's annual financial report released Tuesday that covers the year ending June 30, 2016. The report says $88.5 million of the surplus went into the state's general fund, while about $70 million went into the Rainy Day fund, giving it a much higher balance than normal.
Business taxes performed roughly 23 percent better than expected. The tax on rooms and meals also came in ahead of projections.
Now in the budget's second year, the state is projecting a shortfall in the health department. The budget ends June 30. Gov. Chris Sununu will present his plan for the next two-year budget next week.
http://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/regional/report-shows-roughly-million-state-surplus-last-year/article_e9db3eb0-9d29-5726-ba4d-e47e05dff181.html
House members propose bill to legalize marijuana
A House bill would legalize small amounts of marijuana and marijuana plants without creating a regulated market.
The bill, put forward by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would remove all civil and criminal penalties for adult possession of 2 ounces or less of marijuana. It would also allow adults to grow a total of two mature marijuana plants and seven immature plants per household.
It does not create any sort of regulatory structure to establish a legal market for marijuana sales.
The proposal is similar to the model adopted in Washington, D.C., in February 2015, after voters approved legalization by ballot initiative the previous November.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/31/house-members-propose-bill-legalize-marijuana/
Vermont Yankee to move fuel in spring
BRATTLEBORO – Vermont Yankee’s radioactive spent fuel soon will be on the move.
In April, a contractor will begin loading the shut-down Vernon nuclear plant’s fuel into sealed casks, which will be placed on a concrete pad.
The fuel is not going far: The pad is a short walk from the plant’s reactor building, where thousands of spent fuel assemblies currently are stored.
But the move is important for two reasons. It’s central to a proposed sale of Vermont Yankee, and it also will be a closely watched, tightly controlled transfer of hazardous material.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/27/vermont-yankee-move-fuel-spring/
Rutland firefighters union turns against chief
RUTLAND — The city firefighters union issued a vote of no confidence in its fire chief last week, further complicating efforts to resolve a dispute over the department’s budget.
According to union President Seth Bride, members of the union’s executive board waited for two hours with their laptops open in anticipation of an email from Chief Michael Jones explaining a proposed restructuring plan. It didn’t come.
Rutland fire department
The following day, just a few hours before a special Board of Aldermen meeting to discuss the fire budget, Mayor Chris Louras and Jones distributed a three-page draft of the plan aimed at overhauling the department’s approach to fire safety and prevention.
The plan calls for the appointment of an assistant chief who “will act as a coach, mentor, and a liaison between management and labor,” and a fire prevention training officer who will focus on public safety and community outreach.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/30/rutland-firefighters-union-turns-chief/
Gov. Scott promises to fight Trump orders
RUTLAND — Vermont leaders say they will push back against President Donald Trump’s executive order closing the borders to people from seven Muslim nations.
Republican Gov. Phil Scott, Congressman Peter Welch, D-Vt., and T.J. Donovan, the Vermont attorney general, say the order is immoral and possibly unconstitutional.
Scott issued a strongly worded rebuke of the president’s order suspending the nation’s refugee resettlement program for 120 days and indefinitely barring Syrian refugees from entering the country.
He spoke in Rutland on Monday where up to 100 refugees from Syria and Iraq were to be settled in the coming weeks. Trump’s ban indefinitely halts the resettlement of refugees in Rutland until the federal government determines that their admission is “consistent with the national interest.” The first two families arrived earlier this month, but officials say they may now be the last.
Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/31/scott-promises-fight-trump-orders/
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
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Current location: Bryan, Texas
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