Life News (Law and Public Policy)

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"The Iowa caucuses provided citizens rare opportunities to meet presidential hopefuls in person, to ask them questions and engage in meaningful dialogues with fellow citizens. It forced the candidates to fan out among the citizenry "“ at truck stops, churches, senior centers, factories, farms, wherever people gather "“ and listen to their concerns," said Rick Hardy, professor and chair of Western Illinois University's political science department.

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University of Maryland political communication expert Kathleen Kendall is continuing a 20-year tradition: trailing presidential candidates through New Hampshire from an unusual vantage. Traveling and sitting with the press, Kendall carefully notes the interactions between the candidates, media and citizens. See her dispatches from the Granite State.

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No longer "corrupt and contented"? Noted political commentator Randall Miller, Ph.D., of Saint Joseph's University discusses the sweeping changes expected in Philadelphia with the inauguration of Mayor-elect Michael Nutter.

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Today's Iowa Caucuses may be the last in which the largely rural, sparsely populated and predominately white conservative Midwestern state exerts such a huge influence on the presidential nomination process, predicts Steven S. Smith, a political expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Politicians may sling mud at one another, but wise workers will stay above the fray during the 2008 presidential election campaign by keeping heated political discussions out of the workplace, a civility expert says.

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A new, first-of-its-kind study conducted by American University Professors Pat Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi finds that many online videos creatively use copyrighted materials in ways that are eligible for fair use consideration under copyright law; In short, they potentially are using copyrighted material legally.

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Cornell Law School is set to launch a student exchange program with Peking University beginning in fall 2008. The program marks the law school's first formal agreement with the premier law school in China.

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The United States lags behind other developed countries in the structure and financing of its air traffic control system. And its failure to adopt reforms may have serious consequences as air travel and air cargo become an increasingly important part of the global economy, a new book says.

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In their new book "Meeting the Needs of Children with Disabilities," researchers Laudan Y. Aron and Pamela J. Loprest detail the challenges facing children with disabilities and their parents when these families try to navigate the multiple, complex public service systems intended to meet their multifaceted needs.

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Psychology faculty members at the University of Rhode Island have signed a resolution opposing the position of the American Psychological Association that allows psychologists working in foreign prisons to assist teams in certain kinds of interrogations.

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A new national study of voters who say they might vote in Democractic primaries and caucuses shows a striking disconnect between their explicit and implicit (or unconscious) preference that may mean polls are overestimate support for Barack Obama and underestimating backing for Hillary Clinton.

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Election 2008 is in full swing and it is any candidates' ballgame. Central Michigan University experts are available for commentary on various issues including elections and voting, campaign practices, youth political participation, the Iraq war, health care, global warming, candidates' use of the Web and new media, and candidate communication.

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School is supposed to be a safe haven for students, but 30 percent of U.S. adolescents in grades six through 10 are involved in bullying "” as instigators or victims. A new study looks at this public health problem and laws aimed at protecting children.

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The University of Texas School of Law filed Monday (Dec. 17) a certiorari petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review the sentence of a South Carolina prisoner, Chris Pittman, who is serving a 30-year term without parole for an offense he committed when he was 12 years old.

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When New Hampshire voters cast their first-in-the-nation primary votes January 8, many of them will be doing so for the first time ever. A new analysis of the state's demographic trends finds that New Hampshire, with a total population of 1.3 million, gained 79,000 residents between 2000 and 2006, and that most of this growth came from net migration.

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Experts from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) discuss the 2008 presidential campaign. Topics include Mitt Romney's remarks about his religious beliefs; campaign financing; religion and politics; political polling, and African American voters.

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Members of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the Elder Justice Coalition in the fight against elder abuse are calling on lawmakers to approve The Elder Justice Act, a bipartisan bill. With America's 75 million Baby Boomers approaching retirement age, such steps are needed to protect a growing elder population from harm.

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University of Arkansas researchers available to comment on the pre-primary period, funds and fundraising, the use of Web sites and blogs, negative campaigning and the impact of debates -- as well as on candidate Mike Huckabee.

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The University of Maryland is working to become one of the nation's most environmentally friendly campuses.

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About 20 faculty members from the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law will participate in a program to train Afghan prosecutors, helping the Afghan people develop fair, equitable and effective legal institutions and processes.

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Anyone familiar with MySpace, Facebook and YouTube knows that the Internet has literally plugged young people into and connected them with the world around them. What many people may not realize, says Kathryn C. Montgomery, a professor at American University, is that the five policy issues central to the future of the Internet as a digitally democratic environment also stand to significantly change "“ for better or worse "“ this renewed youth engagement.

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Torture has been practiced in recent decades by more than 98 percent of nations that experience any political violence, including Western democracies, according to a study by a University of Maryland researcher and colleagues. A second Maryland researcher finds that torture is rarely isolated and ends up being used broadly and institutionalized.

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The widely criticized structural adjustment policies of international financial institutions can help spread democracy around the world, according to a new book co-authored by a researcher at the Binghamton University, State University of New York.

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UAB political scientist says gender violence should be relabeled as terrorism.

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As one of the largest human rights datasets in the world, the Cingranelli and Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Project shines a global spotlight on government respect for a wide range of human rights. Headed up by David Cingranelli, professor of political science at Binghamton University, and David Richards, assistant professor of political science at the University of Memphis, CIRI tracks data from 195 countries over a 26-year period.

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Members of the House of Representatives recently passed legislation giving reporters the right to protect confidential sources in most federal cases, but the shield-law legislation's future is unsure and President Bush says he'll veto it. One First Amendment scholar says the legislation is more about the public's right to know than the reporter's right to protection.

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Looking for an expert on civil liberties and social justice issues? Tulane University faculty are available to comment.

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Allan D. Sobel, director of the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., argues that inmate executions in the U.S. should be stopped while institutional problems with the justice system are addressed.

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University of Toronto has created a new guide to by-pass internet censorship called "Everyone's guide to by-passing Internet censorship for citizens worldwide."

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Although U.S. citizens can't vote on each individual issue or dilemma facing this nation, that's no excuse for Americans to refrain from participating in their own governance, declares Dr. Larry Burris, a First Amendment scholar and journalism professor, who adds that "the public's business should be conducted in public; not in smoke-filled rooms, restaurants or sports facilities."

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The Spelman College administration and faculty consists of some of the country's most well-versed experts in the areas of race relations, gender issues, and insight on the late Martin Luther King Jr.

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Issues related to social justice and civil liberties are at the forefront of many current-events discussions. Several Central Michigan University faculty experts are available to comment on these types of topics, including international social change, the current political climate for freedom of the press and freedom of speech, HIPAA and patient privacy, and U.S. international relations.

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University of Arkansas at Little Rock experts are available for interviews focused topics, including reparations for African American descendants, First Amendment issues, the rights of immigrants, criminal justice topics, and other inequalities present in the legal system and workplace.

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Why do racial equality and understanding elude our nation almost half a century after the civil rights movement was supposed to solve the problems? Leaders of the National Coalition Building Institute, Facing History and Ourselves and Rhodes College"” three national organizations dedicated to erasing prejudice"”believe that progress begins with bringing people together for meaningful conversations.

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Grinnell College faculty with expertise in civil liberties and social justice, including Martin Luther King, Jr., U.S. foreign policy and "despotic" regimes, immigration issues, the Darfur, and inequalities based on gender, race, and sexuality.

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Professors from Appalachian State University available for civil liberties/social injustice comments. Matthew Robinson, the author of "Death Nation," reports the opinions of scholarly death penalty experts as to whether the death penalty achieves its goals, is plagued by serious problems, and is an appropriate punishment for convicted murderers. Barbara Zaitzow researches women in prison, alternatives to incarceration, female criminality and social control techniques used with women in prison.

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With Oprah Winfrey's recent announcement that she will support Barack Obama, it would appear that it is open season for celebrity endorsements in the 2008 presidential election. But do celebrity campaigners make a difference for voters? New research suggests that while celebrity endorsements help a campaign earn visibility, their support yields little return in the voting booth.

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In Memphis, Rhodes College, a top private liberal arts college, has for years brought diverse peoople with different perspectives together for meaningful dialogues about race. Its latest effort, Crossroads to Freedom, is among the most ambitious efforts to help Memphis heal and move forward.

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How people respond to the U.S. government's attempts to censor some war-related images comes down to whether or not they are supporters of President Bush, a new study suggests.

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The University of Maryland will host a field hearing by the U.S. Helsinki Commission that asks: "Is it Torture Yet?" U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), co-chair of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is convening the hearing to gather expert testimony on torture and other forms of banned treatment.

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Using an unusually extensive dataset, an international team of researchers has identified several factors that promote government innovation.

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A new book co-edited by an Indiana University professor marks the 60th anniversary of India's independence and subsequent transition to democracy and will receive major recognition when released there next week. The new book, The State of India's Democracy (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), will be released in New Delhi next Tuesday (Dec. 11) in a ceremony at the official residence of Mohammed Hamid Ansari, vice president of India.

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Even with polls showing her running neck-and-neck with Barack Obama in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton is acting and sounding like the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination. And she is, says Rowan University's Larry Butler.

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The technical question presented to the Supreme Court on Wednesday is whether alien detainees held outside the sovereign United States in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are entitled to the benefits of the Constitutional protection of habeas corpus access to federal trial courts under the so-called Suspension Clause within the U. S. Constitution.

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Former Senator Bob Graham, who chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during the 9/11 attacks and in the months leading up to the Iraq War, will discuss past and present national intelligence failures during a talk Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 3:30 p.m. in Bozorth Hall Auditorium at Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, N.J.

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Michele Dillon, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, is available to discuss the significance of former Gov. Mitt Romney's upcoming speech about his Mormon faith, and the role of religion and religious voters in presidential elections.

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University of Arkansas political scientist Janine Parry has nine years of data from the statewide Arkansas Poll on the public perception of Mike Huckabee in his home state, and she's available to comment on his presidential candidacy.

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With exactly one month to go until the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, a new Iowa State University Poll of 1,416 registered Iowa voters finds Hillary Clinton leading among likely Democratic caucus attendees, while Mitt Romney has a slim lead over Mike Huckabee among Republican caucus goers.

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Indiana University School of Law professors comment on Wednesday's Supreme Court hearing regarding whether federal judges have jurisdiction to hear cases brought by detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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Serial killers may be responsible for up to 10 times as many U.S. deaths as previously estimated, according to an analysis by a criminologist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.