Life News (Law and Public Policy)

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USC Marshall expert available to discuss election impacts of social networking and other new-media technologies. How are social-networking technologies transforming this year's election? With Super Tuesday's tsunami of state primaries about to crest, some campaigns have effectively harnessed the power of many-to-many communications technologies such as social networking, while others have struggled. Social networking is this generation's equivalent of the television in 1968 or radio in 1932, a once-a-generation transformative media platform that reshapes the political discourse for those politicians savvy enough to understand it.

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Randall Miller, Ph.D., political expert and commentator offers insights into the role Pennsylvania might play in the presidential election after the votes are tallied on Super Tuesday.

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With 22 states in play in the Super Tuesday (Feb. 5) jockeying for the White House, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has experts able to analyze the race, its many moving parts and what Tuesday's primary and caucus results might mean for Wisconsin's Feb. 19 primary.

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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is releasing two new evaluations of speed camera enforcement in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Montgomery County, Maryland.

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The US Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing yesterday in Washington, DC, on older Americans and the significant barriers they face in exercising their right to vote. Jason Karlawish, MD, associate professor of Medicine and Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, testified before the Committee, citing results from a series of his studies examining voting rights for the elderly.

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Forget the polling data on how the remaining presidential contenders might fare against each other in November. You can get a visceral sense of what the match-ups may produce by the way the candidates move. As certified movement analysts, we see campaigns as elaborate dances and, sometimes, athletic confrontations, says Karen Bradley at the University of Maryland and her colleague Karen Studd at George Mason.

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With the front edge of 75 million Baby Boomers now hitting sixty years of age, policies that affect seniors could gain substantial attention in this year's U.S. presidential race. The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) examined positions from leading candidates and today released their findings on seven issues affecting America's aging population.

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Whether it's out of frustration with the current administration or because they've embraced and identified with a candidate's platform, young people are voting in record numbers this primary season. With this early and significant turnout, candidates and political pundits want to know more about this demographic and their voting behavior before November's election day.

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Has Barack Obama's movement grown strong enough that he can win in states where he hasn't campaigned extensively? That's the overriding question as voters head to the polls on Super Tuesday, says Rowan University professor Larry Butler.

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Sure, it's just a TV show, but a University of Iowa law professor says "24" can have real-world legal implications. "Ruminations on '24' would be just an entertaining diversion if it were not for the fact that the show has slowly seeped into the national debate on antiterrorism tactics," said Tung Yin, law professor and expert on national security law.

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If politics were like high school, Republicans would be the football stars and Democrats would be chess club captains. Those stereotypes are the easiest way to summarize part of the conclusions made by a marketing professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

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To influence voters, especially those without strong ideological beliefs, presidential candidates should pay as much attention to their oratorical skills as stances on issues, said political scientist Christian Grose. Also, highly educated voters are more likely than those with fewer years of schooling to be influenced by complex speech.

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A poll released today notes that Americans and Russians agree that their governments should work together to prevent an arms race in space. Large majorities in both countries favor unilateral restraint and a treaty that would keep space free of weapons.

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Electronic voting technology, especially touch screen systems, easily pass the tests of voter confidence and satisfaction, but users still make too many mistakes and ask too often for help, says a major new study led by the University of Maryland and conducted with the University of Rochester and the University of Michigan.

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As the presidential hopefuls hit the campaign trail hard, news outlets from across the country are turning to Colgate University professors for their insight and perspective. Colgate faculty can provide analysis on topics ranging from facial characteristics of candidates and hand gestures to campaign finance reform and spending.

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University at Buffalo political science professor James E. Campbell has studied presidential campaigns for more than three decades and says this year's race for party nominations is the "most peculiar" he can remember.

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Experts from Binghamton University, State University of New York, are available to discuss issues related to the 2008 presidential campaign, including 1) illegal immigration 2) the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain 3) economic globalization 4) campaign financing 5) voter turnout.

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David Kaczynski, Executive Director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty (NYADP) will be the presenter at the discussion group entitled " On Settling the Score: Crime, Punishment, and the Death Penalty" on Thursday, January 17, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. as part of the American Psychoanalytic Association's 2008 Winter Meeting to be held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.

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A workshop will bring together experts in space policy, law and emerging technologies to discuss steps in establishing a global consensus on security in outer space.

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President Bush gives his final State of the Union Address on Monday, January 28. Maryland Visiting Associate Professor Karen Kohn Bradley knows a thing or two about HOW to watch a State of the Union - she's a certified movement analyst who studies the nonverbal and movement behaviors of political leaders. She offers tips on how to watch the State of the Union with a critical eye.

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Proposed legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will have little impact on America's future economic growth, according to a new report conducted by researchers at RTI International and Harvard University for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Flooding in California's Central Valley is "the next big disaster waiting to happen," but water-related infrastructure issues confront almost every community across the country, according to engineers at the University of Maryland's Clark School of Engineering in separate reports to California officials and in the journal Science.

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Are we at a tipping point where our country is ready to elect an African-American president? Stephen Jones, Central Michigan University assistant professor of history and authority on African-Americans in the legal process, is available to discuss how we might be.

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David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, is available to discuss new policies adopted by MySpace designed to protect children from Internet predators.

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A new study appearing in the February issue of Political Psychology finds moral values can be significant motivators of political engagement, but equally so for voters on both ends of the political spectrum.

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Political attack ads, widely demonized by pundits and politicians, are instead a kind of multi-vitamin for the democratic process, sparking voters' interest and participation, according to a new book co-authored by University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Kenneth Goldstein.

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World leaders from Africa and the Middle East will gather at Florida State University for a first-of-its-kind intercultural dialogue designed to support a United Nations initiative, the Alliance of Civilizations.

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One year ago today, China blew up its own aging weather spacecraft by way of an anti-satellite (ASAT) device. The result? The most prolific amount of orbital debris created in five decades of worldwide space activities. Secure World Foundation has flagged the event, calling for international policy action on several fronts.

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Hillary Clinton's changed campaign style made the difference last night, says a University of Maryland political communication expert just back from New Hampshire. Her colleague says voters there humbled media, pollsters and pundits in yesterday's first primary election of 2008.

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One of the nation's leading authorities on campaigns and elections will address the UC San Diego Social Sciences Supper Club on January 30, when there will be less than a week to go just before primaries are held on "Super Tuesday" in 23 states including California.

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Based on a random sample of registered voters in Indiana, Mississippi and Maryland, a new study by American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) finds, surprisingly, that only 1.2 percent of registered voters lack a government-issued photo ID, and more than two-thirds of all registered voters in the three states feel that the electoral system would be trusted more if people had to show an ID to vote.

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Researchers in the Mack-Blackwell Rural Transportation Center at the University of Arkansas have completed a seminal study on the security of U.S. rural transportation networks. The study provides a low-cost and efficient tool to assess the vulnerability of rural transportation assets and will help officials develop and implement plans for emergency preparedness.

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As voters go to the polls in New Hampshire, Barak Obama's rhetoric has become a "controversial, key storyline" says University of Maryland political communication expert Shawn Parry-Giles, who has been in New Hampshire observing media and candidates and citizens.

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On Jan. 9, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in a case that will determine whether an Indiana law requiring all voters to present a government-issued photo ID before voting is unconstitutional and unfairly impacts the elderly, the poor and minorities. An Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis expert is available for media interviews regarding the case.

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Latest dispatches from New Hampshire as University of Maryland political communication experts trail candidates and media: The power of Obama's oratory, what some consider a lost art, may well say as much about the state of the electorate in the post-Bush years; Hillary Clinton is working hard to be the 2nd 'come back kid' through old fashioned retail politics and citizen engagement...

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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.