Roll-out of the new national health care law is underway, but a new report warns of legal and regulatory barriers that could derail one of its critical components.
Steve Wicker, Cornell professor of electrical and computer engineering, discusses the recent disruption of mobile phone service by the Bay Area Rapid Transit System and service providers. He is writing a book, “Cellular Convergence and the Threat to Speech and Privacy,” to be published by Oxford University Press.
University of Arkansas law professors Brian Gallini and Laurent Sacharoff are available to discuss legal aspects of the controversial West Memphis Three case and the recent plea agreement that freed those convicted of the killings.
Investors are highly interested in information regarding corporate political spending, says Hillary Sale, JD, securities and corporate governance expert and the Walter D. Coles Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The SEC should address the need for transparency in political spending to better inform shareholders and allow them to protect themselves from hidden political agendas in corporate campaign spending,” she says.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a lawsuit against the Camdenton, Mo. school district for using filtering software to block websites targeted to the gay and lesbian community. "The Supreme Court has made clear that school districts have great latitude in choosing what educational materials they make available to their students," says Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law at Washington University In St. Louis. "However, in a case in 1982, a plurality of the Court suggested that schools may not have the authority to remove materials from school libraries based on viewpoint discrimination."
American courts are significantly expanding the legal rights and privileges celebrities can command over others using their names or likenesses. And a University at Buffalo Law School professor is questioning whether these courts have gone too far.
While the battle over the legality of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate requiring most individuals to purchase health insurance continues to be fought, its impact on the quality and cost of care and what it would mean for patients and their physicians has been largely overlooked.
A new policy research brief released today by the Geiger Gibson/RCHN Community Health Foundation Research Collaborative at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services examines the financial impact of community health centers in North Carolina, a state known for its primary care innovation.
As a Professor of Practice in Finance and Economics at Wake Forest University, Dr. Sherry Jarrell’s expertise is in valuing enterprises and strategies. She is an accomplished public speaker, award-winning teacher and frequent commentator on issues relating to law, business, economics and finance on local television and radio. She is also the co-author of Driving Shareholder Value: Value-Building Techniques for Creating Shareholder Wealth, published by McGraw Hill. More information is available at www.SherryJarrell.com.
Stephen Yale-Loehr, a faculty member at the Cornell University Law School and an authority on U.S. immigration law, is available for interviews after the 1 p.m. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announcement today.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, will unveil several initiatives that are designed to attract and retain foreign entrepreneurs, particularly in the high-tech sector, who wish to launch start-up companies in the United States.
While the new Consumer Protection Financial Bureau (CFPB), which opens today, is aimed at overseeing the books at big banks and making sure financial products are clear, a more effective solution would be to better enforce laws already on the books, says a banking expert at Washington University in St. Louis.
Researchers from the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program at the GW School of Public Health and Health Services have released an analysis of the HHS Proposed Rule related to the Health Benefit Exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. The newly-proposed rule outlines federal requirements states must meet in order to operate an Exchange, as well as standards related the qualified health plans (QHPs) sold through these Exchanges.
The phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch is starting to make waves in the United States as well, according to a media critic and former commentator for Fox News.
An Indiana University of Pennsylvania faculty member studied how humor or verbal play doesn’t always translate accurately into different languages during immigration hearings.
The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990, increasing opportunities experienced by people with disabilities. n the weeks leading up to the July 26th Anniversary, groups of people with disabilities, Centers for Independent Living, disability organizations, and State and local governments will be celebrating the full and active participation in community life made possible by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990, increasing opportunities experienced by people with disabilities. n the weeks leading up to the July 26th Anniversary, groups of people with disabilities, Centers for Independent Living, disability organizations, and State and local governments will be celebrating the full and active participation in community life made possible by the Americans with Disabilities Act.
A new report offers steps that California policy makers and businesses can take to improve the state’s chronically underfunded public transit system. Author Ethan Elkind, a climate change research fellow at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA schools of law, outlines how a well-funded system could address unemployment, high fuel costs and the long commutes that many Californians face.
Most recidivism research focuses on characteristics of the offender to determine the likelihood of repeat criminal activity. University of Cincinnati researchers are presenting recidivism research that instead looks at success factors of those residential programs (e.g. halfway houses) most likely to reduce recidivism.
According to a newly released Stony Brook Poll conducted in association with Left Right Research, a Long Island based Marketing Research supplier, more than 81 percent of approximately 7,000 people surveyed believe that they had contributed enough to Social Security to support themselves in retirement, or more than they will receive during their lifetime.
Changing the world can be fun, according to City Tech Professor Benjamin Shepard. His two recently published books explore the use of play as a valuable component of social movements and political activism, from the local to the national level.
AARP’s ambiguous statements about Social Security benefit cuts have led to a public roasting of the organization for caving into public pressure, says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, a nationally recognized expert on Social Security and the Walter D. Coles Professor Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. “Whatever stance AARP has taken, it does not provide ‘cover’ for the Obama Administration to agree to cut benefits now, soon or in the future. If AARP does not vigorously and clearly repudiate what some see as willingness to accept benefit cuts, AARP will be the loser.”
In what law firms and academic blogs are calling a watershed case, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB) has significantly expanded whistleblower protection under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) following successful arguments by a Salisbury University professor.
Civil procedure expert Justin Buehler is available to comment on Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, et al. Buehler, professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law and a former clerk for Judge Alfred Goodwin on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has followed the case closely through trial and appellate stages. He has spoken extensively to the media and given several presentations on the case.
A study focused on a new multiple-pollutant, risk-based approach doubles the health benefits achieved by conventional single contaminant approaches with improved outcomes for the susceptible and vulnerable.
The debate over whether President Obama has the authority under the War Powers Resolution to continue U.S. military involvement in Libya has come down to interpretation of the word “hostilities.” A UH Law Center expert on international law is available to comment on the issue, which he calls "highly problematic for U.S. military personnel."
Jason Frank, Cornell University professor of government and member of the Cornell Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies Program, comments on a proposed bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New York State.
A University of Arkansas finance professor analyzed a key British law that affects corporations using money to fund political advertisements in the United Kingdom and found that the law did not end corporate political spending.
Today, with threats of serious budget cuts looming, a new report demonstrates the effectiveness of the Medicaid program in addressing the health and financial needs of children and other vulnerable populations.
The synthesis, entitled "Medicaid Works: A Review of How Public Insurance Protects the Health and Finances of Children and Other Vulnerable Populations" examines the program that, since its inception in 1965, has been serving as a lifeline to millions of our nation’s most seriously ill and impoverished citizens.
States are passing more laws in an effort to stop distracted driving, but a new study led by Temple University finds that there is a widening gap between the data on distracted driving and the laws used to curb it.
A new study in the June issue of the American Sociological Review found evidence of how businesses engage in regulatory arbitrage and make decisions about where to open stores based on states’ regulatory policies. The study explored various states’ right-to-work (RTW) laws and Walmart store openings from 1998 through 2005.
Timothy Waters, a professor in the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and an expert on legal aspects of the conflict in the Balkans, is available this morning (May 27) to speak with news media about the arrest of Bosnian war crimes subject Ratko Mladic.
Policy advocates and groups looking at proposing legislation now have a budget-friendly tool that facilitates effective research of information from the 50 public domain state legislative databases. Created by researchers at the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis (PRC StL), the State Legislative Search Guide is designed for anyone interested in cross-state comparison of legislation. PRC StL is a collaboration between the School of Medicine and the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and the Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
Male disability applicants rejected for federal benefits tend to have lower earnings and labor force participation rates than beneficiaries over the decade prior to applying for federal disability benefits.
Sanya Carley, an assistant professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, examines the state-level policies and assesses their effectiveness for meeting energy and policy goals in the current issue of Review of Policy Research.
University of Montreal experts are available to comment to journalists about Thursday’s decision by the Supreme Court of British Columbia that will effectively end anonymity for sperm donors.
Nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population resides in private communities
otherwise known as common interest developments, yet a slow collapse of
the entire system is underway, according to the author of a new book on
homeowner associations.
An Indiana University of Pennsylvania criminologist has found that the fear of crime is not as prevalent in the elderly as it has been reported to be in previous studies. Dr. John Lewis, a faculty member in IUP’s Department of Criminology, recently co-authored a study in Law Enforcement Executive Forum, “The Role of Environmental Indicators on the Perceptions of Crime of the Elderly.” His co-author is Dr. Mike Arter, a 2005 graduate of IUP’s criminology doctoral program.
Two Indiana University of Pennsylvania criminologists believe that with recent failed national social policy, jails are being filled once again with the mentally ill.
Prostitution, which is illegal nationwide except for a few counties in Nevada, continues to create problems for communities and law-enforcement agencies. A new study by an economics researcher at the University of Arkansas analyzes the U.S. prostitution market and provides policy recommendations to increase safety for women and communities and help government agencies regulate or enforce “the oldest profession.”
Berkeley Law is merging three critically-acclaimed think tanks into one centralized research unit, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy. The institute’s core research areas will include education; health, economic & family security; immigration; and criminal justice.
Richard Geddes, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University and author of “The Road to Renewal: Private Investment in U.S. Transportation Infrastructure,” comments on the Department of Transportation’s recent allocation of $2 billion for high-speed rail.
In an op-ed in today's Washington Post, Gordon Adams, a professor at American University’s School of International Service, calls for more Pentagon budget cuts. Adams is a former associate director for national security and international affairs at the Office of Management and Budget.
People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher.
Dr. Patrick Flavin, assistant professor of political science at Baylor, said the effect of state intervention into the economy equaled or exceeded marriage when it came to satisfaction. The study is published in the spring issue of the journal Politics & Policy.
Social Security’s yearly cost-of living adjustments (COLA) are targeted for reduction through a proposed “chained COLA” formula, and that could be a huge problem for those dependent on Social Security income. “COLA is an invaluable feature of Social Security,” says Merton C. Bernstein, LLB, a nationally recognized expert on Social Security. According to Bernstein, Republican “reformers” propose to reduce COLA claiming that the current method of calculating it overstates inflation. “This unrealistically assumes that people have the opportunity to buy lower priced substitutes when millions of people lack access to markets that offer such choices,” he says.
The targeting of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was consistent with the U.N. charter and U.S. law and not an illegal assassination as some critics have argued, two national security law experts affirmed.
More American families are turning to federal assistance to heat their homes during the winter, with many more families eligible for but not taking advantage of the program, according to new research from the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.
The public favors equal custody for children of divorce, according to findings in a pair of studies by Arizona State University researchers that will appear in the May 2011 journal Psychology, Public Policy, and Law.
With over a dozen states considering banning Sharia (Islamic law) in their courts, laws governing other countries are facing increased scrutiny. “This is emblematic of U.S. fears about international law,” says Leila Nadya Sadat, the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. “International law has become a ‘whipping boy’ for the ills that are being felt because of globalization.” Sadat say that this is unfortunate because the United States proudly led the trial of the major German leaders at the end of World War II at Nuremberg.
Criminal Law Professor Brian Gallini is available to answer questions and provide expert commentary regarding the Department of Justice’s recent indictment of the principals of the three largest internet poker companies.