World

London Shifts Gears to Favor Bicycles

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Armed with a proposal to develop 12 major “superhighways” for bicyclists throughout the city, along with a daily “congestion charge” of almost $50 for polluting vehicles, England’s capital city is gearing up to become the world’s newest bicycle utopia. London’s mayor hopes the programs will result in a 400 percent increase in the number of cyclists in the city by 2025. The plan, which will cost approximately $780 million over ten years, will also develop cycling networks in outlying suburban areas, and link London neighborhoods with business and commercial districts. London will also take a cue from Paris, which recently began providing free bicycle rentals for short trips, by developing its own free rental service in the city center. Source:
“City’s Two-Wheeled Transformation”
The Guardian (U.K.), February 9, 2008

Democracy & Civics

A "Complicated Truth" About Obama Donations

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Although Barack Obama has publicly disavowed campaign donations from lobbyists, the candidate, along with his rival Hillary Clinton, has received millions of dollars in donations from special-interest groups linked to the legal, pharmaceutical and health-care industries. The Columbia Journalism Review notes that the Obama campaign did indeed take far less money from registered lobbyists — just $86,000 — through the end of December 2007 than either Clinton ($800,000) or Republican candidate John McCain ($400,000). However, money from industry-linked special interests can follow other routes into campaign coffers besides registered lobbyists. Citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics and Opensecrets.org, the Review notes that Obama has raised “grouped” donations in the amount of $9.5 million from lawyers and law firms (compared to Clinton’s $11.8 million). Obama and Clinton have also raised similar amounts from the healthcare products and pharmaceutical industries — $338,000 and $349,000, respectively — as well as $1.7 million and $2.3 million each from “health professionals,” including doctors, nurses and dentists.

Democracy & Civics

Friend of Hostages, or Friend of Hostage-Takers?

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Venezuela’s firebrand President Hugo Chavez has been deeply involved in recent months in trying to resolve the long-running standoff over hundreds of hostages held by Colombian rebels. He was credited last month for gaining the release of two hostages, and he spoke last week with French President Nicolas Sarkozy about working to attain the release of more. But new criticisms against Chavez say he is doing more harm than good — and a former hostage agrees. Geologist Jorge Andres Sierra, who spent two years as a captive of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia’s second-largest leftist rebel group, said the Venezuelan government has provided safe haven to the guerillas. Sierra’s remarks were reported by the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, as well as Spain’s EFE news agency, and published in English by the Hindustan Times.

Economy

Much Puffery About Air-Powered Car

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An automobile that runs on compressed air got a boost this week with an investment from India’s Tata Motors. MDI Industries, of Carros, France, designed the cars based on technology invented by Guy Negre, a former Formula One engineer. The project has been in development for 14 years, but no carmaker has yet put the car into production. Now, according to some reports, Tata is planning to manufacture and sell air cars in India later this year for the equivalent of about $5,000. But, in the Financial Times of London, Tata’s managing director downplayed expectations, saying: “It’s a very exciting concept, this way of running a car.

Democracy & Civics

Wikileaks Shutdown Thwarted

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Infoworld technology guru Robert X. Cringley said the attempted shutdown of the Wikileaks Web site by a U.S. judge at the request of a Swiss bank was a futile effort that only fueled greater interest in the bank’s financial practices. The move also caused the proliferation of “mirror” sites for Wikileaks around the world, he said, all carrying the leaked documents the bank wanted to keep from the public. Source:
“Look before you leak”
Infoworld, February 20, 2008

Economy

Wealth Gap Widens in Silicon Valley

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The information economy may be firing on all cylinders, but in Silicon Valley more than 60,000 “midwage” jobs — defined as those paying between $30,000 to $80,000 annually — disappeared between 2002 and 2006. During that same period, however, Silicon Valley employers added more than 66,000 jobs paying less than $30,000. The Silicon Valley Index, published annually by a public-private consortium, details the changes, many of which contain “good news,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. This includes increased worker productivity, more venture capital, and growth in niche markets and new industries, such as “clean tech.” The report blames outsourcing as one of the main culprits in the exodus of higher-paying jobs, but also calls for more aggressive retraining of workers who have been sidelined by the global economy, and remain unaware of opportunities in other fields.

Economy

"Dodgy Collateral" Fuels New Bank Borrowing

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U.S. banks have borrowed almost $50 billion in the last month from the Federal Reserve, using an expanded government program that some critics fear will deepen instability long-term. The Financial Times of London reports that the Reserve’s Term Auction Facility has enabled the government to reduce “financial stress” by “channelling liquidity into the banking system.” It achieves this by allowing banks to “borrow at relatively attractive rates against a wider range of their assets than previously permitted.” One analyst, however, told the Times that the move allowed banks to borrow more freely against “dodgy” or “garbage” collateral, and said the situation was “perilous.” Overall, however, the U.S. government program is popular with banks, and may even be expanded.

Democracy & Civics

Great Lakes Toxics Data Suppressed?

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Millions of people in the Great Lakes region may face health problems from toxic pollution, but a study on the risk is under wraps seven months after its conclusion, and the scientist who led the project has been demoted. The Center for Public Integrity reports that Dr. Christopher De Rosa, a federal toxicology researcher, told his superior that delaying the report has the “appearance of censorship of science … regarding the health status of vulnerable communities.” In a letter to De Rosa, Dr. Howard Frumkin of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote that the study’s quality is “well below expectations.” De Rosa has since been demoted, according to the CPI, in what he claims is illegal retaliation by Frumkin.

Democracy & Civics

New York Targets Nonprofit Fraud

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New York City investigators are looking into more than 30 cases of potential nonprofit fraud, the New York Post reports. The investigations follow a 2006 scandal at the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, in which two executives confessed to misappropriating $1.2 million. The new inquiry will review $3.8 billion in 2007 city contracts with nonprofit health and human services organizations. Rose Gill Hearn, who spearheaded the new investigation, told the Post that fraud typically has involved executives asking their staff to create invoices for projects that didn’t take place, or to approve checks for home improvements and other personal expenses. She blamed lax oversight by nonprofit boards of directors, and said all the investigations could lead to criminal prosecutions both in New York City and at the state level.

Economy

Housing Crash Takes Down Renters, Too

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Among the 11,000 San Francisco Bay Area homes repossessed in 2007 are hidden statistics — the number of renters quickly evicted following their landlords’ fall from grace. No one knows how many renters have been shown the door, but the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the number is “high.” One housing counselor told the newspaper that it has become a “common problem,” while the Oakland city attorney’s office has heard “a ton of anecdotes” about such evictions, according to a neighborhood legal advocate. Efforts to strengthen tenants’ rights have been stymied at the state level. Meanwhile, some lenders are said to speed up the eviction process by telling tenants in foreclosed properties that they no longer have to pay rent — and then serve them eviction notices for nonpayment several months later.