Armchair Journalism

Compromise media shield law seems likely

2009-10-31T02:25:03Z

According to the Associated Press, agreement has been reached between senate, white house, and press representatives on a new version of a media shield law "to protect reporters from being forced to disclose their confidential sources in federal court."

In brief, it would allow the government to seek a source's identity in instances of security leaks with national security implications, the burden would be on the journalist to justify non-disclosure of source identity in criminal cases, and the burden would be on the state to justify disclosure in non-criminal cases.

Of interest to Sacramento Press readers and writers, "The revised bill would also extend protections for freelance or citizen journalists by defining a journalist by the nature of activity engaged in rather than by the organization that employs the reporter."

Full story: Yahoo News

Stockton is fifth most dangerous city in the US according to Forbes

2009-04-24T23:22:02Z

According to Forbes, and as reported by Yahoo! (and as read and repeated somewhat lazily by me from my armchair) Stockton is the fifth most dangerous city* as measured in terms of violent crimes per capita.

Top 5:

Detroit - 1,220 violent crimes per 100,000 people

Memphis - 1,218

Miami - 998

Las Vegas - 887

Stockton - 885

From the article:

"Stockton is a major transit point along the I-5 corridor on the way to Seattle and Vancouver," says [Megan Wolfram, an analyst at iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a Maryland-based risk-assessment firm]. "A lot of it is similar to crime happening in the Southwest. For the most part, it's drug gang on drug gang."

And the methods:

*"To determine our list, we used violent crime statistics from the FBI's latest uniform crime report, issued in 2008. The violent crime category is composed of four offenses: murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault. We evaluated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas--geographic entities defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for use by federal agencies in collecting, tabulating and publishing federal statistics--with more than 500,000 residents."

Full story link.

The value of PE classes in junior colleges

2009-02-12T07:40:34Z

An article in the SacBee today discusses a Legislative Analysts’s suggestion that junior colleges either drop PE classes, or that the colleges be paid less to offer them than the level of state funding provided for classes that are deemed more academic in content. These are the one-unit classes that are offered in subjects such as golf, tennis, and bowling. The inference is that these classes are not worthwhile and don’t deserve to be subsidized at the same level as other classes.

This seems like an odd standard to apply. As the article points out, students wanting to graduate or transfer are typically required to have one of these classes. What the article doesn’t point out is that that requirement is set by the state that subsidizes that education, precisely because teams of experts have determined that these are in fact worthwhile. It’s not like they showed up by chance or accident.

Another distinction suggested is that these are simply classes for fun and not as valuable as the more academic and vocational classes taken elsewhere in a college career. But if you examine some of the other, more esoteric classes that students routinely take, it may very well be that golf, bowling, and tennis are more likely to be used in life, or even in a career path. Try telling Tiger Woods that golf isn’t vocational. One of the students referenced in the original article was taking bowling multiple times attempting to improve his game enough to compete in tournaments. I wonder if any of his other classes are preparing him for national competition. There may very well be as many students who will use golf, for example, in a business setting, as those who will use <insert subject of your choice here>. And there are many students taking other classes for fun, personal enrichment, or without a specific utilitarian end in mind, and they aren’t single-credit classes.

The article also compares the PE classes and their subsidy rate with fitness classes for senior citizens. One could easily ponder whether or not we would need to teach physical activities to seniors if we taught younger students such life-long activities as, say, golf, bowling, and tennis. Oh, right, we are – for a reason.

During the working years of an adult life, most people will engage in work and other obligated activities for about a third of their week (very rough fractions), sleep for another third, and engage in activities of their own choosing, if they’re lucky, the rest of the time. When they hit retirement, the proportions will shift suddenly. We spend a lot of time and money preparing students for the work portion and we spend a lot of time and money medicating people for sleep. What we tend to spend less on is teaching people how to ensure that the remainder of their lives are rewarding and meaningful. What the article doesn’t point out is that the one unit of PE is just one out of 39 units of general education associated with transferring colleges or 60 units of work associated with graduating from a junior college. That’s about 2% of the class time dedicated towards the leisure and recreation that will ultimately dominate an average lifespan.

And let’s not forget that these activities are also inherently vocational for a great many careers. Unless of course you think the following run themselves: municipal parks and recreation departments, after-school programs, physical education classes, boys and girls clubs, recreation programs for special needs populations, and (you probably know by now that I’m going to say this…) golf courses, bowling alleys, and tennis clubs, amongst the vast array of recreational programs and businesses that exist in our communities. In a state that relies so heavily on recreational activities and related tourism, it’s amazing to think these classes are considered superfluous.

The irony is that it’s exactly this kind of attitude that makes running businesses and agencies in the parks, recreation, tourism, and hospitality fields so difficult – people treat them as though they are disposable or unnecessary when they are often the things that add meaning and value to lives that are otherwise bleak and unfulfilling. Building an appreciation of these activities is not only valuable on an individual level but is beneficial at a societal level and the more active and confident people are in such pursuits, the less likely we are to throw ever larger amounts of money at public healthcare, problems such as obesity, and related diseases and conditions.

If the great fear is that students will simply repeat these classes, time after time, on the taxpayers’ dime, then cap the number of times they can be taken under state subsidy – we do that in other ways for other classes. Let them take three one-unit classes if they want to – a single three-unit class in any other topic, whether degree or vocation-related or not, wouldn’t even attract the attention of the bean counters. Indeed, one could take several classes in other subject areas or even repeat them without anybody questioning those choices. But if they’re going to start labeling which classes are inherently worthwhile and which aren’t, I think we’re going to have a much deeper discussion about a far wider range of subjects.

Fire Alarm Empties Theater

2009-04-15T06:22:23Z

Audiences at the Century Downtown Plaza 7 theater were required to leave the building tonight when a fire alarm went off at approximately 9pm. Among the affected were the lucky (until that moment) viewers of a word of mouth screening of the upcoming release “State of Play” – including many members of the local media for whom it doubled as a press screening (myself included).

After audiences vacated the theater, the alarm was silenced and the (now diminished) crowd returned. However, there appeared to be a problem with the system as the strobe lights remained on and the alarm sounded again (with little to no response from the now jaded audience). Despite the presence of the fire department, it was announced that the alarm could not be reset and the screenings were ultimately canceled.

Watch the local press for “State of Play” reviews this week and don’t be surprised by comments about incendiary plot developments, mass audience walk-outs, or the alarming ending. In fairness, the movie was pretty good up until that point - but the highlight was the observation, by a popular onscreen local reporter, that it’s illegal to scream “theater” in a crowded fireplace.

Sacramento ranked sixth worst for ozone

2009-04-30T09:29:50Z

Sacramento has been rated the sixth worst metropolitan statistical area for ozone pollution by the American Lung Association, as reported by Forbes.com – and other central valley communities are even worse.

Here’s the top 10 (or bottom 10 depending on your perspective):

1. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside, CA
2. Bakersfield, CA
3. Visalia-Porterville, CA
4. Fresno-Madera, CA
5. Houston-Baytown-Huntsville, TX
6. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Yuba City, CA
7. Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
8. Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC/SC
9. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
10. El Centro, CA

Sacramento also ranks 7th for short-term particle pollution, but is not listed in the worst 25 areas for year-round particle pollution.

Full article: link