Stanley Lubman writes for The Wall Street Journal, China Real Time Report, October 25, 2013
The Higher People’s Court in Shandong rejected an appeal on Friday by Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party boss in Chongqing who was convicted last month of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. While that expected decision likely ends the legal drama surrounding Bo himself, many of those he attacked in Chongqing are still waiting for closure.
Michelle Wilde Anderson quoted in BBC News, October 23, 2013
Michelle Wilde Anderson is a law professor at UC Berkeley and an expert in municipal bankruptcy filings. She says Detroit’s case is made much harder because the laws governing municipal bankruptcies are murky. “The law is unclear on eligibility or it’s just unformed,” she says.
Barry Krisberg quoted in The Huffington Post, October 23, 2013
“Some of the top criminologists were basically scaring the hell out of people, saying, ‘We’ve got this wave of new barbarians at the door,'” said Barry Krisberg…. “It’s true that youth crime rates were rising. But they were projecting that this was going to double, triple. It was outrageous.”
Franklin Zimring quoted in Los Angeles Times, October 22, 2013
Any program that keeps people out of prison is a step in the right direction, said Berkeley law professor Frank Zimring. Still, after decades of skyrocketing incarceration rates—in 1979, 44% of federal felony convictions went to prison, compared with 91% in 2008, Zimring said—programs like CASA are “trying to take a little nibble out of Godzilla.”
Christopher Hoofnagle writes for The Huffington Post, October 21, 2013
In The Circle, Dave Eggers describes a near future where a single company—The Circle—intermediates all communication. Convinced of its own benevolence, Circle employees expand the company’s offerings into creepier and creepier domains, while propounding punched-up versions of the philosophies of Larry Page, Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg.
Alan Auerbach interviewed by Commonwealth Club Blog, October 21, 2013
“An economy, which hasn’t been growing strongly since the recession, will grow even more slowly.” Auerbach went on to say that shutting down the government will cost us money.
Pamela Samuelson quoted in Inside Higher Education, October 21, 2013
Many leaders and experts in higher education “want to hide” when people talk about the possibility of Congress reopening copyright legislation. “While it is sensible to be somewhat concerned about what would happen if Congress decided to reopen” the legislation, Samuelson said, “it would be a mistake for higher ed not to say, ‘If we want to do this, these things need to be on the agenda.’ ” Generally, she said, higher education needs to be sure the fair use victories of the courts are preserved.
Jennifer Granholm quoted in San Francisco Chronicle, October 21, 2013
Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has a hard time convincing her public policy students at UC Berkeley to go into public service. “Why,” they ask her, “would we go and try to get a job in D.C., where nothing is getting done or worse-than-nothing is getting done, when the action is in the private sector? These are the people who are making a difference in people’s lives.'” Washington, she said, “is becoming completely irrelevant.”
David Gamage and David Louk write for Los Angeles Times, October 20, 2013
It is difficult to explain the recent government shutdown to citizens of other nations. In most of the world’s democracies, this kind of disruption can’t happen. Rules are in place to keep the government running even if a new budget isn’t passed on time. The U.S. needs to reform its budgetary processes to prevent the kind of crisis we saw recently.
David Gamage quoted in NBC Bay Area, October 17, 2013
“Right now, Treasury’s computer systems are designed to pay bills in the order they come in,” Gamage said. “There is no programming in order to prioritize payments. That’s largely because it’s illegal to prioritize payments.” To take it a step further, even if Treasury tried to manipulate its computer systems, Gamage said there could still be disastrous consequences.