Armed Teachers and Kevlar Book Covers

posted by Zach Patton

From the Daily Show, here's an extremely funny clip about Wisconsin Rep. Frank Lasee's proposal to ensure school safety by providing teachers with firearms.

The rebuttal to his argument comes from William Crozier, the 2006 GOP nominee for Oklahoma School Superintendent. Arming teachers isn't the answer, he says. The answer is teaching students how to use their textbooks -- which could be covered in Kevlar -- as shields.

Nest Feathering

posted by Alan Greenblatt

Here's a plea to all government officials: Come up with a better reason to justify high public-sector salaries and benefits.

The Sacramento Bee today reports that California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is boosting staff salary by as much as 22 percent, bringing more than 200 legislative aides above the $100,000 mark.

You can already guess what Nunez's spokesman has to say in defense of the big dollars, right? It's important to pay wages that are competitive in order to retain top talent, blah, blah, blah.

That may well be true, but I would humbly submit that government spokesmen are going to have to craft a new line. A hundred grand still sounds like a lot of money to most people, even in California. Why legislators can't get someone to work for, say, a measly $80k is something many voters will wonder. Particularly at a time of deficits (which is all the time in California).

Heads Up: 1.9.07

Phew! What's that smell?  NYC blames Jersey. Newsday

In IL, pick which town your house is in. Chicago Trib

What do the GEICO gecko and George Washington have in common? NYT

NJ legislator takes a quadruple dip in the pension pool. Philly Inquirer

Oakland city councilman booed but reelected. Oakland Trib

Got a Heads Up for us? Email [email protected]

Quote Larry Sabato, Ever More

posted by Josh Goodman

The University of Virginia's Larry Sabato has been called a lot of things, from "the Mark McGwire of political analysts," to "America's favorite political scientist," to the "Dr. Phil of American politics." But, even more than that, he's been called a lot of times, by a lot of reporters, for a lot of reasons.

To find out whether he was truly Sabiquitous in the past election year, I counted the number of states where reporters quoted the quick-quipping professor, beginning January 1, 2006.

That day, the Roanoke Times asked Sabato about home-state presidential hopeful Governor Mark Warner. The next day, he got Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Louisiana out of the way. By the end of the month, his count was up to 21. By the end of the year, Sabato had been quoted in at least 46 states and the District of Columbia. That's not even counting syndicated columns or wire-service articles, unless it was clear to me that the author was based in the state in question.

Sabato's name graced journalists' copy hundreds of times last year, and reporters couldn't quite agree on just how to describe him.

Heads Up: 1.8.07

Why won't Arnold talk about his skiing accident? LA Times

NYC unveils city-brand condoms with a subway-line theme. NY Post

Wanna know how to live "the Wyoming way"? Casper Star-Tribune

NM Gov. Richardson finally speaks: Cockfighting bad. El Paso Times

Oakland banned Styrofoam, but the stuff's still around. Oakland Tribune

Got a Heads Up for us? Email [email protected]

Koppel Adds to Overcrowding

posted by Alan Greenblatt

Overcrowding in California's prisons has become a huge issue -- so much so that Ted Koppel is apparently planning to produce a TV documentary about the problem. To get a feel for overcrowding, Koppel is negotiating with state corrections officials about the possibility of bunking down for the night in the slammer himself.

Koppel will be heading out there in April. I'll be going out in a couple of weeks myself to do a story about California's prison woes, which you'll be able to read in our March issue.

The Top 2 List of Top 10 Lists

posted by Zach Patton

Ah, January. When a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of legislative agendas.

Yes, it's a new year full of new legislative sessions in the states.

So what are they going to be focused on? Governing and the National Conference of State Legislatures have each come out with our annual Top 10 lists of issues to watch in the states.

We overlap on several issues. It's no surprise to see climate change, health insurance and immigration on both lists. And we each highlighted the REAL ID Act as something states will have to discuss this year.

And even the issues on which we diverge (NCSL says states will target obesity, privacy protections, sex offenders and higher ed; Governing singles out business tax reform, transportation infrastructure, home foreclosure rates and early ed) are all interesting subjects that will certainly be making their way onto lawmakers' agendas this year.

Hope for the Ninth Ward?

posted by Zach Patton

New Orleans' Lower Ninth Ward is ready for recovery, according to a new report released this weekend. The structures in the flood-damaged neighborhood are structurally sound, the study says.

The planning team delivered a 170-page report titled "A Peoples' Plan for Overcoming the Hurricane Katrina Blues," with a five-year outline and statistics derived from a door-to-door survey of residents last fall. ...

The group said that even though only a small fraction of Lower 9th Ward residents are living in their old neighborhood, nearly 80 percent are in the process of cleaning, gutting or renovating their homes.

It's can be hard to be optimistic about the Ninth Ward's recovery. But this sounds like good news.

New Day for Daley

posted by Alan Greenblatt

It's looking increasingly likely that Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is set to win a sixth term this year. The Chicago Sun-Times has this story today about how prominent local politicians who had thought of challenging him are now falling over themselves to cuddle up to Hizzoner.

Daley has been an impressive mayor, but his administration also had serious problems with cronyism and patronage scandals that have been disturbing even by Chicago standards. It will be worth watching to see whether Daley, who is set to surpass his father's record for length of service in 2010, proceeds with yet more innovations and development triumphs, or spends a good chunk of yet another term watching aides fall under indictment.

Heads Up: 1.5.07

SF's urban success story. SF Chronicle

At the Sundance Film Fest, without a hired escort. Salt Lake Trib

FL prisons chief's new fitness goals have some grumbling. St. Pete Times

More corn for ethanol -- enough corn for food? NYT

Got a Heads Up for us? Email [email protected]