Price to Emit a Ton of Carbon Peaks at $5.02

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative’s (RGGI) most recent quarterly carbon allowance auction set a record high price at $5.02 per allowance, up from $4.00 per allowance in the last auction, according to a New Hampshire Public Radio article.

RGGI is an interstate “cap and trade” program that regulates and reduces CO2 emissions from electric power generators. The nine participating northeast states, which include Connecticut, impose a regional cap on CO2 emissions and then sell emission allowances, each equal to one ton of CO2 emissions, to regulated power plants at RGGI auctions. Plants purchase allowances to demonstrate compliance with each state’s CO2 budget trading program.

According to the article, the price increase may be due to speculation that other states will join RGGI in the wake of proposed new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions from future and existing power plants. States may see participation in a cap and trade program like RGGI as a way to comply with those rules. The National Conference of State Legislatures has more on the rules.

The next RGGI auction is September 3, 2014. For more information on Connecticut’s participation in RGGI, see OLR Report 2013-R-0307 on climate change issues and OLR Report 2013-R-0346 on proposed amendments to RGGI regulations.

“One Stop Shop” for Recall Notices

The federal government maintains an interagency website to inform consumers about product recalls, provide safety information, and enable the public to report dangerous products.

It specifically allows consumers to search for recall information from the following agencies with “vastly different jurisdictions:” Consumer Product Safety Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Agriculture, Environmental Protection Agency, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

The website also allows consumers to sign up for e-mail alerts from most of these agencies notifying them directly about new recalls and safety information.

The State of Connecticut and the Pequot Tribe Execute Police Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)

The Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP), the Chief State’s Attorney, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe have executed a MOA under PA 13-170 authorizing tribal police to exercise police powers, including enforcing Connecticut and federal laws within its boundaries.

In announcing the MOA, DESPP Commissioner Schriro states that it, "combined with the agreement with the Mohegan Tribal Nation, will enhance safety and security on both reservations and in eastern Connecticut. The addition of POST-certified tribal police officers in the region contributes to the complement of state and local police forces in eastern Connecticut, increasing the presence of sworn personnel in the area, at the ready to respond to any emergency, as needed."

Hot Report: Gift Tax

OLR Report 2014-R-0211 answers the following questions about the gift tax:

1. For calendar years 2008-2012, (a) how much revenue did the gift tax generate and (b) how many gift tax returns were filed?
2. Is Connecticut the only state that imposes a gift tax?
3. Have any states recently repealed their gift taxes? 

As Table 1 shows, taxpayers filed over 1,900 gift tax returns in calendar years 2008-2012, generating over $354 million.

Table 1: Connecticut Gift Tax, Calendar Years 2008-2012

Calendar Year	Revenue Generated ($-millions)	Number of Returns Filed
2012	$218.4	1,400
2011	65.3	407
2010	24.1	22
2009	24.6	46
2008	21.8	46
Total	354.2	1,921

For more information, including the reason for the significant jumps in 2011 and 2012, along with answers to the other questions, read the full report.

State Laws Address Unauthorized Immigration

A recent article in the Pew Charitable Trust’s Stateline magazine highlights some of the measures state lawmakers have taken to address unauthorized immigration. The measures include allowing unauthorized immigrants to:

1. pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities,
2. get driver’s licenses, and
3. receive welfare or Medicaid benefits.

Citing National Conference of State Legislatures research, the article stated that (1) 16 states now offer in-state tuition rates to unauthorized immigrants and (2) 11 states allow them to get driver’s licenses. Five years ago, only three states allowed these immigrants to get driver’s licenses, the article stated.

The article also highlights recent executive branch actions and court decisions regarding illegal immigrants in California, Florida, New York, and Nevada. Although these actions and decisions are based on state law, they invariably test the jurisdictional boundaries between local, state, and federal governments.

Hartford Reopens Economic Development Contest for Four Days

The “Strong Cities, Strong Communities” (SC2) challenge in Hartford is accepting new teams into the contest from August 14 - August 18. The SC2 challenge is part of a federal initiative launched to “enhance the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies.” Currently, in addition to Hartford, two other cities are participating in the initiative: Greensboro, NC and Las Vegas, NV.  Each participating city has launched a competition with a cash prize for the best economic development plan.

The SC2 challenge in Hartford is looking for detailed, feasible, and sustainable economic development plans that will attract, assist, and retain (1) the most likely to succeed first-time and serial entrepreneurs and (2) established companies with significant growth potential.

The competition will take place in two stages. In Phase I, registered teams will create proposals, due September 22, 2014, and a panel of community leaders will review the proposals. In phase II, the finalists will further develop their proposals into actionable plans. Hartford initially opened the contest in March. Cash prizes total $900,000.

Trend Toward Criminalizing Homelessness

A recent report  from an organization advocating for homeless people, the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, notes that municipal codes are increasingly criminalizing activities that homeless individuals engage in out of necessity.  The center’s survey of almost 200 cities revealed that:

• 43% prohibit sleeping in vehicles,
• 35% impose city-wide bans on camping in public,
• 33% impose city-wide bans on loitering in public,
• 24% impose city-wide bans on begging in public,
• 18% impose city-wide bans on sleeping in public, and
• 9% prohibit individuals and organizations from sharing food with homeless individuals.

The chart below shows how these numbers have changed in the last few years. 



Source: No Safe Place

The report discusses the implications of these statistics and suggests policy alternatives.

An article on National Public Radio discusses the issue and the report.

Voting Equipment Nears End of Useful Life

In the wake of the 2000 election, Congress enacted the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) which, among other things, set new standards for voting equipment. As part of the act, the federal government provided more than $3 billion in funding for local jurisdictions to upgrade their voting equipment.

But according to a recent article in Governing, much of that equipment is nearing the end of its useful life and purchasing new equipment, which the article states could cost some jurisdictions millions of dollars, will be a significant challenge. The article also states that there is currently a shortage in available replacement equipment, noting that voting technology standards have not been updated since 2005, which makes vendors hesitant to introduce new products.

Mosquito Tests Positive for West Nile Virus

On July 22, 2014, the Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station and the Department of Public Health (DPH) confirmed that a mosquito tested positive for West Nile virus in Connecticut, according to the Hartford Courant.  This is the first detection of West Nile in the state this year, out of 144,000 mosquitoes caught and tested so far.   DPH issued a reminder to residents that they can reduce their risk of mosquito bites by:

• minimizing time outdoors between dusk and dawn;
• making sure door and window screens are tight fitting and in good repair;
• wearing shoes, socks, long pants, and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors for long periods or when mosquitoes are most active; and
• using mosquito repellent when outdoors.

 

Hot Report: Housing Units Supported by the Department of Housing

OLR Report 2014-R-0194 answers the following questions: How many programs does the Department of Housing (DOH) fund or administer that provide, rehabilitate, or create short- or long-term emergency, supportive, or affordable housing?  How many beds or units do these programs support?  Where are they located? 

Other OLR Reports list residential housing programs operated by or under contract with other state agencies: 

1. 2014-R-0078 (departments of Developmental Services, Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), and Children and Families (DCF) operated or funded group homes).
2. 2014-R-0195 (Nursing homes receiving funds from the Department of Social Services (DSS)).
3. 2014-R-0197 (Department of Corrections and Judicial Branch residential programs).

DOH funds or administers numerous programs providing, rehabilitating, or creating short- or long-term emergency, supportive, or affordable housing.  DOH provided our office with information on 12 of these programs.  They are the:

1. Assisted Living Demonstration Program (363 units);
2. Congregate Housing Program (985);
3. Elderly Rental Assistance Program (1,376 units);
4. Emergency Shelter Program (1,720 beds);
5. Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS Program (298 dormitory-style beds and 215 units, including 3 houses);
6. Moderate Rental Payment In Lieu Of Taxes Program (3,590 units);
7. Privately Owned Rental Housing Tax Abatement Program (6,268 units);
8. Rental Assistance Program (houses 4,032 individuals);
9. Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program (houses 7,451 individuals);
10. Section 8 New Construction/Substantial Rehabilitation Program (798 units);
11. State-Assisted Supportive Housing Program (1,178 units); and
12. Transitional Living Program (517 beds and 6 units).

In many cases, DOH is just one of many funding sources for these programs.  For example, (1) the Supportive Housing Program is supported by DOH, DCF, DMHAS, DSS, and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority, among other entities and (2) DOH gives grants under the Housing Opportunities for Persons with HIV/AIDS Program using both federal and state money.

 

DOH also provided information on housing construction and rehabilitation projects receiving funding under various DOH programs that were contracted for on or after January 1, 2011.  Since January 1, 2011, at least 1,175 new housing units have been built with such funding and at least 7,419 additional units either are under construction or received funding commitments.

For more information, read the full report.

VA Program Aims to Help Veteran ID Theft Victims

A new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) program called More Than a Number aims to help veterans who are identity theft victims.  The program’s website includes pages on how to tell if you have been victimized and what to do after your identity has been stolen.

The program also offers suggestions to prevent identity theft.  “Small changes can have big consequences,” Steph Warren, VA’s chief information officer said in a press release about the program. “Little things like shredding banking statements before throwing them away or using strong and unique passwords for all of your accounts can make a significant difference in protecting your identity from thieves who may try to use your personal information.”

The program also has a toll-free hotline — 1-855-578-5492 — that veterans can call with questions and concerns about identity theft Monday through Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern.

A New Study on Why Students Leave High School: Don’t Call Them Dropouts

A new study shines light on what students say causes them to drop out of high school and indicates the primary reasons are significant problems the students face, often outside of school. The study, Don’t Call Them Dropouts: Understanding the Experiences of Young People Who Leave High School Before Graduation, asserts that it is a mistake to assume young people leave school because they are lazy and unmotivated.

America’s Promise Alliance and the Center for Promise at Tufts University issued the report in June. Center researchers conducted in-depth group interviews in 30 cities with 200 young people ages 18-25 and surveyed several thousand more for the study.

The problems students cite are often a cluster of issues taking place at the same time that may include family health crises, dangerous neighborhoods, unstable home lives, homelessness, and abuse. These factors can be aggravated by the students’ yearning to belong somewhere.  If school is not supportive or inviting, some students view other options, like joining a gang or having a child at a young age, as more attractive.

“Young people who don’t finish high school have few avenues for sharing their stories with adults, school professionals, community leaders, and policy makers,” the report’s authors write. “The goal of this report is to change that – to raise up the voices of young people who have not graduated from high school so that we all gain a deeper understanding of the challenges and choices they face.”

 

Roughly 20% of the nation’s high school students drop out of school, according to the report. That represents about 800,000 students a year.

 

The report’s survey shows that of those who leave school:

• 53.1% lost someone close to them,
• 42.6% were a regular caregiver to a family member,
• 36.9% used drugs,
• 30% were emotionally or physically abused,
• 21.9% experienced homelessness,
• 18% were incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility, and
• 11% were in a gang.

These responses were all well above the levels of those who continuously attended school, according to the survey. For example, 39.8% of the dropouts said they had moved four or more times, compared to 19.7% of the graduates.

 

The report also includes recommendations to address this problem, including making greater efforts to identify students who need extra support and then providing those supports.

A Few Days Left to Apply for Department of Housing’s RAP and Section 8 Waiting Lists

The Department of Housing (DOH) recently announced that on August 4, 2014 it would open the waiting lists for its Rental Assistance Program (RAP) and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  The lists had been closed since 2007, making their opening significant. According to the announcement, DOH is accepting applications from August 4 through the 18 and will choose, by lottery, 3,000 applications for the RAP waiting list and 5,000 applications for the Section 8 HCV Program waiting list.

RAP and the Section 8 HCV Program are Connecticut’s two main rent subsidy programs that help low-income families rent privately-owned housing. RAP is state funded and HCV is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

To Some Insurance Companies, Scooters are Just Like Cars

A case in Michigan may affect thousands of people who use personal motorized scooters. A man using a personal motorized scooter was hit in a crosswalk by an automobile driver, but the driver’s insurance company is refusing to pay, according to a story in Bloomberg Businessweek. The insurance company contends the man on the scooter was required to have no-fault auto insurance and because he didn’t, the insurance company doesn’t have to pay damages.

According to an article in the Macomb Daily, the insurance company claimed the “[p]laintiff’s mobility scooter was a motor vehicle because it was operated on a public highway by a power other than muscular and it has four wheels.”

However, according to attorneys interviewed for the Bloomberg article, it appears that insurance companies in Michigan and other states do not offer auto insurance for personal motorized scooters.

Hot Report: DCF Background Checks

OLR Report 2014-R-0188 answers the questions: Under what circumstances does the Department of Children and Families (DCF) perform background checks? How many employees perform the checks and how many are performed per year? What is the process for a batch file?

By law, DCF maintains a confidential central registry of substantiated perpetrators of child abuse and neglect. DCF uses the registry to perform background checks for prospective employers, licensing authorities, and other public agencies permitted by law to request such checks. (This is different from criminal history background checks, which are conducted by law enforcement.) The registry background check request must be accompanied by an “Authorization for Release of Information for DCF CPS Search” signed by the subject of the check. The law requires individuals applying for certain specified positions and licenses to submit to a background check from the registry. 

According to DCF, in 2013 the department’s Background Check Unit (BCU) processed 135,000 background checks.  There are currently six processing technicians in the BCU that perform such checks.

According to DCF, the department currently has memoranda of agreement with four state agencies to run batch files (i.e., automated runs):  the departments of Education, Motor Vehicles, Public Health, and Social Services. Depending on the agency, the frequency of the runs varies from once a week to once a month. The process, outlined below, generally takes DCF one week to complete. 
For more information, read the full report.

Wiretapping Practices Nationwide

According to a report from the federal court system and analysis by the Pew Research Center, four states account for half of the nation’s wiretapping activity (California, Florida, Nevada, and New York).  Together, these four states account for only a quarter of the nation’s population.  According to Pew, when accounting for population, Nevada had the highest wiretap rate, with 38.2 wiretaps per 500,000 people in 2013.  Connecticut came in 14th on this list, with 5.1 wiretaps per 500,000 people.
 
The annual federal report compiles wiretap authorizations by state and federal judges.  Pew notes that nearly 90% of the wiretaps appear related to drug offenses.

Click here for the Pew story and here for the full 2013 wiretapping report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Bike Saddles—A New Innovation in Airplane Seating?

A recent Atlantic City Lab article reported on a recent patent application from Airbus for a conceptual seat design that could increase the number of seats on a plane, and thus an airline’s revenue.

The seats, shown below, resemble bike saddles and are described in the application with the US Patent and Trademark Office as a “seating device comprising a forward-foldable backrest.” The application claims that the seats will “avoid providing an excessive unnecessary distance” between seats. According to Airbus, these seats are conceptual, and “many, if not most, of these concepts will never be developed, but in case the future of commercial aviation makes one of our patents relevant, our work is protected.”

Despite obvious issues with passenger comfort, the article notes that seating arrangements like this may have a future, as the success of discount airlines (e.g., Spirit Airlines) have shown that many passengers will give up comfort for a cheaper fare. However, attempts to cram more passengers into an airplane have often met opposition in safety regulators, such as a recent proposal by Ryanair to create standing-only tickets.

The article also mentioned other recent ideas by companies wishing to increase capacity on airplanes. These include “hammock” seats, seats that keep a passenger partially standing, and lofted seats. 

Source: Google Patents, US20140159444

It’s That Time of Year Again: Sales Tax Free Week from August 17-23

From Sunday, August 17 through Saturday, August 23, Connecticut shoppers can buy clothing and footwear costing less than $300 per item without paying the state’s 6.35% sales tax.  This one-week sales tax holiday applies to clothing and footwear sales made by Connecticut and out-of-state retailers to Connecticut customers.

What’s covered by the sales tax holiday?  The Department of Revenue Services has a comprehensive list that generally includes most articles of clothing or footwear (e.g., shirts, dresses, jackets, sneakers, sleepwear, and work clothes) and a few more unusual items (e.g., arm warmers, diapers, ear muffs, scout uniforms, and square dancing clothes).

What’s not covered?  The list of excluded items includes special clothing or footwear designed for certain athletic activities or protective uses (e.g., athletic supporters, shin guards, and sports helmets and uniforms) and a few peculiar items (hair nets and lobster bibs).

Did you check for any inflection points today?

Well, if you didn’t, your business (or agency or state, for that matter) could be in trouble. An inflection point is a disturbance in the force that upsets an organization’s mental apple cart, requiring new ways of thinking and acting if the organization is going to survive.  It’s the make or break point, as the graphic below suggests.


 

That’s not too far off from how Intel Corporation’s CEO and President Andrew Grove defined  inflection points in his book, Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points that Challenge Every Company and Career.

There’s wind and then there’s a typhoon; there are waves and then there’s a tsunami. There are competitive forces and then there are supercompetitive forces….An inflection point occurs where the old strategic picture dissolves and gives way to the new, allowing business to ascend to new heights. However, if you don’t navigate your way through an inflection point, you go through a peak and after the peak the business declines. It is around such inflection points that managers puzzle and observe, “Things are different. Something has changed.”

When the winds change, a business or any organization stands to lose its competitive advantage if it’s slow to detect and respond to the change. Intel had its close call with a technological tsunami and survived. Kodak and Polaroid weren’t so lucky. These camera and film industry giants apparently didn’t pay attention to the tsunami generated by new, emerging digital technology and lost their competitive advantage. (In an earlier posting, we compared these events to fast breaks in basketball, where a team steals the ball from the other team and races unobstructed to its basket for a quick two points.) 



Hot Report: Return To Learn

OLR Report 2014-R-0209 examines  “return to learn” efforts in other states to help student athletes return to the classroom following a concussion.

Massachusetts regulations require each student diagnosed with a concussion to have a written graduated reentry plan for return to both athletic and
academic activities.

A Nebraska law passed in 2014 requires schools to establish a return to learn protocol for students that sustain a concussion. The protocol must recognize that such students who have returned to school may need informal or formal accommodations, curriculum modifications, and monitoring by medical or academic staff until they are fully recovered.

In 2007, the Pennsylvania Department of Health created the Brain Strategies Teaching Educators, Parents, and Students (BrainSTEPS) program, which helps school districts create educational plans for students after they receive a concussion or traumatic brain injury.

For more information, read the full report.

Higher Education Persistence Rates Decreasing

A recent report found a 1.2 percentage point decrease from 2009 to 2012 in the number of students who enroll in higher education and return for a second year. The numbers, known as persistence rates, measure the percentage of students who remain enrolled in any higher education institution (not necessarily the one at which they started) from one year to the next.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 68.7% of students who first enrolled in postsecondary education in Fall 2012 returned to the same or a different institution the following year, compared with a 69.9% persistence rate for students who first enrolled in Fall 2009.

Persistence rates declined by 2.8 percentage points in four-year private institutions and 2.3 percentage points in both two-year and four-year public institutions. The rate increased by 0.7 percentage points in four-year for-profit institutions.

People Want Good Highways, Not Necessarily to Pay for Them

Although 60% of people believe the economic benefits of good quality highways outweigh the cost to taxpayers, there isn’t agreement on how to pay for them, an AP poll has found. The poll, conducted in July 2014, found that 58% of respondents opposed raising the federal gas tax to pay for transportation projects, with only 14% supporting the idea. The federal gas tax of 18.4 cents has not increased since 1993.

The poll also found that 17% of respondents support turning over highway construction projects to private companies in exchange for the right to impose tolls (46% opposed); 30% support having state and local governments take over responsibility for these projects from the federal government (22% opposed); and 20% favor replacing the gas tax with a tax based on the number of miles a vehicle is driven (40% opposed).

Congress has also been unable to agree on a long-term solution for maintaining and repairing the highway system, agreeing this summer on a temporary solution that will end in May 2015. “Congress is actually reflecting what people want,” according to Joshua Schank, the president of a transportation think tank quoted by the AP. “People want to have a federal transportation program and they don’t want to pay for it.”

Using Social Media off the Clock? There’s no Such Thing

The Employer Handbook blogger Eric Meyer offers a cautionary tale of how using social media on your personal time can cost you your job. A waitress in Findlay, Ohio, used her Facebook page to complain about a particular customer’s tips, and the waitress used some colorful language to boot. The restaurant where she worked fired her.

The customer was one of her Facebook friends and she brought the post to the waitress’s employer. That’s when she was let go, according to Meyer. While Meyer notes the local media in Findlay framed the situation as a freedom of speech issue, he is not sympathetic to that thinking. Insulting a customer generally is not allowed in a restaurant so why should it be condoned on Facebook?

Meyer says the Facebook post is even worse than calling a customer an expletive to her face. “Because not only did the waitress embarrass her Facebook friend, a customer of the restaurant, she did so publicly,” Meyer writes. “That’s a terminable offense.”

Response of Public Benefit Programs to Rise In Parental Unemployment

The Urban Institute recently published a fact sheet on the response of public benefit programs to the increase in parental unemployment during the recent recession (specifically, 2007-2012). The researchers looked at certain programs supporting children over those five years and found that enrollment in some programs rose along with the unemployment rate while others appeared less responsive. As depicted in Table 1, the researchers found that enrollment in unemployment insurance (UI) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps) rose dramatically from 2007 to 2009, while enrollment in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) remained relatively stable.

Table 1: Growth in Public Benefit Programs Supporting Children



Source: Urban Institute, Public Supports When Parents Lose Work: A Fact Sheet



In the accompanying research brief, researchers noted that during the recession, most low-income families were able to access at least some public assistance (in the form of cash, food, or both) when one or both parents were unemployed. However, they also found that many families receiving some form of assistance still struggled economically and were food insecure. But, according to the brief, “without the safety net, unemployed parents would have found it more of a challenge to meet their children’s basic needs.”

Hot Report: LEED and Energy Star Buiding Certifications

OLR Report 2014-R-0200 explains the difference between the Energy Star and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications for buildings, including their potential financial costs and benefits.

Energy Star is a program developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that, among other things, promotes energy efficiency in consumer products and buildings. The Energy Star certification for buildings focuses on measuring a building’s energy usage and comparing it to similar buildings. EPA awards Energy Star certification to certain types of buildings that earn an Energy Star score of at least 75 out of 100. This score indicates that the building is among the top 25% most energy efficient buildings of its type. Although Energy Star certification requires at least 12 months of a building’s operational energy data, EPA also offers a “Designed to Earn the Energy Star” designation for new construction projects based on a new building’s estimated energy usage.

The LEED program is a building certification process developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that aims to improve a building’s performance across a variety of “green” areas, including energy efficiency.  Eligible building projects must meet various prerequisites, such as complying with certain energy efficient engineering standards, and can earn additional points by implementing other green measures. The prerequisites and optional measures cover energy efficiency and several other areas, such as water management, material and resource use, and indoor air quality. A project’s certification level depends on how many optional points the project accumulates.

For more information, read the full report.

Some Hospitals Using Consumer Spending Data to Predict Patient Care

According to a recent Business Insider article, some health insurers and hospitals buy consumers’ spending data in order to “identify high risk patients and curtail bad health habits.”

While patient medical records are protected under HIPAA, other personal health information can be obtained from store loyalty program transactions, credit and debit card histories, and other public records sold by data brokers. This information may include whether you currently have a gym membership or regularly buy fast food, cigarettes, or over-the-counter medications.

The article notes that Carolinas Health Care, which operates more than 900 medical centers in North and South Carolina, started entering consumer data on two million patients into predictive models that assign risk scores to patients. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, within two years the company will distribute the scores to doctors and nurses so that they can identify high risk patients and intervene before they become ill. 

Gregory Project: Billboard Housing

NBC News recently reported that a Slovakian architectural design firm has proposed building small living spaces for the homeless in the triangular space behind V-shaped billboards.  These lofted units would utilize billboards’ rigid structure and electric connections; all that’s needed is a water connection.  The firm’s plans for a two room apartment include a kitchen, bed, desk, and bathroom. 

The designers suggest that the billboards’ advertising revenue could partially fund the homes’ maintenance.



Source: Gregory Project

The Centenarian Population

A recent U.S. Census Bureau report that analyzed characteristics of the nation’s 55,000 centenarians (people age 100 or older) and compared them with other seniors found that centenarians have lower education levels, are predominantly female, and are more likely to live in poverty than other seniors.  Among the report’s major findings:

1. 57% of centenarians received at least a high school diploma compared with 77% of those in the age 65 and older group.
2. Women made up 81% of centenarians and 57% of those age 65 and older.
3. 17% of centenarians and 9% of the 65 and older population lived below the poverty line.
4. 83% of centenarians received Social Security income compared with 88% of the age 65 and older group.
5. 24% of centenarians were receiving retirement income and 38% of the 65 and older population received it. 

Racial and Ethnic Makeup of School Choice Programs

Connecticut Voices for Children, a statewide advocacy organization, issued a report last April examining the racial and ethnic makeup of the state’s magnet, charter, public, and technical schools.  The report, Choice Watch: Diversity and Access in Connecticut’s School Choice Programs, found that:

• Bridgeport’s, Hartford’s, New Haven’s, and Stamford’s magnet schools tend to be more racially and ethnically integrated than the cities’ other public schools. By contrast, Bridgeport’s and Hartford’s technical schools are slightly more segregated than their public schools (New Haven and Stamford have no technical schools), while their charter schools are more racially and ethnically segregated than the local public schools in all four cities.

 

• The four cities’ school choice programs are typically more integrated by socioeconomic status than the local public schools, reflecting the fact that these programs are less likely to enroll low-income students. Charter schools in Stamford and New Haven prove the exception to this rule, with Stamford charter schools less and New Haven schools comparably integrated.
• Emerging bilingual students are underrepresented in every choice program in each of the four cities.
• Students with disabilities are underrepresented in every choice program in the large cities, with the exception of Stamford’s charter schools, where they are overrepresented.

Identity Thieves Targeting Children

Identity theft is using, without permission, a person’s name, Social Security or credit card number, or other personally identifying information to commit fraud, theft, or other crimes.

This crime is happening to children with increasing frequency, according to a June 2014 State Legislatures magazine article. The article attributes this trend to the fact that:

1. most children do not have credit histories,
2. children’s Social Security numbers are not flagged in fraud prevention databases,
3. it often takes years for children to discover that their personal information has been stolen, and
4. the information about foster care children is more easily compromised by family members and available to more people.

State legislators are addressing these problems by strengthening criminal penalties, requiring credit reports for children in the foster care system, and allowing parents and guardians to request consumer report security freezes on behalf of their children, the article stated.

 

Identify theft is a national problem. All states have identity or impersonation laws, and those in 29 states require thieves to reimburse victims. Citing a Bureau of Justice Statistics survey, the article states that in 2012 identity theft resulted in over $14 billion dollars in losses, exceeding those attributed to burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft combined.