Supreme Court: Either Way New Haven Will Be Sued

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

In 2003, the New Haven, Connecticut, Fire Department administered written and oral exams to determine which employees would be eligible for promotions to lieutenant and captain; there were seven captain and eight lieutenant vacancies, but despite those who passed, no one moved up.

Of the 41 applicants who took the captain exam, the top nine scorers included seven whites and two Hispanics, and of the 77 applicants who took the lieutenant exam, the top 10 scorers where white.

After the Civil Service Board discovered from the scores that no black employees and only two Hispanics passed the test, they determined that the results had produced a significant disparate impact and chose to not certify the results.

The only information provided to the firefighters and public were the scores, given by race and gender. Test-takers did not receive their individual scores.

Seventeen white candidates and one Hispanic candidate who had taken the exams filed a lawsuit in federal court against the City of New Haven, the mayor, and other city executives.

Frank Ricci, a firefighter who took the exam stated that the questions on the test were drawn from “nationally recognized” books and believes the test was fair, and therefore the city should honor the results.

Part of Ricci’s case is that before throwing out the results the city should at least have to consider whether the exam was fair.

In the Supreme Court today the justices expressed concern over the bind that New Haven is facing: because the city didn’t use the results, they were sued for reverse discrimination, but if the city had used the results, they could have faced a lawsuit for discrimination.

Justice Souter expressed this dilemma by saying “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

The decision in the case of Ricci vs. DeStefano is expected in May.

The U.S. on the rail to success

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

“In the years I’ve been with the FRA [Federal Railroad Administration], I never thought I’d see the day when a strong and decisive commitment would be made on behalf of Amtrak,” said Jo Strang, the Acting Federal Railroad Administrator at a press conference where Vice President Joe Biden and members of Congress announced that Amtrak would be receiving $1.3 billion in grant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to expand rail capacity.

Vice President Joe Biden who has been a passenger on Amtrak for over 7,000 round trips said that Amtrak has been neglected in funding. “Amtrak relies on some subsidies. Every, every, every, every passenger rail system in the world relies on subsidies. We subsidize our highways and airports more than we subsidize Amtrak....Amtrak has been left out much too long in my humble opinion,” he stated. Biden also expressed that the $1.3 billion will nearly double Amtrak’s investment program over the next two years. “It is work that will take care of critical, long neglected needs. It will put people to work immediately and it’s an investment of dollars that will not only create jobs now but yield benefits for our economy for years to come. It will begin to build a platform for the economy in the 21st century.”

Amtrak depends on American tax funds and employs more than 19,000 Americans. 500,000 Americans use Amtrak a week, which amounts to 80,000 passengers a day. In the fiscal year of 2008 Amtrak set a record by transporting 28.7 million people, the most in Amtrak’s history.

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) who attended the conference said “We lose about 4.2 billion hours a year to congestion on our roads....We lose close to 3 billion gallons of gasoline, just people sitting there going nowhere in congestion.” Kerry said that this money will help not only Amtrak but it will help better the environment as well. “It’s going to make America more productive. It’s going to make us more environmentally friendly, it’s going to increase the productivity, it’s going to create jobs, and it’s going to create a sustainable economy,” he concluded.

Some of the funding will go towards the replacement of the movable bridge over the Niantic River on the northeast corridor in Connecticut, for repairing damaged passenger cars, repairs to Amtrak facilities nationwide, and construction of a new station for the auto train in Sanford, Florida.

If you are not outraged, you're not paying attention.

State Senator Jonathan Harris (D-Conn.), chairman of the Human Services Committee, said that two factors contributed to his state taking action in the "fight" against poverty: moral outrage and fiscal necessity.

At a discussion at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on "Tackling Poverty: The Role of State and Local Governments." Harris about the increasing poverty problem in his home state of Connecticut. Harris explained that even though Connecticut is the wealthiest state in the U.S., poverty rates, especially child poverty, have been high and continue to increase.

Harris created a Child Poverty Council to report annually on strategies and gains in child poverty reduction, and enacted legislation requiring the reduction of child poverty by 50 percent by 2014, or within 10 years. Harris also helped develop a community-state plan to embed proven strategies with an "untapped federal funding stream" from the Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSET) 50-50 match program, which strives to bring community and state together to reduce child and family poverty.

Joy Moses of the Half in Ten Campaign and policy analyst at the Poverty Program at the CAP Action Fund, talked about both organizations and their roles in fighting poverty. She explained that the most recent report set a national goal of cutting poverty in half within ten years and gave twelve policy recommendations on how to achieve this goal. Four of these twelve recommendations were proven to be successful: income tax credit, child tax credit, child care, and minimum wage.

Susan Golonka, program director of the Human Services Social, Economic, and Workforce Programs Division of the National Governors Association, said that states are finally using the word "poverty," and different commissions have been created around the world to help in solving the poverty problem. Golonka explained that the newest effort, the Governors Summit on Poverty, works to educate new leaders on the poverty issue while formulating state-wide comprehensive plans to reduce poverty through public-private partnerships.

Report: Most American’s doing better than fifty years ago

Today in a House press conference authors Sarah Burd-Sharps and Kristen Lewis of the report “The Measure of America, American Human Development Report 2008-2009” explained their findings. The findings of the research were compiled from government documents that were available for the last two years, including the census and current economic reports. All of the findings were compiled to give the country “a very holistic approach that puts the person at the front and center,” said Burd-Sharps.

The research that was conducted looked at each state and each congressional district in the United States. The data that was collected looked specifically at life expectancy, educational degree attainment and medium personal income levels. Findings of the research documented that some states are advancing faster than others in terms of overall development. In terms of geographical regions that placed well the North East was ranked very high with the state of Connecticut receiving the highest ranking in the whole country. According to Lewis, Connecticut is where the country should be by the year 2020. Findings also concluded that the state of Mississippi was ranked lowest due to low life expectancy, income and educational attainment. The findings stated that Mississippi is where the country as a whole was in 1980.

Further findings looked at race and ethnicity, specifically which groups have been advancing fastest. The report states that Asian American’s and Whites are far ahead on wealth and education while African American’s are least healthy. The report indicates that African American males are less healthy now than they were in 1960 with infant mortality rates amongst African American’s up two and a half percent.

While the report does not offer clear explanations on how to address the issues that are documented, Congressman Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) believes the best way to address health care is universal coverage. Shays said “American’s should have universal coverage, it would be cheaper and would give American’s the same option as federal employees who currently have eighteen different options for health care.”