Author: admin

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    Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 15, 2012

    Byadmin

    Now that the audio file has arrived, we are catching up with the parts of the mid-November Regents meeting not previously posted (not to be confused with the special meeting held yesterday).  Below is a link to the final day of the mid-November meeting. During the public comment period, there were complaints about tuition increases and budget cuts.  There was more about the swap deals – see earlier posts on this matter – in which UC swapped a variable interest rate for a fixed one.  As it turned out, interest rates fell so that the “insurance” against a rise in…

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    More traffic woes tonight

    Byadmin

    If traffic were not bad enough near UCLA given the problems on Sepulveda Boulevard this week (see our earlier posting), now comes this: The Sunset bridge will be closed tonight 10 pm until 6 am tomorrow.  (It also happened last night but yours truly did not get the word until this morning.) While you are stuck, you can think about happier traffic days:[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n77NxU0CHPw?feature=player_detailpage] 

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    Follow-Up on Today’s Special Regents Meeting

    Byadmin

      We noted yesterday that there would be a special Regents meeting today to approve pay packages for the new chancellor of Berkeley and the new acting chancellor at Riverside. Also noted was the fact that yours truly could not record the live-stream of the meeting and so the posting of the audio would have to await our usual public documents request.  However, I am told there were three votes against the Berkeley salary of $486,800: the governor, the lieutenant governor, and Regent Zettel.  We will post updates.  And we again ask why the Regents’ office, since it has recordings…

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    The Westwood Tree Issue Continues

    Byadmin

    We have previously noted the issue surrounding the proposed removal of certain trees from Westwood near UCLA.  From the Westwood-Century City Patch today: Days after the city OK’d the Westwood Village Improvement Association’s request to remove 18 trees in the area, the Westwood Community Council urged the preservation of as many trees as possible.  The council last week passed a resolution to support the preservation of mature Westwood Village trees and called on the Westwood Business Improvement District, managed by the WVIA, to save as many trees as possible as it embarks on a sidewalk repair and replacement project… Full…

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    Social Security Estimator Available

    Byadmin

    Faculty who are getting up there in years may find it useful to estimate what they will receive in Social Security from the website above at http://www.ssa.gov/estimator/.  Note that some old timers opted out of Social Security when the Regents joined the federal system and that the website will not be applicable for them. You can receive Social Security starting at age 62.  If you wait, your benefits will increase.  (But – and we hate to remind you of this existential fact – the fewer months you will have to receive those benefits.) And a little music while you work…

  • Silliness Insider

    Byadmin

    Publish first; ask questions later. UCLA a Dangerous Campus?  Don’t Believe It UCLA Newsroom, November 21, 2012   UCLA is a very safe campus located in a famously low-crime area of Los Angeles. You wouldn’t know this from a story on the website Business Insider that runs under the misleading headline, The 25 Most Dangerous Colleges In America. The story puts UCLA at the top of the list. That erroneous claim came as a shock at UCLA, especially to the officials who report crime statistics to the FBI every year, as do most campuses. They knew immediately that the story…

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    Listen to Regents Meeting of Nov. 13, 2012

    Byadmin

    The UC Board of Regents, Committee on Grounds and Building met on the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2012.  On the agenda were public comments, approval of the UC capital budget plan, discussion of a long term plan for student housing at UC-Santa Barbara, and design approval of a $118.6 million faculty office building project at UC-San Francisco. Two speakers in the public comments session referred to out-of-state students although exactly what was being suggested was unclear. The capital budget is a wishlist of projects that it would be nice if the state funded through general obligation bonds.  However, given the…

  • Rice on Health: Event Sponsored by the Emeriti Assn.

    Byadmin

    Tom Rice Thomas Rice, Professor, Department of Health Services, UCLA School of Public Health.  “U.S. Health Policy: Prospects After Recent Elections” Day/Date/Time/Place: Thursday, Dec. 6, Hacienda Room of the Faculty Center.  An informal reception with light refreshments will begin at 1:00 p.m.  The presentations begin at 1:30 and will allow opportunity for questions and discussion. Professor Rice is a health economist who received his doctorate in Economics from UC-Berkeley.  His research focuses on problems inherent in competition and markets in health care.  He has conducted studies on how large numbers of Medicare prescription drug plans affects the quality of choices…

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    Special Regents Meeting Tomorrow

    Byadmin

    The Regents are having a special meeting tomorrow, apparently to approve pay packages for the new chancellor at Berkeley and the acting chancellor at Riverside.  Yours truly cannot record the meeting due to other commitments.  However, as usual, we will request the audio and post it when it becomes available.  The agenda is at http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/nov27.html New Berkeley chancellor bio at:http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/28634 New Riverside acting chancellor bio at:http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/28698

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    If you have to drive on Sepulveda near UCLA, all we can say is…

    Byadmin

    Motorists navigating through Sepulveda Pass will have even less room to maneuver this week, as Sepulveda Boulevard is severely crimped next to the San Diego (405) Freeway.  Contractors working on the more than $1 billion freeway reconstruction and widening effort need to regrade Sepulveda Boulevard between Montana Avenue and Church Lane, the stretch of road generally north of the Veterans’ Cemetery and below the Sunset Boulevard overpass…  Beginning at 9 a.m. Monday and lasting for seven days, Sepulveda Boulevard will lose half its capacity as workers limit it to just one lane in each direction.  And even those remaining two…