News

  • | | |

    The Tax Battle Begins

    Byuclafaculty

    The tax initiative battle seems to be beginning. A couple of weeks ago, we posted a YouTube ad favoring the governor’s tax initiative.* It was longer than a typical 30-60 second TV ad, but probably provided a clue to what the TV pro-initiative ads would emphasize. We now have a radio ad from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. which suggests that the anti side will emphasize public pensions, public-sector unions, and the cost of the governor’s high-speed rail plan. The radio ad doesn’t specifically name the governor’s tax plan and could just as easily be seen as opposition to any…

  • |

    UCLA’s Capstones Reviewed in Chronicle of Higher Ed

    Byuclafaculty

    Every UCLA undergrad with a dollar bill can see a capstone. Indeed, that particular capstone can see him/her, or so it appears.  However, the Chronicle is reviewing capstone courses and their merits and demerits. College Too Easy? UCLA Makes It TougherBy Dan Berrett (excerpt): During a review of undergraduate programs at the University of California at {sic] Los Angeles, Judith L. Smith was struck by an uncomfortable realization: Too many majors demanded too little from students. Some students could graduate without ever taking a senior seminar or completing a substantial research project. The result, says Ms. Smith, vice provost for undergraduate education, is that students could “be pedestrians…

  • | | | |

    Taxes, Taxes: News on the Tax Front

    Byuclafaculty

    The Sacramento Bee today is reporting various news on the tax front.  As readers of this blog will know, there are three tax measures on the ballot: the governor’s plan which the Regents recently endorsed, the Molly Munger school tax (Prop 38), and a close-corporate loophole tax (Prop 39). Folk wisdom has it that where there are too many measures on the same subject, voters may reject all of them in confusion. In part to overcome that confusion, the legislature passed a bill that effectively put the governor’s plan as the first initiative on the ballot (Prop 30). In order…

  • |

    Don’t Click

    Byuclafaculty

    You may receive an email which starts with:Dear Bruin OnLine E-mail user,This is to inform all users that our server upgrade/maintenance is scheduled for August 30 2012. You may experience login problems during this period. We are having congestion due to various anonymous account registrations and on this note, we are deactivating some accounts that are no longer active and your account may be deactivated if no action is taken…It gives you a link to click.  Don’t do it.  It is spam and may be malicious.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLRPJEoQBQQ?feature=player_detailpage]

  • |

    Solar Power Breakthrough Reported at UCLA

    Byuclafaculty

    The LA Times carries an article today on a new solar film being developed at UCLA: (excerpt) One of the holy grails of solar cell technology may have been found, with researchers at UCLA announcing they have created a new organic polymer that produces electricity, is nearly transparent and is more durable and malleable than silicon. The applications are mind-boggling. Windows that produce electricity. Buildings wrapped in transparent solar cells. Laptops and phones – or even cars or planes – whose outer coverings act as chargers. It might even be sprayed on as a liquid. The promise of cheap and easy-to-apply site-generated…

  • | |

    We Repeat Our Earlier Observation: Jaw Jaw Is Better Than War War on the Japanese Garden

    Byuclafaculty

    Yesterday, this blog posted news that UCLA’s proposed sale of the Hannah Carter had been halted by a court decision.  A quote from the decision which sends the case for trial in the future: Plaintiffs sufficiently establish a reasonable probability of prevailing on the merits of this action based on their characterization of the transaction as an enforceable contractual exchange of consideration between UCLA and Edward Carter. In exchange for conveyance of the residential parcel, Carter accepted UCLA’s promise to keep the Garden Parcel as the Hannah Carter Japanese Gardens in perpetuity. Plaintiffs also establish that UCLA has breached the…

  • | |

    Sale of Japanese Garden Stopped by Court Ruling

    Byuclafaculty

    From the Beverly Hills Courier website: Supporters of UCLA maintaining the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden received their largest victory to date when L.A. Superior Court Judge Lisa Hart Cole today ruled to grant a preliminary injunction halting the sale of the Bel Air garden.  The injunction enjoins the Regents from selling the parcel they contractually agreed to “maintain in perpetuity” in 1982 pending a definitive ruling on the lawsuit filed by the heirs of Hannah Carter to permanently halt the Garden’s sale. …The 1.5-acre Garden has been at the forefront of controversy since UCLA undertook efforts to sell the Zen-like…

  • |

    Has the Worm Turned in the UCLA Lab Fire Trial?

    Byuclafaculty

    From the LA Times: (excerpt) Criminal proceedings against UCLA chemistry professor Patrick Harran took a bizarre turn Thursday when the defense alleged in court papers that the state’s chief investigator in the accidental death of a lab worker committed murder as a teenager in 1985. The investigator, Brian Baudendistel, denied it…Baudendistel, a senior special investigator for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, was instrumental in building the criminal case against Harran and UCLA with a 95-page report that blamed both in the death of 23-year-old Sheharbano “Sheri” Sangji. She suffered fatal burns when a experiment burst into flames in…