News

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Late Night Carmageddon?

Byuclafaculty

For those who keep late nights at UCLA: 405 And 10 Freeway Interchange To Close At Night For Next Three Weeks The contractor began pouring the new roadway for the westbound 10 to northbound 405 connector on Thursday night. Some day time work will take place behind k-rail and will not require the connector to be closed. What to Expect: • Westbound 10 traffic will be detoured to northbound Bundy to eastbound Pico to northbound Cotner and to the northbound 405 on-ramp at Cotner • This work is anticipated to last three weeks and will require nightly closures of the…

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UCLA History: The Old Normal

Byuclafaculty

There has been much talk about the “New Normal” as a description of the current depressed economy. As earlier posts have noted, UCLA evolved out of the state normal school that once stood where the LA main library is located. This blog recently posted a lithograph of the school. This is an actual photograph from the late 1800s. The school was moved to Vermont Avenue where it became UCLA’s first campus. The location became the home of LA Community College after UCLA moved to Westwood in the late 1920s.

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Some Time – But Not Too Much – Can Go By on Pensions

Byuclafaculty

As has been stressed ad nauseum on this blog, UC could be swept into some statewide pension changes which would override the Regents’ action of December 2010. The legislature seems to be giving UC a bit of time to have some influence. See below: Lawmakers essentially threw in the towel Thursday on comprehensive public pension reform – at least for now. With this year’s legislative session scheduled to end at midnight today, the Assembly voted 51-21 to approve a last-minute bill declaring its commitment to pension reform but conceding that more time is needed. …The measure reads: “This bill would…

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Settlement of Amazon War Could Lead to Budget Trigger

Byuclafaculty

You may have heard of the Amazon War regarding the state budget. Technically, when you buy on line, you owe sales tax to the state. But websites such as Amazon leave it to you to pay. And you don’t. As part of the recent state budget, an attempt was made to force Amazon and other sites to collect the tax due to the state. Amazon dumped a lot of money into an initiative campaign to reverse the budget deal on the sales tax. (There are some legal questions about such an initiative and in any case the legislature then tried…

Turnitin or Turncoat?

Byuclafaculty

My son sent me a web reference on the Turnitin system UCLA and many other universities use to check student papers for plagiarism. Much of the article complains about shortcomings of the system, i.e., things it does not find for various reasons. But toward the bottom, the article reveals that Turnitin has a service for students that tells them what their plagiarism rating is. That is contrary to the impression given instructors – and presumably to university officials who are paying for the service – that student paper ratings are known only to the instructor. The student gets only a…

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Zen Vetoes

Byuclafaculty

Governor Brown has been vetoing and signing. Among the vetoes were two that would have made commercial initiative signature gathering more difficult. One was a ban on paying signature gatherers by the signature. They would have then been paid by the hour which would have changed the incentive structure in a way that would have undermined name gathering. In theory, they would have sat in front of supermarkets and watched the clock tick rather than annoy people into signing. And he vetoed another bill that would have required signature gatherers to wear large badges saying they were being paid. Presumably,…

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UCLA History: Normal

Byuclafaculty

Lithograph of the State Normal School in downtown LA in the late 1800s. The School moved from this location – where the LA main library now stands – to Vermont Avenue (where LA City College is now located). It became the first campus of UCLA before the move to Westwood in the late 1920s. Note: Yours will be in transit for about a week. Blogging may be slow.

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More on the state budget “trigger”

Byuclafaculty

As readers of this blog will know, the state budget for the current fiscal year contains a “trigger” for additional cuts – including UC – if revenue falls short of forecast levels. – – – September 6, 2011, Capitol Alert California Democrats getting nervous about trigger cuts Lagging tax revenues are making California officials nervous about “trigger” budget cuts to schools and services that appear likely unless more money flows into state coffers or the economic outlook improves. A newly amended Democratic bill would require the Department of Finance to give at least 10 days notice if it determines the…

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UCLA-area ban on “apron” parking spreads to other neighborhoods

Byuclafaculty

As previous entries on this blog have noted, the practice of “apron” parking around UCLA is now banned. Prof. Donald Shoup of Urban Planning – a national expert in parking issues – long campaigned for enforcement of the ban. Apron parking – parking in the driveway of a building so as to block the sidewalk – has always been illegal but cars so-parked were not ticketed in the past. A lawsuit noting that access for disabled persons to the sidewalks was obstructed was part of the reason for the new enforcement policy. It appears that the Westwood-area ban on apron…