Secret Spending in the States

Six years after Citizens United enabled unfettered spending in our elections, the use of so-called dark money has become disturbingly common. Contrary to the Supreme Court's assumption that this unlimited spending would be transparent to voters, at the federal level powerful groups have since 2010 poured hundreds of millions of dollars into influencing elections while obscuring the sources of their funding. But it is at the state and local levels that secret spending is arguably at its most damaging. For a clear understanding of the degree to which dark money is warping American democracy, state ballot referenda and local school board contests may be a better starting point than the presidential campaign or even congressional races. As Chris Herstam, a former Republican majority whip in the Arizona House of Representatives and now lobbyist, put it, "In my 33 years in Arizona politics and government, dark money is the most corrupting influence I have seen."This report documents how far outside spending -- election spending that is not coordinated with candidates -- at the state and local levels has veered from the vision of democratic transparency the Citizens United Court imagined, drawing on an extensive database of news accounts, interviews with a range of stakeholders, campaign finance and tax records, court cases, and social science research. For the first time, it also measures changes in dark money – and a thus far unrecognized rise in what we term "gray money" – at the state level, by analyzing spender and contributor reports in six of nine states where sufficient usable data were available. This set of six geographically and demographically diverse states, comprising Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, and Massachusetts, represents approximately 20 percent of the nation's population.

After Citizens United: The Story in the States

Since 2010, outside spending in state elections has increased dramatically, according a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, a MacArthur grantee. In campaigns for state and local office, the difference between outside spending and that of candidates and campaigns is often even more porous than in federal elections. "After Citizens United: The Story in the States" investigates the prevention of non-candidate spending abuses in 15 states, revealing a pervasive set of poorly designed laws with a few states promoting tougher enforcement

Determinant Factors of Pedestrian Volume in Different Land-Use Zones: Combining Space Syntax Metrics with GIS-Based Built-Environment Measures

This study combined space syntax metrics and geographic information systems (GIS)-based built-environment measures to analyze pedestrian volume in different land-use zones, as recorded in unique public data from a pedestrian volume survey of 10,000 locations in Seoul, Korea. The results indicate that most of the built-environment variables, such as density, land use, accessibility, and street design measures, showed statistically significant associations with pedestrian volume. Among the syntactic variables, global integration showed a statistically significant association with the average pedestrian volume in residential and commercial zones. In contrast, local integration turned out to be an important factor in the commercial zone. Therefore, this study concludes that the syntactic variables of global and local integration, as well as some built-environment variables, should be considered as determinant factors of pedestrian volume, though the effects of those variables varied by land-use zone. Therefore, planning and public policies should use tailored approaches to promote urban vitality through pedestrian volume in accordance with each land-use zone’s characteristics

THE EFFECTS OF SUSPENSION FUNCTION OF HIKING BOOTS ON THE STABILITY OF THE FOOT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of suspension function of hiking boot on the stability of foot. 8 participants free from injury to the triceps surae muscle group in recent years and able to perform jumping participated in this test. 2-D kinematic analysis and kinetic analysis were conducted for the data acquisition. The maximum suspension angle of suspension boot was greater than that of normal boot for eversion condition; on the contrary the maximum loading rate of normal boot was greater than that of suspension boot for inversion condition. These results meant that the suspension function helps the boot keep stable shortly after landing through the control of rearfoot angle. Moreover, if we apply a lower threshold level at medial part of boot, suspension function will show its ability even though at medial landing. It was concluded that an improved suspension function may help to reduce fatigue and prevent injury such as ankle sprain in hiking on uneven surface

Neighborhood Built Environments Affecting Social Capital and Social Sustainability in Seoul, Korea

This study investigates the theoretical causal relationships among neighborhood built environments, social capital and social sustainability using structural equation modeling (SEM), through a case study in Seoul, Korea. The dataset consisted of responses from a questionnaire survey completed by 500 respondents. Neighborhood built environments were also objectively measured by GIS analysis, using a 250-m buffer based on the home addresses of the respondents. A total of four latent variables of the neighborhood physical environments were used in the model: perceived neighborhood environment, characteristics of the residential area, land use diversity and accessibility to parks and sport facilities. Respondents’ demographic and socioeconomic characteristics were also considered in the model. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a statistically significant causal relationship among neighborhood physical environment, social capital and social sustainability. The results also suggest that neighborhood-level spatial and non-spatial factors can influence the formation of social capital that affects social sustainability. Moreover, this result indicates the possibility that urban spatial planning can play a critical role in social issues

Unveiling the spatial heterogeneity of public transit resilience during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Even though COVID-19 no longer poses a significant threat to public health, it is crucial to reflect on this large-scale event to design equity and adaptability into services like public transportation systems for cities of the future. The case of Seoul presents a unique opportunity to analyse the pandemic's impact on transit ridership, serving as a natural experiment which is characterized by the implementation of a non-lockdown policy coupled with proactive transit management strategies. This study introduces a resilience index that magnifies the “unaveraged clues” of changes in Origin-Destination (OD) pairs to quantify the spatially unequal response of Seoul public transit use to external shocks from 2020 to 2023. Our findings reveal spatial heterogeneity in the resilience index of OD pairs and the dynamic change of related factors. OD pairs with high resilience during the outbreak were often associated with long-distance and labour-intensive industries, highlighting the need for transit systems to cater to “captive” travellers during the outbreaks. Despite overall ridership recovery in Seoul, factors like car ownership and the diversity of spatial functionality continued to influence patterns, which suggests that transit systems should focus on improving attractiveness to regain lost passengers post-pandemic. These insights are valuable for aligning policy with spatial and temporal dynamics to create equitable and sustainable public transportation systems